And Revelations, if you want
to turn there with us, two verses of Scripture. I wanted
to go on to chapter 12 tonight. I think I probably told you last
week that we'd go to chapter 12, but I won't. There's a little
phrase here mentioned in this text that I want us to look at
and consider before we do. In the 11th chapter in verse
15, we looked at this last week. Revelation 11 and verse 15. And the seventh angel sounded,
and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
And He shall reign forever and ever. And we said that this seventh
trumpet was the end. It brings about the end. of this
world as we know it. But we go back to chapter 10
and we also find this seventh trumpet found there in verse
7. And that's where I want to look
at tonight. And here's what it says in chapter
10 in verse 7. In the days of the voice of the
seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, The mystery of
God shall be finished as he hath declared to his servants the
prophets. And that's what I want to thank
with you for a few minutes tonight on, the mystery of God finished. This word mystery is mentioned
so many times in the New Testament and I would invite you sometime
at your leisure to take your concordance And look up this
word mystery and mysteries and it'll be a blessing to you to
study those things. The word mystery means something
that is hidden and cannot be known unless and until it is
revealed or manifested or made known. It doesn't mean something
that we can't comprehend. But it means something that's
hid. It's a mystery. And it has to
be manifested or revealed. And the best definition that
I've found to the word mystery is found in the Scriptures itself. Listen to Colossians chapter
1 and verse 26. The Apostle said, Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations But now
is made manifest to the saints. So that's the definition of a
mystery. It's something that's hid and
has to be manifested. It has to be made known. Listen
to another passage, very familiar in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning
in verse 6. Paul said, we speak the wisdom
of God among them that are mature. They're perfect. They're mature.
Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world,
that comes to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery. The wisdom of God is a mystery
to this world. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered
into the hearts of men the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. They are hidden, they are mysterious
until God makes them known, and He has made them known at least
in part. to the saints. The Old Testament
writings were filled with the mysteries of God. And we come
to the New Testament and it begins to reveal those mysteries. Sometimes the mysteries were
hid behind those shadows. Remember in the Old Testament,
so many shadows and types and figures and mysterious prophecies. They were hid in those days.
And we come to the New Testament, and the New Testament reveals
them. They were revealed to a few people
in the Old Testament, but not as they're now revealed unto
His saints. It was a mystery that Christ
would be born of a virgin, and very few people in the Old Testament
knew that. But Isaiah knew it. Because he
was the one that wrote, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son. And they had called his name
Immanuel. But few in comparison throughout the whole four thousand
years knew much about the mysteries of God. You wonder sometimes
when those prophets wrote of those mysteries if they knew
of them. The Spirit moved upon them and
they wrote them down. Christ was born in Bethlehem,
but hardly anybody in the Old Testament knew it. It was a mystery,
but Micah knew it. Listen to what he said, Thou
Bethlehem in the land of Judah, out of thee shall come forth
the governor that shall rule my people Israel. And hardly
anybody knew that until you come to the New Testament. And when
Christ was born, you have that heavenly host making this known
to a group of shepherds one night while they were keeping their
watch over their flocks. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David. Now, where's that at? That's
Bethlehem, isn't it? A Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. And what did they say? When the angels made this known,
they said, Let us go, let us make haste and go to Bethlehem
and see this thing which the Lord hath made known to us. Nobody knew where Christ was
going to be born when the New Testament times come until the
Lord revealed it to those shepherds. In the Old Testament and in the
days of the apostles in the New Testament, God revealed His mistress
to them, sometimes by speaking directly to them. There's all
kinds of mysteries that they wrote down in here. And Moses,
when God revealed some things to him, sometimes God spoke face
to face with Moses. Wouldn't that be amazing? He
spoke face to face as one man, as a friend, speaks to his friend.
That's the way God revealed His mysteries to Moses. Sometimes
he revealed them to his prophets in dreams, sometimes in visions,
sometimes in these dark prophecies, and sometimes he would just move
upon their minds and inspire them to write these mysteries
down. But you know something? For 2,000
years now, there's been no new mysteries given. No new mysteries
given. We're told that the apostle John
was the oldest apostle, that he outlived all the apostles,
and that he was the only one, as far as they know, from a search
in history that died of natural causes. And he was a pretty old
man when he wrote this book of revelations. And he closed this
book. All the other apostles were gone.
All the other inspired writers were gone. John was the last
inspired writer. And here's what he said when
he closed this book. I testify to every man that heareth
the words of the prophecy of this book of Revelation, that
if any man shall add unto these things God shall add to him the
plagues that are written in this book." What's John telling us? John said, when I'm sealing this
book, when I'm finished this book, there's not going to be
any new mysteries given. And if any man has a dream and
tries to add it to the mystery of God, God will add to him the
plagues that's written in this book. And if any man takes anything
from the prophecies of the book, God will take his part out of
the book of life. That's the way this book closes. The words of the book of these
prophecies. They're already written, aren't
they? They're sealed. These mysteries are in the Holy
Bible and it's now up to the Holy Spirit to open our hearts
and understand these mysteries and believe these mysteries. I tell people all the time, I
tell lost people, read your Bibles. One man has been gone for decades
now and he's one of my favorite preachers, but he said, I would
never encourage a lost man to read the Bible because he can't
understand it. Well, we can't understand it
either unless the Holy Spirit opens our hearts But Paul was
writing to Timothy, and he said, from a child you've known the
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation. Listen to how the book of Proverbs
says, My son, receive my words, and hide my commandments with
thee. Seek her as silver, and search
for her as for hidden treasures. What's in this Bible? hidden
mysteries, and we're encouraged to seek them out. Don't listen
to these people that tell you of their dreams and tell you
of their visions. I've told you I've been doing
a little bit of research on this word of faith movement and all
these modern preachers. Several of them now have went
up to heaven. and talk to Jesus and talk to
the apostles and come back down to tell us. Don't believe that
nonsense. That's nonsense. Everything that
God will have us to know is written in this Bible. There's no new
mysteries being given. Here's what Charles Spurgeon
said about it. The Holy Ghost rides in the chariot of Scripture
and not in the wagon of modern thought. If the Holy Ghost is going to
teach us these mysteries of God, He's going to take us to the
Bible. We need to remember that, don't we? All God's mysteries
that He intended for us to know, He sealed them up in the pages
of His Word. And now He encourages us to seek
those mysteries out. And He's promised to reveal them
to us. And not only seek them in His
Word, but come and sit under the ministry of a man whom God
has called to preach. God often reveals these mysteries
and teaches us the deeper mysteries when we sit under a preacher,
doesn't He? How many times have you come here and you've had
questions from the Scripture, you've had anxiety or concern,
and you've left and your question was answered? That happens so
often, doesn't it? Listen to how the Apostle Paul
said it. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. That's what I am. I've been entrusted by Christ
himself to look at these mysteries and he gives me understanding
of these mysteries in part and I come and preach it to you and
helps your understanding and increases your faith. Here's
what he said in Ephesians 6, 19. Pray for me, brethren, that
utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel. Is the gospel a mystery? Boy, it is, isn't it? I hear
somebody say sometimes, Bruce, everybody knows the gospel. Isn't
that silly? Don't that show you that they
don't know the gospel? Very few people know the gospel
in comparison to those that do not know the gospel. Why is that? Because it's a mystery. It's
made clear on the pages of scriptures, but men's understandings are
darkened. They can't see it. They can't
know it. So the Holy Spirit has to open their hearts to understand
their mystery, the mystery of God. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them. Make them ever so plain,
and God has. The natural man can't understand
these mysteries. They're hid. from Him. Unto you
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Unto
you it is given, but unto those that are without it is not given. I heard the name of Jesus Christ
all my life. My dad told me I went to church
and I heard the name of Jesus, but I was 23 years old before
God manifested the gospel to me. Twenty-three years old, before
I saw through the eyes of my understanding in the Word by
the help of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
had come into this world and had obeyed perfectly His law
and satisfied justice, that He had borne my sin and atoned for
my sin and put my sin away. And when I saw that, my spirit
rejoiced to high heaven. But I never saw it before. It
was the gospel. But it's a mystery, isn't it?
Everybody knows the gospel. Let's get on to something else.
Nobody hardly knows it, brothers and sisters. And only those that
God makes it known to know the gospel. And it's a glorious thing,
isn't it? I've told you this before. John Lennox and Richard
Dawkins. John Lennox is a professor at
Harvard University and he's a professing Christian. Richard Dawkins is
a professed atheist. And I was listening to a debate
they were having. And Richard Dawkins made this
statement and he preached the gospel without knowing it. He
said, if what John is telling us that the eternal God, you
believe in this eternal God that created this universe and everything
is in it. He said, what kind of God would
he have to be to create this universe and everything in it?
And you're telling me that such a God would come to this earth
and take our humanity to Himself and bear our sins and atone for
them? He said that'd be the most wonderful thing in the world.
And John Lennox said, yes, Richard, yes, that's what we're saying.
Why can't Dawkins see it? It's a mystery. The gospel is
a mystery. And you may live to be 80 years
old. and sit under a preacher and never know it until it's
made known. Ain't that so? Until it's made
known. Last Sunday morning we preached
on the Trinity. The three in one. These three
are one. Some of you said to me that really
helped me understand better the Trinity. Why can't the world
understand it? Why do men err in the Trinity
and concerning the Trinity. Why do so many people not understand
it and they err in? Because it's a mystery. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And that's a mystery. Of course
that's a mystery. God taking our humanity to Himself
never to be separated again. We're saying that the Son of
God is old as the Father. That don't make sense, does it?
That the Ancient of Days that inhabiteth eternity was a babe
laying in a manger? You can't reason that out. That's
a mystery. And it's a mystery that has to
be revealed. You say, Bruce, we understand
it to its depths. Oh, my soul, we understand very
little of it, don't we? But we understand it. And we
believe it, don't we? We believe that mystery. Every sin that I've ever committed
was laid on this incarnate God. And He bore those sins to the
cross and was punished for those sins. Who did that? God incarnate
did that. Could He fail? If an angel did
that, you could convince me he may not have did that. But when
you take the eternal God and He comes and takes our humanity
in Himself, He cannot fail. He will not fail. But that's
a mystery, isn't it? It's a mystery. But unto you
it's given to know this mystery. But to those who are without,
it is not. Now turn to two or three Scriptures
with me. You can leave revelations. Turn
with me to the book of Ephesians. I'm just going to look at two
or three mysteries. And I think we'll start right
here with this one. But I would encourage you to
look in your concordance and you'll see all the different
mysteries that the New Testament speaks about. Look here in verse
9. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
9. Paul makes this statement. having
made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." The mystery of his
will. Is God's will a mystery? It is,
isn't it? Until it's revealed, until it's
made known. What's so mysterious about God's
will? Well, this world don't even know he has one. Does it? You talk to the average person
in this world and they don't even know that God has a will.
He's just up there in heaven, watching down, looking and waiting
and hoping. He has no idea how things are
going to turn out. He can't influence anybody. He
can't come down and get a hold of a person's heart and convert
them. He's just up there in heaven. He's some passive God. But this
God has a will. That's a mystery, but it's not
to you. They talk about man's will, but
they are oblivious to God's will. Secondly, what's so mysterious
about God's will? Well, He exercises that will. I had a fellow tell me one time
that, well, if God willed to do that, He could. Well, if God wills to do something,
He does it. You believe that? If God wills
to do something, He does it. Devils may oppose Him. Humanity
may oppose Him, but when God wills to do something, He does
it. That's the mystery of God's will. He doeth according to His
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth. No man can say His hand or say to Him, what doest
thou? Paul said, who hath resisted
His will? Nobody. He has a will of decree
that cannot be resisted. That's a mystery. And you know
it, don't you? Somebody said, well, I just don't
believe that. I just don't see that. You won't until God makes
it known to you. That's what it takes, isn't it?
He hath made known unto us the mystery of His will. What is
His will? Well, look in verse 4 of Ephesians
1. Just look at this chapter here
and you'll see what His will is. Look in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Why did He do that? Why
did He bless such unworthy people as we are? It was His will. Look
in verse 4. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Why did God elect
a host of Adam's fallen race to salvation in Christ? Because
it was His will. Look in verse 5. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. Look in verse 7, "...in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace." Why did He redeem us? Why did Christ shed His blood?
It was God's will. Why does He wash our conscience?
It's His will. Look in verse 12, "...that we
should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ,
in whom He also trusted, After that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, the damn payment, until the redemption
of the purchased possession, body and soul, unto the praise
of His glory." You know what we have in these scriptures?
We have the full scope of the salvation of God's elect. From the foundation of the world
when He chose them in Christ, put their names down in the Lamb's
Book of Life, till Christ comes and redeems them. The Holy Spirit
comes and calls them and gives them grace to put their trust
in Christ until that redemptive purchase, our bodies are glorified. That takes us from the beginning
to the end, doesn't it? And it's all according to this
one thing, the will of God. Somebody asked me, you know,
how's this going to turn out? It's going to turn out just exactly
how God wills it. Ain't it? When all the saints
get to heaven and they look back over the history of this world,
it's all going to turn out exactly the way God willed it to turn
out. I mean everything, brothers and
sisters, everything. Don't leave out anything. Everything
is happening right now because God willed it to happen. When we come there to the Day
of Judgment, and there will be people that hear these words,
Come ye, blessed are my Father. Why? It was God's will. They'll
hear a multitude that Christ will say, Depart from me, ye
cursed. That was God's will. If you leave anything out of
God's will, then we're in a mess. He made known unto us the mystery
of God's will. He has a will. He exercises that
will. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. You say, Bruce, what does that
look like? Can you tell us some of the ins and outs of that?
I can't. I don't know how God works in
this sinful, ungodly world without messing His hands up. But He
doesn't. He's working in this world, bringing
His people to Himself. He's working in this world to
lead the ungodly without any excuse. And He's doing it according
to His own will. And nobody can come up on the
Day of Judgment saying, wasn't your will for me to come to Christ?
You'll never say that to God. Why didn't you come to Christ?
Look at all the warnings. Look at all the promises. Why
didn't you come to Christ? You hated him. You didn't want
him. You didn't need him. And it's
strange how people, when you start talking to people about
elections, for instance, and they get so upset about it, that
he chose some people to come to Christ. He chose some people
to forgive their sins. And they get so mad about that. And you just have to tell them,
why are you mad at God for choosing others to come and not you? Why
would He want to choose you to something you don't want anyway?
Why are you mad that He passed you by and not choosing you to
something you don't even want? If you want Christ, come to Him
and you'll find out God chose you to it. But don't blame Him
when you don't come. But everything works according
to God's will. Doesn't it? And that's the mystery
of it. That's the mystery of it. Look
with another one right quickly. Look back over to your left or
back over to your right in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter
1. And look in chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. And look in verse 7. I thought
this was very interesting as I was studying on this. The mystery
of iniquity. In verse 7 of 2 Thessalonians
2. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work. The mystery of sin. The mystery of transgression.
Isn't sin a mystery? You say, Bruce, what's so mysterious
about sin? Well, isn't a mystery how it
got into this world? It's a mystery how sin got into
this world. It came into this world through
one act of disobedience. Of every tree you can freely
eat, but that tree in the midst of the garden, don't you eat
it. Sin entered through one act of disobedience. Eve ate of the
fruit, gave to her husband, and he ate of that fruit. And that
was disobedience to God. And that brought Adam down. It brought him into guilt. It
brought him into condemnation. It brought the judgment of God
upon him. One act of sin. That's the way
sin got into this world. In the day that you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. That's the result of sin. Alienation from God, spiritual
death, a loss of His created righteousness, now He was naked,
now He was guilty before God. Just one act of disobedience. Now, that's a mystery, brothers
and sisters. You go asking people of this world, ask your neighbors,
Say, look, look all around us. Look at the sin. How did it get
here? Well, I don't know. I don't know. Well, you tell
them. One act of disobedience. But
here's another mystery. Ain't this a mystery? How it
spread? I mean, it didn't just get into
Adam and Eve. It spread to all their descendants.
By one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death spread. It passed upon how many? All men. You and me and everybody
since then that's born of a woman, with one exception, are born
sinners. But isn't this a mystery? Adam's
sin not only alienated us all and brought spiritual death to
all of us, but it made us all sinners by nature. Everything we do now is sin. It got into our affection and
made us hate God. It got into our intellect and
brought darkness and deceit. David said, man that's born to
woman, or when I was born to my mother, I was born into sin. Every man thou that's born is
born a sinner by nature. Completely and totally corrupt. Now, you say, Bruce, everybody
knows they're a sinner. No, they don't. They just don't
know that. If everybody knew that they were
a sinner according to this Bible, and a sinner as this Bible describes
us, they wouldn't lay down and go to sleep in the night. They'd
be afraid to. If man laid his head on his pillow
with this thought ringing in his conscience, I'm guilty before
God, he couldn't rest. And one more thing that's a mystery
about sin, the end of it, when it's finished. That's a mystery. You know why men don't leave
this world? You know why men don't give up
the ghost and go off into paradise? You know why some men's conscience
afflict them and they're afraid to die? Because the end of sin. It's not good, is it? When sin
is finished, it brings forth death. separation from God, eternal
doom, everlasting suffering, depart from being accursed into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. If
men knew that, this place would be packed out. Men die in peace. How many times do you hear some
ungodly man, and they put it in the paper, he died in peace
with all of his family around him? I heard Willie Nelson say today,
there's something worse than death. Not if you're outside
a cross, there's not. Not if you die unsaved, there's
not. There's nothing worse than death.
There's nothing worse than dying in your sins. That's eternal
death. And that's the consequence. And
that's the mystery of it all, isn't it? The mystery of it all. Turn to a couple of more places
with me quickly, and I trust you'll look at these things for
yourself. Just a couple of more places.
1 Timothy chapter 3. Just over to your right, just
a little bit more. 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is a very interesting mystery. I'm sure it is to you, it is
to me. Look in 1 Timothy chapter 3, and look in verse 8 and verse
9. Paul was talking about the qualifications
of a deacon. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8. Likewise must the deacons be
grave, Not double tongue, not giving too much wine, not greed
of money, filthy lucre. And look at this, holding the
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Now when you see
this word, the faith, it means two things. Sometimes it means
both things. It means the doctrine of faith
or it can mean the grace of faith. And here I look at it as the
grace of faith. The mystery of believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That shows you right there that
faith is a mystery, isn't it? We're not born with it, are we? We're not born with saving faith.
We can't muster it up. We can't pray it down. We can't produce it. A man must
believe in his heart or he can't be saved. And yet he cannot believe
in and of himself. It is given to you not only to
believe on Christ, but to suffer for His sake. Faith is a gift,
isn't it? Now that's not as much a mystery
of faith as this is. When did it begin in your heart? How did it begin and when did
it begin in your heart? I trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
brothers and sisters, with all my heart, I trust Him. I believe
He did just what the Bible says He did. I believe He is where
He says He is. He's the mediator between us
and God. And I believe He has the power
to save and to keep. I believe Him with all my heart. Can you say that? Well, let me
ask you this question. When did you first believe? I used to just knew. I used to know when I first believed. I know when Christ was revealed
to my heart. I believed then. But why was
I calling upon Him unless I believed? Faith is a mystery, isn't it? When does it begin in a man's
heart? I'm still somewhat in the dark concerning that. I know not how the Spirit moves
convincing men of sin, nor how believing in His Word created
faith within." He started that work. But it's a mystery to me
exactly when He started it in my heart. Here's another mystery. How you
keep believing. That's a mystery. Did you ever
begin to just sink? I've had times, more times than
I want to remember, that I just begin to sink. I just begin to
sink in unbelief. Is there really a God? Is there
really a Christ? Could this be all there is? I
start sinking in unbelief and for the life of me, I can't stop
sinking. I'm overwhelmed with this unbelief.
And then suddenly, without any effort on my part seemingly,
faith takes hold in my heart. And it lifts me up. Isn't that a mystery? And you
know why? You know why? As Brother Todd
Rabert often says, you can not believe. You can not not believe. You can't stop believing. Because
there's a power working in you to believe. The source of your
faith is not in you. Though it's your heart that believes,
the source of that faith is found outside of you. And that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the author of our faith,
as well as the finisher of our faith. Is He not? Yes, He is. It's a mystery to us how faith
brings so many blessings to our souls. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved. Faith brings that blessing. Believing receives remission
of sins. They that believe on Him shall
receive remission of sins. Faith brings Christ to our hearts
and He dwells there by faith. And you know something else about
the mystery of faith? It'll never give in. It'll never
quit. Until it ends in sight. Never quit, will it? But isn't
it a mystery? One more passage. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Look there and we'll close with
this. I trust you'll get your comportments and look at these
places yourself. I like this because I think this
is speaking here of the Sabbath trumpet when the mystery of God
is finished. Look here in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Look in verse 51. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse
51. Behold, I show you a mystery. And here is the mystery. We shall
not all die. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye. Several years ago, Kodak camera
company said that's, what, one-sixty seconds. One-sixty seconds of a second
or something like that. That flash, the flash, the batting
of your eye. It happens that quick, at the
moment, the twinkling of an eye. That's how fast the body is going
to be changed. And look at this, at the last
trump. For the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we that are alive shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption It can't go to heaven without that. And this
mortal that's still alive must put on immortality. And so when
this corruptible shall I put on incorruption and this mortal
shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a hope, brothers and
sisters. What a hope we have. It's a mystery to us. We understand
so little of this. We just know it's going to happen.
I don't know. What we're going to look like?
John didn't say what we're going to look like. He said it's a
mystery what we're going to look like. We're going to look like Christ, but what is that?
But we're going to be incorruptible. And we're going to be immortal.
There's going to be no more death. There's going to be no more tears.
Sorrow. There's going to be no more doubts.
No more fears. There's not going to be any more
faith. There's going to be sight. We're going to look at Christ.
And we're going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and
forever. That's a mystery to us now. But
there's coming a day when the mystery of God will be finished. Right now, we're in the mystery
of Him, aren't we? And we're living by faith. God has all
these mysteries. But these mysteries are coming
to an end. And we're going to know them all. And I love that old song that
says, what a day that will be. When my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon His face, the
One who saved me. That's great. What a mystery
that is to me now. Why me, Lord? Why me? Such a
mystery. But it's all coming to an end.
And we will be with Him forever and forever and forever. What a hope! What a hope! My
heart would break often in my prayers. I thank the Lord for
hope. And I say, Lord, my heart would
break. Wouldn't your heart break? Knowing what you know now, wouldn't
your heart break? If you had no hope, oh, it would,
wouldn't it? Father, oh, our gracious, our heavenly, holy
Father, We stop tonight in the name and through the intercessions
and the merit of your dear son, the son of your love, to praise
your wonderful name, that you have such abundant grace
that has filled your heart for sinners like us. To choose us,
to redeem us, to call us, to give us your gifts, to keep us,
preserve us, And give us hope of someday being in your house
where sin and sense will never molest us again. We bless you
for this hope. We bless you for these mysteries
that you've made known to us from your Word, by your Holy
Spirit of promise. Oh, our Father, give us grace
to trust you. Give us grace to serve you. to
worship You, to be honest with You, and save Your people in
this place for Your glory. Amen.