Amen. All right, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. I've entitled this message, The
Object of Hope in Trouble. The Object of Hope in Trouble. Now, as we have seen in this
last previous studies, Those who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The apostle makes the conclusion
in the very first verse of chapter 5, a conclusion. This is it.
Therefore, you could not justify yourself. Therefore, God sent
Christ and Christ justified His elect. And in grace he sends his spirit,
and by faith we are experimentally justified. And the benefits now
he pours out to us are vast. They're numberless. Consider
this. You have peace with God. It's
not something negotiable. You have peace with God. Obtained
by the blood of Christ, you have it. I don't feel at peace. What
does that have to do with it? It doesn't matter. If you're
justified, you have it. You have peace with God all the
time. All the time. There's no interruption in this
peace. You have it. He says you have access to God,
by whom also, verse 2, we have access to God. Access by experience,
is that what it says? Access by feelings, access by
our emotions, access how? How do you have access? By faith. That's how you have access. And
you have it constantly. Because you have peace, what
shall interrupt you? If you're justified, you have peace with
God, what is going to stop you now from entering into the very
presence of God and being accepted? And you enter in not by what
you see or feel or think. You enter in by faith because
God said you have access. What more do you need? I often
feel like I don't have access. I feel like this ceiling will
bounce my prayer. I come in here and I pray. And
I feel sometimes prayer bounces off the ceiling and comes back
to me. It doesn't. My feeling had nothing
to do with it. I have access to God. access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope." You know, I have hope
of being saved. And he's going to explain why
we have such a hope. And that word means confidence.
I have confidence that I'm going to be saved. You know why? Because
my salvation is tied to the glory of God. God said, I'm going to
save you for my glory. And if I don't save you, what?
My glory is diminished. So I have hope for this, that
God's glory is not going to diminish. He's going to save me. We rejoice
in this hope, but he says this, not only so, this is the kicker,
we don't enjoy those wonderful positive things, but there's
something negative that we also enjoy. Tribulation. Why? Tribulation. Tribulation. He said we glory, we rejoice,
same word used there in verse 2 and verse 3. It says we rejoice
in tribulation also. Why? Knowing that tribulation
accomplishes something. It's purposed. It has a purpose. Let's go look over at Peter.
Look at 1 Peter. You that are justified and have peace with
God, listen to what Peter said. Verse 5. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5.
He said who? The elect. This is who he's talking
to. The elect who are sanctified by the Spirit unto obedience,
unto faith and the sprinkling of His blood. That's you who
are justified. That's what Paul said. You're
justified. You have peace with God. That's who he's talking
to. Who are kept By the power of God through faith. Now this is the promise of God
that you who are justified, you're kept. You're kept. How do you know you're kept?
What's the evidence you're kept? God's Word says I'm kept. But
I don't feel kept. I feel like I'm in a tornado
and lifted up off the ground and I have no footing. I'm being
thrown from one way to the other. I don't have any grounds. I don't
have any footing. It seems everything is chaos,
disorder, disarray. I don't feel kept. But how do
I know I'm kept? Simply this, by faith. Faith
is the evidence that I'm kept. I still believe. Though I have
no ground in anything else. Though I don't know what's going
on or how this is all going to work for my good. I don't know.
But I know this. I still believe. Why is it you still believe?
Was it your power? Did you keep yourself all this
time? Guard your heart from sin? Have
you done that well? No. If I had to keep me, I'd
be lost. But I'm kept by the power of
God, and faith is the evidence of my keeping. So how long am I going to be
kept? That's a good question, isn't it? How long is he going
to keep me? Because I wouldn't keep me. I would have done abandon
me. If I had to keep somebody like
me, who's constantly kicking against me, I would have abandoned
that person long ago. But you know when God's going
to keep, how long God's going to keep you? Look what Peter
said. He said, you're kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. Listen, you're saved right now,
but you've not really experienced it yet. You've got a down payment. You got a little bit. He's going
to be keeping you until that salvation that's ready to be
revealed at the last time. And notice until then what happens,
what takes place until that time comes. Look what he said, wherein
you greatly rejoice. Don't you rejoice in the doctrine
of grace? I mean, you do. I know you do. When you hear
of God's electing love and mercy, that's rejoicing. When you hear
of His death and offering and His blood, like we just sang
that hymn, my sins are drowned, as drowned in the blood of Christ,
that God's justice is forever extinguished against me. I will
never suffer. You rejoice in those things. Though, though now for a season,
if need be. We rejoice right now, even though,
now presently for a season, if need be. You are in heaviness. That's a good word to describe
how trials come. They're heavy. They have weight. When God puts trials upon his
people, they are heavy. They're trials of the mind, trials
of the soul, trials of the body. And they weigh us to the earth.
They cause us to to bow to the earth. They're so heavy. We can't
bear them on our own. But notice Peter says, if need
be. The only reason you have them
is because they're necessary. And he said, look, they're manifold,
they're various, they're many. And the word temptation there
means putting to proof. What is a temptation? It's not
a temptation to sin. God tempted no man to sin. What he's doing is he's putting
something to proof. What is he putting to proof?
Look, verse 7, the trial of your faith. Now, why are you in trouble? God's putting it to proof. He's
putting your faith to the test. The trial of your faith being
much more precious than gold that pairs you. Though it be
tried with fire. That's exactly what the Apostle
is saying here in our text. He's saying tribulation does
something. It works patience. It puts faith
to the test. And what comes out at the end
is submission. All true faith submits. True
faith submits. It denies what we think, what
we feel, and what we experience, and faith fully submits to what
we can't see, what we can't feel, what we can't taste. Faith submits
to the Word of God. That's what it does. It submits
to the will of God. But this is a very grievous process. And when gold, he says it's much
more precious than gold, he's liking it to purification of
gold. Now, when gold is put to the
fire, the confidence of the goldsmith
is this, the gold will not be harmed. When he puts that gold
into the fire, he is confident of this, that fire is not going
to hurt the gold, not at all. but it's going to purify it.
It's going to purify it. It's going to burn off the dross. It's going to have a positive
effect. So when our God puts us to the
test, His confidence is going to have a positive outcome. Now, the burning of the dross
did not make the gold. The gold is the gold. Before He put it in there, the
gold was gold. You couldn't see it. You couldn't
look at that big brick of crud around it to see it, but the
gold was gold. The fire didn't make the gold. Listen, your tribulation doesn't
make you holy. That's something God has already
done. What He's going to do is display it. We're going to burn
off those things and that faith that he gives us is going to
be displayed. It's going to be manifest. Not
to everyone, to you. If you know I have faith, how
is that going to help me? I don't even know if my faith
is real. That's what the tribulation's for, is to show me that God has
given me true, genuine faith, because that's what I need. And
so when the gold goes in, it comes out without the draws. God has justified us. God has
made us righteous. God has set faith in our hearts,
which is of true value. Isn't that true? Faith is valuable,
isn't it? How valuable is faith? Without
faith it's impossible to please God. Can't do it. Can't do it. Faith is the gold. Yet we confess that all of our
faith is mixed with what? Doubt. Fear. Dross. It clouds the luster of
our hope. My doubt diminishes my confidence
in God. And so what does the trial do
is it burns away the doubt. It burns away the cloud of fear. The fire of affliction, no matter
how painful or severe it is, it doesn't remove the faith. Just as the gold is not removed
by the fire, the gold is simply purified by it. It's not, it
doesn't remove it. And so when true faith is tried,
it, what, continues. And then when the Lord made the
difference between the, when the sower went forth to sow,
and you had the one that fell on the stony ground, You know,
it shot up real fast, but when the heat came, when the trials
came, what happened? It withered away. Faith was gone. Why? He didn't have real faith.
It wasn't real gold. And what happened with the other
one when he went down and he ate the thorns and it choked
the Word. It had all the nice leaves on
it, but no real fruit of faith. And so what does trial do? Trial
proves this. It proves that my faith is of
God. And it melts away any trust or
confidence in the things of the world. See the value then of
tribulation. It works submission. God will
set over, then will come at that point of submission. Paul says
in our text, tribulation works with patience, patience experience. You're not going to have the
experience of deliverance until you've been made submissive. Oh, there were times where I
thought I found submission. I thought I was at the bottom.
I said, surely God's going to come now. And I found out I wasn't
really at the bottom. I had one more thing I could
do. Listen, you got one more thing you can do. You hadn't
made patience. Patience is when you have nothing
else you can do. That's what it is. And then it
works, the experience of God's grace. God then gives us peace. God will deliver us from our
doubts and fears and faith will clearly see without the dross
of doubt. What does it see? It sees clearly
that Jesus Christ is all. I thought of this today. I read
of a man, this guy wrote of a man that had very little that was
said about him. He lived and he died in a place
where he was alone, he didn't have any family, he didn't have
any friends, he just isolated himself. And they were very,
he was a preacher of the gospel, but he wrote very little and
did very little and there's not much to remember him. You know
that's going to be true of all of us? Who's going to remember
you? Hundred years from now, who in
the world is going to remember? You may have some old person
a hundred years from now thinking, oh, well, you know, I heard so
and so. Pretty soon the wind's going to pass over us and we're
going to be gone. Nobody's going to even know we were here. The only thing that's going to
continue is this gospel I'm preaching to you. Jesus Christ is all that
matters to me. He is all my hope. Why? Because he successfully justified
me by his death. This is the experience of deliverance,
when I'm able to set all my hope and all my confidence fully on
Christ. I've got nowhere else to go.
I like when the apostles said this, Lord, to whom shall we
go? Now that they've come to the end, When they found out,
they didn't understand hardly anything he said. He said, Lord,
we know this, that you're the Son of God, and we got no place
else to go. If you got someplace else to
go, you'll go. But when God puts this trial upon His people, eventually
He always brings with this, when you got no place else to go. And this hope always yields,
as the apostle says in our text, the love of God shed abroad in
our hearts. So are you in the fires of affliction? Are you tried? Do you feel the
flames of sorrow and suffering? Listen, it's only necessary.
It's only necessary so that your faith might be proven. It might
be tried and proven. And if you endure in faith, then
what? You have hope. You have confidence. If you endure the trial, you
will not lean on your own understanding anymore. Trust in the Lord with
all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding in
all thy ways. What do you do? I'm in this way. It's by His
sovereign hand I'm here. And if I am ever to escape, it
will be by His hand. If I'm ever delivered, it's by
His hand. If I'm ever forgiven or pardoned, it's got to be by
the blood of Christ. No other reason. No other reason.
And so the flames of affliction prove us. What does it prove? When I'm
in the flames of affliction, I know this, it proves that I
am utterly without strength. That's what affliction proves.
It proves that I have no strength. It proves my weakness. Wasn't
this true in our conversion? Isn't that the first thing that
you realized when God came to you, that you were without strength?
It's the first thing God proves. I knew this, that when Christ
came to me, I was without strength. I was ungodly, I was unrighteous,
I was unworthy of the least of His mercies. I had no hope of
ever earning His favor. I had no hope of especially earning
His love. I could never merit His love,
much less even His favor. I was without strength. At that time He had brought us
so low And it was at that point of submission
that the Lord instilled in me this cry, Lord
be merciful to me, the sinner. You know, I knew about total
depravity since I was a kid. I knew of total depravity. I
knew this, everyone was depraved. I knew all of you were depraved.
What I didn't know is that I was. At that moment, I knew. Total depravity was not a doctrine
to be grasped in the mind. It was me. I was without strength. I knew this. If he would, he
could save me. I had great confidence in that.
I knew that he alone could save me. But I also knew this, if
he didn't, he had every right to pass me by. I knew that. Oh, you talk about
a low place. But this is where God brings
every sinner to a place where he has no hope in himself. He
is totally without strength. And at that same time, By the
experience of God's grace and power, I heard this message.
It was a wonderful message. All is ready. Isn't that the
parable of the Lord with that marriage supper? He sends out
his servants and he tells them, go tell them this, all is ready. All is ready. And those others,
they made excuses. But you know who didn't make
excuses? Those who didn't have anything. Those who were blind,
those who were lame, those who were hope. He said, forget those
other guys. You go out to the hedges and
you find the worthless who have no excuse. You tell them to come. Lord found me in a hedge somewhere. Ready to just die with no hope. And He said, all is ready. Salvation
you need, I've already provided. Jesus, and come unto me, you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. By
His grace, I saw that Jesus Christ, I saw His death was for the ungodly. Isn't that what the Apostle says
in our text? Look at that. Tribulation where patience and the love of
God shed and brought her up. What is the manifestation of this
love? How do I know the love of God for me? In this, He said,
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. Look at verse 8, But God commendeth
His love, God's gonna manifest His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died. When I heard that, When I heard
Christ died for the ungodly, I knew that was me. I knew that was me. That was
the only, that's the only qualification, isn't it? Christ died for a certain
group of people and they are ungodly. Well, I'm not ungodly.
I'm not talking to you. He's not talking to you. He's
talking to the ungodly. And then what? By the grace and
power of God, what did we do? We repented. We turned. Listen, I did. I turned from
my sin. But you know what else I turned
from? I turned from my righteousness. Because I found that it was only
sin too. All my righteousness was sin. All my goodness was
sin. All my works were sin. I repented of my self-righteousness.
That's what Paul does, he displays this in Romans 7. He said in
verse 9 of chapter 7, he said, I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the
commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. The sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, by it slew me, and the law was holy
and the commandment holy and just and good. Was in that which
was good made death in me, God forbid, but sin, that it might
appear sin. Isn't that what he did with the
law? He just, it's like a spotlight, like the sun had risen and now
I saw my sin. I saw the law that I thought
would help me, it didn't help me. It condemned me. And when I turned to Christ,
you know what he did? He saved me. He saved me. In that moment of submission
to Him, by faith, He saved me. At that moment, He washed me
of all my sin. At that moment, He robed me in
His own righteousness. I experienced the grace of God
that was accomplished long before I ever knew it. I experienced
the grace of God that He died for the ungodly. So now, when I am tried now, when my faith is low, when my love is cold, when my knowledge fails me. Listen,
my hope, my confidence still remains because my confidence
is not in my faith. My confidence is not in my love. My confidence is not in my knowledge. My hope remains because my confidence
is in Christ. My confidence of being saved
is Christ. Why? Because he loved me and
died for me even when I was ungodly. Even when I had no merits to
claim, he died for me even in that condition. So the question
is, how then shall he abandon me after he has justified me? The answer in my distress, the
object of hope in trouble is this. The object of hope in our
trouble is what? The love of God. God's love. God's love is the hope that we
have in our distresses. Why? Because it doesn't change
it. The love of God is as eternal
as God. It is as high as God. It is as
deep as God. It is as wide as God. It is as
immutable as God. God said this to you who believe. I will never leave thee. We've had people to leave us.
We've had people to abandon us. But this is one person that never
is going to abandon his people. God says, I will never leave
thee. Now name a time he's left you. Name one time he's ever left
you. Now there are many times that we said, he should have
left me. There are many times I deserve that he should leave
me. But because of His love that doesn't change, He said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And I want you to understand,
you that believe, He said it long before you believed. He said it to you before you
were even in existence. Look, go back to Isaiah 43. Look
at Isaiah 43 and go through this with me. And this is the hope
in your tribulation. This is what we cling to. This
is what faith, the gold of faith, clings to. This is it. We trust
in the Word of God. Listen to what God said. He said,
But now, thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, he
that formed thee, O Israel. Who made that new man inside
of you that gives you faith? He said, I did that. I created
you. I made you. Fear not. I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
You're mine. When will you not be His? Listen,
this was before you ever knew you were His. He said, I made
you. I redeemed you. I called you
before you even were called. This is His promise. Listen to
this. So when. Notice this. When. Not if, but just when. When thou
passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the
rivers they shall not overflow thee. Now I want you to get a
sense of the words, because I just, I was blown back by this. I had
really just passed over those two words, waters and rivers.
Because I thought waters meant, you know, calm water. And I thought rivers meant something
wild and outrageous. It's actually the opposite. The
word waters here means waters of piss and semen. That's what
it means. When thou passest through the
waters of piss and semen. That sound comfortable? Isn't this how we come through
this world? Isn't that all that's around us? Wasted water, sin
on every corner, sin in my heart. I wade through this life and
it's full of grief and sorrow and pain. He said, even in that
wasted water, I'm with you. And the word rivers, it has to
do with prosperity. This word has to do with a stream
running through a place, and the water rising gently. That's what prosperity does,
doesn't it? It's just, try to think, you put,
certain kind of animal in cool water so they don't jump out.
Frogs, I think it is. Maybe they cook frogs that way.
I don't know. But you put them in there so they don't hop out,
and you turn the water up a little at a time until it feels kind
of nice and warm. Until it's too late, and they're
dead. It's kind of what prosperity does. Prosperity feels real good
as it rises. But then pretty soon, before
you know it, you're swept away by it. He said, I'll be with
you in that, too. What's happened? it's not going
to overflow you. You see how He tempers both our
misery and our prosperity? He doesn't let either one overcome
our faith. When I walk us through the fire,
oh, this is the pain, this is the misery of it, this is the
grief of it. When you walk through the fire,
of tribulation. Listen what God swore to me before
I ever experienced any fire whatsoever. He said it will not touch you.
That's what it says by burnt, it will not penetrate. It will
not get down to the core of my new nature. It will not affect
what God has created in me. It will not diminish His righteousness
that He made. It will not diminish His blood
that cleanses me from my sin, no matter how hot the fire is,
no matter how much pain we experience. God swears it will not touch
you. Just like the gold, remember?
When the fire hits the gold, it doesn't do anything to the
gold. It melts it, but it sure doesn't do anything to it. It
doesn't take away its value. So that fire you're in, listen,
it won't touch you. I don't care what it is. And neither shall the flame kindle
on me. Can you not help but think of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? I mean, that's just odd. blaring
example of that. There were three. The king looks
down and says, were there not three we threw into the fire?
And lo, there are four men not bound, but loosed. And that fourth
guy, he's like the Son of God. Isn't that perfect? Picture of us who walk in this
world surrounded by the flames of uncertainty and trials and
difficulties. God said, that has no effect
on you. I'm walking with you. You know when he took them out,
the scripture says, they noticed this, that not even their hair
was singed. There was no smell of smoke on
them whatsoever. When you die, and you ascend
to the Father, there will not be one hint of sin on you. Isn't that astounding? Because
that's all I see on me. But in that moment when I'm delivered,
I know this, there will be not one smell of sin on me. He promised, didn't He? He said,
I'm with you. He said, listen to this, look
at this, Verse 4, for this is the reason why it's all well
with you, for I am the Lord thy God. God says, I'm your God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now before I ever knew His love,
He said, I love you. Before I ever knew His election,
He said He chose me. Before I ever heard of Christ,
He died for me. Before I ever called on Him,
He called me. And God swore before I ever experienced
the first trial that He would keep me. And notice this, He said this,
I gave Egypt for thy ransom. My mind staggers to think that
God gave a whole nation and race of people to perish in eternal
hell for the salvation of his people. He did. Have I not raised, talking
to Pharaoh, have I not raised thee up for this purpose, to
show my power? That's it. I let you live and
breathe and sin against me and you will perish in your sins.
And I'm using you for a very specific purpose, that my name
should be glorified among my people. Consider that nation, they held
those people captive and thought they were, they thought Israel
was hated of God. They were living the high life.
They were living the good life. Israel were slaves. They didn't
realize it was the opposite. Their slavery was a picture of
us. We were enslaved. Remember the first time they
heard about deliverance? What Pharaoh did? He said, well, you
got all that time to worship God. Well, you can gather your
own straw and then make the same number of bricks you've been
making. Impossible. Isn't that what happened to us?
The law came and said, you need to do more than you're doing. Impossible. But you remember
how Israel was redeemed by a lamb. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. I showed you how I'm going to
redeem you. by a lamb, by my son. And God
delivered them from Pharaoh by the Red Sea. And this was all to show us the
gospel, wasn't it? Now he gave a whole nation and
race of people to witness of his gospel. He said, Ethiopia
and Seba for thee. What is this? These were the
places where gold and silver were found. This is where all
the gold and silver is. Ethiopia and Seba. We were talking yesterday about when Tammy's house was destroyed.
All these work religion places, all these false prophets and
false churches around there, they came in and they built that
house. They rebuilt that house. Now they were doing it so that
they could receive some kind of reward from God. But see,
God gave them all that for you. Isn't that something? Now, they're still out there
in their religion. They still think that that did something
to their access to God. Well, God just used it. Isn't
that what he said in Revelation about the woman? The woman is
the church and Satan is pursuing after her. And she goes into
the wilderness and he sends a flood after her. You know, the earth
opens up and absorbs the flood. This world is against you. You
know what absorbs the world? You know what makes other people
do things for you? God. He uses them. All of them. And notice this, I give men for
thee and people for thy life. See how precious you are in his
sight? He said, I will give nations
for you. Isn't this amazing how our lives
had brought us to be under the gospel? How everything worked
together. and brought you to the gospel
and left many of your peers outside. Why? I have loved thee even when you were ungodly. He didn't wait till you got better
to love you. He loved you before. And He loved
you even when you were ungodly. And how do I know that? I know that because Christ died
for the ungodly. That's the manifestation of God's
love, is that He gave not just men's life for me, He gave His
own. I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay it down. I have power to
lay it down and I have power to take it again. And so when Paul, go back to
your text real quick. Go back to your text. So listen to Paul. who says to
us in Tribulation in verse 10, he said, for if, when we were
enemies, now get this thought, you were enemies, you were haters
of God, if we were enemies, if when we were enemies we were
reconciled, when were you reconciled to God? When did God reconcile you to
Himself? When did He make that peace? He didn't make that peace
when you believed. That reconciliation was already
made even when you were enemies of God. Now if that's true, you're reconciled by the death
of his son, listen, much more. Being reconciled. You're already
reconciled. By faith, now you have received
the reconciliation. You received How am I sure I'm going to make
it? How do I know I'm going to make
it? It often does not appear I'm going to make it. The snares and traps are constantly
in front of me and around me. How shall I navigate through
this life? Well, God doesn't leave it up
to your navigational skills. The believer has one thing to
do in this life, and that is this, believe. Trust. So the apostle says, much more,
seeing we've been reconciled when we're enemies, we shall
much more be saved by this, by his life. By his life. Believer, you are now saved. In fact, We were saved by his
death before we were born. But how often does our feelings
and our dark providences oppose this truth, yet faith has confidence
despite the circumstances. Why? Because we know he who loved
us, even when we were ungodly, died for us, has reconciled us. And now he lives to make sure. to make sure we received a full
measure of what he bought. I'll give you this illustration.
I've got plenty more. Time seems to be my enemy. Joshua the high priest. Remember
Joshua the high priest standing before God in those filthy garments. Now that's not what a priest
was supposed to be wearing. A priest was supposed to be wearing
White linen. He's supposed to be wearing the
priestly robes. And there's the high priest,
dressed in filthy garments, standing before God. And Satan, on his
right hand, the Scripture says, ready to accuse him. You can just see the picture.
He's got nothing to say. His head is bowed. He's got nothing
to say. He's totally guilty. He's in
the wrong robe. He's covered in sin. No excuse. And here's Satan ready, gleefully
ready to accuse him before God. And he has every evidence. But before he could utter a word,
Scripture says the angel of the Lord, he spoke. And he said, is this not a bran
plucked from the burning? Isn't this mine? Have I not chose
him? Have I not redeemed him? Have
I not called him? Have I not loved him? What could be said? No accusation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. And the Lord said this. He said,
take the filthy garment from all of them. Wash it. Then put the priestly robes on
him. Then put a crown on his head. And I like these words
because they're very important. and the angel of the Lord stood
by. I've often told my children,
do this, and then I'd go away, and I'd come back, and lo and
behold, it's not done. Most of the time I say, do this,
and I have to stand by to make sure it's done. This is what his resurrection
proves. He who is seated on the throne
stands by to make sure that all those that are reconciled by
his death are saved by his life. Saved by his life. A debtor to mercy alone. Of covenant
mercy I sing. nor fair with thy righteousness
on my person an offering to bring, the terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. Jesus' obedience and blood hide
all my transgression from view. The work which is goodness began,
the arm of his strength will complete. His promise is yea
and amen and was never forfeited yet. Things future, nor things
that are now, nor all things below or above, can make him
his purpose forego or sever my soul from his love. My name, from the palms of his
hands, eternity cannot erase. Impressed on his heart, it remains
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure. as sure as the earnest is given,
more happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven. The apostle is telling you your
object of hope. Your object of hope is this,
his love for you. How do I know he loved me? Because he died for me even when
I was ungodly. and now being justified, now
being reconciled by his blood, I am going to be saved because
he stands by making sure it happens. May God now speak to you in your
distress, because they're necessary, aren't they? You see the necessity
of them? They're going to try your faith.
They're going to prove it's real. And in the teeth of your trouble,
what is the object of hope? It is Christ. It is Christ. It
is Christ. It is Christ. It is Christ. He's
the object of our hope. You saved me when I was an enemy
who loved me, stands by to make sure that I receive everything
he purchased for me. Not one thing will be missing.
Wasn't that the message in the beginning? All is ready. When
you first heard It's still ready. It's perfect. What am I going
to add to it? What am I going to contribute
to it? I want to serve him. I want to
honor him. I want to praise him. But in
all my praise, I'm not going to add to it. But in all my lack,
I'm not going to take from it either. Is it not perfect? I pray God will help you. Let's
stand, be dismissed, and pray. Father, dismiss us with your
own mercies and grace. Pour out your spirit. Oh, make
these things effectual to your people. pour over our hearts with your
love and set our eyes on it as we look at the cross and see
the glories of the death of our Savior that procured our salvation
and how he ever lives to make intercession for us. Forgive
us and lead us, we beg you in Jesus' name. Amen.