Motivated by Hope

Introduction

Jesus is good. He is glorious and kind and gracious and powerful. And I pray the blessings of our Lord and Savior Jesus into your life. And I pray that what we do tonight, above all else, is pleasing to him and to his father and to the Spirit and is edifying for all of us here as well. We will be in the Word looking for Him, and I pray God is with us. I also hope you had a great day. Did you have a good day? It’s Monday. It’s a beautiful day. We got to play golf. Harry took, let’s see, Nick and me and Caleb out to Windrose to play some golf. Caleb and I shot a thousand or something. I don’t know. But, you know, Harry made an eagle, and he was very excited about that.

Nick chipped in for Bertie on the last hole and beat everybody. I think I’m scheduled to come back in a few years. Can we like make sure he doesn’t come too? That would be great. I will tell dads, you know, if you got young kids at home, like beat them while you can, like, not with a stick, like in sports. Just because you are on the clock with your kids. They want to take you down and they eventually do. But it was a wonderful day, and I’m glad he’s here, and that we get to experience this time with you. So here’s a quick rundown of what we’re doing. In fact, super fast. We just want to make sure that every time we open this book, it doesn’t matter where we go, that our first question is, what can I learn about my Savior?

From beginning to end, this is a Jesus book. From the very beginning to the very end, it’s one simple story. God’s plan to redeem you from your sin through Jesus Christ. Yesterday we just spent our time in the Old Testament. We could have done some psalms. We could have done some prophecies. We could have looked at all kinds of different figures. Instead, we just looked at a handful of Bible characters. Characters that sometimes we study and we never think of Jesus at all. It’s about them and us and how to be more like them. And I hope what we did is we gave more honor to Jesus as the greater fulfillment of all of those heroes of the Old Testament. Remember, you’re still in those stories.

You’re just not the main character. And by the way, that takes a lot of pressure off. I don’t know if you noticed that yesterday. You don’t have to be that central hero. We already have one. He’s amazing. You just have to fit into his story instead of encouraging him to fit into yours. So we did the Old Testament. What we’re going to do tonight and for the next couple of nights is we’re going to move into the New Testament, into the epistles, into the letters. And we’re just going to make sure that we continue to see Jesus first. Let me start with this before we get to some text for reading. This represented kind of a bit of a changing point in the way I think about Bible study.

I mentioned to you yesterday, about six years ago, just started reading the New Testament a chapter a day, just keep washing through every 260 days, and that was helpful. Well, right as I got started with that, I was in a Bible study with a young man who lived in Tyler. He was a junior minister at one of the other churches in town. And the first night of our study, he said, Chris, I got a question for you. Hypothetically speaking, if for the rest of your life you only had access to the four Gospels or the rest of the New Testament, which one would you choose? I didn’t even have to think about it for a second. In fact, I told him, I said, that’s easy. I will take the rest of the New Testament.

And he leaned back like he did not see that coming. And he said, What? Like, why would you pick the rest of the New Testament? And I said, That’s easy also. Because Acts and the rest of the New Testament tells us how the church works. It tells us what we’re to do and what we’re not to do, structure, organization, work, and worship and design, and right and wrong. And he was like, that’s the most important thing. And he baited me, caught me. Because I’m pretty sure Jesus is supposed to be the most important. I see where he was going, but it was too late. And I said, Well, it was, they’re both really important. And I got in the car on the way home. I didn’t sleep well that night.

I thought, it wasn’t that it was a wrong answer, it’s a hypothetical question. It’s not even real life. But why was I so quick to choose the rules at the expense of continuing to watch the ruler walk on earth, talk, teach, love, heal, and help. Now, Jesus is through the rest of it as well, but that’s begun a journey for me of trying to figure out what happens if we walk around the ruler, or we sort of set, we know Jesus, and we start focusing like the rules are the most important thing. What we often do is we misuse and misapply them. And I could give you a lot of examples of that. I’ll just talk kind of generically if that’s okay. Do you know anyone?

Have you been this person in the church, Christians in the church, working their way through the New Testament, building an argument, building a conviction, using scripture, putting it together, figuring out what’s the right thing to do, and then applying it upon other Christians, and they don’t sound like Jesus at all. They’re not kind. They’re not patient, they’re not loving, they’re not welcoming. It’s like they just skipped everything Jesus tried to show them to be and started weaponizing the things that he told them to learn. Now we still want to learn all those things. We want to learn all those things. We want to learn exactly what we should be and how to be great fathers and what the church should be doing, but we must learn of him first, because everything that emanates from the goodness of Jesus is good.

1. Everything Should Begin With Jesus Christ

And nothing that emanates without him can be good. Not right arguments, not right conclusions, not great Bible. Nothing can matter unless it’s centered on Jesus. Now, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna skip the gospels and we’re gonna go into those epistles because here’s some really good news. It’s an oversimplification to say the gospels are about Jesus and the rest of the New Testament are about rules. That’s not it. There’s rules in the gospel, and there’s Jesus in the rest of it. In fact, there is a lot about Jesus in the epistles. And by epistles, I mean the letters that were written, Acts and the letters that Paul wrote and all the way through the New Testament. There is a lot about him there, and they’re usually at the front end of the letters.

Okay, get this. This is really important. The idea of let’s talk about Jesus and let’s use his name out loud and let’s talk about grace and confession and repentance. That’s not just for someone who needs to become a Christian. That needs to be the language of people who are Christians. Never stop using Jesus language. Never stop talking about his goodness. Because even in these letters written to these churches, like you guys, like us, he’s gonna have things he wants them to do, fix, correct, and think about, but he almost never starts that way. He almost always starts by making sure we are on the same page, and that page is Christ. And that’s where everything is found. I want to show you a couple of examples.

We’re gonna use Colossians. We’re gonna do Colossians 1 tonight, chapter 2 tomorrow night, chapter 3 on the final night. But I want to start in a couple of other places to illustrate this to you. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. How do you think the book of 1 Corinthians starts? Do you remember this letter? This church has got lots of problems. This church would not be in your favorite church of Christ online directory. They would have been marked long ago, labels printed, warnings issued. This church had tons of problems. How do you think he opens the letter? He doesn’t open the letter condemning them for their problems or telling them to fix it or else. He opens like this. Look with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 1.

Paul called in as apostle of as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the church of God which is at Corinth. To those, listen, who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. Saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and yours. Grace to you.

Verse 5, in everything you were enriched in him in all speech and knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. Verse 7. You’re not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end. Blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, verse 9, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Can I just make an observation? Doesn’t Paul say Jesus too much? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ Jesus. I mean, use a pronoun, man. He uses Christ’s name, verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, verse 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 7. How far you want to go? I just want to make this early observation.

I don’t know that Christians say Jesus’ name enough. I feel like among ourselves, especially when we’re not exactly on the same page, we should start by going, let’s start with this. We’ve been sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve been called and we have answered that call. We’re both waiting on him to return. I’m just drawing from the text. We’re excited for him to return. We are one body in him. Now, as people loved by him and who love him, let’s sit down and see if we can work through some things. How do you think that would go? Much better than when it becomes about people and not about the Lord. This church had more problems than all the rest combined, it seemed like, and he started with this idea.

We are Christians. Christ has got us. Now let’s work through these things. Let me give you another example, the one I almost talked about this week, but I chose Colossians because it’s a little bit shorter, but look in Ephesians chapter 1. I love this language. Ephesians chapter 1 mentions Christ Jesus in verse 1. I’ll pick up in verse 3. Here’s how he opens the letter. Now, listen, these letters have instruction. They have correction. They have reproof. They have training in righteousness. Wednesday night, we’re going to talk about what most of that is in all of these letters. We’ve got to get down to how we can do better. But we don’t start there. We start with him who’s done everything. And who’s changed everything, and who gives us hope that change is possible.

Look at verse 3. We’ll just read it together. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love, he, God, predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. That’s the one story of all scripture. According to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavishes upon us. One of the things I want you to see tonight, it’s a Monday night.

We got all the super saved here tonight, like the Monday nighters. You guys don’t need to hear this, do you? You don’t need to hear about the grace of God. You’re awesome, right? You don’t need to hear about being lavished in grace and protected by God. Here’s one of the mistakes we make. We think that’s just a hook that we use to get people to be baptized. This is information that Christians need every day. Every day you need to remind yourself. Not of how good you are, how broken you are, or how much it depends on you, but how what it means to be redeemed through his blood, forgiven of our trespasses, and lavished in his grace. Then when you get to something like chapter 4, verse 1, chapter 4, verse 1, he spends three chapters going, God is so good through Christ.

He established his church and he protects her and he loves her. Then when you get to chapter 4, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy. You cannot walk in a manner worthy unless you understand how beautiful it is to be saved by Jesus. Like that’s the fuel that pushes all of those kinds of things. So that’s the kind of thing we’re going to get to investigate tonight. Everything should begin with the name of Jesus Christ. Every conversation, every contention, everything. Go with me to Colossians 1. Let’s get into where we’re headed tonight. Colossians chapter 1. As we look at this together, I’ve often stated that these letters are front-ended with Jesus and then back ended with you. They start with him and then they go to you.

2. Faith, Love and Fruit Because of Hope

And there’s a lot of truth to that. 1 Peter 1, Him, 2 through 5, you. Ephesians 1 through 3, Him, Ephesians 4 through 6, you. There are a lot of them that do this, and Colossians does as well. But that’s a little bit of an oversimplification. In the first eight verses, which we’re about to read together, there’s some stuff for you too. But I want you to understand what makes those things possible. So just read along with me. This is where we’re going to settle in for just a little bit. Let me pop this up and see what happens. Colossians 1. Just look at verses 1 through 8. I want you to see your responsibility. It is here early, but I want you to see what makes it possible.

Colossians 1, verses 1 through 8. Starts similar to these other letters. 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 at Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth the gospel, which has come to you, just as in all the world also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Just as you learned it from Epaphoris verse 7, our beloved fellow bondservant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. So, like I say, a bit of an oversimplification to say these letters start with him and then later shift to you, because I noticed at least three things in this text. The very early part of the book of Colossians is saying, look, there are at least three things that you need to be doing that are very crucial to your relationship with God and the congregation where you work. You must, verse 4, continue in faith in Christ. You must trust him, believe in him, and follow him. You also must love God’s people. More on that on Wednesday night.

I’m going to tell you, if you added up every command in the entire New Testament, those epistles that have all those rules, if you made a list of all those rules, the number one most recurring, emphasized, emphatic, irreplaceable, absolute rule is you got to treat your brothers in Christ fairly. You gotta love your brothers and sisters. It outshines in terms of number the rest. He said, No, that’s big. Loving saints is huge. It’s crucial. You love God, you love your neighbor, and you bear fruit. You want to bear fruit, excel still more, do what’s right. But my question is in the text what motivates all those things? What drives them? What has to be there for these to really ever exist? Well, there are several words in the text, but here’s the one that we’re choosing that’s most obvious.

He said, I’ve heard of your faith, verse four. I’ve heard about your love, verse four. I’ve seen verse six that you’re bearing fruit and increasing because of the hope laid up for you in heaven that you heard from the gospel. And the gospel is Jesus. It’s the message of Jesus that comes to redeem us and repurpose us and take us and lead us to heaven. It is this that causes this. Now watch carefully, it’s not a magic trick. There’s no that’s gonna happen on screen. But if you get these two things reversed, you’re in for a whole lot of trouble in your life. I’ll just walk it this way. I need to do these things. I have to do these things. And I have to continue.

And if I do these things well enough, I can have some of this. If I accomplish this strong enough, I’ll start to feel some hope. I’ll be blessed by God. If you are chasing the blessings of God, you’re never gonna be fast enough. You’ll never catch them, and you’ll quit. You’ll quit. People quit all the time. This text is not saying, be awesome, get rewarded. It’s saying God is awesome. And he has filled you with hope. He’s filled you with this expectation after this life of an eternity with him and along the way, great and wonderful things. The word hope means joyful and confident expectation. You ever feel that? You ever do this when you say it? I am filled with joyful expectations. I’ve been redeemed and God loves me.

And it is because of his goodness. This is for people, obviously, initially to become a Christian, you must believe all of this and repent and be baptized, and then you join the body of Christ. And from there on, what he is doing is fueling what you are doing. Joyful expectation leads to godly behavior. I’m gonna tell you guys a joke. It’s not funny. Do not laugh. But I read one time a little joke about a girl who asked her mom if their donkey was a Christian. And she said, Why would you ask me if the donkey’s a Christian? And the girl said, Because he’s got such a long face. That’s not funny. Don’t laugh. But also, you’ve got to go, wait a minute. We’re supposed to be the most optimistic, blessed, purpose driven, perspective embracing people in the world.

And because of what God is, this is what we do. Let me give you it to you in another illustration. It’s like a car, okay? You want the car to get you to work in the morning. That’s your works. You want to do the works, you want to go. And so the car has no gas in it. I mean, there’s nothing in there. It’s bone dry. And you’re like, I’m gonna need you to get me to work. And the car’s like, I don’t have any gas. You’re like, I know you don’t have any gas, but if you’ll get me to work, I can make a little money, and then after a while, I can go buy some gas and I’ll put it in and you’ll be great.

And the car’s like, I don’t know if you know how cars work. Like, I have to be fueled up to go anywhere. And you go, okay, I get it, but look, how about you just get me to the gas station? How about that? If you can’t take me 30 miles, can you take me three miles? And the car’s like, look me in the headlights. I can’t go anywhere unless I receive the fuel. The fuel is hope. It’s joyful and confident expectation because of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ and the love of God. When you’re filled with that, you can go farther than you ever had before. But if you’re trying to chase your way to the gas station with nothing there, you’ll never reach it.

3. Without That Joy, the Works Won't Work

This text is inviting us to those things. Can I show you a couple of other great hope passages? Look with me in 1 Peter chapter 3 or chapter 1. 1 Peter sets up very similar to Colossians, by the way. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 are about action. They’re about here’s what it means to be a Christian, and we’ll reference a little bit of this on Wednesday night. But it doesn’t open there. It doesn’t open with go be good. It opens with God is good. And the hope of God is good. And look with me in verses 3 and following. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to see the beginning of a lot of these letters tonight. We did 1 Corinthians 1, Ephesians, Colossians, now 1 Peter.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To obtain an inheritance, can I tell you about it? It’s imperishable. It’s undefiled. It will not fade away. It’s waiting for me in heaven. And I am protected, verse 5, not by my own abilities, not by my own power, not by earning my way there. I am protected by the power of God through faith. For a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you’ve been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And though you have not seen him, here’s hope. Joyful expectation. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Here’s what I’m saying. Without that joy, the works won’t work. You either won’t be able to accomplish them, or it won’t matter if you do. Do I need to say that again? Without the joy of expectation and love for Jesus and belief in heaven and confidence in God’s goodness, the works won’t work. Because either you won’t be able to accomplish them, or it’s not going to matter even if you do. Because faith without works is dead, but works without faith is ridiculous and tiring.

And is causing people to leave buildings like this in great droves over time. We need to be a people who are filled with hope. Let me show you. Can I show you a couple others? There’s so many good ones. Let’s see. Let’s go to Hebrews 6. Hebrews chapter 6. It’s one of my wife’s favorite verses. Hebrews chapter 6. She loves the song about hope as the anchor of the soul. Hebrews chapter 6, verses 19 and 20. This hope, and by the way, he’s talking about how God makes promises and oaths, verse 17. And when God makes a promise, it’s for sure. And if God gives you a promise and an oath, it’s double sure. And God has promised that you’re forgiven, and God has promised that you’re in the palm of his hand, and God has promised that he’s going to take you to heaven.

Like those are God’s promises. People walking around going, I don’t know if I’m saved or not. You have a faith problem because God has promised his people salvation. This hope that God keeps his promises, we have as an anchor of the soul. A hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. No beginning, no end, just the Lord. We need that confidence. Let me throw a little something in here, which is usually a bad idea. I saw on the internet the other day a sermon title. And I know the guy preached it, and he’s fantastic, and I’m sure the sermon was great, and he’s great, and all those kinds of things.

Later, if he hears this, you’re amazing. But titles can hit you in a certain way. And the title of the sermon was It’s Hard to Be a Christian. And I was like, okay, it’s hard to do right all the time. It’s hard to be righteous. Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing. But like, is it is it hard to have faith in Jesus? Is it hard to go to him and ask for like I was confused by it. And the reason why, and I’m sure it was great. It was great. I’m sure it was great. Because he went into just the fact that there’s a lot of discipline required to be a Christian, which is, I’m sure, very good. But it reminded me of a guy you know named Tony Mock.

My favorite Tony sermon that I preached, I think, four times. I almost said 400, but like four times. And it was from Hebrews, and it’s got Hebrews 6, 19 and 20 in it, which we just read. And it’s titled, It’s Hard to Be Lost. It just depends on who you’re looking at. If it’s about me and my accomplishment, it’s not hard to be a Christian. It’s impossible. But if it’s about what God has promised me, and the hope that absolutely anchors me to him, where he’s the strength, and I trust him, then I would say it’s hard to be lost. Possible to be lost. I gotta get all my caveats in. Let me stand right here. It’s possible to be lost. It is. But I’ll tell you, if Jesus is to you even a piece of what he really is, you will never desert him.

Because the hope that you have will fill your soul and keep you strong forever and produce results. Go to 1 John for a minute. 1 John chapter 1. Here’s where hope is mentioned. Could have looked at Romans 5 and the joy we have through trial because of the hope. But let’s just do 1 John 3 for a moment. 1 John 3, 1 through 3. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us. Are you with me? 1 John 3, verse 1. That we would be called children of God? I mean, we could just sit there right there all night if you want to. We’re God’s children. Adopted into the family. I used to think that if I did two things wrong, God was going to be like, you’re out.

And then I had kids, and I’m like, they gotta do a lot. I want them with me. He’s adopted me. Such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us because it does not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. And it’s not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. So that’s when there won’t be that same hope, right? That joyful expectation will be fulfilled with vision. But now it’s just this belief that I’m gonna see him and I’m going to be like him, and I’m going to see him for who he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him does what?

You go, there it is. There’s the sermon. Purifies himself just as he is pure. If you’re hearing anything in tonight’s lesson that says, man, this guy’s so focused on hope and grace and Jesus, that he probably doesn’t think works are that important. Or he’s gonna try to undermine them. You’re completely missing it. My point is, you can’t go out there and do great unless the fullness of Jesus is fueling all of your decisions. But when your hope is completely enamored by him, you read the scripture and you think about him, you look at the sky and you imagine his glory, and he’s all that you think about throughout the day. You will seek to be pure in ways you never even thought possible before. I have never wanted to be more faithful to the Lord in my life.

And yet I think less about those rules, which we kind of know anyway. You know, the elders will meet with me every once in a while and go, we need another sermon on this. I’m like, another one? Like, yeah, we need another one on that. Whatever. Plug in, you know, whatever. Same old thing, right? For the tenth time, we’re gonna say it’s what we need to do. And I try to tell him, I go, yeah, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you guys want. But like people know the rules. They just don’t love the Lord. Like if they knew the, can I go preach on Jesus? They’re like, we know you’re gonna do it anyway. Yeah, go preach on Jesus. And ask them that, like my kids, and Nick’s here, so I won’t pick on him, but Nick, when he gets in trouble, no.

My older kids, like Luke doesn’t like getting in trouble in our house, man. He gets in trouble, you know, over the years of teenager, and he’d do something, and we’d sit down, and I’d be like, all right, Luke, and I wouldn’t be like, why’d you do that? Or don’t you know that’s wrong? He’s like, I don’t know, and yes, I mean, you get all those answers. I sit down and I’m like, Luke, will you tell me how you feel about God? Like, who is Jesus to you? Do you love him? And Luke’s like, would you please just spank me? You know, just treating symptoms, you know, just treating the cough, spank him, he does it again, spank him, he does it again. How about we talk about the missing piece?

4. You Need More Knowledge of the Lord

Do you want to serve him and love him? Hope. Hope drives things, drives everything. There’s a second thing. Go back to our text. Second thing. Colossians 1. We’ll get into chapter 2 tomorrow night, chapter 3 after that, chapter 4 a little bit on Wednesday. I just want you to see what’s behind all this. Go with me to Colossians, please. I’m trying to get back there myself. Colossians chapter 1. I’m going to read verses 9 through 12. And in addition to the grace and the hope that drives us, there’s something else, a little bit more practical, maybe. Look at verses 9 through 13. 9 through 12. For this reason also, Colossians 1, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joy, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints and light.

Now I’ll go back through that a second, and I just want you to note that there’s some stuff to do in there. I mean, there is. The first half says, hey, don’t forget, this is these are the goals, the practical goals, the three we saw earlier, and now, just like in Ephesians 4, he says in verse 10, you gotta walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. In verse 10, we want to please God in all things. In verse 11, we want to be consistent. We want to be consistent and joyous. In other words, do the things that please God every day and be happy about it. That’s what we’re looking for. It’s very difficult to counsel elders, preachers, counsel people in the church who are struggling to do what’s right every day because they don’t want to do what’s right.

Because they’re not happy trying to do what’s right. You’ll chase that forever. He said, I want you to do what’s right and be happy about it. Well, what fuels that? Hope does. But also in the text, he said, you just need to know more about the Lord. How many of you guys think you know everything there is to know? Or you need to know about Jesus Christ to be a servant of him. I’m not so sure we haven’t tried to put him in a box that we feel like we know every corner of to make us feel good about ourselves. Blow up the boxes. Jesus is bigger, deeper, better, stronger, more present and capable, along with the Holy Spirit who is in you and the Father who watches over you.

He said, You need more knowledge. And where do we start? You guys remember yesterday I said, forget everything else you hear all week. Remember one practical thing. Read this book once a month at least. Every single day. Told you guys, nothing is changed. I’ve been preaching 20-something years. Nothing has changed me more than the commitment I made to the Lord Jesus six years ago to read one New Testament chapter every day until he takes me home or comes to get me. And all I see is him now. I see him everywhere. See him on every, I see him before I see me, and he’s a lot prettier. He’s a lot better. And I feel a lot better about my life because of him. We need knowledge.

Now you may look at it and go, well, yes, verse 9, knowledge, which you could say is the gospel. It’s the way all these letters open. It’s the assurances of God. But he said the knowledge of his will. And this is where we might come in verse 9 and go, you need to know the rules. Well, you do need to know the rules. You need to know what’s right and what’s wrong. Though most Christians kind of do. They’re just, fuel tanks are empty. They won’t go down the road. But I want to show you something kind of nerdy, kind of preachery nerdy. In verse 9, he says, be filled with the knowledge of his will. And in verse 27, verse 26, he says, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but is now been manifested to the saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The will of verse 9 is the same rendering as the will in verse 27. What am I saying? I’m saying in this text, when he says, you need to know the will of God, it is not yet focusing on do this, don’t do that. It is focusing, verse 27, on you know you know what God’s will is? God’s will is for the riches of the glory of the great mystery of the ages, which is Christ Jesus to be in you and his hope in you and glory pouring through all of it. That’s the will of God. The gospel reward in Christ. He would go on to say later, he would will you to do that which is right and that which is good. We need to know the Lord better.

5. Do You Know What He Has Done?

Here’s something really cool. Really cool. Between verse 9, which we read and verse 27, where I’m saying that the will is not you yet, the will is him. I’m gonna read verses 13 through 22. And all I want you, we’re gonna practice something. Okay? I’m gonna read verses 13 through 22, and I just want you to note as many things as you can about Jesus. See what you can find. You got a pencil? Circle it. What is the will of God for you? Yes, it’s you doing right things, secondarily, as a result of the good things Jesus has done. Important, crucial, vital to be obedient. But that obedience comes from faith. It’s produced by it. Verse 13, He, the Father, He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

He is the image of the invisible God. He’s the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heavens and on earth, visible things, invisible things, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. All things, everything. He is also, verse 18, the head of the body, the church. He’s the beginning. He’s the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure, verse 19, for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself. He’s in the middle to him, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

Through him I say, whether things on earth are things in heaven. Verse 21. Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and above reproach. This letter doesn’t open with, here are the things you need to do. They open with, Do you know what he has done? Do you believe what he has done? And are you willing to change because of it? Did you make a list? Here’s some things. He is our rescuer. He rescued us from the person you see when you’re brushing teeth at night. He also rescued you from the devil who’s pulling the strings. He is our redeemer, verse 14.

He redeemed us from our lawless deeds, and we received the forgiveness of sins. He is the eternal God in the beginning. He is the creator of everything that exists, including you and me. He sustains it. We’re still breathing because Jesus said so. He is the head of the body, the church. The church functions under his leadership, and he is the only authority over us. He is risen from the dead, so you don’t have to fear it in the way that you would without him. The great mystery is there is life after death for those who live by faith. He’s a peacemaker, but it didn’t come cheap, verse 20. His peace came through the blood of his cross.

The result?

These truths drive my life. If I’m trying to get over a hump or make a change or do something better, or fight some addiction or do something, I spend a lot more time now in the Psalms and in the Gospels and trying to remind myself of who it is I serve and why I should serve him. I think about 1 Corinthians 6. Like if you just knew that your body was not your own, that it belonged to Jesus, that would get you out of all kinds of trouble. We just need to know him. It reminds me a little bit, look at Ephesians 1. I love the way it’s put there. Ephesians 1 and verse 18. I love this because it’s not for just new Christians or non-Christians.

It’s for people who’ve been in the church for years. And he says, verse 1, verse 18, Ephesians 1 18. You know, Ephesians and Colossians, very similar letters. I pray, I’m going to pray this for you, and I want you to pray it for me. Let’s pray it for each other. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. So that you will know what is the hope of his knowledge and hope are two things. So that you will know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the surpassing greatness of his power, not yours, his towards us who believe. Can’t get in it tonight? Probably need to quit anyway.

But in an effort to try to control our concepts of God, which is silly to think that we would try to control our concepts of God. We try to shrink down the actions of God, the power of God, to just a book that’s been delivered. This is not the fullness of the power of God. It is instructions about the limitless power of God. Do you understand what I’m saying? The only way God is working in your life is not by a book that he gave you, it’s by this book teaching you about his ever presence and his great glory and the power that he has. I pray that your eyes be opened to the hope of his calling and to the goodness of his power. I was listening to a podcast the other day.

Let’s talk about sin a little bit and maybe an approach to it. Kind of like I do with the with the kids. Listening to a podcast the other day. It was a Scottish guy, so I was in. I didn’t even care what he was talking about. Like just listening to a Scottish guy talk for an hour. I was just in. And it was about God, and that was good. But he said, Look, and I’m not going to try it, but I’m not even tempted. I’m not even tempted to try it. I’m just like listening to it in my head right now. But he said, Look, he said, when I was young, I fell away, whatever faith he lived in Scotland, he said, whatever faith I had, I just abandoned it and I was out doing my own thing.

And a preacher friend called me up, and he lived a few hours away, and he said, I want you to hop on a plane, and I want you to fly out here, I want to spend a few days with you. And he told the guy on the phone, he said, Look, I’ll come if you want me to, but I just want to be honest with you. If there was a pill you could give me, and all of my addictions and desires would go away, I would not take it. I love what I’m doing. I want it, and I don’t want to hear anything you have to say about it. And so the preacher was like, come on anyway. So he flies there, and for three days, the preacher did not mention the sin.

He didn’t mention stop it. He didn’t mention threats of hell. He didn’t address the sin at all. For three days, all they did was walked around talking about God. They walked trails, they talked about God and creation, they talked about Jesus, they talked about the cross, they talked about the promises, about hope, about life. I mean, never once did he go, you need to fix what you’re doing. Because he already told him, I don’t want to. So instead, he said, you know what? Maybe we should start over here. And at the end of three days, I want you guys to listen to this. I think it’s really neat. At the end of three days, they get to the airport. The guy did not repent. He wasn’t like, Eureka, you know, he didn’t, but he did tell the preacher.

He said, I’ll tell you what. He said, I’ve been thinking these last three days. If there was a pill that I could take to make my addiction and sin go away, I would take it. And then he got on the plane. Had he repented yet? No. But what was he saying? He was saying, I do believe. And I think I know why I need to get out of what I’m doing. And you know what happened? He went home and he repented, and he became a Scottish sounding preacher in like Louisiana or something. Hopefully he’s got some. And he’s and he’s walking around. And but I tell you this, I’m can I just I don’t want to insult you, don’t get mad, I’ll be out here in a couple days, no matter how this works, maybe sooner.

He said, it really kind of discouraged me, though, because he said, I moved back to the I moved to the States, I started going to churches, and he said, I heard a lot about do this and don’t do that, but he said, it’s like I it’s like we didn’t talk about Jesus very much. Like that was a foregone conclusion. He is not a for, it’s not a foregone conclusion. And he said, I felt like I needed to start preaching so that I could remind people that he like he’s it. And we’re just like reflections of him, driven by his glory. And so now he’s preaching, he’s doing exactly what he should be doing. So as we get to the end of this, I just want to encourage you to think about the hope that we have in the Lord.

6. Not Moving Away From the Hope of the Gospel

Go to Colossians 1. I’m gonna finish. You know, there are verses. We’re gonna, I’m gonna show you one right here at the end of our read, Colossians chapter 1 as we close. There are verses that say that a Christian can fall away, that somebody who’s in Christ can behave in such a way that they lose their salvation. There’s about 10 big ones. They’re strong, they’re undeniable, it’s totally true. But be careful with those. We make like lists and email them to someone, like it’s just gonna fix everything. They can make their own lists. Like, don’t do lists, do context. And what’s interesting about the fall away context is they rarely say, keep doing bad and you’re lost. Although that’s clearly a part of it. They more often say what you’re about to see.

One of those ten verses is Colossians 1. And we just read down through verse 21. We were apostile and he reconciled us, verse 22, and he presented us before him holy and blameless. He said, look, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if, there’s our big word, if you continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, not moving away from the hope of the gospel that you’ve heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister. I think I preached it for a long time that what he said in verse 23 is if you don’t continue in doing the right things, if you don’t continue in going to church every Sunday, if you don’t continue to purge your addiction, then you’re lost.

Those things may be true on the back end, but the front end, that’s not what he’s talking about. He’s saying if you continue in your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and continue to be firmly established upon him. He said, I’ll explain it to you. Not moving away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard. If the hope of the Lord is fueling you’re still gonna make mistakes. But you, first John 1 will always turn around and be sorry, and you will confess your sins, and you will get stronger over time, and you will know that he has forgiven you. You need to have the hope to keep the works moving in the right direction. And you should. You should because Jesus has done great things.

Conclusion

Jesus has given his life to give you hope. Jesus has sat at the right hand of God to protect you. I’m gonna give you one final story. Anybody here seen because it gets to the work stuff. Anyone here seen Saving Private Ryan? Do you now know that we now call 1998 movies old movies? Did you know that? Can you just sit on that a minute? Watch on edited television if you watch it. That is my warning to you from a pulpit. Private Ryan. Three of his brothers had died. Remember that? His mom is mourning, and they said, We gotta go save this fourth boy. So they send that whole team, Tom Hanks, they send that whole team in there during the war, and they start dying one by one.

And finally at the very end, they find Private Ryan, and they’re about to get him to safety. And the last character, Tom Hanks’ character, he gets shot and he’s dying, laying against his motorcycle dying. And you remember what he said to him? Anybody remember this? The last thing he said to Private Ryan was, earn this. And he died. And Private Ryan escapes and he lives, and it shows him later, and he’s a grandpa, and he’s got his wife and his kids and his grandkids, and they’re walking to this cemetery years and years later, and he looks, comes up to a cross representing the guy who died for him, and he just looked at his wife and he just said, you know, have I lived a good life?

Have I been a good man? That’s the end of the movie. He spent the rest of his life just trying to live in such a way, motivated by the sacrifice that was made for him. The strength of his work was based on the depth of his gratitude for the life that was lost. As deep as Jesus’ sacrifice is in your heart, will represent the strength of your faith and how far you can go. You can’t earn it. He couldn’t earn it, but I can try with every ounce of my being. Are you willing to give it your best effort, your strongest work, to do what you can purely because of the hope you have in the Lord and what you know about him. Is that enough?

Is he enough? I hope that he is. If he is, and he’s offered you the opportunity to come back to him if you’ve drifted, to unite with him in baptism if you haven’t already. He’s done all the great stuff, all the hard stuff. Now he’s just asking us to trust and obey. If you need to do that, come now as we stand and sing.