backed by faith that we're the
sons of God, because he cannot see it. He cannot see it. Personally, there's no evidence
that John is willing to offer, except that God has called him
a son. That's the evidence that God
calls us in the scriptures, sons of God. He goes on to say, it
does not appear any inclination, I like this, any inclination
or effort at approving one's walk has nothing to do with becoming
or proving that one is a son of God. Such inclination flows singularly
from the fact that he is a son of God. God has called him to
be a son. Jonah summed it up, didn't he?
Salvations of the Lord. It's God's work. This is God's
work. Again, we are but receivers of
this mercy and grace, and oh what mercy it is, and oh what
grace it is. Oh my. Listen to what Paul pens
about this hope. This hope. We see that John has
proclaimed us about us being the sons of God, and he receives
this by faith, just as we receive it by faith. And he has a hope. He has a hope in Christ, just
like we do look at this in verse three. And every man that had
this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. So all the
sons of God have the same hope. And that's Christ. That's Christ,
all the elect of God. So we just interchange the sons
of God for elect about all the elect of God. All those who were
chosen in Christ have the same hope. We have no other hope. And that's Christ and Christ
alone. Listen to what Paul penned about our hope in Romans 8, verses
24 and 25. He says this, for we are saved
by hope. We're saved by Christ, aren't
we? We're saved by hope. Our hope is in Him. He's our
hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. So if you can see something,
you're not hoping for it, you can see it. But if you're hoping
for something that you can't see, then that's hope, right? For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then we do with patience, wait for it. And we wait, we
wait for the day when we will be in the presence of the Lord.
That's what we're waiting for. That's what we're waiting for
as believers. And we know that we who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ are justified, sanctified, and secure in our Redeemer. Yet
we long, we long for that great day when we will be in His presence. Even though we know we're justified,
even though we know we're sanctified, even though we know we're redeemed
by His precious blood, we long for that day when we will be
in His presence. that blessed hope of being like
Christ because we're being conformed to the image of Christ. And one
day we will be in his presence. We will be in his presence. It
won't simply be a desire anymore. It'll be a fact will be there.
And what is this desire based upon that we have right now?
The promises of God. And those are sure. Those are
sure. They are sure. And God's promise
of the full expectation of its completion in Christ, that one
day we will be in glory with Christ. So we have a sure foundation
to rest on. We have a sure hope, beloved,
because our hope is God incarnate in the flesh. And we wait patiently. We wait patiently. We're being
conformed to the image of Christ. And again, as John writes there
in verse two, beloved, now are we the sons of God, it's a fact.
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be. One day we'll be
glorified. We'll be in the presence of the
Lord. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him for we shall see him as he is. Again, we wait patiently. We wait patiently. Now there was a time when we
didn't desire Christ. And he wasn't our hope. But now
that we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God, we have this
hope. We have this desire that we didn't have before. It's absolutely
wonderful. And when we're in full possession
of heaven, and heaven will not be heaven without Christ. Remember
that. When the saint gets home to glory,
we're there to see Christ, aren't we? Now, it'll be a blessing
to see brothers and sisters in Christ that went before us, but
they're like us singing worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain. We'll get to see the face of
our Redeemer, beloved, and oh, what a blessed, blessed day that
will be. And our hope will become a reality
on that day. The moment we breathe our last
breath here, the moment a saint of God breathes their last breath
here, they are in the presence of the Lord, and our hope becomes
a reality. Oh my, oh my. Our hope gives way to sight,
beloved, and what a glorious day that'll be for the blood-washed
believer. Oh, what a hope it gives us,
beloved. What a hope, brothers and sisters in Christ. What a
hope we have. that when we die we go to be with the Lord. Let's
read verse 3 again. And every man hath this hope
in him purify themselves even as he is pure. Now we know that
no man or woman can purify ourselves. No man or woman can purify themselves.
No one. We know that. And we know that
Christ is the only one who was pure, sinless, and spotless before
God. We know that. That's what the
scriptures declare. And we'll look at verse five
later on. We're gonna touch on a pinch
tonight, but we're gonna look at it again next week. More in
depth, verse five. And verse five says this, and
you know that he, being Christ, was manifested to take away our
sins, and in him is no sin. Perfect, spotless, pure before
God, beloved. Absolutely pure before God. So this hope that we have, that
John's writing about, which is Christ, it's in him that we're
accepted by God. It's in him and him alone. Although we are still sinners, we are safe sinners now. We are
safe sinners. We who trust in Christ. Now think of this, I know this
is, You hear it all the time, but it's still absolutely wondrous. Although we are sinners, yet
we're saved sinners, and yet the Scriptures bring forth that
we are completely, completely, completely justified before God
in Christ. That's amazing, isn't it? That
is truly, truly amazing. We are, and we are also not just
justified in Christ. We are sanctified in Christ.
We're made holy in Christ. In Christ alone. And we have
an assurance, beloved. We have a hope in Christ that
we are absolutely complete in him. Justified before God. Fully accepted by God in Christ. And how? Freely by his grace. freely by His grace. How? Through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It always goes back to
our King, beloved. It always goes back to Him. Now
we know that the love of Christ constrains the believer from
sin, and we know that we hate sin in ourselves more than in
anyone else, but also remember, you who are a child of God, remember
this, though we're sinners, God remembers your sin no more. No more. You are seen by God
the Father in Christ. In Christ. And you are seen robed
in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ by the Father. And we stand in Christ, don't
we? And one day, we'll stand before the throne of God, beloved,
faultless in His presence, clothed in that righteousness of Christ.
See, that's the wedding garment. We're the bride. That's the wedding
garment, beloved. Oh, my. And we'll be presented
before the throne without fault, without spots. And remember,
Turn, if you would, to Song of Solomon, chapter one. We'll just
read one verse over here. Remember, again, remember that
we're still sinners, but we're saved sinners. And remember what
the bride of Christ proclaimed when we did our study in Song
of Solomon. This is one verse that really
just struck me as we read it. Song of Solomon, chapter one,
verse five. Solomon pens these words of the
bride saying this. I am black, but calmly. O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kadar and the curtains
of Solomon. Now, the bride's professing here
that she sees her own sinfulness. She says, I'm black. Black with
sin. That's what she's professing,
that she's... And yet, she proclaims that she's
calmly, which we know from our study in Song of Solomon, that it means in the Hebrew beautiful. Well, she sounds like a safe
center, doesn't she? We see our own sin, don't we? But. Christ sees us as beautiful. Because we are clothed in his
perfect, spotless righteousness, he sees his bride in absolute
beauty. As the old timers say, we're
roped in an alien righteousness, which means it's not ours. It's
Christ. It's Christ and Christ alone.
So she sees her sin. And yet she proclaims she's calmly
and she knows that's only because of the bridegroom. Turn, if you
would, to Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five. We'll read
these verses here in Romans chapter five. We'll start in verse one
here. And what a hope, think of these,
as we read these verses, think of the hope that we have in Christ.
And listen to what Paul pens here in the book of Romans. And
remember, this is all by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. All
these scriptures are by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And
look what he pens about the hope that we have in Christ. Romans
chapter 5 verse 1. Therefore. Being justified by
faith. That's a fact. God's people are
justified by faith in Christ and we only have we know we know
that faith is a gift from God, don't we? It's something we can't
muster up. It's a gift from God. He gives
it to us. And faith has one object and that's Christ. True saving
faith has one object, and that's Christ. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have currently Currently, peace with God. We're reconciled
to God, beloved. Paul wrote in Corinthians that
it's the ministry of reconciliation, preaching the gospel. We have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand. We stand in
Christ, don't we? For by grace do you say through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And rejoice in what? In hope
of the glory of God. Look at these words, beloved.
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We have the hope
of eternal salvation in Christ. We have that as believers. We
have the hope of being like Christ. We're being conformed to the
image of Christ. We have the hope of beholding
His glory one day, seeing Him. We have that hope. And this will
produce, as we think about these precious truths, this will produce
joy in the heart of the believer. Listen to what one gospel preacher,
old gospel preacher of old, said about our hope in Christ. He
said, although I am a sinner, yet I despair not. For Christ,
who is my redeemer and my righteousness, liveth. He liveth. In him, I
have no sin. In him, I have no sin. Yet he
just told us he's a sinner. Same thing we say, right? No
fear, in him I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience,
and no fear of judgment, for in him there is no condemnation.
There's no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner, as touched
in this present life, but I have a righteousness of God, which
is above this life, who is Christ my Lord, in him I rejoice. That's a confession of every
believer, isn't it? It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. My, is this not wonderful? Now look at verses three to six.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations, also knowing
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which
is given unto us. for when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now remember
that too. The perfect, sinless, spotless
Lamb of God, the scriptures here declare, died for the ungodly.
That's us. That's we who've been redeemed
by his precious blood. That's all the elect of all the
ages. Now we see in these verses what
a hope the believer has in Christ. The hope of salvation through
Christ, eternal life and blessedness forever. Forever. And Paul brings forth that we
who are the elect of God are to rejoice in the hope that we
have in Christ. We're to rejoice in this hope
because not everyone has it. And not in our natural state,
no one wants it. Think of that. God's given us
a desire. for the things of Christ. Again,
we have a saving interest in the things of Christ. We have
a hope now. Which is Christ. And here we
see the blessed effects of the believers justified state before
God in these verses. We look to Christ, who's our
hope. We look to Christ. We look at verses three to six
again. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations, also knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope make
it not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. For when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Here we see the blessed effects
of the believer's justified state. before God and Christ, we look
to Christ and Him alone. We look to Christ and Him alone.
We await His return, don't we? We await His return, looking
for that blessed hope, that glorious appearance of our great God and
Savior. Now think about this. We could
not be blessed if this hope was not sure. We could not be blessed
if this hope was not sure. If there was any guilt remaining
upon the conscience, if there was any guilt remaining upon
the conscience, then we would not have a hope. We'd be fearful. We'd be fearful. And here before
us, we see that our justification described by the Apostle Paul
is considered by him to be full, perfect, and complete. Look at, look at, look at, Verse
one, therefore, being justified by faith, we have we have we're
justified by faith in Christ and we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a fact. It's a fact. So this text. Note also in this
text that, again, justification is a present justification. We
are justified by faith right now. And that faith, again, has
one object, and that's Christ, and that faith is given to us
by God. It's a gift of God. And here the scriptures declare
we now have peace with God. Presently. Presently. Are they who stand before the
throne of God justified now? Are they who are in glory right
now justified before God? Yes, they are, aren't they? Absolutely. Well, beloved, so are we in Christ. That's what this is bringing
up. So are we right now in Christ. The thief upon the cross was
justified the moment that he turned the eye of faith to Christ.
Paul the Apostle, after many years of service, was not more
justified than the thief with no service at all, was he? No. They were both justified by faith. Look into Christ. Look into him. And remember this, this'll twist
us. Remember that Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Oh my. And you get some deep water over
there. Oh my, oh my goodness. The object of their faith was
the Lord Jesus Christ, just like the Lord Jesus Christ is the
object of our faith. And rejoice, right now, rejoice,
you who are the elect of God. You who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, rejoice. You who are washed in the precious
blood of Christ, rejoice, because right now, you are accepted in
the beloved. Right now. You are accepted in
Christ. Isn't that marvelous? It's absolutely
wonderful. Absolutely. We are today. Let
this sink into your soul. When I was studying this out,
I was shouting upstairs. And listen to this. We are today
absolved from sin today. Right now. We are today acquitted at the
bar of God right now. And how this will fill the believer's
soul with joy, how it will lift us above this world of woe, the
wilderness of this world. When our hearts and minds are
set upon him. Upon Christ, we who are the beloved
are right now, right now. Fully pardoned. Right now. It's not a future pardon. It's
not something like, well, God's not going to say, well, I gave
you this and I'm going to take it away. No, we are right now. Justified by
faith. Through Christ. Right now. Fully
pardoned. Fully pardoned. All our sins,
right now, are put away. Right now. It just makes you It leaves you
in awe, doesn't it? It leaves you in awe. And we
stand right now as believers, right now, clothed in the perfect,
spotless righteousness of Christ. And right now we are accepted
by God in Christ. Oh, my. Oh, my. So rejoice, you who are the divinely
loved ones. Now, you see how that even becomes
more precious. You who are the divinely loved
ones, you who are the beloved of God, there is right now, oh,
oh, let this warm your heart. You who are the divinely loved
ones, you who have faith in Christ, you who have faith in Christ,
there is right now, therefore now no condemnation to those
in Christ Jesus. Right now. That's wonderful. This is good news. This is wonderful
news for sinners. And the preacher proclaims the
good news of a full pardon, of a full pardon before God of all
our sins. So that there's not a sin in
the book of God, even now, even now against one of his people
for whom Christ shed his blood. Oh, my. Is it any wonder that
Paul wrote, who can lay any charge against God's elect? It's God
that justifies. What a hope we have. What a hope
we have. So may this bring great joy to
God's people. We are freely, fully forgiven
by God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a salvation
we have. What a salvation we have. And
the believer is also fully, freely justified before God in the sight
of the judge of all the earth and in through Christ. Right
now. Right now. And this will bring
sweetness to our walk, won't it? It'll bring sweetness to
our walk through this, again, this wilderness of this world. And you know what else it'll
do? It'll make us homesick for heaven. It'll make us homesick
to be in his presence, doesn't it? Oh, where we're seeing him
face to face. And again, remember that heaven's
only heaven because Christ is there. Because Christ is there. Because the one who gave himself
for us, the one who redeemed us from our sins, is in glory. And therefore we rejoice that
right now we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand. And the consequence of this precious
truth to the believer is that we rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God. We've been given a hope, beloved.
A hope like nothing else in this world. Like nothing else in this
world. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. And you know why? It's all because
of the grace of God. It's all because of the grace
of God. All because Christ, our great
substitute, died on Calvary's cross. Turn, if you would, to
Isaiah chapter 53. And this is who our hope is. Our hope is in Christ, in Him
alone. wonderful hope that the believer has in Christ. Look
at this in Isaiah chapter 53, verses 5 to 12. And I know this is a familiar
passage for us, but I'd like us to read this in light of the
great hope that we have in Christ. Look at this. Isaiah 53.5, but
He, being Christ, was wounded for our transgressions, our sins
were laid upon Him. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace, the wrath of God fell upon Him
for our sins, the sinless one. was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We all fell in Adam. We have
turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Our sins were imputed to Christ
on Calvary's cross. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is dumped. So he
openeth not his mouth. He is the perfect substitute.
He's a substitute, dying in the place. He's the sinless one,
dying in the place of the ungodly. Remember what we read in Romans
chapter five. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgressions
of my people was he stricken. Note that. For the transgressions
of the people of God, we who are sinners, by birth, nature,
and choice. Again, the sinless one dies for
sinners. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Look at that verse. You had to
please the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. And oh,
he's bought many sons to glory, hasn't he? Many, many sons to
glory. He shall see God shall see the
travail of a soul and shall be satisfied again. We see substitution
here, right? Because Christ is dying for our
transgressions. And here we see what Brother
Henry always brings out, substitution and satisfaction. Look at that. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, not all, but many, a number that no man
can number, For he shall bear their iniquities. He died for
his sheep on Calvary's cross. And the believer in Christ says,
my oh my, that I was included in that number. Therefore will
I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Beloved,
he's our mediator right now in glory. He's our mediator right
now in glory. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 15, Romans chapter 15. Again, speaking about the hope
we have in Christ and look what Paul pens here by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. He calls our great God. He calls
our great sovereign God, beloved, the God. Of all the God of all. The God of hope. Look at this
in Romans 15, verse 13. Now the God of hope. Oh, isn't
he a God of hope, beloved? What a hope he's given us. Now,
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
And again, we have we have joy in our salvation, which is in
Christ, and we have peace with God, don't we? And we have it
because of the hope we have in Christ. And that comes from God. Now, the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope.
All the believer abounds in hope, don't we? Christ is our hope. Through the power of the Holy
Ghost, there it is, it's all God's work, beloved. We have
a hope now that we didn't have before we were born again. But
now this hope bounds. Bounds. And hope through the
power of the Holy Ghost. And think of this, God is the
author of our hope. God is the author of our hope.
It says here now the God of hope. God is the author of our hope.
We are sinners in desperate need of a Savior. And Christ is our Savior. He's our hope. And He is the
only Savior of sinners. The only one. Neither is there
salvation in any other, only in Christ, in Christ alone. He
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. He made it very clear, didn't
he? Very clear. So the object of our hope is
Christ, in whom we have eternal life. Turn, if you would, to
Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. The object
of our hope is Christ. It's Christ and Christ alone.
Let's see here what the apostle Paul brings forth. Again, by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, who is the author of
the scriptures. And who is the God of hope? Remember
that, too. The very author of the scriptures
is the God of hope. The God of hope. Colossians 1,
verses 3 to 8. Colossians 1, verses 3 to 8. We give thanks to God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. And so Paul again
is writing to the Colossian believers, the believers in Colossus, he's
writing to them. Again, we always need to look
at who they're writing to. He's writing to the believers
in Colossus. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus, so they have faith. faith in Christ Jesus,
that's the object of their faith, and of the love which you have
to all the saints. Remember, that's a fruit, too. That's a
fruit of the Spirit, is for us to love the saints, love God's
people. For the hope, oh, here it is,
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. Where have
you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel? Well,
we've heard that salvation's only in Christ. And what a hope
we have. It's laid up in heaven. He's
in heaven, isn't he? Right now. He's in glory, beloved. And our inheritance is there.
In glory. Oh my. And always remember, Christ
is our reward. He's our reward, beloved. Oh
my. I got ahead of myself there. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, wherever you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which has come to you. We didn't seek it.
Look at that. It's come to us. Brother Chet
and I were talking about how Brother Chet's grandparents were
moved from Poland to the U.S., and then his grandpa went a couple
different places, and then he ended up here in Detroit, and
he met Sister Nancy, and they got married, and they come and
hear the gospel. Isn't that amazing? It comes to you. We don't seek
it. It comes to us. See, God seeks out his lost sheep,
doesn't he? He does. He does. Look at this.
which is come unto you, as it is in all the world. It's preached
and proclaimed in all the world. And bringeth forth fruit. Well,
that's the Holy Spirit regenerating us. As it doth also in you, since
the day ye heard of it. Oh, there was a day when we heard
it. Oh my, the Lord gave us ears to hear. And knew the grace of
God in what? Truth. Truth. Christ is the only way. He's
the way, the truth, and the life. As you have learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, he's a faithful preacher of the gospel,
who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared
unto us your love in the spirit. He declared unto Paul the love
that they had for one another, which again is a fruit of the
spirit, fruit of the spirit. So again, there's the author
of our hope. The gospel speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the he's our hope. He's
our hope. So Paul is giving thanks to our
great God for the hope that the saints and cloths have. And he
knows that their hope is only in Christ, in Christ alone. So let us never forget that our
hope is in Christ. And again, let us never forget
that this hope is sure. It's sure, because it's based
upon the promises of God. And this inheritance that we
have in Christ, though it's not in our hands, is sure. It's sure. This hope that we have in Christ
as, oh, I got this from Spurgeon. Listen to this. This hope we
have in Christ is as certain as the purpose of the Father,
the atonement of the Son, and the witness of the Spirit. It's
certain, beloved. It's certain. And yet, for us
who are on this earth, it's still hope, right? Not for those who've
gone home to be with the Lord. Their hope is now sight. But for us who are here on this
world, in this world, we're hope. But it'll become a reality one
day. You can be certain of that. It'll
become a reality when we leave this earth. Now while we're on
this earth, we have little to expect or hope for, but what
a hope we have in Christ. What a hope we have in Christ. He's our hope. And how did we
hear about this hope? How did we hear about this hope?
Through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how we heard. And it came to us. God brought
us to a place where we could hear the gospel. Charlie and
Denise, they keep telling me they're amazed at how God drew
them here. To hear the gospel. And now they rejoice in the gospel.
They rejoice. But God did that for us too,
didn't he? He does that for every one of
his people. He brings you to a place where you're gonna hear
the gospel. Whether it be through the internet
or whether it be in the church that you actually come to. He'll
bring his sheep, he'll bring his lost sheep to hear that gospel.
And then he'll give him hearing ears and seeing eyes to look
to Christ. And we run to Christ, don't we? He's the author. He's
the ground of our hope, beloved. He's the ground of our hope.
Look at verse five again in Colossians one there for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, wherever you heard before in
the word of the truth of the gospel. Oh, what a hope we have. This hope that we have in Christ
is truly good news for sinners. And truly the gospel of God's
free grace for the born-again believer is glad tidings of great
joy. Glad tidings of great joy. I
ask you who are here, you who will hear this message, is Christ
your only hope? Is He your only hope? Sin is
our great concern. is we have no way to pay the
price for our sins on our own. We have no way. The publican,
what did the publican cry out? God be merciful to me, the sinner. And it was sin that concerned
the thief on the cross. What did he say? He said, I'm
getting what I deserve. That's what he said. He said,
but this man's done nothing. And it was sin that concerned
David when he wrote, my sins are ever before me. So what a hope. What a hope then
that sinners find in Christ. What a hope we find in Christ.
And truly God is merciful to all who flee to Christ. And as
we looked at, they have all their sins forgiven. All of them. All
of them. They are forgiven freely. And
they are forgiven completely. In Christ, washed in His precious
blood. And for the believer, there is,
again, right now, no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus right
now. And how do we know this to be
true? Because the scriptures declare it to be so. Because
the scriptures declare it to be so, and and the Holy Spirit,
who is the author of the scriptures. Will guide us as God's people
into all truth, all truth. And we believe and rest in what
the word of God says. Let's close with verses four
and five real quick here. We'll just look at them real
quick. It says whosoever committed sin transgresses also the law
for sin is the transgression of the law. So we see right there
in verse four. And we'll look at this more in
depth next week. We see right there, though, before us that
that all the sons and daughters of Adam have transgressed the
law. Because we know we're all sinners
by birth, nature, and choice. But marvel at the next verse.
You who are the divinely loved ones of God, the beloved of God,
you who are accepted by God in Christ, it says, and you know
that he was manifested to take away our sins. Take them away. Oh, my. And in him is no sin. Perfect spotless Christ, the
sinless one God incarnate in the flesh, the second person
of the Trinity, the word of God manifested in the flesh. The God man. Fully God and yet
fully man, He came to this world to take away the sins of His
people. He came to save His people from
their sins. And praise be to God, He did
it completely. Heavenly Father, we thank You
for Again, allowing us to gather together tonight. What a blessing
it is to look into the life scriptures. Oh, what a hope we have in you,
Lord Jesus. A hope that's eternal, a hope
that is sure. Sure, and we know, Lord, all
because of thy grace and thy mercy that one day we will see
you, we who are your people, we who have been purchased by
thy precious blood and born again of thy spirit. We know that we
will see thee, Lord. And we know that we have absolutely
no merit in us to have this blessed grace and mercy bestowed upon
us. And we know that we will sing forever of thy, thy wondrous
grace and thy mercy. May you be glorified. And may
we think upon this, we who are your people, may we think upon
this truth this week. And it may be, may it be honey
to our soul, Lord, food to our soul in Jesus name. Amen.