Now in this chapter of Colossians
chapter 1, our text is to be the 23rd verse. So I shall read that initially
and then read the passage, and then we'll concentrate on what's
found in verse 23. The statement in 22 is, to present you holy, H-O-L-Y,
and unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. If Christ is
our substitute, if He's our surety, if He's our Redeemer, if He's
our Savior, then He presents us before God absolutely holy,
He presents us unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight. Now, verse 23, if you continue
in the faith, that is, the faith of Christ, grounded and settled
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you
have, how did you find the gospel? which you have heard." It's a
message to be heard. "...and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister or
servant." Alright, back to verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae, grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you
have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all
the world, and brings forth fruit as it does also in you, since
the day you heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth." The
day we heard. The day we heard and knew the
grace of God in truth. Now, can you and I remember that
day? It's a memorable day. Everything
changed on that day. Verse 7, And you also learned
of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful
minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in
the Spirit." Obviously, Paul has never visited this congregation.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled. with
the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge
of God. strengthened with all might according
to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with
joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which has made us
fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has
delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us
into the kingdom of his dear Son. In whom? In God's dear Son, our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. We have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Still speaking now of Christ. Verse 15. Now, is this the Jesus
that we know? Is this the Christ that we trust? He has to fit this description. And in case you've been buried
under the earth somewhere for the last umpteen years, this
is not the Christ of modern day Christianity. You'd have to go
back well over a hundred years to find this glorious gospel
of Christ. It's been missing that long,
and in some cases longer. Christ, verse 15, who is the
image of the invisible God. So the only God we'll ever see
is the God-man, Christ Jesus. the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him, by Christ, were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, Visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, by Christ
and for Christ. And He is before, He antedates,
He precedes all things. He is before all things, and
by Him everything that is consists. All things consist. Christ brings
these things into being. Verse 18, and He is the head
of the body, the church. We have no Pope, no Cardinal,
no priest. Nobody between our soul and the
Savior, as the hymn says. He simply will not have it. Well,
how can these people claim to be able to do all of these things
and to be in between Christ and them? People are gullible. We'll believe anything, especially
if it tingles our flesh and makes us feel good about ourselves.
But when we tell you that salvation is of the Lord and nothing and
not anybody else, that's simply how it is. And if you found out
that you're a sinner, I mean in Bible terms, a real sinner.
Brother Montgomery calls it a dead dog sinner. If you found out
that you're one of those, this is the only Christ that will
do you any good. That other one's a little peanut guy. He ain't
helping nobody. I lost my place. Let's try 18
again. And he is the head of the body
of the church who is the beginning. Christ is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead. the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him, in Christ, should all fullness, all divine
fullness should dwell. Verse 20, And having made peace
through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself, By Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled." Christ
is the lone reconciler. In the body of His flesh, through
death, whatever this work is, It requires
our Lord going to the tree, dying in our room place instead. You that were sometime previous. You that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Well, preacher, just how
wicked are we? We're as wicked as wicked can
be. In all parts of our being. In our mind, in our heart, in
our will. Everything. We try to look at
sins as outward sins. There are inward spiritual sins
of far greater consequence. But here we are told that the
people for whom the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer are people who
were previously alienated and enemies sworn enemies in our
mind by wicked works, yet now has Christ reconciled." The differences
between us and God are gone because the Savior has put His hand on
both and can meet both. Verse 22, there is no period
or comma or punctuation at the end of 21, so we read, "...yet
now has He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death
to present you holy, H-O-L-Y, and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight, if you continue in the faith, and that faith
is the faith of Christ. It ain't the Baptist faith, the
Methodist faith, any kind of other faith. It is the faith
of Christ. Of Christ. These other things
are just tricks and traps to turn us away from Him. In the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight if you continue in the faith grounded and settled
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you
have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am a minister, a servant of Christ, a preacher
of the gospel of Christ." My title this morning, the short
version of my title anyway, is The Hope of the Gospel. When you put this stuff on the
internet, it doesn't have much room for a title, and they're
very strict about how it has to be. So I'm just going to give
it that little title. The hope of the gospel. But what I really want to talk
to you about this morning, in reference to the gospel, is to
be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. So we've got to
find out what gospel hope is. You don't know if you've moved
away from a place unless you know what that place is. It has
a name. It's somewhere on the map. And
so this must also be able to be identified, be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel. Now that's what I really wanted
for a title. But I'll just have it as a title
anyway and not let them know about it, except if they want
to hear it from my lips, that's fine. And there's another statement
that I call your careful attention to. return to it this morning, but
we've seen it previously. I can't remember when we last
did. But there's a statement in Matthew
chapter 11 and verse 12 that reads like this. The kingdom
of heaven suffers, allows, encourages. The kingdom of heaven allows
Violence. It suffers violence. And the
King James Word, suffering, doesn't mean, alright, if you insist. No, that's not what it means. It simply means that this truth
that is being spoken of in regard to the Kingdom of Heaven, not
only allows violence, but it requires it. It requires it. Without it, we
will not find hope and rest and peace in Christ. The kingdom
of heaven encourages violence, and the rest of the statement
is, and the violent person takes it by force. Takes it by force. I mean, it's like Patrick Henry
saying, Give me liberty or give me death. So the sinner says,
give me Christ or give me death. You follow what I'm saying? This is a statement beyond statements. But I fear, religiously just
as well as in our natural lives, These things become outdated,
outmoded. They no longer fit in. The churches
have gone to a different game. They'd rather suck people in
by entertaining them, promising them this, that, and the other. You've read enough billboards.
I don't have to read them to you, surely. The violet, take it by force. Alright, here's the first question. What is gospel hope? What is the hope of the gospel? Now you know that Christ is that
hope, but here is that hope spelled out and identified. First of
all, it is the hope of a full salvation. It's not part salvation
and then we add another part. No. It's all Christ, it's all
grace, it's all of God. So then, the hope of the gospel
is a hope of complete, full salvation. Which means to be delivered from
the power of sin, to be delivered from the penalty of sin, from
the pleasure of sin, and finally from the very presence of sin,
past, present, and future sins all included. If you have one
sin left that is not put on Christ, on Calvary's tree, then we will
perish for that one sin for all eternity. It's real simple. It's like some people describe
math, and I didn't think it was very simple. I didn't do well
in math. But this is real simple. It's
all Christ. Or it's not. It's all Christ,
or it's not any Christ. Now, I know people still use
his name, but they ain't talking about the same person. The hope of the gospel is a full
salvation. Secondly, it is the hope of final
perseverance. Believers are said to persevere
to the end. It doesn't mean we don't fall
and stumble and make mistakes and go backwards sometimes and
forwards sometimes and sideways sometimes. These things happen
to all people. Believers are people who know
something about what sin is and what a sinner is. And we'll be
a sinner till we're planted in the grave, or until Christ returns,
whichever it is that comes first. So the hope of final perseverance. Matthew 10.22 says that this
gospel endures to the end, and those that endure to the end
shall be saved. Thirdly, gospel hope. Let's see, I can't let you get
by without any turning, and this should be very simple. John chapter
5. John chapter 5. The third part of gospel hope is defined in the fifth chapter
of John as the resurrection of life. The resurrection of life. The new birth is a resurrection. It is bringing a sinner from
spiritual death to spiritual life. to not knowing God, to
knowing Him in Jesus Christ. Here you go in verse 28 and 29. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in the which, or in which, all that are in the graves,
Good, bad or ugly, all that are in the graves shall hear Christ's
voice. It is the voice of a command. And he says to every member of
the human race, come before me, this is judgment
day. Look what it says now. It doesn't
say if they don't want to hear his voice, they won't hear it.
It says they shall hear it. And that ain't the half of it.
They shall come forth. Look at verse 28. And shall come
forth. But these are dead people. Yeah,
but this is God. This ain't no trouble for Him. My goodness. We need to bury some dead gods. And shall come forth. Here's
the pure substance of it now. They that have done good. Now, how much good is that? To put it in the simplest of
terms, it is to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul,
and strength, and our neighbors, ourselves. And you ain't done
that, and I haven't done that. We may try. We certainly may
be kind to our neighbors, even to our kin people for that matter. They that have done good are
said to be raised to the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil to the resurrection of damnation. So how much evil does a lost
man have to do in order to be damned? Just one sin unatoned
for by the blood of Christ. See, when we go to Christ in
mercy, calling on Him for grace from God to have mercy on our
souls, when we go to Him, we don't pick and choose which sins
we want to be forgiven of. We just say that all we are is
a sinner. Every part of our being, we're
sinners. And God has mercy for real sinners. You know why? Because he makes
us a real sinner. That's what Christ does in the
gospel through the Spirit of the living God. And finally,
number four on what is gospel hope, I'll ask you to turn to
Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. The last hope in this outline
of what is gospel hope is simply this. The third one was, it is
the hope of a resurrection life in Christ. And the last one,
the fourth one, is the hope of the second coming of Christ,
and here is why. Hebrews 9, the last two verses
of the chapter. Hebrews 9, 27 and 28. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. Mind you, not all, but many.
And unto them that look for him, O God, enable us to look for
Christ and to look to him. Those that look for him shall
he appear the second time, this is his second coming as we call
it, without sin unto salvation. What did he do with our sins?
He put them away. Well, for how long? Forever and
ever and ever. This is God the Son we're talking
about. This is not just any sacrifice. If we sacrificed all the animals
on, well, we'd get arrested to start with. If we sacrificed
all the animals on this earth, it wouldn't be worth the snap
of our finger. Worse than that, it would be
damning to men to put their hope in such things as a sacrificial
animal. The sacrifice is Christ. And
He offered, Hebrews 10, He offered, I think, verse 14, one sacrifice
for sins forever. Ain't no more. No more. That's the theme of Hebrews chapter
10, is no more. There's four of them in there. Alright, let's see. That's one
page down. Let's try another one. So what is the ground of gospel
hope in our text back in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 23? If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. Brother Mahan used to say, you
can't move from where you ain't ever lived. And you can't move away from
the hope of the gospel if you've never had the hope of the gospel.
And if you really have it, you can't move away from it. Oh,
you might fall and stumble. Ain't no telling what you're
liable to do. But I'm telling you, if Christ
has redeemed you, God's got his hand on you, and nothing, nothing happens
apart from his purpose and will. What is the ground? What is the
basis of gospel hope? The first one is this. Now these
things require a little bit more thought, and you'll find decided opposition
in the religious world The ground of gospel hope in the Bible is the rich, free, sovereign
grace of God. Rich, free, sovereign grace of
God, epitomized by verses such as this. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. God saves whom He pleases, dear
friends. And if we've got an ounce of
spiritual sense, we don't dare think we can change God's purpose
and His mind, do we? Lord, we're the ones that need
the change, not Him. You can find that in Romans 9,
verse 15. Second ground of gospel hope
is the merits of Christ. Not my merit. Not yours. Not something we've earned. Not
something we've deserved. Ain't no such thing. If we've
got any work that's worth anything, God did it. And I mean it. He did it. He did it. What are the merits
of Christ if this is one of the grounds of gospel hope? It has
to do with who Christ is. He's the perfect man and the
perfect God. He's as much God as if He were
not a man. He's as much a man as if He were
not God. He has that dual nature in just
one person. That's simply who Christ is.
He's the divine, yet the human Christ. Not just who Christ is in regard
to his merits being the ground of the gospel, but what he's
done. What he's done in this world in thirty-three years,
or thirty-three and a half, or whatever it is. What he's done and what he's
suffered. He came here as our federal head
and representative, understanding that in our first federal head,
Adam, in the Garden of Eden, we lost everything because Adam
lost it for us, and we're born in his image. And we carry his
rebellion against God and we're born sinners. There's no such
thing as an innocent baby. We're born sinners. So the Lord Jesus has taken upon
himself all of the people that God chose in eternity past in
the covenant of grace. And our Lord represented those
people. He died for those people. He
redeemed those people. And this merit that belongs to
us in Christ is one of the most precious grounds of gospel hope. The third one is simply this. I should have left you in John
chapter 5. I knew that it was going to come
back up, and I just couldn't remember why it would, but I
do now. So if you don't want to turn,
I'll read it for you. You're promised to re-read it
when you get home. Make sure I read it right. God concerning Christ has given
a solemn gospel pledge. And here it is. Verse 24 of John
chapter 5. Verily, verily, Mr. Hawker likes
to call those words, Amen, Amen. I think he's probably correct
in that. I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on
him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Now that does
not sound like somebody's going to get lost in the hustle or
something. Does it? It looks to me like whatever
he started out with, he's going to finish up with. He even brags
in the gospel accounts that of all of his sheep, he'll not lose
a single one. Not a one. Shucks, if he can
lose one, he can lose them all. But that ain't happening. This
book everywhere says, Truth after truth to declare that wonderful
revelation. Fourthly, now think about this
now. God cannot change. He's changeless. Right? Then if this is His gospel, This
is his son, and this is his salvation. It can't be changed. It can't be
altered. It is truly the ground of gospel
hope. In that hymn, There is a fountain
filled with blood. That third stanza, I think it
was, said, Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose
its power. For how long? Till all the ransomed,
all the people for whom Christ paid their debt, till all the
ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more." Which means
we done left this world when that happens. Already on our
way to glory. And here's a fifth reason why
the gospel cannot vary, cannot change, cannot be altered. The
ground of gospel hope is because the holy scriptures themselves
cannot be changed. Now, people can publish all the
Bibles they want to, in whatever position or point of view they
want to, but I'm telling you, the Word of God will survive. Men have done their dead-level
best to destroy it, but it's still here. My goodness, when
they first started printing Bibles in England, they took these fellows
out and hanged them or burned them at the stake. I wonder why the Catholic Church
didn't want anybody to have a Bible. If you had a Bible, you wouldn't
need him, the false priest I'm talking about. One more point. This was my main object now.
How can one be moved away from the hope of the gospel? Sadly, we have all known of some. We wish many others would receive
this glorious truth And they may yet. God can save us at whatever time
in our life he pleases, or he cannot save us as he pleases. He's not obligated. No. But whoever he gave to Christ
in old eternity, in order to be God, those people must be
brought to know Christ and to eternally spend heaven with Him.
You just have to. We can move away from gospel
hope by thinking that we really are somebody. God may save these
other people however He pleases, but I'm different. I'm special.
I've been faithful to Him. I give generously to Him. He
owes me. He owes me." Now that's tragic,
but I've heard those words come from people's lips. I'm talking about this building,
these buildings, before I ever got here, by the way. This person
is upset because people don't pay him the respect that he thinks
he deserves because of the role that he played in building this
monstrosity of a building. Secondly, people can be moved
away from the gospel hope by despair and despondency. I mean, this ain't going the
way I planned. What am I going to do? You're just going to trust
God. That's all there is to do. We can move away from gospel
hope by false teaching, I remember being in the same teacher I had
in college for a Bible professor, which is an unusual thing to
say. It was a part of the University of North Carolina system. And
for them to be teaching Bible, of course they want enough Bible
really being preached. But we covered the books and
all that stuff. natural mind understanding of
it. But anyway, after I finished
my college, this person, whom I'll not name, though she's now
dead, was having a class. It might have been through Robeson
County Technical Institute. Anyway, they were meeting at
a church near Hope Mills, North Carolina. And so several of us
from the church that I was, I thought I was pastoring, didn't know
what I was doing. But we took this Monday night
Bible class, and it was on the book of Genesis. So when we got
to the creation part of it, she wanted us to write a paper, you
know, expressing our views on the subject. And I remember one
other guy and myself, I don't know if we had the most pages
or the most words or what, but it was a pretty healthy document.
His was predominantly evolution from start to finish. Mine was
that this world exists by divine purpose and divine power. And
I wrote mine from that angle. Now the teacher gets up there
and tries to tell us that these two men are actually saying the
same thing. And that's what people are going
to try to get you to say, that what those people down at Bethel
are hearing, oh, we preach the same thing at our place. Boy, if he really thinks that,
which I don't think he does for a moment, but if he really thinks
it, man, he's worse than blind. He doesn't even have any eyes. One more statement I want to
read you, and then I'm finished. As we say down south through, the least sin ought to make us
humble, but the greatest sin ought not to make you despair. One more time. The least sin ought to make us
humble, but the greatest sin ought not to make us despair. I mean, if God's in command,
if He's in control, and we belong to Him, what can happen to you
apart from that He doesn't permit or send on purpose? Nothing. I know, I know, I know. We've
had plenty of sad times and plenty of happy
times for that matter. But living in this world is not
a cakewalk. And a believer does have many
trials tribulations and troubles. But ask yourself this question,
did God send this to me? Now, whether I can say it or
not, the answer is yes. Could it have been worse? Oh,
yes. Have others had worse problems
than I have? Oh, I think so. Really do. Why does God send this? The quick
answer is, for our good and His glory. It's God's doing. Don't be moved away from the
hope of the gospel.