I asked Brother Frank if he would
read the first chapter of Colossians for us tonight. Because I knew
if I read that, getting to my text, I'd probably not get to
the text. Our text tonight is Colossians
chapter 1, verse 27. The very last statement of verse
27. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Heaven is described in many ways
for us in the scriptures. It's referred to as paradise,
our father's house, our home, the city which had foundations,
whose builder and maker is God, spoken of as eternity, immortality,
eternal life, spoken of as a place of rest, a place where we shall
see our Savior face to face, a place where there'll be neither
sin, nor sorrow, nor sickness, nor death, nor bereavement, nor
darkness of any kind. When all of that's put together,
I can't think of a better single word by which to describe that
which we anticipate with God our Savior than this, glory. Glory. Glory. I live in the hope of
glory. Do you? I live in the earnest, confident,
expectation of glory. I expect soon glory. I anticipate soon glory. Do you? If so, upon what basis
do you have such hope? What is my hope? What is it that
gives me Expectation. Expectation. Paul said, we're
saved by hope. Hope maketh not ashamed, because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
that's given to us. But what is it that gives us
this hope, this expectation, this desire and anticipation
of glory? Is there a rightful, solid basis
for such hope? Well, Paul here speaks of our
hope of glory with one word, Christ. Actually three words,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. We live in hope of immortality
and eternal life in heavenly glory, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. The basis, foundation,
and ground of that hope is Christ. Now listen carefully to what
I'm going to tell you. Christ's grace, the grace of God that's
in Christ, is the basis, the cause, rather, of our hope. We
have hope because God's shed his grace upon us. The basis
of this hope, the basis upon which this hope rests, the basis
upon which it is built, is the finished work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. His obedience and death as our
substitute. But our hope itself, the hope
of glory, is Christ in you. Christ in you. That's the subject
of Colossians chapter one. The glory the saints have with
Christ in everlasting heaven will be the enjoyment of him
forever. This hope of glory is that which
is brought to light to us by the gospel that's taught us in
the new birth. Christ is our hope of glory. I repeat, Christ crucified is
the basis of our hope, but Christ crucified is not our hope. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. It is Christ in us that gives
us hope. Christ in us that gives us expectation. Christ in us that gives us confidence
of everlasting glory. Christ formed in you. Christ
created in you. Christ born in you. Christ living
in you. Christ reigning in you. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. This is a confident Reason for
a reason for confident joyful expectation of eternal life religion
That's all experience is useless Religion that's all feeling is
meaningless. It's worthless The religion that
is neither has neither experience nor feeling is just as worthless
and just as useless hope like faith and love is something in
you. Hope, like faith and love, is
something created in you. Hope, like faith and love, is
something born in you. Hope, like faith and love, is
the gift of God in you, flowing from life in Christ Jesus. Now
you can talk about faith all you want to, and you can define
it with unmistakable precision. But until you experience faith,
you'll never know what it is. And you can read books about
love and write books about love. You can look up the right words
and define it precisely and give clear distinction between the
various kinds of love expressed by various words. But you'll
never know what love is until you experience it. And once you
experience it, you'll laugh at the definitions men attach to
it. If you read what people say about
love, read what people say about hope, if you've experienced it, you
just say, well, that's a lot of talk about something folks
know nothing at all about. They've not experienced it. If you've
experienced faith, if you've experienced love, you know what
it is. The same is true with regard
to hope. Hope is not a theory. Hope is
not a doctrine. Hope is not a point of theology. Hope is not just something to
talk about. Hope is born in the soul, felt
in the heart. known by experience, Christ in
you, the hope of glory. You learn something about the
experience of hope when God brings you through the experience of
hopelessness. And until you found something
about hopelessness by the bitter experience of sin's conviction,
you'll never know anything about the blessed experience of hope
in the sweet experience of God's conversion. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. This hope that we have in Christ
is built upon Christ alone. Now let me give you some reasons
for the hope I have. Hope to do just what Brother
Frank prayed God would enable me to do. I want to speak to
you with clarity and simplicity. I'm going to give you 10 reasons
for my hope. 10 reasons. I'll be very brief
with each of them, but here are 10 things that give me hope. First, God has promised eternal
life and glory to his elect. In Psalm 8411, we read, the Lord
will give grace and glory. God promises to be leading sinners,
not only a spiritual life that now is, but eternal life, which
is to come. This promise of eternal life,
life with Christ forever in glory, is the principle, all-encompassing
promise of the gospel. It was a promise which God, who
cannot lie, made to his elect in Christ our substitute before
the world began. This is the promise that he has
promised us, even eternal life. It's a promise that can be depended
upon. It's sure. It's certain. When this life is over, God's
elect shall enter into eternal life. What must that be? Eternal life,
not just the possession of life that goes on forever, but of
eternal life in the sweet experience of it. Blessed is the man that
endure temptation for when he has tried, when he has been proved
by the trials and afflictions of life in this world, he shall
receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them
that love him. And this crown of life is a crown
of glory. that fadeth not away. God's promised
it. We sang just a little bit ago. He will heed the sinner's cry. Isn't that a wonderful statement? He will heed the sinner's cry. Cry to Him for mercy. And God
promises to all who cry to Him for mercy eternal life. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth
on the Son of God is not condemned. Cry to Him and He will heed the
sinner's cry, giving you eternal life. giving you the possession
of it now and the promise of it in eternal life to come. Second, the glory of eternal life in
heaven is a glory which God has prepared for his elect. It's
God's promise and it's God's preparation. It's a glory unseen
and unheard of and inconceivable in the minds of men and women
in this world, but a glory God's prepared for them that love Him
and a glory He's revealed to us by His Spirit. Eye hath not
seen, ear has not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him." Isn't that amazing, David? We don't have any conception
of what God's prepared for us. And yet the very next statement,
but the Lord hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. I can't
begin to describe heavenly glory. I can't begin to describe it
because I can't comprehend it. But the fact of it, the reality
of it, the blessedness of it, that's revealed to us in the
gospel of his grace, in the face of his son, in the gift of faith
in Christ. This preparation of eternal happiness
was made before the world began. Heaven is a kingdom prepared
for God's elect from the foundation of the world. Listen to this.
Then shall the king say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world in the counsels and purposes of God Almighty. In everlasting predestination,
God prepared heavenly glory for his people. It was prepared for
us, and this kingdom of glory was prepared for us by our Savior's
sin atoning blood and death at Calvary as our substitute. Brother
Lindsey dealt with it this morning and has for the last several
weeks. John chapter 14, the Lord Jesus said, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. 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. He's saying to his disciples,
I'm going yonder to Calvary. I'm going yonder to the place
of sacrifice, the place for which God made this world. At the time
for which God made this world, I'm going yonder by the sacrifice
of myself, by the giving of my life, by laying down my life's
blood on your behalf to prepare a place for you. And by the sacrifice
of himself, he prepared for us heavenly glory. And this kingdom,
this kingdom of glory shall most assuredly be given to those men
and women chosen of God from eternity for whom it was prepared
by God. Fear not, little flock. It is
your father's pleasure to give you the kingdom. It shall be
given to them for whom it was prepared by my father. It will
not be given to any, but those for whom it was prepared. It
cannot be purchased, earned or won, not by anything we do or
merited by anything we do, but it shall be freely given to all
for whom God has prepared it. Number three. God's elect in
this world are men and women who he has prepared for glory. Here in Colossians chapter one
and verse 12, giving thanks unto the father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. God's elect are described in
Romans 9 as vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto
glory. The reprobate are described as
vessels of wrath. fitted for destruction. They
are fitted by their own wickedness, by their own sin, by their own
corruption, by their own vile behavior, character, and conduct. They are fitted for destruction. But God's elect are a people
who are prepared for glory, prepared for eternal life, prepared by
God himself in his rich free grace. Every work of God's grace
and every work of God's providence is Preparing us for his glory
Preparing us for the glory that awaits us We are made meat to
be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light by the
blood atonement of our Savior. I by his perfect righteousness
and by regeneration. And the regeneration is as necessary
as is his obedience on our behalf. Let no one mistake you. We should
never look upon one part of God's work as being insignificant or
greater or lesser significance than another. We can't be saved
without God's election. We can't be saved without Christ's
redemption. And we can't be saved without the Spirit's regeneration.
You've got to have righteousness attributed to you. Righteousness
given to you, and you've got to be made righteous. Made righteous
by the blood atonement of God's Son, and made righteous by the
giving of His grace in regeneration, making you partakers of divine
nature. So that righteousness is not
only laid to your charge, but it is yours in reality, because
you have been made to be meat Need to be partakers of the inheritance
of the Saints in light with perfect righteousness Christ in you is
that righteousness Christ in you is that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord, but there's more for preparing
us for glory the scriptures speak of our light afflictions and
which worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory." Isn't that amazing? The trial of your faith, more
precious than gold that perishes. Because that trial of faith makes
heaven itself more precious to the believer when he's passed
through the trial. So that in God's goodness and
mercy, And I have no idea how this is to be accomplished, how
it's to be experienced in time to come, but James Jordan, every
aspect of our lives in this world, every aspect of our lives in
this world are experiences through which God graciously brings us to make glory. all the more glorious. So that we look back over the
ages of time, not just our personal experiences, our joys and sorrows,
we are too much focused on ourselves individually, but all God's work,
all the detail, minute detail, all the magnitude, all the greatness
of God's work since the creation of the world to the end of the
world, all of providence will make heaven's glory all the richer. Imagine that. So we spend eternity
looking back over the ages of time, beginning to understand
something of what God has done for us in his grace. Oh, reckon
what it will be. I like to spend time reminiscing, and
I like to watch for things. Ah, look at that, God did that.
God did that. And sometimes he lets us see.
Don Fortner, this is what I'm doing for you today. Sometimes
it lets us see it. But most of what God does for
us, we don't have a clue of it. We're totally unaware of it.
But we shall soon know what God is doing for us and has done
for us. When we look back over our lives,
our existence, and the space of time in this world and see
how God has worked for us all things together for our good. Those whom God has ordained to
eternal life and calls to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall
most assuredly enjoy that life in eternity to which they were
ordained from eternity. And the means by which God brings
his elect to life and glory, as well as the life itself, is
infallibly fixed by God's decree. And that is the preaching of
the gospel. I quote this to you frequently. You don't need to
turn there. 2 Thessalonians 2. You can look at it later. We're
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Now listen to this. Where unto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation in life to which
we have been elected, predestined, and called is the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The very same glory which Christ
has entered into and possesses for us. He holds it in his hands
to give to his own. That I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me. He declares that it's ours. He said father the glory which
thou has given me I have given to them We've been predestined
to it. He's prepared us for it and prepared
it for us and we shall receive it here is a marvelous golden
chain of grace Not one link can be broken It begins in predestination
and ends in glorification whom he did predestinate, then he
also called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom
he justified, then he also glorified. Here's a fourth reason for my
hope. I have hope of glory arising from the covenant of grace ordered
in all things and sure on my behalf. Turn back to 2 Samuel
and look at this for a moment. 2 Samuel chapter 23. God's servant David, king of
Israel, is on his deathbed. And as David lay dying, this
is how he speaks. 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse
5. We'll start at verse 1. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse, said,
The man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, the spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God
of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be
as the light of the morning when the sun rises even a morning
without clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after the rain. And David looks over his life. What a blessed. What a confused
life it had been. What a sweet What a checkered
life it had been. What a noble, what a spotted
life it had been. David said, although my house,
be not so with God. David was like you and me. He
wanted everybody in his house to know God. He wanted his sons
and daughters to know God. And he lived, Sammy, in a house
full of rebels. He lived in a house full of rebels.
Sons and daughters who despised him, wives who despised him,
a house full of rebels. And David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. How could he say that? me an everlasting covenant. Well,
we read in the scriptures about the covenant God made with David.
Yeah, but this is talking about more than that covenant. You
read about God made with David. This is God's word for you who
are his. Bob Pontcher, the Lord God, hath
made with me an everlasting covenant. Do you get that? He made it with
me personally in the person of his darling son. He had made
with me, in my surety, my representative, his darling son, an everlasting
covenant. Watch this. Ordered in all things,
everything about this covenant, all mercy, all grace, all providence,
all salvation, all glory, ordered by God. Ordered in all things
and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire,
although he make it not to grow. What does that mean? Although
I do not right now see how all this is being accomplished, this
covenant made with me from everlasting to everlasting is a covenant
ordered in all things and sure by my God. And that means this
is all I want. This is all I want. I want no
more and no less than what God gave me in covenant grace in
his son. This covenant of grace includes
among all its other blessings, the many blessings of everlasting
inheritance and happiness of glory, assuring every believer
of its possession in Christ. It is a covenant. given to those
who are gods in Christ to surety. And that brings me to the fifth
reason for my hope, the surety ship engagements and performances
of our Lord Jesus Christ, my covenant head, my representative. These things assure us of the
hope of glory and tell us it is not in vain. Jesus Christ
is described as the surety of a better covenant What's he talking
about? a better covenant better Than
the covenant revealed that God made with Adam better than the
covenant revealed that God made with Noah. I Better than the
covenant revealed that God made with Moses. Better than the covenant
revealed that God made with Abraham. Better than the covenant revealed
that God made with David. Better than the covenant revealed
that God made with Solomon. All of those covenants were but
pictures of another covenant. This better covenant, a covenant
made with Christ before the world began, a covenant of which Christ
is the surety. That means this at least, and
much more than this, but this at least. The Lord Jesus Christ,
as our surety, stood before the triune God from everlasting. and agreed to all that is required
for the salvation of God's elect. He agreed to accomplish it. He
agreed to become a man, obey the law, satisfy justice, take
the reins of heaven, rule the universe, to give life to as
many as the Father had given him, and promised, promised,
I'll bring them At last and set them before your throne before
the presence of your glory with exceeding joy Holy and without
blame and without spot saying lo I And the children thou has
given me And the triune god says to his son You do this and ask
of me and i'll give you the heathen for your inheritance and the
father and the son struck hands in the covenant and jesus christ
assumed total responsibility for my soul. Jesus Christ, God's Son, assumed
total responsibility for my soul. so that I have no responsibility
on my own before God to fulfill anything. Christ assumed that
responsibility. Christ assumed that responsibility. How can I say this? Of the sheep I have, Which are
not of this fold. Them also, you remember what
he said, Frank? I must break. There shall be
one fold and one shepherd. He said, I lay down my life. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. So that he as the good shepherd
was trusted with the sheep, trusted with God's elect. The Lord God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost put in his hands the souls of all
his chosen and said, you go save them. And this is how you do
it. This is the only grounds upon
which it can be done. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness
must be brought in. You go do it. And bring them
back to me. And the Savior said, I'll do
it. Now, if one of those sheep is lost, the responsibility is
not the sheep's, it's the shepherd's. You got that? If one is lost,
the responsibility is not the sheep's, it's the shepherd's.
That makes it certain that none shall be lost. For the shepherd
is God our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Number six, I'm further assured of the hope
of glory by Christ's entrance into glory as our forerunner. Hebrews chapter six, we're told
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. He's described as the forerunner.
because he runs ahead of others who are coming. After his resurrection
from the dead, the Lord Jesus ascended up into heaven and entered
into glory, not for himself, but for his people. for his elect. He entered into glory to take
possession of it as our God-man mediator, risen from the dead,
having fulfilled all righteousness, having perfectly obeyed Jehovah
as his righteous servant. Now, when he was on the earth,
he spoke of himself as the son of man, which is in heaven. He
did not enter into heaven for himself. He already possessed
him in the glory. He came down here from heaven.
He entered into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of
the majesty on high as a forerunner for his people and laid claim
to glory in our name. So real. So real is our union
with Christ. So real is our union with him
that when he raised up from the dead, the scripture says we were
raised up with him, quickened together with Christ. When he
sat down in heaven, the scripture says we sat down with him so
that seated yonder. You see, you see the son of God
seated yonder in glory. Look yonder. Look close. Look
close. You'll see Don Fortner sitting
right there. Sitting right there. Seated with him in glory. Brother Don, you talk about this
union with Christ as if it's Something that just can't be
divided, you and Christ. You can't be separated, you and
Christ. You can't be one place and Him
be another. He'd be one place and you'd be
another. That's pretty close. That's pretty close. I'll tell
you what, if you should want to read my biography, it has
been written already. You may not realize this. You
can read it. in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Did you get that? Christ is mine, and I'm his. All that he is, and all that
he did, and all that he possesses, I am, I did, and I possess. He's my forerunner. Number seven. the prayers, preparations of
Christ for his people, for the future glory of his people, assure
us of the hope of glory as well. Our all-glorious Savior said,
I've gone to the Father's house to prepare a place for you. And
one part of that preparation is his intercession on our behalf. Our Savior, our great high priest,
our advocate, makes intercession to God on our behalf, on behalf
of his chosen redeemed people. These things the scriptures tell
us he seeks for us. The salvation of those who yet
believe not, he's able to save to the uttermost, all them to
come to God by him. He prays for the non-imputation
of sin to his erring people. We see it. And he spreads his
hands. And we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he's the propitiation
for our sins. He prays for the spiritual unity
of his church, that they may be one. Oh, Father, that they
may be one, that they may be one, that they may be one as
we are one, that they may be one. And soon it shall be accomplished. He prays that we will be preserved.
Keep them. Keep to thine own name, these
whom thou hast given me. And he prays for our eternal
happiness, beholding his glory. He said, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. I got a note this week from Brother
John Carpenter. He and Steve Carpenter are friends.
The Lord's given me in recent years, both of them preachers
out in near Kansas City, Missouri. And their mother was in her 90s,
and she got to be afraid in the last few years. And the Lord
took her home this week. And I wrote John and said to
him, I'm very sorry for your loss and your emptiness. Shall
we now sympathize with you in your pain, and we rejoice with
you in God's goodness to your family, not only giving you grace,
But giving you grace and giving your mom glory with Christ Jesus
the Lord. Oh Why are they taken from us? because the Savior says father
I Will that they also whom thou has given me be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory and when our place in heaven
is perfectly prepared for us We finally prepared for it. Our blessed Savior will come
to take us home to glory If I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself That where I
am there you may be also. I Don't know where I've got this.
I got somewhere a long time ago sickness is the voice of our
beloved calling us home and Death is the car he sends to take us
home. Our departed brothers and sisters in Christ, our friends
and companions in the kingdom of God are already there at home
with Christ in the Father's house. Soon we shall follow. Number
eight, the hope of glory in our souls is the effectual call of
God, the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul admonished Timothy
to lay hold on eternal life, to look for it, to expect it,
to anticipate it, to believe it, to believe that he would
enter into it at last. Well, Timothy already had eternal
life. The Apostle said, lay hold of
it, expect it now, expect it. The basis for his admonition
is this, whereunto thou art also called. The psalmist said, I will take
the cup of salvation and call on the Lord as long as I live. Like Timothy, every believer
has been called to eternal life and glory in Christ. Therefore,
we exhorted to walk worthy of God who has called us unto his
kingdom and glory. The God of all grace who has
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. will bring us
safely at last to that place to which he's called us. Number
nine, spirit of God reveals to us by
Paul's writings that we have the earnest of the spirit, the
earnest of the spirit. The earnest of the spirit is
the pledge. It's the, for lack of a better
term, it's the down payment. It's the down payment. I remember
the first time I purchased a car. I was just a 15-year-old boy,
$225 for a 1956 Dodge, ugliest car made in America, but it was
soon going to be mine, $225. And I didn't have any driver's
license, couldn't get a license for another year. I wasn't of
legal age to purchase the car. I had to get my dad to sign for
it. But I went and found the car, and I had $25 in my pocket,
and I paid a down payment to secure the car till the next
day. I wanted that car bad. Didn't have any idea whether
I was going to get it or not, but I was going to do everything
I could to get it. And so I gave the fellow $25. Now, $25 out
of a 15-year-old boy's pocket in 1965, that was a lot of money
coming out of my pocket. And I wanted that car. And you
know what would happen if I'd have gone home and my dad had
just refused to sign for me to get the car? You know what would
happen? I'd have lost the money. Because it was a legal down payment. It says whether I'd get the car
or not. That's what the word earnest
speaks of here. We have the earnest of the spirit
until the redemption of the purchase possession. We have the down
payment of God of the possession of everlasting glory. And blessed
be his name, there's not a chance under heaven God's going to lose
his earnest money. It's not going to happen. We
shall enter into glory if he has given us his spirit, the
earnest of the spirit, the earnest of our inheritance. And there's
another thing. Here's the 10th reason for my
hope. God's planted in my soul a desire for glory with Christ. One thing have I desired of the
Lord. This one thing I will seek after.
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life. To behold the beauty of the Lord.
and to inquire in his temple. I'm in a straight betwixt the
two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is
far better. As we begin to apprehend the
glory that awaits us, we desire to depart and be with Christ.
And that's far better than anything we experience in this world. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Now this believer's
hope of glory is a matter of unquestionable fact, plainly
revealed in Holy Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ and God,
even our Father, which hath loved us, hath given us everlasting
consolation and good hope through grace. Believers, as soon as
they depart from this world, are immediately with Christ in
glory. Those who die in Christ are truly
blessed of God from the moment of their death. As soon as Lazarus
closed his eyes in death, he opened his eyes in glory. As
soon as the penitent thief, on the day that he died by Christ's
side, as soon as he died, he was carried by the angels of
God into paradise. Every believer who dies in faith,
everyone who is born of God as soon as we die, shall be with
Christ in glory. Say, sinner, will you meet me? Say, sinner, will you meet me
on Canaan's happy shore? By the grace of God, I'll meet
you on Canaan's happy shore. And there we'll shout and give
him glory. for glory is his name. Is it possible for a sinner like me really to live in the confident
expectation of everlasting glory Or is this just a pipe dream,
something preachers talk about to make you feel good? Is it true or is it a lie? Let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. He that hath the Son hath life. Glory is his. Believe on the
Son of God and go home rejoicing in the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Amen.