I want you to hold 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and verse 8, if you would, for just a minute. I want
you to look first in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17, just
one portion of verse 17. And take the helmet of salvation. This word begins with and. And take the helmet of salvation. He did the same thing in verse
14, having your loins girded about with truth and having on
the breastplate of righteousness, verse 15, and your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace, verse 17, and take
the helmet of salvation. Paul has one Portion of instructions
after another for us. And do this, and do that, and
do this. Life is that way, isn't it? Natural
life is that way. We take our children out in the
yard and we have some work for them to do. And what do we tell
them? Well, we still them and we say, you do this. Then when
you've done that, you do this. And when you've done that, do
this. And what do they do sometimes? They roll their eyes, don't they? They roll their eyes. And they
don't listen very well. And what happens? Well, they
don't do what we tell them to do exactly. So what we have to
do, we have to say, come here, come here, wait a minute. You're
doing this all wrong. This is what you do. And this
is what you do. And this is what you do. We see
that in this passage here. The Apostle Paul is saying to
us, I know this seems laborsome. I don't want you to become weary
in receiving these instructions. There's many of them, but if
you don't listen to me, we'll have to stop and go over it all
again. The wise man made this statement. He said the commandment is a
lamp and the law is light. And reproofs of instructions
are the way of life. What's he saying? Just what I've
just said. We have all these instructions
that we must receive. And then we don't hear them.
We don't practice them. We don't take them into our heart.
What happens? We get reproved. The Lord said,
Wait a minute, dear child. You've not listened clearly enough.
Let me go over this again. And then sometimes he takes the
whip, doesn't he? And he puts the whip to our backs
and he says, do I have your attention? Do it this way. And, and, and. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 17,
the wise man also made this statement about instruction. He is in the
way of life that keepeth instruction. But he that refuses instruction
errs. He goes astray. And what better
instructions can we have than the Bible? It's profitable. It's not only for doctrine. We're
interested in doctrine. Thank God for it. But we've got
to have instructions. It's profitable for instruction. And this piece of armory here
that we're to look at this morning, The helmet, how critical it is
in our battle with the fallen angels that sinned and fell from
heaven. The helmet is no doubt one of
the most critical pieces of armor that you and I are told to put
on because it protects the head. It protects the brain. If you're
injured in the foot, We'll probably stagger along and we're injured
in the hand. We can go ahead and maybe at
least to a certain degree fight in the battle. But we get wounded
in our head. It not only affects us physically,
but I tell you it can affect you mentally. A head wound can
be detrimental to our fighting in this battle. It's critical. Goliath, you remember when he
fought little David? He still didn't take that helmet
off, did he? He had a helmet of brass. This was the most critical
piece of armor the old soldiers used to wear. They wouldn't go
into a battlefield without it. The helmet, we're told here,
as among all these other pieces of armor, except the sword of
the spirit, is a defensive piece of armor. Did you notice all
these pieces of armor? except the sword of the spirit,
are defensive. The shoes are defensive. The breastplate of righteousness
that keeps these darts from getting our heart. Loins girded about
with truth. The helmet. These things are
defensive pieces of armor. Why is that so important? You
and I don't go looking for a thigh, do we? We're not out here seeking
the powers of darkness to make war against it. I'd just as soon
to leave them alone, and I would prefer they leave me alone. But
that's not the way it is. We're minding our own business.
We're seeking to serve the Lord, and what happens? We get ambushed. These fallen spirits, they hide
in the shadows, and they ambush us. You're going through a dark
valley and they hide and they wait for you. You're climbing
the hill difficulty and they're behind rocks and they jump out
and they attack you. We need this helmet because it's
defensive. It protects our heads when we're
attacked. Something else this helmet does,
it indicates, as some of these other pieces of armor does, the
sword for instance. that the battle you and I are
in is a close-range fight. Most of the fights that you and
I are in are hand-to-hand, aren't they? They didn't have the high-powered
rifles back then. They didn't have the M-16s or
the missiles they fired from miles away and killed you. It
was mainly hand-to-hand. And boy, if you can imagine some
of the battlefields when the two armies joined together, can
you imagine the groans? You could hear the swords clinging
together, the arrows flying through the air, the groans of someone
that had just got wounded. This is a hand-to-hand combat
that you and I are in with the powers of darkness. You know
I have to keep reminding myself of that. I tell you over and
over again, and remind you that we're in a battle. And you know
I have to remind myself of that. I think sometimes that the Christian
life is going to be easy, and then, boy, sudden, just all of
a sudden, trouble comes out of nowhere. And you're attacked. And I tell you that, and I forget
it myself. I can't seem to remember that
we must, through much tribulation, Enter the kingdom of heaven.
Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. It's a time
for suffering in this lifetime. And this is what that reminds
us of when we look at this helmet and these pieces of armor. Boy,
here is a time to fight. Here is a time to be on guard.
Here is a time to watch. Because we have a formidable
enemy. And if we don't take ourselves
this armor of God, I'm afraid we're going to have a difficult
time getting through this battle. I wish the Lord would save somebody.
I wish the Lord would save somebody and just let him walk through
this world at ease and happy and rejoicing all the time. But
that hasn't been my lot. And I don't know the first man
or woman that's been their lot either. Everybody that I know
of that professes to be a child of God that you have any confidence
in them, they're suffering. They're fighting. This is not a bed of roses. This is not a battlefield where
you can wear your golden slippers. You have to have shoes on that
will withstand this battle. And you have to have a helmet
because you're against a formidable enemy that knows how to use his
weapons against you. What is this helmet, therefore?
We're told to take the helmet of salvation. Well, turn with
me over to your other passage that I give you in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and verse 8. One of the things I love about
the scripture, it interprets itself. If you have a problem
in one portion of scripture understanding what it means, maybe you can
find another portion of scripture that will interpret that for
you. So what is meant by the helmet of salvation? Take unto
you the helmet, put on the helmet of salvation. Well, the Apostle
Paul, I think, adds a word here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5
and verse 8 that will help us to understand this. In verse
8, but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love." Here Paul changes the breastplate
a little bit, doesn't he? Over in our text we've been reading
from, he calls it a breastplate of righteousness. Now here he
calls it a breastplate of faith and love. And look at this, "...and
for an helmet, the hope of salvation." What is this helmet? It's the
hope. of salvation. You say, Bruce,
you just hoping to be saved? Yes, but it's a good hope. It's
a good hope. It's not an I think so, I hope
so maybe, but we have a hope of salvation. A hope is something
that is yet to come. A hope is something that we've
not yet seen, but we're going to see. We've not yet received
it, but we hope to receive it. This hope has not yet been realized. We're hoping to be saved. We're
hoping to be saved. A friend of mine told me a fellow
come up one day to him, and he said this fellow was just too
presumptuous anyway. He didn't have no grounds for
a good hope. And he said, he asked me, are you sure you're
saved? Are you going to be saved when
the Lord comes? He said, well, I hope to be saved. You hope
to be saved, he said. He said, I hope to be saved.
That's what Paul is talking about. We have a hope of being saved
at last. But we have to understand that
we've talked about so many times that salvation comes in stages. It comes in stages. Let me remind
you of them this morning, if you'd give me your patience just
for a minute. You know the first stage of our being saved is election. God choosing those He was going
to save. Look over to your right in 2
Thessalonians chapter 2 and look here in verse 15 and verse 13. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning, from the foundation of the world, from
the beginning of time, chosen you to salvation. There's the first stage of our
salvation. He goes all the way back before
time, before the world ever was. God chose those He was going
to save before time. Put their names in the Lamb Books
of Life. He gave them to His Son. to secure
their salvation. Choosing. Choosing. Whose choice was it? Whose choice
is it whether I'm saved or not? It's God's choice. Is it not?
And he did that before the foundation of the world. We have a beautiful
picture of that in Jacob and Esau. Jacob have I loved? That is, I've chosen him? Esau
hath I hated, I have rejected him. And he said, The children
being not yet born, not having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. You know God never
chose Jacob because Jacob was a good man or because Jacob ever
did anything good. He chose Jacob before he was
born. and having done no good or evil. And you know he never
passed by Esau because Esau was a bad man? Or because he foresaw
Esau would do something bad? No. He passed by him before he
was farmed. This is election. Isn't that
a humbling thing? But when we talk about salvation,
that's where we must begin. We have hope of being saved at
last. And you know where we find the
foundation of that hope? All the way back there where
God began with us. The first stage is election. That's a joyful thing, but I
tell you it's a very humbling thing. It's a very stripping
thing, isn't it? It makes my salvation ultimately
rest in the very decree of God himself, the purpose of God.
And here's another stage that's just as critical as that stage. The second stage is this. And
you and I had nothing to do with this either because we weren't
born when this happened. And that's the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ to this world. What did He say when He came
into this world? He shall save His people from
their sins. Why did He come? He come to save
His people. The Scripture says, the Father
said, I will send them a Savior, a great one, and He shall deliver
them. On the cross of Calvary, brothers
and sisters, 2,000 years ago, our salvation was accomplished.
Our redemption was accomplished. And you had nothing to do with
it, did you? But it's so critical that that
took place Without the cross, we could have no hope of a life
to come. I remember when Simeon, remember
Simeon, the man that lived there in the temple, the old prophet
of God, and God had revealed to him, Simeon, you'll not die,
you've seen God's Christ. And they brought in the Christ
child, the Lord Jesus, just a little infant, eight days old, and the
Holy Spirit said, Simeon, there he is. And he took him up in
his arms, a little baby, about 21 inches long and 7 or 8 pounds,
and he said, Oh God, let me depart in peace, for my eyes have seen
thy salvation. That's God's salvation. That's
your salvation, if you have a saving interest in Jesus Christ. And
on the cross is where he dealt with our sins. Our sins was punished. Our sins were atoned for on the
cross. That's the second stage of our
salvation. And here's another stage of our
salvation that's just as critical, and that's the work of the Holy
Spirit. Paul said we ourselves were sometimes
foolish. We were deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice, hateful, and hating one
another. That's what we were, Paul said. God has begotten us again by
his word to a lively hope. I think each one of us here this
morning has to say, it has to be said to us, sometime in our
lifetime, this has to be said to us. Just what the Lord Jesus
said to Zacharias when he called him out of that tree. Zacharias,
today salvation has come to your house. You've got to hear that. I've got to hear that. We have
to be saved. We have to be born again. We
must be born again. That is the third stage of our
salvation, the new birth. And let's look fourthly at another
stage. See, we're saved in stages, aren't
we? You skip one stage, and you really can't hold to be saved
at last. And here's another stage in how
often you and I experience this. We're saved daily. We're saved
daily. From the time that you and I
are regenerated until we leave this world, how often you and
I are saved. The Apostle Paul was writing
to young Timothy, the young pastor, and he said, Take heed to the
word that I've given you. Take heed to the doctrine that
I teach you. Meditate in these things, continue in them, for
in so doing you'll save yourself and you'll save them that fear
you. Save yourself from what? A lot of trouble. You'll save
yourself from a lot of snares and a lot of heartaches. We have
to be saved daily, do we not? I imagine some day when you and
I stand, yonder with the Lord in glory, we'll look back over
this lifetime, and don't you think we'll see all the pits
that we could have fallen into? And we'll see those pits we did
fall into. We realized that in this lifetime
we'd fallen into them, but the Lord had delivered us from them.
But we didn't think too much about it. Soon we forgot it. But boy, yonder! Looking back
over this lifetime, won't we see then just how much we owe
the Lord for saving us day after day? The old song says, when
this fleeting life is done, and when has set yon glaring sun,
when I stand with Christ in glory, looking o'er life's finished
story. Not till then shall I know, not
till then have I child. David said, I'm thine, Lord,
save me. And I wonder how many times he
prayed that. Lord, I'm yours. I've fallen again. I've slipped
again. I've sinned again. I'm in a snare
again. Lord, save me. I'm thine, save
me. How many times, brothers and
sisters, have you and I been saved since the Lord saved us?
And you know what? I'm thankful for that. And I'm
glad for that. What if the Christian life was
such that when the Lord saved you, He said, now go and be perfect?
If you get in trouble, don't holler upon Me. Don't you call
on Me. I expect you to be perfect. I
expect you to never sin. I expect you to never slip again.
What if it was that way? I'd despair, wouldn't you? Oh,
how many times we prayed, Lord, I'm yours. Save me. Save me again,
save me again. And then here's this stage, we
come to the last stage, the final stage, the consummation, the
finished salvation. That's our hope, the finished
find. On that last great day when the
Son of God has come, the dead have been raised and they stand
before the Son of God, the Son of Man in glory. And he says,
come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. And he says to the cursed, depart from me into everlasting
fire. And he says to the righteous,
thee shall go away into everlasting life. That's our hope. That's what we hope for. We're
living in hope. Hope has to do with what's coming,
what we haven't seen, are received yet. Listen to Romans 8, 24.
We are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. We live in hope
of receiving the things that we have not yet received. and
see in the things that we have not yet seen. What are these things? What are
these things that we hope for? One dear man said this, he said
that those good things which God through Jesus Christ has
promised to those who wait for Him. Listen to Acts 26.6. I stand, the apostle Paul said,
and am judged for the hope of the promise, the hope of the
promise made of God unto our fathers. The hope of the promise. You ain't going to hope for something
God hasn't promised at you. That's a presumptuous hope, isn't
it? That's the hope of the hypocrite. But Paul said, I stand and am
judged for the hope of the promise which God made unto our fathers,
unto which promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God
day and night, hope to promise." Those old forefathers
of old, back in the Old Testament, that suffered like they did,
lived in caves and dens of the earth. had their homes confiscated
from them. Some of them was killed with
a sword. You know what kept them going?
Hope. You know why they give up their
lives in this world? Why they left their own country
and went off into strange lands? You know why they did that? God
had promised them a heavenly country. They said we're pilgrims
and strangers on this earth. Our hope is not set in this world,
nor in the things of this world. We're hoping for a better country. That is a heavenly country. How
in the world did they know anything about that? God had told them.
He had promised them this heavenly country. And they lived in hope
of that heavenly country. And the Bible says, Therefore
God was not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared
for them a city, a country. A good hope, therefore, is one
who hopes in what God has promised in Jesus Christ. Now, what's
he promised? Well, listen to James chapter
2 and verse 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, has not God chosen
the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the promise? Heirs of the promise? Listen
to that again. Hearken, my beloved brethren,
hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom? Heirs of a kingdom? Isn't that
amazing? Have you ever stopped and thought
about that? Really read that closely. What has God promised
His people? He's promised them a kingdom. Heirs of a kingdom in the sky,
a world to come, a new heaven and a new earth. Can you get
a hold of that? I tell you, when you and I get
a hold of such a promise and hope in it, you know what it
will do to our hearts? It will make us leap for joy.
It will make us look at the things of this world as perishing things
of clay. castles in the sand that the
next wave will wash away. What has God promised? Heirs
have promised a kingdom. To who? To those who love Him. And in this kingdom, there'll
be no death. There'll be no physical death.
There'll be no physical death or spiritual death. Listen to
I John 2.25. This is the promise that He has
promised us, even eternal life. We have eternal life, but you
know we're hoping for it. We're hoping for a life in heaven,
in that kingdom, where we never shall die or grow weak or tired. Hope. Hope. What do we hope for? Only what God has promised. Only
what God has promised. I'm not hoping for 25 virgins,
are you? You know why I'm not hoping for
25 virgins? God never promised 25 persons. Did He? He promised a kingdom of righteousness,
a new heaven, a new earth, eternal life. That's what we hope for. We're saved by hope. Listen to
what the Lord Jesus said in this very familiar scripture in John
14. Let not your heart be troubled. I tell you, a good hope will
keep your heart from trouble. You know why Satan hates it when
the children of God take hold upon this hope and live the hope?
You know why he hates it? Because it relieves their hearts
from trouble. He wants you to be troubled.
He wants you to be vexed. He wants you to be anxious, because he can wound you that
way. But when you put on this helmet of salvation, Listen to
what it does. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Listen. In my Father's house
are many dwelling places. Heaven is a big place. We've
not been able to get outside our universe. And it's so large
they can't measure it. If we ever get outside this universe,
we'll see that heaven It has no bounds. It has no shores or
depths or heights. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. There's room. There's room. That's what he said. And listen
to this. If it were not so, I would have told you. The Lord Jesus
will not deceive us. He will not have us hoping in
something that He has not promised. He said, I promise you that my
Father's house is huge. It's not only a pleasant place
to dwell. Things pleasant to the eyes and
the senses. All the food, all the entertainment
that's wholesome and good, everything that's to be desired is there. And there's room. There's room. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And I go to prepare a place for
you, and if I do, I'll come again. and receive you unto myself."
There's our hope, brother. There's our helmet of salvation
we put on our head. He is coming again. He will receive
us unto Himself. Isn't that a wonderful hope?
Look here in 1 Thessalonians, where I was reading from our
text, every chapter And these five chapters ends with a comment
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look what Paul says in chapter
one, in verse ten. And to wait for his Son from
heaven. That's what hope is. We're waiting.
We're patiently waiting. Whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Look
in verse nineteen of chapter two. What is our hope? Our joy,
our crown of rejoicing, are not even you in the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? That's a good hope. Look what
he says in chapter 3 and look in verse 13. Begin in verse 13. Chapter 3, verse 13. To the end
He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before
God, even the Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
with all His saints." He's coming, and He's coming with His saints,
and He's coming for His saints. You say, Bruce, how could that
be? Well, how many saints are with Him this morning? Look at
all the saints from all the way back there in the Old Testament
up until now that's left this life and fell asleep in Jesus,
and they're resting there with Him. They're going to come with
Him. Because they're here too, you see. Their bodies are here.
And their souls, their spirits are coming back with Jesus Christ.
They're coming for their bodies. And I tell you, they're coming
for us, who are alive and remain. Look what He said in verse 15.
This we, chapter 4, verse 15, for this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of our Lord shall not go ahead of them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
a voice of the archangel, with a trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Those whose bodies are dead and
buried, they're going to rise first. Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Where I am, there you may be
also." What does this do to our minds? What does this do to our
poor, weak, and weary, well-thought minds? Conquers you one another. Comfort you one another. That's
how we defeat the devil. Comfort you, my people. This
is a comfort in hope. And he says over here in chapter
5 and verse 23, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,
and I pray, God, your whole spirit and your soul and body shall
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you. When did He start calling you?
Sometime in this lifetime. And He's been calling you ever
since, has He not? The ways He calls us by His providence, by
His Spirit, by His Word, by His people, He's always calling us
to come to Him. And you know there's another
calling that the saints will not miss. And that's when the
Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven with a shout. And the dead will hear His voice,
and they'll come forth with new bodies. Faithful is He that calleth
you who also will do it. Take your Bibles and turn to
some more scriptures with me right quick. Look in Hebrews
chapter 6, in verse 11. Brothers and sisters, I'm convinced
of something. I just know it for sure because
I see it in myself. One of the reasons that you and
I don't dwell upon these things, the object of our hope, is because
we don't search these promises out in His Word. If we just dwelt upon some of
these scriptures that I've read to you, especially scriptures
like 1 Thessalonians 4, His coming, John chapter 14, I'll come again
and receive you. If we search those scriptures
out and got these things in our hearts, We would live happy lives. This is a lively hope. We rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. And the reason I'm convinced
that we're not happier as saints, we're not taking time to search
these promises out and get a hold of them. That's why Paul encourages
us, he instructs us, put on the helmet. The hope of salvation,
we've got to put it on. It protects our minds. It strengthens
our intellect. Hope. Hope. What would we do
without hope? Our hearts would break, would
it not? And haven't you noticed this? When the grace of hope
gets in your heart so dim, don't you get discouraged? And then what happens? That's
when Satan gets the advantage of us. Oh, you might as well
give it up. Just give it up. You ain't got
nothing to hope for anyway. Look how bad things are. Where
is our hope? It's not in this lifetime. It's
not in this world. It's unseen. We've not received
it. It's yet to come. We live by
hope in these promises that God has promised to us. Now, somebody
will say, Bruce, I'm just not for sure that I've got a good
hope. Sometimes I'm doubtful, and one of the things that makes
me leery about hope, and I'm afraid I don't have a good hope.
Well, let me ask you this. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love Him? I mean, do you
love Him in your heart of hearts? Somebody said, I just don't know.
You know! We've heard that so much, haven't we? I just don't
know. You know. You know. Do you love the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, listen to what He said.
He has promised this kingdom to those who love Him. Do you love Him? Then you can
hope in His promises. Because if you love Him, He loves
you. That's why you loved Him. And you have this hope because
He loved you and gave you this hope. Therefore, if you love
Him, if you believe Him, then hope in His promises. And the
more you hope in these promises, I tell you, the stronger you'll
be in this battle against Satan and these enemies. Look here in Hebrews chapter
6. Look in verse 11. We desire, this is my desire
for you, that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end. But look at this. That
you be not slothful. Don't be sluggish. Don't be lazy.
Search these promises out. But followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. Look in verse 13. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, He swore by himself,
saying, Surely blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I
will multiply you. And so after he had patiently
endeared, he obtained the promise." Patiently endeared? What's he
talking about? After he had patiently endeared,
he obtained the hope. His hope was realized. The thing
he was hoping for. What was Abraham hoping for?
God made him a promise. You remember what the promise
was, don't you? He promised him a son. He said, Abraham, I'm
going to give to you the land of Canaan. I'm going to bless
you and in your seed, in your son, shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed. And Abraham said, Lord, I don't
even have a son. He said, you're going to have.
You're going to have. And your son, through your son,
the Savior's coming, and all the kingdoms, all the families
are going to be blessed. Five years went by, ten years
went by, fifteen years went by, twenty years went by, twenty-five
years went by, Abraham was ninety-nine years old. Sarah was 89 years
old. I visit the lady down in the
nursing home almost every day. She's 89 years old and she's
dried up, she's swiveled up. Do you think that woman could
ever get pregnant and have a child? I doubt it seriously. You know
what God said to Abraham and Sarah? Abraham, I'm going to
visit and Sarah's going to have your child. And in him, All the
nations of the earth are going to be blessed. And here Abraham
is 99 years old. And God appears to him and tells
him again, about this time next year when Sarah is 90 and you
are 100, Sarah is going to have your baby. And you call his name
Isaac. And Abraham staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief. You think heaven is pretty high,
don't you? Here we are in this world, and look at us. Can I
inherit a kingdom? Can I make my way up to heaven,
to that holy and happy place? Can I be accepted in those gates? Me? Wretched, miserable me. Well, you know something? By
the grace of God, I'm not going to stagger at the promises of
God. If He said, I'll be there with
Him forever, I'm going to believe what he says. And I'm going to
leave the accomplishment of that promise up to him. And that's
what you call the full assurance of hope. Abraham waited patiently,
and he obtained the promise. Are you waiting, dear child of
God? Are you hoping in what he's promised? Then you're waiting,
aren't you? You're waiting. Read only my text. Verse 16. Hebrews 6, for men
verily swerve of the greater, I swerve of the rock which is
broader. I swerve of this and swerve of that, swerve of my
mother's grave. We swerve of everything, don't
we? And an oath of confirmation to them settles all strife, settles
all disputes. Wherein God willed more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the unchangeableness, the immutability
of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. And look in verse 19, which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul. No wonder Satan can't overthrow
us. It anchors our soul. You know they have an anchor
that has two ends on it, don't they? One's in the ship and one's
on something that's firm that will hold the ship. One end of this hope is in us.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Where's that other end at? In
Christ in heaven. In Christ in heaven. And Christ
in heaven is pulling Christ in us to heaven. That's the anchor. Is that what he said? Look in
verse 20, "...whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus
made a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." We
have an anchor. Not built on notions. I have
a good hope. Not just emotions. It's a good hope. Let me give you five things quickly.
Just take a minute in closing. Don't shut your Bibles when I
say in closing. Don't shut your Bibles and shut
your mind down now when I say closing. Think on these five
things in regards to your hope. Think on these things. Earnestly,
brothers and sisters, think on these things concerning your
hope. First of all is this. There was
a time when you were hopeless. Look back on the time when you
were hopeless. Paul says there was a time when
you were without Christ and without hope in the world. What is it
to be without Christ? It's to be without hope. Hope
is nowhere else but in Jesus Christ. And Paul said you were
without Christ and without hope. Think about that. Think about
that. Don't forget Don't forget there
was a time in your life when you were hopeless. I look back
on my teenage years, and it's only by the grace of God that
I've made it through my teenage years. Almost got crushed to
death under snow. Two automobiles and cars absolutely
tore all to pieces, and me inside of it. Almost got drowned in
one time. And you know something? If I'd
have died, I'd have been without hope. I'd have died Christless. If you're here this morning and
you're without Christ, think about this. You're without hope.
You're without hope. You're without Christ. There's
hope nowhere else but in Jesus Christ. Think about this. When
you were hopeless and helpless, God gave you a good hope. When you were dead and trespassed
and sinned and you were hopeless, God came to you and by His Spirit,
through His gospel, He gave to you a good hope. Look at that. Turn with me right quickly back
over to 2 Thessalonians. Look in verse 16, chapter 2,
verse 16 of 2 Thessalonians. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us and
that everlasting consolation and good hope through His grace. God gave us a hope. If He hadn't
gave it to us, we'd never have it. Thirdly, consider this. Back over in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5, think about this. When the Lord Jesus Christ does
come, think what's going to happen to those Who don't know Him? Look in 1 Thessalonians, chapter
5, verse 2, "...yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night." Nobody's expected Him. Nobody but His people is
looking for Him. "...For when they shall say,
Peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape." Look at their
attitude. Peace and safety. That's a delusion,
ain't it? There is no peace in this world,
and there is no safety in this world, but there will be a world
saying right before Christ's coming, peace and safety. peace and safety, but sudden
destruction. Think about that, brothers and
sisters. When this world is on fire and the wicked are crying
for the rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of Him
that steps on the throne, your hope will be realized. Boy, it
will be worth some suffering in that day, won't it? Won't
you be glad in that day that you didn't cease to hope? in
the time of battle, that you held on, that you fought the
good fight of faith, you didn't give up? Oh, how thankful you'll
be in that day. And think of this, think of this. When you were dead in trespasses
and sins, and you didn't even know this, God had already appointed,
He already had set you aside. to give you a good hope. And
you didn't even know it. Look what he says in chapter
5 and look in verse 8 and 9. Let us who are of the day be
sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for the
helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but he has appointed us, he has set us aside, selected
us out to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. You didn't know that, did you?
You didn't even know that. You never even thought upon such
a thing. You couldn't have believed it anyway. When you were dead
in sins and hopeless, living in the devil's kingdom in bondage
to him, you didn't even know that the Eternal God had already
appointed you to salvation. Already appointed to give you
this hope. And lastly, brothers, think about
this. Think about what your hope costs.
Look in verse 10. Paul said there, to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we
wake or whether we sleep, we shall live together with Him. You know it never cost the Father
anything to elect us. It never cost the Spirit anything
to come and regenerate us. But it cost the Son everything.
It cost Him everything. For us to have hope, it cost
Him His life. Think about that. Think about
that when you think of your hope. One last passage of Scripture.
Look in Luke chapter 21. And this is what we'll read in
closing. Luke 21 and look in verse 25. Look at chapter 21 and look in
verse 25. The Lord is speaking about the
end of the world, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the
world. And He says here in verse 25, And I shall be signed in the
sun and in the moon and in the stars upon the earth, distress
of nations, with perplexity The sea and the waves roar. It doesn't
sound like peace, peace, does it? Peace, peace, safety and
safety. That's a delusion. Here's the
truth. Sort of reminds you of our day,
doesn't it? Nations going broke, wars and rumors of wars, perplexities. Verse 26, men's hearts fell on
them for fear and for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth, for the very powers of heaven shall be
shaken. And then shall you see the sun,
then shall you see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power
and great glory. That's our hope. And when these
things begin to come to pass, look up, look up. Ain't this strange language? Perplexities of nations. Look
up. Men's hearts fell on them for
fear. Look up! But Lord, how can we? Look at everything that's going
on around us. Your hope is not in these things.
Look up! Look up! Your hope is ready to
be realized. Your redemption draws nigh. Brothers and sisters, put on
the helmet. Put on this helmet. The hope
of salvation. God bless His Word. Let's pray.