Title: Jesus Christ…Our Hope
Text:
NAS 1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope;
Col 1: 27 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.
Introduction
This morning my message is entitled Jesus Christ our hope. The Christian Hope is different from the world’s hope. The world hope is without certainty for they do not know whether they hope for will be fulfilled.
The Christian hope with certainty because the object of our hope is Jesus Christ himself. Through his life, death and resurrection he has proven beyond the shadow of doubt that whatever he promise will one day come to pass.
This morning the title of my message is Jesus Christ our hope and I would like to show you three aspects of our hope in Jesus Christ.
1. Jesus Christ the only hope of Salvation for sinners.
Following his release from his first imprisonment, Paul visited some of the churches which he had ministered before. During the journey, he left his disciple Timothy in Ephesus to deal with some problems in the church while he departed for Macedonia. Apparently in Ephesus, false teachings had crept into the Ephesian Church and are robbing the believers of their hope of salvation. These false teachers were teaching that observance of the laws is a necessary means of salvation. (1Tim 1:7)
It is with this in mind that Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy. Stamping the letter with his apostolic authority in 1Tim Chapter 1:1, saying that “Christ Jesus is our Hope” In doing so Paul was refuting the false teachers that Christ alone is the hope of salvation.
Why is Christ the only hope of Salvation?
a. The Law while it is good, has no power to save (1Tim 1:6-11)
Paul pointed that the Law while it is good has no power to save sinners. The purpose of the law is to show sinners their sins and thus point to the need of a saviour.
Man is incapable of obeying the laws of God because man was already tainted with sin. The law shows us that we are all sinners in need of a saviour.
Similarly Religion has no power to save sinners from hell. Most religion teaches believers to adhere to certain moral conducts. Now these conducts are good. However obeying moral laws will never be able to save sinners because sinful man is already given the death penalty and is on the way to hell.
b. The sole purpose of Christ coming into the world was to save sinners. (1Tim 1:15)
Jesus came into the world with one mission in his mind and that is to save sinners destined fro hell. And Jesus Christ our only savior and the hope of sinners fulfilled this mission through his sacrificial death and resurrection.
There is truly no other savior for Christ is the only one who paid for the sins of mankind through his death, and He defeated the power of death at his resurrection.
c. If Christ can save a sinner like Paul, he could save anyone
Paul considered himself as the worst of all sinners. He said in 1Tim 1:15, that he was the foremost of all sinners. Paul was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church. He witnessed the stoning of Stephen. Such was his reputation that the church in the beginning did not believe that Paul was truly converted.
Paul was not only converted, he became one of the greatest apostles and wrote a large part of the New Testament. It is an awesome testimony that Jesus Christ is indeed the hope of salvation.
If indeed Christ is the only Hope of sinners destined for judgment and hell, what should our response be?
We as believers are God’s messenger of Hope. Would you pass by a dying man and not do anything about it? I am sure you will be activated to save the person from death.
How many times have we passed by people in need of the hope Christ can offer and we pass them by? Some of these people are people whom we see and talk to everyday and yet our eyes were not open to their hopelessness. Aren’t we just as guilty as the Priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan? We can memorize the great commission by heart. We say amen to the preacher preaching about the need to evangelize. But once we step out from the church service, the plight of the hopeless is the least of our concern.
Ask yourself:
1. Is your heart concern over the salvation of a family member, a colleague, a neighbor or a friend?
2. Do you spend a portion of time daily or weekly praying for the salvation of an unsaved?
3. Do you look for opportunities to share the gospel?
4. Do you make attempts to invite a non-believer to an evangelistic meeting in church?
If your answer is no, it is time you take serious considerations in regards to the lost. Why not start this year by taking up responsibility of the lost. Make it a personal goal to bring a person to Christ this year.
2. Jesus Christ the hope of glory
In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote in Chapter 1: 27
“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.”
In the Colossians church, false teachers were propagating the false teaching that faith in Jesus Christ is not sufficient to triumph over sin. In order to triumph over sin, they were told to neglect the body and suppress its natural cravings.
Paul’s reply to the Colossian’s heresy is “Jesus Christ in you, the hope of Glory”
What does Paul meant by the Hope of Glory?
a. Jesus is the only hope of a transformed life.
When a person accepts Christ, Jesus Christ the King of glory enter into the heart of the believer. As the believer yield to the Kingship of Christ, he becomes transformed and grows from glory to glory, becoming more and more like Christ.
Transformation comes from the work of Christ within our heart and not through our own strength and methods or suppressing and beating the body like what the false teachers propagated.
- Through Jesus Christ the hardest criminal can be saved changed and transformed by the Spirit of Christ working in their hearts.
- As a new believer I used to struggle with many areas of sin. I realized that on my own I could not change. But as I yield to Him and ask Him to help me, transformation began.
b. Jesus is the hope of our future glory.
The word “Glory” comes from the Greek word Doxa which means:
“the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Savior’s return from heaven”
In Colossians 1:5 Paul said that there is a hope laid out for us in heaven.
In heaven we will received anew glorified body, we will be made perfect with no struggle with sins, no more pain, no more hurts, no more tears.
No more poverty, not more wars, no more injustice. We will receive our heavenly inheritance and live in the glorious presence of God.
When I was teaching children Sunday school, there was a song that we use to sing and it goes like this:
Heaven is a wonder place, filled with glory and grace
I want to see my savior’s face, heaven is a wonderful place.
I’ve got a home in glory land that outshines the sun (x3)
Way beyond the blue.
Jesus Christ dwelling in our hearts through the Holy Spirit grants us full assurance that these hope laid up for us in heaven will be definitely fulfilled
Understanding this hope, keep our future hope of glory always before us is of great importance.
Many believers fell away from God because they took their eyes off their future hope of glory and instead place their eyes on the temporal in this life. Many gave up, the straight and narrow path that leads to life and instead walk on the wide path that leads to death.
- The Apostle Paul continued in the straight and narrow path, going through beatings, stoning that almost killed him, imprisonment because he had his eyes set on the Hope of Glory.
- These enabled Paul to keep the faith and finish the race though the race was so tough for him.
- The rat experiment
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!
Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should is effect be on our lives.
Conclusion
Jesus is the hope of salvation, be an agent of hope for Him.
Jesus is the hope of a transform life; don’t rely on your own strength to change. Yield and surrender to him and God will grant you the strength and power to change.
Jesus is the hope of our future glory. Set your eyes continuously upon this hope. It will keep you running till you finish the race.
