AVS Media Demo I want to talk about hope tonight.
Hope. Hope. Here the apostle says this
in verse 15, 1 Peter 3.15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts." Now, when he says, sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts, that don't mean that you're going to make God holy
in your heart, or make Him better in your heart. That means that
you set Him apart in your heart. We read that Steve, back in the
study, and it says this, "'Teach me thy way, O Lord.' And I'll
walk in thy truth and unite my heart, unite my heart to fear
thy name." So when he says, that means that Christ is set apart
in your heart. You set God apart in your heart.
He's who you think of. He's who you consider. And then,
be ready, since God is in your heart. He's set apart in your
heart. And you follow Him, and you look to Him, and you trust
Him, and you need Him. I need Thee, I need Thee, O blessed
Jesus, I need Thee. And since you've done that, be
ready. If God's in your heart, set apart in your heart. You
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a
reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and in fear. Be ready to give a reason for
the hope that's within you. I heard a man tell me the other
day, True story. He went to a hospital to visit
a woman who had had a heart attack, an older woman. And she'd been
attending that church for quite a while, but she hadn't been
there in months and months. Got mad at the preacher. Hadn't
been there in months and months. Went to see him, and the preacher
came in, and some folks were there and said, this is my pastor. No, no, I'm not your pastor. I haven't been your pastor for
months and months and months. I haven't seen you for months
and months and months. So how can I be your pastor? And what could I say about this? What would I have been able to
say about you? What would I have said about you? What would I
have talked about, kind of hope you have? If you've gotten mad,
you've left the gospel. I'll tell you, that's as honest,
you can't get no more honest than that. And you know, and
that's the thing, when it comes down to push comes to shove,
what is our hope? What are we going to deal with
when we leave this world? Now, I tell you, that's why we
give a reason for our hope. And I hope that I preached a
good hope to you. But now, we'll go over in Romans
chapter 8 with me, just a moment. Look what it says down here in
verse 24. Talking about hope. Give reason
for the hope that we have. I want to talk to you about the
reasons for our hope and what our hope is. I hope I can give
you a reason for our hope. But here in Romans 8, verse 24,
it says, We are saved by hope. Hope is saved by grace. Saved
by faith. Saved by Christ. For we are saved
by hope. But hope that is not seen, that's
not hope. If you can see it, you don't
hope for it. If you can reach and get a hold of it, you don't
hope for it. So all man sees, why does he yet hope for it?
But if we hope for that that we see not, if we hope for that
that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, wait for
it? Now by faith, hope, and charity. Faith, hope, and charity. And
hope is a blessed, blessed characteristic of believers. God give us, all
of His people, the grace of hope. And that grace of hope means
that we are always living in confident expectation of God
and what He's going to do for us and what our future holds
for us as far as eternity goes. And that's what hope has to do
with. Hope has to do with eternity. Hope has to do with the future.
Hope has to do with what we look to happen. And it's based upon
a confident expectation. And that's why he read tonight
in that Proverbs, but the Proverbs says that the hope of the righteous
shall be gladness. You see, in our hope, the hope
that God gives us brings forth a good result, brings forth good
fruit. Good proof, it's a blessed grace
that God gives us of hope. Of hope. And all believers have
an object of hope. An object of hope. Christ our
Lord is the object of our hope and the redemption of our body.
Now you go back up here with me and let's look together here.
Down through here and look at this in verse 18. For I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." And God's already
revealed glory in us. He's revealed the glory of His
grace in us, the glory of His election in us, the glory of
Christ in us, the glory of putting our sin away, the glory of forgiveness,
and the glory... God's already revealed His glory
in us. And we shall be, the glory which
shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Now what
that means is that the whole creation out here expects and
is waiting now for God's children to manifest in eternity when
God comes back and reveals all his children again. The whole
creation is waiting in earnest expectation for that. I'm waiting
for that. For this creation was made subject
to vanity, and it all is vanity. It wasn't willingly, because
the creation has no ability to resist God. But it was made subject
to vanity by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope.
Even this creation lives in hope. Because the creation or creature
itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
The corruption that men repel into sin, and the curse that
fell on this earth, and all the curse that fell on the children,
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. And just like
when God brings the glory of His liberty of His children and
sets us free from this body, That it's all when we wait for
the glorious liberty of the children of God. So we know that the whole
creation groans and prevails in pain together until now. When God thundered this morning,
the earth shakes, earthquakes come. That's the groaning of
this world. We want to be set free. And not only they, but ourselves
also wish to have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We, ourselves,
grow within ourselves. Have you ever grown within yourself? Lord, I just soon go home and
be with you. I just soon lay this body down
and go on to be with you. And we grow within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption. Wait, what adoption? The redemption
of this body. When God takes this body and
changes it, when God takes this creation and changes it, and
when He changes this body and takes it all whole, He's going
to change the whole creation at the same time when all the
bodies are being raised to God. And that's what I'm talking about.
For we're saved by hope. Because we haven't even seen
the redemption of our body. We're groaning. We're still bound
by this flesh. For we are saved by hope, and
hope has nothing to do with the resurrection. What a man saith,
what doeth he hope for? Now let me see if I can explain
the difference between hope and faith. Now what faith does, faith
looks back to what God's done. We look back to what God's done
for Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and we look back to what God's
done at the cross. Faith looks back to what God
accomplished at the cross. And faith looks upward. We look
up to God. And we ask God to preserve our
faith. God made promises, and faith
believes that promise. But hope looks on, looks forward
and onward. Faith accepts what happens. Hope
expects God to do and bring it to pass. And, O beloved, faith
is concerned with Him who promises, the God who promises. That's
the word, God who promised. But hope, hope is occupied with
what was promised. That He's going to redeem this
body. God promised us He's going to
change this body. God promised us He's going to
raise all the children of God together at one time. God promised
us that we're going to have the glorious liberty of the children
of God. He promised that there'd be a new heaven and a new earth. And you know what? We're occupied
looking forward to expecting that to happen. Let me see if I can say it like
this. I've used this illustration before. It's like that, and he
goes off and he works, and he's been gone a long, long time,
and he calls and he says, I'm coming home. Coming home. Well,
the children believe their father. Daddy said he's on his way home.
I believe that. But you know what it does? It goes, stands in the window,
looking for him to come down the road and pull into the driveway.
Faith believes what Dan said, but hope stands and looks out
the window. Faith, we believe what God says, but I'm looking
out the window. Hope has such power, has such
power that it's called the blessed hope. We're saved with hope,
and we're patiently waiting, waiting for the redemption of
our body, waiting for our Lord to come and get us. But let me
tell you the first thing about our hope. If you want to give
a reason for your hope, I'm going to give you a reason. The first
thing about our hope is it's a spiritual hope. It's produced
in us and worked in us by the Spirit. It's a spiritual hope. Look down here in verse 14 of
Romans chapter 8. It's a spiritual hope. It has
nothing to do with this place whatsoever. For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. God leads us
to Christ. God leads us away from our flesh. God leads us to the Word of God.
God leads us to trust Him. God leads us to never have no
confidence in this flesh. And He says, for we've not received
again the spirit of bondage to sin, but we've received the spirit
of adoption. God sent His Spirit into our
hearts, and we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Every bit of
that is spiritual. And our hope is spiritual. This
hope is not based on ritual thinking, but based on the word of God. And you see, we're led by the
Spirit, begotten by the Spirit. We have the spirit of adoption
in us. And we was begotten by the Spirit of God, born again
by water, regenerated. And it's the Holy Spirit that
teaches us. Romans 8 and 9 says here, if
any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And
the Scriptures tell us that we leave that to the Spirit. And
oh, the fruit of the Spirit is hope, joy, peace. And here, look
what it says there, in verse 12 of this chapter, Romans 8. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors
not to the flesh. This is a spiritual hope produced
by the Spirit, worked in us by the Spirit. This hope has absolutely
nothing to do with this man right here. Absolutely nothing to do
with this natural man. That's why it's called the spiritual
hope. You don't have any confidence in your... Has your flesh ever
done you any good? Has your flesh ever contributed
to your salvation? Ever contributed to your hope?
Has it enabled the flesh lust against your spirit and the spirit
against the flesh? And you can't do the things that
you want. I'm telling you, beloved, that's
why we, we, we, we, this is a spiritual hope. And I tell you, we don't,
we don't never bring, as the old hymn writer said, in my hands,
I don't bring anything. We didn't bring anything down. And not only is it a spiritual
hope, but it's a single hope. A single hope. Look there in
chapter 8, verse 1. It's a single hope. What is that
hope? It's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That's one of the merits
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says, There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Again, we
walk not after the flesh. For that law of the spirit of
life in Christ is to be free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through this
fallen nature, that God sent his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, judged sin once and for all in the flesh
of His flesh. You see, beloved, it's a single
hope. Not only spiritual, but single. It's on Christ and His
merits alone. And that's why he says, brethren,
you know, we were foreigners, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, without hope and without Christ in this world. That's
the way we were. But now, by the blood of Christ, we're made
not. And I'll tell you, beloved, he
alone is our hope for the redemption of our body, for the resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4, but just a
moment. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13. There's
people that don't have this hope. Don't have it. Talking about hope, the hope
of the resurrection, the hope of the redemption of this body.
And Christ is the object of our hope. You see, it's Christ alone. And this is it, I'm telling you,
it's Christ alone. That's our merit in acceptance
before God. It's Christ alone that has the power to quicken
us from the dead. It's Christ alone who keeps us
saved and gives us grace. And look what he said here in
verse 13, 1 Thessalonians 4, talking about this hope that
we're talking about. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others. Oh my, it's awful to go and know
somebody that's passed into eternity without any hope. No hope, and
that's why He said, I don't want you to be ignorant of that. You
see, we've got a hope. And this is the name of a hope
we have. In verse 14, if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so, them which also sleep in
Jesus will God bring with Him. And listen to this. For this
we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, the voice of an archangel, with the
trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
those of us who are left here, what's going to happen? Change
in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye. Call up to meet Him together
in the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Oh, beloved, it's not what I
am, it's not what I do, or what I have done or will do, or will
be, or will ever accomplish, that I have any hope at all in
this world that I'll go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And,
oh, beloved, it's not I hope I make it, because I'm doing
the best I can, and I don't know how to do any better. I've tried
to be sincere. I'm doing everything I can to
please God and make Him acceptable, and I hope when I get to the
end of the way, He will accept me. If you're not accepted now,
you won't be accepted now. If you're not in Christ now,
and you die, you won't be in Christ then. No, no, no, Christ is our confident
expectation, and it's based upon who He is, His Word, His Merit. I dare not trust the sweetest
claim, but wholly lean on His holy name. And, O Beloved, I
have a confident expectation That when we leave this world,
when they come to us, and this body goes to dust, and Christ
redeems it, our Christ is going to do it, just like He saved
me. He's the only one who can do anything for me after death,
or doing death. And that's what we're talking
about, the redemption of the body. Not only is it a spiritual
hope, and a single hope, but it's a special hope. What kind
of hope is it? Look over John chapter 1 with
me just a moment. I'll show you what kind of hope
it is. It's spiritual hope. It's a special hope. Oh, it's
special. You know what makes it special?
Look here in John chapter 1, verse 16. John said here in verse 16, "...and
cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, and you know why? Because
he was before me. And now listen to it. And of
his fullness hath all things come. And grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's why it's so special,
because Christ is Christ. This special hope is special
because it's by grace and grace alone. We wouldn't have hope,
know anything about hope, if it wasn't for the grace of God.
And I'm going to read you a verse of scripture. You don't have
to look at it. I'll read it to you. 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. Oh, everything that's happened
for us is by the grace of God. God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He gave us grace in Christ. Paul says, when it pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. You know how we became believers?
It says over in Acts 18, verse 27, that they were saved through
grace. You know how we're justified?
Freely, by His grace. You know how we're saved? For
by grace are you saved through faith. We're not under law, but what
are we under? Grace. We are what we are. Why? By the grace of God. Who made the few that differ?
A.V.S. Media demo. Grace, grace. Oh, sin is all we had, and sin
abounded in us, but God came in grace and in power, and grace
superabounded. A.V.S. Media demo. And now reigns
in us through righteousness, and I think I preached this last
Sunday night, and now we stand in the grace of God, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. His special hope, His special
grace. Here we going on in our sin.
Grace came, called us, separated us, saved us, justified us, and
you know what? Because if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Huh? We ain't going
to frustrate God's grace. We ain't going to add nothing
to it. No, no. Let me tell you something else.
Our whole government is spiritual and single. Christ and Christ
alone, the merits of Christ. But it has substance. What in
the world do you mean it has substance? Well, look back up
here in Romans, chapter eight, verse A.B.S. media demo. You
thank you. If I can admit this, this is,
you know, our hope has substance and the substance that we have
is a righteousness. It's a righteousness. And here
he says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. Now, how can the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us?
Huh? How can that righteousness, loving
God with all your heart, loving your neighbor as yourself, you
know, fulfilling by the Lord, fulfill by the Lord? Huh? I'll
tell you why. We have a righteousness before
the law, and we walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,
because our Lord Jesus Christ gave us His righteousness. You
remember when Abraham says, That Abraham believed God and God
says, you righteous man. Now let me tell you what he believed.
Let me tell you what he believed. God took him out and told him,
said, look up. He went and looked up. I don't know, I can't count
him. He said, that's how many children
you gonna have. Abraham, 75 years old. Been married
forever, ain't had a child yet. And he said, look where you stand. He said, look that way, look
south, look north, look east, look west. He said, everything,
that's yours. Every place is yours. You know
what Abraham said? I believe that. He didn't even
have a child. And he was a hundred years old
before he believed that. Now that's insulting. And that's
what we're talking about. And God said, Abraham, he counted
him as a righteous man. Counted him perfect before him.
Counted him righteous before him. And beloved, we have a righteousness. And who shall condemn us? It's
God in the dust of times. It's Christ that died. And we
not only have a righteousness before the law, but we have a
righteousness before God himself. If God made Christ to be sin,
who knew no sin, and if we look to Christ and trust Christ, who
knew no sin, then we are made the righteousness of God who
are in Christ. He took our sin, we get His righteousness. He took our death, we get His
life. Because of our curse, we get disobedience. And then God's
justice comes along. And I'll tell you, this is where
people really, really get upset. This is where they have so much
trouble, so much trouble trying to make peace with God around
them. Justice tells a man in his own conscience that in these
sins, he's got to do something to try to undo that sin. And
justice says that you know the soul has sinned and become God.
That's why man's conscious. But beloved, justice comes. And
if God justly punished his son, put his sin on his son, how can
he justly punish him and come back and justly punish me at
the same time? Can't do that. How can you be just and do that?
Huh? And that's why he says, Jehovah
saken you. What does that mean? The Lord
I Righteousness. So we're just God. Do you know
who I Righteousness is? The Lord. The Lord Himself. And all beloved here has substance
to it, a righteousness before the Lord. And He Himself is the
author and finisher of our faith. We're complete in Him. Complete
in Him. Perfect in Him. What can you
add to completeness? And He's our victory. People
say, boy, you need to lead a victorious life. I do. Want me to show you where it's
at? Let me show you where it's at.
St. Croix is 260. You know, people say, well, they preach to folks,
boy, you need to live a victorious life. You listen to me, you live
a victorious life. You can live victorious over
sin. Victorious over this situation, that situation, everything. Well,
I tell you, we always live victorious. 2 Corinthians 2.16. He is our victory. Now, thanks
be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. I don't triumph anywhere else. I've never triumphed over
anything. He is our victory. And oh, He
makes manifest. Manifest the Savior in Christ. And who, who shall separate us
from the love of God that's in Christ? He's our victory. And
He's not only our victory, beloved. This hope has substance. It's
Christ Himself. He's our life. He's our life. Our Lord Jesus. And you know, let me, Todd and
I, he and I talked about this, and this is so, this is so, this
is so. You know, Christ is our life. The gospel's our life. Our life
revolves around the church, the Lord's people, the gospel, Christ,
we go, everything, our whole life revolves around one another,
the scriptures, the gospel, Christ, and I've read it wherever, this
is our life. It's not something we do every
four or five weeks, three times a week, and twiddle our thumbs
down the time. It's our life, it's who we want
to be with. And that's why he says Christ is our life. Because
I live, you should live also. You don't want to do without
this. You don't want to do without the gospel. You don't want to
do without the Lord's people. You don't want to do without Christ. You
don't want to do without the Word of God. This is our life. Oh, and
the rest of this stuff, that's just window dressing that God
gives us until we leave here. Oh, beloved, and I tell you what,
He's going to change these foul bodies and resurrect them. Well,
just come forth. One of these days he's going
to say, darling, come forth. And I'll tell you something about
this hope, that this has something to do with how much substance
it has to it, that when we face God in judgment, it'll pass judgment. It'll pass judgment. It'll pass
the inspection of God Himself when God looks at it in judgment. And then it's simple. It is so
simple. Look with me in Ephesians 4.
It's not only spiritual, single, special, has substance, but it's
also simple. You know, the Scriptures tells
us that there's one way, one hope, one salvation. Oh, Philip,
our Lord was fixing to leave, Go back to Gloria, by way of
the cross, fixing to go on the cross. He said, I know a way. And where I go, you know the
way, you know. And Philip said to him, Lord,
before you go, we don't know the way. He said, I'm the way.
And I'm the truth, and I'm the life. And he said to him, show
us the Father, and that'll be satisfied. Talk about one hope,
one Lord. And he says, Philip, have you
been with me such a long time and seen me, and have not seen
the Father? For he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father. So that's how simple it is. You've
got God, you've got Christ, you've got Christ, you've got God. One
Lord, one faith, one hope, one salvation. Look what it said
here in Ephesians 4 and verse 4. One body, there's one body. And see how that's capitalized?
Even as you're called in, one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, boy, you can't get any more. One God and Father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. Now, how more
simple can it be? One, one, one. And old Simeon, an old man, had
this hope. He picked up the Lord Jesus Christ
as an infant, looked at Him and says, My eyes have seen God's
salvation. Now, let thy servant depart in
peace." Because God told him that he wasn't going to leave
this world until he'd seen the Lord's Christ. And he saw it,
and I believe the Lord took him a day or two after that, because
he said, God won't let none of his people go until they've seen
Christ. You don't live in this world
until, if you're one of God's elect, until you see Christ.
Now let me show you another in Ephesians 6.24. Not only is it simple, it has substance
and special and single and spiritual, but it's simple, but look, it's
sincere too. Look here in Ephesians 6.24.
Grace with all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Now what does that sincere to
me? It means pure, it means honest. It means it's single. This is
so much more than I sincerely hope so. No, sincere here means
it's pure, it's honest, it's single, it's unmixed. Don't add
no mixture in. But the hypocrites hope it's
going to perish. It's going to perish. John chapter
8 verse 13 says the hope of the hypocrite shall perish. He'll
perish, and he'll perish with it. If a man's a hypocrite, he's
going to leave this world, and his hope's going to perish just
like a vine. But, O Beloved Word, there's this pure, honest, single-minded
hope that we have in Christ. There's a love for the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm in a love for Him, a need
of Him. I'm in a real, real love affair
in your heart for Christ Himself. There's a love in your heart
for His Word. Oh, His words you love. There's
a love in your heart for Christ's church, for His people. Wherever
you meet with them and wherever they meet, there's a love in
your heart for them. And there's a need in your heart
for them, a need to attend to the gospel and the means of grace
that God gives us. You see, where there's this hope,
this honest, pure, single, unleashed, there's a hunger, there's a thirst.
After righteousness and for Christ, there's a looking for the glorious
appearing of Christ Jesus. We're watching and waiting for
Him to come, and we're patiently waiting. And one of these days,
beloved, oh, Henry told me again. It's the
second time he told us. He sat at the table and told
every one of us this. He says, I pray every night,
every night, Lord, let me wake up in the morning and open my
eyes and see You. He prays up, goes to bed and
lays in his bed and says, Lord, when I open my eyes in the morning, That's what we're talking about. That sincere hope, that pure
honest hope. Oh, my. And not only is it sincere, but
it's a sanctifying hope. What do I mean by sanctifying
hope? The Scripture says, he that hath
this hope in Christ purifies himself, even as Christ is pure. Cleanse yourselves. Cleanse yourself
from all And all beloved, and what that means is sanctified
means it means to be separated. And this hope makes us in our
heart, in our soul, in our lives. It separates us first and foremost
from the world. The world has nothing for us,
never been good to us, never been good to me. I told some
folks the other night, somebody, people ask me all the time, how's
the world treating you? The world never did treat me good. When
me and Mary was first married, I came to the hospital, and I
couldn't do anything, couldn't work, couldn't do anything. Not
one person, not one person that I worked with, that worked on
the plant with me, ever come and said, y'all need help with
your rent? Not one of them, not one of them
came to the hospital to see how I was doing. Now that's the way
the world treats you. They don't care for nothing.
But God took us out of that. And He took the love of it away
from us. And now, beloved, this hope separates us and makes us
different from the world. Makes us different from this
people that's in the world. Makes us different from ambition
and vain glory. And trying to make a name for
ourselves in this world. And it makes us, this sanctifying
hope, beloved, makes us know that sin is exceedingly sinful. It's not just the inward, but
the outward acts. The Scriptures tells us even,
look, let me show you this. Look over in 1 Thessalonians
5, talking about this sanctifying hope. You know, we talk about the inward,
but, oh, beloved, there's also this outward. The scriptures tell us to shun
the very appearance of evil. And look what he talks about
here. In 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 4, talking about the world
separating us from the darkness and the evilness of this world.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day, the
day of Christ, should overtake you as a thief. And our Lord
said he'd come as a thief in the night. And he's going to come unaware.
When people ain't expecting him, that's when he's coming. And
you are all the children of light. And you're the children of the
day. We're not of the night. We're not of the darkness. We
don't love darkness. We don't want it. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others. Let's watch and be sober. For
they that sleep, they sleep in the night. And they that be drunken
are drunken in the night, mean that that's a thing they do,
they do in darkness. But let us who are in the day,
out here in the open for everybody to see, be sober, putting on
the breastplate of faith and love, and for in heaven, the
hope of salvation. Huh? For God hath not afforded
us the wrath but to attain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And
watch this, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we're going to live together with Him. We're children of the
day. We're not children of the night,
the darkness. And oh, beloved, back over in
Romans 8, and I'll wind it up. And oh, that's what he said here,
down in verse 24, for we're saved by hope. That hope that is not
seen is not hope. And what a man seeth, why doeth
he yet hope for it? But we hope for that that we
see not. Now, we with patience, we're
waiting. We're waiting. Abraham waited, and you know
what happened? He received God. He waited. Sure enough, Isaac was born. Huh? And, oh, beloved, I tell you,
we'll wait. We'll wait with patience on our Lord Jesus Christ. We'll
wait with patience. Wait with patience in this world
until Christ calls us home. Time seems long sometimes. And
I know trials, trials get very, very, very heavy. I know some
of you go through some heavy things. Your hearts are heavy.
Your souls are heavy. You're anxious. You're fearful.
People's hearts failing. But, oh, beloved, I tell you,
we're waiting, patiently waiting. We'll be sick. The next will be in Emmanuel's
land, where sickness is no more. One moment we're clad in this
flesh, but the next in the twinkle of an eye, heaven, within mortality,
within corruption. And you know what John said?
Our Lord says, John, behold, I come quickly. You know what
John said? Amen. Even so, come. Come, Lord Jesus. Oh, come, come. I don't want to go through these
times, but I certainly, I'm not afraid of the time I'm
in.