Job asked this question one time. He said, if a man die, shall
he live again? If a man die, shall he live again? And he continued, he said, there's
hope for a tree. If you cut a tree down, there's
hope that it will sprout again. When the root or the stump looks
like there's no life in it at all, the tree's been cut down.
Yet if water gets to the root, It may grow again. But he goes
on and he says, but when man dies, he wastes away. He goes back to the dust. Life
is gone. Will he? Can he live again? If a man dies, will he live again? Well, the word of God plainly
teaches that we will live again. Listen to some of these scriptures.
Isaiah 26, 19. shall live. The dead shall live. Together with my dead body shall
they arise. Daniel, chapter 12, says, Many
of them that sleep in the breast of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. In the book of Acts, the Apostles
said there will be a resurrection of the dead. Both of the just
and the unjust. So the Bible says that man will
live again. And then when our Lord Jesus
Christ was walking on this earth, he raised three people from the
dead. He raised Lazarus, who had been dead several days, he
raised Jairus' daughter, and he raised the widow's son. And
then, of course, Christ himself arose from the two. When the
women went that morning to anoint the body of Christ They were
met at the open tomb by an angel who said, why seek ye the living
among the dead? He's not here. He's not here. He's risen. And if Christ, Paul
said, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say
some among you there is no resurrection of the dead? But I say unto you,
if Christ be not raised, then the dead rise not. If Christ
be not raised, our preaching is vain and your faith is vain. And we are false witnesses of
God, and those who perish trusting in Christ will never live again. But Christ is raised. I know,
I'm certain, I'm positive that we shall live again. We don't
die like animals. We're going to live again. The
scripture says that God breathed into man the breath of life,
and he became a living soul. gets disease and the body dies
and the body goes back to the dust from which it came, but
the soul goes back to God who gave it. God made man from the
dust of the earth and he breathed into that shell or body or whatever
you want to call it, the breath of life, and man became a living
soul. And he's going to continue to
be a living soul. His body may die and be buried, but his soul
goes back to God who gave it. And the resurrection of the dead
is no problem with me at all. That is not the problem. That's
not what I'm discussing this morning. I believe the dead shall
rise. I think most of you do. But what
concerns me in this hour is this. What will be my state in the
day of resurrection? What will be my state? What is
my hope of having part in that first resurrection? That's what
I'm interested in. Paul said that. He said that
if by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the
dead. I want to be raised. And I want to be raised in his
likeness. And I want to be raised to his
glory. And I want to spend eternity
in his presence, not separated eternally from God. Do I have
a good hope? I'm talking to myself, and I
hope you're asking yourself. Examine yourself, whether you
be in the faith. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. The resurrection doesn't concern
me. My part in the resurrection concerns
me. I believe the dead shall be raised.
I believe the dead shall live. I believe like Isaiah and Daniel
and Amos and all the rest of them, that there is going to
be a day of resurrection, that the sea will give up the dead
and death and hell will deliver up the dead and all men shall
live again. But I want to have a blessed hope of being raised
in his likeness. I want to know that he is going
to change my bow body into the likeness of his glorious body.
Now really, in all honesty, is not that the goal of all religion? Whatever the religion is, is
not that the goal of all religion, to live forever in happiness
and eternal glory? Is that not the goal of all religion?
And then tell me honestly, is not that the end of all faith?
Isn't that why we believe? I know we believe God and we
believe Christ, but life after death, is that not why we believe
free from disease and free from pain and free from death and
free from darkness and free from separation? Is that not the end
of faith, the salvation of our souls? That's what Paul said,
receiving the end of your faith or the goal of your faith, the
salvation of your soul. I'll admit it freely, in honesty,
that's the end of faith. I want to attain, if possible.
the resurrection of the dead. I want, if possible, to be like
Christ. I want, if possible, to live forever in his presence.
I want, if possible, to be a joint heir with the Son of God, if
at all possible. Is not that the reason for searching
the scriptures? Is that not why we read the Bible
and preach the gospel, in order to lay hold on eternal life?
Isn't that what Paul said two or three times in his writings
to Timothy? Lay hold, lay hold of eternal life, lay hold of
eternal life. Don't let go of eternal life.
Is not that your reason for listening to this program this morning?
It's probably something more entertaining, I'm sure. But is
that not your reason for listening? If we died like animals, if we
ceased to exist, would there be really any point to life at
all? Now be honest with me. Would there be any use even continuing
without any hope of eternal life? Would there be any use? Why not
put a gun to your head and end it all? If there's not any hope
of life eternal. If only in this life we have
hope. Paul said we are of all men most
miserable. I'm interested in that. Well,
where can we find some answers? I want some answers. I want some
for myself. I want some for the church of
which I'm pastor. I want some for you who listen
to this telecast. I want some answers. Where shall
I look for life, hope, health, assurance? Where shall I look?
The answer comes back, look to God. Look to God. God is the source of life. God
is life, light. In him there is no darkness or
death. All right, look to God. But how shall I look to God?
Where shall I find God? Well, you say, the heavens declare
the glory of God. I know the heavens declare his
glory, but not his grace. Well, you say, look to God. The
firmament shows his handy work. I know that, but not his redemptive
work. When I look at the firmament, when I look at the earth, when
I look at all things around, I see the marks of death, not
life. I see what I see in myself, a dying person. I see dying trees
and dying flowers and dying people. Well, God is understood by the
things that are made, I know that, true, his eternal power
and Godhead, but not his saving mercy and covenant grace. I've
got to look somewhere else. Where shall I find the answer?
You say, look to God. All right, I'll look to God.
But where am I going to find God? I'll tell you where to find
God. There's no other place to find
God, and that is in his word. In his word, you will find the
answer to every question regarding life, judgment, death, eternity. You will find the answer to every
question regarding redemption, righteousness, and resurrection.
You will find the answer to every question concerning salvation,
security, and sanctification. It's all right there in his word.
And I'm telling you this, that's the only certain place. That's
the only sure place. That's the only infallible source.
Any other source, voices, visions, or dreams, feelings, emotions,
or sentiment, even people, preachers and teachers, will deceive you.
God won't deceive anybody. He has no reason to. It's not
in his character to deceive. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. I am the Lord. He's holy, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He never changes. And the Prophet
said in Isaiah 8.19, direct the people to the word of God. Direct
the people to the word of God. Where shall people go to find
their God? Shall they go to wizards at Pete? Shall they go to fortune
tellers? Shall they go to those who read
the mind and the palm? Direct them to the word of God.
And if the preacher who is preaching is not preaching in accordance
with the word, listen to Isaiah 8.20. It's because there's no
light in him, no dawn and no morning. The rich man in hell. Our Lord said he lifted his eyes
and he cried, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to the earth to
warn my brothers lest they come to this terrible place. And Abraham
said to him on the authority of the master, they have Moses
and the prophets. They have the word of God. Let
them hear the word of God. Oh, but he said, Father Abraham,
They won't hear the word of God, but if someone arose from the
grave and appeared on earth, they'd repent, they'd hear. And
Abraham said, if they hear not the word of God, they will never
be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Lazarus was raised
from the dead. I don't read of any great revival
taking place in Bethany, where he lived. Jairus' daughter was
raised from the dead. I don't hear of any great revival
in Capernaum, where she lived. The widow's son was raised from
the dead, but I don't read of any great revival taking place
there in the funeral procession as they pass down the road to
bury a man who wasn't dead. Our Lord arose from the grave,
and the very men who had cried for his death paid the soldiers
to lie and say that he was not raised. To the Word of God, direct
the people to the Word of God. That's where we'll find some
answers. My friends, if we would have a hope a good hope, a true
hope, a sure hope of eternal life, we must go to the Word
of God. This is where it's found. I go to Colossians 1.27. If you
have your Bible, turn over there. This is Paul's subject, a hope,
a good hope. What is your hope? That's the
title of this message, what is your hope? What is your hope?
And Paul says this, listen, Colossians 1.27, Christ in you. That's the
hope of glory. This is the hope of glory. There
is no other hope. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. There is none other
name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
This is our hope. Christ is our hope. This was
Job's hope. Job is said to be the oldest book in the Bible.
I don't know. But Job said this many, many years ago, I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand in the latter
days upon this earth, and I shall see him, myself, not another,
These eyes, the worms destroy this body. I'm going to see my
Redeemer. That's my hope, a person. And
this was David's hope. He said, The Lord is my shepherd.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. He's with me. His rod and staff comfort
me. He prepares the table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. forever. The Lord is my shepherd. This was Simeon's hope when he
held a child Jesus in his arms there in the temple in Jerusalem.
He lifted his eyes to heaven and he said, Lord, now let us,
thy servant, depart in peace. These eyes have seen your salvation. Christ, that's the hope of glory. This was John's hope. He said,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Beloved, what hope,
what love that we should be called the sons of God. It does not
yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear, when
he, our hope, Christ, we shall be like him. And he that hath
this hope in him purifies himself." This was Paul's hope. My text
says in Colossians 127, "...to whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you." the hope of glory. Now, if you have
the time, I wish you'd take it. If you have the interest, I hope
that you do. If you have the patience, we'll
carefully weigh these words in our text, and we'll see if we
can find out what Paul is talking about. Paul spoke with such confidence,
he spoke with such assurance, he spoke with such strong dogmatism,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Let's see if we can find out
what he's saying. First of all, he says the hope of glory is
Christ. It's not a religious profession.
It's not the law. It's not my good work. It's not
human merit. It's Christ. He is the hope of
glory. Now, let's go back a few verses.
Take your Bible, Colossians 1. Just back up a few verses while
Paul identifies this person, Jesus Christ. We don't want to
be found placing our hope in another Jesus. We don't want
to be found trusting the Jesus of some man's imagination. We
don't want to be found trusting a Jesus that they've got hanging
on the walls everywhere, it looks like Wild Bill Hickok, you know.
We want to be trusting the Christ of the Bible. Let's see what
the Bible says about it. First of all, back in verse 13,
this Christ, who is the hope of glory, this Christ, he says
in verse 13, he's God's dear son. He's God's dear son. Or he's the son of God's love.
We're not speaking of a mere man. We're not speaking of a
mere prophet. We're not speaking of a mere
messenger. We're talking about God's dear son, the son of his
love. This is my son, God said. This
is my son. Not only that, but look at verse
14. He's not only God's dear son, but he's our Redeemer. Listen
to verse 14. In whom we have redemption, he
brought us back. What do you do when you redeem
someone? Well, you go down and pay the price, whatever the price
is on that object. You pay the price. You buy it.
It's yours. You ransom it. You give the man
the money and he gives you the object that you bought. Christ
redeemed us. He bought us from the law, which
had a claim on us. He bought us from the justice
of God, which had a demand on us. He bought us out of bondage,
paid the debt. You're not your own. You're bought,
he said. You're bought with a price. He redeemed us, not only that,
through his blood, but we have in him the forgiveness of our
sins. That's who we're talking about.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. This Christ is God's dear Son.
This Christ is our Redeemer. And not only that, but look at
verse 15. This Christ is the image of the invisible God. He's
not Joseph's son. He's not the illegitimate son
of a German soldier like that fellow wrote years ago. He's
the virgin-born Son of God who is the image, the very likeness,
the exact likeness of the living God. The visible revelation of
the invisible God is Jesus Christ. The disciple said, show us the
Father. And he said, he that has seen
me has seen the Father. Jesus Christ, I make no bones
about it, is God Almighty in human flesh. He was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. The
word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The exact image, the exact likeness of the living
God walked on this earth. That's who we're talking about.
And then verse 18, verse 17, he's the creator of all things.
Heaven was made by him and all its powers, visible, invisible. The angels were made by him and
worshiped at his feet. The world was made by him, for
him, through him, by him, and by him all things consist. All
creatures were made by him. He's the creator. And not only
that, verse 18 says he's the head of the Church. And my friends,
by the Church, it's meant all the redeemed of all ages. He
is the beginning of the Church, he is the root of the Church,
he is the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might
have the preeminence, not the pastor and not the bishop. And
not the cardinal, and not the priest, and not the pope, and
not anybody else. Jesus Christ, the head of the
church. The church only has one head. That's Christ. And that's
Christ the Lord. He's the head of the church.
And the church is the body. And you're all brethren. Don't
call any man master, he said. Don't call any man rabbi. Don't
call any man father. You're brethren. One is your
master, and one is your father. And we pray to him, our father.
We don't call anybody else Holy Father. There ain't but one Holy
Father, and he sits on the throne of glory. And Christ is the exact
image and likeness of the Heavenly Father. And not only that, verse
19, it pleased God that in him should all fullness dwell, all
life, all truth, all grace, all love, all righteousness, all
things are in Christ by the decree of God, by the design of God,
and through his death on the cross, all that comes from God
to men, all that God will do for men or make of men is in
Jesus Christ. That's where it is. God put it
there. God put it there. It pleased him to do it. We're
talking about this Christ, who is the hope of glory. Through
his obedient life, verse 20 says, he imputes to us a perfect righteousness. Through his sacrificial death
on the cross, he reconciled us to God. There is peace with God
in Christ. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He hath reconciled us to God
by his death, and of God are you in Christ. who has made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Outside of Christ,
none of those things are available to any son of Adam. It's all
vested in him. You'll come to Christ, or you'll
never come to God. You'll find Christ your refuge
and your rock, your strength and your hope, or you'll never
know the living God. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God shall never see life. Verse 23,
if you're in the faith of Christ, If you continue in the faith,
this is what verse 23 says, he has reconciled us to God by his
blood, he has presented us holy and unblameable through his cross,
if, that's a big little word, one of the biggest little words
there is, just two letters, but oh, how weighty, he has reconciled
us to God, he has presented us to God in his body, through his
blood, holy and unblameable, if you continue in the faith. That's what it says. And be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which hope is Christ. The gospel of Christ, the hope
of glory, the person of Christ, the hope of glory. But now wait
a minute, I can't quit until I get to this little two-letter
word. There's a very important little two-letter word right
on in our text, Colossians 1.27, Christ I am, in you, in you. the hope of glory. It's not Christ
in the covenant that's the hope of glory. Stay with me. Will
you listen? There is a covenant. Any man
who wants to know anything about redemption has got to know something
about covenant mercy. You study theology, which is
called the study of God, and you've got to study covenant.
God made a covenant with Adam. He made a covenant with Noah.
He made a covenant with Abraham. He made a covenant with Moses.
He made a covenant with Israel. He made a covenant with David.
He talks in the book of Hebrews about the surety of the everlasting
covenant, the blood of the everlasting covenant. There is a covenant
of mercy. This is my blood in the new covenant.
This is my body in the new covenant. Talking about the last will and
testament or covenant is only in force after a man dies. But
it's not Christ in the covenant. There is a blessed everlasting
covenant in which Christ Jesus, the Lord, has been given a people,
of which he is the surety. And his blood is the pavement.
But it's not Christ in the surety in the covenant that's your hope
of glory. And it's not Christ in the scriptures.
I know Christ is in the scriptures. Moses wrote of him. Abraham saw
his day. He's the theme of scriptures.
But it's not Christ in the scriptures that's my hope. Though without
Christ in the scriptures, I'd have no hope. It's not Christ
in the manger. Though he was born of a virgin,
though he was made flesh, though he dwelt among us, though he
walked on the earth, it's not Christ in the manger that's my
hope of glory. It's not Christ in the world,
though he lived a perfect life, obeyed the law on our behalf,
secured for us a perfect righteousness, nor is it Christ on the cross
that's my hope of glory. Though he was wounded for my
transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed,
but it is not, my friend, Christ on the cross that is my hope
of glory." He is on the cross and he died for somebody. He
redeemed somebody. He's going to have a people.
It's not Christ in the tomb, my scapegoat, that's my hope
of glory. It's not even Christ on the throne,
though there's one God and one mediator between God and man,
that's the man Christ Jesus. But it's not Christ on the throne
who is the hope of my hope of glory. My hope of glory and your
hope of glory, if it is a sure hope and a certain hope and a
good hope, is Christ in us. the hope of glory. Christ has
always been in the covenant. He's in the covenant whether
God saves or damns. Christ has always been the creator.
Christ has always been the virgin-born revelation of God. Christ has
always been the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
But my friend, if I have a hope of life eternal and a hope of
resurrection and a hope of being made like Christ, there's going
to have to be a life of faith, a heart of a reception of Christ
by faith, he's got to come in here. He's got to dwell in here. That's what the scripture says.
Paul said, God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his Son to me, no sir,
in me. What is Christ in you? What has
Christ believed in the man? I believe the record God has
given concerning his Son. I believe it. It's a revelation
God has made. He doesn't work apart from the
mind. I know faith is by the heart and through the heart,
but not apart from the understanding. God has given us an understanding.
Christ has come, and this is the true God, and this is eternal
life. I believe Christ in the mind, and then I receive Christ
in the heart. To as many as received him, to
them gave he the privilege of becoming the sons of God. Oh,
how one day Men may scoff now, they may laugh now, they may
ridicule now, but oh, how one day they wish they could hear
a sermon, a truthful message from the Word of God that would
carry with it some hope of glory. When all glory is gone, and all
hope of glory is gone, and like the drowning man reaching out
for just anything, even a straw, I would long to hear a sermon
that It tells us something about the hope of glory. It's Christ
received by faith in the heart, and it's Christ loved in the
soul. If any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
anathema, let him be accursed. It's Christ experienced in his
power, the peace of Christ, the joy of Christ, the rest of Christ
that floods the person. Somebody said you could cut into
a believer's mind, you'd find thoughts of Christ, you'd cut
into his heart, you'd find love for Christ, you'd cut into his
will, and you'll find a submission to Christ. And then this Christ
in you is Christ followed in perseverance. He is our love. He is our life. He is our hope.
We're under new management. We're new creatures in Christ
Jesus. We belong to him. Christ in you. It's not Christ
in your denomination. It's Christ in you. Not Christ
in your creed. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory.