That last verse of the hymn we
just sang says, above all else we ask, above everything else,
that in this place, this hour, Christ might be glorified and
praised for all his saving power. May God be pleased to enable
me to exalt his son, to lift him up in the preaching of the
gospel this morning. That is what I need most. That's what all God's children
need most. If it's well with Christ, and
it is, it shall be well with us. If it's well with the great
shepherd, the captain of our salvation, it's going to be well
with the sheep. Here in Galatians, back in Galatians
chapter 1, we want to take as our text just the first few words
of verse 5. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven. the hope which is laid up for
you in heaven." Matthew Henry made this statement, the old
commentator. He said, for what I have I am
pleased much. For what I hope for, for what
I hope for, I am pleased much more. We hope for that which
we at present cannot see. But that doesn't make it any
less a reality. Because we don't see it at the
moment, now. It doesn't mean that it's not
real, that it's not sure, that it's not certain. You remember
what the Lord Jesus Christ said to Thomas. Thomas was absent
when our Lord appeared to his disciples. And after our Lord
left the disciples, in between that visit and the next, Thomas
came and the disciples told him, we've seen the Lord, he's risen
from the dead, just like he said he would. He's done just exactly
what he said he would do. And Thomas said, well, I don't
believe it. If I don't see him myself, I don't touch him for
myself, I won't believe it. After that, the Lord appeared
again to him, and Thomas was present. And he said, Thomas,
because you've seen me, you believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. You remember in Hebrews chapter
11 this definition of faith? Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for. the evidence of things not seen. Faith and hope go together. The
same things that are the object of our hope are the objects of
our faith. It's the firm persuasion, this
is what faith is, it's the firm persuasion and expectation that
God will perform everything that he's promised to do for his people,
that what he's promised he's able to perform. Faith demonstrates
to the eye of the soul the reality of those things that can't be
seen, that can't be discerned with the eye of the body, with
this natural vision. So in Hebrews 11, if you read
that chapter, I know you have, but notice the next time you
read it, every example that were given there, it speaks of things
that were unseen. Noah moved according to God's
Word, what God said would happen, but was not seen at the present
time. Noah moved with the reality in
his soul that it would happen. Abraham went out looking for
a city, again in Hebrews 11, whose builder and maker was God,
not knowing where he went, where he journeyed, but he simply believed
God. Likewise, Moses. He counted the
sufferings of Christ to be greater riches than all that he had in
Egypt when he left all to suffer with God's people. This verse
here in Galatians 1 verse 5 gives us an easy outline. The hope
laid up in heaven. That's an easy outline. It's
easy for me, it's easy for you to follow. And the first one
are these two words, the hope. The hope. Please note that it
doesn't say AHOPE. Just about everybody I know,
I would be hard-pressed, hard-pressed to think of many people that
don't have AHOPE. But the text doesn't say that,
does it? It says DHOPE. I remember years ago, some religious
organization conducted a survey in West Virginia. They sent out
a questionnaire. and to just thousands and thousands
of homes. They mailed it out. One of the
questions on it was this, do you think you'll go to heaven
when you die? That's not the issue. But that
was the question. And among those that responded,
70% said they were very sure they would. 70%. Man, that's
a large number, isn't it? And then there was 20% said they
were pretty sure. They couldn't say they were absolutely
certain like the 70%, but they were pretty sure they would.
And then the remaining 10% said they weren't real sure. The majority
said they had a hope, though. The majority. And I dare say,
if that same survey was conducted today, whether it was here in
Sylacauga or back in West Virginia where I lived at the time, you
would still have the same results. The majority of people that you
know and I know have a hope. But a hope has no foundation. To have simply a hope has no
foundation. It has no grounds really to rest
on. It's like those builders that
our Lord spoke about in Matthew 7. And when the storm came, the
storm came to both houses. The one that was built up on
a rock and the one that was built up on the sand, the storm came
to both. And when the storm came, when
a foundation was most needed, it was shown, it was revealed
by the storm that there was no foundation there for those built
up on the sand. They had no foundation at all. In that chapter of Matthew 7,
we read this, verse 27, and the rain descended and the floods
came. and the winds blew and beat upon
that house and it fell. It had to fall. What else could
it do? And great was the fall of it.
That was the reason that our Lord gave that parable for this
very reason. He said, not everyone that says
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. But he that does the will of my Father, which is in
heaven. Many will say to men that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not? Right? There's the problem. Have
we not? Does that not have the sound,
the same echo of that Pharisee standing in the temple that day
that said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
I've done this, I've done this, and I've done that. This multitude,
these many that stand before the Lord in the day of judgment
say the same thing. Have we not prophesied in your
name? and in thy name cast out devils,
and in your name done many wonderful works." We've done all these
things. These people built their hopes of heaven without a foundation
on their own works. That's sand. That won't get her
done. That won't get it done. Salvation
is not the work of a man, but it's the work of the triune God
from eternity. The salvation of God's people
reaches from eternity past the eternity to come, everlasting
salvation. This is what Paul told Timothy
in his second epistle, chapter 1, verse 9. Who has saved us,
God who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works. Aren't you glad that's true?
Aren't you glad that salvation is not according to your works?
But then what is it according to? but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Jesus Christ before the
world began." One old hymn writer put it this way, it was grace
that wrote my name in God's eternal book. It was grace that gave
me to the land who all my sorrows took. As well as the experience
of grace in time, it's built upon the foundation as well.
For by grace, everyone knows this verse just about as well
as they know John 3.16. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. Faith is not something that resides
in a natural man. Faith is the gift of God that
enables a man to believe. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Grace put me in the way. Christ
says, I know my sheep. I call my sheep by name, and
they follow me. Grace put me in the way. and
grace keeps me in the way. We read in Job, the righteous
shall hold on their way. Grace not only put me in the
way and keeps me in the way, God's grace will take me all
the way. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just as the storm our Lord
spoke of in Matthew 7 revealed the truth that the house that
fell was founded upon a faulty foundation, which was none at
all but sand. It was built upon a foundation
of a man's own works. The profession of many will be
proven false because they never built their hope upon Jesus Christ,
never. And that is why the Lord said
to such people, I will profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. That'll never be said
of one of his chosen. That'll never be said of one
given to Christ. He's always known them. He's
always loved them. They will never, not one of Christ's
sheep shall ever hear depart from me. I've never knew you. He's always known us. I don't
mean simply by that had knowledge of when we read in Romans 8,
whom he did foreknow, foreloved. Loved with an everlasting love.
To every believer that builds his hope upon Jesus Christ alone,
that's the foundation. These are his words to them. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house just like it did the other, but it fell not. It fell not. Why? Why? Because it was founded
upon a rock. And those built upon the rock,
Jesus Christ, will stand when the storms of life are raging.
And when that final storm of God's righteous judgment comes,
they'll not fall for the reason they're up on the rock, that
Jesus Christ is to his people. Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16,
this is God speaking. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold, behold, look at this, examine this. Oh behold this, I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation, and he that believeth on him shall not make
haste. This is the hope. that Paul speaks
of in our text, that reaches into heaven where Jesus Christ
himself is. Our hope is here, but it reaches
into glory. That's where it is laid. In Hebrews
chapter 6, verse 19, listen to these words, Hebrews 6 and 19,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
which enters into that which is within the veil. We, the believers,
God's church, in this world is like a ship out on a stormy sea. We'll be tossed up and down. We may seem in danger of being
cast away. Our souls are the vessels, the
comforts, the expectations, the graces, the happiness of our
souls are the precious cargo which these vessels are loaded
with. Heaven is the harbor to which we sail. Let us pass over
into the other side. The temptations, the persecutions,
the afflictions that we encounter in the world, ye will have tribulation. There's no getting around it. And are the winds and the waves
that threaten shipwreck. But we have an anchor, and we'll
be kept sure and steady. We have an anchor. And there
is an unseen hand that holds the anchor of our souls, and
that hand is none other than our mighty great God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in His hand. Oh, what a
comforting picture that is. Again in Hebrews chapter 6 verse
20, Whither the forerunner is for us entered, who might that
be? Even Jesus. An unseen Jesus is
within the veil and he's the foundation of our hope. As he
entered within the veil to intercede for his people with God, in virtue
of his sacrifice which he offered, our hope is fastened upon that
same sacrifice and his glorious intercession on our behalf. He
is the forerunner of his people, gone within the veil to prepare
a place for them and to assure them that they shall follow him
there. Revelation chapter 14, these are they that follow the
lamp whithersoever he goeth. Come follow me. We follow him
in life, we follow him in death, we follow him through the grave,
and we'll follow him to glory. After his resurrection from the
dead, our Lord ascended up to heaven and entered into glory,
not for himself, not for himself, but for us. He represents us
before the throne of God. were those His elect, those for
whom He suffered, bled and died. He entered into heaven as our
forerunner, and He took possession of it in our name, and now He
appears in the presence of God for us. That's what we read in
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 24, that He appears in the presence of
God for us. Our Redeemer's representation
of us in glory is so real, so real a representation, and so
absolute, secures our entrance into glory with Him, so sure
and certain that Paul says we're already with Him in heavenly
places in Ephesians chapter 2. He it is that holds the chain
of God's immutable decrees and declares that His sheep shall
never perish. Why? Because they're in my hands. Who's going to pluck us out?
They'll have to be more powerful than Jesus Christ? Be more powerful
than God the Father? Oh no, it's for that reason they
shall never perish. There is a hymn, I think it's
on page 265, I think. We have an anchor. This verse
is not in our version of it. It's not included, but the original
had this verse as well. Will your anchor hold in the
floods of death? When the water's cold, chill
your latest breath. On the rising tide, you can never
fail while your anchor holds within the veil. Christ holds
the anchor of our souls in his mighty hand. We have an anchor
that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded deep and sure,
firm and sure in the Savior's love. This is the answer. that
Peter tells believers to be ready to give to anyone that should
ask them the reason of the hope that's in them. 1 Peter 3, verse
15. Peter exhorts believers to do
this, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope, the hope, not a hope, but the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear and their answer is the same reason for the hope
of everlasting life, of eternal salvation and future glory as
it is for every believer. Jesus Christ, period. Nothing
else. Nothing else. Jesus Christ himself. If you were around when Christ
walked this earth and you would ask those few followers, any
of the disciples except Judas, what is your Statement of faith. What is your
confession of faith? What is your body of divinity?
What is your theology? They repointed Him. He is. He
is. The living, breathing Savior,
Jesus Christ Himself, is our hope. Paul in 1 Timothy chapter
1, writing to his beloved son in the faith, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Jesus
Christ, which is our hope. When you look at that, you'll
notice the two words are in italics, which is, they are in italics.
That means they were added by the translators. They weren't in the original. The original read like this,
Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Nothing between. Nothing else. Nothing less. Nothing more. Jesus Christ. And in the meantime,
in the meantime, We just keep looking out the window, don't
we? In the meantime, we keep looking out the window, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ, the hope. Here's the second thing. Paul says, the hope laid up for
you. Laid up. I like that. Be of good cheer. That's why
a believer can be of good cheer, even in the loss of outward comforts. Earthly possessions may be lost,
often are, but that which is laid up for us in heaven can
never be lost, it can never be stolen, it can never decay. God
has caused you to inherit a true and eternal inheritance. As our Lord said to Mary as she
sat at his feet, Mary has chosen that good part which shall not
be taken away from her. The Lord may take away the lesser,
Oh, but he gives you the greater. He has taken away your dying
flowers, but he's given you diamonds. Diamonds of grace in return.
He has made you low in the world, oh, but high in grace. He has
emptied your coffer here, but enriched you with a good conscience
of peace with God. How happy and blessed is a child
of God. The world says, blessed is that
man that has much of this world. Blessed is that man that has
a big bank account. Blessed is that man that has
the biggest house in town and a garage with six cars in it.
Oh, no, no, no. No, that's a curse. That will
prove to be a curse if his heart's on those things. Oh, blessed
is that man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed
is that man to whom the Lord will not charge sin. Blessed
is that man who's been chosen by God and given to his son in
that everlasting covenant of grace. That's the blessed man.
That's the happy man. God may take away the world and
give you Christ and glory. Well, that'll be all right. That'll
be all right. In 1 Peter again, chapter 1,
That's exactly what Peter writes. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
have begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. His resurrection is proof of
our resurrection. Those who are begotten to a new
and spiritual life are begotten to a new and a spiritual hope,
a good hope through grace. the hope laid up for us in heaven. Nothing that happens here can
affect our hope there. Nothing done to us, nothing done
by us can change the hope laid up for us in heaven. Again, 1
Peter 1, this hope, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved. I like that. God's people have a reservation
in heaven. The captain of our salvation
has already gone there, prepared it for them in the Father's house
of many mansions. A believer is an heir of God
and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. What in this world can compare
to that? Christ God is my God. His Father is my Father. His
heaven is my heaven. His inheritance is my inheritance
as well. And Peter says it's incorruptible,
just like its maker, who is called the incorruptible God. Neither
moth nor rust nor decay nor years nor time can affect this. In
him, the hope laid up for us. This inheritance is not only
incorruptible, Peter said it's undefiled. like the great high
priest that is now in possession of it, as our representative,
harmless, holy, and undefiled, sin and misery. Oh, those are
the two things that defile everything, but not this hope laid up in
heaven. It can't reach to there. It can't
touch that. It can never be anything but
pure and holy, never touched by sin. Peter said, it fadeth
not away. It always retains its vigor,
its beauty, There, as the hymn said, the roses never fade. The roses never fade. Neither
does anything else. Not in heaven. Peter says, this
inheritance is reserved in heaven for you. Reserved. Then it must be a glorious inheritance. It's in heaven. Everything in
heaven is glorious. Everything in heaven is glorious.
Safely kept and preserved till we come into possession of it.
For you. For you. Peter said reserved
in heaven for you. Paul said the hope which is laid
up in heaven for you. My, so what a wonder. For you. For every child of God. Everyone
that is begotten again to a lively hope. This inheritance is preserved
for them. And none but them. This is reserved
for the church. Christ's body. His bride, His
sheep, and them only. This is the hope. Those poor
strangers that Peter wrote to really describes every believer.
Strangers and pilgrims in this world are oppressed and despised,
are nevertheless in God's sight of high esteem. In the most honorable
state that any person can be brought in during this life,
for they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. Elect, chosen, He's mine. He's
mine. That's a blessed man or woman
that has been chosen to salvation, redeemed with the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, and called out of darkness into his marvelous
light. That's a blessed man or woman.
Those who die in faith die in happiness, knowing that they
are going to a city whose builder and maker is God. They are confident
with David, that as God has guided them in life with his counsel,
he shall guide them to the end and receive them up to glory.
This is what David said in Psalm 73, nevertheless, in spite of
myself, in spite of my foolishness, in spite of my envious, in spite
of my sin, thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. You won't let
me go, you will not let me go, and you afterward will receive
me to glory. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 verse
1 wrote this, For we know, we know, that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle, this flesh, this robe of flesh were dissolved,
then it will be. We have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The believer's
hope of glory is a matter of unquestionable fact, plainly
revealed over and over again in God's Word. Believers, as
soon as they depart from this world, are immediately with Christ
in glory. absent from the body, present
with the Lord. Faster than I could even say
those words. Those who die in Christ are truly
blessed of God from the moment of their death and forevermore. Mr. John Gill said this. At the
death of a believer, Gill wrote, the angels stand around their
dying beds waiting to do their office, to do the bidding of
God. And as soon as the soul is separated
from the body, They escort it through the regions of the air
to heavenly bliss. Job, in the book of Job, chapter
27, verse 8, For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though
he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Our Lord put it
this way, What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole
world and lose his own soul? Surely, the psalmist said, every
man walketh in the vain show, Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather
them. Now, Lord, what wait I for? What do I wait for? David said,
My hope is in thee. My hope is in thee. My hope laid
up in heaven. In heaven. Those are the last
two words. In heaven. Look at it again. for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven. A hope is not laid up in a so-called
imaginary, a lie called purgatory. If that's the best we have the
hope for, it's not much of a hope, is it? I like the hope of our
Lord, that our Lord gave to that dying thief upon the cross today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise.
You'll not be going to a halfway house between here and heaven,
where you must stay until your sins are purged. Oh no, Jesus
Christ has already did that. When he had by himself purged
our sins and his own body on the tree, our sins have been
purged. That thief, just before he was ready to, it seemed like
the other, the fall into the hands of Satan, opened his eyes
in hell, was snatched as a bran from the burner, and made a monument
of divine mercy and grace, and Satan was left disappointed as
he is with all God's elect. The captain of our salvation,
soon after shouting, it is finished, he marches in the glory with
that thief on his arm, a trophy of his mighty saving grace. My
soul, what a savior. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Old Watts when he wrote, or Cooper
rather, wrote that hymn based upon this verse in Zechariah
13. In that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. and the blood of
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. This hope laid up in heaven,
that makes it certain, as certain as the purpose of God, as certain
as the atonement of the Son of God and the witness of God's
Holy Spirit. Our hope is not only certain,
it's secure, it's safe, it can't be touched. But lay up for yourselves,
our Lord said, treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. It's eternal. Everything in heaven
is eternal. It's reserved in heaven for you.
It awaits your coming. Lazarus, as soon as he died,
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The thief, the
very moment that he died, was taken by Christ and carried with
Christ into paradise. Every believer who has died in
the faith is now in heaven, and so would every believer yet alive.
You and I, who are born of God, who live by faith, shall die
by faith, shall die in the faith. As soon as we die, we shall be
with Christ in glory. I don't know how to illustrate
that. I'm way over my head. Be with Christ in glory. The
greatest reason we have for this hope in heaven being laid up
for us is our high priest has already entered there for us.
and wills that we be there with him. That's a pretty good grounds,
isn't it? That's pretty good grounds to
rest on. Father, he said in his high priestly prayer before he
went into the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou gavest me, for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Upon what ground are we to hope
for heaven? none other than the sure, certain
intercession of Jesus Christ. He said, Father, I will. This
is my will. I will. He prayed that God would
preserve them. In John 17, he had prayed that
they would be preserved, sanctified, united, and now he prays that
they would be crowned above all these things with blessed glorification
with him in heaven. Keep them by your grace. and
then bring them to glory. What a prospect! What a future
to be with Him where He is and actually to behold His glory.
John said, behold, I'm going to show you something beyond this world. I'm going
to show you something every child of God has 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. Well, that's okay. That's all
right. Because it knew him not. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And nothing can change that.
Now, we leave here today, some of us may not live to see one
another again, but it'll never change this. It'll never change
this. 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 has this hope
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Our Lord said
to his disciples that night, his sad, grieving disciples,
in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."
Imagine that, my soul. Jesus Christ wants his people
with him where he is. Does God honor his son's prayer? Will he answer that request?
Indeed he does, because the will of the son and the will of the
father are exactly the same. He's saying, Father, just give
me what you promised. Give me what you promised that
you would do. He would give his son that which he had bought
and paid for. God was satisfied with his ransom
when Christ paid him and obtained our eternal redemption. When
Christ prays, Father, I will, he's saying, Father, give me
what I have a right to. Do what you promised in the everlasting
covenant of grace when I became their surety of all those to
whom you gave me. And here's God's answer. Here's
God's answer to his son's father, I will. Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. This is what God says concerning
his son. I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. And that's what Christ did here
in John 17 when he said, Father, I will, also that those whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am. Now what's some good
shoe leather theology? What's some good fruit of this
hope laid up for us in heaven? Oh, well, here's one. If this
be so, and it is, fear not, little flock. Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure.
to give you the kingdom. I love the article by Brother
Darwin in your bulletin today titled, A Strong Consolation. Darwin wrote, if only one of
God's sheep were to perish, the purpose of God would be frustrated.
The power of God resisted, the promise of God broken, the faithfulness
of God would be a mockery, and the word of God proved to be
a lie. If but one of his little ones were to be lost and sin
win the day, Where would be the veracity, the honor, the grace,
the covenant, and the oath of God? The assurance of faith is
not in my ability to hold on, but in the immutable character
of my God who loved me and gave himself for me. So then, let
us sing with the psalmist. I will lift up my eyes unto the
hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord.
Jehovah, God Almighty, which made heaven and earth. He will
not suffer thy foot to be moved. This is Psalm 121. He that keepeth
thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not might thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve
thy going out and thy coming in from this day forth and even
forevermore." Well, if that's so, then it is. There's no need
for me to lose sleep with my faithful shepherd constantly
keeping a watch over me. It is vain for you to rise up
early and to set up late to eat the bread of sorrows, for so
he giveth his beloved sleep. And there is no sleep, no rest
so sweet, as to know that God has laid up for us in heaven
a foundation of our good hope. May God give us grace to rest
on this precious promise, the hope laid up for us in heaven.
On Christ, salvation rests secure. The rock of ages must endure. Nor can that faith be overthrown
which rests upon the living stone. No other hope shall intervene.
To him we look, on him we lean. other foundations we disown and
build on Christ, the living stone. In him it is ordained to raise
a temple to Jehovah's praise, composed of all his saints who
own no savior but the living stone." That's the good hope
laid up for us in heaven. God bless you. God bless you.
Thank you for your attention.