with me if you will if you got
your Bibles turn to Colossians chapter 1 Colossians chapter
1 start reading in verse 3 we give thanks to God and the Father
by Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard
of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have
to all the Saints for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven
and whereof ye have heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and
bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye
heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth, and as ye also
learned of Epaphis, our dear fellow-servant, who is for you
a faithful minister of Christ. Oh, he's talking about this man,
Epiphas, faithful minister of Christ for you. God gave him
to you. And Epiphas also declared unto
us your love in the spirit. For this cause, we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and desire that
you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all
wisdom and spiritual understanding. that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and
longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet fit, able to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created,
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
Whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers,
all things were created by him and for him, and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the church, who is the firstborn, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. for it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometime 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 and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which was under heaven, Whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill
up that which is behind, of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh,
for his body's sake, which is the church. Whereof I am made
a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is
given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery,
which hath been hidden from ages and from generations. but now
is made manifest to his saints, 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, whom we preach, warning
every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also
labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in
me mightily. All right, look back here with
me in Colossians chapter one, and I hope to bring a message
today that'll be a blessing, but look what it says here in
verse 23. If ye continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, that's my title today, the hope of the gospel,
which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.
You know, he talked about, we have a hope laid up for us in
heaven, which we heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel. That's what he said in verse 5 here, chapter 1. And
the apostles talking about our full salvation which believers
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I say true believers possess
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in verse 20, this is
how Christ accomplished our salvation, having made peace. peace with
God, tore down over all the enmity, everything that was against us,
through the blood of His cross, through His sufferings, through
His death. And He did by the blood of His cross, He reconciled
all things unto Himself. All things, things in heaven,
things in earth. And you, this is where we were,
that were sometime alienated, and alienated means that you're
from another place. And the enemies in your mind,
by wicked works in your mind, yet now hath he reconciled even
you enemies, you wicked working, you people that were such enemies.
And he did it in the body of his flesh through death. And
listen to this, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight, in his sight. But he also says, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled and being moved away from the
hope of the gospel. You know, we have promises. The
Bible has promises on one side. Paul said, being confident of
this one thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you,
he shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And then
you have warnings on the other sides, if you continue in the
faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. Not only does Satan and this
flesh try with all of their forces to keep a soul from coming to
Christ, Satan don't want nobody to come to Christ. He the flesh
don't want to come to Christ and he tries with all of his
power and his labors to keep people from coming to Christ
and after a soul has come to the Lord Jesus Christ he labors
just as hard to allure him and entice him away from the Lord
Jesus Christ and away from the hope of the gospel. You remember
when Satan was going to and fro, and God said, where do you go?
And he said, I'm looking for someone. He said, if you could
someone to devour, someone to entice away. He said, have you
considered my servant Job? He said, I'll tell you what,
if you take that haze down, I'll have him cussing you to your
face. That's what he said. I'll turn him so against you
that he will refuse to believe you anymore." And that's what
he's told of God. And that's why Paul said, I fear,
I'm afraid that as Satan beguiled our mother Eve, that he might
also beguile you and entice you away from the gospel, from THE
SIMPLICITY THAT'S IN CHRIST. NOW I TELL YOU WHAT THE DEVIL'S
MASTER PLAN IS, IS TO MAKE A MAN RELIGIOUS WITHOUT CHRIST. IF
HE CAN MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE, COMFORTABLE WITHOUT TRUSTING
CHRIST, HE'S GOT YOU RIGHT WHERE HE WANTS YOU. IF HE CAN GET YOU
COMFORTABLE, JUST COME INTO SERVICES if he can get you comfortable
just carrying a bible if he can get you comfortable thinking
well i one of these days i'm going to make a profession if
he can get you comfortable and get you at ease without ever
fully coming to christ and committing yourself to christ and identifying
with christ and identifying with the grace of god and the free
grace of god in christ he can get you comfortable without christ
he's got you right where he wants you he's got you right where
he wants you but beloved Where there is true faith in the heart,
there will be a confident, confident hope in the gospel. Where there
is true faith, there will be a confident hope in the gospel.
And this word hope, and I've told you this before, it means
expectation, a confident expectation. We have a confident expectation.
Look what he said here again over here in verses 4 and 5 of
chapter 1. And look what he said about these
people here that he's writing to. Since we heard of your faith,
the faith you had in Christ, and of the love which you have
to all saints, and listen to this, and for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, we have a confident expectation
that we have something laid up for us in heaven. Well, how did
you find out that you had this faith and you had this love and
you have this hope laid up for you in heaven? Well, before you
heard in the word of the truth of the gospel. That's how you
learn about these things. That's how you get your good
hope. That's where you get it at, through the word of the gospel.
And when he talked about, I heard of your faith, you see, it's
faith that unites us to Christ. It's faith that brings us the
blessings of grace and salvation in Christ. But hope, this confident
expectation, it anchors our soul in these seas and storms and
trials that we go through in this life. That's why I said,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's Christ
that died. Not only did he die, but yea
rather he's risen again. And now he sits at God's right
hand. And you know what he's doing? He's making intercession
for us. And oh, beloved, hope is what inspires our courage
in the midst of battles and trials that we go through. And we've
got to go through battles in this life. We've got to, that's
just the way it is. And we got battles we must fight.
And the greatest battle we fight with is with ourselves. That's
the greatest battle we fight with. He says your enemy's in
your mind by wicked works. Where's your wicked works? In
your mind. And so you see, we have this battle to fight. And
I tell you, not only does faith unite us to Christ, but hope,
this confident expectation, causes us to persevere. I mean, keep
on keeping on. Persevere, keep on looking on.
Looking not at the things that we see. If we looked at the things
that we see, most of us would throw in the towel. When God
puts you in the crucible, God puts you in the fire, and you
look at the things that you see, if you just looked at the things
that you've seen, but we're not looking at the things that are
seen. We're looking at the things that are not seen, that hope
that's laid up for us in gospel, in Christ. Look over here in
2 Corinthians. Go to your left to 2 Corinthians
chapter four. 2 Corinthians chapter four. Oh, this hope of the gospel.
Oh my. You know, and that's what he
talks about. Hope causes us to look beyond the things of time
and causes us to look into eternity. I mean, beloved, we're looking
beyond this scenes of time. We're looking off into eternity.
Look what he says here in verse 16. For which cause we faint not?
What? Of all the things that we go
through. Though our outward man perish, every day we dying. This outward man is fading away.
This outward man is getting older. This outward man is getting weaker.
This outward man is failing day by day. It's dying. we're much
nearer home than we was yesterday and we all know by our own bodies
and by our own flesh that this outward man is perishing every
day but what look what he says yet the inward man is renewed
day by day god sees that that inward man that's the man that's
going to spend eternity in glory For our light of affliction,
and in light of eternity, in light of this gospel, it is light,
which is but for us just a moment. Just a moment compared to eternity
is a moment. But everything that happens in
this world works for us a far more and exceeding and eternal
way of glory. Now listen to this, while we
look not at the things that are seen, you say, you just don't
know what I'm going through preacher. Oh yes, yes, yes, we all go through
it, but we're not looking at the things that are seen, but
the things which are not seen, for everything that you can see
is temporal, but the things which are not seen, they're eternal,
they're eternal. I'm looking at a bunch of people,
it's temporary. I'm looking at a bunch of people's
temporary But but listen Everything is
temporary, but the things that we don't see that the hope the
hope that gives us in the gospel They're eternal. They're eternal
and all beloved beaten and that's why he goes back over here in
chapter 1 verse 23 be not moved away from the hope of the gospel
Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel Now, there are
some things that may move men away from the hope of the gospel. I've seen it happen. I've seen
folks that seems to be on fire for a while. And I'm troubled
about some now, but they may move away from the hope of the
gospel. And there are some things that may move men away from the
hope of the gospel. And you know what one of the
main one is, is a conceit of themselves, a conceit of themselves. And what do I mean by that? They
think that, thinking there's somebody doing great things and
they're praying and they're preaching and they're doing for whatever
the reason they do them. But now you go back over here,
you left to Galatians chapter six and look what the apostle
says here. Galatians chapter six and verse
three. We have this conceit of ourselves. Oh, we're somebody. We're doing great things. We're
great in our praying, great in our preaching, great in our witnesses,
great in our judgment, great in our discernment. We're great
in so many things. But look what he says here in
Galatians 6, 3. For if a man thank himself to
be something when he is nothing, the only fellow he's fooling
is himself the only person he's fooling is himself now wouldn't
you say that's right a man has a conceit in himself and he needs
to go you know how many churches are caused by men thinking they
know something you know how many you know how many new do works
are started because somebody in a service thinks that they
can be a better preacher that the more people like to hear
them preach than they do anybody else and the next thing you know
they'll leave the service and go again and start up another
church And they'll build that up and somebody in that bunch,
he'll start off and go over here and start him another one. Conceit!
Conceit! When somebody thinks they know
something, By the time you think you know something, you find
out you don't know a zip. Ain't that right, Brad? Oh my. And then despondency. I tell
you, this will cause men to move away from the hope of the gospel.
Despondency, depression, despair. And you know the least sin, the
least sin ought to make you humble. But the greatest sin ought to
not make you despair. Because listen, Christ never
changes. And we get despondent where our
flesh gets weak, our body gets weak, our mind gets weak, and
we think, you know, boy, I tell you what, I don't know if I can
continue on or not, get down over some things. But oh, listen,
there's no sense getting despondent because this old flesh is going
to be done one of these days. Tell you another thing that'll
move a man away from the hope of the gospel is false teaching. False teaching. And you know
that's why it's dangerous, that's why it's dangerous even to listen
to these fellas on television, listen to them on the radio.
I told you this before, there was a woman years and years and
years ago, she had sent Brother Henry money for his television
show, television program he had on for years up in in Huntington
and she'd always write him a note in there and says, Boy, you and
Jimmy Swagger are my two best favorite preachers. And they're
total opposites. Henry preaches sovereign grace
and Jimmy Swagger says sovereign grace is a lie. Says the five
points of cabinetism was hashed out of hell. Now, how could you
do both? And that's what I'm telling you.
Don't even, you know, just forget about what fellows are saying
on television because false teaching will take you away from Christ. Anything that a man's saying
other than faith in Christ and Christ alone is salvation, don't
listen to him. If he's not preaching salvation
altogether, By the grace of God in Christ alone, in Christ alone
for everything. Like you said in your song, Christ
my all in all. Don't listen to him. I mean don't
listen to him. And here's another thing that'll
move somebody away from the hope of the gospel. Living by feelings. living by feelings. Boy, some
people they feel real secure and feel real saved and feel
real good when they feel happy, when they feel good, when they
feel joyful. But boy, when the joy goes away
and the feelings goes away and troubles come and vexation comes
and feeling blue and anger comes and ill feelings comes and harsh
words come and you say, oh my, I don't know if I'm saved or
not. Don't know if I'm saved or not. Well, there's a difference
in standing in state. Our state fluctuates. Oh, how
it fluctuates. But our standing in Christ is
always the same. We're up and we're down. We feel
joyful. And before the day's over, we're
so down, we don't know how to look up. But oh, listen, our
standing in Christ is always the same. Our state's all over.
And then some, I'll tell you another thing that'll cause a
man to be moved away from the hope of the gospel, is their
intellect. Their intellect. And there's
a lot of folks that Paul was telling me about his brother.
And he said, my brother's too smart for his own good. He's
an agnostic. He'll, and he just, you know,
he's too smart to believe the Bible. Too smart to believe the
gospel. And here what comes along, a
man who's got a great power of reasoning, he can come along
and can move many away from the hope of the gospel. He comes
along and persuades them of this and persuades them of something
else. And beloved, listen, but here's the thing about salvation,
it's not by intellect anyway. Salvation is by faith. The dumbest
man on the face of the earth can be saved by the grace of
God. And the smartest man on the face of the earth can be
saved by the grace of God. But when a man thinks he's too
smart to believe the Bible and believe God and believe his gospel
and believe the truth about himself, he's too smart for his own good.
Huh? And I'll tell you something else.
An empty can makes the most noise. And most fellas, when they're
empty, they make a lot of noise. And then here's another thing
that can move people away from the hope of the gospel. Persecution.
Persecutions and ridicule. Oh, surely you don't believe
that that election, do you? Surely you don't believe you're
that bad of a sinner, do you? Surely, surely you don't believe
that you need Christ and that your works or your goodness or
your immorality or your merit is not going to get you, help
you out some way, is it? Oh no. It's like that stony ground
hearer, you know, at war, when he hears the gospel, he rejoices
in it. Then a persecution arises after
a while, while, and then because he don't have no root, fades
away. And you know, in Rome, people
go to Rome and And the Colosseum over there, there was one time
that they filled it up, filled it thousands upon thousands upon
tens of thousands of people would gather there to watch Christians
be eaten by lions, to watch them put in bags and smothered to
death, and to watch them be slaughtered by uh uh uh these men and women
that would come out there and just chop chop chop them all
to pieces and just delighted in watching christians put them
a bunch of them out there and just slaughter them slaughter
them and that coliseum right now is so decayed that you can't
hardly sit in it and the roman empire is nothing and it's just
history but the church and god's people still exist because they
believe the gospel You know why? Because it's united
to its head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what is the hope of the
gospel? What is the hope of the gospel?
What is the confident expectation that we have in the gospel? You know, Peter said it like
this, be ready always to give a reason for the hope that's
in you. Be ready always to give an answer with the hope that's
within you. And here's the hope. And it's
very simple, very simple. I hope to be accepted of God
Almighty now and in the future. I hope to be accepted of God.
And where do I hope to be accepted at? In the Beloved. Not because
of me or anybody else. I hope to be accepted. How? By my works? No. By my doing? No. Emphatically no. But oh, by the blessed person
of Christ, I hope to be accepted of God. I hope to be accepted
of God because Christ made peace through the blood of his cross.
Because Christ, in the body of his flesh, labored to print us
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. He wrought out
And I hope to be accepted of God because He wrought out for
us a full salvation on the cross. When He was on that cross, when
He said it is finished, He mean it's finished. And because whether
we believe it or not it's finished, it's finished. So look what it
says down here in verse 10. of Colossians 2, and ye, ye are
complete in him, perfect in him, who is the head of all principalities
and powers, all to be accepted of Christ. Look what he says
up there in verse 20. Let me show you this. And having
made peace through the blood of his cross, listen to this,
by him, by him. How many times they say by him,
through him, because of him. And I hope to be accepted of
God because of him, because of him. And I'll tell you another
hope of the gospel. I hope to be fully pardoned of
all my sin and completely acquitted of all charges before God's holy
throne. Oh my, fully pardoned of all
my sin and acquitted before God of all charges before God's holy
law. Look what he said here in Colossians
2.13. Oh my, and you being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. How many
did he forgive us? Where is it a place of the day?
And it says, I seen a no trespassing posted, no trespassing, no hunting,
no fishing. Don't dare set foot on this property. Now, if there weren't somebody
there watching me, I could have stepped over on his property
and I'd have been trespassing. And if I took a fishing pole,
went to fishing there, I'd have been trespassing. If I'd have
took a gun and went on there hunting, I'd have been trespassing.
And he said, and then the last thing says, everyone caught will
be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Well, what
I'm telling you is without Christ, with every trespass, you'll be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of God's holy law. Is that not
right? So beloved, when we've committed
all these trespasses, look what he says, you're having forgiven
you all, A-L-L, your trespasses. Listen to this, blotting out.
I have to blot out all the time. I bought me two bottles of this
white stuff, you know, to put on something because I scribble
so much. I bought two bottles of it. I use it about every single,
because I had to go scratch something out. I wrote a check the other
day, and I wrote it on the wrong place. And I said, you know,
I'm awful. But listen, our Lord Jesus Christ,
here's all these handwriting that's against me. Love God with
all your heart. Don't lie. Honor your father
and your mother. And I have all these handwritings. It's against us. We read in the
law and read all the things that God says. It's God's handwritings
against us. He wrote two places, three places.
He wrote all the tablets of stone. Then he wrote in Daniel, you're
laid in the bowels and found warning. Then he wrote on the
ground in the Gospels. And we have this handwriting.
God said, listen, our Lord Jesus Christ said, He blotted out.
He moved it where you couldn't see it. All the ordinances that
was against us, everything that was contrary to us, He took it
out of the way, nailing it to His blessed cross. Amen. Oh my. And look what it says
here. I want you to look in Colossians 1.12. This is what I'm talking
about. Oh, I hope to be fully pardoned
of all my sin, completely acquitted of all charges before God's holy
throne. And this is what's sad. There's
so many people that they think that they won't find out whether
they're saved or not until they get there. But we have to be
acquitted now. This is what the hope of the
gospel does. We're acquitted now. We're justified now. And
look what he says here in verse 12 of Colossians 1. Giving thanks
unto the Father. Now listen to this. Which hath
made us. Everything that God made us.
That word meet means to be fit. That word meet means to be able.
God hath made us able, fit. to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in life. Whatever their inherited is,
God's made us fit to be partakers of it. And oh, listen, delivered
us from the power of darkness and Christ has redeemed us. And
let me tell you another hope of the gospel. Be accepted, we
hope to be accepted by God Almighty. Confident expectation is what
we have. Confident expectation. Confident
expectation that all our sins have been blotted out by Christ.
And then we have this blessed hope, the hope of the gospel.
The gospel gives us a hope in the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And oh, look, 1 Thessalonians
is the book right after Colossians. Look in 1 Thessalonians 4. Oh, the gospel gives us a hope
in the resurrection. Oh, in the resurrection. Oh,
to be resurrected one of these days. Look what the apostle said
here in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4. But I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren. How many times did
he say that in his epistles? I don't want you to be ignorant,
brethren. Concerning them which are asleep, those who went asleep
in Christ, that means that they ceased from their labors. They're
not asleep in the sense that they're just so sleeping somewhere.
This is what he uses to tell us that this is all that's considered
a believer. He just went to sleep. He's just... Christ's going to come and raise
that body up. And it's just like when you go
to sleep at night, you're ceased from your works that day. You're
done from your labors that day. and that you sorrow not, even
as others, listen to this, which have no hope. Now listen to it. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so, if this is what we believe, even
so, them which also sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you, and
that's what I love, by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remained unto the coming of the Lord, we ain't gonna hinder
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the trump of God, and listen to this, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet them
in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And you know
what he says here? Comfort one another with these words. Comfort
one another with them. Oh, listen, everybody that you've
loved that's went on, I tell you what, if you're here when
Christ comes, they're gonna bring him out first. And when they
start up, he's gonna change us in the moment, and we're gonna
go up with him. And just like Christ went up
in the cloud, he's gonna come like that, and he's gonna take
us all to glory. Oh, my. Where is your steam, O grave? Where is your victory? Job said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and one of these days I shall
see him for myself, and not another. And this body has to be changed
to go with my spirit, and my new nature has to be. Here's
another hope of the gospel, the hope of the gospel. I hope to
be found at last, not having my own righteousness, but the
righteousness of God, which is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."
Look in Philippians. Let's look in Philippians. Philippians
right before Colossians. Philippians 3. That's why Paul
said, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. Job said this, they said to Job
said, Job, God will not cast away a perfect man. Job said,
yes, I know that's true. That's absolutely so. But how
shall a man be just with God? Look what he said here in verse
four, Philippians three. Oh, listen, I hope to be found
not having my own righteousness, my righteousness. Oh my goodness,
look what he says. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh and what I've done in this world. and what I've
done in my religion. If any man thinks that he hath
worth, he might trust in the flesh, trust in what he's accomplished
in his flesh. I mourn. I circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin.
I'm a full-blooded Jew, absolutely full-blooded. And as touching
the law, concerning the law, and how I was a Pharisee concerning
the law, And oh, listen, look, you know how zealous I was? I
persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I said, I'm blameless. Nobody could find a fault with
me. I did everything that ever... He was that rich young ruler
said, what lack I yet? And he may have very well been
that man. But, oh, look what he says. But
all these things that were gained to me, and everybody thought,
boy, if anybody goes to heaven, it's Saul of Tarsus is going
to go. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things. And listen
to this. and do count them but done, that
I may win Christ. And this is why it says, and
be found in him, not, not having my own righteousness. My righteousness
was of the law, but oh, I want that righteousness, which is
the faith of Christ. And you notice it says through
the faith of Christ, not about our faith in Christ, but through
the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ. And then that righteousness
of God, which you believe that Christ brought out by himself.
Oh my, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ.
And then I hope this hope of glory is forever be with the
Lord and heard the bliss and glory of Emmanuel's land. He said he has a hope laid up
for you in heaven. You know, I know I'm having you look at a
lot of things, but look in Revelations 22. Look in Revelations 22. You
know, the word says so much more than I can say. Look in Revelations
22, in all hope of being forever with the Lord, oh, if that hope
that's laid up for us in heaven, that inheritance that's laid
up for us in heaven, and look what he said in Revelations 22.1,
and he showed me a pure river of water, of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. and right
down the middle of the street, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manners of fruit,
and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. There shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and His Lamb shall be in it, and His
servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, face
to face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there'll
be no night there, they won't need any candles there, the sun
won't even be there anymore. For the Lord God giveth them
light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me,
listen to this, these sayings are faithful and true, and the
Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angels to sow unto his
service the things which must shortly be done. Look what he said down in verse
14. And oh, this is talking about heaven now. And blessed are they
that do his commandments, that they may have right to that tree
of life that's on the side by that river and may enter in through
the gates of the city. Let's talk about it when you
get there. For outside this city, outside this place called heaven,
outside this place where we'll be forever with the Lord are
dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. And I, Jesus, have sent mine
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am
the root and the offspring of David, and the bride and the
morning star. And listen to what he says. And
this is what the Spirit says about coming into glory. The
Spirit and the bride say, Come! Come on into the city. And let
him that heareth say, Come! And let him that is thirsty say,
Come! oh my there's that river going
through there and let him take out of that water of life let
him just take all of it he wants to take that's what he's talking
about that's what he's talking about already in glory there
and I tell you beloved you know I've mentioned the pilgrim's
progress so many times over the years but they all got down to
the river getting ready to cross over into Emmanuel's land and
there was a man there with them who jumped over the wall and
they called him ignorant. They tried to talk to him about
the gospel and talk about experience. And he'd say, well, I don't know
about that. I just know I have this feeling. I just know that
I'm all right. But when they got to that city and got down
to that river to cross over into that city, ignorance was turned
away. Ignorance was turned away. But,
oh, not faithful, not old faithful, he wasn't. And there was a lady
in that book called Miss Much Afraid. She was afraid of her
shadow. Everything scared her to death.
And there was old Mr. Ready to Halt. He walked with
crutches almost all the days of his life. And there was old
Mr. Fearing. But every single one
of them went over there, went over that bridge. And this is
the hope of the gospel where you've heard. Well, what's the
foundation of this hope? in the gospel. What's the foundation?
We've got to have a foundation to stand on. What is the foundation
of this hope in the gospel? Number one, the rich, free, sovereign
grace of God in Christ. That's what gave us this blessed
hope. Huh? Look right back over here in
Colossians 2. You know, always go back to that. Always go back
to Colossians 2. That's where, but let's see,
look what he said here. The rich, free, sovereign grace
of And look what he says, the mystery, verse 26, had been hid
from ages, from generations. What is this mystery that he's
now revealed to his saints? To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. And what is it? Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Oh, that's what it is. That's the foundation, the rich,
free, sovereign grace of God in Christ. And I'll tell you
what else gives us the foundation of our hope in the gospel, is
the merits of Christ. Merits of Christ. People talk
about, you know, this fellow, you know, he's got this merit
and that merit, and he, you know, he's got some meritorious things
about him. You know, when you're in the
military, you get meritorious badges and all this kind of stuff,
you know. But listen, when it comes before God, there's no
merit in any human being that's ever lived. And I'll tell you
what, Our hope in the gospel is the merits of Christ, who
He is, and what He has done. Oh, and God said all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in Him. And the safest way for a man
to be sure, be sure that he's got a good hope in the gospel
is to see Christ to be all of His merit before God. No merit. What merit do we ask? What would
God ever have to do for us? That's why the old psalm hymn
writer said, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground
is sinking sand. And there's no rest. There's
no rest for a soul. No rest for a soul who's hoping
what he is, what he does, or what he feels. And let me hurry
on. I know you're tired. Seems pretty
hot. But let me tell you about the
solemn pledge of God. That's one of the hopes of the
gospel. God pledged. He said, whosoever believeth
in Christ shall not perish. God said that. God said that.
Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish. I give unto
him everlasting life. I give it to him. And the just
shall live by faith. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say to you than
he has said? to you who for Jesus have refuge
and place. Let me give you another and then
I'm done. The immutability of God. This is the hope of the
gospel. He said, you know why you're
not consumed, you sons of Jacob? Because I am the Lord and I change
not. And Christ is the same today,
yesterday and forever. And oh, listen, that's the hope
of the gospel. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood. shall never lose his power till
all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more." We
have an immutable hope because we have an immutable God. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for your gospel. Thank you for
the hope that you've given us in this blessed gospel. And Lord,
if it wasn't for Christ, we'd have no hope. If it wasn't for
who he is and what he did, if he hadn't satisfied you, had
he not bore our sins, had he not put them away by his blood,
by his sacrifice, we'd have no hope. But because he is our all
in all, because he did accomplish our salvation, we have a good
hope. And God help us to never, never,
ever, by your grace, be moved away from the hope of the gospel. Don't let the world get us. Don't
let our flesh get us. Don't let false preaching get
us. Don't let our feelings cause us to ever be moved away from
the hope of the gospel. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen.