Romans chapter 15. Now for me,
I have to go through this before you all get it. For me, if I
was up here handing out Ferraris, you couldn't fit another living
being in this room, could you? I feel like I got a Ferrari and
I'm going to give it to you. I pray, it was something precious
to me, something sweet. I did a little bit of instructing.
in the military, and I taught a little bit of survival in situations
and in places, different regions in the world. And there's the
rule of threes. It's what we just stood on. I
always remind everybody about the rule of threes. You can live
three weeks without food. You ain't gonna be happy. You'll
live. You'll be all right. It ain't
gonna kill you. You can live three days without water. You
ain't gonna be happy. You'll live. You'll be fine.
You can live three hours without shelter in inclement weather,
severe weather. You can live three minutes without
air. You really ain't gonna be happy. You'll live. You'll be
alright. And they used to add on to that,
you can live three seconds without hope. I can go along, go along, get
along with that one. You can't live without hope.
But three seconds is just about none, ain't it? That's the truth. I hope, I pray, I can give you
hope tonight. That's something we can possess
on this earth. I pray you can see in His Word, in our Lord's
Word, in these Scriptures, hope. It says there in Romans 15, verse
8, we're going to touch on who this hope's to. I titled this
message, A Gentile's Hope. Gentiles hope and I pray we can
see how important that is and what an astounding statement
that is, a Gentile to have hope. Here in verse 8, Now I say that
Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that
the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. Christ came to
fulfill all the Scriptures, both physically and spiritually. There
were promises made by the prophets to the fathers. The Lord spoke
to men of old and made promises to them. They didn't know how
it was going to come to pass. But those that were His knew
who it was going to come to pass through. It was going to come
to pass through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did this in the type
and picture of that physical nation Israel. That was the picture. Just like that lamb slain, that
blood threw on a door post didn't do nothing. That was just a lamb
and blood. That physical nation ain't nothing
but people. It's just a picture. But he did it physically. He
came, was born where he said he was going to be born. When
he said he was going to be born. Everything is going to transpire
how he said it was going to to fulfill that physical type and
then spiritually for his spiritual Israel. accomplishing everything
for them. He came preaching to physical
Israel, the circumcision, as He promised the fathers He would.
But He also came preaching to those circumcised in heart, His
spiritual Israel. Turn over to Matthew chapter
15. Scriptures tell us He came unto
His own and they received Him not. He said, a prophet has honor
saving his own house. Everybody respects a prophet
except where he sleeps at night. For a long time, this gospel
was given to national Israel, but then it was sent to those
of another nation, or as we say, all nations, every other nation
but them. and to a people not of his household.
That's who he sent this gospel to. When the scriptures tell
us that the gospel was preached to the Jews and to the Gentiles,
our old man, this body of sin and death doesn't pay much attention
to that. That don't mean nothing to us.
That's Old Testament stuff. Oh, this is for the Jews and
the Gentiles. That's a big deal. That's significant. It's a very
significant thing we just read over. We are Gentile dogs. We're
a bunch of Caleb's. We're a dog, ain't we? And the
God of heaven and earth was pleased. It pleased Him to look upon us
and send us glad tidings. To send us the gospel. To send
us the good news of Christ and Him crucified. The person and
the work of our Redeemer, of our Lord. He came to us in the
person of God the Holy Spirit and announced it. Told us what
happened to us Gentiles. Look here at Matthew 15 verse
21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coasts and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord! Thou son of David, my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. But he answered her not
a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send
her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said,
I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. And he answered
and said, it is not meat, it's not fit, it's not proper to take
the children's bread and cast it to dogs. If it were possible, would your
tail get tucked between your legs? Turn inside out and go run. Go
find a mountain to hide underneath, wouldn't you? You're a Gentile
dog and this bread that's for my children ain't for you." Boy,
you coming up here bugging me. And she saith unto him, verse
27, truth, Lord. Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat
of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. She said,
this is true. Word you speak is true. I'm a
dog. That's all I am. And this is true too. I'm a hell
deserving sinner. I'm not even a Jew. I'm just
Canaanite. But I'm a dead dog. But you are
my Lord. You are my Master. She said both. My Lord and my God is what Thomas
said after he touched Our Lord sighed when he felt his hands.
This woman had hope. She had hope. This is the Christ. That's who she's come to. And
Jesus answered, saith unto her, O woman, great is thy faith.
Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made
whole that very hour. She confessed her sins. She confessed
what she was. Just a dog. A hell-deserving
sinner. And you are Lord. You are ruler
of all. That Samaritan woman at the well
there in John 4, there were laws of men. The Samaritans couldn't
have anything to do with the Jews and vice versa. Those two
couldn't talk together, a Jew and a Samaritan woman. And they
went back and forth, didn't they? She said, we shouldn't even be
talking together. And Christ pressed on. And then she asked, what's this
living water you're talking about? You mean, This is greater than
our father Jacob that gave us this well? Is that what you're
talking about? And he pressed on, didn't he?
He said, whosoever drinks of this water will never thirst
again. And she said, good, give me some of that water so I don't
have to carry these big old jugs up this hill anymore. Christ said, go get your husband.
And she lied. She said, I don't have one. She told the truth while she
was lying. He said, no, you didn't have singular, did you? You had
five. She said, you're a prophet of
some kind, aren't you? We're religious too. Our fathers,
they worship here in these mountains, out in nature. But you Jews,
you all say it's got to happen in Jerusalem, don't you? She
said, we're religious too. I know what you're talking about.
And the Lord said, you don't even know what you worship. We know what we
worship because salvation's of the Jews. But the day is coming. And for her it was that day.
The day is coming that true worshippers will worship God in spirit and
in truth. And she said, I know the Christ,
the Messiah is coming. I know that much. She's learned
some doctrine of that other religion, didn't she? I know a little bit
about your religion. There's a Christ. He's coming.
A Messiah. I know about that. The Lord looked at her. And He
said, the one talking to you is Him. He's standing right in
front of you. And she threw down her water
pots. Those things she thought she
could carry living water in. Those were just broken cisterns.
She threw them to the ground and she ran into town and told
anybody that listened to her. Why, her water pot, her soul
was filled with living water. She didn't need those regular
old pots anymore, did she? She didn't need three days without
water. She had hope. She believed God. She's looking
right at Him. There's some Gentiles that are going to be saved. That's
a significant event if you're a hell-deserving Gentile. This
is something I want to hear. That's who I am. I want to hear
about this. Now back in our text, Romans 15. The Lord's using Paul
here to remind those at Rome and you and I that Christ is
going to call His spiritual Israel out of Jews and Gentiles. It's
going to come out of both. That we're not born by the will
of man. Some man with a fancy robe on
or political office, spiritual office or something he's put
himself in, ain't going to save you. We're not going to be born
by our bloodlines. If Mommy and Daddy was believers,
I'm going to be fine. No. If I was born in the tribe
of Benjamin, no. It's not by man's will. It's
not by our birth, our bloodlines, but it's by the will of God.
That's how sinners are going to be saved. Now us Gentiles,
we can have some expectations. We can have some assurance, some
hope, because the Word of God. We have the Word of God as it
is written. Paul told them this. The Lord's
going to save some Jews, but He's going to save some Gentiles,
too. He told them, and now He's going to show them in the Scriptures.
I tried to do that to you. I tried to tell you something,
and then have you turn and look at it and read it. I heard that
from a young man. My pastor always said that. He
said, tell them, then show them. Well, that's a complicated method
of presentation, isn't it? Tell them what you're going to
tell them, then tell them. Show it to them. Paul says in
verse 8, Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made
unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for
His mercy. As it is written, for this cause
I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy
name. What's he telling them? He's
quoting 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18. He said go read it. I'm telling you the truth. And
he says, verse 10, and again he saith, the Lord says, Rejoice,
you Gentiles, with his people. That's Deuteronomy 32. That's
even further back, isn't it? Don't be sad, like, ooh, you
made it through with the skinny of teeth. No, rejoice. Rejoice
with his people. Why would I rejoice with his
people? I am his people. He made me his people. Part of
his body. He goes on in verse 11, and again,
praise the Lord all ye Gentiles and laud Him. All ye people. That's Psalm 117. Praise the
Lord. Laud Him. Honor Him. Applaud. That's where we get
the word applaud from. Applaud Him. Verse 12, and again
Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise
to reign over the Gentiles. in Him shall the Gentiles trust."
Isaiah prophesied, "...Christ shall rise to reign over His
people." And that's exactly in whom we trust, our King, our
Lord. Now Paul tells us in verse 13,
now with all this being said, the God of hope We looked at
patience last week, didn't we? What does patience mean? Cheerful
endurance. Where do we get patience from? The God of patience. We
looked at comfort. We can truly have some comfort
walking in this world. Where are we going to get that
from? The God of comfort. Now where do you suppose we get
hope from? If we need hope to survive this world and to enter
into glory, The God of hope. That's what we'll get. Now the
God of hope fill you with all joy. And if you have hope, you're
going to have joy. And peace in believing. That ye may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. The God of hope works in His
people through the power of Himself, the Holy Ghost. Gives us hope
and gives us peace in believing. This isn't an unsure hope. This
isn't a hope that bounces around. It's settled. Settled. Just like a court case. Ain't
no going back on it. It's settled. There's peace there.
It's calm. The word hope means confident.
Cheerful expectation. It's not wishing. Well, I hope
it rains tomorrow. You can substitute that with
I wish it rains. It's not a wish. It's expecting
something. Hope and faith there in the King
James Version often come from the same root word. You can interchange
them. It's a confident expectation. We're anticipating something.
Now like Paul, he told them some things and then he showed them,
didn't he? So the Lord's going to save some Gentiles. That's
good news, those Gentiles in Rome. And then he showed them. Look here in the Scriptures.
The Lord declared this from old. He's going to have a people of
the Gentiles. I hope to, I wish, I pray, I can tell you these
things and then show them to you. I want to have hope. I want to be cheerful and I want
to have some expectations. That's something we can have
in this world and I want you to have hope. We need that, don't
we? Especially in the middle of the
week. Today's Wednesday. We got Thursday, Friday and Saturday
going before we get to eat again. We need something to sustain
us. I need to get food. We need it today. We need hope
today. We need hope this week, and we
need hope in our last days. As our life grows to a close,
the Lord wraps us up, and our appointed time comes, we need
some hope. as the Lord prepares us to leave this world. Those
Jews could go walking by the tabernacle. We looked at this
before. All the benefits that the nation of Israel had. They
had a tabernacle, they had covenants, they had all these ceremonies.
Everything pointed to Christ. The hymns on the garments, the
colors, the way the tent was made, the layers in it, everything.
The knots. Everything showed Christ. They
had that. Right there in front of them, they could go and look
at those priest garments. They could go look at that tabernacle.
They could go walk by those sacrifices and smell that meat cooking. They could smell the fat hitting
the fires, couldn't they? They got used to it. They got
indifferent to it. They got stiff necked. And what
happened? The Lord sent that gospel to the Gentiles. He used
them as a picture and he sent it to the Gentiles. Just like
those physical Jews, you and I, we have a lot of benefits.
Believers in this nation and in this world, in our generation,
we have a lot of benefits, don't we? We have the written word
of God right here in front of us. You can go, somebody breaks
into your car and steals your Bible. That don't ever happen
to us. Somebody breaks into your car and steals your Bible, you can
go down to Walmart and buy 50 more. Won't take you 10 minutes. We have the written word of God.
We have God's preachers, live and in person. in multiple states
in this nation. There's not a prophet for the
north and a prophet for the south. Isaiah's days are all over the
place. We have multiple congregations
in one state and a couple different states throughout the world. His gospel is preached throughout
this world. We have sermon audio, don't we, and YouTube. You can
sit in your PJs and cherry-pick good gospel preaching on anything
you wanna listen to, don't you? Don't even have to leave the
couch. I wonder what's next. Remember those money changers
in the temple? It's drive-thru church service,
wasn't it? We got Uber Eats now, we'll have Uber Church. People
don't even have to leave the house. How long do you think
the Lord's gonna let that go on? Makes me wonder. Those things
will perish, won't they? These comforts that we have and
just flow into us. What if we sent the gospel to
the Muslims next? That's what the Gentiles, in those Jews'
eyes, a Gentile is like us looking at the folks that's in that same
region at this time. That's looking at the Muslims.
I want some hope. I need some hope I can stand
on. Don't you? We know we're sinners. We know
we're depraved of where He is. He's taught us that, just like
that woman coming begging. Lord, I'm a dog. You're right.
We know that. We know what we cannot do. The
Lord must keep us in everything. Every breath we have, He must
keep us. But it's good for us to know what we can do. We can believe God. We can gather
with His people and praise Him as He's commanded us to. We can
trust Him. We don't do it often, but we
can. He that can't do that. Don't
know Him. We can trust God. We can have a sure, comforting,
patient, experienced. It's got some miles underneath
it. Hope. We can have hope. Not hope in
all the benefits we have. Oh, we got the gospel coming
out of our ears. I can read it out of any century you want me
to read it out of. Got commentaries on my phone. Scroll down. Not hoping that, like the Jews
had. Not a hope in all the knowledge that we have and the light we
have. Oh, look here, we can go to Genesis 1 and we can show
you that that's the resurrection. That's regeneration. That's not
just creation of the earth. That means a whole bunch. Here's
what that brazen serpent means. We don't have a hope just in
our knowledge and our light. Not a hope in the blessings we
have gathered with the Lord's people. Well, I've been to conferences.
Do you know how many conferences I've been to? Oh, we sang. We
ate. Boy, we just sat around and talked
and had good conversation afterwards. That was God's people I was hanging
out with. Proximity don't help us, does
it? But that you and I are equipped in this world, in our daily walk,
and to leave this world, in our dying day, having true hope. True, confident, cheerful expectation. What's the hope of the child
of God? Jeremiah wrote this to us. He said, Oh, the hope of
Israel, the Savior therefore in time of trouble." That sounds like a person, don't
it? Our hope is our Savior. Our happy anticipation, our cheerful
expectance is a person. Our one hope of glory is cross
Jesus. Paul told us in Colossians 1,
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of His mysteries among the Gentiles, that's us, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory, not the wish of glory. We expect. Why
do I expect that that's what's going to come to pass because
of the payment? Because of who He is. You can stand up. Turn over to Psalm 33. Here's
some other things I think will comfort us. Psalm 33. You who look to Christ for all
your hope of glory, you trust Him, you have a cheerful expectation
that He is who He said He is and He accomplished what He said
He finished. To you, the Lord looks upon His
people. How fast could I read over that? Six words. The Lord looks upon
His people. Imagine that. Consider that.
He has eyes. The Lord's eyes are on His children.
He's mindful of a wretch like me. He looks upon His people. Look here in verse 13, Psalm
33, 13. The Lord looketh from heaven and
beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation,
where he's at, he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
He fashioneth their hearts alike. He considereth all their works.
There is no king saved by the multitude of a host. A mighty
man is not delivered by much strength. Don't matter what your
position is or how strong you are. A horse is a vain thing
for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength."
You ain't going to run away from the Lord on your horse. Behold,
verse 18, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear
him, upon them that hope in his mercy. You that honor God, you
that fear the Lord, What is the only hope you have He will be
merciful to you? That's a pointed, direct question.
What is our hope for Him to be merciful to us? The blood of
His dear Son. Cross Jesus our Lord. The prerequisite
for mercy is you gotta need it. Ain't nothing wrong, you don't
need no mercy. If it's handing out biscuits and I'm full, I
don't need no biscuits. Ain't gonna keep for tomorrow.
Prerequisite for mercy is a need for it. It's an inability to
provide mercy for yourself. If you get a person in this world
to fully, I mean in truth, honestly, get them in a state where they
can tell you what they didn't even know. They can tell the
truth. And you ask them, what is your hope? What do you stand
on that God will have mercy to you? What's your hope? Many people, they're going to
answer just like we saw in Genesis 1 the other day. In the beginning
of my journey in this world, I. In the beginning, me. In the
beginning, God. The one hope we have is in the
Word of God, Christ the Word. Christ is our hope. He is our
expectation. We anticipate Him. Why? Because in Him, God is holy,
He is just, and He can justify a sinner like me and remain that
way. In Christ, He is just and a justifier. Now the Lord having His eye on
His people, what does that do? Him seeing Christ our hope in
us. What's that do for you and I? Look here at verse 19, Psalm
33, 19. To deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine. What would deliver a sinner's
soul from eternal death and damnation? Hope in Christ. Expecting only Him. What will
keep you alive during the famines of this world? You feel like
you're starving to death. What's going to keep you alive
in them famines? Hope in Christ. Hope in Christ. What about our
daily hope? Our hope in this world? Getting
through this week, look here in verse 20. Our soul waiteth
for the Lord today. Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield. For our hearts shall rejoice
in Him because we have trusted in His holy name. We have had
faith in His holy name. We have hoped in His holy name. The Lord said, I'll save them
for my name's sake. Verse 22, let thy mercy, O Lord,
be upon us according as we hope in thee. Mercy is either full
or zero. It's either all or nothing. You
can't have a little bit of mercy because condemnation is still
coming. Mercy is all or nothing. Hope, our cheerful expectation
that the blood of Christ will satisfy the Father on our behalf. We either hope fully in Him alone
or we don't hope in Him. I've had it out. They get mad
at me or they laugh at me and say, well, we're saying the same
thing and I pray for them. No, we're not. If you believe
in Christ and something else, you don't believe Christ. You
don't know Him. It's all or nothing. He's going
to be merciful to us in direct proportion that we come to Him
in hope. It says, let thy mercy, O Lord,
be upon us according as we hope in Thee. Turn over to Psalm 147. Psalm 147. When the
Holy Spirit gives us life and enables us to lay down our weapons,
to lay down our robes of righteousness, they're just filthy rags, to
lay down our crowns, our lives, all of us, the whole of man,
to Christ, that pleases God that we do so. That one that's looking
upon His people, it pleases the Lord. It's well-pleasing to God.
He takes pleasure in His people. Look here in Psalm 147, verse
11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy. I expect the Lord to be merciful
to me because of Christ. And he says, that makes me happy.
That pleases the Lord. That gives me goosebumps. What I need most pleases Him.
How can the Lord of hosts have pleasure in a sinful Gentile
worm just like me? I was put in Christ my hope.
My hope of mercy. My hope of glory. We have a desire
to be with those that are Christ, His body in this world. I like
to be around the Lord's people. I can be around the world. I
can function in it, get along just fine as far as the world
is concerned, but I don't like it. It doesn't charge my batteries.
I like to be around the Lord's people. Those who stand only
in Him as their hope. We want to serve our Lord. We
want to serve our brethren on this earth. The child of God
has a desire for that. But our desire is ultimately
to be with our Lord. I want to hug my Redeemer. I
don't want to just have a parachute to get me out of hell. I want
to see Him. I want to praise Him. I want to be in His presence
for eternity. I want to sit next to Him. I
want to sit at His feet and listen to Him. Him be my teacher. I can't imagine it. Our brains
cannot enter into this. But to worship Him as He deserves
to be worshipped. to sing to Him as He deserves
to be sung to without sin. Holy worship. Won't that be something? That's what I want. And that
day will come for each of His children. Those that are His,
it's coming. Do you know that? That's hope. That's assurance. And I'm cheerful
about it coming. It will be appointed, it will
be right. I think the Lord has some more things for me to do
on this earth. But if He comes this evening, that would be wonderful,
wouldn't it? I have that hope right now. There are a whole
lot of things I don't have. A whole lot of things I wish
to watch on, a whole lot of things I look to me on, and I quiver
on, and everything else. But you think the Lord's coming?
I know He's coming. Why turn your frown upside down?
My Redeemer liveth. He's coming for me. But while we labor on this earth
until that final day when that trumpet sounds, we're going to
go home one by one, each one of us, until He comes, until
He returns. 1 Thessalonians 4, and I'll wrap
this up. 1 Thessalonians 4. If our Lord doesn't return very
shortly, we're going to see believers in this local assembly close
their eyes for the last time. When that happens, we're going
to be sad. We're going to miss our brothers and our sisters
that already went home to be with our Lord. We'll miss them.
We're going to be saddened, but we won't have sorrow. We're going
to be sad, but we won't have sorrow. There's a difference
in that. Look here in 1 Thessalonians
4 verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. But I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others which have 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." When that trump sounds,
He returns with those that are already with Him. Those that
are still here, we'll see them coming. Those that are in the
grave will rise first and then we'll ascend with them. It says
in verse 15, For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that 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 archangel
and 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 into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. We have a hope. We expect this. We anticipate this, that our
Lord that saved us will return for his people. I have no idea
what that'll be like. I have no idea what it'll look
like. I have no idea when that trumpet
sounds what it's going to sound like. I can't tell you. But I'm
expecting it. I trust it'll happen. And when
it does, we're going to know it. Like in the days of Noah,
we'll be giving in marriage and living our lives and buying property
and fixing houses and doing all kinds of things. And then we'll
hear the trumpet. Here it comes. This is it. Today's
the day. The Lord's here. My hope is built
on Christ's blood and His righteousness, and I trust His Word to be true.
I believe Him. What do we do with that hope?
The Lord gives us that hope to walk with. Here, hold that until
Sunday. You have this. What do we do
with that? Look at verse 18. 1 Thessalonians 4.18. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words, Paul said, what I just
told you, take that and you comfort one another. We will not be ashamed
in these trials that we go through on earth, in these sad times,
in these doubtful times, in these sorrowful times on this earth,
our hopes in the heavens. Paul told us in Romans 5, and
not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that
tribulation works with patience. and cheerful endurance, and patience,
experience, we do it over and over, and experience, hope, and
hope maketh not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
It's not offered to us. It's not suggested strongly that
we take it. It's given to us. There it is. Joel 3.15 says, The sun and the
moon shall be darkened, and the stars, they're going to withdraw
their shining. Man thinks he can ruin this earth. Can't do nothing to a star. We
can't even get there in a lifetime. They're going to perish too.
That's going to withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall
roar out of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. And the
heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope
When that day comes, the Lord will be the hope of His people
and the strength of the children of Israel. I pray the Lord, He will. His will be done. He's going
to make Christ the hope of His people before that day. Before this life's over, He will.
It's something I can't understand. There's a lot of people I pray
that if the Lord be willing, he'd save them. But when that
day comes and sin's no longer in this body, the scriptures
tell me that I believe, the God I believe says, I'll rejoice
in that day. I can't explain that. I believe
Him. I hope, I anticipate that'll
happen. I pray this will keep us till
Sunday.