Okay. Thank you, Sherry. You may be expecting to look
at Ephesians 6, but I want you to go with me to Romans 15. Romans
15. I wanted to bring the message
that I intended to bring Sunday morning. One that I wanted to
bring, but was providentially hindered. And I was glad it was
so. Because we heard a great message.
And this message Tonight I believe will be similar in that it should
give you great comfort and hope. Patience and comfort of the scriptures
might give you hope. I didn't just pick up the notes
today. I reworked it again so it would
be fresh to me. My pastor told all of us young
preachers long ago to never just pick up an outline and preach
it, but totally redo it so that it would be fresh to you. So
this is, things were written, whatever happened, whatever is
written in God's Word is, he wrote it down, he recorded
it for our learning, to teach us, as Brother Marvin said, instruct
us, educate us, that we through patience, patiently waiting on
the Lord, waiting on the outcome, waiting before we make any rash
judgments or actions, movements. Patience, which we need so desperately,
which comes through tribulation, and comfort of the scriptures,
our only source of true comfort, our only real source of comfort
is God's Word, only place, only place. And we might have hope. I didn't get to dwell on that
too much Sunday morning, so that will be much of our subject tonight. Now, the Apostle is the one who
said, Pray without ceasing. This Paul said, Pray without
ceasing. And he did just that. The Apostle,
you'll read his letters. He would just be writing a letter
to a church and then stop and utter a prayer, pen it down.
Sometimes it was just a verse. Look at verse 5. That's what
he did here. In verse 5 he said, Now, and
this was his prayer, the God of patience. The God of patience. The one who is patient with us. The one who's so patient with
us. Aren't you glad? Scripture says in Isaiah, where
is it? I forget. 50, I think maybe,
where it says the Lord will wait that he might be gracious to
you. That is, not waiting on you, but he's waiting on the
fullness of time, and he puts up with us for years. And in his good time, he's gracious
to us in revealing the truth to us. God of patience, he's
patient toward us, and he is the one who gives us patience.
He's the one who must grant us patience. The God of patience,
he prays in consolation. He's the only one that can truly
console us. Grant you, that he might grant
you to be like-minded one toward another, that is, patient and
consoling. one toward another according
to Christ Jesus. Then down in verse 13, now this
is our text tonight really, verse 13. Another brief one verse prayer. Now the God of hope, now this
is my prayer for you and me. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. that you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost, the God of hope. Now, the scripture
says so much about hope. If you want a good study to do
a good study. And this is I did this myself,
take your concordance and look up the word hope and just look
at those verses. And some of those verses are
very, very many. I looked at nearly all of them.
But just do that. I urge you to do that. Just look
up hope. Look at how many times and look
at what he says about hope. It'll give you hope, these verses.
Now, the word hope means this. Listen carefully. I just looked
at Webster's Dictionary. Brother Barnard used to say,
all you need is a Bible and a dictionary. The word hope means this. It
means to expect something with desire. That is, it's something
you long for with the expectation of having it. Something you desire,
something you long for and expect to have it. Turn with me to Romans
8. Go back to Romans chapter The
Apostle tells us, gives us this definition of hope. Romans chapter
8 verses 24 and 25. He says we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for. In other words, we It's things, Hebrews 11 says,
faith is a substance of things hoped for. We hope to see Christ
someday. We hope to be with him, be within
that vast number. We hope to have eternal life,
but we haven't fully realized it. If we were there, it wouldn't
be hope anymore, would it? Those who are there now, it's
reality. They're with him. They see him face to face. But
we hope to. And he says we're saved by that.
We're kept by that. We live by that. Hope is seen,
it's not hope. Verse 25. But if we hope for
that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. If we really have hope. a strong
heartfelt desire for the things I just mentioned. And, uh, Katherine
just smiled at me. She's got a disarming smile. If we, uh, if we hope for, expect,
that is, we truly desire those things I just mentioned, uh,
and we, we really do desire them and expect to obtain them, then
we patiently wait for it to become a reality. Now, we hope for many
things, and it keeps us going. Hope, that's what he says there,
we're saved by hope. That's what he means by that.
It keeps us going. Hope in many things. People, we hope to become
this, we hope to become that, we hope to obtain this, we hope
to obtain that, we hope to go here, we hope to go there, we
hope to see this person, we hope, and so forth. And then when something
seems beyond that possibility, we say, there's no hope. Right? That's when we have given
up on something or someone, we say, We've given up hope. No hope. So we're saved by hope. And I'm going to tell you in
a moment what our hope is. Well, let me ask you that. What
is your hope? What do you hope for with that definition in mind? That's something you really desire
and long for and expect to have it. What do we hope for? Turn with me to Titus, the book
of Titus. Chapter 1, Titus 1. Don't keep smiling at me, Kathleen. What a beautiful young girl.
Titus chapter 1. What is your true hope? What is your chief hope? The
principal thing that we hope for. Look at this, verse 1 and 2. Paul, a servant of God, and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after God in
us, in hope, or for the hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began. We hope for eternal
life, right? Is that what you hope for? That's
why you're here tonight. You're here to hear about it.
You're here to hear about this eternal life and that your hope
might be continued or built up. Strengthen. Every believer hopes
for eternal life. Now, every believer, every true
believer knows And only God's people truly know this, that
there is no hope for this world to continue forever. No hope. There's no hope for this world
to go on forever. How long it will continue, we
don't know. Might end tomorrow. Might be
ten years. We don't know. But we do know
that in this world, and the things of it and everything on it, And
in it, there's no hope for it to continue. And we hope for
eternal life, which God promised. Eternal life, now, is not just
the length of it. But eternal life, as you've heard,
is the quality of it. Our Lord called it life more
abundant. Stay with me. He called it life
more abundant. In other words, we live here.
Everyone has a life here, but it's not much of a life for some
people. Most people are dead in trespasses and sin. And many, if not most of the
people in this world, probably two-thirds of this world at least,
live in poverty and sadness and sorrow. more abundant. Life with God. I love to think
about Adam in the garden, don't you? What a life that must have
been. God created man in the garden
upright, sinless, and had nothing but the star or the sky for his
roof and the moss for his carpet, and every animal as his friend. And then eventually created him
the most beautiful woman on earth, and she, him, the most beautiful
man. What a life. And not only that,
but God himself, with them, speaking, instructing, pointing out the
animals and plants and so forth, teaching. And how long that went
on, we don't know. But what a life it was. Life with God. And the life in our life is the
life of God. It's this sinlessness. What would this life be like
without sin? Well, turn with me to Psalm 39. Now, most human beings, most
persons in the world, that's what people consider their life. They live for pleasure and they
find their pleasure in things, things in this life. People everywhere,
no matter where they're from, are looking for happiness in things. They hope, they have
hope, they desire to obtain things, and they work hard for things. And then, people have hope in
relationships. They hope to find fulfillment,
find joy, peace, happiness in relationships with people. But when these things that people
hope for, and they hope to find happiness when they get these
things, when these things are not, when that hope is not reaped,
when they don't get the things that they hope for, then they
sorrow greatly. Or when relationships that they
finally have fail, or they lose that loved one. then they sorrow
as having no more hope. Okay? They sorrow as having no
more hope. But now the believer, Psalm 39,
look at verses, this is David, a man after God's own heart,
and mine too. Verses 4 through 7, David says,
Lord, make me to know, mine in, the measure of my days. Moses
wrote, oh, that they were wise and would consider their latter
end. Man's going to his long home. So we should make preparation,
shouldn't we? Make me to know. This is wisdom,
is it not? To know that here we have no
continuing city. So why invest everything in?
Why hope for everything here when it's just so fleeting? Don't
put your hope in this stuff. Read on. Make me to know how
frail I am. People hope, well I hope when
I retire I'm going to enjoy, we're going to travel. Behold, verse 5, thou hast made
my days as a hand breath. That long. I was reading an old Louis Lemoore
book. last night, and the old cowboy
said, somebody said, we're going to miss you when you're gone.
He said, no, you won't. He said, what does each human being leave?
What kind of hold do we leave when we leave this place? He
said, it's like when you stick your finger down in a pool of
water and pull it out. We're quickly forgotten, by most. My days are as a handbrake. My
age is as nothing. in the light of eternity. What's
70, 60 years, 70 years? Nothing. Barely every man in
his best state is able to get advantage. Stop and think about
that. Surely every man, read on now.
Here I'm building up to verse 7. Surely every man walks in
a vain show, an image, imagining this and that. Surely they are
disquieted in vain. He put up riches, but he doesn't
know who's going to get it. He's going to die and leave it
to somebody, and he's not going to enjoy it. Read on. But now,
Lord, now, Lord, what wait I for? Can you say this with David? Huh? Ask yourself that. What wait I for? What am I waiting
for? My hope is in David. My hope is in that. Now listen, everything in this
life, really, is centered around relationships. Relationships
are wonderful. Wonderful. It's sad not to have,
well, man, it's not good for man to be alone, or woman. You've
got to have some kind of relationship, whether it be husband, wife,
Parents, children, friends, you've got to have, human beings are
gregarious creatures. You have to have relationships. You can't live alone. No man
is an island. You go mad, you go crazy. Most
things are enjoyed with someone. Right? With someone. Well, this is eternal life. that they might know thee. This is the relationship of relationships. That they might know thee, the
only true God. This is the relationship that
surpasses all relationships. To know thee, to be acquainted
with, to be in love with. to be in love with. I never really
noticed. Paul says this a couple of times,
first time I ever noticed it in Ephesians. He said in the
very last verse of Ephesians, grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ insincerely. I mean, those that truly love
him. He said in, I do remember where he said to the Corinthians,
let If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
cursed when the Lord comes, forsaken. But now this is eternal life
that they might be acquainted with their Creator. Brother Marvin mentioned this,
didn't he? He said the greatest trial that a believer can go
through is not to feel the presence of God. To go through a period of time
when you feel like, maybe I'm not one of his. David said this over and over
again. Is your mercy clean gone? Is it clean gone? This is eternal life, that they
might know thee. Now here it is. This is eternal
life. This is what God Almighty purposed.
for his people, all right? God Almighty, the Father, this
is the Father. And being a father, I can appreciate
that. The Father loved his son so much. And he betrothed a bride to his
son. He arranged the marriage. Yes, he did. He chose a people. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causes to approach unto thee. He chose a people,
a bride for his son, the bridegroom. And in time, this relationship
becomes a real thing. Christ came, he lived, he died,
he rose again, ever lives. And then through the preaching
of the word, he calls out his bride. These chosen ones of his, through the
preaching of the word, he calls them by his gospel. And they hear his voice, and
it's just like hearing the bridegroom's voice, saying, I love you. I've chosen you. I have willed
for you to be mine. And look at what all I've done
for you. And someday I'm going to come and get you. If it were
not so, I wouldn't have told you. I told you, you're mine."
And he says, and he makes us will, and we say, and he's mine. We fall in love with it. Fall
in love with Christ through the preaching of the gospel, and
we're married. We're married. And eventually, We will live
happily ever after. Death will not depart. We will
not depart in death. We give those vows at the marriage,
you know, till death do us part. But in this relationship now,
that does not, that's not the parting, but that's the joining.
That's the marriage supper. That's the, that's the eternal,
what do you have after a wedding? Okay, that's the way. I better
be thinking about this stuff. That's the eternal reception.
One long, endless, ceaseless wedding reception. Now, is there
happiness at a wedding reception? Oh, brother Kelly played me a
song, an old western song that says that we don't allow no wine
in here. $5 fine for whining, that's what
it was. There won't be any tears, no. Nobody's going to be sad there
ever again. Well, I'm getting way ahead of
myself here. Go with me to Psalm 16. We will live happily ever
after. That is, if you truly Find your
hope and joy and rejoicing and love the Lord Jesus Christ, his
gospel. Who look for his return, who
love him. Psalm 16, David said this, oh
David, I love the Psalms. David said this in Psalm 27,
he said, one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek.
Can you say this, John, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life? Yes, you can say that. Yes, you
can. To behold the beauty of the Lord,
I want to see him, and to inquire in his name. In one place, David
said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. Someday we're going to go in
and sit at the table, like Mephibosheth. Look at verses 5 and 6. The Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance, and my cup. He maintains my lot. He's the one that decides what
I'm going to get. Now, as I've said before, nothing's fair down
here. You may hope to get something, but you probably won't get it.
Whatever you hope for in this life, you probably won't fully
realize what you hope for. You can just pretty much count
on it to be come up short. But he said, God now has maintained
my lot. He has determined what I'm going
to get. And the lines, when he drew out the boundary lines,
decided who gets what. They're falling under me in pleasant
places. I have a goodly heritage. Abraham
with his nephew Lot, you know, they came to a party in the ways
there, and Lot's his nephew. Surely he loves me. Lot, take
what you want. We can't, both of us can't dwell
together, so take what you want. Lot, being human and selfish,
said, well, I'll take the well-watered plains, and Uncle Abe, he'll
take them old scruffy mountains. Abraham said, okay. And it was all right. It wasn't. What did Lot get? What did Lot
end up with? How long were those well-watered
plains, well-watered plains? God burned it up. It didn't ever
bit up. Abraham one day started whining.
Didn't he? He started whining. He said,
Lord, look, I'm dwelling in tents What do I get? Do you remember that? What am
I going to get, Lord? He started whining. And the Lord
said, Abraham, you get me. The world gets the world. Everything
in it. Stand out with fatness, David
said. What's that get him? In the end, what do they got?
charred earth, dirt, and they with it. Oh, the lions have fallen
unto me in pleasant places. How about you? Huh? I told you,
I don't have a great inheritance in this world. Don't have it.
But I got one in the next. Verses 8 and 9. So David said,
I have set the Lord always before me. Now, these are the words
of Christ. Yes, Christ, principally. These
are the words of Christ's people, too. The Lord, He's at my right
hand, I shall not but be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad,
my glory rejoiced, and my flesh shall rest in hope. A desired expectation, which
God, who cannot lie, promised me. My flesh, He's going to make
my flesh rest here. Nothing else will. There is no
hope for unbelievers. No hope. In our text, back in our text,
it says, now the God of all hope, this is my prayer, Paul's prayer,
the God of all hope, the God of hope, fill you with joy. Fill you. with all joy and peace
in believing. God of hope. There is no hope
for unbelievers, for anything beyond this world. Pretty foolish,
isn't it, to just consider something so temporal and so frail. Isn't it pretty foolish? It's
the height of folly to place all your eggs in this little
rotting basket. It's the height of folly, of
ignorance, for man to do nothing but consider this vapor. And you and I would do the same,
were it not for God's mercy and grace. Were it not for God abounding
toward us in wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, which he purposed in Christ for the foundation
of the world, even in him. to gather together in one, even
in Christ, all things which are in heaven and on earth, and made
it known unto you. God, who is rich in mercy, love
toward us, grace, according to the working of His mighty power,
quickens you to gather with Christ, gives you faith. No, it's not
of yourselves. It's the gift of God that causes
us to fear Him and causes us to hope. in his mercy. We read that in Psalm 33, the
last line. I've got to dwell here for a
little while if I never get to. the next couple of times, all
right? Christ is our hope, our hope of salvation, hope of life. I love 1 Corinthians 15, or I
love 1 Corinthians 1 through 15, but where it says, now if
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable. If Christ be not raised, But
now Christ is risen, he says. Yes, he is. He sees it's right.
He ever lives. Christ said, because I live,
you live also. You're going to have this eternal
life. These are hope of life, eternal
life. These are hope of mercy. It's evident the judgments of
God are evident in this world. Men don't see it. We see them
clearly, don't we? We see God's hand of judgment
upon sinful flesh all the time, don't we? From the beginning,
things that have happened to man, but yet man is so ignorant
that he doesn't see these things happening. God can wipe out whole
civilizations with a volcano or whatever, and men go right
on in their wickedness. We see it, don't we? But we hope
in His mercy. We hope that God will be merciful.
Even though we're sinners just like everybody else, we hope
in His mercy. Why? How? In Christ. God's revealed
his son to us, the mercy of God. It's in a person. We hope in
his grace that he's going to give us everything necessary
for life in God. We hope in forgiveness of sin.
We're going to be sinners till the day we die. We're going to
be sinners till the day we die. But there is forgiveness. Where? With thee. We hope in that forgiveness. We have a good hope through grace. A good hope through grace. Scripture
says, oh, we have a good hope. Those who have fled, we have
strong consolation of those who have fled to lay hold of the
hope that's set before us within the paper. Our hope is in God, the God of
hope, who cannot lie but promise these things. He's spoken, revealed
them unto us by His Spirit, revealed so clearly, folks, when we get
We feel without when we leave this place. When we leave this
place and we start listening to NBC, ABC, Fox and all around
us and everything and all that, we start believing somewhat what
we're hearing from the world out there. And we come back in
here and we read God's Word and we hear it read and we go, that's
right, nothing out there. We're filled with hope again.
And this is, we get all our hope from God's Word. He says there,
now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
We hope in his word. We hope in his word. Now, let
me just say this before we go on to the next thing. We hope
for temporal things. There's nothing wrong with hoping
for temporal things. There's nothing wrong with a
young couple hoping to get married or have a house or of a young
man hoping to have a better job, and so forth. There's nothing
wrong with that. We've gone through Ecclesiastes together, haven't
we? We see that. God has given us
all things richly to enjoy, and this hope, in that sense, keeps
you going. It keeps you working a couple
of jobs, doesn't it, Patrick? I hope to get ahead. I hope to
get ahead. We hope for temporal things.
We hope, we hope, we hope, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Don't hope to find happiness there, though. Don't hope that
you'll ever quit working. You've got to work on something. But we hope for these provisions
in this life. We need them. The Lord knows
what things we have need of, doesn't He? Sure He does. Now,
does it depend on us? Does any of this depend on us? No. And our Lord reminded us
of that, and he said, consider, in his Sermon
on the Mount, he considered these sparrows. They don't sow. They
don't reap. The Lord feeds them. He said, are you not worth more
than many sparrows? Sure, your Heavenly Father knows
what things you have needed. He will provide. Jehovah-Jireh. That's what his name is. The
Lord will provide. Now, son, God will provide. We hope for temporal, I said
a while ago, relationships. In relationships we find great
joy, and there's nothing wrong with that. The Lord created these
relationships for that reason. Do you remember me reading Sunday
morning Psalm 128? Did anybody? That blessed me
so much. Psalm 128, he said, everyone
that feareth the Lord is going to eat the labor of their hands.
Happy you'll be. It'll be well with you. Your
wife will be fruitful. Are your children like olive
plants around your table? Thus shall the man be blessed
with the Spirit of the Lord. Yeah, this is God's Word. The
Lord shall bless you out of Zion. You're here tonight to get a
blessing. If you want one, you'll get one
every time. You come hungry, you come to
Solomon's table, what do you want to eat? Look at his table. Yeah, your children, you'll see
your children's children in peace upon Israel. That blessed me
so, reading that. That's God's promise. Temporal
relationships. It's not sinful. God ordained
that. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not sinful. It's not wrong to hope for these
things. It's only wrong when this is our first and foremost
and greatest desire. That's when it's wrong. When
we're consumed with these things, people and things, and forget
God. That's when it's wrong. That's
when it's wrong. That's when it's positively sinful. That's
when he calls it idolatry. But it's not wrong. to hope for
these things, and it's not wrong to worry. Young preachers say that. I probably
said it. I kind of searched my mind for
the past when I may have said this, that worry is sin. Not always it's not It's love. You know? If you didn't worry
about somebody, you would love them. Isn't that right? Now, to be
overly distraught and anxious and full of worry all the time,
to never have any consolation, is to not believe God, not to
rest in Him. But sinful to worry? No, sir. No, ma'am. It doesn't say that
in God's Word. It's not worry. It's human. Isn't it? We can't see. The Lord
knows our praying, too. He knows we can't see the future.
God doesn't worry. Christ never worried. Why? He
knows the end from the beginning. And He wouldn't worry either
at all. But we don't know the end from the beginning. We're
human. We can't see tomorrow what's
going to happen tomorrow. So there's a certain degree of
worry. If you love somebody, you worry about them, don't you?
Let me make that clear. You worry. And so that worry, though, causes
us to hope in God. We hope that God will have mercy. that God will be
gracious, that God will. The first thing we read there in Psalm 33, where
the Lord, where through David said, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy to
deliver their soul from death. Now that, that's what we're talking,
that's the first and most important thing. What you worry about,
Kelly, is the soul of your sons and daughters, first and foremost. If God saved their souls, everything
else is going to be absolutely 100% all right. Whatever He's
pleased to do. If He'll just save their soul,
because this isn't just like that anyway, but if He'll save
their soul, Then we have real hope. See him again. If he doesn't do that, we'll
never see him again. We love you. If you love somebody, you
want to see them again. That's not sin either. That's love. We hope to deliver their soul
from death. That's the first thing. We hope,
in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them
alive in family. If the stock market crashes,
I hope we'll make it. We will. We will. David said it, didn't
he? David said, I'm old. I've been
young. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken. For God's sake. begging bread. Never, because people have never
been in a soup line. That's right. My grandfather
lived through the Depression. My father was raised in it. He
said, Dad said, they always had enough. They were tenant farmers.
They lived on a rich man's farm. They were dirt poor, literally,
lived in a shack with a dirt floor. But they made it fine. Bunches, a whole bunch of them
run around. My grandfather, a believer, his
dad was not. He was a no-good drunk, wouldn't
drink up all the family's money. My grandfather, when he was 18
years old, had to move to British Honduras and work on a banana
plantation, and sent all his money home to help feed. He was
the oldest. He had eight brothers and sisters,
sent all his money home. to help feed that family is no
good father wouldn't. Got through this a minute sad
story you have stories like that in your family my mother's father
my mother my mother's grandfather lost an arm in the Civil War
and he raised about ten kids. And she said you distinctly remembers
him out there plowing one arm like like he never lost a hard
They made it. We hope for God's mercy and protection. We do. We want God to, first
and foremost, to save our loved ones. We want Him to protect
our loved ones, to watch over them, keep them from harm's way.
And He has. He has. And He will. He will. He will. If not, it's his purpose. And we hope
in that purpose. Man, we hope in that purpose.
That really is our chief hope, that God's purpose for the foundation
of the world is all wise and good and all for our good according
to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. And whatever, if we go,
Or if we stay, it'll be alright. If we're standing on a rock.
And that rock, my hope is built on nothing left. As Nancy's husband's
dying word. If I go, if I stay, it's alright. If we're standing on a rock. That's a good hope, isn't it?
That's a good hope. And we hope for things, and it's
not sinful. It's not sinful. I will, it is
indelibly, I debate whether to tell this or not, but it's very
real right now. A couple of things are indelibly
printed on my mind. I'll never forget them as long
as I live. A lot of things, but this, when I was a young boy,
Joseph's age. Are you fourteen? Exactly Joseph's
age. My brother was getting on a plane
to go to Vietnam. I'll never forget that as long
as I live. Him walking out to that plane.
I looked up to my dad, and all his life I never saw him cry
much. Fifty thousand boys died over
there. There wasn't much hope. I'll never forget that. About two
weeks later, sitting down there having a family vacation, a big
time, and up walked two soldiers to our door. I will never forget that as long
as I live. And the ride home, twelve hours,
mmm, it's silence. I'll never forget them carrying
that casket to that grave, and them shooting those guns. I will
never forget that. But we had hope. You have to
have hope. But when my brother was about
nineteen, the Lord revealed the gospel
to him. He loved the gospel. It was very
obvious. He wrote letters back home from Vietnam and wrote of
his missing during the gospel and how at times he had heard
some of them singing the old hymns we used to sing back home,
Rock of Ages and all that. It made him long to be in the
worship service and so forth. Things that gave us great hope. And we hope to see him again. We hope to see him again. So
it all is not lost if you have hope. It never is. We have a
strong hope if that person, the Lord has revealed to them, if
they go, they'll stay. We have hope. All of us are going
to go. Sometime though. Right? Now or sometime. Me, I'm getting
on a plane. Saturday. Right? Could be. We have hope. We have strong hope. We hope
in God. He's the God of hope. He gives us hope. And read on. I've got to hurry. He says, Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy. Joy. Joy is this. I looked up this
definition. And I want you to turn to 1 Peter
1 while I'm giving you this definition. 1 Peter 1. The definition for joy is emotion
at the prospect of getting what you're hoping for. When you're
a little kid, you know, you're... And I've told this story before,
I've got to tell it again. She was about three years old,
I guess, sitting in the back seat of her head to the beach. And, you know, it's a long drive,
you know, two hours for a little child is a long time, let alone
twelve. Oh, you know, you never think
you're going to get there. And finally, you know, she didn't
do any driving. She didn't do anything. She sat
in the back seat and played. It was a pretty good ride. I
was the one wearing them. Anyway, finally, we reached the
ocean. There was the ocean. I said,
Hannah, look, there's the Gulf, Gulf of Mexico, the ocean. And we looked back, and we'll
never forget this, and she was rubbing her eyes like this, big
old tears running. She said, I'm so happy I got
tears in my eyes. I'm going to tell that as long
as I live. I love that. She got so happy, I got tears
in my eyes. Joy. The prospect of getting
what? In 1 Peter 1, verse 3, it says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
living hope. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. None of this would be worth doing. None of this would be real. This
is all useless if Christ didn't rise from the dead. But he did.
And we've got an inheritance, verse 4, to an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away. It's reserved in heaven for you.
There's a name in God's heaven at God's table with Nancy Parks
on it. Yes, sir. Nancy Parks is going to be Nancy
Parks. And her name is written there.
That's right. Read on. "...who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed."
You're getting ready to be revealed, Nancy. Ready to be revealed. And the
last time, verse 6, "...wherein you greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness." And do you remember
studying that, if need be? Do you remember studying that?
That we decided who it was that decided if it need be? Do you
remember that? If it be, then it need be. Remember that? If need be, whatever
you're going through, it's good for you. That's what Mother Marvin
preached on. That the trial of your faith It's got to be determined
if what is real, if we really believe. There's only one way
to determine it if a boat floats. You don't put it on a farm pond
or two feet of water in a bathtub. Go out in the deep sea and let
the storm go. Read on. Though it be tried with
fire, like gold that perished, though it be tried with fire,
it might be found under praise and honor. and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ, whom have you not seen?" Nobody's seen Him
here. I haven't seen Him. You haven't seen Him, but you
love Him, don't you? Yeah, you do. Lord, thou knowest.
"...in whom in Christ, though now you see Him, not yet believing."
I believe in Christ, don't you? Some of you just didn't hesitate. You nodded your head. "...yet
you rejoice with joy unspeakable." Do you find joy in what you're
hearing tonight? It's the emotion at the prospect
of getting what you're hoping for. Joy. Do you find joy in
all this? Joy, you know, rejoice. The word
rejoice means to express joy. Rejoice is what you do. Joy is
what you feel. Tell it, sing it. Let all the
earth rejoice. Rejoice. Say it out loud. And
if you've got enough joy, you've got to vent it. Unspeakable,
full of glory. Listen to these verses. Our Lord,
well, John said this in 1 John, he said, These things have I
written unto you that you might have joy. These things are written. See, there's joy in believing.
God's Word is what gives joy. Our Lord said in John 15, He
said, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain
in you, and that your joy might be full. And regardless, I want you to
look at this with your own two eyes, John 16, John 16, and regardless
of what happens here and now in this temporal world, listen
to the promise of the Son of God who cannot lie. All right? John 16, regardless of what happens
here and now in this temporal world, regardless, listen to
Jesus Christ, who cannot lie. He says this to His children. Verse 20, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Ye shall weep, and the men that the world shall
rejoice. That means here and now, believers
really go through more sorrow than the world does. You shall
be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. And he says this over and over
again. Joy unspeakable. Jude said, I've got to look it
up. I don't want to misquote it.
Jude said, now unto him who is able to present us faultless,
to keep us from falling and present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy." It means joy exceeding any joy
you've ever had. Now, I know you've been away from
a loved one for a long time. And were y'all, day in before
you went in the Army? No. went off to war. My dad, my dad
went to World War. You know how many were killed
in World War II? Well, my dad and my mother were engaged. And
they put him on a plane. And he went, went off to war,
you know, and how many were killed in that war? And he wrote letters back home.
And he came home. And the reunion Far exceeded
any joy that they'd ever had before. Exceeding joy. Think of any joy you've ever
had. This far exceeds that. Far exceeds. So much so, I can't
say any more about it. Well, he said, Your sorrow shall
be turned to joy, Nathan. Damn? No. It shall be turned
to joy. Christ said that. He was a man
of service. Now, all this ought to give us
a measure of peace. Go back to the text. It says,
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Peace in believing God. God's
Word. God's Son. Peace in believing.
Never forget, as a young believer, reading a message about Charles
Spurgeon on this. It lifted my soul to heaven just
sitting there reading that message on it. Peace and believing. Peace
and believing. Lord, bless that to my heart.
Peace and believing. You know, these two things always
go together, joy and pain. They're twin sisters. Peace and
joy. Where you find joy, you'll find
peace. Where you find peace, you'll find joy. True peace.
True joy. Now, there is no peace for the
wicked, our Lord said. That means those who don't look,
don't believe God, rebels against God, the unbelieving world, but
to all, listen, every believer, to every believer, every single
person who looks to Christ for salvation, everyone, no matter
how great a sinner they are, they look to Christ. There's
peace, peace with God through Christ, through the blood of
his cross. There's peace within. He will give you peace. If you
don't have peace, you're looking to yourself. If you don't have
peace, you're looking to yourself. If you don't have peace, you're
looking to yourself. You cannot find peace looking
in here to find anything. To find enough faith, to find
enough this, to find enough hope. You can't find it. You look to
Him, Him alone. You look here. When you look
within for something, you'll find it empty. When you look
right here, it's full of peace. Full of peace. I mean, there's
nothing in here that should cause you anything but peace. If you seek Christ in peace,
peace with God, peace within, peace by believing. Folks, really,
I mean this. I don't worry. Well, I better
be careful how I say this. Ninety-nine percent of the time,
I don't worry about being a child of God. I believe Christ. It's not because
of me. But I keep reading where it says
this is the faithful saint. And it's worthy of all acceptation,
the chief of sinners. That Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. That's the things I read. And
I look in, and yeah, I see nothing but a no-good sinner who doesn't
seem to have made much progress. But when I look to him, I see
fresh grace, fresh mercy. And it gives me peace. I quit
worrying. Until the next time I start worrying. And peace with each other. We
have this peace. It's all around the gospel. I've
got to quit. And this peace is in believing. And he says in his prayer, he
closes, that you may abound in hope. Won't you have a lot of
hope? Big hope. Big hope. Expect great
things. I'm not being like Oral Roberts
when I say that. You know I'm not. Because I'm
not talking about this life. you can have hope that God will
watch over and protect your loved ones. Generally, well, He always
does. If something happens, He ordained
it. He purposed it. Most of the time, most of the time, we live out for
our loved ones. Most of the time. If they don't,
it's His purpose, it's for their good, it's for our good, it's
for everyone's good. But you can hope in that. You can help
in that and God's mercy. He's full of mercy and grace
and you hope in this promise that says that. It says that. He'll not put on you more than
you're able to bear. That's what he said, but we're
with the trial. Give you a way that you might
escape. One time, I told you this, one
time a person said to me, they were going through something,
they said, no, they had gone through some real deep water,
and they said, I don't think I can take any more.