No Hope without Jesus Christ – Part 1

Christians gather each first day of the week because they have hope in Christ, His life, and His words. When we have hope in Christ’s words, we constantly study them. When we hope in the life of Christ, we conform our life to His. All the hope we can have in this life comes back to Jesus Christ. Every pure virtue and moral teaching are found in Jesus Christ. What hope can we have for our children, our families, and ourselves without Him? What point is there to hope in what will be destroyed and ruined? What enduring life can we have without Him? Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25). He affirmed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This is an enduring hope.

Many have false hope. They pretend to have hope. They have dreams and baseless anticipations, but not real hope. They know within this is true. Unbelievers, doubters, and some believers hope that God will be merciful when they have neglected Him. They comfort themselves in their own goodness, self-righteousness. They pridefully defend their open sins and secretly practice others. These remind them of what they have become and detest those who hope in the words of Christ. They reason about a god who will love them so much as to not let them bring their own ruin on themselves (cf. Eph 2:11–13). They willfully disregard the God who made them in His image to love and they choose not to know Him or His Son (1 John 4:9–10, 19–21; Heb 10:26–31). What hope can they have? Jesus said that those who loved Him would have His commands, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:21). Christ’s Spirit said, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). Will God have mercy on those who do not love Him with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matt 7:21)? Will He forgive those who do not consider how He forgives (Matt 6:14–15; 11:35; Luke 6:37)? Will God help those to find Him who does not diligently seek Him (Matt. 7:7)? “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). “[T]hough He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Real hope is in Jesus Christ. There is no hope without Him. Those who truly love Him and seek Him have hope that endures forever. When we examine ourselves see that we are seeking, studying, following, and praying, then we have put all our expectations in Jesus Christ.