Good evening. Let's open up tonight's
service in the Blue Hymnal No. 361, Sweet Hour Prayer No. 361. If you could please stand.
? Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer ? That calls me from world of care ? And bids me at
my father's throne ? Make all my wants and wishes known ? In
seasons of distress and grief ? My soul has awe and found relief,
and off escaped the tempter's snare, by thy return, sweet Alpha
Prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To Him whose truth
and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids
me seek His face, Believe His word, and trust His grace, I'll
cast on Him my every care, And wait for Thee, sweet hour of
prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, may I thy consolation share. Till from Mount Pisgah's
lofty height, I view my home and take my flight. This robe
of flesh I'll drop and rise To seize the everlasting prize And
shout while passing through the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet
hour of prayer. Oh, what a day that'll be. Farewell,
farewell. Thank you, Bert. That goes so
well with what I'd like to try to preach tonight. Would you
open your Bibles with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. And we'll begin reading at verse
13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. I love
the way the Lord refers to the brethren that have died. He calls
them asleep. That you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope. No hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, Even so, them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord. This is by God's word. This isn't
a pie in the sky by and by. This isn't man's opinion. This
is what God promises. We which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the angel, and with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort, ye one another with these words." When the disciples were standing
there on the Mount of Olives as the Lord was ascending back
into glory, they stood there after he had disappeared from
their eyes and Angels came and spoke to them you remember men
of Galilee why stand you here gazing up into the heavens this
same Jesus Which is taken up from you will in like manner
come again The believers life is a life
of waiting That's our life That's every
day of our life is waiting. What hopeful expectation we have. Let the world set their affections
on the things of this world. We'll set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Hopeful
for that day when he'll come again, take us home to be with
him. Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
oh, how we need you to send your holy spirit and power to comfort
our hearts with the undeniable truth of the reign and return
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, put it in our hearts to
believe you and to have a hope, not built on man's wisdom or
man's promises, but a hope that's built on the sure promises of
God. fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, open your word to us. We confess to you, Lord, that
we find ourselves becoming so attached and attracted and caught
up with the things of this world. Lord, forgive us for our worldliness
and give us in this hour a heavenly vision. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Why don't we all sing the hymn,
Blue Hymnal number 158, number 158. If you could please stand.
Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, number 158. So, Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly dove,
With all thy quickening powers, Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours. Look how we grumble here below,
fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily they go
to reach eternal joys. ? In vain we tune our formal
songs ? In vain we strive to rise ? Hosanna's languish on
our tongues ? And our devotion dies ? Dear Lord and child live at this poor dying rate. Our love so faint, so cold to
thee, and thine to us so great. Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly dove,
with all thy quickening powers, come shed abroad a Savior's love,
and that shall kindle ours. May be seated. The title of this message is
Wait on the Lord. Wait. Will you open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 27? I know some of our young people
hear us talking about heaven and death and seem so far off. I would just say to them, to
you, that I wish that I had the desire when I was younger and
the anticipation and the hope of eternal life that I have now. And how much of our youth we
waste just Solomon said vanity of vanities,
all is vanity. I had a really blessed conversation
today with Florence Ricenti, who's in a nursing home. And
she's been living with one of her other sons and not been coming
to services, but she's moving in with Jim and is going to start
coming back here. But we had a very, very frank
conversation about death and about the hope of eternal life
and about seeing the Lord. And I was very encouraged with
the expressions of her, of her hope. And then after we finished
talking, the lady in the bed next to her, her name was Emily. I started to leave the room and
I just sort of spoke to her and she said, she looked at me with
tears in her eyes and she said, I believe everything you just
said. So we talked for a little bit. I'm going to go back and visit
with Emily some more. But we're all going to be there one
day very soon, very soon, sooner than we think. What hope we have. Look at Psalm 27 verse 13. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Now
this is not the land of the living. David's talking about going home. being delivered from this world,
being rid of this flesh, having this mortal be made immortal
and having all this corruptible flesh be made incorruptible and
seeing the Lord Jesus Christ and the fullness of his glory
and being made like him, being rid of sin, rid of unbelief.
And David said, the troubles of this world had almost overwhelmed
me. I had lost sight of that which
I was waiting for. I had lost sight of the hope
that I have in Christ for life eternal. But then I saw that
there is goodness in the land of the living. And so in verse
14 he says, wait, wait. We're capable of accomplishing
a lot of things in the flesh. But they're all fleshly things,
aren't they? Those things which are eternal
cannot be done in the flesh. They can only be done by the
Spirit of God. And they will only be done by the Spirit of
God as the Lord enables us to wait on Him. But here He's talking
not just about the spiritual things of this world, the land
of the living and seeing the goodness of the Lord. And he
says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage. Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. Yeah, the
world is going to hell in a handbasket. I mean, it is. It just, that's
the world we live in, but don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. Wait on the Lord. We have hope. There is a land where nothing
but righteousness is and where nothing but glory is, nothing
but goodness is. And that's what we're waiting
for. The rest of the young. The message of religion is all
about how to make, how to polish up this life, isn't it? How to
make your life here in this world a little bit better. The message
of the gospel looks far beyond this world. I had a man say to me one time,
he said, you know, you don't, you don't polish brass on the
sinking ship, but that's what we spend most of our life doing,
don't we? We spend most of our life polishing the brass on the
sinking ship. Oh Lord, enable us to set our
affections on things above. It'll give you courage. It'll
give you courage. Discouragement will be returned
to courage and he shall strengthen thy heart. He shall strengthen
thine heart. Wait, I say, wait. The rest of your life, if you're
a child of God is gonna be waiting, waiting until that appointed
hour And it is appointed. Francis, we talked about this
today. There's an hour appointed by
God. Nothing's going to change that time. And it's going to
be for each one of us. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31. Turn with me there. You're familiar
with this passage. Verse 28, hast thou not known,
hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. He's got this all worked out. Didn't you love
seeing that book of decrees in Revelation chapter 5? And all
the decrees of God are fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, have you heard? This
is everything's right on schedule. I'm working all this out for
my glory and for the salvation of my people. He giveth power
to the faint and to them that have no might, he increaseth
strength. John Owens once said, we have
no power from God until We live in the persuasion that we have
none of our own. And that's what the Lord meant
when he said, his strength is made perfect in my weakness. Lord, I'm fainting in this life.
Oh, refresh my spirit, give me hope, enable me to wait. That's
why Paul said, when I am weak, then I am strong. Now look at
how this works out. He gives power to the faint and
to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly
fall. Oh, the proud presumptuous strength
of youth. We've all been there. I pray for our young people that
the Lord will expose all of us for our weakness. For the power
of God will not be known until we are able by the grace of God
to live in the persuasion that we have no strength of our own.
When we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. He didn't say when we had a little
bit of strength, when we were on top of it and I'm working
it out, then no, when we were yet without strength. God's got
to make us without strength. He's got to change our name from
Saul to Paul, doesn't he? He's got to knock us off that
high horse. He's got to make us dependent upon him. And that's
what he does. And what a blessing it is. Young
or old, what a blessing it is. when God exposes our weakness,
our inability, and then exchanges it. Notice in verse 31, but they
that wait upon the Lord. Now, perhaps you have it in the
margin of your Bible. I've got it in my Bible and I've
looked the word up. The word renew right there. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew That word renew would be better translated changed. It's what it means to be changed,
to be made different, to be exchanged. That's what the word means. It
means to be exchanged one thing for another. You put one thing
down, you get something back in return. They that wait upon
the Lord shall exchange their strength for His strength. They'll
lay down their ability and know what His strength is. They'll come to realize they
have no ability in their will. It is not of Him that willeth. God's got to make us willing
and He does it in the day of His power, doesn't He? He's the
one that gives us a willing heart. He's the one that causes us to
believe. We don't have the strength to have faith. We don't have
the strength to believe. We don't have the strength to
obey God. We can't do it. Left to ourselves, we are dead
in our trespasses and sins. And there was a time when each
and every one of us could not believe. We couldn't believe.
Any more than you can get a response from a dead man. Go down to the
morgue, go down to the cemetery. Talk to a corpse. See what kind
of response you get from them. Ask them some questions. Ask
them to get up and do something. They can't do it. Why? Because
they're dead. And that's what we are spiritually
when we're in our own strength. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall exchange their strength. Oh, there was a time when we
were proud of our works. We thought that our works recommended
us to God. We thought that we had some righteousness.
We thought we compared ourselves to ourselves and we were convinced
that we were getting better. We compared ourselves to other
men and we were convinced that we were at least above average.
We compared ourselves to the law of God and we believe that
we were at least to some degree satisfying its demands. And then the Lord showed us the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who's ever been
able to satisfy the demands of God's law. And we saw ourselves
in light of his glory. And we said with brother Job,
behold, behold, I see something I've never seen before. I am
vile. Woe is me, Isaiah said, I'm undone. Peter said, depart from me for
I'm a sinful man. My eyes have seen the king. Let
the rest of the world deceive themselves in thinking that they're
something when they're not. Lord, show us Christ. If God
is ever pleased to show us the Lord Jesus Christ, that's why
we've got to preach Christ. In Australia, Angus had on the
pulpit great big letters. And that passage, I think it's
in John, where some of the Greeks came to the disciples and said
to them, sir, we would see Jesus. And that was right there on the
pulpit. Matter of fact, it was in two places on the pulpit.
And I'm going to put it, you see that back wall right there?
I'm going to frame it in big letters so I can see it clearly
from right here. It's going to be on that back
wall hopefully by Sunday. Sir, we would see Jesus. Show us Christ. I need to be
reminded of that. I need to be reminded of my responsibility
to preach Christ, because if He be lifted up, He will draw
us to Himself. And we'll come to Him as mercy
beggars, won't we? We'll come to Him with nothing
in our hand. Only to Him do we cling. They that wait upon the Lord,
they shall exchange their strength They shall come to the realization
that they have no strength. And they'll exchange those things
that they thought were gain. Isn't that what Paul said? I
was a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, a tribe of midgermen.
Concerning the law is blameless. Now who could say that? And then
he said, but I've suffered the loss of all things that I might
know Him. And I do count them as dung.
Those things which I thought were gain, those things that
I thought were recommending me to God, I had some strength,
I had some ability, and now the Lord has enabled me to exchange
my strength for His. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up... I want
you to notice the progression or digression, if you will. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Isn't that our experience? When
we first hear the gospel, we're just mounting up with wings as
eagles, aren't we? As we grow in grace, some of
that airtime brings us back down to earth, doesn't it? We see
our sin and we're living in this world and with this flesh and
then we finish our lives like dear Florence, so weak that she
can't hardly get up, put one foot before the other. She said,
oh, it's so hard to pray when you're not feeling well. I said,
I know. But the Holy Spirit prays for us. You just cry out best
you can. We start out with wings of eagles,
then we're running and we end up just, Lord, if you just let
me put one step before the other, just let me walk after Christ.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
10 says, we wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from
the dead, even Jesus, which hath delivered us from the wrath to
come. No fear of wrath. There is now
therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Sunday, you know you you can't
you cannot shame a dog from begging Kenya The only thing you can
do to curtail a dog from begging is threatening Threaten God never
threatens his children all the wrath of God has fallen in fiery
justice on the Lord Jesus Christ and God's dogs just sit at God's
table waiting for the next crumb to fall off, don't they? And
they can't be shamed for being beggars. And the Lord never threatens
them to stop begging. Oh no, he calls them to his table,
doesn't he? Wait for his son from heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ has delivered us from the wrath that is to
come. No fear of wrath. No fear. No fear of condemnation. We have
hope. That's what we're waiting on. And this hope can only be given
by the Spirit of God. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
5. Brothers and sisters, this is
what it's all about. It's not about you paying your
mortgage. It's not about getting another job. It's not about children
and figuring out. This is what it's about. And
here's the mystery of the gospel if the Lord ever enables us. to put our affections on things
above where Christ is seated and wait for Him and watch for
Him, that heavenly vision will give us the wisdom that we need
to deal with whatever circumstances He ordains for us here in this
world. But we get focused on our circumstances,
we lose sight of the end, don't we? Lose sight of the end. My hope tonight is right now,
right now in this hour at least, Before we go back out there and
get engaged in all that stuff again, that the Lord will give
us a glimpse of heaven, that He will rend the heavens, that
He will enable us, like John, to look into the heavens and
see the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God. Taking
the book out of the hand of the Father and unlocking the seven
seals, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He hath prevailed. If that's going to happen, it'll
happen in the power of the spirit. This is a spiritual truth. This is not something we can
come to in the flesh. Look what the Lord says in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made you free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to Egypt. Don't
go back to the law. There's nothing but bondage there.
We've been set free from the law. We have a Savior who's seated
at the right hand of the Majesty on high, who ever lives to make
intercession for us. We have a righteous advocate
with the Father. And the Lord's telling us, look
to Him. Look to Him. He'll show you what to do. and
He'll give you hope beyond whatever circumstances are in this life. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you look to the works of your
hands as the hope of your salvation, Christ not gonna profit you anything.
If you look to what you've offered God, For the hope of your salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ is of no value to you. He's got to be
everything, doesn't he? You remember in 1 Samuel chapter
13, when Samuel told Saul when he was about to go to battle
against the Philistines, I think he was in Gilgal, that's where
Saul was. And he had his army and they
were all scared to death because the Philistines outnumbered the
Israelites. And his men were starting to
peel off. They were all starting to leave him. And Samuel made
it clear to him. He said, do not do anything until
I come back. I'll be back in seven days. And
Saul waited and he waited and he waited. And on the seventh
day, the sun starts to go down and he sees the Philistines and
he sees the men leaving. And what does he do? He makes
a sacrifice. He had no place to make a sacrifice.
That was for the priest. What was he doing? He was trying
to fix his circumstances by something that he did, a contribution that
he made. And Samuel shows up before the
sun sets and Samuel says, what have you done? And Saul said, well, I forced
myself. I just had to force myself to
do it. You know, I saw the Philistines, my men were leaving, things were
desperate, you weren't here. Saul, you didn't wait long enough. If you had just waited another
hour, I'd have been here. I told you to wait, you didn't
wait. He thought he was gonna fix his
circumstances. by making a sacrifice with his
own hands. That was for the priest to do.
That was for Samuel to do. He was the only one authorized
to make a sacrifice, not Saul. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one authorized to make a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice to God for
us, to deliver us. Wait, don't Don't go back to
the law. Don't look to circumcision. Don't
look to something that you do with your hands in order to try
to relieve yourself of your problems. The problem that we have is a
sin problem. The problem that we have can't
be solved by a contribution that we make. We've got to wait for
our Samuel to come. Wait for him. He's gonna come
in the last hour. We're going to have to wait right
to the end, aren't we? So Paul says, if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again, verse three,
that every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. You're going to make a sacrifice.
You're going to take things into your own hands. Then you're going
to have to satisfy all the law. You're going to have to keep
every jot and tittle of the law. If that's how you're going to
come to God, you're going to come to God by the law. You're
going to have to do it all. Oh, no, Lord. I'll wait. I'll wait. Christ,
verse 4, is become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are,
that are justified by the law, for you have fallen from grace.
For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. We wait. The Lord Jesus Christ has offered
himself to the father. The father is satisfied with
what he's done. And this waiting, Hosea put it
like this. Hosea said, turn thou to thy
God. In other words, look to him.
Look to Christ. Look to the sacrifice that He
made. That's what the Spirit of God enables us to do. We,
by the Holy Spirit, wait for the hope of salvation in Christ.
We can't look to Christ without the Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God, the natural man cannot receive things of the Spirit.
We are completely dependent. We don't have the power to do
it. That's where our weakness comes
in. Lord, I need Your Spirit to look to Christ. Hosea said,
Turn thou to thy God, keep mercy, keep in mind that God delights
in showing mercy. Now, where does that leave us?
That leaves us as a mercy beggar, doesn't it? We've got nothing
to offer. All we can do is beg for mercy.
Oh, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Now which one went
down to his house justified, the Pharisee or the publican?
The publican would not so much as even look up but smote himself
upon his breast and said, God have mercy upon me, the sinner. And so the Lord says, turn thou
to thy God, keep mercy and judgment and judgment. Now, what is it
to keep judgment? It's to keep in mind that we
are mercy beggars, that God delights in showing mercy, and He's able
to show mercy because the judgment of God has already been satisfied. Judgment was reckoned on Calvary's
cross when the fiery wrath of God's justice fell upon the sinner's
substitute. the sin bearer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, our surety, judgment was met, all the judgment of
God. And through that judgment, we
are justified. Justified. Sin's been put away. No fear of retribution, no fear
of wrath. Keep in mind mercy and judgment
and listen to the rest of this verse. and wait on thy God continually. Hosea, turn thou to thy God,
keep mercy and judgment and wait, wait on thy God continually. We never get, we're never going
to get beyond this, are we? That's why the believer's life
is a life of waiting every day. every hour. We're just waiting,
waiting, believing that it's not possible
for our God to lie and that all of His promises are yay and amen
in Christ. Oh, we've got the hope of His
Word to trust Him for our salvation. Listen to, well, turn with me to Psalm 130.
Psalm 130. Verse 5, I wait for the Lord,
my soul doth wait. My soul doth wait. That's my
innermost being. This is not just an intellectual
exercise. This is not just a religious
habit. This is my soul. This is me. This is the being of my existence. My soul
doth wait. And in his word do I hope. We have the precious promises
of God's Word. Habakkuk. I can just read these verses.
It's one of those little Old Testament prophets that's kind
of hard to find. It's right after Nahum and just
before Zephaniah. Habakkuk chapter 2. Habakkuk 2, verse 2, and the
Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain
upon tables that he may run that readeth it. The prophet is being told by
God, write down the vision, write down my word, and they that hear
it will run to me. They'll run to me in hopeful
anticipation of my promises. for the vision is yet for an
appointed time but at the end at the end it shall speak and
not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely
come it will not tarry behold his soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him but the just shall live by faith. The just
shall live by faith, waiting, hoping, believing that God's
word is true and God is faithful. Oh, what a hope we have. Second
Thessalonians chapter three, verse five says, the Lord direct
your hearts in the love of God and into the patient waiting
for Christ. That's what we're waiting for. And when he comes and when we
see him, all these things that so encumber us, our minds, our
time, our spirit, they will be of no consequence. No consequence? Might God give us the faith to
believe? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Turn with me to
Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Wait, I say,
on the Lord. Oh, wait for Him. Romans 8, verse
23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. Oh, this old wretched
flesh, this old man that we're carrying around with us. It's a rotting corpse, isn't
it? Rotting corpse. What hope we have in knowing
that one day, one day, all this corruption is going to be made
incorruptible. Verse 24, for we are saved by
hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for it? But
if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it. Oh, these things can't be seen
with the natural eye. Everything else is seen with
a natural eye, isn't it? You see those bills that come
in every month, you see that with a natural eye. You see all
the other stuff in this world that you see that with a natural
eye. This can't be seen with a natural
eye. This can only be seen with the eyes of the Spirit. Hope. Turn with me to Luke chapter
12. Hope that is seen is not hope. But if we hope for that which
we see not, oh, then we patiently wait for it. Patiently wait. The question is, do we believe
God? Do we believe God? Do we believe
what He says here? I know you do. I know you do. We have to hear it again and
again, don't we? We have to be reminded, don't we? Luke chapter
12, look at verse 36. And ye yourselves like unto men
that wait for their Lord when He will return from the wedding,
that when He cometh and knocketh They may open unto him immediately. You remember the bridesmaids that are waiting
for the groom to come? And there were ten of them weren't
there? And five of them ran out of oil. And they tried to get
oil from the other five and they said, no, We can't give you our
oil, you gotta go back to the merchant and get the oil. And
they went, tried to get, what is that oil? That's the oil of
the spirit. There's gonna be, there's gonna be folks that are
gonna be caught without the spirit of God when the Lord, when the
bridegroom returns. I don't wanna be like that. Blessed are those servants, verse
37. Whom the Lord, when he cometh,
shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he
shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet and will
come forth and serve them. Now, I don't know what that means. I can't comprehend. that when
the Lord comes for those that are watching and waiting for
Him, He's going to put a servant's robe around Himself and serve
us at His table? I don't know what that means,
but I can't wait to find out. I can't wait to find out. O ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which has been
taken up from you, will come again in like manner. In like manner. Let not your
heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. And that place has been
prepared. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back into glory,
He took with Him the names of those for whom He lived and died.
God's word did not return unto Him void. He's been seated representing his church. And we're there in him. All the
blessings of God are in the heavenlies in Christ right now. We're already
glorified in him spiritually. And that's what we're waiting
for, our experience, aren't we? I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again. So that where I am there, you
may be also. As we were talking in Australia with a brother over
there about the coming of Christ, and I said to him what you've
heard me say before, I can guarantee you that the Lord Jesus Christ
is coming in your lifetime. If you count the last millisecond
after you breath as part of your lifetime, he's come for you,
hasn't he? Come for you. People get all
caught up in prophecy and wondering when the second coming's gonna
come. He's going to come for each one of us in our time. It is appointed unto man once
to die. What a glorious day. That's not
a, that's not, you know, Florence and I were talking today. I said,
this isn't something to be sad about. Oh no. Paul said for me to live as Christ,
to die as Cain. It's Cain. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your precious promises and oh how we pray that you would
give us the faith to believe you with all of our hearts. And
we ask, Lord, that you would be merciful to us and look to
the judgment that you've already poured out on Christ for the
penalty of our many, many sins. Lord, we're so full of unbelief.
We rejoice now in what you've said and what we've heard. And
we know, Lord, that we're going to find ourselves losing sight
of that very quickly. Oh, restrain us and keep us,
keep us from falling and present us faultless before the throne
of God with great joy. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 296 let's stand together. ? All the way my Savior leads me
? What have I to ask beside ? Can I doubt his tender mercy ? Who
through life has been my guide ? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
? Here by faith in him to dwell For I know what e'er befall me,
Jesus, do it all things well. For I know what e'er befall me,
Jesus, do it all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter
and my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way.