All right, I want you to turn
back to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. The title of the message this
morning is Saved by Hope. Saved by Hope, verse 24. Brother
Joe began to read, for we, the we there is believers, Sinners
saved by the grace of God. We are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? Saved by hope. Now, first of
all, I want you to understand several things here that hope
in the Bible, when it's connected with faith, Somebody asked the
question in a three-point message one time, these three questions,
do I have the faith of God's elect? Whoever God's elect are
in the scripture, the Bible teaches that they are those who come
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who they are. That's how
they're identified in the Bible now. I'm not talking about by
man. But in the Bible, they're identified by their faith. We've
been studying the book of Habakkuk. And in Habakkuk chapter 2 and
verse 4, it says, the justified shall live by his faith. And
Paul quotes that three times in the New Testament concerning
the gospel and concerning how a believer is to live and concerning
perseverance. We are identified by faith. Do I have the faith of God's
elect? Well, am I trusting Christ for all of salvation? That's
what the issue is. You know, it's really useless
and self-righteous, actually, for any of us to go around here
trying to figure out if I'm one of God's elect or you're one
of God's elect. The issue in the Bible is believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so,
do I have that faith? And secondly, do I have the hope,
the hope of God's elect? That's what this is talking about.
We're saved by hope. Then the third question was,
do I have the love of Christ in my heart that God's elect
have? Well, we're saved by hope. Now, hope in the scripture when
it's connected to faith is not what we normally in our modern
day language in life think about as hope. For example, a lot of
people, and I do it too, you do it, we all hope for things
that we won't get. It's almost like you could call
it wishful thinking or the power of positive thinking. That was
so popular in the 50s, it's kind of made a resurgence, you know,
today. People say, well, that's faith, the power of positive
thinking. Oh, no. If somebody asked me about, I
can't remember who it was last week, we were talking about Satan.
and satan's attacks and things like there's a lot of we don't
we don't know about the mind of site but you know one of the
things is sort of indicates in scripture about saying is he
still thinks he can win he's not god now he's not a he's not
a an an evil uh... equal to god he doesn't know
everything and he's not everywhere i mean he has his minions everywhere
his evils everywhere but he himself he's limited And he's more powerful
than us now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he's weak and
we can handle him. No, Christ did that. But I believe
he still thinks he can win. He hopes he can win, but that's
a hope. He's not gonna get it. We're studying the book of Revelation
in our Sunday school, and I was reading one old writer said,
well, the summation of Revelation is this, Christ wins. He wins. And so we don't have
to worry about that. So hope in the Scripture is not
normally what people think of it. Now here's what hope is in
the Scripture for God's people that's connected with faith.
It is a certainty. It is an expectation, a certain
expectation that's founded and grounded upon solid evidence,
solid promises. And that's what he's talking
about. We're saved by hope. Now, where is our hope? Well, we read
in Jeremiah 17 one of the many examples of that when he refers
in prophecy to Christ as the hope of Israel. Christ is the
hope of Israel. Christ is our hope. We expect
certain things from God not because we're so good or so mighty or
so faithful. We expect certain things from
God because Christ is so good, so mighty, and so faithful. So our hope is in Christ, and
that's a certain expectation. These are things we expect, this
salvation. We're saved by hope. Now, in
this context here, Romans chapter 8, there's two main things that
he's talking about. that you could say we're saved
by hope. The first one is this. We expect no condemnation. No condemnation. Now why is that? Again, it's not because we've
worked so hard or it's not because of our decision, our decision
we made in walking out. It's not because of our work.
We expect no condemnation from God. Because God will not charge
us with sin. God will not charge us with sin. Well now, how can God not charge
me with sin? I'm a sinner. And He's a just
God. He's a righteous God. He must
judge according to truth. He can't just overlook it, deny
it, act as if it never happened. There's no pretend with God. So how can He not charge me with
sin and still be just? He charged it to Christ. And
Christ came and died for those sins. That's our hope. Christ died. Are you washed in
the blood of the Lamb? We sang that. My hope is built
on nothing less than what? Jesus' blood and righteousness. Not my suffering. Yes, I suffer. You suffer. All in varying degrees
for various reasons. But our suffering is not our
hope. In fact, that's one of the things
he's talking about here. Our infirmities, our weaknesses,
the things we see, things look like they're out of control,
but we don't go by that. We don't walk by that. Our expectations
aren't based on that. We're saved by hope. What God
says concerning His Son, concerning all who are in His Son. There's
no condemnation. He started out in verse 1. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. My hope is to be in Christ Jesus,
who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit, who believe
in and rest in and walk in Christ. God will not charge me with my
sins. My sin debt is fully paid for.
That's my hope. Who paid it? Christ did. I didn't
contribute one iota to that payment. Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness,
The hope of righteousness. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter
5, we wait for the hope of righteousness through faith. That's the hope
of Christ. Being found in Christ. Oh, that
I may know Him and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, my works, but that which is through the
faith of Christ. I hope and expect not to be condemned because Christ
has been faithful. to do what he was sent to do.
He obeyed unto death. He put away my sins. He established
righteousness for me. Now, the second thing that he
emphasizes here in Romans 8 is the fact that there is no separation. Well, somebody says, well, I
believe in Christ, I rest in Christ, but is it possible for
me to be separated from Christ? Could he ever forsake me or I
ever forsake him? And then he says in verse 35,
who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? The love
of Christ. There's no separation. If you're
ever in Christ, you'll always be in Christ. That's what the
Bible teaches. If you ever forsake Christ, you
were never in Christ. You were never united to him
by faith. There's no separation. Now, why is there no separation?
Again, it's not because of our goodness or our faithfulness,
it's because of His. He won't let us go. You say,
well, why is Paul even dealing with this right here? Well, now
think about it. Now, he talked about the struggles
of the flesh and the spirit. We who are saved, now we have
that struggle. He even made this statement over
in Romans chapter 7. Now listen to this. This is the
Apostle Paul. You know, if you ever get down
about your sin, and we ought to be down about sin, but if
you ever get to the point where you think, you know, we'll wonder
in ourselves, am I really saved at all? You ever been there?
I have. And Paul said this in Romans
7. He said, the thing that I want
to do most, I cannot do. What was that? What was he talking
about? He was talking about, I want to be like Christ. I have so
much sin in me that even my prayers are imperfect. He's going to
be talking about that here in this opening verses here. Even
my prayers are not perfect. There are times I don't even
know what to pray for. You ever struggle with prayer?
I do. There are times I have to make
myself pray. You ever been there? I do. And there are times when I think
I'm going to pray and I don't even know what to pray for. But there are some deep groanings
in my heart. I can't even express them. And I feel like this, if God
were to judge me based upon my best prayer, what would happen
to me? I'd be condemned. I'd be lost. My best efforts. And then we
look around the world and we see things that just look out
of control. The other night I preached from
Hebrews chapter 2 about how all things are put under the feet
of Christ right now. Now, this is not just future.
You see, hope is not just future stuff. There are some future
things. promises yet unfulfilled. See,
we're not yet perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, but we
will be. That's future. But right now, presently, all
things are put under the feet of Christ, under His control. He's reigning, He's ruling, He's
on the throne. When something blows up over
here, it's not because He's an absentee ruler. And all things are right now
under his control. But here's the problem with us
now. We don't actually see all that.
That's what he said in Hebrews 2. He said all things are under
his feet, but we do not yet see all things put under his feet.
We don't yet see it all. I mean, you read the newspaper,
look at the newscast, and you see things in your own life,
and in yourself, in myself, It just doesn't, we're looking at
it, but we just don't see it all as if it were just everything
falling in place. We think things are out of place.
That thing shouldn't be over there, you know, all this. We
would arrange it differently. But he said this, we do see,
we do see Jesus. from the word that's our hope
we're saved by hope we look to christ and i've quoted this several
times bro brother scott richardson said this he said if we knew
what god knew we wouldn't change a thing now that's almost mind-boggling
i mean think about it right now think about you don't make a
list of things that you'd like to change how long would that
list be i'd have a pretty long one Because we look at things
as if it's just not right. This thing's out of kilter. Just
like the preacher who said on TV, he said, God's not in control. He made that statement. He said,
God's not in control. I wonder how he would interpret
Romans 8.28. Romans 8.28 says, We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Does that sound
like a God out of control to you? I guess that fellow would
say, well, it's not under his control now, but later on it
will be, and he'll put all things right. That's present tense here
in Romans 8, 28. That's not future tense. Actually, the oldest manuscript
says it this way, and we know God is now working together,
all things together. The oldest manuscript reads it
that way. God is now working all things together, right now.
You know, that perplexed the old prophets. I told you we're
studying Habakkuk, and Habakkuk, he asked that question. He asked
the same question that people ask, well, why does God allow
evil in the world? He's such a good God. How can you do this, God? How
can you not do that? Look at all the sin, look at
all the evil. God, why don't you put a stop to it? Why don't
you do something? It's like you're saying, God,
you're up there and we're down here and you're doing nothing
about it. What are you gonna do about sin? And then when the
gospel's preached, God says, I've already done something about
sin. I sent my son to die on the cross to put away the sins
of my people. And so, and then we suffer persecution
over the gospel. We live in a hostile world. What's he saying here? We're
saved by hope. We don't walk by sight, we walk by faith. We
go by what God says. Think about Joseph of old. Think
about him. How his brothers treated him.
And he's looking around, how dejected, how disappointed. Am I blessed of God or not? God,
what did I do to deserve this? Job said the same thing. Job
started out well, and then he fell into the same kind of thinking
that we all fall into, and then God brought him back around.
All of this, see, we can't figure it out. So we're not saved by
sight. We're not saved by figuring it
out from what we see and what we read and what we surmise and
philosophize and all of that. We're saved by hope. What is
that hope? Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. That's how I know I won't be
condemned. Christ put away my sins. And I know that I won't be separated
from him because he won't let me go, even at my worst moments.
And I know I'll be glorified with him. Now he says, but hope
that is seen is not hope. In other words, if it's based
upon what you see and touch and feel, then it's not hope. It's
sight. What a man seeth, why doth he
yet hope for? But look at verse 25, he says,
but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience,
endurance, wait for it. We wait for it. You know, one
of the greatest virtues of the grace of God and the power of
the Holy Spirit is simply this phrase, wait upon the Lord. Just wait. We don't like to wait. You like to wait. You go into
an office and you've got an appointment. It's scheduled at a certain period
of time. The last thing you want to do is wait. You go to a restaurant
and give them your name. They say it'll be 20 minutes.
Ha ha. You just don't like to wait.
I don't like to wait either. But see, this thing is just,
it's much more than just waiting, waiting, waiting, like sitting
in a waiting room. What this is talking about is
that hope of expectation, waiting on the Lord. God's going to do
what He said He's going to do. You mark it down. You mark it
down. You remember old Thomas, doubting
Thomas. He said, I won't believe he's
risen unless I see the nail scars in his hand and the scar in his
side. And you know what Christ did
to Thomas? Came in, slapped him on the head and said, you just
go on to hell, you'll reprobate. No. No, he didn't do that, did
he? He showed him the scars, showed
him his side. He said, thrust your hand in.
What Thomas did, he fell down on his knees, he said, my Lord
and my God. Remember what the Lord said to
him? Let's record over in John chapter 20, verse 29. He said,
Thomas, you've seen and you believe. Blessed are those who seeth not
and believe. You know what he's saying there?
He's saying this thing is not about what you see, what you
feel, or what you're going through on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. This thing is about believing
what God said. And here's what God says. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Do
you have any other hope but Christ? Do you have any other foundation
but Christ? Are you like that one I quoted
at the beginning of the service? Preach Christ to me, speak to
me of Christ, His glory, and my heart will be established.
His greatness and my heart will be full. His grace and my heart
will be inspired. Tell me who He is. He's the Lord
of glory. That's why He is the hope of
Israel. He's the Son of God incarnate. He's my hope. You're not my hope
and I'm not your hope. I hope I'm not your hope. This building, this denomination,
Some preacher of the past that you love to identify with? You
know, I found out that people like to identify with preachers.
Why do you like to do that? Why do people like to do that?
Don't identify with me, identify with Christ. I love that passage
in John chapter 3, where John the Baptist, in his preaching,
this is how it was said of him. To me, this is the essence of
true gospel preaching and believe faith. It said they heard him
speak, they heard John the Baptist speak, and they followed Christ. That's it. You may be hearing
me speak, but what I'm telling you is to follow Christ. Identify
with Christ, not me, not some famous preacher of the past.
Don't identify with them. They're sinners saved by the
grace of God. If they know Christ, Follow Him. Follow Him. Tell me who He is. He's the Word
of God incarnate. He's God-man. He's the hope of
Israel. And that's really significant
here in these passages of Romans 8, 9, 10, and 11, because the
Jews had a hope, but their hope was in their physical connection
with Abraham. Their hope was in their circumcision. Their hope was in their law keeping.
Where is your hope? People today have hope. Their
hope may be in their baptism, in their tithing, in their church
membership, church attendance, giving, whatever, or a combination
of the mix. Where is your hope? I have a
hope of righteousness. Why? Because Christ died on the
cross. Now, who set that hope within
my heart? It was the Holy Spirit in the
new birth. See, you're not going to have
that hope truly by nature, or by free willism, or by works,
or by decision. It's the Holy Spirit who puts
that hope within a person in his heart and establishes him
with grace. Look at verse 26. Now, he says
in verse 26, likewise, or in the same way, The Spirit, this
is Romans 8, 26, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, also helpeth
our infirmities. Infirmities are weaknesses, and
we've got a lot of them. Weaknesses. We've got weaknesses. Weaknesses in every way. And
he says, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
And that's what I mean, even our prayers aren't perfect. I
know the keys, I know that I ought to pray, and I know the keys
to prayer. Look over at Hebrews chapter 4 with me. Here's the
keys to prayer. Right here. People say, well,
we'll start a prayer chain. The number of people who are
praying is not the key to prayer. Has nothing to do with it. It's
almost like people saying, well, if I can get enough people to
pray, then we can get God to listen. That's crazy. Prayer
chains won't do it. Should people pray? Yes. Should
everybody pray? Everybody who prays to God the
Father through Christ. People say, well, we've got to
pray loudly. No. No. Listen. Listen. God is all-powerful,
omniscient. The volume of the prayer doesn't
matter. Somebody says, well, we've got to pray sincerely.
Well, yes, we do. Prayer ought to be sincere. It
ought not be ceremonial sham. It ought not to be just repetition. Repeat after me. I hear these
preachers on TV do that all the time. They'll preach, now repeat
after me. That's not prayer. That's repetition. That's all that is. No, it ought
to be sincere. But sincerity alone won't get
it. The Pharisee prayed unto God in Luke chapter 18. And Christ told him, he says,
you think you'll be heard for your much speaking? And they
pray to be seen of men because they think that's their witness.
You know, people don't go out and say, well, I'm going to pray
just because I want you to see me. But I'll tell you what they
do think. They do think, well, if people see me praying, that'll
be my witness. And that's the same thing. Praying
to be seen of men. No, sir. In fact, Christ said,
you know, He forbid that. He said, you go to your closet
and pray. Because this is between you and
God. This is not how men see you or has anything to do with
that. This is between a child of God, a sinner saved by grace,
and his Lord. That's what it is. But here's
the keys. Look at verse 14. Here's the
first key. Seeing then that we have a great high priest. Now
that's the first key to prayer right there. We have a great... Hebrews 4,
14. We have a great... Now, if you don't have a great
high priest, your prayers are just... You might as well be
just talking to that wall over there. Well, who is this great
high priest? Well, there's only one. Look
at it. That is passed into the heavens, literally passed through
into heaven. This is one who went to heaven. He's not talking about some experience
that a man has had here. He says, Jesus, the Son of God,
He went through, He passed through into the heavens. How did He
do that? He did the work of putting away our sins on Calvary and
bringing forth righteousness. And He's the one and only Great
High Priest. He's the one mediator between
God and men. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto God but by Him. You want to enter
the holiest of all, the very holy of holies, the very presence
of God. Not talking about an earthly
temple or tabernacle, but the very presence of God. And how
do you come? You come through the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Through His righteousness alone.
Now he says, let us hold fast our profession. What do we profess? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. There's my profession. We're
saved by hope. My hope is in Him. The forgiveness
of all my sins through His blood. My justification before God through
His righteousness imputed to me. That's my hope. He is my
hope. And says verse 15, For we have
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities. Christ had a human body without
sin. But a human body is a creation.
when he came to this earth he didn't bring that body with him
the son of god eternal in his deity he came to earth and united
himself with that body he became god man and in that human body
he had limitations not in his deity now and I can't and listen
I'm not saying that I can explain all this to you so that you can
figure it out no sir I'm just telling you the facts of the
matter this is the truth and what it is he came and he had
limitations He grew up just like our little grandchild the other
day. He came into the world that way without the aid of man. He
wasn't born of Adam. He's the seed of woman. But he
came through the womb of Mary. He was conceived in that womb
by the Holy Spirit. But he had to grow up. It says
he grew in wisdom and stature. He who is wisdom from all eternity. He had to grow in wisdom and
stature. And he had to eat. He worked with his hands, he
got tired, he wept, he sorrowed. All those, those are the infirmities
of the flesh. He was touched with the feeling
of those infirmities. He knows what we go through in
our sorrows and our pain. His sorrow and his pain was sinless
in himself. And then the ultimate sorrow
and pain, the sorrow of death on the cross based upon our sins
charged him. He was our sin bearer. He was
made a curse for us, for his people. He bled, he suffered,
bled, and he died. And it says here in verse 15,
for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted,
tested, like as we are, yet without sin. Now there, that's what separates
him from us. I guarantee you, they get you
down there, you two across, you'll deny God, I would too, except
for his grace. You say, well, there were martyrs
by the grace of God. But he was without sin. He was
made sin, yet he remained without sin in himself. He didn't have any sinful thoughts
that went through his mind, any sinful motives. The sinless,
suffering Lamb of God, without spot, without blemish, the incorruptible
blood of Christ. And yet, he was guilty, actually
guilty before God because of our sin. That's the key to prayer.
What he's talking about is the person and work of Christ. And
he says in verse 16, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
what? Throne of what there? Grace. Now that's what you and I need.
Grace. I need grace. Lord, don't give
me what I deserve and what I've earned. Give me your grace. Where
does that grace come from? Through this great high priest
who did this great work. And he says that we may obtain
what? Mercy. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not condemned and consumed. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. There's our hope. I need mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. But go back to Romans
8 now. He says now, The Spirit, verse
26, the Holy Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know
not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself,
that should be Himself, the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now the groanings
there which cannot be uttered is not speaking in tongues. What
he's talking about, I believe, is the inward groanings of our
heart and soul which cannot find expression in words. Have you
ever been that way? You come to the end of your rope and you just don't know what
to say. You don't know how to put it
in words. And I'll tell you, I believe the older we get, the
more that comes. You see things that just break
your heart. Not just in other people, but
in yourself. In yourself. You wonder, why,
Lord, are you doing this? Why don't you do that? You don't
even know how to express it. You pray, thy will be done. There's
another key to prayer. Thy will be done. Not my will,
but thy will. I know what I want. but Lord,
thy will be done." But even at those times, we have
an intercessor. He's the Holy Spirit. And He intercedes for me when
I don't know how to express or don't even know what to pray
for. Sometimes I pray for things that I think I just have to have,
He intercedes for me. Now, how does He intercede? You
know, the Bible speaks of the intercession of Christ. And here
it speaks of the intercession of the Holy Spirit. And they're
different. The intercession of Christ is
what we read there in Hebrews chapter 4. That's His intercession
as High Priest, pleading the merits of His blood and righteousness
continually on our behalf. The intercession of the Holy
Spirit is as a communication, a go-between. Look at verse 27.
Here's how he explains it. He says, "...and he that searcheth
the heart..." That's God. His word is sharper than any
two edges, discerns even to the heart. "...he knoweth what the
mind of the Spirit is." The Father. knows the mind of the Spirit
because they're one in the same. They're one in essence. God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He knows it perfectly. A lot of things we don't know,
but He knows it all perfectly. And He says, "...because He maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God." In other words, He knows the
perfect will of God in all things because He is God. We don't. I don't know what the will of
God is for the rest of my days here on earth. I know there is
a revealed will that he reveals in his word, and we know that. We don't have to go searching
for that. All we got to do is read it and pray that God will
cause us to submit to it. But there are things about tomorrow
that I don't know, but the Spirit knows. I'll pray that my new
little grandson grows up to be a healthy young man, and I pray
mostly that God will save his soul and bring him to Christ. I don't know that that'll happen. In my own little hope, I hope
it'll happen, but that's wishful thinking. But the Spirit, He
knows perfectly what's gonna happen. and he intercedes for
me before God and his intercession drives me to Christ in verse
twenty eight now that's that's why verse twenty eight's in here
now now listen to this here's what he tells me we know this
now don't know a lot of things don't know what but I know this
that all things work together God is working and it's not just
working it's not fate it's not destiny It's not kismet. It's not Mother Nature. It's God who's doing this work.
That's what the Bible teaches. And all things, not just some
things now. You know, the world divides it
up like this. Well, some things are the devil's work and some
things are God's work. If something bad happens, it's the devil.
If something good happens, it's God. Well, now let me tell you
something. God, the devil, does do some
things. I'll tell you, and don't let
this startle you, but it's only by God's will and purpose and
permission that he does. All things work together because
God's working them all together. They're not just going to fall
in place, as one preacher said. No, God's going to put them in
place. He's already put them in place. Ephesians chapter 1,
I believe it's verse 11, says, He's working all things after
the counsel of His own will. You know what that word counsel
means, don't you? That means a determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. So that all things good, all
things evil, ultimately will work to... Now that doesn't mean
that all things are good, because there are some evil things, but
it does mean that all things good and evil are working together
for good. for the ultimate spiritual eternal
good. All right? To them that love
God. Now, who loves God? All who look
to Christ and rest in Him, whose hope is in Him. We're saved by
hope. If you don't know Christ, you
don't love God. You might love a God. You might
love your idea of God. But if you don't know Christ,
you don't even know God. Did you know that? That's what
he said in Matthew chapter 11 right before, turn over and just
look at that real quickly. And I'll hurry up and close here,
but look at Matthew chapter 11. Now he says in verse 28 of Matthew
11, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and
I'll give you rest. That's a promise from, my hope
is the rest that he gave me. But before he says that, look
at verse 27. He said, all things are delivered
unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father. In other words, if you're gonna
know the son, it has to be by revelation from God. Neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him, period. You don't even know God if you
don't know Christ, so how can you love Him? Christ said in
John 17, I believe it's verse 4, this is life eternal, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. So back to verse 28 now, and
we know that all things work together for good, ultimate eternal
good, spiritual good, to them that love God, to them that know
Christ and rest in Him and believe in Him. and to them who are thee
called." Do you notice it says, thee called? According to his
purpose. That word called there is the
idea of a summons. You ever been served with a summons?
Well, let me ask you a question. If our sheriff comes to you or
sends one of his deputies to your home with a summons, can
you refuse it? A summons for you to appear in
court. Can you say, well, I'm not going
to accept that invitation? No, because the next thing they'll
do is come to you with an arrest warrant. Isn't that right? This
is a summons here. And that summons comes in the
form of the preaching of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth not shall be
what? You have no choice here. This
is a summons, this is the effectual call of the Holy Spirit in the
preaching of the gospel as he makes it the power of God and
the salvation. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, Christ. And it's according to his purpose.
Now what is his purpose? Well his purpose is to glorify
himself. in the salvation of his people,
his elect people, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. To lift up
Christ as the Savior and Lord of his people. And that's how
God is glorified.