him. And I love the line. And I think that this is something
any one who believes on Christ would say, when blessed with
a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would appear. But prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. What a glorious Savior we have. I've entitled this message, In
Hope. In Hope. Now I generally do not
preach topically. By that I mean a topic in the
scripture and then looking at it systematically throughout
the scripture to see what the Bible has to say about it because
the Bible is not topical. The Bible gives stories, they
give passages of scripture, and I just generally do not preach
in a topical way. But I'm going to out of this
verse, because in this verse of scripture, verse two, I see
five topics that I wanna deal with for the next five weeks.
Number one, in hope. Number two, eternal life. Number three, which God that
cannot lie. Did you know our salvation is
predicated in that statement? God cannot lie. And then I'd like to bring a
message on God's promise, His promise. And then I want to bring
a message on before the world began. And we're going to look
at those subjects topically from what the scripture has to say
about these things. These are all fundamental foundational
gospel truths. And tonight I want to talk about
in hope, in hope, hope. I turned 65 this week and in
my 65 years, The worst experience of my life
personally was a time of the feeling of hopelessness, despair. I've told you about this before,
but when I was on chemotherapy, kind of juggling my medications.
And all of a sudden I became so depressed and hopeless. I didn't, I really didn't believe
it was ever going to get any better. And I even thought of
suicide during that time because it's not going to get better.
I can deal with physical pain better than I can hopelessness.
Because physical pain, you have a hope it's going to be over.
And I've had a lot of physical pain. I've had multiple surgeries.
But you have some kind of hope that it's going to get better.
But when you feel hopeless and in despair, some medication,
as I said, that I self-decided to switch something over, and
it caused that. That was one of the causes of
it. I went to the doctor, and I said, this is not me. I'm not
used to it. And I told him about my hopelessness.
He said, well, have you done anything with your medications?
Yep. I had, and he said, stop it and go back to what you were
doing. And within two days, I was back to normal. And that is a
reminder to us that we're physical beings as well as emotional beings,
and if one chemical gets out of whack, it can turn us all
into a basket case. And that's what happened, but
I remember how deeply troubling it was to have that feeling of
hopelessness. And I even told Lynn, I don't
want to drive, because if I drive, I'll drive into a telephone pole. And I couldn't even tell you
why I felt so hopeless and despair. I actually was questioning the
existence of God. And when I was preaching, I was
preaching questioning the existence of God or whether or not I knew
him in the first place. That was a very difficult time.
It's the most difficult thing I've experienced in my life. Hopelessness. But what a blessed thing hope
is. As long as it's a well-grounded
hope. Paul speaks of the hope of eternal
life. Now what is hope? We all use
the word all the time. What does the Bible tell us that
hope is? Now would you turn with me to
Romans chapter 8? Romans chapter 8, verse 24. For we are saved by hope. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? Now, I'm not saved by my feeling of hope. I'm saved
by the object of my hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer
has a hope in him. We're saved by hope. But look what it says next. But
hope that is seen is not Hope, if it's something you can see.
Here's why I have hope, because of this thing I see. You know,
that's what most people base their assurance on. I must be
saved because I'm this way, or I'm that way, or I've stopped
being this way, and I've started being that way. That's something
I can see. But what does the scripture say?
This is God's word. Hope that is seen is what? Not
hope. Now, get that in your mind. If your hope is in something
you see, it's not scriptural hope. Understand that. Hope that is seen is not hope
for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? If you see it,
there's nothing to hope for. But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. What is my hope? Jesus Christ. I've never seen him physically, but I've seen him in his word. I've seen him as he's appeared
to me in the gospel. Now, I can't tell you what he
looks like physically. I've never seen him. But I have
a hope in him. And let me tell you what this
hope consists of. Because of him. Because of who
he is. He's the God man. I was thinking about God becoming
a flesh. What an amazing thing that is.
God left heaven and became a man. Why did he do that? He did that to save his people. Now, the church. I was thinking
about this, Christ is God's gift to the church, but more than
that, the church is God's gift to Christ. And he came to save
his church. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. That was the
announcement of the angel as to why he came. Now, here is
what this hope that I can't see consists of because of what he
did for me. I have a hope that when I stand before God on judgment
day, I'm gonna do so with boldness and joy and assurance, and here's
why. Herein, we can have boldness
on the day of judgment, 1 John 4, 17 says, because as he is,
so are we. in this world. And that's not
going to change on Judgment Day. On Judgment Day, as He is, so
am I. That's where that confidence
comes from. It's called justification. You see, Jesus Christ made a
way for God to be just and justify me. And now I stand before God
because of what Christ did on my behalf. He put away my sin
and He gave me His righteousness to be my own personal righteousness. And because of that, I stand
before God as one who has never sinned, one who has obeyed God
perfectly, one who has nothing to feel guilty about. What a
hope! Now, can you see that hope? No,
I can't see it. I can't look at me and say, yep,
I fit the bill. I can't see that hope. When I
see myself, I see sin, sinfulness. That's what I see right now while
I'm talking to you. But the hope I have is that I
stand before God actually, truly, really as one having never sinned
with the very perfect righteousness of Christ. What a hope. What
a hope. I can't see it. If I could, It
wouldn't be hope, would it? Paul said, hope that is seen
is not hope. It wouldn't be hope. But I have a hope of perfect
justification before God. Secondly, I have a hope that
everything between now and then on judgment day is working together
for my good and his glory, no matter what it is. Because the
Bible says, and we know that all things work together for
good. To them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. Now, can I see that?
No. No. I can't see that. I can't say, yeah, that I, you
know, when, when, uh, when something good happens, somebody says,
well, that was really providential. Well, it's all providential.
It's all providential. Everything's providential. And
can I see how God's using that? No, I can't. Do I believe it?
Yes, I do. That is the hope every believer possesses. Now, one
of the titles God gives himself is the God of hope. Aren't you thankful he gave himself
that title for us? The God of hope. What a name for God, the living
God, the holy God, the God of hope. Romans 15, 13 says, now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. bound in hope through the power
of the Holy Ghost. It is God, the Holy Ghost, who
causes the believer to abound in hope. He speaks of the hope
of eternal life. Now, you and I both know that's
not just talking about the longevity of that life. That's talking
about the quality of that life, the life of God in the soul,
eternally, the hope of eternal life. In 1st Timothy chapter
1 verse 1, Paul wrote to Timothy and he called the Lord Jesus
Christ our hope. He Himself is our hope. I think of Paul's words in 1st
Corinthians chapter 13 verse 13. And now abideth faith, hope,
and charity. Now, if you're a believer, this
is what you have. This is what abides. Hope and charity. Faith, you believe God. You believe
what God says in his word. You believe that Jesus Christ
is the only righteousness you have and you're relying and trusting
him only. It's called faith. Hope, you have a hope that you're
going to be accepted on judgment day for Christ's sake. You have
a hope that all your sins are forgiven for Christ's sake. You
have a hope that it's going to be well with you on judgment
day because it's going to be well with the righteous. You
have that hope and you have charity. You love God. Oh, you don't feel
like you love him the way you ought to. I realize that, but
you do love him. You love him as he is. You love him as he's
revealed in his word. You love all of his most excellent
attributes. You love who he is and you love
his people. If somebody loves the Lord Jesus
Christ, you love that person. You're their fan. And you love
men. You want them to be saved. You
want them to hear the gospel of God's grace. Now abideth faith,
hope, and charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
charity, and here's why. In heaven, faith will be turned
into sight. It will be no more. Hope will
be turned into experience. Charity will be forever. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4 tells
us there is one hope. One hope. Don't miss that. One hope. Not two or three, but
one. Every believer, without exception,
has the precise same hope. And there's no variation. It's
just this one hope. Our hope is found in the words
of Paul in Romans chapter 8, verse 34, when he said, Who is
he that condemneth? And that's a powerful challenge. Try to condemn me. Can the devil
condemn me? Can my own conscience condemn
me? Can you condemn me? I know what he's done. Can you
condemn me? No! Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. That's it. That's my hope. That's my only hope. That's the
hope I rejoice. That's your hope. That's the
hope of every child of God. Our hope is found in these glorious
words, it is finished. I can feel the tension removed
from my body when I think of that. It is finished. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself. purged our sins and what gives
me such hope about that means is they were purged without my
participation. He did it all. He by Himself
purged our sins. My hope is found in now unto
Him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before His presence with exceeding joy. My hope is in what Paul said
to the Corinthians, of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and holiness
and redemption. My hope is what he said to the
Colossians in Colossians chapter two, verse 10, you are complete. nothing lacking, absolutely perfect
before God, you are complete in Him. My hope is that there's
therefore now, and never will be, there's therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, no condemnation. Now you'll notice when I was
trying to express this hope that I have it was with nothing but
quotations from the scriptures. Romans chapter 15 verse 4, for
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through patience and expectation and comfort of
the scriptures might have hope. Now hope that doesn't come from
the scriptures is not a good hope. There was a lady that came to
church here for quite a number of years. And her mother died. And I went to the funeral. I
wasn't preaching it. There was someone else preaching
it, her mother's pastor. And the woman said to me, she
said, do you hear those birds singing? And I wasn't listening. I thought, OK. She goes, birds
don't sing in November. This tells me that my mother's
in heaven. And I thought, Didn't say anything, you know, but what
kind of hope is that? You hear some bird singing and
you think your mother's in heaven because of that? You better have
a better hope than that. The hope must be founded in the
scripture. If I can't give a scriptural
reason for my hope, it's not a good hope. Now would you turn
with me to 1 Peter chapter three. 1 Peter chapter three. Verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts. How do you do that? Regard Him
as holy. That's how you sanctify God in
your heart. You regard Him as holy and you
look to Christ alone. Now that is sanctifying God in
your heart. You're regarding him as holy when you look nowhere
but Jesus Christ as everything in your salvation. You do that,
you're regarding God as holy. You look anywhere else, you're
diminishing God's glory. Well, you can't diminish it and
I can't diminish it. Thank God for that. His glory
is safe and secure because he keeps it that way. But when someone
says something contrary to the gospel, it is an attempt to rob
God of His glory. So sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts. This is something that's done
in the heart. Somebody says, I'm sanctifying God. Well, if
you're talking about it, no, you're not. This is something
that's done in the heart before God. Your heart thoughts of God,
your heart understanding of who He is. Look what he says next.
And be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh
you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness and fear.
Now don't miss this, give every man that asks you. Now that tells me that if I'm
coming up to people and grabbing them by the collar and trying
to, no, every man that asks you, a reason for the hope that's
in you. And you know if somebody comes
up and asks you the reason for the hope that's in you, it'll
be because of your conduct. It'll be because of the way you
treat them. It'll be because of the way you respond to adversity
and trial. It'll be because of your non-judgmental
and gracious attitude. Now, that's important. If you're
treating somebody in a way that glorifies God, they're going
to end up asking you the reason for the hope that's in you because
you're going to, you're going, there's gonna be something about
you that they see that's gonna make them ask you. May God give
us the grace to be, treat people in such a way that they ask us,
what's the reason for the hope that's in you? Now that, he said,
ask. But what does he say? Let's consider
this. Always be ready to give an answer
to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's in you with
meekness. Not some kind of cocksure, arrogant
attitude. Oh, do so with humility. Do so
with brokenness. In meekness and in fear, the
fear of God. Now we see quite a bit about
this attitude before we get into this thing of giving the reason
for the hope that's in you. You're somebody who in your heart
regards God as holy. You sanctify him in your heart.
That's something that only a believer does. And you're to be ready
to give every man that asks you a reason for the hope that's
in you with meekness and with fear. Now, I want to do that,
don't you? I want to have that kind of attitude. I want to treat
somebody in such a way that they're asking me. I'm not real sure
that that's ever happened with me. I want it to, and I pray
by the grace of God it will. But if somebody asks me, what's
the reason for the hope that's in you? That hope, now I've already stated,
from the scriptures, the hope of blamelessness, the hope of
sinlessness on judgment day, the hope that everything is working
together for my good. Now the hope I have, first thing
I want to say about it, the hope I have comes to me where I am,
not where I should be. The hope I have doesn't come
to me because of something that I have done and God is responding
to me. Remember what the Good Samaritan
did with the man in the ditch, half dead? He came to him where he was.
And that's what I need the Lord to do for me. I need for him
to come to me where I am. I know where I ought to be, but
I need him to come to me where I am. My hope is called by Paul in
2 Thessalonians 2.16, a good hope through grace. Now, the reason for my hope is
the grace of God. Let me repeat that. The reason
for my hope is the grace of God. It begins, is carried on, and
ends with the grace of God. Paul said to the Philippians,
being confident of this very thing, that he that hath begun
a good work in you, you see, he came to you where you were
and he begun it. It is all of grace. Will perform
it. into the day of Jesus Christ. Now, the reason for my hope is
that before time began, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as
my surety before God and took complete responsibility for my
salvation. He said what Judah said of Benjamin,
I will be surety for him. Of mine hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ said with regard to me. I'll be surety
for him. And he said this personally with
regard to every one of God's elect. I'll be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. I take full responsibility for
him. And I want you to think about
this. When Christ became surety for me, God didn't look to me for salvation.
He looked to his son, Jesus Christ, for my salvation. All together. I hope it's a good hope, the
hope that I have, It must honor all of God's attributes. Now this is very important. If
the hope that I have runs contrary to any of God's attributes, it's
not a good hope. Now let me give you a real simple
illustration of what I'm saying. Most folks believe that Jesus
Christ died for all men, everybody without exception, Judas as well
as Peter. He died for all men, made salvation
possible for all men, But now it's up to what you do to make
what He did work for you. You've got to come up with the
goods. You've got to come up with the faith. You've got to make a decision.
Now that belief is a denial of the attribute of God's justice.
To think that he could die for somebody and they go to hell
anyway because you didn't do something even though your sins
were paid for, that's a denial of God's justice. It's a denial
of who God is. Now if my hope, the hope I have
of being saved has it violates any of the attributes of God,
it's not a good hope. It's a false hope. It's not a
saving hope. You see, my hope is that He made
a way to be just. absolutely just. His justice
is honored and yet justify me when I know in and of myself
I'm unjust. He made a way to be just and
justify the ungodly. Now that's my hope. My hope is
found right there. Righteousness and peace have
kissed one another. Mercy and truth have met together. All that happened in the cross.
Now the cross magnifies every one of God's attributes. Here's
my hope. I've quoted this already once,
but let me quote it again. Now unto him that is able, all
my hope is in his ability. Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling and present you faultless before his presence
with exceeding joy. And because of that, I'm waiting
for the hope of righteousness by faith. And this hope is so
sure that he is, the hope we have is so sure that the writer
to the Hebrew said, it's an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast,
which enters into that which within the veil where the forerunner
is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. Now what this tells me is my
hope as an anchor for my soul, Christ Jesus, is already within
the veil. Paul said, the hope laid up for
you in heaven. You see, my hope is Jesus Christ.
He's already in God's presence, and I'm accepted in him, and
I'm better than sure for heaven as if I'm already there. I'm
already there in my hope. He is within the veil. This is what the writer to the
Hebrews called a better hope. I love what Peter said. A lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now that
word living is living. A living hope. How? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now all my hope is not only in
his death. It wouldn't be in his death if
there wasn't a resurrection. He's resurrected from the dead.
God accepted what he did. He accepted me in him. What a
living hope. Now I would like to conclude
by turning to the book of Lamentations, right after the book of Jeremiah.
Lamentations. Now this little book You can
read this book and read every word in it as the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we can do that in
the Psalms, we can do that with lamentations too. And let me
show you in the very first of this book how this is with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12. Well, let's begin in verse 11, the
last phrase. See, O Lord, and consider For
I am become vile." Now the Lord Jesus never sinned. Let me repeat that very strongly.
The Lord Jesus never sinned. Even when he was made sin, his
person never sinned. But he's the only one who could
say, I became vile. Me and you were born vile. when he was made sin. This is
what he's talking about. Let's go on reading. Is it nothing
to you? all ye that pass by behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done
unto me wherewith the lord hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger from above hath he sent fire into my bones this
is him speaking from the cross and it prevails against him he
has spread a net for my feet he hath turned me back he hath
made me desolate and faint all the day The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hand." Now that's how truly my sin became his sin.
He didn't say the yoke of Todd's transgressions. He said the yoke
of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They're wreathed
and come upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall.
The Lord hath delivered me into their hands for which I'm not
able to rise up. The Lord hath trodden underfoot.
I mean, that is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go
to chapter three. This is Christ speaking from
the cross. Verse one, I am the man that
has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Who could say that but Christ?
Well, I'm really afflicted. Well, I feel bad about your affliction,
but it was nothing like this. He is the man that hath seen
affliction by the rod of his wrath. He's led me and brought
me into darkness, but not into light. You remember when the
sun was put out while he was on the cross? Surely against
me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day, my flesh and my skin hath he made old. He hath
broken my bones, he hath builded against me, encompassed me with
gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places
as they to be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that
I can't get out, he hath made my chain heavy. And when I cry
and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways
with hewn stone. He hath made my path crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying
in wait and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside
my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He
hath bent his bow and set his mark for the arrow. He hath caused
the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision
to all my people, and their song all the day. He hath filled me
with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones.
He hath covered me with ashes. Thou hast removed my soul afar
off from peace. I forget prosperity, and I said,
my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Now, Jeremiah is saying this,
and I'm sure he felt all this, but this is the Lord Jesus speaking
primarily. I said, my strength and my hope
is perished from the Lord, remembering mine affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath him still in remembrance
and is humbled in me. This I recall the mind, I remember
something. Therefore have I hope. Would you recall the mind? It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They're new. Every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope. There's the hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that sinketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation. of the Lord. I have a hope that tomorrow morning
the sun will rise. I have a confident expectation
of it. Why do you know? Have you seen
it? Well, I've seen what's done in the past. No, I haven't seen
this, but I have a hope that it will because I know it will. I'm just confident that unless
the Lord comes back first, I have a confident expectation that
the sun will rise tomorrow. And I have a confident expectation
in him. This hope. This is the one reason
we're not consumed. His compassions. fail not." Do
you know they never become cold? They never become angry? His
compassions fail not. They're always new. I love the
way the scripture calls Christ's death on the cross the new and
living way. Freshly slaughtered. So poignant
to the Father all the time. His mercies. The gospel's news,
isn't it? That's how we hear it as news.
If I'm not hearing his news, I'm not hearing the gospel period.
I'm listening for something else. It's new. His compassion fail
not, they're new. Every morning great is thy faithfulness. I thought of that scripture in
2 Timothy 2. If we believe not, he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. And if I'm a believer, I'm united
to him eternally. And for him to deny me would
be for him to deny himself. And that cannot be. Great is thy faithfulness. We say with Paul, because we
Have such hope. He said this, seeing we have
such hope. Oh, what a hope. Seeing we have
such hope. We use great plainness of speech. We don't try to take the edge
off this hope or try to explain it away. Oh, what a hope it is. We use great plainness of speech,
the hope of the gospel. We are waiting. with confident
expectation on eternal life. I have confident expectation
that I'm going to be perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. I'm gonna be just like him and
I'm waiting until I see it and it will no longer be a hope but
in my experience. Lord, we thank you for the hope
that we have in the gospel of your son. Lord, you've told us
in your word that hope that's seen is not hope. And Lord, we
can't see how we stand absolutely just before you. And we can't
see how everything's working together for our good and your
glory. But Lord, we believe that we
do stand sinless before you, clothed in his righteousness
and merits. And we believe that Everything,
everything is working together for our good and your glory. Lord, truly, our hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and we dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Lord, enable us to hope in your
son. In his name we pray, amen. Drew,
come lead us in closing.