Would you turn back with me to
1 Peter chapter 3? I've entitled this message. The
reason. For my hope. Now. When I stand before you. To some extent, and I say to
some extent, I'm aware of my faultiness. I'm aware of my sinfulness. And for me to present myself
in some other way would be dishonest. That being said, I have a hope, a confident expectation. And this hope that I have is
the hope that every believer possesses. Paul says there's
one hope. My hope isn't any different than
your hope, if you're a believer. And the hope, that I have is
that when I stand before God on judgment day, I will stand
before him as one who has never sinned. One who is sinless. As Jude said in Jude 24, now
unto him that's able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless, faultless before his presence with exceeding
glory. Now that word faultless is found
seven times in the New Testament. It's translated without blame, without blemish, unblameable,
spotless, faultless, and without fault. Now, that means that when I stand
before God, I won't merely stand as one forgiven, but one who
doesn't have anything to be forgiven of. No faults. Perfectly righteous. A state of sinlessness. There will be nothing to accuse
me of. I will hear him say to me, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou in to the
joy of thy Lord. Now this is what the Bible calls
justification. You remember the publican in
the temple, beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. What did Christ say regarding
that man? He said, I tell you, oh, when he says something, when
he says something, I tell you that this man went down to his
house justified. Now in the original, that word
justified is in the perfect tense or voice. Perfectly completed. Never to be repeated. A complete
justification. He didn't merely say he went
down to his house forgiven. He went down to his house justified. Feltless. without blame, sinless. And that's the hope I have, that
I'm going to be on judgment day justified. Now, not only do I have this
hope that I'm going to stand before God without any sin, nothing
to accuse me of, nothing to be blamed for. I also believe that
everything from the past, the day I was born into the day I
die, everything is working together for my good. Now I have that
hope. Everything. You know what falls
under that umbrella? Everything. Good, bad, indifferent. Sickness. Health. Even my falls. Everything. Your falls? You know what my
falls do? They drive me to Christ. And
they make me to see that he's the only righteousness I have. That's a good thing, isn't it?
Everything works together for my good and His glory. Now, somebody is thinking, how
can you have a hope that you are sinless and perfect before
God when the facts say differently? You've sinned this very hour.
You've sinned while you're standing up here talking to me. How can
you make such a claim? How can you make such a claim
that everything, everything is working together for your good? How do you know? How do you make
a claim like that? Give me a reason for the hope
that's in you. Is this pie in the sky? Or do
you actually have a reason, a well-founded and a well-grounded reason to
believe something like that? to believe that you're sinless
before God, that you're justified. Now remember that publican, he
wasn't justified only on judgment day. The Lord was speaking concerning
him. He said he went down to his house
that very day. Justified. everything working
together for my good and his glory. That's the hope I have.
That's the confident expectation that I have. Now somebody says,
give me a reason for that hope. Now let's pull back to verse
eight of first Peter chapter three. Let's see what led him
to make this statement. Finally, be ye all of one mind. Now, people are different. You
know that. Lynn always tells me different
is good. Well, I'm not so sure that I agree with that, but people
are different. I was watching the Wildcats beat
Florida and I was so happy. So happy, I can't even describe
how happy I was. And there are some of you that
didn't even watch it. You know why? We're different.
We're different. What's he talking about when
he says be all of one mind? Every believer is in complete
agreement here of one mind, Christ is all. Oh, we're of one mind
there, aren't we? I believe that Christ is all
of God. He's all in my salvation. He's
all in the scriptures. You believe that too. You know
what that means? We're of the same mind. We're of one mind,
not two. One mind. Having compassion, true sympathy,
verse eight, one of another. Love as brethren. Be pitiful. Tenderhearted is
the word. Be courteous, be friendly. Be
friendly. That's a command. Be friendly. Verse nine, not rendering evil
for evil, not paying back or railing for railing. They spoke
to me harshly. I'm going to speak to them that
way. But contrary wise blessing, knowing that you're there and
to call that you should inherit a blessing for he that will love
life and see good days. Is that something you want? I want to love life. Don't you? I want to see good
days. I don't want to see bad days.
I want to see good days. What's he say to do? Let him refrain
his tongue from evil. James said in James 1 26, if
any of you seem to be religious and bridles not his tongue, but
deceives his own heart, that man's religion is vain. A man
who says, I'm religious, I walk with God, and yet his tongue
boasts of his works and his will and his ability, makes false
claims, speaks a false gospel. That man's religion is vain. It's pointless. You know, I was
thinking about this. All the trouble I've got myself
into in this life, where's the origin? It's true, isn't it? If you would
love life and see good days, he says, let him refrain his tongue from
evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew, avoid
evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, peace with
God through Christ. Oh, I want God to be at peace
with me through Christ. I want to be at peace with you.
I don't want to have any conflict. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Four, verse 12, the eyes of the
Lord are over the righteous. Two kinds of people here, the
righteous and the evil. The eyes of the Lord are over
the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. but the
face of the Lord is against them that do evil. The Lord is for
the righteous, and he's against the evil. Verse 13, and who is
he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is
good? Now, if you're a follower of that which is good, the gospel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who can harm you? Who can harm you? But, and if
you suffer for righteousness' sake, What's that mean? Well, I'm suffering because I'm
being so good. No, that's not what that means.
If you suffer for righteousness sake, that means you suffer for
the righteousness of Christ's sake. You really believe that
the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness there
is. And you maintain that. You believe
that his righteousness is your only righteousness. And if you
maintain that, you're not going to win a popularity contest.
Let me tell you that. The Lord said, blessed are they who were
persecuted for righteousness sake. What does Peter say? Happy
are you. Be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Now that word sanctified means
to set apart, to be holy, to make holy, to declare to be holy. Now, I can't set apart God to
be holy, can I? He is holy. Holy and reverend
is thy name. I certainly can't make him holy.
He is holy. But by his grace, I can regard
him in my heart to be holy. And you know how you do that?
You do that by believing the Gospel. If you regard Him to
be holy, you will look nowhere but Christ alone. And if you don't look to Christ
alone, you don't regard Him to be holy, you pull Him down to
your level. But if you look to Christ only as everything in
your salvation, that is the regarding of God as holy in your heart. Do you do that right now? You
regard him to be holy by looking to Christ only. 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's in you, not
with a cocksure, arrogant attitude, but in meekness. and in fear
with gentleness and respect. Now, what is the reason for this
hope that I have that I stand sinless before God and that everything
is working together for my good? And like I said, this is the
hope every believer shares. There's one hope. If you're a
child of God, you got the precise same hope that I do, that you
stand before God without guilt and on judgment day, you're going
to be justified. And everything between now and
then is working together for your good. What is the reason
for that hope? Now, first of all, let's consider
this word hope. What is hope? Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Verse 24, for we are saved by hope. It's quite a statement, isn't
it? Does that mean I'm saved by the feeling of hope? Well, God is called the God of
hope, and Christ is called our hope. I'm saved by my hope. Not by my feeling of hope, but
by Christ who is my hope. Very important. For we are saved
by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. A hope that you can see, is not hope. Can you see your sinlessness? No, I cannot. Can you see how everything is
working together for your good and His glory? Not too long ago, about a week
and a half ago, I was in the hospital. I had hiccups for 10
days. Hiccups, nonstop hiccups for 10 days. It about drove me
insane. I wanted to die. And I remember
thinking, how in the world is this for my good? I thought that. But you know what else I thought?
I don't know how it is, but it must be. It must be. I can't see how that was for
my good. I can't see where it did me any good at all. Made
me feel horrible. Made me want to die. One night,
I was thinking, Lord, end this thing. Let me out of here. I certainly cannot see my sinlessness
before God, because all I see, all I see is sin. But if I could
see, there wouldn't be hope, would it? That's what the Bible
says. Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why
doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. I am waiting for
my reality. I don't see it. I don't. I don't see the reality of my
sinlessness. But I'm waiting. Like Paul said
in Galatians 5, 6, we're waiting. for the hope of righteousness
by faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. The hope I have of sinlessness
and that everything is working together for my good is not something
that I can see, something that's tangible to me that I have empirical
evidence of. I can't point to even a five
minute or one minute segment of my life and say, see, there's
sinlessness. Can't see it. But I believe with all my heart
because of the gospel that I am sinless before God and that everything
is working together for my good. Now, somebody says, well, give
me a reason for it. I want to know if I can have
this hope. If I can stand before God with
the confidence that I'm justified and that I can really believe
that everything is working together for my good, give me a reason
for this hope. Give me a defense of the hope
you have. Show me how it's not just power
in the sky, but it's real. Okay. By the grace of God, I
will do that. Now first, I have this hope that
I've spoken to you of, because it's what the Bible teaches.
This wasn't forged in my stupid brain. This is what the Bible
actually teaches. Now think of this scripture.
Turn with me to Colossians chapter 1. Verse 21, and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet, what's
that next word? Now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable. In this sight,
the Bible teaches this. That's what every believer is.
Holy, nothing to blame me for, nothing to rebuke me for. Justified. And turn to Romans 8, once again,
verse 28. And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now, the hope I have is founded
in scripture. It wasn't founded in this brain
of mine. It isn't some pie in the sky.
It's what the Bible actually teaches. Now, the hope that I
have, here's why I feel so good about it. First of all, because
the Bible teaches this. And secondly, because this hope
I have is a hope that comes to me where I am. Not where I should be, not where
I ought to be, but where I am. You remember the parable of the
Good Samaritan and the man laying in a ditch? The scripture says
the Good Samaritan came to him where he was. Where am I? Dead in sins. Unable to do anything to help
in my salvation. Dead. Ephesians 2.1. Dead in
trespasses and sins. Unable to believe, unable to
come to Christ, unable to love God, unable to deliver myself
in any way. Dead. Graveyard dead. That's where I am. God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's me. There's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. That's right where I am. And
he comes to me right there. That's the only hope for me,
is if he comes to me where I am and does something for me that
I cannot do for myself. Now, for me, a man as sinful
as me, to be sinless, this hope must be a hope that begins with
God and is carried all the way through by God. It's gotta be something where
He does it all. You see, with God, nothing shall
be impossible. God can make me seamless. And He can orchestrate every
event, cause every event in my life to work together for my
good and His glory. Only God can do that. God can. And for me to have this hope
of sinlessness, it has to be completely a work of God, from
the beginning to the end. Now let me ask you about your
salvation. Is your salvation of the Lord? Is it a work of
God from the beginning to the end, where He does it all? Now,
if it is, it's good hope, isn't it? It's scriptural hope. I have this hope that I'm going
to stand before God sinless and that everything is working together
for my good. I have this hope because Jesus
Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Nazarene. I have this hope
because the Lord Jesus Christ took complete responsibility
for this, for me, before time began. He stood as my surety and guaranteed
to his father that he was going to make this thing happen. That's
why I have this hope, because Christ Before time began stood
as my surety. Hebrews 7 19 says by he's the
surety, he's the surety of a better testament. Now turn with me to
Genesis chapter 43 for a moment. This is Judah speaking about
Benjamin. You'll remember that Joseph demanded
that Benjamin come back with him when Joseph was right under
the Pharaoh. And they didn't know who he was.
They didn't know that Joseph was their brother. But Joseph
said to those men, you're not going to get back here unless
you bring back your little brother Benjamin with you. Now, look
what Judah said. And Judah said unto Israel his
father, Jacob, send the lad with me, and we will arise and go
that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our
little ones. I will be surety for him of my hand, shalt thou
require him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Jesus
Christ the Lord said, I will be surety for him. Of my hand
shall you require his sinlessness. You look to me for it. If I bring
him not before thee and set him before thee as perfectly sinless,
then let me bear the blame forever. And he did this before time began. I love that passage of scripture.
In Ephesians 4 and 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame. This all happened before the
world began. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Verse 12, that we, all of the
elect, all of those chosen in Christ, all of those for whom
Christ died for, all of those whom believe, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God the Father. He trusted the salvation of all
of His people to His Son when He gave them to be His and Him
to be a surety for them. He trusted Christ alone for my
salvation. I trust Christ alone for my salvation. Now for my hope to be a good
hope, it must be a hope that honors all of God's attributes. It cannot be inconsistent with
any of God's attributes. If it is, there's a hole in it
somewhere. It won't work. It's not a well-grounded
hope. For my hope to bring me into
heaven and make me sinless, it's got to be a hope that is consistent
with all of God's attributes. Here's the obvious implication. It's got to find a way. It's
got to be in a way where God can be just and by no means clear
the guilty. and yet save someone who is unjust
and guilty like me. You know, only the cross declares
a hope like that. In the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, God has made a way to be just, perfectly righteous,
and yet justify, declare not guilty, sinless, somebody like
me. You see, Christ put away my sin
on the cross, and my sin is non-existent. What sin? It's gone. It's separated as far from me
as the East is from the West. Now, that's a long way. That's
infinity. Canceled, blotted out. Well, you were talking about
being dead in sins and able to do anything towards your salvation.
What about that? You just remain there dead? No. You have He quickened. A new heart also will I give
thee. Born of the Spirit of God. Now here is my hope that God
has given me spiritual life. It's the gift of God. It's something
he did for me. He put a new heart in me and
now I can do what I formerly could not do. I can believe. I do believe. I repent of all the ridiculous
things I believed about myself, the ridiculous things I believed
about God. I repent and I'm in a continual
state of repentance. I love God. I love His law. Do you know I love the Ten Commandments? And I'm not afraid of them because
I've kept them in my beloved redeeming. And I love everything
about God. Now that is because I've been
given a new heart. But it's only the one who endures
to the end. It's not the one who begins.
It's not the one who continues for years. It's the one who endures
to the end. That shall be said. Paul said
you're wholly unblameable and unapprovable in his sight if
you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved
from the hope of the gospel. Now I have a hope that's going
to cause me to continue. Scripture says we're kept. by
the power of God through faith and to salvation. Now unto him
that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his presence. Paul said, I know whom I believe
and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. You see, this hope that I have
keeps me and causes me to continue in the faith. Now, what about
The sin you commit every day, though. You talk about being
sinless, and yet you sin every day. You commit the same sins
every day. The sins you confess and ask
for forgiveness for, you commit those sins again the very next
day. Now how in the world, when you're
such a mess like that, how in the world can you say you're
sinless before God? How can you believe something
like that when your experience proves so differently? Turn with
me to John chapter 13. Verse four. He rises from supper. and laid
aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself.
And after that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash
the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith
unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said
unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter saith unto him, Lord, not
my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto
him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit. And you are clean. You're perfectly
clean, but not all, for he knew who should betray him. Therefore
he said, you're not all clean. He knew Judas wasn't clean. He
didn't die for Judas. He didn't cleanse Judas. He didn't
do anything for Judas. Verse 12, so that after he had
washed their feet and taken his garments and was set down again,
he said to them, do you know what I've done to you? You call
me master and Lord. You say, well, for so I am. If I've been your Lord and master
of wash your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet.
Now, what did he say to Peter? Peter said, you're clean every
wit. You are sinless before God. And as you walk through this
world, you get your feet dirty every day. But I wash your feet every day. Now for me to have a hope that
I'm going to be sinless, I have to have a savior who washes my
feet every single day. Aren't you thankful for that?
He washes my feet. I'm clean every whit. What about
your feet? He washes them every day. Now, I'm going to die. You are too. Some of you, perhaps very soon.
I'm going to die. My body is going to turn into
a pile of dirt. How much power does that pile
of dirt have to be seamless? Well, here's my hope. is that
Christ will raise me from the dead. And what I hope for will
be turned into reality. Into experience. I won't be hoping
for this anymore. I'll be experiencing it. Sinlessness. Raised incorruptible. Now one final scripture. Second
Thessalonians chapter two. Verse 16, now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. Now, a good hope, a good hope. A good hope has to be something
he's given me. He's given this to me from his
word. And a good hope obviously has to be something that's all
of grace. A good hope through grace. Now is your hope a hope
that he has given you? And is a hope that's totally
founded on his grace? then it is a good hope. The reason for my hope of being
sinless before God and that everything's working together for my good
and His glory is because it's what the Bible teaches. It comes
to me where I am, dead in sins and does something for me. It's
all God's work from the beginning to the end. It's because Christ
stood as my surety before time began. It magnifies all of God's
attributes. It puts life in me that was not
there before and preserves me and cleanses me daily and will
raise me from the dead incorruptible. That is the reason for the hope
that I have. And that's the reason for every
believer's hope. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
hope that we have because of Christ, our hope. Lord, give us all the grace to always be ready to give an
answer to every man that asks us a reason for the hope that
is in us. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you will cause men to ask us to give an answer for the
reason of the hope that's in us. And we ask that you would
enable us to give the reason and to do so with meekness and
with fear. Lord, bless this message for
your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.