Go with me now, if you would,
to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
that is the same person. That's the same person. God our
Savior and another way of saying that is, Lord Jesus Christ, he
is our Savior. Call his name Savior. Verse one
says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of
God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our home. Those two words, which is, they
are italicized. If your Bible has italicized
words, that means they were added by the translators to make verse
one more readable, and they are good words. But it was originally
written, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment
of God, our savior and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Christ, our hope. Now, I know what I feel led to
say. I've known what I felt led to
say tonight for a while. I have struggled just a little
bit to find the words to say it. And I'm very much begging
the spirit of the Lord to give those words to me right now and
to make this clear, very clear. We are in 1 Timothy 1.1 tonight
because I received a letter from a very dear sister in Christ. And she was in this letter saying
that she was experiencing some things that a lot of God's people
experience. Usually, God's people don't realize
that others have the same concerns. Normally, they think they're
alone. Normally, they think they're the only one. But many of God's people share
this same concern and experience. And in thinking on a response
to her and in studying for a response to her, I benefited from the
thought and the study. I really did. And I believe this
is something that all of God's people would benefit from. And I believe this understanding
will bring some real comfort. This has brought some real comfort
to me. So I pray the Lord will give
me the words and really let us enter into this. Let me begin
by sharing with you just a little bit of what this dear sister
wrote. Dear Brother Gabe, I wanted to
thank you again for feeding the Lord's sheep. And then she went
on to say some nice things. The Lord has opened my eyes to
see him and my ears to hear him. And yet I am still plagued with
doubts and fears. I beg him to please not pass
me by. Can you enter into this already?
Some people, some will not have any idea, some will not experience
this. But some will. She said, I beg
him to please not pass me by. I greatly fear judgment day and
standing before him, even though I know he has had mercy on those
that are his. But am I truly one of his? I just have to be one of his. I am a constant mercy beggar
and wish that I could have total peace, rest, and joy knowing
that I am his and he is mine. I see some of the Lord's people
with great confidence in faith, and I want that great confidence
in faith. These verses concern me, 2 Corinthians
5.10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ
that everyone may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. And that's so, isn't it? Hebrews
10.31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. She said, I'm fearful that all
of my sins will be revealed for the whole world to see as I'm
bowing before him in horrendous grief. Anybody have sins like that,
that just haunt you? I pray that you might have a
message about this great fear of mine. If you do, please email
me the title, or perhaps the Lord will lay it on your heart
to share a new message. For those like me that might
be plagued with these same thoughts and fears. Now listen to this.
She closed with, your sister in Christ, I hope, All capital
letters, I hope. Your sister in Christ, I hope. And then she gave her name. I can enter into that. So many of God's people can enter
into that. You know, John Newton was the
man who wrote Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. When we've been there 10,000
years, The same man wrote, "'Tis a point
I long to know. Often it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? If I love,
why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who've never heard his name." David in the scripture, he constantly
talked about my rock, my fortress, my high tower, and then he was
saying, are your mercies clean gone? David, the man after God's own
heart. I've titled this message, I hope
I belong to Christ. I hope I belong to Christ. And what I want us to see tonight
is the confidence of our hope. We've talked about hope before.
We know that hope is expected anticipation, expected. We know that. But what I want
us to see is the confidence of our hope is in the fact that
we're being caused to hope. Our comfort and our confidence
can come from the fact that we have been given such a desperate
need. Does that make sense? Our confidence
can come from our weakness. Now, turn with me to a few scriptures
here. We're going to spend the rest of the message going scripture
to scripture. Let's see what God's word has
to say about a believer's hope. Go with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. hope that God's people have because
of the accomplishment of Christ, because of the resurrection of
Christ from the dead, this hope that God's people have, it is
a lively or a living hope. It's alive inside us. It's alive. It's alive inside us. It's a
living hope in the sense that it's alive. And it's a living
hope in the sense that God's people live with it. We live
with it. You know, all of us who experience
this, we're thinking, shouldn't I be past this now? Shouldn't
I have moved on from this now? Well, we'll say something about
that in a minute, This living hope stays with God's
people all of their life. We'll spend the rest of our days
on this earth living in this hope, living with this hope,
saying, I hope, I hope. That's what I have, I
have hope. Turn with me to Hebrews 7. Now this is so good, this verse
is so good. Hebrews 7 verse 19 it says, For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh unto God. This hope that God's people have
is something separate from the law. It's separate from the law. You
know, naturally human flesh wants to base its hope on how it's,
how it's doing with the law. How am I, you know, I have hope
because I see myself obeying this. I hadn't gotten mad at
anybody yet today. I haven't, you know, so I'm feeling
good. This hope is totally separate
from the law and it can do something for a
child of God that the law can't do for him or her. This hope is not in the law.
It's not in the flesh's obedience to the law. This hope is in the
one who is the end of the law. Verse 19, the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. The object
of this better hope is what actually makes God's people perfect before
him, the object of our hope, our hope, our hope. They don't come to God by the
law. God's people do not come to God by the law. They come
to God by this hope, by the object of this hope. Look right here
at Hebrews 6 verse 17. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
the unchangeability, God does not change. Aren't you so glad? And to show that, he confirmed
it by an oath, verse 18, that by two immutable, unchangeable
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast. This hope is the anchor of our
soul. that makes it sure and steadfast,
this hope. Proof of that is in Psalm 16. Turn with me over to Psalm 16. This is Christ speaking, these
are the words of Christ concerning his death on the cross and his
death in the grave. Verse 10, thou will not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. This is speaking of Christ, him
speaking. And he said in verse 8, I have
set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and
my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. He said, my soul will dwell confidently
in hope. Christ had this hope as a man. My flesh is gonna rest in hope. As the substitute for his people,
hope was the anchor of his soul. Look at Psalm 22. Is there any doubt that this
is Christ speaking? Verse one, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? This is Christ speaking. And
in verse nine, he said, but thou art he that took me out of the
womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. From the cradle to the grave. From the cradle to the grave,
our Lord lived as a man on this living hope. As our substitute. His people
had to live by this hope. Therefore, as they were, so was
he. All right, now what is this hope? What are God's people hoping
in? What's the only source of their confidence? Look at Psalm
31. Psalm 31 verse 24. Be of good courage and he shall
strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord. I hope the Lord saves me. I hope the Lord saves me. You
can hear me saying that in strong faith or weak faith. I don't
care. The hope is the same either way.
It could be in strong faith or it can be in utter weak faith.
Oh, I hope the Lord saves me. Oh, I know God's going to save
me. There ain't no doubt where I'm going. I this and I this.
No, no. I hope God saves me. I hope the Lord saves me. Strong
faith or weak faith, doesn't matter. Same hope. It's the same
hope. Do you hope he saves you? Do
you hope he saves you? I hope he saves me. If I have
any confidence of being saved, that confidence is only in him
saving me. I don't have any confidence in
a decision I could make. Or a deed I could do. If there's any confidence, it's
in him saving me. It's in him doing it. I hope he saves me. Look at Psalm
33, verse 18. Psalm 33, 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. I hope the Lord has mercy on
me. Do you? Oh, I hope the Lord has mercy
on me. Well, that doesn't sound too
confident, Gabe. That doesn't sound too confident. That's because
I don't have any confidence in anything else but Him. I hope
the Lord has mercy on me. Well, do you have anything to
fall back on? You got any good deeds you can rely on? You got any laws that you know
you've obeyed? No, I just have him. Hope in him, that's all, just
hope in him. I just hope that he has mercy
on me. That's all I can do because that's
all I have. That's literally all I have. Look at verse 22, Psalm 33, verse
22, it says, Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in thee. We're just hoping that you'll
have mercy on us and save us. That's all we're going to have
all the way to the end. That's all we're going to have all the
way to the end. Hope. Hope. We just hope. Because that's where our confidence
comes from. Can there be any confidence? Yes, we'll get to
that in just a second. But if I had anything other than
hope, or if I had anything added to hope, I couldn't have any
confidence because I couldn't know that the Lord
had truly caused me to hope in Him. If I had anything other
than hope or anything added to hope, I couldn't be confident
that the Lord had caused me to truly hope in Him. Does that
make sense? Oh, I hope, I hope, I'm hoping. The word hope means expected
anticipation, expected anticipation. That's what hope is. Because
that's what hope leads to. But it begins with desperate
need. Hope begins with desperate need. And that desperate need never
goes away. It never goes away. If anything,
it only increases as time goes on. I really do believe I desperately
need him more now than when he first started opening my eyes. I hope he saves me. I hope he'll
be gracious to me. I hope his mercy's on me. You
know, like David said in Psalm 51, if it's not, you're right
and just because I'm a sinner. Whatever you do with me, you're
just in it. But I hope that when he was dying
on that cross, he was dying for me. I hope he was hanging there
for me. That's all I have to go on. That's
all I have to go on. That's all I have to live by,
that hope. Look at Psalm 38. Verse 15, Psalm 38, 15. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope. Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. I'm just hoping you'll hear me. I don't assume that you will.
I know that you don't have to. And I hope you will. Oh, I hope
you will. False religion doesn't hope. False religion assumes. False
religion does not hope. It assumes. God's people hope,
and their confidence comes from the fact that he has caused them
to very humbly, very reverently, very fearfully hope. Like I just said, the lack of
confidence in me gives me hope. Look at Psalm 39, verse seven. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. It's not me. It's not in me. It's in thee. Psalm 42 verse
5 says, Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God. Put all your hope in God Almighty.
This hope, this living, alive hope is a casting of everything
on Him. That's what it is. The physical
action of hope is casting our all on Him. Just casting it all
on Him. This letter right here that our
sister wrote, that was a casting of her all on Him. That's what
it was. Can we not see that she is at
the mercy of Him, looking to Him, waiting on Him? That's the evidence. Example
of living hope. Living hope. All of my expectation
is in him. I'm a mercy beggar. Just look into him. Turn with
me to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 49. Remember the word unto thy servant,
upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This hope is in his
word. It's in his word. Lord, I'm a
great sinner. I'm a great, great sinner. But
you said in your word you came to save sinners. You said you
came to call sinners. You said you elected sinners
to salvation. You said you died on the cross
of Calvary to redeem sinners to salvation. That's what I am. Verse 50, this is my comfort
in my affliction. For thy word hath quickened me."
Your word is what I live by. This is what I'm living by. Your
word is what I'm hoping in. I'm hoping that Christ appeared
before the judgment for me. Our sister said, I'm concerned
about these verses. We must all stand before the
judgment seat. Well, this is my hope that Christ
stood before the judgment seat for me. I'm hoping that Christ
fell into the hands of the living God for me. Well, what promise do you have
to go on? I have the promise of his word. What makes you think that promise
applies to you? What makes you think that promise
applies to you? The only thing I have to go on
is He has caused me to hope in it. He's caused me to hope in
it. He's put a living hope in me
for it. He's caused all of my hope to
be in Him and in His grace and in His mercy and in His word.
I don't have any hope in myself. I don't have any hope in my ability.
I don't have any hope in my worthiness. I have no confidence in my flesh. You read with me. We just read
it for our scripture reading. We are the circumcision. We're
God's people who worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. I don't have any
confidence in my flesh. I really don't. That's what gives
me hope. That's what gives me hope. All
I have is Him. Hope in Him. This I recall to
my mind, therefore have I hope. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Because His compassions, not
mine, but His compassions fail not. Mine do. Why this dull and
lifeless frame? It's because your compassions
fail, Gabe. But his don't. They fail not,
they are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in
him. I'm just hoping in him. Hoping
in his mercy, hoping in his compassion, hoping in his faithfulness. I'm a mercy beggar hoping in
him. Your brother in Christ, I hope. Take that however you want to.
Your brother in Christ, I hope. That's all I have to go on. I
hope in his promise, his word, his faithfulness. I hope in him.
All right, now let me show you something wonderful, okay? Turn
with me to Romans 5. We're gonna end the message with
this, Romans 5. This truly is wonderful. Verse 5 says, Romans 5, verse
5 says, hope maketh not ashamed. If you have true hope in Christ,
you will not be ashamed. In the end, on that final day,
you will not be ashamed. True hope of being in Christ. Do you want to be in Christ?
Do you need to be in Christ? That's what our sister said.
I need to, I must belong to him. I must be in him. I just have
to be one of his. That's what she said. True hope
of being in Christ, true hope of belonging to Christ and being
saved by Christ will never leave a sinner ashamed. The sinner
who comes to him in that need will never be cast out. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. Never be ashamed. If you can sincerely say, I hope,
I hope, all of my hope is in Him, then you have a good hope. But I don't feel like I'm in
a good place. Not in your flesh, you're not,
and you're never gonna be, but in Him you are. If He's the only
place that you have and the only place you desire to be, You have
a good hope. You have a living hope. You have a hope that will not
leave you ashamed in the end. And I'll close by pointing this
out. That confidence and that faith
that our sister mentioned, that she saw in other believers, you
know what she's talking about. If you worry, you know what she's
talking about. That confidence and faith that
she said she saw in other believers, That comes from looking to Christ. That comes from faith in Christ. Not looking to the flesh, but
looking to Christ. And this is, I put a lot of thought
into this. And I called my dad and said,
do you agree with this? And this is so, all right, this
is so. There is a transitional period
that all of God's people go through, and how long that is is different
for each person. But there is a transitional period
that all of God's people go through from looking to the flesh to
looking to Christ. The end of verse three right
here says, Tribulation works patience. Patience works experience. Experience works hope. There
is a process. There is a transitional period.
In false religion, it's all flesh and no Christ, even if they say
His name. In false religion, it's all flesh
and no Christ. Mature faith, mature faith and
mature hope is all Christ and no flesh. But there's a transitional period
that all of God's people go through where they have to learn what
it is to stop looking to the flesh. It's hard to get over. We call it baggage, we call it
religious baggage. And our hope and our desire,
our hope, I hope I drop my religious baggage. Our hope is that we
will, as time goes on, drop a little bit more baggage and a little
bit more baggage. And our eyes will look here less
and less and look there more and more. And the end result
of that will be confidence and assurance. I mean, the soul that
stayed upon Jehovah, that heart is fully blessed. There will
be confidence and assurance in Him, not still in me. I'm the
same old worthless flesh I always was. The only difference is I'm
worse than I used to be. But it's in Him. I'm not looking
to me anymore. Thank God I'm not looking to me anymore. But
remember this, even if that confidence and that assurance is not here
yet, as long as we have hope, as long as we have hope, if we
have faith as the grain of a mustard seed that leads to hope in Christ
alone, we're not going to be ashamed in the end. We will not
be ashamed. So keep looking. All I can do is look. Keep looking.
Keep trusting. Keep hoping. Keep saying, I hope. I hope I belong to Christ. You won't be ashamed in the end.
You will not be ashamed in the end. You say, I hope I belong
to Christ. That's all I hope. And you won't
be ashamed in the end. Amen.