OK, well, I want to stay in Lamentations. We've been reading Lamentations
for our daily readings and we had a message from... Lamentations
1 verse 12, last week, is it nothing to you all ye that pass
by. But I don't want to go on and leave this book, because
reading on into chapter three, we see something that should
grab our attention. Jeremiah is the prophet writing
his lamentations, his sorrows. He's lamenting over judgment
enacting. And Stephen read it for us earlier.
The first, well, you read chapter two as well, but we haven't got
time. And then down into chapter three, down to verse 18. It's an account of the judgment of God on the people. And Jeremiah had prophesied that
this would come, that they would be sent into exile under the
Babylonian Empire, under Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. And they would
do that because they had disobeyed God and they had gone into idolatry. And he sees the promised judgment
happen. You see, when he was prophesying,
they kept saying, no, it's not going to happen. The false prophets
were crying, peace, peace, when there was no peace. But he kept
going on and they treated him so badly. And then God did do
what he had prophesied by Jeremiah he would do. And it's a severe
judgment on the sin of that nation, to the extent that Jeremiah,
speaking for himself and for the people thus judged, in verse
18 he says, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. My strength and my hope is perished
from the Lord, a desperate state to be in. But you don't have
to read very far until you see a remedy. Verse 21, this I recall
to my mind, therefore I have hope. What do you recall to mind,
Jeremiah? The things that follow in the
verses that follow, 22 and onwards. He rethinks about them, he recalls
them to mind, he remembers the truths of God. Therefore, although
his hope was perished from the Lord, therefore now he has hope. He recalls to his mind facts
about his God, which turns hopelessness to confident expectation. And
so I want to ask, what is it that has crushed him? And what
is it that has restored him? And in it, I think there's a
message for us this morning. There's heavenly food for us
in this message this morning. What has crushed him? The answer
in those verses, those first 17 verses, is the judgment of
God against the sin of the people of Israel. Against Jeremiah's
own sin, for that matter. Although he was God's prophet,
he was still a sinner. The message of it is this, that
if God is against you in judgment, it's a dreadful state to be in.
You know it says in Romans, if God be for us, who can be against
us? But if God is turned against
me, where does it say that? Verse three. Surely against me
is he turned. He's turned against the people
that he said were his people. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. If God is turned against me,
if he's not for me, then I've got no basis for any hope whatsoever. My sin, my people's sin, has
far removed peace from my soul. Verse 17, thou hast removed my
soul far off from peace. Peace with God is such a blessed
thing. But if we have no peace, if we
are at enmity with God, if we are the enemies of God, if God
has a case against us, a case of sin and of condemnation against
us, he's removed peace far from us. You say, well, Much of scripture
is this doom and gloom. You read through the message
of the prophets and so much of it seems like a message of doom
and gloom and judgment and punishment and death and sorrow and strife
and hardship. And you have to ask the question,
why is it so much like that? And the answer is this. We're
dealing with things which are high, concepts which are the
things of God, and it's hard to put them into words from a
fallen human heart, but let's try. Why is it that there's so
much doom and gloom and judgment and punishment and death and
sorrow and strife and hardship? The answer is this, the being
and the nature of God, incomprehensible to us, but the being and nature
of God and of his eternal kingdom, the nature of God in his sublime
goodness and holiness and purity and righteousness and peace,
he's unfathomable to us in this world as sinners, in sublime
majesty. and power. He is all-powerful.
He, remember, our God. If you see something living,
it is because of our God. God is the source of all life.
He is the creator and sustainer of all things. And yet, in this
creation, which is in rebellion against him, this creation where
Satan came in and the fall occurred in the Garden of Eden, and Adam
listened to the message of Satan and fell from that position of
communion with God, sin entered, corruption entered, total incompatibility
with God came in to this creation. Total incompatibility with his
kingdom came into this creation. An alienation from God arose
in that fall. A separation. Your sins have
separated between you and your God. He cannot have fellowship
with you. It's not just because he's fallen out with you. By very
nature of who God is, the nature and being of God, he cannot possibly
have fellowship with you in the condition that we are by nature. It's you and me as we are by
nature, as the descendants of Adam. And when Jeremiah remembers
his condition as a fallen man, at his people's condition as
fallen men and women, as sinners, he says in verse 20, he says,
my soul thinks on these things and is humbled within me. My soul is humbled within me.
Try to think, you know, how can a preacher put a cross how holy
God is and how abhorrent sin is in the eyes of the living
God, the holy true God, the God who is above all good and gracious
and merciful. I'll put it this way. And I'm
trying to paint a picture of something that will make you
shrink. Try to think of the most vile,
rat-infested sewer. And you are in it, up to your
neck. You're smothered in it. Think of everything that you
find revolting. It makes you sick. It makes you
want to vomit. It's just utterly disgusting.
You're covered with its evil stench. It's absolutely vile. How could you appear like that
in a king's palace, let alone in the courts of heaven? I know
that comes nowhere near conveying the truth. In fact, I have no
power to give you any conception of that in reality. There's only
one who can give a conception of that, and that's God's Holy
Spirit. Only God's Holy Spirit can show
us what we are by nature. Think of it like this, too. Think
of Job was the man, the man who was a good man as men count goodness. And God said of him to Satan,
he said, have you considered my servant Job? There's none
like him. He's the best of the lot. He's the most religiously
diligent. He's the most righteous man as
men count righteousness on the face of the earth. Have you considered
him? And, He allowed Satan to go and afflict Job. And his wife
shouted at him, there you are, look at you now. Why don't you
just curse God and die? Where's your God now? Curse God
and die. And he said, no, though he slay
me, yet will I love him, yet will I please him, yet will I
worship him. And he was brought when he saw
God, when he saw God in Job 40 and verse four, this man of whom
God said, there's none on earth quite like him. He said, behold,
I am vile. That's me, I am vile. Isaiah
saw the Lord in holiness. In Isaiah chapter six, he saw
the year that King Uzziah died. Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up in the temple, sitting upon his throne. He had a vision
of God. And he said, when he saw that
vision of God, he said, woe is me, for I am undone. For I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. Why? For mine eyes have seen
the King. The King? God who is King, over
his kingdom. I have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts. Our only hope in life is the goodness of God, the life
of God, the kingdom of God. That's our only true hope. In
this life, the very best of us that do the very best of things,
and yet it's all hopeless, absolutely hopeless. The only true satisfying
hope that men and women in their hordes turn their back on and
despise and scorn and shake their fist in the face of God in disbelief,
That's really our only hope, is the life of God and the kingdom
of God. But sin separates us eternally. My immortal soul, my soul which
shall never die, must be eternally banished from God. That's what
his word says. It must be eternally banished.
It says in verse 18, my strength and my hope is perished from
the Lord. Scripture repeatedly shows our
condition. sinners again and again that's
why there's so much doom and gloom as it were the strict justice
of God in our condemnation you know you say well people will
say you're religious you can believe that if you want but
it's not for me you know what the scripture says and this will
happen this is true because every one of those that deny God and
say that they'll have nothing to do with him are the result
of being given life by God. And it says in Philippians 2
verses 10 and 11 that every knee shall bow, every, without exception,
every knee, whichever unbeliever it is that despises God, every
knee shall bow and shall confess that God is right. that God is
righteous in judgment, that when he judges and when he condemns
them to separation, that he's perfectly just. Has God crushed
you in your self-righteous confidence? Because that's what we have by
nature. is a self-righteous confidence, an unjustified self-righteous
confidence. Has God crushed you in that self-righteous
confidence, in your worldly worth? Has God taken you, listen to
this, has God taken you for a peep inside hell? Has God taken you
for a peep inside hell? Someone wisely said, I think
it was Don Faulkner that told me this, that when God deals
with a sinner in mercy, he first of all takes him to hell. When
God deals with a sinner in mercy, he first of all takes him to
hell to show him his need of mercy, to show him his utter
helplessness, to show him his need of God and God alone. So verse 21, this I recall to
mind. What's the answer to this despair? This I recall to mind, therefore
I have hope. Think on these truths that follow. And hopelessness is turned to
confident expectation. And here we have six foundations
of a good hope. I've entitled this message, The
Remedy. for a perished hope. The perished
hope is in verse 18, but here's a good hope. This I recall to
mind, therefore I have hope. And here's the first of them.
It's in verse 22, where we read this. that God is merciful. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. We'll
come to that one in a moment. But it's of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed. The guilty, the guilty, and we
are guilty without doubt. You and I are guilty before God.
The guilty can only plead for mercy. We read in Psalm 130 in
verse three right at the start. If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities,
and don't think that he doesn't, because he does. Every single
one is recorded in the books of God which will be opened on
the day of judgment. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? O Lord, who shall stand? Nobody shall stand. Why? For
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In Psalm
51, you know when David committed that dreadful sin with Bathsheba
and had the husband of Bathsheba murdered and then took Bathsheba
to his wife and a child was born and Nathan the prophet went to
David and said put it in the way of somebody coming and this
poor man had one little lamb and and this person came and
took that one little lamb from that man and David was furious
and he said he said that man's going to suffer for what he's
done and Nathan the prophet pointed at David and said you are that
man King David you are that man and David is convicted by God
And in Psalm 51, it's his cry of penitence for that sin that
he committed. And the first thing he asked
for is mercy. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Have mercy. It's mercy that David
pleads for. He doesn't plead for justice.
You hear so many people in the world pleading for justice. They
don't know what they're talking about. But the person that knows
how they stand before the Holy God as a sinner can only cry
for mercy. You know what mercy is? I've
told you before. Mercy is when we don't get what
we do deserve. And why don't we get what we
do deserve? Because somebody else has taken
the punishment that we deserve for us. Look at Ephesians chapter
two. I know we looked at it last week.
But these words are so rich, they're so rich, who can ever
plumb the depths of the scriptures? But look at these words in Ephesians
2, we'll start at verse 3, he's describing how we all are believers,
how believers are, by people, in the flesh, by nature. And
saying that we were just like everybody else in the world,
as it says in the first two verses. And he says, among whom, this
world around us also, we had our conversation. in times past,
in the lusts of the flesh, just like the world around us, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature,
this is what we are in the flesh, the children of wrath, even as
others, but God. That's what we were, and what
we deserved was eternal separation from God. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Big question
there. us. Who is it that God had great
love for? Who is it that he had great love
for and therefore showed mercy? Who is the us? The us is the
people that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the
world, as verse 4 of chapter 1 says. He loved us, the people
he'd chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
the people that he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his son, to be his people in his kingdom, justified, qualified,
fitted to be there. And he did this even when we
were dead in sins. As it says in Romans 5, it talks
about perhaps for a righteous man one would die. But God commends
his love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us, us, not everybody without exception, for us, the
people that he loved from before the beginning of time. And he
has quickened us together, made us alive is what that word means,
quickened us together with Christ. And it's by his grace that we're
saved. If you can hear a great howling
noise, we've got a very strong wind blowing over the solar panels
on the roof and it's acting like a great big organ. So please
ignore that. He's raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. What a marvellous thing it is,
isn't it? The mercy of God expressed for
his great love wherewith he loved us. Ah, you say, that verse is
lovely, yes, the Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, what a lovely verse.
But that's the gentle New Testament, is it? Well, what about Micah,
the prophet Micah? You have to turn on a few pages
and it's the... Verse 18 of the last chapter,
chapter 7 of Micah, says this, who is a God like unto thee? that pardoneth iniquity. This
is a God, remember, who is a consuming fire, into whose hands it is
a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God,
because he's a consuming fire. God is angry with the wicked
every day. And then the scripture says,
who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? Do you see that?
That's the very people I was just talking about. The multitude,
the multi-ethnic multitude chosen in Christ from before the beginning
of time. Why? Because of his great love
wherewith he loved us. For that remnant of his heritage,
he's passed by the transgression of that remnant. He retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. Oh, what a blessed concept, that
our God delights in mercy. He delights in mercy, and it's
His sovereign prerogative. It's God's choice on whom He
will have mercy. He says this in Romans 9, verse
15. God says this, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. You will not twist my arm to
tell me on whom I should have mercy. God, in sovereign grace,
will have mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy. and it's only
possible in Christ. Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 says,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour, being justified by his grace,
we should be made, that being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Here's
a hope perished that is turned around into a solid good hope
of eternal life. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him. Not by our works
of righteousness, but by his mercy. According to his mercy
has he done this. And verse 21 of our Lamentations
chapter 3 says this, this I recall to mind. When the judgment of
God and the justice of God would crush you and cause all hope
to be perished from you, think on that thing. Think on the mercy
of God. We must hasten on for the sake
of time. Secondly, in that same verse
22, his compassions fail not. God who hates sin must punish
sin. God is a consuming fire. But
that God is compassionate. He's compassionate. You know
what it is to have compassion on somebody? It's to have a loving
sympathy, an empathy for them, a concern for their welfare.
He is compassionate. His compassions, they fail not.
He has an elect multitude, loved in his Son from before the beginning
of time. This is the world that he so
loved. John 3, 16, that the Arminians
love to quote, God so loved the world. It doesn't mean the world
of everybody without exception. It means the world of his people
that he loved in Christ from before the beginning of time.
Multi-ethnic multitude. but the objects of his sovereign
grace. This is the world that he so
loved that he gave his only begotten son, because only by giving his
only begotten son could that multitude that he loved be justified
from their sins and fitted for heaven. It was love that was
demonstrated in his laying down of his life for his people, for
his friends. Did not Jesus himself say in
John 15 verse 13, he said, greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends. Our friend, Jesus said,
I call you no longer servants. In that same chapter 15, I call
you my friends. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. His friends
is his church, is his body, is his people, is his temple, is
the multitude chosen in him before the beginning of time. But you
say, What if he stops loving me because I fail? What if he,
you know, I'm so weak, how am I gonna keep this up? How am
I gonna keep on being sanctified enough in his view and in his
sight that he'll carry on loving me? It says this, his compassions
fail not. His compassions fail not. They're new every morning. It
says in verse 23, they're new every morning. God is constantly
compassionate to his people. God eternally loves his elect
people. And if I'm numbered, counted
among them, his son has borne the wrath of God for my sin in
my place. Did you hear that? Did you hear
that? If I am counted amongst that
number, that God chose in Christ before the foundation of time
and placed me in union with his Son, who is God himself manifest
in the flesh, and that one has borne the wrath of God for my
sin in my place, then God has got no account left against me
for my sin. My sin will be looked for in
the judgment, as it says in Jeremiah 50 verse 20, My sin, there he
talks about Judah and Israel, but that's his people, that's
the us, that's the believing elect multitude. My sin and the
sin of his elect multitude will be looked for in that day of
judgment, but it says none will be found. You say, but I'm a
sinner. I know, but he's taken it away.
He's dealt with it. The justice of God has no cause,
has no argument with us. The justice of God is satisfied,
for Christ has died. Christ has paid the penalty.
The penalty for sin is death. The penalty for sin, the soul
that sins, it shall die. What is it to die? It's to give
up your life. The life is in the blood. He
shed his precious blood. that I might be redeemed from
my sin. So these are compassions that
fail not. Oh, my faith is weak and I don't
know whether I'm loving him as I ought to do. It doesn't matter.
His compassions fail not. It's down to him, not down to
me. His compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Then
the next one. Great is God's faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness. You might wonder why we're not
singing the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. I'm sure everybody
knows it well. I just think the words are better
in the hymns that we are singing this morning. Many people preach
the need for believers to be faithful stewards in their service
of God. Oh, you've got to be faithful
stewards. They preach the need for God's
people to be faithful givers in the cause of the kingdom of
God. For them to be faithful in worship and their attendance
and their prayer and their sanctification. But listen, listen, I'm not saying
these things are trivial things that we must neglect, not at
all. But I'm saying as far as our relationship with God is
concerned, our hope is not in our faithfulness, but in God's
great faithfulness. God is unchangingly faithful
to his word. He's unchangingly faithful to
his covenant. What was the covenant? That this
multitude that he chose in Christ He would indeed save them from
their sins and from their just condemnation. He would indeed
fit them, make them meet for his kingdom, that they might
be with him where he is. Father, I pray, said Jesus, John
17, that this multitude that you have given to me, that they
should be with me where I am and behold my glory. In my Father's
house are many mansions. We're going to be with him there.
If you're in Christ, that's where you're going to be. With his
son, with his son who has redeemed his people, has purchased his
people from the law's curse, from sin's curse. This is what
comforts believers above all. When we stand on the threshold
of eternity as David did, In 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse
5, he's talking about, these are the last words of David.
And the spirit of the Lord, verse two, spake by me. His word was
in my tongue. He wrote the scriptures, he wrote
many of the Psalms. The God of Israel said the rock
of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun rises, even the morning clouds, as the
tender grass springing out of the earth. by clear shining after
rain. Although my house, his own family,
his sons who rebelled against him, although my house be not
so with God, yet he, God, has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. You see,
his hope was entirely in the covenant of God to eternally,
from eternity to eternity, save his people from their sins. Next
one, verse 24. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is my portion. This
I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. No remedy for my strength
and my hope is perished. No, I recall this to mind. The
Lord is my portion. Who can say that? Who is the
my? The Lord is my portion. Who can
say that? Can all humanity say the Lord
is my portion? No. Only his believing people. Only his elect multitude. Who are we talking about? Well,
Paul makes it clear in writing to the Philippians. He talks
about not the religious folk who are the true people of God.
He calls them the circumcision, referring to the Jews as the
people of God, but he says, We are the true circumcision. We
are the true spiritual circumcision. Why? What are the marks of these
people, Paul? We worship God in the spirit, not in a place,
not in a building, not in history, not in icons, not in symbols,
not in traditions of culture. We worship God in the spirit,
in the spirit. It's not in this mountain, nor
in Jerusalem. In the spirit is where we worship God. And we
rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in Him. Our hearts
are thrilled. Our hearts are delighted with
Him above all else. When we've found Him and we have
Him, we have the pearl of greatest price, which makes every other
thing that this world offers to be of lesser value. and we
have no confidence in our flesh. These are the believing people
who can say, the Lord is my portion. Those to whom, as Peter says,
1 Peter 2, verse 7, to you who believe, He is precious. He is precious. You know what that means? He
is of more value than anything else. He is the most precious
thing. You know how you value jewels
and possessions? Well, they have a fleeting value.
But He is precious to His people. He is precious. We can lose everything
else. It can be taken from us, as it
was all taken from Job, but we must have Him. He is precious
to his believing people, the ones to whom he is made wisdom
from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Are they not the things that I need to have a good hope? He's
made that to me. Therefore, the Lord is my portion. He is my portion. He is everything
that I need. Again, Peter says in chapter
two and, sorry, I think it's second Peter chapter two and
verse three. according as his divine power hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. I, if I be lifted up, will draw
all men to myself. He is the portion of his people.
He is the possession of his people. He is the treasure of his people. God said to Aaron when he set
him aside to be the Levitical priest in the days of Moses,
in the giving of the law, he said to him and all of those
that would follow him when it came to their inheritance, in
the promised land, he said, you're not going to own any land. He
said, I am your portion. God himself was the portion of
the Levites. That's why the others had to
support the Levites in their Levitical priesthood duties.
God is the portion of his people. Believer. Believer, you, me,
of his holy nation, of his royal priesthood. Again, 1 Peter 2,
verse 9, that's what he says of his people. You're believers,
you're a holy nation, a royal priesthood. He says that to you. Remember it. Remember it. You're
His people. And rest in hope. He is your
portion. Then the next point. The Lord
is good to His waiting, seeking people. Verse 25. The Lord is
good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh
Him. We wait for His promised salvation
to be completed. We're content to rest in His
perfect timing. God is good to you who trust
Him. and are persuaded that he is
able. You know, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day, whenever that day come,
the day when I leave this life or the day when he come again.
But I'm content to wait. It's good to wait. It's good
to wait and to seek for him. And he's good to those people.
He's good to those who seek him. He promised repeatedly in the
scriptures, seek and ye shall find. Seek and ye shall find. We were back in Jeremiah 29,
looking at the way the thoughts of God towards his people. a
couple of weeks ago. And in the verses following that,
it says this, God says to his people, I know I think good thoughts
towards you, to give you an expected end. And he says to them, you
shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with
all your heart. And he says this, I will be found
of you, saith the Lord. I will be found of you. I said
not to the house of Jacob, seek the Lord in vain. They will find
him. If you seek him, you will find
him. It's always like this. I sought the Lord, that hymn
that we used to sing, we haven't sung it for a while. I sought
the Lord, but afterward I knew he, God, moved my soul to seek
him, seeking me. It was his doing. The same Lord
is over all. Sorry, the same Lord over all
is rich unto all them that call upon him. Call upon him, call
upon him while it's the day of salvation. Have you known the
weight of sin? Have you had a glimpse of what
sin deserves in hell? The justice and the condemnation
of God? The hopelessness of your case?
That which would cause hope to perish? Have you had a glimpse
of that? Well, call upon him. Call upon him to have mercy on
you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, as David cried out. And then
finally, verse 26. It is good that a man should
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. The
Lord is good to those who hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord. Salvation from eternal condemnation. is entirely of the Lord. That's
what Jonah said. From the belly of the whale in
Jonah chapter two, verse nine, his conclusion was not how furious
he was with God for putting him in that situation, but this,
that he'd realized, he'd been in his mind, he'd recalled to
mind the things of the temple. He'd recalled to mind the gospel
symbolism of the temple, and therefore he knew there, he remembered,
he called to mind, and from the belly of the whale, he had this
confidence, he had hope, salvation is of the Lord. It is his eternal
purpose, his glorious kingdom, populated with saved sinners. Saved sinners who are made the
righteousness of God in Christ. And he cannot fail. He shall
not fail. He's God. He's unchangeable.
It's been his purpose from before the beginning of time. Nothing
can frustrate that purpose. I recall this to mind, therefore
I have hope. I am persuaded, said Paul in
Romans 8. I am persuaded. What's going
to stop it? What's going to knock it off
course? As that British Prime Minister said to a journalist,
what's going to knock his government off course? Events, dear boy,
events. But there are no events that
can knock the purpose of God off course. He said, I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In
my sinful flesh all is lost, all is lost, all is perished. In God, in his salvation, all
is sure in my merciful God. Therefore, remembering these
things, I have hope. Amen.