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The Security of the Christian Hope · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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  In chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, and reading again there at verse 5.
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  ! Well, we can read from verse 3.
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  We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,
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  and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
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  And particularly that last bit there in verse 5, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
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  Now, Paul, as we know, is a great encourager.
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  And in this letter, we find that he's giving thanks for the life of the Christians in Colossae.
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  And it is important that we recognize the gifts and graces that are evident in people.
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  And that's what Paul was doing, because he's been hearing about their faith and their love and their hope.
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  And so he's giving thanks to God for these very things.
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  And we know that these are the great virtues, the great graces that are so often spoken of in Scripture.
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  We find that faith looks upward, and love looks outward, and hope looks forward to the future.
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  Paul spoke about these on another occasion, and where he said,
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  Now abides these three, faith, hope, and love.
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  But the greatest of these is love.
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  And the greatest of these is love because, well, we know that faith receives, hope expects, and love gives.
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  And the word tells us that it's greater to give than to receive.
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  But tonight I want us to focus on what Paul is saying here about the hope that is laid up.
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  That's what it tells us, the hope that is laid up in heaven.
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  Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
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  And that's one of the great blessings that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Sometimes we forget, we know that we've been born again, that we've been saved.
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  And sometimes we say to ourselves, we don't examine or really dwell on what is it that we actually have in Christ Jesus.
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  What is there that we can really dwell on and become excited by?
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  And one of the things is the hope that is within us.
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  So I want us to think tonight a little about this hope.
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  And what first thing that we'd look at is what is our hope based on?
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  Now, as we know, the hope of the Christian and the hope of the world is very different.
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  We've often mentioned that.
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  The hope of the world is not based on anything really substantial or anything really foundational.
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  The hope of the world is really no more than I hope so.
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  I hope that if all the things come together that that's the way it'll work out.
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  There's nothing in this world that is really safe, really secure.
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  We used to talk about being as safe as a bank.
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  But we know that banks can be broken into and we know that banks can actually collapse.
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  We've seen things like that happen.
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  But the hope of the world is, I might say, I'm going to Canada this summer.
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  Well, I'm not, so don't ask me when are you going to Canada.
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  But I'm just as an example.
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  I'm going to Canada this summer.
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  And I booked the hotel.
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  I booked the flights.
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  And I booked it through a reputable travel company.
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  So it's all good.
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  So that's where I'm going.
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  And you've got this degree of certainty about it.
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  And you're getting excited about it.
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  But the thing is that it's possible that you may become seriously ill and not be able to go away.
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  The hotel that you booked may go on fire.
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  The airline company you're going might collapse.
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  The travel company that you've booked everything with might go under.
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  There are all these ifs and buts and uncertainties that could happen.
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  So our hope in the world never has an absolute utter foundation to it.
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  It's always little more than I hope so.
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  I hope that this is the way it will turn out.
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  But the hope of the Christian is something that is totally different.
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  Because the Christian's hope is based upon God.
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  It's based upon God the Father.
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  God the Father has made the most amazing statements in his word.
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  The most wonderful promises in his word.
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  And there's one thing that we can say that every word of God is true.
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  There's a question asked in the Bible.
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  Are all things possible with God?
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  And it tells us that there's nothing impossible with God.
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  And that is absolutely true.
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  But there are two impossibilities regarding God.
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  The word of God tells us it is impossible for God to deny himself.
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  And it's impossible for God to lie.
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  God is not a man that he should lie.
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  Nor the son of man that he should repent.
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  Hath he not spoken and shall he not make it good?
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  Has he not revealed the word?
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  And will he not fulfill it?
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  That's what God is.
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  He is utterly and altogether true to his word.
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  He cannot lie.
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  So when we have God's word, we know that this has come from one who cannot lie.
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  We also have the son.
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  And the son follows through everything that the father has said.
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  The son is ratifying all the promises given to us by the father.
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  And who is the son?
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  Well, he tells us, I am the truth.
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  Remember, he says, I am the way.
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  I am the truth.
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  I am the life.
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  So it is impossible for the son to lie.
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  And so every promise that we have in the word of God comes with the authority of the father and the authority of the son.
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  And this is a pillow that we can lay our head down on and rest in complete security, knowing that every word is true.
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  And then we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which ministers to our spirit, convincing us of the truth of what the word says.
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  And the Holy Spirit convinces us and stirs up that hope within us.
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  And the Holy Spirit in that way is ministering to our spirit and enabling us to lay hold upon the promises by faith.
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  I'm sure all of you tonight have in the past and continue to do so, lay hold upon God's word.
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  There are maybe some promises that are special to you.
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  There are promises you might have.
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  You might have a promise up on your wall.
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  You might have a promise underlined in your Bibles.
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  You go back to it so often.
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  It means so much to you.
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  This is God's word to you.
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  And God's spirit has given you the faith where you're able to cling to it and base your life upon it.
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  So this is a great thing.
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  This is this hope that we have in our hearts.
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  So it's foundational.
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  It's true.
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  So then I suppose we have to ask ourselves the question, what are we hoping for?
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  What is a Christian tonight hoping for?
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  Well, there's many things and just suggest a few.
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  And the first thing as we look into the future, the first thing I would say that every Christian is looking for is to be forever with the Lord.
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  I think that would be your number one.
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  To be in the presence of Christ forever.
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  And to see him as he really is.
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  You see, in this world, we've only seen by faith.
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  And sometimes we don't see very clearly.
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  And I'm sure it's one of the things, if you're anything like me, you say to yourself, I wish I could see the Lord Jesus more clearly.
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  I sometimes feel that my faith is so dim.
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  And I want to see Jesus more clearly.
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  We're like the Greeks that came, remember, to the disciples and they said, we want to see Jesus.
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  And I'm sure that that is often the question or the desire that we express within our own hearts, within our own lives.
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  Now, the thing is, we know that supposing we said, wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus was to come from heaven to earth and to spend a few days in our presence?
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  Well, the thing is, that couldn't happen.
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  We couldn't look on him.
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  Our sinful humanity could not abide in the presence of Christ.
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  Even as Christians, we couldn't look upon him because of the failure of what we are.
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  There's examples given to us when Jesus gave a quick revelation of himself to the Saul of Tarshish.
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  He fell to the ground blind.
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  He was dazzled by the glory and the brilliance of who he saw and the words that he heard.
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  The other example is John, the great disciple of Jesus.
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  And we find that in the book of Revelation.
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  When Jesus, the exalted, glorified Jesus, revealed himself to John, John fell down at his feet as one dead.
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  That's the impact, the power of the risen Savior.
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  And it's not until we die and we're told at death we're made perfect in holiness.
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  It is only then that we have the capacity and the ability to behold Jesus as he really is.
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  But it's a great mark of grace.
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  And I would say this, even if you're not somebody who has yet come to a place where you professed the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior.
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  If you can say hand on heart, my great desire above everything else is to see Jesus and to be in his presence forever.
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  Then that is a true mark of grace.
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  Because the world can't say that.
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  The world, if you said to them, do you want, because the world has a very different idea of what heaven is.
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  Heaven is being in the immediate presence of Christ.
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  And it's logic when you think about it.
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  If a person in this world says, I'm interested in the gospel, but I don't want Jesus to be king and lord in my life.
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  And you're kind of holding him at arm's length.
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  If you think that that's the way, how could you spend the whole of eternity in his immediate presence?
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  That logic itself tells you that that's how it is.
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  So the world, as they are just now, do not want to live in the immediate presence of Christ forever.
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  But if you do tonight, then that is an obvious mark of grace.
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  Because only somebody who the Lord has touched in their heart is able to think in that particular way.
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  And then again, we hope and long for the day when sin will be no more.
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  Now you and I know that there's nothing that has bogged us down in this world.
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  That has shackled us.
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  That has just frustrated us.
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  Like the sin that clings to us.
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  The sin, the besetting sin.
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  The sin that's just part and partial of our life.
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  And like the apostles so often we've said, you know, the good that I want to do, I don't do.
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  And the evil that I don't want to do, that's what I end up doing.
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  You see, sin has such a grip on us.
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  It sucks us.
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  We're drawn by it.
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  Because we have that.
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  Remember before describing it like if you're playing balls.
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  And there's a bias in the ball.
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  So that when you roll that ball, you obviously have to have the ability to do so.
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  But you roll it in such a way so that the ball will go out like that.
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  Working the bias which draws it in towards the jack, you call it.
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  Well, we're like that ball.
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  We cannot go straight.
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  If you roll it down, it won't go straight.
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  It's going to twirl this way.
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  And that's the way we are with sin.
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  We're inclined to it.
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  It's there.
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  It's part of us.
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  And if we love the Lord Jesus, we're so often frustrated with ourself.
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  And so often we've gone to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive me.
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  Forgive me.
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  Here I am again.
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  And we're so aware of how it bogs us down.
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  And so this is part of the hope that we have for the day when sin will be no more.
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  It won't even be on the horizon.
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  And side by side with that, we long for the day when Satan won't trouble us anymore.
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  Because Satan's always snapping at our heels.
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  Always firing his darts at us.
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  He's always tempting us.
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  He's always causing disruption in our lives.
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  Things that hinder us and hurt us.
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  And if we could see behind the scenes into the spiritual realm, where the angels are administering spirits around us, helping us,
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  and also the evil spirits that are out in order to trip us up and to attack us, there are unseen forces at work all the time.
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  And Satan so often, he discourages us.
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  He brings all these accusations against us.
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  He drags up our past to cripple us.
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  All these things.
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  And we long for the day when none of these things will be any more.
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  When we will have this freedom, this deliverance from all these things that are part and partial of our lives.
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  And then again, we long for the time when our service for the Lord will be perfect.
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  In this world, it is imperfect service.
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  No matter what we do, it's always imperfect.
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  And there are so again, it's because of sin.
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  But in glory, our service, there will never be any self-seeking.
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  There will never be any self-indulgence in it.
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  There will never be any flaws or failings in our service.
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  It will be pure.
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  It will be honorable.
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  It will be right.
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  It will be perfect.
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  And we long for that when that's how it will be.
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  And again, we long for the time when we'll be freed from all the troubles of this world.
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  The Bible tells us the troubles that afflicted just in number many be.
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  And they sure are many.
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  And when you think of all the problems and the issues, the doubts, the fears, the anxieties,
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  the illness, the sickness, the crosses, the bereavements, all these things that are part and partial of life.
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  Things that hurt us.
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  Things that so often spoil everything about our life.
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  So our hope in heaven is fixed upon us.
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  And along with that, we long for the day when death will be no more.
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  Scripture tells us that.
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  That's part of the heavenly environment.
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  Where the king of terror is removed.
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  You'll never hear of anybody dying.
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  There'll be no death notices.
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  It's eternal life.
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  Hell is death.
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  Hell is a second death.
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  And everything associated with death.
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  But heaven is the very opposite of that.
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  Everything that is pure.
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  Everything that is lovely.
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  Everything that is good.
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  We're told that the Lord will wipe away all tears from our eyes.
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  No more sorrows.
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  Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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  And finally, we see the security of our hope.
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  Because it tells us, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
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  If you have a particular treasure or something that's really precious,
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  you want to put it somewhere that's completely safe.
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  Somewhere where nobody can get to it.
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  Now we know we live in a world where there's so much stealing.
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  Stealing used to just be from houses.
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  But we know that constantly there's car thefts.
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  There's stealing online.
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  The amount of online stealing nowadays and the fraud and the deception.
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  In some ways you think there's nothing safe anymore.
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  That's the kind of world we live in.
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  Well, Jesus tells us of our treasure in heaven.
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  And we're told that our life is hid with Christ.
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  That's one of the expressions that the Bible tells us.
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  It's hid with Christ.
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  So here you have the special treasure.
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  It's hidden.
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  Where is it hidden?
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  It's hidden in Christ.
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  Christ.
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  Your life is hidden in Christ.
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  And this is where your hope is.
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  Because our hope is in Christ who is in heaven.
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  And it can't be safer and more secure than that.
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  Because no robber, no thief can in any way enter in there and steal Satan and all his legion of evil spirits.
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  They can't enter in and take away your hope, my hope.
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  Because it's fixed in heaven.
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  It's secure forever.
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  And again, Jesus talks about the security of it where no moth or rust can wear it out or corrupt it.
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  And we know that many things in this world, they wear it out, they get spoiled.
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  We lose them, they break, there's all sorts of things.
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  Well, our hope can't.
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  It is secure.
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  It is secure.
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  It is fixed.
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  It is there forever.
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  There's no more precarious position to be in than to go through this world on our own and just to get everything that the world gives.
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  Because as we've often said it, the world only gives on loan.
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  And when you're loan, when something is on loan, you have to give it back.
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  And that's what we have to do with everything that the world has given us.
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  At the end of the day, the world takes it back.
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  But Christ doesn't.
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  What Christ gives you is forever.
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  And what the Lord Jesus is saying to you, I give you eternal life.
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  But you know what I'm going to do for you?
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  I'm going to keep your life in me safe.
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  It's with Christ.
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  So this is where our hope is.
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  It's laid up in heaven.
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  Because we know why we're here and we know where we're going.
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  Of all people in this world, we are the most privileged.
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  And we wish that more could understand the benefits of being a Christian.
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  And as you go on in the Christian life, you discover more and more of what it means to be a Christian.
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  What you get in and through following the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  So this is one of the great things that we have.
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  Hope.
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  So we said so different to what the world offers and what the world gives.
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  The hope that we have is there.
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  And nothing can take it away from us.
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  Let's pray.
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  Lord our God, we give thanks for the hope that is within us.
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  And that that hope burns bright.
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  We give thanks for the expectation that the Christian has.
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  And although there are days where the clouds of sin can dim our love and dim our faith and even dim our hope,
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  yet it will never take it away.
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  And we give thanks, Lord, that you are steadfast, that you are sure, and you are eternal in your purposes.
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  And we pray that we will have the faith to rest upon you.
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  Come what may.
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  And we pray to bless everybody here tonight.
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  We give thanks for all who are here.
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  Bless them, Lord, in their own homes, in their own families, in their own sphere of work, wherever they are, whatever they're involved in, whatever you're engaged in.
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  Lord, we pray that your blessing will be upon them.
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  Grant us all safety on the way home and freed from any trouble, any accidents, because we know that life is so unsure and so uncertain.
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  And we pray to bless us as a congregation as we heard at this time of vacancy.
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  Oh, Lord, lead us in the right way.
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  You've always done so in the past.
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  And we pray that you will continue to do so in the present.
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  Our hope is in you.
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  Watch over us and part us with your blessing, we pray, cleansing us from our every sin.
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  In Jesus' name we ask it.
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  Amen.
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  We're going to conclude today.