My message this morning is, I
hope I belong to Christ. In 1 Timothy 1.1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God, our Savior and Lord,
Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Gabe Stoniker spoke on this subject
here three or four weeks ago, and he spoke on Wednesday night. I really liked it and I thought
it would be a good message to carry over. So I want to thank
Gabe down there in Kentucky for this message. So I used his as
an outline. I want to focus on the word of
hope. Hope, what does it mean? Dictionary tells us that it is
feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Gabe is in Kingsport, Tennessee,
by the way. I hope that the Lord has saved
me. Do you ever ask yourself that question? You know, that's
a question that we all should be asking. I cannot save myself
and neither can you. I hope the Lord has saved me
and that I am one of his chosen people. I hope the same thing
for my wife and kids. Do you want the same hope? The
hope that we are His chosen people, the people that He calls His
own. The same people that He died for on the cross. Is this the hope in our hearts?
I hope that it is for all of us, but it is not up to us. God has chosen His people, the
one that He will call the children of God. According to this, He
has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. That's
in Ephesians 1-4. I question in my mind my salvation
all the time. And why is that? Do I not believe
enough? Is it, it's a real struggle.
The old man inside of us battles with that question back and forth.
Do we actually believe in all this Christian stuff? Is it actually
real? Then again, it has been revealed
to me that Christ is our only hope. I don't have the answer
of why I doubt. Maybe we doubt because we do
believe in something much greater than ourselves. If there isn't
something greater than ourselves, we would have no hope at all.
People that do not believe do not even think about such things.
In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, verse 10, For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to what he has done, whether
it be good or bad. And Hebrews 10.31 tells us, It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It has to be a fearful thing
to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I know that I
will be nervous no matter what. Will I have complete confidence
that I am His and He is mine? When I'm standing there, I don't
believe that I'm quite there yet, but I hope that Christ will
not pass me by. I can only hope that I am one
of His and that He has shed His mercy and grace upon me, an undeserving
sinner. The confidence of our hope is
that in the fact that we are given such a desperate need to
know that we are forgiven through Christ. John Newton, the man
who wrote Amazing Grace, wrote another poem called, "'Tis a
point I long to know." And the first verse goes like this. "'Tis
a point I long to know. "'Oft it causes anxious thought. "'Do I love the Lord or not? "'Am I his or am I not? John Newton wrote such a wonderful
song, In Amazing Grace, you would think that he would have no doubt,
but he still questioned to himself that, am I his or am I not? So that's a question most believers
have in their minds. You know, it may not be constantly
there, but it's still a question. It's a question most people have
been asking themselves for centuries. How can I have this hope? 1 Peter
1.3 tells us, 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 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Christ is our living hope. We have a living
hope because of what Christ did for us on the cross. It is the
only hope that we need. It is a living hope that is given
to us by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 7, 19 tells us, for the
law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope
did, by which we draw nigh unto God. We do not come to God by the
law, but by a better hope. And Christ is that better hope.
The law and hope are two completely different things. One will condemn
you, while hope will give us the only thing that we need,
our resurrection of God's grace and mercy to his chosen people.
Christ is our better hope. What else do we need? In Hebrews
6, 18 and 19, What that two immutable things
in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for a strong refuge to lay upon the
hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Our hope is sure and steadfast
in Christ. Christ speaking as a man tells
us in Psalms 16.9, Wherefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope.
Christ had hope as a man, just like we do. Psalms 22, 9 tells
us, but thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst
make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. Then again,
this is Christ speaking as a man. In Psalms 16, verses eight and
nine, 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 rejoiceth. My flesh also shall
rest in hope." What is this hope? What is the source of our hope?
What are God's people hoping for? Think about that for a second. Psalm 31, verse 24, be of good
courage and he shall strengthen your heart, allow thy hope in
the Lord. I hope the Lord saves me as well
as my wife and kids. Do you hope that he saves you? If I have any confidence in hope
for salvation, it is in Jesus Christ and nowhere else. We cannot gain it in any other
way. I cannot hope that I did enough good deeds or gave enough
to the church to secure my salvation. You can't say a prayer or repeat
a prayer or anything else, that's not gonna gain you a bit of salvation.
We cannot have any hope in our flesh or anything that we do.
All of our hope has to come from and be in Christ and Him alone.
There is no other hope. Psalm 33, 18 tells us, behold
the eye of the Lord upon them that fear Him, upon them that
hope in His mercy. I hope He has mercy on and grace
on me. I am just a poor sinner that
does not deserve anything from Him. but I hope that he will
have mercy and grace on my soul. Do you want that same mercy and
grace also? I hope you do. That hope in Christ
is the only thing that I have. There is no plan B. Christ is
my all in all, but that is all that we need. The hope of Christ
is everything. No other options or plan B, period. Psalm 33, 22, let thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee. This hope
in Christ is the only thing that gives me confidence that I have
a great hope for my salvation. Only Christ can give us this
hope. If he does not reveal this hope to us, then we have nothing. We have a desperate need for
hope. That need for hope grows the more we learn about Christ
and what he does for his chosen people. I desperately need that
hope now more than ever. Is that also true for you? I
hope that he is merciful to me. I hope that he is gracious to
me. I hope that when he was dying on the cross, that he died for
me, a poor beggar, in need of his hope, mercy, and grace. Psalm
38, 15 tells us, for in thee, O Lord, do I hope thou will hear,
O Lord my God. I hope that you hear me. I cannot
assume that you hear me. I hope that you do. False religion
does not does not hope, but it assumes.
God's people put their hope in Christ. False religion puts their
hope not in Christ alone, but they have to add something to that hope. They put hope in
so many things in addition to Christ. There is no hope in walking
in the aisle, repeating a prayer, lighting a candle, or anything
else, or anyone else other than Christ. We must put all our hope
in Christ. We must cast all our hope on
Christ. Christ is our living hope. In Psalm 39, seven, And now,
Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Psalm 42,
5 tells us, why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art
thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. Put all our
hope in God, and no one else or nowhere else. Psalm 119, 49,
and 50, remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou
hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction,
for thy word hath quickened me." My hope is that he has caused
me to hope. That is my only hope. But then
again, it's all I need. He is my all in all. We need
nothing else. I have no hope in anything that
I have ever done or will do in the future. I have no confidence
in my flesh. I hope in Christ alone. Christ
has given me that hope or I would have zero hope. Romans 5, 5 tells us, and hope
maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto me. When God's
love is shed upon us, we have all the hope we will ever need.
In conclusion, on the subject of hope, we put our hope in Christ
alone. We do not put our hope in ourselves.
We do not put hope in our flesh. We do not put our hope in walking
in an aisle. We do not put our hope in a prayer
that we repeated. We do not put hope in any good
works that we think we may have done. We do not put hope in any
confidence that we have in ourselves. We do not put hope in the confidence
that we have in other people. We do not put our hopes on idols.
We do not put our hopes on other people. We do not put our hopes on some
saint from past or present. We do put our hope on what Christ
done for us on the cross. We put our hope on the shed blood
of Christ. We put our hope on the fact that
God chose us before the foundation of the world. We put our hopes
in God's mercy towards us. We put our hope on God's grace
for undeserving sinners like us. We put our hope on the living
God. We put our hope on the living
hope that is Christ Jesus. When we put all our hope on Christ,
we have all the hope that we will ever need. Thank you, amen.