First chapter of the Book of
Colossians. We have one of those glorious,
glorious passages of Scripture that just gets bigger and bigger
and bigger every time you read it and begin to study it. It
consists of virtually one continual sentence. The Apostle Paul, writing
by inspiration here, is expressing his desire for God's people to
increase in the knowledge of God, knowledge of his will and
spiritual understanding. And he tells us of the rich,
rich glory of Christ our Redeemer. He seems to stretch for words
with which to express his wonder at the great glory of Christ
and the great glory of God's grace in him. In verse 12, he
tells us that we are to give thanks to God, who hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
life. My, what a statement. giving thanks to God who is making
us meet to be partakers. Not giving thanks to God who
one day will make us meet to be partakers. Giving thanks to
God who has already made us meet, worthy, fit to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in life. And he tells us how
he's done it. He's done it by the redemption
of our souls, the forgiveness of our sins through the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God
by himself, who were enemies in our mind by wicked works,
yet now reconciled to God in him. reconciling us to him, giving
us faith in him. And he speaks of our Lord Jesus
Christ being the firstborn of God's kingdom, the firstborn
among many brethren, that he in all things might have preeminence. He tells us that, please, God
the Father, That is, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It pleased
the triune God that all fullness should dwell in Christ. And then in verse 26, it tells
us that the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ
is a mystery, a mystery hidden from the unregenerate man. hidden
from the unbeliever, from every unbeliever, but revealed by His
Spirit to the saints. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and There are lots of people in this
world who can never know and understand and enjoy the blessed
knowledge of God our Savior in the gospel, because God has blinded
their eyes and they cannot see. He's put the world in their heart
so they cannot find God. He's hidden these things. And
here we stand. And He's revealed them to us
by His Spirit in His Son. Now, look at verse twenty-seven. you in whom the mystery is revealed. To whom God would now make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of God had made this manifest to
His saints, that He might make known to you and in you the riches
of glory. All the riches promised, proclaimed,
and presented to sinners in the gospel are in Christ. The riches
of the gospel are spiritual riches. They are called the riches of
the glory of this mystery, because the gospel is in great measure
that by which we see the riches of God's grace and God's glory
held forth plainly before us, and is held forth before every
sinner who trusts Christ. What are these riches? They're
the riches of gospel truth, the riches of His grace compared
to gold, silver, and precious stones. They're the riches of
God's free, sovereign, eternal election, the riches of His glorious
predestination, the riches of His free adoption of our souls,
the riches of special, particular rediction, the riches, in a word,
of all the manifest love of God in saving our souls, giving us
faith, and keeping us by His grace. The riches Paul speaks
of are the rich treasures of grace laid up in Christ. Listen to this word. And of His
fullness, of His constant, overflowing fullness, have all we receive
Grace for grace. Do you have any idea how many
ways good men have endeavored to explain those words? Grace
on top of grace. Grace because of grace. Grace since we've received grace. All of them are so. Of His fullness,
have we received grace? grace, and grace, and grace,
and grace, and grace. Have you got it? Of His fullness,
His superabundant, overflowing, infinite fullness, as our mediator,
we constantly receive grace. And you now are complete in Him,
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body. All the promises of God relating
to this life and to life to come are in Christ, and in Him they
are yea and amen. In Him we have received free
justification, absolute, irreversible complete reconciliation to God,
so much so that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. Of His fullness, we have received
the adoption of sons, and we've received this thing called eternal
life. And then Paul speaks of Christ's
and shows us in him something of the glory of the gospel, to
whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ. Stop there for
just a minute. The gospel is the revelation
of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. You remember what Moses prayed
when he was about to leave the children of Israel? And he said,
Lord, if thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.
He said, Lord, remember that these people are your people.
He said, Lord, show me your way. And then he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. And God said, well, I'll show
you what you can bear. And He put him in the cleft of the rock
and covered him with His hand and passed by and declared His
name. His name being the revelation
of how God can be just and yet justify the ungodly through the
sacrifice of His Son. The revelation of the very glory
of God. When I was a boy, We used to
travel from western southern North Carolina up to Spruce Pine,
where my father was raised, visit my grandparents, relatives. And
we always drove by a place called Grandfather Mountain. I'm sure
many of you have driven by it. And I used to ask my dad, how
come they call that Grandfather Mountain? And he said, well,
if you look carefully, you can see the image of an old man,
like he was laying down on that mountain. You can see his forehead
and his brow, his nose, his mouth. and his flowing beard. And I
drove, rode by that place summer and winter and spring and fall,
and I couldn't see it. And I keep asking, how come they
call it Grandfather Benton? And he tell me, I said, I know,
but I can't see that. Show me. He couldn't show me. And then one time we went up
by Grandfather Mountain, going to Spruce Pines, and they decided
to take the back roads, took the old roads. Wanted to see
some of the old scenery. We circled around. We got close
to Grandfather Mountain. I looked up. You know what I
saw? I saw an old man. His forehead, his eyebrows, nose,
mouth, his chin, and a long, flowing beard. I see it. I see it. The secret is you've
got to be standing in the right place to see it. Now listen to
me. The only way you will ever see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is if he puts
you in the right place. And that is right in his glory. right in the cleft of the rock,
Christ Jesus himself. Christ is the revelation of God. All the revelation of God. And
the only revelation of God. No man has seen God at any time. And anybody who pretends they
have either lied or they've been on some strange stuff. God's
Spirit You didn't see a spirit. You don't see a spirit. No man
has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. He has shown Him to you. And the only way we will ever
see and know God Almighty in this world and in the world to
come is in that man in whom resides all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. This is life eternal, our Savior
said, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom Thou hast sent. The word might be translated
this way, and whether the translation is necessary or not, the meaning
is exactly this, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
even Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. For God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, and now He's shined into our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, that's the background for
the message. And here's the message. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. The cause of our is the grace
of God that's given us in and by Christ Jesus. The basis of
our hope, the only, the singular, the solitary, the great foundation
and basis of our hope before God is altogether and alone the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you have heard this
preacher say, My hope before God is altogether outside myself. That ain't so. That ain't so. I back up, take it back, overstated
things. That ain't so. This book does
not say Christ crucified is the hope of glory, does it? Then
what is this? The book says Christ in you,
the hope of glory. We know nothing about the redemptive
work of Christ. And we know nothing about the
person of Christ. And we know nothing about the
gospel of the glory of Christ until Christ is in you. Now, in the experience of grace,
we have hope. And we have no hope outside the
experience of grace. Please hear that again. No man
has any reason to faintly suspect that God Almighty loves him or
will be gracious to him in any way until Christ is in him. The love of God, the grace of
God, the promises of God, all are communicated to us as we
believe on the Son of God, Christ in you. Now, the subject of this
chapter, clearly, is the glory of Christ as He is our hope before
God. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is Christ in us that gives
us the confident expectation of glory. And that's what the
word hope means. How can I say this? God's elect
are absolutely sure for glory because of God's purpose, because
God said, I'll be their God, they shall be my people. But
hope, like faith and love, is something that is altogether
internal. Hope is something that's inside
you. created in you by faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. Now, we live in an age when about
everybody, their whole religion is emotion and experience. And such religion is less, of
less value to you than anything on this earth. It's absolutely
detrimental to you and damning to your soul. Religion that is
all experience is a cursed religion. But there are many who would
have you to believe that true religion involves no experience
and no emotion and no feeling. It's just fact and doctrine and
theory. And I'm going to tell you something.
Religion that is just fact and doctrine and theory is just as
damning as religion that is just emotion and experience. Faith
is based upon fact and revelation. But I'm going to tell you something.
If you have confidence—I believe that's another word for faith—you
feel and experience confidence. How are you going to define that?
Let me ask you, have you ever looked up the word in any language,
in any dictionary, having experienced it, and found the definition
that defines that girl's love for her daddy? Or your love for
her? No. No. There's something in
here that defies definition. called love. It's something God
puts in me. And hope, hope is the confident
expectation the believer has of eternal glory. We are looking
for, on the tiptoe of faith we stand looking for the blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ. We live before Him expecting
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life in hope, hoping
for mercy, the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now, let me show you some things
stated in this book about our hope, Christ in you, the hope
of glory. As you all know, I buried this
morning a dear friend. And I'm confident she's in glory. That shouldn't surprise anybody.
But I'm going to tell you something else. Knowing my corruption, something
of my depravity, something of the evil of my heart and my behavior,
something of the corruptions of my motive in everything I
do. All Daniel, I'm confident I'm
headed to glory. I'm confident that I shall at
last be with Christ in His glory. Now, is that presumption? Is
it a pipe dream? Or is it reasonable? Is it reasonable? Let's listen to the Scriptures. God has made a promise. He promised
somebody eternal life before the world began. That's what
the book says. You can read it for yourself.
Before the world was in Titus 1-2, God made a promise, a promise
that can be depended upon, a sure, certain promise. When this life
is over, those people who are described by God Almighty as
His people shall enter into eternal life in glory. James said, that endureth temptation,
for when he is tried, when he has been proved by the trials
and afflictions of life in this world, he shall receive the crown
of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." And the
crown of life, Peter tells us, is a crown of glory that fadeth
not away. I believe it was last week I
made some reference Our Savior said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Not only has God promised that
He'll bring these who trust Him, every sinner who trusts Him,
not only has He promised that He will bring them into glory,
but our Savior said, I go to prepare a place for you. The
Son of God went to Calvary to prepare for you. a place in glory. It was prepared for us before
the world began. Our Lord Jesus speaks of that
day when He will say, Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
It was prepared for us in God's counsels and purposes which cannot
be frustrated. And then our Savior, by His blessed
sin-atoning substitute, went to prepare a place for you. He
said to his fallen disciple, he said, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. I go to prepare a place for you.
If it were not so, I would have told you. And he said, if I go
to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself. that where I am, there you may
be also. This kingdom of glory shall most
assuredly be given to those for whom it was prepared of God."
Our Savior puts it this way, it shall be given to them for
whom it was prepared. Given, not earned, not merited,
not purchased, not in any way depended on us, freely given
us and most assuredly given us. But there's something else. There's
no way on this earth that I can have any apprehension of what
God did before the world was. I'm told in this book, he wrote
my name in the Book of Life of the Lamb before the foundation
of the world. And I've studied a little bit,
and you know, I've never found any record anywhere of whose
name's written in that book. Just can't find it. If I could
find it, I'll guarantee you I would open it up and see if my name's
in the ledger. But I can't find it. I can't
find it. Neither can you. Well, how do
you know who God's elect are? How do you know you're one of
those to whom He's promised eternal life before the world began?
There's no way I can know that. No way I can know that except
God write it on my heart in the experience of grace. Are you
listening to me? I know that Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, purchased eternal redemption for somebody. I know
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as our forerunner, has entered
into heavenly glory, not for himself, but for us, and has
taken possession of heaven in somebody's name, in somebody's
room, in somebody's head. And he has promised that those,
that very glory that he has received of the Father as our mediator,
shall belong to his people. And the Scripture tells us they're
already seated with him in heavenly glory. But I don't have any idea
who they are. I can't have a clue who they
are. Don't have a clue, and neither do you, except God Almighty calls
you to experience His grace giving you faith in Him. It is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Listen to this word from God. on the Son of God hath." That
word means got it, hath, not shall have. No, I believe in
Him doesn't cause us to have. No, no, no, no, no. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. There are not a lot of things
about which I'm absolutely certain. There's one thing I'm sure of. My only hope, my only confidence,
my only trust for righteousness and forgiveness
and redemption and acceptance with God Almighty is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And you know what? Now I read
my name in the book of the Lamb and I see it inscribed upon the
heart of my high priest who made atonement for me, because God
said, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And I can't tell you how utterly impossible it is
for a sinner to believe on the Son of God. The disciples saw
that rich young ruler who went away sorrowful because he had
much riches, and they said, Lord, who then can be saved? And our
Lord said, if it's up to him or you, it's impossible. With
me, it's impossible. Oh, but blessed be God. It's
not up to him or you. With God, all things are possible. God Almighty came to this center who tried
and couldn't believe. And I don't have any question.
I'm talking to some centers just like that right now. Oh, by the time I'd do anything
if I could believe. The problem is you can't quit
doing what you're trying to do. You just can't give up and do
nothing. I'll tell you exactly when you
will believe when God Almighty does for you what you cannot
and will not do for yourself. He stopped me in my mad rush
to hell, threw me flat down in utter helplessness and despair, pierced my heart with His mighty
arm of grace, and by a wonder called the new birth, by wonder
called the effectual call, by wonder called eternal life, by
wonder called the gift of God, somehow or another, God put himself
in me. And you know what? I found myself
believing. I just couldn't help it. I just
couldn't help it. I found myself believing. What I'd been trying to do off
and on since I was seven years old, ever since the first time
I got scared to death of going to hell, what I'd been trying
to do every time I had any thought or apprehension of dying and
meeting God, and I couldn't do it! But now, God Almighty revealed
His Son. in me, and I found myself within
it. And now, you know what I have? I have the confident expectation of glory. Glory. I don't have a clue what
that is. I have not seen, nor heard, and
it's never entered into any man's mind. Never entered into a man's
heart. The thing's got prepared in the
Spirit. But it's revealed to us by the
Spirit. That doesn't mean He's told us
all that it is. That means He's made us confident
of it. Heaven came down. and glory filled
my soul." Oh, may God now do for you what you cannot and will
not do for yourself, and put His Son in you. And you know
what will happen when He does? Oh, it's been 18, 19 years ago. Maybe it's been a little bit
more than that. Brother Henry May had a preaching class over
in Danville. Brother in our congregation called me up about 1.30, 2 o'clock
in the morning, Brother Rex Barkley. He'd come out of my office and
talk. We'd visit him, we'd talk, and we'd visit, we'd talk, we'd
visit. He was trying his best to figure out some way to get
me to somehow say something, do something, you know, and I
just wouldn't, I just won't do it. I just won't do it. I keep
doing it, but just tell you about the Redeemer. He called me up
after And as God slept, drove home, he knew I'd be up. He said, Brother Don, I found myself believing Christ. God's given me faith, and I want
to confess Him. They shall look on Him, on me,
whom they have pierced, and shall mourn me, as one mourns for his
only son. That's Christ in you. The hope of glory.