If you will, let us open our
Bibles together to the letter of Colossians, Colossians chapter
1. I want to read these first eight
verses this morning. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother. To the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and of the love which you have to all the saints. For the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven Where have you heard before in
the word of the truth of the gospel? which is common to you
as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth
also in you, since the day you heard of it and knew the grace
of God in truth. As you also learned of Epiphas,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. Now, these verses, of course,
began the letter which the Apostle Paul wrote from prison in Rome
to the church at Colossae. He addressed it to the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ. Colossae was a city of Asia Minor,
and it was from this man that he named in verse number seven,
Ephraos, that they had learned, they had heard and learned the
gospel. And Paul had heard of their faith.
Paul had never seen these people to whom he's writing. They had
never seen his face. And yet he had heard of their
faith in Christ Jesus and of their love to all saints. Those are two graces that always
go together. They always go together, faith
and love. When a person hears the gospel
and is called by what men call God's effectual call, there's
a general call that goes out every time the gospel is preached. Everywhere the gospel is preached,
there's a general call that goes out to everyone. Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. But there is an effectual
call. That's a general call. There
is an effectual call. When the gospel comes to a person,
not just in word, but in power and in demonstration of the Spirit
of God, and with that effectual call, men are given both faith
and love. We call that the new birth as
well. But everyone who is called effectually
has faith, first of all, believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusts
in him. And at the same time, love. Look with me, keep your places
here, but look over to 1 John just a moment. 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. These are two
twin graces. In 1 John 4 and verse 7, the
apostle wrote, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. You see, when a person is born
again of the Spirit of God, he not only is in union with Christ
by faith, But we love God. We love God. Before a person
is saved, and I know when I say this, some of you probably are
going to think, well, that's not so. That's not true. Yes,
it is. Yes, it is. Before a person is
born of the Spirit of God, he is enmity with God, an enemy
of God, hates God. Oh, he never probably would,
most people today would. They'd never shake their fist
in the face of God, but that's what's in our heart by nature. Depravity, rebellion, alienated
from God, the life of God. But when a person is saved, when
a person is born again, immediately we love him. And not only do
we love him, but we love them also who are begotten of him. That is our brothers and sisters
in Christ. Now these two graces, as I said,
they always go together and they have another grace that comes
along with them. And that's hope. These are called
the three cardinal graces, faith, hope, love. Look back to, or
look over rather, to 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Verse two, the apostle to this
church wrote, we give thanks to God always for you all, making
mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. in our
Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. So these three graces come together,
faith, love, and hope. Now, if you look in our text
back here in Colossians chapter one, the apostle mentions hope
here, but it's not the grace of hope he's talking about. Look
with me, if you will. Verse four, since we heard of
your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to
all the saints, now here it is, for the hope, not the hope which
is in you, notice this, not the hope that is in you, that's the
grace of hope, but for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. The hope which is laid up for
you in heaven. What is that hope that's laid
up for every child of God? Well, it is to be with Christ
in our Father's house. When a person is saved, we begin
eternal life. And I think we may be mistaken
when we think about a believer dying. A believer doesn't die. Not really. This physical body,
it may pass into death, but a believer doesn't die. The Lord Jesus Christ
told Martha, he that believeth in me shall never die. I mean,
when a person is saved, we have eternal life, and that life will
never end. Now, we'll go out of this world,
and this hope which is laid up for us in heaven is that hope. You know, the Apostle Paul in
1 Corinthians, he said, if in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men most miserable. The gospel is good
tidings of great joy. And those good tidings include
the fact, the promise, the truth that We will be with Christ. We will leave this world of sorrow
and sin and everything else that's connected with it and go home. Go home to be with our Father.
Go home to be with our Savior. We shall enjoy eternal life in
heaven with Him. And this is what the Apostle
Paul meant in Philippians when he wrote concerning himself. He said, I'm in a straight between
two things, either to go home or to stay here. And he said
this, having a desire to depart. That's what I desire. I desire
to depart this world, Paul said. To desire, having a desire to
depart, now listen, and to be with Christ, which is far better. You see, it's good now, eternal
life, knowing God, walking with God, having fellowship with God.
It's good. But when we go to be with him,
it's going to be far better. Having a desire to depart and
be with him, which is far better. Now this text reminds us that
heaven is a real place. You know, some people try to
say, well, heaven's just a state of being. No, heaven is a locale. It is a real place. That's what
our Lord told his disciples. I go to prepare a place for you. It's a real place. Now, I know
that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's one with the Father and
one with the Holy Spirit. He is eternal. And being eternal,
the eternal God, as God, He's everywhere. He's here this morning. And He's outside this building.
And you cannot go anywhere in God's creation where God isn't. He's already there. He's everywhere
present. But as a man, the God-man, He
ascended under the Father, and that's a place where he is bodily
today. Heaven is a real place. Paul spoke about being caught
up to the third heaven. Now, we know there are the atmospheric
heavens, the starry heavens, and then the third heaven, which
is also called Paradise by the Apostle Paul, and also our Lord
used that term. Some of you are too young to
remember this, but the first time they put a man up in space,
the Russians did, and he came back and he said, I didn't see
God. I was out there in space. He said, I didn't see God. Well,
he hadn't gone far enough yet. That didn't prove anything except
his ignorance. That's all, his unbelief. I don't
see how any man can deny the existence of God. Do you? In fact, I really don't believe
there are any real atheists. I believe there are some people
trying to convince themselves there's no God, because they
know if there is a God, He is their God, and they are responsible
to Him, and yes, they will meet Him one day. I know that. But there's a third heaven. There's a place where the throne
of God is. You say, is that a literal throne?
I don't know if it is or not. But I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ ascended bodily, bodily up into heaven. And heaven is
a real place. Now this morning, I want to remind
us of six things about the believers hope that is laid up for us in
heaven. the believer's hope that is laid
up for us in heaven. The first is, our hope that is
laid up for us in heaven is we will see Christ. We will see
Christ. He told the dying thief that
day, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Paul said to
depart and be with Christ. We read about his life in this
world. As he came into this world, though
he was rich, he became poor. All the glory, all the glory
that he had always experienced with the Father, he laid that
aside. He veiled that glory and came
into this world as a man. And we read about his life in
this world, it was a life Described as a man of sorrows. A man of sorrows. Have you ever
had sorrow? I'm sure all of us have. You ever lost someone close to
you? Someone you loved? The sorrow you felt? Don't you
know his life in this world a man of sorrow when he saw what sin
had done to his creation, the unbelief, the depravity, the
wickedness. He was a man of sorrow and acquainted
with grief. You know, when you make your
acquaintance with someone, you shake hands with them. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he shook hands when he came into this world
with grief. The unbelief. When he stood beside
the tomb or outside the tomb of Lazarus and there was Mary
and Martha, his sisters, weeping. He'd been dead for four days
and the Lord Jesus Christ wept. We don't know what caused him
to weep. May have been many things. The
unbelief, maybe. just the sorrow that he saw in
these two sisters, he experienced with them. He may be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. Paul said, we don't have a high
priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. When you suffer, when you go
through difficulties and sorrows, don't you know you have one there
who can be touched with that. And you go to him in prayer,
you go to that throne of grace with him. What comfort does he
vouchsafe unto us, graciously give unto us, just knowing. People say, well, you don't know
what I'm going through. I don't. I don't. But I know someone who knows.
I know someone who knows. But what I'm saying is we're
going to see him one day, but he's no longer a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. He's now exalted to the Father's
right hand. And to be privileged to see him
who loved us and gave himself for us, who's washed us from
our sins in his own blood, to see him now, not as a man of
sorrows, but as the Lord of glory. Oh boy, that gets me excited
just thinking about seeing Him no longer as He walked through
this earth and as men spit upon Him and nailed through His hands
and His feet, but lifted up to the highest glory. Oh, to see
that. Turn back with me to Psalm 24
just a moment. Psalm 24, beginning with verse
7. We have to believe that this
is the Lord returning home. You know, he went out there with
his disciples, the scripture says, and they watched him and
he ascended into the clouds. And the angel said, this same
Jesus, he's coming again. But as he ascended out of the
sight of men, but not out of the sight of heaven, the saints
of God who were already there, and the holy angels. Listen to
this. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. He was crowned the King of sorrows
when he was here in this world. When he ascended back to his
father, no, he's now the King of Glory. Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord! The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, strong and mighty. Lord mighty in battle, he's returning
the victor. He's come into this world and
done battle with sin and death and hell and the grave and conquered
all. He's come back victorious, yes. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. King of Glory shall come in."
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts. That word
host means armies, doesn't it? Yea, the millions upon millions
of angels, holy angels. He is their Lord. He's the Lord
of His people. He's Lord and Savior. He's our
Lord and Savior. And oh, one day, this is the
hope we have to leave this world and to be there with those to
praise Him and worship Him, to join in that hymn that they sing
in heaven, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. We'll be able to fit right in.
If you're one of his, when you leave this world, you just fit
right in to the choir in heaven. There's a place there, ASAP. It's reserved for you. RSV, rather. It's reserved for you. Nobody
else can sit there. No one else can be there. God
chose you. Christ redeemed you, the Holy
Spirit called you, and now you're called home. This is a hope that's
laid up for us in heaven. First of all, to see Christ,
to be with him. Second, we will have increased
knowledge. This is our hope. Our knowledge,
and we sang this just a few minutes ago in one of those hymns, faintly
now we see him. through a glass, a dark glass. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul said,
For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now know in part, but then I
shall know even also as I am known. There's a comparison there
in that text, now and then. Now we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I shall know even as I also am known. How am I known? How are you known? God knows
everything about you. He cares for you. He knows how
many hairs are on your head. You're known, but there's a lot
about God we don't know. And there's a lot about God's
providence that we don't understand, that's for sure. But oh then,
we shall know as also we are known. How does he know us? He knows us perfectly. And our
knowledge of him will be perfect. It will not be complete because
God is infinite. And we'll never be infinite.
We'll always be finite creatures, understand that. Our knowledge of God and God's
ways, God's counsels and God's purpose, it will continue to
increase while the ages roll, thousands, millions of years
in this world. But in eternity, there is no
time, but we'll always be increasing in our knowledge of God. And
the more we know of him, the more we're going to love him.
You can't know God and not love him. You can say you know him
and not love him, but you cannot know God and not love him. He's
just so lovable. He's just so loving and everything
about him. And as we increase, as our knowledge
increases there in glory, this is a hope that's laid up for
us in heaven, to know him. In this world, as believers,
we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, but in heaven, we
will continue to grow in grace and knowledge of him. His perfections,
the counsels of his infinite wisdom, will continue to be unfolded
unto us. And things that are dark to us
now, things that we can't understand, It'll be plain. It'll be plain,
then. Why you had to experience what
you experienced. And you're apt to think, well,
God doesn't love me. He wouldn't have to. Oh, no.
Don't ever think that. It's out of his love that he
has sent that to you. Whatever it is, no matter how
hurtful it is, Don't ever let Satan whisper to you, oh, he
doesn't love you, or you wouldn't experience that. He wouldn't
let you go through that. No, it's his good love, his great
love that sent that to you because he loves you, because he loves
you. The third thing about this hope
is we will be like him. Not only will we be with him,
and not only will our knowledge be increased, but we're going
to be like him. David, in one of the Psalms,
he said, as for me, I remember this is a man who was a king.
This is a man who had everything this earth could give, I assume,
as far as the riches of this world, the things of this world,
and the power, and prestige, and all of that. And yet, he
said, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I
shall be satisfied. When, David, when will you be
satisfied? When I awake with thy likeness. That's when I'm gonna be satisfied.
When I awake with the likeness of Christ. You know, in Romans,
Paul says, for whom he did foreknow, that is, those God loved from
eternity, chosen Christ, He did also predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. That's the hope that's laid out
for us, isn't it? To be like Christ. Not only to
be with him, but to be conformed to his image. To appear there
clothed in his righteousness. The righteousness of Christ.
Can you believe that? the righteousness of Christ,
a perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ, to appear there without
spot, without wrinkle, unreprovable in God's sight, to be like Christ. Fourth, the hope that's laid
up for us in heaven, we will be free from all annoyances. What do I mean by that, annoyances? Well, we're going to leave this
old man here. This old man that has fallen and loves sin, we're
going to leave that behind. We'll be free from all annoyances. There'll be no more temptation
to sin because sin cannot enter there. And then not only that,
but do you ever have a doubt? Most Christians do at times,
sometimes doubt. We don't doubt Christ. We don't
doubt who he is, not if you've been saved by the grace of God.
You'll never doubt that. But my relationship to him, there'll
be no more doubts. There'll be no more doubts. That'll
all be in the past. No more fears. You know, the
scripture says there's no fear in love, but perfect fear, perfect
love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. And I know
you've all probably heard this before, but someone told their
pastor one time, they said, well, I'm just not sure about my relationship
to God because I still have fear. And the scripture says, perfect
love casteth out fear. There is no fear in love. And
the preacher very wisely said, is your love perfect? It's not
perfect yet, is it? Yes, we'll be free from all these
annoyances to worship God as he is worthy to be worshiped.
The fifth thing about this hope, we will be in the best society. There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defile it, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. Christ will be there, and all
of his elect will be there, all who have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And that's going
to be a multitude, we read, which no man can number. We'll be in
the best society. The best society. All the holy
angels, they will be present. And I like to think of those
with whom I've worshipped over the years that have gone on.
I think of many that were members of this congregation, this church
family, who are now around the throne today. And not only will
we be with Christ, but we're going to be with with believers. I like to think of men that I
have heard the gospel from. Men that I was so blessed to
know over the years and hear them preach to be reunited with
them as well as with Christ. It's gonna be a blessed time,
isn't it? It's gonna be a hallelujah time. Oh my. You see these crazy Well,
I shouldn't say crazy. You see these people on TV out
there, and it's snowing, and it's seven degrees below zero
with the wind factor, and they're watching football, and they're
fanatics. They're having a great time.
That ain't going to compare. That's just not going to compare. with the time God's people are
going to have when we're all gathered home. All the families
home safe. Not one's missing. Not one for
whom Christ prevailed in his soul is going to be missing. When our children were home,
our four children, and like most teenagers, they start staying
out late when they get in there. their teenage years, and we'd
go to bed. I never could go to sleep until
I heard that door close, and I knew everyone was home. That
was such a good feeling. Don't you know the Father's going
to rejoice? The Son's going to rejoice? The
Holy Spirit's going to rejoice? And everyone else there is going
to rejoice. Not one little lamb is going
to be missing. All of his sheep are going to
be home. Oh, that's going to be a wonderful
society. And then let me close with this.
Six, we will rest in serving. And I'm going to say something
that is a paradox. The future happiness of the saints
in heaven, it's called a rest, but it's not inactivity. You
know, sometimes people tell me that I just can't imagine how,
what are we going to do throughout all eternity? What are we going
to do? Well, it's going to be rest,
but it doesn't mean we're just laying around on a cushion or
something like that. The scripture says in Revelation
7, therefore, are they before the throne of God, now listen,
and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them. Yes, it's a rest, but we're
serving him. It's not inactivity. To the glorified
saints, inaction would be torture. It'd be torture, wouldn't be
heaven. Happiness will not consist of
mere passive enjoyment. We're going to be serving Him,
and we love to serve Him. That's the thing. That's going
to give us more joy, the better and the more we serve Him, just
like it is here upon the earth. That's where we will find our
enjoyment. Well, that's six things about
the hope that's laid up for us in heaven. That's a wonderful
hope, isn't it? And you know, Paul said, it's
a good hope through grace. A good hope through grace. We
didn't do anything to deserve it. You cannot deserve God's grace. Forget about that. For by grace
are you saved. through faith and that not of
yourself, it is the gift of God. And we're going to sing a hymn
as we usually do.