First Timothy chapter 1. We'll
read our text in just a moment. The title of my message is Our
Hope, Our Hope, The Believer's Hope. The redeems, those that
have been redeemed by God's grace and mercy and the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, their hope. Before we come to our text, I
want to read a few verses from Lamentations. Jeremiah, the weeping
prophet. Remembering my affliction and
my misery. Do you remember that child of
God? The warm wood and the gall. My soul have them still in remembrance. I haven't forgotten. And is humbled
in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope." And here it is. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, that we, because His compassions fail
not. They are new every morning and
great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto
them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is
good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord. In chapter 1 of 1 Timothy, we
read these words, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment
of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Our hope. Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Nothing else. Christ alone. As we mentioned
earlier, it wasn't always so, was it? Paul in Ephesians chapter
2 exhorts us to do this. Wherefore remember, verse 11,
remember, like Jeremiah did, I remember the gall, I remember
the bitterness, I remember the tears and the sorrow, I have
them in remembrance. Paul says, remember that ye being
in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called circumcision,
or rather uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time At that time, ye
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, having
no hope, and without God in the world, without Christ, without
hope. Without Christ, without grace. Without Christ, without mercy. Without Christ, nothing but death
and hopelessness. And Paul in writing to the believers
at the church of Thessalonica said, I would that you sorrow
not as you would for others which have no hope. Now just about everybody, not
Completely, but the majority. Just about everybody I know will
say they have a hope of heaven. Just about everybody. They have
very little interest in the gospel, zip, God's people, God's church,
God's purpose, God's grace, but yet they'll say they have a hope
of heaven. The moral man, ask him his reason
for hoping that he'll go to heaven when this life is over and he'll
say he's hoping in his morality, his good life. The religious
man, he hopes in his religion. I've told you this story, Mr.
Spurgeon told it. He said there was in a village
a man who was a woodworker, very good one, and he lay dying. And the village priest came in.
And he held up a wooden crucifix. And he said to this dying man,
Behold your God. And the man looked at that wooden
crucifix and said, By God, I made that. I made that. And even the profane man, he
has a hope. You know what it is? And I dare
say someone has told you this. They'll say their hope lies right
here. God is too good. God is too good
to send anyone to hell. But my question this morning
is, what is a good hope? What's a good hope? A sure hope. A true hope. Is there such a
thing? Can a sinner in this world have
a sure, true, good hope that when he dies, when he takes his
last breath on earth, that he'll stand before God Almighty and
hear him say, enter in, enter into the joy, been waiting for
you, all this has been prepared for you. Can such a person, can
any sinner, In this world, have such a hope as that, a well-grounded
hope? And the answer is yes. Let me
read you just a few verses from the Psalms, then we'll come back
to our text. Psalm 38, verse 15. For in thee,
O Lord, do I hope. In thee, O Lord. David doesn't
say anything he did. Anything he was, anything he'd
experienced, he says simply, in thee, O Lord, do I hope thou
wilt hear, O Lord, my God. Across the page at the very next
Psalm. Psalm 39, verse 7. And now, Lord, in view that like
all other men, my life will soon be over. David says, now, Lord, what wait
I for? What's it all about? After all,
what's life all about? I mean, a man is born, he lives
a few short years, and then he dies. Is that all there is to
life? Is there not a cause, the prophet
asked? And David says, now, Lord, what
wait I for? And he answers the question.
is in thee. And in the Proverbs, one more
and then we'll go back to our text. Proverbs chapter 14, verse
32. The wicked is driven away in
his wickedness, but the righteous, oh but the righteous, they have
hope. They have hope in his death. As we sometimes sing, and this
hymn expresses it very well. And I pray that this is the experience
of your heart. I know it's one thing to sing
it with the lips. Anybody can do that. But oh,
does it find it echo a response from your heart. Do you know
what this song means? Have you experienced what we
sing? My hope My hope is built on nothing less, nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not. John, you taught
about that this morning, son. I don't trust my faith. I don't
trust my experience of grace. My only hope of acceptance before
a holy God, of entering glory, lies in what Jesus Christ has
done. 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 the solid rock
I stand. And that rock remains solid no
matter how fierce the winds may blow. No matter how strong the
rain may beat upon your little boat, Christ says, upon this
rock my church is built. Upon myself, my glorious person,
I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Ooh, I like that. Because the
storms do come. Oh, they do blow. And we feel
surely we're going to perish. Lord, like the disciples said
that night, they woke him up. Lord, don't you care? Don't you
care? Aren't you aware of what's happening?
Will you take notice? We're ready to sink. And don't
you care that we're about to perish and he arose? Oh, see
the captain. See the glorious captain of your
salvation as he stands on that ship. amidst that stormy sea. And he says, peace, be still,
be still. And we read, and the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm, all the calm. that his amazing grace
can produce when he speaks peace to the troubled soul of a child
of his. Oh, there'll be a great calm. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Look again here in 1 Timothy
1, verse 1. We're speaking of our hope. All
Paul's epistles, letters, up to this time had been written
to churches. This is the first of his three
pastoral epistles written to individuals, two to Timothy,
one to Titus. But his subject hasn't changed. His subject is the same. Look
where he begins. He points this young pastor to
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Omit the words,
which is. They're in italics. They weren't
in the original. Jesus Christ, our hope. Jesus Christ, our hope. Nothing
else. Our hope of salvation. Our hope
of entering heaven. Oh, these are tremendous things.
These are important things. A hope of being accepted by God.
It must have a solid foundation. Must it not? I mean, you ask
someone, what's your hope of those things? And they say, just
because, just because. Peter wrote, 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's in you with meekness
and fear. Notice, Paul doesn't begin with
himself. Paul, what's the reason of your
hope? And he doesn't begin with I. Most people do. I. I did this. Or I did the other. Or I experienced this. No, Paul
doesn't begin there. At one time, he would have. At
one time, he most certainly would have. Why should God accept you,
Saul of Tarsus? And he would answer, because
I'm an Hebrew of Hebrews. I'm a Pharisee of Pharisees.
I'm upholding the tradition of my father. As touching the law,
I'm blameless. That's the ground of my hope
before God. And now, he does a complete about-face,
John. He sums up the whole reason for
it, the foundation of his hope of heaven, of salvation, of eternal
life. He sums it up in two words, only
two words. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. He no longer speaks of himself,
his heritage, his religion, or his works. It's all about Jesus
Christ. Take Paul to Corinth. Set him
down amongst all those wise men, the philosophers. And Paul said,
let me tell you about the true wisdom of God. God had made Christ
to be unto us wisdom. In Jesus Christ alone is that
question answered. How can a man be just with God? How can that be? Jesus Christ
alone is the answer. Take him to the Ephesus. Take
him to Ephesus. He went there too, didn't he?
We read of it in the book of Acts. Take him to that place,
and everywhere you hear people cry, Great is Diana, Great is
Diana of the Ephesians. And they built her a great temple,
one of the seven wonders of the world. And Paul says, let me
show you a greater wonder. Let me show you something more
marvelous, more wondrous than that temple of Diana, that false
goddess. And he wrote to that church at
Ephesus and said, God had blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Jesus Christ. Isn't that wondrous? Isn't that
glorious? All spiritual blessings. Like
what, Paul? Well, he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Oh, imagine that. Imagine that. God chose us in Christ, our glorious
head. Talk about a wonder. Oh, but
Paul, what about the ceremonies? What about the law? I saw you in Damascus. I saw you when you left Jerusalem
that day with a saddlebag full of warrants to arrest all God's
people and to bring them back to Jerusalem to stand trial and
to give your voice, your witness against them that they should
be put to death. And then I saw you afterwards
in Damascus standing up preaching the very gospel that you had
labored to destroy. Paul, what happened to you? Did
you make a decision for Jesus? Is that the answer, Paul? How
do we account for this drastic change? Did you go to an altar? Did you say the sinner's prayer?
And Paul said, Oh no, everything you say is true. As a matter
of fact, I'll be the first to confess, I'm not worthy to be
called an apostle of Jesus Christ, because I persecuted the Church
of Christ. I wasted it. But you ask me the
reason of this great change? You ask me the reason why now
I preach that name which is above every name? I no longer believe
that Jesus of Nazareth is a deceiver, but everything he claimed to
be. He's King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He's the mighty God.
He's the everlasting Father. That's Him. And the reason I
believe that now is this, but by the grace of God. That's the
only thing that can make a believer. Religion can make you religious,
but only the grace of God in Christ Jesus can make you a new
creature in Christ Jesus. Oh, preachers can make you a
Baptist, but only Jesus Christ can raise you from the dead and
give you spiritual life. Only He can do that. And Paul
said, that's the reason. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Paul said, you've heard of the
way I used to live in Galatians 1. You've heard of my manner
of life. You heard how I persecuted God's
people. You heard how I hated Jesus of
Nazareth. But, but, what happened, Paul? But, are you listening? This
concerns you. But, when it pleased God. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, wait
a minute. That just runs contrary to things
I've heard all my life. I thought it was all up to me.
I thought that God's done all he can and it's up to me. I thought
it's up to me whether I'm saved or not. It's up to me to take
the first step. It's up to me to decide. It's
up to me when I'm saved or not. No, no, it's not. It's up to
God. It's up to God. It's not up to
you, your will, your worth, your decision, your work. It's up
to God Almighty. Father, our Lord prayed, you've
given me power over all flesh. He doesn't sound like this helpless,
pathetic Jesus that can't get his way, does he? No, he says,
Father, you've given me power over all flesh, all flesh. You're in his hand this very
moment. It's up to him whether you're
saved or not entirely. And Paul said that's exactly
what happened to him. When it pleased God, who separated
me from His mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me, I did not confer with flesh and blood. It wasn't
necessary. Oh, thank God. Our hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Nothing between
my soul and my God. Once my sin stood between myself
and God, that great gulf, and I was afar off, as we read a
moment ago in Ephesians 2, without hope and without God, without
Christ. Oh, but by the grace of God, not anymore. It's been removed. been carried
away like the scapegoat that was let go into wilderness, never
to be seen again. Oh, my sin. Oh, the bliss. Listen. This is our hope. Oh, the bliss
of this glorious thought. My sins. Louie, not some of them. That won't help me. Not some
of them, but all, all my sins were nailed to his cross and
I bear them no more. They're gone. God made Christ. who knew no sin to be sin for
me. And what's the result of that?
He bore all my sins away. I don't bear them no more. They're
gone. And God cannot demand payment
twice. He cannot put my sins upon Jesus
Christ, my glorious substitute. He cannot make Him sin for me
and then turn around and demand payment for those same sins.
What kind of God would do that? God is not so unjust as that.
Oh no, the result of Christ being made sin for me is that I made
the very righteousness of God in Him. The very righteousness
of God in him. Now, now, there's no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2, and remember the backdrop in which he wrote these blessed
words. He spoke of a time when the whole world would seem to
be deceived. That men everywhere would be
believing the lie and refuse to believe the truth. Is that
not our day? I agree entirely with Brother
Henry, who said this years ago. It's more true now than the day
he said it. If there's one place where you
dare not preach the gospel, it's in the average church. That's
just a fact. The men that hate the gospel
the most are not the drunks on the street, but the preachers
in the pulpits. Don't you dare preach God's sovereignty here
to us. Against that backdrop, he said, Oh, but we're bound
to give thanks. Bound to give thanks because
God, God, God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth where
to he called you by our gospel and given you a good hope, everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. Grace, that's the only
thing that can give a sinner a good hope. In writing to Titus,
he said, we're looking forward to that blessed hope and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 6, we have an
anchor. We have an anchor, both sure
and steadfast. Where is it, Paul? It's within
the veil. It's in the very presence of
God. It's Jesus Christ himself. He appears in the presence of
God for us. He represents us. I noticed,
I think I made comment to Roger the other evening. We were watching
TV or the news or something. Every commercial, it was an ambulance
chasing lawyer. My soul! Call me! Call me! Call me! I'll get you
all the money you want. Call me! Call me! Thank God,
there's only one lawyer I really want. Only one law, one advocate
I need and that's one that can plead my cause before God Almighty
and Jesus Christ the righteous represents me before God. And
I'm well represented. I'm well represented. I could
not be better represented than Him. And Peter said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have begotten
us again into a lively hope, a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. He lives. He lives. Our great Redeemer lives. And
we live because He does. Bring all these together. A good
hope, a blessed hope, a sure hope, a living hope. And Paul
says, Jesus Christ, our hope. He's all that, all that. Other religions can continue,
can exist, and not require that their founder be alive. But,
oh, ours is not so. Because He lives, we live. Oh, the wonder of God's church
in this world. It's a miracle of His standing
grace, is it not? Greater wonder is their blessed
head, Jesus Christ Himself. In Him are hid all the treasures.
of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead.
One hymn writer put it this way, like Bobby sang a moment ago,
not till then, not till then, oh when I stand with Christ in
glory, looking back over life's story, oh Lord, not till then
shall I know What a debt of love I owe. Millions of years my wandering
eyes shall o'er thy beauties rove, and endless ages I'll adore
the glories of thy love. Jesus Christ, our hope. I know many people would say,
in response to what I've said thus far, they would ask this
question, is that enough? Is that enough? Jesus Christ,
our hope, is that enough? And I would respond as the bride
in Solomon's song replied. Have you seen him? Oh, if you've
ever seen him, you wouldn't ask that question. Or if you knew
who he was, you would never entertain such a thought. You would never
wonder if he's enough. Is his grace sufficient? Well,
he's full of grace and truth. Is his mercy enough? It endureth
forever. Is his love? Nothing can separate
me from the love that's in Christ Jesus. Have you seen him? Have
you seen my beloved? She asked those on the street
and they said, well, if we do see him, how will we know it's
him? How will we know? What's so special about him?
What's different about him? How do we know him from anybody
else? And she said, because there's
nobody else like him. Nobody else like him. Can you
say that? Can you say that? There's nobody
else like him. Whom do men say that I, the son
of man, am? Our Lord asked his disciples.
Some say you're John the Baptist risen from the dead. Some say
you're Elijah or some great prophet. Whom say you that I am? Who do
you say that I am? And Peter said, I know who you
are. You're the Christ. You're the Christ, the Son of
the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah.
Simon, you are a blessed man. My Father's done something for
you that he's not done for everybody. He's revealed to you who I am. You're a blessed man. Yes, Christ
is all. He did for me only what God could
do. He alone. He trod the winepress
all alone. He bore my sins alone. And He alone said afterwards,
He alone. He alone spoke for eternity past
and eternity to come. When He cried, it is finished. It's done. It's done. He by himself
purged my sins. He got the job done. Yes, Jesus
Christ, our hope, is enough. Spurgeon said, I have a great
need for Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need. When sin abounded, his grace
doth much more abound. You're looking at proof of it.
You may not know it, but you're looking at evidence of it, that
his grace doth much more abound. Paul said, wherefore remember?
And just now, God's drawing back the curtain
of my memory. And I see a skinny hippie walking on some railroad
tracks in West Virginia. And every step he takes, every
railroad tie that he puts his foot on is shouting back in his
face, you're lost, you're lost, you're lost. And I'm crying, what must I do
to be saved? And I went to people, Louie,
who professed to know God, and they put me on a highway of works. Or come to an altar, and God's
still saying, you're lost, you're lost. Remember that old hymn? I was near to despair. when he
came to me there. And he told me that I could be
free. Oh, by soul. I'll tell you Jesus
Christ is my hope. Nothing else. And I'll tell you
this, Jesus Christ is enough. Is enough. The great shepherd
found me, spoke peace to my heart, lifted
me up out of the miry clay, put my feet on the solid rock of
his grace, and put a new song in my mouth, as the psalmist
said, even a new song to our God. Oh, glorious redemption. It's enough. He loved me and
gave himself for me. Redemption, the value of redemption,
the worth of redemption is based on the one who did the redeeming. It's of infinite value to cleanse
all of his people from all of their sins. My hope of acceptance
before God? Again, the answer is the same. Jesus Christ, our hope. He's made me accept it. And would
God Almighty reject what He Himself provided? The Lord Jesus Christ. In Him I am well pleased. And
He's our hope of heaven. Our hope of heaven. I don't know
a whole lot about heaven. I hope to one day, but I don't
yet. But I know I read in Revelation
that in heaven there'll be no more pain or sorrow. No crying,
be no reason to cry, that God's going to wipe away all tears
and that the Son of God will dwell among us and we with Him,
all the former things will be passed away. And also read this,
that they for whom Jesus Christ is their hope, they shall see
His face. Oh my, look what's coming. Look what's coming. Look what's
in store for a child of God. We shall look upon the face of
the one who saved us by His grace. Oh, what a day. A never-ending
day. Glorious day that will be. Is He your hope? Bobby sang it
a moment ago and I'll close. When I stand before the throne
and dressed in beauty not mine, when I see thee as thou art and
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.