night if you wish to follow along
to Romans chapter 8. And while you're turning to Romans
8, I'll give you a couple things. Miss Emily Davis sent us a gift
today. It was in the mailbox down here,
so I thank God for her. I appreciate that. And also,
I myself yesterday got to actually experienced experienced the fact
that our sufficiency is not of ourselves, our sufficiency is
of God. And he is able to do abundantly
above all that we can ask or think. 20 minutes before the service yesterday
at Grace Fellowship Church, the preacher, one of the preachers
couldn't make it and I was asked to preach And I didn't have a
note one. But God was sufficient. God was
sufficient. Romans chapter eight, verse 24. For we are saved by hope. Now that is my title, saved by
hope. But I'm not going to deal with
that phrase in and of itself because, not because, but I realize
that phrase can be misconstrued by some. For we are saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, we're
in the same manner. The Spirit, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. but the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. First of all, what is hope? Of
course, in the scripture, and specifically, and especially
in our text, it certainly is not a wish. We often are found
to use that word hope. Well, I hope this happens, or
I hope that happens, or I hope this don't happen. You know what
I'm saying. The word hope can be an equivalent to wish, but
that is not what the Apostle Paul means here. nor even stated
better, that is not what the Spirit of God is moving Paul
to write. That's not the meaning. What
is hope? The hope as seen in scripture, the hope spoken of
here and in other places in the scripture is that confident expectation
of the fulfillment of the promises of God. But it's more than that. because hope is vitally connected
to faith. Ye, I might say it this way,
that hope, faith rather, births hope. A lot of people have wishes
about God, things they wish God would do, things they'd like
to see God do, things they hope, but that in quotes, God will
do. But that is not what Paul's talking
about. Here it is, that confident expectation, birthed by faith
in the immutable promises of God. The song we just sang, let me
find it. I can't see it right now. Let
me just put it this way. If God Almighty's promised it,
it must come to pass. And that's not me requiring something
of God, that is God in his own immutability and faithfulness
declaring that it must be done. I want to read to you the Amplified
Bible. Now this is just the Amplified
Bible. We do not take the Amplified
Bible to teach us, thus saith the Lord. But the Amplified Bible
does help some here. I want to read these verses again,
but read them from the Amplified Bible. But when I get to verse
28, in case this is being taped, someone might go to the Amplified
Bible and read it. There will be one phrase I will
leave out, because it will confound you if I even read it to you,
so then I'd have to take 10 minutes trying to explain it away. But
I will read the bulk of how the Amplified Bible puts this. Verse
24, but in hope we are saved. But hope which is seen is not
hope, for how can one hope for what he already sees? And I will
say, or already has in possession. But if we hope for what is still
unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and, I like this,
composure. I like that, because the word
patience doesn't have with it just gritting your teeth until
it comes to pass. It is patience. It is waiting
on God, but waiting on God with a joyful, confident expectation. So with patience and composure,
so too the Spirit, or Holy Spirit as the Amplified puts it, so
too the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our
weakness. For we do not know what prayer
to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought. I like
that. We'll look at this in a moment.
We often don't know what to pray for as we ought. But the Holy Spirit comes and
intercedes. But the Spirit himself goes to
meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable
yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. Now, it's not
the Spirit don't know how to utter these. We don't know how
to utter. We don't know what to say. We
don't even know the appropriate manner and attitude with which
to ask it of God. But the Spirit of God does. And
he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of
the Holy Spirit, what his intent is, because the Spirit intercedes
and pleads before God in behalf of the saints according to and
in harmony with God's will. because he is God himself. He is the spirit of Christ where? In the believers, in us. He knows exactly what's going
on and what's supposed to occur. We are assured, and this is what
he said, we are assured and know that all things work together
and are fitting into a plan for good to those that love God and
are called according to his design and purpose. When God graciously subjects
a soul to the spirit of bondage to fear, and we've read that,
we've looked at that, And adoption then breaks forth. It births
hope. When we were under the spirit
of bondage, it was as if we had no hope. And in a real sense,
in our understanding and comprehension, we had no hope. God caused us
to see and experience our lack of hope. But we still had hope,
nonetheless. Because the God who promised
to bring us into the spirit of bondage to fear and also promised
to bring upon us the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Papa,
Father. When a gospel converted believer,
and I'm saying that way, that way, not for your sakes here,
but for others who may hear that, because there are a lot of converted
people in this world. And there may be a lot of believing
converted people in this world. But there are a few who are gospel
converted believers. When a gospel converted believer,
listen to me, when a gospel converted believer miserably fails the
master. God's promise of sins confessed,
being forgiven, births hope. If we confess our sins, John
told us, He, I like what I remember what Art Nguyen Saunders said
one time standing right here in this place. He said, the only
thing in that verse we do is the sinning and the confessing.
God does the rest. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That's hope. That's hope. But even more, Hope
expects and waits and with patience longs for the fulfillment of
God's promise. Promise to come of future fruition. Things that have not yet come
to pass. And even more than that, hope
wrought by a God-given faith is totally dependent upon God. The reason we often askew our
hope, affect our hope, whatever the better word is, or other
words, the reason it's often complicated is because we're
not depending solely upon God for the fulfillment of the thing
hoped for. We think, well, I got to do this. Well, if God promised this to
happen by you doing this, then you will, at the appropriate
time, do the this that is necessary. Because he will work in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. But there are other
things that God has promised totally apart from any action
on our part, good or evil. We often say, God just dropped
that in my lap. He can do that. But he don't
always do it that way. You understand what I'm saying?
There are many things I could look back in my experience as
a gospel converted believer, and I could say, well, God just
dropped that in my lap. And there are other times when
I sought for things. and salt God's way, and salt God's will
in the matter. And pieces of the puzzle begin
to go fit together. You understand what I'm saying?
Yes, sir. And the next thing you know, you see this thing that
was hoped for. The problem is religion. We try to pigeonhole
God and put God in a box and say, well, God, you've got to
do it that way. God will do it His way. Yes, sir. With us or
without us. He'll do it His way. As I said, Hope wrought by a God-given faith
is totally dependent upon God, for God has not revealed everything
to us. And He has not always revealed
the how, the when, the why, the where, and the who of His promises. He simply promised this or that.
But He didn't tell us all of the different pieces of the puzzle
that must come together. But yet we know And we know,
you see it? And we know that all things work
together. We don't know how all things
work together, we just know that all things work together. I am
yet to figure out, and I actually have tried, no, that's not true,
that's about to lie to you flat out for you from the bullpen.
I often try to make myself not even worry about the how, but
I still do, think about it. But here's what Paul wrote, and
this helps me. I don't have to know how they
all work together. I just need to know that they
all work together. And we know that all things work
together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the
called, according to his purpose. Now, God willing, next Sunday,
we will park on verse 28 for a while, but I'm not gonna park
on verse 28 today. We'll look at that God willing,
as I said, later. Again, Paul says, he admits,
he confesses. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities for we. He didn't say for you. This is
the apostle himself. Yes, sir. That's right. Whom
Christ took into the wilderness and taught the gospel to him.
The truth of the holy scriptures of the Old Testament. New Testament
wasn't even written as a whole yet. The Christ who took him
up into the third heaven and showed him things that he could
see and hear, but when he got back here, God wouldn't allow
him to speak about any of them. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. And yet, religion, preachers
today, and churches are constantly trying to pigeonhole everything.
They write how-to books on how to pray. Right? Just pray cry
out unto God If you got a need cry out for God to supply it
Because you don't manipulate God into doing it Our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever. He hath
pleased What God is purpose you can't put to it you can't take
from it and God does it that way so that everyone should fear
him We know not what we should pray
for as well. Consider this, and I'll try to
run through this briefly. Consider eternal life. Paul wrote
to Titus and said, God who cannot lie promised eternal life before
the world began. So somebody's gotta have it.
Right? I mean, just thinking without
much book here, one person at least got to be given eternal
life, right? But when you read this book, you find out there's
a myriad of people that will be given eternal life. Isn't
it? That God who cannot lie promised
eternal life before the world began. Some will have eternal
life. But do I pray for an Esau? Here's the thought. Let's move
it over to another. Do I pray for an Ishmael? Abraham
did. He did, didn't he? He prayed for Ishmael. He prayed
that Ishmael might be the child of the covenant. Oh, that Ishmael
might live. Now that boy was alive and bouncing
around and probably sitting on his daddy's knee. That was Abraham's
son. I forget that. That's his flesh
and blood. And he probably took to help
that boy whittle out little weapons and little toys and took him
hunting, fishing, whatever they did. Oh, that Ishmael might live
before thee. But that prayer would never come
to fruition. It would never come to fruition.
Now here's the point. Abraham wasn't evil or wicked
for praying that. He was praying it out of sympathetic
compassion and love for someone he cared for. But our sympathies
and our love and our affections do not dictate the purpose of
God. We do not know who the Esau's
are. Do we? We do not know who the Esau's
are. But we do know this. Paul said, brethren, I thank
God for you knowing your election of God. What? Your election?
That took place in Christ before the world began. Right? Right? Knowing your election
of God. It's almost as if he said, we
could look at the book of life, but we can't. The book of life
was pinned by God. And I don't know if that's the
right way to say that or not, but it was written by God eternally
before the world began, because it's the book of life of the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's all one
sentence. Yes, sir. But we do know this. knowing
your election of God, because our gospel came not to you in
word only, but in power, and in much assurance, and in all
holy gifts. So we are in line with God's will when we pray,
oh God, use your gospel, but do it in more than word only.
Because God, we can't do it. I can preach this as sincerely
as I could possibly muster. and with as much study and preparation
and rearranging things as they ought to be said in their proper
order, that will guarantee nothing. I could just stand up here and
quote scriptures, and that itself guarantees nothing. But if God
Almighty moves through the word. Now folks, we are a group of
people here that we've been taught, and we know this, Regeneration
happens as a soul act of the Spirit of God. Conversion happens
through an act of the Spirit of God bringing the gospel to
conquer a man or woman's heart and soul. But regeneration is
not the end. When we sit around and argue
with other people who don't hold to that, maybe don't see that,
you're just banging your head against the wall. Because regeneration
will only be known and recognized when the gospel's preached and
conquers the heart and soul. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. I could get doctrine on say,
you gotta be born of God first. That is completely true. But
you don't know that anybody's born of God until they believe
that Jesus is the Christ. Then you can say they were born
of God. And it doesn't matter when it
took place before. You just thank God that it did.
But the only evidence is that the gospel comes along and latches
hold of them and won't let them go. And that's what we better
concentrate on. For years I argued doctrine rather
than preaching Christ and I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed
of myself. Think about this one. Let me
just move on. Drop that one and let me move on. Being brought
into the one shepherd fold. And now what Christ said, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. That's a promise. He's taken
the very responsibility of it. Them also I must bring and there
shall be, there shall be, there's the promise cemented, if you
will. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. We are forced to trust Christ
in this, for this, and to patiently wait upon this. He will do it,
and He alone can do it. We can't make it happen. And we may be in the midst of
nothing but goats. There may be no more sheep here.
I don't know. Somebody says, well, if we're
here, there's gotta be sheep here. There are sheep here. Here
we are! And this gospel that initially
saved us is what keeps on saving us. And it's the only thing that's
kept this group of believers together as one, as a one shepherded
fold, is that gospel keeps being preached to you and preached
to you and it feeds you and it draws you to the fold. And you
start to go over and look around the edges of the fold and wonder
about the fields, but then you hear that gospel. and you let
go of the side post and you turn back to the fold. Y'all never
been there, have you? Y'all ain't never done that.
What am I saying? We don't know what to pray for
as well. If I give you number three, being
so loved by God that he will not let us go. to save time. You know the passage.
Hebrews 12, specifically 5-8. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And he scourges. So that lets
us know that chastening may be very difficult. Why is it we're
chastened? Because we need it. We're so
prone to go astray. We're so prone to go over to
the edge of the fold. I am speaking metaphorically,
but we do this spiritually. And to gaze at the fields of
the world Lust and desire. No way. Come on now. And he has
to discourage us. Let go. Quit looking over there.
Look in here. Here's where the shepherd's at.
Here's where the shepherd's at. But he does it in love. But it don't feel like love when
it's going on. Now I'm paraphrasing what the
writer of Hebrews put it. It don't feel like love when
he's doing it. But I tell you what, we'll make
it easier. Quit kicking against it. Quit kicking against it. Because we still, we know he
won't quit. So we kick and we kick. And all we're doing is harming
ourselves. We're not harming God. Do you
hear what I'm saying? I believe in God's sovereignty.
That's part of your problem. You're using God's sovereignty
as an excuse for your rebellion. Christ's death was the salvation
of a people. But that doesn't justify the
Roman government or the Jewish Sanhedrin for declaring him he's
to be put to death. They were guilty of murder. Murder! Somebody says, I can't put that
together in my mind. You're not supposed to. They
don't go together. They're not like this. They're
like this. I got two hands. If all I had was one hand, it'd
be a lot different. But I got two hands. And they
go together in this manner of speaking, Joe. But they must
be distinct as well. And we leave God's sovereignty
where it is. True. He's sovereign. And we leave
man's accountability where it is. It's true. and I am accountable
before God Almighty. I don't, I'm not going to try
to reconcile those two things. I just preach them. I just preach
them. Think about it. Christ gives
us no timeframe of how long he will chase in us before we're
actually brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Does
it? He didn't say, now, if this don't happen within six months,
you know, it ain't really of God. You know why it wasn't put that
way? Cause we'd push her right to the end of the six months.
Oh, wouldn't we? We bask in the world for the
six months. But let me tell you something.
God could also kill you too, but worse than that, he can leave
you here. Yeah. He can leave you here to wallow
in your filth and your misery. Why? Because you kick against
God. Christ gives no time frame. Just
the fact that those he loves, he corrects. And if he's not
correcting you, you are a what? Bastard. You are illegitimate. I'm glad he corrects. I'm glad
he corrects. Because he does it in love. When
I corrected my children years ago, I didn't always do enough.
I did a miserable job at that. God's works are perfect, Joe.
God's works are perfect. He perfectly chastens us. And
some, one person he may chase him for a day, another maybe
a week, or however long. It's his wise business. We just know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. Joseph's brothers putting him
into the hole and were going to kill him. But one brother
was moved to say, no, let's don't kill him. Let's sell him. And
they sold him. That was an evil act. of hatred
against their brother. But it worked together for good
for God's people. Even the very men who were doing
the dastardly deed. And as the one preacher said
here, one time, I can't think of his name right now, but that's
okay. He said, you know the good thing
about my sin? Sounds like an oxymoron, don't it? It is if
you're a finite being like we are. but all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. But let's go back, I gotta move
quickly. Let's look now at the direct
context of this. All of this, the plot, because
all things work together for good. But let's look at the direct
context. What about the redemption of
our bodies? That's what he's been talking about, right? Even
creation groans. Along with the children of God
Creation is waiting for this redemption day when God's people
are made anew why because God's gonna make a new creation, too
Yes, sir, and I don't know what all's will be there But I know
one person that'll be there that'll make it worthwhile the lamb The
lamb That'll make it worthwhile, but what about the redemption
of our bodies and isn't that the immediate context of my text
I? You know, look at it. For we
know that the whole creation groaneth and treveleth in pain
together in the now, not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, or that
is to say the redemption of the body, for we are saved by hope. In other words, here the salvation
is seen, not I'm regenerated by hope, no. Not that I've even
converted by hope, no. But God spares me from utter
despair. God keeps me from becoming clinically
insane. Why? By hope. God's promised
He's going to change us, brothers and sisters. Bless God, He will. He's got to. He's got to. He must. He promised it. Hmm We know that it will happen
We know the event of its happening when Christ returns again Because
those of us who are believers that have died we sleep in Christ
We'll we'll be with him and he will bring us back when he comes
but there'll be somebody some believers still living and And
those believers who are sleepy, they will be given new bodies,
be joined with that new body, they'll raise first, and then
every other living believer will be transformed in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, and we'll all go up, what? Together. That is not whistling in the
dark, that's the promise of God. This I say, Paul said, by the
word of the Lord. So we know that it will happen. We know the event of when it
will happen. But here's a couple of things
we don't know. We don't know which one of those will be our
lot. You know what I mean? No matter how much I am afraid
of the event of death, that experience of death, whatever it will be
for me, because I don't even know what that's going to be.
If I am one subject to die, I'm going to die. Christ is not going
to return first. I'm going to die. And even if
I have some worries about that and concerns about that, I can't
do nothing about it other than believe God. Amen. Which shall be my lot, sleep
or transformation? I don't know. I don't know. What shall be our lot in sleep? My sleep, my dying. So I want
to speak plainly here. Like Christ had to do the disciples
when he said, Lazarus sleepeth. They said, well, he does well.
He said, Lazarus is dead. Well, God's people are said to
sleep in Christ, but we are going to physically die unless he returns
first. That's just the facts, folks.
But think about this, if my lot is sleeping, is it gonna be quick?
Is it gonna be drawn out? Is it going to be peaceful? Is
it going to be miserable? I don't know. So, I don't know
what to pray for at all. Do you? Do you wanna ruin your body so
you make it quick? Maybe it won't be quick. I'll
do this and make a quick note. I'll put a gun to my head and
pull the trigger. Maybe you will, but you still
might survive. And if God's ordained you survive,
you will survive, but then you'll have a hole in your head to deal
with. You understand what I'm saying? We don't know what to
pray for as we ought. We don't. What do we pray for? We just do not know. We just do not know. I mean,
you know, Some Christian religions have at least one avenue of their
preaching. It's all about making sure that
if you're living, right now you're alive and you're a believer in
Jesus, you make sure you're in the right place in case Jesus
comes. Right? They'll preach whole messages.
Don't go to the movie show. Don't go to the pool hall. You
know, don't play cards, especially if you use money with it. You
know when you're gambling it. Don't get liquor. Don't smoke
them cigarettes. Because Jesus might come when
you're doing that. You're a sinner if you quit all those things. You're still corrupt in heart
if you throw down all those things. When He comes, He will find you
to be what you always have been in Adam, a sinner. No matter
whether you're saved or lost, we're all going to be what when
He comes? Sinners. The only difference was some
sinners are still sinners and lost, other sinners are still
sinners and saved by the grace of God. There's gonna be the
big difference. Ponder that. God intercedes for,
even for us, and in spite of our ignorance. Because it says,
likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know
not what we should pray for as we ought. So it lets me know
there are probably a lot of things we could understand and know.
We're just usually too lazy. I got a TV show to watch, don't
you know? I've got bills to pay, right? I gotta go to work. I
mean, I can only give so much time to the study of God's word,
right? I get tired, I fall asleep when I study. You see what I'm
saying? This says as we ought. Now there's
some things we cannot know. God hadn't revealed them to us.
They belong to the Lord, right? But there are other things we
should know, we just don't. Because we're too busy doing everything
else. But God has forced it on us that
way. Of course, you do have to go
to work. You do gotta pay your bills.
You don't have to watch that TV show, but be that as it may. You understand what I'm saying?
I'm not trying to be silly or nitpick. I'm just saying, we
don't know what to pray for as we all do. I mean, I've got a
little task I'm gonna go do when we leave here and take Linden
and pay him home, and Penny's got a little task to go do, and
you all have a part in that of helping someone. I don't know
what the result's all that's gonna be. I don't know how to
pray concerning that. Oh, make this happen, make that
happen, make that happen. We don't tell God what to do.
Do we? We don't tell God what to do.
But listen, my brothers and sisters, God's spirit in us is interceding
for us in spite of our willful ignorance. He still loves us. I have a hard time loving the
people who care about me most. You know that? I have a hard
time loving the people who care about me most. He loves us in
spite of our income. He cares for us. Hope, it is
His gift to us. It gives us a little spiritual
sanity in this world. It can comfort us in spite of
ourselves. Because we know that all things
work together for good. But this is not for everybody.
It is to them that love God in spite of themselves. To them
that love God, but even that is then explained. To them who
are called according to his purpose. Heavenly Father, God help us.
and we thank you for your care and intercession for us through
the Son, through the Spirit, in spite of us, Lord, in spite
of by your free, sovereign, unmerited grace on our behalf. Thank you
in Christ, amen.