Let's open our Bibles to the book of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5. in the first two verses of this
chapter. It says, of the times and the
seasons, Bradbury, if you'll note about the three or four
times he tells us to whom he's speaking, Back there in chapter
4, verse 13, I wouldn't have you ignorant brethren, you see
that concerning devilish slavery. Here in chapter 5, verse 1, of
the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need, I write unto
you. Then down here in verse 12 of
that same chapter 5, he says, and we beseech you, brethren,
that you know them which labor among you." So this is not written
to just anybody in general. This is not written to the whole
world. It's written to believers, to folks like you. I mean, we
gather on a Wednesday night and worship God, and praise His name,
and call upon Him, and rejoice in His Word. This is just rather
believers. And so he says, of the times
and seasons, brethren, you have no need, I write unto you, for
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord is so coming
as a thief in the night. He says, you have no need that
I write to you concerning the time of the Lord's return. No
man knows the day or the hour when Christ is coming. Not even the angels of God, Christ
said, but the Father knows. at the times of cease and desist,
the signs of the times, the times of the signs. It's not necessary
that I write to you about that over and over and over again.
He's not neglecting the return of the Lord. He's not neglecting
the preacher. He's just saying, you know he's
coming. That's what he says down here in verse 2, because you
yourself know perfectly that the Lord may come at any time.
Our Lord Jesus Christ used this, he cometh as a thief in the night,
when it's least expected, when he think not that he'll come,
that's when he's coming. If he knew when the thief was
coming, he'd be waiting on him at the door, you know, he wouldn't
get in. Our Lord's coming is like unexpected, and by most
people, and unanticipated, and the minute he's here, He's coming. He's coming again. But Paul is
saying to them, I don't need to keep reminding you of this,
because you know Christ said, I go to a prepared place for
you, and if I go to a prepared place, I will come again. I see it coming myself. And when
he said to them, the angels, the last, the last thing they
said when our Lord was called up to heaven, he said, He's coming
back. The same Jesus. If you've seen, taken up into
heaven, she'll so come in like manna. Clouds will receive him
and the clouds will produce him. He's coming in the clouds with
a shallow voice of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet.
He's coming back. But there's no reason for me
to write to you about it. You know he's coming. Back there
in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9, this is interesting. He said
the same thing about brotherly love in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9,
as touching brotherly love, you need not that I rise again. You
mean we shouldn't preach all this, right, about brotherly
love? Yes, but you don't have to keep
all of them, because people know we're supposed to love each other. St. Francis said, you know we're
supposed to love each other. That's what you know. Christ
said, if you don't love your brothers, you don't love me.
You're supposed to love one another like I love you. So, that's what
he's saying about the return of the Lord. He said, don't leave
them. Talk about times and seasons, because you know perfectly well
he's coming back. But verse 3, look at this. And
when they go south, he's not talking about you, he's talking
about they, folks out in John's area, the world, natural men. When they say peace and safety,
that's what natural men say all the time. Peace when there is
no peace. Peace and safety. and crowd peace
and safety. Dr. Rich Young Brewer, he said,
so, take it out of ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Now has
any good laid up for me that you got plenty of time, plenty
of time. So don't be alarmed. And that's
what the natural man says. He says, I've got plenty of time.
for any time, in certain destruction, so as yesterday. Well, the guy
really went to work in the morning. I haven't seen him for many hours,
thousands of hours. Sudden destruction comes upon
him as a woman, suddenly, she's waiting for a child nine months,
and she goes over that word, and suddenly, a child is coming.
And suddenly Christ is coming. He shall not escape. But brethren, you're not in darkness,
verse 4, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You're
not in darkness. You've translated out of darkness
into the kingdom of God's dear Son. You walk in the light as
He is in the light. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in your hearts, given you the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
You're not in darkness. You know the Lord's coming, and
that's one of the parts of God's elect. They know He's coming,
and they're looking for Him. That's one of the parts of God's
elect. They look for Christ, they leave
on Him, they wait for Christ, and they rejoice with expectancy
that He's coming back. Let me show you that back here
in chapter one of this same epistle. There's several arcs of God's
elect here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. There's several, several
characteristics. First of all, in verse 4 of 1
Thessalonians 1, he said, you brethren, knowing brethren, here
we are again, the brethren, Calvin and Philippians, knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. And then he gives about five
reasons why he knows they're elect. The first reason, his
first five, he said, our gospel. I know you're God's elect because
our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but it came in
power. You didn't hear the gospel as a doctrine, or an argument,
or a religious ritual. You heard it in power, the power
of the Holy Spirit, in power. dynamite, the gospel, Judas,
dynamite of God, the power of God, the eternal life. And then secondly, verse six,
he said, The second reason I know you're God's elect is you became
followers of us in the Lord. You began to follow the Word. You began to follow the Lord.
You began to follow those who preached Christ, glorified Christ,
and identified with people who loved Christ. And then the third
reason I know you're God's elect, verse 7, you became examples
to all them that believed. You became an example in your
home. And in your office where you
were, you were different. Your life was different. Your
conversations were different. Your attitude was different. Your conduct was different. Everything.
Both noticed it. They noticed the difference between
you. Because Christ makes a difference.
He changes the person's attitude, conduct, and conversation. Totally
different. You became examples. Examples
to your family. examples to your neighbors. And
then in the next place he said, I know you guys are there, because
verse eight he said, from you sounded out the word of the Lord,
not only where you live, but in other places you became a
witness. I tell you when a person meets the Savior, he's got to
have somebody else around him. That fellow, that demoniac that
our Lord He'll cast demons out, I think, and he won't follow
the Lord. He won't go with Christ. He'll say, I'll go with you.
Christ says, no, you go home. You go home. You tell him what
the Lord has done for you. I bet that's the first thing
he did, too. He walks in and says, this is me. I got clothes
on. I live a right mind. I see the
Lord. He did a work of grace for me.
They couldn't shut Him up. He wanted to tell them about
what the Lord had done for us. And said, He can do that for
you. Yes, He can. And then the next
thing about them, He said in verse 9, The lady of the stair
shall with us what manner of entering can we have to you and
I. You turn to God from your idols. He turned to God from
idols to serve the living and serve God. That's another mark
of an event. One of God's events. Don't worship
idols. You worship the living God. Call upon the living God. Worship
the idols of religion, and the idols of ritualism, and works,
and ceremony, and those things. You worship the living God. And
then here's the last, and this is what I want to point out to
you, and you're waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised
from the dead, even Jesus Christ, who delivered us from the wrath
of God. So, believe me, that's one of
the marks of the LA. that they're looking to Christ,
and the respect that's in wait for Him, and He's coming back
to fulfill all things and promises in regards to His kingdom. So
He says in the first quote, "...whether you're not in darkness, and that
they still may overtake you as a thief, you're children of light."
Children of the light. And today, we're not on the night,
we're not in darkness. We're awoken in the light of
the son of God. God has commanded the light to
shine on darkness and to shine in our hearts. Give us the light
and knowledge of the glory of God. The glory of God is within
us. The glory of God is His cousin.
The glory of God is the kingdom of His Son. The glory of God
is the glory of His people. Christ said, the glory you've
given me, I'll give to them. We're looking forward to that
glory. That's the glory of God. Therefore,
look at verse six. Therefore, let us not sleep as
debauchers. Let us watch and be sober. For
they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken,
are drunken in the night. Now this reference to sleep and
to drunkenness is a mind condition. People who are asleep are not
aware of reality. They may be dreamers, they may
be nightmarish people, they make a lot of ridiculous things going
on in their mind, but they're not alert and awake to die. And
the reality is that people who are drunk are just drunk on the
whines of the world. They're drunk on the food of the mind. They're out
of their minds. Completely out of their minds. So what it's saying here is that
we're children of the dead and we're alert to the glow of your
thoughts. And we're not asleep like the
rest of the world. They're asleep. Their mental
condition and mind condition is one that has forgotten God.
They're not interested in God. They're not interested in his
will, not interested in his word, they're not interested in his
wisdom, they're not interested in his kingdom. They're just
asleep. Because the folks you're working
with are just assumed to these things. They're not... You know,
the pastor here is talking about the things that are happening.
And you see all the handling of God and all that. You see
the power of God and all that. You see the working of God and
all that. They don't. They don't see God in anything,
because they're sleeping. You see what he's talking about
here? They that sleep are asleep in the night, the darkness of
sin, and the slavery of Satan, and the bondage of all that we
know. They're asleep. They're asleep. Awake, thou that sleepest, but
they're asleep. They're not interested in God.
Folks that are drunk are drunk on the things of the world. They're
drunk on fleshly desires. They're drunk on sensual things. They're drunk on carnage talks. They're drunk on terrorism. They
just, the folks of our world, out of childhood, are drunk on
the things of this world. They're just taken up with it.
They're so silly about it. They're stupid and foolish about
it. Just like a staggering drunk,
you know. He's having a good time, he thinks.
He thinks. A man told me the other day,
I have a steel mill, the men, and you men working in the public
works know this is true. He said, when they break for
lunch, those men there, now there's just some men working out there
that, they don't buy food. Men, at least, naturally, they're
sharp-kneed and they can make steel. They can build things,
they can do things with their heads up. But they're talking
the world. And he said, all they talk about
is about three or four things. They're conversations about sex,
money, politics. for their plans for the future.
That's what they're talking about. God's not mentioned. Life's values
are not mentioned. The truth of the gospel's not
mentioned. They're drunk on this stuff,
just absolutely drunk on it. He's warning the brethren here.
He said, now don't, verse six, let us not sleep as they do,
forgetting God. Let's watch and be sober. For
they that sleep, sleep in the darkness by me singing. They that get drunk of it, drunk
in the night of revelry and sensual things in the world. But let
us, here we are, who are of the day, us who are of the day, enlightened
in the things of God, let's be sober, let's be serious. Turn to Philippians, men. Let
me show you something over here in Philippians chapter four.
Philippians chapter four. That just speaks so good. That
word is serious in mind and heart about life, about God, about eternity, about His kingdom. Philippians four verse seven.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your heart and minds, your heart and minds through Christ Jesus."
Finally, brethren, what sort of things are true? What sort
of things are honest? What sort of things are just?
What sort of things are pure? What sort of things are lovely?
What sort of things are good reports? If there'd be any virtue,
if there'd be any praise, think on the same, consider the same,
stare at the same, reflect on the same. This is the place of
the mind. It's not to be on the word or
the materialism and the sensuality and all this finality and flesh
and our big claiming and all of it. This book we think about these
things. That's for the drunken people.
That's for the people who don't know God. And I've selected four things
that I believe that we need to be much, much sober and seriously
reflect on. Four things. All day, all day,
every day. These four things. Now, here's
the first one. We need, thus, thus of the day,
we should reflect on, first of all, on what we were, what God
did, and what we are now. That's the first thing. What
we were, and what God did. and what we are now. And that's
in Ephesians 2, that's Luke 3, to tell the full story here,
what we were, what God did, and what we are now. Listen. And
you, verse 1, Ephesians 2, you have been quickened, who were
they? You were dead. I was dead. I was in a religion,
but it was dead enough. But the old man, he was dead.
The graveyard was dead enough. We were dead in our trespasses
and sins. And in time of pleasure, we walked
according to the course of this work, according to the principle
of power of the air. The spirit did not work upon
the children of disobedience. We were motivated by satanic
powers, demons, and devils. Among whom we all had our conversation,
our citizenship, our behavior, in the lust of our flesh, just
like those other fellows at the table. Fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, that's all we were interested
in, all we talked about, all we pursued, and we were by nature,
by birth, by nature, children of man. I thought God loved His
people on the foundation of what He did, but by nature they were
children of God, even as others. No difference in you and the
worst fellow that ever lived is birth and nature. God made a difference. He put
a difference in you and the Jews. He put a difference in you and
the Republic. He put a difference in you and
Judas, but the difference was in Christ, not in you at that
time. You were a scallywag. That's
what we were. No good, no good. None good at all. But God, oh, not but you, and
not that the preacher came to town, or it wasn't my mother
praying for me, or but I turned over a new leaf, but I was lucky.
No, but God. You were walking around incessantly,
and you kept saying that. And if you lived too long, you
wouldn't say that. But God, watch him, who is rich in mercy for
his great love for everything he loved us. You didn't love
him, you loved yourself. Thank God. Even when we were
in this terrible condition, dead in sin, He quickly thus began
with Christ. How gracious that He raised us
up out of the mire of clay and sand. He made us sit together
in pivoted places in Christ Jesus. And in ages to come He might
show that He might show what you did and serve Him on this
earth. Not that He might show the great
riches you did. Not that He might show that you're
different. No, that He might show the riches
of His grace. He's the reward, and you're the
trophy of His grace. That's Christ. through Christ
Jesus. And what are we now? By grace,
He saved us through faith. Not in honor of His service,
as a gift of God, not in worship, as King Man should boast. What
are we? We're His work machine. Creating
Christ Jesus. Good. Good. The glorious trophy
of His grace. He made me what I am. We need
to think about that. He could have passed us by. He
could have left us alone. You could be wandering out there
instead of one of those in here. That's right. Except that he
regrets it. That's the way you need to think
on that. The second thing we need to think
on is this. We need to seriously reflect
on the glory of Christ compared to the bastards of this world.
You think about this all the time. that reflect on the glories
of Christ compared to the bandages of this world. I'm telling you,
nothing in this world is permanent. It's all temporary. It's all
fading away. The fashion of this world is
fading away. Don't hold too tight to it. It's
got to come. And it's not worthy to be compared
with the glory that's waiting on us. But he calls it so, it's
not, not fitting, he puts the same sentence. You know that,
over here in Romans chapter eight, listen to this, Romans chapter
eight, verse uh, verse sixteen, Romans chapter eight, verse sixteen. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirits, we're children of God. You know if we're children
of God, we're heirs of God? Heirs, heirs of God, we've joined
heirs to Christ? What's His, is ours? If so, then
if we suffer with Him, we'll be glorified with Him? I reckon
that even the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with that glory which shall be revealed in us. This,
this is, this, compared to His glory. I tell
you Moses, Your pastor preached on this. One time I heard it
on tape. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. You may remember the message.
Some things Moses refused and some things Moses cherished.
Because Moses was a man whose heart was enlightened by God.
Look at Hebrews 11 verse 24. I think Moses, when he was coming
to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh. You know
what that man had in 40 years old? It's like the fella said,
he had the world at the table on a damn hill full, you know.
He had everything. He was taught, trained in the
best schools. He had all the money he could
possibly need. All the honor, fame, power, prestige
of Egypt. But he refused it. And he chose
something. He chose rather to suffer the
afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a short time. That's all they are, that short
time. He esteemed that even the repugnant Christ had greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt. He had recompense. He had respect. He had awe. He had a soul with awe. He had
an understanding. He reflected on the reckoning
penance of the little boy. That's what they did. That's
what they did. What did they do? Nothing did
they do. So, what did the Prophet Matthew
gain the whole world with his son? What would man
give in exchange for his son? Oh, I'll tell you, it takes a
pretty sorry It was the first sign of payments for their son
for seven years. Moses refused it, showed even
the afflictions of God's people. He had respect for the reputations
of the Lord. Good things are coming. Oh, my
goodness. Paul saw it, gave him that, and
said, give him that. I can't. You wouldn't understand
it, and I can't put it in words. Glory to God. So when do you
think on that? Think about what you were, and
where God found you, and what He did for you, and what He does
for you, and what He's doing for you. Thirdly, we need to reflect
on our duties and responsibilities toward our God. You know, we're
a family, and we're a body. Turn to Romans 12. We need each
other. God, one of us is not complete
without the other. Did you know that? One of us
is not complete without the other. They decided, we are in Romans
chapter 12, verse 4, "...for as we have many members in one
body, and all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ, and every one member is one of
another." That part of 1 Corinthians 12. Everyone members one another. And in 1 Corinthians chapter, chapter 12, verse 13, verse 5. Now, let's look at this. What
I'm talking about, we need to reflect on that. Our duties and
responsibilities in the body of Christ. We have a duty to
the church, to the fellowship, to our homes, to our families,
to our children. Everybody has a place in God's
kingdom, in God's family, in God's church, in Christ's body.
We have something to do. and someone who looks at us,
and someone who's reliant on us, and someone who we're attacked
by what we do. We've got to be committed to
that child. Now listen to this, 1 Thessalonians 12. As the bodies
born have many members, and all the members of that body being
many in one body, so is Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, by one
spirit are we all baptized into one body. That's everybody here
is baptized into one body of Christ. Whether it be Jews or
Gentiles, male or female, bond or crave, old or young, richer
or learned, or ignorant, we've been made to drink of one spirit.
The body's not one member, it's many. If the flesh will say,
well, I'm not a Haman, I saw him out of the body, it's not
the body. This is my foot. I told my class
one Sunday, a great baseball pitcher named Izzy Bishop, 1934,
pitched in an all-star game. Greatest pitcher in the baseball.
Pitched in an all-star game. And a batter hit a ball and he
hit his thick toe. He hit his thick toe and it broke. And that thick toe getting broken
affected his pitching and put him out of baseball. He had arms,
muscles, brain, and all these things, but he didn't have a
big toe. Tell you the truth. Now, you might be the big toe
around here, that upsets all that kind, you know, if you don't
know what you're supposed to do. The foot said, well, I'm
not a hand. The hand is so important in the
place of piano. He just assaulted. He does all
this. He walked out of the wood. We don't. Well, is it not in
the ears to say, verse 16, well, I'm not the eyes, I'm not in
the body. Is it not in the body? Where is sin? Now God, listen
to me, God has set the members, every one of them, in a body
of three ten. You sit in my Word of God, and
who you are with your gifts and talents and responsibilities
and place in the kingdom, right where He set you. With whom He
set you, in the place He set you, to fulfill the responsibility
you owe to Him. That's a sacrament. It puts you
where it pleases Him. And if the whole body were one member,
you wouldn't have a body. But now there are many members,
yet they're one body. And I can't sit in the head,
I don't need you. And the head can't stay to the
feet, I don't need you. Let me tell you something He
said. Much more, those members of the body would seem to be
most evil. Okay. Nobody here has seen my
liver, but I'm glad I got one. Nobody here has seen my kidney,
but I'm glad I got one. You see what I'm talking about?
The members, the doctors, and the family. We've got a responsibility,
and I've had some folks that fell out on the job. And they
neglected where God put them, to be what God made them, to
serve where God put them, and to be responsible and exemplary
where God put them, and they messed themselves up. Because
it wasn't true that they were responsible. You know, Deuteronomy
chapter 10 says something. I don't think this is too hard
to fulfill. Look at Deuteronomy 10, verse
20. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12. Now
Israel, Deuteronomy 10, 12. Now Israel, what does the Lord God
God require of thee? What does the Lord require of
thee? Fear the Lord God God. What is fear the
Lord? It's worship, reverence, it's
all the same. It's honoring God. It's let God
be God. To walk in His ways. Not your
way, His way. Not your will, His will. Not
my will, His will. Walk in His will. Just walk in
it. Just be what He makes you. Serve to love Him. Why would I not? I always have
a saying, I am, have, or ever will be. Why wouldn't I love
Him? And serve Him. And what's with all
your heart and soul? What's so difficult about that? That's reasonable, isn't it?
Me, present your body and living sacrifice to God, which is unreasonable. All right, I'll never get to
this fourth one. Well, here it is. Reflect on what we were,
what God's done, and what we are now. Seriously reflect on
the glory of Christ compared to the vanities of this world.
Thirdly, reflect on our duties and responsibilities to God,
His church, His gospel, our families, our families, our children. And
then, fourthly, seriously consider with gratitude my vanities. Lord, teach me to number my days.
I can't find my heart in this. I'm here for a short time. Almost
over. Old Joe said in a few days. I
don't know what he's talking about right now. You know what
he's talking about in a few days. I'm going the way from which
I will not return. I don't want to return. Let us who are of
the day be sober, serious, and think about these things. and put on the breastplate of
faith and love and for health and hope and salvation. What is a breastplate? It covers
the soldier's vital parts, his heart, from the breastplate. And it protects those vital parts. And this breastplate, faith,
Faith and hope is that which protects and preserves the very
vital of our spiritual life. It has to do with Christ and
his righteousness. Let me show you that in Ephesians
6. The breath play, the Christian
soldier's breath play has to do with the righteousness of
Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 14. Stand, therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of
righteousness." That's our breastplate. Faith in Christ is righteousness. And that faith in Christ and
His Word is a defense against Satan and his temptation to come
our way. That's our breastplate, is faith.
I wrote Jesus Christ tempted by the devil by three distinct
temptations. Satan said, you're hungry, make
this stone of bread. Christ said, it's written. Bread
depends, yes. He said, cast yourself off headlong
and people will believe you. He said, it's written. Then He
said, for all that I have worshipped me, I will give you the kingdom
of the world. It's written. That's the first part. That's
what the faith against it acts as something of His righteousness. Faith is His righteousness. Love
is His righteousness. Secondly, faith in Christ and
His word is a defense against fear, the fear of judgment, the
fear of the law, the fear of But the Word of God says this,
the truth can lay in the hands of the charged if God wills it.
If God wills it, that's fine. That's fine. That's the thing. Who is he that can live if his
Christ does not? If God spared not His own son,
I share none with Him free to give us all in. Those are my
answers to condemnation of charges of the law or judgment. The breastplate of faith. And
then, this breastplate of faith is a defense against old age
and death. He said, you're getting older,
you're talking a few days, you're going to leave. Death is just,
oh, death is coming very soon. I'm not afraid. You know why?
Oh, death, where's our safety? Oh, grave, where's our victory?
Thank Him, the God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Put on this fresh place of faith.
Faith and love. But what's love got to do with
it? Well, love to the Father and the Son will keep the believer
sound in faith. That's right. Love to Christ
will keep you sound in faith. And then love to Christ
will never give in to anything that depreciates His love. There's
no doctrine can come along. that depreciates the glory and
grace and goodness of my God, and they receive it. That's right.
Do it. Oppress God. And then love for the name of
Christ hates every false way of worship. When you love the
name of Christ and the glory of Christ, then every image of
men is distasteful to you. He said, put on the breastplate
of Christ. Believe the Word. Believe Christ. Believe God. Breastplate of His
righteousness. It's a love for Him, and it protects
your families. Spiritual violence. It keeps
you safe. Satan's assault on you. Assault
on the law and condemnation. Assault on fear. Assault on fear
and death. And from the sound of false doctrine
and from those Preachers who seek to get disciples to follow
after themselves. Not me. Not for whatever error
there is here. It's because of that faith and
love. But now there's a word, hope.
Who cares? And that's what I ask you of
today. Be serious, sober, put on the
breastplate of faith and love, and for a hero, hope will salvation. Oh, I looked at that, and I looked
at that, and I looked at that. And I thought, man, what is this
talking about here? Health. Well, what's the health?
First, I'll give you a little hint about studying to teach
classes and all. Get your good components. What
type of components? Strong components. And you see this word here on
my thing? You can look in that compartment
and find that here. And it's in 1 Thessalonians 4-5.
And then you can, it'll tell you, it'll give you a little
number there, 35-06. New Testament. Old Testament
will be a different number than Old Testament. And then you turn
it back to that compartment. Anybody can do that. Turn your
back to the Lord, and go down and find that 35-06 helmet of
manes. Now look, this is what it says,
and insert them along your head. That's a great word. That's right
here. Put on, put on a helmet. Insert them along your head.
All right? I know that much. Second commandment.
And the helmet is the hope of salvation. That's what the helmet
is. It says that right there. The
hope is put on for heaven, the hope of salvation. And what you
want to do then is see if it's somewhere else in the Bible,
it gives you that same thing. So in Ephesians 6, it says the
same thing. The Scripture interprets the
Scripture. No scriptures in his private
interpretation what it means. I don't really have more evidence,
you know. So look at Ephesians 6, 17. And take the help of salvation. I think it's not just a help. Salvation. So, okay, you know,
help is an insertion on the head. Protect the head. And it's the
hope of salvation. Well, thirdly, our hope of salvation
is the Lord Jesus. Because the Bible says, listen,
Christ can give us a hope of salvation, a hope of love. 1 Timothy 1.1 says, Paul, an
apostle, by the commandment of God our Savior, and the Lord
Jesus, who's our hope. He's our hope. Titus 2.13 says,
we're looking for the blessing of hope, the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our hope. 1 Peter 1 verse
3 says, God hath begotten us unto the living hope of the resurrection
of Christ from the dead. So, I want a helmet circled my
head, and that helmet's the hope of salvation, and my hope of
salvation is in none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved
me and gave himself for me, who buried me, rose again, and sent
me to the right hand of God, and he's my hope of salvation.
And that's the text of my head. Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll You see, all these things that
you're familiar with, you're familiar with those things of
what if, what if, you know, all these things. Paul was. Let me
show you that in 2 Corinthians 4. Paul was familiar with this
thing, this thing of the mind and all of the the influences that play with
our thoughts and our minds. He said in verse 6, let me read
you 2 Corinthians 4, 6, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus. But we have this treasure in an earthen vessel. in a vessel that's prey of all
kind of troubles, faults, and afflictions, and infirmities,
and weaknesses, and collapses. But we have this treasure in
an earthen vessel that the excellency of the power might be of God,
not of earth. We're troubled all the time,
but we're not distressed. The trouble is we're not restrained
quite from that open salvation of Christ. Listen to us. We're perplexed. I don't understand some of the
things God does. I don't understand a lot of things
God does. But I'm not in the sand, because
I've got holy company. God moves in mysterious ways.
He wonders. He plants his footsteps on the
sea and rides on the storm. He fears the saints' fresh courage
to take the clouds he so much dreaded, are big with blessings
and will bring them mercy on the evil. The buds when they have a bitter
taste, sweeten them in the flower. We're perplexed, young and perplexed. I'm just born, I want to be fast.
I don't know what to do. I'm not an inspector. Persecuted,
but not forsaken. Cast down. I looked that one up, too, one time. It means they're clay-spotted. Blessed
is the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is
the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one who is cast
down, blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one who
is cast down, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one who is cast down,
blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one who is cast down,
blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one who is cast
down, blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one
who is cast down, blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one who is cast down, blessed is the one who
is cast down, blessed is the one who lives, blessed is the one We've bounced around a lot of times,
but we've never been strong. And I'm with you all. Never been
strong. So let's... I got to show you
one more thing. I'm taking too long, but first
that's on fire. Let's go back and look at this. I think I'll preach this home
when I'm 82 this year. We need this. This is us. This is where we
live. Verse 10 says, verse 9, we're
on faith, hope, and love. We've got faith, love, and hope.
That's the three greatest things in our lives, faith, hope, and
love. Verse 9, for God has not afforded
us to wrath. Some people have been. There
are wrath, vessels of wrath, pitiful destruction, of the Old
Lord leading to condemnation. That's right. Judas, Satan, Pharaoh,
you name a lot of them. But we're not born in wrath.
Should have been. Should have been, that's right.
We're equally, by nature, children of wrath. We're as deserving
of wrath as anybody else. But he hath appointed us to wrath.
But to what? He hath appointed us to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Not to wrath. Judgment, but to
obtain salvation. He appointed us. By our Lord
Jesus Christ who died for us, whether we are awake or asleep, We should live together in peace. One other verse that I'll quote. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. He
hath not appointed us to wrath, he hath appointed us to obtain
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you brethren, Bretman, Bretman, his lover of
God. Because God has only begun, chosen
you in salvation. He didn't point you around. He
chose you in salvation. through the sanctification of
the Spirit and the relief of the truth, whereunto He calls
you by our gospel to the cross, obtain of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. God, I'm honored to write of
your attainment. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing we have. It's
just indescribable. It's impossible to put into words
the mercy, the blessing of our Lord. So now, that's the question.
If you look at, for example, the song that one sang, the verse
that one sang, and that, how far it goes, how much he's glad
to sing it, Sacramento took the focus of
this movie and it was awesome. It was the second one of the
four. It was the number 21 in the Blue Book. It was the second one in the Blue Book.
It was carried out by Justin Timberlake. I don't know if I want to say it now,
but it was the number one in the Blue Book. It was the number
one in the Blue Book. It was carried out by Justin
Timberlake. I don't know if I want to say it now, but it was the number one in
the Blue Book. It was the number one in the Blue Book. It was the
number one in the Blue Book. It was the number one in the
Blue Book. It was the number one in the Blue Book. It was the
number one in the Blue Book. It was the number one in the Blue Book.
It was the number one in the Blue Book. It was the number one in the Blue Book.
It was the number one in the Blue Book. It was the number one in
the Blue Book. It was In one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight. I was losing my way last year. I know, it's hard to say who
it is. What is it? I had a visitor come
over here. Not today, but tomorrow. I know it's not you. I know it's not you. Just sing it, all right? I know
it. God moved in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform He ranks His footsteps in the sea And
rides upon the storm's reef Hear, O Saints, thy spirits say, The
clouds be so much red. Our being with mercy end shall
break In blessing upon your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sin, but judge Him for His praise. He hath a crowning province,
He hath a smiling face. His purposes will I confess,
unfolding every hour. The Lord may have the bitter
taste, but sweet will be the flower.