Go with me back to Romans 8 now. Romans chapter 8. We will look,
Lord willing, Wednesday night at the cities of refuge from
Deuteronomy 19. But I was reading this and this
one verse or one word just greatly blessed me and I thought it would
be a blessing to you. Verse 24. Romans 8, 24, we are
saved by hope. And then he goes on to say, hope
that is seen is not hope. And if what a man seeth, why
did he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that we see
not, and we with patience wait for it. Hope means you believe,
you trust, or you look forward to something. or someone. Look forward. You have some confidence
in something or someone that you're going to enjoy that or
go there and do this or that. You hope, I hope, I hope, I hope.
Now this, my hope for this message is that
you will hope in God. You find all your hope in Christ,
hope in his word. I hope to raise your hopes really
high. You've heard that saying before,
you said, don't get your hopes up. You know, we hope in things
and they're dashed to the ground. We don't realize, we don't get
what we hope for. I want your hopes up. I want
to raise your hopes way up. I want to lift your head up high. Look up. Your redemption doth
now. Now, everyone, most everyone,
has some hope in someone or something. But I'm here to tell you from
God's Word, there's no hope for anyone without God and without
Christ. No, in this world. Most everyone hopes for the best,
for themselves, for their children. They hope, you know, and these
things are not bad in themselves, hope to have a family, hope to
have a home, hope to have a marriage and hope to have a job and some
money and some happiness. These things are not bad in themselves.
The Lord is the one who ordained these things. The Lord is the
one that gives all things richly to enjoy. But I'm here to tell
you that this whole book says it's all vanity. Meaning, don't put all your hope
of happiness in anything or anyone on earth because it's all one
way away. And you hope, these young people,
you hope to get married and you hope to have a home, hope to
have a happy home and hope to have some peace and some joy
and happiness. If you or your husband don't
know Jesus Christ, there's no hope that that marriage
will last. None. There's a lot, there's
several people in here who had those hopes. And a spouse, one
or both, did not know the Lord. And that marriage failed miserably. But still, I'm going to give
some hope for those who have married. There's still hope. What's our hope? This gospel
is still being preached. Christ is still being preached.
But what I'm trying to say, what this Word of God doesn't try
to say, it says emphatically. In Ecclesiastes, there's no hope
in anything or anyone in this world to bring you any lasting
peace or joy or happiness, because it all dies. And all that happiness,
all that peace, all that joy you found in these things, in
these people, when they're gone, then your hope, your happiness
is gone. But now, I'm here to tell you
from God's Word, If you marry in the Lord, that person knows
the Lord. You're going to have trouble,
yeah, because they're a sinner and you're a sinner. You're going
to have trouble in the flesh, in the flesh. But if that person
knows the Lord and you're married to him or her, they know the
Lord. They're married to him. He or
her are married to him. That relationship is going to
last forever. You will never part. Yes. There's no hope for those
without God and without Christ in this world, in the things
of this world, because it all died. There's no hope in mankind. The world hopes in mankind. The world hopes in man. It's
a vain hope. Why? Because man is a helpless
creature. Man is an ignorant creature.
People hope in the wisdom of man. God says it's foolishness. People hope in the power of man,
his intellect, the power of his technology, the power of medicine
and so forth. You know what God does every
time? He just sends a little disease. It's happened from the
beginning of time. All the power, all the wisdom,
all the technology, all the medicine, all the help that man has is
of no use to him when God just puts His hand just a little bit There, deal with that. And then
he lifts that, and he sends, he withholds the rain, okay?
He sends a drought. He sends a fire. He sends a war. And happiness, peace comes for
a little while, and people don't think about God, don't give God
a thought, don't call on God who gives all these things, and
God sends this, and God sends that, and God sends that. Doesn't take much for God to
destroy all man's hopes and happiness and peace, does it? Not much.
He said there will be no peace for the weak. Those who don't
look to me. No. No hope. All right, now,
I want to talk about hope. Real hope. That there's all hope
in God. And mostly what I want to do
is read the Scripture. He told, go first of all with
me to Psalm 146 and mark the Psalms. We're going to just pretty
much camp in the Psalms. You want hope? Read the Psalms. You want despair? Look around
you. Look within you. You want despair? You want distress?
Listen to man. Look to man. You want to be troubled? Look around. You want some hope? You want
some peace? You want some comfort? Look up. Look in the Word. David says, Remember thy word
unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope. Hope in God. Let me see. I want
to get your hopes up. Psalm 146 verse 3 says, Put not
your trust in princes, rulers, nor in a son of man. There's
no help. His breath goeth forth. He returneth to his earth. That
very day his thoughts perish. Oh, happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God that
made heaven and earth and sea and all that therein, which keepeth
the truth, keepeth His covenants. You can't keep anything. You
can't keep yourself. You can't keep those you love.
You can't keep the faith. You know what our hope is? He
keeps us. We're his bride. We're kept women,
all of us. I love it. I'm a kept woman. I'm a weaker vessel. I've never
provided anything for myself. But my faithful husband has provided
all things, always. I've left Him time and again.
You know what my hope is? He said, I'll never leave you. Read on. It says, oh no, I've
got too much else to read. But our hope is in God. The God of Jacob. Who is Jacob? Oh man. Who is Jacob? Read about Him. Poor little feller. Weak. scheming, conniving, running,
scared, you know, but God says, Jacob, am I love? And he came
to old Jacob, running, scared. He said, Jacob, I've loved you,
and here's what I'm going to do for you. Here's what I purpose
to do for you, Jacob. I've chose you, I've loved you,
I've made a covenant concerning you, Jacob, and this thing's
not going to end until I do it. Jacob said, well, if you do,
I'll know you're my God. If you bring me back, if you
don't leave me, I think he knew himself, and he knew what he
was prone to do, and what he was probably going to do, and
here was his whole hope. God, if you bring me back, and
you don't leave me, you're God. My God. And you must love me. Hope in God. Romans 8 says, We
know all things work together for good to them that love God. who are called according to His
purpose. Hope in God. God who reigns and
rules among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
None can stay in His hand or say to Him, You can't do that.
God who is the potter and wears the clay. God who said, I kill,
I make alive. I wound, I heal. I create peace,
I make evil. I the Lord do all these things.
and all things work together according to his infinite, all-wise
purpose which he purposed in himself, in Christ Jesus, before
the world began. He said, I have declared the
end from the beginning. Things that are not yet done
say, and my counsel shall stand. He said, now look unto me. Hope
in God. Is this your God? Is this your
God? Huh? It's not everyone's God. Most people in the world don't
like this kind of God. They don't want God in control of their
life and their destiny. They don't want God to be God.
They want a God they let be God. No. I don't. I need a God who
is God. Who controls me. I don't need
a God I control. I need a God who controls me.
A God who reigns and rules over me. Let alone everything and
everybody else. Don't you? Is this your God?
Well, hope in God. His reigning power. Hope in His
wisdom. He said, I have a purpose. I
purposed all things in Christ before the world began. And what
is His purpose? I was going to have eternity
of Ephesians 1. In the dispensation of the fullness
of time, we're going to gather together in one all things in
Christ. Yes, even in Him. In Christ.
Do you understand that? Have you heard that before? This
purpose to be in Christ? to gather a people and give them
to Christ and put them in Christ, to save them, to bring them all
the way to glory, to reconcile them to God, to save them by
His blood, by His right hand. Have you heard that before? Have
you? What do you think about that? What do you say to these
things? This is God's purpose. Chose
a people for whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate. To do what? To be like His Son. To be in
His Son. Who He predestinated. He called. And I'm already to the end of
my message. He called. And I couldn't wait
to get to that. He justified. He glorified. It's all in Christ.
I can't wait for this. Verse 1 says, all those in Christ,
and the last verse says, who shall separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ. It begins and ends with in Christ. Are you in Christ? Do you know
what that means? Oh, my. Our hope. What is great? Who needs notes? You've got a
hymn book. My hope. is built on nothing
less than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest feeling of holy lean on the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand. Now his oath His covenant, His
blood, that will support you in the overwhelming flood of
this covenant. When all around your soul gives way, he then
is all your hope and study. Yes, on Christ the solid rock
I stand to you. All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand. You're smiling. You're laughing
with me. You must hope in Christ. Oh,
you've got a good hope. Your hope is in Him. Which hope
is within the veil? What's in the veil? That's one
of my last points, too. He's within the veil. The blood's
on the mercy seat, John, within the veil. Hope in Christ. Hope in God. We hope in His reigning
power. We hope in His wisdom, His purpose.
We hope in His love. God is love. You hope in His
love. Where's the love of God? It's
in Christ. That's what it said there in
the last verse. The love of God which is in Christ. Do you know
who God loves? Those that love his Son. Those
that love God's glory. Those that love God as God. All
things work together for them that love God. What God? The One who purposed all things.
The One who controls all things. The One who reigns over all things. The One who put all things in
the hands of Jesus Christ. The One who made Jesus Christ
to be their covenant, their surety, their head, their salvation,
their righteousness, their wisdom. Do you love that? He's the One. God invested everything, all
of His people in. Do you love that? Do you love
the Gospel? Do you love the truth? Do you love the sound of this?
of the sovereign mercy and grace that's in Jesus Christ. That's
who God loves. If you love this, God must love
you. Oh, His love and His love, perfect
love, cast out fear. If you know that God loves you
in Christ and gave you to Christ and Christ came to do what He
did for you, you need not fear being cast out. We all fear,
even the strongest believer at times fears thinking, I may not
be a child of God. Don't we? And we all know why
we think that. How can I be a child of God and
think the thoughts that I do? and say the things that I do,
and do the things that I do. Well, God had Paul write a whole
chapter, chapter 7, saying those very things. That's what Paul
said in all of Romans 7. And before that, he had David
write along for that. In Psalm 38, I was going to have
you turn there. I still might. Where David said,
My loins are filled with a loathsome disease. Who's going to help
me? And Paul said, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me? And God says, Write this
down, Paul. And there is no condemnation of them in Christ. He that believeth
on his Son hath life. I gave them to my Son. And those
that believe on the Son, He will raise them up at the last day.
And He sent the Holy Spirit. And this whole chapter 8 is about
the Spirit of God sent to those chosen by God, those loved by
God, and the Spirit of God. What does He do? He takes the
things of Christ and shows them unto Him. What does He do? He
convinces of sin. That's the first thing. And He
doesn't quit doing that. He does it all the days of our
life. Convinces us of sin, sin, sin. If you're not a sinner,
you don't need a Savior. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need His righteousness. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need... If you're not sick, you don't need a physician. Christ
said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I didn't come to call
those that are whole. I came to call sinners. To whom? To Himself. The Father
sent it. And the Spirit of God. That's what the Spirit of God
did. Turn with me. Let's hope in God from God's
Word. Let's see what God says. Psalm 31. Turn over to Psalm
31. And one of the sisters, back when we were taking requests,
requested from the psalm, requested this Psalm 31. I'm so glad she
did. It's just wonderful. Psalm 31,
let's look at a few psalms. Hoping God, hoping His love,
hoping His mercy. We hope in God's mercy. We need
mercy. Well, look at Psalm 31, verse
1. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver
me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me speedily. Be thou my strong rock, for in
house of defense to save me. Thou art my rock, my fortress.
Therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me
out of the net they've laid for me. Look at verse 14. He said, I trust in thee, O Lord. Verse 9, I have mercy on me.
I'm in trouble. Verse 14, I trust in thee, O
Lord. I said, thou art my God. Verse
15, my times are in thy hand. Verse 22, I said in my haste,
I'm cut off. Oh, no way. Hold on now. Verse
23, love the Lord. O ye saints, the Lord preserveth
the faithful, plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage. He shall strengthen your heart.
All ye that hope in the Lord. What are you hoping in? Hoping
in His sovereign covenant and purpose and hoping in His sovereign
love and hoping in His mercy and His grace. Look at Psalm
33. Turn over a page. Psalm 33. Look
at this, verse 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. He
spake, it was done. He commanded, it stood fast.
Lord, bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nothing. He makes
the devices of the people of no effect. The counsel, the Word
of God standeth forever. His thoughts, the thoughts of
His heart to all generations. Oh, blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord and the people whom He hath chosen for His inheritance. See, the Lord looks from heaven.
He beholds all the sons of men. Down in verse 16, ìThere is no
king saved by a multitude of hosts. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither shall he deliver any by his great strength, or an
army of a United States of America.î Same thing. Vain thing to trust
Him. ìBehold,î verse 18, Oh, look
at it. The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy. He's going to deliver their soul.
Keep reading. It's better. He's going to deliver
their soul in death. He's going to keep them alive
in famine. Oh, our soul waited for the Lord.
He's our help and our shield. Our heart rejoices in Him because
we've trusted His holy name. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in Thee. Hope in Thee. You want more? There's more. Psalm 38. Told you. Psalm 38. Look at this. David's roaring. He's moaning. He's groaning over his own sinfulness.
Like there's no hope in himself, there isn't in you. None. Zero. Where does David
hope? In the Lord. He says in verse
3, There's no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger.
No rest in my bone because of my sin. My iniquities are over
my head. A heavy burden I can't bear it.
I stink. I'm corrupt. I'm troubled. I bow down. I mourn. Verse 7, I have a loathsome disease. Verse 9, I'm groaning. All I
can do is groan. Isn't that what Romans 8 said? Are you ready with me? Those
who have the Spirit of God groan within themselves. What are they
groaning about? Oh, what's wrong with me? That's the first thing they groan
over more than anything else. Oh, why am I thus? That's what
Rebecca said. Why am I thus? Why is this war
raging within me? Why do I think what I think?
Why do I do what I do? Why do I say what I say? Why
don't I do what I ought to do? Huh? Oh, wretched man that I
am. Help up. If you groan, that's
the Spirit of God in you. That's two men in you. It's two
manner of people in you. An old man and a new man. That
old man's going to serve you younger. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. Scripture says. You're not under
the law. You're under grace. Who? The God of all grace. Who
gave you to Christ. Who is the grace of God. The
gift of God. No condemnation of in Christ.
Gave you to Christ. to keep you. You want more? Here, let me give
you another one. Psalm 39. Psalm 39, verse 4.
Lord, make me to know mine end, the measure of my days, what
it is, how frail I am. My days are as handbreadth. My
age is nothing. Every man his best state's vanity.
Think about it. Stop and think about that. Verse
7. Now, Lord, what wait I for? My hopes in thee. Job said this after all the trouble
he went through. And Romans 8 talks about it.
You're going to suffer. Our Lord said it, in the world
you shall have tribulation. Didn't it? In this world you
shall have tribulation. And then he smiled. He said,
be of good cheer. I have overcome this world. I
sent these troubles for your good. I'm Lord over it all. That's what he's saying. I'm
the one who sends all these things, all according to my purpose for
your good, to the praise of the glory of my grace. You're going
to end up praising me for everything that I sent. That's what he's
saying. Now, Lord, what am I waiting for? My hope is in thee. And
we go through these trials, and David in Psalm 42 said, I'm so
cast down. Oh, my soul, I'm cast down. I'm
disquieted in me. And then the Spirit of God said
to him, hope in God, David. You'll praise him. You ever been
so down, so dejected, so distressed that you thought you'd never
get up again? So sorrowful you thought you'd never laugh again?
Huh? Have you watered your cats with
your bed? Didn't David say that? Huh? Have tears been your meat
day and night? You say, where is God when I
need Him? Did you smile again? Did you
laugh again? Did you? Some of you are smiling
right now. You're thinking about the troubles
you had. You're smiling right now. Why? You hope in God. You hope in
His mercy. You hope in His goodness. You
hope in His wisdom. You hope in His purpose that
God did this. And when it's all over, you're going to say, why
did I doubt Him? How could I ever doubt Him? Our
Lord, as a man, lived by faith. And He was never downcast in
that sense. Never. And He had trouble upon
trouble upon trouble from His birth You're on the cross. And
the only time, he said, now is my soul troubled. The only time
he said that was when he was in the garden. That's when it
started. When God was about to forsake
him. When God was about to put all the sins of all of God's
people on him. And God was about to cast him
out of his presence for the people of God's sake. He said, I'm troubled. But what shall I say? Father,
deliver me from it? No. For this cause, I can't.
troubled himself. Hope in God. Hope in Christ.
Hope the same thing in Christ, for He is God. Hope in His power.
All power is given unto Christ in heaven and earth. All power.
Hope in His love. Greater love hath no man than
this. He laid down His life for His people. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Hearing His love, not that we
love God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to pitch
us with His own blood. Like that ark. Hope in Christ's
love. Hope in His Word. He said, Come
unto Me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. And he that cometh to Me, he
said, I will in no wise, for no reason ever, For any reason
whatsoever, that's what no wise means, for any reason whatsoever
will I cast that person out, ever. He said, all the Father
gives me shall, and I'll never cast them out. Hope in His Word. Hope in His
promises. Sure promises. God who promised eternal life.
God who cannot lie. And this life is in His Son.
And he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the need for
the Son. He that hath faith in the Son.
He that hath the love for the Son. I'm telling you everything
I know right now in this one message. This might be it. You
know all I know is Christ is all. Do you believe? Do you trust
Christ is all? Do you? Hope up. His righteousness. Surely shall
one say, and the Lord have our righteousness and strength. Psalm
71, David said, I'll make mention of thy righteousness and thine
only. He said, save me in thy righteousness.
What's that? It's a who, not a what. It's
Jehovah Sidkenia. It's Jesus Christ our righteous.
Now here's one that says that. Any more? And the Lord have our
righteousness. And in the Lord shall all the
seed of Israel be justified in glory. For whom He did foreknow,
He did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
called. Whom He called, He justified. Nothing you did, everything Christ
did justified you and glorified. You're going to be with Him in
glory, beholding His glory, His blood. As I said, that hope, our hope's
within the veil, that our high priest, am I ringing the bell
here? His fruit, His work, the high
priest, He went within the veil, within the Holy of Holies, with
His own precious blood, offering it up on the mercy seat. And
God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Who? Who?
Whoever you are that need blood, that need a sin offering, that
need a burn offering. Do you? That need a high priest, an intercessor.
And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And the plague
will not destroy you. The plague of sin, or any plague
of sin, it won't destroy you. In fact, death, you cannot die
now. Why? Well, as Romans 8 says,
Christ died. Right? The law satisfied John. The law killed Christ. It can't
kill us. It killed Christ. Do you believe
that? Man, that's a good hope. Hope in the Spirit of God. And
I close with this. I was going to have you turn. Where
was I going to have you turn? Romans. Turn to Romans 15. Romans 15. It's hope in the Spirit of God. Because all who God foreknew,
he predestinated, he called by the Gospel. Christ said, All my sheep. Hear
my voice. That's the gospel call. And 2
Thessalonians 2 says, Oh, thank God has chose us from the beginning
through sanctification of spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
He called you by our gospel. For whom God did foreknow, He
called by the gospel. In Ephesians 1, listen, I know
I'm saying a lot, but everything's coming to my mind. Ephesians
1 says, I want you to know the hope of His calling. Remember
that? Ephesians 1, 19, the exceeding
greatness of His power to usward. His power, what? Power to save
you. Power to keep you. You have no
power to keep yourself. You have no power to do anything.
He has all power. And you've been given to Him.
He said, I want you to know the hope of His calling. Ephesians
1. The hope of His calling. That
if He called you by this gospel, He loved you. He gave you to
Christ. He gave the Spirit to you who
called you. This is how you know you belong
to Him. He called you. And He keeps calling
you. He never quits calling you. How?
By the gospel. Those He doesn't love, He leaves
them alone. But those he loves, he keeps calling. Sister Sarah, all of you have
dogs that are pretty disobedient. Sarah, you don't mind me saying
this, do you? Sarah has a dog she's trying to train. But you
know what? It's a dog. It's a dog. There's no worth
or value in and of itself in it. There's millions just like
it. But you chose that dog, didn't you? You love that dog? It's
obvious. How do you know she loves it?
She called him. He doesn't always come, does
he? Sometimes he does. You going to keep calling him?
Are you going to? Don't mess up my illustration,
sir. Find somebody else. Karen. Caleb. You going to keep calling Caleb?
Is he a perfectly obedient dog? You're messing up my illustration,
too. Who's got a real dog around here? Yes, okay. Kelly, Robin, Jake. Does he call
you every time? Do you come every time? Do you keep calling him? Are
you ever going to cast him out? Here, I've got a million dollars
for Jake. He ain't worth a dime. Here's a million dollars for
that dog. Will you take it? Come on now. Why? He's your dog. How do you know? They called him. And they keep
calling him. And they keep calling him. And
they'll never quit calling him. To do what? Come to me. What's he good for? Just to look
to you. What do you do? You touch him. And you say, good dog. Good for
what? You just take pleasure in it.
You take pleasure in it. Brothers and sisters,
we try and we fail. We come, we leave, prone to wander. We have all these inward struggles,
all these outward struggles. Struggle with sin. The world
pulls at us, and sometimes it pulls us away. But then God,
in great mercy, the Gospel comes and calls us back. And we come
crawling back, guilty sinners, and we call on Him again for
the same thing again. Have mercy on me, O God. According
to Your loving kindness, wash me throughly And what does God do? He speaks
peace to you. He says, Thou art mine. He never quits calling. Let me
just close with this. Romans 15, it says now, verse
4, whatever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning. All the faults, all the failures, all the sins, all
the troubles, all the trials, all the tribulations of all of
God's people from time that began, from Adam and Eve to the last
saint, that you through patience, you're going to wait, wait now,
wait on the Lord. You're going to have comfort of the Scriptures
and hope. And look at verse 13. Now, and
this is tomorrow's verse, okay? Now, the God of hope, fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. Believing what? Believing Him. Hoping in Him. Hoping in His
mercy, that He may abound in hope. There's no hope in this
world. You look around, it just seems
hopeless, doesn't it? Do you hope in God? Do you hope in Christ?
Do you hope in the Spirit of God? Is your hope in Him? Huh? You've got a good hope. Look up. Things are looking up. They really are. Your redemption
draweth now. Hope. Okay. Brother John, you
come lead us in closing here.