Let's all stand together, number
5 and your soft back teminal. No, it's not number 5. It's number
5 and the hard back teminal. Begin, my tongue, some heavenly
theme, And sing some countless theme, Of mighty works, O might, your
name, Of our eternal King. Tell of His wondrous faithfulness
and sound His power abroad. Sing the sweet promise of His
grace, the love and truth of God. His very word of grace is
strong as that which builds the skies. The voice that rolls the
stars along speaks all the promises. Oh, might I hear thy heavenly
tongue, but whisper thou art mine. Those gentle words should
raise my song to notes almost divine. Please be seated. I'm glad Tom did that. Because I was prepared to tell
you, which I still believe with all my heart, I've visited a
lot of the churches around the country, and we have the best
music leader of any church. There's just no doubt in my mind
about that. I mean, we really, really do.
And if you listen online, you hear him singing. And I've been
trying to get him to sing some solos, and he hadn't done that
yet. But you sing solos every Sunday online, brother, because
you're the only ones we hear. You're the only one you can hear. And it's good. But I'm so very
thankful for Tom. I really, really am. And I'm
thankful for you. And had a good meeting in Spring
Lake, North Carolina, just outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina,
where Rupert Reibenbach is the pastor. And sweet, sweet folks. Matter of fact, Tom and I were
up there about 15 years ago. And this is the first time I've
been back. Several of their members have been in our church over
the years for different conferences. It was just a real blessing to
be with them and felt like the Lord gave us good services. I want to welcome our brethren
in Sarasota who are meeting there tonight and participating with
us. We're thankful for them. Norm,
those messages Sunday were a real blessing and I appreciate it
and appreciate you. We had some time together yesterday
and we're I was encouraged very much by our time together. I'd like for us to read from
Hebrews chapter 6, if you'll turn with me there in your Bibles
for our scripture reading tonight. Hebrews chapter 6. And we'll begin reading at verse
13. For when God made promise to Abraham, Because he could
swear by no greater, he swear by himself, saying, surely, blessing,
I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so
after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Abraham
believed that God was able to perform that which he had promised,
and waited on the Lord, and obtained the promise. And so it is with
all the children of Abraham. He's the father of the faithful,
and his faith is the same as ours. For men verily swear by
the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. When you make a promise, then
you sign an oath, and that oath puts an end to all controversy.
You're bound to that promise. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs a promise, the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. Now that's a reference to what
the Lord did in Genesis chapter 15. You remember when he made
Abraham that promise? And then he had Abraham take
those animals and cut them in half. And Abraham was put into
a deep sleep and there was between those halves of the slain animals
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp. Now the smoking furnace
is a picture of affliction. And the burning lamp is a picture
of comfort or hope or light. And so it is, the Lord Jesus
Christ was afflicted that we might have life. And all the
promises of God were confirmed by that oath. So that we have
not only God's word, but we have the very fulfillment of his promise
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is pictured by that
sacrifice. who was afflicted for our sins
and brought to us the gift of life and light. And that's what
the Lord's saying here. God can't, he can't break his
promise. He made the covenant and then
he confirmed everything necessary in the covenant in order to fulfill
the promises for the beneficiaries of that covenant, his people.
God did it all. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation. Here's our hope. Here's our comfort. We're not basing our hopes on
our feelings. We're not basing our hopes on
our works. We're not basing our hopes on
anything other than the promise and the confirmation of the promise.
The Word of God written and the Word of God lived and died on
our behalf. That's the strongest consolation
we can have. There's no place else to go for
consolation. There's no place else to go for
hope. There's no place else to go for assurance of salvation. And that's what he's talking
about here, who have fled for refuge. We have fled to the city
of refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us. Well, we lay hold on Christ.
He is our hope, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, which entered in within the veil. So
here, what a glorious hope. The anchor of our soul has gone
into the holies of holies. And he's anchored our hopes in
the fulfillment of God's promises, the satisfying of his law and
the fulfilling of his justice. With the forerunner, the Lord
Jesus Christ is for us entered even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Let's pray. Merciful Heavenly Father, we
come before Thy throne of grace in the name and on the merits
of Thy dear Son, our Savior, Your promise and Your confirmation
of promise, the oath that was made through His willing sacrifice
given to You on our behalf. We ask, Lord, that you would
cause us now to set our affections on him. We pray that your Holy
Spirit would lift him up, and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, that the Son of Man would be lifted up, and
that we would find in him all the consolation, all the hope,
all the assurance of your mercy toward us, your grace toward
us, and the hope of our salvation. We pray for our brethren in Sarasota. We ask, Lord, that you would
bless them as they gather together. We pray for the church in Spring
Lake and for Rupert and for Betty and ask, Lord, that you would
bless them with your grace and with your mercy. We pray it in
Christ's name. Amen. Now we will sing a hymn from
the South Bank Tymnal, number 61. Number 61, and let's all
stand together. Christ Jesus, dearest Lord, our
joy and our delight, speak to us by your mighty word and shed
on us your light. Feel your smiling face, remove
our fears and doubts. Arise, O Sun of Righteousness,
and scatter all our clouds. Revive us with your grace. Instruct us by your word. Arm us for trials that we must
face while living in this world. Lord, we would worship while
gathered in this place, and hope in heaven to worship you, our
Savior, face to face. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Jeremiah chapter 14? Jeremiah chapter 14 and we're
going to begin in verse 7. I've titled this message, Hope
for Sinners. Hope for Sinners. It seems somewhat
of a contradiction to me that men who, I understand the reason
for it, I'm not confused by it, but but it's a contradiction
on behalf of those who have no hope in Christ. And that is that
we live, historically, we live in a time where we as a people
enjoy more peace and more prosperity in this nation, in this generation,
than most people that have ever lived in the world have ever
enjoyed. We do. Peace and prosperity abound in
21st century America compared to history. And yet, men are so hopeless. And I understand why. The media would present all the
bad news that's going on in America and fear mongering is very popular
among the media because they're trying to sell news and they
understand they're playing on men's fears. So are politicians. Politicians are doing the same
thing. They're playing on men's fears in hopes of getting voted
in. It's all about money, isn't it?
And the fundamentalists are doing the same. They would help us
to think that America is worse than it's ever been and the generation
in which we live is worse than it's ever been. The truth is
that the peace and the prosperity that we enjoy in this country
has never been better. And yet, men are without hope. They're without hope. Why? Well,
the answer is obvious to a believer. Hope doesn't come from peace
and prosperity in this world. And let the politicians and the
media and the fundamentalists fearmonger all they want. Men
are not going to find hope by changing their circumstances
in this world. The only way that men are going
to find true hope, hope that will not disappoint, a hope,
as we just read in Hebrews chapter 6, that will be an anchor for
your soul, is to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is described
in the Word of God as the hope of Israel. He is the hope of
Israel. Look at verse 7 of Jeremiah chapter
14. Oh Lord, I was talking to a brother
today and we agreed that if we could ever get a hold of the
first four words of the Bible, everything else would fall into
place. If we could just get a hold of,
in the beginning, God. Oh Lord, it all, as you reminded
us Sunday, Norm, it begins with God and it ends with God. And so it is with hope. I want
you to have hope. I want not a hope for a better
tomorrow, a hope for a bigger house or a faster car, but hope
for the salvation of your soul. Hope that one day you'll be able
to stand before God and find acceptance into his presence. That's the only hope that matters.
And the Lord is the only one that can give us that hope. And so the prophet is going to
the right source. He's not going to Egypt. He's not going to the king. He's
not going to the self-professed prophets. There's many of those.
Look at verse 14. The Lord said unto me, the prophets
prophesy lies in my names. You see that in verse 14? That
is so prevalent today. Those who profess themselves
to be speaking for God are speaking lies. And men are believing them. And they're a strong delusion
and they have no love for the truth. And they'll die in their
lies. I don't want you to believe a
lie. I don't want to believe a lie. I want to know the truth. The Lord said, if you know the
truth, the truth will make you free. I'm the way. I'm the truth. And there's only one place to
find him, and that's in him. We've got to go to him. Oh Lord,
though our iniquities testify against us. Don't you love the
way God writes his word? In spite of. In spite of. That's what that word though
there means. in spite of the fact that our iniquities testify
against us. Now there was a time in religion
when we used to point our finger at the world and say, there's
the sin problem. And then there was a time when
we came to understand a little truth about things and we pointed
at men in religion and we said, there's the problem. And then
the Lord shined the light of the gospel in our hearts, in
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we realized, that's right
Adam, I'm the problem. Though my iniquities testify
against me. in spite of the fact that I can't
measure up. You remember this word, iniquity,
is used in the scriptures to describe those things that don't
measure up, those things that men try to present to God in
hopes of earning favor with Him, and they fall short. They fall
short of his glory. They fall short of his requirements.
And everything outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is inequitous. It doesn't measure up. We're upside down. If you've
ever been upside down on a mortgage, you owed more on it than what
you had, than what it was worth, that's where we are. That's where
we are. We're upside down. We have no
equity. We are inequitous. We fall short. And so the prophet said, oh Lord,
though our inequities testify against us, they reveal us for
what we are, sinners, unable to present any righteousness
on our own. That's what a sinner is. Devoid
of all righteousness. Devoid of all hope of producing
anything that's good. Able to say, in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I have nothing. That's a hard place. Well, it's a miracle of grace,
isn't it? If we're ever brought to that place to where we are
able to say our iniquities. the best things about us, the
things that we're not ashamed of, the things that we want other
people to know about us. Our iniquities testify against
us before God. That's a hard place to be. That's an impossible place for
the natural man to come to. That's about as good a definition
of a sinner as you're gonna find in the word of God. Men think
of sin as the shameful things, and they are. But here he says
our iniquities, our good things, our righteousnesses testify against
us. They are filthy rags. Do thou
it for thy namesake. Lord, we have no claim to make
based on anything that we've done. We have nothing to present
to you that would persuade you or obligate you in any way to
save us. And so, for thy namesake, for
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory, you will call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. For his namesake,
he's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last. the Lord of Lords. He's King of Kings. He's God. And for His sake, for
His glory's sake, Lord, would You save us? Would You look to Christ on our
behalf and save us for His name's sake? That His name might be
glorified? That His name might be lifted
up? Because When I look at my life and I pull out the very
best thing about me, it testifies against me. And if the best things about
me testify against me, what does that say about the worst things
about me? And so Lord, the only hope I
have is that for his name's sake, you would save me. For our backslidings are many. How often do you backslide? If
the Lord's given you any understanding of the gospel, you've backslidden
a hundred times in the last 15 minutes. Isn't that true? I mean, we just
can't. We get these little glimpses
of truth that come, and the light comes on, and it's like one of
these lights that, we've got a light in one of our bathrooms,
I need to change the switch out, because the switch has got something
wrong, and it just, on and off, on and off, on and off, you know,
that's just, it just flickers. And isn't that the way we are?
We just, we flicker, and we're constantly backsliding. We're
constantly looking away from Christ. We can't stop sinning. We can't stop being an idolater. We can't stop trying to find
our hope and our comfort in our circumstances or in something
we do or in something outside. We can't give the Lord Jesus.
That's the frustration of the child of God. I would be perfectly
holy. And my hope is that one day I
will be. One day I'm going to see Him
as He is and I'm going to be made like Him. And all of this
backsliding and all of this iniquity is going to be forgotten by me. It's forgotten by God now, for
Christ's sake. But by me, my hope is that it's going to be
behind me. And never again will I lose my
ability to worship Him with all my heart and all my mind and
all my soul. I'll be so caught up with Him
for all eternity. It's what I want now. I just
can't get there. I get little moments of it, but
I can't get there. Why? Because my iniquities testify
against me and because my flesh causes me to keep backsliding.
and step forward and then back, and then forward and then back.
Is that your problem? So if that's our condition, then
what hope do we have that the Lord would have any mercy upon
us? His namesake. His namesake. Look at verse eight. Oh, the hope of Israel. The Savior. Now here, the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jeremiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
is calling the Lord Jesus Christ the hope of Israel, the Savior. He's our hope. We're not hoping for a better
tomorrow. We're not hoping for better circumstances. We do,
but that's not the hope. Those kind of hopes, how many
hopes have you had in your life where you've been disappointed?
You've hoped that some business deal was going to happen and
it didn't happen. Or you've hoped that this situation was going
to be such as it was, as such as you hoped it would be, and
you worked toward it and it didn't happen. Those hopes disappoint. We're talking about a hope here
that won't ever disappoint. A hope that will be an anchor
for your soul. A hope that will carry you into
the very presence of God. That's what I need. This is a
hope. that's only for sinners. It's
only for those who are described in verse 7. Christ came to save
sinners, of whom I am chief. It's the only people He ever
saved. So the Lord's got to make us a sinner, and in making us
a sinner, He makes us saints, doesn't He? Oh, the hope of Israel, the Savior
thereof, in time of trouble. Now if you listen to the politicians,
if you listen to the news media, if you listen to the religionist,
they point out the troubles only as they relate to our circumstances
in this life. Truth is, we're always going
to be afflicted with those things. Count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your
faith worketh patience, and patience, when it is complete, will make
you perfect and entire, lacking nothing. The Lord's ordained
those things for us, hasn't he? We're not looking for better
circumstances. We're looking for eternal life. We're looking for hope. We're
looking for the forgiveness of our sin. Lord, how can I have
these iniquities put away? How can I be cured of this backsliding
once and for all? The savior thereof in time of
trouble. My trouble's my sin. That's your
trouble, Bert. We got a lot of troubles, don't
we? That's right. You've heard me say this before.
I heard it from somebody else. It's not original, but you think
about it and you will discover that it's true. Any trouble that
you have that can be solved with time or money is not any trouble. Any trouble you have that can
be solved with time or money is not really trouble. Truth
is, time, we gotta shorten this switch too. Truth is, time's gonna solve
all our troubles, isn't it? There's gonna come a moment in
time when you're gonna draw your last breath and all your troubles
are gonna be over. This is a trouble that time nor
money cannot solve. It's called sin. And if we die with one of them
left on our soul, we will not be accepted into the presence
of God. We're in need of a savior, the hope of Israel, to take away
our troubles and to present us righteous and perfect in the
very presence of God. That's the only hope there is. I was talking to somebody this
week, and they're dying. They're dying, and they're scared
to death of dying. And I told them, I said, if I
believed what you believe, I'd be scared too. I'd be scared
too. And they said, well, I know God
loves me. And I said, well, how do you know that? She said, well,
the Bible says so. I said, where? Well, I don't know, but it's
in there somewhere. I said, well, you sure? Well, God told me.
I said, well, how did he tell you? Well, he spoke to me. I
said, well, how did he speak to you? Well, I promise, this
conversation I had, he spoke to me in my subconscious. Now I need a better hope than
that. And this person has no hope. And they're knocking on
death's door, and they're fixing to go into eternity with that
as their testimony, that as their hope. Oh, the hope of Israel, the Savior,
thereof in time of trouble. Truth is that our circumstances
are only, you know, we're all getting a little older, and I've
got older friends now in my life, and I'm watching them and listening
to them and talking to them. was, you know, Rupert's been
having some real serious health problems, had a heart attack
a couple years ago and hasn't recovered from that. And I'm
beginning to understand more and more that what old people
say, getting old's not for wimps. I mean, it's hard. It's hard. And in that regard, the older
you get, the more trouble you're gonna have and the biggest trouble
you're gonna have physically in this life is right up to the
time you die. It's just gonna get hard. So Jeremiah says, why shouldest
thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that
turneth aside to tarry for a night? He's pleading with the Lord.
He's saying, Lord, don't be like a visitor that just passes through
and spends the night and then is up and gone in the morning
before daylight. I need you to come and stay. Why shouldst thou be as a man
astound, as a mighty man that cannot save? What's worse? an atheist that
says there is no God, or a religionist that says that God is not able
to do what he pleases. What's worse? I think the religionist might
be in the worst condition. And that's what, he's crying
out, he's saying, Lord, you're a mighty man, don't act as if
you cannot save me, I know you can. I know you can. Yet thou, O Lord, are in the
midst of us. How do we know that? Because
of his promise. He said, where two or three of
you gather together in my name, there I am in the midst of you.
He said, I inhabit the praise of my people. I walk among the
candlesticks. Lord, this is my hope that you're here. And I need you to manifest your
presence to my heart. If these are your people and
this is your gospel, Lord, my biggest need is for you to solve
my sin problem. You solve my death problem. I'm
gonna die and it's not gonna be long from now. And I need you to help me in
that problem. I need you to deliver me from that trouble. Lord, would you give me a strong
consolation? Would you give me a hope that
does not disappoint? Would you speak peace to my heart? I had someone tell me one time,
you need to speak peace to my children's heart. I can't do
that. I can't speak peace to your heart.
You can't speak peace to your own heart. But oh, how desperate
we are for God to speak peace to our hearts. I don't want to hear the voice
of a false prophet who says, peace, peace, when there is no
peace. And I know enough of my backsliding and my iniquity to
know that my heart is wicked and deceitful. I could deceive
myself. Lord, I need you to give me true
hope. There was a time when I was without
God and without hope in this world. I need to have the hope that
Abraham had. When the scripture says he saw
his day afar off and he rejoiced and was glad. Scripture tells us in Romans
that he hoped against hope. And you know what that means?
That means that he looked at himself and he found no hope.
All he found was iniquity. He looked at his circumstances,
he found no hope. He thought that God had forsaken
him. His circumstances that were, as Jeremiah was saying, Lord,
don't be like a wayfaring man that just passes through for
the night. Now, oftentimes, that's my experience with the Lord.
So what do I do? I hope against hope. I don't
find my hope in my circumstances or in myself. If I do, I lose
all hope. But I hope in Christ against
the hope of my circumstances, against the hope of my own inability,
and my own iniquity, and my own idolatrous, unbelieving ways. And my hope is placed in Christ,
who is the Savior of Israel. See, we're speaking of hope here.
We're talking about the same thing as faith. And yet it's more the result
of faith, isn't it? Hope is the comfort that faith
brings to the heart and to the soul when we're able to rest
in Christ and believe that he confirmed his oath with a promise
and with the sacrifice of himself. Solomon said in Proverbs chapter
13 that he had a hope. which was deferred and maketh
his heart sick. Sick, sick with longing, sick
with love, sick with hope. Why? Because it's a deferred
hope. It's not something that we can put our hand on right
now in terms of experiencing it. Of these three, faith, hope,
and love, the greatest of these is love. Why? Because there's
gonna come a day when we're gonna need no more faith. Our faith
will be our sight, and our hope will be our experience. So we
won't need faith and hope in glory. and will be basking in
his love for all eternity. No faith. No faith in heaven.
There's no hope in heaven. It's just here. Here we need
hope. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 17
says, there is a hope in the end, saith the Lord, that the
children should come to their own border. It's kind of like the disciples
when they were on the Sea of Galilee, and they were in that
storm, and they said, Lord, careth thou not that we perish? And
remember, the Lord was asleep in a boat, and they thought they
were gonna drown. I mean, these were experienced fishermen, but
they were afraid. They were losing hope. And the Lord spoke. And the wind
stopped. And the turbulent sea became
a placid lake. And the scripture says, and immediately
they were at the other side. Isn't that our experience? Here
we are, the way of the Lord is through the seas, it's through
the turbulence, it's through the trials. We need hope. Who
is this man who's the wind and the waves obey his voice? Yes. And when he calms the seas, when
he calms the seas, they're not gonna be calmed until we get
to the other side. When he calms the seas, we'll
be at the other side. Right now, we need hope to believe that
he's in the boat. We're not gonna drown. He's going
to get us safely to the other side. Zechariah said his people are
prisoners of hope. Prisoners of hope. The hope of Israel, where Paul
put it like this, for the hope of Israel, I am bound in these
chains. I'm a bond slave of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm prisoner to him. He has led captivity captive. He's taken those who were captive
to sin, captive to unbelief, captive to destruction, captive
to the wrath of God, and he's made them captive to himself. So we're prisoners of hope. But
it's a good hope. It's not that wishy-washy hope
that we had before. It's not a hope based on lies. We have An anchor for our soul,
as we read in Hebrews chapter 6, which is both sure and steadfast. Brought into the holies of holies
through the rent veil, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who went in and placed that anchor in a sure place. Titus, turn with me to Titus. I saw this as I was listening
to Norm's message and rejoicing. Matter of fact, I think, Norm,
when I texted you and you told me what you were going to preach
from, I said, well, I hope you can get to verse 2, and I don't
think you ever did. You read it at the beginning.
Norm preached on God of election from verse one of Titus chapter
one, but look what he says in verse two, in hope of eternal
life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
That's the kind of hope I need. This is a promise that God made
before time ever began. And he's the same yesterday.
That's eternity past today. That's present time and tomorrow. That's eternity future. Our God
doesn't change. And so the promises that he made
in eternity are sure and steadfast in time and will carry us safely
into eternity future. That's a sure hope. That's sure
hope. Titus chapter 2. You're right
there in Titus. Look at Titus chapter 2, verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope.
Who is the blessed hope? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
looking for Him. That's what faith does. Faith looks to the eastern sky. and anticipates the joy of its
splitting and the trump of God sounding and the dead in Christ
being raised from the dead and those of us which are alive being
caught up together with them in the air. This is a hope based
on the promise of God confirmed by his covenant, confirmed by
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Oh, now that's something to live
for. That's something to hope for. Anything else is, you're going
to be disappointed. You're just going to be disappointed. Make
your plans. Enjoy the things God gives you
best you can in this life. But they're not going to satisfy
the longing of your soul if God's made you to be a sinner. If you're
a Jeremiah 14 7 sinner, and your iniquities have testified against
you, and you're constantly backsliding, you need a hope a lot better
than the hopes that come from the plans that we make in this
life. Every hope not found in Christ
is deceitful. It's a lie. Scripture refers
to those hopes outside of Christ as a teetering wall. A man leans
upon a teetering wall in hopes to find some rest against it
and only finds it to fall on him and destroy him. A hope that
disappoints is deceitful. The scripture describes it as
a sharp stick. Those who hope in Egypt are like
a man who leans upon a sharp stick in hopes to get some rest,
some comfort from the weight of his tired body only to have
that stick pierce his hand. What a picture. It's a false
hope. It will disappoint. Why? Because it's based on lies. It's
vanity of vanities. It's not looking to Christ, who
is the author and the finisher of our faith. Now let me conclude
with this passage. You're still in Timothy? Turn
to 2 Timothy chapter four. 2 Timothy chapter four. Look at verse six. Paul says,
for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I
have finished my course. I have kept the faith. You know one thing about God's
people that have a sure hope in Christ is that they die well. They die well. I want you to
die well. I want to die well. I want to leave this world with
a hope, a sure hope. And that's what Paul's saying. That's his testimony. I've fought
a good fight. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge. He's the righteous judge. That
means he's judging righteously. That means that he's going to
look you over from head to toe, and he's gonna judge you in righteousness. How are you gonna find yourself?
How are you gonna have hope? He knows things about you you
don't know about you. He knows motives. that you've
had for doing things that you thought were good. He sees everything. How are we gonna stand before
God like that and have hope? He's the righteous judge. Well,
he's gonna have to judge me in Christ. I'm gonna have to be
found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ. I gotta have Christ. The hope
of Israel. I've got to have a savior. I've
got to have a surety. I've got to have one to stand
in my stead and make me acceptable before God. And if I've got him,
I've got hope. I've got hope. Lord, would you
shine the light of the gospel in my heart? Would you convince
me that I belong to you? I've heard the gospel, I believe
the gospel, but I need a strong consolation. I need a sure hope. I need assurance of my salvation.
Lord, would you do that for me? Look at the rest of that verse.
He shall give to me in that day, and not me only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing. that love his appearing. One
of the ways I know I have hope is that I love his appearing.
Not just his appearing in his second coming, but I love the
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the covenant of grace
as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before
time ever began, I love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as my
surety, as the husband of his bride. I love that. I love the one whose works were
finished before the foundation of the world. And I love the
appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in his incarnation. I love to
think about the fact that he's the God-man. that he's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, that he was born of a woman, miraculously
conceived by the Spirit of God, came into this world in the likeness
of sinful flesh and yet without sin, and he lived out a righteousness
in his life as a result of his incarnation. He's the last Adam. the last Adam, He did, He reversed
the curse that Adam brought on us. He did everything Adam couldn't
do and everything you couldn't do. I love the appearance of
the Lord Jesus Christ not only in the covenant of grace and
in His incarnation, but in His public ministry. I can say with
a woman at the well, come meet a man who told me all things
that ever I did. Come meet a man who showed me
that my iniquities testify against me. Come meet a man who told
me that I'm a backslider, that I've never been able to love
God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my soul for one
moment. Come meet a man who told me everything
that I ever did in Christ, my substitute, my righteousness,
who lived out a sinless, perfect life. I love the appearance of
the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry as the head
of the body and everything the head did, the body was credited
for. I love knowing that the word became
flesh. and that he dwelt among us. And
we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and full of truth. I love knowing that he's my prophet. He's my priest. He's my king. Do you love the appearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ? I love the appearing of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. as the sinner's substitute, as
the one who bore in his body the sins of his people and suffered
the full wrath of God, as the sheep who went before his shears
and was dumb, he opened not his mouth. I love what he accomplished
on Calvary's cross, putting away all the sins of all of his people
of every generation once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. I love the appearance. Paul said,
he's going to give me, the righteous judge is going to give me a crown
of righteousness and not only me, but all those who love his
appearing. How do I know? How do I know? that He saved me. How do I know? Because I love His appearing in the covenant of grace, in
His incarnation, in His public ministry, in His life, in His
death on Calvary's cross, satisfying divine justice. I love the appearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrection. John peered into
the tomb and he saw those napkins that they had wrapped
our Lord with. And they were in the exact same
form that they were in when his body was in them. And when John
looked in and saw them laying there folded up like that, he
knew. that the mortal had become immortal, and that the corruptible
had become incorruptible. And he rejoiced in the appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection, knowing that he
was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. That the Father was obligated
to raise the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. He couldn't leave
him in the grave. He's the sign of Noah, of Jonah. He's the positive proof that
God's satisfied with what he accomplished. The saving of his
people. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I love the appearance of Christ
in his resurrection. It's who he's coming for. He's gonna give the crown of
righteousness to those who love his appearing. I love the appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his ascension. He was received back up into
glory so that the word of God did not return to God void. He
took with him the names of those for whom he lived and died. He
went as our high priest and bore the names of the tribes of Israel
on his shoulders and presented himself before God. And he's
ever seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, living
and making intercession on behalf of his people. I love thinking
about that all my blessings are in the heavenlies in Christ right
now. Do you love the appearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ? And I love the hope of his anticipated
return. When, as I said before, the eastern
sky splits, and the trump of God sounds, and the dead in Christ
are raised from the dead, and those of us which are remained,
when the last of God's elect comes to faith in Christ. I love it. I love it. Come, Lord Jesus, even now. Come. Come. going to put an end to this bubble of time that we live
in. Job put it like this, the hope
of the hypocrite shall be cut off and his trust shall be as
a spider's web. As a spider's web. It's very
intriguing to me that out of all the natural substances that
we know anything about in this world, by weight, the spider's
web, I guess, is the strongest. By weight, a spider's web is
stronger than any other thing in nature, maybe any other thing
that man's been able to make. And yet, how frail it is. How frail it is. And yet men
will dangle their souls over the pit of hell, hanging on to
a spider's web? Why? Because it won't come to
Christ. It won't come to Christ. Edward Mote, tom number 272 in
our hardbacked hymnal, if you don't mind, brother, I meant
to ask you this before the service. Edward Mote, wrote the words to this hymn
for a dying sister in his congregation in Sussex, England, back in the
early 1800s. And when he himself was on his
deathbed, Edward Mote said, I think I'm going to heaven. Yes, I am
nearing the port. The truths that I've been preaching,
I am now living upon and they will serve me well to die, to
die on a hope that is built on nothing
less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame but wholly lean on Jesus name on Christ. The solid rock
I stand all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking
sand. Number 2 72. Would you stand
please? Tom? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Thank you.