All right, I'm going to introduce
my message with a few comments. Something I rarely do, but I'm
speaking tonight only to believers. Only to believers. Not to those
who do not believe. My message is directed this evening
to believers. Now here's the subject. Reasons
for good hope. why we have reasons for good
hope. And only a believer has a good hope. So my message is
directed to a believer. Am I a believer? Well, certainly
I am. Certainly I am. This Word of
God says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. That's me. That's you, isn't
it? I believe his word. I've heard his word. And I believe
on him who sent Christ. I believe on Christ who was sent.
I believe on him who sent him. So I'm a believer. Scripture
says in Romans 10, if thou shalt confess with our mouth Jesus
to be Lord. I've done that. I do that. And
believe in your heart. God raised him from the dead.
You'll be saved. I believe that. You believe that,
don't you? I confess Christ is their Lord.
Lord of glory, Lord of my life, Lord of all things. He reigns,
as Jim said, in his presence. God raised him from the dead.
I believe that. Don't entertain any doubt about
that. I'm a believer. We read a moment ago, you know
you're not redeemed with corruptible things, as Silver said. I know
that. If you open my mind tonight and try to find any belief at
all I have that I'm redeemed by what I do. You won't find
it. It's not there. I know, you know, I'm redeemed
not with corruptible things, and I know by whom I am redeemed,
by the blood of Christ. You know that, I know that. I'm
a believer. And let me read you a passage
in Acts 13. This describes exactly my confidence
in faith. Right here, Acts 13, verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus, and by him all
them believe." Now, you believe that? That's the thought process. You're justified. You're justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. So I, you know, the scripture,
Paul said, examine yourself, whether Christ be in you, except
you be a reprobate. Well, I examined myself by the
word of God. I'm a believer. And I think most
of you, practically all of you here tonight, identify with this,
these scriptures. I'm a believer. I'm a believer. All right, the second word, the
first word is a believer. I'm a believer. You're a believer. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. He's the only Savior. The other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. None other
ever, none other name given under heaven, given among men whereby
we must be saved. Now here's the second word, and
I'm not dealing with this in the message, evidences that I'm
a believer. I say I'm a believer, but there
are evidences that I'm a believer. And here's one of the evidences.
No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Spirit. You just
don't believe he's Lord unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to
you. Lord, I mean. Eternal Lord. Sovereign Lord.
Unchangeable Lord. Reigning Lord. Victorious Lord. Conquering Lord. He's Lord without
any Stipulations are doubt. He's Lord. Listen to this. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. An evidence that you're a believer
is you love Christ. Isn't that right? By this shall
all men know you, my disciples, if you love one another. Love
Christ, love one another. We know we've passed from death
unto life because we love Christ and the Brethren. That's evidences.
That's evidences. That's not the reason, I'm saying,
but that's evidence, I'm saying, and a believer. Thy word is a
lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. I love thy word, David
said. A believer loves the word of
God. That's evidence that he's a believer. I was talking to
a dear old friend in his early nineties. Sometimes when our
people get up older, they entertain some doubts about their relationship
with God. Doubts that maybe we're not as
sharp as we used to be or as clear in our thinking as we used
to be and we begin to look at our old life, you know, and all
the mistakes we made and think, well, maybe I'm not a believer.
Like, you know how that works. You who are that old. But anyway,
I was sitting talking to him, and he was expressing some apprehension
about his relationship with God. And I looked over there, and
there was his tape recorder and a stack of tapes. He was living
in a rest home. And I said, you still sit here
all day long listening to tapes? Oh, yeah. He said, I love my
tapes. I love the Word. I love messages. I love the gospel.
I said, you believe a lost man would sit there and listen to
tapes of the preaching of the gospel of Christ, although, Lord,
you neither think that an unconverted, unsaved, unbelieving man would
rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ's nonsense. I said, that's
one of the strongest evidences in the world that you know Christ
as you love his word. Never get enough out there. He
just grinned. He said, well, I guess so. But that's so. No man can call
him Lord, that's in evidences, but by the Holy Spirit. We love
Christ, we know we've passed from death unto life, we love
the Brethren, that's the love of God shed and brought in your
heart by the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord said to his
disciples one day, for whom do men say that I am? And they had
a lot of ideas about who Christ was, but he said, whom do you
say that I am? Who do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? What
do you say? Well, Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Messiah,
the Promised One, the Redeemer. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. And our Lord said, Blessed are
you. That's an evidence that you're
blessed, because flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. But
my Father, which is in heaven. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? Flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you, my father did.
And here's the final evidence. That one day he fed and preached
to many thousands of people. And he offended them. He offended
them. He talked about his sovereignty
and his power and he's the bread of life and grace of God in him, and they
began to walk away. And finally they were all gone
but the twelve disciples. And he turned to them and said,
Will you go away? Will you also go away? Here's
an evidence. Peter said, To whom shall we
go? Will you go away? Then you're
not a believer. Will you find another part? Then
you're not a believer. When you quit Christ, you're
not a believer. Peter adds it, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life, and we believe and are sure. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Now those are evidences. So I'm
a believer, aren't you? I'm a believer. I'm a believer
according to the scripture and according to the evidences. But
what I'm talking about tonight is reasons for the hope. that I have, and I'll ask you
to turn to 1 Peter 3. I'm not talking tonight about
evidences. I'm talking about reasons. Reasons. He says in 1 Peter 3, verse 15,
But sanctify the Lord God in your heart, and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that's in you, just hope that's in you. with meekness
and fear. And we shouldn't mind at all
if someone asks us to give them a reason of the hope that we
have of eternal life. If I don't have a reason, then
it's doubtful that I have a hope. And that reason that I give must
be supported by the Word of God. So I welcome that inquiry. And
I'm going to give you tonight five reasons that I have a hope. And I'm taking them from Paul's
confession and his reason in Romans chapter 8. Here they are,
five reasons for the hope. You ask me, give me a reason
for the hope that you have of eternal life. I'll give you five
reasons that Paul gives right here in Romans chapter 8. In
verse 28 he begins with these words, and we know We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom
He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What you would say to these things?
Well, here's the first one. My first reason. If God be for
us, who can be against us? That's the first reason I have
hope of eternal life. That when I leave this earth,
I have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
Because God's for me. God's for me. God's for me. Our assurance does not begin
with or rest upon anything that we've done. I didn't say that
I have a reason. I have a hope of eternal life
because I'm a church member, or I made a profession, or I
was baptized, or I preached, or I did this. My assurance doesn't
start with me. It starts with God. It starts
where my salvation began, with God. It's God before me. If God
be pardoned. When someone asks you for a reason
of the hope that's in you, don't begin with something you did,
or you felt, or you experienced. That's no reason. Begin with
what he did. With what he did. God foreknew
me, predestinated me, called me, justified me, and will glorify
me. And he's for me, and therefore
I have a reason for hope. It wasn't my love for him, but
his love for me. It wasn't my will that brought
me to Christ, it was his will. It wasn't my works that saved
me, it was his works. Turn to Ephesians 2. Now hold
that place there in Romans, I'm coming back. But this is my first
reason of the hope. God's for me. Ephesians chapter
2. Listen. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. The faith
is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Repentance
is the gift of God. It's the goodness of God that
led us to repentance. God was for us. He gave us repentance. He gave us faith. It's the gift
of God. It's not of works that any man
should boast. We're His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus on two
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. It's his love that drew me. It's his will that called
me. It's his work that saved me.
And I persevere also by that same power. Did you notice what
Brother Jim read a moment ago in 1 Peter 1 about perseverance? He said over here in 1 Peter
1 verse 4, we are begotten again unto an inheritance, that's glory,
an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that faith is not
a way, reserved in heaven for you who are kept. We don't keep ourselves, we are
kept by the power of God through faith. So when they ask me a
reason Why I have eternal life and how I know I have eternal
life, I don't begin with myself. If you begin with yourself, that's
when you entertain doubts. If you begin with yourself, you
falter. That's when we start talking
about our experiences and our works and our feelings, then
we're not on good ground. We start where Paul did here.
If God be for me, who can be against me? Who can be against
me? That was David's hope. Let me
turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 23. And listen to David here. This
is David's confession on his deathbed. 2 Samuel 23, verse
1. It begins this way. These are
the last words of David, the son of Jesse, the man who was
raised on high, the anointed of God, the sweet psalmist of
Israel. He said, Verse 5, Although my house be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. Whom he predestinated he called,
whom he called he justified, whom he justified he glorified,
ordered in all things. This is my salvation. And this
is all my desire, although we make it not to grow. It doesn't
seem to prosper in the eyes of men, but it grows in the eyes
of God. That's the first reason. All
right, back to Romans 8. Here's the second reason that Paul gives
for our good hope. Verse 32. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, every believer,
How shall he not with him also freely give us all that? This
entire Bible is about one person. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. The entire Bible is about the
Lord Jesus. The Old Testament talks about someone will come
who is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who is a woman's
seed, who's a king like David, prophet like Moses. He'll come.
The apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, say, He has come. Behold the Lamb of God. The epistles
say, He'll come again. He will come again. And our Lord
turned to Luke 24. When our Lord spoke to his disciples
after his resurrection, he taught them the message of
the Old Testament scriptures. And here in Luke 24, verse 26, Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into glory? And beginning at Moses,
in the book of Genesis, and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them, in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
That's what the scripture's all about, about Christ. And then
in verse 44, and he said to them, these are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets
and the psalms concerning me. Christ. All right, so Paul says
here, if God spared not his own son, but delivered him up as
he prophesied, as he typified throughout the whole Old Testament,
How shall ye not with him in his death, burial, and resurrection
give us all things for which Christ suffered?" That's what
our Lord prayed in John 17. Let's look at John 17 a moment. He prayed about the things which
he had done. This is our reason for hope.
It's God's for us and Christ is for us. Christ's work is for
us. In John 17, verse 4, he said,
Father, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've finished the
work you gave me to do. Verse 6, I've manifested your
name to the men you gave me out of the world. Verse 8, I've given
them thy words. I've given unto them the words
which you gave me. They have received them, and
they know that I came from thee, and they have believed that thou
didst send me. Verse 9, I pray, Father. And verse 11, and now
I know more in this world, but they are. And I come to thee,
Father, teach through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me, that they may be one. Now verse 24, Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, but
our love is me before the foundation of this world. Now then, if Christ
did all that for us, his people, Paul says this, how shall he
not with him freely give us all things? All things. What Christ purchased is ours. He cannot fail. I was reading
over here in Isaiah, chapter 40, the other day in scripture. If you'll turn over there and
look at it, in Isaiah 40, right along this line, Isaiah 40, verse
10. Isaiah 40 verse 10. Behold, the
Lord God will come with strong hand. He's speaking about Christ. And his arms shall rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He shall
feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arms. He shall carry them in his bosom.
He shall gently lead those that are with young. Do you believe
he'll fail in that? Do you believe the Father will
not give him all these things we read in John 17 that he did?
The Father will not reward him? His reward is with him when he
comes. Not talking about my rewards, it's talking about his reward.
Turn to Isaiah 62 and listen to the same thing. His reward
is with him. In Isaiah 62 verse 11. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, say to the daughter of Zion, say
to the church, Behold, our salvation cometh."
This is Christ. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself. How much of this church will
he lose? How much of this body of Christ
will he not receive? How many of these people for
whom he prayed, for whom he died, to whom he gave the word, to
whom the Father gave him, are you going to be the one he loses?
No. He said, All that my Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh out of no wise cast
out. I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he has given me I will lose nothing.
That's my hope. He has spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, all that the Father giveth me."
All. How shall he not with him, pray
thee, give us what he purchased, what he bought, what's his reward?
Listen, let me read the rest of that verse. Say to the daughter
of Zion, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation
cometh, and his reward is with him, with him, his works before
him. And they shall call them the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. Thou shalt be called
sought out, a city never forsaken." That's my reason. I'm a believer. And there are evidences to me
that I'm a believer. But the reasons I'm a believer
is He's for me. God's for me. God chose us, redeemed
us. Christ died for us. And Christ
is going to have what He purchased. That's just so, that's my second
reason. And that'll stand. Go back to my text, Romans 8.
Now what shall we say to these things? I say, if God be for
me, who can be against me? Secondly, I say, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, every believer. This is my Father's will, of
all which he hath given me, I'll lose nothing. How shall he not
also, with him also freely give us? All these things he gave
to us in Christ. Now here's my third reason for
our good hope. Who's going to lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now
who are God's elect? Well, we just saw them up there.
They're the ones that he chose in Christ. They're the ones whom
he called by spirit. They're the ones whom he justified
by his blood. They're the ones whose names
are written in the book of life and whom he'll glorify. That's
who God's elect are. Well, are they not chargeable?
Oh, the answer is yes. They're certainly chargeable.
We're chargeable with Adam's sin. We sinned in Adam. The whole
human race sinned back then. We're charged with our own sins
and shortcomings and infirmities and afflictions. We have plenty
of them. We're charged with faults and
failures after God calls us. Plenty of them. Too many of them. Are we chargeable? Yes. With
all these things. Second, does no one charge them? Oh, yes. Yeah, there's people
that charge. Satan charges you. He's accused of the brethren.
He stood before God one time and railed on Job, you remember? And I expect he does the same
thing about the Jobs that are here. Other people charge them. People
of the world charge them. The religious world says, you're
fools. The religious world says, you're
fanatics. The religious world says, your
God's not my God. They charge themselves. They
say, oh, the Christian man that I am, are they chargeable? Yes.
Does no one charge them? Oh, yes, Satan does. People do. They charge themselves. What
I would do, I do not, oh wretched man that I am. I wish I was perfect,
don't you? Well, do these charges avail
anything? No. No, sir. Why don't they avail
anything? The answer is given right here
in verse 33. Who shall avail anything to the charge of God's
elect? A lot of people. Does the charge stick? No, sir.
Why? God justified it. God justified them. How did he
justify them? Well, it wasn't by their works.
It wasn't by just teaching them. He justified them by the sacrifice
of himself. Turn to Romans 3. Listen to this. Now, this is
where we find a lot of comfort. Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law. Every man, but if he's stopped, mine, yours,
everybody else's, all the world will become guilty before God.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, by the works of religion,
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is
the knowledge of sin. What is to be justified? It means
not guilty. Justified means not guilty. All
right, read on. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. being witness for the law and
the prophets, it's even the righteousness of God which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ, by the obedience of Jesus Christ, by the work
of Jesus Christ, by the blood of Jesus Christ, by the holy
life of Jesus Christ. That's how we are justified,
how we become righteous, and it's unto all and upon all them
that believe. There's no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, but we are justified,
not guilty, completely righteous, freely, by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Come, let us reason together.
Oh, your sins be discarded, I'll make them white as snow by the
blood of Christ. our hope, God's for us. God's going to give Christ everything
he purchased. He purchased us. God justifies. The highest court, the highest
tribunal in all the universe, the holy God of heaven has pronounced
us justified. Near, so near to God, nearer
you cannot be. In the person of his Son, you're
as near as he, at his right hand. With his spotless garments on,
we're as holy as God's only Son. That's my reason. Fourthly, who
is he that condemneth? Paul looked in every direction. Boy, this man Paul, if anybody's
going to be condemned, it'd certainly be him. He was a hater of Christ. He was a persecutor of the church.
He literally killed people who believed what you believe. He
was a religious devil is what he was. He was just extremely... When they stoned Stephen, the
first martyr in the early church, this man, Saul of Tarsus, consented
to his death. And that proud Pharisee was too
self-righteous to take up stones and take part in the stoning.
He held the coats of the fellows that did. But you know something, that
very man, and you look back at your life and you see things
you're ashamed of, I just imagine the Apostle Paul spent a lot
of hours ashamed of himself. when he stood there and watched
that godly man get his brains dashed out. And all he had to
do was say a word and he would have stopped him. All Saul of
Tarsus would have had to do was say, stop, and they would have
everyone stopped. He had that much authority. You know that,
isn't that true? But he stands before God's throne
and says, who can condemn me? He looks into the open jaws of
hell and says, what demon can condemn me? He looks at these
brethren in the church that he persecuted and says, who can
condemn me? He looks at the world about him and says, come on,
who is he that condemns me? Come on, speak up. How in the world can a man have
that kind of confidence when he gives it to us? Listen, it's
Christ that died for me. It's Christ that died. Do you
realize the impact of that statement? It's Christ that died. It's not
just a Christian martyr. It's not just a good man. It's
not just a reformer. It's the anointed, beloved, only
begotten Son of God who bore my sins in his body on the tree
and took the sword of God's wrath into his very soul. He made his
soul an offering for sin, and he died for us. You can't condemn me. He died
for me. takes another step, he said, yea, rather, he's risen
again. And when God who put our said
offering on the altar of the cross, God, it pleased God to
bruise him, and it took him down and buried him, it was God himself
who raised him from the dead. He raised our substitute, he
raised us in him, he raised that crucified representative of his
people. He raised him, and he said to
the whole world, I accept him, my approvals on what he did,
and those for whom he did it. Who can condemn me? It's Christ
at the time. And rather, he's risen again. And he's even, now think about
this, he's even at the right hand of God. This man, this man,
human being, born of a woman, walked on this earth in human
flesh, bled like I bleed, died like I die, was buried like I'll
be buried. This person, this man, is at
the right hand of the majesty on high, and I'm in him. You
talk about reasons for hope, and then somebody says, well
I believe I'll be saved and in heaven because I accepted Jesus.
Well that's a pretty weak That's weak beside this. Well, I remember
I was nine years old. I walked down the aisle with
all the rest of them and accepted Jesus and got baptized and joined
the church. I paid my tithes and I've gone
to Sunday school and I've preached and I've sang specials. Boy,
that's pretty weak. Who is he that condemned me?
Well, I rededicated my life a dozen times. I've done the best. That's
pretty weak. Paul says, who is he that condemned
me? Christ the God. I died in him. And not only died,
but God raised him. And God not only raised him,
but in his right hand is my great high priest, my advocate with
the Father, and my mediator, the only mediator between God
and man. But he's not through, listen.
And he makes intercession for us. He calls my That's my reason why I'm going
to be in glory. When I lie down here in that
casket in just a few months or years, you just remember what
I just said. My reasons for a good hope is
he's for me. And Christ is going to get what
he bought for me. I'm going to get what he paid
for, his reward. And God justified me. I wouldn't justify myself,
I'd be like Paul, I'm the chief of sinners, but he justified
me. It doesn't matter what I think, it matters what he thinks. He
justified me. And not only that, Christ died
for me. And rears again, and ascended to the right hand of
God, and he said, Peter, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. He said, I don't pray for the
world, I pray for them which thou hast given me. Look here,
he didn't make intercession, he make it. He make it. His very
presence there is our assurance. His very presence there. A man
asked a friend one time, are you still saved? He said, is
Christ still at the right hand of God? He said, yeah, I'm still
saved. As long as he's there, I'm there. I'll be there as long
as he's there. Here's my last reason. These
are reasons. Who's going to separate me from
the love of God? Tribulation, we've gone through
some of that, haven't we? We're going to go through some
more. But that's not going to do it. Distress, I've been distressed
and I'm sure I will be again. You will too. Distressed over
a lot of things, mostly me. Persecution, what they say, but
what they say is not going to make a difference. Famine, nakedness,
Peril soweth, as is written, for thy sake we kill all the
day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. But in all these things, we're more than conquerors. Because we love him? No, because
he loves us. Through him that loved us. I'm
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, No things present, no things to come, anything in
the future. No height, no depth, if I left anybody out, no other
creature can separate me, you, believers, from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus. So if anybody ever asks you again,
how do you know you're saved? Say, I'll give you five reasons. Christ suffered for me. God's
going to give him what he wants. God justified me in Christ. Almighty God justified me. And Christ died for me. And God loves us. Nothing can separate us from
his love. All right. I hope that's helpful. It helped me. And you quit when
you start talking about being saved. Just don't start with
you. Just leave you out of it. Because when he purposed to save
you, you weren't even around. You hadn't done anything good
or evil when he purposed to save you. That's what he said about
Jacob Esau. They weren't even around. And
when Christ died, you weren't around either. Your salvation
was complete in Christ. We are complete in Him. That's
it. Now then, stop this up and down
stuff and rest in Him. Find some peace. All right, let's sing a song
and we'll go home. Number 224, that's a good one. I know whom
I have believed. That's it. All right, let's stand
while we sing.