I invite you to turn in your Bibles this evening to the book of Colossians. I'm going to consider Colossians chapter 1 verses 21 through 23 tonight. Colossians 1 beginning at verse 21. and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister. Well, a couple of weeks ago, while wrestling with a kidney stone, my wife Trista and I celebrated our anniversary. We weren't able to do much, as you can imagine, with a kidney stone, but it was our 15-year anniversary, and so there was some thankfulness there. We were excited about that. 15 years of marriage is something to be thankful for, right? Now, what if I was to tell you we've been married 15 years and it's been great. I hope it doesn't end in divorce. You would probably gasp at a statement like that, right? You might wonder, why would I ever say something like that? That statement doesn't at all sound hopeful. You see, when we use the word hope, we often use it to express uncertainty rather than certainty. When you ask a person if they're a hopeful person, you're asking them if they're a confident person, a sure person. But often the way we use the term is to express uncertainty, as if it's just something that we are desiring, we're hopeful for. But you see, when the Bible uses the term hope in regards to the salvation that we have in Christ. It's referring to something that is certain, something that we can be confident about, something that we can have assurance over. Are you a hope-filled person today? Are you a hope-filled person? You see, this text before us tonight is about hope. It's a hope-filled text. And it's a text that comes at the end of a section that is really full of hope. Paul mentions the word hope back in verse 5 of this chapter where he begins in verse 3 saying, 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 up for you in heaven. Paul refers to Christian hope again in this passage before us tonight in verse 23. And so what Paul does in this entire section, verses 3 through 23, is he frames this section, these texts, with hope. These verses are characterized by hope. These verses are hope-filled verses. And it's a text that is about our Christian hope. Now, what is our Christian hope? What is Christian hope? Well, as I said, when the New Testament uses the word hope, it often does so not in a way that we typically do today. It doesn't express uncertainty, but certainty. See, the way we do is like when a child is, you know, their birthday comes along and they hope for the gift that they desire. Or maybe you're hoping for a certain house. Or maybe you've been hoping for this job for a number of years. That's not the way the New Testament uses hope in regards to our salvation. Gospel hope expresses the exact opposite. Gospel hope is about certainty. When the Bible uses the word hope in this way, it refers to that which we can be sure and confident about. Biblical hope isn't just a possibility. Again, it's not just a kind of desire that we have. It's something that will not disappoint us. It won't let us down. it's sure it's firm it's certain and that's why paul can speak here in verse 23 of the hope of the gospel the hope of the gospel gospel hope listen to that phrase for a moment if paul was using hope in this text as something that was simply just possible but uncertain then we would have no assurance in regards to our salvation in christ would we our position our our status in Christ and before God would be uncertain. Like me saying, I hope my marriage doesn't end in divorce. I hope God saves me through Christ. But this is not what Paul is communicating here. What Paul is communicating here in this passage is the certainty of the gospel. And that's why I've titled this message, Gospel Hope. Gospel Hope. Paul wants to impress upon his listeners the certainty of the gospel. And he impresses that certainty by presenting us with three things in this text. First, who we once were. Who we once were. Second, what Christ has done. What Christ has done. And third, what we are to do. What we are to do. How we are to respond. And those are our points tonight. Who we once were, what Christ has done, and what we are to do. Let's turn to our first point, shall we? Paul begins in verse 21 with two words, and you. If you look at the previous section of this chapter, you'll see that verses 15 through 20 focus on Jesus Christ. Those are passages that focus on the preeminence of Christ, that he is God Almighty, first and primary in creation and new creation. Everything in all of the vastness of the universe is about him. We tend to make everything in our lives about ourselves, when in fact everything is about the Lord Jesus Christ. From these truths, Paul turns his attention to his listeners, and he does so by saying, and you, and you. Now, as I said, we tend to make everything about ourselves. We most certainly do, but to be sure, even these verses here with Paul shifting here in verse 21 by saying, and you, is still about Jesus Christ. Paul situates the lives of his audience in this text here, in this exposition of Christ in order to give us a proper perspective on ourselves while giving us a proper appreciation for Christ and what he has done for us. All the while impressing upon his listeners the certainty, the certainty of the hope that we have in Christ. So what does Paul say here about us? What does he say about his listeners? He uses two words here in this text to make his point about who we once were. He says we were once alienated and hostile. That sums up people. That sums up every person who comes into existence. We were alienated and hostile to God in Christ. That sums up me, that sums up you, that sums up every person in all of the world. We were all once alienated and hostile to God and to Christ. Now maybe you're here this evening and you're thinking to yourself, I've never been alienated or hostile to the Lord or to Christ. I was raised in the church my entire life and I've never remember a day when I was alienated or hostile to Christ. I've trusted in Christ my entire life. To that I say wonderful, wonderful, wonderful that by the grace of God you cannot remember a day when you were alienated and hostile to God and Christ. But you see, just because you can't remember a day when you were doesn't mean that you indeed were not at some point. You see, because of the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the garden. We all now, as children of Adam, come into this world inclined by nature to hate God and our neighbor, just as our catechism states in Lord's Day 2. And so Paul uses the correct terms here. We were alienated and hostile to God and to Christ. Now what does it mean to be alienated? We don't use that term all that much today, right? We certainly use the term alien. There are movies written about aliens. There are conspiracy theories about aliens. But what does it mean to be alienated? The word alienated refers to a separation, a divide that exists between two persons, in this case God and man. The Greek word that is translated here alien and can also be translated estrangement, separated, far away. Ephesians 2 uses the word when saying, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Then Ephesians 4 uses the word again saying, they, referring to Gentiles, are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of hearts. So alienation speaks of a kind of separation, a kind of estrangement. But that separation and estrangement isn't something that just has to do with distance or space. It wasn't as if God was or we were just simply, there was some distance between us and God, as if he was just way up there and we are just way down here. That separation, that estrangement, that alienation is relational. It's relational. Alienation with God has to do with our relationship with Him. We are estranged, separated from Him relationally. This point is easily seen and understood when we think about Adam and Eve in the garden after they sinned. God comes into the garden and they hear the presence of the Lord. And after hearing His presence, what do they do? They hide. They hide, right? Why do they hide? Is it because there's just some physical distance between them and God? No. There's something more going on there, right? Relationally, they have alienated themselves because of their sin and disobedience. And now they stand at odds with the Lord. And because of that relational alienation, they then hide themselves. See, brother and sister, what sin does to us separates us from the Lord relationally. Children, you probably know this to an extent, right? When you do something wrong, when you do something that your parents told you directly not to do, and you do it anyways, you experience that relational separation, don't you? Even if they don't know what it is that you did, you experience that. And then when they come to find out what it was that you did, because parents always find out one way or another, you again feel even more separated from them. Now, this is also true with adults. It doesn't just happen with children. When we wrong each other, when we wrong someone, we tend to hide from each other. We don't want to face that person. We alienate ourselves. That's what Paul is speaking of here. It's what he's referring to when he speaks of us being alienated from God. We are relationally separated, distant. And what this further leads to is what Paul says next, we're hostile, we're hostile, we are alienated and hostile towards God. You see, apart from Christ, we are not only relationally distant and separated, but our attitude towards the Lord is more nefarious than simply one of distance and apathy. We're separated from God, while at the same time, we are hostile towards Him. Apart from Christ, humanity, human beings, people see themselves as at odds with God. We're enemies with Him. The word that Paul uses refers to an attitude or a posture of enemies. In fact, many English translations translate the Greek word here, hostile, as enemy. Listen to the way the NIV puts it. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your mind. Enemies in your mind. The fact is, again, apart from the work of Christ, we were adverse to God, hostile towards Him. Thought of ourselves as enemies with Him. And as Paul says here, this affects both our thoughts and our deeds. The idea that Paul presents here is one where the complete nature of man has been so affected by sin. The mind of man is hostile and alienated. And so what does he do? His actions, the product of that hostility and alienated mind works itself out in the way that we live, in the things that we do. Listen to the way Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian, describes hostility and alienation here. He summarizes this in five points. He says, by nature, we have a low esteem of God. We count him unworthy of our love or fear. Second, he says, we prefer to keep a distance from God. We have no natural inclination to seek his presence. Third, our wills are opposed to the law of God. We are not loyal subjects of his sovereign rule. Fourth, we are enemies against God in our affections. Our souls have a seed of malice against him. We're quick to blaspheme and to rage against him. Fifth, we are enemies in practice. We walk in a way that is contrary to him and his ways. This is what it means to be alienated and hostile towards the Lord. And this picture of us apart from Christ is not one that we often think about, is it? It's not one we often think about apart from, say, a discussion on total depravity. But you see, what Paul is presenting for us here in this text, these sad truths of us apart from Christ, isn't just so that we have our doctrinal ducks in a row. What Paul is telling us here is to remind us of what we have been saved from, what Christ and his work has saved us from. Christ has saved us from this kind of mentality towards God, being hostile, alienated. Christ has saved us from being completely and totally at odds with the God of all the universe. He took us who could only be described as enemies and he showed us love, grace, mercy. The love and grace and mercy that should only exist between friends, brothers. Like the kind of love that exists between a parent and a child. What Paul presents us with here really, brothers and sisters, is a testimony. A testimony to God's goodness to each and every one of his children. You see, we can make much of testimonies today, right? We can think, you know, this person has a great testimony. The Lord saved them from drug abuse. This person over here has a great testimony. They were saved from a life of crime and imprisonment. And then we can think of our own lives and we can think, I don't have much of a testimony. I've been in the church my entire life. Don't remember a day when I was alienated and hostile towards God. this is our testimony isn't it this is the testimony of each and every christian it's that alienation and that hostility that leads to every other vile practice of men and women and so we're no different than the rest of mankind really when you think about it we too apart from the grace of god would be separated alienated from god and christ no different hostile even to his love his mercy his grace we too would be like the rest of the world without hope this is a hopeless picture isn't it sad hopeless picture but we've been taken from this hopeless picture and we've been given an eternal hope in christ knowing what it is that we've been saved from should lead us to magnify christ all the more in our hearts in our minds, to bow before him, to worship him regularly, to magnify his great name for all that he has accomplished for us. And that's where Paul goes next. That's why after covering who we once were, Paul goes on to tell us what Christ has done. After beginning in verse 21 with and you, Paul transitions back to Christ by beginning in verse 22 with he. He. Who is the he that Paul refers to here. It's none other than the same he from verse 15. The preeminent one. That one who is the first born of all creation by whom all things were created. For whom all things were created. The one who is before all things. Holds all things together. The one who is the head of the new creation. The first born from the dead. The one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. That one, that person, Jesus, the Christ, reconciled us in his flesh by his death. Now, here is the real head-scratching moment for me. Why would he do that? Why would he do that? Why would this great preeminent one lay aside his preeminence, take on flesh, humble himself, live and die for those who can only be described as his enemies? It's really the million-dollar question, right? That's why the gospel can be so scandalous to people. People can't understand how God could do that for people. Well, the answer is because he loves us. He loves us. He loves you, Christian. He loves you. And because he loves you, he reconciled you to himself. While Paul uses two words to describe who we once were, he uses one word to describe what Christ has done. And that one word is the word reconciliation. Christ has reconciled those who were once alienated and hostile towards him. He's reconciled each and every Christian, each and every person that trusts in him by faith. If we know what it means to be alienated, to be hostile, then we probably have a sense of what it means to be reconciled, don't we? We know that there are relationships that we know of that need some reconciliation. There are siblings that need reconciliations. There are spouses that need to be reconciled. There are friendships that need to be reconciled. We need reconciliation, don't we? As people, we generally need reconciliation. But you know what? the greatest reconciliation that we need is that between us and God. And we find that in Christ. Christ has reconciled us to himself. And I want to give you three things tonight that reconciliation, the reconciliation of Christ, brings about for us. First, reconciliation means that Christ has changed our relationship with him from one that is hostile to one that is friendly. friendship. The reconciliation that Christ has brought about for us provides us with friendship with him. Jesus says in John 15, greater love no one has than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. Jesus then goes on shortly after that to say, I no longer call you servants, but friends, for that is what you are. Christian, Christ calls you a friend. You are a friend of Jesus Christ. And he doesn't just call us friends. He demonstrates that relationship that we have by him laying down his life for us. Some of you know how difficult it is to find a good friend. True friends are few and far between, aren't they? Some of us are lucky to have one or two good friends in our lives. Acquaintances, people that we thought were our friends, Facebook friends, those abound. A true friend? Rare. Rare indeed. What a friend we have in Jesus. One who loves us and cares for us, reconciled us to himself, even when we were enemies. Second, reconciliation. The reconciliation that Christ brings about reunites us to himself, unites us to him. This is a really a glorious truth when we think about it. We don't often think about the union that we have with Christ other than to think of it as something that's just overly theological. But union with Christ means that we have a close personal relationship with Him, one that is analogous to what the Bible presents, which is the relationship between a husband and wife. The Apostle Paul describes that union that we have with Christ as being closer than that between a husband and a wife. In 1 Corinthians 6, he says, the two shall become one flesh. And then he moves on to say, but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Christ's reconciliation unites us spiritually, relationally with him. And this means where there was once separation, alienation by our sins Christ has now brought us close to himself we're joined united to him and that's why Paul can say in Ephesians 2 but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ reconciliation means we have been reunited there's union between us and Christ. The third thing reconciliation refers to is that of peace. Peace. We have peace with God. This aspect of reconciliation deals with the enmity that exists between us and God. That enmity hadn't just been laid aside as if God could somehow come to a compromise within himself. God cannot compromise his character. He can't compromise his righteousness. He can't compromise his holiness or his justice. And so how could we be reconciled to him? Only through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 22, Paul says that we have been reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. Christ's work has fully dealt with God's wrath against us so that now there's no longer any wrath for us. There is real and eternal peace between us and God. And that's why God can say what seems to be unimaginable, unbelievable to us. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. The Lord tells us that our sins are forgiven. He has casted our sins as far as the east is from the west. He has casted our sins in the deepest depths of the sea, never to be brought back. We now have peace with God through Christ. Now, peace in this life is a lot like friendship. It's rare. Peace seems to elude us often, doesn't it? But when it's brought about by Christ, we can be sure that we have real and eternal peace. Today is Sunday. Today is the Lord's Day. It's a day that we celebrate that peace. And we celebrate that true and lasting peace by hearing it over and over throughout the service. right? Peace, mercy, grace to you. We hear it in the blessing as well as the greeting. The Lord's peace be upon you. That makes Sunday a day of peace for us. Don't forget that, brothers and sisters. Christ has established peace for us. I want to ask you, do you know this peace? Do you know this peace? I don't want to assume anything here. I don't know many of you, and you might be wrestling with trusting and your faith in Christ. Do you know the peace that you can have in Jesus Christ? There's only one way to have true and eternal peace with God, and it's through Jesus Christ. You see, there's no hope apart from Him. We're all called to faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible teaches that anyone who calls upon his name will be saved. Have you done that? If you haven't, I call you to do that. Call upon the name of Christ. Trust in him. Look to him. Now notice in our text that this reconciliation has a purpose. Paul says in verse 22, he has reconciled us in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. One commentator points out the language that Paul uses here, the language of in order to present you is legal language. It's language of the court of law. And therefore, the picture that Paul is presenting for us here is one where Christ brings us into the throne room of God, where we are reconciled to him and we are declared holy, blameless, and above reproach. Now, of course, this doesn't mean that we are in and of ourselves holy, blameless, and above reproach. This is the declaration of God to us and about us in Christ. Now, this declaration doesn't mean that we don't pursue such holiness. We most certainly do, don't we? The author of Hebrews says, strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. But we have indeed been declared holy blameless above reproach and therefore we are a people who all the more should strive for the things that the Lord has declared of us in Christ as Paul says in Ephesians 4 we must still strive to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have received and this is why Paul follows up with what he says here about reconciliation by saying if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard at this point paul moves from what christ has done to what we are to do how we are to respond to what christ has done and if paul uses two words to describe what we once were one word to describe what christ has done he again uses one word here to tell us what we are to do and it's the word continue continue Continue in the faith. See, don't misunderstand Paul here. He's not saying that the reconciliation that we have in Christ is contingent upon ourselves. Paul is simply saying, continue to trust and believe in Christ. Paul is speaking of perseverance here, isn't he? He's saying, look, Christians, you have reconciliation by Christ. That is yours. You were once alienated and hostile. Christ has reconciled you. Now, hold on to that hope that you have. Hold on to it. Don't give it up. Don't look anywhere else for hope. Don't turn. Don't move. Don't change. Don't trust in anything else. Continue. Continue to trust in Christ. If we are to look anywhere else to ourselves, our own works, the strength of our faith, that would be to demonstrate that we really never had Christ to begin with. So Paul says continue here. Continue in the faith. And to really impress this upon his listeners, Paul uses three secondary terms to describe what continued faith looks like. He says it's stable, it's steadfast, and it does not shift. It's stable, it's steadfast, and it does not shift. My daughters love the beach. I'm sure some of you guys living here in Escondido love the beach. We enjoy taking our children to the beach. And when you take a kid to the beach, one of the things they love to do is they love to stand in the sand where the water comes up to the sand and then breaks right back down to the water, right? And when a kid does that, part of the fun is to kind of lose your bearings a little bit as that water breaks because it can seem like the sand beneath you is moving. It's shifting. see that's a picture of what paul is is kind of presenting for us here when he uses these words stable steadfast not shifting our faith at times can be like us losing our bearings at the beach as we stand in the sand and the ocean tide comes and goes is the ground beneath us shaking is it moving is it shifting not at all and yet as we look down at our feet we can get that sense. But if we look squarely at the ocean before us, we can stand there confident, assured, not being shaken. But once we take our eyes off of that ocean ahead of us, looking down at our feet, again, we can lose our bearings. Same can be said of our faith at times. When we're standing on Christ, having our faith squarely upon Him, we can be confident, sure, certain. And then when we take our eyes off of Him, if we're tempted to do so and put our eyes upon anything other, we can so easily lose our bearing and we can fall. See, Paul is calling us here to continued faith, faith that is stable, steadfast. It doesn't shift. See, when you boil this verse down, it's really quite simple. Paul is calling these Christians and us to continue to do what we have already been doing. Trust by faith in Christ. Trust in him. Don't shift your faith. Don't turn to anything else. To do so would leave you hopeless, hopeless. As I said in the beginning of this message, this verse is about hope, hope in Christ, not hope in ourselves, not hope in the strength of our faith, not hope in what we have achieved in this life, hope solely in Jesus Christ. Jesus has done everything necessary for us and for our salvation. We are just called to simply continue in that hope. That's what we're called to do. Don't waver, Christian. Continue to look to Christ, and in him you have the certainty of your salvation. Let's pray. Lord, you have given to us a sure and certain hope. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he has truly paid it all. There's nothing that we can do to add to his finished work. Lord, we acknowledge that we don't deserve your love and grace. We don't deserve Jesus. We don't deserve him to reconcile us to you. And yet out of the abundance of your love, you so graciously given us your son. We thank you tonight for the reconciliation we have in Christ. And we pray and ask, Lord, that you would continue to strengthen us in this certain hope that we have in him. Bless us as your people. We pray this now in Christ's name, amen.