And Paul here in verse 13 and 14, he's praying, he's uttering a
prayer, a prayer that just burst out of him. And he says in verse
13, Now that God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of
the Holy Ghost. And I myself also am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another." And
Paul is coming out of the fullness of his heart. He had been quoting
Scripture. That's one of his ways of doing
things. He always would quote Scripture,
and he'd say, again the same, again the same. And remember
he said in verse four there, he said, whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
the scriptures might have patience and comfort and hope. And that's
what the scriptures do for us. And so he gets full of the scriptures
and he starts talking in verse eight. He says this, and then
he says, Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the Jews. for the truth of God and the
reason he did to confirm the promises made unto the fathers
that he would be the seed of Abraham that he would be the
Messiah that he would be the Christ who would come and save
God's people and then he says that the Gentiles might glorify
God for his mercy for it is written for this cause Christ is what
Christ said for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles
and sing unto thy name Christ came to confess to the Gentiles
that he came to save them and he goes saying about this and
then he says rejoice you Gentiles with his people with his saints
and in verse 11 again praise the Lord all you Gentiles that's
us and law him, bless his name, all you people. And again, Isaiah
said, you see his heart just full, just quoting scripture
about what God done for us. There shall be a rule of Jesse,
and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles shall trust
in him. And then he says, now, since
all these things, God has made all these promises, and he's
quoted all these scriptures, now, to God of hope, fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. And you know, he opened up the
book of Romans, he said in Romans 1-7, he says, Beloved of God,
to them that be in Rome, Beloved of God, called to be saints. That's the way he described them.
That's the way he addressed them. And he was persuaded of these
saints that they were full of goodness, full of goodness, full
of knowledge. filled with and able also to
admonish one another now I'm telling you beloved God's people
are special people there's nobody like them on the face of the
earth there's nobody like them and you know what made them that
way? grace made them that way grace made them special you know
what our Lord said about His people? He called them the salt
of the earth you know why He called them that? Because salt
is what seasons the earth, and salt keeps us, this whole world,
from putrefying because God's got his saints here. You're going
to leave yourself a witness. And not only that, but he called
them the light of the world. You imagine living in this world
without Christ's people, without the Lord's people, without having
the fellowship of the saints, without having the gospel, without
having a place to worship and meet, and not having brothers
and sisters all over the place that you can go visit and be
with. And they're special not only because they're made that
way by Christ, but they've been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Bought with his blessed blood.
Purchased with the blood of Christ. And God accepted the payment
price, the blood of Christ accepted that. As our all of our salvation,
His blood put away all our sin. His blood satisfied the justice
of God. His blood answers to our conscience
right now and answers, beloved, that God is satisfied and we
have peace of heart and conscience. And they've been called, the
Holy Spirit called us, called us to our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'll tell you what else makes them special, they love one another.
They really love one another. And they love the Lord Jesus
Christ. They don't go around bragging
about how much they love the Lord Jesus Christ, but they love
Him. They're like Simon Peter, Lord you know, you know that
I love you. I don't love you like I should.
Don't love you like you're worthy to be loved. Don't love you like
I will someday love you. But I do love you. I do love
you. and they love the gospel oh you
can recognize God's people they have a love for the gospel you
know our Lord gave them hearing ears he said my sheep hear my
voice and he gave them hearing ears and the sheep hear the word
the sheep hear his word now here in verse 13 there's 27 words
in this verse and he uses this short 27 word prayer and blessings
for God's saints and I want to talk about these blessings this
God of hope this blessed salvation we have in Christ he says now
verse 1 he says now the God of hope fill you fill you now he's
praying for a blessing now now the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace that's the blessing he's asking for and
he says that you may abound in hope that's another blessing
And he says, and how this is going to be accomplished through
the power of the Holy Ghost. Now let's look at the source
of this blessing. He says, now the God of hope. The God of hope. God's name is, he has three descriptions
in this very chapter. He's called the God of patience.
He's called the God of peace. And he's called the God of hope.
And the only place he's called the God of hope is right here
in this very verse. That's the only verse he's ever
mentioned that has the God of hope. And he was Abraham's God. This was Abraham's God. Look
with me over in Romans chapter 4 just a minute. Romans chapter
4 verse 18. And you know the Bible tells
us in Proverbs that hope deferred makes the heart sick. When you
have a hope and you're full of hope. And you're just encouraged
and you think this is going to go this way and then that hope
is deferred. It makes the heart sick. I know
of a dear, dear friend of mine. He thought he was going to be
called to go some place and that and he's been sick ever since,
since they didn't call him. He just, he just slowed down.
He just, he had such hope and such delight in being able to
go someplace and start preaching and pastoring and he but in his
heart is just sick about it and that's hope deferred makes the
heart sick but this was Abraham's God look what he said here in
verse 18 talking about Abraham now listen to how these described
here who against hope who against hope Believed in hope. Now how you have, when you, it
looks like it's hopeless. That's what Abraham said. It
looks like it's absolutely hopeless. God said you're going to have
a child. He told me that years and years and years and years
ago. But it ain't happened yet. I'm getting to be old. Sarah's
old. who against hope, but he says,
you know what? God said it, so I'm still going
to hope. I'm going to hope against all
hope. I'm going to hope anyway. Abraham,
you fool, I'm going to hope. Abraham, there's no way at your
age you and your wife have... I'm going to hope. Who against
hope believed that he might believe in hope that he might become
the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed be. So this was Abraham's God. Now what is this hope we have?
What is this blessed hope? Now I want you to look with me
in Acts. Go back to Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24. Oh my, thank God for hope. Thank
God that our God is a God of hope. He gives hope. He blesses
us with hope. He keeps us in hope. Won't let
our hope perish. And look what he said here. This
is the Apostle Paul as he has been brought before a bunch of
people to answer for what he believes. And he says in verse
14 of Acts 14, But this I confess unto thee, that after the way
which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.
Now listen to this, And have hope toward God, which they themselves
also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,
both the just and the unjust. And that's why Paul says, we
sorrow not as them who have no hope. We don't sorrow like that. For we know that those which
are asleep in Jesus, God himself shall bring with him And we shall
rise up together and meet them in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. And then you wrote that here,
and so comfort ye one another with this word. So you see this
hope is beyond this life. This hope has something to do
with the future. And I tell you what, Paul says
if there's a hope laid up for us, he said it's a hope laid
up for us in heaven. In Colossians chapter 1 verse
3 he says there's a hope laid up for you in heaven. Now beloved
that's where our hope's at. It lies beyond this world. It
lies beyond this flesh. It lies beyond anything that
you can touch, taste, or handle. And he says this hope is laid
up up yonder. It's laid up up there. It's like
an inheritance that you got. It's like Abraham against hope,
believing in hope. But all my flesh is so weak.
But listen, this flesh, that's why this hope's laid up up there.
It's a treasure laid up up there. And you know who it's laid up
for? Those who have faith, hope, and love in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who it's laid up for.
And it's, you know what? It's Christ in you. That's the
hope of glory. And I tell you what Paul told
Titus, he says, in hope of eternal life, which God promised, God
who cannot lie promised. Eternal life. Gave it to us. And I tell you something else
it is. Look at Hebrews 6. Just a minute. This hope we have. Where is this hope we have? You
know, we have a lot of things that trouble us in this life.
A lot of things that that bother us, a lot of things that toss
us about here and yonder. We get this news, that news,
we worry and we fret and we think of things and we wonder how we're
going to deal with this, how we're going to deal with that.
But let me tell you something. Look what he said here in verse
19 of Hebrews 6, talking about this hope. Which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul. Both sure and steadfast. And
you know where our anchor is at? It's behind the veil. You say, well my little old ship's
tossed here, and it's tossed yonder. And it goes away and
gets so big. And you think, oh my, I'm not
going to make it through this. This is just, this is just awful.
Listen, you're connected to an anchor. This anchor is outside
of us. And this anger holds us no matter what goes on in this
world. Jesus, Savior, pile in me. Oh, precious rocks and shoals
before me lies it. The wonder, sovereign of the
sea. Jesus, Savior, pile in me. Those rocks and shoals, but we
got an anger. Then I tell you, that anchor
holds you, beloved. That anchor will stand you, make
you stand strong, stand true. And all this, and I tell you,
and I say something else about this hope, it doesn't make us
ashamed. I'm not ashamed of my hope that I have of you. Paul
says, hope maketh not ashamed. Why? Because the love of God
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. I'm not ashamed
of my hope in Christ. Not ashamed of my hope for the
future. Not ashamed of my hope that I
have in the gospel. Not ashamed of anything God ever
done for me. Because I wouldn't have a hope
if it wasn't for God. I wouldn't have a hope if it
wasn't for Christ. I've probably told you this before,
but I went in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital late April 1969.
Didn't get out till August of 1969. Went into Cincinnati VA hospital. Stayed in there for about 3 or
4 months. Got out. Stayed out for a few months.
Went back into one Chillicothe and that was a long term. I mean
18 months off and on. You're talking about hopeless.
Never get out of this place. If it hadn't been for Mary coming
to see me and bringing the babies to see me all the time, I don't
know what I would have done. She stood by me and comforted me
and helped me and gave me some hope. But one day, beloved, I
got out of there. And somebody started talking
to me about Jesus. And I don't even know if they
know anything about Him or not. But just the mention of that
name sparked something in my heart. Went and bought a Bible. Read
the sermon on the mouth and said whoop, I just closed it up and
said I can't live like that. But one day, year after year
after year, God finally crossed my path with the gospel. And
I went from having no hope to having the most glorious hope
that anybody could have. How can I be ashamed? People
talk about, oh my, you're all in your hope, you're all in your,
you're all so weak you got to have religion, you got to have
Jesus because you're so weak. That's exactly right. They're
telling the truth on me. Boy, if I tell you what, if you're
strong and had some wisdom and had some education, you wouldn't
believe in that. Hocus pocus. Well listen, hope maketh not
ashamed. Hope maketh not ashamed. And I tell
you God, He says He's called the God of hope. God gives us
this hope. God sustains this hope. And one
of these days, God's going to crown this hope with life. You know what? Abraham's hope
is crowned now. Remember when Simon picked up
that infant and says, Lord, now my eyes have seen Thy salvation. Let me, let Thy servant depart. His hope is crowned now. And
one of these days, our hope will be crowned. And look at the character
of this blessing now back over here in Romans 15. So the source
of this blessing that Paul is praying for is the God of hope.
Now look at the character of it. He says the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace. Joy and peace. Let me tell you
a little bit about joy and peace. These are active and passive. The active and passive sides
of a believer's experience. And what do I mean by that? Active
and passive sides of a believer's experience. Joy is active. Joy is expressive. The joy of
salvation. David said, Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. And look over, let me show you
something. You know, all joy and peace in believing. Look
in Isaiah 51. You know, joy, when I laugh,
when I'm preaching and I laugh lots of times, that's joy. Joy
is expression. You go along and you hear preaching,
you go along and you have a conversation with somebody, and you start,
you know, and you start having this kind of, then joy starts
building up. You start getting happy, you start feeling joy.
And joy is so expressive. Joy is so brought out. And it makes so much of an expression. It lasts and it rejoices. And
sometimes it feels like you're just going to explode with it
because you want to jump up and shout. And that's why it says,
Blessed are they who know what? The joyful sound. What joyful
sound? The joyful sound of the voice
of Christ. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Arise and come to me. And I arose and here I come.
And I tell you, in that mission, we heard the voice of Jesus say,
we heard the sound of grace. We heard the sound of mercy.
We heard the sound of Christ being made sin for us that we
might be made to righteousness. We heard the sound, the joyful
sound. and then look what he said here
in Isaiah 51 verse 11 this is what God says about it therefore the redeemed of the
Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head Listen to this, they shall obtain
gladness and joy, and listen, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. I know this beloved, the more
you know about the salvation you have in Christ, The more
you know about what Christ has done for us, the more you know
about the salvation that's in Christ, the salvation that was
accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, the freeness of it, the
fullness of it, the sureness of it, the more joy it produces. The more joy it produces. And
joy is so expressive. I love and enjoy. Know that joyful
sound. And then he says about joy and
peace. Peace is passive. Peace is restful. Oh, peace. That's what it is.
It's a calmness. It's a passive thing. It's a
restful thing. And we've been reconciled to
God through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
there is peace. Our warfare has been accomplished. God has brought peace by the
blood of His blessed Son. And peace Peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above. In order to have peace of mind. Rest in your mind. What a wonderful thing it is
to have peace of mind. Peace of mind. Peace in your
heart. No turmoil in your heart. No
struggle in your heart. No battle going on in your heart.
There's a battle going on in your heart right now over whether
you know Christ or not, whether you've ever rested in Christ
or not, whether you've ever believed Christ or not. And you don't
have that peace that I'm talking about. You don't have that restfulness
of mind, that restfulness of heart. And you don't have peace
of conscience. Oh, the peace of conscience is
worth 10,000 worlds like this. When you know that the blood
of Christ, that God is satisfied with Him, then your conscience
is satisfied and never ever ask for any more. There was a time
our conscience cried out. The Scriptures tells us that
there are three things, just cry, cry, cry, the horse, leech,
and I forget the other two, but that conscience just keeps on
screaming until it's only found rest in Christ. And if you don't
know Christ, and you're not peaceful, and don't have this restful spirit,
this restful mind, this restful heart, this restful conscience. Come to Christ, rest in Christ. That's what he said, come unto
me all you that are heavy laden. Heavy laden, oh there's a lot
of things that heavy laden does. Sin does. Trouble does. Sickness does. Finances does. The world does. Children do. Our own heart, our own sin, our
own... everything. There's lots of things
that makes us heavy laden. But our Lord says, come unto
me, you that are heavy laden. And what He said I'll do? I'll
give you some rest. And then He says, you take my
yoke on you. Take that old yoke of bondage,
that old yoke of sin, that old yoke that got you. That yoke
of worry and threaten. Just take, take that, get that
yoke off and take my yoke. It's so easy. It's so easy. And then you know what He said?
Then you'll find some rest. I'll give it to you and then
you'll find it. You'll find that what I said to you is true. You'll
find that I said I'd give you rest, and you'll find that if
you really do, you really will have rest. And what a blessed,
blessed thing for the conscience to rest in Christ. To rest in
His righteousness, never having to make one of my own. To rest
in His substitution of the dead, that He Himself, before our sins,
in His own body, on the truth, bore them away once and for all.
What a rest for the heart-minded conscience to know that Christ
satisfied God Himself. To have to rest in His merit.
To never rest in anything I have done or ever hoped to accomplish.
Rest in Him. Rest in Him. Look what He says
down here in verse 33 of Romans 15. He says, now the God of peace
be with you all the way. Romans 15.33, now the God of
peace. The God of peace brought again
from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I do know this, when this
peace is disturbed, the whole world is disturbed with it. Ain't
it? And by God's grace, I'm not going
to go anywhere where it's going to get disturbed if I can help
it. When this is disturbed, this peace is disturbed, the whole
world is disturbed within you. And you know what our Lord's
called? He's called the Prince of Peace. And Peter says we preach peace.
Preach peace, how? By Jesus Christ. And how blessed
are the feet of them that come and preach the gospel of peace. And then look what else is said
here in verse 13. Verse 13. Look at the measure. Now he says
the God of hope. That's the source of all these
blessings that he's praying for us. God of hope. He said, I'm
praying for you, God to bless you. And I pray that he blesses
you with all joy and peace. And then here's the measure of
it, he says, now the God of hope feel you, feel you. And he says
down there in verse 14 that you are full of all goodness. When he talks about the feel
you, he's not talking about an old, poor, narrow, strained life. I feel sorry for people that
has to go through life and their religion makes them just also
poor and narrow and strained. Everything makes them strained.
But Paul's here praying for a fool. Fool. I want you to be fool.
I want God to fill you up. May God fill you. Fill you with
all joy and peace. Our Lord said, I've come that
you might have life. Oh, that's a wonderful thing,
but that you might have it more abundantly. Now, how much life
is in Christ? How much life is in Christ? How
much joy is in Christ? How much peace is in Christ?
How much salvation is in Christ? How much grace is in Christ?
How much forgiveness is in Christ? How much righteousness is in
Christ? So, when you start thinking about
all that's in Christ, He says, that's the fullness you've got.
Whatever I have is yours. And everything that I've got,
you're full. You're abundant in it. And if
we don't have an abundance, it's not His fault. We want to walk,
you know, we run around and say, well, I don't have this, I don't
have that. But if you've got Christ, what else does it make?
We're full. He's wealthy enough to fill us.
He's powerful enough to fill us. he's willing enough to fill
us and he's the God of all grace now you keep Romans and look
with me Romans 15 look with me over in Ephesians chapter 3 just
a minute Claire, Sharon, and Annie and
I were talking about this last week oh look what he says here in
verse 20 Well, verse 19, he's talking
about, here he is again, praying for the saints, and he wants
them to comprehend. In verse 19, he said, I want you, Ephesians
3, 19, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, now listen
to it, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Whatever God's full of, he said, I want you full of Him. Now listen
to this, now, That's what he said over there, now the God
of peace. And here he says, now unto him that's able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that works in us. Oh my! I can't, I can't, God
has done so much more than I ever asked for or thought of. Every
dream that I can have. My mind can't give as big as
what God's done for me. Can you? And I mean in every
aspect of life. Because you see, our life is
not only in the church and here. Our life is out of here. We get
up every morning, start another day. Go to bed at night, what
we do through the day and everything that happens, our homes, our
comfortable beds, the income we have, the clothes we wear,
everything we have comes from Him. And I tell you, did you ever
thought that you would have had the family you had, the children
you had, the home you had, and the friends you'd have, and the,
oh my, you just go on and on and on with all the things that's
coming. I've seen all your pictures and all your families. And I
say, oh my, what wonderful families, what beautiful families, what
glorious families. Did you ever dream? You couldn't
think that big. But God gives you more than your
poor brain can grasp. Don't he? Don't he do that? Oh, and I tell you what, he's
wealthy enough, he's powerful enough, he's willing enough.
And hold out your old empty cup. Hold out your empty cup. See
if he won't fill it. Hold it out. You know, Have y'all
ever seen anybody begging? I mean really begging because
they's poor. I'm not talking about somebody sitting on a street
corner with a sign saying I'm a Vietnam veteran and you know
I'm hungry and I'm homeless. I'm not talking about somebody
you know walking around saying I'll work for this and I'll work
for that. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about somebody so poor. And that were people whose scriptures. That's what Bartimaeus was begging. You know why he was begging?
Because he had no other way to get in. He couldn't work, he
was blind. That lame man at the temple, he said and he was begging. I've been down to Mexico and
there are such people, they just look awful. Blind, shriveled
up. Just, I mean, you know, and they're
sad. And they have a begging bowl. A begging bowl. Put out your baby bowl. Like David says, my cup runneth
over. He'll run it over every single
time. Hold it out there and see if
you don't fill it up. Has he ever failed to fill it up? And
then look what he said here back over in Romans 15 again now.
I'll hurry up. Now the God of hope fill you. Fill you. fullness all fill you
up and the purpose of the blessing
is this that in the middle of the verse that you may abound
in hope that you may abound in hope not just hope but to abound
in it just abound in hope to have abundance to be abundantly
furnished and this has to do with our future Hope is connected
with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's one thing,
you know, what me and Mary went through, I'm going to tell you,
that God kept us. He kept us in that peace. And
we all had a hope. Had a hope. We never had a hope. A blessed hope. I've got a hope
after this world. She's entered into her future.
Her future ceased to be. Now it's eternity. My future is yet to come. If
God lets me live another ten years, that'll be alright. If
He lets me preach, that'll be alright. My brother asked me
the other day, he said, how long do you intend on plan on keep
on preaching. I said well I guess until I can't. And sometimes some of you think
well man he ought to quit now. So have folks laugh with you
they'll cry with you what Henry used to say. But daddy as you
know this has to do with the coming of our Lord. When we face the future, when
we face it, we're facing the future. There's going to be trouble
to come. You're going to have a lot of
trouble. You young couples, you're going
to have a lot of trouble. As we get over, Abraham's greatest
trials came in his last years. We'll have trouble. We'll have
trouble. But not only will we have trouble
to come in the future, Blessings are going to come. We're going
to have great, great blessings. And you know, whatever happens
in the future, until we go to be with Christ, we're going to
face every single one of them with hope. Hope. Hope. Well, how's it? Hope. Boy, I tell you what, it seems
awful. Hope. Hope. And oh, and he says, abound
in hope. Abound in hope. And Titus 2.14
says this, we look for the blessed, glorious appearing, the blessed
hope and glory appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
What makes it blessed? It's a blessed hope because it
comes from God Himself. God gives it to us. And it comes
from Christ. Paul said he is our hope. He
is our hope. And that's why he's called the
blessed appearing. And it's a good hope. You know where this good hope
came from? Look in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Just a minute. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. I'll tell you where this good
hope came from. Chapter 2. It's a good hope. Good hope, sure hope. Peter called
it a living hope. And look what he said here now.
In verse 16, 2 Thessalonians 2. This is where we got our hope. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given
us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. Good hope through grace. You know why we can abound in
hope? Cause our future is certain. Our future is certain. Guaranteed. By the blood of Christ. By the
word of God. My future is fixed. Fixed. Certain and sure. And look at the spirit of this
blessing. I'll wind it up here. Look at the spirit of this blessing
back over here in Romans. That's in the power of the Holy
Ghost. May abounding in hope in the
power of the Holy Ghost. And this is where we live a life
of joy and peace and abounding in hope because we're filled.
with these things because of the power of the Holy Ghost in
us. The power of the Holy Ghost brings these things to us. It's
not by the flesh, not by self, we don't even get these things
from fellow believers. Zechariah says this, not by power,
not by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. He's the comforter,
he's the teacher, he's the guide. Ye that are made perfect by the
Spirit, are you that have received the Spirit, are you going to
be made perfect by the flesh? No! We are those who have no
confidence in the flesh, that rejoice in Christ Jesus. And
that's why, beloved, the love of God sheds abroad in our hearts.
How? By the Holy Ghost. He's the Spirit of life. He's
the Spirit of liberty. And He's the one that makes these
things abound in us. Joy and peace and hope to abound
in us. He's the one who takes the hope
that we have and the blessings we have and He's the one that
gives them to us. You see, the Holy Ghost works in us. What
Christ worked out for us. And He works in us, God's here
for us. And then my last point is this. Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Believing. How you get all these blessings
come? Through faith. Through believing. None of these
blessings mean nothing to somebody that's an unbeliever. They mean
nothing. They will not come to an unbeliever.
Beloved, it's a faith. This life is a life of faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight. And I don't mean to run you all
over the place, but look in Romans 1 with me just a minute. You're talking about faith through
believing. The God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believing. Abound in hope through believing.
You see, believing. That's why we call one another
believers. That's why we call one another Christians. I believe.
I believe. I believe. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
And look what he said here in Romans 1.16. For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
thus beginneth to everyone that believeth. He that believing,
believing we obtain joy and peace. Believing we abound in hope.
Believing. And therein, in verse 17, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith. God
has faith. And it is revealed to faith as
it is written to just. How do they live? They live by
faith. What does it mean, this righteousness of God? What does
it mean, revealed from faith to faith? First of all, it's
received by faith. The gospel comes to us and we
receive it. We believe it. We hear it and
we say, I believe that. That's faith, receiving that.
And not only that, but this righteousness, this hope and everything we have
continually depends upon faith. And this gospel we believe not
only depends upon faith, but it produces faith. The gospel
comes and brings faith with it. And guess what it does? It ends
in faith. receiving the end of your faith. Just wait in patience says the
Lord. We believe unto the saving of the soul. And this gospel
produces faith. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. Hearing by the word of God. If you want to have any hope
at all, you've got to come hear the gospel. And from faith comes
joy and peace and hope. You won't have it without faith.
Won't have it without faith. And he said there's two sides
to this and I want to mention them to you. From God's side
is the Holy Ghost which works in us to will and to do. It's
God which worketh in you both to will and to do. And from us,
just simply trusting, believing. Just simply trusting, believing.
Oh, how I trust Him, how I trust Him. God works in us, and He
works in us to just trust Him, rest in Him, believe in Him,
hope in Him, and joy and peace in believing. Joy and peace. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, Take these words today and use them for
your glory and the good of the saints. Lord, they're your words. They come from you. I know they're
so. I know they're true. I know they're
real. And Lord, only you can make them
effectual. Only you can bless them to the heart. Only you can
bless them to the soul. Only you can take the mind. and
turn on the light. And we ask that you do, for Christ's
sake. Amen.