Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The
title of this message should be obvious. A good hope through
grace. That just sounds good. When Frank read that, it just
sounds good. A good hope, and this is what
makes it such a good hope, is through grace. It would not be a good hope if
any part of it depended on me. That would not be a good hope.
But if it's through grace, all of grace, that is a good hope. tells us in this verse 16, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, God even our Father, God our Father, which hath loved
us, this is so full, this is so rich, which hath loved us,
and hath given us everlasting consolation, everlasting comfort, and a good hope through grace." You can go through the Word of
God, and this word, hope, is found all the way through the
Word of God. It is a dominant theme in the
Scriptures. It says, now faith is the substance,
the ground of things hoped for. Hope is a good word. Even in
the natural realm, it's good to have hope. If you ever meet
someone who's lost all hope, that's the saddest person you'll
ever meet. But you let any man, any woman,
have just a glimmer of hope, and it'll keep them going through
the toughest of times. It's a good word. It's a Bible
word. Hope is this. It's the anticipation
of good. We have a good hope through grace
because we have an anticipation of good. I hope to be with Christ, do
you? I hope someday to be totally
rid of sin. I hope to be with the Lord. I
hope to be on that new earth. I hope to be presented before
him spotless? It's anticipation of good. That's a good hope. And that hope is based not on
how good I've lived. It's based on this, Christ in
you. the hope of glory. Christ in
you is your hope of glory. He's my hope of glory. And He's
not only my hope of glory, He's the object of my hope. When Paul
writes to Timothy, he writes like this in 1 Timothy 1. The Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. He's our hope. Whatever good
hope we have through grace, the very basis of it is Jesus Christ
himself. Listen to these scriptures. I'm
not going to turn to these. They take too long. But to show
you that the word of God is full of this word, hope. Acts 23.6
speaks of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. We have that hope,
don't we? We have a hope that someday this
body's going to be laid in the grave, but it's coming out of
it, a new body, incorruptible, undefiled, a spiritual body. I have a hope of that. Now, some
people can call me crazy. I was listening to a scientist
on the talk radio the other day. I thought you, I feel so sorry
for you. He was a professed atheist. No hope at all. After this life,
no hope. What a life to live with no hope
other than just this. If in this life, if this is all
we have, why, it's a miserable life, isn't it? It's a miserable
life if this is it. In Acts 26, 27. the hope of the
promises to the fathers. All the promises of God in Christ
are in him and we hope to see them all fulfilled in him and
to enjoy them. Galatians 5.5, the hope of righteousness
by faith. I hope to stand before God perfectly
righteous. and the righteousness of his
Son. I have a hope of that. You have a hope of that. Colossians
1.23 speaks of the hope of the gospel. Romans 5.2, the hope of the glory
of God, to see it and to experience it. 1 Thessalonians 5.8, the hope of
salvation. Salvation is very real to us.
It's very real. Ephesians 1.18, the hope of His
calling. Titus 1.2, the hope of eternal
life. I could go on and on and on. You can go over to Psalm 119.
I'll read one there in a minute. This hope in the scriptures is
spoken of in three ways. In Titus 2.13 it's called blessed. Looking for that blessed hope. Looking for it. It's spoken of
as living. 1 Peter 1.3, He hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope. A living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. There's our living hope. Significantly,
God's right hand. And then here in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 16, a good hope through grace. The word of God is full
of it. We hope that our sins are pardoned.
We expect it. We have an expectation that our
sins are pardoned. That our hearts are renewed.
That we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope
we are of that number, of God's elect. We have a hope of that. It's not a wish. It's not a wish. This is a hope, and I'll show
you, founded on the Word of God. We have God's Word to back it
up. And the hope that we have in
Christ maketh not ashamed." It says in Romans 5, 5. Our hope that we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ will not put us to shame. It's written over
in the book of Job, they were confounded because they had hoped. It was a false hope. It was a
hope built on their own merits. It was built on a false religion,
built on a lie. But the hope that we have in
Christ is found in the Word of God. We have His Word to back
it up. And that's what a good hope is.
A good hope is a hope you can articulate. You can tell someone
about it. Listen to Scripture. 1 Peter
3.15. Be ready. Always to give an answer to every
man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. Can you give that answer? If
someone asks you why you hope to be in heaven,
can you tell them why? From the Word of God. From the
Word of God. I must be able to explain in
my own words a reason for the hope that is in me." You notice
how he said this, that the reason for the hope that is, he didn't
say that you have. He said the reason for the hope
that is in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
can you give an answer to the reason of that hope that is in
you? And I believe everyone whom the
Lord saves, you don't have to be a theologian. You don't have
to go through the five points. You know that woman at the well,
what did she know? What did she know? She knew that there was
a man that told her everything she ever did. She believed in
her heart, that man's the Messiah. He's the Messiah. She knew him. She knew him. If I cannot tell you what my
hope is, it's probably because I don't have one. What I'm saying is this. You
must know what your hope is and be able to tell someone who it
is. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus Christ, his blood and his righteousness. That's
what it's built on. It is not possible to possess
a good hope through grace and not be able to tell about Not be able to tell something
about Him. Knowledge is essential to saving faith, and knowledge
is essential to a good hope. Knowledge is not salvation. Christ
is salvation. But you've got to know Him. Salvation
is knowing Christ. You'll never read in the New
Testament of a believer, someone called a Christian, who
cannot tell you of their hope in Christ. It won't read that. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And you shall know
the truth, and the truth is a person. I am the way, the truth, and
the life, and He'll set you free. No one has a good hope who does
not know how to tell about it. I didn't say you have to, like
I said before, you don't have to be a theologian. You don't have
to use theological terminology. You just have to know Him. You
have to know Him. And then a good hope is a hope
that its foundation is the Word of God. Well, I hope I'm saved when it's
over with. Well, what are you basing that
on? What is the foundation of your
hope? What's the foundation of my hope?
What's the foundation of it? Look over in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 49, Remember the word unto thy servant,
for which thou hast called me, to hope. Psalm 119 verse 81 says this,
My soul faces for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word. I hope in thy word. His word
is giving me hope. It says in Romans 15.4, Whatsoever
things were written aforetime, were written for our learning
that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope. Might have hope. If our hope
is a good hope, if it's a solid hope, if it is a hope through
grace, a good hope through grace, the foundation of it is the Word
of God. If my hope is sound, I must be
able to turn to the Word of God and say, this is my hope. Lord, you said, he that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. You said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. That gives me hope. The Lord
said it. And he will not go back on his
word. J.C. Ryle said this, "'Our confidence
must arise from something that God has caused to be written
in the Word of God in the Bible for our learning in which our
hearts have believed and received.'" You have a hope of eternal life. You have a hope of being with
God, being with Christ. Can you turn to the Word of God
and say, here it is. Here it is. I have God's Word. I have God's Word on it. This
is it. It's hard enough to have good feelings, although we are not without feelings.
I'll talk about that in a minute. But feelings without the Word, That's just emotionalism, and
that'll get you in trouble. That'll get you in trouble. Scripture says the heart is deceitful
above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it? Over
in Proverbs 28, he that trusteth in his heart is a fool. Someone said this. This was good.
Good feelings without a warrant from the Word of God is not a
good hope. It's not a good hope. If you have a good hope, if I
have a good hope, we must be able to take the Word of God,
take the Scriptures, and say, Here's my hope. Here's my hope. The Father of the Scriptures
says, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into
His hands. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Do you believe? Do you believe
on the Son? You have everlasting life. That's
your hope. What God just said is your hope. Without God's Word, you must
live and die in ignorance and without hope. It says over in
Ephesians, at one time, our ancestors were without hope. and without
God and without Christ in this world. They didn't have His Word. They didn't have His sacrifices. They didn't have anything. God
left them in darkness. He gave them to those Israelites.
He gave them His Word. They had His Word. And now we have His Word. And by His grace, He's caused
us to hope. He's caused us to hope. He's
given us a good hope through grace in His Son. Any hope that is not founded
on God's Word is a false hope. There's no hope at all. If you
have a good hope, you got it from the Word of God. Then a good hope is a hope that
rests entirely Entirely on Jesus Christ alone. That is a good hope. Do you know
how blessed you are if the only hope you have is Him? If the
only hope you have is Him, you are the most blessed person on
the top side of this earth. If He's it. Paul said to Timothy,
Christ, our hope, and He added nothing to it. That was it. That explains our hope. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. You take Him out of the picture,
you have absolutely no foundation, no reason to hope. Well, I've
lived a good life. You don't know what good is. You and I have a good hope based
entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope in his substitutionary
work. We hope in his righteousness alone. We hope in his blood alone. We hope in his intercession alone.
We hope in his power alone. We hope in him alone. We hope
in his grace alone. Nothing else added, nothing else. You remember when the disciples
were on the Mount of Transfiguration? They saw Moses, Elijah, and the
Lord, and they wanted to make three tabernacles. God spoke
to them, and after all that happened, you know what it says? They saw no man save Jesus on
the line. This is it. This is it. This
is your hope. This is your hope. Christ is either all my hope,
or I have none. I have none. He's all my hope
in election. I was chosen in Him. He's all
my hope in righteousness. He is my righteousness. He's
all my hope in sanctification. He is my sanctification. He's
all my hope in preservation. My life is hid with Christ in
God. He's all my hope in judgment. He's my advocate. I've had some
experience here lately we've had being in court. And I'm telling you what, that
can be a sobering, sobering thing. Now you put that on an infinite
level. When a man or a woman goes to
meet God, and to have that mediator, to
have that man, Jesus Christ, standing there as all my hope. Wow. Man is not saved, woman is not
saved until Christ and Christ alone is all their hope. That's it. And then a good hope is a hope
that is felt in the heart. I said it wasn't based on feeling,
but I didn't say you didn't feel it. We're not numb. It says in Romans 5.5, hope maketh
not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in the heart. That can't happen if you don't
know it and you don't feel it. Paul speaks in Romans 12, 12,
rejoicing in hope. Now that sounds like something
you feel, doesn't it? You ever rejoice? You ever really
rejoice? You know, there have been a few
times, I thought of that scripture, where David danced before the
Lord. Have you ever really felt like doing that? Has there ever
been a time that you felt like dancing before the Lord? Rejoicing. I mean, just, there's a realization
that this is real. This is so, and my sins are gone. I'm telling you, that's a feeling.
You can feel that. You can feel rejoicing. You can
feel love. A good hope is something you
can feel in your heart. Anyone who has a good hope is
conscious of it. You are conscious of it. You know it. It may show itself
in different degrees, but you know it. You know it's there. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. You know, faith is something
that happens. You don't make yourself believe
God. You believe because it's a gift of God. You believe because
you've been born of God. And if you're born of God, you
have a hope. You know it. You can't keep from
having it. You can't keep from believing it no more than you
can keep from breathing. And you know if you have a hope.
Every time you feel hopeless, I'm not saying every time you
don't feel like it, but you know you have a hope. I'm not talking
about emotionalism here, it's just that it's a real solid hope
and you know it. You know it. I wouldn't give you a nickel for feelings only. I wouldn't give you a nickel
for a religion that didn't have any in it. Listen, life in Christ is something
you feel in your soul. It's peace of feeling. We have
peace with God. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts. It's peace of feeling. Is rest
a feeling? Have you ever really felt that
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ? When the storm is raging, trials are just too much. They become too much. But there
is an unexplained peace and rest that you can't tell anybody about.
It's there. It's there. Joy is a feeling. Confidence
is a feeling. The witness of the Spirit. The
fear of God. Assurance. All these things can be felt.
All of them. It's foolish to think you can
experience the love of God and not feel it. Did you fall in love with your
spouse and not know it? Did you not feel it? Did something
not move you to take a second look? Third look? Fourth look? Someone said this. I thought
this was good. I copied this down. Can Lazarus be raised from
the dead and not know it? Can blind Bartimaeus receive
his sight and not know it? Can a weary man lie down and
not feel rest? Can a thirsty man drink and not
feel quenched? Anyone who's been translated
from darkness to light feels it in his soul. He doesn't base his salvation
on his feelings. He bases it on the Word of God.
He believes God. A good hope is a hope that can
be felt. Maybe a better word is this.
A good hope is a hope that can be experienced. And then a good hope is a hope
that manifests itself outwardly in one's life. It'll come out of your lives.
If you have a good hope in Christ, it's going to leak out on you.
It's going to show. James said, Show me thy faith
and thy works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. If Christ is my hope, I know this, I know this about
myself and about you. If Christ is our hope, if he's
our hope, we will seek to walk after his example. I believe
that. I believe it will motivate everything
you do. The whole tenure of your life
will be after him. He's the mark. He's the mark
you're aiming at. He's the mark you're headed for.
He's the mark. It says in 1 John 2.6, He that
saith he abides in Him ought to walk even as He walked. It says in 1 John 5.27, By this
we know we love the children of God. When we love God and
keep His commandments, it'll come out in the life. It'll come
out. If Christ is my hope, then I
will seek to be detached from this world and attracted to Him
more and more. Of course, I believe that's why
the Lord puts us through trials, is to wean us from these things
and make us to be more attracted to Him, because we still have
so much sin in us. It says in Colossians 3, 1 through
3, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sits on the right hand of God. It'll come out. It's impossible to hope, to have
a hope, a solid hope in Christ and not live after Him. Seek
after Him. Follow Him. That's not even possible. It's not possible. A living man
has to drink. A living man has to eat. And
a soul that's being made alive has to have Christ. And if he
has Christ, he's going to walk after Christ. He's going to walk
after Him. And then in closing, a good hope. Let me read something here. Let
me back up here. A good hope always manifests
itself outwardly in the light. And I want you to turn to 1 John
3. I don't want to pass this up. This nails it. In 1 John chapter 3, let me start reading verse 1. 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 we the sons
of God, and it doth not 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." It mortifies the deeds of the flesh.
Seek to be holy. Seek after Him. To live after
Him. To walk after Him. And a good hope is always marked
by these things. These five things. A hope you
can tell someone about. It's drawn from the Scriptures. It rests entirely on Christ.
It's felt inwardly in the heart. And it manifests itself outwardly
in your life. That is a good hope through grace. What is my hope? What is my hope? What is your hope? Well, if it is a good hope, if
it is a good hope, it is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And that was given to you through
grace. That was given by the grace of God.