Colossians chapter one. The two messages I intend to
bring this morning are, I suppose, really the same message in two
parts of our union with Christ. First, we'll look at Christ in
you. And then in the message this
morning, we'll look at you in Christ. The title of the lesson
is what is your hope of glory? That's an important question,
isn't it? What is your hope of glory? Now, Paul wrote this letter
to the church at Colossae while he was in prison at Rome. At
the same time, he wrote the previous two letters we've looked at in
Ephesians and Philippians. But now this church had not been
established through Paul's ministry. He says at the end of verse one
of chapter two, as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
Paul had never been there. They'd never seen him. This church
was not established through his ministry. But Paul had heard
about their faith and their love, and he thanked God for them,
just like he did the churches that were founded through his
preaching. And Paul is here in prison, and he does not expect
to ever get out of prison to be able to go to Colossae and
preach to them. So he writes a letter to give
them one message. He said, here's the one message
that I wish you'd hear from me that will establish you in the
faith. He told them, I've heard of your faith. You believed in
Christ. Now you continue to believe on him. You continue to look
to him and rely upon him. Don't look anywhere other than
Christ. Christ is all you need. because
Christ is all. That's the theme of this book
and that's the message that Paul wanted these believers at Colossae
to hear. Christ is all. If you look in
chapter 3, verse 11, here's the theme of the book. Where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, none of these differences of the flesh
matter, but Christ is all and in all. That's the message of
the gospel. Christ is all. Christ is all
in salvation. Christ is all of our obedience.
Christ is all of our sacrifice for sin. Christ is all of our
righteousness. Christ is all of our sanctification.
All of our faith is in Christ. Christ is all in creation. He's
all in the events of providence, and he will be all throughout
eternity. Christ is all of our doctrine. Christ is all of our
preaching. Christ is all of our worship.
Christ is all. Now with that in mind, let's
read verse 27 of Colossians chapter one. 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. Now I ask you again,
what is your hope of glory? I want each of us to answer that
question. What is your hope of glory? Now
when Paul speaks of glory here, he's talking about heaven. You
know, we don't know very many details about heaven at all.
Mostly what we know about heaven is heaven is glorious because
Christ is there. You know, I think back over the
years listening to Brother Henry preach, as far as I can recollect,
he always referred to heaven as glory because that's pretty
much all we know about heaven. I think the best word we can
use to describe heaven is glory. So what is your hope of glory?
What is your hope of going to heaven? Everybody has some hope. Everybody, without exception,
has some hope of going to heaven. Now, it may be a false hope,
but they're hoping in something. It could be they just hope. You
know, this is a hope like a wish. Like, I don't know if it's going
to happen or not, but they hope that in judgment they're good
or outweigh their bad and they'll be accepted. Or they hope God
will just overlook some of the bad things that they've done.
You know, they hope their mama go, you know, plead with God
for them, like she would go plead for the principal, you know,
not to suspend you or something. They may hope in their church
membership. They may hope in their doctrine. But according
to the word of God, all of those are bad hopes of glory. I hope
that's not your hope of glory. If it is, I hope you listen very
carefully to this message this morning. What is your hope of
glory? What is your hope? to live a
life of eternal glory and peace in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I want my hope, and when I say
my hope, I mean expectation. Hope means expectation. I want
my expectation of eternal life to be a good hope, don't you?
Well, what does scripture say a good hope is? Christ is all. A good hope is Christ. A good
hope, look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, hold your finger there,
look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. A good hope is God's grace
in Christ Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting
consolation and a good hope through grace. A good hope is a hope
in God's grace in Christ Jesus. Let me give you here a few things
about a good hope of glory. Number one, the foundation of
a good hope of glory is Christ, because Christ is all. The foundation
of our hope is who Christ is and what he's accomplished for
his people. The foundation of our hope of glory is that everything
that God requires us to be, we are in Christ, because Christ
is all. Look in verse 12 of chapter one
of Colossians. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet, that's fit, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. Now how is it that the Father
made a sinful people qualified, fit, to be able to inherit partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. How did he do that?
In Christ. He did it through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus because Christ is all. Christ is the
foundation of our hope because Christ is the deliverer. Look
at verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us. He's transferred us into
the kingdom of his dear son. Christ has delivered His people
from sin. He delivered us by being made
sin for us. He delivered His people from
our sin by putting our sin away through the blood of His sacrifice.
Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law. How? Being
made a curse for us. Christ has delivered His people
from death by dying for them as their substitute. Christ is
our deliverer. We're delivered from all things
in our Lord Jesus Christ because Christ is all. Then Christ is
the foundation of our hope because Christ is the Redeemer. Look
at verse 14. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now the foundation of
our hope is the Lord Jesus. And he is no mere man, is he?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect man to ever live.
So he's the only man who ever lived who had perfect, sinless
blood. And that's the only blood that
the father could ever accept as payment for sin, for the sin
of his people. The blood of Christ is perfect.
So that blood paid the redemption price. And that perfect, pure
blood cleanses his people from all sin. Now that gives us a
good hope that doesn't have our sin that paid for be cleansed
from all of our sin. That not only is that a good
hope, that's the only hope we can ever have that our sin is
forgiven because it's been washed away in the blood of Christ.
The end crisis, the foundation of our hope, because the Lord
Jesus Christ is God, and since he's God, he has both the power
and the character to redeem the verse 15. who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Now, this
one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, can deliver his people from their
sin. He can deliver them from death.
He can transfer them into the kingdom of God's dear son because
he's no mere man. He's the son of God. There in
verse 13, Paul says, into the kingdom of his dear son, this
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the son of God. That means that
the man Jesus is God Almighty in human flesh. And since he's
God, he has all the power of God. He has the righteousness
of God. He has the ability to accomplish
the will of God to deliver his people from their sin because
he's perfect because he has all power. He's perfect. So his death, because he's perfect,
his death is valuable enough to satisfy God's just law. God's law demands death for sin. You and I are just such sinful
creatures. Our death can't satisfy that
law. That's why we would spend eternity in hell paying for that
because our sin, because our death can't satisfy God's law.
But God's Son is perfect. The death of God in human flesh
satisfied God's just law. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
Paul said, is the image of the invisible God. He is the revelation
of the invisible God. All you and I will ever see,
not just now, but I mean physically in eternity, all we'll ever see
of God is Jesus Christ. He's the manifestation of the
invisible God. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And God made flesh
gives sinners like us a good hope, because God in the flesh
can do for us what we could never do for ourselves. establish righteousness,
make us accepted in the father, shed his blood to wash away our
sin. We have a good hope in Christ
because Christ is the man, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Then Christ is the foundation
of our hope because Christ is the creator, verse 16. For by
him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on
earth, visible and invisible. whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. Our savior is the creator, the
one who created everything. When God spoke and said, let
there be light, that was Christ, the word of God speaking. He
created everything. John said without him was not
anything made that was made. And that gives his people a good
hope. Because our Savior uses that same power, the power that
he used to speak this universe into existence, is the same power
that he uses to cleanse his people from their sin and to create
a new man, a new creation in him. Then Christ is the foundation
of our hope because Christ is the King, the King who ever lives,
ruling and reigning to ensure the salvation of his people.
Verse 17. and he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. Now there at the end of verse
15 when Paul says he's the firstborn of every creature, that word
firstborn means king. Christ is the king, and the king
rules over all of his creation. Christ created everything by
the word of his power. And by the word of his power,
everything in creation consists. It's all held together by Christ. He holds it all together and
he arranges every event of providence for this purpose that his people
would be redeemed. He arranges every event of providence
so that his people will cross the path with one of God's preachers
and they'll hear. He'll give them faith to believe
and they'll hear, they'll look to Christ and be saved. Now that
gives us a good hope, doesn't it? I tell you, as one who preaches
the gospel, that comforts my heart more than you know. I am
very thankful that the state of your eternal soul does not
depend on me preaching well enough. I'm thankful. It depends on the
Savior that I preach, that he'll make his word effectual. That
gives us a good hope. The one who has all power uses
that power to guarantee the salvation of the people that he purchased
for them at Calvary. In Christ is the foundation of
our hope because everything that a sinner could ever need is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18. And he is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now Paul says all fullness dwells
in Christ. This is what he means. That every
spiritual blessing is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. All life is in Christ. All righteousness
and holiness is in Christ. All forgiveness and peace is
in Christ. All redemption, all grace, all
mercy is found in Christ. All of God's love is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of every blessing
that God has for a sinner is found in one place, in one person,
in Christ. Well now, why is that? Why is
all fullness found in Christ? Why isn't almost everything found
in Christ? And then I can top it off by
what I do. Why isn't it that way? Because it pleased the father
that in Christ should all fullness dwell. It pleased the father
to do it that way. So all fullness is in Christ.
So a man can't add anything to it. And it pleased the father
to do it that way because Christ is all. So that Christ get all
of the glory. And I'm glad it's that way. I'm
glad because a sinner can have a good hope of glory if all fullness
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's elect have the fullness
of everything that God has for a sinner through union with Christ. Paul says Christ is the head
of the church. So everything that Christ is,
the church is, the body, The church always has everything
the head has. Well, Christ is all. All fullness
dwells in Christ. Christ is everything that we
need. So we have a good hope of glory through union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The in Christ is the foundation
of our hope because peace with God is found in Christ. 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, there is peace with God
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ
made peace because the blood of Christ took away the sin that
made God angry. So God's reconciled. God's at
peace because the blood took away the sin that made him angry.
But now the sinner's still angry at me. How's there going to be
peace? It's through the blood of Christ.
When the blood of Christ is applied to our hearts in the new birth,
we quit being angry at God too. The same blood that satisfied
God made God not angry, applied to our hearts make the sinner
not angry too. And now there's peace. peace
with God through the blood of Christ. If you have peace with
God, you've got a good hope, don't you? The foundation of
that hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the foundation of
our hope is Christ, because Christ is the reconciler. Verse 21,
he says, he's reconciled all things unto himself. And you,
even you, there 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 wholly,
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Christ is the reconciler. Now, we have to be reconciled,
don't we? Because in Adam, we were separated
from God because of Adam's disobedience. But in Christ, we're reconciled.
We're brought back to God. We're brought back to fellowship
with God. We're brought back into friendship with God because
of the obedience of Christ. In Adam, we were made sinners.
In Christ, we're made without any sin. That's what when Paul
says blameless, that's what he means. There's no sin. Even God Himself cannot blame
you for your sin. He can't see any sin in you if
Christ died for you. Because Christ made you blameless.
And He's reconciled us. Brought us back in friendship
and fellowship with God. Christ has made us blameless
through the blood of His sacrifice. Now that gives a sinner a good
hope, doesn't it? Because the Holy God will always
accept perfection. Christ has made you perfect.
If He's made you blameless, then you have a good hope. God will
accept you in Christ. So you see that? The foundation
of our hope is Christ, isn't it? Because Christ is all. All
right, I see that. That's the foundation of a good
hope. But how can I know that's my hope? What right do I have
to believe that everything Christ did, He did for me? Now I'll
tell you, I believe that. I really do, I believe that everything
Christ did, He did for me. Well, what right do I have to
believe that? What right do I have to expect? I hope, remember hope is to expect. What right do I have to expect
to be in glory with Christ for eternity? I expect that. But is it right for me to expect
that? Is that presumption or is that
a good hope? Which is it? Well, the foundation,
number one of our hope is Christ. Here's the second point. Our
hope of glory itself is Christ in you. Verse 27 again. 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. Christ in you. is grace experienced
in the heart. It's grace that's felt and enjoyed
in the heart. It's something that's felt. It's
an emotion, isn't it? Hope, expectation is an emotion. Now let me say this about this
emotional thing, and this is important in our day. Religion
that's all feeling and all emotion is damning to the soul. It's
void of all truth. But to the other extreme, religion
that's all fact and all doctrine and has no feeling and no experience
in it is just as damning. Religion that is only fact and
doctrine without any emotion to it is dead. There's no warmth
of life there because Christ is not there. Carla told me at
the conference in Crossville, Brother Bruce Crabtree preached
a message. I don't have it in my notes,
I forget the title. The title was outstanding. And she said
there wasn't a dry eye in there. Where'd all that emotion come
from? It wasn't just emotional preaching, was it? It was truth
that drew emotion from the new man. When I was in worship, it's
not just listening to a lecture. When I was in college, I had
a night class. Now, I probably should have took
this class at night. But I would walk, Chance sometimes would
walk with me in the night class, two and a half hours long. I'd
sit there and listen to lectures on economic theory. Oh, my goodness
sakes. I mean, you talk about dry and
lifeless. Ugh. You listen to me. Religion, it
might make you feel smart. It might make you feel doctrinally
straight. But religion, that is only fact,
that it's only doctrine, that there's no feeling to it, there's
no warmth in it, is just as dry and lifeless as those lectures
on economic theory. I'm telling you the truth. Worship
has to do with the person. I've used this illustration before,
and it's the best I can come up with. Marriage to me is not
theory. It's not something I read about
in a book. Marriage to me is a person. That makes all the
difference. Worship has to do with the person. Salvation, righteousness and
good hope all have to do with the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he's preached in truth,
that's going to draw out the emotion. The emotions of the
new man will be deeply affected by hearing of his sacrifice for
you. That God was made flesh for you. That he became obedient to the
law for you. See, hope is an emotion. Love
is an emotion. Gratefulness and gratitude and
assurance are all emotions. So the believer's hope itself
has to do with emotion, doesn't it? It's Christ in you. It's in you. Now, we would say
a good hope is being elected by the Father into salvation.
If I could have just heard the Father and the Son talking and
they would say my name, that I was elected, I would have a
good hope. But I couldn't hear that, could
I? That happened before creation. Well, how do I know if I'm one
of the elect? Christ in you. You know you're one of the elect
because you believe Christ. God only gives faith to his elect,
doesn't he? When Paul wrote to Timothy and he talked to Timothy
about faith, you know what Paul called saving faith? The faith
of God's elect. God only gives faith to the elect.
Do you believe Christ? Then you're one of the elect.
Your hope is Christ in you. Then we'd say this, I would have
a good hope. I would be so confident if I
knew that my name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But
now I can't go to heaven and open up that book and find my
name in it, can I? So how can I have a good hope?
How do I know that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of
Life? Christ in you. If God wrote your
name in the Lamb's Book of Life, He's written His law on your
new heart, too. In the same hand that wrote your
name in the Lamb's Book of Life has written His name on your
heart. It's Christ in you. Then we'd say, a good hope is
knowing Christ died for me. If I could have just been there
and saw the Savior on the tree, He'd say, I'm doing this for
you. I'd be so sure. I'd be so confident. My faith
had never wavered. That didn't happen, did it? A
good hope is if Christ died for you because his death guarantees
your life. But then how can I know that
Christ died for me? Christ in you. I know Christ
died for me because I believe in him. I have faith in him. I know that Christ died for me
because I see the death of Christ as the sacrifice for my sin.
I know Christ died for me because I see the death of Christ as
my death to sin. into the law. It's Christ in
you. Then we'd say a good hope is knowing that the Holy Spirit
has given me life in the new birth. Well, how do I know that? You know, sometimes I feel, oh,
I've been born again. There's a new man in me that
loves God, that believes God, that hungers and thirsts after
him. Sometimes it feels like there's not. I can't look inside
me and see an old man and a new man. How do I know He's there? How do I know that I've been
born again? Brethren, it's Christ in you. That's your hope. If
the Spirit's given you life, He has showed you the things
of Christ. That's the Spirit's job. He'll
take the things of mine, our Lord said, and show them unto
you. He'll show you that Christ is
your hope. And the spirit will keep pointing
you to Christ so that you continue to look to him and you continue
to rely upon him. That's how you know you've been
born again is the spirit has showed you Christ to make you
look to him. You see Christ in you. He that
is your hope of glory. Now these other things about
Christ is all that's the foundation of our hope. But a good hope
itself is Christ in you. In closing, let me give you this.
What is it for Christ to be in you? Paul says it's a mystery,
isn't it? Christ in you. What is it for
Christ to be in you? Look back at Galatians chapter
one. First of all, for Christ to be
in you, Christ in you is to be saved. Galatians one verse 15. But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son, not to me, but to reveal his son in me. Not only did he
reveal Christ to me, but he revealed him in me. He was born in me. To have Christ in you is to be
saved. Look over Galatians chapter four,
verse 19. Christ in you is to be born again. My little children of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. When Paul talks there about travailing,
he's talking about labor pains. He's talking about laboring in
birth until Christ be formed in you. That's what it is for
Christ to be in you. It's to be born again. It's to
have a new man formed, born in you by the Holy Spirit. Thirdly,
look back at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Christ in you is to be saved. Christ in you is to be born again.
And thirdly, Christ in you is to belong to God, to be owned
by God. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God? And you're not your own. for
you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. For the spirit to
dwell in you, that is to belong to God, to be owned by Him. That's
Christ in you. Now, a good hope of glory, it's
the experience of grace in the heart. A good hope of glory is
not just Christ in the covenant of grace. It's Christ in you. A good hope of glory is not just
Christ in the scriptures. A good hope of glory is not just
Christ on the cross. It's Christ in you. A good hope
of glory is not Christ in the tomb or Christ risen from the
tomb. It's Christ in you. A good hope of glory is not Christ
on the throne. It's Christ in you. Now, I can't
have a good hope. without any of those things,
can I? Because they're all the foundation of a good hope. The
foundation of my hope is Christ in the covenant of grace. The
foundation of our hope is Christ in the scriptures. The foundation
of our hope is Christ on the cross, Christ in the tomb, Christ
risen from the tomb. The foundation of our hope is
Christ on the throne in glory. But a good hope itself is the
experience of that, the experience of Christ, grace in the heart.
Our Lord told Nicodemus, you must be born again. And when
you're born again, then you have the experience of grace. Then
Christ himself is formed in the heart. Hawker called this Christ
in you. He called it the inward manifestation
of an outward work. Now I like that, it's that Christ
in you is the inward manifestation of the outward work. The evidence,
the reason that you can expect to be in glory with Christ, the
reason that you can hope, expect that Christ did all these things
for you, is Christ in you. That's a good hope of glory.
All right, the Lord bless you.