Back in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, taking verse 16 as our text,
we want to answer this question. What is a good hope? What is a good hope? Now, you,
like me, probably just about everybody you know, your friends,
your neighbors, your loved ones, Everybody that's going to a church
this morning all claim to have a hope, if you would ask them.
Do you hope when this life is over, when this vapor is extinguished,
and you go to stand before God Almighty, do you have a hope
of entering heaven? And they would, just about every
one of them without exception, says, oh yes, I sure do. Sure
do. That's all taken care of. But
if you would ask them, give me a reason, give me a reason for
your hope, you would find that according to God's word, it would
be groundless. It has no foundation. Like those
that our Lord spoke of in Matthew chapter 7, those that built their
house upon the sand, and the result was when the storm came,
it just swept it all away. No foundation. And he said, many
shall say unto me of that day, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? Have we not done many mighty,
wonderful works in your name? And I'll profess unto them, I
never knew you. You see, that's what it all comes
down to. Oh, to know him, to know Christ. Paul in Philippians 3 said, this
is now my ambition. This is my goal, this is my desire,
not those things that I once clung to, those things that I
once trusted in, my religion, my tradition, being born a Pharisee,
et cetera, et cetera. Oh, no, I count all those things
now just done, just done. Well, what's your goal now, Paul? Oh, that I may know Him. that I may know Christ. Oh, that gives a believer, that
gives a sinner a good hope. Did you notice in our text? The
verse doesn't speak of a hope, as we said, just about everybody
has one of those, but it speaks of a good hope. A good hope. A good hope would be one with
the foundation of God's Word. As the psalmist said, now what
weighed I Four, oh, my life is a vapor. I'm going the way of
all the earth. All flesh is grass. My time is
in thy hand. Oh, Lord, now what wait I for? And he said, my hope, my hope
is in thee. Oh, well then, that makes it
a good hope. A good hope has the promise of
Christ, who said, come unto me, all ye that labor. and I will
give you rest." The promise of Christ who said, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them. I know them. Not that he just
has knowledge of them. When he says, I know them, he's
saying, I've loved them. I've loved them with an everlasting
love and they come unto me and I give them life. A good hope
has this as well as a foundation. The salvation is all of Notice
here too in verse 16 our text, Paul speaks of an everlasting
consolation. Consolation, that is comfort,
not just a transit comfort, not temporary comfort, oh no, an
everlasting comfort. And what can be more comforting
for a child of God As they make their way through this world
with its trials, with its heartache, we're not exempt from those things.
When a man is saved, he doesn't become exempt from those things,
and he never will in this life reach that state that some claim
to have reached, a state of sinless perfection. It ain't gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. Paul himself
confessed, I've not reached such a state as that. I've pressed
toward it, but I haven't reached it. Oh, wretched man that I am. And every child of God knows
something about that struggle. Therefore, what sweet comfort
it is to know that all my sins have been laid on Christ. My
scapegoat took all my sins away. And God says they'll never be
found. Those searched for, they'll never
be found. Thank God, what a comfort it
is to lie down at night, and even in a dark day, as Paul described
when he wrote this epistle, and the same thing is true in our
day, yet in spite of that, to have this sweet everlasting consolation
that I am His, and He is mine. And nothing. I heard Bobbie just
a minute or two before service start that she'd hoped that God
would never allow her to forget the time spent in the hospital.
It's so good to be home. And about this time last year,
I, too, was in the hospital. And I remember how good it felt
the morning after that first morning after I was released
and got up and just to sit on the couch and have a cup of coffee
and to look outside. I thought, man, it's good to
be home. And oh, what a comfort it is
to know that no matter what comes or goes, nothing can separate
me, nothing, not my sin, not my depravity, not my wonderings,
nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus. What a comfort to lie down at
night and know that this issue This question about sin, this
question about my eternal destiny, this question about my acceptance
with God, it's all been taken care of. It's all been answered. How can anyone have such a hope
as that in Christ Jesus? A good hope. Notice what our
text said. It's a good hope based on my
merit, on my soul. That's not a good hope, that's
to build on sin. No, a good hope based upon living
by the golden rule? A good hope because I've lived
a good life? Oh no, a good hope because Jesus
Christ loved me. Man, that means something. That's worth something. Jesus
Christ loved me and he gave himself for me. Glory to his name. When he had by himself purged
my sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high,
at the right hand of God, and I sat down with him in his person,
being accepted in to be loved. A good hope, a sweet consolation
is this as well. It includes being justified. Oh, brethren, there's a whole
lot that can't be said of you and I. There's a whole lot that
this world can say that they have and possess that you and
I don't, but all we possess something greater than anything this world
can offer, greater riches than anything this world can have,
and that's this, we're justified. We're justified. Our Lord said
concerning that publican who stood and confessed. I need your mercy. I'm lost. I'm undone. I'm helpless. Oh, what a wonderful place it
is to be brought to, to be brought down, to be stripped and then
hear the blessed words of the Father saying, bring forth the
best robe and put it on who? You're going to put it on who?
You're putting it on the prodigal? That rebel? He doesn't deserve
it. Often Billy will say to me after
the service. Larry, I don't deserve God's
mercy. You are exactly right. You're
exactly right. And neither do I. Oh, but the
mercy we have, the mercy God has bestowed upon us, He's done
it for this. For Christ's sake, God has forgiven
you all your sin. Justified, He said of that poor
publican. And so He says concerning all
those that are in Christ. But a good hope and an everlasting
consolation also has this as its foundation of being saved
with the everlasting salvation that only God can do. To be saved
with that everlasting salvation, those are not small things, are
they? They're more valuable, as I said,
than anything in this world. The world passes away, everything
in it. We often hear people say when
a certain rich man or a celebrity goes the way of all flesh, well,
I wonder what they left behind. I'll tell you what, they left
it all. They left it all behind. Oh, but he that doeth the will
of God, he that believes on Christ shall live forever. These are
the true riches that makes us rich toward God. to be rich in
grace. I've had occasions, opportunities,
where I've been by the bedside of someone who was dying. And
I've been there with a few who were dying without hope. Were
dying without hope. Oh, how sad, how sad. And then
I've also had the blessed opportunity to be by the bedside of a believer
who was dying with hope. And you know the only difference
between the two, the only difference there was, was the difference
that Jesus Christ made. One had Christ. One had Christ. And that's why they could say
like Simeon, Lord, not fretful, Not afraid? Not in a panic? No. They're looking to their
Redeemer. They're looking to that same
One that God looks to for satisfaction. And they can say, by the grace
of God, having Christ in their heart, and the faith of Christ
looking to Him, they can say with Simeon, Lord, let me die. It'll be okay. It'll be okay,
because death will usher me into the presence of Him, where I
will see Him and be with Him forever. Who prayed in the garden
that night, Father, I will also. Oh, that's the will of Him who
always has His way. That's the will of the mighty
God. That's the will of the everlasting Father. And he says, Father,
I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. Oh, it's only grace that has
made us to differ. The church at Corinth, with all
the other problems it had, also had that terrible problem of
pride. I like Paul, they said. You can
listen to Cephas. He's crude. He's rude. I'll listen
to Paul. I'm not going to service if Paul's
not preaching. Well, I like Apollos. Oh, what
an orator. Oh, he's had such flowery speech.
I want to listen to Apollos. And Paul said, did they make
you to differ? Did Paul make you to differ?
Were you baptized in the name of Paul? And Paul reminded them,
you have no reason to be puffed up. For who? Not what? Who? Who maketh thee the dipper
from another? What have you got that you didn't
receive? Remember this? I remember seeing
these little plaques on walls. They were kind of common when
I was a boy growing up. It would be on the living room
wall or some other room of the house and it would say, only
one life will soon be passed. Well, now that's true. But it
went on to say, only what's done for Christ will last. Now I hope you see the foolishness
of a statement like that. Only what's done for Christ will
last? No, no, no, no. It's what Jesus
Christ has done for me that's going to last. It's his everlasting
salvation that's going to last. It's His merit and worth that's
going to last. It's Him representing me before
God the Father that's going to last, not what I've done, not
my work, oh, but His. The will of a man, the problem
Paul was dealing with here, is the same problem we dealt with
in our day. The will of man is exalted above
the will of God. in most churches. Salvation has
been reduced to works and deeds. And God's sovereignty, God's
reign over all things is just about universally denied. And
the spirit of Antichrist reigns in most places. This Antichrist
spirit, false religion, righteousness of men as opposed to the righteousness
of Christ is motivated and masterminded, as Paul said, here by Satan.
And it may be attended by great power, success, and all sorts
of pretended miracles, and marvels, and lying wonders. But here's
the antidote. Here's the antidote. Paul, beginning
at verse 13, tells us plainly, but God. But God. But we are bound to
give thanks. Oh, I imagine. I imagine. When they came to the place in
Paul's letter to them, where he began to say these words,
I kind of imagined that shouts of hallelujah began to go up
in the place. Glory to God was heard because
Paul said, God has not left everyone in darkness. God has, from the
beginning, chosen you to salvation. Remember what Jesus Christ himself
said? Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also what I must. Not that I'll try to. I hope to, if they'll allow me
to, oh, no, no. If they'll cooperate, oh, no.
He said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring. They must hear my voice. They
must follow me. They must be raised up. They
must be saved. They must be brought all the
way to glory. They must be, if God be true.
and the death of Christ wasn't in vain, they must be presented
before God the Father without a blemish, without a spot, without
any such thing. They must see the face of the
great shepherd of the sheep himself. Oh, because that gives us His
grace. Grace alone gives us a good hope. In Romans chapter 11, Paul said,
Even so, then at this present time, Child of God, no matter
how dark it may become in this religious world, and it's pretty
dark now, this will always be so. This is why God allows the
world to continue. It's not determined by what goes
on in that little nation in Israel. Oh, no, no, no. The reason God
allows this world to continue is this. Christ has other sheep
that he's calling out of darkness. Romans chapter 11, that's exactly
what Paul says, just as it was in Elijah's time. Paul said the
same thing is true in his day, and the same thing is true in
our day. Even so, at this present time,
there is an election according to what, Paul? There is a remnant,
rather, according to what? According to the election of
grace. according to the blessed purpose
that God purposed in Christ before the world began when He gave
Him a multitude, not one or two. You know, when people hear that
you believe that horrible doctrine of election, they'll accuse you
of thinking or believing that only one or two will be saved.
You've never heard anybody, anybody that truly believes the scriptural
doctrine of God's Sovereign elections say such a thing. On the contrary,
we believe not one or two. We believe there's a multitude,
that's how many, a multitude that can't be numbered, that
isn't dependent upon their will or worth or work, but it's dependent
upon God's sovereign, reigning, conquering grace through Christ
Jesus. There's no might about it. They
shall be saved. That's the antidote that Paul
answers with, but God. What is a good hope? Again, we
read a good hope through grace. It's grace that called me, or
I'd still be lost. I mean, that's just a fact. That's
just a fact. It's grace that made me. I got
four brothers and sisters. Some are in religion, some not. And the only difference between
me and them is the difference that God's grace has made. His
grace made me different. Grace called me. It's grace that
gave me life. It's grace that gave me faith
to see Jesus. It's faith, or rather grace,
that opened these blinded eyes and enabled me to behold the
Lamb of God. Only God's grace could do that.
Grace saved me, and grace keeps me. Thank God for His free reigning
grace. Being conceived in sin, shaping
in iniquity as the psalmist said, and going forth from the womb
speaking lies, it's a good hope that I shall be born again by
the Spirit of God and the Word of God and given the very life
of God through faith. Being a sinner by choice and
by practice, having offended God in thought, in word, in deed,
it's a good hope that my sins shall be forgiven by the mercy
of God and blotted out, blotted out by the blood of Christ. Having no righteousness, nor
merit of my own, because my righteousness is just filthy rags. It's a good
hope of being clothed in the beauty of holiness and the righteousness
of God accomplished." I like that, don't you? Accomplished. It's what the Lord said. When
he offered himself with that spot to God, he said, it's accomplished.
It is finished. It's done. He did exactly what
God sent him into this world to do. to bring frail flesh and
subject to temptations both without and within, from the flesh and
the devil, it's a good hope that by the grace of God I will continue
in the faith. It's a good hope that He will
never ever leave me or ever let me quite, quite altogether leave
Him. Oh, it's a good hope that by
the grace of God I will continue in the faith of Christ hold to
my profession and preserve to the end, being able to declare
with Paul, I have kept the faith, the time of my departure is at
hand. Being a dying man, knowing that
soon I shall leave this world at my appointed time, it's a
good hope that in Christ I shall have part in the first resurrection
and that this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible
shall put on incorruption. And as Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, we shall be changed. Oh, glory to his name, we shall
be changed. Having a desire to be with Christ
and to be like Christ, it is a good hope that I shall live
eternally in his presence and be perfectly conformed in his
blessed image. Only Christ can do those things. Only by being found in Him can
we have those blessed, blessed things. I remember, I may have
told you this before, several years ago, near the Christmas,
I was watching the news at home, and they were telling the story
about a neighborhood where folks had gotten together, and instead
of having yard sales and selling stuff, they said, why don't we
give this stuff to the And there was a local mall on one Saturday
near the Christmas time. They would give them the area
on their parking lot to set up all that stuff. There wasn't
a price tag on any of it. It was all free. And on the day
where people came to receive it, to get it, they were interviewing
a woman. And she said, I never come to
any of these stores, to this mall. She said, I never come
here to shop. Because I don't have any money.
I don't have any money. I can't buy any of this stuff. I don't have money. I don't have
income. But she said on this day, this time of the year, I
can come. I don't need money because all
of this is free. And I thought to myself, man,
that's grace. That's grace. Grace is all come. You don't
have any money? That's all right. Come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. That's grace, free grace,
reigning grace. It was grace, Doddridge wrote. It was grace that wrote my name.
in God's eternal book. It was grace that gave me to
the Lamb who all my sorrows took. It was grace that taught my soul
to pray and made my eyes overflow. It was grace that's kept me to
this day and will not let me go. Thank God for his mighty
reigning grace. There's no hope through merit. There's no hope through works.
Only grace gives a needy sinner hope. When Paul and Barnabas
went up to Jerusalem to discuss, to set forth in no uncertain
terms the believers' relationship to the law, along with themselves
and Peter and James, in one united voice they said, we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,
even as they, Jew, Gentile, Every sinner who's ever saved is saved
by the grace of God. 1 Peter 3, you remember this,
verse 15, Peter says this, but sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear. And Paul, in Romans chapter 8,
verses 31 through 35, he gives five reasons for our hope of
eternal life in the form of five questions. You remember them
well. He says, first of all, if God be for us, who can be
against us? Can the law, justice, or Satan
defeat the purpose of our God? Can he? If God wills that I be
with him, If God wills that I see my Redeemer, if God wills my
everlasting salvation, who can make it void? Who can set it
aside? Who can say to God, I won't allow
it? I won't allow it, oh no. No.
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, shall He not with
Him also freely give us all things? All things that Christ purchased
for us by his death, will God not give us all those things?
The third question Paul asks, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? They are justified by God. The
Almighty God in the highest court says, not guilty. Not guilty. The fourth question,
and who is he that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ who dies. And the fact that the Father
raised him from the grave and exalted him to his right hand
as our forerunner and head assures us of our place thereto. And to ask the last question,
Paul asked, who can separate us from the love of God? His
love is an everlasting, unchangeable love in Christ. God didn't begin
to love us when we believed. We believed because God already
loved us. God didn't begin to love us when
Christ died for us. God sent his son to die for us
because he already loved us. I cannot sin greater than God
can love. He's loved me with an everlasting
salvation or rather an everlasting love. There's never been a time
that God didn't love me and there'll never be a time or a circumstance
in which God never Love me. Oh, that's where our hope lies.
That's where our hope is. Thank God that it's so, because
that gives me a good hope through grace. The hymn writer said this,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name, on Christ, on Christ. Oh yeah, let me just fall down
right there. Just let me fall, let me be in Christ. Fall down
right there on Christ the solid rock I stand. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. Upon this church I'll build my,
or rather upon this rock Christ said I'll build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And this good hope through grace
Did you notice in the text? It's in Jesus Christ himself. Oh, how certain does that make
it? How secure? What everlasting consolation
flows from that? Christ is a real savior for real
sinners. And the grace he gives brings
real forgiveness and real pardon. It's not imaginary. Christ being
in Christ who made peace with God on our behalf, we have peace
with God. The true grace of God that saves
sinners comes from only one source, only one fountainhead, the Lord
Jesus Christ. John said, we saw him, the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. I love the words of that old
hymn. That's why I quote them so often.
Dear dying lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed Church of God be saved the sin no more. Yes, Christ by His grace saves
real sinners with His real salvation, His real forgiveness. No wonder
Paul says, are we not bound? Are we not obligated to give
thanks to God? The God who loved us and chose
us and gave us to His Son. Now it's something that, like
so many other things, so many other blessed truths of God's
Word is seldom mentioned or heard of in the average church today.
But there is such a thing as a covenant of grace. And in that
covenant of grace, that everlasting covenant of grace entered into
by the triune God, God the Father chose His people. to salvation. We read it. We read it here in
2 Thessalonians 2. And he committed them into the
hands of their surety. The one that became responsible
for them, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ agreed in that covenant
that in the fullness of time he would come on the behalf of
his people and do everything God Almighty required to be done. so that God could be just when
he justifies the sinner. Jesus Christ would bring in an
everlasting righteousness. He would satisfy divine justice.
He would be made sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Oh, listen to the words of our
great shepherd. And I give them eternal life.
And they shall never perish, so matter of fact, so sure, so
certain, They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Our Lord gives us spiritual life
that never ends. He gives us himself, who is life. He gives us his righteousness,
which entitles us to life, and he gives us the earnest, the
pledge, the down payment, if you will, or pledge of life,
which is his spirit. This life is here with Christ
in God, and that makes it sure and certain and secure. What
kind of head is Christ if his body should perish? What kind
of shepherd is Christ if he loses one of his sheep? What kind of
husband is Christ if he allows his bride to be lost after all? What kind of priest is Christ
if his atonement fails? What kind of physician is Christ
if the patient dies? What kind of king is Christ if
he has no subjects? Joseph Hart wrote in one of his
hymns, if ever it should come to pass that sheep of Christ
might fall away, my fickle, feeble soul at last would fall a thousand
times a day. I on thy promises depend that
thou will love me to the end. Behold what matter of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. We love it. Now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when we, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. Listen. For we shall see him
as he is. We shall see him. Oh, that's
the heaven of heaven. That's the glory of glory. They
shall see His face. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face what will it be
when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me.
Only faintly now I see Him with the darkling veil between. Oh,
but a blessed day is coming when His glory shall be seen. Face
to face, oh blissful moment, face-to-face to see and know,
face-to-face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves me so. A good hope through grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. God bless you.