What is your hope before God? Do you hope to go to heaven when you die? Do you hope to hear the Lord of glory I call you in the last day, saying, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Do you hope to escape the wrath of God in the day of judgment and to be numbered among the white-robed throng of the redeemed? If so, why? What's the basis of your hope? If you have hope before God, What is the basis of that hope?

Here in 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, the Apostle Peter tells us, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. That is, hold God in high reverence and esteem in your hearts. As our Lord taught us to pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, sanctified be thy name. Now let us then sanctify God in our hearts. Think of him reverently and speak of him reverently and walk before him reverently.

And be ready always, be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks of you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness and with faith. In the scriptures, the people of God are said to have a good hope through grace, a blessed hope, a sure and steadfast hope, a hope that's the anchor of our souls in the midst of contestuous trials, troubles, and heartaches of life, a hope which maketh not ashamed. Now, if I have a hope that maketh not ashamed, I must be able to give a reason for it. If I'm not ashamed of my hope, that my hope doesn't embarrass me or will not cause me embarrassment. If my hope is not a confused hope, then I ought to be able to point to the scriptures and say, this is why I have hope. Not point to myself, not point to the church, but point to the scriptures and show why I have hope before God. What is the reason of your hope? For most people, the basis of their hope in this day is an old religious experience.

Something happened when they were a little boy, a little girl. They had some kind of an emotional trauma and some slick deceiver pumped a profession of faith out of them, got them to join the church and say, now you're saved and I believe in Jesus. Everything's all right. Well, Saul had a real religious experience. Both Saul of Tarsus and King Saul, but they didn't know God.

Some folks think that great religious privileges to the basis of hope. One of the strong objections to the matter of infant sprinkling or infant baptism, even to the matter of in many Baptist churches, folks bring babies up to the front and they have some kind of a ceremony where they dedicate babies to the Lord. All of that stuff, Gary, is based upon the premise that these things do something for you.

And I have never yet met anyone who had such a thing done to them who didn't point back to that and say, now, that gives me some hope. That gives me some hope. Lot's wife had experiences like you and I have never had. But Lot's wife went to hell. Religious works and devotions give folks hope. They think because they've gone and done this, they've served this way, or they've done this thing, or made this sacrifice, then they certainly have hope before God. But I'm going to tell you that none of us have ever begun to serve God like the Pharisees and the scribes. We sometimes base our hope upon our feelings and our experiences.

And we think, well, boy, I feel so religious now. I feel so spiritual. I feel so devoted. I feel so consecrated to God. I feel so remorseful for my sin. I like what Martin Luther said. He said, feelings come, and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. I trust the living word of God, naught else is worth deceiving.

Then our hearts are deceiving. Don't you trust your heart? Our hearts are desperately wicked. Nobody knows his heart. Nobody. Folks say, well, if I know my heart, bless your heart, there's one thing you don't know. You come near knowing anything than knowing your heart. Our hearts are deceitful.

Well, what is the reason then of our hope? Let me take you to the word of God and show you the basis of my hope. This is my subject this morning. The reasons of my hope. We'll begin back in Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. I want to show you five or six things in this book which give me hope before God. I have hope of eternal salvation. I have hope of standing before God accepted forever. I have hope of entering into God's presence upon the basis of Christ's finished work for this reason.

Number one, verse 16, Matthew 16, verse 16. I know, I know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. I know that. I've read this book, and I've found that there is only one person, only one person who meets every requirement given in the Old Testament Scriptures of Him who is the Messiah, the promised Redeemer of God's elect. And that person is the man, Jesus Christ, who was born at Nazareth more than 2,000 years ago.

Here in Matthew 16, 16, the Lord had asked the disciples, said, who do men say I am? And they said, one says you this, one says you that. And then Peter, he asked Peter, he said, whom do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Now, this is the confession of my heart and the confession of my mouth. It arises from what I've seen, read and heard in the word of God. It arises from the experience I've had believing him and the experience I continually have believing him. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Now what does that mean? Now everybody says that. Everybody says that. Everybody says Jesus of Nazareth is Christ. That is everybody who claims to be Christian. Everybody says one way or another Jesus Christ is the son of God.

But what does that mean? You remember the Apostle John says every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Well, now then, that means then that everybody, everybody who acknowledges that the man who was born at Calvary, or born at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago and died at Calvary, that that man is the Son of God that everybody says. Oh no, oh no. All the Mormons believe that to one degree or another. All the papists believe that always had to one degree or another. Does that mean it doesn't matter what person believes?

Oh no. To say that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, to say that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, is to declare that that man who was born of Mary's womb is himself God Almighty who has come here to save a people and he's gotten the work done.

That's what it means to confess that Christ has come into play. It's to confess him according to scripture. We recognize that Jesus is that one of whom the angel spoke when he said thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. So to confess that Christ has come in the flesh is to confess that Jesus of Nazareth, that man, is himself God. That he came here on an errand of mercy to save his people from their sins, and having finished his errand of mercy, having put away the sins of his people, he's ascended up into glory, for he accomplished what he came here to do. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came here Oh, what a wondrous thing to comprehend. Nobody can comprehend it, let's just consider it. He who is the infinite, incomprehensible God, having neither body nor physical limitations of any kind, took upon himself, took into union with himself, humanity, real humanity.

A body was prepared for Him in the womb of the Virgin by God the Holy Spirit. A body which He could sacrifice to God for us. He came and took into union with Himself humanity for us. Jesus Christ came in this flesh. The prophet said, unto us a child is born. That's talking about the humanity of Christ. Unto us a son is given. The Lord Jesus Christ was not born as the son of God. He was given as the son of God. He was born as a child of Mary. Living upon this earth as our representative, the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed God in all his will as our substitute.

He voluntarily gave himself into the hands of divine justice to die in the place of said earth. And that very Christ who died rose again in triumph over death, hell, and the grave, and ascended up to glory. But why did he do all that? Because he loved us. Because he contracted with the Father in the covenant of grace to accomplish our redemption. Because he swore he would do it. Because he came here as our surety to fulfill it.

All right, that's the first basis of my hope. I know that this man who was born at Nazareth is himself the Christ of God. Number two, look at Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25. I have hope of eternal life. I have hope of everlasting salvation. Because I know.

I know and believe that Jesus Christ is able to save to the very uttermost the very chief of sinners. Because He lives, because He reigns, because He sits upon the throne of glory as Prince and Savior, I know that He can give life to sinners. He can save the vilest of sinners by the virtue of His shed blood.

Look here what the Apostle says. He is able also to save them to the uttermost. What a blessed word. That means, Bobby, he's able to give you and me the uttermost extremities, the uttermost fullness, the uttermost riches of God's glory. Able to say to the uttermost, look at it now, them that come unto God by him. Able to say who? All them that come to God by Him.

Now that's what faith is. Faith is coming to God. Faith is coming to God by the mediation, by the merit, by the blood of Christ, the sinner's substitute. Faith is coming to God believing that He is and that He's the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Well, how do you know He's able to save the uttermost? All them that come to God by Him seeing he ever lived to make intercession for me. I know that salvation is altogether the work of God's almighty free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. Therefore, I have hope. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. The Son of God has the authority, the power given him by God the Father to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him. The Lord of Glory has promised that he'll save all who come to him. He promised he would. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and ever labor.

And I might possibly give you rest. That's not what he said then. He said, I'll give you rest. He said, him that cometh to me, I probably won't cast out. That's not what he said. He said, lad, if you come to me, I won't cast you out ever. I won't cast you out. Oh, preacher, do you reckon he'd take such a worthless sinner as I am? Do you reckon that he'd take one so vile as I am? Surely, surely, surely that doesn't mean me. Oh, it means you.

It means whosoever cometh unto me hath everlasting life. That's what I've done. I've come to Christ, a worthless Guilty, helpless, hell-bent, hell-deserving, doomed, damned, sinner, naked, without one thing to offer Him except sin, pollution, corruption, and defilement. That's all. I come to Him. And He took me. That's what my hope is. That's it. But Pastor, do you think you take me? Oh, John Bunyan put it well. He said, come and welcome me. Well, how do I come? Any way you can get to it will be alright. Any way you can come, just come on. Come to Christ. Come to Him by faith.

But my faith is so weak. Mine too. But my faith is so fickle. Mine too. But my faith is so up and down. Mine too, only mostly down. But I come to Jesus. Sometimes people talk about faith and preach to sinners like they've got to be, before you can be saved, you've got to have that kind of strong faith that a fellow has when he takes his last step over the threshold of the gates of heaven and enters into glory. This is true faith. It's not the best kind of faith, but it's true faith.

There's a woman with an issue of blood. She'd spent all her substance on a position that nobody She'd wasted it all. She'd gone from one religious quack to the other and none of them helped her. She'd wasted all her substance on positions of no value.

But somebody told her about the price of a man. Somebody told her, this man, he's a God almighty man. And if you can get to him, if you can get to him, you'll be all right. And well, she came in the press. bent over and bowed down in her corruption, her guilt. The law said, you can't come to him because you're unclean. The law said, stay away from me if you're unclean. But she said, I'm dying. I've got to do this.

And she believed the report. She said, if I can just touch the end of his conscience, I'll be made holy. In the midst of that huge, thronging crowd, everybody bumping shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow against the Son of God. She squeezed her way through the crowd and touched the hem of His garment. And the Lord Jesus said, Somebody touch Him.

That's true faith. Now sometimes that faith, like Peter, Here's the Lord say, come to me. And he walks across the water of a raging sea and comes to it. But it's the same thing. You see, it is not the quality or the quantity or the measure of our faith that saves us. Well, it's the object of our faith. It's Christ the Lord. All right, there. I have hope of eternal life. Because I know that this Savior. This Christ of God. is able to keep that which I have committed unto him forever. Look in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. This is Paul's last epistle. He knows the time of his departure is at hand. He's about to leave this world and he knows it. And this is what he says.

I know, I know. Oh, blessed is that faith that speaks with confidence concerning the things of God. I know, I know. I speculate about most things, is what I know. I know who I have believed. And am persuaded, I stand convinced, Convinced by the Word of God. Convinced by the experience of grace. I stand convinced that He, He whom I have believed, is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

My faith is not in what I believe. I recognize that there is no true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ apart from the true teaching of the doctrine of Christ. I understand that. But believing the doctrine will never save your soul. Election never saved anybody. Believing in proper effectual redemption never saved anybody. Believing in irresistible grace never saved anybody. Believing in the final perseverance of the saints never saved anybody. Believing Him that which saves us, huh? You understand that?

Faith is in Him. Faith is in Him. Now, this is what faith is. It's true. You remember in John chapter 2, after our Lord had performed the miracle at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, turning water into wine, folks said, whew, man, this is it. And many believed on His name. And in the very next verse, the last verse of the chapter, the scripture says, But the Lord Jesus did not commit himself to you, because he knew what was in their lives.

The words are exactly the same. But buddy, darlin', to believe on Christ is to commit yourself to Christ. It's not just to believe facts about him. It's not just to believe historic or even theological data concerning him. To believe on Christ is to commit yourself to him.

God committed all His law and justice into the hands of His Son. He committed His will into the hands of His dear Son. He committed His people into the hands of His Son as our surety. The Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit committed the honor of His name and His being into the hands of Jesus Christ the Mediator and our surety. Now, if Christ has kept all that God committed to Him, then surely he can keep all that I've committed to him. I'm confident he will preserve me in life and comfort me in death. I'm confident that he will see me through every trial.

I'm confident this side of the trial. Sometimes I'm confident in the midst of the trial. Sometimes I'm not so confident. But that doesn't change anything. He keeps me. I'm confident that he will raise my body from the grave and keep me in the day of judgment. I'm confident that when I fall, he'll lift me up. And next, Bartley, I'm more confident of his love for me than I am of his. I'm sure confident. You understand that? I'm confident of this.

When I sin, He makes a procession. When I fall, He's my advocate. When I am at my worst, I have an advocate with me, the Father, Jesus Christ of the righteous, and He's the propitiation for my sin. I have hope that I'm a child of God because I've both heard and obeyed his word.

In John chapter 8 verse 47, you don't need to turn there, our Lord was talking to the Jews and he was telling them what it is to be a child of God, to be the seed of Abraham. And they said, you don't need to tell us anything. Abraham's our father. We've never been in bondage with we've always been free with God's our father.

We know that And our Lord said this He that is of God He that is of God Now that doesn't mean merely that he hears it with these ears That means he hears them with understanding and value. All who are born of God, all who are taught of God, hear his word. They're given understanding of the things of the kingdom of God, and they bow to God's word.

Now, you can fuss about that, you can argue about that, you can read books about that, but I'm telling you, I'm telling you, no man No woman, no matter how religious, is born of God who doesn't hear His Word. Well, I will say before I ever heard His Word about to it, no you won't. I started to say, I'm sorry, and I'm glad to tell you, no you won't. I'm here to tell you salvation comes when God takes His Word and pierces your heart to give you life and faith in His Son.

I've heard that God Almighty is good and gentle, that He will by no means fear the guilty. I've heard that He's absolutely sovereign, having mercy on whom He will have mercy. And yet I've heard that He is full of mercy, that He is a God full of compassion, willing to forgive sin. And I've heard and understand now How God in His holiness can be absolutely just, inflexibly holy, and yet forgive my sins because He provided His own Son as my Savior. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has made full satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of His people. I've heard how that this Christ who died for sinners really does receive I've seen it in his word.

There was a woman named Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord cast seven deaths. A woman named Rahab, a harlot. Ruth, the Moabitess, about whom we've been studying. That cursed woman from a cursed place. Our Lord Jesus came and showed Himself to play the part of the good Samaritan.

He comes to one who's fallen among thieves, beaten and robbed and left for dead, and He comes and says to him, here's some wine for you, here's some riches for you. Get up here on my animal and ride away to the inn. Oh no. He came to the man, picked him up, and He poured in the wine and washed his wounds. He set him on his beast and carried him to the air. He said, now take care of him. That's what he did for me, isn't it? Isn't that what he did for you? He came where we were. We couldn't come to him. He didn't offer us the oil and wine of his grace. He poured it in. He didn't offer us a chance to go to glory. He carries us there and provides everything we need along the way. There was a woman he came to at Jacob's Well in Samaria. She didn't really have any at all. She wasn't even a prostitute. She was just a slut. Common, base, vile. Had no regard for herself and nobody else had any regard for her.

But the Lord Jesus came to her. He created an interest in her. Before he left there, he had given her his life. Oh, hear me now. The Lord Jesus Christ, full of grace, full of mercy, full of goodness, full of power, full of merit to save sinners, despite the sins. He receives sinners in all their defilement and saves them by his grace.

That's what I heard. God said, come, and I came. God said, look, I look. God said, repent, I repent. God said, believe, and I believe. Fifthly, I have hope of eternal salvation because the Lord is the portion of my soul. He's all I've got. This is what the prophet said. We read it earlier. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope him. He's my portion.

I just read that story about Hattie Jack a little bit ago. The old huckster going down the road selling his wares, just a poor man. Heard those two women singing a little tune. I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all.

He thought, well, that sure suits me. And he started singing a song. And he'd just go down to the road Every now and then he'd sing the words, mostly just humming along. After a while, the word of God pierced his heart. He started to attend the place of worship, and God spoke to his heart. He was converted.

Back in those days when everybody wanted to act like the judges and the jurors of righteousness, and you had to apply for church membership and pass examination. Some places still practice that nonsense, but he went and applied for church membership. And he had to go before the deacon and the elders, you know, and had to be judged worthy.

And they said, well, tell us about your experience. And he said, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. And the pastor said, Brother Jack, you're going to have to tell us something more than that. He said, what more can I tell you? I am a poor sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in all. They said, but don't you have some doubts? I often have doubts. He said, oh, no. I can never doubt that I am a foresinner of nothing at all.

And surely you wouldn't have me to doubt that Jesus Christ is my all in all. He says he is. And after a while, they finally recognized they weren't going to shake him from his refuge. And they received him into the church. And he was always known after that as Happy Jack. And he would sing this too. I am a foresinner of nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all.

That's all. That's all. But what about your feelings? They're nothing. What about your works? They're sin. What about your righteousness? Filthy rags. Preacher, do you mean Christ is everything? Christ is everything. My wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption.

And there's one more thing. I have hope because I've not yet been turned away from the soul. What Paul said, he said, he said, if you continue steadfast, grounded, and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, God's going to present you at last a whole man, unflinching man, unapprovable in His sight. Oh, now may God give you good hope of grace and faith in his son. For Christ's sake, amen.