and unchanging God. That last stanza is awfully good,
isn't it? Thank you, Sherry. The gospel
bears my spirit up. Good news. Of Christ our hope,
a faithful and unchanging God. lays the foundation of my hope
in oats and promises in blood. All right, go to Colossians chapter
1 now. We're going to try to finish
this up tonight, these gospel words. And since we only have
one word to deal with tonight, we should be able to finish. Colossians 1. Let's read verses 1 through 5
again. Colossians 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae or whatever
church, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you
have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth
of the gospel. Hope is the blessed word. We're going to look at tonight,
the subject of tonight's message. I had a lot of difficulty with
this message because there are literally hundreds of scriptures
that deal with hope. And the difficulty was not in
finding something, but in what to leave out and where to go
and where to dwell. Hope. Now, hope. The word hope
means. Desire for an expected and I
want you to turn or go turn to all four or five different passages,
but it shouldn't take too long, but it should be a blessing.
Romans eight Romans chapter eight tells us what hope is. As we said. The definition of
hope. Is desire for an expected end. Something you don't have, something
you greatly desire, but don't have it yet, but expect to have
it someday. For some reason, you have this
hope. And we're going to look at the reason for our hope. And what is our hope? Romans
8. Now, Paul said in his letter to Titus,
before we read this, he said, our hope is this. We have this
hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, had promised
before the world began. So, what we hope for is eternal
life. Eternal life. Every saint, every
believer, greatly desires, remember I told you, hope is something
you greatly desire and expect to have. Every believer, every
saint, greatly desires eternal life. Now, that just doesn't
mean to live forever. That means, well, it means real
life, real life, real life, spiritual life, the life of God, which
is holiness of life. Now, this is the best I can do
with this, but it's the life of God. It's life, Christ said,
more abundant, real life. The life of God. See, God didn't
depend on or have anything material. Before he created this world. But he had life. And perfect
joy and happiness and all of that, so somehow it doesn't depend
on anything material. And it's so eternal life is life
with God. Life with God in Christ. I didn't say God and Christ.
Life with God in Christ. Because that's the God we will
see and dwell with someday. Christ, who is God. Look at Romans
8. Paul tells us about this hope. Now verse 18. If I'm not careful, we'll dwell
here a while, but verse 18 says, I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Because the earnest expectation
of the creature, that's creation, the world, creation, waited for
the manifestation of the sons of God, waits for this whole
thing to be over and God's people to be revealed. For the creature,
verse 20, creation The earth was made subject to vanity. When
God made everything, it wasn't vanity. When God made this earth,
it wasn't vanity. That means empty and useless
and of no value and all that. It had great value. Before sin,
God looked at it and said, this is good. And God enjoyed it himself. God came down and walked in the
garden, and man enjoyed the garden, too, and what made it most enjoyable
was God was with him. And he was holy. So it wasn't
vanity before, but it is now subject to vanity, not willingly.
That is, the earth had nothing to do with it. The animals had
nothing to do with it. But by reason or purpose of God, verse
20, you've got to stay with me to understand it. It's by reason
of God who had subjected the same in hope. Hope of what? a new earth and it will never
happen again to the new one. Because the creation itself shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious
liberty of the children of God. trial, tribulation, pestilence,
famine, you name it, disease, death, pain, groaneth. The whole creation groaneth.
There was no fear of man in animals. On and on. And not only they,
but ourselves also. We which have the firstfruits
of the Holy Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting
for this adoption. to with the redemption of our
body, for we are saved by hope. Hope, this scene is not hope.
What a man seeth, why did he yet hope for? We're saved by
hope. We're saved from sin by this
hope. We're saved from this doomed
world. This world's doomed. It's already been judged by God
and sentenced, just waiting to be carried out. But we're safe
from it, I hope. We're safe from despair in this
sinful world. I hope. I hope. He goes on to say in verse 25,
if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience. We
wait for it. So we're waiting for this expected
end, eternal life. And this is what we desire. We're living with this desire.
We're waiting. the way we hope groaning. He
says. I reckon. That the sufferings
of this present time is just not worthy to be compared with
the glory. Troubles of trials problems and so forth that we
have now is not worthy to be compared with the joy that's
the way the scriptures describe it is unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. Brother gave me this illustration
he said if a dog. Could somehow become a human
being. With all the understanding that the human being had all
the faculties hearing sense of hearing and communication and
all that if a dog became a human being. And heard symphonies and
all the things that he never paid attention to before things
that before might have hurt his ear. If you became a human being
and heard these things and spoke things and saw things and understood
things they never understood before. And then he went back to becoming
a dog. How's he going to describe those things to his fellow dogs?
Can't. That's what the Apostle Paul
said when he went to glory, the third heavens of heavens, he
said, I came back and he said, I heard things. It's not possible
to utter. That's why Paul said, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are just not worthy to be
compared. And our Lord said it in Isaiah 65 that the former
things won't even come to mind. Not be remembered to come to
mind because of the glory that excels. The manifestation of
the sons of God. All right. Our hope is for eternal
life. Now, what is this hope dependent
upon? Where do we get this hope? This
reason? What is our reason for our hope?
Romans 15. Do not a lot of people have some
kind of hope of life after death? Don't they? Don't the Hindus?
Well, they don't have much hope. They hope to come back a butterfly
or something. Honestly, that's what they hope
for. And others, though, don't they hope? The Muslims, don't
they hope? In life after death? Sure they
do. Most folks do have a hope. Their reason is for various things. Where do we get this hope? What's
the reason for our hope? Romans 15. I love this. Romans
15. I already told you God who cannot
promise said these things before the world began and here's where
we get our hope Romans fifteen verse four what things so ever
were written for time or written for our learning that we through
patience that is waiting on God and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. Our hope is in God's word. Get all of our hope. From thus
saith the Lord. It's the written word. Look at
verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. The God of hope fill you with
joy and peace in what? Believing. Believing what? His
Word. That you may abound in hope.
This hope is not just a wish, a wish, a wish, you know, cross
your fingers, hope to die. Rabbit's foot hope. No, no, no,
no, no. It depends on what God has written, what God has said. Totally. We abound and we hope through
his word. Look at Psalm 119. This is where
David got his hope. Psalm 119 over there. And this
is Do you know how often he talks
about hoping in God's Word throughout this song? Many, many times.
Well, let's just look at a couple of them. Psalm 119, verse 49. Psalm 119. David, all of David's
hope. I've told you before that David
never had any miraculous visions and signs and wonders and miracles.
He didn't. Look at this. Here's where David
got his hope. Verse forty nine. He says, Remember
the word unto thy servant upon which thou has called me to hope. David's hope was. On the word of God, what word
books of Moses. Book of Job. What much else written. First and second Samuel. No,
second Samuel wasn't written yet. Ruth, he loved the Word
of God. His hope was in the Word of God. Now, how do we know that this
is God's Word? How do you know? Don't the Muslims
say that their book is the Word of God? Don't the Hindus say
that Bhagavad Gita is their Word of God? Don't the Jews say the
Koran? How do we know this is God's
Word? Well, now this is just a fact. It's a revelation to
his people. It really is. I mean, it really
is. God reveals his word to his people,
and that's why they believe it's his word. It's a miracle. It's a revelation. God doesn't
prove himself to you at first. He just reveals the word to you. That's the fact now. God will
not prove himself to somebody that demands he prove himself.
I don't believe it's God's Word. Prove it. He won't do it. He
won't do it. But to that person who seeks
the truth and says, Lord, show me. I'm ignorant. I want to know
the truth. He reveals it. He reveals his Word. But this
book is not without concrete proof that this is indeed God's
Word. We don't believe it. We don't
have blind faith. Stay with me now. Stay with me.
This is the Word of God. How do I know? How do I know? Let me count the
ways. Many, many ways. Concrete proof that this is God's
Word. Let me just give you a few reasons
or rationale, facts, about this book. This book was written over
a period of 1,500 years. 1,500 years it was being compiled
by 40 different men. Forty different men, no women,
mind you, men. Forty different men. Most did
not know one another. And they did not collaborate
with each other. Sixty-six books written over
a period of 1,500 years by forty different men. And it tells the
exact same story. Now, if you've got four men together
tonight, And each one of them went their
separate ways, and you gave them just a little clue of something
and told them to write a story, and they came back and compared
notes. It wouldn't sound anything like
it. They wouldn't say the same thing.
In fact, you tell them the same story and tell them to write
a story about it, and you won't recognize it from any of them.
You won't agree with it, darn it. Have you ever played that
little game called gossip? I mean the game. I don't mean
practice of actual sin. There's a little game. You've
played it, haven't you? Where you whisper in somebody's
ear or something. Somebody whispers a fact, a statement in the person's
ear, and they whisper it in the next person's ear, and it goes
all the way around the room. And when it gets back to the original
teller, have you ever done that? You ought to try that sometime.
It's unbelievable. There may not even be one word
in that that was in the original. Are you with me, Tammy? Fifteen
hundred years. Forty different men. Didn't know
one another, didn't talk to one another. Tells the exact same
story in detail. What is the story? The Old Testament says somebody's
coming. Every one of them talked about
a person. and described him in great detail and these the time
listen time. Cannot have not will not cannot
destroy this book men have tried to put this book what have been
mass burnings of it by those who hate it. They cannot destroy
circumstances can't do away with tries they may keep men can not
do away with this book. Was it Jeremiah that the king
ripped everything up and burned it? And God just told him again. He wrote it again. He can't destroy
this book because the scripture says, forever, O Lord, thy word
is settled. Where is the master copy of this
book? In heaven with God. How do I
know it's God's word? How do I know it's God's word?
Because of the wisdom of it. I've read a lot of deep books. I've read a lot of deep books.
I read War and Peace just the other night. I was kidding. But I've read a lot of deep books.
What men and women call deep books hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world. After having read some of this
understanding some of it we because we know in part yet what I do
understand and know it makes fully young people let me tell
you. You'll accumulate knowledge in school you'll accumulate knowledge
of facts and so forth. Learn trade you'll learn trade
how to whatever lay stone or build houses or be a nurse or
whatever you'll accumulate facts about various professions and
so forth, but that's not wisdom. That's knowledge of things, and
even that changes with each generation. You know that medicine used to
think, this is how we're going to cure people. We're going to
take the blood out of their body. Honestly, every doctor who people
trusted and went to school to learn these things, they had
their school, didn't they? And these doctors came out and
said, this is how we're going to cure this fellow. We're going
to bleed him. They wouldn't let people wash.
Wash off this protective covering, you know, the germs. Honestly,
wouldn't let fresh hair in the room. Because that's where all
the germs are. And all these things were the
problem. All these things you're going
to accumulate in school. Sarah, you're going off to higher learning. Learn what you will and go where
you will do it, but it's just accumulated facts that way man
sees it. Wisdom is to know God. Wisdom is to know God, and there's
only one place you can know God, find out God. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world because the world in general God's not
in all their thoughts. You're going to study things,
but God's not going to be one of them. Not the God Bible. Wisdom
is to know God. How do I know this is God's Word?
Because of the wisdom of it. How do I know it's God's Word?
Because of the power of it. This Word, and I can stay right
here a long time, this Word is the power of God. It takes dead
people and raises them. It takes blind people, gives
them sight. Deaf people, gives them hearing.
It takes sons of devils and turns them into sons of God. It takes
dirty, vile people sitting on a dung heap and raises them to
sit among the preachers. It doesn't change life. It gives
life, the power of it. I haven't felt the power. That's why I said it's a revelation. How do I know it's God's Word?
Because of the beauty of it. Beauty of it. This is a holy
Word of God. The beauty of it. Oh, I could just camp right here
because of the holiness of it. Holiness of it. It's holy. The truthfulness of it. God's
biographies of men. It's absolutely truth. It reveals what we've said before. We've laughed at the thought
of how Noah, you know, probably Lord, don't put that in there,
please. Don't put that in there about me getting drunk, please.
He might have thought that, but the Lord did. The Lord is the
word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. The word of God, the eye of the Lord, the word of God
is sharp as a two edged sword pierces the word of God reveals
all things. All things are naked and open
for the eyes of him with whom we have to do what I can. This
exposes everybody and everything. God's word exposes everyone,
every thought, every so-called knowledge and wisdom and so forth.
Men have this word will reveal whether or not it's true or not. The holiness of the truthfulness
of the complexity of. The mystery of it. the marvel of it. This is God's
Word. It's as relevant today in 2006
A.D. as it was 2006 B.C. Just as relevant. If you love God's Word, you'll
love what I'm saying right now about it. This Word transcends
time, culture, class, age. It meets the needs of lawyers
and laborers. It meets the needs of doctors
and dishwashers. It meets the needs of the high
and the low, the rich and the poor, the old and the young,
male and female. It meets all their needs. Doesn't
matter where they are, where they're from, who they are, how
old or whatever, it meets their needs. This is God's Word. Amazing,
marvelous, miraculous, glorious Word of the living God. But as
I said, I can't prove that to you. God must reveal it to you. One
day he must open your ears to hear his word. This is his voice.
And he said he breaks the cedars and causes the hens to calve
and so on and so forth. How do I know it's God's word?
Because I know it's God's word. Because he's spoken to me. Not
out loud, but right here. We hope in God's word. We expect
to see, we expect to experience exactly what God has promised.
What God is written, we expect, I expect this is my desire. One
thing about desire to the Lord, and that's what I'll seek after,
and that's exactly what I expect to get. Why? Because God promised
it, cannot lie. Thus saith the Lord. And that's
where I'm building my... Look at Psalm 33 that we read
a while ago. What do we hope What was our
hope built on Psalm 33? Did you catch it with me? If
you need it, you did. Psalm 33, look at it. One thing we know for sure from
God's word, and we wouldn't know this if God hadn't revealed it
from his word, is that, and we know it from experience too,
But this world we know is a simple place full of simple people and
God's wrath is clearly revealed from heaven against all of it.
And we see very clear. We see it all around. God's people
do. Saints do. Clearly see all the judgments
and so forth. The wrath of God clearly revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness. Men receive the just recompense
of their sin. We see it happening. And we see
this thing drawn to a close. Those who have their eyes open,
their heart open. By the Word of God, see very
clearly that God is drawing this thing to a rapid end, a rapid
close. There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever. Where do you know? How do you
know? Well, not just these things, but God's Word. You see, these things, these
scriptures say it. God said that they fulfill the
things that God wrote. They condemn themselves by fulfilling
it. God is going to destroy this
planet. Even modern man believes that
there's going to be some kind of, what is it? I've already lost track. Global
warming. Even modern man just believes
it's going to end somehow. Atomic bomb, global warming or
something. Why do they think that? It's written on the heart. God said
that even the Gentiles who have not the law or a law unto themselves
have written on their heart. God convicts them through their
heart. What's right and what's wrong. And they fear it. Somewhat. Don't fear God. They fear the
end. But God, and God's going to destroy
this world full of, to Him, wicked inhabitants. This place is a vile place to
God Almighty. Yes, it is. But God is merciful. God has spared many down through
time. God has promised to spare a multitude
more of guilty sinners, just like Adam, just like Lot, Jacob,
David, Mephibosheth, Mary Magdalene, Simon, thief on the cross, God
has spared many. Every one of them asked God for
mercy. Every one of them. I'm here to
tell you tonight that every human being that's ever asked God for
mercy because of their sin has received it. God's going to destroy this place.
because it's bound. But God is rich in mercy, and
every single human being that's asked God for mercy has received
it. And once they received it, endures forever. And those in
heaven right now, multitudes which no man can number, are
glorifying God for His mercy. And that while they lived on
this earth, what they hoped in Their whole hope of being with
God in heaven someday was in His mercy. This gospel, this good news,
is for sinners. Guilty, hell-deserving sinners. Rotten, no-good sinners. Those
who are filled with a loathsome disease. Guilty. who do not excuse
themselves, who do not justify themselves, who condemn themselves
and justify God in doing so. And they all ask God for mercy
against them. Spare us, Lord. And every one
of them, receive it. What's my hope? Mercy of God. Look at Psalm 33, verse 18. It
says, The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. How
do I know it's the last days? There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Especially in religion. It's
worse. Robin, religion is worse than
the ungodly out there. They're blaspheming God to his
face. They don't fear him. They use
his name like... But God's mercy is upon them
that... The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him. upon them that hope in his mercy. The eye of the Lord. What's the
eye? The eye of love. The eye of providence. The eye
of kindness. The eye of pity. The eye of compassion. The eye of mercy. It's upon them
that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul. Are you reading it
with me? From death. Keep them alive in famine. Oh,
he says down in verse 22, Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us
according as we hope. We hope in God's grace, God's
grace, His mercy and His grace. We've already looked at grace.
What is grace? Well, you're saved by it. This revelation is a gift. Lot
found grace. Lot was... Lot found grace, says
the Lord. Lot lingered, it says, with the
Lord being merciful to him. Took hold of him and pulled him
out. Pulled him out of Sodom. See, I hope in God's mercy He'll
pull me out someday. I'm lingering. God, pull me out. That's my hope. He'll pull me
out. Noah found grace. Noah found
grace. You know, he's full of doubts,
and for Jacob found grace. By grace, you say? Grace. My,
my, I had so much on this. God is gracious, God of all grace. He giveth more grace. We have
a scripture that says, we have a good hope through grace. See, it's by faith, by grace,
and that through faith, that promise might be sure to all
to see. Let me tell you, just like all
who have asked God for mercy, no matter how guilty they were,
they've received it, and it endures forever. And everyone who needs
grace, everyone who has asked God to save them by His grace,
they've received grace. They've been saved by His grace.
Everyone. But there's something more. Does that scare you? You see, our hope is not just
in a book. Stay with me now, this is the
climax. This is to sum it all up. Everything I just said is
going to be summed up in one thing. Our hope is not just in a book.
I don't hope in this book. Our hope is not in a belief.
in a doctrine. Doctrines of grace. My hope is
not in the doctrines of grace. Our hope is in a living person. There's all the difference, not
in the world, all the difference in salvation. Our hope is in
a living person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope is in him. He is our
hope, the God man. But that one who came down here
2,000 years ago was none other than God. Isn't that what Isaiah
said in Isaiah 25? Our God, he'll save us. This
is our God. We've waited on The God-man, our Lord and Savior,
is our hope, the one who came from God and told us all things.
Isn't that what that woman at the well said? She said, when
the Messiah has come, he'll tell us all things. It's a revelation. And the Lord,
the person, his Word, he said to that woman at the well, he
said, I am. And one who came from God told
us all things, revealed all things to fulfill all things for the
one who came from God. He's called scriptures, calls
him the hope of Israel. Hope of Earth, we sing that song,
hope of Earth and joy of heaven. It's our hope. He is our hope
right now. He is our hope. What's my hope?
That this Christ right now is in heaven. My Savior, my Lord, my Master,
my Intercessor, my High Priest. He's my hope. Now, it's not a
book. It's a person. And how I know
that this is God's book, God's Word, is because it told me all
about Him. And I see Him in it. See, He
is the Word of God. He said we hope in the Word of
God. He is the Word of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelled
among us, and we beheld His glory. as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. I'm not going to hug up to this
book when I go to my deathbed. I'm going to have to be under
some everlasting spiritual alarm. Somebody's going to have to hug
me. And he promised. He said, He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do not taste of death. He won't
even taste like that. I don't know where we get these
old songs. You know, I got the cold river of death and the lonesome
valley and all that. The scriptures don't say that.
Christ doesn't say that. His word doesn't say that, Sherry.
It doesn't say we're going to have to go through this cold,
horrible thing at the end of our day. Not at all. He giveth
his beloved sleep. It's going to be like falling
asleep in his arms. Those babies do not dread falling
asleep in their mother's arms. It's just absolute joy and peace
to them. And so will we. He's promised.
He's promised. That one, he's the hope of Israel,
the hope of earth and joy of heaven. The hope of earth, of
those on earth right now, the saint and the faithful in Christ,
is right now the joy of heaven. He's not their hope. He's not
their hope. He's not Ellen's hope. He's her experience. I hope to
see. She does. I hope to hear his
audible. I want to hear him actually speak
to me. She does. I want to see his face. She does. I want to feel his arm around
me. She does. I want to hear him say unto me,
I am thy salvation. She does. I hope, you see, my hope is in
Him. The one who came to this earth
miraculously without seed, the one who lives without sin, as
my law keeper. You know, there's a lot of people
who hope to get to heaven by keeping the law. A lot of people. That's not my hope. My hope's
in the person who did it for me. All my hope's in him, that
he kept it. See, by his knowledge, shall
my righteous servant justify me? Ain't that your hope? I told you about going through
that town one time and speeding, and I never did see a sign. And
they caught me for speeding. I said, I didn't see the sign.
I looked right back there. I didn't see it. It doesn't matter.
You're guilty. And we've broken every law in
it, even the ones we don't know about. He knows. He wrote it. And he kept it.
The one who came, the one who died. Right? Everybody's going to die. Unbelievers. Sinners are going to die because
of their sin. They'll be separated from God someday because of their
sin. Not me. How can you say such a thing?
Christ died. Is that your hope? It's not in the
doctrine. My hope's not in the doctrine
of particular redemption. It's in a particular redeemer.
It's in a person who died. But no, I wouldn't do him any
good if he just died. Mohammed died. Confucius died. Buddha died of obesity. It's cholesterol. Something. Our Lord died. He laid down his
life. He didn't have to. Nothing killed
him. He laid down his own life. But here's my hope. He rose from
the dead. You know, the whole story, the
whole preaching, all the preaching throughout the Book of Acts,
every time the Apostle Paul stood up to preach, this is what he
preached. There's a man risen from the dead and seated on the
throne of glory right now. That's that Jesus he crucified.
He's risen. And he quoted psalm after psalm
to say he didn't leave his holy one to suffer corruption, but
he's right now seated. This is the message that convicted
three thousand souls at Pentecost. That one you killed, that Jesus
of Nazareth, you saw him killed, blood, all the blood out of his
body, taken down from him and put in a grave and three days,
laid in that grave. He's not dead. He walked out
of that grave. How does that give me hope? It proves that everything he
said is so. He kept saying this over and
over again, and he kept saying it, didn't he, to his disciples,
they're going to take me and they're going to kill me, but they're going
to do what God determined to be done, or they're going to
kill me, but three days I'm going to rise again. And they were
afraid to ask him. And every one of them, Stan,
every one of them said, we saw him, we handled him, we touched
him with the life, he didn't die. He did die, but he didn't
die. And this is what he says in Revelation, he says, I am
he, he that was dead, but lo, I live. See, Jeanette, our hope's
in a living. That's why it's called the living
God, the true God. That's why we don't worship some
figure or some Jesus hanging on a cross. We worship the living
Lord. The one who died as my lamb,
my sin offering, my substitute, but now is risen, proving that
he's who he said he was, who the scripture says he was, proving
he, and he went back to glory and entered into the holy place
of Baal, not without blood. Just like the Old Testament said,
he did. He went into that holy of holies, not without blood. And the only priest, Brother
Dan Parks, priest down in the island, he's the only priest
that ever sat in the house. I will have him up here and I
will let him preach that message, have him preach that message.
I'm going to order him. He sat down with the right hand and
where he ever lives, where he sits, like intercession for those
who come to God by him, he rose, he ascended to heaven, sat down
on the throne and he said, but he said, now he said to his disciples
right before he went to the cross, he said, I go to prepare a place
for you. You believe in God, believe also
in me. I am God. And I'm going to prepare
a place for you. The way he had to go was through
the cross, through his blood. We wouldn't get there except
through his blood. He had to take his blood to that mercy
seat. You know, there's no real mercy seat there. He didn't pour
his blood on any mercy seat. He is the mercy seat. You see,
it's the person. We use those figures because
we're just ignorant. I mean, we just That's the only
way we can describe it. He is the mercy. He doesn't have to go through
some transaction with God, he is. Because he lived, Christ
said, because I live. God does not look at the righteousness
of Christ to see if I'm one of you. You listen to me. He looks at
Christ, my righteousness. God does not look at a legal
transaction to see if I'm one of his. God looks at a person. God doesn't have to look through
a book to see if my name's there. That's all for us ignorant people.
He's got our names written on his heart and the palm of his
hands. This is no legal transaction. This is a person. with people,
like the high priest of old had names on his shoulders and on
his breastplate. Christ has his people on his
shoulder and in his heart. You don't have to look them up.
You don't have to look at a book to see, oh no, that's just for
the sake of indoctrination. God looks at his son as he is. The one who is coming again to
receive us unto himself, our hope. You've got to look at this
in closing, okay? Hebrews 6. We're going to have
a little get-together in a minute, but this is our fellowship. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with the Son. This is it. This bread is a lot
better than what you're going to eat downstairs. That's going
to go out in the draft. This is going to stay with you unto
eternal life. This food, oh, it's... Hebrews 6. Our hope is
a person, the living Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Hebrews
6. Look at this. Verse 11 says,
We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope unto the end. Now, you think I have
just full assurance, don't you? I mean, you do. You think I've
got just a strong hope, don't you? Act like, preach like I
believe this. Or him, believe him. Do I? My hope is the same as yours. I don't have a better hope than
you do. I got it from the same place you did. I don't have any
more assurance. I'm not going to be more saved
than you are. I want you all to have the same,
the full assurance of this hope under the end. Full assurance.
You can have full assurance if all your assurance is in Christ. Say, I don't believe I know enough.
Then you've missed it. Do you know that Christ is your
hope? That's it. That's it. We're not saved by what we know.
We're saved by who knows us. We're saved by who knows us. He's going to claim us. Peter
denied Him, didn't he, Kelly? The Lord can't deny Himself.
See, that's my hope. He's my hope. See that? I may
get Alzheimer's when I'm 80 years old and forget everything I ever
learned by the Gerald Stoniker. Your granddad, he doesn't know
anybody. You could say something to him
about the Bible. What do you know what the Bible is? What's
his hope? That there's somebody who's going
to remember him. He doesn't remember anything,
but there's somebody who can't forget him. You see that? The smallest child that hopes
in Jesus Christ It's just to say this is strong enough. We've got a good hope. And I desire that every one of
you show the same hope, a full assurance of hope unto the end.
Don't leave this gospel. It's your only hope. That's what
Colossians said. Don't leave it. You are without
hope. Look at verse 18 through 20 of
it. And it's about two immutable things. We've already looked
at this. Which is impossible for God to lie. We have a strong
consolation. Who fled for refuge and lay hold
upon the hope set before us. Lay hold upon what? We're not
going to go up and lay hold on a book or a doctor. We're going
to lay hold on a person. What was Mephibosheth's hope?
Not on what? It was in that merciful man on
that throne that knew him. then made a covenant with his
daddy concerning him. And before Mephibosheth could
say a word, he spoke his name. Didn't he, John? Mephibosheth.
And from then on, Mephibosheth thought, I ain't looking up.
I've got a little hope. And the more he knew David, John laid hold on a person which
hope, look at this, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. What
is this hope? Which hope? What is it? Well,
it's it entered into the veil. It is him. That's what John said,
it's, that's, holy thing. He, the forerunner. for us is
in it, even Jesus, a high priest, forever, after the order of Melchizedek. He's our hope. I couldn't preach
a better message than you. I really couldn't. See, what things were written
were written for our learning, that we, through patience and
comfort of the Scripture, might have hope. And God, we hope for
eternal life, that God who promised before, God who cannot lie, promised
before the world began. And what he promised was it all
would come unto him by Jesus Christ. My hope, the Word of God. My hope, my hope in God's mercy,
God's grace. My hope, my hope in God's love. Whoever God loves is forever.
He loves them to the end. He says I hope is in Jesus Christ. Crucified risen seated coming
again eternally. OK. We're going to go downstairs
now and have a little. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. We're going to go ahead and get
started. We're going to go ahead and get
started. We're going to get started. We're going to go ahead and get
started. We're going to go ahead and get
started. I don't know if I'm going to
be able to do it. I don't know if I'm going to be able
to do it. Thank you. Okay. you Thank you. you Thank you very much.