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‘Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.’
Rom_15:13
I. Once grasp the idea that God presides over and controls the affairs of men, and that His object is their salvation and perfection, no matter how far beyond our understanding the means He uses may be, then we may hope for the future. In the language of the text, He becomes to us ‘The God of Hope.’ He cheers and comforts despondent hearts, and bids them look forward to that ‘blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.’
II. No better word could be chosen to more correctly express our attitude towards the future. It holds within it a carefully adjusted balance of thought. It is expressive of certainty, mingled with uncertainty. There are not a few people in the world who would tell you that your faith is defective, if you were to say that you hoped to be saved, and that nothing less than absolute certainty ought to satisfy you. But does it not savour of presumption to say that we can be sure about anything, much less of a thing that depends on our own conduct. Only they that endure to the end shall be saved.
III. The uncertainty which surrounds every action and relation of our present life does not hinder us from enjoying that life moderately and rationally. The fact that death may occur at any moment, whilst it acts as a healthy restraint upon the follies and indulgences into which we are prone to fall, yet it is not intended, and indeed does not rob us of the beauty and enjoyment of life. So in God’s fatherly dealings with us in preparation for eternity He saves us from gloom and despair by revealing Himself to us, through His Son Jesus Christ. He does not flatter us by too much confidence. And yet withal, to those who listen to and obey His voice, He fills them ‘with joy and peace in believing.’ He makes them to ‘abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.’
Rev. C. Rhodes Hall.
Illustration‘All through the Bible it is the men of hope who stand out as heroes, because it is the men of hope who discern the Divine purpose, and fall into line with it, from Abraham, who rejoiced to see the day of Christ, who saw it and was glad, who, against hope, believed in hope; all along the line of worthies, the clear-sighted of every age, who died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them and embraced them; down to those of the new Covenant, who owned that if in this life only they had hope in Christ they were of all men most miserable; St. Paul, rising from height to height of spiritual glory, as outward things looked more untoward, and John, in exile and tribulation, crying wistfully, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Yes, it is the men of hope who stand out conspicuous, and call out to us to take sides with them. And it is the abandonment of hope which marks the utmost reach of murmuring and sin in God’s people of old.’
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‘In the power of the Holy Ghost.’
Rom_15:13 (R.V.)
I. This must indeed be the Holy Spirit’s most congenial and satisfying ministry.—For was it not to bring Christ to the thought and desire of the world that He worked through long ages in the background of the Scriptures? Was it not to prepare the minds of men for the great event of the Incarnation that He moved the lips and framed the speech of the prophets? And now that Christ has come—now that the mystery of God manifest in the flesh has been revealed—what greater joy can the Holy Ghost experience than the joy of leading human souls to the Incarnate One, and of joining human souls in a spiritual and corporate union with Him? If there is joy in God at all—and if that joy is capable of being enlarged and quickened—we cannot conceive of larger and keener joy for the Holy Ghost than the joy of securing for Jesus Christ the men and women whom the Father has given to Him.
II. The means or agency by which Christ is to obtain more hold of the Christian and to become more part of the Christian is to be ‘in the power of the Holy Ghost.’ Observe it is not ‘by the power of the Holy Ghost,’ as though the Holy Ghost were to accomplish His blessed work by some instrumental means other than Himself. It is to be done ‘in the power of the Holy Ghost.’ The Holy Ghost is in the Christian as a new element of life, and it is by realising this element of the Holy Spirit’s presence within us, by consciously turning to it, and daily surrendering ourselves to it, that we obtain our likeness to Christ and the formation of Christ in us as a supreme Personality. Is not this what is meant when we read, ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh’? Yes; to walk in the element of the flesh is to grow in that which is human—nothing better, nothing higher. But to walk in the element of the Holy Spirit is to grow in that which is Divine. ‘For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’
III. How shall we live in the world so as not to be of it?—How shall we be business men, and society men, and political men, and yet at the same time remain true Christian men? The answer is, By walking in the Holy Ghost, by recognising Him as the element within you in which you may grow in Christ and Christ may grow in you, so that all the time you are in your business efforts, or society duties, or political enterprises, there shall be in you that which will keep off the world tone and the world stain, viz. the Christ mind, the Christ will, the Christ heart, the Christ life—not perfectly, of course, but nevertheless in some real measure and as an increasing quantity. Let me press upon you for your acceptance and prayerful use the possibilities waiting for you ‘in the power of the Holy Ghost.’ During such a season as Lent, some of you will, no doubt, try various means of purifying your manhood and womanhood. You will be much in prayer; you will subject yourself to unsparing scrutiny; you will cut off indulgence in some of your customary pleasures; you will be often in the house of God. But beware lest these things become a mere round of irksome duties; beware lest you forget that your human spirit is to come into contact with the Divine Spirit, and that out of the contact, out of the fellowship of the two there is to be born Christly love, Christly humility, and Christly zeal for the Truth.
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Rev. Canon Henry Lewis.
Illustration‘The father of the great Bishop Wilberforce once wrote to his son, when the latter was a boy at school: “My dear boy, the most effectual way in which a Christian can get the better of any particular fault is by cultivating the Root of all Holiness—that is, by endeavouring to obtain a closer union with Jesus Christ, and to acquire more of that blessed Spirit Who will enable him to conquer all his corruptions and to inspire and strengthen all his Christian forces” (Life of Bishop Wilberforce, p. 4). Nearly forty years later we find Bishop Wilberforce writing in turn to one of his sons, then a midshipman at sea: “My son, remember God’s eye, Christ’s cross, and the free pardon for sin which it has brought you. Remember, too, that God’s Holy Spirit will help you against all temptations if you pray” (ibid., p. 90).’