Take your Bibles and turn with
me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, a passage that we're all
familiar with. We've read it many, many times. I wanna look at just one verse
in that passage, the first verse, and I'm going to look at quite
a few scriptures tonight, so I won't ask you to turn to them
all for the sake of time, but I always find that for me standing
up here trying to explain things versus reading the scriptures,
that just doesn't do it. My opinions and my thoughts,
but the scriptures are true, and so I will read quite a few
scriptures. In chapter 40 of Isaiah, the
Lord says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. There is no people on this whole
earth that needs greater comfort than God's people. And I'm not talking about physical
comfort, because we all go through the same physical strife and
struggles that the rest of the world goes through. But this
is talking about spiritual, spiritual comfort. And if it wasn't that
we needed comfort, the Holy Spirit here wouldn't say comfort, my
people. The Holy Spirit instructs God's
pastors to comfort God's sheep. And why is that? Why do we, as
believers, needs special comfort? Well, you know the answer to
that. There dwells within us sin, although we've been given
a new heart in Christ Jesus and a new spirit. That indwelling
sin is still there, and it grieves us. We can't do the things we
would. That's what Paul says in chapter
7. We cannot do the things we would. We're sinful, we grieve
over it. We would like to be like Christ,
but we know as far as this whole world goes and this life, that's
not gonna happen until death. And then there's also, we look
around us on the outside world, and all we see is sin. That grieves
us. That grieves us. We see what's
going on in our country today, and we're not gonna go into it,
but the sin that's going on grieves us. And then we see our relatives
and friends, our children, brothers, sisters, family, who seem to
have no care for the gospel or their eternal souls. And there
is more grief in that. We need comfort. And then, of
course, we see Judgment Day coming and that awful, that awful day. that we don't have an understanding.
This sin that lies within us is so deep, so ingrained, that
we don't see it for what it is, but in judgment day, we will. And we grieve, we grieve over
that for our families, for our friends, for our neighbors, and
all people. The Apostle Paul, in his writings,
never mentioned his family, his immediate family, except for, I believe, just in
one place. He said, I have continual sorrow. Here's that grieving. Here's
the believer's grieving. He says, I have continual sorrow
in my heart for my kinsmen according to the flesh. Who are Israelites? He was talking about his immediate
family. and from then on we never read a thing in scripture about
any of them ever coming to Christ. I don't know, I don't speculate
and say they did or didn't, but that's the only time Paul talked
about it, and he was grieved. He says, oh wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So the
believer grieves. Now this grieving of the spirit
is not so with lost men. of believers. Psalm 73.3 says
this, David says, King David says, for I was envious at the
foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Have we all not
been that way? How did they get along so well?
And you're envious. That's human nature. Sadly to
say, it's sin, but it's human nature. He says, I saw the prosperity
of the wicked, for there are no bands in their death. They
weren't concerned about it, but their strength is firm. They
just die like any other man, no concern for heaven. Of course,
that's because they don't have any knowledge of what's about
to come, but they have no concern. He says, they are not in trouble
as other men, Neither are they plagued like other men. They're
not plagued like believers in this spiritual warfare that we
go through. So tonight, in my message, in
this comforting my people, I want to talk about hope. A little
four-letter word called hope. In the New Testament, the word
is used 61 times. It's not insignificant. is put
there by the Holy Spirit for a reason, to teach us something.
Now that word, hope, what it means is anticipate with pleasure. The gospel hope is unlike any
other hope of this world. This world's hope is not lasting. You know, I was thinking as I
was preparing this message, has cancer, man or woman has cancer,
and they go in the hospital, they have some hope of being
cured. But it's not a lasting hope.
They don't know. They have no idea. There's no
assurance there. Not so with gospel hope. It is everlasting. And by everlasting,
I mean till we die. That hope is always there. Why? Because of the promises that
we have in the scriptures, and we're gonna talk about that here
in just a minute. The hope of the gospel and the promises are
based upon sure promises. I will, God says, I shall. Those are sure promises for God's
people. First Peter chapter one verse
three says this. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. That word lively hope there means
it's alive. It's real. It's absolutely real. It's a real hope. It's not a
figment of imagination, it is a real hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This hope in our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ is communicated to us through faith in him and
belief of the truth. Hebrews 11 one says this, now
faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Faith is a substance that means
support. That word substance means support. That hope is held up by faith. We believe God has given us the
blessing and grace to believe the gospel, and that hope that
we have in Christ is held up by that faith. Romans 15.4 says
this, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have faith. All our hope is in Jesus Christ,
but that hope in Jesus Christ is revealed in his word through
the preaching of the gospel. Without the preaching of the
gospel, there is no faith, there is no hope. So then, the hope
that we have in Christ is not fixed upon our good works, We
know that, not of works lest any man should boast. It's not
in doctrine. We can believe the five points
of Calvin right to the T, but it's not gonna save you. It's
not gonna give you hope. Hope is in a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, belonging to a church, belonging to Katie Baxter's church.
There's no reason to hope. All our expectation of hope is
wrapped up in Christ Jesus himself. No hope without him. John 17 three says, this is life
eternal. that they might know thee. This
is what life is. You wanna know what life eternal
is? That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Knowing God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit is eternal life. There's not knowing about
God. There's a lot of people that know about God. God's written
his knowledge on every man's heart in this world. There's no such thing as an atheist. As Scott used to say, what they
really mean, the scripture says, the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Scott used to say, what he's
really meaning is, there is no God for me. And that's true. Every man has this within himself. It's like a DNA, if you want
to call it that. It's born in all of us that we
know there is a God. And this, when it says this is
life eternal and ties it to the only true God in Jesus Christ,
this destroys 100% of every religion in this world. There is no compromise
with any religion apart from what's taught in these scriptures.
That's a fact. They can tout all they want to,
this man that was called Muhammad. They can tout Buddha. They can tout the Pope. But there's no truth in any of
them. It is tied up in the only true
God, Jehovah Himself, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Psalm 71.5 says this. King David says, for thou art
my hope. My hope's not in the doctrine,
as I said. It's in Christ Jesus. For thou
art my hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth. Psalms 39, seven. And now, Lord,
what wait I for? Lord, what am I waiting for?
King David says, my hope is in thee. My comfort, my comfort
is in the hope of the resurrection by Jesus Christ. Now, what are
the things that we hope for? What are the things that we hope
for? Well, first off, scripture says
it's hope of eternal life. with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to notice how
I worded that. It's not hope of eternal life. That's what false religion talks
about. Do you want to go to heaven?
Do you want to go to heaven? But if Christ is not in that
heaven, it is not eternal life. Hope, our hope is fixed on Christ. Our hope is fixed on living with
him forever. I want to live where he lives. I want to see him. And you, the
believer, that's what you want too. You want to see this man. You want to live with this man
who is perfectly righteous. That's all your hope. That's
all our hope. Titus 1.1 says this, Paul, a
servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Eternal life
has been promised, and we have hope In that promise, where do
we find that promise? It's written in our scriptures.
From Genesis to Revelation, we read the promises of God. Oh,
brethren, I'll tell you what, when I think about, when I think
about the greatness of this God that he would condescend down
to men of low estate, sinners, that he would take upon himself
flesh and come down here and die for ungodly, God-hating men. What mercy! O Lord, I pray and
I ask. Lord, I don't see that mercy
as I ought. One day I will, and one day we
all will. But right now I don't. But Lord,
open my eyes that I might see these things, that I might worship
you with a right heart. Romans 2.7 says this. to them
who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and
honor and immortality in eternal life. We're looking for, our
comfort is in hope of eternal life with Christ our Lord. Without him, I wouldn't even want to go so
far to say this, but it wouldn't, without Christ in eternal life,
it just, it wouldn't be much worse, better than this old earth.
He is the object of our hope. And then the next point, our
hope is for complete righteousness. We want to be perfectly We sing
that song, Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, he says. Those were his direct words. For they shall be filled. There's a promise. Eternal life
is coming to you who believe. First John 3.2 says this. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Now, I like that, now. Right now, are we the sons of
God? And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. The scripture tells us somewhat,
but we don't see it, the fullness of it. But we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him. for we shall see him
as he is, perfectly righteous. Like him, we'll be like him. Is it not a desire tonight for
all you who believe that to be like Christ, to be free from
this body of sin, be free from these struggles that we have
day to day? One day we're up on the mountain,
next day we're down in the valley. One day we've got some zeal,
the next day we're inconsistent. Oh, what a struggle. But there's
comfort, you see. Beyond that, there's promises
of comfort for you who believe. Galatians 5.5 says this, for
we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. We wait. We've got a long way
to go in this life. Some of us are shorter in life
than others. Some of us live to a ripe old
age, but the scripture says we are to wait. We wait for that
righteousness that he's gonna bring fully in. One day it's
coming, and it's beyond comprehension what it's gonna be, but we know
it's gonna be like him, and he is perfectly righteous. And then we have a hope of being
totally free from sin. Won't that be a blessing? No
more sorrow, no more pain, no more words, no more bad thoughts. No, the Lord says that we're
gonna give account, men are gonna give account of every useless
word, every misspoken word. It's a pretty severe judgment.
But we're gonna overcome that through Christ. We're gonna be
perfectly righteous. Nothing coming out of this mouth
any longer but praise and glory to the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Hebrews 9.28 says this, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time, how? Without sin unto salvation. We're gonna be perfect, no more
sin. I can't imagine, brethren. I
look at myself, and quite honestly, I wonder sometimes if I know
anything at all, if I believe anything at all. It's just like my spirit goes
dead, like God's left me. And other times I'd come up and
I rejoice. But you know what? I will never
leave you or forsake you, he said, and he will in those low
periods of life. He's not gonna leave us, oh no. His glory and his honor, his
scripture says, He counts his word above his very name. What
he says in this book, he is gonna accomplish and he's gonna do. In Romans 8 too, he says, for
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. We haven't realized that
fully now. We're still under bondage. not
as to punishment, not as justice. Justice has been served through
Christ Jesus our Lord. But there's still that old nature
that dwells under this man that's contrary to everything that God
has given us as believers. But then, in glory, the fullness,
the fullness of being free from sin is gonna be fully realized,
and what a blessing, brothers and sisters, that's gonna be.
So as I wind this down, I didn't wanna be too long tonight.
Psalm 31, 24 says this, be of good courage. This is what the
preachers, the pastors are to tell God's people. Comfort me,
comfort me. Be of good courage, this is what
the Lord says. This is what the Holy Spirit
says. And make no mistake about it, the Holy Spirit, like the
other two of the Trinity, the Father and the Son, the Holy
Spirit is a person unto himself. It's not some magical like the
world thinks about as a spirit, this is literally the third person
of the Trinity. And he says, be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the
Lord. Let us hope in the Lord. In spite of all that we are tonight,
let's look to him. When I look inside this heart,
When I look inside my heart, I see nothing but deadness. I
mean in the old man, there's nothing but deadness. I look
in there for feelings and affections and they just aren't there. My
affections are just, I can't depend on my affections and what
I think. I can't trust them because of
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
That is the old man. Lamentations 326 says this. It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Quietly wait and both hope. Keep
quiet, just be quiet and wait on the Lord. Pray, pray. Don't go around complaining to
everybody this is happening, that happened. Go into the closet
and pray to the Lord and tell Him your troubles. Quietly wait
and then sit back and wait for Him. We have a lot of things
we pray for. I'm thinking about our children,
our family, we pray for them. Wait on the Lord. Proverbs 13,
12 says this, hope deferred maketh the heart sick. That's where
we are now. We grieve. The heart grieves
over this. We see the hope, but it's been
deferred, has it not? But when the desire cometh, when
your hope actually appears, when Christ comes, it is the tree
of life. There's hope. There's real hope. Right now, we've grown in our
spirit. That's our lot in this life.
It's gonna happen until we die. It's gonna happen until we die.
But right now, we've grown in our spirit, but when our hope
becomes reality upon our death, then incomprehensible joy is
going to be realized. We're gonna look back and say,
oh, why did I doubt? Why did I doubt? Second Corinthians
5.2, the Apostle Paul says this, for in this we groan, we groan
in the spirit, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
which is from heaven. And that's our hope. That's your
hope. That's my hope. That's the only
hope we have. If we try to hope in this world
and the things of this life, we're going to be disappointed
because simply the hope of this life disappears. It's gone. Our hope today of certain things
is going to be gone tomorrow. In the next six months, you won't
even remember it. But this hope, hoping the Lord
Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead and to live eternally
with him is a lifelong hope. So, in closing, summing up our
hope, let me read you Romans 8.23, and then I'm gonna close
this. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies. Oh, brothers and sisters, This
is going to be a blessed time. We've got to hope. We hope in
God's word. We hope. It's a real hope. It's a lively hope. That's all
we've got in this life. That's all I have. I look around
at the world and things are just not, there's no hope. There's no hope, but there is
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And he says it in his word, he
tells us. And so, lastly, we say, come,
Lord Jesus, amen. Okay, Brother Pats won't come
and lead us in a song, and then he'll ask one of the brethren
to pray for us. I hope that was a help. I know
it was for me to think about this hope, hope of Christ.