all stand together we'll sing
hymn number 295. 295 He leadeth me, O blessed thought,
O words with heavenly comfort frought. What e'er I do, where'er
I be, still tis God's name that leadeth me. He leadeth This faithful follower
I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me. Sometimes missing some deepest
gloom Sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom By water still
poor troubled sings Still tis his hands that lead and lead
He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me
His faithful follower I would be For by His hand He leadeth
me Lord, I would clasp thy hand
in mine, Nor ever murmur glory by. Content whatever lot I see,
Since it's my God that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth
me, By His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, For by His hand He leadeth me. And when my task on earth
is done, When by Thy grace the victories won, In death's cold
wake I will not flee Since God through Jordan leadeth me He
leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth me His
faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
236, Amazing Grace. 236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear, And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils and
snares I have already come Till His grace hath brought,
He saved us all, And grace will lead me home. when we've been there ten thousand
bright shining Hey, hey. Grace still amazing, grace still
amazing. Romans chapter five. Couple announcements, ladies
lunch is Friday. And we have a dinner here Sunday,
just be pot luck, bring whatever you got in your pot. But something good in it. I'll tell you what, it's a, we
ain't never went hungry. And I tell you, most folks take
a whole bunch of stuff back with them. Yeah, we eat good. Somebody told me the other day,
back when we had our conferences, our big meetings, that we always
had the best food of any place they ever went. Somebody mentioned
they always had the best food of any conference that they ever
was at. And I can attest to that. All right, I'm going to read
Romans 5, 1 down through verse 11. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations, also knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. Our great and blessed, glorious
God of heaven and earth, Lord, you inhabit eternity. You dwell between the cherubims.
The heaven is your throne, the earth is your footstool. So God,
you're a just God, a righteous God, a holy God, but also, thank
God, you're a savior, that you're a redeemer, that we gave us a
mediator between us and God. And Lord, we ask that you'd cause
the gospel to be a blessing here tonight. It'd cause your word
to be a blessing, to be an encouragement, to be instructive, to speak to
us and teach us and teach us of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the great salvation that you provided for us in him. Lord,
forgive us of everything that's unlike you and we pray for those
who are not with us through your providence. We ask, Lord, for
your mercies and grace to be given to them and protect your
people in this world. Oh, God, preserve your people.
Lord, there's dangers on every hand, trouble everywhere we look, things that's worrisome, but,
oh, Lord, we look to you. We walk by faith and not by sight.
So Lord, bring glory to yourself tonight. Remember our lost loved
ones and be merciful to them and gracious for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. M number 257. 257. you It's so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know the Savior more Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
Now I've proved Him poor and old Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh, for grace to trust Him more Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood Just in simple faith to plunge
me In the healing, cleansing flood Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him o'er Yes, too sweet to trust
in Jesus Just from sin and self to cease Just from Jesus simply
taking Life in Christ and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how
I trust Him, how I trust Him. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh, for grace to trust Him more I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee Precious Jesus, Savior And I know that Thou art with
me, Will be with me to the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, Oh, for grace to trust in you. Alright, look back here with
me in Romans chapter 5. I want to talk about the Justifies
Security, the Justifies Security. Righteousness is apart from law,
apart from works, apart from circumcision or any ceremony
or ritual that anybody goes through. That's what he said over here
in Romans 4, 3. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed
God, and was counted unto him for righteousness. And then David
also describes the blessing of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works. So works doesn't enter into this
righteousness as justification. Righteousness through faith by
grace alone. And justification is not something
a man does to clear his name or his character before God,
but it's something God does for His people to clear THEIR name
and THEIR character before His own holiness and His own righteousness. I know a lot of folks think that
they are trying to, you know, get justified before God by something
they do. But God is the one who does the
justifying. Justification comes from up there,
it don't come from down here. God gives it, and God declares
it to be so. And will this salvation, let
me ask you this, will this salvation that God gave us by justification
by faith, Could it be lost? Could we lose it? Could we lose
this justification by faith, this salvation that God gave
us? Will this salvation, justification
by faith, will it continue to the end? Or must people be MOTIVATED
by law? A lot of people have to be motivated
by law. I heard a very troubling thing
the other day. A song leader of a particular
church that I've known for years, He quit the Church and quit being
the song leader and left because he come to the conclusion that
the Ten Commandments was the believer's rule of life. That's
hard for me to get. You know, most people, they have
to be motivated by law or have to be motivated by WORKS to persevere. And there are lots of people
that will tell you, you know, when you preach in justification
by faith alone, folks find it very hard to grasp, very hard
to believe in. But will this justification by
faith, will it work? Will it work? Is it safe for
all the circumstances we have in this life? We have a lot of
circumstances, a lot of things, and life is very complex at times,
very, very complex. Sometimes you have three or four
things on your mind at the same time, and when you think of one,
it troubles you, you think of another, it troubles you. And
old Scott Richardson said this, he said, A believer's in one
of three places. He's either in trouble, coming
out of trouble, or going into trouble. And that's pretty much
the truth, pretty much the truth. And I tell you, we have these
complexities of life, and even, even if it saves at the commencement
of us justification by faith and righteousness by imputation,
will it continue to save us in the future? Huh? Well, the scriptures
that I read here tonight answers these questions, answers these
questions. hear what we have in these first
few verses, the IMMEDIATE, IMMEDIATE outcome of righteousness by faith,
and it's in the personal experiences and hope of the believer. We
see that present experiences and future hopes, our present
experiences and all of our future hopes, all are based and rest
upon the perfect provision that God gave us in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who the Lord is our righteousness. He, Himself, is our righteousness. And I tell you, a lot of folks
don't hardly believe this, but now it's the truth! It's the
truth! And look what He said here in
verse 1 and 2, Our present experiences assure us of our hope. therefore
being justified, Romans 5.1, therefore being justified, and
there you see that s in the past tense, therefore being justified
by faith. Now, there is justification,
justified by faith. What justification means? Justified
means to be acquitted and declared righteous by God Almighty Himself,
God Himself looking at you, not finding any sin in you, not finding
nothing but righteous in you, finding you perfect and complete
in Christ, and God looks at us and regards us as we're as righteous
as His own Son. That's being justified. You can see that's in the past
tense, being justified. Not we're GONNA be justified,
we HAVE been justified. have been. Look over in Romans
8 and verse, let me see where it s at here, yeah, verse 33, look at this,
833, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God s elect? Who
in the world could come up and say, You've done THIS wrong,
you've done THAT wrong, and you lay a CHARGE to your account?
Can God in His righteousness? He can't! God's holiness? No! The law? No! Works? No! SIN? NO! NOTHING CAN LAY ANYTHING
TO THE CHARGE OF GOD'S ELECT. WHY? IT'S GOD THAT JUSTIFIED
THEM. GOD SAID THAT THEY'RE RIGHTEOUS.
GOD JUSTIFIED THEM IN THE SIGHT OF GOD ITSELF. AND I'LL TELL
YOU SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT THIS. THIS IS OUR PRESENT EXPERIENCE.
I MEAN WE, YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. AND JUSTIFICATION
IS SOMETHING OUTSIDE OURSELVES. IT'S SOMETHING GOD HAS DONE FOR
US. GOD'S DONE FOR US. And it's not
just a feeling, don't have a feeling, no emotion, or an attitude that
we have towards God. None of those things have anything
to do with it. And I'll tell you something else about it,
isn't it? In relation to our past right now. Therefore being
justified, justified by faith. And you know it's not just forgiveness
of sins. If God forgave us of our sin,
and just left us in that condition. That's wonderful. I mean, thank
God that He forgives sins. But how about if we were made
righteous? If He just forgave us of our
sins and didn't make us righteous or didn't justify us, then our
being forgiven would not help us at all. We have to also be
justified. We also have to be righteous
in the sight of God. Where do we get that justification?
Where do we get that righteousness at? Oh, my! And justification, what it is,
it's a standing, it's a new relationship. You know, we can forgive, but
only God can justify. Only God can justify. And God's
justification, God's justification, and our Lord Jesus Christ covers
our past. You know, I'll tell you what,
I don't know what kind of past you had, but mine ain't pleasant,
mine ain't good. But God took the justification,
takes care of everything that I've done in my past, everything
I've done from the day I was born till the day I die. Justification
gives me a right standing and the right relationship with God
Almighty. God not only pardons, but He
also puts us in a right relationship and gives us the right position
before God Himself. God Himself, you know, there
are so many people trying to be justified by what they do
or by what they think or what they feel, but none of those
things enter into this equation. God Himself. Look what it said
over here in Romans, I think it's verse 28, 328. On my Bible
it's on, you know, one page, the left side and the right side.
But there it says here, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by FAITH without doing ANYTHING by the law. And God imputes righteousness
without WORKS. And I tell you, John, God s justification,
He covers our past and our future. What about you? No, I m going
to stumble, I m going to fall, I m going to Say things, do things,
act ways that I'm not supposed to act. Will that nullify my
justification? Will that do away with my righteousness?
No. God justified us. God declared
us righteous. Oh my. And then look what else
is being justified. Oh, there is being justified. acquitted, regarded as righteous
in Christ. Now, like I said, I don't feel
righteous. I don't have any emotion about
it. I don't have a different attitude. But the best thing
is, is that God done this for us. God did this. And then look
what else he says. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Not only is there justification,
but there's peace. Peace, we have peace with God.
Now, this is not just tranquility of mind. Very few of us have
a calm mind, a tranquil mind. Very few of us have one of them,
you know. And this is not talking about
having a tranquility of mind, but it's talking about a ceasing
of hostility, of anger that God has toward the human race. And
it's not us, it's not us. ceasing OUR hostility towards
God, but it's God's hostility towards US. You know, the carnal
mind is enmity, and what that word enmity, I looked it up today,
that means to have a HATRED, a HATRED against God. That's what it means, the carnal
mind is enmity, it's furious, it HATES It's MAD at God! That's what it means. And look,
I want to show you something over in Psalm 11 and verse 7,
here's Psalm 7, look in Psalm 7 with me. Here's some things
that people just, they say, Well, God hates the sin and loves the
sinner. Well, that can't be right because
you can't separate them. Look what He said here in Psalm
7 and verse 11. God judges the righteous, and
listen to this, and God is angry with the wicked every day. There was nobody, nobody believes
that God gets angry. He's a God of love. My God's
a God of love. My God's a God of mercy. He don't
know nothing about being bad. He's angry with the wicked every
day. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He's got it. He that believeth
not on the Son of God, the wrath of God abides on him. And then
look over in Psalm 11, in verse five. The Lord tries the righteous,
but the wicked in him that loveth violence, listen to this, his
soul hateth. His soul hateth. Oh my. So you see, here's God. He's
angry with the righteous. I'm angry with the wicked. He's got the wrath abides on
people who don't believe on Christ. And here's the thing. He's not
mad at us. I never will forget when I find
out God wasn't mad at me anymore. I tried for years to get on the
good side of God. I prayed, repented, gave, preached,
Oh my goodness, I've done so many things, and then I found
out in Romans that God justifies the ungodly. God's not, you know, that He's
not mad at me. I was always trying to make peace
with Him and come to find out He already made peace with Himself
by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there's peace. God's not hostile toward us anymore. He's not angry at us anymore. He's not upset with us anymore.
And why is that? Look over in Ephesians with me,
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Talk about
this peace. This peace. Ephesians 2. Look in verse 13. Now this is where we have peace
with God. It's not transwilliamine. But
God's not angry with us anymore. It's not that we ceased in his
hostility toward us, but he ceased in his hostility towards us,
his anger towards us. Look what he says in verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were way off over yonder are made nigh, brought
close by the blood of Christ. Now listen to this, for he is
our peace. PEACE IS NOT SOMETHING WE MAKE,
IT'S SOMETHING GOD MADE! CHRIST IS OUR PEACE! And oh, my! And here's what He
did, He hath made both one. He made both one. Jew and Gentile,
circumcision, uncircumcision, He broke down the middle wall
of petition. And listen to this, having ABOLISHED
in His flesh the You know what it is to abolish something? That
means to do away with it and it no longer exists. Abolish
something! And that's what he did. He abolished
in his flesh the enmity. Whose enmity? OUR enmity! Even the law of commandments
contained in ordinance to make in himself of two one new man,
and listen to this, and so make in peace. So make him peace. And here's what he did, that
he might reconcile. What reconcile it means is that
people that were at enmity with one another and against one another,
somebody has to make the move to reconcile them. You know,
if you offend somebody and hurt somebody real bad, you know,
it's up to you to go and make things right. But here's the
thing about God, we offended Him, we was against Him, and
God comes along and we were enemies, and He comes along and reconciles
us to Himself! We didn't do ANYTHING to be reconciled
to God. We were ENEMIES of Him, but He
comes along, Christ abolishes that enmity, that hatred, and
He brings us nigh by His blood, and He RECONCILES us and brings
us into union with God Himself, and then they come, and look
what I said, and come that He slain the enmity thereby, and
came and preached PEACE. How do you preach peace? By the
blood of His cross. He come preaching peace. Peace
to you which were far off and you that are close. And I love
this right here. For through Him, through Christ,
we both have access, access by one Spirit unto the Father. Oh
my, I am so thankful because Christ's death GOD HAS CEASED
FROM HIS ANGER WHEN MEN BELIEVE ON HIS SON,
BELIEVE ON HIS SON. AND I TELL YOU, BEING JUSTIFIED
BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD. WE HAVE PEACE OF CONSCIENCE
IN THE MERCY OF GOD. WE HAVE PEACE OF HEART IN THE
LOVE OF GOD. WE HAVE PEACE OF MIND IN THE
TRUTH OF GOD. WE HAVE PEACE OF HEART AND SOUL
IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. AND LOOK WHAT IT SAYS, EVERYTHING
IS THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. THERE IN VERSE 1, EVERYTHING
IS THROUGH OUR LORD. JUSTIFICATION IS THROUGH OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST. PEACE IS THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST. AND THEN LOOK WHAT HE SAYS, Listen,
I'm talking about in relation to our presence, we have assurance
of our hope. Look what he says here. By whom we also have access by
faith into this grace. You know what access means? It
means an entrance. It means an entrance. That's
all it means, it's entrance. We have an access, we have an
entrance. Where at? Into grace. This access is access into this
grace. This means entrance into the
privilege of being introduced. And listen to this now. Introduce,
you know, people, you know, they have kings and people all over
the world and they, and you know, they bring people and present
them at court. You know, the king got a, you
know, oh, that's something, boy, I'll tell you to be presented
at court. But you think about Christ. God
presented us and Christ presented us into the presence of God himself. Access, making an interest into
the presence of God, into the spirit of God, in the things
of God. Oh my, being introduced By Christ
himself, we have access into this grace. We draw nigh to God
with a true heart full of assurance of faith. And look what he says,
into this, we have verse two, by whom we also access, by Christ,
access into this faith, by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
You know, there is grace, and look what it says, this grace
wherein we stand, stand. You know, grace has brought us
to stand before God. Grace did that. Grace, grace
is what made the covenant of grace. Grace is what caused Christ
to come into this world, and God in His sovereign mercy gave
a people to Christ. And then these people that was
given to Christ was given to Him in a covenant of grace, not
a covenant of works, a covenant of grace. And our Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world to show grace, and grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ, and He come and brought grace, grace
poured from His lips, and He made that covenant of grace.
And then grace brought Christ into this world, to live for
us and die for his people. And grace, oh, bless the name
of the Lord, grace brought us the gospel. We'd have never heard
the gospel. We sung that a minute ago. I'm
so glad I learned to trust in Jesus. There was a time I didn't
trust him. And I had to LEARN of Him and
LEARN what He is and LEARN what He did, and it's by LEARNING
who He is and LEARNING what He did that we learn to TRUST Him,
and trust Him with 10,000 souls if we had all of them. And oh,
my, grace brought the gospel to us, and then grace gave us
FAITH to believe it! Grace did that. And grace makes
us what we are. and enabled us to do what we
do. Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God, I know what
I know. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. By the grace of God, anything we do is by the grace of God.
And look what he says, this grace we're in, we stand. You notice
he said we stand in grace. We don't stand in law, we don't
stand by works, we don't stand by merit, we don't stand by obedience,
we don't even stand in faithfulness. Only in grace can a sinner stand. We just sung that a minute ago,
grace taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. And that says that by whom? By
Christ, whom we have access, ex access. And then look what
about our future. Look at our future. There at
verse two, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You know
that word rejoice means to boast. It means to glory. And what do
we rejoice in? What do we glory in? What do
we boast in? What is it that we glory in?
What do we boast in? the salvations of the Lord from
Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end. Now that's something
to glory in. That's the only thing we can
boast in, the salvations of the Lord. Can't boast in anything
we've done. Can't boast in anything the church
has done, but we can sure rejoice and boast in glory in God Himself,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because We rejoice in that salvation
is of the Lord. When I say the salvation is of
the Lord, God Himself PURPOSED it, He PROVIDED it, and He APPLIES
it, He BRINGS it to us, and GIVES it to us. And you know what He
asks of us? NOTHING! He gives us EVERYTHING!
EVERYTHING! And I tell you, this is what
we rejoice in and glory in and boast in. The shepherd, the shepherd
is responsible for the sheep. You know that? I'm not responsible
for the sheep. Christ is responsible for the
sheep. He's a shepherd in three ways. He's the good shepherd
that laid down his life for who? The sheep, not goats, sheep. And then He's called the GREAT
Shepherd, who through the blood of the everlasting covenant saved us by the blood of the
everlasting covenant, and then He's called the CHIEF Shepherd,
a bishop of our souls, who shall appear. And I tell you, the Shepherd's
responsible for the sheep. But this is true. If Christ is not responsible
for us, who is? If Christ won't keep us, who's
going to? If Christ didn't lay down his life for us, who did?
And I tell you, he said that they come to him and said, if
you'll be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I've told you
plainly. But you don't believe. Why don't
you believe? Because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. My sheep follow me. I lay down
my life for the sheep. And I tell you what, the shepherd's
responsible for the sheep. And I tell you that salvation
is by grace through faith, and that WORKS don't have nothing
to do with it. We REJOICE that God is SATISFIED. God made Christ's soul an offering
for sin and SAW it and was SATISFIED, SATISFIED with what Christ did. SAW THE TRAVAIL OF HIS OWN SOUL,
AND HE WAS SATISFIED TO DO WHAT GOD REQUIRED HIM TO DO, TO SAVE
HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SIN, TO SATISFY GOD'S JUSTICE, AND SATISFY
GOD'S LAW, AND MAGNIFY GOD ALMIGHTY. AND I TELL YOU WHAT, AND WHEREVER
ONE OF US ARE SATISFIED WITH GOD'S WAY OF SAVING SINNERS,
I'M SATISFIED WITH IT. AIN'T YOU? OH MY! I'm satisfied, I'm satisfied
I am. And then look what he said, when
we stand and rejoice, boast, salvations of the Lord. And then
look what he says, in hope of the glory of God. Oh, there's
glory to be, huh? There's glory to be, in hope
of the glory of God. We dealt with that last week
of Romans 3.23. All have sinned, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. How far short you reckon? I think we missed it by an eternity. We didn't even come close to
the glory of God. I'd like one time, one time in
my life to absolutely do something for the glory of God without
me being involved in it. But if I'm involved in it, then
it can't be absolutely for His glory. I want that to happen.
I'd love for that. I'd like to have a thought that
would give all God all the glory. But as long as it's me, It'll
never happen, but I want to, don't you? And oh my, but God
has given us glory and he gave it to us in Christ. This is our
future. This is our goal. This is our
hope. Oh my, look over with me over
in Romans 8, 18, talking about hope. You know, hope always has
to do with the future. Hope ALWAYS, ALWAYS has to do
with the future, and it's a confident expectation. This is not a hope
that we'll get rain or hope that this'll happen or that'll happen,
but oh, look what he said here in Romans 8, 18. talking about
this, we rejoice in HOPE of the glory of God, in HOPE of God
s glory, seeing God s glory, BEING in God s glory, ENJOYING
God s glory. Look what he said here, For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time, right now, are not worthy, don t even dare
to compare them to the glory We shall be revealed in us. What
are you suffering? He said, don't you dare compare
it to the glory you're going to have. Whatever suffering you're
going through, it ain't nothing compared to the glory we're going
to have. Nothing. And then I want you to see Colossians
chapter 3. I can quote this to you, but
you need to see it. You know, John said, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God, and it doeth not appear what we shall be,
but we shall seem as he is, and then we shall be just like him."
Just like him. But look what he said here in
Colossians 3, 4, when Christ, our life, shall appear. He's going to, He's going to
appear one day. And then look what it says, Then shall ye also
appear with Him in glory. If He appears to get us one by
one, we're going to appear with Him in glory. Can you imagine appearing in
glory? Here we are and then all of a
sudden you appear in glory. Oh, my. Bless His name. We bless God
for this. This is our hope. This glory
God gave us in Christ. This is our future. This is our
goal. This is our hope. Eternal glory. Inherit glory. Rejoice in glory. Spend time
in glory. Oh, my. And you know, what is Christ, in Matthew 17, He appeared
with Moses and Elijah, and He appeared, He was white and bright
as the sun, glistening white, bright. That's His glory. When you see Him in Revelation,
He got that pap and golden girdle and that white hair. You see
Him in His glory. But you imagine that we, whatever
His glory is, we are going to appear in THAT? Go from here,
appearing in His flesh, to walking over there and appearing in glory? Having a body that glistens and
shines brighter than the sun? Having a mind without sin, without
flesh? WE REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY
OF GOD. And oh, look at trials and afflictions,
and I won't take much longer, I don't know, I'll never get
through these 11 verses. But look what he says here in
verse 3. Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. But we not only
rejoice in hope of the glory of God, but we glory in our trials,
in our tribulations. Our trials and afflictions CANNOT
destroy our hope, and that s what he goes on to say. You got this
hope in the glory of God, but then you re going to have tribulations,
you re going to have trials, you re going to have afflictions,
you re going to have trouble while you re in this world. But
oh, we glory in these tribulations. Why? Not on glory but because
we KNOW that this tribulation, these trials that God sends us,
what does it do? It works out a STEADFAST ENDURANCE! It works PATIENCE! That means
ENDURANCE! It don t mean sit down and twiddle
your thumbs and just be patient until God shows up again. PATIENCE
means ENDURING a STEADFAST ENDURING! Oh my! And listen to this, Knowing
that tribulation works this patience or this steadfast endurance,
and then look what this patience, this endurance does. Oh my! It teaches us patience, experience,
and this patience gives us an experience. What experience? Experience that we know that
God will not leave us alone, and that's what He said. Experience. How many times have you experienced
tribulations? How many times have you had troubles? and heartaches and sorrows and
trouble in your mind, trouble in your heart, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
with your family, trouble with children, trouble, trouble, trouble
from a doctor when he tells you that you're going to die, trouble! Oh, we know something about trouble!
And I tell you, it works out this PATIENCE, this ENDURANCE,
and this EXPERIENCE, and it teaches us that if we go through ONE
trial, We patiently wait, we endure through that trial, and
that gives us experience that we was here and we have this
patience and we get this experience, and that happens over and over
and over again until you come to the place where you have this
experience that God is going to do this over and over and
over again. Peter said, Think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. You know what
a fiery trial is? Fire. That means it burns, it
hurts. It hurts. But I tell you, we
glory in it because the reason being it's gonna give us experience. God's gonna keep us through this
thing. And I tell you, experience teaches us that God's ways are
right. Always right. God's ways are
right. God's ways are right. Anything He does, He's right.
Whatever He says is right. Whatever He says is true. And
I tell you, God is faithful. Oh, let me show you this. Oh,
look over here in Isaiah 43. God is faithful. God is so faithful. He has been faithful to me, oh
my goodness, all these years, all these years. And I tell you, He's not looking
at us and our faithfulness, He's looking to His faithfulness.
But all this experience teaches us God's ways are right, that
God is faithful. Look what He said in Isaiah 43,
1. But now, thus saith the Lord. That's the first thing you gotta
know, who's talking? God's talking. When He speaks, we listen. And
look what He says. that created thee, he created
us. You're the sheep of my pasture,
I created you. Oh Jacob, and he that formed
thee, oh Israel, fear not, I bought you, I paid for you, I redeemed
you. And listen to this, I called you by name, called you by name,
and you're mine. You're mine to love, you're mine
to choose, you're mine to keep. And oh, listen, when thou passest
through the waters, oh my, David said, one place, the waters,
the billows roll over me. When I passest through the waters,
I'll be with you. And when you have to go through
the rivers, rivers of trial, rivers of affliction, rivers
that think you're going to fall under them and drown, then I
don't overflow you. And when you're in the fire,
Think it not strange concerning the fire trial, and walk through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon you. Like the three Hebrew children,
they got out of that furnace and didn't even smell smoke on
them. And oh, look what he said, for I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia, and Sheba. Oh my. He said, you're mine,
you're mine. So God's gonna be faithful. When
these trials and tribulations come, and that's why we glory
in them because they work experience and they work and teach us no
matter where we go and what we're going through, God is faithful
to get us through it. And we find by experience that
that's so. We know by experience that that's
so. Huh? Oh, my. And then let me give
you this, and I'm gonna quit. Finish this up next Wednesday. Oh, experience produces hope.
And look what he says here. Patience, experience, and experience,
hope. Oh, my. When we go through these
things, endure these things, and go through this tribulation,
this experience, oh, we go through it. It renews our hope. Gives
us hope. We have hope. Oh my, and I'll
tell you something about hope. Like I said, it always has to
do with the future. Hope never puts to shame or embarrassment,
and look what it says. And experience hope, and listen
to this, and hope maketh not ashamed. You're ashamed of your hope.
HOPE MAKETH NOT ASHAMED. HOPE NEVER PUTS US TO SHAME IN
THESE TRIALS, IN THESE BURDENS, IN THESE ENDURANCE, AND IN THESE
TRIBULATIONS THAT WE HAVE. HOPE NEVER PUTS US TO SHAME.
MAKETH NOT ASHAMED. WHY DOES IT? WHY DOESN'T IT?
BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS POURED, SHED ABROAD. I MEAN, IT'S SHED
ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS. In our hearts, that's where God's
love's at, in our hearts. And he said it's poured into
our hearts. God's love is poured into our
hearts, shed abroad in our hearts. Oh, my. Can we be brought to
shame? Can we be brought to be ashamed
and brought to shame by the hope of the glory of God? Oh, no! Because this love of God is shed
abroad, poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost that God gave
us. We have the Holy Ghost. None
of us speaks in tongues. I don't speak French, I don't
speak Spanish, I don't speak in any tongue whatsoever. Don't
speak in no jibber-jabber, jibby-jibby-jibby-jibby, like all these folks do. You know, that stuff, you know,
that's just ridiculous. But oh my, the Holy Ghost in
us, you know what He does? He calls that love of God just
to shed, to be in us, be in our soul. It's just shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost that's given unto us. That's
the only way we can know Christ. And oh, my. Look over in 2 Timothy. You know,
Isaiah 28, 6 says, you know, that we shall not be confounded.
You know what that means? We ain't gonna be confused. We're
not gonna be brought to shame. A lot of folks gonna be confounded
when they face God. They're gonna be so confounded.
But look in 2 Timothy with me. So, so, so confounded. They say, Lord, we've done this,
we've preached in your name, cast out devils in your name,
done many wonderful works in your name. Depart from me, I
never knew you, you're just workers of iniquity. But oh, he said
that he that believeth on Christ shall not be confounded, not
be brought to shame. When we face God Almighty, right
now, if we had to face God now, we would not be ashamed. You
know why? Because Christ is not ashamed. Listen, as the Hebrews do, Christ
is not ashamed to call us brethren. If he's not ashamed to call us
brethren, you gonna let us be brought to shame? But look what
Paul said here in verse 2 Timothy 1.12, and then I'm done and finish
up next week. He said, for the witch cause
I also suffer these things. He suffered a lot of things.
But he said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. Oh, Paul, they're
mistreating you. They put you in jail. I'm not
ashamed. They hate you. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. And this is the reason he's not
ashamed. For I know, I know, who I have believed, and I am
persuaded, convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He
is able to keep that that I've committed unto Him against that
day." Oh, my! Go ahead, when them tribulations
come, don't bite your fingernails off
to the quick! Don't do that! And I tell you
what, God said, hope maketh not ashamed. We're not ashamed. Our Father, great, great, glorious
God of heaven and earth, thank you for your word. Thank you
for your precious word. Oh Lord, you justified us, cleared
us of all guilt, acquitted us in the courts of heaven itself. justified us from everything
that was against us. And then you gave us access into
grace, oh my, peace with God, access into grace, where we stand
now, we stand in the grace of God, stand by the grace of God.
Thank you for your precious, precious, precious word that
teaches us, instructs us, and shows us not only what we have,
what we have had and what we shall have in our Lord Jesus
Christ. God bless it to hearts and understandings
and keep these dear saints as they go their way. Bless them,
strengthen them, encourage them, and keep them in the peace of
God. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Amen. Old Faithful. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look
full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. See you Sunday. Will ladies have
dinner, lunch, Friday? Good potluck Sunday. See you Sunday morning. Good
night and God bless you.