I have taught in several different countries, but the Kalinningrad experience was my most fascinating and insightful experience. It was also one of my most enjoyable teaching experiences.

The city has over 400,000 residents. At that time, most of the residents of the city were living without hope. I had never been in a city filled with people who had lost hope. They were not depressed; they were not angry; they were not enraged; they were not even protesting. The people in the city were calm and accepting. My hosts in the institute and the students were very gracious and kind. The people simply had no hope. Their hope had died because their confidence had been destroyed.

How did that happen? For sixty years they sincerely believed that conditions in Western Europe were worse than their conditions. Then one day television signals brought them pictures of life in Western Europe. They saw the prosperity of Western Europe. Hope became terminally ill.

For sixty years they sincerely believed that the only true hope for their economic recovery was communism. Communism would save the economy and stabilize the Soviet Union. Then on a specific day communism collapsed. The communist government ceased to exist. And terminally ill hope died.

In 1992, everyone was powerless. They faced extremely stressful conditions, and there was no opportunity for improvement. There was no correct thing to do, no correct way to improve your situation, no correct means of creating opportunity. No matter what you did, it made no immediate difference. In 1992, nothing held the promise of an improved future. There was no hope.

I was the guest of very gracious, considerate people who had no hope. That was the most unusual circumstance I have ever experienced.

1. When there is no hope, there is only a mindless, spiritless, physical existence.
   1. Without hope, life has no purpose.
      1. Without purpose, there is no reason to exist.
      2. People without hope physically survive each day by going through the necessary motions.
      3. Except for immediate family, there is almost no interaction with people.
      4. Why? When there is no hope, any other person is a threat, a competitor in the ruthless game of survival.
         1. No one is a blessing.
         2. In fact, without hope, there is no concept of blessing.
   2. None of us can physically survive without hope.
      1. When we lose hope, we get depressed.
      2. When our depression becomes severe, we either get sick and die, or we kill ourselves--suicide is the act of a person who is without value to himself or herself because he or she has no hope.

2. Is it surprising that a major theme of Christianity in the New Testament is hope?
   1. Someone asks, "David, are you sure about that? Can you really say that hope is a major New Testament theme for Christianity?"
      1. "We Christians don't talk much about hope."
      2. "We don't preach much about hope."
      3. "We don't study much about hope in our Bible classes."
      4. "How can hope be a major theme in Christianity when we place so little emphasis on hope and talk so little about hope."
   2. I will let you decide for yourself: Is hope a major Christian theme in the New Testament?
      1. First, there are three primary, internal forces that sustain spiritual life in a person while he or she lives in this world.
         1. God gives us spiritual life through Jesus Christ.
         2. Therefore, Jesus Christ is the source of spiritual life--anyone who is in Jesus Christ is spiritually alive, and anyone who is not in Jesus Christ is not spiritually alive.
         3. The proper way to respond to the gift of spiritual life is to allow these three forces to be the dominant forces in our lives.
         4. What are those three forces?
         5. The New Testament writer, Paul, identified them:
            But now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
            1. Of the three, love is the greatest because it is eternal.
            2. But all three are essential to spiritual life in this world.
      2. There are so many statements in the New Testament that declare the importance of hope that we cannot mention them all, but consider a few.
         1. The Ephesian Christians were told that "you were called in one hope of your calling" (Ephesians 4:4).
         2. The non-Jewish Colossian Christians were told that God had revealed the riches of His glory to non-Jews through this understanding: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
         3. Timothy was told that "Jesus Christ (is) our hope of glory" (1 Timothy 1:1).
         4. The author of the book of Hebrews declared, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast . . ." (Hebrews 6:19).
         5. Peter wrote that God in His great mercy "has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
   3. If you can, take a Bible and look at Romans chapters 4 and 5 with me.
      1. Look at Romans 4:18: In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which has been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE."
         1. Paul is writing about Abraham--all of Romans chapter four discusses Abraham.
         2. Paul is teaching the Christians in Rome a basic lesson about faith by using Abraham's faith.
         3. God assured Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old (and his wife was eighty-nine years old) that he and Sarah would have their first child, and the descendants of that child would become many nations.
         4. There was no physical hope that Abraham and Sarah could become parents--they were too old, and they had never had children.
         5. But Abraham hoped because God promised it would happen, and only because God promised it would happen.
         6. He literally hoped against hope.
         7. And Isaac was born when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety years old.
         8. Only because Abraham could hope could Abraham believe.
      2. Romans 5:1-5 is Paul's application statement.
         1. After devoting all of chapter 4 explaining faith and hope, Paul made several application points.
         2. You have been justified by faith, just as Abraham was justified by faith.
         3. Because you were justified by faith, you are at peace with God.
         4. Jesus Christ made possible both your justification and your peace.
         5. This same faith has introduced you to grace, and it is grace that enables you to spiritually stand.
         6. The end product of faith, justification, peace, and grace is hope--a hope that makes you feel triumphant.
         7. Understand this: severe hardship teaches you how to hang in there; hanging in there develops character, and developing character generates hope.
         8. That hope will never disappoint you--once you find hope in Christ, you will never regret having it, and you will never regret the price of finding it.
         9. Why? Because when you find hope, you also find the love of God, and the Holy Spirit pours your heart full of that love.
   4. Hope is a cornerstone message about Jesus.
      1. A cornerstone was a genuinely square stone used to start the foundation of a house.
         1. If the stone was truly square, the foundation of the house would fit together at the corners.
         2. If the stone was slightly out of square, the corners of the house would not meet.
         3. Without a proper understanding of hope, the foundation of Christianity will not come together in your life--the corners will not meet.
      2. Hope is a cornerstone message.
         1. The first message of the cross is the reality of God's love; the second message of the cross is the reality of your hope.
         2. The first message of the resurrection is the power of the God who loves you; the second message of the resurrection is the power that guarantees the hope that God gives you.
         3. Jesus' compassion is the message of hope.
         4. Jesus' forgiveness is the message of hope.
         5. Jesus' mercy is the message of hope.

3. We believe the Bible is God's word and is inspired by God, and we believe that the message of that word comes straight from the mind and heart of God.
   1. During the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, how many people do you think that Jesus healed and forgave?
      1. I would not dare to try to guess--that number would be at least in the tens of thousands if not the hundreds of thousands.
      2. Chapter after chapter in the gospels reveals people Jesus healed and people Jesus forgave.
   2. In guiding the writing of the Gospels, how many examples did the Holy Spirit have to choose from? How many examples of forgiveness or healing were available to the Holy Spirit for use as examples in the gospels?
      1. More than you and I can count!
      2. The Gospel of John ends with the statement, "There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written" (John 21:25).
   3. With all the examples that the Holy Spirit had available, have you considered the examples the Holy Spirit chose?
      1. In Matthew:
         1. He told a paralyzed man, "Take courage, my son, your sins are forgiven" (9:2).
         2. He spent personal, meaningful time associating with and eating with tax collectors and people everyone knew to be evil people (9:10).
         3. He cast demons out of people who were possessed by those evil spirits (9:32).
      2. In Luke:
         1. An uninvited, sexually immoral woman just walked in a home where Jesus was guest for a meal (7:36-50).
            1. Her behavior was totally unacceptable--she entered without asking; she let her hair down; she washed Jesus' feet with her tears; and she repeatedly kissed Jesus' feet.
            2. And Jesus told this woman, "Your sins have been forgiven."
         2. He told a story, a parable, about a son that deliberately left home to live a wasteful, disgraceful, wicked life (15:11-32).
            1. When he came to his senses and returned home, his father welcomed him with love and total forgiveness.
         3. He told a story about a sick beggar who died and went to live with the blessed, and a wealthy man who died and went to live with the condemned (16:19-31).
         4. He told a story about a very religious man that God refused to listen to and a very wicked man that God heard and forgave (18:9-14).
      3. In John:
         1. Jesus offered the living water of salvation to an outcast woman who had been married and divorced five times and was presently living with a man to whom she was not married (4:7-26).
         2. He told a woman captured in the very act of adultery, "Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more" (8:1-11).
         3. He healed a blind man that the religious leaders declared to be a sinner who was born blind because of sin (9).
      4. Of course you have to include Peter who cursed and swore that he did not know Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75) and the thief who died beside Jesus whom Jesus forgave as he was dying (Luke 23:39-43).
   4. So what's the message in all these examples? Why did the Holy Spirit choose so many of these examples?
      1. The message is clear: "There is hope, hope for anyone with any problem, hope for everyone controlled by evil."
      2. The message of Jesus is this: "God can help you where you are. I will forgive you where you are. Where you are is where you and I begin."

Is a seat in the pew the opportunity for life or the curse of death? If you find the hope God created in Jesus Christ, it is the opportunity for life. If your hope is destroyed, it is death. Hopelessness kills us physically, and hopelessness kills us spiritually.

If it is my struggling son sitting in the pew, help him find hope in Jesus. If it is my struggling daughter, help her find hope. If it is my struggling wife, help her find hope. If it is my struggling husband, help him find hope. If it is my struggling parent, help him or her find hope. If it is my struggling friend, help him or her find hope.

Why? When you find hope in Jesus, you find life and love. And the corners of your spiritual house will fit together.