Okay, very good. Let's turn in
our Bibles again to Acts chapter 26 and I just want to, as the
Lord allows, speak about these verses and speak especially about
the hope. There's a glorious description
in Zechariah 9, which we'll look at in due course, which says
that you're a prisoner. God's people have been rescued
by him and here our Lord Jesus takes captivity captive and he
makes them prisoners of hope. Paul stands before these men
as a prisoner, stands there in chains and he says in verse six
of Acts 26, now and now I stand, he speaks of what he was before,
we've looked at that earlier. And now I stand and am judged
for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Under which promise our 12 tribes,
instantly serving God day and night, hope to come? For which
hope's sake, King Agrippa, I'm accused of the Jews? Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Paul stands
as a prisoner of hope. One of the things I want you
to see right at the very beginning is that hope is something that
we are called upon to do. But almost, almost, in Acts and
in Romans four and eight and other places, hope is a noun. See faith is a doing word. And
faith is a noun. But here hope is a noun. Hope
is who the Lord Jesus Christ is, isn't it? And it's all of
the promises wrapped up with him, and it's a reality. It's
not a doing word, it's a being word. And if you were to stand
judged, would you be a stand judged and be accused of the
hope that you have in God raising the dead? That's what Paul was
standing there, wasn't it? He's standing there, with this
hope. I'm judged for the hope. He's
no longer in this last of these meetings before a court as it
were. He's no longer being accused of those things that would have
caused him to have offense for the Romans. accused him of sedition
and treason and desecration, as it were, of the purity of
their temple in Jerusalem. He's now just accused of one
thing, the hope. I'm standing there because of
the hope. All of those other accusations have fallen to the
ground, but I'm standing here now. I'm testifying to the hope
of the promise made of God unto the fathers. There's no question about our
apostle remaining. absolutely consistent to the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. His first Gentile sermon we have
recorded speaks in Acts 13 in Antioch, he says, and we declare
unto you the glad tidings how that the promise which was made
unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again. As it is also written
in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day, I have begotten
thee, and as concerning him that raised him up from the dead,
now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. Paul was a recipient of
mercies. He was a recipient of mercies
and he preached mercies. He preached the mercies of our
God, the sure mercies of David. that David was gonna have a son
and David was gonna have a king and that son was coming from
David's law and was gonna reign and he was gonna have a kingdom
that lasted forever. That's our king, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul says that verse that we looked at in some detail
in Acts 24, 14, he says, I have hope toward God. I have hope toward God that there
will be a resurrection from the dead. Paul preached. this hope this hope toward God
and he said in that verse in Acts 24 he says we worship God
I worship God I worship the God of my fathers believing all things
that are written in the law and the prophets and have hope toward
God that there shall be a resurrection from the dead To have hope before
God, toward God, we must worship God as the one living and true
God. We must worship him in his true
character as the scriptures reveal him. And we must worship him
as Paul worshipped him. And that's simply believing all
things. Paul worshipped him as a sinner
saved, a sinner saved by grace. He didn't stand before a gripper
presenting anything of his righteousness. God's ministers stand before
other fallen sinners without ever wanting to put anything
of themselves and their righteousness and their deeds and their worth
in any way between sinners and a saviour. Paul just was wishing,
even in chains, he had a heart's desire, didn't he? He had a heart's
desire that they would be saved. And he preached as a sinner,
a sinner by birth, a sinner by nature, a sinner by choice. A
sinner by practice. A sinner is someone who can do
nothing but sin. A sinner is someone who can blame
no one else for their sin. A sinner is someone who makes
no excuses for their sin. A sinner comes to God pleading
mercy, needing grace. A sinner comes to God knowing
that all of his acceptance before God is entirely bound up in the
person and the work. of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
great promise, the promise made unto our fathers. Paul was a
sinner chosen of God. Paul was a sinner bought with
a price. He was a prisoner of hope. He
was the Lord's prisoner, wasn't he? Paul was a sinner saved by
irresistible grace when God met him on the Damascus road and
said, I'm having you, and you will be my servant. and all of
what you've done before makes absolutely no difference. It's
all under the blood. He was made captive of the Holy
Spirit. He was a sinner, sealed and preserved
by the grace of God. He was locked up to the grace
of God. I am what I am, says Paul at
the end of his life. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Not that I am what I am by my own works, my own will
and my own worth. He's a sinner. Sinners living
in the hope of the resurrection. And a sinner waiting in faith. Prisoners of hope. Hope, as we
just read in out of Acts 24, hope is simply believing the
facts and believing the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone
has hope, don't they? Everyone has hope. The hypocrite's hope, says Job
8, verse 13. The hypocrite's hope shall perish. See, Agrippa had a hope, didn't
he? Agrippa stood before him, he had a hope. He had a hope
that he would be right. When you ask people whether they're
going to heaven or not, whether people leave here and go to heaven,
everyone has a hope, don't they? that everyone will meet everyone
else in heaven. The hypocrite's hope, says Job
8.14, says shall be cut off. And those in whose trust shall
be a spider's web. Imagine you're clinging over
a precipice and all you have is a spider's web. You're holding
on to it, aren't you? You're holding on to it. People
hold on to hope. There's some shocking stories
told about Niagara Falls, but there was a story told of a man
who'd got himself into trouble and he was clinging on to two
men and they were clinging on to a log as they floated down
towards that terrible abyss and the men on the shore threw a
rope out. One man grabbed onto the rope. The other man couldn't
grab on the rope he was clinging so tight to the log and went
to his death. The hypocrite's hope shall be
cut off and it shall perish. The Lord causes his people to
hope in him by taking away all the other hopes of this world.
The believer's hope is in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ completely. Hope Hope is believing what God
says and believing that reality to be the reality of life. It's
seen through the eyes of faith and it's only seen through the
eyes of God-given faith. It's only seen as the Lord Jesus
Christ is revealed. Our God makes promises. Paul
was talking about his hope being a promise that was made to the
fathers, wasn't it? A promise that was made to Abraham, a promise
that was made in the garden to Adam, that the seed of the woman
will crush the serpent's head. And the promises rest on the
character of God. The promises reveal the character
of God. Our God is unchangeable. His purpose is immutable. His
ability and power is unchallenged. When Paul speaks of hope, he's
speaking of the one that he met on the Dabascus Road and would
meet again often. The one who met Moses at the
burning bush and made a simple promise, didn't he? He said to
Moses, you and your people, all that nation Israel, they're coming
back here to worship me on this mountain. They're coming back
here. And it doesn't matter what a superpower does. It doesn't
matter how weak Moses' flesh is. It doesn't matter how belligerent
the Israelites are. It doesn't matter how strong
the Egyptians are when God makes a promise, makes a promise to
the fathers. The promise is sealed and certain. Our promises are based on the
declared word of God. God is called in Romans 15, 13,
the God of hope. See, he doesn't give a hope like
we give hope to other people, doesn't it? The God of hope fills
you with all joy and peace in believing that not only do you
have hope because of who he is, but you may abound in hope. And how do you abound in hope?
Through the power of the Holy Ghost. Through the power of the
Holy Spirit. The hope, that verse in Colossians
127, we love to quote so often, isn't it? What's the real hope
of a believer? Christ in you. Christ Jesus in
you is the hope of glory. What a remarkable thing, what
a remarkable, remarkable promise from God, isn't it? That in sinners
like us, with nothing to commend ourselves to God in any way at
all, because of pure and utter sovereign grace, because of redeeming
love, because that the sins of all of God's people were put
away completely and forever, Sinners like us, made to rest
and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, are a fit habitation
in this earth, on this earth, for the God of glory. A holy
God takes up residence in people in this earth because they're
perfectly fit. They're made fit by him. The
hope of glory. Hebrews 6 speaks of the full
assurance of hope. The full assurance of hope. Paul stands there as captive,
doesn't he? Captive to hope. I'd like us
to look a little bit at Zechariah chapter 9. Zechariah is the second
last book of the Old Testament. The gospel of Zechariah is a
glorious gospel. full of extraordinary pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ coming, the Lord Jesus Christ reigning
and ruling, and the Lord Jesus Christ building his church, the
Lord Jesus Christ revealing people to himself. And he says in verse
nine of chapter nine, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just, and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, upon the colt, the foal of an
ass." What a glorious description of the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of the things that's remarkable, isn't it, is the condescension
of our God when he took upon himself human flesh. And the
depths of that condescension, wasn't it, when he's made a man
and then he was emptied himself and he was made as a servant.
And he was so seemingly insignificant in this world that he could live
with people in Nazareth for 30 years almost and they didn't
have a clue that they had God living in their presence. He
could live with his brothers and they could never accuse him
of sin in any way at all. Never an evil thought came out
bubbling to the surface of his countenance before them. Never
a wicked act of anything at all. All they saw was perfect purity
and they didn't have a clue who he was. He could go to Jerusalem. He
could go to Jerusalem having revealed himself before those
crowds and he could slip through that crowd unnoticed by men. He's revealed when he chooses
to reveal himself and to the rest of the world he seems so
insignificant. He's lowly, isn't he? He's lowly. What a glorious description of
our saviour. He has every right, doesn't he,
to come as a mighty conquering saviour. And yet he comes as
one touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He comes
as one, as Matthew 11 says, he says, come unto me. He says,
come unto me right now. Come unto me. Don't move a muscle. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek. and lowly in heart, and you'll
find rest for your souls. I don't know about you, but the
daughters of Zion can rejoice. They're told to rejoice in this
king that comes lowly. The other description of him
there in verse 9 is that he is just. Everything our God does
is perfectly just. In salvation he must be just. It's the just one that was put
to death by a just God. That's why on the cross of Calvary
he could only ever have died for the sins of those people
who were united to him in eternity, that were given to him by the
Father. The notion that God put his son to death for sins of
people who are in hell is a blasphemy against the nature of God. He
is just. And the great comfort of God's
people is that a just God, having punished the sins of all of God's
people in the Lord Jesus Christ, a just God can never punish them
again. That's why he can say, can't
he, Paul, can say to you right now, there is no condemnation.
You're justified. Your sins, brothers and sisters
in Christ, have gone altogether. The very character of God is
our comfort. The very character of God is
our hope in this world. We're nothing but sin, and he's
just and perfect and holy. We're 100% sin, and he's 100%
holiness. And there is that extraordinary
transaction, isn't it? That he bore our sins, and as
much as he bore our sins, we now bear the very righteousness
of God. We're made to be holy by his
work. That's what it says, doesn't
it? He's just, verse nine of Zechariah, having salvation. lowly riding upon an ass, upon
the occult, the foal of an ass. For want of time, I'll skip over
verse 10. As for thee also, by the blood
of the covenant, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent
forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water. That pit of man-made works religion,
that pit that we dug with our father Adam, that pit that we
keep digging for ourselves as Jeremiah declares. We build for
ourselves, we dig for ourselves cisterns, great big cisterns
that are meant to hold water and they leak like a sieve and
there's nothing held in them. I've sent forth thy prisoners.
I in sovereign mercy and grace and in the sovereignty of my
glory and power, I've sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
where there is no water. Then he says to us, doesn't he,
this is all the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming. Zachariah
promised it. The hope that was promised to
the fathers is here. He says, turn you to the stronghold,
you prisoners of hope. Turn you to the stronghold, our
God. Our God is a strong tower, isn't
he? He's a high tower, the stronghold. I love how Isaiah describes the
stronghold in Isaiah 26. I'll just read it for you. In
that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have
a strong city. God's children have a strong
city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. When
they read salvation in the Old Testament times in the Hebrew,
they were reading the name Joshua. They were reading the name Jesus.
You can read it without, in Isaiah 26, you can read it without the
italicised words. We have a strong city. God, salvation
will, appoint walls and bulwarks. Our God builds a city. It's a
city that comes down from heaven. It's a strong city. We have a
strong city. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. No question about
who the truth is. And then he says thou will keep
him in perfect peace. Isaiah 26.3, whose mind is stayed
on thee because he trusteth in thee. There is only one who ever
trusted his father with perfect faith, didn't he? And when he
trusted his father with perfect faith, we all did as well, brothers
and sisters in Christ. We live in this world by the
faithfulness of the son of God. We live on the basis of his faith,
that's our hope. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. That's a stronghold,
isn't it? It's him. Him. Ye prisoners of hope, verse
12. Even today do I clear that I'll
render double unto thee. Isaiah 40 tells us what the double
is, isn't it? You tell my people. You speak
comfort to the word to my people. You tell them. You tell them,
don't you? Tell them their warfare is accomplished,
that iniquity is pardoned, it's gone altogether, it's pardoned.
For she hath received the Lord hands double for all her sins. She's not only had the complete
and utter removal of them, but she's been given the very righteousness
of God. I will render double unto thee.
This is what a prisoner of hope is declaring. When I have bent
Judah for me and filled the bow of Ephraim and raised up thy
sons as iron against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the
sword of a mighty man, God will rule over the nations for the
glory of his people. And then, verse 14, and the Lord
shall be seen over them. and his arrow shall go forth
as a lightning, and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet. The
trumpet, there's no question about what the trumpet is. The
trumpet is the gospel. God is responsible for declaring
his gospel. God makes his ministers. God
makes his hearers. God makes it effective in the
hearts and the lives of his people. God blows the trumpet. Isn't
it wonderful when he blows a trumpet? Isn't it wonderful? It speaks
of that jubilee trumpet, of course, wasn't it? When everything that
we've lost is completely restored to us because it all belongs
to God. It all belongs to God. The Lord shall blow the trumpet
and shall go with the whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts
shall defend them, and they shall devour and subdue with sling
stones. And they shall drink and make
noise as though through wine. They shall be filled like bowls
at the corner of the altar. Verse 16, and the Lord their
God, this is what it is to be a prisoner of hope, is to rest
the entirety of our salvation in the person and work of our
great God and his promises that he makes to us. Paul stood as
a prisoner and he says, I'm a prisoner of hope. And the Lord their God
shall save them in that day, in that one day, in that one
day on Calvary's tree he'll save them as the flock of his people. You see the possessive pronouns
that he brings. to our memory again and again
and again. He says, My people, My people,
their God, the Lord, their God shall save them in particular. He won't try and save them, He
won't make an offer of salvation. He will save them and He saved
them in one day. as the flock of his people. He'll
save his flock, he'll gather his sheep. You can read about
it in Ezekiel 34 and the Lord Jesus refers to it and calls
himself the good shepherd in John chapter 10, the flock of
his people. For they shall be as the stones
of a crown and lifted up as an ensign upon his land. They'll be the stones of a crown,
it means the jewels You can read about it in Zephaniah chapter
three in Malachi, just over a few pages in Malachi. He's gonna gather his people
together, isn't it? He says in verse 16 of Malachi,
and they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. That's
what happens when God puts his fear of himself into the hearts
of his people, that fear which is the beginning of wisdom. They
speak often one to another. They speak about Him one to another.
That's what we do in church and that's what church and all the
things associated with it. We speak about Him. And the Lord
hearken and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before
Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His
name. That thought upon the character
that we've just been talking about. And we keep talking about,
we want to declare as clearly as we possibly can the name,
the character of our God. And then what does he say in
verse 17? It's a lovely description. This is how the Old Testament
finished. And they shall be mine. They shall be mine, saith the
Lord of hosts, in that day, in this one day, when I make up
my jewels. I will spare them as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him. They'll be the stones in a crown lifted up as an ensign upon his
land, upon his land. So he'll raise up his church
in this world and he'll set his seal upon his church and he'll
raise them up as a banner. We don't have time to go to Song
of Solemn, but you might read in chapter two that the banner
over, he takes us into his banqueting house. He takes us into the place
where he feeds his people and celebrates with them. He takes,
he took me into his banqueting house, the shulamite said, and
his banner over me was love. Verse 17. For how great is his
goodness. How great is his goodness. So
he's been good to us all, hasn't he, of Tarsus? He's been good
to all of his church through all generations. He's good in
everything that he ever does. He's good in the things that
he withholds from us, and he's good in the things that he gives
us. And can you say, can you say
with Zechariah, how great is his beauty? So that's what they're
singing in heaven, aren't they? They're singing of the beauty
of our God. How great is his beauty. Corn shall make the young men
cheerful and new wine the maids. He pours the new wine of his
spirit into the hearts of his people, that new wine of faith
and hope and love. is captive. Everyone is captive. We're born in this world as captives,
aren't we? And God's people will make his
people captive of hope. Sinners are captive of their
sins, and God's people are made captive of hope. Captive of him,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to set the prisoners free. He came
to make captive captive. He's made us captive to his love
and to his grace, and God's children cannot not believe. We're captive
to him, and we love being captive to him. I just want to finish
by looking at one of those remarkable pictures in the Old Testament,
which is a description of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's extraordinary
when he gives the Ten Commandments, and people in religion, like
the people that Paul was speaking to, were captive. Captive to
the law, and the law is the captivity of sin and death. And as soon
as he declares the Ten Commandments, he says to the people of God,
you're not going to build me an altar, you're not going to
come and worship me on the work basis of anything you do. Verse
24 of Exodus 20. You build an altar of earth shall
you make under me and shall sacrifice thereon burnt offerings and thy
peace offerings thy sheep and in all places where I record
my name I will come unto thee and bless thee. And if thou wilt
make me an altar of stone thou shalt not build upon it of hewn
stone for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted
it. Neither shall you go up by steps under mine altar. You don't
come to God on the basis of steps, and you don't come to God on
the basis of anything you do whatsoever. We go up perfectly
and immediately in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have time to
read all of it, but the very next thing he speaks of in Exodus
21 is about a servant. About a servant who's obviously
sold himself into slavery. And he has an option before him,
doesn't he? He was captive and now he can
go free. He can go free. He can't take his
wife and he can't take his children. And he says, you have a choice. But the servant says in verse
5, if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife
and my children, I'll not go free. So I had a freedom, didn't
I? But I don't want that freedom
of this world. Then the master, verse six, shall
bring him under the judges and he shall also bring him to the
door and under the doorpost and the master shall bore his ear
through with an oar and he shall serve him forever. He loves his
master. You mark me, you bore my ear
through with an awl so that I hear your voice. That you mark me
as one of yours. And I'll serve him forever. If
you read Psalm 40, you'll see that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. Lord, you have opened my ear.
I'm a prisoner of hope. I'm a prisoner of hope. Thou art my hope, O Lord God,
Thou art my trust. Time doesn't permit us but I
would love for you to go home and read Romans chapter 4 and
the glorious descriptions of the hope that the Father of all
the faithful had. I'll just read those verses that
I like quoting to you often, but I pray the Lord might send
you home with a desire to read it with relish. He against hope, believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations, verse
18. And he said, he staggered not.
This is Abraham, the father of all the faithful. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised
He was able also to perform. He believed the word of God,
his ear was bored through. I just want to hear what the
Master says. I just want to be made to believe it and to trust
him. And it was accounted to him for righteousness, the very
righteousness of God. Let's pray. Our Father, we pray
that you might make your face to shine upon your people, Heavenly
Father, that we might behold again, our Lord Jesus Christ,
that we might find Him, Heavenly Father, all of our hope, all
of our hope that our sins are forgiven. that we can stand before
you wholly and spotless and unblameable and unreprovable in your sight. Heavenly Father, it's all because
of the work of the hope of Israel, our hope. Heavenly Father, may
we find our rest and our peace in the place that you look to.
You look to your son. When you see the blood, you will
pass over. Oh, our Father, you see the blood
of your Son. May you cause us through the
eyes of faith to see it and rest all of the hope of our eternity
in the person and work of your dear and precious Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Bless your words to our hearts,
Heavenly Father, for we pray in his name and for his glory.
Amen.