If you would please turn back
with me to the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. The 11th
chapter of the book of Hebrews. I'd like to read beginning with
verse 13 and read down through verse 16. Verse 13 through verse
16. Where the word of God says, These
all died in faith, not having received the promises but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire
a better country that is, and heavenly, wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them
a city." I felt somewhat moved by the
Spirit of God to speak to you this morning from these verses
that I've read to you. I do hope that the Lord is in
it. Trust that it'll be a time of
edification, a time of encouragement, a time of preparation for all
of our hearts. I call this message this morning
an inscription for the headstone of the saints of God. An inscription
for the headstone of the saints of God, and we find that in verse
13. In these words, these all died
in faith. These all died in faith. Now
it tells us here that believers constitute a class by themselves. These. These. Certainly they
are a class made by the providence and sovereignty of God, a class
that is distinct. We know there are two classes
of people in the world, and that is believers and unbelievers
as far as god is concerned we see a great many distinctions
in the world which god takes no notice of the bible says that
there is neither jew nor gentile bond or free in his sight god
takes no notice of many of the distinctions that men make in
this world but there is a distinction which men think little of which
is greatly observed by god And it says, them that believed,
these all died in faith. These that believed, these that
trusted God. And so this is the distinction
that God observes. Them that believe and those that
believe not. And this is the two categories
of men and women in this world. Are you a believer this morning?
Are you a believer? Are you a believer through grace?
Are you a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust Him? Are you relying upon Him? Are
you in Christ? Now, beloved, faith brings us
out of darkness into light. Faith, it is, that brings us
across the border, so to speak. Brings us out of the condition
of being lost in a state of nature into being saved in a state of
grace. And it brings us out of bondage
into glorious liberty. It brings us out of death unto
life. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you trust Him? Have you been
brought to faith by the effectual working of God's Holy Spirit? Now the most important thing
under heaven is that we should know that we believe on the Lord
Jesus. You remember the Philippian jailer
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and he was saved. He said, what
must I do to be saved? And Paul told him, said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so the
most important thing under the heavens is that we know that
we believe, that we believe and that we know that we believe. Now believers in our class then
by themselves and even when they die, They're in a class. It says
these all died in faith. Now there are many that die outside
of Christ. They're without Christ. They're
without God. They have no hope and they die
in a hopeless state without Christ, without God, without any hope
for eternity. whatsoever, but the sheep of
Christ, they die and they die in faith. They sleep in Jesus
and are blessed how kind their slumbers are. But these, they
all died in faith. Now they're all alike in this,
that they all lived and they all died in faith. They all lived and they all died
in faith. Now some were weak in faith,
I'm sure, and some were strong in faith. I do not know how long
these various ones pilgrimage in the way of faith, how long
their travels were with the Lord, But strong or weak, the Bible
says that their ultimate end was they died in faith. They
died in faith. They died trusting the Lord.
They died relying on the Lord. They just shall live by faith.
These lived by faith and they died in faith. But they had faith
and it continued in them to the end. So without exception, We
read that these that are mentioned here that we read about this
morning early from Abel right on through Abraham and then on
various others that are mentioned here in this chapter that these
all died believing God. They all died trusting in the
Lord. Well, here is dying in faith. Well, what does it mean
to die in faith? What does it mean? Well, first
of all, when these people came to die, they did not have to
seek faith. They already had faith. Now,
I don't know too much about deathbed repentance. I can't say too much
about it, and as one old writer said, were we to know little,
we had better say little, and I think he's right about that.
There's many, many things that we don't understand fully. And
I'm not saying that nobody ever gets saved on the deathbed. I
just won't say that. I think it's more rare maybe
than we suppose. But I'm not here to say this
morning that nobody gets saved. We have hope sometimes because
there are certain things that people say that indicate that
tis done, the great transaction's done, even though they're right
at death's door. There's indication that they
have believed God and trusted and relied upon the Lord, and
that the Lord has done a work in their life, right there on
their deathbed. There are many indications to
that. And for that we can praise the Lord, we can give thanks
unto God, that's His business. That's his business. It's not
mine to set up a system of rules and regulations as to how God
can save a sinner, when God can save a sinner, and who He can
save. The Lord's able to do that and
He'll take care of that. But there's one thing about these
that the Bible mentions here that they didn't have to seek
faith when they came to die. And I'll tell you this, the best
thing for you to do this morning if you're not a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ is to begin to seek it while you're young
and while you're healthy. Begin to seek the face of God
that you might find faith in the Lord, that the Lord might
give you this gift of faith like Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, that you might find the faith of the gospel and that
you might have it well fixed in your heart to live with and
to die with. Seek it while you're young because
there are times when people at the end, you know, they go into
a coma. And they're not able to talk.
They're not able. You can't talk to them and they
can't converse with you. And you're not able to, and I
remember hearing the testimony of several people who had been
at death's door and then back. And they said that if they had
to sought the Lord for faith and sought the Lord for salvation
in that hour, they'd have never been able to do it. Because the
fact that they were so out of it and that their minds had just
went back into a state where they were not able to deal with
anything as serious and important as faith and salvation. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so my advice to you is, seek
the Lord now. Cry unto God now. These all died
in faith. They didn't have to seek it when
they were dying. They did die, however. And this
is a point that I want to make. These all died in faith. They did die. However, although
they had faith, for faith is not given to us that we may escape
death, but that we may die in the comfort of the gospel, that
we may die in the comfort of everlasting hope, that we may
die knowing that our sins are behind us and that they're not
going to meet us out there at the judgment, knowing that there
is nothing in eternity that ought to make us to fear because our
Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over death, and the Lord Jesus
has slept in the grave, and because he slept there, he made it a
comfortable bed for all of his saints. And we die in faith,
we die in the comfort of the gospel, but faith is not given
to enable us to escape death. And so don't ever entertain that
idea. It is not given for that reason.
These all died in faith. Now some think they won't die.
But saints die as well as sinners. David died as well as Saul. And
John, the beloved, who leaned on the breast of Jesus, he died
the same as Judas. Judas died, of course, took his
own life. But John also died. And so believers
die the same as do unbelievers. They do die. Now we believe that
hundreds and thousands and yea millions of true strong believers
have died and we expect to die also. We expect to die also unless
the Lord Jesus should come in the heavens and that we be caught
up with him. Unless Christ comes back, we
expect also to join all these that have died in the faith of
the gospel. Now this proves that God in every
case will not hear our prayer for recovery to help of those
that are sick. These all died in faith. You
suppose that none of these that are mentioned here in our text
had nobody to pray for them? You know, we have those in the
religious world. They're ignorant. They're ignorant
as they can be. But they imply that if everybody
that was afflicted had somebody just to pray earnestly enough
for them that they would all be delivered. In other words,
their idea is that God relinquishes his omnipotence to the praying
saint and the praying saint can pray well anybody that is afflicted
and sick if they will pray earnestly enough. This is contrary to the
word of God. God never on any occasions ever
relinquishes his omnipotence and puts it into the hands of
a man. He does not do that. God's will be done as we pray
for the sick, as we pray for the afflicted. Now look at this
in this way. Say God did relinquish his omnipotence
into the hands of the loved ones of those that were sick and afflicted
and said, now it's up to you whether they live or die. You
pray them out of this, and if they die, it's your fault. It's
your responsibility if they die. Now look at what a terrible,
terrible thing that would be. What an unjust thing that would
be. How foolish that would be. How stressful that would be.
God Almighty does not put his omnipotence into your hands and
the responsibility While it is your responsibility to pray for
those that are sick and afflicted, the responsibility of the outcome
of their case is not in your hands. It's in God's hands. And you have to learn to leave
it in God's hands. You leave it with the Lord. And
you trust God and you submit yourself to the will of God and
trust that God will bring to pass that which pleases Him and
will glorify His name. This is so important. important
to see because we have so many that feel that they have this
obligation and responsibility and just look how a man would
feel if his wife got sick and died. Look how children would
feel if their father got sick and died and they couldn't pray
him up. They were not able to pray him out of his affliction.
Look how they would feel. Look how guilty they would feel
and they would carry that the rest of their life. God is the
author. He is not the author of any such
confusion and such silliness as that. And so I want you to
remember that and may the Lord bless you with those thoughts.
And also I think it means that these all persevered to the very
end in the faith of the gospel. They persevered to the very end. Now, I certainly am a believer
in eternal security, and I believe that God's people, they keep
believing God unto the end. Now, their faith may become very,
very weak at times, and they may feel that they themselves
have maybe failed many, many times miserably along the way,
and they may feel that they're not worthy of anything that God
has done for them or is about to do for them. But yet the Bible
says in Mark 16 and 16, he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved. Shall be saved. Not might be
saved, but they shall be saved. And I know that grace lives to
the very last in those that God brings out of sin and brings
to himself. And it triumphs at the very close
of a man's life. Grace will triumph. Grace lives
to the end and it will triumph at the close. And I do not believe
that God will ever start something in a man and then fail to bring
it through. The Lord is going to bring His
people through. Though they sin through infirmity,
They shall not sin fatally, not sin finally, but they shall persevere
in holiness and in the love of God. The Bible says the righteous,
the path of the righteous is the shining light that shineth
more and more into that perfect day. And the hands of those that
are clean shall be clean and clean and clean as the Lord by
His grace purifies them. In the book of Peter it speaks
of us being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
that is by the word of God. And do you know what it says?
It says that that incorruptible seed by which we are born again,
that it liveth and it abideth forever. Now what does that mean
to you? Well, you may get something out
of that, but I don't get out of it. But what it means to me
is that the seed which God put into my heart, which is the seed
of everlasting life, that this is incorruptible and it lives
and it will abide forever, meaning that it ain't going to die, that
it's not going to die, means that a child of God will persevere
even unto the end. Well, this is what it means to
me. And then I think there's some other things that it means,
and I think it means this. They died in faith. These all
died in faith. And I think it means also that
they never got beyond faith. Never got beyond it. They just
kept believing God, and never did they get beyond faith. Now
this is so important. You know, there's some people
that believe that you receive Christ by faith. And not too
many people deny that, that you receive him by faith, but then
after you receive him, then you're off to Moses, or you're off to
the law for sanctification, and that you get beyond faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, finally get beyond it. Well, can you
imagine Abel, or Noah, or Enoch, or Abraham, or Isaac, or Sarah,
Can you imagine them getting past faith, or getting somewhere
or another way down the line from faith? Well, as I read about
these people in the scripture, it seems to me that their whole
life, that was what characterized their life. It was faith, faith,
faith. And the Bible says four times
over, that just shall live by his faith. That's how he lived,
and you never get past it. You just keep on believing God.
Keep on trusting God. You say, Preacher, I thought
I'd get past this business of just believing sooner or later.
No, you won't. Not until you die. No, you won't. You won't get by this business
of faith. You won't get past it. You must
keep on trusting in the Lord. Now, some having begun in the
Spirit, as we said, they're afterward made perfect, they think, by
the flesh. Faith is the sinner's simple
trust But some, they want to go to something else, and some
call it a second blessing, and I wish they'd seek a third, a
fourth, a fifth, a sixth, or seventh, or eighth, or ninth,
or a tenth, but there are ten thousand times, ten thousand
blessings to seek for the child of God here in this world. And I'll tell you, we seek every
one of them by faith. We know that God made many promises,
to his people and we never get past believing that the God that
gave the promises is able to accomplish what he promised.
And what Abraham and Sarah believed when they were past the age of
having children, the scripture, we read it this morning, that
she judged him faithful who had promised. And Abraham was fully
persuaded to what God promised he was able to perform right
up to the end. I mean, when he was 110 and she
was 100, they just kept on believing God. They never did get past
it. And you won't ever get past it if you're a child of God.
There's no place where you're going to get, you know, some
people they say, well, I believe in rockin' chair religion, and
I believe someday we'll just get to where we can just sit
down and just rock our way away. Well, you know, rockin' chairs
is fine, it gives you something to do, but you don't get nowhere.
You don't get anywhere in a rocking chair. And this religion, rocking
chair religion, there ain't anything to it. You're going to keep believing
God. And there's going to be trials come to you even on your
deathbed. And there's going to be, Satan
is going to keep on harassing and bothering you to the very
day that you go into the grave. He's going to keep on bothering
you and harassing you. You're going to have to keep
believing God and settle that right now. Don't think you're
going to get to the place where you're going to be able just
to rock and sit back and there's not going to be any struggles
and there's not going to be anything to endure. No, that is not going
to happen. That's false expectation and
it's not going to be. You've got to keep on believing
God. These all died in faith. They all died believing God and
trusting Him right up to the very end. Now then, but the mercy
is this, the mercy is this, that while they did die, they never
did get above faith and they never got below it. They still
had faith when they come to die. I'm sure that they had Many,
many dark days, many dark times as they pilgrimaged here in this
world, but they never got above it, and they never got below
it. They just kept on believing God, and these all died in faith. They all died in faith. You ever
have any real dark days? Did you ever have any time when
you were very suspicious of yourself, whether you had anything or whether
you didn't? You ever have any time when you wondered whether
or not you knew the Lord, or whether You did or didn't? Well,
I'll tell you what, these people might have had those kind of
times, but all I know about them is these verses say they died
in faith. Every one of them died in faith.
Now what was the faith they died with? Well, they'd received a
great deal, but they had not received the fullness of the
promises we read there in verse 13. Not having received the promises. But they seen him afar off, and
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Now Abraham did not
see all of his seed. And you remember that, therefore
spring there even of one, in verse 12, and him as good as
dead, because he was 110 years old, so many as the stars of
the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore
innumerable, they didn't see all of them. They're still being
born. into the world and he didn't
see them all many of these promises that the people of God and Isaac
nor Jacob they never seen Shiloh which is Christ but yet it was
promised and you and I have not received all the promises that
have been promised to us in the word of God the glorious second
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which is the brightest hope of
the church That's the future as far as we're concerned. We're
looking for that, looking for that glorious appearing of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who will change these vile bodies
and make them liken to his own glorious body according to the
power whereby he's able to subdue all things into himself. That's
a glorious promise. And we're looking for that. But
we haven't received that promise yet. We just keep on believing
that God is going to make these promises good. I believe that
Jesus is coming. He that shall come will come
and will not tarry. He will come back to this earth. Christ is coming and one day
he's going to come in the sky and he's going to receive his
own unto himself. We're going to be caught up together
and we're going to be with the Lord forever. It's going to come
to pass. And heaven, we don't know a lot
about that except just what God's promised. the white robes, the
palms of victory, we're looking and we're expecting. And when
we die, there are going to be many of these things maybe that
will never be fulfilled to us until we get to heaven and we
see these things there with those spiritual eyes. that God gives
us but these things we're looking for and I expect if I die before
Jesus comes I expect to come back with him when he comes back
to this earth I expect to come back with him because he's going
to come with ten thousands of his saints Enoch said, and I
believe he's coming back to this earth and I expect to come back
with him. Now notice they saw them afar
off here in verse 1. Now how did they see them? How
can you see something afar off? Well they saw it by faith. They
were convinced of it. Verse 1 says that faith is the
substance of things hoped for and it's the evidence of things
not seen. These blessings and these promises
you can't see with the naked eye, but with the eye of faith
you can see them afar off. And I don't know how far off
the second coming of Christ is, but I can see it. I can see it,
and I believe it. And it's no fiction to me. It
is a certainty that our Lord is coming back to receive his
own unto themselves. Now the scripture says they were
persuaded of them. What is your persuasion? Well,
I believe that he is able to keep them, and keep that which
we have, as Paul said, He said he was persuaded that God was
able to keep that which we had committed unto him against that
day, the Lord. And then over in Romans 8 there,
we read where that Paul said, I'm persuaded that neither death
nor life nor angels There are things to come, other things
that are mentioned there that can separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul said, I'm persuaded. I know some things and I believe
some things. And so they were persuaded of
God's promises. They were not mere speculation
to them. Somebody said, that's a myth,
the Lord's coming back. Somebody said, that's just an
airy nothing that the Lord's coming back. But to the child
of God, it's an absolute certainty. The child of God says it's certain
he's coming back. There's nothing uncertain about
it. The Lord's coming, there's going to be a resurrection. God's
people are going to be raised out of the dust of the earth
and are going to have a glorified body. A body like the Lord Jesus
Christ has. And that is a certainty. It's
not a matter of speculation to the child of God. So the saints
embraced the promises. Now that word embraced in the
Greek is salute. They saluted these promises.
One fellow, he explained it like this, he said he was way up on
a mountain and there was one of his friends that was way down
below and he hollered out to his friend and his friend down
below acknowledged and he could hear him, he could hear him quite
well really. And so he kind of saluted him
from up on the mountainside and it would have taken him a long
time to get down there to where his friend was, but he saluted
the friend from afar off. And that's kind of what this
word embrace means. They embraced the promises of
God. They did so by faith or saluted
them. I mean it was, they were friends,
these promises were friends to these believers. And they acknowledged
that they were certain and true by embracing them. Now, note
if you will, there's something else here I want us to see this
morning. And that is, how do we live if we live by faith? How do we live? Just a few words
about that. I think the text here is very
plain. We said four times over, the scripture says that the just
shall live by faith. Well, how do we live if we live
by faith? How do we manifest that we got
faith and we expect to die in that faith? Well, these we read
in this 13th verse. that they, after they embraced
the promises, they confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And so I believe that this faith,
that is the faith of God's elect, the faith of the gospel, that
it causes men and women that have it to confess that they're
strangers and pilgrims in the earth. So we are. We're strangers
and pilgrims. Now we're strangers by a new
nature. We're born from above and in
the world, but we're not of the world. The world knows us not,
the scripture says. So we're strangers in this world. If God had not planted his new
nature in you, then you would be just like all the other whirling
sinners around you. But God made a difference. He
put a difference. He put His nature in your life.
He put His nature right into your soul. He sent Jesus Christ
to indwell you by the Holy Spirit. And Christ lives in His people. And that makes you a stranger
in this world below. Now, strangers as to what we
pursue in this world. Well, the world's not interested
in truth. They're not interested in hearing
the truth, believing the truth, but the Bible says for the children
of God to buy the truth and to sell it not. And the people of
God have bought the truth, and they're pursuing after God's
sovereign truth. Now, we are traveling home from
a far country, and we must move along. We're looking for that
heavenly city, and it's like a fellow, you know, he's coming
back, and I got an awful habit of doing this. that when I'm
traveling back from back east, I don't tarry anywhere. I don't
fool around any place. And those that are with me many
times, they suffer because I don't fool around. If I get started
home, I'm like the horse, you turn him loose and he runs from
the barn. And we used to have a horse that
my dad plowed corn with. take him away from the barn and
you could tell it was a distinct difference in the way he pulled
that plow away from the buildings and when you turned him around
to the other end he always thought this is the trip home and he
always pulled faster and better coming back toward the barn but
then he was disappointed again when you pulled them reins and
turned him around farther along, going back and turning around.
Back he came in a hurry. So that's kind of the way the
people of God are in this world. We believe God, and we're strangers
and pilgrims here, and we're hastening to get out of this
place, and we're headed, we're traveling for that forecountry,
and we must move along. We're pilgrims in object. We're not here for a pleasure
excursion. We're not here to have fun. We're
not here just to have a big time. We're not here to larder. We're
not here just simply to take our fill of this world and to
use it to the furthest extent. We're not here for that purpose. We're journeying to the temple
of God to behold the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we're
on our way to another world, and faith declares that we're
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And we're saying this
very plainly when we live by faith in this world. Now then,
hinder me not, because I must go onward to the journey. Pilgrims we are as to continuance. We do not expect to be here long,
do you? We don't expect really to be
here long. Some of us have been here for a while. But each time
we bid each other good night, it may be the last time here,
may be all over with. We know life is short. We know
it's very brief. And we know the scripture bears
that out over and over again. And boast not thyself of tomorrow,
because you know not what a day might bring forth. You don't
know anything about tomorrow. To die, we know it's appointed
unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment.
And we know that there is no discharge from that war. We know
that we're going to die. The scripture says the living
know that they're going to die. And there ain't any question
about it. We don't expect to be here very long. Next time
we have worldly trouble, we should keep this in mind. We're pilgrims
and strangers here. It won't last long. It won't
last long. We got some problems, but they
won't last long. Because our lives are short-lived,
then the problems will also be short-lived. And that you might
as well. And when you are tempted to rejoice
in earthly treasures, Ah, don't rejoice in anything earthly. Don't do it. Say to yourself,
I must give these up soon, and I'll be leaving them or they'll
be leaving me, one or the other. And so I dare not rejoice in
the things of this world, the fleeting things of time, because
they're soon going to be gone. Or I'm going to be gone. And
so I'll rejoice not. I'll rejoice only. And I'm hastening
fast towards my own country where I'm going to hear my own language
spoken and abide with the Father forever. Isn't that wonderful?
We're on our way to glory. And there's a language spoken
there that's our language. And we're going to be with the
Lord forever. And we're hastening on. And that's
how this faith manifests itself. You just get the idea when you're
around a real pilgrim on earth. That fellow's on the move. He's
going someplace. And the people of God are on
their way home. On their way home to glory. On
their way home to be with our Lord. Now then, this faith of
ours, What is the faith by which we're able to endure such a life
as this in this world? Let me just describe it a little
bit. Our faith is one which we will avow. We declare plainly
that we seek a country. We're not ashamed to say, this
is not our home, this is not our rest. We're not ashamed of
that. Every believer in Christ is going to be with Him forever.
John 17, 24 says, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father and said,
Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me will be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory which
you gave me before the world was. And we're on our way to
be with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the change from this world
to the next It's important for us to see that there's no loss
about it. There's no loss about it. The
change, when it comes, now you see, the idea that, you know,
hang on to this world, everything in it, and get a good grip on
it, and just hang in there, you know, and weep and cry and think,
when it's gone, is ignorance, spiritual ignorance is what it
is. It's spiritual ignorance. The change from this world to
the next has no loss about it. When a man living in this world,
having the faith... I mentioned a few weeks ago about
a little experience I had back when I was a little boy in the
Nazarene church. I remember how long-faced them
people were. That's one thing I remember about
it. How long-faced. And I got the opinion by listening
to them that if I ever got saved, I could never play marbles again.
If I got saved, I could never shoot a slingshot again. If I got saved, I couldn't hunt
rabbits again. Be no where in the world I could
do anything. Long-faced bunch of people, just a long-faced
that even in the 30s, it would have cost $4 to give them a shave.
I mean, they were long-faced people. And you know, people
sometimes, they get the idea, you know, that this change from
this world to that, what a horrible, Horrible thing, what an awful
loss it's gonna be. But my friend, it's not so. It's
not so. There is no loss about it. Because
the Bible says it's unspeakable gain. The Bible says to die and
to be with Christ is far better than being in this world. It's
better to go beyond and be with the Lord. And the scripture says
that the day of one's death is better than the day of his birth
into this world. Do you believe that? You believe
the word of God? Can you believe what God said?
God said the day of your death is better than the day of your
birth. And so just believe what the Bible says and shorten up
that faith. And just wait on the Lord and
avow this faith that you have. And believe what God said. Wait
on the Lord and avow this faith. that you have and believe what
God said in his word. Arise and be glad. We shall go
there to celebrate the triumph of the Lamb over sin and Satan. We're going to go there and be
the Lord. Well, if a fellow is right spiritually, he could laugh
a little bit right here. He really could. He could laugh
a little bit. You know, people that are afflicted,
greatly afflicted, Some have been on beds of affliction, and
I've known some in my lifetime that were afflicted greatly,
unable to get up, unable to move about. All the bed sores and
all of the afflictions that comes with it. And you know, a child
of God, knowing that they're going to have a new body, knowing
that they're going to get out of this situation, knowing they're
going to get away from this pain, knowing that they're moving on
up, knowing that things are going to be different, and they're
not going to lose nothing, they're going to gain everything. And
they're going to have a body, and no pain! They're going to
have a body that's not diseased, a body that's not afflicted,
a body that is absolutely healthy! Perfect! Just like the body of
our Lord. It's a place to laugh, brother.
Sister, it's a time to enjoy the things of the gospel and
the things of Christ. And knowing that we're going
home to celebrate the triumph of the Lamb. His victory of redeeming
His people from their sins. The day dawns. And until the
full light has come, let us rejoice in the anticipation of that day
until the day breaks. and the shadows flee away. These
all died in faith. Listen to this poem. Prepare
me, gracious God, to stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the
work perform, for it is all of grace. May God bless you this
morning and give you the ability to retain some of these things
that we have spoken to you. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we commit this service. unto thy hands." We ask that
you would accomplish your purpose. If there's a poor soul here today
looking for consolation and comfort, might they be given faith right
now to believe that God hung His Son on a cross to die in
order that we might be saved from our sin? and in order that
we might finally someday be able to leave this world in faith,
in a state of trust and confidence in God and be able to ascend
up yonder to glory and to be in His presence forever. Thank
you, blessed Lord, for your provisions for us. Do prepare us to see
Thy face and give us through grace, our Father, that hope
that is both steadfast and sure. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.