Good morning. It's a joy to open the Word of God with you today. If you could open your Bibles to the Book of Colossians. I'm turning there, just a few announcements. Pastor Matt is here. He's speaking over in Glacia Esperanza with the Spanish congregation. And Pastor Jose is out of town, so he's preaching there, and I'm preaching over here. He's preaching in Spanish, I'm preaching in English. Just a couple things, as it's already been mentioned. Today is Palm Sunday and we celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and what has been called Holy Week. This week that we remember when Jesus is headed towards the Passion, towards his suffering on the cross. And then next Sunday as we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you're excited to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And we celebrate the resurrection every Sunday, right? We gather on the Lord's Day because that's the day that we remember that Jesus was resurrected. But we set apart this day every year to remember and to emphasize and celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead. Amen? So be thinking about that this week. Be celebrating that. And today's message, though it's not on the triumphal entry, is all about the hope of the gospel. And so I hope that you will be thinking upon these things. Friday, I should mention, we have a Good Friday service. We will be meeting with another church, celebrating together at Christian Fellowship Church of Itasca. It's on Devon Avenue, it's not too far from here, at 7 p.m. We've had that church with us here for our Pi Fellowships. Their pastor, Lucas O'Neill, has preached at our Pi Fellowship two years ago. So you should be familiar with some of the people there. But I encourage you to come to that on Friday at 7. Another thing I want to encourage you in is we have a discipleship class starting on April 8, so the week after Easter, that Elder Jerry Soen will be leading and teaching. And we encourage everyone who's coming in for new membership, or if you're just a new member, that you would attend this class. And also, if you're a new believer, Come, go to that class, and you will be greatly encouraged in your walk. Brother Jerry has put together this material over many years, and walked it and lived it, and he wants to teach it and walk you through discipleship with Christ. So, please, come to that. And also, last thing is, it is small group week. I'm not sure if every small group is meeting because of the Good Friday service, but it was up to the small group leaders. But there are small groups this week. Get with your small group later and make sure you're meeting. All right, let us look to the Book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. I should say that last Sunday night I did an intro to the book of Colossians. It is on Sermon Audio. We're not going to dive much into that. But if you want to know more about the first two verses and the background to this book, go listen to that message. There's a lot of information there. Just to let you know, the plan is I will be preaching in the morning service once a month, and when I preach in the morning service, we're going to go through the book of Colossians together, okay? And so if you want to get the intro, it's on Sermon Audio. We'll be really focusing on verses 3 through 8 today, but we'll start reading in verse 1. Can everybody stand for the reading of God's Word? Colossians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid out for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth. just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. This is God's word. You may be seated. So as we begin the book of Colossians, we see that this is a book that was written in history, right? It didn't just come out of the sky. It's a book written by the Apostle Paul to a church, the church at Colossae, to the Colossians. And Paul is writing them to encourage them in their faith and to warn them of some dangerous teaching. And we'll really get into unpacking some of those things as we go through the book of Colossians. But keep those things in mind. And so Paul, who is an apostle of Christ Jesus, he is set apart by God as a messenger of the resurrected Christ. And so he has authority. He holds the office of apostle. And so he writes to this church in Colossae with the authority of Christ. And inspired by the Holy Spirit, right? This is Scripture. This is not just the words of the man Paul, but the inspired, the breathed out words of God through the Holy Spirit. And so, even though we're reading a letter that was written by Paul to the Colossians, it is a word written to believers through all time. And so, as we situate this letter historically, we must still understand that it applies to us, because he's writing to who? Saints and faithful brothers. You, O church, if you are in Christ, then you are a saint. Now, in our culture, you know, we have this thought with the word saint means, you know, someone of high moral excellence, right, of their character. But this word isn't speaking of that so much as it's saying that you are set apart. Christ that you are holy you are devoted unto God that you belong to him And of course that includes the holiness of character, right? Be holy because he is holy be holy because he has set you apart but holiness for you believers in Christ is first and foremost the Equality that is given to you because you belong to Jesus You are set apart to him This is written to faithful brothers, those who have faith and show that faith by their faithfulness to Christ. And this word brother is important. It's a family term. You belong to the household of God. You belong to His household. We like to say around here, right, this is God's forever family. We are God's forever family. And so we share this in common with the Colossians, right? And so Paul's words are meant for you, church. And he writes to these brothers to encourage them. And he begins his letter, as he does many of his letters, with giving thanks to God. It's part of his intro and, you know, sometimes maybe we gloss over these parts of the letter, but there's so much for us to gain from this portion of Colossians. So let us listen intently, church. Paul writes, and he begins by thanking God our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He begins by expressing thanks. Now in ancient letters, it was common to include a section in the beginning. that gave thanks, that praised the recipients. And it was meant kind of to butter them up, so you could make a request later. But Paul doesn't begin that way, does he? He doesn't begin by speaking highly just of the Colossians, right? He's giving thanks not to the Colossians, but to who? To God the Father. He gives thanks to God the Father. His primary concern is not their view of him, but their view of God. It's not their understanding of all the things that Paul has done, but that we would understand that the hope we have, the faith and the love that is expressed among us, that it comes from God the Father. And so his thanks is to God. the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 2, at the end of that, he said, So first he says, God our Father, and then he says, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's this understanding, church, that we can call God our Father because we belong to Jesus, and Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father. Hebrews says that Jesus is our elder brother, right? And so we have the same Father because we belong to Jesus. And Paul gives his thanks to God the Father. And he says he gives this thanks whenever he prays for them. This means he does it all the time. When all the time, regularly, when he's praying for the Colossians, he gives thanks to God for what he is doing among them. He's been giving thanks since he heard of the faith they have in Christ and of their love for all the saints. And if you skip down to verse 7, he says that They heard this from Epaphras, and Epaphras made it known to Paul. So what we know from this is that Paul has never been to Colossae. This is not one of the churches that he went and physically planted. In fact, one commentator has said that the book of Colossians is written to the most insignificant city of all of Paul's letters. Paul was very strategic in his ministry. Where he would do his ministry, such as in Ephesus, or writing to Rome, or going to Rome later, is all in these major cities, so that the gospel can go from those cities out to all the neighboring regions. And that's exactly what happened in Colossae. See, Paul, as he ministered in Ephesus and planted a church there, as he preached the gospel, a man named Epaphras came to Jesus. A man named Epaphras believed in the gospel, and he was from Colossae. And so he went home, went back to his hometown, and he preached Christ. And when the Colossians, many of them heard the gospel, they believed. They trusted in Jesus, and the gospel grew among them. And so Paul gives thanks, because he's heard about their faith, and that faith that's expressed in their love for the saints. He's heard of this, and so what does he do? He gives thanks to God the Father. Now notice, he gives thanks, he says, because he heard of their faith and love. So he's giving thanks because he's heard of how they believed and how their love is expressing that faith. And he says that they have this faith and love because of the hope laid up for them in heaven, he says. And this hope they have is what they heard of when the gospel was preached. And notice that Paul spends a good portion of this thanksgiving highlighting the power of the gospel. Highlighting that it's not the Colossians, right, that were just so smart and wise, but it was the gospel that bore fruit and increased among them. And so this morning, saints, I want us to understand that the foundation here is the hope of the gospel. And that hope of the gospel will ground three things for us today, that our thankfulness, our faith, and our love. Paul gives thanks that the gospel is bearing fruit among the Colossians. And so, We have to unpack this. What does he mean by the gospel? And what does he mean by this hope laid up in heaven? Well, first of all, he calls the gospel the word of the truth. The gospel is the word of the truth that they have heard. The word of the truth. It means the gospel is a true word, right? It means it tells us reality. It tells us the truth of who God is, of who Jesus is, of who we are, and that Jesus is our Redeemer. The gospel is the word of truth. It is the word of truth about Jesus. In fact, we could say it this way, the gospel is Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news of Jesus, who is your hope. The gospel for Paul is the proclamation of the good news of the incarnate Christ who lived and died and rose from the dead for you. This is the good news, saints. We can't have this dichotomy in our minds, right, that we need the gospel first to get saved, and then we just, you know, go on and maybe we just need the law now, right? No, no, no, no. Paul is Very specific. In fact, we need to be careful about not drawing a distinction between theology and practice, right? In fact, Paul knows that by addressing our theology, he will be addressing our practice, our lifestyle. And we have to understand that the gospel is the foundation of the entire Christian life. You don't begin with the gospel and then move on. It begins with the gospel, it continues with the gospel, and it ends with the gospel. The gospel is Jesus. He is the beginning and the end. He is the hope that you have. Now, as we get further into the book of the Colossians, we'll unpack a little bit of what's known as the Colossian heresy. But it's important for us to kind of have an understanding of that here, because Paul is subtly addressing some of those things now. See, the Colossians were in danger of believing some erroneous teachings. Some teachings that said that if you wanted a deeper spiritual life, you need something beyond Jesus. That if you wanted to be more mature in your walk, you needed maybe some angelic visions. Or maybe you needed some very disciplined practice of beating your body and being very hard on yourself. You needed to observe special days. In short, it was this teaching of this kind of mysticism of these higher spiritual things, which by the way is very prominent today, New Ageism and the New Ageism influence in the churches today. So Colossians has quite a few things to say to us. The Colossians were in danger, and we're in danger, of thinking that the higher spiritual life comes from some kind of mystical experience, some kind of meditation which is like a trance, or seeking some kind of angelic visions that take us beyond Jesus to just something a little deeper. Or maybe by trying to be sanctified through observance of the law. By looking to the law as the schoolmaster that doesn't just lead us to Christ, but that schools us all through life. But Paul, and he specifically addresses this in Romans 7 and 8, shows knows that the law cannot deliver us from sin. Only Jesus can deliver us from sin. The law shows us our sin. The law shows us God's standard. The law is an instrument in sanctification. But if you want to go deeper, if you want to be more spiritual, if you want to be more holy, you don't need something beyond Jesus. You need more of Jesus. You need more of a deeper understanding of who he is. You need a deeper knowledge of his love and his grace. You need a deeper knowledge of his glory. You need a deeper knowledge of his supremacy over all things. And the more you understand of Jesus, His person and His work, the more you understand of His complete work on the cross, and that He rose victorious from the dead, the deeper you understand the love of God for you in Christ, the more holy, the more filled with joy, the more filled with love and faith and hope you will be. It begins with Jesus saints and it continues with Jesus. The gospel is the foundation. We need the gospel. You need the gospel this morning. You need the gospel. I need the gospel. We need the good news of Jesus. And I hope that to you isn't just a bunch of platitudes, right? A bunch of Sunday school answers. When Paul prays for the church in Ephesus, right? When you read in Ephesians, we have a very similar letter to the Colossians. He wrote them about the same time. He prays that they would come to a fuller understanding of the knowledge of Christ. And he prays that they would understand the depths of the love of Jesus. By addressing our belief, our foundation, he gets to the heart of the matter. The Word of God, the Scriptures, want you to be grounded in the gospel. That's the whole thrust of scripture, right? It's all about Jesus. It's all about Him. When we read the laws, we read that psalm this morning, 118, right? This is a psalm that they would have sang to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And this is the time, as they're getting ready for the Passover, Jesus is coming in, they're singing this psalm, but you see in that psalm, it said, they're praising Hosanna, and then it says, bind the festal sacrifice up to the horns of the altar. That psalm is speaking prophetically of Christ. When we read of the Passover, we read of the sacrifices in the law. It's all pointing to who, saints? To Jesus. It's but a shadow of the things to come. Jesus celebrates the Passover. When they would celebrate the Passover meal, as you read in Exodus, right? There would be a lamb, right? On the table. And Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples before he goes to his death on the cross. and he celebrates the Passover, and we see no mention of a lamb in the Gospels, right? Because Jesus is the lamb who will be slain. John, the Gospel of John, is so intentional about making sure we understand that Holy Week is happening at the time of Passover, and that Jesus is the blood of the Lamb. Israel painted the blood of the Lamb over the door, right? And the angel of death passed over, and he delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. This is the Gospel, saints. Jesus, who is the Lamb, whoever is covered by his blood, is delivered from the wrath of God and delivered from the slavery of sin and death. This is the gospel. And notice what he says in verse six, the gospel, he says, which has come to you as indeed of the whole world is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth." I could say this another way. Romans 1.16, Paul says, Notice that he doesn't highlight just how wise the Colossians were. He says, it was the gospel that bore fruit. and increased among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God. And he uses these words that are actually very similar to Genesis, right? Be fruitful and multiply. Or when God calls Abraham and he says, I will make you a multitude. I will make your descendants as many as the stars. And all through the Old Testament, you see this intention of God to bless the world by those in fellowship with Him being fruitful and multiplying. Now we see that the gospel is being fruitful and multiplying, and that many are coming to faith, that God's purpose for creation is being fulfilled through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that this gospel, which is the power of God, is bearing fruit wherever it is preached. He highlights to the Colossians that they hear this word, and it's not just what's happening among them, but this is happening all around the known world, right? Paul has gone and preached throughout the known world, the Roman world, and there were churches being planted everywhere. Many were coming to faith in Jesus and trusting Him. Many Gentiles, many from all the nations, drawn together into this empire of Rome, believing. And this has ever been increasing since this day in the first century, right? And the gospel has spread all over the world. Saints, the gospel is growing. It's increasing. It's multiplying. It's bearing fruit. It's bearing the fruit of transformed lives. Those who are rebels against God are trusting in Jesus, turning from the old way of life and walking with Him. Behold, the new creation has come. The new creation has come. Jesus is brought the new heavens and the new kingdom. He's brought about the gospel of the kingdom of God. And it's bearing fruit and growing everywhere. All over the world, think of in China or among the Muslims, as many are coming to faith in the blindness of the eyes that can't see Jesus. It's being lifted. And many are trusting in His goodness. Many are believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Saints, do you believe that the gospel is the power of God for salvation? We must preach the gospel and we must know it was the power of the gospel, the message of truth, the message of Jesus that brought transformation in our lives through the Holy Spirit, right? The Spirit opened our eyes and we saw with the eyes of faith the grace of God. He said right here, he said, the day you heard it and understood the grace of God. So we heard it and then there was an understanding. an understanding that comes from the Spirit, that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus was crucified for me, that Jesus rose from the dead, that Jesus is coming back. This is the gospel, and it's the power of God. And so, don't be ashamed of the gospel, saints. And don't think the gospel is not powerful enough to save sinners. It saved you. It saved me. And it will save all those whom God draws to himself through the proclaimed word. We cannot forget the gospel. We cannot butter up the gospel, make it sound better, try to take its offense away. No, no, no. We must preach the gospel. And it bears fruit and increases all over the world through the simple preaching of the Word. You don't need tricks. You don't need all the best arguments, though you should be able to give an answer for what you believe. What's most important is that you know Christ and that you preach Him, that you preach Christ, and that you know that this gospel is the foundation. It's the message that brought about the transformation in your life. And so, back to the false teachings, right? It's the gospel. It's not the gospel plus. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's Jesus, not Jesus plus anything. Jesus and Jesus alone. He is your hope. Now notice that he also said here, he speaks of the gospel, he said that in verse 4 and 5, he says that he's heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, the love they have for all the saints, and that they have this faith and love because of the hope laid up for them in heaven, and that they heard of this hope in the gospel. Remember I said that the gospel is not just what you need at the beginning, right? When you get saved. but the gospels from beginning to end. The gospel is the gospel of hope. The gospel proclaims to us the hope of glory. Paul knows that our faith and our love springs forth from the fact that we have a hope laid up in heaven. And it's this hope we heard of through the preaching of the gospel. Hope, you probably know for Paul, is not wishful thinking, right? That, I hope there's a redemption one day. I hope there's eternal life one day. No, no. It's a sure confidence. It's a... It's a truth that we hold on to. It's not wishful thinking. It's a confidence in the promises of God. It's the confidence in His promises, and it's an essential Christian virtue, often found in tandem with faith and love, right? As you read the New Testament, you find that, and here we see it with faith and love. Turn with me to Romans chapter 5. Here Paul unpacks what he understands to be the hope of the gospel. Romans chapter 5. Starting in verse 1, he says this, Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies, we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now receive reconciliation. Notice, he says, you have been justified by faith. So this is a fact, right? If you have faith in Jesus, if you've trusted in Him, then you have been justified by faith. That means you have been declared righteous, you have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, if you are in Him. And so, you are justified by faith. And since you are justified by faith, you now have peace with God. One time, when you were a rebel, when you were a God-hater, when you were a fist-shaker at God, you were under His wrath. But now, Now that you have heard the gospel and understood the grace of God and trusted in Jesus, you now have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice that he says, through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice now, we know by faith that we have been justified in Jesus. And now when we look forward to the day of judgment, when we look forward to that day, we look forward with the hope of glory, with the confidence of glory. And if you need evidence of this, Paul gives us it. In verses 6 through 11, he says, if while you were weak, while you were a rebel, while you were a sinner, while you were far from God, if while you were far away, when you are a rebel, Christ died for you, if Christ's love was shown to you, you've been reconciled to God when you were an enemy. How much more now that you are son and daughter of God? How much more now can you have the confidence of our future hope? Our future hope, saints, is that when we stand before God on Judgment Day, all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, right? All will stand before Him, and all the secret things of our hearts, all those things we're ashamed of, will be exposed. But we have a hope that on that day, that we will inherit the glory of God. that we will share in the resurrection of Jesus, that we will be welcomed, and he will say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. We know that when we stand before him on that day, on the day of judgment, We will be saved by the blood of Jesus. We have been reconciled, and therefore we know that we have a hope for the future. And so, saints, we must rest on this hope. We cannot trust what our eyes see. What we see is transient, it's passing away. What we see is a world filled with sin and sorrow and death. And you have enough grief in this lifetime to weep over your own sins, let alone all the sins of those in your family, and all the sins of those you encounter, and all the destruction and pain and sorrow that our sin brings, right? But we cannot trust what our eyes see. But we must look to the things that are unseen. we must use our imagination, a sanctified imagination. Do you realize that to walk faithfully with God, to walk in this hope that you're going to need your imagination? Now, Well, hear me out here, because maybe you're thinking imagination means fictional things, right? No, it doesn't. You think about real things all the time with your imagination, don't you? You're sitting at work and you're hungry for lunch and you're thinking of that juicy hamburger. Oh wait, maybe you're a vegetarian. A crunchy salad, right? You're thinking of this really good lunch that's coming, right? And you can almost taste it. And then you go get it and you actually eat it, right? And it's real. Okay, God has given us an imagination, right? And the scriptures appeal to our imagination. You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. You belong to Him. You know, because of our hope that is in Christ, why can we have hope in Christ? Because He rose from the dead, right? He's seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. You have a hope, what do you say, stored up in heaven for you. Peter says the same thing, right? We have an inheritance that's unfading, undefiled, kept in heaven for us. Jesus does not change. Hebrews says he is a faithful high priest in the household of God for all time. Your hope, saints, is kept in heaven and it's unfading. It does not perish. It does not lose its glory over time. Jesus remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. And your hope is in Him. And this is the hope of the gospel. The hope of the gospel is Jesus. The hope of the gospel is the redemption that we receive through Him. And it's the hope that on that day that Christ, that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit will make all things new. that He will wipe every tear from your eye, that all the sin and sorrow will be redeemed, and it will be all to the glory of God, right? So saints, you need to hold on to this hope. Let us hold on to this hope, the hope of the gospel, the hope that in Jesus, we have everything. In Jesus, we have the hope So don't trust what you see, but look to that which is unseen. Trust in the gospel which you have heard. As you read the scriptures, as the scriptures are preached to you, trust in this word. It is a true word. God is true, though every man may be a liar, and this is his word, right? Trust in his gospel. Trust it. And so, by implication of that, there's three things that I want us to walk away with. Not that there's not to walk away with the hope of the gospel, right? But three things that Paul highlights here that come out of this hope of the gospel. One is the hope of the gospel inspires thankfulness. As Paul looks at what the gospel has accomplished among all the known world and among the Colossians, he can't help but give thanks to God. And the next time we get into Colossians, we'll see that he tells us to give thanks to the Father in verse 12 of Colossians 1, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. When we consider the hope of the gospel, It ought to inspire thankfulness. If we are not thankful, when we hear of the power of the gospel in reconciling sinners to God, if we can't give thanks in hearing that, then there's something wrong with our heart. There's something wrong with our eyes. Maybe we need to put on the glasses of Scripture. Oh, saints, give thanks. Give thanks that you have been reconciled to God. Do you know what we are most thankful for? It shows us what is most important to us. When you pray and what you give thanks for, that will show you what is most treasured in your heart. And I hope that among your thankfulness and that it would be the thankfulness of the reconciliation that we have received in Christ. When you pray, at all times, give thanks to God for the gospel, for the hope of the gospel. In addition to that, don't just let your thankfulness be selfish, right? Always thanking God for all the good things he's done for us, but let's thank God, as Paul does, for the fruit we see the gospel bearing in the lives of others, of our brothers and sisters, of the saints and faithful brothers, right? As you hear the testimonies of salvation, we've been having that. It's been so great, hasn't it? Hearing of the redemption of God in Christ. And you just want to shout, Hallelujah! And give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you hear of the redemption of a sinner, we ought to rejoice, as the angels do, when the least of these come to the kingdom of God. and trust in Jesus. And we ought to give thanks in our prayers as we think of our brothers and sisters around the world. As we think of our missionaries and where they serve, we ought to be giving thanks for what God is doing among them. Remember them in your prayers. Remember your brothers and sisters around this globe. And be thankful for how the gospel is bearing fruit and increasing. The second thing, the hope of the gospel grounds faith. Look at this, this is an interesting way that the Apostle puts it here. He says, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. Since the time we heard of your faith, in Christ Jesus, and of the love that you have for all the saints. And then he says, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. So he's saying here, to summarize, he's saying that your faith is grounded, is founded on the hope of the gospel, and that faith, that trust, pours forth in a life of love. And so we see here that our faith is grounded on the gospel of hope, the hope of the gospel. As we think of that hope laid up in heaven, the reconciliation we have with God, the hope of glory, it gives a firm foundation for our faith. What is faith? Well, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, it says, It is a confidence, a trust in the hope we have in Jesus. It's a trust in Jesus. It is total reliance upon Him. Now, faith requires knowledge, right? You can't believe in what you don't know. It requires some understanding. So, it requires that we have come to an understanding of the grace of God in Christ. We have to come to understand, to have a knowledge of God and His redemption that He offers in Christ. But it's not just intellectual knowledge, right? That's not all faith is, because James says even the demons know that Jesus is Lord, right? And they shudder. So it's not just knowing in our minds, but it's a trust from the heart. It's a confidence and putting our entire life in Jesus' hands, right? It's taking up our cross and following Him. It's forsaking the old life and trusting Him as our only hope. When Jesus started preaching, the king of, what did he say? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Faith and repentance always go together. Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. When you repent, repent means to what, saints? To turn around, right? Well, you have to turn around to something. And if it's not Jesus, then it's a false savior, it's another sin, it's a lie. When you repent, we turn in faith. We turn in faith and we look to Christ. John Calvin defines faith this way. By the way, if you've never read Calvin's treatment of faith in the institutes of the Christian religion, you need to read it. It will stir your heart. It is the best writing outside of the scriptures, on scripture, that I have ever read about faith. And he says this, Now we shall possess a right definition of faith, if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Faith, the right definition of faith is to have a firm and certain knowledge of Christ's benevolence for us, His love for us. Faith is that trust, that confidence in God's love for us, in the hope stored up for us, founded on the truth of God's promise. So, hope is a sure confidence, right, we said? It's a sure confidence on God's promise. Faith is trusting, is putting yourself firmly upon that, trusting in the word of the gospel, trusting in the hope. And so, your faith, saints, is founded upon the promise of God. Is he trustworthy? Is God true? Does he ever lie? Can you trust his word? Does he have a good track record, saints? Amen? When the psalmists go through and give thanks, they recount the deeds of the Lord. In fact, when the psalmists lament and wonder what God is doing in their tribulation, they will often recount the past works of God. as a basis for faith for the future, of hope for what is coming. As we already said, we put our faith in what we don't see with our eyes, right? But in the hope of glory. We put our faith in what we know to be true, the gospel. We put our hope in the Word of God. So do not trust what you see. When you are tempted, when you sin, and you fall, and you're in despair, and you're wondering if God's love is real for you, if He could love you, you have to look to Christ. And you have to know that you have a firm foundation in Him. And that if anyone sins, confesses sins, and God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because we have Jesus. And when you face great trials and sorrow, health, finances, relationships, whatever it is going on in your life, and you know what it is, and the Lord knows what it is, rest upon the hope of the gospel, trusting in Christ, knowing that your faith has a firm foundation. And then the last thing for us to walk away with, that the hope of the gospel motivates love. So Paul heard of the Colossians' faith in Christ, and he saw that faith, or heard of that faith, demonstrated in the love that they had for all the saints. 1 John says that if we hate our brother, then we don't know God, right? One of the marks of a believer is a love for God's people, right? Is a love for God's saints, for his holy ones. Do you have a love for God's people? Our faith is expressed in our love for the saints. Romans chapter 12, Paul gives a good summary of what Christian love looks like. He says in verse 9 of chapter 12 of Romans, Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful and zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Saints, our love is expressed in brotherly affection for one another, loving each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. And because we have this brotherly love, we seek to meet each other's needs, right? Paul must have heard of how the Colossians cared for one another, and cared for the Christians that traveled through that area, and how their love was demonstrated in tangible acts of mercy and grace, showing hospitality to the saints. Saints, your hope in heaven, this future hope that we have, motivates our love because we know that God has loved us. Ephesians 5, 1 through 2, it says this, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We are called to be imitators of God. And so this hope that we have, this hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope of redemption, motivates our love because God has shown us love, right? We don't deserve God's love. We are not very lovable. But God loved us, even while we were sinners and Christ died for us. And so, Let us be imitators of God. Let us love those who are not deserving of our love. Let us seek to show that love in real ways. Love, the love that God shows us, the love that we're called to show is a self-sacrificing love. If your expressions of love don't cost you much, then it's not that great of an expression of love. God's love came at a great cost. The blood of Jesus. Love in sacrificing ways, saints. Love by taking up your cross. Love by sacrificing your money. Love by sacrificing your comfort. Love the saints and care for them. And as we see these things among us, as we see God's goodness, we see the gospel bearing fruit, we give thanks to God. We give thanks to God because we have a hope in heaven. We give thanks to God because of our redemption. We know that our faith has a firm foundation. It's on a solid rock, Jesus Christ. And we Rejoice in this we rejoice and we show this faith in our love for the Saints Love one another Let's pray father. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your love for us that you have shown for us in Christ Jesus and Father I give you thanks for the faith and love that I see among my fellow brothers and sisters here at Living Hope. I thank you for the faith that you have given us by your Spirit. I thank you for the love that overflows as a response to your love. And we ask, Lord, that these things would ever be increasing among us, that as we hope in Jesus, That our hearts would be stirred into thankfulness. That we would trust you with this firm foundation. And that we would love one another. We give you thanks for all these things. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.