Good morning again. If you would
have opened your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. I always forget to say this, but
the brethren in Kingsport all send their greetings. 1 Peter Chapter 3. Let's read verse
15 together. 1 Peter 3.15 says, but sanctify the Lord God
in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts. That always kind of confused
me, but I'm going to tell you what that means. That means reverence
God in your heart. Reverence God in your heart.
View God as He is on His throne, and you and me as the sinners
in the dust. View God as He is. Now, I will
tell you that our hope, this goes on to talk about the hope
that is in us. The hope that we have determines whether or
not we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. If we hope in
ourselves, we do not sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Only
if we hope in God. The word also means set apart. We know sanctifying means we
don't make God holy. We know that. Set apart. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these
things shall be added unto you. We have so many earthly, worldly
cares we worry about. Let's set these apart. Set God
first. Let's put God first in our hearts.
Seek God first. Now, like I said, our hope Whatever
our hope is, it says everything about how we view God. I've worked
with some very religious people and they love to let me know
it. It's obvious to me what they
think about God. And it's not the God of the Bible. It's not
the God of heaven and earth. Here Peter tells us to be ready
to give an answer to every man, anybody that asks us a reason
of the hope that is in us. We're to be ready to give an
answer of our hope. And we're to do so humbly. In verse 15
he says, give that answer with meekness, lowliness of mind,
humility, and fear, reverence for God, fearing the Lord. You
know, we who believe the gospel, we don't go around boasting about
it. We know it's not of ourselves.
We know it's only by the grace of God. We know that we did not
make ourselves to differ from anybody else. And when someone
asks us a reason of the hope that we have, we say it's all
of God. God did it all from start to
finish. It's all of God. Now I ask you this same question
about your hope. Do you have a hope? Do you have
a hope in this world? Do you have a hope of eternal
life? Do you have a hope? Everybody hopes for something,
right? In the first message I talked about what is our life? We know
not what shall be our tomorrow. Our life's a vapor. We're all
hoping for something, right? Well, more importantly, it's
about eternal life. Do you have a hope of eternal
life? Do you? Are we hoping in God? We must
hope in God. I want you to consider your hope
for a few minutes. Give me your time and consider
your hope. Do you have a good hope? Is my
hope a hope worth trusting in? Is it a good hope? Is it a real
hope? Not everybody has a good hope. I just told you, you hear
lots of religious people talk about God. They have no hope.
None of us by nature have any hope of God. We're sinners separate
from God. We have no hope. There are many
false hopes out there. Many men standing right now giving
men, women, and children a false hope. God calls it a refuge,
a refuge of lies. I have a good hope. I mean that. Not many of you know me personally,
but I have a good hope. I really do. And I want to tell
you about my hope. I have a confident expectation. That's what hope is. I have a
confident expectation that when I stand before God on Judgment
Day, I will be accepted as one who has never sinned. That's
quite a hope, isn't it? One who's never sinned. One who
is perfect. faultless, blameless before God. I have a hope that
I will hear God say to me, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you. I have a hope that I will go
home justified like that poor publican who cried for mercy.
I have a hope of the resurrection, that God will raise my body incorruptible,
that He will raise me perfectly conformed to the image of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I have a confident hope and expectation
of spending all of eternity with my Savior and all those in Christ,
forever, for all of eternity. Perfect unity and glory. And
while I'm here, for the rest of the days of my life on this
earth, I have a hope that everything that happens to me, I just got
married to beautiful Rachel here in January, everything that happens
to me, prayed for the Lord to send me a wife for several years,
Now I've got her. We have hopes in life, and I
think that's a pretty good hope. Having someone to go through
this life with, the one you love, that gives us hope, does it not?
But that doesn't give you hope for eternity. I'm talking about
hope for eternity. I have hope that every day for the rest of
my life, everything that God brings to pass, It's for my good
and for His glory. Nothing happens to you. If something
happens, we say things like, God forbid this happens. But
if it happens, God did it. Whatever it is, God is the doer
of it. There's a verse that says, shall
there be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? He's
the first cause behind all things. He's the doer of all things.
And I have a hope. I have peace in this life. I
can go through this life knowing God is on His throne. No good
thing shall harm me. If God be for us, who can be
against us? I have a hope. I'm not making this up. I have
a real hope. And I'm going to show you this
in the Scriptures. I've titled this message, The Hope That Is
In Me. Taken from our verse, I'm going
to give you an answer to the reason of the hope that is in me. Now
first, My hope is a hope that I cannot see. It's a hope that
I cannot see. I can see you with my physical
eyes. I can't see what I'm hoping for, not with these eyes. Now
naturally, every single one of us hopes in something we can
see. Some people get married and their complete hope is in
that marriage. Their complete hope is in their
job. It's in being well liked by people, receiving praise from
men. That's their hope. In the first
message, talk about celebrities. They're hoping in themselves.
They're hoping that they'll just keep getting more and more of
what this world's got to give. That's their hope. But hoping
in such things is hoping in nothing. It's damning to the soul. Damning
to the soul. Turn over with me to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Look with me at verse 24. Romans
8.24 says, For we are saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? Why would we be so foolish as
to trust in something that we can see? We're all that foolish
by nature. Every single one of us is such
a fool. Trusting in these things in this world. What's it going
to profit us to gain anything in this world and lose our soul?
We need to be concerned with our soul. If we're hoping in
something that we can see, we have a false hope. Everything
that these eyes see is temporal. You know, someone has a husband
or a wife, gets sick and dies. Brother Dale Simpson just passed
away in Ashland a week ago. You know, his family is hurting.
But their hope wasn't in Dale. Their hope is in God. They who
know God. We don't hope in a person in
this world. We hope in God, who is eternal. You see, if we hope
in something, if we set our hearts on the things of this world,
we have no hope. We brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. You're rich. All your riches. You're not going
to take those with you. You have a family. You're not going to
take them with you. You're going to take your soul with you. That's
what you're taking with you. You know, this might be a bad
example, but thinking about the Final Four, Kentucky is where
I went to school and we lost a game to a team I do not like
very well last week who will be playing in a very important
game tomorrow that I would have liked my team to be in. You know
it's upsetting. I say every year if we don't
win the championship it's disappointment. Anything short of a title is
disappointment because I want Kentucky to have the most titles.
I want to be proud of my school. But no matter how many titles
they win, say they won the next five. I know you wouldn't like
that, but I would. And then this world ended. What is that going
to mean? If Kentucky had 25 titles and
UCLA had 11, what's it going to mean? In that day, it's not
going to matter one bit. It doesn't matter. It's temporal.
It's temporal. If I live a great life and I'm
liked by many people, I think of Brother Henry Mahan. We love
him to death, don't we? Are we hoping in Henry Mahan?
Or are we hoping in the God of Henry Mahan, the God he worships
and trusts in? You know, just like we don't
want to lose one we love. I heard Brother Don Fortner,
he was my pastor most of my life, he said, hold everything here
in this world, this includes more than anything the people
that we hold most dear to ourselves, hold everything here with a loose
hand. A loose hand. Because you're
not going to take it with you when you die. When you go to
meet God, you're not going to be bringing anything with you.
I'm hoping it's something I cannot see. Now look here at Romans
chapter 8, look at verse 24 again. We are saved by hope. There is
salvation in this hope. We have a good hope. But hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not. If we hope for something we do
not see, then do we with patience wait for it. If we have faith,
we're not hoping in our faith, but our faith looks to Christ. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the object of our faith.
Our faith looks to Him. My faith looks up to Thee. We're
not trusting in something we see. We're trusting the object
of our faith. We're trusting Christ. And look
over at verse 28, Romans 8, 28. We're not hoping in the things
we see, but we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to His
purpose. The just shall live by faith.
If we have this hope of eternal life, we're not walking by sight.
We're walking by faith. We live by faith. And we know,
we know that everything that's happening, God is working it
together for our good if we belong to Him. Working it together for
our good and for His glory. Now John said over in 1 John
3, he said, It doth not yet appear what we shall be. It does not
yet appear we shall be, but we know, we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
It's a matter of walking by faith and not by sight. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Living by faith. It's the evidence
of things not seen. It's something we don't see with
our physical eyes. We're not trusting in something
we see. We're living by faith. I don't know about you, but I'm
not hoping in this world. I don't care what it is. None
of you are going to give me hope to live for. God has to give
us hope. We have no hope apart from God.
And we're to seek God, seek Him, His will. You know, in Colossians
it says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above. Set your affections on things
above. Not on things on the earth. There's
no hope here. I'm not hoping in an earthly
kingdom. You know, we talk about this country, it seems to be
going downhill. You know what it is, and it will.
It will just like any other country before us, it will go downhill.
I'm not trusting in this country. I'm trusting in a heavenly kingdom.
I desire an earthly, I'm sorry, no I don't. I desire a heavenly
kingdom and a heavenly king, the Lord Jesus Christ. We all
desire things. We have our will, we have desires,
dreams, goals. By the grace of God, I don't
even desire my own will. Not for myself. God knows what's
best for us. We think we know what's best.
We don't. God does. Thy will be done. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done. God's people desire Christ. God's people desire Christ and
Him alone. My hope is something I do not
see, walk by faith, not by sight. My hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All my hope, my hope is in the
Lord. The verse says, My life is hid.
It's hidden. Where? In this world? No. My
life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. You
know, these eyes don't see that. It does not appear. Our eyes
don't see it. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we
don't see that with our eyes. Hear this verse. I am crucified
with Christ. When Christ died, I died. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. Can you say that? Can you say
that? Christ liveth in me. What's my
hope? Christ liveth in me. And this life which I now live,
I live in Christ. This life which I live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I'm living by,
you know, people want to brag about their faith. It's not my
faith. It's the faith of Christ. Live by the faith of Christ,
the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. What a hope! What a hope! What a blessed hope!
No hope in this world. No hope in the things we can
see with our eyes. I'm hoping, and I pray it so with you, I'm
hoping for the return of my Savior. Lord, come. He's coming. He is
coming. My eyes are on eternity, not
on this earth, this world, this life. No hope here. No hope here. Psalm 27 verse 4 says, 1 thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. to behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple." And actually,
the word one thing is in italics. When have I desired Christ? We desire Christ. Second, my
hope is a hope that is completely outside of myself. Not hoping
in myself. You know what? We all are born
into this world dead in trespasses and sins, no hope. I came forth
from my mother's womb speaking lies, so did you. And we didn't
decide to get religious and stop sinning and stop lying. No, we're
liars. Let God be true in every man, a liar, all of us. I was
lost just like you, dead in my sins, but God. Over in Ephesians
2, it talks about being without Christ, strangers from the covenant
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. If
we've never been there, we're still there. Talking about by
God who is rich in mercy. If we were never dead in our
sins, then we haven't received God's mercy. We haven't received
life in Christ. I was once without hope. If you've
never been without hope, you still are. You still are. But
now I have this blessed hope. But I did not give myself this
hope. I didn't give myself this hope. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. I walked by
sight. You did too. But God gave me
faith. I trusted in myself that I was
righteous and despised others, like the Pharisee. But now I
find myself trusting Christ. I find myself trusting God. I
didn't do it. God did this for me. Without
Him, you know, we like to give so much glory, so much credit
to ourselves, look to ourselves. We all do it. We all look to
ourselves in some aspect, to some extent. But the fact of
the matter is, without Him, without God, without Christ, we can do
nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. There's no hope. I need hope. God's judgment is coming. I need
a hope. But if left to myself, there
is no hope. In John chapter 3 it says, this is the condemnation.
That light is coming to the world. Christ came into the world. And
men loved darkness rather than light. Rather than the light
God gives us. We love darkness. We love ourselves.
Trust in ourselves. We condemn ourselves trusting
in ourselves. Look over in 2 Corinthians 1.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 9. It says, But we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death." Have you been delivered
from death? Have we been delivered from death?
We trusted in ourselves. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves. Look, God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered
us from so great a death, and doth deliver. Perhaps you're
here today and you have not Look to the Lord Jesus Christ for
salvation. He doth deliver." It's not too late. You're still
here. Look to Christ now. "...who doth deliver, in whom
we trust, that He will yet deliver us." You know, very soon, the
time will come when I will draw my last breath. The time is coming. The time is nigh. But God, will deliver us, in
whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." Do you trust that
He will deliver you? Better yet, do you need God to deliver you? God gave me this hope. Over in
1 Peter 1, you can turn there with me, it's right behind our
text. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. It said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. He begot
us unto this hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. Do you have this hope? who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. God has begotten us unto a lively hope. This hope comes
from God and Him alone. Colossians 1.27 speaks of Christ
in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. There is no other hope of glory
Christ in you. If we're to have any hope of
eternal life, it must be this, Christ in you. It must be completely
outside of ourselves, a hope that we did not give ourselves.
Only God can give a dead center hope. Only God can put Christ
in you. This hope, I don't see it. I don't see it with my eyes.
And it's completely outside of myself. And it is a sure hope. It is a certain hope. It's a
hope that I can trust in. Hebrews 6 verse 19 says, we have
this hope as an anchor of the soul. Steadfast and sure. We sing a hymn, we have an anchor
that keeps the soul, right? Grounded firm and deep in the
Savior's love. We have an anchor. We have a sure hope. And for
two reasons. First being Christ cannot fail. Isaiah 42 verse 4, He shall not
fail. He's not going to fail. He came
here, He said, Lo, I come to do thy will. What's that? To
fulfill the law, to go to the cross, to die, be made sin for
my people, to make them the righteousness of God. And you know what he
said? I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. He did it. He cried, it is finished.
He came for a reason and he accomplished his purpose. He fulfilled the
purpose of God. Isaiah 28 verse 16 speaks of
Christ. It says, Behold I lay in Zion
for a foundation. That's Christ. He is our foundation. I lay in Zion a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone which the builders
rejected. A sure foundation. Christ is our foundation. We
have a foundation. You know, in Matthew chapter
7, there was a wise man and a fool. One man built his house on the
sand. And the rain descended, the floods
came, the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell.
And great was the fall of it. He built his house on the sand,
the shifting sand. The wise man built his house on a rock. It
says that he digged deep. He made sure he had a good hope.
Built his house on a rock and the storm came, winds blew, beat
upon his house, it fell not. because it was founded upon a
rock. The picture is our souls and our hope. If we have a good
hope, if our hope is founded upon the rock, Jesus Christ,
the storm, God's wrath, it's not going to touch us. Because
we have a sure hope, we have a good hope. And just like that
wise man, he digged deep. You make sure you have a firm
foundation, or else you better not build your house there. What
we need to learn from that is give diligence to make our calling
and election sure. I need to know that my hope is
good. When I'm about to meet God, I need to have a good hope.
And so do you. We need to make sure that we
have such a hope. The second reason that I have a good hope
is because God cannot lie. God who cannot lie gave me this
hope. We know that all His promises
are yea and amen. Let me give you a couple of them.
What did the Lord say? He said, come unto me. Come unto
me and I'll give you rest. All you that labor and are heavy
laden. Is that a good promise? Have you come to Christ and found
rest? He said in John chapter 14, He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. I'm going to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again. Aren't you glad? Not only that,
He said, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself. And He cannot lie. I'll come
again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may
be also." What a hope! What a sure hope! Can you rest
in that, brethren? Can you rest in God's Word, His
promises to sinners? Turn over to 2 Peter 1. We're
right here in 2 Peter 1, verse 19. How do I know I have a good hope? Look here in verse 19. We have
also a more sure word of prophecy. This is sure. Whereunto you do
well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts,
knowing this, can we trust the Scriptures, Any of you, you open
your Bible, you read it, you hear a man tell you about Christ
in the Scriptures, who saves sinners. Can we trust the Scriptures?
Since we have a more sure word of prophecy, that's this book.
Look at it again, verse 20. Knowing this, we know this, that
no prophecy of the Scripture, nothing in this book, is of any
private interpretation. People can read the Bible. You
find me ten people, you might get ten different interpretations
of this book. But this book is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of Me. On the road
to Emmaus, He met up with His disciples and He opened unto
them the Scriptures and told them the things concerning Himself.
It's all about Christ. We can trust God's Word. I'm
resting in God's Word. Look at verse 21, For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, talking about the scriptures
that were written, but holy men of God spake, they wrote, as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We can and we ought to do well
that we take heed to God's Word. That's what the book says. This
is a sure hope. The hope of eternal life in Christ.
It's a sure hope. It is a good hope. And I'm here
to tell you I have this hope. God gave me this hope and God
has done something for me. God the Father purposed my salvation.
Christ came and He secured my salvation. He bought mercy for
me. He made me righteous. And God the Holy Spirit has come
to me where I am and given me faith in Christ alone. And here
I stand today telling you about this hope. It's not of me. God
did this for me. I have a good hope for when I
meet God. And here I am waiting for Him to return, waiting for
my Savior to come and bring me to be with Him forever. Now Wesley,
this is the only hope there is. Just like me, you need a hope.
If you die tonight, you need a hope. You need a hope of eternal
life. You need a hope in God, a hope
for your soul. And Jesus Christ is the only
hope there is. He's the only hope for a sinner. You and I are not going to add
to what He's done. Well, I made my decision. No sir, you've not
chosen me, I've chosen you. If God didn't choose us, No hope. We must seek Him, but don't look
to our seeking Him. We must obtain mercy, but we're
not going to give ourselves mercy. You must fall flat on your face
and beg God for mercy. That's the only way it's going
to happen. Salvation is not of us, it's of the Lord. He accomplished
salvation for His people. I love that hymn, On Christ the
Solid Rock I Stand. I'm standing on Him. I don't know if this is a good
quote or not. Sink or swim, I'm with Him. People may abuse it,
but that's the truth. I'm with Him. And I ain't going
to sink. I'm with Him. What's your hope of going to
heaven someone might ask? Christ is all. I'm with Him.
I'm with Him. Only a fool would put their hope
anywhere else. Only a fool. You know, would you build your
house on the sand? I don't think so. Then don't you dare die trusting
in yourself. Don't you dare die not trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. My hope is in the Lord. All my
hope is in the Lord. And this hope is a hope that
I rest in. I've come to Christ and found rest unto my soul.
I've ceased from my own works and entered into His rest. Read
about it in Hebrews chapter 4. There is a rest that Christ has
prepared for His people. Labor that you enter into His
rest. His rest. And the laboring is simply telling
others about your hope. I'm here giving you an answer
concerning my hope. I am a man of hope. And I want
you to be also One more thing, this hope. I'm not ashamed of
this hope. You can laugh me to scorn if
you want to. You may think I'm a fool. I'm not ashamed of this
hope. I'm not ashamed of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm ready to give you an answer of the hope that is
in me. There is a hope in me, and I'm telling you about it.
And I'm ready to tell anybody who asks me, what is my hope
of eternal life? It's Christ. It's Christ. I'm
complete in Him. Christ is all and in all. I'm
ready to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. You know,
we don't see it in our day quite like it was in Paul's day. Most
of the New Testament was written from prison. If that's not a
testimony to that people do not like this message, I'm going
to trust in myself. I made my decision. I've done
many wonderful works in thy name, Lord. Apart from me, I never
knew you." That's what God said He will say. We come to Him offering
anything we've done. You know, if something were to
happen to me, if I wonder how I was thrown in jail for preaching
the truth of God, did you know that would be an honor? Did you
know that would be to His glory? He told Peter, He said, Peter
do you love me? Asked him three times. Feed my
sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. And he said, Peter, you're
going to suffer a painful, shameful death, but it's going to be to
my glory. And what does Peter say? He turns
around and says, Lord, what about John? What's he going to do?
Is he going to die a shameful death, suffering for the cause
of Christ? He said, you don't worry about him. If I tarry till
he come. What is that to you? What is
that to you? Earlier we talked about being
blessed. We would think if you're rich,
you're blessed. God says, bless the poor. Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake." We would think blessed
are those who have an easy life, a life of ease. God says otherwise.
Blessed are you when men shall revile you, persecute you, speak
all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. If the world
hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you. If you were
of the world, the world would love His own. But you're not
of the world. I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore,
the world hates you. I'm with Christ. I'm not going to side
with this world. In salvation, we take sides with God against
ourselves. That's how serious this is. We
take sides with God against ourselves and against this world. And we
say, I'm His. I am His and He is mine. I belong to Him. I'm
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God's salvation to everyone that
believes. Now, many will die. Many will
die and enter into eternity not having this hope. Many will. Let me read you a verse in Mark
38. This is the Lord speaking. He said, "...whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of Me..." I can't imagine, but it happens. This
is real. "...whosoever therefore shall
be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, Of Him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when
He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
I don't want to die being ashamed of God. I don't want to die being
ashamed of the only hope there is for sinners. I don't want
to die being ashamed of Christ, who is my salvation. Many will. Many will. I want to read you
something Henry Mahan wrote in closing. He said, "...lay the
foundation of your hope in Jesus Christ. Begin with Christ and
end with Christ. As Christ Jesus becomes more
to you, self will grow less and less. If your faith puffs you
up, it is not the faith of Christ. God will help us when we're weak.
He will bless us as long as we confess our dependence upon His
blessing. He will fill us when we are empty. He will feed us
when we are hungry. He will be our all when we are
nothing. He will forgive us when we're
guilty. But the moment we begin to boast in ourselves and feel
sufficient, we will be left to learn, in no uncertain terms,
that we are naked, that we are poor, that we are blind, and
miserable. Terrible will be the day when
proud rebels discover, too late, the dust and ashes of human merit.
You know that in Luke chapter 16 there was a rich man who died,
and there was Lazarus, a beggar. And the rich man, when he died,
he said, Father Abraham sent Lazarus that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I'm tormented in
this flame. This is real. We're going to meet God soon.
This is real. And Abraham told him, he said,
Son, in our lifetime, thou receivest thy good things and Lazarus his
evil things, but now you're tormented and Lazarus is comforted. And
he said, We'll send him to testify. I have five brothers. Send Lazarus
to testify to them, lest they also come here to this place
of torment." He said, they have Moses and the prophets. They've
got the scriptures. Let them hear them, if they will
not believe them. If you will not believe a man
who's preaching the gospel to you, you will not believe, even
if one arose from the dead. That's what this book says. This
is how serious this is. This is my hope. I can't give
you this hope. Come to Christ. I urge you. I
beseech you. Come to Christ. I can't make
you. I can't make myself. God must make you. God must draw
you with cords of love. But I command you to come. Come. David said, Although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me. Praise God. He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation,
all my desire, although he make it not to grow. I pray God will
give each one of us here this blessed hope. Amen.