In Hebrews chapter six, if you
would want to turn there with me. We, uh, been a few, uh, weeks
ago, we learned that song more secure as no one ever. We have
difficulty learning songs and some of the smaller congregations
do. My wife reads music very well, but she can't play the
piano very well. She can't play in sharps at all. Our piano player
plays the piano very well, but she can't read a lick of music.
So the way we learn songs is we listen to Celeste and Gibby,
Diane play it. You guys probably forgot about
when you got together and made the CDs. They went through the
songbook and sang the first verse and the chorus of almost every
song in your songbook. We have the same songbook. When
we learn songs, that's the way I learn songs. We have made many,
many, many copies of those CDs and handed them out of those
songs. So a lot of people here in Utah are singing. You forgot
about helping so many people, haven't you? You forgot about
that. But so many people haven't forgot
about you doing that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Lindsey wasn't in on that. He
got to come and sit and listen. And I always ask them, I don't
hear Lindsey. And they said, no, we won't let
him help us. I appreciate you folks so much.
And I've often wondered why Don would even invite me down here
with Lindsey here. Man, I can't say things like
you say them, Lindsey. I appreciate your ministry so
much. I do. Boy, I appreciate it. If I was
here, I'd be here every Sunday morning when Lindsay opened his
Bible. That's when I'd start my worship. That's how much I
appreciate his ministry. In Hebrews chapter 6, and let's
read, let's begin reading in verse 17 and finish chapter 6.
Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 17. We're in God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs the promise The immutability, the unchangeableness
of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable
things, probably the promise and the oath. That's what he's
been speaking so much about. God's promises are immutable.
His oath is immutable. He cannot lie. In which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge. to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Edward Mote, was born in the
late 1700s and died in 1874, if my memory serves me correctly. But he was born there in London,
and his parents owned a pub, somewhat open and profane parents.
And Edward said he spent most of his Sundays on the streets
of London as a kid. And he said, I lived so ignorant
of God, for all I knew there was no God. There was no God. When he was a teenager, a man
sort of took him under his wings, a cabinet maker. He became an
apprentice. And the guy took him to hear
the gospel. And the Lord saved him. Saved
Edward Mote. And he wrote, he became a very
good cabinet maker. He wrote a hymn. He said he was
on his way to work one morning and chorus came to him and he he
wrote it down and that that day that all four stanzas of the
song came to him he went to visit a elderly sick lady he didn't
know what to say to her so he quoted each stanza to this woman
and every between every stanza he would repeat uh the course
of this song He called it, he named that song, The Immutable
Bases of a Sinner's Hope. You and I just sing it, The Solid
Rock. And as I sing that song, so often
I think of what Peter said, Be ready always to give a reason
of the hope that is within you. with meekness and fear. And he
gave a good reason for the hope that was in him. Listen to these
four verses of this song. First, he begins with the foundation
of his hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's the foundation of hope.
Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the Swedish
frame. The Swedish thought The sweetest
feeling, the sweetest circumstances, the sweetest frame, but wholly
lean on Jesus name. That's a good foundation. And
then the second verse, he talks about the mutability, unchangeability
of his hope. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. His Word, His Promises,
His Oath, His Love cannot change. In every high and stormy gale
my anchor holds within the veil. Then He talks about the strength
of His Hope in verse 3. His Oath, His Covenant, His Blood
support me in the whammon flood. Supports my spirit, supports
my thoughts, my affections, When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay. Christ is my strength. He's the
strength of my hope. And then he finishes that song
up with the object of his hope. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. That's our hope,
isn't it? That's the object of our hope.
And that's what Jude said. That's what Jude said. To Him
that was able to present you before His presence, His glorious
presence, His sinless presence, with exceeding joy, and listen
to this, without fault. without any fault. That's our
hope, isn't it? That's the object of our hope.
As wonderful as it may seem, as low as you and I are, as high
as heaven is, that's our hope. To stand one day before the Lord
Jesus Christ, just as He is, without sin, without spot. These verses that I read to you
here are written to give the believer a strong comfort concerning
his hope. That's what he said, that we
might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
hope upon the hope set before us. Paul is referring there,
no doubt, to the city of refuge. If you had killed somebody unawares,
accidentally, and You looked around and you saw the man's
dad or you saw his son standing there and you've just killed
one of his close relatives that he loved and he's reaching for
his sword and he's going to take your life as a vengeance. They
had cities of refuge that you fled to. If you could make it
to that city of refuge, you would be saved. Can you imagine the
anxiety mixed with hope? Here's the anxiety every time
you glance behind you. There's the avenger with a sword
drawn after your life, after your blood. And yet, you kept
thinking in your mind, the city of refuge, the city of refuge. You hoped to get to the city
of refuge. And boy, you came over the top
of the hill, and there it was, 200 yards away, the city of refuge,
laying hold upon the hope to enter that city. And you wouldn't
stop, would you? You were fleeing to your hope. And can you imagine the lungs
burning and heaving and the muscles aching? But you couldn't stop. You dare not stop. The only safe
place was that city of refuge. And you never rested. You never
rested. until the reality of that city
dawned upon you. When you reached for the gate,
when you entered the doors of that city, then you rested. You
sat and you rested. You were safe. You were safe. We're fleeing from some things,
aren't we? And we're fleeing to our hope, to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. And our hope's not some physical
city. Our hope's God in Christ. We flee into our mediator to
lay hold upon the hope set before us. Here's the way Isaiah said
it. Isaiah said, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness, And a man shall be for an hiding place,
a man for a hiding place. That's the man Christ Jesus,
the Son of God in our humanity. He shall be a hiding place from
the wind and a shelter from the tempest. And you and I are living
in hope of eternal life at last in heaven. Paul said the hope's
been set before you, and you're fleeing to lay hold upon that
hope. Hold that just a minute and look
back over to your left, and look how Paul said it in 1 Timothy
6. And look in verse 6. In verse 6, 1 Timothy 6, and
look in verse 6. But godliness with contentment
is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and
it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food
and raiment, let us be there with contentment. They that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and to many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But
thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness,
and godliness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life. were unto the art also called,
and hath professed a good profession before many witnesses." And Paul
said this hope is set right before us, didn't it? You fled to lay
hold upon the hope set before you. And what is that hope? Eternal
life in heaven. And aren't we anxious about that
hope? I remember when I was in high school, I played basketball
in high school, I remember one game, I'd sprained
my ankle really, really bad. It was a severe sprain. But we
were playing our rival. And this wasn't about a game
that I was about to miss. And I had the nurse to wrap my
foot. I mean, she wrapped and wrapped
and wrapped that foot. And I said, that's good, I can
play. The first play I made, I sprung
my other ankle. Sprung it more severely than
the first ankle. I told the manager, I said, wrap this thing up. I'm
not going out of this game. We've got to win this game. If
we lose this game, I'm going to be heartbroken. They wrapped
that other ankle up, and I played with two severely sprained ankles,
risking serious damage to both my ankles. But you know what? I wanted that win so bad. I wanted
that win so bad. That's the way of this hope,
isn't it? Heaven, life eternal, is set before us. Paul says,
Laihot, you fled just like that man fleeing to the city of refuge.
You've got all this anxiety behind you. You're fleeing from all
of these things and you're fleeing to heaven at last and eternal
life. Hope. Wouldn't your heart break
if you didn't have hope? My heart would break, brethren,
if I didn't have hope of someday being with Jesus Christ and being
like Jesus Christ, having hope of eternal life, to be with the
elect angels and glorified saints there in heaven. My hope, my
heart would break if I did not have hope. And what's the alternative? What's the alternative to entering
that heavenly city and resting? And that's what the Bible tells
us it is, isn't it? Blessed are those who have finished
this race and they've entered heaven. And they rest from all
their labors. And what's the alternative to
rest? Eternal torment. Eternal restlessness. What's
the alternative to eternal life, eternal death? What's the alternative
to heaven? What if we miss heaven? We go
to hell, don't we? The lake of fire. Oh, hope, hope. We need a hope, don't we? And
we need a good hope. We need a good hope through grace. And you know something else?
We need comfort for that hope. We need comfort, and that's what
Paul is talking about here in the sixth chapter, that God is
willing that these two immutable things, it's possible for God
to allow, we might have a strong consolation, a strong comfort
for our hope. And I want to give you four things
quickly here in our text that is a comfort for our hope. If
you've got a hope in Christ tonight, a good hope through grace, if
God has given you that, then here's four comforts for your
hope. The first one is found back in
our text, Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20. Jesus Christ himself,
who was once upon this earth in our humanity, has entered
heaven on our behalf. Look what he says in verse 20.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered Even Jesus made the
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This is
the only time in the entire Bible this word forerunner is used. I don't know who came up with
it, which one of the translators came up with it. They said we
could have put in here scout. The closest word that they can
think to this forerunner is scout. He has entered heaven as a scout
for us. All of us know what a scout is.
When we think of the old western, we watch the old westerns, Bobby
and the train, the wagon trains going west, and they all had
scouts, didn't they? And we know what the scout did.
He went ahead of the wagon train. And he was a man that knew the
trail. He knew where the dangers were. He knew where the waterholes
were. He knew where the passageways
were. You had to have a scout if you was going west in the
old wagon trade days. I went out west, and sometimes
I came up on the plains, and boy, you can see forever so far. Can you imagine being in a wagon
train, going west, and you come up on those plains, and you can't
see the end of them? And you wonder to yourself, do
these planes have any end? Can we even get across these
things? If I was going to leave the east and go to the west,
you know who I would hire for a scout? I'd hire a man who had
already went there and was living on the west coast. And he was
willing to come back and show me the way. I had the opportunity one time,
we were out in Choteau, Montana. and I had a friend of mine that
owned a huge ranch. We drove for about 19 miles on
a gravel road, went to his house, and we went on three or four
miles on right to the bottom of the Rocky Mountains. David
Letterman built a huge house there. He said, I've got to show
you David Letterman's house. I said, I've got no interest in David
Letterman or his house, but I want to see the Rockies. And we got
there to the bottom of those Rockies, and I looked up, and
it was nothing but solid rock. You couldn't have climbed it
unless you're some sort of professional, let alone getting your wagon
and your family and all your supplies over there. But listen,
that scout knew the passage. You can't go over here, but you
can go over down here because I've already gone over there
and I've stood on the West Coast. I've stood there. Los Angeles. I've stood there. And I'm saying
this, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ in our humanity
has already marked out the way He knows where the passages are.
He knows where the pitfalls are. He knows where the oasis is.
He knows the place to get you through because He's already
up in heaven on our behalf as our forerunner. He's seated there
in our humanity. And He's not there for Himself. He says here He's there for us. I wouldn't believe it was impossible
for humanity to go to heaven. That's too high and too holy
if I did not believe that somebody was seated there in his humanity. Heaven must be adapted for our
humanity because Jesus Christ is there in our humanity. I've often thought in the time
of my doubts when thinking I ain't gonna make it myself. I just
ain't gonna make it. But you know what comforts me
when I start thinking that way? I may not make it. If I don't
make it, somebody's there. Humanity has been saved and their
humanity sits in its glory on the right hand of God. And then
I start thinking, well, why is he there? He's there for me. He's there to assure my entrance
there into that place. Oh, brothers and sisters, don't
that comfort you concerning your hope? He's there as a forerunner
for you. Never did anything for Himself,
did He? Everything He did, He did it for His people. Secondly,
this is comforting for our hope. Jesus is not only there as our
forerunner, but He's gone before us, ahead of us. and has taken
out of the way everything that would bar heaven's gate against
us everything he's taken out of the way when he says here
that he's entered heaven for us his meaning is also that whatever
stood in our way of getting there with him he's taken out of the
way while he was here in the days of his flesh. The Bible says that we'll enter
the kingdom of heaven through much tribulation, but you know
we'd never enter heaven at all if the Lord Jesus Christ had
not removed those things that would have stood in our way from
getting there. Sin barred us from heaven. Heaven
wouldn't let us in, not in our sins, If Jesus Christ had not
taken our sins to Himself and made those sins His own and suffered
for those sins and atoned for those sins, those sins would
have barred us from Heaven. Jesus Christ has taken away the
wrath of God. That would have barred us from
Heaven. And how did He do that? He took our wrath in His own
body. He suffered the justice of God
and the penalty of the broken law. Why did he do it? For us.
I tell you something else, death would have barred us, would it
not? Death would have gaped upon us
and swallowed us up. We'd have never entered heaven
if Jesus Christ had not attested death for us. The grave? We'd have never came out of the
grave, would we? The grave would have got the victory, but Jesus
Christ has risen for us. He was delivered for our transgression
and raised again, why? For us, for our justification. Somebody say, Bruce, the Lord
Jesus just ain't like us. He just ain't like us. Look how
holy, look how high. He's separate from sinners. Brothers
and sisters, I know that. I know that. But listen. He became
one with us. He was as much human as we are
without sin. Sin accepted. But don't think he had an easy
time getting where he's at today. Mark, he didn't. I still agree
with that message you preached. I don't care what men say about
it. I still agree with that message. But Jesus Christ had a tough
time getting there. You and I will never shed drops
of blood, but He did. You and I will never know what
it is to cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But
He knew that. You and I will never die with
a sin upon our conscience to condemn us, but He did. We'll never know what it is to
die and taste the bitterness of death, but he tasted death.
He is the only man that worked his way to heaven. And I'm telling
you, it wasn't easy. The old timers used to say, with
strength enough and none to spare. And why did he have trouble getting
there? It goes back to removing all the obstacles that were in
our way. HE TOOK OUR HUMANITY AND HE TOOK
ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN AND MADE THEM HIS OWN AND UNDER THE AWFUL
WRATH OF GOD DIED. AND IT WAS ONLY BY HIS MERIT
AND POWER THAT HE RAISED FROM THE DEAD AND ASCENDED ON THE
RIGHT HAND OF GOD. BUT WHEN HE SAT DOWN UP THERE
YOU CAN KNOW THIS THAT EVERYTHING THAT BARRED HEAVEN'S DOOR AGAINST
YOU HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY. Heaven's door will be wide open
when you step up there. Because He's done everything
for you. Don't that comfort you at all? When the devil comes
to you and says, you're telling me that a sinner like you can
have any hope of going to heaven. A sinner like you? Tell him yes. Tell him yes. Yes you do. What
way could you possibly have of going to heaven? Tell him this,
that Jesus Christ is your way, and you have full hope and you'll
hope to the end of heaven and life everlasting at last, because
Jesus Christ Himself has removed every obstacle that was in your
way from going there. And you can bet on this, if any
obstacle was left, He wouldn't be there Himself. He removed
them all. Thirdly, think of this, and this
comforts our faith. It's not just enough for Christ
to enter there as our forerunner. It's not enough that He's removed
all the barriers for us going there. But you know something? On the way there, He has to track
us, and guide us, and guard us every step of the way. He's not only the scout that's
going on ahead of us, He's the scout that still directs our
steps. When the Apostle Paul says here
that He's entered heaven on our behalf, he doesn't mean that
He's just sitting up there waiting and hoping we can make it. But
He's doing something on our behalf there, isn't He? Look what he
says here in a couple of places in chapter 7, look in verse 24. Hebrews chapter 7. But this man,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And look at chapter 9 and verse
24. Chapter 9 and verse 24, Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are figures of the truth, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He lives in heaven for us, just
like He did everything on this earth for us to remove all the
things that barred us. So He lives in heaven always
as if He had nothing else to do. but to make intercession,
to plead and maintain our God. Aren't you glad for that? When
you've sinned, aren't you glad He's there for you? If any man
sin, we have an advocate with a father, and he stretches forth
his hands to the father, and says, Father, behold my hands.
He shows the father his side, and says, Father, forgive them.
Forgive them. When we sin, when we sin, He
maintains our cause. What does He do? He sends the
rods, doesn't He? He chastens those whom He loves.
When we get into a dark valley, what does He do? He pleads our
cause. He sends us light. When the enemy crosses our pathway
and we say, now we can't go any farther, the battle is too strong
for us, He maintains her cause. What does He say? Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. He lives, brothers and sisters,
to get us to heaven. He's concerned about our entrance
there. And He'll never leave us or forsake
us by His Spirit until we enter there where He is. He knows us,
doesn't He? He knows us. He knows us perfectly. He knows our circumstances. He
knows our hearts. He knows the way we take. All
things are naked and open in His eyes. And He lives there
in heaven to plead and maintain our cause. Who could ask for
more than that? Got a friend in heaven. He's
never lost a case. He's never pleaded for anybody.
And they didn't make it. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. What circumstances could you
possibly be in that he can't help you get through? There's
nothing. There's nothing. That's comfort. Fourthly, think about this. Here's
something concerning our hope that comforts us. But boy, if
we didn't know this, This would be a source of great grief to
us. When God gives a good hope, He
in turn sends trouble to teach us to live in the exercise of
that hope. When He gives a good hope, He
in turn sends trouble. He is going to make us live in
the exercise of that hope. I think it's very telling here
that when the Apostle Paul was talking about our hope, he does
it under the analogy of an anchor, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul. When do you really appreciate
an anchor? In the storm. in the storm. I remember during Acts 27 when
the Apostle Paul and all those sailors got caught in some kind
of a typhoon or something. Fourteen days. They never saw
the stars, never saw the sun, didn't eat for fourteen days.
They finally spied this island, Malta, way out in the middle
of the Mediterranean Sea. And they were afraid The violence
of the waves and winds was going to dash them against those rocks
and bust their ship up. So what did the Bible say they
do? They cast anchors out of the ship. Four anchors out of
the stern of the ship. And they hoped for the day. They
wished for the day. They waited for the day. And
this hope is an anchor of our souls. And boy, in the storms
of life, in the storms of life, is when we need an anchor. I
imagine this epistle was so comforting to these people. Would you look
over here in the 10th chapter? Here's what I'm trying to say. Look in the 10th chapter in verse
32. Look in verse 32. I'm just saying
that when God gives a good hope, he is going to make us live in
the exercise of that hope. And sometimes the way He does
that is sending trouble, sending trials. I've often said this,
if this world was just like I wanted it to be, I wouldn't hope for
heaven and you wouldn't either. But this world is not like we
want it to be. God has purposed that. He sends you trouble, He
turns your world upside down and He leaves you hoping. Hope
for Heaven. Look what happened to these Christians
in verse 32. Called to remembrance the former
days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great
fight of afflictions. Partly while you were made engaged
in stock. These believers walked down the
street and people laughed at them and shook their head at
them. Bunch of Christians. Stupid, ignorant Christians. were made a gazing stock by reproaches
and afflictions partly while you became companions of them
that were so used for you had compassion of me and my bonds
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods they had their
goods confiscated their houses and furniture and land but look
what an effect it had upon knowing in yourselves that you have in
heaven a better and enduring substance. Made them hope, stirred up hope
in their hearts. Israel never longed to get out
of Egypt until God turned the Egyptians hearts to hate them,
made slaves out of them. Then they started, oh get us
out of here, get us out of here. The Lord sends trouble. These
poor Pentecostals, sometimes they talk about the health and
wealth gospel. Sometimes God sends sickness.
He sends sickness. He sends diseases. If I didn't
believe that was of God, it would scare me to death. And it would
grieve me to death. But sometimes He sends sicknesses. Why? To wean us from this world. To put us hoping in a place where
there's no more pain. and sickness and tears. Sometimes
He sends poverty. That you just can't get a job,
you're broke. You don't have anything. Why
does He do that? To put you hoping for the riches
of heaven. He lets a dear friend or dear
friends turn on you and forsake you. Why? You hope to be with
that friend that sticks closer than a brother. You know, sometimes you have
trouble in your marriages. Something used to grieve me to
death. If me and my wife had a little spat, if she said something
that offended me or I said something that offended her, it grieved
me to death. I thought this ain't the way
marriages should be. A Christian couple should never have a word.
Then I found out sometimes that just ain't true. That's not true. Did your husband ever do anything
to offend you? Does your wife ever do anything to grieve you?
You know God sends these things sometimes to make us long to
be married to Him who is our husband in heaven. I used to
think if you had a marriage and you had some trouble
in it, that wasn't the right kind of marriage. I've changed
my, I've utterly made 180 degrees on marriage. If you never have
any trouble in your marriage, you're a dysfunctional marriage. Something's wrong, that's not
natural. And if you don't have any trouble
in your marriage, I'll tell you this, you probably don't want
to marry Christ in heaven. You got any children that grieve
you? God's, it seems like to me at this point in my time,
God has given me children to grieve my heart. They grieve my heart. I have
three children. All of them hate God. Openly
hate God. And it just breaks my heart.
It grieves me to death. We get together as a family and
my extended family. We can't talk about the Lord.
We can't enter into sweet communion with people who hate God. My family don't believe in the
Christ I believe in. My family don't love the God
I love. My family won't come and hear me preach the gospel.
Nobody in my family knows and loves the Lord. And it grieves
me to death. But at the same time, it puts
me hoping to be with my heavenly family. I've got a family. And my earthly family may not
love me, but this family loves me. And there's a family in heaven
that loves me. Don't you long to be with that
family? I'm just saying, brothers and sisters, don't be grieved
whatever evil comes your way. Because God may well be using
that to cause you to live in the exercise of this hope of
that which is better. in heaven to be with Christ. Paul was talking about hope there
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He was talking about hope. And
this is what he said about it. He said our light afflictions,
which are for a moment, they work for us. Our afflictions
are doing something for us. What is it? They're working for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look
not at the things which are seen. God is weaning us from what we
see and what we feel naturally and what we love naturally. He's
weaning us and how does He do it? Sometimes by these afflictions.
They're working for us and they're turning our heart to heaven and
our hope. The disciples came to the Lord
one time and were showing Him all the rocks and stones of the
building. And the Lord began to say, there's
coming a day when these things are going to be turned upside
down. They asked Him, when is this going to happen? When's
the temple going to be destroyed? And what's going to be the end
of the world? What's some signs of the end of the world? And
here's what He said to them. He said, there'll be distress
of nations. distress among nations. Boy,
we see that today, don't we? God's given us this media, a
24-7 media, that we can now know what's going on in the world.
If somebody stumped his toe in Madagascar, you can see it on
the news in 30 minutes. We know what's going on all over
the world, and what's going on all over the world. confusion
perplexity among the nations just like he said the sea and waves roaring men's
hearts fell in them for fear for looking after the things
that's coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken and here's what he said when you begin to see these troubles
these anxieties and dangers look up Look up. Somebody's looking down, aren't
they? Don't look around you. It's going
to be too bad. Don't be looking down. There's
no help there. Lift up your heads and look up. Hope. Your hope is about to be
realized. Your redemption draweth nigh. So let the nations of the world
fall. Let Satan be loose from his pit, and go out and deceive
the nations, and turn on the church, and do what they will
with her. But we'll hope in our God. And
when we see that trouble, we'll say our hope is drawn near. Isn't
it good to have hope, brothers and sisters? And I tell you when
hope will show itself, and when you'll really appreciate it,
in the storms of life. you have a sure hope and steadfast
hope. God has given it to you. And
when he tries it, don't be grieved, don't be discouraged, and don't
despair. Let the troubles he sends your way disturb this hope
in your heart. Be like Job, though he slay me,
yet will I trust in him. Why are you cast down within
me, O my soul? Why are you disquieted? Hope
thou in God, I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Well, it's 7.35 and I've quit.
I'm quitting, I'm going home. Shake hands with everybody and
I'm going to Newcastle, Indiana. It's been a blessing to see you.
Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for being so kind
to shake my hand and say, that's a good message. You're so kind.
Bless your heart, you're so kind. Lord bless you. The Lord bless
you good. Can we have prayer one more time
before we go? Oh, Father, gracious Father,
our Father in heaven, you sent your Son to do everything for us, and you
even sent him to teach us how to pray, to call you our Father. And our Father, we address you
the same way that he addressed you, as Brother Mark read it
tonight, Abba, Father. You're our papa. You're our daddy. You're our father. And if you're
not our father, we have no father. Because we deny all others. If
you're not a father, we're orphans. But you've coveted to be our
father. You've sent the spirit of your son into our hearts and
he's crying and we're crying with him, our father. Thank you,
our Father. Thank you for the blessings of
this life, and thank you for the blessings of that life which
is to come. Thank you for giving us a surety.
Thank you for him who has sealed our eternal destinies, and they'll
never be unsealed. Oh, we bless you, our Father
in heaven. For your great love, wherewith you love your people,
your family, your blood-bought ones. We bless you, Lord, for
that everlasting love. We thank you for this dear people.
Oh, Lord, in heaven, strengthen this congregation. Strengthen
these dear people. Continue to bless them. Oh, wake
them of the night and put a song in their hearts, in their trials,
in their dark valleys, in the hills of difficulty. Oh Lord
in heaven, Lord Jesus, be a comfort to them. Encourage them, heal
them of their soul's diseases. Send afflictions as you will,
but don't let them despair. Give them grace to live by the
hope that you've given. We thank you for this beautiful
day. What a day you've given us, a day of worship. We thank
you for the meals we've had. Thank you for Mark and Regina,
their kindness to me, their love. Thank you for the love this congregation
has one to another. Thank you for their dear pastor.
I pray that you'd bless him exceedingly. You'd fill his heart with your
love, knowledge of yourself, and give him grace to relate
it and preach to this group of people and to be their shepherd.
We ask these things for the glory of our dear Savior. Amen. God bless you.