Christ: Our Hope
by Roy J. Hearn
The world places hope in the wrong things. Jesus is our hope to overcome our sins. He is also our hope to overcome worry and anxiety. He is the central figure of the Bible. It is amazing that preachers spend so little time preaching about Jesus Christ. Some hardly every mention Him. Week after week, they attempt to correct the problems of the church, and often it is the case that Christ is not mentioned. As one good man said, "The members take their beating and go home." But, please consider that Christ is our only hope.
CHRIST IS OUR HOPE FOR SALVATION. The angel said: "You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Nobody can save himself. After we have done all things commanded, we are still unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10). Paul wrote, "Salvation is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2:10). Jesus said, "The Son of man came to seek and save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10). "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
What is Christ to you? An old preacher once said: "This audience is too generous. Those on the front pews pass the message back to those on the next pew, and so on to the back row, and they pass it out the door." But someone says: "Christ is all the world to me," or "He is my Saviour," or "He is my everything." Others feel that "Christ means nothing to me; I have no part or lot with Him; or I am not interested."
Christ must first be our Saviour. The gift of God is eternal life through Christ (Romans 6:23b). This was never said before of any prophet, priest, or king. He is our Saviour because He is willing to save and desires that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). He came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) and invites all men to come unto Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
Christ can save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him (Hebrews 7:25). He is not our Saviour simply because He can save, but the sinner must come to Him in order to be saved. He stands at the door and knocks, but everyone must open to Him (Revelation 3:20). There is salvation in no other name than that of Christ, but all must accept Him (Acts 4:12). Each one is responsible for his own salvation (Acts 2:40).
CHRIST IS OUR DELIVERER FROM SIN AND DEATH. Without Him we can do nothing. He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and provides the way of escape (2 Peter 2:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13). Everyone desiring salvation should feel as the apostle Paul. Temptations to him were strong, but he said: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 7:18-25)! Have we felt the same? Can we answer as did Paul? Christ died to deliver here and hereafter (Galatians 1:4).
Nobody can deliver himself alone. God took thousands of years to teach the Jews and the world that they could not save themselves. When David defeated Goliath he did not depend upon himself, but upon the living God (1 Samuel 17:32). We can overcome the giants of temptation with the Lord's help (Philippians 4:13). Thus, Jesus is our Saviour from the bondage of sin.
JESUS IS OUR HOPE FOR ETERNITY. This should give great comfort to those who believe in Him. Jesus told His sorrowing disciples: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3). Some day He will come in the clouds of Heaven and gather His faithful home with Him to be in Heaven forevermore (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Peter 1:4). Paul said that if our earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building from God, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).
Christ is the Way, and any who go to the Father must go through Him (John 14:6). In order to know how to be a real Christian, look at Him. Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." This means to have the same spirit or disposition of heart that characterized the Christ, who never sought to please Himself, but always sought to do the will of the Father (Romans 15:3; John 4:34; John 6:38).
Some object saying: "But one preacher differs from another in what the way is, so how can I know the way?" The Bible does not say to follow the preacher, unless he follows Christ as Paul did (1 Corinthians 11:1). Christ went through the world and made the way and sent the apostles to reveal all things and record them (John 16:13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-13; 2 Timothy 2:2). One is a Christian only to the extent he follows the instructions of the Christ recorded in the New Testament. Besides the accounts of the life of Christ, there are fourteen books that teach us how to follow Him. Someone correctly said: "Christianity is the life of Jesus Christ, so that our thoughts, feelings, purposes, words, and deeds are like His." Christ is the light of life, and those that follow Him shall not walk in darkness (John 8:12).
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Tract courtesy of Truth for the World