Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 18 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book. The Bible is a book of Christ.
Let's all stand together. God gave His holy inspired Word
for only one great end. The prophets and apostles, too,
revealed the sinner's friend. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. The prophecies of old report
God's wondrous mighty deeds. ? Those deeds of power and of
grace ? ? Is head forth of all unseen ? ? The Bible is a book
of Christ ? ? It only speaks of Him ? ? On every page it shows
us Christ ? ? It only speaks of Him ? The prophets all reveal our Lord,
as prophet, priest, and king. The types the great redemption
show, Christ's blood and grace now bring. My Bible is a book
of Christ, it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us
Christ, it only speaks of Him. He hold the Lamb, the Baptist
said, thus in atoning one, as it was promised long before,
God's Son as Man has come. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Our Substitute obeyed the law,
and died and rose again. And in His Word our Savior said,
Rejoice, I come again. The Bible is a book of Christ,
it only speaks of Him. On every page it shows us Christ,
it only speaks of Him. Please be seated. I believe that. It only speaks
of Christ. Marvin, Gary, good to have you
all with us. They came down to help Mark work
on Trevor and Sarah's house and getting it back together. They
didn't get much done, but we're glad you all came to church tonight. I know they're glad and we're
thankful you all came down. Appreciate all that work. I want to read a passage of scripture
from Romans chapter four, if you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to Romans chapter four. As we were singing that hymn,
I was thinking about those disciples walking with the Lord on the
road to Emmaus after the resurrection. And they didn't know it was the
Lord. And the scripture says he spoke to them those things
concerning himself from the Psalms and the prophets and from Moses,
the Psalms and the prophets. And then in the breaking of bread,
which is what we're doing right now, breaking bread, their eyes
were opened. And they said, did not our hearts
burn within us as he spoke with us along the way? I hope that
our eyes will be opened. We will behold his glory and
that our hearts will burn for him. We'll begin reading in verse
17, as it is written. Child of God, is there anything
else you need to know? As it is written. Thus saith
the Lord. God says it, I says it. I have made thee a father of
many nations before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth
the dead and calleth those which be not as though they were. True, we speak of the word create
or a person being creative All we do when we create something
is we just move something around. God makes something to be that
wasn't. And that's what he does when
he gives life to those who are spiritually dead. Verse 18, who against hope. Now
we're speaking of this this passage is of course talking about Abraham.
Who against hope believed in hope. The message tonight is
about hope. Abraham believed in hope that
he might become the father of many nations according to that
which was spoken. So shall thy seed be and be not
weak in faith. He considered not his own body
now dead. when he was about a hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. That's what faith always does. It gives glory to God. And being
fully persuaded of what he had promised, he was
able also to perform. and therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered for
our offenses. And that little word for can
also be understood because of. He was delivered for and because
of our offenses and was raised again for or because of our justification. God the Father raised the Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead because when he bowed his head and said,
it is finished, we were justified. Justified. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we do hope and pray that you
would meet with us tonight. That hope is not one based on
speculation or just a desire, but it's rooted in the promise
of your word. Lord, we thank you that when
you give faith, that your people believe that you are able to
accomplish that which you promised. We thank you, Father, for the
accomplished work of the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross as a
result of the promise that he made and that you made to him. Father, we place our hope and
our faith in that precious promise that assures us that when two
or three are gathered together in your name, that you are there
in the midst of them. And Lord, might in the breaking
of bread tonight, our hearts burn within us. Might we be comforted,
encouraged, and brought once again to set our affections,
not on the things of this earth, but on the things above where
Christ is seated at thy right hand. We ask it in his name. Amen. Number 229 from the hardback
temple, 229. Let's all stand together again.
229. ? Old, old story ? ? Of unseen
things of the heart ? ? Of Jesus and his glory ? ? Of Jesus and
his love ? ? Tell me the story simply ? ? As to a little child
? ? For I am weak and weary ? And helpless and defiled ? Tell me
the old, old story ? Tell me the old, old story ? Tell me
the old, old story ? Of Jesus and his love Tell me the story slowly, that
I may take it in. That wonderful redemption, God's
remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget Tell me the old old story Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story softly with
earnest tones and praise. Remember, I'm the sinner whom
Jesus came to save. Tell me the story always, if
you would really be. In any time of trouble, I'll
come for you. Tell me the old old story of
Jesus and His Lord. will be the same old story when
you have cause to fear that this world's empty glory is costing
me to tear. Yes, and when that world's glory
is dawning on my soul, tell me the old old story christ jesus
makes me ? Tell me the old, old story ?
? Tell me the old, old story ? ? Of Jesus and his love ? Please
be seated. We never tire of hearing that
story. The story of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His love for His Father, His love for His people. I hope that the Lord will enable
us to hear that story and to speak
of that story once more tonight. If you open your Bibles with
me to Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, Hope, which is laid up for you
in heaven. That's what we read in verse
five. Let's begin at the beginning and be reminded of the things
we've already considered in these first few verses. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother. To the saints and faithful brethren
in Christ, which are at Colossae. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love
which you have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven Where have ye heard before in the word of
the truth of the gospel? The result of faith is hope. Hope. It is unfortunate that
we use that word hope to express our desire for something that
may or may not be. We use it as a wish or an optimistic
attitude, we hope that this will happen, or we hope that that
will happen, or we hope that something doesn't happen. That's not the way the word hope
is used in God's Word. When the word hope is used in
God's Word, it is a joyful and confident expectation. based
on the promises of God. So when we speak of our hope,
we're not wishfully thinking of something that may or may
not be. We are resting the hope of our salvation in hope on the
very promises of God. And that's what That's what Paul
is saying here to the church and to our church. It's what
God's saying to you and me. Since we heard of your faith
in Jesus Christ and your love for all the brethren, that's
the evidence of salvation. Faith and love. That's the commandment
of God, that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we love
the brethren. And the result of that is hope. Hope for that which is laid up,
that which God has laid up for us in heaven. A confident and joyful expectation. Peter calls it a lively hope,
a living hope, a hope that is animated in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a static hope. This
is not a dead hope. This is a living, lively hope. The Lord speaks of Christ in
us, our hope of glory. He is our hope. To see him as
he is and be made like him. Paul said, we look through a
glass darkly right now. we see in part and we know in
part, but when that which is perfect comes, that which is
in part will pass away. Paul said, I, I, when I was a
child, I thought as a child, I actually, he's talking about
his life where we're children right now. But when I became
a man, I put away childish things. There won't be any need for hope
when we are full grown, when we become when we become complete
in Christ, in our experience, then we'll not need faith. Our
faith will be our sight, and our hope will be our experience.
And faith, hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is
charity. The greatest of these is love. The one thing that we'll
have in glory for all eternity will be perfect love. Perfect
love. And that's our hope. Right now,
we have an earnest of that hope given to us by the Holy Spirit,
a down payment, if you will. That's what the scripture says,
that God has given us the earnest of his spirit. When you go to
purchase a piece of property, you put down earnest money as
a guarantee that you're going to follow through with your promise
to pay the rest. And that's what the Lord says
he's done for us with the Holy Spirit. He's given us an earnest
of a down payment for that full possession that will be had in
that day when our hope is made our experience. This is, you
know, the religious men of the world are just looking to God
to help them get through life, you know, just make life a little
bit better. We want to get through this world
alive. This is our hope. Hebrews 619 says, which hope
we have as an anchor for our soul. The Lord Jesus Christ being
our forerunner who has gone into glory for us and he has taken
his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on high.
He is seated and now we have an anchor for our soul. And we
are, our faith is, if you will, the rope that connects our ship
to that anchor and one day that ship will be taken to glory and
in safe haven we'll find that that anchor held. That anchor
held sure and steadfast. We don't have a hope that disappoints. I was thinking about Oftentimes
fathers make promises to their children about something that
genuinely, the father wanted to do it and the child was genuinely
excited about it. And yet some unexpected circumstances
arise that hinders the father from being able to fulfill his
promise. Well, we have a heavenly father that doesn't know anything
about unexpected circumstances. And the hopes of the child are
disappointed. And the father's grieved because
he wasn't able to fulfill the promises. But what if that child
had a father that was never deterred from his promises by any circumstances? And you said to the child, well,
you know, I know your father promised that he was going to
take you here or there next week, but there's a hurricane coming.
And the child said, oh, that's not a problem for my father.
My father's always done every single thing he's ever said he
would do. There's a hurricane coming, my father will take care
of it. That's who our father is. We
don't understand some of the circumstances that arise that
seem to deter our expectation, but in faith, we know. that our Heavenly Father is working
all things together for good, for them who love Him, and those
who are called according to His purpose, and He has always kept
His word. He's always kept His promises.
He's faithful. He cannot lie. And there's nothing,
there are no unexpected circumstances that will deter Him. from fulfilling
everything that he's ever promised. And faith like Abraham, we just
read it in Romans chapter four, faith like Abraham is believing
that he which promises able to fulfill that which he promised. I love this phrase, Zechariah
chapter nine, verse 12 says that believers are prisoners of hope. Don't you love that? I'm a prisoner
of hope. I can't escape the hope that
I have. The Lord has bound me to his promises and made me his
prisoner, and we are prisoners of hope. That's a great thing
to be a prisoner to. In that same passage, he talks
about being delivered from sin and becoming a prisoner of hope.
And that's what faith is. Hope is what faith gives. Titus chapter 1 verse 2 says,
In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. Now, we have the promises of God recorded
in his word that he makes to us. But what promises were made
before the world began? That's the promise that the father
gave to his son in the covenant of grace when in his sovereign
electing power, he chose a people and gave them to his son as a
bride and the promise that the son made to his father to redeem
them, to successfully redeem them. These are the promises
and the promise that the Holy Spirit made when he said, I will
take the message of redemption, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which purchased God's people. And I will apply it effectually
to the hearts of, of those whom the father has, has elected and
those who the son has redeemed and, and, and, and they'll not
want to be lost. Not want to be lost. Here's our
hope. Our hope is in those promises
that were made before the foundation of the world. What glorious promises
they are. What glorious hope we have. This is not a, this is not a
hope that will disappoint. Second Thessalonians chapter
two, verse 16 says, he has given us an everlasting consolation. That word consolation means encouragement
or comfort. He has given us an everlasting
consolation. Now you remember everlasting
is not a word that describes something that starts now and
lasts forever. Everlasting describes that which never had a beginning
and never had an end from everlasting to everlasting. That's what everlasting
is. So when God gives us an everlasting
consolation, we're not just looking at something now and having hope
for the eternal. We're looking all the way back
into eternity past, and we're believing that our God, who cannot
change and cannot lie, has made promises that cannot disappoint. And we are resting the hope of
our immortal soul on his promises. and on the fulfillment of those
promises in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us this everlasting
consolation is not, is not believed by everyone. God has to give
it to us and he's given it to us. That's grace. That's a free
gift. And he's given us in the same
verse in 2 Thessalonians 2 16, a good hope through grace, a
good hope through grace, by which we are comforted and established. Our faith is by grace. It leads
to hope. That's what we are, prisoners
of hope. No glorious. I want to be a prisoner of hope.
I want to be, I want to be tied and chained to the Lord Jesus
Christ, my hope of glory. And, uh, here's, we have a, we
have a father who, who's made some glorious promises and, and,
and we're like that little child that someone says, well, you
know, this might happen or that, but no, no, my father will take
care of it. He's never been unfaithful to
keep one of his promises. Like faith, hope cannot be seen
by the natural eye. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. We have, as I mentioned earlier,
the earnest expectation of the Holy Spirit. this down payment,
if you will. And that's the only way we can
have faith. That's the only way we can have
hope is the spirit of God has to open the eyes of our understanding.
It has to take out our heart of stone and put in a heart of
flesh and, and make us new and alive. And when we're alive,
then we, we hold to that lively hope that Peter spoke of. We're
dependent upon the spirit of God, aren't we? here's another
promise if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children and we do gladly happily we we want the best for our children
how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to
them that ask him lord i need this hope i need i need to There's
so much, there's so much disappointment, so much pain and sorrow and death
and suffering in this world. Lord, I need a, I need a hope.
I need a good hope. I need a, I need an everlasting
hope. I need Christ. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12
says that there was a time when we were without hope and without
God in this world. Those two things go together.
If we're without God, we're without hope. He is our hope. Christ in you,
your hope of glory. Christ Jesus the Lord is our
hope. And this hope like faith cannot
be proven to the natural man. We're not trying to reason with
men or scientifically prove anything. We're not using human wisdom
to try to prove anything. We are declaring the safe Lord
and knowing that God will make his people to believe it. He
will give to them this everlasting consolation. He will give to
them this good hope when he gives them ears to hear. And that's,
go back with me to our text in Colossians chapter one, look
at verse five. 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? You hear, God gives you ears to hear, you're gonna have
hope. Paul said in Romans chapter 8
verse 25, hope that is seen is not hope. You know, men want to look at something that's tangible.
They want to find something in their lives that they can look
to as the hope of their salvation. know, a changed life or something
that they're doing they didn't used to do and some religious
activity that they're performing. You know, they want to put their
affections on those things which are seen. Those things which
are seen are temporal. Those things which are not seen
are eternal. And the Lord said that this hope that we have is
not in something that we see. He goes on to say, for what a
man seeth, why does he yet hope for it? If you see something,
you don't have to hope for it. You got it. But if we hope for
that which we see not, then we do patiently wait for it. Now
we're hoping with a joyful expectation based on the promises of God
in things that the natural man cannot see, cannot hope for. He's without hope and without
God. Listen to this verse of the scripture,
Hebrews chapter seven, verse 19, the law made nothing perfect,
but and you know the theme of the book of Hebrews is the word
better a better covenant and Here the law made nothing perfect,
but a better hope did By the which we draw nigh unto God We
have a better hope than the law and when this and when God speaks
of the law, he's not he's talking about a What the natural man
does in looking to his law-keeping, he's trying to put his hope in
that which is seen. And so he's using the law as
a standard of measurement, and he's trying to find some sense
of salvation and hope and consolation and encouragement by the outward
evidences of his law-keeping. But the law made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
is that better hope. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth, isn't he? He's the only one that satisfy
the demands of God's law. Not only in his perfect obedience,
in his life, but in his death. He obeyed God unto death, even
the death of the cross. It was the law required there
to be punishment for sin. And the sin demanded death, and
it demanded a perfect sacrifice. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
before the foundation of the world made a promise to his father.
And that's our hope is in those everlasting promises established
before the foundation of the world, that he would satisfy
all the demands of God's law and justice by his life of obedience
and his sacrificial death to atone for the sins of his people.
And that's exactly what he did. And you and I now, 2,000 years
later have been given by the Spirit of God a hope to look
back. We don't look at our law keeping. We don't look to the law in any
way. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. God imputed this righteousness
to Abraham, And this was written not for Abraham only, but for
us. We would place our hope in the
same place he did. I love this passage in 1 Peter
1. We have this hope of an inheritance. An inheritance. We haven't received
the full inheritance yet. in Christ we have and through
faith we have but in our experience we have not yet because that's
what Peter's talking about when he says to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you
this is a hope that's what that's what a hope that you look at
our text again in verse five hope which is laid up for you
in heaven and Peter says it's reserved in heaven for you Oh,
I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place, I will come again and receive you unto myself so that
where I am there, you may be also. When the Lord Jesus Christ
took his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on
high, everything necessary for this incorruptible, it fadeth
not away inheritance, which has been laid up for us. Everything
required to prepare it was finished. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he bowed his head and shed his precious blood, finished the
work of redemption. He purchased us with that precious
blood. But he had to go ascend to his
father. He had to be received back into
glory, and that's what he did. Listen, 1 Peter 1.3, we have
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in that last day. So we're right
now being kept by the power of God. That's why you have this
longing desire for Christ And even when you are tempted to
look away from him, you are kept by the power of God. And he,
he keeps bringing us back, doesn't he? Unto salvation, unto salvation,
which shall be revealed in the fullness of its glory in that
day. This is our hope. This isn't a wish. This isn't
optimistic thinking. This isn't pie in the sky, by
and by. This is our hope. This is our
joyful expectation. Paul said in second, Timothy
chapter 4, he said, I've finished my course, fought the good fight,
kept the faith. Henceforth, God has kept me. He's kept me looking to Christ. He's kept me hoping and believing
and looking and waiting. until the day in which he takes
us home. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the righteous judge shall give me. And not to me only,
but to all that love his appearing. As I said, the rest of the world
is just trying to figure out how to stay alive in the world.
We're hoping to get out of this world alive. I can remember in religion, on
this topic, we would say, we would always put a caveat to
this subject and say, now, don't be so heavenly minded that you're
no earthly good. Have you ever heard that phrase
before? That is not possible. That's not possible. That was
the, that was blasphemous. That was just a lie that we,
you know, we thought, well, you know, we don't want to, we don't
want, you know, Christians running around just thinking about heaven
all the time. We want them to work right now. You know, we
want them to do something. So don't be so heavenly minded
that you're no earthly good. The more heavenly minded you
are, the more earthly good you're going to be. That's just the
way it works. We're to set our affections on
things above, not on the things of the world. Oh, child of God,
be heavenly minded, be heavenly minded. We ought to be a whole
lot more heavenly minded than we are, ought we not? We get
so caught up in the things of this world. My hope tonight is
that the Lord will take his word and his spirit and cause us to
be more heavenly minded than we are. that we would look for a city. You know, there were a lot of
cities that Abraham could have settled in, but he looked for
a city which hath foundations, whose builder, and that builder
is the architect, and maker, And that's the one who put it
together. So here, he was looking for a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker was God. God designed this city. God built
this city. And that's what we're looking
for, that heavenly Jerusalem. We have a destination. I pray the Lord will cause us
to be more mindful of that. It sure should go a long way in
delivering us from the anxieties and fears of this world. David said in Psalm 17 that the
men of this world have their portion in this life. This is their portion. It's all
they get. I said this, I've said it a few
times, I think, but the unbeliever, the reprobate,
the one who will never come to Christ, won't come to Christ,
won't have that man reign over. This, this is their lot. This
is their portion. It's all they've got. Marvin,
if you don't mind me sharing this, I, I think you told me
that when, when right before the Lord took Linda home, that
she had some family members that were, that were acting like worldly
people act. And, uh, and Linda said to you,
honey, Just leave them alone, this is all they've got. Can
you tell me that? It's all they've got. This is
the worst that they're gonna be for us. Oh, we have so much
more. So much more. There is laid up
for us a hope in heaven. David goes on and that's in that
same verse in Psalm 17 He said men of this world have their
portion in this life. But as for me, I Will behold
by face in righteousness and I shall be satisfied Only when
I awake in thy likeness Not gonna be satisfied until then I'm gonna
be hoping I'll be looking and waiting, but I'm not going to
be satisfied until I awake in thy likeness. So that as we will see him as he is, whatever
it means that we're going to be made like him, I know what
I know part of what it means. We're going to be without sin,
completely without sin, without any fears, without any unbelief. David goes on to say in Psalm
71, for thou art my hope, O God. Thou art my hope. We're not hoping
for a place. We're not hoping for an experience. We're hoping in God. Our hope, like we saw faith Sunday,
our hope has an object. We're not hoping in hope. or
hoping in the living God and His glorious grace and promises
and glory. How do we, what is the means
by which we have this hope? Well, look at our text, look
at verse five. for the hope which is laid up
for us, for you in heaven, whereof ye heard." Heard, hearing. Faith comes by, hope is the result
of faith, and faith is the result of grace, and grace comes by
hearing. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the word of God. When you're caused to not have
any option but to say amen, When God speaks, as it is written,
thus saith the Lord, yes, there's my hope. Where else can I go? The infallible word of God. All scripture given by inspiration
of God. All scripture being profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. We're thoroughly furnished by
God's word. And his written word is but a
revelation of the living word. We open this service with the
Bible is a book of Christ. These are they which testify
of me. You search the scriptures because
you think in them you have eternal life, but you miss Christ. In
the volume of the book it is written of me and beginning with
Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, he expounded unto them
those things concerning himself. So the word became flesh. The word dwelt among us. This
is the glorious gospel that we've heard. The incarnation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The mystery of godliness that
God was manifested in the flesh. And we beheld his glory as the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth.
And he now in us is our hope. You wouldn't believe God's word
if Christ wasn't in you. The unbeliever doesn't have this
hope. Why today do we have an interest
in it? Today it's not even on their radar. They're just consumed
with the things of this world. And you understand what that
means because we get caught up in the things of this world.
But what if that's all you had? You rejoice in hearing. this
message, don't you? Not this particular message,
but the message of Christ, the message of hope, the message
of faith and grace. You rejoice. You have no objections
to it. We sang that hymn, tell me the
old, old story. We just want to hear it again
and again and again. I want to hear. We're not like, well, yeah,
but. That's what the unbeliever does,
objecting to the gospel. We hear. God unstops our ears
and he makes us to hear. And the hearing ear and the seeing
eye are both from the Lord. And so he says, this hope, which
is laid up for you in heaven, you heard about it. And when
you heard about it, you believed it. You know, men, sometimes people
hear, well, I just speak from my own personal experience, they
hear me preach and they'll make comments afterwards. You didn't
hear a single word of that, did you? And you know, you think
sometimes, don't you Marvin? You think, well, you know, get
mad or get glad, but don't tell me I said something that I didn't
say. I didn't, you know, that's not, But they, people have select,
Tricia accused me of having selective hearing, but that's the way unbelievers
are. They have selective hearing.
They'll come to church. They'll listen to the gospel
and they'll hear religious words and they'll define those words
in their own mind and not hear what's being said. Now, I don't want people to be
offended by the gospel. I want them to believe the gospel.
But, you know, sometimes you wonder it might be better off
for them to be like a Saul of Tarsus and get angry at the gospel
and kick against the pricks than to just think that you're saying
something you're not saying or think that what you're preaching
is the same as what everybody else is preaching. Now, we rejoice in what's being
said. We have some understanding of
the good news, the gospel, of God's free grace in the finished
work and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all
it's good news to us. Turn with me, we'll close with
this, Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. beginning at verse one. And you
hath he quickened who were dead in your trespasses and sins.
You weren't able to hear. You had no need. You had no interest. You were spiritually dead. That's how we come into this
world. We come into this world spiritually dead, unable until
we're quickened by the spirit of God through the preaching
of the gospel. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. And that word disobedience is
also translated unbelief. We're not talking about just
people that are indulging themselves in all sorts of shameful behavior.
We're talking about people who just don't believe. Disobedient
in that they don't believe the gospel. among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others." We were by nature,
just like others. Never under the wrath of God,
though. Never. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved, and hath
raised us up together and made us to sit in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. There's the end. There's the
end of our hope. We're saved by grace that he might demonstrate
his glory in the ages to come for all eternity. When the deposit that we have
now is fully realized and experienced
and Let me close with one final illustration. Someone might be thinking, well,
I don't know if I have dying grace. Lord, give it to you when you
need it. Back to the father illustration
that made a promise to his child only to have to disappoint that
child because unexpected circumstances came up. Think with me for a
moment about a father driving his children to that expected
destination, and all along the way, the little children in the
back seat are doing what siblings do. They're bickering and arguing,
and they're asking what time it is, and how much longer, Daddy,
till we get there? And finally, they make the final
turn, and it's just ahead, and the father looks back and says,
just around the corner, we're here. We're here. All the bickering goes away.
The children get happy again. All the things that they were
so tired of and traveling in the car, now they're having anticipation. Oh, we're there. We're there. God gives that sort of That sort
of hopeful expectation and anticipation to his children, particularly,
particularly when he prepares to take them home. And that's
our hope. That's our hope. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for this hope that
has been laid up for us in heaven. We pray that you would give us
your spirit and cause us to set our affections on things above. Where the Lord Jesus Christ,
my darling son, and our successful Savior is seated with all of
his church. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 175, let's stand together, 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King Through eternal ages let His praises ring Glory in
the highest I will shout and sing Standing on the promises
of God Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the Spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
hold, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting
in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God.