Turn to Colossians chapter 1.
Let me say while you're turning, thanks. I want to express my
gratitude for your generosity, the invite to be here. I've enjoyed
it. I've enjoyed preaching the gospel
to you. I enjoy meeting God's children in different places
throughout this country. And I've enjoyed preaching in
this conference with Darwin. I was telling him a while ago,
thank God I was able to do this with Darwin. I've known Darwin
since I was probably 22 years old. We sat under the same pastor. And it's been a privilege being
able to be here and preach with him in this conference. I want to leave you this morning with the hope of the gospel. I want to leave you with hope.
That's the message that I wanted to bring, the last message here
this morning for me. And hope, there's not a more
powerful word than hope. It gives you a reason to get
up in the morning. It gives you a reason to live. You know, I don't know if you've
ever seen someone who's lost hope, but that's a pitiful, the
most pitiful sight in the world is someone who's lost all hope. People commit suicide because
they've lost all hope. But to get up in the morning,
I thought this morning how blessed I am, and you who believe how
blessed you are, You woke up this morning in hope of eternal
life. You woke up in hope of forgiveness.
You woke up in hope of being accepted, being justified, standing
righteous before God. You woke up in that kind of hope
this morning. That's a hope. And I'm not talking
about a hope like, well, I hope it happens. That's not the kind
of hope I'm talking about. I'm talking about a hope that
is based on the word of God, it is an expectation. I expect, and I say this with
fear and trembling, I expect to be saved based on the word
of God, not my feelings. It's not because I feel like
I'm saved. The whole foundation, and I'm
going to get to that in the latter part of the message, but the
whole foundation of our hope is based on the Word of God.
It has nothing to do with my feelings. It has to do with the
Word of God. Now in this epistle, the word
hope is used three times. It's used in verse 5. Paul speaks
of the hope that is laid up for you. He said, for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, This hope is reserved for us.
It's laid up for us. It's kept for us. It's hope of
eternal life. And then he speaks of it here
in verse 23, which is basically the verse I'm looking at. Paul
says, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. That's what
we're going to look at. What is the hope of the gospel?
And then he speaks of it in verse 27, to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We have a solid hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that many this morning,
they have a false hope. They have a hope in And their
morality, that rich man said, all these I've kept from my youth
up. That was his hope, that he had kept all the commandments,
all these I've kept. You know what's sad in that,
when I read that about that rich young man, his morality became
his undoing. Be careful. You know, we should
put a high price on morality, yes, but don't let it become
your undoing. Because the most moral person
in this world has to be redeemed by the blood of Christ as the
worst person in the world. Outwardly, that is. I'm talking
about outwardly. Because in our hearts, we're all totally depraved. Every last one of us. If God
would pull back his hand, we would see what the whole human
race really is. We would see and we would really
understand there is no good. No, not one, not even me. I put
by that scripture, there's no good, no, not one, even me. Always
apply the scriptures to yourself first. Always apply them to yourself
first. And then there's some who hope
in their ancestry. The Jews said, we be Abraham's
seed. Well, not all of Israel are of Israel. Not all the seed
of Abraham are the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not all of
them belong to Him. That natural seed is not the
one that He's speaking of. It's that spiritual seed, that
promise seed. And there's those who hope in
their profession. Every time they talk about salvation,
they talk about a past experience. My salvation is in Christ right
now. And if I live tomorrow, if I
wake up on this earth tomorrow, my salvation is in Christ right
now. It's always now, it's always present. I'm not looking back. I look back with joy that the
Lord has done a work in me. I look back and I say that I
thank God that he called me by his grace. But my salvation is
not looking back, it's looking to him. Right now, it's constantly,
constantly looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. That's salvation. So, all right, now look. What
is the hope of the gospel that Paul's speaking of here? What
is this hope? Well, it's a hope of being saved.
Saved is a Bible word. It's a Bible word. It's a hope
of being saved from sin. I hope to be saved from my sins. I hope to be saved from what
I am. That's what I hope. It's written
in Matthew 121, And she shall bring forth a son, and I shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what He's saving me from.
The very thing that separates me from God, it's my sins. And that's the very thing He
saves me from. He pushed them away. They're
all gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Do I feel like they're all taken
away? No. No. The older I get, the
more I struggle with sin. I struggle more with sin now
than I did when I started. It's a constant struggle. It's
a constant battle. But I hope to be saved from my
sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope to be saved from the guilt
of my sin. I hope to be saved from the power
of sin. I hope to be saved from the dominion
of sin. I hope to be saved from the dominion
of that old nature. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. That's what Paul says in Romans. He's talking about that
old nature, it will not reign over you as a king. It is not
enthroned in your heart no more. Christ is enthroned there. And
that sin nature that you and I are born with, it will not
dominate us no more. It's not the dominator, Christ
is. It's Christ. And I hope to be saved from the
power of sin, the guilt of sin, the dominion of sin. I hope to
be saved from Satan, the power of Satan. Listen to this verse
over here in Colossians chapter 1. He says in verse 12, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet or fit to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness. We were under the power
of darkness. Nobody in here, you were not
your own person. You and I were born under the
power of darkness. And God the Father has delivered
us from the power of Satan and He's put us, translated us, He
says, into the kingdom of His dear Son. We're saved from that. I'll tell you something else.
Here's the greatest thing that God has saved me from. Himself. God has saved me from Himself.
Because if He doesn't save me from my sins, I've got to deal
with a God who's a consuming fire. God has saved me from God. He put me in Christ. He put me
in the ark. I'm safe. I'm safe in the Lord
Jesus Christ from the wrath of God. Everyone outside of that
ark suffered the wrath of God. Everyone inside that ark, safe. Safe. That's one of the greatest
things that I'm so thankful for is that God has saved me from
himself. He dealt with Christ in my place. And then it's a hope that when
we die, we shall be raised from the dead. Someone said this. We have a life to live, a death
to die, and an eternity to spend. It says in Hebrews 9, and as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment,
it's appointed to die. There's a lot of things in life
I won't have to do, but dying ain't one of them. Dying is not
one of them. You know, statistically, one
out of every one person dies? That is a stat that never fails.
One out of every one dies. And I have to die. I've got to
die. There's a time to be born, the
scripture says, and there's a time to die. Spurgeon said this, I've
never forgot this, the young may die, but the old must. The young may die, but the old
must. We all have to face this fact. But the believer faces
it with hope. You know, we look at it with
rejoicing. You know, my pastor Henry, I tell you, I've never
met anyone who was more excited about dying and going home to
be with the Lord. I'm telling you. He prayed for
it. He looked forward to it. And
I pray that God will give me that as time goes by. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. It's very profitable. The best
day, now listen, you who believe the best day of your life is
when you die. That's your best day. That's
when all is gained and all this is gone. That's your best day. And we have a hope that when
we die, we will be raised from the dead. We have been redeemed
body, soul, and spirit. Christ redeemed the whole man.
He said, not a hair of your head shall perish. Not a hair of your
head shall perish. And then we hope for the Lord's
return. He's going to return. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is going to return. You know, for 4,000 years, the
Old Testament said someone's coming. Someone's coming. And
He came. He came. And when He came, they
rejected Him. He came unto His own. His own
received Him not. Came unto the world. The world didn't know
Him. Didn't know its own Creator. He died. He rose again. And the
Scripture says He's coming again. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to return. He's coming back. He's coming
back to get his own. He said to his disciples, I will
see you again. I'll see you again. Listen to
John 14 through. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, you and I are going to a prepared
place. Just like God prepared the Garden of Eden for Adam,
He didn't create Adam to last. God prepared everything in creation. He prepared the garden, Adam
prepared nothing, and then He made Adam, and here it is. Put
him in the garden. A perfect garden. Our Lord has
gone back, He said, and prepared a place. I go back and prepare
a place for you. And right now, He's preparing
us for the place. These trials have come along.
weaning us from this world. He's preparing us for that place.
But He says here, If I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there
you may be also. You know where heaven is? Let
me tell you where heaven is. It's wherever Jesus Christ is.
That's where heaven is. Paradise is where He is. And
he said, and there you'll be with me. I have a hope of that. I live in that hope. You live
in that hope. Listen to Job chapter 19, verse
25-27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and
though after my skin were destroyed this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reigns
be consumed within me. I know, I know I'm going to see
him, and I'm going to see him with my own eyes. I'm going to,
I'm going to see him. And then the hope of the gospel
is found in who it's addressed to. Aren't you glad it's not
addressed just to the rich? I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't
be there. If it were addressed to a certain,
you know, the upper echelon, it's addressed to sinners. You
know, the hardest thing to do is get people down. You know,
most times we're trying to get them up, but here we've got to
bring them down. You've got to get down into the
dust. It's for sinners. That's who it's for. It's not
for the good. There's not any. First of all,
there's not any. But I do know this, the gospel
is not for everyone. It's not for everyone. That rich
young man, he said, all these I've kept from my youth up. It's
not for him. Not at that point. It's not for the good. It's not
to the mighty. The gospel is addressed to sinners. Now that opens a door wide open
for me. That's what gives me hope is
who it's addressed to. It's addressed to sinners. Paul
said, Oh wretched man that I am. That's me. Don't you feel a kindred
spirit when Paul says things like that? You go to read Psalm
51, David's that Psalm of repentance. Don't you feel a kindred spirit
with him? Our Lord said this, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The whole need not a physician,
but the sick. If you're not sick of sin, I
don't have anything for you. I don't have a message for you.
The message I have is for people that are no good, wretched, can't
do anything for themselves. They are the ones I'm speaking
to. You guys are the ones I'm speaking to. The whole don't
need a physician. Paul said this, this is a faithful
saying and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. You see, this
is one tribe where everyone's chief. If God saves you, everyone
in here is the chief of sinners. If God has saved you, God saves
the chief of sinners. He says in Isaiah 55.1, for everyone
that thirsteth. See, that's a particular people.
You thirsty? Come and drink. You're hungry?
Come and eat. If you're not, I'm not talking
to you. I'm talking to those that are thirsty and those that
are hungry. Those who are cast down, those who need forgiveness.
He said, he that is laboring and heavy laden, come to me and
I'll give you rest. If you're at ease, I'm not talking
to you. The Lord's not talking to you.
He's talking to those who are laboring and heavy laden under
sin. That's what it's to. And then it's a hope, listen,
it's a hope of being with the Lord forever, not just seeing
Him, not just Him returning and seeing it, but to be with Him.
to be with Him. I think of these men that I've
known over the years, like Henry, and Scott, and Maurice, and these
different men I heard when I was just a young man. They're with
the Lord now. They're with Him right now, speaking
to Him, worshipping Him perfectly. You know, you and I this morning,
you know, we've gathered here to worship. We've gathered here
to worship in spirit and truth, but we fight sin, we fight our
thoughts. They don't have to deal with
that no more. But in a little while, in a little while, we'll
be there too. And we'll be with the Lord forever
and ever. Paul said this, he said, we are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. Never to return to this
place again, not this place. Then it's a hope, the gospel
hope is a hope of what I shall be. Aren't you glad that this
is not it? I'm glad this is not it. This
pain, this painful body, this sinful body, I'm glad this is
not it. It is written in 1 John 3, 2,
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. I'm looking, I'm looking. And this is what makes preaching
so weighty. I'm looking at sons and daughters
of the King. I'm preaching to the sons of
God. The sons and daughters of God,
I'm preaching to you this morning. The Lord's children, I'm dealing
with the Lord's children. Now are we the sons of God, and
it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall be just like Him. We shall see Him
as He is. We'll have a body, a powerful
body just like His. A glorious body just like His,
without sin. Oh, it's a hope of what we shall
be as I grow older. That means more to me. That means
more to me. Listen, it says in Colossians
chapter 1 verse 21-22, And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, this
is what we shall be, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. No
one can condemn. Who can condemn me? It is Christ
that died. And God has justified me in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You can't condemn me. I've been
justified in Him. Now listen, let me move on here. Paul gives us the sum and substance
of this hope in a person. I want you to listen
to Scripture. 1 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. Our hope. He's all our hope.
Everything that I absolutely hope to be, hope to have, where
I hope to be, I have in Jesus Christ. I don't have it because
I accepted Him as my personal Savior. I have it because of
Him. God gave me to Him. God made
Him my surety. He's responsible. Here's my hope. Now listen. Here's my hope. He's
responsible to bring me home. What greater hope can I have
than the Son of God being responsible to bring me home spotless and
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight. That's all on
His shoulders. I tell you now, you've got to
put a snap in your step now. That's hope. My hope is not in a plan, it's
not in a... Before I've, you know, I've made
a profession, a decision and done all that in Arminianism
for a few years before I heard the gospel. You know, they gave
that plan of the Roman road. I wasn't saved on the Roman road.
I was saved in Jesus Christ. I'm saved in Jesus Christ. Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
as God with us. You know, it could have just
as easily been written God against us. We have every reason for
God to be against us. It could have been written that
way. But when they wrote it, it's God for us. Immanuel, God with us. In Romans
8.31, what shall we say then to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? Who's above God? No one. Psalm
39.7, and now Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Psalm 71.5, for thou art my hope,
O Lord. Thou art my hope. Thou art my trust from my youth.
Psalm 130 verse 7, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the
Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.
We don't hope in the benefits of the Lord. You know, we're
benefit driven in this country. It's not the benefit, we hope
in the Lord Himself. If I have the blesser, I have
all the blessings. If I have Christ, I have all
things are yours in Christ. It's Him. Having Him, I have
everything. I can't be any more rich than
I am being in Christ. Can't be. Now, what hope is there
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, that He's
the Son of God. That He is who He says He is.
He is the Son. He's the Messiah. He's the seed
of the woman. He's that promised seed. The
hope that we have in Christ and in him dwells all the fullness
of God. Nothing's missing. That in him we are complete.
In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
I have everything God requires in Jesus Christ. That's my hope
in Christ. And what's the foundation of
this hope? And I want to close. What's the foundation of it? Is it, as I said earlier, is
it our feelings? Now, man, that changes with the
weather. You get up in the morning, it's hot, you're in a bad, you
know, you're in a bad mood. If it's rain, you miss your golf
game, you're in a bad mood. If the sun's shining, you go
to the beach, you're happy. You can't base anything on your
feelings, but you can sure base it on the word of God that changes
not. The Word of God changes not because God changes not.
I am the Lord, I change not. That's why you sons of Jacob,
that's why you sons of election are not consumed because I don't
change. And I have learned over the years through all my feelings,
all my ups and downs, go to the Word of God. Saturate yourself
in the Word of God and hold on to His Word. Listen. Listen to this. John 6.35. And
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? That's what he said. Romans 10
verse 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I called on the name of the Lord. I called on Him. He said whoever
calls on Him shall be saved. I've called on Him. Lord, I do.
I still call on Him. I call on His name every day.
And you do too, you who believe. Hebrews 7.25, Wherefore He is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.
He's able. He's able to save me. He makes
intercession for me. And I read that, and that gives
me hope. That gives me hope. And listen,
it says in 2 Corinthians 1.20, For all the promises of God in
him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.
All the promises. He that comes to me, I will know
why is cast out. That's a promise. You can hang
your hat on it. That's a promise. Lord, I come. I come to you to save my soul. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the foundation of that hope
is the Word of God. And listen, I'm going to close
with this. And this hope that you and I have, it's a solid
hope. It's solid. And we have it through the grace
of God. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 2.16. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. Everybody in this room that has
a good hope, you have it through grace. You have it by the sovereign
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the pure sovereign grace of
God, we have hope of eternal life. We have hope of salvation.
We have hope of being with the Lord. We have it. And I leave
you with this question. Some of you have it, I don't
know everybody in here, some may not. Do you have this hope? And if you have this hope, the
first thing you and I ought to do every morning we get out of
bed is thank God we have a hope to get up and to go throughout
the day and to die. Whenever that time comes, we
get to die in hope. All right.