Introduction
In the book of Colossians, we are reminded of how vulnerable we are to the subtle cultural influences that bend the truth about our identity in Christ and our mission/purpose in this present life.
Colossae was a small market town in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), about 100 miles from Ephesus. Paul didn’t start this church but dearly loved them and prayed for them. In Colossians 1:3a he writes, “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for you always.”
There were false teachers in the area teaching Gnosticism; they thrived on their knowledge but not necessarily on knowing Jesus Christ. It is one thing to know about Jesus Christ but it is another to know Christ personally and intimately. Paul’s concern is that some of the saints in Colossae might get taken in by the Gnostics and lose their passion for the Savior.
Paul is proud of the Christians in Colossae and he affirms them. Colossians 1:4-6 NLT, For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 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.
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
Note: The key word in these verses is hope.
The claim that Christ is the only hope we have is a bold claim because it delineates all other claims to hope. This is important. In Acts 4:12 we read, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
1. We must be saved.
2. There is only one way to be saved and that is by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 14:6 Jesus declared that He was the only way to the Father. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”
· He is the only way by which we can be saved.
A. Christ is the only hope for salvation.
Sin weighs us down. It is a heavy load to bear.
1. We desperately need the salvation that God offers and faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to receive it.
Listen to what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:12 NLT “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You live in this world without God and hope.”
a. Folks, we can’t live without hope.
b. Hope is having a confident expectation that Jesus is for real and that He alone can and will save us if we come to Him.
Paul, in Romans 10:9 NLT wrote, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus is our only hope for the salvation God offers.
c. Without Christ, people are trapped in sin.
In Jeremiah 17:9 NLT, we read, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who knows how bad it is.”
Jesus, in Matthew 17:19, wrote, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander.”
B. Christ is the only way to receive the hope that God has promised.
In Acts 16:30-31 we read about Paul and Silas in prison. We read that a massive earthquake took place.
· The prison doors flew open.
· The prisoner’s chains fell off.
· The jailor thought that all of his prisoners had escaped and he was about to commit suicide.
Paul cried out to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” Then we read “Then he (the jailor) brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”
Note, in Acts 8:26-40 we read how Philip was guided to connect with an Ethiopian Eunuch who was in his chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip heard him and asked if he understood what he was reading and he responded (vs. 31) “How can I unless someone instructs me?” So Philip rode along with him and explained the scriptures to him.
· In time they came to a body of water and the eunuch said (vs. 36-37) “See here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all you hear you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So, Philip took him down in the water and baptized him.”
C. Christ is the only hope for salvation personally received.
1. We must acknowledge that we need someone to save us from our sins.
2. We must acknowledge that Christ is the only one who can save us.
3. We must repent and turn from a life of sin.
4. We must believe/put our trust in Christ who loves us, died for us, and rose again and we must surrender to Him.
In John 1:12 we read “But to all who believed Him, and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”
· Christ must be received, invited, and welcomed into our lives.
D. Christ is our only hope to have our personal needs met — material, physical, relational, spiritual, and more.
In Colossians 1:6 Paul wrote “This same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. His bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.”
In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
In John 10:10 Jesus said “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it abundantly.”
In Philippians 4:19 Paul wrote “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
E. Christ is our only hope for eternity.
- In Christ, we have hope of His coming to get us. In John 14:3 Jesus promised He would come to get us.
- He is our only hope for a home in heaven with the Father.
- He is our only hope of being resurrected bodily after with the Father.
- He is our only hope of deliverance from judgment and the wrath of God. In Hebrews 9:27 we read “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
· We can escape God’s wrath and fear of eternal separation by trusting in Christ.
Pastor Leonard
