Good morning everyone. I'll add
my welcome to Winston. If you have your Bible with you,
be turning to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, I'm going to
bring a message this morning that I've titled, The Hope Laid
Up in Heaven. The Hope Laid Up in Heaven. That
title is taken from verse 5 of Colossians 1. There Paul refers
to that hope. He puts it this way, he refers
to the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. He's directing
this to some people here at the church at Colossae. And the question
I want to pose to you is, could that accurately be directed toward
you? Let's all ask ourselves this
morning, do I, do you, have this same hope that Paul is speaking
of? Is this hope laid up for you? Will it help us to see to
whom Paul is speaking? And so let's just begin reading
here in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God and Timotheus, that's Timothy, our brother,
to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, that is those who
have faith in Christ, the faithful brethren, 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 he
hath to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the
of the gospel. We see here in verse 2 that Paul
is speaking to the faithful brethren and the saints. You know, we
often use that term you hear in everyday language. We'll speak
of someone who does a lot of good deeds. We'll say, well,
isn't he a saint or isn't she a saint? I don't imagine that
we necessarily think that they're without sin, but you know, that's
the connotation that carried with that kind of comment. And
so, but we know here that this can't be what Paul is referring
to when he calls them saints for the scriptures clear. Romans
3, 23 tells us that all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Back in verse 10 of chapter three,
he said, there is none righteous. No, not one. So no, a saint is
not someone who has never sinned. In fact, a saint in the Scripture
is a sinner. But it's a sinner that has been
saved by the grace of God. You see, you notice Paul said
there, Grace and peace be unto you. There is no peace, see,
before a holy God, between a holy God and a sinner. While there
can be no peace except by grace. That is, it has to be merited
by another. The sinner certainly has no merit
before a holy God. So those two things are inseparable. There is only peace with God
by grace. That is, it must be provided
for the center and based on nothing that proceeds from that center.
A saint is one in whom God does not impute or charged with his
or her sins. It's a saint is one that's been
sanctified. That is, they've been set apart.
They've actually been constituted or accounted to be holy based
solely on the impeccable perfection of their substitute, the very
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ being laid or accounted
to them, imputed to them. Now, if you're among those for
whom the Lord Jesus lived and died as a substitute, then you're
an object of grace and you too can consider yourselves to be
a saint. But how do you know if you're
among those for whom Jesus lived and died? And that's where I
want to direct your attention this morning. We see, even in
this verse 5 here, one distinguishing characteristic of the saint.
Specifically, that they have a hope laid up for them in heaven. So today we're going to consider
what is meant by that phrase. And may we each of us ask ourselves,
that is referred to here, that belongs to all the saints of
God, this hope that is laid up in heaven, is it my hope? Is it your hope? Because you
see, if it's one and the same, then you too can have that same
assurance that you're among the saints of God. Well, to examine
it further, let's just consider for a moment what these words
mean. Hope laid up in heaven. The word hope here is used three
times in this first chapter of Colossians, and we're going to
look at each of those, and that will help us better understand
what Paul is talking about. But to begin with, the word hope
itself, the Greek word that's translated hope, actually means
an expectation or a confidence. In other words, it's not how
we often use the word. Someone may ask you a question,
you may answer, well, I don't know, I hope so. Now, this word
for hope here is one that is an expectation. It's a confidence
that we hold or have. And this hope is something that's
experienced in the sinner's heart and in his mind. You see, you
hold a hope if you have an expectation or a confidence. And so we know
that any who believe, as most of Christendom, most in churches
all over our land today believe, that they're bound for heaven's
glory. profess to have a hope. They expect heaven. They expect
salvation. They expect to be saved from
their sins and the eternal misery that's a just dessert for sin.
And they possess the confidence that they're going to spend an
eternity blessed in heaven's glory. But the scripture is replete
with just example after example of so many that possess a hope
of sorts, but whose hope is sadly exposed to be a false hope. Just
think about the epistles for a moment. They're written to
religious people. How many times throughout the
epistles do we see the admonition to not believe a false gospel
or not trust in a counterfeit Christ, another Jesus, as the
scripture puts it? You see, it's written to religious
folks. And so Many multitudes have a
hope for heaven, but it's a misplaced hope because it's based upon
a false ground or a false premise. And so that's our challenge today.
Let's see what our hope is based upon. Ultimately, I want to show
you today that the validity of one's hope depends upon one whom,
and secondly, and on what basis that hope is derived. Now that
phrase laid up there, a hope laid up in heaven, the phrase
laid up simply means reserved. So we begin to get a little glimpse
here, even in this first primary verse I'm pointing your attention
to, verse 5, of one of the distinguishing characteristics of a well-founded
hope or expectation. It's one laid up in heaven. You
know, in English classes, you may have been taught, as I was,
that to do a report, it's often advantageous to ask all those
reporter questions, like what, when, where, how, who, so forth. And today, we're likewise going
to ask a few of these, those that apply to our subject at
hand, as we examine this hope in Colossians 1. We're going
to consider, first of all, where this hope is, which I've already
touched upon. Secondly, in whom this hope is
placed? Thirdly, how? How does this hope
become an individual center's hope, your expectation, your
confidence? And then lastly, what this hope
is based upon? So first of all, where is this
hope? If you would be turning with
me to Matthew 6, Matthew chapter 6, keep your place there in Colossians. We'll be coming back to that.
There in Colossians 1, 5, as we saw, we see right off the
bat that this hope, where is it? It's one that's laid up in
heaven, we read, that is not on earth. Here in Matthew 6,
Christ is speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, and he directs
our attention to consider those things that we treasure, our
value in our own minds and hearts, and I believe that should also
direct us to consider where my and your hope for confidence
lies. About midway through the chapter there in verse 19 we
read, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. Traditionally, we consider these
words of Christ to be contrasting our interest in temporal things,
the things of this life, material things, our physical well-being
and so forth, versus our interest in spiritual things, things pertaining
to eternity. And that's an appropriate lesson,
but I was led to this passage, as you might have guessed, because
of the choice of the words here Lay not up for yourselves." We're
talking about a hope that's laid up in heaven back in Colossians
1. And here he's telling us, well,
lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Now, let me just
say for a moment, that laying up there is not something it's
suggesting that you go and do. If you look at the literal Greek
translation of verse 19 in Matthew 6, it's treasure not for yourselves,
treasures in heaven. And in verse 20, but treasure
for yourself. So it's speaking about that which
we value. And Christ here is speaking of,
to use the King James translation, laying up, valuing treasures,
that is, reserving things. As I said back in Colossians
1, that phrase laid up, that's what it means. It means to reserve. There's a treasure. There's a
hope. laid up, reserved in heaven.
In Christ here speaking of reserving something, I wanted to look at
that aspect of these words in Matthew 6. That is, we reserve
or put in reserve those things that we value, and you reserve
things in hopes of securing your future. For example, when you
consider the temporal things of this world, we save our money
or invest or in some way hope to plan for our retirement, our
future financial security. But for eternal security, Christ
is teaching here, we need something that is incorruptible, everlasting,
not subject to change. So we see if the hope is based
upon anything done by us as creatures, not being the creator, but a
creature by definition means we change. We were nothing and
we became something as we were born into this world. We're immutable. Not only that, we're fallen in
Adam. We're depraved sinners. And so if our hope's based upon
something done in us or by us or through us as sinners in this
life, on this earth, then our hope's
not in something that's accomplished, reserved for us in heaven, laid
up, already finished, as a done deal that is incorruptible, that's
everlasting, see, that's sure and certain. So, sadly, many
have a hope, an expectation and a confidence that mirrors mine
in years past, that it was based upon their faith. You see, they
think the thing that will make the difference, and it may not
be faith, it may be perseverance, but it's something that proceeds
from them, the sinner. And so what they've treasured,
what they've laid up, their security, is anything but sure and certain.
It's the product of what the creature, the depraved, sinful
creature, can deliver. Even if we imagine something
God does through us, you see, it's tainted by our sin. And
if so, your hope, you may call it grace, but your hope would
be based upon your works. That is, it's something delivered,
proceeds from you, the sinner. And it's not by grace. It's not
salvation with Christ having met every requirement and condition. Christ who sits where? Now at
the right hand of the Father in heaven ever making intercession
for us. So dare we approach the throne
of God's judgment pleading the very best we sinners can offer. When Christ has already said
in this same Sermon on the Mount, didn't he say, accept your righteousness?
The best you can produce exceeds that of the best of the best.
the scribes and the Pharisees, thought by most to be the most
moral law-keeping folks who ever lived on this earth. Lest it
exceed that, he said, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. And he tells us in verse 48 of chapter 5 how far
we must exceed it. He says, perfection is required. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. In Acts 17, he tells
us he's going to judge the world in that righteousness. Whose
righteousness? By that man whom he's ordained.
And he gives assurance to us that that alone got the job done.
That is what merits life in that he raised him from the dead.
You must possess a perfect righteousness that equals that of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, this hope that Paul speaks of is one that
resides in heaven, in one who has sat down. He's finished all
that was necessary some 2,000 years ago at the cross of Calvary.
Turn back, man, Colossians, and look over a few chapters to Colossians
chapter 3. I want to consider some other
verses that are pertinent to this. Colossians 3, we read in verse
1, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Lay not, lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. Where? Where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead. You're dead
to the rudiments of this world. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Consider
in Hebrews 1.3, you don't have to turn there, It was speaking
of Christ there, and it says, Christ, who being the brightness
of his glory, speaking of the Father's glory, and the express
image of his person and upholding all things, he's reigning and
ruling, by the word of his power, when he had by himself, with
no contribution from anyone else, purged our sins, by himself,
what did he do? He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. And here I think we get a proper
sense that this hope that is said to be laid up in Colossians
1 is that phraseology suggests to us that it's a finished work. He sat down just as the book
of Hebrews teaches us that God rested on creation when he was
pleased with all that he had done. It says that, likewise, Christ
sat down and He rested. For you see, God was pleased
with the satisfaction that Christ had made in His life and death.
And it admonishes us and tells us that all believers, that's
what we enter into. We enter into that very rest. You see,
it's laid up. It's a victory that's already
won. So where is this hope? It's laid up in heaven. Secondly,
in whom is this hope placed? You're probably saying, I think
you've already answered that, Randy. It's very hard. I'm asking
these questions so we can put different emphasis on this hope
that is laid up in heaven, but you really can't separate where
and in whom and on what basis because you can't separate the
person of Christ from the work that Christ accomplished. And
as these verses have already shown, this hope is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. and him alone. And it is based
upon a finished work. Christ who resides where? At
the right hand of the Father in heaven. That's the one in
whom all the saints trust. Well, look back in Colossians
1. I had told you this word hope is mentioned three times. I want
you to look with me the third time there in verse 27 toward
the end of the chapter. And let's just begin reading
in verse 25. Paul writes, whereof, he's speaking of the gospel,
and he says, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God,
even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations
from the Gentiles, but now is made manifest to his saints to
whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ and you the hope
of glory." I think many of you know that oftentimes, or at least
we've heard in the past, verse 27 explained in such a way that
it actually would direct listeners to look within for a hope laid
up on earth. As they stress that verse with
an inflection of the voice that says, the hope of glory. With your
Bibles like mine, you won't have to look any further than the
reference note there that tells you that word in, Christ in you,
the hope of glory is better translated among. And it fits with the context. He's saying, now among you Gentiles,
you saints among the Gentiles, Christ among you, you saints,
the hope of glory. If you have this hope laid up
in heaven, your hope's in Christ and in him alone. You also can
know how misleading those thoughts would be if you consider the
whole chapter. I wish we had time to read all of Colossians
1, but I'm not going to do that in its continuity today. I'm
going to be bouncing around a little in it. I suggest you do that
at home, and you'll get the same sense that we get here in verses
26 and 27 that Paul is continually talking about how the gospel
is being brought now to the Gentiles, how it had been hidden from them,
but now is revealed in or among them the Gentile believers as
Christ, the hope of glory. Now look with me back at verses
21 through 23. In verse 21 he writes, And you
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you Now who is he presenting? These were
alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked works. He presents
them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, there is that word, which ye have heard and
which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, made a minister." Here we see that the one in whom we're
to place our trust has to be the one who's reconciled us. He's the Prince of Peace. And
he did so for all those who continue in the faith and are not moved
away from the hope of the gospel. You notice it doesn't say that
he does this. The wording there, if you continue in the faith,
is not to convey to you that he'll reconcile you if you continue
in the faith. Doesn't say if you'll believe
he's already professed to believe that Paul is writing to and he's
saying, if you don't move away from the faith, but he's not
even saying that if you persevere in the faith, then God will reconcile
you on account of that. That's not the message. You see,
he doesn't reconcile senators based upon their continuance
in the faith that would deny grace, but rather this passage
is teaching us that if he keeps us That is, if our hope is this
hope that Paul is speaking of, if your faith is the gift of
God, you see, and not of works, then God will keep you and you'll
persevere. It's this one that's already laid up in glory. It's
in Christ and in Him alone. And these are those who are reconciled
by His blood. And we'll see that. We're going
to look at another verse, I think, that has some bearing on that. So what we see is if your hope
is placed in Christ, and what he accomplished in his body of
flesh through death, then it's this hope. Now, is that your
hope? You know, many of you may have
heard, as I've heard at the death of friends or loved ones, this
statement made often, and it's always disturbing to me. They'll
say, well, at least he made his peace or she made her peace with
God. Do you make your peace with God?
Or did Christ make peace through His blood? What can you do to
be presented acceptable for the God? You actually need to be
presented as holy, unreprovable, unblameable. You can't make your
peace, you see, with God. Only Christ made peace through
His blood. The one sure hope that's spoken of here, you see,
is one which is incorruptible. And it finds us presented just
as Paul wrote. is holy and unblameable and unreprovable. And that's how we must be found
in the sight of a holy God. Is your faith or your perseverance
so perfect, if anything but perfect, that you dare plead it or anything
else that proceeds from you to sinner to stand before this holy
God when you need this impeccable perfection that Paul writes of
here? which Christ alone could and did produce in his life and
death on the cross. The question is, when we consider,
in whom do you trust? You know, most of Christendom
would say, well, I trust in Jesus Christ. He's my Savior. The question is, do you really
trust in Him and in Him alone? Is He the one in which all of
your hope, all of your confidence and expectation of salvation
lies? Most imagine, as I once did, that Christ lived and died
for all men without exception, that He did no more, really,
in His life and death for those who perish in hell than He did
for those who would inhabit heaven's glory. And so while I imagine
that I was looking to Jesus Christ as my Savior, whatever makes
the difference in your being blessed in your idea that you
will be saved from your sins and go to heaven. You see, whatever
that is, that's where your hope is, and that's what you value.
And if it isn't exclusively a hope in Christ and His finished work,
then it's not this hope that's laid up in heaven, you see, because
that speaks of a finished work of which God was completely satisfied.
Look with me now in Colossians 1 at verses 12 through 14. as we continue to look at in
whom we're to place our hope. Paul continues in verse 12 as
he has in the rest of chapter 1. He continues to talk about
the reasons why he prays for them and gives thanks for them.
And he says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us
meet, that is, fit or qualified to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints and light. It's an inheritance. You can't
earn that. You've got to be born into that.
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness." Remember,
having imagined, you see, and having placed our hope in something
here on the earth, in that which we do or don't do or that proceeds
from us sinners. He's delivered us from the power
of darkness and he hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son in whom, his Son, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. You see, your sins are
not forgiven if you'll just ask God to forgive them, or because
you ask God to forgive you your sins. Your forgiveness of sins
does not come at the cost of your repentance. It took the
invaluable, infinitely valuable blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
the one in whom we have redemption. How is it that we can look to
Christ and Him alone? Well, He's the one in whom God's
people, God's sheep, have redemption. They've been bought, and that
is made manifest to them. Look now with me at verse 20. Paul had said in verse 19, he
was speaking of Christ, he said, For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell, 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." That last phrase, I tend to agree with those who
think that he's referring there to those who lived before Christ,
those who are already in heaven, whether they be them or they
be us. You see, they're all justified by the one righteousness that
Christ wrought out at the cross. Think of how sure and certain
this hope of the saints is. It's so sure and certain that
these Old Testament saints were given faith which the Scripture
says is a gift of God. It's not of works, so therefore
it is a fruit and effect of what their promised Messiah would
establish for them at the cross of Calvary. So much, so sure
and certain. that he refers to them here,
I believe that's what it's referring to, as being in heaven, whether
they be in heaven. Only God can do that for this
is God that declares the end from the beginning. Well, there
in verse 20, we see it's in Him that we have deliverance. It's
in Him, Jesus Christ, that we're reconciled so that peace is made
by the blood of Christ, blood of the cross, His blood between
a holy God and every sinner for whom Christ lived and died."
So where is this hope? This hope is laid up in heaven.
And whom is this hope? This hope is in Jesus Christ
and in Him alone. Well, now I want us to consider
how. How does this hope become an individual sinner's hope?
Well, look again back in verse 5. We read, "...for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it
is in all the world, now to you Gentiles, and bringeth forth
fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it,
and knew the grace of God in truth." You see, this hope is
revealed by the gospel that comes your way. Think of that. How blessed are we to be in this
place where the gospels preach. Now the question is, has God's
gospel, this gospel, become your gospel? Do you know the grace
of God in truth? The gospel see which sets forth
how all of the sinner's hope is to be placed in Christ and
based upon what he alone accomplished for God's saints. As we saw there
in verse 23, the hope was called what? The hope of the gospel. And that refers to this very
gospel that they heard preached by Paul. who said he was made
a minister of the gospel. And as we saw there in verses
26 and 27, it was referred to as the mystery which now is made
manifest to his saints, to whom God makes known the riches of
his glory in the revelation of Christ, the hope of glory. So
how does it become the sinners? Well, God tells us in 1 Corinthians
121 that it pleased God to reveal himself by the preaching of the
gospel. The gospel that sets forth our
deliverance by the blood of Christ, as we just read in Colossians
1 verse 14 and in verse 22. So this hope, where is it? It's
laid up in heaven. In whom? It's in Jesus Christ
and him alone. How does it become the center?
By the gospel preached, heard, and believed upon. Finally, what? What then is this hope based
upon? Well, if it becomes ours by the gospel heard and believed,
then it must be, the basis of that hope must be something that's
revealed in the gospel by the truth of the gospel. Romans 1
teaches us, Paul wrote, it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes it, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. And he tells us in verse 17 why it's so, that it's
the power of God unto salvation. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. This righteousness is none other
than the perfect satisfaction that Christ made before the bar
of God's justice and his perfect obedience unto death. It's the
merit of this very righteousness, you see, that must be made the
sinners. By God's free imputation of it
to him, if he's going to present him, that's the only way a sinner
How can a sinner be holy and unreprovable and unblameable
in God's sight as we read there in verse 22? Now, here's the
question. Who all will look to this righteousness
being made theirs, imputed to them as the sole basis upon which
they might stand with a good hope and confident with a warrant
to expect with certain assurance the riches of this kingdom? Well,
it's going to be all those for whom Christ was charged with
the demerit of their sins. So to pay their debt to justice
in full, redeeming them by shed blood and purchasing for them
the very spiritual life and faith, see, that causes them to look
not to their faith, not to something, even the work of the Holy Spirit
that's done in them, but rather to look to Christ and His finished
work of righteousness alone. You see, it's on that basis that
He is exalted and sits now at the right hand of the Father,
ruling and reigning. The government truly is upon
His shoulder. You see, apart from righteousness
impeded, we have no sure basis or certain basis to expect the
Holy God to save us sinners. You see, absent that, we're like
those that Paul wrote about in Romans 10, that he prayed that
God would save them. His fellow Israelites, when he
said they weren't submitted, they were ignorant of or not
submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ. And so therefore,
by default, are going about to establish one of their own. They're
laying up for themselves treasures upon earth, you see. And so is
the case with all of us initially. And while in that state, what
do we do? Our hope, our expectation, we might even call it a sure
one, or we imagine that it is, but we only delude ourselves
into a false sense of security, and that hope won't stand up,
not before a holy God. We've got to have a perfect righteousness.
Nothing else will do. In 2 Timothy 4, 8, Paul describes
what is laid up for him in terms of the substance of what this
same hope that he mentions in Colossians 1, the one that's
laid up in heaven, he speaks of it there in terms of what
it's based upon when he writes, there's laid up for me a crown
of righteousness. And as the context reveals there,
that is true of all the saints of God, as it talks about those
who also will love His appearing. We see clearly then that this
hope that is laid up is based upon Christ's righteousness.
And by the imputation of the merit of it alone, God justifies
his sheep. As that little verse in the front
of your bulletin says, Romans 5.21, grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life. Whose righteousness? By Jesus
Christ our Lord. You see, for our hope to be like
that of the saints to whom Paul is writing here in Colossians,
In other words, if it's going to be a good hope, if it's going
to be one that will not find us disappointed in the end, then
it's got to be a hope. It's got to be an expectation
of confidence that has a sure and certain foundation. It can't
be just a, well, I hope so. And that confidence, that confidence
is unwarranted unless it's in Christ alone, based solely upon
His finished work of righteousness being graciously imputed to us
Because you see, that's how a holy God justifies and reconciles
ungodly sinners to himself. Well, in closing, I want you
to turn with me to 1 Peter 1. Peter here is addressing the
saints of God, and I think he sums up this same good hope that
is laid up or reserved for God's saints. 1 Peter 1, verse 3, he says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope." You see, we are born, we're given life to have
a lively hope. And where does that come from?
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see,
to have this hope is a product of being given life so that you
will embrace the very gospel wherein His righteousness is
revealed. And that comes from the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Just as, you see, He came up
out of that grave for He had satisfied the justice of God
for all those He represented, for all the sheep that God had
given Him. You see, it's that same resurrection power that
gives us spiritual life by which we're born again. And it's on
that basis alone. And look what we're raised to,
to an inheritance, verse 4, something you can't earn, incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away. That's a treasure laid
up in heaven, reserved, laid up in heaven for you. And look
at verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Paul had put
it that way, and he put it another way, hadn't he, in Colossians
1 when he said, if you continue, step fast in the faith. Well,
we see what he means there is if you're kept by the power of
God through faith, it'll prove that your faith was genuinely
God-given faith and not merely some intellectual head knowledge
or mental agreement. Well, does this describe the
hope that's laid up for you in heaven? It does for me. Where
is your hope? Is it laid up in heaven? In whom
is your hope placed? Is it in Christ Jesus and in
Him alone? And how did this hope become
your hope? Was it through God's gospel wherein His righteousness
is revealed? And what is your hope based upon?
Is it based upon that very righteousness that's revealed in the gospel
and that alone? The very satisfaction that Christ
alone made to God's law and justice in his obedience unto death,
or as Paul described it there in 2 Timothy, is your crown a
crown of perfect righteousness that's laid up for you. Well,
my prayer is that all who hear this message, that you'll likewise
discover by God's grace through belief of this very gospel as
you've heard today, that you too will have a sure and a certain
hope, that you'll find a hope, that your hope is laid up for
you in heaven Christ the Hope of Glory.