All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn me to Romans, chapter 5. Romans, chapter 5. I've entitled this message, The Benefits
of Justification. The Benefits of Justification. The apostle says, therefore,
being justified By faith we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. There's the first one. What is
it? Peace with God. Here's the second one. By whom
we have access. There's the second one. Access,
and not just access, by faith into the grace wherein we stand. Here's the third one, and rejoice
in hope. I want you to understand, again,
the meaning of the word hope is not a wish. Paul's not saying,
but we rejoice in a wish, We rejoice in something that's
solid and firm and sure. It is our confidence of what? Of the glory of God. We are confident. This is a benefit
of justification by faith. And the fourth one, I'm not going
to get there tonight. I'm going to use this one all
by itself, but the fourth one is found in verse four. Verse
three says, and not only so. This is not all. There's more.
There's more. Listen to this fourth one. We
glory in tribulation also. There's another benefit. Tribulation. You know why? Because tribulation does something.
Patience does something. It works experience. Experience
does something. It works hope, confidence, and
confidence make it not a shame because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and which is given unto
us. So we'll do the first three tonight.
I'm not going to get to that second one because it's an extensive
one. And you've got to wonder, what
in the world is a benefit of tribulation? Because people don't
think that's a benefit. But it is. It's a benefit. Let's
look at these now. First of all, when he says, therefore,
we always go back to see what it's there for. When you read
the Scriptures, do that. When you see, therefore, he's
making a conclusion. A conclusion. And what is Paul's
conclusion? He says, therefore, we have proven
something. What? That we are justified by
faith. Now, we have gone over four chapters. In four chapters, the Apostle
Paul extensively lays out the argument, we are not justified
by our works. Why? Because we're depraved.
There's none that doeth good, and there's none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good, no, not one. Therefore, what? By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. That's
the first thing we learn as believers. We are not justified by our works. That's the first thing we know.
The second thing we know about justification of my faith is
this, that we are justified by the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. Remember that in chapter 3 and
verse 22, he testifies to this, that the righteousness of God
is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's how it's brought, that's
how it's won, that's how the righteousness is merited. And then he tells us that it's
not only the obedience of Christ, but the redeeming blood of Christ
that justifies it. He says in chapter 3, he says
in verse 24, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ, whom God has set forth to be
the propitiation. And we went over that, right?
It's the atonement. That speaks of the mercy seat.
It speaks of the offering of Jesus Christ. The propitiation
through faith in what? His blood. His blood. So that's how we were justified. And then he gave us that illustration
of how this justification comes to us. Abraham was the example
of how we are justified in our experience. Abraham did what? He believed God and it was imputed
to him to righteousness. He actually received the righteousness
of God through faith, through faith. In verse 9 of this chapter 5,
he says, being much more, he said, much more than being now
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through
Him. Salvation is by grace through
faith in who? Him. We're saved by grace through
faith in Him. And we've learned this about
being justified by faith. We have learned that faith is
not the work that justifies us. Faith is not a work that justifies. Faith is just a means. It's a
means used of God by which we receive it. If someone, like
that woman I just talked about out there in the country, doesn't
have anything, She doesn't have any water. She doesn't have any
food. And somebody comes along and gives her the food. She puts
out her hand. And what's in her hand? Nothing. She's got nothing in her hand.
And then she takes what is given to her and receives it. Now,
does her hand get any thanks? Is she going to thank her hand
for reaching out and grabbing it? Oh, she'll thank the people
that gave it. And that's what we do with Christ.
We receive it. Faith is just the empty hand
that receives it. And how is it that you received
it and nobody else does? As many as received Him, is that
what John said? As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to become the sons of God. Now how did you
receive Him? And there's millions who won't. How is it? Which were
bored. not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." You were
born of God. It was the will of God that you
should receive it. It's the will of God. So then faith, Paul says
that in Ephesians 2, he says, for by grace you are saved through,
what? Faith. And that faith, not of yourselves,
it is a gift of God, not of works, why lest any man should boast.
Friends, faith is the effect and not the cause. It's the effect. You were born again, and by the
power of that new birth, you were then able to believe. And now what he promised in Psalm
110, I think it is, verse 3, he said, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. And so then, I ask you this tonight,
a very important question, are you justified? What does it matter if you know
how a person's justified, but you're not justified yourself?
A lot of people understand the doctrines of grace in their mind.
Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? If you have, you are justified. You are justified. And I'll tell you what that means.
It means this, you stand before God holy. That's what justified means.
It doesn't mean just like you never sinned. That's what people,
well, God doesn't pretend. He can't pretend you're righteous.
You are either righteous or you're not. God doesn't pretend. And
so when God gives us a new heart, a new nature, He is a righteous
nature. It is holy. You are justified
before Him. And therefore you may say this,
I have peace with God. I have peace with God. Only those
who are holy can have peace with God. Now listen, I've heard this
before, haven't you? I've made my peace with God. Any man says that is the biggest
fool that ever lived. Ask them how they did it. What's
your standing? How did you make peace with God? I'm sure they'll give you a litany
of things they've done. They'll give you a list of things
and how holy they are, how evil somebody else is, and then they
set themselves, they find the worst scumbag in the room, and
then they set themselves next to that guy. If you've made your peace with
God, you know this, you have no peace with God. I'm going
to explain that in just a minute as to how one is made peace with
God, and it's definitely not by what you do. How did Abraham
have peace with God? He said, Abraham believed God.
And it was what? Counted to him to righteousness.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt, what? Be saved. Isn't that what? That's the most
important thing. Look to the Lamb of God. Look
to the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. Look to Him. And so now then
as we see what justification is and what justification, how
we are justified, let's look at these three benefits this
evening. First of all, peace with God. Peace with God. Do you have peace with God? Do
you have peace with God? The only way a person can have
peace with God is one way. by the power of Christ's blood. The only way a sinner can have
peace with God is through the blood offering of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to have
peace with God. There is no other way. Flip over to Colossians
chapter 1, what the apostle says about this peace. He says in
our text, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Colossians chapter 1 and look
at verse 20. And having made peace, how? Through the blood of His cross. By Him. to reconcile all things
to himself. By him, I say. Whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. I want you to get how
powerful was the offering, the blood of Jesus Christ. What did
the blood of Jesus Christ actually do? God sent His Son to die on
Calvary's tree to shed His blood for the remission of sins. Now, how powerful was that blood? It was so powerful, first of
all, the Apostle said, it reconciled the whole earth and heaven. to himself. Now why would he
say that? Because the earth was cursed,
didn't it? We walk upon a cursed earth. We had to get a guy to trim this
bush today and I looked at him, he's all cut up and he's all
got that bush trimmed, but man, he had to dig down in there,
weeds and all that comes up. Why? It's cursed! It's cursed! These people are seeing a storm
coming through, destroying everything. cursed. But listen what the blood
of Christ, the blood of Christ reconciled this earth to himself. So that one day he's going to
make this thing perfect. I don't know what a perfect earth
looks like. I think it's beautiful. A lot of things in this world
are beautiful. You see the flowers and the mountains. Mom, we was
driving up a mountain. Look how beautiful this thing
is. It's glorious. This is just the cursed part.
Imagine how glorious it will be that day when He comes back
and restores it. Now why will He restore it? Because
He bought it! It's His! And by His blood He will remove
this curse from this earth. But listen, what good is a perfect
earth if you're not going to be there to enjoy it? It's not
going to do you any good if He didn't reconcile you That's just
one of the benefits. Now listen, and you, not only
did He reconcile this earth, He said, and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death. to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the sight of God. That's how
powerful His blood is, that He reconciled you who were enemies. You who despised God in your
every thought and every action. And yet his blood was so powerful
that he reconciled you to God and not even God could find any
sin to blame you in. He removed it all. Wasn't it sin that separated
us from God? But now, after he had died, His blood has removed the guilt
and the stain of our sins so that we are unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. In other words, what? He made
peace. He made peace with God for us. And when I think about that,
I think about how He made peace. I don't often feel at peace. When I take what God promises
here, that I am reconciled by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now
that blood was shed a long time ago before I ever got here. And
He said by that blood I am reconciled to Him. And then I take that and I put
it next to my experience. And they don't seem to match. My experience is that I don't
have peace in this life. This world is full still of the
curse. My conscience convicts me daily. My soul is like a ship that's
tossed with doubts and fears. I don't feel like I'm at peace.
The outward, cruel world is opposed to the gospel that I love. People
don't love this gospel. And when I tell them about this
gospel, you know what, they either look at me strange, like I'm
some kind of cultist or something. They just look at me weird. when
I tell them salvations of the Lord don't have anything to do
with you. They hate this gospel, they oppose
it. And you know what? My old man inside of me, I not
only have trouble with the world outside, I've got trouble within
my own heart. I believe the promises of God
and I have to say this, Lord help my unbelief. Constantly
I have to say that. Constantly. But my friend, this
is the reason why it was written. If we didn't need this, it wouldn't
be written for us. If you could always keep this
in your mind, why would you need a preacher to tell you? Why would
you need this written in a book? We must be reminded of these
things. This book that is written is
to calm our fears and doubts. This book is a love letter. It is a love letter from God
to us, telling us the voice and the
command of our Savior, fear not. Don't be afraid. Trust in Me as all your hope
of justification. And if He has justified me, if
I have peace with God, then what is there to fear? Does it matter that I don't have
peace in this world? Our Lord promised that, didn't
He? He said, in this world you shall have trouble, tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I have overcome everything that
would keep you from me. That's what he said. I have overcome everything. And
he did this by his death. By his death. Considered that
he has made peace. being justified, therefore being
justified by faith. What did Paul say? We have peace. Already have it. It's ours. I have it continually, eternally,
immutably. I have peace with God. Why? Because he made it. He made
peace with God, Christ. He didn't make it possible. I tell you this, if He made peace
possible, no hope for me. I'm not going to fill in the
gap He's missing. Scripture doesn't tell me He made it possible.
It said this, He made peace. So what does that mean? It means
there's peace. Well, I don't feel at peace. What does that
have anything to do with it? Sometimes I feel at peace. And sometimes
I don't. So what does that have to do
with my peace? My feelings didn't make peace with God. My good
deeds didn't make peace with God, and my evil deeds will never
remove my peace with God. Peace is not something we make
with God, it's something God makes for us. He made peace by
the blood of His cross. He accomplished it. And so don't look at yourself
for any reason why God should be at peace with you. You won't
find any. You won't find any reason. The
only reason you can find that God's at peace with you is this,
He made peace by the blood of His cross. He reconciled me who
was an enemy. Look there at Colossians chapter
2. Look at Colossians chapter 2
and verse 13. And you being dead in your sin. and the uncircumcision of your
flesh." Listen to this, "...hath he quickened together with him."
What does that mean, quickened together? That means this, when
he died, he made your peace. And when he rose again, you rose
with him. It's talking about your union.
your union. Remember what Paul says in 1
Corinthians chapter 1. He says, but of God are you in
Christ Jesus. You see, God puts you in Christ
Jesus and so when Christ made your peace, that was the will
of God that He make your peace. And when He died and He was buried,
you were buried with Him. And when He rose again, He said
you were quickened together with Him. Now what's the result of
that? Having forgiven you all trespassers, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." Everything
that is against us. He's talking about the law in
this instance. The law was against us. You know what he did? He
nailed it to his cross and took it out of the way. So what stands
between you and God? The way is open, isn't it? Isn't
that what the veil in the temple represented, that there was a
disconnect between us and God? There was only one person allowed
in there, and that was a high priest. And he did that only
once a year. But our high priest did something
that high priest could never do when he entered into the heaven
itself with his own blood. The veil in the temple was rent
in twain, thus the Holy Spirit signifying that the way to God
was open. Why? Because there's peace. There's
peace. He made peace, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances. So what does the law have to
say to you? What does the law have to say
to you? It can only justify you. It can't do anything. It can't
condemn you. Look at this, and having spoiled
principalities and powers. Oh man, that's a beautiful thing
thought. The enemy of our souls. You know what he did? He robbed
all their ability to accuse you. I like that Joshua the High Priest. Don't you? In the Old Testament
there's a Joshua the High Priest. He's standing there in his filthy
garments. And priests are supposed to have perfect garments. And
he's not. He's in rags. He's in tatters. He's standing
before God. And Satan is at his right hand
ready to accuse him. And before he could say a word,
the Lord says, Is this not a brand plucked from the burning? This
is mine. He had no right to accuse. And
Paul's going to get to that in Romans 8, isn't he? He says,
who is he to lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justified it. Yea, rather, who is anybody that
condemn you? Christ died. Christ made peace. Yea, rather is risen again, ever
living, but make intercession for us. He spoiled principalities
and made a show of them openly. triumphing over them in it. So as we think about the benefit
of being justified, you think about this, you're at peace with
God no matter what. Don't care what happens. You
that believe, you're at peace with God. Why? You're justified.
You're justified. What else can God demand what
God provided? He provided exactly what He demanded. And He gave it to us. freely
gave it to you, freely gave it to you, so this, that no one
can remove your peace. Nobody. People can disrupt your
feelings of peace, you can disrupt your feelings of peace, but you
really can't take away this peace. You didn't make it, you didn't
earn it, it was given. Secondly, we have
this as a benefit of justification. We have access to God. Look at verse 2. By whom? By
Christ. By Christ also. We have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand. See, we that have been
justified by the blood and righteousness of Christ have the blessing of
peace, and because of this peace, because of this peace, you have
Listen to this, constant, present, perpetual access to
God. Dear believer, we have at this
present time access to the very throne of God. I don't know. I've never been
inside of an earthly monarch's palace. We've never had to do
that in this country that we live in. We don't have kings.
People want to be kings, but they just aren't. But you really must understand
you have constant access to the throne of God. to lay out your
petitions before you. I think of the king of Israel. I'm trying
to think of his name right now. It just escaped my mind. But
he was surrounded. He was surrounded by the enemies
of Israel. Hezekiah. It was Hezekiah. And he went
in before the Lord and he had these letters. And these letters
from this Assyrian king. And he said, I'm going to kill
you. I'm going to kill everybody in there. And he said, I'm going
to write it in your language so you understand. They gave
it to him. You know what he did? He went in before the Lord, and
he just laid out the paper. He just laid it out there. I
can't do this. I can't. I can't win. And he said, don't worry about it.
I'm going to send an angel out there. kill them for you. It's as simple as that. Take
all your worries, all your fears, all your troubles, and lay them
out one by one before the throne of grace. I encourage you to, grace of God,
leave them there. Don't pick them up and take them
back with you. You have access to the throne of grace. Access to the God of all the
universe. And you may ask what you will. You know, we restrict ourselves
from asking. And he said, you have not because
you ask not. And then when you ask, you ask
amiss, because you don't ask in faith. Trust in God to give
you what's right and good. And I want you to understand,
because there's peace, there will be no way He won't hear
you. He always hears you. He always
will hear you, don't be doubtful, but believing that God will never
reject one of your prayers. I know there are times you feel
like it don't go above the ceiling. You lay there, you can't sleep,
you cry out, and it sounds like your cries bounce off the ceiling
and hit your ears, and you don't think He listens. That's not
so. Listen to what He said in Micah
chapter 7 and verse 7. He says, Therefore, I will look
unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Why? Because we have access. We have access. into this, what? Grace. That's what we have access
to. We have access to the unmerited
favor of God. Do you wait to, just foolishness
on my own soul, I do this. Wait, do you feel like praying? I just don't feel like praying.
Idiot, pray. He'll hear you. Don't tarry till
you're better. Don't wait till everything's
well. Don't wait till you feel like
it. You have access now into this grace wherein we stand. Why? You're justified. You have peace with God. Why
would He ever reject you? If you come, you come in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what we say? You know,
that's not an incantation. That's not a spell. We're not
casting a spell. In Jesus' name, Amen. You don't
put that on there just as a closing of prayer. Most people think
that's just how you close prayer. That's how you end it. No, that's
the grounds on which I'm asking this stuff. I want you to do it because of
His merit and not mine. And I want you to know He will
hear you because He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 11,
this is a faithful saying. If we be dead with Him, we shall
also live with Him. Did I tell you we're in union
with Him? What Paul says, you died with Him. Now if you died
with Him and He's alive, you're definitely going to live with
Him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him,
He will also deny us. If we believe not, yet He abided
faithfully. Isn't that something? How often
do you not believe? I marvel at the Lord Jesus Christ
when he talked to his disciples. When they were in that ship and
the storm came and he calmed it, he said, the scripture says
he marveled, he said, that you have no faith. I tell you, there's times where
I have no faith. My faith, like Asaph, he said
that, he said, my foot had nigh well slipped. I was a goner. And yet, look what he says, if
we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. Why? Why is that? He
cannot deny himself. You see, you are so in union
with his son, that when you ask in his name, it's as though Christ
himself has asked you. He won't deny His Son. And He won't deny us because
we are in Him. And what does this mean? I like
this, the psalmist said, who shall ascend to the hill of the
Lord? Who's going to have access? He said, he that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, not sworn deceitfully or lifted up his soul to vanity,
he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness
from his God. Who is that? Who's the only one
ever done that? Who's the only one that has clean
hands and a pure heart? It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the only one that is going to receive the blessing from
the Lord. Notice this, those who are in union with Christ
receive the blessing. You receive the same blessing. So when we say in Jesus' name,
we're asking based on His merits. Lord, please give me this based
on His merits. And we do this how? We have access,
listen, by faith. When you enter to the throne
room of God, do you see a shining light and beautiful glories,
angels singing? No. How do you know that you're
in the throne room of God? the same way you know you're
justified. By faith, we have access. You never have access
any other way but by faith. And listen, if you didn't trust
that he was able, you wouldn't go there anyway. I know he's
able. Why do you think I go? I go because
he's able. Like that leper came before the
Lord. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can. When I go before God, it is my
constant prayer, and I trust He is most capable to take all
my troubles in an instant. I know He's able. I have no doubt
He's able. What I must do is submit to His
will. If you will, you can. And seeing this, that we have
peace, we're justified, we have peace with God, we have access,
how then are we to come? Look at Hebrews chapter 4. How
are we to enjoy this benefit If I get the right book, Hebrews,
look at chapter 4 and verse 15. He says, For we have a high priest, which cannot be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities, but it was in all points tempted
as we were, yet without sin. What does he say? He says, We
have a high priest who has made peace with God for us. We have
one to intercede for us God. And because we have a high priest,
and he's not a cold and callous or heartless high priest, he's
one that understands what it is to be a man. We have pains. We have pains
in this body. Do you think your pain could
compare to his? Don't you think he understands
what you feel in this body? That he's compassionate? He understands what it is to
hurt? What it is to hunger? What it
is to thirst? What it is to be rejected and
betrayed? What it is to be hated? He understands. So when you come with these things,
he's more compassionate than you could possibly imagine. Let
us therefore come, how? Boldly. Boldly. To the throne of grace. Why? That we may obtain mercy. Any
pride in that? When you come boldly seeking
mercy, can there be any pride in that? You can't have any pride seeking
mercy, can you? If you need mercy, because you don't deserve it. That you may obtain mercy. Not
just ask for it, that you might get it. Just come and you'll
receive it. Mercy. And find grace to help
in time of need. I think one of the greatest prayers,
one of the most constant prayers of mine is one word. Help. Help. That's sufficient. That's all you got. Help. Don't
you know he knows what you need help with? Help. Help me. Help me. And what will you find? You will find help. When? In time of need. Now listen, not exactly when
you want it. Not exactly when you think you need it. But exactly
when you actually need it, you'll find help. You'll find help. So do you need help? Any help? Any mercy? Any grace? Any forgiveness? Come boldly. Now why should I be accepted? Because I have a high priest.
One that's already made an offering for me and I'm accepted. And
God can't deny me. And listen, come often. Come boldly, come often. Paul said that in another place,
he said, be instant in prayer. You don't have to get the candles
out. You don't have to make the room just right. You don't have
to set the scene. Come quickly. Come instantly. All you have to do is speak His
name and you're in His presence. I don't feel He's often near
me. That doesn't have anything to do with it, does it? He said,
I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Last blessing is this. Look back
at your text real quickly. By whom we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand Listen, and rejoice in hope. Hope of what? The glory of God. I want you to understand the
glory of God is so infinitely tied to your salvation that they're
inseparable. When God himself in eternity
swore to save his elect people, when Christ Himself swore to
be surety for His elect people. They took the responsibility
on themselves to make that happen. And if that didn't happen, their
name would be tarnished. That's why God says, look, I'm
declared the end from the beginning. From ancient times of things
that were not yet done. saying, my counsel shall stand
and I'm going to do all my pleasure. You know what his pleasure was?
To save you. And he swore when he could, scripture
says, when he could find none greater. I like the way the scripture,
it's as though God looked around and tried to look for somebody
else greater. And when he couldn't find anybody, he swore on himself. He said, I swear on my own name
to save you. Don't you see then the hope of
our receiving glory, of our receiving heaven itself, is totally based
on the glory of God. Listen, you have a good hope. Paul said rejoicing in hope. If you want to rejoice in something,
rejoice in something that is solid, that is concrete, that
is firm, that can't be moved. What's that? The glory of God. That's not going to be moved.
And my salvation is tied to it. Your salvation is tied to the
glory of God. So what do you have but hope? God will be glorified. Everyone God chose and Christ
died for will be saved. Not one's missing. Not one. All
that the Father hath given me shall come to me." And when they
do, I ain't casting them out. Why? Because I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me, and this is my Father's will. That of all He'd given me, I
should lose mine. Jesus said, My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give to them eternal life. And they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.
For the Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no
man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My
Father are one. That sounds wishy-washy to you.
That sounds like there's a chance it's just not going to happen. Our Lord never spoke like that.
That's how men speak. That's how false religion is.
Maybe, if you're good enough, if you just do so-and-so, maybe. That's not how He spoke. My sheep,
they hear my voice. They believe on me. and I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. Do you realize even when you
die, you don't perish? Jesus said of Lazarus, he said
when he was talking to his sister, he said, whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. You got that? They don't die. Never die. You believe that? That's what he asked her. He
said, you believe what I just said? She said, I just know you're
the Christ. She gave all she had. She said,
I know you're the Christ. I know. And so as we see, we are justified
by the grace and power of his blood. We have peace with God. What can remove that peace? You
didn't make it, you didn't earn it, you can't take it away. It's
not yours. God made peace by the blood of
his cross. And you who were wicked and evil
and rebels, he reconciled you to himself. He made peace. And as a result
of peace, you have access. When? Now. Now. You have access right now.
Go. Right now to his throne. Go.
You don't have to move. Call on his name and he will
hear you. It's astounding. It's astounding that the God
of all the earth, heaven and earth, would actually hear my
cry. And it's not astounding if I
understand he's hearing me because of Christ. Now that's not astonishing. I think he should hear Christ
all the time. Christ is worthy. Well, that's the only reason
he's going to hear me. Come boldly. Come instantly. Come often. And
know this, you may rejoice in hope. Paul said to Titus in Titus
2.13, he said, looking for that blessed hope. Are you looking
for that blessed hope? And the glorious appearing of
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Are you looking for His
coming? People looking for signs of His
coming. I don't care about the signs. I want Him. And I'll tell
you this, you know, I'll know when He comes. If He comes during
my lifetime, I won't need signs and wonders to figure out when.
I'll know when He comes. I'm not looking for those things. I'm looking for Him. When He comes, it's going to
be a glorious appearing. Nobody's going to miss that.
Nobody's going to miss that. Who gave Himself for us that
He might redeem us from iniquity and purify to Himself a peculiar
people, zealous for good works. Dear believer, hold fast and
bask in the glory of our hope, of our hope, our standing before
God. And one day this hope will be a reality. I know it's more real than us
sitting here. It is. It's more sure than anything
you could possibly think of. There's nothing in this world
sure. This is sure. That we will glory in our God
and Savior. That we will be with Him and
we'll be like Him. We'll be like Him. And so then, I encourage you
to rejoice in the confidence of your salvation, the sureness
of it. I do pray God will bless this
to your hearts. Read this over, just read it
over. Drink in every word that God
has placed in this book for you. Therefore, you couldn't justify
yourself. Therefore, Christ justified you. He justified you by His blood,
His righteousness. He made peace with God for you. He has given you access and none
can take it away. And you shall rejoice in hope. What's your hope? What's your
hope? What's your confidence in? What
are you trusting in? Man, I trust Him. I got nothing else I trust. He's
all my hope. He's all my confidence if I'm
ever standing before God. What's your hope? I pray you'd believe on Him and
you'd have a good hope. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Holy Father, dismiss us with
your mercy and thank you for the benefits. How vast are these
benefits that we can't comprehend the greatness of Christ's blood
to reconcile us and make peace. The greatness of the privilege
we have of prayer. Help us to avail ourselves constantly
by thy Spirit to pray and ask. And I know that if it's in thy
hand and according to thy will, You should give it with all your
love, even as you've given us your Son. I pray, Father, that
you'd bless this congregation. Let them stand upon the hope
that is in Christ Jesus. If there be any without Christ,
if there be any who do not believe, give them faith even now to look
and to hold fast to Jesus and be justified. I pray you'd do
it for your own glory. In Christ's name.