Everyone, always a joy to be
together. The Lord brings each of us here. As Brother Tim prayed, we're
here by appointment. Those of us who are here are
here by appointment. What a blessing. Turn with me,
if you would, today to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. The name of the message is, Who
Shall Stand? Who shall stand? Psalm 130. Who shall stand? We'll read the
whole psalm and we'll look at it verse by verse. A song of
degrees. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, Hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait. And in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than
they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy. And with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
all His iniquities. What a psalm. Who shall stand? This psalm contains
the utterance of the psalmist when he is under a sense of sin. It was composed by the prophet
when he was battling with the horrors of his conscience for
the guilt of his sins. And through it he is pleading
God's mercy. God's mercy and God's pardon. We will see the psalmist bought
from the depths of his sinfulness to view the propitiatory sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how that redemption in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ is plenteous redemption. Plenteous redemption. And then the psalm finishes off
in triumph. Oh, as the psalmist exclaims,
and this is talking spiritual Israel, He shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. We can glean great comfort from
this psalm. We who believe can glean great
comfort from this psalm. The psalmist has found mercy.
Mercy in the depths of his sins. And it's only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we, as weary sojourners,
which we are, we're pilgrims, aren't we? Pilgrims. We're on a journey. We who believe
through this world of woe. Our dear Sister Betty, her journey's
almost finished. But we can glean comfort. So let's look at this psalm.
As always, we pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate the Scriptures
for us and teach us. Teach us. Teach us of Christ. And may we leave this place in
awe of the mighty God of the Bible. In awe of the mighty Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The only Savior for sinners. The only one. So let's look at
Psalm 130, starting in verse 1. A song of degrees. Out of
the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Now notice here
that the psalmist admits the depths of being low in sin cries
out to God. Some say that this is after David
has committed adultery with the Sheba. And out of the depths, the depths
have I cried unto thee. The depths of his sins. He cries
out to who? He cries out to God. He cries
out to God. When the tongue would usually
be silent, he cries out to God. And only to Him. Out of the depths
of our sin, and out of the depths of our misery, who do we cry
out to? We who believe. Who do we cry
out to in the depths of our trials? In the depths of just life? Who
do we cry out to? Our great King, the Lord Jesus
Christ. So David cries out to the Lord,
and only the Lord can deliver him. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
6. Only the Lord, only the Lord can deliver him. Only, and think
of this, we who are sinners, right? Only the Lord can deliver
our eternal souls. We can't deliver ourselves. Only the Lord can deliver our
eternal souls. He's the only hope for sinners. The question is, are you a sinner?
May God show you that you are. Because that's all He's done
for we who are saved. Showing us our sinfulness. We
flee to Christ. He gives us the ability and the
strength and the grace and the faith to believe. Look at Psalm
6, verses 3 and 4. My soul is also sore vexed, but
thou, O Lord, how long? How long? Return, O Lord. Oh, return, O Lord. Deliver my
soul. And this is what He's done for
His people in Christ. Deliver my soul. Oh, save me
for Thy mercy's sake. Oh, our God is great in mercy. Great in mercy. If we got what
we would deserve, we'd be in hell. But He's great in mercy
to His people. Great in mercy. And think of this, prayer to
God usually arises when we're in the depths of things, rather
than when we're on the mountaintops. It usually arises when we're
in the depths of sin or trial or a situation in life. And what
do we do as believers? Oh, we cry out to God, don't
we? Oh, Lord, help me. And remember,
prayer is as simple as, please, Lord, give me the strength to
make it through this. Give me the grace to make it
through this. God, be merciful. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Folks think you have to have
these long, drawn-out prayers. No. Oh, we just cry out to our
King, don't we? Please, Lord, help me. Help my unbelief. Deliver me. Be with me. Give me strength. Give me grace. And notice who we cry out to.
It's Jehovah. It's Yahweh. Jehovah, in the
Hebrew. Jehovah, the self-existing one. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Jehovah, in the Hebrew. The self-existent one. Think
of that, beloved. The self-existent one. He needs
no one or nothing. And this is the God who the believer
cries out to. The self-existent One. God. Jehovah. Our prayer is to the
Great Sovereign. Our prayer is to the Great Sovereign.
It's only to Him. And think of this. Prayer gives
God all the glory, doesn't it? Because we can't deliver ourselves
out of these situations. That's why we cry out to Him.
Return, O Lord, deliver my soul. O save me for Thy mercy's sake.
Lord, have mercy on me. And God must have mercy upon
us. He must deliver us. He must deliver us from our sins.
He must have mercy upon us in order for us to be saved. Look at verse 2. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. And hear
the Hebrew word for Lord is Adonai, which speaks of His Lordship.
His Lordship. It speaks of the unchangeable,
think of this, it speaks of the unchangeable faithfulness of
God towards His people. The unchangeable faithfulness. We're fickle, aren't we? But
He is unchangeable, and His faithfulness is unchanging, and He's faithful
to His people. He's faithful to His promises
to His people. And think of this, in all circumstances
we go through, He's God. He's Lord over every
circumstance we go through. Everything. What a great God. And this is the one who David
cries out to. David acknowledges this in his
prayer. That God is Lord over all. And
here the psalmist pleads with the Lord who is ruler, supreme
ruler over all. That he would hear his voice.
And that he would be attentive to his prayers. God have mercy upon me. I'm a
sinner. I desperately need Christ. And He has had mercy upon me
in Christ. And true prayer places God where
He should be. True prayer places God where
He should be. King. King upon the throne. A King. God over all. And this is what that Hebrew
word speaks of. God over all. He's King. And we ought to be
in awe of His glory. And we ought to be in awe of
the magnitude of His power. Because only He can deliver us
from our sins. And only He can deliver us from
the depths of whatever we go through. trials or circumstances of life,
only He can deliver us. And I ask you who believe on
Christ, has not our God manifested in our lives since He saved us,
right? Even before, too, if we really
start to think back in how He preserved us. But has not God,
has not our God manifested His Lordship through our pilgrimage
in this world? Time and time and time again,
He delivers us. Time and time again, He's proved
His faithfulness to us through no matter what's come. And we
look back at that. When we're going through it,
we don't see it all the time because we're consumed by what
we're going through. But we look back and go, the
Lord delivered me through all that. He gave me strength to
make it through all those circumstances and all those situations. He is faithful, beloved, and
He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Never, not ever, never in the
Greek. He will never leave His people.
And is that not great comfort for God's people who are sinners,
right? We're sinners, and is this not
great comfort for us? God, our God, is a God of all
comfort. We are bought low before Him,
right? And we plead for mercy. I don't want what I deserve,
Lord. I want mercy. Which leads right into our next
verse. Now if anyone, believer or unbeliever, thinks that he's
better than anyone else, let us read this next verse. It is
a chilling reminder that we are all sinners before the holy and
righteous God of the universe. And this is where I got the name
of the message from. Look at this. If thou, Lord,
Think of this, beloved, we who have been delivered from all
our sins, we who believe, who have been redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lamb. And this is why we say, sinner
friend, flee to Christ. Because look at what this verse
says. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? I remember Joe Terrell saying
that one night he woke up and this verse was going through. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Oh, mercy. If Jehovah, the all-seeing,
all-knowing One, should in His strict justice call every man
and every woman to account for every one of our sins against
His holy and perfect justice, would any of us, I ask, would
any of us be able to stand before Him? No! No! If man were to be judged upon
no system but that of works, who among us could answer for
himself at the Lord's bar of justice? None of us. Who among us could hope to stand
clear and be accepted? None of us. Because if thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? So in this verse, the psalmist
has his sinfulness revealed to him and his utter inability to
stand before God if God was to mark all his iniquities, all
his sins. Oh Lord, who shall stand What man or woman in this world
can stand before the holy and righteous God of the universe
in their own righteousness and based upon their own works? And this is what people are doing.
You say, well, I'm not a bad person. I'm pretty good. But
the Bible says there's none good. By doing that, people are basically
saying that they could stand before God in their own righteousness.
But the Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. And so this verse comes alive
before us. If Thou, Lord, shouldest to mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? This is why Scripture declares
that we're all guilty before God. Every man and woman who
enters into this world is a sinner. And we can't justify ourselves. And I ask you, sinner friend,
how can a man be justified or stand in the presence of a holy,
righteous, perfect God? And this God cannot have sin
in His presence. Well, Scripture condemns you
and me if I believe that way too. Right? Because there's non-righteous. If the Lord shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand? But the believer in Christ has
found a refuge. A refuge. And Scripture declares, folks
say, well, surely my good works. Surely God counts what I've done. I'm not a bad person. And I used
to believe that way. But scripture declares, not by
works of righteousness which we have done. Not by works of
righteousness. We can never be justified. We
can never stand before God pure on our own and based upon our
own works. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. All our works are like filthy
rags in the eyes of the Lord. So the question comes to you
and to me. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? Who shall stand? If the Lord should mark iniquities,
if the Lord should punish sins as severely as they deserve,
who shall stand in His presence? Who shall stand before His holy
justice? No man can acquit himself before
God based upon what he does, based upon his own works. No
man can escape the sentence of condemnation by our own works. Why? Because we're all sinners. I'm just a saved sinner. Ecclesiastics says this, for
there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and
sinneth not. Well, there it goes. Anybody who thinks that they
can be saved by their works, it's gone. There's not a just man upon the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not, Ecclesiastics 7.20. Let's look at the next verse. David has, out of the depths
of his sin, been brought to a place of crying out to God for mercy,
to seeing his own sinfulness. He sees that God is his only
hope. He's bought to a place to see that no man can stand
before God based upon his own works. Look at this next verse.
But there is forgiveness with thee. There's forgiveness with
God in Christ. What? That thou mayest be feared.
God's people, his elect, are redeemed. Remember, not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, right? Well, that verse
continues. According to His mercy, His mercy,
His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. God's people,
the elect of God, are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, purchased
by the blood of the Lamb, purchased. Our God is a God who is able
and ready to pardon and forgive repentant sinners. Our God is
plenteous in mercy, forgiving the sins of His people in the
Lord Jesus Christ. How many of their sins? All of
them. All of them. Oh, what a glorious work the
Lord Jesus Christ has wrought. And how glorious is the mercy
of God in Christ Jesus our Lord manifested to us who believe.
Manifested to us. Mercy. God is glorious in all His works,
but oh, how glorious is the mercy of God in Christ. Turn, if you
would, to Psalm 86. How glorious is the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord towards His people. Psalm 86. And keep in mind our verse, but
there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Psalm
86, verse 15 and 16. But thou, O Lord, the God of
the universe, but thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion
and gracious, long-suffering, and what? Remember, His redemption
is plenteous, right? Plenteous in mercy and truth.
Plenteous, beloved. Oh, turn unto me and have mercy
upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant
and save the son of thine handmaid. Plenteous in mercy and truth.
Plenteous. I ask you who believe, has God's
mercy not been manifested to you? in the fact that Christ
died for your sins? Is not God's mercy plenteous? It sure is for we who believe,
eh? Oh, mercy. Mercy. The forgiveness in Jesus Christ
our Lord, too, is free. It's full. It's a full pardon. A full forgiveness. And it's
sovereign. It's sovereign. It is found in
the hand of the great King. And it's His prerogative to forgive,
and He delights to exercise it however He's pleased. He has provided a sacrifice for
sin. It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the perfect sacrifice. The sinless one dying in the
place of sinners. And then he cries, it is finished. Oh, is God's mercy not plenteous
when we look to Christ? And the power of pardon resides
with God He has forgiveness and He gives it to whomever He pleases.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, God incarnate in the
flesh, is the great propitiation. In Him, a ransom is being found.
Do you remember how we looked and it said, How? How? If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? How can the believer
stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Oh, it's marvelous. Again, I
ask you, is this not plenteous mercy given to we who believe? Oh. He has provided a sacrifice
for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text continues in verse 4.
It says that thou mayest be feared. When God saves His people, they
have a reverent fear for God. Not a slavish fear. Not a slavish
fear. But a reverent fear. They know
who He is now. Sovereign. King. And it's a reverent
fear. And they are the believer. See,
I remember I had no fear of God. I accept you all. You know, when
you get in trouble and you cry out and then you get out of that
circumstance and you forget all about God. And you don't think
of Him anymore. But the believer in Christ, He's
delivered continuously and continuously and continuously. And the awe
of God grows in our minds and our hearts, doesn't it? It just
grows. Our reverence for Him grows more
and more because it's being manifested in our lives who He is. Who He
is. He is a sovereign God. And so
we have a reverent fear, a childlike fear and reverence of our Almighty
Majestic God who is the Believer's Father. He's the Believer's Father. And remember this, beloved of
God, that none fear the Lord like those who have experienced
His forgiven love. See, right now, folks don't fear
God. Because they don't know who He
is. Our prayer is that God would
manifest Himself to you. And that you'd flee to Christ.
Because He is a sovereign God. He is a King Supreme. So the believer has gratitude
for the pardon which we have received, as we know it was based
upon nothing in ourselves. Nothing that we can do. So we have gratitude for this
great pardon. And it's all in Jesus Christ,
the sinner's substitute. If the Lord were to execute justice
upon all, There wouldn't be anyone left. If God hadn't elected a people, there'd be no one saved. Oh, God is plenteous in mercy. Plenteous in mercy. Merciful
to sinners. Look at our psalm continues here.
He's merciful to sinners. To His people in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Psalm 130, verses 5 and 6. I wait for the Lord. My soul
doth wait. And in His Word do I hope. I
ask you, believer, do you hope in Christ and Him alone? There
was a time when we didn't, right? But now He's everything. My soul
waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.
I say, more than they that watch for the morning. More than a
watch guard. They used to have watch guards
in the days where they would watch on the walls all night
long. God's people both wait upon the
Lord and we hope in the Lord. We wait upon the Lord and we
hope in the Lord. And think of this, no man will
wait for anything that he doesn't hope for. If we hope for something, then
we wait. We wait. We wait. And our hope as believers is
focused upon Christ and Him alone. He is the object of our hope,
isn't He? He is the object of our hope.
And we hope in the promises of God. We hope in the promises
of God. We are to wait on God by faith,
resting and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 5
of our text. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. David waited upon the
Word, the Messiah. The Messiah. The Messiah who was the hope
of Israel. He waited and he hoped. Not so with we who believe. He's the Messiah, the hope of
Israel, and he's the Savior of Israel. And he is the object
of the believer's hope. He is the ground and the foundation.
The only hope we have to be redeemed from our sins is by the precious
blood of Christ. And one day, Lord willing, one
day we'll see Him face to face, we who believe, and we will. The coming of Christ is said
to be as the morning which breaks forth in glory. Look at our text. My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say, more than
they that watch for the morning. The light of God's countenance
is comparable to the morning light when we go through trials
and tribulations. It seems so dark. It seems so dark. but in the light of God's countenance,
breaks upon the trial of the tribulation. And He delivers His people. Or He gives us sustaining grace. And pardoning grace to the believers
is like the bright sun of the morning, which breaks, breaks
forth. The Lord is the Son of Righteousness
who rises with healing in His ways. Let's look at verse 7. Let Israel
hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with
Him is plenteous redemption. All of God's people, all His
elect, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. We don't
trust in any of our works. We don't trust in anything we
do. Now, there was a time when we did. But we were showing that who
can stand before the Lord based upon those things? None of us,
right? And our hope, our trust is the
Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone. And only He can and only He will
redeem His people out of their misery, the misery of our sins,
out of the misery of whatever trial we're going through, out
of the misery of our great troubles. All of God's sheep, those whom
He redeemed upon the cross, will come to faith. They will. Here, make them willing. Remember
last week we saw that he sought that one sheep out, which is
a picture of all of God's elect. He sought it out. The great shepherd. And this is why I love what Brother
Henry said, years ago we're on the trail of God's sheep. We
preach the gospel, we're on the trail of God's sheep. We preach
and God does the saving. He does the work. And that's
our hope as we put out the gospel. Oh, Lord, save Your people. Draw
them to You. Reveal Yourself to them. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him there is plenteous
redemption. I ask you, believer, who is your hope? Who is your
hope? Who are you hoping in right now?
I ask you, sinner friend, who are you hoping in? What are you hoping to get you
to heaven? Are you hoping in your own works?
Because we saw what verse 3 said. Or is your hope in Christ and
Him alone? Oh, that God would give you hope in Christ. That
He would grant you faith to believe. Because He's the only, the only
Savior. The only One. And God's people
hope in the Lord. Why? Because with the Lord there
is mercy, and with Him there is plenteous redemption. And
this wonderful, wonderful redemption that we have, that God's people
have, is only in Christ Jesus, and it is plenteous redemption. Plenteous redemption. Our sins are great. With God
there is mercy. Matchless mercy to cover all
our sins. Are our sins many? Yes, they
are. With God, there is plenteous
redemption. Plenteous redemption. Grace to
cover all our sins. But it's only in Christ. And
it's only through Him. And what He did on Calvary Street. If we could save ourselves, then
why would He have come down? Well, He comes from heaven because
He must save His people from their sins. Because there's no
way for us to save ourselves. What a great God. What a great
Savior. And this wonderful salvation
is plenteous if we consider the number of persons redeemed among
men. Plenteous. A number that no man can number.
It is a plenteous redemption when we think of what we've been
redeemed from. All our sins. The law and the
curse of it. The condemnation of the law.
From death and hell. And we who believe have received
pardon. Pardon for all our sins. Justification
before God. In our text, right, it says here,
Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" But
the believer is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The only way we can stand before
God is in Christ. And he doesn't see our sin, we
who are redeemed. He sees Christ. Oh, this is plenteous
mercy, plenteous redemption, beloved. What a display of love! What a display of grace! What
a display of wisdom! What a display of power! What
a display of justice! What a display of holiness! In
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the sinners substitute. And only the blood of Christ,
God incarnate in the flesh, Only the life of Christ and the death
of Christ as our substitute could redeem us from all our sins. I ask you, is not God merciful? Is He not plenteous in mercy?
Is He not plenteous in redemption? We don't deserve this, do we? Now, what is the result of this
wonderful and plenteous redemption in and through our great Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ? Look at verse 8. And this speaks
of spiritual Israel. Look at this. And look at how
it's so imperative. And He shall. We love those little words. There
are no doubts. See, we can't redeem ourselves,
can we? We saw that in verse 3. We can't stand before God
based upon our own works. And He shall, who? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He shall redeem Israel, what? From all his iniquities. Remember
David's crying at first of the depths of his sins? Of the depths
of the trial? Of the depths of the situation
he's going through? Look it, look it. His eyes are
on Christ. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 9. You know, our sins and our iniquities
are our worst dangers. And if we are saved from our
sins and our iniquities, then we are truly saved. We're our own worst enemy. And there is no salvation from
our sins except by redemption, except by the shedding of the
blood. All those Old Testament sacrifices could never take away
sin, but they were pointing to the One who could. They were
pointing to One who could take away the sins of all His people
by the sacrifice of Himself. What a mighty Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at this in Hebrews 9, verse
22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. How is the believer's sins forgiven? How is there remission for all
my sins? by the blood of Christ, by the
shed blood of Christ. How is there remission for you
who believe for all your sins? By the shedding of the blood
of Christ, purchased. How is there forgiveness for
any sinner who come to Christ? By the shedding of the precious
blood of Christ. and only there. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. When the Lord Jesus
Christ died upon Calvary, He paid all that God demanded for
the redemption of His people. He paid it all. And He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. He shall certainly redeem His
believing people from all their sins. He will grant faith to
all those for whom He died for on Calvary's tree. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
1. Colossians 1. And then put your finger in Romans
8. Remember, I'll read the text again in verse 8. And He shall
redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Colossians 1, verses 12 to 14. Scriptures declare, given thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet. That word meet means
to be qualified. The believer is qualified for
heaven. You remember verse 3 in our text,
right? If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? No one by our own works or by our own nature is
qualified for heaven. None of us. Look, giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet, which means to be qualified,
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and lights, who
hath delivered us, what, from the power of darknesses, where
we were, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, how? In whom we have redemption through his blood. Remember in
Hebrews, without the shed and the blood, there's no remission.
In whom we have redemption, our text, and he shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. See the tie-in? In whom we have
redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness of what?
Sins. How many? All of them. What a Savior. What a Savior. And He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Actually, turn, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 1, and then we'll look at Matthew chapter
2, then we'll go to Romans chapter 8. I'm sorry, I've got us bouncing
around a little bit here. And then we'll close. And He
shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Our psalm ends
with, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. In the
New Testament, in Matthew 1, it says in verse 21, And she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Why? For he shall. Same shall, right? Shall save
his people from their sins. And then turn one chapter over.
I saw this this morning as I was listening to Scripture. I saw
this this morning and had to add this in. Look at this. He
shall save his elect, beloved. And remember in Psalm 138 ends
with, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Look
at Matthew 2.6. And thou, Bethlehem, in the land
of Judea, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out
of thee shall come, again shall, come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. I ask you, beloved, you who are
redeemed, is he not your king? Does He not rule over us? See,
the sinner says, I'll not have this man rule over me. Lord, You are ruler. You are king. Oh, and He shall. He shall rule my people Israel.
So let us ponder. Let us ponder the fact that He
shall redeem Israel from all His people. And turn, if you
would, to Romans chapter 8. And He shall one day redeem our
bodies. He's redeemed our souls and He
shall one day redeem our bodies. Romans 8, verses 22-25. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit.
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption
to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope."
There's hope again, eh? But hope that is seen is not
hope. If you see something, you're
not hoping for it, are you? Brother Marcus, don't you hope
one day you'll be in the Lord's presence? One day. We hope. We 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 we deal with patience and
wait for it. Do not the souls of God's redeemed
wait? We wait, don't we? Our hearts
and our flesh cry out with joyful expectation. One day we'll be
in the presence of the Lord and it's not based upon anything
we've done. It's all based upon what He's
done. Praise His mighty name.