Christ the Only Hope

 

This is the manuscript of the second sermon in the "Celebrating the Life That Christ Makes Possible".

(Col. 1:4–6 NIV) “We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you”.

The key word in today’s message is hope, and the conviction of truth that is as deep as life and eternity is that Christ is the only hope! Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in "I hope something will happen." This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is "confident expectation."

The claim that Christ is the only hope is a bold claim because it eliminates all other claims to hope.

What an audacious yet wonderful claim! Do we believe it? Then we must proclaim it, share it, and testify to it everywhere we go.

Scripture:

Colossians 1:1‭-‬8 NKJV Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

 

Introduction

This is the second sermon in the series to start the year of 2023  “Celebrating the Life That Christ Makes Possible.”

The key word in today’s message is hope, and the conviction of truth that is as deep as life and eternity is that Christ is the only hope! This year, 2023, is a year to acknowledge this truth that Christ is the only hope.   

Text:

 

(Col. 1:4–6 NIV) “We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you”.

               

Hope is defined as  a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in "I hope something will happen." This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is "confident expectation." 

Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown.

Hebrews 11:1 NIV Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Romans 8:24‭-‬25 NIV For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

We expect it to happen. 

Hope is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous.

Proverbs 23:17‭-‬18 NIV Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

Without hope, life loses its meaning.

At one time Job lost hope.

Job 7:6 NIV “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

Jeremiah appears to have lost hope at one time when he saw the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah's exile to Babylon. 

Lamentations 3:16‭-‬18 NIV He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

Job and Jeremiah and many times us, forgot that the righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped, and they will not be confused, put to shame, or disappointed.

Isaiah 49:23 NIV Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Psalms 28:7 NIV The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

The righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have confidence in God’s protection and help and are free from fear and anxiety 

Psalms 46:1‭-‬3 NIV God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

          

  I. The Bible says that Christ is the only hope for salvation.

The claim that Christ is the only hope is a bold claim because it eliminates all other claims to hope.  

Some years ago, a mine shaft collapsed, and a rescue team was immediately organized to dig out the entombed men before their air supply was exhausted. As the rescue team approached the doomed miners, they thought they heard a tapping on the rocks.  As they paused to listen, in Morse code came the question repeatedly: “Is there any hope? Is there any hope?” 

People living under the weight of sin may ask, “Is there any hope for salvation?”

              

 A. The answer is yes, Christ is the hope, the only hope, for a salvation that is so desperately needed. 

The Bible says that without Christ people have “no hope” and are “without God in the world” 

Ephesians 2:11‭-‬13 NIV Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Without Christ people are spiritually lost, “condemned already”.   Not tomorrow, not next year, not at death, but right now, without Christ they are already condemned!

John 3:16‭-‬21 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Without Christ people are spiritually trapped in sin, because their hearts are defiled.

Matthew 15:16‭-‬20 NIV “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Jeremiah 17:9 says 

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

               

The nature of the human heart is to sin and rebel against God and spiritual authority.

               

Without Christ people are also trapped in the agonizing results of sin.

Romans 6:23 NIV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

People are trapped in human weakness and despair.  The apostle Paul cried out.

Romans 7:24 NIV What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

The answer to who will rescue you is in the next verse.

Romans 7:25 NIV Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Christ is the only hope!

How do you grab on to that hope?

There is an example in Scripture of a person who asked that very question.  It's at 

Acts 16:25‭-‬31 NIV About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, (here’s the question)  “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

The answer is to believe in Jesus.

Salvation is not in a parent’s faith, it's not in religious principles, it's not in a church, in culture, in outward symbols, or even in a living a good life. Salvation is in a person, Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ is God’s provision for salvation.  

Here’s something else the Apostle Paul said.

1 Timothy 1:15 NIV Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Jesus Christ is God’s gift to mankind for salvation.  

Romans 6:23 NIV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

               

C. Now that we have established that Christ is the only hope for salvation What are we to do? How are we to respond?

Upon hearing “the hope of the gospel, which is Christ, we must believe in him. 

John 1:12‭-‬13 NIV Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

We are to acknowledge the truth of Christ; accept the facts of his life, death, and resurrection, then give ourselves to him in personal surrender. 

Matthew 16:24‭-‬26 NIV Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

II. Christ is the only hope for life’s real needs.

Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote.

Colossians 1:3‭-‬6 NIV We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

Christ touches lives today and transforms them. He gives power not just for heaven but power to live life today. 

J. B. Phillips’s book God Our Contemporary has a chapter titled “The Inadequacy of Humanism,” in which Phillips described secular humanism as a bleak and cruel creed. It denies the Christian faith and the need for any moral or spiritual authority outside humanity. Humanism restricts life to this earth; it denies God and says there is no life beyond this one. So it offers no hope to the terminally ill, to those with physical disabilities, it offers no power to guide and strengthen someone defeated by emotional conflicts. Humanism has nothing to offer for the crises of life.

               

Secular humanism is useless when you need to minister to a family that has lost a child, a parent, or a loved one who dies of a terrible illness, or a tragic accident or crime. Humanism is usless when you have lost a job and income.  Humanism is useless when a cherished relationship crumbles.  Humanism has nothing to say in those circumstances, but Jesus does. 

Here's what Jesus says,

Matthew 11:28‭-‬30 NIV “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

John 10:7‭-‬10 NIV Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. PleaseThey will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 16:33 NIV “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus Christ is the only hope!

               

III. Christ is the only hope for eternity.

               

The hope of Christ is an eternal certainty.

Colossians 1:3‭-‬5 NLT We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

Ephesians 1:13‭-‬14 NIV And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 A. The hope of Christ is the hope of his return. 

He personally promised that He would return.

John 14:1‭-‬3 NIV “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

The angels divinely announced that He would return.

Acts 1:9‭-‬11 NIV After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Paul the apostle victoriously described His return.

1 Thessalonians 4:13‭-‬18 NIV Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Now this is hope!

               

The hope of Christ is the hope of the resurrection. 

Christ has abolished death and promised resurrection.

2 Timothy 1:9‭-‬10 NIV He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

I don’t have time to read it today but, read 1 Corinthians 15, and you will see that death is not the end for the believer because Christ is our hope.

               

 C. The hope of Christ is the hope of deliverance from judgment. 

Christ bore our judgment on the cross. In Christ we don't have to fear judgment, we have passed from death unto life.

Hebrews 9:27‭-‬28 NIV Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.   

Just listen to what Jesus said;

John 5:24 NIV “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life

Conclusion

Christ is the only hope. What an audacious yet wonderful claim! Do we believe it?  Then we must proclaim it, share it, and testify to it everywhere we go.

Let's Pray

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being such a loving God. We thank You, Lord Jesus, for sacrificing Your life for us. Thank You for being mindful of us and becoming our Savior, Deliverer and Liberator. Lord, we will praise You at all times, we will constantly speak Your praises. We will boast only in You. We give thanks to You with our whole hearts; we will sing Your praises. We bow before You and praise You for Your unfailing love and faithfulness; for Your promises are backed by all the honor and authority of Your Name. 

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