and as that hope is a person, the
characteristics of our hope are revealed in that person. It's
an eternal hope. It's a hope that's revealed by
faith. It's a hope that is secured by an eternal covenant. It's
a hope. Now hope is a person, but what
I wanted us to look at Jesus Christ. I want us to be
reminded that everything the Lord Jesus Christ did in this
world, he did as an us. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did, he did as an us. You might recall in Matthew chapter
3 when John the Baptist had the Lord Jesus Christ come to him
and asked to be baptized, and John said, I'm not worthy to
unloose your sandal straps, I'm not worthy to take the place
of the lowest slave before you. He said, I'm worthy to be baptized
of you, and you're coming to me. And I love in 315, Matthew
315, the Lord's response to him, suffer it to be so, Thus it becometh us to fulfil
all righteousness. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did, he did as an us. He came as a representative,
he came as a substitute, but he came He came particularly
for a people, a people that he loved in eternity. He came for
a people who were the gift of his Father
to him and the very delight of his soul. He came to them and
all that he suffered in this world was to them. But he is
the one, he is the one that loved God perfectly. He's the one that obeyed the
law perfectly. And when he did it, he did it
as an us. John the Baptist didn't fulfill
all righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ says, become
us to fulfill righteousness. All the righteousness of God
is fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one person that loved God with all of his heart and all of his
soul and all of his mind and his strength. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the one person that obeyed the law of God from his
heart, spiritually, physically, legally, Hope in glory is about our union
with the Lord Jesus Christ, about his person. We are one with him,
says Hebrews 2. We're not just close. The children
of God are one with him. He delights over his people and
he delights to reveal himself to his people. And when he delights
to reveal himself to his people, he causes him personally to be
the delight of their souls. in him. Our sins have been dealt
with perfectly in him. He is the just God and the justifier. And so the beginning of this
gospel age in terms of public declaration is Peter reciting
Psalm 16 and declaring that Psalm 16 is the Psalm that David wrote
David experienced something of it, but the psalm is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ. So this gospel age begins with
that. He says in Psalm 16, He sought to be kept our God,
for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my God. My goodness extendeth not to
thee. What an extraordinary declaration
of the character of our God, that the goodness of the Lord
Jesus Christ didn't extend to him. He was perfectly complete
always. His goodness extended not to
him. The glorious and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
doesn't add to the glory of God. The glory of God is always perfect
and complete. But to the saints that are in
the earth and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. Do you believe that? His delight is in his pride. She ravishes his heart. He calls her his jewels. First of all, their sorrows shall
we multiply, that hasten after another God. Their drink-offerings
of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
The Lord cup, thou maintainest my lot. So this is the prayer of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was preserved. The Lord is
his portion and his inheritance. His lot is maintained. He says
in verse 6, the lions have fallen unto me in pleasant places. And
the boundary lines of God's providence and love and provision and care
and grace and faithfulness, and they fall unto you in pleasant
places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel in my reigns, also instruct me in the night
season. I have said the Lord always isn't it? The lions have fallen
to me in pleasant places. The Lord is my portion. He's
given me counsel. I've set the Lord before me.
Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh shall
also rest in hope. For thou will not leave my soul
in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, and in thy presence is fullness of joy, that thy right
hand are pleasures for evermore. See, he rested in hope, didn't
he? His flesh shall rest in hope. When he had suffered all the
ignominy, Calvary's tree and all of the contradiction of sinners
against him. And he bowed his mighty head
on Calvary's tree and he said, it is finished. It is finished. Everything that the Father asked
of me to be done is finished. All of the sins of all of God's
people are put away and gone forever. of God. There's so much in these
verses that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed. There's so much in these
verses that we just don't understand. It says, Thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell. One can only understand that,
that on the cross of Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ experienced
the infinite eternal hell. The debt is paid in full. There is nothing left to pay. You owe nothing to the justice
of God. It's paid in your saviour. It's
paid. No wonder Paul says, I'm crucified
with him. The life I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. You won't leave my silent helm,
neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. So
what corrupts our flesh? Sin corrupts all the time. And sin has tentacles of corruption
which not only corrupt our flesh but become corrupting influences. in that tomb for those three
days, suffer absolutely no corruption. There was no sin in it, brothers
and sisters. The resurrection is a glorious
resurrection. The hope that Paul's talking
about is the hope of a resurrection, and that hope is grounded in
a resurrection that was a real physical resurrection. For 40
days the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to his people, declaring
the fact that his flesh did rest in hope. fact that this prayer
that he prayed was answered by God the Father. Our hope is grounded in the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ hoped, and his hope was rewarded, gloriously
rewarded. Our God has no unfulfilled desires. I cringe when I hear people God wants for nothing. He has
no unfulfilled desires. Our God reigns supreme. Psalm 2 begins the declaration
of the Gospel before that crowd in Jerusalem. by the extraordinary hand of
the Holy Spirit, Peter, who had 40 days beforehand denied, with
cursing his Saviour now stands before men and declares His glory. And that's what he says. He says,
this is not David speaking, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Psalms are all the Lord Jesus Christ's. And our involvement
in the Psalms and our joining with him in the Psalms is because
of our union with him. But all of the Psalms, all of
the Psalms are about the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke of the fact that this
is not David, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 30 of Acts
2. Therefore, being a prophet, knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him that the fruit of his own loins, according to
the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that
his soul was not left in hell, neither did his hath God raised up. So when Paul
was giving this testimony in Acts 28 to those Jews, this is
part of the testimony, isn't it? This Jesus has God raised
up. We are of, we are all witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed
forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended
into heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said to my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. We came into this world as foes
of God to sit at the footstool of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what Mary did, didn't she? She sat at the Lord's feet. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified
both Lord and Christ. People say to others, you've
got to make Jesus Lord of your life. It's way too late to do
it now. He's Lord of your life. Jesus Christ is the one whose hope is fulfilled. I'd like us to just go through
some of the psalms, and I want us to look briefly at the Lord
Jesus and his hope. And I trust that as we just look
at these verses briefly, because of the nature of the weather, He hoped perfectly. His hope is fulfilled. The next
mention of hope is in Psalm 22. You know that's the glorious
psalm that the Lord Jesus Christ led the people of Israel to confess
with him from the cross. And it begins with a cry. Why art thou forsaken me? Why
art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? He answers the question in verse
3, but thou art holy. It was the most godlike thing
God ever did, putting his son to death, bearing our sins in
his body. If you go down to verse 9, All these people mock him, don't
they? They laugh at me in verse 7, and they shoot out the lip,
and they shake the head, saying he trusted in the Lord, on the
Lord, that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing you
delighted in him. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope. When I was upon my mother's breasts, He came out, didn't he? He lived
a life of hope, our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are ever made
to hope, ever going to hope, you will be made to hope. And
a big one, I was on my mother's breasts. Let's turn over. We might have to spend more time
contemplating. Let's turn over to Psalm 33. 33. We'll begin in verse 18. He says, Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that
hope in his mercy. The real hope is a hope that
has a reverence for the name and for the character of God.
I hope it is mercy to deliver their soul from death and to
keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord. He is our help and our shield,
for our hearts shall rejoice in him because we have trusted
in his holy name. Let thy mercy be upon us according
as we hope in thee. When he hoped, we hoped. And his hope was in his power. His hope was in the very character
of God. Let thy mercy be upon us. Let thy mercy be upon us. He was made to hope. He said
his flesh will rest in hope. Psalm 38. My hope is in thee. The hope of the Lord Jesus Christ
was in his father and in his father's character. In thee,
Lord, do I hope. My hope is in Thee. Psalm 42 verse 5, he cries, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise The same sentiment is expressed
in Psalm 43, verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O Messiah?
Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. In moments of distress, The darkness,
and above the darkness, and above the clouds of despair, the sun
is still shining. Hope thou in God. Psalm 71, the Lord Jesus Christ
says, For thou art my hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my
youth. He trusted and hoped from his
mother's womb. Thou art my trust from my youth. Psalm 71 verse 14, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, but I will hope continually. Wouldn't it be wonderful
to hope continually? He did. brothers and sisters,
he did. And we'll yet praise thee more
and more. We'll turn now to Psalm 119,
verse 49. It says, remember the word unto
thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. So hope is a gift from God. Our hope doesn't disappoint us. Our hope is renewed and refreshed
and revitalized again and again because we are caused to hope. Verse 81 of Psalm 119, My soul
fainteth for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word. The Lord
Jesus Christ hoped in the word of God. How much and how delightful
is the word of God to give us hope. Thou art my hiding place. He's fled to the refuge. Thou
art my hiding place and my shield. I hope in thy word. I hope in thy word. Psalm 119
verse 116, he says, uphold me according to thy word. may live, and let me be not ashamed
of my hope. Psalm 130 verse 5, I wait for
the Lord, my soul doth wait, in his word do I hope. Our hope is in a word of promise,
which declares the very word of God, who comes to us in the
gospel and gives us hope. In his word do I hope. Verse
7 of Psalm 130. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him there is plenteous
redemption. Let Israel hope. Psalm 131, verse
3. Let Israel hope in the Lord from
henceforth and forever. See, he hoped continually. He
hoped from his mother's breasts. He hoped from his youth. He hoped
in the character of God. He hoped in the word of God.
His hope was in God. The Lord, I'm sorry, Psalm 146
verse 5, happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the Lord his God. The Lord take pleasure, Psalm
147 verse 11, the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him,
those that have in his mercy. All that God ever requires of
us, He finds perfectly satisfied and fulfilled in His dear and
glorious Son. All that God expects from us,
He sees fulfilled in the work of His Son. See, our hope is
a person. He hoped perfectly. He exercised faith perfectly. He exercised love towards God
perfectly. He exercised obedience towards
God perfectly. He honoured his name, he honoured
his word, he honoured his law. And gloriously, brothers and
sisters, he did it as an us. And we did it in him before God. And he takes his people captive. Captives, prisoners of hope. Paul spent his last days as someone who is bound with
a chain because of the hope of Israel. He was bound to that
hope. What a glorious thing to be the
Lord's captive to his hope. A resurrected Lord Jesus Christ
with a resurrected body with all of the glory of it resides
in heaven right now. And Paul says that we are seated
together with him. And when he comes back, all of
us saints in heaven back with Him. And we who are left, if
He comes so soon, some will be on this earth, who are His children,
and they'll be caught up together with Him in the air, and we'll
meet the Lord in the air. They'll be caught up together
with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, And the
end result of this hope, according to 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's our hope. Paul doesn't
want his brothers and sisters in Christ to be ignorant. We
don't want to have an ignorance about those that have fallen
asleep. They're perfectly secure. We don't have an ignorance about
the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you comforted with those
words? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we
could go on and continue to comfort one another with these words?
There's a glorious resurrection day coming. There is a hope,
and that hope will not disappoint us. That hope is fulfilled in
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That hope is written
in the record of history, is written in the record of God's
word, and a God Is that your hope? I pray that
we leave here with a hope who is a person. A hope that is sure
and steadfast. A hope that is an anchor for
your souls. Everything else is going to get
tossed around in this world. People are going to have two
places of hope, aren't they? All the people that have ever
lived, all of Adam's children, have two places of hope. The Israel of God has a hope,
a real hope. This world is going to be shaken,
and our hope is an anchor in a shaking world. We'll no doubt
go through trials again and again and again, like our brother Paul
did. He had a hope. He had a hope. a sure hope, a steadfast hope,
an eternal hope, a glorious hope, a hope that comes to us by grace,
a hope sealed to us by the faithfulness of your Son, a hope that gives
us a reason, Heavenly Father, to look upon the to the one that stands behind
them and over them all, that you must work all things for
the good of your people and for the glory of your holy name.
Oh, our father, we thank you. We thank you for the glory of
your son. We thank you for the glory of
his finished work. We thank you that when he cried,
it is finished. All of our sins that were on
him that day are gone forever. people because of his presentation
and his work who are wholly spotless, unblameable, unapprovable. And
yet there is more, Heavenly Father, when our dear Lord comes back
to take his bride to that glorious marriage of the Lamb. All of
us, all of us. must, must be with Him in glory. For we are complete in Him right
now. We praise you for the wonder
of the gospel, Heavenly Father. Make it real. Make it the comfort
of our hearts. Make it something that we flee
to as a refuge. Make Him the anchor of our souls. in this world and the delight
of our very resurrected bodies for all eternity. Bless your
word to the hearts of your people, Heavenly Father, for we pray
in Jesus' name.