Then turn to Genesis chapter
49. Genesis 49. Let's pray. Our great Savior, our God and
our Father, we pray, dear Lord, today, that you would speak to
us from your Word, by your Spirit, in our heart. Give us this faith
we've been singing about, this salvation you've been teaching
us about, and we've been singing about. We pray that it would
be true and real to us. You would save us. You would
do the work and accomplish it all. And we would see it and
we would rejoice in it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Before I read this verse to you, I want to ask you a few questions
and make a few comments here. I've entitled this message just
what it says in the verse. Now, the Bible is about God. That's not surprising, is it?
The Bible is about God. That seems like a very simple
and basic statement. But it's about God saving His
people, not just about Him, but about Him saving His people.
And this is the way God has made known to us by saving, what He's
done in our salvation. It's in our salvation that He
makes Himself known, His perfections and all of His character, and
His triumph over all of our enemies, which are His enemies. The Bible
is God's revelation of Himself. It is His revelation of Himself
in His saving purpose and His work that He accomplished by
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What is his name? His name shall
be called Jesus. And why? Because he shall save
his people from their sins. The name is the way you know
somebody, in scripture at least. I mean, we know each one by the
name we call ourselves, or our parents called us, but we don't
think of our name as being descriptive of us. Normally we get to know
somebody, and then the name helps us remember them, and that causes
us to think of them. That's so-and-so and I know them
because, and that's their name. But Jesus' name is descriptive
of who he is and what he did. Jesus, he shall save his people
from their sins. And this is the way God makes
himself known in scripture. Until we know God in salvation,
we cannot know God. Really, we can't know God unless
He makes Himself known in salvation. And so the Bible was written
to tell us about God's work to save His elect people. The Bible
is God's description of Himself in His Son by His saving work. God's greatest work, His great
glory, is how He saved us from our great sin. This is the truth
of Scripture. And His greatest work is our
greatest need. we find perfect match for our
need in Christ Jesus, the Lord, our Savior. Our case is impossible,
it was impossible, and for us it is impossible, but God did
what was impossible for anybody but God. Now, imagine, if you
can, because this is what Genesis 49, the chapter we're about to
get into, is about. Imagine, if you can, think for
yourself, It's the last hour of your long life. Think about
it. Your life. It's about over. You've
had a long life and it's the last hour. It's the end for you
now in this world and you're looking back and you're looking
ahead. You know your time is short. Spontaneously, what has
become most important and most dear to you now comes out in
what you say. It comes out in your words, in
your prayers, and in your praise, and in your exhortation to your
children. Because you have many children,
as Jacob had. Your eyes are dim, you can't
read. But you don't need someone to read it for you because this
has become so part of the way you look at life and the way
you think that this is what you express. You don't need someone
else to tell you. You're weak, you can't make a
long speech, and you have a short time, only time for a few words. But they are the most important
words you've ever spoken. What is your one desire? In all
of your long life, what became your all-controlling desire throughout
your life? What is your hope at the end?
How did you get through all your troubles? What has your trust
been? What have you looked forward
to and what do you now expect at the end of your life? If you
could give one thing to your children and your loved ones,
what would you give them? What will you tell them now that
your life is at the end? What is your one prayer? And
what is your praise and joy? Jacob was at this point in his
life. He did not need to think hard to answer these questions.
The answer was familiar to him. He lived for it. He talked about
it. God promised it to him. He prayed
for it and thanked God for it. And now, spontaneously, he expresses
his desire and his confidence and his hope in a simple prayer
that gets to the very heart of the message of all of Scripture.
And what was the one thing he wanted to talk about? What was
his hope and his desire? What did he want for his children
above all else? What is his prayer for himself
and for them? It all comes down now to this,
now at the end of his life. All who believe what Jacob believed
want what he wanted, hope what he hoped for, and looked for
what he expected to receive, and prayed for what he prayed
in his life, and most especially now in his dying hour. Everyone
the Lord saves thinks the way that Jacob thought at the end
of his life here. He says what he says. He talks
about it with familiarity. He prays to God as someone familiar
with the Lord. He knows God by this. And this
is what he said to his God in the presence of his children.
Very simple words, but very succinct and very memorable. We see it
in verse 18 of Genesis 49. It says this. This is what Jacob
said. I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. I have waited. He's looking back
on his life. He thinks about all of the inner
struggles and the outer struggles, the failures. He thinks about
all the evil that came upon his life. He thinks about the shortness
of his life, even though he's 147 years old now. Doesn't seem
like a long life. It seems like it was full of
evil. But he thinks about that, and he thinks through it all,
and he distills it all down to this, Lord, I have waited for
your salvation. That's what he wanted. That's
what he asked for. That's what he looked forward
to. God had saved him times without number. He had been in desperate
need, and now, at the end of his life, he's in a desperate
need. Now I need more than ever what I have always needed, your
salvation. You have drawn me to yourself.
You have put this cry in my heart. My life has been one long repetition
of discovery of my need and your great salvation. What I know
of you, all I know of you, I have learned from your salvation.
Salvation is your great glory. It is the reason I admire my
God and Savior. His name is Savior. Salvation
is my need. It has been my desire and it
remains my desire in death. I didn't always know the Lord.
I didn't always know His saving purpose and work. But ever since
He showed Himself to me in this saving purpose and work, in His
salvation, I've been drawn to Him. And I felt the liberty to
tell Him my intimate thoughts and my heart. He's taken away
my fears. He's endeared himself to me.
Visible things and material things and present things have lost
their desire. And now I delight in Him and
His salvation. I remember one time I was speaking
to someone about some theological matter that was secondary, far
down the list of importance. And I remember telling him, I
said, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I've
been still trying to figure out how is it that God saves a man? How is it that God saves a man?
That's what's important. That's what's important. I can't
save myself, I can't contribute to my own salvation, but I am
fully persuaded that the Lord can save me all by himself, and
even save me to the uttermost. My enemies are too strong for
me. I have no power against them. But I will stand still, as Moses
told Israel at the Red Sea, and as Jehoshaphat told Israel when
they faced their enemy. I'll stand still, and I will
see your salvation, and then I will more than conquer my enemies.
Your salvation, O Lord, is certain, and it is sure, and I expect
it. You will save me, for certain,
and for Christ's sake. And I have waited for it, and
I'm still waiting for it, and I know it will come." That's
what Jacob was thinking. It will come. Right in the middle
of all the things he said to his children, he breaks apart,
as it were, in this thought. And it just comes out, Lord,
I've waited for your salvation. I want to preach a message about
this topic. I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. And I pray that as Jacob uttered
these words, each one of us would think about how the Lord has
driven us into the corner, as it were, and then released us
from the prison of all that holds us, our sin, our fear of death,
our fear and bondage to Satan, our control by this world, all
those things, the Lord has freed us from it when he made known
Christ to us. And we would desire him as if
the first time, and we would say with Jacob, I have waited
for thy salvation, O Lord. In Matthew 14, verse 30, Peter
was walking on the water to Jesus. And as he was walking, he looked
at the waves, and he began to sink. And he cried out three
short words, the most effective words ever recorded in scripture,
by a sinner, Lord, save me. Lord, save me. He knew he couldn't
save himself. He knew he would perish unless
someone saved him. And he knew only Jesus could
do that. No one told him to call. No one
told him to cry out. He cried out spontaneously. He
knew that if Jesus would save him, then he would not perish.
But he knew if he didn't, that he would certainly perish. And
so he cried out without hesitation, Lord, save me. Lord, the Lord
Jesus is Lord of all. Save, that's what I need. Me,
save me. I'm not thinking about someone
else right now. I need your salvation. I have
waited, Jacob said, looking back on his life. This has been his
prayer. This is the thing he's thought about. the supplication
of His heart, the praise of His lips and His life, the dependence
of His faith, and the expectation of His hope, the cause of love
in His heart for His Savior. Thy salvation, O Lord. You did it when I couldn't do
it, and I needed it most of all. The publican prayed, God, have
mercy on me, the sinner. He had no hope of salvation,
but that God would have mercy on him. Not mercy for his merit,
not for any obedience of his own, but in spite of all his
sins, in spite of his sinful heart, in spite of the fact that
he had no strength, this sinner, this publican, believed that
God saved sinners, and so he cried for mercy. Psalm 51 and
verse 1 and 2, David the king prayed after his sin with Bathsheba
and Nathan the prophet had brought this to his attention and convinced
him of it. He said, have mercy, David said this in prayer, have
mercy upon me O God. according to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions, and wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sins, for I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me." David was overcome with grief
and sickness of heart. because of his sin against God. He knew that God must be just
and must justify himself in his judgments. And he knew God must
overcome in all judgment with sinners. And he knew his sin
was against God only. He knew his only hope of salvation
was mercy from God, not according to anything in him. Not about
what he had done, not about his future potential, not for anything. He didn't need, God didn't need
David. But David needed his God. He
knew his sin was against him, and so he prayed to Him who alone
could have mercy upon him. He said, according to Thy lovingkindness,
have mercy on me, O God. He knew that God would never
look for a reason in him to find a cause to show him mercy. He
knew that God saves sinners because of his own grace, because of
his loving kindness, because of who he is as God. And therefore,
by his work, David asked the Lord to blot out his sins. they
were ever in his mind, they were always before him, waking and
sleeping. His sins stole from him the joy
of his salvation. So he does the only thing that
could be done. He calls out to the Lord as an unprofitable and
hell-deserving sinner, not the king, a sinner, on his knees
before God, crying out of his heart, Lord, save me. His sin was against God. Only
he could save him. Only he could blot it out. God
alone could wash his sins from him. He could restore to him
the joy of the Lord's salvation. Therefore, he prays, restoring
to me the joy of thy salvation. That was his one desire. He knew
God in this thing of saving grace, and he knew God as his King,
but he knew him most of all as his Savior. This is why Jacob
prays. The Lord did this. And so, the
Lord tells us of himself that he's a just God and a Savior. There's none like him. None holy
as God. Only he is the Savior. And so
we find this in scripture, that salvation becomes the all-controlling
singular desire of the Lord's people in our lives. The all-controlling
desire. David said it in 2 Samuel 23,
He has made with me an everlasting covenant. This is all my salvation
and all my desire. what the Lord has done, what
the Lord is going to do. Jacob said, I have waited for
your salvation. All of his life he had waited
for it, and yet at this point in his life he's still looking
to the Lord to save him. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
1 in verse 10. In verse 9 Paul says, "...but
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead." Have
you ever been there? Have perhaps just the circumstances
of life, the prospect of your own weakness, but most especially
your condition before God? Has your sin ever become the
matter between you and God? My sins, all my sins, what can
be done about my sins? How can I find any peace and
rest because of my sins? And so he says, he raises the
dead. And verse 10, who delivered us
from so great a death, that would be the eternal wrath of God.
That's the death he's talking about. Who delivered us from
so great a death, and doth deliver. Even now, while we're living,
even today, he does deliver us. Don't you know he does? In our
lives every day. Doesn't the Lord keep us looking
to Christ? Isn't that His work? He's the
author and the finisher of our faith. What He started, He will
continue. He does deliver us. In whom we
trust, that He will yet deliver us. He's waiting. In this verse,
Paul is looking back. He's looking at the present,
and he's looking to the future. And he's seeing, oh, this is
what I'm waiting for. Thy salvation. This is what I'm
expecting. I'm looking for it. I'm waiting
for it, and I know it will come. What is salvation? What do we
need to be saved from? What do we need to be saved from
in this matter of salvation? What is it to be saved? Well,
we need to be saved, first of all, from our sins against God. Our sins against God. Isn't that
the matter? I need to be saved from the wrath
of God because of my sins. That was what atonement was all
about. What is atonement for? It's to appease God's wrath.
It's to satisfy His justice against me because of my sin. Death is
the payback for sin. Until sin is dealt with, death
is my sentence. Condemnation is what I'm going
to receive. And so I have to have my sins
dealt with. My sins offend God. That offense
has to be removed. My sins offend His justice, cry
out to God for my punishment, and that has to be dealt with.
And so He says in Scripture that our sins separate us from God. And so, how are we saved? Our
sins are the issue. We have to be saved from our
sins. And we also have to be saved from our sinful nature. Our sinful nature, don't we?
Don't you know that all you do and think, all the motives of
your heart, are tainted by sin? The very best things you do,
the very best things you do, the very best you do on the very
best day of your life is full of sin. Our righteousnesses are
filthy rags in His sight. This is the testimony of Scripture. We have to be saved from our
sins and our sin nature. We have to be saved from the
wrath of God. We have to be saved from the death we deserve because
of our sins. All these things. We have to
be saved from hell. We have to be saved from Satan.
We have to be saved from this world. We have to be saved from
the curse of God's law. All these things are because
of our sin. And we have no strength in this. We're helpless. And
without God doing it, we're hopeless. We have to be saved. The Lord
has to save us and that's why salvation is of the Lord. But
what does it mean to be saved then? It means to be delivered. Remember the man in prison? How
is he going to be saved? He has to be brought out of prison.
Something has to be taken care of in court. The advocate for
the prisoner has to go to court, make the case. This prisoner
should be set free. Why? He's a sinner. Compensation
has to be made to justice. God has to be paid. A ransom
has to be given. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is that ransom and He paid with His own blood and therefore the
redemption that He purchased with His blood and the sinner
is set free. Salvation is the payment by ransom
in order that we might be set free from the punishment we deserve. It's both. Remember when Judah
pleaded for Benjamin to Joseph? He said, Let me abide a servant
instead of the lad. That was the first part. Take
me as payment for him. And then he says, and let the
lad go up free with his brethren to his father. Take my payment
and let him go. That's what salvation is. Payment
from Christ, freedom for us, glory to God. That's the first
part. Saved from our sins, we have
to be justified before God. We have to appear in the court
of God's glory and justice and give an answer, but we can't
give it. So Christ appeared there for us with His own blood and
made full satisfaction. The Lord received His blood and
He said, that's enough. That's enough. And he was well
pleased for his justice to pardon us, to forgive us, and to pronounce
us righteous on the basis of the righteousness and obedience
of Christ. That's salvation. It's justification. And what
else? It's also sanctification. We
have to be made holy. God says in Ephesians 1-4 that
He chose us in Christ in order that we might be made holy and
blameless before Him, in love. God Himself is holy, holy, holy. He who called you is holy, therefore
be ye holy. How can we be holy? We're sinners.
The Lord Jesus Christ by His blood sanctified us, and then
He sent His Spirit into our heart, and His Spirit is holy. And that
sanctifies us when He gives us this birth from God. Our birth
by the Spirit of God is our sanctification. He gives us His Spirit, He gives
us life, and He creates in us a new man in righteousness and
true holiness. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 says, in
verse 24, in verse 23, it says, Be renewed
in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. God did this. He created a new man in us in
righteousness and true holiness. Look at Titus. Titus, which is
after Thessalonians and after Timothy. Titus chapter 3. It says in verse 3, we ourselves
were also, were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,
and hating one another. Maybe we can't understand all
those words, but look at two of them, just two of them. Serving
divers lusts, different kinds of lusts, and hateful, hateful. We were hateful people and we
hated one another. That's what we were. But, look
at verse 4, the first verse, the first word, but, that's grace,
but, but after, but after all that we were, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared. That's grace, isn't
it? After what we were in ourselves,
the kindness and love of God our Savior. Our Savior. Why is He called Savior? Because
He's our salvation. He saves us. Not by works. How does He do this? Not by works
of righteousness, which we have done. Not by anything we've done.
Not our own personal obedience. But according to His mercy. He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
And what did the Holy Spirit do? which He shed, the Holy Spirit
was shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior because
the Spirit of God is given to us because of what Christ did.
That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Now Christ sits in glory because
He overcame sin and the devil and the world and everything
that was the consequence of our sin. And He sends His Spirit. And the Spirit of God gives us
birth. He makes us sons of God. He puts a new man in us and creates
us in righteousness and true holiness. And He shows us our
justification in Christ. And now that we're justified
by His grace, we're made heirs. We're heirs of God. We're the
ones who are going to inherit all that is God's. It errs according
to the hope of eternal life. This hope, this expectation,
this certainty. This is what Jacob prayed for.
I have waited. I have waited all my life for
this salvation. I'm waiting for it. I'm expecting
it. One day I'm going to have it.
And now I'm dying and I'm waiting for it. And I've waited. Look
at Galatians chapter 5. He's waiting for this salvation.
A salvation from sin, the wrath of God, from the curse of God's
law, the accusations of it, from the devil, from bondage to this,
from evil, evil in this world, evil in my heart. Salvation. Completely saved. That's what
we're waiting for, isn't it? Complete, perfect, Salvation
all by the Lord Jesus Christ, given to us by the Spirit of
God. Look at Galatians chapter 5. He says in verse 5, we through
the Spirit. This is a miracle. This is something that's beyond
our ability. We through the Spirit. What do
we do? We wait. What are we waiting
for? The hope of righteousness by
faith. We're waiting by the Spirit,
and this waiting is hope. It's an expectation. And we wait
by faith. God has said this, and we're
waiting. We're waiting for Him to do what He has said. We're
expecting it. We're looking for it. When my
mom and dad would... When I knew my birthday was coming
close, I expected them to do something. I knew my mom would
make me some kind of a dessert, cake or pie or something. I looked
forward to that day because everyone was happy. Everyone treated me
nicely on that day, a little more special. And my dad and
my mom would always get me some kind of little present, maybe
a big present. And so I waited for that. I expected
it, because they had conditioned me to expect it. And then there
was Christmas. Of course, as kids, we always
waited for our parents to give us something, because they had
taught us through their pattern that they were going to do something
on that day. So we waited. We expected it. And we patiently
waited for it, sometimes impatiently. I was excited about it. That's
what it means to wait. What does it mean to wait for
His salvation? Well, Galatians 5 said, we wait
for the hope of righteousness. We wait for that time when we
will stand before God, not with sin, but without sin. Not having
fallen short of obedience, but having fulfilled all obedience.
We're waiting for that time when the Lord, who is holy, holy,
holy, receives us in the truth of all of His holiness, in the
truth of His justice. as holy in his eyes, without
fault, without blame before him. Look at Jude chapter 1 verse
24. Now unto him, after giving his
account of how all those who apostatized in the Old Testament
fell away, Jude raises his voice with all believers. He says,
now unto him that is able to keep you from falling And to
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy." Not with just, well, just barely made it. No,
this is exactly the way God intended it. Perfect and holy in His sight. With no regrets. God has no regrets. He will have no regrets. It'll
be just like He intended it. Just like He worked it out. He's
able to keep you from falling. to the silencing of his enemies,
to the joy of his people, and to present you before himself
faultless. before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. God will joy over us, and we
will joy in His joy. Now to the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and forever. Amen. You see, this is the hope
we have. This hope of coming into the
presence of God, dressed in the righteousness of Christ, all
our sins washed from us, made sons, in the redeeming work of
Christ by the Spirit of God indwelling us, made holy, and now standing
before him in our resurrected body and hearing him say to us,
Enter into the joy of the Lord, good and faithful servant. That's
our expectation. That's our hope. That's what
we're waiting for, isn't it? This is the salvation we're waiting
for. I want to read some scriptures to you from various places about
our waiting. Because when you wait, you wait
in patience when you know what you're going to receive is sure
and certain, don't you? I didn't get it today, but I
know it's coming. They promised they were going
to send it in the mail. So I'll just wait another day. It'll
get here. Sometime it'll come. So you wait patiently. But you're
somewhat in doubt because it might get lost. But here God
has said something. So we wait patiently, expecting
it to come. And that's what Jacob did. He
waited for his salvation. It says in Psalm 40, verse 1,
He says, I waited patiently for the Lord. I waited patiently
for the Lord. How could he wait? He was expecting
something. He was in trouble and he waited
for God to save him. To give him the blessing he promised
of eternal life. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me, and He heard my cry." While I was
waiting, I wasn't just sitting there twiddling my thumbs thinking,
well, God's going to do what He's going to do, I'm not going
to worry about it. No, I cried to the Lord in my trouble because
God hears the cry of the righteous. So He waited patiently because
of His hope. He waited for God's salvation.
And then, in 2 Thessalonians 3, In verse 5, the Lord direct
your hearts, because this is what God has to do, we can't
make it happen. Haven't you found that to be
true? You can't make it happen. You can't make your salvation
a thing of joy. God has to do it. So he prays, the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God. And I'm sure that what he's
talking about there is directing our hearts into God's love for
us, even though it could be taken as our love for Him. Because
our love for Him springs from His love for us, and so he's
saying, the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and
into the patient waiting for Christ. Just patiently waiting
for Christ. That's what we do, don't we?
I'm waiting for Him to deliver me from all my sins. I'm standing
at the Red Sea. The sea is before me, my enemies
are behind me, and they're coming fast, and I have no hope and
no strength against them. Moses lifts up his voice and
his rod and he says, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. I'm waiting, Lord, I'm waiting. My sin is great and
I have no power over it. I will perish unless you save
me, Lord. I see the waves. I know my own
wickedness. I know your justice. I know that
I can't save myself, but I know you can do it, Lord. Nothing
is impossible for you. Christ died for the ungodly,
therefore I'm waiting. for Christ to save me." And he
says in Hebrews 7.25 that he's able to save us to the uttermost.
We don't just wait for a little salvation, because our sin is
great, and we don't expect him to just bring us to heaven barely,
but to save us to the uttermost. He justified us when we were
His enemies. How much more now will He save us by His life that
we're reconciled? And then, while we're here in
the New Testament, look at James chapter 5. In James 5 verse 7,
he says, Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of
the Lord. We're waiting for Christ to come.
We're waiting for the Lord Jesus to come. Behold, he says, the
husbandman, or the farmer, waits for the precious fruit of the
earth, and he has long patience for it until he receives the
early and latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish
your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. It's near. The Lord's coming is near, James
said. That was a long time ago. That
was 2,000 years ago. More than 2,000 years ago. Well,
I don't know exactly. somewhere around that. It was
a long time ago. And he says, be patient. The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise. He will come. The
farmer waits. He's used to it. I know it's
going to rain. First he plants, he plows, and
he plants, and he waits for the rain. There, it rained. Now things
are growing. And then he waits until the latter
rains come, because that's needed in order to finish the growing
process. And he receives the latter rain,
and then he has the fruit of his harvest from his labors.
And so he says, it's just the same way. When we, as God's laborers,
labor in faith and love and patience, we're waiting for the fruit,
the fruit that God produces. He has to send the rain, and
so we wait for it. And so many places are like this
in scripture. Let me take you to some more
scriptures about waiting. Look at Psalm 39. Are you waiting? Is this your desire? Is this
the one thing that God has made the most important thing in all
your life? Is this what you look for? Psalm 39 verse 7. He says, And now, Lord, what
wait I for? My hope is in thee. What am I
waiting for? I'm waiting for your salvation.
I'm waiting to see you. I'm waiting to hear your voice.
I'm waiting to receive what you promised. I'm waiting for that
blessing that Christ earned. I'm waiting for everything that
you've said." This is the promise. He's promised us eternal life.
Now I possess it by faith. Now you live in my heart, but
I'm waiting for another time when I will see you with these
eyes. And so Psalm 130 verse 5, he says, Waiteth for the Lord more than
they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. That's what he says. You know
how they do. When you take the first watch and the second watch
is for somebody else, the third watch of the night, that's the
last one before morning. You have to get up really early
at night. in the morning, and you have to wait until morning,
watching for the enemy. He says, I'm waiting more for
the Lord than they that watch for the morning. And then he
says in verse 7, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord
there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. He shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities. That's what we're doing, we're
waiting. The Lord has redeemed us, like He redeemed Israel from
Egypt. Only He's redeemed us from sin
and Satan and this world by the precious blood of Christ. Is
He going to finish the work He started? You better know He is.
And so we're waiting for it, like those expectant. Look at
a lamentation. Jeremiah the prophet was crying,
lamenting for all the trouble that came on Israel. And in his
crying, he was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ who wept. because
he himself suffered for the sins of his people. But look at Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 22. This is the reason we're saved. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. Otherwise,
we would be consumed by our sin and for our sin. Because our
sins deserve God's wrath, but God's mercies are stable, they
don't change, because God doesn't change. Verse 23, they are new
every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, he's
my inheritance, the treasure I'm waiting for, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him,
I'll expect it, I'll wait for him. The Lord is good to them
that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good
that a man should both hope and quietly wait. for the salvation
of the Lord. It's good. The Lord has seen
fit. He says in Romans 8.24, we're
saved in hope. We don't have it now. We're hoping
for it. We're waiting for it. And it
pleases God to take glory to Himself that His people would
depend upon Him with faith and hope and looking for Christ because
this is them acting and thinking and speaking in consistent in
agreement with what God has said for no other reason than what
God has said. And that brings glory to God.
His people stand on His Word, the bare Word of God, all by
itself, and they say, this is the way things are. I'm waiting
for this. It's good for a man to hope, especially in trial,
especially in trouble. We wait. By the Spirit of God,
we wait for the hope of righteousness, and it's good. So many things
about this we could say. Now there's examples in scripture
of waiting. I'm just going to touch on a couple here. Remember
Abraham? Remember how long he waited for
God to give him the promise of a son? Isaac, when he was 100
years old, finally Isaac was born. Let me read this scripture
to you from Hebrews chapter 11, verse 10. He looked for a city. which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." He looked for it. He was looking
and waiting for it. And so he kept looking for it.
And then we can see other examples in scripture. Look at this example
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Psalm 16. This is how our
Lord Jesus lived his life as a man on earth. Do you know what
he did? He went to the cross and to death
in hope. He didn't go there thinking,
well, this is the end. I'm just going to be a martyr
now. It's over here. No, he did it in hope. Look at
Psalm 16 in verse 8. I have set the Lord always before
me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore
my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall
rest in hope. My flesh shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. Neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand are
pleasures forevermore. You see his hope? This is the
Lord Jesus. He was looking for that time when God would raise
him from the dead and set him at his own right hand. That's
the faith and the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. He completed
our salvation and he waited for it. One more verse and we'll
be done. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10. Verse 9 he says, Then
said he, the Lord Jesus, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He took away the first, the old covenant, that he might establish
the second, the new covenant. By the witch will we are sanctified,
we're made holy, through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. And look at verse 13. From henceforth expecting till
His enemies be made His footstool." All of Christ's enemies shall
be made His footstool. He sits in glory waiting for
that time when it shall be done. And so we wait. We wait with
Him for His salvation. At the end of our life and throughout
the day of our life, now we say, Lord, I'm waiting for Your salvation. At the end of our life we will
say, Lord, I have waited for Thy salvation. I'm waiting for
You to bring me to glory. to give me the reward earned
for me by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's certain. It's sure. Because
Christ did it. It's not presumption on my part.
The Lord told me to wait. He said it's good for a man to
wait and hope. And so the Lord has put this
in our heart. Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, we pray that
we, like Jacob, who was weak and sinful, might find that your
grace has caused us to look at our lives and say, this is my
one desire. Save me for your namesake. Deliver
me from my sins for your glory. Make this the cry of our heart,
the praise of our lips, the pursuit of all of our thoughts and desires
in this life. and to wait patiently, knowing
you will bring it to pass, your word will be fulfilled. You've
promised eternal life to those who look to Christ in dependence
and waiting. We pray, Lord, that you would
so give us this salvation, save us for your namesake, and bring
us to glory. We're waiting, Lord, waiting
on you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.