I would say, and most of you
here would agree, that one of the hardest things that a true
believer of Christ will face in their lifetime is talking
about this gospel and sharing it with other people around us. Why is that? Why in the world
would others who profess to believe this gospel get angry or maybe
even despise what we talk about. When we talk about grace and
election, imputation, substitution, propitiation, these are all biblical
terms. We talk about these things and
people will look at us sometimes like we have a third eye. It's
like a different language. It's very rare that you will
get the high five or the amen that you really want. When's
the last time you talked to someone outside of this church about
the gospel and they said amen, about the true gospel? If I had
to guess, it would be very difficult to remember a time. But there
are two topics that I've always been told in the world, of business
mainly, that I should never discuss with customers or business associates. Obviously politics is one of
them, so I try to leave that out of my business conversations,
and religion. A lot of people here today might
think, why make this strong introduction of the polarizing effects of
the gospel, of talking about religion? But here's why I do
it. Because scripture talks about
the polarizing effects of discussing the gospel. And as a matter of
fact, Christ himself talks about this in scripture. In Luke, verse
12, chapter 12, verse 49 through 53, Christ says, in 49, he says,
I am come to send fire on the earth. In 51, verse 51, he says,
suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you,
nay, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall
be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against
three. And in 53, verse 53 says the
father shall be divided against the son, and the son against
the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter
against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Matthew 10,
verse 34 through 36 says, think not that I am come to send peace
on earth. I am not come to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And listen
to verse 36. and a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. And that's a big message. But
Christ tells us in scripture that there is promise. So don't
let that discourage you. Because there is hope in the
gospel, there is hope in Christ, and that's the title of today's
message, Our Hope in Christ. Today's scripture is Colossians
127. It says, to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The word
of God plainly teaches that we will live again. Listen to some
scripture. Isaiah 2619, Isaiah said, The
dead men shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of the herbs, and earth
shall cast out the dead. Daniel chapter 12, verse 22 says,
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. When our Lord Jesus Christ was
walking this earth, he raised three people from the dead. He
raised Lazarus and John 11, one through 44, who'd been dead for
several days. He raised Jairus' daughter in
Matthew 9, 18 through 26, and he raised the widow's son in
Luke 7, 11 through 17. And of course, Christ himself
arose from the tomb. In his word, right here in scripture,
in this Bible, you will find the answer to every question
regarding life, judgment, death, and eternity. You will find the
answer to every question regarding redemption, righteousness, and
the resurrection. You will find the answer to every
question concerning salvation and eternal security. It is all
right here in this word. And I'm telling you this, if
you find the answers to judgment, death, eternity, redemption,
salvation, and righteousness anywhere other then right here,
what you will find in scripture, you will be deceived. This is
the only place to find the truth is in this scripture right here.
Any other sources and voices, visions, dreams, feelings, emotions,
even people, preachers and teachers will deceive you. But here's
the one thing you should always remember, God the Father, will
never deceive anybody. He has no reason to. It's not
in his character to deceive anyone. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not. I am the Lord. He is holy. He is the same today, yesterday,
and forever. God the Father never changes.
The word of God is where we will find all of the answers. If we
would have a hope, a good hope, a true hope, and a sure hope
of eternal life, we must go to the Word of God. That's where
it's found. This was John's hope. In 1 John
3, verses 1 through 3, it says, Behold, What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God? Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are the sons of
God, and it doth no yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself even as he is pure. This was Paul's hope. Colossians
1.27 says, to whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. In Job 14.14, Job asked this question. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed
time will I wait till my change come. See what Job says in chapter
14, verse seven. For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender
branch thereof will not cease. Job said that if you cut down
a tree, there is hope that it will grow again. And I just experienced this lately. I mean, I took a chainsaw out
to my crepe myrtles and cut them down to the ground all the way,
probably three inches off the ground. And guess what? They're
growing. There are sprouts coming out. If you cut down a tree, there
is hope that it will sprout again. When the root or the stump looks
like there is no life in it at all, and the tree's been cut
down, if water gets to the roots, there is hope that it will grow
again. As we've read in scripture, and
everybody knows the scripture, the penalty of sin is death. We are all sinners and we all
come short of the glory of God. What does God's law require for
the salvation of a sinner. Perfection, that's what the scripture
says, perfect in every way. No one out of Adam's fallen race
is perfect. We cannot produce by our own
works what is required to get into heaven. So what we need
is a perfect substitute to stand in our place. And Christ is that
perfect substitute. People will agree and they'll
say, yes, that is my Christ. They may give mental agreement,
but when they describe their Christ, the person that they
call Christ, salvation is ultimately, in a lot of cases, dependent
on something that they do. The Jesus that the majority of
this world talks about isn't a substitute. Unless Christ is
your substitute, there's no hope. Look at Isaiah 53 and start with
verse one. The first part of verse one says,
who hath believed our report? What does that mean? What is
our report? Our report is our message. You
know, there's never been a believer of the gospel who has not experienced
sadness at some point over the fact that not too many people
believe this message. Not too many people see the news
that we deliver and are excited when we deliver our good news.
The good news that Jesus Christ, the Lord, was born and walked
among us. He established that perfect righteousness
that satisfied God's law and justice. Luke 2.11 says, for
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. It is the message that God has
given us eternal life through his son. That is this message. That's our message. Now the second
part of verse one in Isaiah 53 says, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? What is the arm of the Lord?
The arm of the Lord is Christ. Isaiah 59 one says, surely the
arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull
to hear. Verse two is a description of
Christ and his work of redemption. Isaiah 53 too, it says, for he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He will be born of a woman, a
helpless child, dependent on his mother's care, a tender plant. And then he will grow up as a
savior, as a redeemer. It says, and like a root out
of dry ground, or rather as a branch from a root out of a dry ground. Romans 1. Verses one through
three says, Paul, a servant of Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore
by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which is made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. So when Jesus Christ came into the world as a tender plant,
he came out, he came as a root out of dry ground. The kingdom
of David was down to nothing. It was dry ground. And here,
Jesus, the son of Mary, the heir to the throne of David, was born
in a manger. The king of kings is in a manger
because there is no room for him anywhere else. Even though
he came out of dry ground, he will grow up as a tender plant.
And it says at the end of verse two that there is no beauty that
we should desire him. Almost everyone was against Christ
in his time. Isaiah 53 says he is despised
and rejected of men. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Why was he despised? There are
several reasons he was despised. He was poor. That was one reason. In John 1, verse 45 and 46, it
says, Philip found Nathanael and told him, we have found the
one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets
also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, Nazareth.
Can anything good come from here? Nathanael asked. So he was despised
because of where he was born. He was poor. Because of his friends,
he was despised. People passed judgment on him
because of who he was around, who he hung out with. Guilty
by association. They said he was a friend of
sinners. The scribes and Pharisees said in Luke 5.30, but their
scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying,
Why do you eat and drink with the publicans and sinners? He
was despised because of the truth that he preached. Christ said
in John 10 30, I and my father are one and people despised him
for that. And they took up stones to stone
him and then they nailed him to the cross. In John 8.56, Christ said, your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was
glad. And then in verse 57, it goes
on to say, then said the Jews unto him, thou art not 50 years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham? They were asking Christ, how
did you see Abraham? You aren't even 50 years old.
And in verse 58 it says, Christ responded to them and said, verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. In John 6.37, Christ also said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Matthew 27, 41 and
42, it says, likewise also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes
and elders, and he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he
be the king of Israel, let him now come down from that cross,
and we will believe him." They mocked him while he died. Isaiah 53.3, it says, he was
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and
rejected, He is referred to here as a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Isaiah 53, four, it says, surely
he hath mourned our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The Lord Jesus Christ, as he
hung on the cross of Calvary, he bore all of our iniquities
and all of our transgressions. That right there should give
us hope. Christ took the sins on himself from all of those
that the Father gave him in the everlasting covenant of grace.
Christ bore our griefs and our sorrows. They were laid on him. The second part of verse four
says, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Because Christ bore our sins, the law of God found him guilty
and the justice of God executed him. All of our sins, our griefs,
our sorrows were transferred to him and he bore them in his
body on the cross and he died. Isaiah 53 5 says, but he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. He made peace for us by his death
on the cross. We had no peace with God until
Christ came and put our sins away. And he bore our sins and
carried our griefs and our sorrows, and he paid that penalty. In
full, we were set free. The prison door was open. Prisoners
set free by his work alone. That's a message of hope for
sinners. And since Christ bore and paid
for our sins, God's justice does not require a double payment
for sins. He bore our sins so that we don't
have to bear them. He paid the debt. We don't owe
it. Justice is satisfied. Because Christ died, we live. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities so that we have peace with God.
Isaiah 53 6 says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have
turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." That's the reason that non-believers
don't believe this message. They don't see because they turn
their own way. They want salvation their way,
but salvation must be God's way and not the way we all want by
nature. By nature, we will always go
the wrong way. By his stripes, we are healed. He didn't come to attempt to
save us. He didn't try to save us. He
didn't make us savable. He came to save the lost. He didn't come to attempt to
put sin away. He put it away by the sacrifice
of himself. Look to Christ and him alone.
In Isaiah 42.1 it says, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine
elect and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Then down further
in Isaiah 42.4 it says, he shall not fail nor be discouraged till
he have set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for
his law. The substitute has died. and
those that he died for are set free. We have hope in Christ,
and that, that's our only hope. Verse seven of Isaiah 53, it
says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth, he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to a
slaughter, not one word of objection, not one word asking to be set
free. In John 10, 18, Christ said,
no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
from my Father. Christ is our willing sacrifice.
In John 10, 15, Christ said, as the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Christ is the willing savior.
Isaiah 53.8 says he was taken from prison and from judgment
and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the
land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Our Lord by himself purged our
sins by the sacrifice of himself and by himself. And then in Isaiah
53 9 it says, and he made his grave with the wicked and with
the rich in his death because he had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in his mouth. He died between two thieves at
the cross and then he was laid in a rich man's tomb. It says
he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53 10, it goes on to say,
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. You know, our Lord's sufferings
were not only physical sufferings. We all get tied up into thinking
it was just a physical suffering. And even though he was God, he
was man too. And he felt and endured more
pain in his suffering than we could ever imagine. But what
we don't think about is the suffering that Christ's soul, his soul
endured. His greatest suffering was that
he made his soul an offering to sin. Matthew 27, 46, it says,
Christ said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But
it pleased God to bruise him. What does that mean that it pleased
God to bruise him? It was God's will that he made
for him our surety before the foundation of the world. He is
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world by the will of God. It pleased God to do that. It
pleased God to make Jesus Christ our Savior. Secondly, it pleased
the Father to send him into this world and have him born of a
virgin and take this abuse and humiliation and suffering. It
pleased God to put him here as our substitute and our Savior
to take what we all deserve. It pleased God to determine the
death that he would die. God was pleased with Christ's
obedience. He said, this is my beloved son
and who I am pleased. The sacrifices in the Old Testament,
they never pleased God. They never gave God any satisfaction.
They never honored his law and justice, but Christ's death and
his substitutionary work and obedience pleased God the Father.
The blood of bulls and goats, they never satisfied God the
Father. The only offering that was accepted was the blood of
Christ. The last part of verse 10 says,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Notice the words shall
in that scripture. These statements do not say might,
maybe, or perhaps. They say, shall. That means it
is sure and certain. No question, no doubt. Isaiah 53 11 says, he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. The travail is the pain, agony,
and torment He sees the pain of his soul for his people and
he's satisfied that what Christ accomplished did satisfy all
of his requirements for salvation and eternal life for all those
that Christ died. Then it says that by his knowledge
that many shall be justified. He knows them and they know him. It says that for many he shall
bear their iniquities His soul was tormented and God was satisfied. Isaiah 53, 12 says, therefore,
will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto
death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bare
the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He bore
the sins of many, the many that Christ represented the many that
deserve eternal damnation. Then it says that he made intercession
for them. He stood in their place. Christ
was the perfect representative, the perfect substitute. And for
all of those that he is standing in their place, all of those
sheep will be led home. It's sure, it is certain. You
want to talk about hope? This is a hope. that nothing
else can provide. This is a hope that you can take
to the bank. This should make a sinner beam
with excitement. This is a hope that only Christ
can give. It's an everlasting hope, it's
sure and certain. That's the type of hope that
sinners need, amen.