It has been said that the book
of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. I have no proof of
that. It may be true. Perhaps Job is
the oldest spokesman. But he asked this question. He said, if a man die, shall
he live again? He continued, he said, there's
hope for a tree, if a tree be cut down, that it'll sprout again
if water gets to the root. If water gets to the root, the
tree will bud. It may appear to be dead, it
may appear to be lifeless, but if water gets to the root, a
tree will bud again. But when man dies, Job said,
he wastes away. He goes to the dust. life is
gone. We die, our bodies are embalmed
and sealed in a vault somewhere and buried under the ground and
the dirt is put over the casket, smoothed over. Now then, now
then, the tree, it may, it, there's a possibility it may live again.
But that dead, lifeless, dusty body, will it live again? Well, the Scriptures clearly
teach that we will live again. Our Lord raised three people
from the dead when he was here on this earth. He raised Lazarus,
we know that. He raised Jairus' daughter, we
know that. He raised the widow's son. We know that he raised some people
from the grave, according to the scripture. And then we know
that our Lord arose from the grave. Paul said he was seen
of Cephas, and then of the twelve, and then of five hundred brethren,
and then of me as one born out of due time. Christ arose. There
were some people in the church at Corinth who questioned the
resurrection. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 if you
want to, and we'll We'll look at Paul's reply to them. There
were people who questioned the resurrection, even in the church. After all, it is you who have
seen people die, and you who have seen people after they have
died, and you who have seen the bones of people who have been
dead a long time, you've got to realize that this is a miracle
of God. For God said to Ezekiel, can
these bones live? Can these bones live? You know, we would kind of believe
that God, if he's able to create Adam from the dust and Eve from
a rib, could make a man from a bone or a brick or a stick
or anything else. But the man who inhabited this
body, let's say, take me for example. I'm the one I'm thinking
about when I prepared this message and you in return. If I died
and I'm buried, will I live again? Will these eyes see again? Will
these ears hear again? Will this voice speak again?
Will I live again? That's what we're asking. And
this, this is the miracle. This is the miracle. This is
the supernatural work. If a man died, will he? Isn't that what we're asking?
Will he live again? We're not asking, will there be other men? So we're asking, will he, that
man, live again? Now that's what they doubted
in the church at Carla. They said the resurrection, some
said it's already passed. Others said, in 1 Corinthians
15, 12, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how
say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
Now here's Paul's contention. If there is no resurrection of
the dead, if this man will not live again, then Christ is not
risen. That's his argument. And furthermore,
if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your
faith is vain. Not only that, but verse 15,
we're found to be false witnesses of God. Verse 16, if the dead
rise not, Christ is not raised. So that settles the issue. The
dead shall live again. I'm going to live again. I'm
going to live again. Now, I know that I shall live
again. I really do not have any doubts
about that. I'm just as confident that he
who gave life will someday raise it, resurrect it, restore it.
That man wasn't created to die. God didn't create Adam and put
him in the garden in his own image with the intention that
he should be annihilated, that he should die, that he should
cease to be. God didn't create man with the intention of destroying
him forever. Man's going to live again. Now,
I know that. And so that's not the chief concern. I don't have
the problem they had here at Carlin, but I do have a problem. And that's not my chief concern.
That's not the chief concern of my heart. What does concern
me most is this. When I live again, where, Ed,
will I live again? Now, that's my concern. I don't
have any time to waste arguing about will there be a resurrection.
There will be a resurrection. But my question is this, what
part will I play in the resurrection and in which resurrection will
I be raised? The resurrection under life or
the resurrection under death? That's my chief concern. What
is my hope after death? Do I have a hope? Do I have a
good hope of eternal glory? Is this not the goal of all religion?
I thought about this, and I want to develop a case tonight. If a man dies, will he live again?
Yes. Well, if I die, will I live again? Yes. Where will I live
again? What is my hope? And I really
believe that this is the goal of all religion, to live forever
in eternal happiness, whether it be called a happy hunting
ground, or whether it be called heaven, or whether it be called
something else, whether it be called on this earth. But that's
the goal of all religion, to live forever in eternal happiness
and glory. And that's the end of all faith.
Everybody that has any kind of faith, whether they have faith
in Buddha, or Mohammed, or Confucius, or Jesus Christ, or faith in
their faith. That's the end of all faith,
life after death. A life free from pain and sorrow. A life free from death. A life
free from darkness. An eternal life. That's the end
of all faith. And that's the reason I'm preaching. This is what Paul preached, he
kept saying, lay hold on eternal life, lay hold on eternal life. Our Lord said this is eternal
life, that they might know thee the only true God. That's the
end of all preaching. And then let me say this, isn't
that not why we're here tonight? Now think about it, is that,
you say I'm here for the fellowship, well yes, I'm here to study God's
word, yes, I'm here to worship God, yes, but back of it all. If you died like an animal, if you did not have any thought
of being raised, if you had no understanding or promise in this
word that there was going to be a resurrection, if you died
and was buried and ceased to exist like an animal, would you
really be searching the Scriptures? Would you really be seeking the
Lord? Would you really be concerned about the pardon of sin? Now
honestly, would you really? Would you really? So this is
my concern, this is my interest, chief interest I trust. Do I
have a good hope that when I lie down to die, and it's getting
closer, now just face it, We're moving on into the sunset years,
somebody called them the twilight years, and the sun is setting,
it's past noon at least. Where can I find some answers?
All right, let's see, let's begin there. Where can I find some
answers about, not resurrection, I see that, the resurrection
of life and death, I see that. Which is my hope? Do I have a
good hope? Well, where can I find some answers?
Where shall I look for light? Somebody said, well, look to
God. Look to God. God is life. God is the giver
of life. All right, that's settled. If
we want any answers, we can't look to the philosophers. We
can't even look to our own thoughts. My thoughts, I have no information on death. The doctor studies the body.
He studies the lungs and kidneys and all these things. He studies
the functions of the body. He can operate. He can do all
these things. When a man dies, he has no answers. There's no
answer. He has no answer. Don't ask him.
The philosopher, he can study the why and wherefore of human
behavior, characteristics of human behavior, and all these
things. But when he comes to death, when that soul leaves
the body, no answers. The preacher has no answers.
The pope has no answers. They have no answers. The professional
religionists have no answer. The answer is in God. God who
gave life. You're right about that. Where
shall I look to find some answers? Where shall I look for life?
Look to God. God is life. Life begins with
God. All right? But where shall I
look to find God? That's a good question, isn't
it? Where shall I look to find God? Well, the scripture says
the heavens declare the glory of God. I know that, but not
his grace. I could get a lot of different
ideas about God from the heavens. The heavens declare the glory
of God. I know the glory of his peacefulness, when the clouds
in their whiteness and against the blue backdrop and the sun
shining. But what about when the clouds
are rolling heavy and dark, and the rain is falling, and the
lightning is bursting forth, and the thunder rolling, and
the earth is shaking and quaking, and men are hearts failing them
for fear? The glory of his wrath, his judgment. No grace. Well, the firmament
shows his handiwork. It does, but not his redemptive
work. Well, the things that are made.
David said, how wonderfully I'm made. God can be understood by
the things that are made, so the heathens without excuse.
That's right. The things that are made give
me an understanding of his eternal power and Godhead, but not his
eternal mercy and grace, not his covenant of redemption. There's
but one place to go. Turn to Isaiah chapter 8. If
you want any information on the resurrection, on life eternal,
on the hope of eternal life, there's but one place to go.
There's but one place to go. I know it's to God, but where
do we find God? Only one place God's revealed.
In His Word. In His Word. It says here in
verse 19 of Isaiah 8. Look at it, Isaiah 8, 19. And
when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar
spirits. Go to the fortune teller. Go to the wizards that peep.
Go to the horoscopes. You don't read those things,
do you? Go to the person who can predict the future. Go to
the Madame X with a hand out there. that peep and mutter,
verse 19, should not a people seek unto their God? Are we going
for the living, to the dead? Are we going to look for answers
in dead men? Are we going to hunt the answers
for the living God, to the living God, in dead men? To the law!
What's that? To the Word. To the Word, to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, it's
because there's no light in them. When a man comes to you saying,
I think, you say, I don't want to hear what you think. The Amplified
Version says this about Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20, direct the
people to the Word of God. If your teaching is not in accord
with this Word, it is surely because there's no dawn and no
morning in you. M-O-R-E-N-I-N-G, mourning. The
rich man cried from hell, Father Abraham, send Lazarus back to
the earth. I have five brothers. Send him
back there and warn them about this awful judgment, about this
awful place. Abraham said, they have Moses
and the prophets. In other words, they have the
word of God. Your five brothers have the same Bible you have.
That's what he's saying, same word. Oh no, no. Father Abraham,
they won't read the Bible. They don't believe the Bible.
They're not interested in the Bible. They're not interested
in the Word of God. But if somebody rose from the
dead, if by some miracle some fellow walked in whom they knew
had been dead a long time, well, they'd repent. Or the very shock
of seeing him would shock them into interest, into concern. Oh no, Abraham said, no it wouldn't.
No, it wouldn't. If they hear not the word of
God, they won't be convinced, though a man rose from the dead.
Isn't that, you find that hard to believe, but you know that's
true? That's true. Suppose, suppose Ralph Barnard
opened that door and walked in here tonight, and walked up on
this pulpit. Let me ask you something. What
more could he tell you about the fall of man than I've told
you, or the Bible tells you? What more could he say? Man fell
in the garden. Huh? What more could he say?
What more could he tell you about man's inability and sinfulness
and helplessness than we read out here, than we've read tonight?
What more could he tell you about the death of Christ? What more
could he say? If he was standing here tonight,
you knew it. Paul, we know he's dead. We went to his funeral.
He's dead. He died 13 years ago. But if he stood, what could he
tell you? What would he say? Well, he'd say, the blood of
Christ cleanses us from all sin. That's all he'd say. In whom
we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
He couldn't tell you any more. And I'll tell you this, if he
came in here tonight, everybody would be amazed, astounded, shocked. Miracle, we'd have a crowd next
Sunday, wouldn't we? Looking for somebody else to
visit. But the same people go out here trusting Christ, and
the same people go out here doubting Christ. That's so. Same people. Our Lord arose from the dead,
and they didn't believe Him. They didn't believe him. You
see, it's not miracles and mysterious, astounding happenings that beget
faith. It's the power of the Spirit
of God using the Word of God. That's how men are begotten.
And this is Paul. This is what I'm talking about.
Colossians. Let's look at Colossians 1 a minute. Here's Paul's subject.
The hope of glory. Now, that's what I'm talking
about. I'm going to come forth from the grave. I'm going to
live eternally. Where am I going to live? Well,
I look here to the Word of God, and this is my source of information.
This is my only source of information. And I find Paul talking about,
in verse 27, the very thing I'm interested in, he's talking about
a hope of glory. And he says in verse 27, look
at it, Colossians 1, to whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you. That's the hope of life. That's
the hope of glory. That's the hope of eternal redemption. That's the hope of living forever.
That's the hope of sharing, enjoying his presence. That's the hope.
Christ in you. This was Job's hope. Let's look
at Job 19. This was Job's hope. God called Job a righteous man.
God himself. Satan made Job the direct target
of his attacks. Among all men on this earth,
Job was one he chose. And here was Job's hope. You
know what Job's hope was? He said in verse 25 of Job 19,
I know that my redeemed were living. That was Job's hope. And that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh." Now this was before our Lord
came, this was written before our Lord died, this was written
before our Lord arose from the grave, this was written before
the disciples went out in the name of Christ preaching the
resurrection of the dead. Here's a man, the first writer,
the oldest, one of the oldest prophets, declaring that he's
going to live again. That's right. And though after
my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself, and not another. Mine eyes shall
behold not another, though my reins be consumed within me.
What was his hope? His hope was he had a Redeemer.
That was it. A Redeemer who was coming to
this earth. Who was going to stand on this earth. That was
his hope. That was David's hope. He said,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He restores
my soul. Turn to Luke chapter 2. This
was Simeon's hope. Look at this in Luke chapter
2, verse 28. Here was an old man in Israel
who ministered about the temple. And he was one of the precious,
favored ones. Zacharias and Elizabeth were
favored. God sent the forerunner through
them. Mary was highly favored of God. She bore the child, Christ
Jesus. Joseph, of course, had a revelation
from heaven. The shepherds out there on the
hillside saw the stars and the angel said, unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, a Redeemer, Christ
the Lord. But this man, Simeon, had a special, special revelation. Look at verse 25 of Luke 2. And
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And that
same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of
Israel. Now that's waiting for the Messiah.
waiting for the Christ, waiting for the one of whom Moses wrote
in the types picture. And the Holy Ghost was upon him,
and it was revealed unto Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he would
not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ, until he had
seen the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the Savior. So when Mary and
Joseph came to the temple, He came to the temple, and it came
by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
Simeon took Jesus Christ up in his arms when he was just an
infant and blessed God, and he said, Lord, now let your servant depart in
peace. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He didn't see this
water. He didn't see the elements of
the ordinances. He wasn't looking at Sinai's
law, my salvation, my redemption. He wasn't looking back at his
heritage and his accomplishments in the religious field. He was
looking at God incarnate in human flesh, Jesus Christ. That's what
I said on the back of the bulletin this morning. The gospel is a
person. Now what did Abraham know about a cross? I don't know. I really don't
know how much he knew. He lived before the cross. But
Abraham had faith. He believed God. He saw Christ's
day and believed. He didn't believe in the finished
work, he believed in the person who finished the work. That's
what I'm saying. This is what scares me, and what frightens
me, is people talking about the gospel, whom I'm afraid really
don't even know the gospel. They talk about a plan, or a
work, or a finished work, or even things that devils know.
But salvation is a person. It's a person. It's all that
Christ is, and all that Christ has done, and all that Christ
is doing, and all that Christ shall do, is included and incorporated
in the redemption of my soul. Christ, our eternal surety. Christ,
our incarnate God. Christ, our righteousness. When
I was growing up, I heard about his death. I never heard anything
about his life. I didn't know anything about the righteousness
of Christ. They never preached that. I didn't
know anything about God's law needing a satisfaction that every
jot and tittle of God's law must be obeyed or somebody's got to
pay for it. I never knew anything about those
things. Christ lived. I'm saved by his life. I'm saved
by his suffering and death. God's justice must be satisfied,
his resurrection. I can't be saved without his
intercession. He pleads for me. My prayers,
there's enough sin in my prayer to not damn my soul. There's
enough sin in me standing up here reading the Bible. I'm a
fleshly man, a human being, a fallen son of Adam, worthy of the wrath
of God. There's no goodness in us. Anywhere
in the flesh, no man can please God. Christ, our high priest,
makes even our prayers acceptable to God. These offerings that
you brought, you felt generous and you thanked God and you brought
your offering, you gave it for the missionaries and for preaching
the gospel over television and other things, but there's enough
self even in our gifts and our good works to damn us, did you
know that? Because God can't be satisfied with any work unless
it's a perfect work. Obedience, to be acceptable obedience,
must be perfect obedience. And I don't care how strongly
you obey, there's no man capable of perfect obedience. There's
no flesh capable of perfect obedience. I need a Savior. And that Savior
is a person. And Simeon, when he was looking
at Christ, walking in the light he had, in the revelation of
what God had taught him, in the understanding of what God had
revealed to him, this person was his hope. This person was
his salvation, whatever this person did. But his salvation
was not only in the work, but in the person. See, is that clear
what I'm trying to say? I've said so many times, I hear
people say, well, I believe in prayer. And you feel like you're
almost blaspheming when you say, I don't believe in prayer. I
believe in God who hears prayer. The magic of prayer never has
done anything for anybody. The Hindu prays. The Muslim prays. So evidently prayer is not it,
no. Prayer is the means. God is the
author and the giver and the source. And I know that Christ
must die, Christ must suffer, his blood must be shed, but I
could stand under that cross and let his blood drip on me
and go to hell, did you know that? They could bathe me in
his blood, splatter me with his blood and I'd still perish. I
could wrap my arms around the literal cross of Christ and take
it to hell with me, did you know that? It's the Christ of the
cross that's saved. And the object of faith is a
person. Simeon said, I've seen you. This was Paul's hope. Turn
to Philippians 3. And my friends, if nothing else
is done tonight but to turn your eyes, look unto me and be you
saved. Not to my cross, to me. Look
unto me and be you saved. Not to my finished work, to me.
Look unto me and be you saved. That's, he said, I'm God. Philippians
3, verse 20. Paul, this was his hope. Our
conversation is in heaven, citizenship, from whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies,
that it may be our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body. He's the one that's going to
do it. That's who we're looking for. He's my hope, Paul said. This
was John's hope. Turn to 1 John 3. This was his
hope, 1 John chapter 3. He was Christ, a person. In 1
John chapter 3, he says, verse 1, Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it didn't know him. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we'll be like him. We'll see him as
he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifies himself as Christ
is purified. What hope? Well, the hope's Christ. If you have the time and the
patience tonight to give me just a few more minutes, I want to
show you something here. Turn back to Colossians 1. I
think I've sufficiently pointed out that Christ is our hope.
That's what he says in Colossians 1.27, Christ in you. Christ in
you. And who is this Christ? Back
in verse 13, he calls him the son of God's love. In verse 14,
he calls him the Redeemer. We have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sin. In verse 15, he calls him the
image of God, the exact likeness of God, the visible representation
of the invisible God. That's who Christ is. He's not
an idol. He's not just a human Messiah.
He is the exact image of the living God. That's what he said
to his disciples. You've seen me. You've seen my
father. And then verse 16 says he's the
creator. Heaven was created by him. The
angels were created by him. The world was created by him.
All creatures were created by him and for him. And he's before
all things. And by him all things consist. And verse 18 says who we're talking
about, the head of the church. By the church is meant the whole
election of grace from first to last. He's the head of the
church. He's the beginning. He is the
beginning. Christ is the beginning, not
the church. Christ is the root and the foundation
of the church. As Eve came from Adam, we came
from Christ. We were chosen in him, we were
elected in him. Not only that, but he's the firstborn from the
dead. The firstborn from the dead,
because he lives, I live. And it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, all things, all things, in Christ. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, he's the reconciler. He reconciles
us to himself. Suppose a man had a disease,
a dreaded disease. There's one doctor in all the
world that could help him. And he journeys far. He prepares
everything, gets his money, puts his suitcase and all, heads for
this doctor. That's the one man. And he finally
gets there and he goes into the office and opens the door and
the receptionist is there and he says, uh, I have a problem. And this doctor's the only one
that can help me. He's helped others. I want to
see him." She said, well, he's not in. You see, he's out of
town today, but the doctor who works with him is here. No, he
says, I've got to see him. I've got to see him. She says,
well, here are his books. You can read his books. No, I
appreciate that. I must see him. But now there's
the cabinet in which he keeps all of his instruments and all
of his medicines. Wouldn't you like to look that
over? No, I appreciate it, but I want to see him. Wait, there's
a man in the next room who was cured by him. Would you like
to talk to him? Well, maybe later, but I got to see him. I came
to see the doctor for myself. I will not do business with anyone
else. I must see him. And my friends,
this is the way I feel about this man, Christ Jesus. This
exact image of the invisible God. I'm not interested in his
ambassadors. I appreciate them and thank them
for bringing me the good news that he can heal. I'm not interested
only in his epistles and in the things that concern him, though
I am to a degree. But I must get to Christ because
Christ is the hope of the world. And notice this little two-letter
word, Christ in you. Now I said something about this
this morning, and I don't want to be misunderstood, but I believe
this. I believe the Bible teaches this.
It's not the doctrine of Christ in my mind that's the hope of
glory. I know you can't separate the
teacher and his teaching. I wouldn't stand up here and
say, we don't need doctrine, we need Jesus. You can't know
Christ apart from a revelation of Christ's truth. That's foolishness
for a man to talk that way. Don't preach high doctrine, low
doctrine, or any doctrine, just preach Christ. You can't preach
the teacher without his teaching. You can't identify him without
telling who he is and where he came from and what he did and
why he did it and where he is now. But it's not his doctrine
in my mind, it's not his law. not his law, believed and practiced. It's not even Christ in the covenant
that's my hope of glory, though precious. It's not Christ in
the world as my representative that's the hope of glory. It's
not even Christ on the cross that's my hope of glory. It's
not Christ on the throne that's my hope of glory, but it's the
living, reigning, redeeming, cleansing Christ in me. Now that's what Paul says, Christ
in you. Turn to Galatians 1.15. And Paul is writing to the Church,
I know that, he's writing to everybody, but I take this you
personally. I believe Paul is saying to me
tonight, Preacher, it's Christ in you that's the hope of glory. Not Christ read about or heard
about, it's Christ experienced. Christ received. Christ's blood
and flesh eaten and drunk, willingly, lovingly, depending. Look at Galatians 1 15. When
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son, there's that word again,
in me. In me. Christ experienced in
His power, Christ received by faith, Christ reigning through
submission, Christ continuing in perseverance, Christ in you. I don't know how to preach this
except just to say it. I don't know how to present it.
I don't know how to make it clear. It's like I said about this subject
of love this morning, those who have experienced it, understand
it, and those who haven't experienced it never will understand it until
they do experience it. And so what I'm saying about
Christ, to me Christ is not a doctrine. My relationship with Him is not
a profession. I know that we, the preachers
of today, the fundamentalists, I know what they're doing, I
know exactly, we all used to be embroiled in it. They stand
and they say, do you believe Christ died on the cross and
was buried again? That's the way you're saved by believing
that. Now tonight, if you make your decision, come forward and
they shake hands and people say they've decided for Christ and
join the church and they're baptized and they're fixed up. And there is a decision made,
I know that. There's a time when I didn't
believe on Christ and a time when I did believe on Christ.
There's a time when I didn't trust Christ and there's a time
I do trust Christ. I know that, and I know that
we preach Christ virgin-born, and Christ incarnate, and Christ
righteousness, and Christ death, burial, and resurrection. But
facts won't save. And having a head knowledge of
facts won't save. This thing of salvation is to
receive Christ some way, by the power of God's Spirit, through
the testimony of God's Word, to be vitally united with And
personally joined with, he said, I am the vine and you're the
branches. I am the head and you're the body. This head is part of
this body. This body's not out running around
here believing there's a head over there on the organ somewhere.
This head is my head. And he said that salvation is
Christ living in you, like a well springing up into eternal life.
It's not something that a man accepts today and forgets tomorrow. Not something that a fellow believes
today and doubts tomorrow. This thing of salvation is a
birth. It's a vital union with Christ. It's a living union. It's a marriage,
eternal marriage. It's an experience in grace,
it's regeneration, it's quickening from the dead, it's a man's a
new creature, a new person. No, he's not without sin, he's
not perfect, still caring about a natural body, still caring
about natural passions, still caring about natural needs, still
caring about a warfare, but Christ is real to him. Christ lives
within him. Christ is not a fire escape from
hell. Christ is not a doormat to wipe
his feet on. Christ is his living, reigning
Lord. He's under new management. Christ
takes over. He's not the most important person
in our lives. From then on, he is our life.
Christ is my life. As I said, I don't know how to
preach it. I just don't know how to say it, except I know that decisionism
is not salvation. I know that professions of faith
is not salvation. I know that memorizing doctrine
is not salvation. I see too many doctrinalists
depart from the way of life. I know there's Christ in you,
somehow Christ in you. Permanently, eternally, lovingly,
willingly, intimately, knowingly, in a revealing of the Spirit,
it's Christ in me. While in some ways I'm still
the same, in other ways I'm totally new. That's just so. And you'll never
leave. It's like the disciple said,
to whom shall I go? Why, you might as well talk about
taking that sun out of the sky as taking one of his sheep away
from his flock. He said, I won't leave him and he won't leave
me. We're vitally joined, we're one. And they shall never leave
me. Our Father, bless this word to
our hearts. Oh, that we might know the riches
of the mystery of thy grace in Christ Jesus. That we might somehow,
here, every one of us tonight, lay hold upon this precious truth
of all truths. this hope of glory, this hope
of life, that we might get this hope out of the religious realm,
out of the facts, out of the doctrine, out of the cold dead
letter, out of the rules and regulations, out of the rituals
and ceremonies. Take it out of all those things
and experience the reality of the living Lord, who fills, who indwells, who
controls, who reigns, who dominates, who enriches, who illuminates,
who enlightens, who reigns, who will never leave us nor forsake
us. That we might have a faith that's a living faith, a faith
that's a surviving faith that can survive any trial, any amount
of trouble, any darkness. Any conflict, because our faith
is Christ. It's not even our faith, it's
the faith of Christ. It's the life of Christ. And
as Christ cannot be killed, I cannot be killed. If Christ cannot be
destroyed, I cannot be destroyed, because Christ is in me. Revealed unto our hearts. This
is the hope of glory. This is the hope of resurrection.
I know it. You've said it in your words.
Christ in me. The hope of glory.