Go back to Romans 8. Romans 8,
which Brother Walter read a portion of. Romans 8, and read with me
just a few verses again, beginning with verse 20. Read Romans 8,
verse 20. It says, Creature, creation,
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason or purpose
of him, God, who hath subjected the same in hope." And then down
in verse 24 and 5, it says, we are saved by hope. But hope that
is seen is not hope. What a man seeth, why doth he
yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now, the title And
the subject of this message is subject to vanity, but saved
by hope. Subject to vanity. And what I
hope we will see in this message, what I hope, I have hope for
this message, I hope that we'll first, all of us, young and old
alike, will see the utter vanity of everything. This is what the
Scriptures teaches us, that vanity of vanity, everything is vanity.
And I hope that many, if not most in here, will have this
hope, that their hope will be in God, in Christ, this hope
of eternal life. You know, when you're a young,
when you're a real young preacher anyway, I'm still young. Tom's
older than I am. That's obvious, isn't it? But
when you're a real, real young preacher, you just hope you make
it through 30 or 40 minutes, don't you? You just hope you
don't say something awful or hope you don't fall on your face
or hope, you know, you don't mess up, right? But I really
have hope that something will be accomplished, that the Lord
will bless this. I thought about that on the way
down here, driving all this way. You know, driving all this way
down here. Why? Well, I hope that the Lord will
bless this to you and to me. And that's my hope. But look
here at verse 20. It says the creature, talking
about the creation, was made subject to vanity, not willingly
or It's not the fault of the creation, but according to the
purpose, the will of the Creator. All right? The creation. All
right? Go back to Ecclesiastes, right after the book of Proverbs,
the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes was written by,
well, Solomon took dictation, we should say. He didn't write
it. This is God's Word, but he just
took dictation. He copied it down. But Solomon
was the wisest man to ever live until Christ came. Right? Greater than Solomon. But Solomon
was the wisest man, Scripture says so. He wrote 3,000 proverbs. 3,000. Any one of which is just
full of A thousand and five songs, good songs, wonderful song. It says of Solomon, all the kings
of the earth came to hear this man. The kings, mind you, the
greatest men on earth came to hear this man. And what a picture
he is of that greater than Solomon. But anyway, the book of Ecclesiastes
is his life's experience. That's what the book of Ecclesiastes
is about. Solomon wrote his experiences
throughout his life. God had him right there. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 1, Ecclesiastes, or it's called The Preacher.
The words of The Preacher. Now look, every word of God is
so significant, isn't it? Capital P. You see that? Capital
P. The words of the preacher, the
son of David, king, small K. You mean in God's Word a preacher
is of more value and worth than a king? Solomon was king over
the greatest country in the world at that time, most powerful nation
in the world, Israel. But he says being a preacher
is greater. Capital P. Verse 12, he says,
I, the preacher, he magnifies his office, doesn't he? Was king,
small K. See, that kingdom of his is going
to perish, isn't it? It's not going to last. It didn't.
It didn't. Shortly after Solomon, it was
split and just splintered and came to naught, didn't it? Until
they were captives. There was no kingdom. But now
the kingdom of which he preaches and speaks, and of which we preach
is forever. We're on a mission from the King
of Kings, Ambassador, Paul said, of the King, capital P. I magnify
this office. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. Oh, capital P. Preacher. He's the Prince of Preacher.
But anyway, And so he says, I, the preacher, was king. And what,
you know, the world calls what we're doing here tonight foolishness,
don't it? There was a time when I thought
it was. I was ashamed of my father's vocation. I really was. I'm ashamed
of that now. But the world calls this utter
foolishness. This is wisdom from above. This
preaching of the gospel is the power of God and the wisdom of
God. And Jesus Christ was a preacher, as we say, wisdom personified. He said, let's go into the next
town, for there I must preach, for this is why I was sent, he
said, to preach. So what we're doing, what I'm
doing tonight, what Brother Tom does so faithfully here, Sunday
after Sunday in Pikeville, Brother Walter, But as Moses said, Moses
said in Deuteronomy 32, he said, the words that I'm giving you,
it's not vain, it's not vain. Oh no, no. He said, this is life,
words of life, words of this life. Look at what Solomon said,
verse 2. He said in conclusion of all
things, verse 2, vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, in case you
didn't hear it the first time. Vanity of vanities. I repeat, he said, all A-double-L
is vanity. Name something. Name someone. Vanity. And all through this
book, he gives experiences of things. The word vanity means
empty. It means empty. It means Well,
the word is transitory, and that's just a big word for meaning it's
in transit, rapid transit. It's fleeting. It's fleeting. It comes and goes. The word vanity
means unsatisfactory. You cannot find any real satisfaction. That's what vanity meant. And
Solomon said, all is empty. Empty. Don't expect to find something
of any real substance in an empty can, in anything empty. You can't find it. And he says
everything, every relationship, everything in this world is empty. You cannot find anything of real
substance. You're looking to find peace.
You're looking to find joy. You're looking to find fulfillment.
It all comes to nothing. Vanity. Temporary. Temporary,
fleeting, transitory, fleeting. If you do think you've found
something, it won't last. That's why it's not satisfactory.
Vanity means unsatisfactory. Nothing and no one. There's nothing
you can find which you can say, now that I have this, I'm satisfied. Is it? Nothing. Not in anything or anyone on
this earth can you say, now I have them. I'm satisfied. I don't need anything else. That's
just not humanly possible. So the Lord had Solomon write
this book, and he talked about everything. He went through everything.
He talked about mirth. He said, I tried just laughter,
you know, Don't worry, be happy. That was a popular saying, wasn't
it? Back in the 80s, wasn't it? Don't
worry, just be happy. He said, that doesn't work. That's
vanity. Well, when something bad comes
along, Mirth tried that. He said, pleasure. He tried pleasure.
If it feels good, do it. He said, I tried that. He said,
I tried entertainment. Solomon says, got him musicians.
He had the best band. Musicians and all. He tried to
be a farmer. Had a vineyard. Did everything.
He tried. City life. Riches. Worldly wisdom. Tried it all,
he said. In the end, he said, it's all
vanity. It's all vanity. Can't find anything
in it. Not satisfying. It won't satisfy. Look at chapter 12. The end of
this book ends up the same way it started. Chapter 12. Here's what the preacher says,
verse 8, you have it, vanity of vanities, all is empty. He said this in this book, he
says, all the rivers run into the sea and yet it's not full.
He said, that's the way we are. He said, everything is full of
labor. We work all our lives laboring, laboring, yet we're
not satisfied. He says, the eye is not satisfied
with seeing. The ear is not satisfied, filled
with hearing. He said, the mouth, the appetite
is never filled. Like those rivers running, that's
it. It's vanity. And Solomon said this, listen
to this. Have you ever thought that? Solomon did. He said over
in chapter 1, he says, I've seen it all. He said, all the works
done under the sun, it's all vexation of spirit. One time
he said, I got angry. He said, I got mad because I
worked all my life and I'm going to leave it to somebody else.
That's what he said. Didn't he, Brother Tom? He said,
I've worked all my life and I'm going to leave it to somebody,
maybe a foolish son. I save it all up, I give it to
him, he blows it. Why did I do all that? I kind
of like that old bumper sticker that says, I'm spending my children's
inheritance. You ever seen that? I kind of
like that. But that's what Solomon said.
He said he got angry. He really did. Why am I working
so hard? I'm just going to... I can't
take it with me? Nothing? What's it all about? Vanity. Now, back in our text, Romans
8, it says the Lord God hath subjected this whole creation
to vanity. Now, God didn't create everything
in vain, did He? Oh, no. He said it's good, didn't
He? He said it's good. Marriage is
a good thing. When we say vanity, it doesn't
mean worthless. It doesn't mean it's worthless,
of no value. All is of no value. When the
Lord created this world, He said it's good. It wasn't created
in vain. He created it to be inhabited.
When He made the man, He said it's not good for him to be alone.
He made him a helpmate, a woman. He said this is good. This is
a good thing. Let me say this to these young
people. Marriage is a good thing. If a young man finds a woman
who loves Christ and loves you like the Lord loves us, and it's
a good thing. Marriage is a good thing if you
have a good mate. It's a wonderful thing. But Paul said this, you're
going to have trouble. You're going to have trouble.
But it's a good thing. It's not a vain thing. Marriage
is a good thing. And in the book of Ecclesiastics,
He talks about, he says, labor of your hands. He said, enjoy
the labor, doesn't he? He says, work, do all these things. He said this, he said, live joyfully
with the wife of your youth all the days of the life of your
vanity. All the days of the life of your
vanity. Go ahead and enjoy it. But remember, It won't last. It won't last. You come into this world with
nothing. And you're going to go out with
nothing. You're going to have to leave
everybody and everything. Leave it. Say goodbye to it. Everything. Vanity bin. When
it's all over, remember that. You can't take it with, Job said
this, this is certain. that we came into this world
with nothing and will leave this world. Naked I came for my mother's
womb and naked shall I return. So that's why it's all vanity. So the creature was made subject
to vanity. What happened? Sin. Changed everything, didn't
it? That changed everything. Sin.
But God. Look in our text. Verse 20 says,
has subjected the same in hope." You know, when you look around
at this world, you think it's hopeless, don't you? No, there's hope, real hope. God hath given us hope. Paul
wrote to young Titus, he said, I'm writing to you in hope of
eternal life. Now here's something to hope
in. Hope for eternal life. That means
the life of God. Adam had that, didn't he? He had that. Life of God. Life more abundant. You know,
when this world was created, it was all just strictly just...
He enjoyed God. He didn't need any of this, did
he? He didn't live off of it. He didn't depend on it, Brother
Tony. He didn't depend upon this world.
He didn't need food to live by. He didn't need this world. It
was strictly enjoyment. He lived on God. Think about
that. And when he fell, he's bound
to. He's dependent upon. He's subject
to this world. He'll die without it. lost the
life of God. Oh my, so much there, isn't it?
You could go on and on with that. Paul wrote of this hope of eternal
life, which God that promised, who cannot lie, promised. Hope
of eternal life. Our Lord called it life more
abundant. Life more abundant. Real life. The life of God. Life without
end. Eternal life. Jesus Christ promised
it. He said, he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. He said, I give unto them eternal
life and they'll never perish. Hope of life, the fullness of
life. He talked about fullness of joy.
We enjoy some things on this earth. And pleasure. But David
wrote, at thy right hand are what? Pleasures for evermore. Paul came back and said, I heard
things that are unlawful to utter. Eternal life, real life. My son-in-law
gave this wonderful illustration of that. He said, Paul came back,
heard things that are unlawful to utter. Scripture talks about
joy unspeakable and full of glory. In our text it talks about the
glory that will be revealed in the sons of God. the glorious
liberty of the children of God, the manifestation, the revelation
of these sons of God, this married supper of the Lamb, and this
eternal joy without end, no sin, peace that endureth,
eternal rest. I can't even talk about it. But
my son-in-law gave this wonderful illustration of how that when
Paul came back, he said, I heard things unlawful to utter. He said, I hasn't seen, ear hadn't
heard, neither have entered in the heart of man the things that
God had prepared for them that love him, this life. He said, he gave this illustration
of, I gave him a dog. We had two dogs and we moved
into town. Why are you laughing, Tony? Do
you think it was cruel of me to give him a dog? Anyway, we
were moving into town and my daughter liked this one dog and
so we gave her to them. And they had this little black
dog and he said, what if that dog, that little black dog, for
one day could be turned into a human being. That dog is outside. He is outside
all the time. Out in the elements. He eats
dry dog food. Pinned up, henned in, bone bondage. A baser animal. He said, what
if I could, for one day, turn that dog into a human being.
Bring him into the house. sit him down, let him eat T-bone
steaks and hear the finest music and conversation and all of this,
sit at the table and just enjoy. And then he has to go back to
being a dog. What's he going to tell his friends? She'd say, Annie's her name,
she'd say, There's no way I can describe it. That's what Paul
said. He said, and it's infinitely
higher than that. As the heavens are above the
earth. He said, life more abundant. Paul said, it's impossible to
describe. And we have this hope, this hope
of this eternal life. Down in verse 24, He says, and
we're saved by this hope. We look forward to this life
eternal. We're saved by hope. Hope means
it's a desired, something you expect to have. You have a desire to have it.
Okay? Unexpected desire. He says here,
hope is not seen. It's something you don't have
yet. something you don't see yet,
that you hope to have it. He said, what a man sees, he
doesn't hope for it. But if we hope for that we see
not, then we wait for it, impatient. But this hope that we have is
not a wish, a mere, well, I hope, I hope, I hope, you know, cross
my heart, hope, you know, rabbit's foot wish. No, no, no, no, no. This is, Scripture says, a sure
hope. This is an expected end, based
upon sure promises from somebody who's been there, somebody who
wrote it down for us, who cannot lie. See, our hope is not, oh, I hope,
I hope, I hope, but it's based on something. All right? What? Well, go back to Psalm
42 with me. Go back to Psalm 42. Our hope
is based on three things. This hope we have is in three
things. Now, I'm speaking to those who
hope, who desire. I said this hope is an expected
desire. Paul said, What I long for, what I want
to do is know Him. And really, how much do we know
God? Like that dog, you know. Paul
said, I want to win Christ and be found in Him. I thought you
were, Paul. Well, I am, but I'm not there yet. Not there yet. So this is what I press toward. This hope, we hope to know God. We hope to see God, to be with
God. David, Job said this, didn't
he? He said, I'm just going to have
to wait. This is what I'm looking forward
to. My desire, my expectation is that in my flesh I'm going
to see God. He said, I believe Him, my hope
is in Him, and I want to see Him. Who's going to see God? It's going to be Jesus Christ.
Well, we're going to see Him. To those who desire, like Paul,
to win Christ and be found in Him. Those who want and need
mercy, pardon, forgiveness of sin, freedom from sin, never
sin again, peace, rest for yourselves, for your family. We all have
the same hope. Same hope for our children is
our hope, right? There's hope. David, who wrote
this, was a man like us, of like passions. This was Solomon's
father. Where did Solomon get his wisdom?
He had a good role model, didn't he? He learned well. David was
a man like us. He was a husband. David was a
father. He was a brother. He was a citizen
in a country. He was living the life of his
vanity. He was living this life, working, trying to provide for
his family. He was vexed by sin, troubles,
trials, worldly troubles, family troubles, troubles at home, money
troubles. Yes, David had money troubles
when he was running. He feared for his life. He feared
for the terror that was going on in the world, terrorism. Things
haven't changed a bit. If you really think about it,
people back then, literally, their lives were literally in
danger every day, weren't they? They did. They feared for their
own lives, their family. They feared for the future. They
were up, they were down. David was up, down. David was
wise. Another day he'd act pretty foolish.
One day he'd be upright, next day he'd be sinful and fallen. Happy? And the next day he'd be full
of sorrow. Look at chapter 42 of Psalm, verse 3. He said, my
tears have been my meat day and night. Anybody done that? He
said, and another time I've watered my bed with my tears. And they say to me, people I
run into, he says, where is your God? They mock my religion. He says, I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. Verse 4. that gone with a multitude
that went with them to the house of God." There's no other place
you're going to find any hope. "...with the voice of them who
went, the voice of joy and praise, a multitude that kept the holy
day." And here's the conclusion I came to. "'Why art thou cast
down within me, O my soul? Why art thou disquiet in me?
Hope thou in God.'" Here's the first thing. Here's our hope.
Hope in God. Our hope was in God, that God
is God. God's not trying to be God. God
is God. This whole world and everything
in it is under divine direction. He's running according to an
eternal, all-wise purpose, ordered in all things. And sure, that's
what he said. He's subject to vanity. By what? How? By reason of Him. according to His all-wise purpose."
Nothing is, there's no, it's not chaos. Is it brothers? No. It's not chaos. There's one God, capital G. One. Satan's not God. No sir. When our Lord said this all the
way through the book of Isaiah, He said, I'm God, there is none
else. There is no capital G, capital
O, capital D, reigning, ruling, absolute. in control, person,
but me. I'm it, he said. I'm God, there
is none else. Beside me, he said. There is
no God, not even a small g, didn't he? Not even a small g all day. I love the story of Job, don't
you? He mocked Satan, didn't he? I love that. Satan came to
him to present himself. He can't do anything. Satan can't
do anything. The King's heart, the most powerful
man on the earth, his heart is in the hands of this God. This
is God. The very hearts, the wills, everything
is in the hands of our God. He is God. And like rivers of
water, He turns it with His every will. Nobody does anything that
they will. God does. Boy, if we really got a hold
of that, we'd hope. Boy, our hope's in God that this
thing is being directed. It's not left to chance or luck.
Our life, everything in the life of a believer, everything is
working together according to this infinite purpose for our
good. Hope in God David, his hope was
in God. David, I told you that David
had so much trouble, much more than probably we'll ever face.
One time, David, he was down in a town called Ziklag in the
middle of the Philistines with his family. He was on the run,
that's what he was. He shouldn't have been there,
but he was. according to the purpose of God. But anyway, he
was down there with his family, his wives and children, all his
friends, what, 400 men with him at the time. And David and the
men went off to battle or something somewhere and they came back
and the Philistines had burnt the whole city down and taken
all of David's family. David had nothing. No earthly
possessions, no family. And it says David and the man
fell down on the ground. It says they wept until they
had no more power to weep. It says they cried until they couldn't... they had no tears, no moisture
left in their bodies. And do you know what it says?
You know what it says, don't you? It says, David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. He thought, Brother Chris, he
said, the Philistines didn't do this. God did. And that's when he called on
his God. He said, shall I go after Him? You know the story. God said, go. He said, you will
recover everything. You won't lose a thing without
fail. You will recover it all with
interest. Boy, what a picture of Jesus
Christ that is. But it's also a picture of the
believer. We're not going to lose a thing. Our Lord said, there's no man
who hath forsaken houses, lands, father, mother, husband, wife,
son or daughter, anything that will not receive a hundredfold
now and in the world to come, eternal life. David said, Why art thou cast
down within me, O myself, disquieted? Hope thou in God. God reigns. God reigns. Hope in God. We hope in His goodness. We hope in God. We hope in His
character. See, our hope is in our God that
He is sovereign. He's unchanging. We hope in an
unchanging God. And what He does, what He says,
what He promises is forever. He doesn't change. Boy, there's
comfort to be found in a God who doesn't change. And what
He says is settled. What He does is forever. What
promises He makes, if you believe them, you rest on them, they're
certain. He won't take it back. Won't
take it back. What He gives is given. What
He does is done. Isn't that comforting? God is good. We hope in His character.
God is good. God is just. This was Abraham's. I just quoted that to you from
verse 28 about Romans 8. We know, we know this, that all
things work together for good. We know this. We need to rest
here. Abraham was going down to Sodom. The Lord told him he was going
to destroy Sodom because of the wickedness there. Abraham knew
people there, didn't he? He knew people other than Lot.
Yes, he did. He pleaded with the Lord, didn't
he? Lord, if you find 50, if you don't find 40, 30, 10... Well, anyway, here was Abraham's
final plea. He said, "...shall not the judge
of the earth do right?" See, that was his hope. Lord, I believe
you're just going to do what? Right. You are just or right. And what you do is right. So,
I'm just going to rest right there. Whether you save 10 or
none, what you do is right. So, he's good. He's just. He's
right. He's merciful. You know the Scripture
says the Lord delights in them that... He delights to show mercy.
He delights to show mercy. Tony, that's our greatest need.
Our greatest need, we're sinners. We're going to need mercy every
morning until the day we die. We're going to be sinners. We're
going to need mercy. He said, he delights to show it, just
loves to show it. When you delight in something,
you love to do it. He said, he delights to show
mercy. It says, he takes pleasure in them that hope in his mercy. Boy, that's good news, isn't
it? Oh, that's good news. God is merciful. God is gracious. Gracious, giving, He giveth,
giveth, and giveth again. We hope in His grace. By the
grace of God we are what we are, have what we have, know what
we know, we're saved by grace, kept by His grace. If your hope is in this God of
all grace, Sovereign God, Just God, Good God, Merciful God,
you've got a good hope. Good hope. Well, you know, the
world hopes, the world hopes in man, don't they? The world
hopes that somehow man, that the goodness of man is going
to come out. And finally he's, man's good and that he's going
to finally straighten up and everybody's going to live in
peace together. Not possible. That's a vain hope. Man is not
basically good. Scripture says entirely the opposite,
doesn't it? We not only know this by looking around us and
observing, we know it from ourselves. There's none that doeth good,
God said. We know that so. Man is totally
depreyed. He's not going to pull himself
up by the bootstraps. Somebody is going to pull him
out of the muck and the mire as a bran plucked from the burning.
Oh my! Man's hope is in man. That's
a bad hope. That's a vain hope. Man's hope
is in wisdom, man's wisdom. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? You know what they call wisdom
today, Bridget? In another decade, they'll be
laughing at it, won't they? Man's hope is in technology.
Technology, you know, is going to get us out of this mess. It's
getting us in this mess. You tell me, is man better off
now because he's got all these inventions? I think it's worse.
I think families, I think mankind, this whole person is worse. Honestly. Worse off. Technology. It's a vain hope. Have faith in God. Scripture says. Believe God.
Trust God. Hope in God. Our hope is in God. Our hope is in God's Word. As
I said, our hope is not a wish. Oh, I hope it turns out all right.
People say that all the time, don't they? They have hope. Well,
I hope it turns out all right. I sure hope. Oh, no. Ours is not a wish. Ours is based
upon, resting, comes from the sure word of promise. the Word of God. David also wrote
the psalms, most of them. Psalm 119, as you know, is a
whole psalm, 176 verses, every verse, but one, I believe, speaks
of the Word of God. And here's what he said. He said,
Lord, remember the Word That is, remind me, bring to mind
the word unto thy servant, your word, upon which thou hast caused
me to hope." Here's my hope. Here's my hope. God wrote this book, and it's
everything we need. It speaks of Him who we need. this great salvation, all its,
oh my, the Word of God. Here's what the song says, How
firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your
faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say to you than
He hath said to you who for refuge to your God, to your Christ,
hath fled? Huh? Oh, my. The sure Word of God. Have you
not seen time and again God's Word fulfilled? We do. God's people see it fulfilled,
don't we? We really do. They see God's Word. Man is repeating
the same things he's been doing for years and years and thousands
of years. He's repeating the same thing. Exactly what God
says he'll do. That'll change. Have we not seen
God's Word fulfilled over and over again? Have we not seen
in our own experience that His Word is true? Everything He says
about man, everything He says about us, everything He says
about everything is true. Have we not seen that? Have we
not felt its power? Those of you who have felt God's
Word is His power. Have you not felt its power? Our Lord said, our Lord Jesus
Christ said, my sheep hear my voice. Not just a written book. He said, they hear my voice.
The Word of God. The voice of the Lord, Scripture
says, is powerful. It breaketh the cedars. It causes
the hens to calve. It causes birth to happen when
the Lord speaks. Had there not been time, when
you first heard the Word of God, it was life-giving power, wasn't
it? Awakening from the dead power, wasn't it? Huh? Eye-opening power,
ear-opening power, heart-breaking power, piercing power, wasn't
it? Power! You thought God was speaking
to you at the time. Do you remember when you first
heard this Gospel message? You thought, I'm the only one
in here. Didn't you? He's speaking to me. That's right.
My sheep hear my voice. He said that The hour has come,
and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God." Not just a sermon, but I'm going to speak to them, through
the Word. I distinctly remember when I
thought, you know, I heard sermon after sermon after sermon as
a young person. Oh my, you know, I'm a preacher's
kid. We took vacations. to hear preaching. Cody was the same way. I had
to go on vacation and hear more preaching. Oh, preaching after
preaching. One day, he's talking to me. Talking to me. The fullness of
time. Power. Have you not felt its
power? How about its comfort? with the trials, with the tribulations,
with the struggles and sin. Have you not, if you look for
peace and comfort and other, but can never find it, but God's
Word, the only real source of comfort, like a father comforting his child, right? Oh, man. Have you not felt that
comfort? Word, God's Word, promises fulfilled. Our hope is in God. Our hope is in God's Word. This
is God's Word. Peter said, this is a sure word,
a promise. Peter said, we saw, we were there,
we saw, we heard the voice. He said, you have a more sure
word. We have a more sure word of hope,
the Word of God. It really is the Word of God.
They had to depend upon the Word of God after Christ left, didn't
they? After Christ left, all of their hope was in what was
written and what He brought back to their mind from the Word,
all their hope. But it's not a wish. It's a firm
foundation, a sure promises of God and our hope for ourselves. is in the Word of God. And our
hope, listen, my parents hoped that one day I would not just
hear a sermon, but that one day the Lord would speak to me. And
that's your hope for your children. That's your hope for your spouse,
for your parents, isn't it? This is the Word of His power.
He's still exerting that power. Our hope, as long as this gospel
continues to be preached, there's hope. There's hope. I know they
said that about me. He's hopeless. Have you ever
said that about anybody? Oh, she's hopeless. Oh, no. Oh,
no. No, no, no, no, no, no. As long
as this Word is going forth, there's hope. Old Saul of Tarsus,
buddy, don't you know everybody said that? He's hopeless. Even after it happened, they
didn't believe it, did they? No, it didn't happen. Yes, it did. God. You can't save it? No, with man it's impossible.
Boy, he heard the voice of the Son of God and brought him down. Our hope is in God's Son, who
is God, who is the Word personified, God's Son. In closing, read with
me Hebrews 6. Go over there and I close with
it. Brother Walter quoted this to me on the way down in the
car and I said, I'm going to end this message up with it. God's Son. Our hope is in the
Son of God. God was manifest in the flesh.
That's not a fable. Peter said, we haven't devised
some, this is not some cunningly devised fable. He said, we were
there. John said, we handled Him. We
touched Him. We heard His voice. Peter said,
we beheld His majesty. This was God. God was manifest
in the flesh. God. The woman at the well. The woman at the well was living
that life of her vanity, wasn't she? Kept coming back to the
well. What a vain thing. The Lord was sitting on a well
one day. waiting to be gracious. And here she came in God's good
time, didn't He? Here she came. All the Father
giveth me shall come. Here she came. He's sitting on
the well. And He begins to tell her the vanity of the water of
this life, of everything in it. He said, You've been married
how many times? Five times? Vanity, isn't it?
And He began to reveal unto her This water that I give, you'll
never thirst. It's not vain. It'll fill you
up. Fullness of joy. The water I give. She said, Sir, give me this water. Are you greater than our father
Abraham? She didn't know him until finally he said. She said this. She said, well,
I know this. When Messiah has come, he'll
tell us all things. And our Lord looked into her
eye and said, I that speak unto thee and me. You know, she had an old water
pot that belonged to her grandmother and her grandmother's grandmother.
And it was all everything. So she dropped it. She left it
there. She came to get water. She didn't
get any water. She never took a drink. She left
full of water. She met Christ, the water of
life. When He's come, He'll tell us all things. He has. He's that
prophet. We don't need another prophet.
Don't listen to any of these fellas called prophets. They're
phonies. When He came, that prophet, He
told us all things. And the book was written. It's
over. Nothing more needs to be said.
And all, he's the testimony of all prophecy. Jesus Christ. Philip said this, the Lord was
leaving. They were all upset, weren't
they? Thomas said, we don't know the way, show us the way. Thomas, I am the way. I am the way, the truth, the
life. Philip said, well, show us the Father. Just a little
glimpse of God the Father. If you just show us a little
glimpse, open to heaven and just... Philip. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. I and the Father, I am that I
am. He said, He has come. Our hope
is in the Son of God. was manifest in the flesh. The
express image of God. God, who made this planet, in
whose hands our breath is, and all our ways, in whom we live
and move and have our beings, walked this planet. Men and women
say, oh, God would only open the heavens and speak to us.
He did. He did. Jesus Christ is His name. We believe Him. He's all our
hope. We believe everything He said, everything He did. Don't
we? We believe He's right now. And
the disciples said that we were there, we saw Him. He was seen
by over 500 people at one time. He stayed on this earth for 40
days after He rose. Seen by many, thousands upon
thousands, until finally all the disciples were standing on
a mountain one day and they watched Him, a cloud come down and receive
Him out of their sight. And it says, He went back and
sat at the right hand of the majesty on high where He lived. Reigns and rules right now. A
real person is reigning and ruling over this whole planet. Our hope
is in the Son of God who came. He's given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true. This is the true God and
eternal life. Well, I said I was going to close
with Hebrews 6, and here it is. Hebrews 6 verse 17 said, God
willing, more abundantly, to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability, that's unchangeableness, of His counsel, confirmed it
by an oath and by two immutable things, His oath, His covenant.
It's impossible for God to lie that we might have a strong consolation,
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us. This whole thing, subject to
vanity by reason of him who did it, has subjected the same in
hope." Our hope is in the Son of God. Here it is. Which hope
we have as an anchor. There it is, Brother Walter,
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast which entereth
into that within the veil," what is this anchor? What is this
hope? Not a what, it's a who, it's a person. "...whether the
forerunner for us is entered, even Jesus." The Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope, the believer's hope. We've got a good hope, don't
we? We've got a good hope. Hope in God. We hope in God's
Word. And we hope in God's Son. Hope of eternal life, which God
promised, and all the promises of God are where? In Christ and
are yea and amen. Certain hope. Vanity of vanities. It's all vanity. But not this. Not this. Okay. Lord bless you.