Well, let's open our Bibles to
the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter one. And today we're going to be talking
about hope. Specifically, the title of the
message is Our Hope in Heaven. Our Hope in Heaven. And I had
Mark read those two psalms. They are shorter psalms because
they're psalms of hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
Now, I know he said that he thought I might have a short message,
and I'm sure that some of you are sitting there thinking, well,
we can only hope. But you know, the Bible says
that hope deferred makes the heart sick. So that might be
a deferred hope. I don't know. I just kind of
get started and I go where it leads me and end up where I find
myself. We can only hope. But anyway,
we're gonna look at the Book of Colossians. The text actually
is verse five, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.
But let's read the first few verses of this wonderful, wonderful
epistle that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the
church, the believers, in a little town called Colossae. I said
little town, I don't know if it was little or not, but it's
Colossae. And he says in verse one, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus,
our brother, Paul and Timothy together, writing, Paul writing,
to the saints, the sanctified, the set apart, sinners saved
by grace, justified in Christ by the grace of God, and faithful
brethren, they've been born again by the Spirit and brought to
faith in Christ, brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. Now, the church at Colossae,
you know the wonderful little book called Philemon, written
to a man named Philemon about a runaway slave named Onesimus,
beautiful little short book that speaks of the grace of God and
illustrates justification by the imputed righteousness of
Christ and then is an exhortation to be a forgiving to forgiving
a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ. It is said that Philemon
lived in Colossae, that he was a believer and a leader in the
church there, and he was one whom God had blessed with material
wealth. And there's some tradition that
says the church at Colossae met in Philemon's home. Now, I don't
know if that's true, but Philemon was part of this group here.
But look at verse 2. He says, Grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
is God saving sinners through the righteousness of His Son.
Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ.
Grace is God giving His people what we do not deserve, what
we have not earned. Grace is the fullness of salvation
conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those conditions and actually
secured eternal life and salvation for all whom God had given him. The elect of God, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed with his precious blood, called
out of the world into the church, into the kingdom of God. And
then peace is the result of that, because Christ is the peacemaker.
He reconciled God unto sinners, and he reconciled sinners unto
God. And it's from God, verse 2. Our Father, our Heavenly Father,
Abba Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3, we give thanks
to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. And I
love the way that's put. It's not simply that we heard
of your faith, but we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. You cannot separate faith from
its object, and the object is Christ. We don't believe in our
faith, we don't believe in our works, we don't believe in ourselves.
For salvation now, that is, we believe in Christ as he's identified
and distinguished in the Word of God. And then he says, and
of the love which you have to all the saints. That's the godly
love that binds believers together in the faith, in truth and in
love. And it's specified here in verse five. For the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. So we're gonna talk about our
hope in heaven. Now you know hope is an amazing
thing. Hope has gotten many, many people through the worst
of times, hasn't it? And there's nothing worse than
a feeling of hopelessness, is there? I mentioned this before,
that's Proverbs 13 and verse 12 where it talks about hope
deferred, maketh the heart sick, that's hope unfulfilled. Hope
unfulfilled. And it says, but when the desire
cometh, when the hope is fulfilled, it's a tree of life. It just
perks you up when that hope is realized, isn't it? You see,
there's nothing worse than a feeling of hopelessness, you might say.
Well, I want to tell you, there is something worse. That is hoping
to the end only to find out it was a false hope. That's worse,
isn't it? Hoping to the end. Proverbs 10
and verse 28 says, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness. Now what is, who are the righteous
there? Those are sinners saved by grace. The very ones whom
Paul identified in these first four verses there. Saved by grace,
at peace with God, reconciled unto God through Christ, his
blood, his righteousness alone. Called out of the world into
the kingdom of God. And they have a hope. And it's
the hope of the righteous, it says. And that'll be gladness,
because the hope of the righteous is a true hope. But he goes on
in Proverbs 10, 28 to say, but the expectation of the wicked
shall perish. Now hope and expectation go together. Listen to this, Proverbs 11 and
verse 7, when a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish. And the hope of unjust men, unrighteous,
Sinners still lost in their sins, perisheth." Well, first of all,
think about it this way. Hope is not merely wishful thinking. Hope is not merely positive thinking. You know, that's become so popular
in religion. It's been popular for a long
time. But it's kind of resurfaced in a lot of ways, you know. Think
positively and good things will happen. Well, hope, the hope
that he's talking about here, the hope of the saved, the hope
of the just, the hope of the righteous, is not just positive
thinking. And again, it's not wishful thinking.
My pastor used to say, I hope, I hope, I hope. If you say it
enough, you know. Here's the first thing you need
to see. Hope is the expectation of the fulfillment of a strong
desire. That's what hope is. And gospel
hope, that's what Paul's talking about here, is the God-given
expectation of salvation and eternal life based on a solid,
reliable, dependable, unfailing ground. That's what this hope
is. Did you hear that? It's a reliable
ground. In other words, there's a foundation
for this hope. There's a solid rock for this
hope. It's closely related to God-given
faith. You see, faith is the revealed
knowledge that God gives us concerning matters of salvation. We believe
based on what we believe truth. We don't believe a lie. We have
the Word of God. Hope is the expectation of what
we know and believe to be true based upon one ground, God's
revealed Word. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
Well, that same foundation of our faith is the foundation of
our hope. We believe it because God said it. I've told you the
story about me seeing a church marquee, a religious organization
on their marquee. They had this saying, it says,
God said it, I believe it, that settles it. And I said, wrong,
wrong, wrong, wrong. It's not God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. It's God said it, that settles
it. Now I hope I believe it. See
what I'm saying? When God says a thing, that settles
it. His Word is truth. His Word is
solid. Nothing can change it. Nothing
can alter it. His purpose, His Word, His promise,
nothing can hinder it or slow it down. No obstacle can stop
it. And if God's determined to use
means to fulfill it, He'll provide the means. That's what Lamentations
3 was all about. Here, I have hope. It's of the Lord's mercies that
I'm not consumed. Great is His faithfulness. That's
what I hope in, God's faithfulness. God has never failed to accomplish
and fulfill one of His promises. And let me tell you something,
He's never failed to fulfill any of His threats. He that hath
the Son hath everlasting life. He that hath not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Do you doubt
it? If you have eternal life, that means your hope is in Christ. A person may say, I hope I'm
saved, or I hope to go to heaven. Is that a solid hope? Is that
a good hope, or is it just wishful thinking? Or is it the hope of
the hypocrite? Thought about that. Job 27.8,
he said, For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath
gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry
when trouble cometh upon him? The answer is no. You know, the
hope of the hypocrite is in some way, to some degree, at some
stage, in himself. In other words, I make the difference. I'm the one who made the right
choice. I'm the one who who decided. The good hope of the saint is
what? My hope is in the Lord. The psalmist said that over and
over again. We could spend three hours here just reading scriptures
where the psalmist, and in other places, my hope is in thee, my
hope is in the Lord. It's not in me. It's not in my
decision. It's not in my baptism. It's
not in my church membership. It's not in my going to church.
It's not in my charity or my morale. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. The good hope of the saint is
hoping in the Lord. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 31
and verse 24, be of good courage, he shall strengthen your heart.
All ye that hope in the Lord, the God of salvation, the God
of grace, the God of mercy, who saves sinners by his grace through
Christ. Is my hope really in the Lord?
Well, here's the second thing you need to understand. First,
hope is an expectation of the fulfillment of a strong desire.
That's what he's talking about here, the hope which is laid
up for you. Secondly, a good hope is based
on God's word and his power and faithfulness to his promises.
Peter wrote this, 1 Peter 3.15. Now think about this. He says,
but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Now what does that
mean? That means set God apart. That
means a tribute to God, the glory that he deserves, the honor. the worship that he deserves.
There's no one like God. That's what it means. We don't
make God holy. People say, well, sanctify means
to make holy. God is already holy. We don't
make him so. We don't set God apart. But in
our hearts, in our minds, our affections, our will, our consciences,
we're to recognize and acknowledge that there is no God like our
God. And we're to acknowledge that
God is glorified in our salvation by his grace through Christ.
So he says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be
ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
What is he talking about? He's talking about our expectation
of salvation, our expectation of justification, our expectation
of living eternally, standing at the judgment and hearing the
Lord say, righteous, forgiven, blessed, and being with Him forever. What reason do we have? What
is the reason for my hope? Well, it's God's Word. Psalm
119 says a lot about that, doesn't it? Listen to this. He says in
verse 81, my soul fainteth for thy salvation, but I hope in
thy word. I wait for thy salvation. I long for thy salvation, so
I hope in thy word. Verse 114 of Psalm 119, thou
art my hiding place and my shield. I hope in thy word. Turn to Romans
chapter four, talking about Abraham here. What was Abraham's hope? Think about this. Verse 20. Now
this whole chapter is about how God justified a sinner like Abraham,
isn't it? And what is it based on? It's
based upon Christ and His righteousness imputed. That's what Abraham
believed. That's what was imputed to Abraham. What God promised and was faithful
to accomplish in Christ, His righteousness imputed. And look
at verse 20. It says, he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. See, being
strong in faith didn't give glory to Abraham. Being strong in faith
gave glory to God. And verse 21, and being fully
persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to perform. That's our hope in Christ. He's
able to save to the uttermost them that come unto the Father
by him. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And he says in verse 22, and
therefore it, that is what God promised Abraham in Christ, that
was what is imputed to Abraham for righteousness. What did God
promise him? Salvation. Forgiveness, justification,
redemption, life, and glory. Based on what? Christ, obedience
unto death, as Abraham surety and substitute. That's what he
believed. God promised, and God's able.
Specifically, over here in Colossians 1.5, obviously he's talking about
the hope that we have as revealed in the gospel. Look at it, verse
5 of Colossians 1. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel. We wouldn't know anything about
this hope if God the Holy Spirit hadn't revealed it in power to
us. Having been born again, given
eyes to see and ears to hear, which we do not naturally have,
Because without this revelation by the Holy Spirit, our hope
is in anything but Christ. It's in ourselves, it's in our
church, it's in our family, in our heritage, in our works. This
is gospel hope and it's hope in the grace of God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. God is called the God of hope
because of this. He's given us a good hope through
grace. It's a sure hope that God will not impute sin to my
account, to my charge. Why? Because he's imputed it
to Christ. How can I have such a hope? That
God, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner. And yet the Bible says, according
to God's word, that to his elect people, That's what it says.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. David said, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. David had iniquity,
but God didn't charge it to him. Now how can I have such a hope
like that? I'll tell you how. It's because
God said it. That all who trust Christ, all
who rest in his righteousness alone, He does not charge with
sin. That's my hope. It's the hope
of righteousness by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
a sure hope. It's a sure hope that God has
imputed righteousness to me in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
for we wait through the spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. It's a sure hope of his mercy
in Christ, where as my surety and substitute, Christ has satisfied
justice against me and has taken my place and died for my sins. I'm redeemed by the blood of
Christ. What can wash away my sins? Here's my hope. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Here's my hope. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Where are you looking for your
hope? What's the foundation of your hope? Behold, the eye of
the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his
mercy. And how do you hope in his mercy?
You go to the mercy seat. And who's the mercy seat? Christ
is, the Lord my righteousness. Brother Mark read in Psalm 130,
let Israel hope in the Lord. That's spiritual Israel. For
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
Look over at 1 John chapter 3. We studied this a few weeks back,
but listen to what it says here. 1 John 3. Look at verse 4. It says, whosoever committeth
sin, 1 John 3, whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law, verse 5. And you know that He, Christ,
was manifested, that He came to earth, walked this earth in
obedience unto death, manifested, to do what? To take away our
sins. And how did He do it? By His
obedience unto death as the surety and substitute of His people.
And He says, for in Him and in Him, as we stand in Christ, there's
no sin. God looks upon us as sinlessly
perfect, not in ourselves now, not in some kind of new nature,
but in Christ. In Christ. And that is so true,
and that is such a realized hope already in Christ and what He
did on the cross in His death, burial and resurrection, that
we can have confidence before God at the judgment. But look
up at verse 3. And every man that hath this
hope, this hope of salvation, righteousness, forgiveness, eternal
life and glory, based on Christ and what he accomplished, hath
this hope in him purifieth himself even as Christ is pure. You see
that? This hope. Well, here's the third
thing. The believer's hope is in heaven. Look back at Colossians 1.5.
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." It's in heaven. You say, what does that mean?
Well, too many who claim to be Christian put their hope not
really in Christ. They put their hope in themselves,
and I mentioned this earlier. Their hope is in their faith,
their believing. Well, listen, I thank God for
God-given faith, and I'm a believer. But my hope is not in my faith,
not in my believing. Because you see, I still have
struggles. Would it amaze you to find out
that I still have struggles in that area? There are times I
complain, murmur. There are times I look around
and I think, have I gone crazy? Doubt. That's the sin that so
easily besets us. Hebrews chapter 12. And it's a struggle within. It's
a warfare. The flesh and the spirit. And
the remedy is what? Well, I'll just muster up enough
positive thinking. Or I'll just wish, wish, wish.
Or I'll just do more for the Lord. Is that the remedy? What
does he say in Hebrews 12 too? Looking unto Jesus, the author
the beginner, and the finisher, the completer of our faith. Some, they have hope in their
decision. I've been to funerals where people
will talk about somebody who made a decision when they were
12 or 13 or 14 and probably never darkened the door of even the
church they call a Christian church. But I know they're in
heaven because they made a decision for Jesus. Is that your hope? Well, I'll tell you what, that's
the hope of the hypocrite. Some, as I said, they have hope
in their baptism, some in their perseverance. There are people
who call themselves Christian. They think, well, you can be
saved one day, lost the next by sinning. Well, their hope
is in their perseverance. My hope is not in my perseverance.
My hope is in Christ who preserves me. There works, but not in Christ. You know those false preachers
who stood before the Lord in Matthew 7, 21 through 23? They had hope. Their hope was
based upon they preached in His name. They had done many wonderful
works and cast out demons. Is that your hope? The real issue of gospel hope
is this. Who is Jesus Christ? What did
he accomplish in his sojourn here on earth, in his death,
burial, and resurrection? Where is he now? Well, he's in
heaven as God-man. And that's where our hope is.
It's in Christ and Christ is in heaven ever living to do what?
Make intercession for his people. And he says here, our hope is
laid up. It's reserved. It's in store. It cannot be taken away because
you know what? It's not reserved by you. You didn't make this reservation.
God made this reservation before the foundation of the world. And the price of admission was
the blood of Jesus Christ. It's kept in store. It cannot
be taken away. Turn over to 1 Peter 1. Listen
to this. 1 Peter 1. Verse 2. This is who Peter's
writing to here. Elect. That's the chosen of God. 1 Peter 1 and verse 2. Elect according
to the foreknowledge. That's the foreordination of
God. That's not God looking down through
a crystal ball or a telescope. That's the foreordination of
God. Elect, according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ that's sprinkled
on the conscience. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively or a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead." See, we don't serve a dead Savior. He's a living
Savior. He rose from the dead because
He established righteousness. Our hope is a living hope. It's
not in a dead Buddha or a dead Mohammed or a dead Confucius
or a dead Armenian God. If you don't know what that is,
ask me sometime. It's in the Living Lord, Jesus
Christ from the dead. Verse 4, now listen, here's our
hope. To an inheritance incorruptible. Now, if it was conditioned on
us or reserved in us, we could corrupt it. Yeah. But, it cannot
be corrupted. And it's undefiled. And it fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept, preserved
by the power of God through faith unto salvation. ready to be revealed
in the last time. That's our hope. It's in Christ. Our hope, first of all, is in
Christ, our surety, substitute and redeemer. As Peter wrote,
it's the hope of resurrection, living hope. It's the hope, a
sure hope, of salvation and all of its glory. It's the hope that
He stands for us in heaven As our forerunner, turn to Hebrews
chapter 6. Listen to this, verse 17. He's
talking about this hope that we have in Christ, verse 17 of
Hebrews chapter 6. We're in God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise. Now who are the heirs of promise?
Believers, sinners saved by grace. The immutability of his counsel,
God's wise counsel cannot change. Confirmed it by an oath, God
has engaged his honor, his glory, sworn by himself that these things
will come about. Verse 18, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, a strong hope. Who have fled for refuge
to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us, that's Christ.
Verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast. You see all this language? There's
no language of iffiness here or conditionalism here. This
is gospel hope. He says, and which entereth into
that within the veil. Now who's that? That's Christ.
Verse 20, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made and high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Christ is our hope as our forerunner. He entered into the holiest.
And that applies to everything that we do that pleases God.
Even our prayers. We have a great high priest who's
passed through into the heavens. Our approach unto God, we have
boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Our hope
in Him. And then, our hope is in Christ
as our intercessor. Our intercessor. Turn to Romans
8. Where is he now? He's in heaven
at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to make intercession
for us. Romans 8, verse 33. Well, read
verse 31. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? How can I know God is for me? If I'm in Christ,
He's for me. How do you know? Verse 32. He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
that is all who God chose, all whom Christ redeemed, all who
are justified in him, all who have been brought to faith, how
shall he not with him also freely, unconditionally give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? Listen to this. It is Christ
that died, Yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Pleading our cause, he's our
intercessor. And then lastly, he's our hope,
in that he's our rescuer. One more, and I'll just read
you this verse, 1 Corinthians 15. What I mean by he's our rescuer,
he's coming back again. And He's going to rescue us from
this sinful world. He's going to raise us. We'll
either be on earth when He comes back, and we'll be caught up
to go with Him, or we'll die and go to be with Him and come
back with Him. Either way, we're going to be rescued. Listen to
what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, 19. He said, If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, We are of all men most miserable."
If this is it, if our best life is now, we are of all men most miserable.
Verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the
first fruits of them that slept. He's the forerunner. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
an amazing hope.