You may be seated. Now go to Romans 8, Romans chapter
8, and read with me verses 22 through 25, Romans 8, 22 through
25. We'll look through most of these
verses tonight, but these four verses, Romans 8, 22 through
25, we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within
ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body. For we are saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope. What a man seeth, what hath he
yet hoped for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with Patience. Wait for it. Hope. This message
is a message of hope. Hope for today. Hope for tomorrow. Hope in God. Hope in Christ. Hope for ourselves. Hope for
others. We need this. I need this. This is the one thing needful. Hope. We live by hope. He wrote there, we are saved
by hope. We can't live without hope. We can't live. We're saved by
it. We're saved from sin. We're saved
from despair by hope. Now, this is for God's people.
The book of Romans is written that says to the saints, those
that are called to be saints that live in Rome or America,
And he says, they are those whom, verse 29 says, he foreknew and
predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ and were
called and justified by faith, by the blood of Christ. This
is for God's people, those who are in Christ. Now, those who
are without Christ, strangers to the covenant of promise, having
no hope without God, In this world, I can give no hope to
that person that everything is working for their good. I cannot
say that until it's clear that Christ is their hope. But I urge everyone to call on
the name of the Lord to reveal Himself to us, to you, and that
He would give you this hope in Christ that God's people have.
But to those in Christ, this is a message of hope. Great hope. He said we are saved by hope.
Hope means to believe in or wait for something you expect. Something
or someone that you expect that's not yet in your grasp or you
haven't fully realized. That's what hope means. That's
what he said there in verse 25. If we hope for that, we see not. We hope for that which we've
not yet experienced, not yet fully realized. Now, this whole
chapter goes with chapter 7, because it begins with, therefore,
doesn't it? There is therefore. And the hope
that sinners need, this is the one thing Because
the whole problem with this world we live in, and the problem that
vexes us, and the thing that we need deliverance
from, is sin. All the troubles in this world,
everything in this world, and most especially death, is because
of sin. And we need hope of eternal life.
The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. What hope can we have? What is
our hope? Peter said you need to be ready
to give every man an answer to every man that asks you a reason
for the hope that is in you with fear, with meekness and fear. Hope of eternal life. What is
your hope of eternal life? Why do you hope to be with God? Why do you hope that God will
let you into His heaven? What hope do you have? Where
is your hope? I ask people that all the time.
That's the question I ask them. What is your hope of eternal
life? What is your hope? Some of you are mouthing the
words, Jesus Christ. The hope of sinners, hope for
sinners is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in chapter
7, O wretched man that I am. Only God's people can understand
Romans 7. Wretched man that I am, in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. There is no hope of you or I
being without sin in this world. There is no hope that we will
ever be without sin in this world. But God said, Be ye holy. I'm holy. God said to be in His
heaven, you have to be holy. Well, we can't do that here.
Jesus Christ did it for us. He said, I thank God through
Christ our Lord. And Christ is our hope. If there's
hope in Him, hope of eternal life, which God that promised,
God who cannot lie, God promised us for those who just believe
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says in verse 1, and this
is our great hope, this is our great need, alright? We have
hope, there's hope for sinners in believing and trusting the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Those are in Christ. Hope for
sinners is in Christ. This is where we start, and this
is what this whole book is about. This is why Christ came into
this world. A lot of people would wonder, why do we talk so much
about sin? Why does every message talk about
sin? Let's get on to something else.
For this cause, Christ came into the world. Call His name Jesus. Why? For He shall save His people
from what? their sins. Christ came in this
world to save sinners. As I said, this is all our problem.
This is all our troubles, sin. This is what vexes us. This is
what we just struggle with, war with, until the day we die. And
there's only one hope for sinners. It's in the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Alright? So he says, there's hope for
sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. By Christ in Him crucified. Just
read verses 1-4 with me. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law that is
the condemning, holy law of God that only convicts me of sin
and demands my death. Christ has made me free from
that. Why? Because Christ died on me. And He nailed the handwriting
of ordinance against me on His cross. Fulfilled. Kept. Paid
in full. What's my hope? Christ died.
Verse 3, What the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. You see why He came? For sin.
To be a sin offerer. Condemn sin in the flesh that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. That is Him doing it for us.
To walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. So there's
hope and assurance in Christ and Him crucified. Hope in God's
mercy. Where is God's mercy? In Christ. Where is God's grace? It's in
Christ. Where is God's love? The very last verse says it's
in Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, there's no
hope. It's like that Ark of Noah. That Ark of Noah. Everybody in
that Ark was loved by God. Everybody outside that Ark, God
hated them and He killed them all. And outside of Christ, God
is a consuming fire. God doesn't love everyone, but
He loves those in Christ. Those He's given to Christ. Those
that trust His Son. And those who are in Christ by
faith, they're shut up. They're shut in. And they've
got a good hope, a sure hope, because of Him. All right? There's
hope for those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. A lot of
talk about that today, isn't there? Look at verse 11. It says,
Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you and leads you. Verse 1
says you walk after the Spirit. Verse 4 says you walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. Verse 14 says as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. In fact,
this whole chapter speaks of the Holy Spirit. Let me just
say this a little bit, and I want to give you some hope that you
are led by and dwell in the Spirit and He in you, all right? This
is not for self-righteous, super-spiritual, that is, they think they are,
super-spiritual, self-deceived, spirit-filled, tongue-talking
Christians like they talk about today. Yabba-dabba-doo, I call
them. Fred Flintstone. Super Christians. That's a bunch
of phony. I'm making that up. I'm making
that up. The Spirit of God doesn't make
people talk like babbling idiots. It makes them talk about Jesus
Christ. He makes them talk about mercy.
He makes them talk about grace. He makes them talk about redemption. He makes them talk about the
covenant of grace. Christ, their covenant head.
Their surety. Reconciliation Christ. Blood
and righteousness and sanctification. The Holy Spirit gives them a
new language, alright. One that the world doesn't know
anything about. That the so-called spirit-filled
people don't ever mention these things, which is the language
of God's people. How Christ is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Of God are you in
Christ. These things. This is what the
Spirit of God does. He convinces of sin. He doesn't
make you think you're a super-Christian. He makes you think you're a sinner.
And that makes you need Christ. He convinces of righteousness,
not yours, Christ's righteousness. He convinces of judgment. That
is, if you stand in the judgment someday, faultless before the
throne, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight,
it will be because of Jesus Christ, not because of anything you've
done. That's what the Spirit of God does. He convinces of
these things. And every one of God's people
are completely, wholly, 100% convinced that Christ is all
their salvation. This is what the Spirit of God
does. Are you led by the Spirit? Has he taken the things of Christ
and showed them unto you? Do you see all your hope of heaven
is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone? Then you're a Spirit-filled
Christian. The language of your tongue and
the language of your heart is Christ. That's what a Spirit-filled
Christian is. The Spirit of God takes the law
of God It doesn't make you think you can keep it. It condemns
you with it. It makes you guilty before God. It makes you look to Christ. Behold the Lamb of God that takes
away your sin. It takes the things of Christ
and shows us them and causes a sinner to lay hold of the horns
of the altar, which is Christ. And rejoice in Christ. Worship
God from the heart. Not all this outward stuff. True
Spirit-filled Christians don't need all this stuff to worship
God. God's not worshiped with men's hands. God worshiped from
the Spirit and from the heart and rejoiced in Christ Jesus
and had no confidence. Don't need the flesh. Don't need
choirs, drums, don't need signs and miracles. They just need
the gospel of Christ. That's a spirit-filled Christian. Someone said the more you have
on the inside, the less you have to have on the outside. The less
you have on the inside, the more you have to have on the outside.
You don't need all this stuff. Do it away with it. Just a man
with a Bible preaching Christ. And the Spirit of God takes that
and enables God's people to worship, rejoice and cry. The Spirit of
God does lead in paths of righteousness. He does. What is the path of
righteousness? Jesus Christ. Truth. He's a Spirit of truth. He leads
and guides in all truth. What is truth? Jesus Christ. He'll show you the way. The Holy
Spirit will show you the way. What is the way? Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God makes new creatures. And they think on. This is what
it's talking about, those that mind the flesh. Okay? There was a time. that you didn't
have any thoughts of God, didn't think of God, didn't think of
Christ. There was a time when these things were the furthest
thing from your thoughts. Like he says of many today, God
is not in all their thoughts. They don't think about God. But
now you do, don't you? All the time, don't you? As rarely
a day goes by that you don't think on things of God. Why is
that? In that of the Spirit. See that? Spiritually minded. You weren't before. So let me
give you some hope. Forget all this talk about the
Spirit out there in religion today. Forget those phonies.
This is what the Spirit of God does. This is what the Spirit
of God does. He makes you think on God. Think
on eternal things. Think on Christ and Him crucified. Think on His Word and desire
these things. And He dwells in you. And if
He does, you have hope. You have hope. He's not going
to leave you. And there's hope that sin will not have dominion
over you. Because He said there in verse
11, and this thing we fight with and this thing that we think
is going to bring us down called sin, says no. Verse 11, the same
one that raised up Christ from the dead will quicken your bodies
by His Spirit. And He's going to do away with
this Buy our body and change it. Now, there's hope in the
spirit of adoption. The fatherhood of our Lord, of
our God. Spirit of adoption. Look at verse
14 and 15. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God. And I just told you what it means,
the Spirit of God to lead us. To lead us and guide us into
all truth. The truth as it is in Jesus Christ. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. Didn't Christ say they shall
all be taught of God? And what does everyone that is
taught of God do? Everyone that heard and learned of the Father
cometh unto me, Christ said. They are sons of God. And he
says, you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. That's the law. not bonded, but
have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
You can call a holy God, Father. Why? How? Because Christ came. Because Christ said, I go to
my Father and I go to your Father. Because my Father loves you,
because you love me. That's why, he said. And so there's
hope. in the spirit of adoption. Do
you call on God? Do you? Do you call Him Father? Our Lord said, after this manner,
pray, Our Father, which is in heaven. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 1. Let me read
this to you. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2 says,
To the church of God at Corinth that are sanctified in Christ,
that means set apart, made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord both theirs and ours." Do you call upon God? How do you call upon God? How
do you call upon God? In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right? You can call Him your Father
if you call on Him in Christ. If you call Christ your hope,
if you call Christ your righteousness, if you call Christ your Lord,
You can call God your Father. You've given those a spirit of
adoption. And whosoever shall call shall be saved. Whosoever shall call. If you don't call in Christ,
He won't hear you. But everyone that does, He'll
hear you. Let me ask you this. Do you not feel like a weak and
helpless child, a dependent child, a poor and needy little child,
an ignorant child? You just don't know what to do,
don't know where to go, don't know what to ask for. Do you
not feel like that most of the time? That you ask a mess to
consume it on your own love? You don't know what to ask for?
Well, look at verse 26 and 27. It says, The same Spirit helps
our infirmities. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit helps us. He makes intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Because he that searches
the heart knows what's the mind of the Spirit, and he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. In other words,
we might ask a mess, but it's okay. We have an intercessor. We have a mediator. Don't you
love that verse? And we don't know what we need.
He says we can go to Him with all our needs and call upon Him
in everything that our requests be made known. That doesn't mean
He's going to give us everything. He's going to give us what we
need. according to the will and purpose of God. But most of the
time, do you not just see yourself groaning? Lord, I don't know
what to do. I don't know where to go. I don't
even know myself. Help me. And he goes with groanings
which cannot be uttered. Cannot be uttered. There's some
comfort there. Hope in his fatherhood, the fatherhood
of our God. And then in sufferings, verse
18, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Now, there are many kinds of suffering, different kinds,
that cause us to groan. We're going to talk about that
in a minute. But the chief kind of suffering
that God's people deal with every day, And this is how I started
this out. They suffer with this thing called
sin. They're vexed like Lot and Sodom. Vexes them. Sin in them. Sin around them. Satan, our arch
enemy that vexes us. This is the thing that vexes
us. And we suffer. This is that warfare. Constant
warfare. Oh, we all go through pains,
physical pains and sorrows and this sort of thing, but every
one of God's people suffer constantly with this battle, this war with
sin. And it vexes us. Paul wrote there. Paul went through more physical
suffering than any of us, than all of us put together. But the
thing he suffered with most, he said, a wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me? This is our great need. And then
we suffer for the truth's sake. Verse 35. Look at this. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Tribulation? He starts talking
about suffering. And he's talking about these
things that happen to God's people in this world. Tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. For thy sake, as
it is written, we are killed all the day long. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. wrote about suffering more than
anybody. And if you'll start reading 1 Peter 2-4, and he mentions
over a dozen times suffering for Christ's sake, suffering
for the truth's sake. Every single mention is suffering
for the truth's sake. That's why Christ suffered. So
this is the suffering. And I'm convinced we're going
to go through a lot more than we have up to this point, that
this world is reaching the point where this truth of the gospel,
the true gospel, is going to be hated more than ever. And
you're going to be hated and persecuted for believing it and
preaching it. The truth. If any of you suffer for His
name's sake, oh, blessed are you. Our Lord said, blessed are
you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all
manner of evil falsely against you for My sake, for the truth's
sake. Very few people believe this
gospel anymore. And those that do suffer persecution
for it. They're mocked, they're ridiculed,
they're maligned, they're hated, they're despised for it. Starting
with, and especially, preachers that suffer for it. And this
is the suffering. And the sufferings of this present
time, he said, are not worthy to be compared with the glory.
Are we willing? We are willing, aren't we, with
Noah to say, let them mock, let them scoff. This is the truth. Thank God He revealed it to me.
In the last days, our Lord said, mockers and scoffers mocking
about this Gospel. But the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. Glory. Glory is coming. Look
at these verses 22, and it talks about the manifestation of the
sons of God, the revelation, when the sons of God are revealed.
Verse 21, I love this, when the whole creation, the earth itself,
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. See what it's
talking about? Sin. into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. And that's what we groan about.
The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until
now. And not only they, but we ourselves,
which have the first fruit of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.
Like Paul wrote there in Romans 7, you see, he's continuing there,
who shall deliver me from this body of death? We're waiting
for the redemption of our body, but we're saved by hope. Saved by hope. Hope of the resurrection. What is the resurrection? Who? Christ is the Redeemer.
It's not an event. It's a person. It's not a time. It's a person. Those who are
in Christ are alive. They've already been raised. Quicken. We were dead. So He
is our hope. He's our hope. So we wait. What
are we waiting for? It says we wait for that we see
not, with patience, wait for it. Notice, it is in italics. What are we waiting on, people?
What are we waiting on? Him. We're waiting on Him. We're waiting on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, we're told not to worry about tomorrow, but we
do, don't we? We're told not to take thought for tomorrow,
but we do, don't we? And our Lord is telling us, was
telling us there in Matthew, to live for today. Take no anxious
thought for tomorrow. Be thankful for today. Be content.
You don't know what's going on tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow.
There's going to be enough trouble for tomorrow. Just be thankful.
Be content with such things as you have now. Be thankful. Be
thankful you woke up this morning, His mercies were new, His compassions,
they fail not. And if you're in Christ, everything
is good. Right now, isn't it? No matter
what has happened in the past, no matter what trouble you expect
in the future, isn't it good right now? What we're doing right
now, isn't it good? Why worry? Live for today. Be thankful.
Be content. Yet we do. We worry about our
troubles. And we are, some of us, facing
things that we worry about. My, my, my. I confess to you that I lose
a lot of sleep worrying about various things and people. I
do. We need hope. We need hope to
live today. We need hope that we'll make
it through tomorrow. We need hope that we'll make
it through despair and depression. You know, we lose sleep. Last
night, I lost sleep. I was waiting on the phone to
call Mom. I'm just going to tell it. Dad
was having severe chest pains all day yesterday. And I didn't
get any sleep the whole night. I was waiting on Mom to call. You should have gone to sleep,
shouldn't you? Huh? You should have gone to
sleep. Where are you sitting? It might have been me to go. Hope for today, he said. Hope
in Christ. Hope, everything in His hand,
right now. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
but we do know who holds tomorrow, don't we? So, today is the day of salvation.
And that doesn't just mean eternal, it means temporal. Right now,
we need hope from despair. We need hope we're going to get
a good night's sleep tonight. Why shouldn't we? Trust God. God of all hope. Hope in Christ. Hope in His mercy. Hope in His
love. He loves His people too much
to do anything but good by them. Hope in His mercy. That means
kindness. He's not going to do anything
too severe. Nothing you don't need. Hoping
is grace. You're going to need grace to
face whatever it is you'll face tomorrow. He's promised it'll
be there, no matter how bad it is. The worst news you could
possibly hear, God has promised there's grace for it. We've got
some ladies in here who heard it happen. It happened. The thing you do not want to
face. Is God's grace sufficient? See
there, we've got two witnesses. Hope, okay? Today, right now,
go home, go to bed. We have hope for our prodigal
sons. What's their hope? Prodigal daughters,
what's their hope? What was my hope? What was your
hope for me, Mom? This prodigal son. You've never
seen a wilder one than me. Never. Be glad you didn't know
me then. You wouldn't let me listen to
you now, probably. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe you
would. What's our hope for our prodigal
sons and daughters? The same hope for us. If God
had mercy on us, there's hope. There's hope in His mercy. Go
to bed. There's hope for our little town. I have great hope
for our town that God's not through with this plague. Why? Because
this gospel is still being prayed. This gospel is still being prayed.
The gospel is still here. When God removes His witness,
then it's over, isn't it? We need hope that whatever it
is, it's all going to be good. We know this, don't we? I wish
we knew it and believed it with all our hearts. That all things
work together for good. All things. Even what we think
is the worst thing is for our good. To them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. God's elect.
God's chosen one. God's purpose. Those are in His
purpose. All things work together for
good. We need to hope in God's all-wise, loving purpose, ordered
in all things and sure, predestined, every single thing, predestined
by God. What makes the world mad? They
hear that and it makes them mad. Oh, it makes us exceedingly glad. This is our hope, that everything
is not chaotic, that everything is not by chance or luck. but
according to the purpose of God. God who worked at all things
after the counsel of His own will and purpose. And what is
that purpose? Let me read it to you real quickly.
Read it to you. I'm trying to give you the whole
counsel. I'm sorry. I just got to do it. But Ephesians 1 says,
he's made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his
good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and in earth, even in
him. This is the God who predestinated
according to the purpose of him who works all things at the counsel
of his own will. The Lord has chosen you and put
you in Christ and given you to Christ and sent Christ for you.
God's purpose in creating this world is to the praise of His
Son. God's purpose in sending Christ
is to the praise of the glory of His Son. God's purpose in
saving sinners is to make them like Jesus Christ. God's purpose
in recreating a world and making a new heaven and a new earth
is to populate it with people just like Jesus Christ to the
praise of the glory of His Christ. It's all about Jesus Christ.
This whole shooting match is about Jesus Christ. The purpose
for everything is Christ. And if you're in it, and you're
in Him, you're in that purpose. And it's all good. You're going
to be just like Him. You're going to be with Him.
And things may go somewhat bad at some time, but wait. You'll see. It's all working
together. Like a puzzle. a tapestry, all
the threads that go together. It's like a building with all
the materials that go to make it. It's like a puzzle with all
the various pieces. If you have them all mixed up
and look at these pieces of puzzle, it makes no sense to me. No rhyme
or reason. What purpose could this little
thing have to do with anything? Look at this little piece. What
could this have to do with... I don't see why God did this
this way. Well, hang on, and you'll see
that piece. Put in the whole puzzle and you'll
see the big picture. And it's a face. It's a face. Jesus Christ. So there's hope in His purpose.
There's hope against our enemies. Verse 31. There's hope against
our enemies here in Romans 8. It says, What shall we say then
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? It's hope. Satan's against us. Need not worry. Stronger than
he is on our side. Huh? It's for us. Sin is working
all around us and seems to sometimes have dominion over us, doesn't
it? Doesn't it? Nope. Somehow even that's working
for us. And we've been going through
Genesis, folks. We've been seeing the life of Jacob and all the
sins of all these sorry sons of Jacob and wives of Jacob and
all that they did bringing about the purpose of God. Take comfort. And the world, we're not of the
world. The whole world seems to be against us, doesn't it?
Well, no. God be forced. Who or what can
be against Him? And he goes on to say, if He
delivered up His Son for us, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Satan lays many things to our
charge. The world does too. Y'all are a bunch of hypocrites.
Well, no we're not, but we do act hypocritically at times.
We do act like sinners. We don't act at times like believers,
but Christ is our hope. So who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies sinners. How is that? By the blood of
Christ. By faith in His blood. Who is he that condemneth? The
law can't do it. Even our consciences can't. Satan
tries, but it won't work because Christ died. Yea, he rather is
risen again who is at the right hand of God who also makes intercession
for us. Brother John prayed tonight.
The Lord blessed him, didn't He, to pray tonight. And he prayed
that he was thankful for Christ, our intercessor, who ever lives
to make intercession for us. And like he said to Peter, Peter,
Satan hath desired you. He's against you. Like a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants you, Satan. Peter, you're
out in front of You're out in front. You're a leader. And if
He can take you down, Peter, He'll take a lot of people with
you. What's Peter's hope? What was Peter's hope? Christ
said, that I pray for you. That your faith fail not. What?
What's faith? Trust in Christ. The object is
faith. Cry. So He says there's no condemnation. Isn't that how this chapter began?
Who is he to condemn him? Isn't that how this chapter began? Christ died. He's risen again.
He's also at the right hand of God. And then there's hope of
salvation in spite of anything and everything that comes our
way. Just name something. And Paul seems to name anything
and every possible danger or obstacle or anything that could
possibly take us down to hell or take us out of the kingdom
of Christ, out of the grip of the grasp of our God. Read it.
It says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation or distress We get in distress, don't we, all the
time. Such distress. I do. You do. You hear it. I'm not in distress
right now. Then I came out of it. No, I
didn't come out of it. He brought me out of it. Or persecution. I'll admit, I
don't like to be an odd man out. I don't like people to hate me.
I don't want to be blackballed and cast out. But Paul said, though everybody's
against you, it doesn't matter. Persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, sword, as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all
the day long, ready to die. Counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Wasn't that our Lord? Led as a lamb to the slaughter.
They need to be ready. It's coming today. Now, in all
these things, we're more than conquerors. How? How? Where's the victory? Over
distress, over depression, over fear, over folly. Where is it? Huh? In yourself? In keeping yourself? In praying
through? In mama praying for you? No,
through Him that loved us. See, hope in His Love, hope in
His power, His sovereign power, hope in His mercy, hope in His
grace. We've got a good hope through
grace. It's a sure hope because it's in Christ. Now, I'm persuaded
He says neither death, death's not going to separate us, it's
going to join us to Christ. Nor life, this life, no matter
what happens. Nor angels, that is, devils or
principalities, nor powers, nor things present. Whatever happens
in the world or things to come, no matter how high or now how
low we get, any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see how it all comes back
to Christ? You see where it started? It's therefore now no condemnation
of them that are in Christ. And the very last verse ends
up in Christ. The love of God, the hope for
believers, hope for sinners in Christ. If your hope is in Christ, you're a saved person. It just
remains to be seen. It's hope, but it remains to
be seen. All right. All right. You men
pass out the bread, if you would. And while they're passing it out,
We're going to sing out of Gadsby's hymnal, number 439. We'll sing
it a cappella. 439 out of Gadsby's hymnal. A very good hymn. 439. You know the hymn. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On with the praise of glory Thine My richest gain I count but long
And pour contempt on all my pride, Forbid it, Lord, that I should
bow Saving the death of Christ my God. Oh, the vain thing that charmed
me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands,
His feet, Sorrow and love mingle down. There's such love and sorrow,
O me, and Rich of crown. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months. This shall be the first month
of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a land, according to the house of their
fathers. A land for a house, and if the
household be too little for the land, let him and his neighbor
next unto his house take it for him to the number of the soul.
Every man according to his eating shall make their count for the
land. Your land shall be without lunch, a male of the first year. He shall take it out from the
sheep or from the goats. And he shall keep it up until
the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood,
and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door,
close to the house, wherein they shall eat. And they shall eat
the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and the leavened bread,
and with bitter herbs they shall eat. He nodded it wrong, more
sodden at all of the water, but rose with fire, and gave it his
leg, and with hurtling thereof. Then he shut his eyes, and so
it remained until the morning, and that which remained of it