Jesus' High Hopes for You! - Audio
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Do you know who has high hopes for you? Jesus has high hopes for you. We're going to open up the Bibles today to the book of Colossians. Go ahead and start turning there chapter 1. And as you turn to Colossians 1, we're going to be reading a portion of Paul's letter to a church in Asia Minor in the first century. And in it, he is going to exclaim to them that not only does Paul have high hopes for the church, but that God has high hopes, that Jesus has great hope for the people of that church. And we're going to read today in Colossians 1 beginning in verse 21 how Jesus looks upon us and he is our greatest cheerleader. He is our greatest fan that he has high hopes for us. Would you please stand with me as we read from Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, we're going to start back in verse 19 and we'll continue through verse 23. Back in verse 19, which we've already covered, but to give it some context, Colossians 1 19 to 23. Paul in his letter to the church writes these words. For it pleased the Father that in him that is Christ, in Christ, all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. Lord, would you open up our eyes now as we read your word, let your spirit guide our study. Some of this portion of your word is difficult. Others of it is so very encouraging. Lord, let us grasp all of it and let us be transformed by it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Back again in Colossians 1 19 and 24, it pleased the Father, Paul writes, that in Christ, all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. That's the context from which we've come from our last message, that God was pleased to bestow upon Jesus the great rights and privileges and benefits all the supremacy to be Lord of heaven and earth and to recognize that the fullness of God should dwell in Jesus and that by Jesus, that he would reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. How did he do it by making peace through the blood of his cross? Now that Paul has spoken about this idea of reconciling, reconciliation that Jesus has done, he's going to go on to elaborate, to speak a little bit more about that reconciliation. And in verse 21, he's going to indicate who receives that reconciliation. In verse 22, he's going to indicate what's the purpose of that reconciliation and by verse 23, he's going to say how those benefits can be maximized. And so let's read again in verses 21 through 23. He says, and you, you Colossians, you, co-spival church, you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now Christ has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. Why? To present you holy and blameless and above approach in his sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded instead fast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which of which I Paul became a minister. And I don't know about you, but for most of us, I would suppose, as we read this portion of God's word, our eyes are probably most immediately drawn to the state, to the word if in verse 23. If, and a fast and a superficial reading of this portion of God's word is likely to worry many people. For it appears on the surface that Paul is making all of these glorious statements, that he's making all of these glorious salvation promises and other benefits that are extended unto us, that he's making them utterly contingent upon our continuing in the faith in a way that is grounded, steadfast, unmoved. And so we might begin to wonder, we might even worry a little bit, is my faith like that? Will I always be steadfast? And if I don't, what then? What are the consequences if I don't meet this condition as Paul has outlined in verse 23? To be indelibly clear, Paul is giving a warning in verse 23. And that warning begins with that simple word if. It's a conditional statement. And we mustn't ever minimize a warning passage in the Bible. We mustn't ever whisk it away and ignore it. But still, a hasty reading of this portion of Paul's letter is likely to lead many astray. For if we jump too quickly into verse 23, without
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In this message, Pastor Neil encourages believers to consider their present state of sanctification and resolve to avoid those things that rob us of heavenly rewards.