If you will, turn with me to
Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. He says
in Colossians 1-3, We give thanks to God and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all
the saints. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all
the world, bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since
the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth. As you also learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since
the day we heard it, Do not cease to pray for you, to desire that
you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might
according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering
with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
life, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. By him were
all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he's
before all things, and by him all things consist. And he's
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 wholeness dwell. 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. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, in your mind, let that
sink in. Yet now hath he reconciled. in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. And here's my text. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which you've heard. and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill
up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh,
for his body's sake, which is the church. Whereof I am made
a minister according to the dispensation, the stewardship of God. which
is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery
that's been hid from ages and from generations and now is made
manifest to his saints, 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. May the Lord add his blessing. to the reading of his work. If you will, turn back with me
now to Colossians chapter 1. My subject is, as the plain teaching
of the chapter will bear out, the hope of the gospel. The purpose of the gospel is
to set this hope before men. That's the purpose of it. That's
what we're to do. Go out and show them that the
object of faith, which is Jesus Christ, is a good hope. It's the only hope. And it's
the hope of the gospel. Do I preach the gospel? Do I
set this hope before me? Do I set it before them as the
scriptures declare it? Because that's what preaching
is. Now you and I are living in a
world filled with anti-Christ religion. That word simply means
contrary to Christ. Contrary, against Christ. It's
intermingled in governments, politics, schools, business, but its chief source and its
base of operations is in local assemblies called churches, synagogues,
mosques, temples, anti-Christ religion, causes men to oppose
themselves. That's what it says over in 2
Thessalonians 2. He describes antichrist to a
T and he said it opposes oneself and exalts themselves above all
that's called God or that is worshiped. Man sits in the seat
of God. That's what it is. He himself
takes the preeminence. God's done all he can do, now
it's all up to you. Isn't that sitting on God's throne? Man takes the preeminence and
he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. We determine our own destiny.
Oh, no you don't. No you don't. Antichrist religion, it says,
is after the working of Satan. That's its author. It's after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. They see things, they believe
things, and they follow. And it works in men and women
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. That is, what they tell you to
do, they call righteousness. but it's unrighteousness. Read Isaiah chapter 1 sometime
and give it some study. God said, who told you to do
this? Who told you to stand before me like this? Who told you that? Who told you to bring these sick
lambs and sick goats and things up here not fit for anything
else so you're going to offer them to me? Who told you to do
that? Why do you do these things? Deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. Why are they perishing? Because
they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. Now let me tell you something.
If God ever convinces you of sin, here's how you're going
to do it. Through your unbelief in Him. There's nothing in Him not to
believe in. There's nothing in Him for you
to doubt. There's nothing in Him for you
to say, well, no, I can't do that. Why not? Is it something
too hard for God? I know it's impossible with men,
but with God, all things are possible. Deceivableness and the influence
of anti-Christ religion is to set all men in opposition to
God's testimony of the person and work of Christ. He don't
care what else you do. Satan don't care. He don't care
if you're a Pentecostal or a Nazarene or a Baptist. He don't care.
He don't care if you're a Catholic or a Presbyterian. He don't care.
He's anti-Christ. And they're not anti-good works.
They're not anti-religious. They're not even anti-assembling. They're anti-Christ. And their doctrines are carefully
formed to deceive Satan. works in their minds and hearts. It's the working of Satan who
will give them whatever signs and evidences they desire. Experiences,
visions, reasonings, feelings, and on and on the list goes.
If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost and whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not. There's a God set forth by Antichrist who's anti-God. He's not in harmony with God. All you have to do is listen
to what they're saying and say, how does this fit the character
of God? It don't. Free will is not in harmony with
the character of God. That's satanic doctrine, that's
antichrist doctrine. That God set forth in another
gospel and another Jesus by another spirit. And Paul said, I don't
care if an angel from heaven or if I myself come back and
preach to you a different gospel than I preached unto you, let
him be accursed. And men are no match for the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. We all walk accordingly. Scripture
said he takes men captive at his will. He knows your nature. He knows what you like and you
don't like. And he can take you in a snap
of a finger. And add to this the fallen nature
of the sinner. The Bible testifies plainly that
all men, both Jew and Gentile, are all under sin. We have a
cursed nature. Our nature is contrary to God,
totally contrary. Scripture said man at his best
state, when he's at the top of his game, altogether vanity. And let me tell you something.
Here's where the deceit enters in. Religion will always have
you compare yourself with other men. Always. Well, you know,
compared to him. When the Pharisees stood in the
synagogue, he looked up into heaven and he said, I thank God
I'm not like other men. Huh? No, you're worse. You're worse. He said, I'm not
an extortioner. Then why are you robbing God? I'm not unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I fast twice a week and I give
tithes of all I possess. Let me say this, most of the
wicked habits of men have nothing to do with Satan. They're just
wicked desires of a fallen nature. You just being what you are. Drunkenness, adultery, fornication,
and so on, that's not Satan, that's you. Boy, what if God
had just turned you over to yourself? Huh? But the real depth of sin is
that he loves darkness rather than light. He likes that. He's
comfortable in that darkness. He was born in it. He's lived
in it. His friends all live in it. He's
comfortable in it, and he loves it. He loves it. He loves darkness rather than
light. And he walks in the vanity of
his mind, having his understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God. What life? Eternal life to know
God. To know God. To have a saving knowledge of
God. And all these things are through the ignorance that's
in him because of the blindness of his heart. Salvation is not
something God has set on display like medicine in a pharmacy.
You got a headache. You go down to the drugstore
and you walk in there and you look up on the shelf and you
start reading bottles. That's the one I want. That's
the one I want. That's not salvation. Salvation is not something God
has set on display like medicines in a pharmacy. Here it is, anytime
you decide you need it, it's here for the taking. Just reach
up and grab the bottle. Hope is something God has laid
up in heaven for a people He chose in Christ before the world
began. The hope's not here, the hope's
there. This hope, Colossians 1, 5, look
at this, is laid up for you in heaven. In heaven. whereof you heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. Peter said this, it's a living
hope. It's a living hope. It's established
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and it
concerns an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. Now listen, reserved in heaven,
For you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last day. Is this the last day? That hope is sealed and seated
at the right hand of God and it's ready to be revealed.
Isn't that what he said? ready to be revealed right now. We've been living in the last
time since the appearance of Jesus Christ. That living hope,
that purposed inheritance is laid up in heaven, made known
unto them for whom it's reserved. He said it was made known to
you. You didn't stumble on it. You didn't run into it in the
darkness. was reserved for you. And I've
got four things that the Lord will, if He'll
enable me, I'd like to teach you this morning about this hope. The first is this. There is a
hope. Boy, I tell you, when the Lord
began to reveal to me what I was and what sin is, that sin got
around me, It's everywhere in the world. It's in the church
that I went to. It's everywhere. I didn't think
there was any hope for me. Nothing I ever heard gave me
any hope. And it was as plain as day to me what sin was. Here
it is. Here it is. Here in the Scripture.
None that understandeth. None righteous. None that understandeth. None that seeketh after God.
All gone astray. There's no hope for me. Where's
the hope in that? No hope in that. What if God
leaves you to yourself? Well, maybe someday he'll stumble
on the truth. No. No, he won't. He'll wax worse
and worse. Evil men seduce us, wax worse.
They're not getting better and better. They're not going to
evolve someday into a Christian. There is a hope. God has not
left this whole fallen race to continue in and under sin. Scripture said sin, when it's
finished, bringeth forth death. You want to die? Continue like
you are. Just go on dictating what I like
and dislike and what I need and don't need. Go ahead. Sin, when it's finished, bringeth
forth death. That's what's at the end. God's not allowed men to populate
this world in some hope that he might change his ways and
reconcile himself to God. They watched that rich young
ruler walk away. He had every potential. He paid
his bills. He was an upright man. He was
a moral man. He knew all of God's Word. He went to worship. If anybody's
going to be saved, it's a rich young ruler. And the Lord sent
him away with his tail tucked between his legs. And they looked
at each other and they said, who then can be saved? God said with men, not too likely. No, he said it's impossible. Impossible. But with God, all
things are possible. Salvation. is according to the
purpose of God, and God's purpose in this salvation is that His
glory, the glory of His great name, be manifested in the salvation
of a people through the person and work of His Son. That's what
salvation is. It's not so much God pitting
you as it is His purpose to manifest His glory in your salvation.
If He can't get glory in your salvation, He ain't going to
save you. Why doesn't God save everybody? Huh? Not His purpose. And what's
His purpose? To manifest His glory. There is a hope, a real hope,
a good hope. And this hope, this hope plainly
stated all through the Scriptures. Second thing that I'd like for
every one of us to learn This hope is a hope centered upon
a person. And oh, what a person he is. Paul knew the law. He could recite
the law. You know, I've got to go back
and read Leviticus. Paul could probably recite it.
He was raised in the law. But he didn't realize that salvation
was in a person. God's kingdom is called what? The kingdom of his dear son. Our redemption, it says here
in Colossians 1, is through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sin, tells us that Christ is the image of the invisible God. You can't see God. God appeared
to me. No, he didn't. He's invisible.
No man has seen me at any time. That's what he said. There's
only one way to know God and see God, and that's God manifest
in the flesh in Christ. Thomas said, we don't know where
you're going. We don't know the way. He said,
I am the way. I'm the truth. I'm the light.
All hope's centered on me. All hope hangs on me, leaning
on Him. And then Philip said, well, he said,
show us the Father and it suffices us. He said, Philip, you've been
so long time with me and you've not known the Father, you've
not seen the Father? Huh? There's no hope. He is the
image of the invisible God. God come into the flesh. He's the creator of all things. This one in whom we're commended
to put our faith and trust and lean on Him and believe on Him. He's the creator of the universe. This ain't just a man that came
and lived a good life and went back to heaven and hoped to inspire
folks to believe. This is the creator of the universe.
This is God. Mary called her own son, God
my Savior. Huh? He's God. Oh, he's the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature. There's Christ and
then creation. If there were no Christ, there'd
be no reason for creation. And listen to this. All things
were created by Him and for Him. For Him. Everything in this world
that you see out here has a purpose that deals directly with Him. We'll spend eternity learning
about these things. How did that grasshopper... I
already know what a maggot is. Maggot's a picture of me, that's
what a maggot is. But all of these, all of these
things, all of these diseases and germs and all, everything,
everything in the universe is for Him. For Him. He's before all things. And listen
to this, by Him all things consist, that is they have a continuum.
When God has manifested his glory in Christ, when he's done with
that, called out all his elect, there's not going to be any reason
for these things anymore. And he's the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
In him we have a beginning. Oh, what if we weren't chosen
in him? What if God had not put us in union with him? What if
God had not coveted our salvation in him? What if provision was
not given to us in him? You see what I mean? He's the one upon whom his bride
is given a beginning. He's the federal head. The representative
of the church, he's her husband, her savior, her king, and her
priest. And he's the one in whom God
has given all preeminence. One lady said to Scott Richardson,
all you ever preach is Christ, Christ, Christ. The reason for
that is because God gave him the preeminence. Please the Father that in Him
should all fullness dwell. And then listen to this. Having
made peace through the blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile
all things to Himself by Him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven. You've got issues. Unbelievers
have issues in heaven. They're sinners. God's just and
perfect. He demands perfection. He demands
what you can't produce. There's an issue in heaven that
has to be settled. You that were sometime alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works. What in the world is he
talking about? your imaginations of God who's
not God. That's what he's talking about.
Enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled. How did he do it? In the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Salvation is in a person. It's in a person. Verse 27, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. That sounds excellent. Everything that God demanded
of the sinner, He made provision for in His Son. Our redemption
is accomplished by Him. Our righteousness has been wrought
and we're robed in it by Him. Justice has been satisfied and
our sins all put away. Now you think about that for
a minute. Because the thought of foolishness is sin. We sin
constantly. We've been sent, we go astray
as soon as we be born, speaking lies. Our whole life is nothing
but a life of sin. And in this manner, in this manner,
our sins have been put away. Blotted out. And God said, I'll remember them
no more. Oh, my soul. What a sweet thought. God won't remember my sins. I will. I will. But he won't. He won't. That's hard to digest then. Oh. He said, I'll scatter them
as far as the east is from the west. And then thirdly, our hope
is a hope established by the means that God has ordained. He was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times
for you who by Him do believe in God, who raised Him from the
dead and gave Him glory. that your
faith and hope might be in God. And when God saves a sinner,
He saves him on His sovereign terms according to His will and
by His chosen means. Look back at verse 5 again of
Colossians 1. He's thanking God for these people.
For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof you
heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Colossians 1.23, concerning our
hope in Christ, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven. Whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. God's means of faith
is hearing. Hearing what? Hearing by the
Word of God. And the Word, as it's used by
the Holy Ghost in Scripture, has a two-fold definition. People
get this confused, and they always want to go over there to 1 Peter
1.23. See here, you're born again by
the Word. They never bother to read down to verse 25. This is
the Word which by the Gospels preached unto you. as it's used by the Holy Ghost
in Scripture, has a two-fold definition. First of all, the
Word of God. And secondly, the Word of the
truth of the Gospel. And the Word of God, as it was
inspired and written and preserved in this book, is what we call
Holy Scripture. The Scriptures make up the Word
of God. And the Word of God is in the
end of all debate, dispute, arguments, concerning doctrine, reproof,
correction, and instruction in righteousness. We don't need
to go any further than that. This is the basis of everything
we have to say and believe, and the foundation of our faith. The second, the word of truth
of the gospel has to do with explanations. It has to do with
definitions, and it has to do with application. The first is
written in red, the second is preached and heard. There's a
difference. The first is silent, lays here
in the book. The second is sounded out and
declared. And may the Lord be pleased to
teach us the difference. Neither one of these two are
contrary to the other. There's no gospel apart from
the Word of God. But the Word of God, it won't
do anything for you. unless somebody tells you what
it means. Both are the work of God's Spirit,
the Scriptures divinely inspired, the Gospels made effectual by
the power of the Holy Ghost. And our faith is the gift of
God, and it comes by way of Gospel preaching. And our faith feeds
on, and we are preserved in it unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last days. This salvation is a revelation. My whole life in religion, I
didn't know any more about God at the end of it than I did at
the beginning. But it's ready to be revealed
in the last time. Revelation, unto revelation,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And there's an awful, now listen
to me, There's an awful and deadly idea said in the heads and hearts
of men that faith is a work settled in a moment. It has no further influence and
power in men. That's a lie. That's a lie. I used to and still do from time
to time hear men talk about the day and the hour. I know the
day and the hour. Beloved true faith believes and
keeps on believing to the saving of the soul. Does it have a beginning? Sure it does. Sure it does. We're born again. Begotten unto what? A lively
hope. True faith cometh. Look that
word up and see what it means. Huh? It's not a one-time shot.
Cometh means it'll keep coming. It'll keep coming. That rock
that followed Israel put that water out for all their cattle
and all their people. We're talking about over a million
people plus all their animals. And that rock was Christ. Did
the water quit flowing? Never did. Never did. True faith cometh by hearing,
continual coming, and true faith feeds on the gospel of Jesus
Christ. It grows in grace and knowledge
of Christ, submits and obeys the Lord of glory, and is established
in the faith, the means, and ways of Christ. As you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. And repentance, what about repentance?
That's the fruit of faith. Nobody else is going to repent
except a believer. It's the fruit of faith. How
do I know somebody really believes? They repent. They take sides
with God against themselves. The goodness of God, he said,
leadeth thee to repentance. Love is the fruit of faith. receives
that love in the sacrifice of Christ for sinners. And faith
without works, James said, is dead. Empty professions that
just should live by faith. They're identified by their faith.
They're kept by the power of God through faith. And the Bible
said of all the old patriarchs, these all died in faith. Believing in and believing on. the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Here's the last thing I want
you to see this morning. There is but one hope, and everything
else will end in disaster. I don't care what it is. I don't
care how good it made you feel. I don't care how many of your
friends believe it. It'll end in destruction. Our hope is laid
up in heaven, it's brought to the ears by the preaching of
the gospel, it's revealed to the heart by the Holy Ghost,
and we're made meet to be partakers of this inheritance with other
enlightened saints, or all the enlightened saints. The right,
the privilege, and the ability to lay hold of and rejoice in
Christ And our hope is established through the preaching of the
gospel as the saints are met to worship or as God gives special
occasion. The other day I was invited and
went all the way up to Iowa. That's a special occasion. But
we preach the gospel here all the time. All the time. These are all things given to
the believer and by which he's made partaker with all the other
saints. And to reject these things, neglect
these things, or set yourself in opposition to these things
is to destroy all evidence that you're a true object of God's
election and have salvation in Christ. There is but one hope
for chosen sinners, Christ in you, on His terms, by His means, in
His time. Paul said, wouldn't it please
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me? Whose time was it? God's
time. Everything Paul said concerning
the state of these believing Colossians, he hangs on an if. If you continue in the faith,
rooted, grounded in Christ, settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I preached the gospel unto you, which you also received, and
wherein you stand, now listen, by which you also saved, if you
keep in memory what I preached unto you, otherwise you believed
in vain. Christ is the Son This is over
in Hebrews chapter 3, Christ is the Son over His own house,
whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end. These things, the accomplished
redemption of Christ, the presence and power of the Holy Ghost,
the preaching of the gospel, the assembling of the saints,
faith and repentance, these things are all vitally connected. Now, if you don't hear anything
else I said, you hear this. So powerful, so great is the
nature of sin in us and the influence of sin all around us that it's
said to reign unto death. Apart from an intervention of
God, it's going to reign in you and you're going to keep right
on doing what you're doing. So cunning and deceitful is sin's
work in us that only the Spirit of the living God can turn us
to Christ. So blinding is its effects on
us, that apart from an intervention of God, we cannot perceive the
gospel of Christ, though it's stated ever so clearly in the
Word of God. God himself must make us meet
to be partakers. And I'm going to tell you one
more thing. All of these things that I've
told you this morning, every one of these things, are all
one. They're all one. You can't have one without the
other. Huh? You can't have the Son apart
from the faith of God's elect. You can't have the faith of God's
elect and not have repentance. You can't know anything apart
from preaching of the gospel. These things are all one. All
one. And Paul states them in Ephesians
1 from the before the foundations of the world, all the way to
us being partakers of the inheritance. Huh? You can't have one and not
have it all. Somebody told me one time, well,
we're just going to have to agree to disagree. There ain't no such
thing. God himself must make us meet,
and oh, great spirit of God, Be pleased today, for Christ's
sake, to press these issues upon our minds and hearts. What shall we say to these things?
Amen. Amen. There's nothing else to
say. So be it. So be it. This is, as best I
can tell you, as plainly as I can tell you, this is the hope of
the gospel. This is what Paul preached. Good hope through grace in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he shows you how he
accomplishes all of these things. There's an ongoing work. We like
to talk about the person and work of Christ as though it's
something already passed. No, he's on the throne. He's
still working. He's still working. All right.