This sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding Christian hope, which is not based on uncertainty but on eager expectation and assurance in God's promises. The speaker contrasts worldly hope, which carries negative possibilities, with the hope of the Christian, rooted in the unchanging and absolute nature of God's faithfulness. Christian hope is described as a confident belief in the promises of God, such as the forgiveness of sins, the return of Jesus, and eternal life.

Hope of his calling, the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of his power to us. Now are you a people of hope? It strikes me that that's one of those characteristics of the Christian that we don't speak very much about. I think it's because we have such a false understanding of what hope is. Paul speaks, you know, in that wonderful chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians about now abides these three, faith, hope, and love. He ties those three together very often in the first chapter of his letter to the Thessalonians, he ties them together. And here in this prayer he ties them together. I thank God for you, he says, because of your faith, and because of your love, and I pray for you that you might know the hope of his calling. What is hope? I hope it doesn't rain all the time we're here this week. That's the world's kind of hope. I hope the English cricket team can perform better tomorrow. I hope I don't get sunburned too badly. I hope I pass my exams. That's the way the world speaks about hope, and the trouble is that that kind of thinking has gone to our Christian minds as well. Because every one of those hopes that the world expresses has, by its very definition, a negative possibility. England had collapsed already today, they're going to collapse even more tomorrow, and Australia is going to score 500 runs in the first inning. You may fail your exams. You may get sunburned. When we express hope in the sense of this world, we are always expressing something that has a possibility of a negative result. The Greek word elpis, which is what we translate as hope, has no such connotation. There is no negative involved with Christian hope. It means literally, the best way it's been interpreted, it's eager expectation. Because it's a sure thing. Peter says it's like an anchor placed in the veil, it cannot be shaken. So I ask you, what's your hope? Paul says, I pray that you might know the hope of your calling, which is solid, cannot be shaken, it's real, it's unchanging, it's absolute, it's going to happen. I want you to know that I utterly and absolutely convince, as much as a scientist can possibly be and more, that I know, that I know, that I know that my sins are forgiven, brothers and sisters. That's my hope. I don't say I hope my sins are forgiven, but the possibility they may not be. I say that I know, that I know, that I know. That's Christian hope. Amen? Eager expectation. I know that my savior is coming back for me. I know that he's prepared a place for me. I know I shall live with him for eternity. I know he can't get death and hell. I know Satan is defeated. Why? Because the word of God declares it. I believe it. It's God's word. It's true. It's my hope. It's not a lie. I'm hoping I'm not wasting and missing out on life by being a Christian. I hope when I die that I don't discover all that I believed really was not worthwhile. I tell you, this is the most exciting life there is in being a Christian, because we've got hope. Eager expectation. Hope has got far more to do with believing than faith has. And we've mixed the two up. Faith has got to do with obeying. Hope has got to do with believing. The word of God says it. I believe it. That's hope. And that hope is an anchor in the veil. And Paul says, and I pray for you here in Cape and Ray this week, that when you leave here this week, you'll be able to say, I know that I know that I know. That's hope. Paul says, I pray that God might reveal himself to you so that you might have hope. Amen? That's my hope. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It's an anchor within the veil. It cannot be shaken. And however old you are, however long you've been in the Christian walk, you can cling on to Jesus with absolute certainty because he gives you, listen, not the hope that says maybe you'll fail. The hope that says he cannot, for he is God.