Come back to Colossians chapter
1. I want us to look in this chapter at this word hope. When the scriptures speak of
hope, it's not a wish. It's not a wish. It's not something we're wishing
for. It is something we truly expect. We expect it. On God's Word, through the Lord Jesus Christ,
we expect God to do as He said He would do and to give as He
said He would give. And that's our hope. That's our
hope. Now, three times the word hope
is used in this chapter. And it's used many times throughout
the Word of God. A life without hope is a miserable
life. But God has given us, God has
given to those whom he saves a good hope through grace. That's what he tells us over
in Thessalonians. Now the first time this word
hope is used in this chapter is in verse 5. He says, For the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before
in the word of the truth of the gospel. God did not create this
world and leave it hopeless. When Adam failed and God dealt with Adam and Eve
and Satan there in the garden, cursed the ground, told them of the judgments, and
He sent them out of the garden. But He sent them out of the garden
with hope in the seed of the woman. They went out of the garden
with hope. When God looked down from heaven
in Genesis, and he saw that the imagination of man was evil continually,
just continually, and he said, it repents me that I have made
man, and I'm going to destroy him from off the face of the
earth. And then it says, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God said, Noah, build an
ark. Build an ark. There in the midst
of that great flood, the flood of God's wrath, there floated
hope on top of that water. An ark. An ark. And everyone
inside that ark was safe. from the flood of God's wrath.
And we know that ark represents the Lord Jesus Christ. It points
to Him. Now, remember, Paul's writing
here to believers. He's writing to believers. Not
unbelievers. He's writing to believers. This hope is laid
up in heaven, listen, for you. For you. You didn't lay it up.
You didn't do anything to acquire it, to merit it. God laid it
up for you before God created the heavens and the earth. He
laid up this hope of eternal life, this hope of salvation
for you. That makes me think that scripture
says, Thy thoughts to usward cannot be reckoned up in order. Before I was born, He took care
of me. He took care of every one of
His sheep. He said, it's laid up for you, it's laid up for
His sheep, it's laid up for sinners. Who are the elect? Sinners saved
by grace. Sinners chosen by God out of
Adam's race. If you are a sinner, you don't
have to die hopeless. It's just hard to find a sinner.
Burgess said, A sinner is a sacred thing, for the Holy Ghost hath
made him such. To find a bona fide, what John
Bunyan called Jerusalem sinner, it takes God to make him one.
It takes God to bring him to the place where he says, O wretched,
he cries, O wretched man that I am. Like that publican stood
afar off, smote upon his breast, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The Scripture says, Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely. The Scripture
says, He came to seek and to save the lost. If I could find
a lost man, if I could find a lost woman, I got good news. I have good news. He came to
seek and to save the lost. Now this hope is laid up for
us in a safe place in heaven. in heaven, where moth and rust
does not corrupt, and thieves cannot break through, and steel
cannot disturb it. The world may be allowed to take
many things from me, but never this hope. Satan may be allowed to take
my possessions, like he did Job. It may be allowed to touch my
body, my health, but never my hope in Christ. Job said, The Lord giveth, and
the Lord taketh away. Bless him be the name of the
Lord. He retained his hope. Look over at Job 19. He retained his hope through
all those troubles. All that he lost, he retained
his hope. He says in chapter 19, in verse
23, Or that my words were now written,
or that they were printed in a book. And they were, weren't
they? That they were graven with an
iron pen and led in the rock forever. For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
and though after my skin were destroyed this body, yet in my
flesh Shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, whom mine eyes
shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within
me?" He never lost his hope through all that he went through. It's
also safe and sure because it's laid up by Almighty God. Look who laid this up for us. I don't have a weak, fickle hope
of being saved. I have one that's of God, Almighty
God. God the Father laid this hope
up for us in Christ and eternity passed. When Christ was made
our surety, when He was made our Mediator,
when He was made our High Priest, when He was made our Substitute,
when He was made our Righteousness, when He was made our All in All.
God the Father laid this up for us. I could not have, you could not
have a more sure hope than the one that the Father has laid
up for us in Christ. Could not be any more secure
than what we have in Christ. Listen in Lamentations 3.24.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope
in Him. That's where it's laid up, in
Him. This hope of full salvation, this hope that we have of full
forgiveness of sins, was laid up for us by God Almighty Himself. He did it. He did it. This is not a man-made hope.
It is a God-made hope. And God, who cannot lie, will
fulfill this hope to everyone who believes. to everyone for
whom Christ died. He'll fulfill it. This hope cannot,
now listen, it cannot be lost. Cannot be lost. I cannot lose
it. It may not always be easily detected,
but it cannot be lost. Aren't you glad of that? If it
could be lost, I'd lose it a thousand times a day. I would lose it
a thousand times a day. I don't have to do anything to
keep it. It's of God. It's of God and
it's laid up in heaven for you. It's not of works. I don't have
this hope by works. It's not my works. I do have
it by the work of Christ. You and I have it by grace. This hope that is laid up is
now declared through the preaching of the gospel. Look over in verse
23. This is the second time it's
mentioned here. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel which you have heard, which was preached to
every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister. But it's been preached, declared
unto you. The gospel is a message, listen,
it is a message of hope for doomed, damned sinners. Helpless sinners. Hopeless sinners. If I can find
one, I've got a message of hope. I've got a message of hope. The
Scripture says the soul that sinneth shall surely die. But
God, who is rich in mercy, who is rich in mercy, has given us
a hope of full salvation from sin and condemnation through
His Son. There is therefore, it says over
in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Right now. Right now. There is no condemnation. to them who are in Christ Jesus. The gospel declares to sinners
that God has sent His Son into the world to be a propitiation
for their sins. That's the gospel. That's a declaration
of hope to the hopeless. The gospel declares that God
can be a just God and the Savior in Christ to the chief of sinners. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. I'm looking for sinners in need
of mercy. If I can find people who need
mercy, I've got a message. I've got a message. I need it. Do you need it? Then this message
is for us. The gospel declares the righteousness
of God in Christ by which we are saved. Where did you learn
that righteousness at? The gospel. When you heard the
gospel, In Christ, we have a righteousness
that is of God. It satisfies God, and we have
it. It is ours. It belongs to us.
It's given to us, and we are made the righteousness of God
in Christ right now. It's ours in Christ. We have
that righteousness that God demands. We have it. We have it. The gospel declares the hope
of eternal life. Everyone is going to live either
with the Lord or they're going to perish. But they're going
to live forever. They're going to live forever.
But this eternal life is the life of God in the soul. And
we learn that through the gospel. Now we learned it. It declares
the hope of eternal life and not eternal misery. You know
the gospel. Listen, the gospel is positive and not negative.
It's good news. That's what it's about. It's
good news. It is a declaration of good news. Turn over to Isaiah 61. Listen to these three verses.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, and this is Christ speaking,
because he reads from this in the Gospels. Because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. We can just find these
people if we've got good news. "...to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might
be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified." It's good news. It's good news. The gospel declares the hope
of the resurrection of the dead. Where do we find any hope of
anyone rising from the dead and being with God except through
the gospel? We don't have it. We have it
through the gospel. That's where we learn the truth
of the resurrection. And we learn that the resurrection
of the dead is not just an event, it's a person. Christ said to
Martha, Mary, I am the resurrection and the life. Quit looking for
the event, look for me. I'm the resurrection. Everybody's
looking for an event and they're going to miss the person. They're
going to miss the one who is the resurrection. And it's through the gospel that
we have learned that the resurrection is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I read to you Psalm 16 in verse
9. He said, My flesh shall rest
in hope. In hope. The righteous have hope
in his death. We will not die as those who
have no hope. We know that when we die, we
will go to be with the Lord. Death is very different to the
believer. What the world looks at is death. This body is going
to go back to the grave, but I'm telling you this, I'm not
going to die. You're not going to die. You're going to go be
with the Lord. Immediately. Immediately. The gospel declares that Christ
shall come again and receive us unto himself. There will be
a resurrection of the body. Now there will be that. There
will be a resurrection of the body and there will be a new
body, immortal. A body like unto his. Then the third hope, back over
here in Colossians, is in verse 27. You see, we have a hope laid
up for us. We have a hope declared to us.
But now here, in this verse, is our hope. 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, the hope laid up in that covenant
of grace, the hope declared in the gospel, and the hope is a
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my hope. My hope is not
that I accepted Him as my personal Savior. My hope is not that I
have lived good enough after accepting Him and That's not
my hope. My hope is Him. Him. Living for me, dying for me,
rising for me, seated at God's right hand and interceding for
me. He is my hope. The hope laid up in heaven, declared
by the gospel, is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is
the sum and substance of this hope. He is the embodiment of
this hope. Our hope is found in the person
of God's Son. That's my hope. He's my hope. It's not a plan. It's a living
person. It says in Psalm 39.7, Now Lord,
what wait I for? My hope is in thee." Over in Timothy, first chapter,
verse one, Paul says, Christ our hope. He's our hope. It says in Psalm 71 5, thou art
my hope. Thou art my hope. Christ in you
is your hope of glory. He is your hope of glory. There
is a real living union between Christ and the believer. He said, I am the vine, you are
the branches. There is a real, I mean a very
real spiritual union between Christ and the believer, Christ
and the church, just like there is right now between my head
and this body. Without this head, my body wouldn't
be complete. And without a body, the head
wouldn't be complete. There is a real union, living union, not just a professional
one. Christianity is not just a profession.
It is a real union, a real connection. a real joining between Christ
and His people. It's real. It's very real. He's
the head, we are the body. Christ said this in John 17,
I in them, thou in me. A real union is real. He says in 2 Corinthians 5.17, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. He is a new creation. He is. He has a new nature, and
Christ dwells in that new nature, which we know from John chapter
3 is Spirit. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. that which is born of God is new. It's a new creation. It's a new man. And Christ dwells
in that new man. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13,
verse 5, Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. Prove your
own selves. Know ye not yourselves how that
Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? He's in you. He's in His people. Paul said this in one place,
it is no more I that do it, but Christ who lives in me. He lives in me. Christ lives
for me and Christ lives in me. Christ is our hope. Paul said over in Galatians 2.20,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's a real union, isn't it?
That's a real living union. He that hath not the Spirit of
Christ, the Scripture says, is none of His. Jesus Christ Himself is our hope
of glory. He's our hope of glory. And listen,
He's all the hope I have and He's all the hope I need. I don't
need any more. I don't need anything else or
anyone else. He's all the hope I have and all the hope I If
I have this hope of glory, it's because I have Christ in me. It's because I have Him in me. Why is He my hope of glory? Because He is the God of glory. If He were not God, I would have
no hope. I would have no hope. And He's
my hope of glory because He's the God of glory, and if I have
Him, I have all glory. I have it. And the foundation
of this hope, listen, is the Word of God. It's the Word of
God. Without His Word, we wouldn't
know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ. We wouldn't know
anything about God. God has revealed Himself in this
book. This book is the foundation of
the hope. Every hope that we have, the
hope laid up, the hope declared, and Christ who is our hope, is
revealed in this book. In this book. Listen to these scriptures. In
John 6, 37. He that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. That's a hope. That's my hope.
My hope, my expectation is this. He will not cast me out. I've
come to Him. based on His Word. He's given
me His Word. In Romans 10, verse 13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Our hope
is based on His Word. Hebrews 7, verse 25, He is able
to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's my hope. And the Word of God is the foundation
of it. Listen, 2 Corinthians 1.20, all
the promises of God in him are yea, yes, and amen. Many are the promises of God
that promotes our hope in Christ. And then last of all, last of
all, this hope that we have in Christ, this hope laid up, this
hope declared, this hope that is Christ. The Word of God is
the foundation of it. We have it. Now listen, through
grace, through grace, there was not one thing about me or you
that impressed God to give us this hope. The one that has impressed
God is His Son. He's the one who impressed His
Father. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And you and I have it through
grace. We have this hope through the
pure, sovereign grace of God. It is an act of grace that a
sinner has any hope at all. It's all of grace. All of grace. And this hope that we have, listen,
it says over in Hebrews chapter 6, this hope that we have, we
have as an anchor of the soul. This is what keeps us. This hope
that we have in Christ, it's an anchor. It holds us. It keeps
us. It's like a big ship out in the
ocean. which really looks like a little ship when you look at
the ocean, but they drop that anchor. And that ship, it may
go around in circles, but it's anchored right there. It may
drift east, it may drift west, but it does not move from where
it's anchored. And this hope, this full expectation
that God has given us in Christ is what anchors our soul. It's
the anchor of the soul. Christ in you is your hope of glory. He's our
hope. We have a hope laid up, we have
a hope declared, and that hope is in you. You already possess
it, and it possesses you.