As most of you know, Boat Eldridge, I had to find out his
name. All I've ever heard him called was Boat. I've never heard
anybody called him Eldridge. I had to ask what his name really
was. But the Lord took him home Thursday
evening around 6.30. And I thought when I heard that,
our brother is well now. How fitting, how fitting is 2
Corinthians chapter 5. If this earthly tabernacle be
dissolved, we have a building of God not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. And our brother has experienced
that. And Saturday morning when I came over here to the study
to work on Romans chapter 3, I kept thinking about him and
Sally. And I thought this morning I
would rather do a sermon as a memorial to Bo. You all knew him a lot
more longer and more than I did. I've known him for the last three
years. We've been down there several times. And the one impression,
as I was talking to Sally yesterday, the one impression that I got
when I was around him was that he's one of the most unassuming
persons I ever met in my life. He never sought, when I was around
him, any attention whatsoever. And he impressed me with how
kind and gentle he was. You all knew him, but that just
immediately came out. When you meet somebody, it doesn't
take long for you to have some impression. And my impression
of him was that he's very unassuming and very gentle, very kind. They
had told me a story. He was a prison guard. They told
me a story of him bringing those prisoners home and feeding them. And one of them was, he committed murder and brought
him home and fed him. He would bring him home and take
care of him, you know, and help him along the way. I mean, that's
the grace of God. And that to me, when they told
me that story, that just, just painted a picture as to what
God had made out of that man. But I wanted to bring a message
this morning concerning his hope, which is now a reality, and our hope. But now, let me
just say this. Tomorrow his body will be buried,
and I say his body. The first time I wrote this,
I put down, boat will be buried. No, he won't. His body will be
buried. And I thought of this, when they
buried that body that he lived in on this earth, all his troubles
are buried. They won't come back. All the
troubles and the heartaches that I've had in this body is going
to be buried someday. And that's going to be buried
with them. But his body would be buried at Fairground Road
in Dunn, North Carolina, Harnett Devotional Gardens. It's going
to be a graveside service at 1 o'clock. It's going to be very
short. They wanted it very, very simple
and very short. And I can do that. I can do that. Well, in the scriptures, in the
word of God, There are three graces spoken of. Faith, hope,
and love. And the word hope is very powerful. I don't know anything more powerful
than hope. When you give a person hope,
you can't defeat them. You can't defeat them. A person
who has hope cannot be defeated, and a person who has no hope
is already defeated. Already defeated. And I want this morning for us
to look at this very powerful grace that we have by the Spirit
of God, and that's the hope that we have in the Gospel. Now, when we read the word hope
in the Word of God, we're not talking about a wish. This is
not a wish list. It is a real expectation of God
doing just as He said He would. That's what our hope is built
on. Our hope is built on the faithfulness of God, the truthfulness
of God, that God will do exactly what He said. You know, the Lord
said, come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I will
give you rest. We have real hope of rest when we come to Christ
because He said, I'll give you rest. He said that. It's not a wish
list, it's a real expectation of God doing what He said He
would do. Now, I know this. I know that
many hope in things that they have no foundation for. The rich young ruler, he came
to Christ. on the grounds of keeping the
law. And he said to Christ, after the Lord quoted to him some commandments,
he said, all these I've kept from my youth up. That was his
hope. That was the very foundation
of his hope, was his obedience. That's a false hope. And I'm
sure he got that from his parents. He probably grew up in a home
where they told him if he'd be a good little boy, he'd get to
go to heaven. He grew up thinking that he was
a good little boy, and he became a good man. And in believing
that, that was his hope. And that's a false hope. There are some who believe because
of a certain denomination or church they belong to, that they will be saved. That's
their hope. Some believe in a profession,
and I thought of a particular person. They believe in a profession
that they've made years ago, and that's their hope. I know a man who made a profession
when he was a young man, and he became a drunk, an alcoholic,
and he died that way. He lived and died an alcoholic.
And the word of God said that no drunkard will enter the kingdom
of heaven. He's talking about people who
are given to that. A profession is not salvation.
It's a possession. It's a possession. You can profess, I can profess
all I want to, and that will not save me. But if I end up
with Christ in me, the hope of glory, then I'm saved. When God saves a man or a woman,
He makes a real change. He says, sin will not have dominion
over you. It will not have dominion over you. But the only hope there is, is
the hope that the gospel gives us. It's a gospel hope. And what
is the hope of the gospel that Paul is speaking of here in verse
23 of Colossians chapter 1? Well, first of all, it is a hope
of being saved. Being saved. I said this to a
young man years ago when I was a young man, and he made fun
of me. He went around the shop making
fun of me of being saved. He made fun of that word saved. Well, that's a Bible word. That's a Bible word. And our
hope is to be saved. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, to be saved from sin. Sin is against God. It is against
God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight."
Sin is against God and sin is evil. It is pure, pure evil. That's what it is. It's to be
saved from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and the dominion
of sin. In Matthew 1.21, it is written, And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save..."
See, that's a Bible word. "...he shall save his people
from their sins." He doesn't say he will save his people from
the Roman army. or from this disease or that
disease. No, He will save them from their
sins. Our sins is a problem. We have
a sin issue. And I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to save me from my sins. So the gospel hope is to be saved
from sin. And then it's a hope that when
we die, we shall be raised again from the dead. So many people, so many people,
they want to know about the afterlife. Is there life after death? Well,
I tell you this, there better be life before death. If not,
there won't be. No, it'll be death after death.
It'll be the second death. It's called hell. It's called
the lake of fire. There better be life before death,
or there won't be any. Because Solomon said, as the
tree falls, so shall it lie. But we have a hope. Just as Boat,
he had a hope, now his hope is a reality. We have a hope of
being raised again from the dead. Christ said this, he that believes
in me shall never die. But this body has to die. This
body has to die. But I'm going to have a new body,
and you're going to have a new body. All those who believe the
gospel, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to
have a new body. You're not going to be left in death. Someone said this, we have a
life to live, we have a death to die, and an eternity to spend. It is written in Hebrews 9.27,
and as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the
judgment. But death is an appointment,
you can't miss it. You know, I've missed doctor
appointment. Vicki make me a doctor appointment. I couldn't tell
you how many times I've missed it or changed it. But this is
an appointment made by God. And God keeps his appointments. It's appointed. The scripture says there's a
time to be born and there's a time to die. Here's what's interesting. I talked to Sally, let's see,
probably, I think it was Tuesday. And I think it was Monday night,
she said, the nurse said that he had two hours to live. That
was Monday night. He had two hours to live. And
she went home. Well, I was expecting to hear
something Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday, and then Thursday,
and then Thursday evening. And I thought when I heard that,
I thought, our time. Now listen, there's a time to
be born. And he's talking here about not just parents coming
together and we're born. No, there's a time when God brings
everyone into this world they have a given life. There are
no accidental births. Someone said to me one time about
their older, their youngest child, they were in their 40s, and they
said, that was an accident. I said, no, it wasn't. It might
have been for you, but there's nothing comes into this world
by accident. Life is not given by accident.
Life doesn't just happen. God has to give life. The scripture
says there in John that Christ lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. No one's in this world by accident. And there's a time to be born.
There's a time to be born of God. If you're a child of God,
there's a time to be born. A time in your life, I listen,
marked down to the second, just like your first birth. You know, I think it was Jason
was I'm thinking two weeks later than we thought or two weeks
earlier. I can't remember. He'd never been on time since
anyway. See, he was late this morning. Wasn't he? He come in
late this morning. But he was two weeks early, two
weeks late. No, no, no. He came when God purposed him
to come. He came when God purposed it. Time to be born. And listen,
there's a time to die. There's a time to die. There's
a time, I mean marked on God's calendar, to the second that
you'll leave this life. The nurse said he had two hours.
No, no. You don't have control over that.
You don't have control over that. He's not going to die. You're
not going to die. We're not going to die until
it's that time. Time to die. My dad told my brother,
he said, I'm trying to keep my feet above ground as long as
I can. I said, you have nothing to do with it, Dad. You have
nothing to do with it. And you ought to know better.
And he does know better. But we make statements like that.
We make statements that's off the wall. Right down to the second. Spurgeon said this, the young
may die, but the old must. The young may die, but the old
must. We must die. This is a fact we
all have to face. But for the believer, for the
believer, it's the best day of your life, isn't it? That is
the day you are ushered into the presence of God. That is
the day, like it was 6.30 there Thursday, that's the day Boat's
hope had given way to reality. He looked into the face of Jesus
Christ. Trying to just wrap my mind around
that is more than I can even begin to think of. To look into the face of the
God of heaven and earth. God said, no man shall see my
face and live. But in Christ, we can look into
the face of God and live. So was it Philip? It was one of
the disciples there when the Lord said in John 14, he says,
show us the father. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the father. You're looking at him. You're
looking at him. And now Bo is looking at him
in reality. In reality, he's looking at Him.
Our hope is to be raised from the dead. Our hope is to be with
the Lord. Our hope is to be there with
Christ, complete body, soul, and spirit, and rid of this world
once and for all. This gospel hope gives us a hope,
and I've already touched on it, of seeing the Lord. I just touched
on that. Christ said this, I will see
you again. That's what He said to His disciples,
I will see you again. We look for our Lord's return.
He said in John 14.3, And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again. I will come again. He came for a boat Thursday night,
Thursday evening. I will come again and receive
you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Where
is He? Well, He's seated at God's right
hand. He's in that place that He said He would prepare. Our
Lord went away to prepare a place. A place. A cabin? A house? No, a place of acceptance. He went away to prepare a place
of acceptance for us. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'm coming back for you. And I'm going to take you
to that place that I have prepared for you once I have prepared
you for the place. Once I've prepared you for it,
I'm gonna come and get you and take you to that place I prepared
for you. Brother, we're going, we are
going to a prepared place. You know, when God created Adam,
he created the Garden of Eden first. He prepared a place first. Adam was the last thing created.
God created the heavens and the earth. God created everything
that is. And then he created Adam and
brought him into the garden and told him to dress it and
take care of it. Adam did not do one thing in
the garden. He didn't create one thing in
that garden. It was all done. And this place
that we're going to, The Lord said to that thief, Today shalt
thou be with Me in paradise. This place we are going to is
a prepared place. It's ready. It's ready for us. Boat's place was ready for him.
Here's your place. Here's your place. Listen to Job 19 verse 25 and
27. Job says, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
My Redeemer is alive. He's not going to be alive. He's
not going to be born somewhere down the road. He's alive. My
Redeemer is God. He knew that. He knew God to
be his Redeemer. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body. You know your own, the destruction
of your own body is within itself. after my skin worms destroy this
body. This corruptible, Paul said in
Corinthians 15, this corruptible must put on incorruption. This
is corruptible. This flesh is corruptible. And
the skin worms are going to eat it up one day. Yet in my flesh,
My flesh, that new flesh, that new body. You know, the scripture
said flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But now flesh
and bone, Christ said, touch me. The spirit has not flesh
and bone. We don't need blood. We don't
need it. The scripture says that the life
of the flesh is what? It's in the blood. Well, the
life of that new flesh, that new body is in Christ. It's in Jesus Christ. That's
where it is. It's not in the blood. Not in
the blood flows through these veins. It's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yet in my flesh shall I see God,
whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes, I'll look at Him
face to face. My eyes shall behold and not
another, though my reins be consumed within me." I'm going to stand
in a new body, and I'm going to see my Redeemer with my own
eyes. Nobody's going to have to tell
me about Him. Nobody's going to have to stand in a pulpit
and preach to me and tell me about Him. I'm going to see Him
with my own eyes, face to face. And then the hope of the gospel
is found in who it addresses. It addresses sinners. God came
into this world to save sinners. That's the kind of people He's
going to save. He's not going to save good because there's
not any. There's not any good. If you're really truly good,
you wouldn't need God to save you, would you? If you're really
truly good. That's why the Lord said, there's
none good, no, not one. None but God. That's what our
Lord said. It addresses sinners. Christ
said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I didn't call to come the self-righteous. He's talking to the Pharisees.
They thought they were righteous. They said, we be not sinners.
Well, if you had been a sinner, the Lord would have saved you.
He died for sinners. Our Lord said this, the whole
need not a physician, but the sick. I don't feel sick today and I'm
not going to the doctor. But now if I was sick, I'd be
looking up the physician's number. I'd be calling him. It says in 1 Timothy 1.15, "...this
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Sinners. Of whom He says, I'm
chief. One time He wouldn't say that.
He'd choke to death. He'd choke and go to hell before He'd say
that. But now He says, I'm the chief of them. The Scripture
says in Isaiah 55.1, "...whoever one that thirsteth, Come to the
waters. It says in Matthew 11, He that
laboring heavy laden, come to me and I'll give you rest. Then the hope of the gospel is
one of rest. It's one of rest. It is written in Psalm 16, 8
and 9, I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my
right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and
my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest in hope."
Hope. I'm going to rest in hope. I'm
going to lay down someday, some day or some night, and I'm going
to leave this world. Scripture calls it sleep. The Lord spoke of it as sleep.
And here he said, my flesh will rest in hope. And then this hope
of the gospel, it's the hope of being with the Lord forever.
Not just a visit, forever and ever and ever. Paul said, we
are confident, I say, willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord and is to be present with
the Lord forever. I'm not coming back here. You
know, how many times you see these athletes, they'll win something,
they'll say, well, your mom was looking down on you, you know,
your dad was looking down on somebody. Bo ain't looking down on us.
He ain't looking at this world. You know how depressing it'd
be to look down on this place? The Scripture says that these
former things will not come into mind. That's what it says. These former things will not
come into mind. It says that we will have the
mind of Christ. And when we go to be with the
Lord, we will be there forever, we'll have nothing to do with
this world again. It's over. And then this hope, this gospel
hope, is the hope of what I shall be. What I shall be. Listen, 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Now, right now, not going to
be, right now, we are the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. We don't know, that hasn't happened
yet, as far as our experience of going into the Lord's presence. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know, here's what we do know, that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him. We shall be like Him in a glorified
body, holy, unblameable, unapprovable. We'll be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is, and as He is, that's the way we will be. As I read to you in Colossians
1.21-22, "...and you that were sometime alienated, enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now have they reconciled in the
body of His flesh through death, to present you holy..." This
is us. "...holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in His sight." Can you imagine going into the
presence of God? God who said, I will by no means
clear the guilty? You imagine going into his presence,
unblameable, unreprovable, and holy in his sight. That's the only way you can go
in there. It's the only way. And then Paul gives us a sum
and substance of this hope in 1 Timothy 1.1. Let me read it
to you. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope. Our hope is a person. It's a
person. Our hope is not in the Romans
road, and we followed it, and we did what we're supposed to
do, and now we're saved. No, that's not it. It's not a
denomination. It's not a decision I made. It's
in a person called Jesus Christ. That's our hope. Listen to this Scripture in Matthew
1.23, "...Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us." That is how Christ is my hope. He is God with me, not against
me. It's God with me. It could easily
have been written, God against me. It could have easily been
written. But when it was written, it's
written God for us, with us. Listen to Romans 8.31. What shall
we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for me in salvation
and saving me from my sins and bringing me to glory, who can
withstand God? Nobody, no one. Listen here. And now, Lord, in Psalm 39.7,
And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. My hope is
going to heaven. My hope is this or that. No,
my hope is in you. Psalm 71.5, For thou art my hope,
O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth. You're my hope. Psalm 130 verse 7, "...Let Israel
hope in the Lord, not the benefits of the Lord, the Lord. For with
the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption."
We don't hope in the benefits, we hope in the One who gives
them. And I'm going to wind this down.
What hope is there, what real hope is there in Jesus Christ? That He is God incarnate. That He really is God. The one
I have offended. The one I have sinned against.
That He is God in the flesh. And He is the One who obeyed
the law for me. He's the One who died the death
I deserved. He's the One who raised from
the grave. He's the One who's seated at
God's right hand. God, listen, God is seated at God's right
hand. Can you imagine? God is seated at God's right
hand. In the flesh, there is a man, a God-man seated in glory. My representative, the representative
of every one of God's children. Here's my hope in Christ, is
that in Him I'm complete. Scripture says that Colossians,
in Him you are complete. We don't have to provide anything,
don't bring anything. In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We have in Christ everything
God demands, everything God demanded He provided for us in His Son. And then last of all, the foundation
of this hope is the Word of God. If we have a hope, what's our
foundation for it? What is the foundation? Paul
talks about giving a reason of the hope that's within you. The
foundation for it. The foundation of our hope is
the Word of God and the promises of God. They are the foundation
of all that we hope for. And now, after saying that, let
me read a portion of the Word of God to you. In John 6.35,
Jesus said to them, "'I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to Me shall never hunger. He that believeth on Me shall
never thirst.'" That's a promise. That's a foundation right there.
Romans 10.13, "'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.'" That's a promise. Lord, You said, You said, whoever
calls on You, they would be saved. Lord, I call on You. I'm calling. In Hebrews 7.25, Wherefore he
is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever lives to make intercession for them. Lord, I come. For all the promises of God in
him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
And all this hope that I've been talking about is a good hope
through grace. That's what it says. It's a good
hope through grace. 2 Thessalonians 2.16, Now our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath
given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. If your hope, if your hope is
Jesus Christ, you have a good hope, and God's given it to you
through His grace. And our brother, our brother
who walked by faith, who had this hope, his hope is now given
way to sight. It's given way to sight, and
he's well. He's well. Never, never be bothered by sickness
and pain and sorrow. What a day that'll be. What a
day that'll be when it comes our time. All right.