Living In Real Hope

I John 3:1-3

1 “How great is the love the Father has

lavished on us, that we should be

called children of God! And that is

what we are! The reason the world

does not know us is that it did not

know him.

2 Dear friends, now we are children of

God, and what we will be has not yet

been made known. But we know that

when he appears, we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is.

3 Everyone who has this hope in him

purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

n Given that John has actually seen future events– he is certainly well qualified to tell us how to transfer the reality of those future events into hope for today!

--John tells us about

LIVING IN REAL HOPE!

THE REAL HOPE DECRIBED BY JOHN IS:

…the kind of hope that looks beyond difficulties… impossible odds… broken hearts… and trusts!

THIS HOPE TRUSTS THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL:

… the kind of hope that is real… not phony… nothing artificial about it!

5 CHARACHERISTICS
OF REAL HOPE:

I. REAL HOPE IS PROVIDED

1 John 3:1

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

--God loves us with a love that is like nothing this world has ever seen…it is foreign to this world…He offers that love to us permanently by allowing us to become his children!

This love…is foreign to

us…because human love

discriminates based on the object of the love!

--For example … You love your child more than someone else’s child…your wife or husband more than another man or lady!

--You discriminate with your love on the basis of the object of your love.

God doesn’t do that…He loves on the basis of His nature…His love is indiscriminate…without regard to the object!

I John 4:8 says simply:

“ God is Love.”

God loves you…not because of what you have done or because of who you are– God loves you because it is His nature to love!

GOD’S LOVE PROVIDED US WITH THE GIFT OF SALVATION ... AND A GLORIOUS HOPE

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

This hope came because God didn’t call us slaves, or neighbors, or even just friends-- He called us “ His Children!”

AS GOD’S CHILDREN WE HAVE A HOPE THAT IS NOT CONFINED TO THIS WORLD!

“ Jesus is coming and the world as we know it is going to be destroyed.”

I Peter 3:10-11

10 For, "Whoever would love life and see good days

must keep his tongue from

evil and his lips from

deceitful speech.

11 He must turn from evil and

do good; he must seek

peace and pursue it.”

II. REAL LOVE IS PERPLEXING TO THE WORLD

I John 3:1

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

The people of the world system cannot truly “know” us …or experience us … because they have never experienced Jesus!

We have experienced the otherworldly love of God (they haven’t)… we have experienced an otherworldly hope that the world knows nothing about.

III. REAL HOPE IS PROGRESSING

1 John 3:2

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We’re still struggling against the

world, the flesh, and the devil.

We live in a sinful world … and we still sin!

But we’re no less the children of God!

God isn’t finished with us yet … but the more He molds and shapes me as His child … the more my hope progresses … because I am more able to detect that I am heading toward the fulfillment of my hope!

The greatest change I will experience … I have already experienced … Death won’t change me much … my greatest change occurred when I went from being a child of the world to being a child of God!

-- That change occurred when I

was born again!

-- When I, spiritually, experienced a

rebirth!

* From then on … MY HOPE HAS

BEEN PROGRESSING!

* In his later years, David wrote Psalm 71:14

“But I will hope continually, and will yet praise You more and more.”

IV. REAL HOPE IS PROMISED

1 John 3:2

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

--Certain things are going to

happen … “It has not yet

been revealed what we shall

be …”

--This comes from John … the

man who saw it all … who

wrote Revelation.

-- John … has seen it all … but he

cannot adequately explain the

dramatic transformation

awaiting us.

-- He words aren’t adequate to

express it … our minds aren’t

adequate to comprehend it!

-- So John says -- “Let’s fall to what we KNOW.” “But we know …” [to absolutely know]

3 THINGS ARE PROMISED TO US .. THEY WILL HAPPEN:

1. OUR RESURRECTION WITH JESUS .. “WHEN HE APPEARS”

2. OUR RESEMBLANCE TO

JESUS…

”We shall be like Him”

Phil. 3:20-21

20 “But our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior

from there, the Lord Jesus

Christ,

21 who, by the power that enables

him to bring everything under

his control, will transform our

lowly bodies so that they will be

like his glorious body.”

3. OUR REVELATION OF JESUS …

“We shall see Him as He is”

V. REAL HOPE IS PURIFYING

Vs. 3

“Everyone who has this hope in

him purifies himself, just as he

is pure.”

If you have this hope in you of being like Jesus … then you will be motivated to live a pure life as Jesus is pure!

PURE

This word means a purity maintained in the face of temptation, trial, testing … the kind of purity demonstrated by Jesus!

The kind of purity we are

motivated to maintain

because of the hope within us!

This hope is birthed in us when we experience the other worldly love of God, which the world can’t understand!

Because we are God’s children … the hope grows within us … helping us to grow in the awareness that we will see Jesus and be like Him…

It is a daily process! …

Our hope is purifying!