Transcript

One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.

We have a vast resource of strength and power available to us by the Holy Spirit. But sometimes we can run out of gas, spiritually speaking.

Dr. Tony Evans writes this, “The moment you pull away from the filling station, dissipation occurs. As you drive, you use up the gasoline.

Over time you will burn gas. The length of time from full to empty depends on how far you travel, how fast you travel, and the amount of air-conditioning or heat used.

The fuel indicator slowly goes from full to empty because driving the car uses the energy the fuel provides. Eventually the car will need to be filled up again with gasoline. The filling of a car is an ongoing responsibility.

In the same way, as we live life, we get drained spiritually. We go to church, have our devotions, and spend time in fellowship with other believers so that we can fill our tanks.

But as we live our lives, we run empty as we expend our spiritual energy doing the work God has for us in life. In order to continue to do the work, we have to continue to get refilled.

This reminds us that we need to keep filling our spiritual tanks with the power of the Holy Spirit, by regularly spending time with the Word reading and studying it, being in prayer always, by going to church and hearing the Word, singing together, serving the Lord there, and being in fellowship with other believers.

In doing these things and living by faith, by the power of the Spirit, our spiritual gas tanks will be filled up with joy, peace, and hope. We all have the ongoing responsibility of filling our gas tanks in our cars, and we also have the ongoing need and responsibility to keep filling our spiritual gas tanks as well.

Romans 15:13: “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.”

Romans 15:13 begins with God. He is given the title of “the God of hope.” In Romans 15 we find different titles for God. In Romans 15:5, God is called “the God of patience and consolation [or comfort].” In Romans 15:33, He is called “the God of peace” (cf. 16:20).

If there is true hope that is deep and eternal it will be hope that is founded on God. Any other foundation will fail.

God is a God of hope. God is the author of our hope, the source of eternal hope, eternal life, eternal blessing, and salvation, and He is the object of hope for every believer.

All eternal hope of which He is not the author, created in the heart of men, is false. The world’s religions may have what they call hope, but it is false hope.

Only the hope of which God is the Author is true hope. And unless God had revealed Himself, we would only be guessing at hope. But the Scriptures of truth are windows of hope to each of us, so we can see and know and find true hope.

A few verses earlier Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Psalm 119:49 also says: “Remember [Your] Word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”

The God of hope is revealed in Scripture where He reveals our hope to us. If we are to be filled with joy and peace, and abounding in hope, it must be by learning and believing the truths regarding our hope revealed in the Scriptures.

Some of my favorite verses are Psalm 39:4-7: “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

“Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.”

God is our hope, and when we place our hopes and dreams in Him we will never be disappointed.

The hope that God gives us is revealed in His Word and it centers in His Son. I Timothy 1:1 says of Him: the “Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.” As the song says, “In Christ alone, my hope is found.”

It’s because of Christ’s all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins at the Cross and rising again the third day and faith in it that we have true eternal hope.

The direction of hope is forward. And that is the direction of the Christian life, always forward. And our hope drives us forward in life and in our service to Christ with certain anticipation of glory and blessing to come.

Hope in Scripture regarding our eternity is not a tentative wish that may or may not come true.

This hope in Scripture is assured expectation based on the promise of God, that what God has said, absolutely will happen. God always keeps His promises and cannot lie.

Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” God is faithful; He cannot lie. So we have a guaranteed future that awaits us. We have eternal life.

As we hope in God’s faithful Word and in Christ, we find joy and peace for our souls, because the future and eternity is sure and bright for the believer.

In light of this, Romans 12:12 teaches the believer that we are to be constantly, daily “rejoicing in hope.”

Because we have been justified, and judicially declared forever righteous by God Almighty, Romans 5:2 says we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Hebrews 6:19 says, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”

Our hope in Christ is an anchor for our soul. The knowledge that our hope is certain keeps us from drifting on the strong waves of doubt and despair.

It keeps our souls steady in this life, even during its storms and trials. We feel its worth and strength during those difficult times.

The spiritual anchor of our hope is different from material anchors on ships. Because we are anchored, not downward, but upward to heaven. We are anchored, not to stand still, but to move ahead as it drives us to live for eternal realities.

Our anchor is “sure,” it cannot break or bend, and it is “steadfast,” it cannot slip, because it bites the eternal Rock of God’s Word and it holds eternally. No earthly anchor can give that kind of hope and security, no matter how big and strong it is.

So many trust in false hopes and false anchors to give them security in life. But the anchor of our hope in Christ gives true security.

Our hope in Christ accomplishes for the soul the same thing which an anchor does for a ship. It makes it fast and secure.

Hebrews 6:19 says that our hope, the anchor of the soul, “entereth into that within the veil.” The “veil” here refers to the veil in the temple which divided the holy place from the holy of holies.

It hung across the inner sanctuary of the temple and concealed the ark of the covenant. That place within the temple, the holy of holies, is where God dwelt. It is where His presence and glory resided within the temple.

So there’s a picture here for the hope believers have in Christ. Our hope, the anchor for our souls, is lodged within the veil in the glorious presence of God.

It takes hold there, it is made firm by being fastened in His presence. And by His Almighty strength “our anchor holds, and grips the Solid Rock” as the old hymn says.

The anchor of our hope is sure and certain and will never move or slip, and the picture of the fact that our anchor of hope is fastened in the presence of God guarantees that we will ourselves enter into glory and into His very presence one day.

The anchor, our promised future, is sure and certain. The anchor is steadfast and stable. The anchor is lodged within the veil. It is fastened firmly on sure ground. It unites us to the unseen, to God’s presence, and we know we will be brought there one day.

Hope in the God of all our tomorrows makes us look forward with joy to the certain glorious things of the future and gives strength for the trials of today.

This provides evidence that His “hope” supernatural, not natural. Because in our hard times, we naturally feel hopeless.

But the God of hope strengthens us in the midst of our trials by His supernatural hope of our future in glory which helps us in and through those times.

World Magazine once printed a story of a Christian man who made a trip to Russia in 1993. He felt conspicuous walking down the streets of Moscow and could not figure out why.

He wanted to blend in, but it was obvious that people knew he was not Russian. He asked the group of Russian educators with whom he was working whether it was his American clothes: jeans and a Chicago Bulls shirt. “No, it’s not your clothes,” they replied.

“What is it, then?” he asked. They huddled together and talked for several minutes. Then one, speaking for the group, answered politely, “It is your face.” “My face!” he laughed. “How does my face look different?”

They talked again and then one of the teachers quietly said, “You have hope.” As a Christian American showed hope in a hope starved country like Russia, so believers can show to others that we have hope to unbelievers around us in life who the Scriptures say have no hope.

That’s what Paul goes on to speak of in Romans 15:13 about the joy and peace that comes from the hope we have in Christ.

“Now the God of hope fill you,” Paul says. This verse is really a summation of the whole epistle of Romans. It’s a benediction to wrap up everything in this Book. And it’s a prayer.

If you’re looking for a powerful prayer to pray for someone, this is a prime candidate. Praying Scripture is a great way to pray.

Paul prays that the God of hope, the God who is the source of eternal hope, the source of eternal life and eternal salvation, that He will fill your being to the top, leaving nothing out. The verse shows God’s direct contact with the believer. He works and deals directly with the believer in our lives, and here in filling us.

“Fill” means literally to fill to the brim, make complete. The idea with the word “fill” is that what fills the person then influences and affects their attitude and actions.

“You” is the believer in the Church, the Body of Christ. Paul desires that the saints of the God of hope experience God’s joy and peace to the maximum! And being filled with God’s peace and joy leads to a full and fulfilling life.

Joy is a by-product and fruit of life in Christ and your relationship with God. Joy is not found by seeking it as an end in itself. It is a fruit of the Spirit, it is the fruit of our relationship with Christ in knowing and growing in Him.

It is founded on faith in Christ. At His birth the angels said “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10). Christ brought great joy by His coming to this earth, and He brings great joy to our lives as we live by faith in Him.

Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” The truth of what Christ has done for us brings true joy.

Our hope is the source of joy. Our sure hope in Christ brings joy to our lives. “All joy” here means “all possible joy.” The prayer is for the God of hope to fill us to the brim with all possible joy. Like our hope, God is the source of our joy.

And the Scriptures are the means. Jeremiah 15:16: “Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” The Holy Spirit by His Word and its truths and the hope it reveals, creates true joy in our hearts.

Again, this is a summation and a benediction to the book of Romans. And when you read the book of Romans, we find so many things that bring hope and joy.

Thus this is a prayer for the believer to sweep back through the whole epistle in your mind and heart, remembering the hope, joy, and peace we have in Christ.

It’s a prayer for us to remember that we are justified freely by God’s grace, that we have redemption in Christ Jesus, that we have peace with God and access by faith in this grace wherein we stand, that we have power over sin, the indwelling Spirit, that God is for us so who could be against us, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Knowledge and faith in the truth and reality of these things is to fill us to the brim with God’s joy and peace and cause us to abound in hope.

“Peace” is the calm assurance God gives in knowing that our relationship with God is right, knowing we are at peace with God (5:1). It’s not based on our actions but on faith. Paul’s prayer is that the God of hope might also fill us with “all possible…peace.”

John Stam was the brother of Cornelius R. Stam, the founder of the Berean Bible Society. In 1934, when twenty-eight-year-old John Stam, missionary to China, was being led away to execution by the communists with his wife, Betty, someone on the road asked him, “Where are you going?” John laid hold on the hope set before him and said, “We are going to heaven.”

That’s the peace and assurance God gives by our hope. “Peace” is a fruit of the Spirit, it’s the fruit of our relationship with the Lord and knowing the Word. Our hope is the source of all possible joy and peace.

Joy and peace are two things of which the kingdom of God consists. Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

We, as members of the Body of Christ, have an eternal position in the heavenly aspect of the kingdom of God. So Paul is teaching us something of what heaven will be like, and that the God of our hope wants us to experience something of it right now.

The heavenly kingdom of God is about peace and joy. There is an unspeakable joy and all-surpassing perfect peace in heaven. We will experience this one day. And Paul’s prayer is that we can experience a taste of heaven right now.

It comes by the Word of God, and faith in it. This joy and peace is obtained through a knowledge of the God of hope as He is revealed to us in the Scriptures.

We learn here how God’s joy and peace is filling. Temporal, earthly joys cannot fill the soul to the brim like God’s joy and peace can. Often in laughter with people the heart is sad.

But true, heavenly, spiritual joy is filling to the soul; it has satisfaction in it, it answers the soul’s vast desire and need for fulfillment.

Paul says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” There’s a qualifier to all this: “in believing.” That’s the key. This is our responsibility.

It is in a believing heart that these blessed results are brought about by the God of hope. The joy and peace, which God imparts, rests on faith, “in believing.”

Faith is one of the great themes of the book of Romans: we are justified by faith alone. It is in a believing heart, by faith in God’s Word, that the God of hope fills us with all possible joy and peace and causes hope to abound in us. Trust in the truth of God as revealed to us in His Word, and living a life of faith in God, brings hope, joy, and peace.

Charles Deems wrote: “BELIEVE your beliefs, and DOUBT your doubts. The problem is most people believe their doubts, and doubt their beliefs.”

We need to believe our beliefs with conviction. Believing our real and certain hope is to touch our hearts by God’s grace and cause us to want to live for the Lord and for the eternal, to want others to have the hope we have.

Paul wanted the church to know all the joy and all the peace and all the hope that can possibly be given to us by God through faith in Christ and His Word.

I like the acrostic that’s been given for the word “faith”: Forwarding All Issues To Heaven. In doing so by prayer, we have God’s joy and peace.

One pastor insightfully said this: Oftentimes believers have come to me, and said, “What is the matter with my life? I have come to a plateau where I seem to be so bored, and nothing interesting is happening, and I have lost all vision and joy in my life. It seems to be so dull and lifeless and pointless. What can I do?“

I said to them, “Well, are you reading the Bible?” Or, “Are you having times of prayer?” And usually it turned out that they weren’t. I gave the pat answer which is so easily given by most of us, “What you need is time for prayer and reading the Scriptures.”

But I have come to see that this isn’t the whole answer. What they need is to BELIEVE what they read in Scripture, and to TRUST God when they pray.

That is the whole answer. It isn’t just Bible reading, or prayer or Christian fellowship that unlocks the power of the Holy Spirit. It is believing what you read in Scripture and trusting God when you pray.

When we trust the Lord and His Word, and the truths of Scripture touch our hearts, He then fills our hearts with His joy and peace and hope. It’s not about just knowing the Word, it’s about believing it. That’s when the God of hope fills us.

Paul’s prayer also for the Church is that “ye may abound in hope.” “Abound” means to superabound, going over and above, to overflow, to be in abundance with the implication of being considerably more than what would ever be expected.

It has the picture of a river overflowing its banks. The Greek word for abound was used to describe what was “left over” of the loaves after Christ fed the 5000 (Matt. 14:20). God’s supply exceeded the need.

When the God of hope supplies hope there is more than enough, it overflows in abundance, so that there is much hope even “left over” so to speak!

This reminds us of the infinite nature of God, and His ability to give us more than enough in supplying all our spiritual needs.

For us to abound in hope, we must abound in growing in God’s Word which reveals our hope and brings joy and peace by its truths. And we must abound in our faith in it, and trust it implicitly and act on it. All this together will cause us to abound in hope.

It is the God of hope who makes us to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of His Word. We see here how we can be filled to the brim with God’s joy and peace, and then how we can be filled with our hope and then overflow with it.

It was shared with me recently, so simply and poignantly, how evangelism, the sharing of our faith, is like a bucket that’s filled to the brim with water, and when you walk with a bucket filled with water, you can’t help but spill some out.

That’s what our abounding hope is to do in our lives. As we are filled with hope, it’s to just overflow and spill out of us as we walk through life, that others can’t help but see our hope, that you just can’t help but share about our hope, because you believe and you know our hope is true and certain.

Then Paul says that all of this is done “through the power of Holy Ghost.” We don’t produce this joy, peace, and hope in our lives by our own determination. God fills us and transforms our lives by His grace through our faith in Him.

God’s joy, peace and hope flow from the Word through the connection of faith and by the power of the Spirit into the soul of the believer.

This verse is really a call to move closer to the Lord in our relationship with Him. In doing so, the Spirit works, and our joy, peace, and hope increases and abounds.

Great words of our faith appear here: hope, joy, peace, power. These are produced through the working of the God of hope and the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Father is the Giver, and the Spirit is the Communicator of these graces.

Our duty and responsibility is faith and spending time with His Word and in prayer, and He will produce these things in our lives and we will be filled to overflowing with them.

Romans 15:13 teaches us about a life lived in direct contact with God, who works in our lives. It is a life not starved or empty, but full, filled with God’s graces. It is a life not of grimness but joy, not of fear, but peace, not of hopelessness, but real hope, not of weakness, but of strength, living by the almighty power of God the Holy Spirit within us.

It is a life bright and meaningful lived keeping our eyes on the Lord, overflowing in hope, sure of the future, having a glad certainty of glory and eternity in heaven with our Savior.

Our prayer for you as you are transformed by grace is that “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.”