Turn with me to Titus chapter
one. Titus chapter one. Last week we started a study
here in Titus and for the moment right now we're just going phrase
by phrase, looking at the subject matters
that are written here. A lot is written in the first
four verses, which is the first sentence of this letter. And
so we're just really spending a little time on what Paul wrote
phrase by phrase. And for this message, we've come
to the first phrase in verse two, It says, in hope of eternal
life. In hope of eternal life. Verse
1 says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect and according to the truth
which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life. According to the faith that God
gives to all of his elect people, the faith that causes them to
acknowledge the truth concerning godliness, the faith that causes
them to actually acknowledge the truth concerning godliness,
which we just saw in our Bible study, that is Christ's faithfulness. Just very quickly, let's look
one more time at what the truth is concerning godliness. Look
back at 1 Timothy 3 verse 16. It says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was justified in the spirit.
God was seen of angels. God was preached unto the Gentiles.
God was believed on in the world. God was received up into glory.
Christ's faithfulness, that's godliness. Not our faithfulness,
but Christ's. And Paul said, because of the
faith that has been given to me in Christ's faithfulness. And that's a big statement. Really
think about that for just one second. If you want to know what
true faith really is, it's faith in Christ's faithfulness. That's
what it is. It's confidence in Christ's faithfulness. Paul said, because of that faith
that he's given to me, to all of God's elect, I have a hope
of eternal life. In Christ, I have a hope of eternal
life. And the kind of hope that he's
talking about is an expected anticipation. It is a confidence
in what is to come. And the question that I have
for us this morning is, what is it exactly that gave Paul
that hope and gave Paul that confidence? And could we have
the same hope? What would give us a good, strong
hope of eternal life? What would give us a true hope
of having eternal life? And if our initial response is, Isn't almost everybody going
to receive eternal life? What do you mean what would give
us a hope of eternal life? It doesn't every, I mean almost
with the exception of the really, really, really, really bad ones.
Doesn't pretty much everybody receive eternal life? Let me begin this by showing
you that the answer to that is no. The answer is no. Turn over
to Matthew 7. Verse 13, our Lord said, enter ye in at
the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way
that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there
at. Because straight is the gate
And narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. Our Lord said very few people
are going to find the way of life. Very few people will receive
a true hope of eternal life. Now, just get a hold of that. Let's really dial into that,
okay? Very few people. will receive
a true hope of eternal life. Very few people. Look at verse
21. He said, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But
he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." Clearly those things were not the will of the Father. He said, whoever does the will
of the Father. Preaching in His name and casting
out devils and doing wonderful works, clearly that was not the
will of the Father. In verse 23 He called it sin.
He said it's actually sin. So many people think that's the
will of the Father concerning them, but it's not. And a massive
amount of people are going to find that out on the Day of Judgment.
Turn with me to Luke 13. This ought to be so arresting
to all of us. Luke 13, look at verse 23. Then
said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive
to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master
of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door, and you
begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying, Lord,
Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto
you, I know you not whence you are. Then shall you begin to
say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast
taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence you are. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God. and you yourselves thrust out. That's arresting, isn't it? Many,
many people on this earth will not have eternal life. And I
want to make it clear that I'm talking about religious people.
I'm not talking about, you know, sinner gutter people. You know, people who have no
concern for Christ, obviously they're not going to receive
eternal life. I'm talking about religious people. Our Lord is
talking about religious people. Many people are not going to
have eternal life. and therefore they do not and
they cannot have a hope of eternal life. So if there is a hope to
have, how can a man or a woman have it? How can a man or a woman
receive it? How can I have a hope of eternal
life? How can you have a hope of eternal
life? This is the very thing that Peter
told us to ponder and to consider and to be ready to give an answer
for. Look with me at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 verse 15. It 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. He said, be ready to give a reason.
You know, you ask the average person, what's the reason that
you're going to get to go to heaven? What's your reason for
eternal life? And they're going to start listing
everything they've done and all of their accomplishments and
accolades and everything that they've done for God. And let
me ask you this. What is the reason for our hope? What is the reason? If we have
a hope, if any sinner, and that's what we all are, we're sinners
against God, if any sinner has a hope of being saved from sin
and a hope of spiritual life after our time on this earth
is over, a hope to keep us from death and condemnation, what
is it? What is it exactly that would
give us this hope? I'm going to give us the answer
right now. Turn to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1 verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope. Christ is our hope. Why will you get to go to heaven? If you're gonna be in heaven,
what's gonna get you there? Christ. Christ is the only hope that
a man or woman can have before God. The Lord Jesus Christ is
our confidence of inheriting eternal life. I mean, how do
you know? How do you know Christ? Christ. Our hope is not in our works. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 says, Who
hath saved us, Christ, and called us, not according to our works. Our hope is not in our works.
Our hope is not in our own righteousness before God. Philippians 3 verse
9 says, Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law. No sinful
man or woman has a righteousness before God. What's our righteousness
before God? Christ. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. Our hope is not in an inner goodness
that we have. Well, I believe deep down, even
though, you know, men and women do some bad things, I believe
deep down everybody's good. There's good inside there somewhere.
Romans 3 verse 12 says, there is none that doeth good. No,
not one. There's none good. Our Lord said
there's none good but God. None. The scripture says there
is no hope in man at all. There is no hope in the ways
of man. There's no hope in the things
of man. Hope can only be found in one
person. The Lord Jesus Christ, our God
and our Savior, He and He alone is our hope. He's our hope. Turn with me to Psalm 31. Psalm 31, verse 24, it says, Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. What is it to hope in the Lord?
It's to hope in the Lord. It's to not hope in self. It's
to hope in Christ. All ye that hope in the Lord,
not the Lord and yourself, the Lord alone. All ye that hope
in the Lord alone. To really, what does that mean?
Okay, all right, I want to hope in the Lord. What do you mean?
What is it to really hope in the Lord? Look at Psalm 33, verse
18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy.
That's what it is to hope in the Lord. To hope in the Lord is to hope
in His mercy. The only soul that will hope
in His mercy is the soul that knows he or she is guilty. Guilty. Did you know that mercy
is for the guilty? Mercy is not for the innocent.
The innocent do not need mercy. The worthy do not need mercy. Those who know they are guilty
with no covering for their sin. If I had my own covering for
my sin, I wouldn't need God's mercy. Adam and Eve thought for
one minute they could have a covering for their own sin. They sewed
all these fig leaves together. It took the death of a lamb.
To cover them. We are guilty with no covering
for our sin, the soul that knows he or she is guilty to the point
that. I'm well aware of the fact I
must die. Dying, my sin, this is what mercy
cries. Christ died in your sin for you. Mercy cries, the grace of God
gave the blood of Christ to pay your debt and to cover all your
sin for you. Is that not about the sweetest thing you could
ever hear? Verse 18, behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in his 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 heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in
his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in thee. We hope in Thee. When that is
our only hope of redemption before God, when everything concerning
our flesh and our abilities and our decisions and our part in
redemption before God, when all of that has been stripped away
from us and all we have left is God's mercy and grace in the
blood of His Lamb, that's when Christ becomes our hope. And
if Christ alone is our hope, then we have a hope of eternal
life. Look at Psalm 119. Verse 81, Psalm 119, verse 81. My soul fainteth for thy salvation. But I hope in thy word. What is it to hope in the Lord?
It's to hope in his word. This word says that the mercy
and grace of God in Christ is a living hope. It is an alive
hope. This word says it is a sure hope. This word says it is a saving,
compassionate, faithful supply. A supplying, satisfying hope. Look at Lamentations 3. After Isaiah, after Jeremiah. Lamentations 3. Page 1027. Lamentations 3, verse 21. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. I'm telling you that's the only
reason. It's not because we, you know, Finally straightened
up and started flying right, lived a life of wretchedness,
but now we don't do that stuff anymore. That's not the reason.
We're all just as wretched as we used to be. It's not because of anything
we've done. It's not because of anything we are. It is of
the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed because His compassions
fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy godliness. Great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in
him. If Christ alone is our hope,
we're not going to be consumed. And if we if we walk out of this
place this morning, getting a hold of one thing, let it be that.
If Christ alone is our hope, we will not be consumed. If any soul here is fearful,
if any soul here fears God and fears the judgment and fears
eternity and fears condemnation, listen to this. If Christ is
our only hope, we're not going to be consumed. His compassionate faithfulness. If Christ is our hope, it's because
He has made Himself to be our hope. He's made, He has produced
a hope in us. His compassionate faithfulness
will supply our every need. He will save us from the wrath
to come if Christ is our hope. Verse 26 right here says, It
is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. That's what's good for a man
or a woman to do. What should I do? Hope in him. Look to him, hope in him. It's
good because hope in him is eternal. Everything with him is eternal.
Second Corinthians four tells us of his eternal glory. Ephesians 3 speaks of His eternal
purpose. 1 Timothy 1 says He is the eternal
King. Hebrews 5 declares His eternal
salvation. If God saved you, you're saved
for all of eternity. What if I mess it up? You will,
but He's faithful and His mercy will cover it every time. Hebrews 9 declares his eternal
redemption and our eternal inheritance in him. Eternal. Everything with
God is eternal. John 17 3 says this is life eternal
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou has sent. That's eternal life. Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent, sent to accomplish a work, sent to finish the work of saving
his people from their sins, he said, Father, I finished that
work. Every soul that hopes in his
finished work has an eternal hope in an eternal life. To have Christ is to have it
all. If anybody here can say, well,
I don't really have the best works and the best deeds, and
I can't honestly say that I have the best thoughts. I can't honestly
say that I'm as devout as this word tells me I ought to be.
And I can't say I love my neighbor as myself. And I can't say that
I have this. But I have Christ. I'm holding
on to Christ. If any soul has Christ, that
soul has it all. To hope in Christ is to hope
in it all. He said, if you live and believe in me, you'll never
die. You'll never die. Colossians
1.27 says, Christ in you is the hope of glory. It is. He is the hope of glory. He is
eternal life. He is eternal life. Now let me
close this message with these words. Go with me to Romans 15.
We'll close with these words. Romans 15, verse 13. It says, now the God of hope,
that's who our God is, the God of hope. Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound
in hope. through the power of the Holy
Ghost. That's the closing prayer, the closing benediction to all
of God's people, that the God of hope would fill you with joy
and peace in believing, believing on Christ, that you may grow
and abound and increase in hope through the power of the Holy
Ghost. You look to Christ, believe on
Christ, cast your all on Jesus Christ, And you will have the
hope of eternal life. You will have the confidence.
You'll have the assurance. You'll have the expected anticipation
of eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life.