I want to repeat my text if you'll
turn to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father We're
dealing in weighty matters here, aren't we? Christ himself, and
God even the Father, which hath loved us, he hath given us by
his grace, by his mercy, everlasting, continual, perpetual, eternal
comfort, consolation, and good hope, and a good hope. And all of it through grace. My friends, what is a good hope? All of us have some kind of hope.
If a man didn't have any hope, he'd be a depressed, troubled,
fearful individual Or he would be excited, he would be
nervous, he would be almost berserk if he didn't have some kind of
hope. So everybody has a hope. But this is talking about a good
hope. What's a good hope? What is a good hope? We're getting
older, some of us. Our bodies are frail. These tents
shall one day come down. What is a good hope? Do we have
a Baptist hope or a Methodist hope or a Catholic hope or a
good hope? What is a good hope? Well, I have seven things that
I believe make up a good hope. The first of which is this. Undeniably,
being born in sin, because I'm a son of Adam, I was born from
the loins of Adam. God created one man, called him
Adam. And every person on this earth
has come from that one man. And being born of Adam, we are
shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. We're born with a root
of evil. We're born with a nature of evil.
We're born with a mind that despises God. The natural mind is enmity
against God. We're born with a heart that
loves evil. There's none that doeth good. There's none that
seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way.
They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Being born in sin and shaping
an iniquity in a son of Adam, a good hope, is the hope that
I personally shall be born again. And by the power of God, by the
Spirit of God, through the Word of God, receive from God a new
nature, a holy nature, a divine nature, the life of God through
faith. That's a good hope. Because Christ
said, except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom
of God. Whatever his profession, whatever
his pursuits, Whatever his claims, except a man be born again, he
cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. So a good hope is being born again by the power
of God. Not by the will of man, not by
the will of the flesh, not by natural generation, but being
born of God. That would constitute a good
hope. All right, secondly, being a sinner, both by choice and
practice, You know, there's some folks
who don't like the word sinner. It's all right to apply that
word to a man out of the church, but you don't call a man in the
church a sinner. It's all right to apply that
to a drunk or to a harlot or to a profane swerver, but you
don't apply it to a preacher or a deacon or an elder or one
of the folks that regularly attends church having made a profession
of faith. say he hath not sinned, he deceives
himself. Any man, if any man, if any of
you say, if you say, any of you, that you have no sin, you make
God a liar, because he said, all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God. So being a sinner, both by choice
and by practice, and a sinner by nature, and a sinner in thought,
and a sinner in word, and a sinner in deed, and a sinner daily. Some people are so twisted and warped about this
thing of seeing. Most folks don't know what seeing
is. When Paul said, the things that I would do, I do not, and
the things I would not do, I do. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. You suppose that Paul was tempted
to go down to the gambling dens, or Paul was tempted to violate
the laws of God, the laws governing stealing and adultery and blasphemy
and idolatry. If you think that, you're a fool.
Paul was talking about the presence of sin, the spirit, the attitude. He tells us to love God with
all our hearts and not to do that as sins. He said, I don't
love God with all my heart. I wish I did. Don't you? Anything
short of perfection is sin. To love my neighbor as myself. I've said this so often, if somebody's
child has got to get sick tonight and die, whose child do you hope
it is? You hope one thing, because you're
a sinner. You hope it's not yours. Therefore
you don't love your neighbor as yourself. Isn't that right?
You're a human being. The only way in the world you
can claim to be without sin is to lay down your life for somebody
else because you love him. Pray this way tonight. Lord,
if anybody has got to get sick tonight, let it be me. Let it
be my wife. Let it be my son. Don't let it
be the neighbor's son, even the drunk son down the street, because
I love him like I love myself. The average person has not the
slightest conception of what sin is. We've got it catalogued,
we've got it isolated, we've got it directed in one channel,
and therefore we have declared ourselves to be without that
terrible monster. But I guarantee you this, he
still lives in your heart. He's there, and you can't deny
he's there. And being a sinner, a good hope
is this, that I don't have to face those sins at the judgment.
that all my sins shall be forgiven by the mercy of God, that all
my sins shall be pardoned by the mercy of God. The prophet
of God said, My sins are ever before me, O Lord, if Thou shouldest
mark iniquity, who would stand? Man at his best state, and there's
not any of us here tonight at our best state, but man at his
best state is altogether what? Vanity. We think because we cover
our sins and hide our sins and deny our sins and will not deal
with our sins and will not admit our sins and will not confess
our sins that God doesn't see our sins. But God knows our thoughts. God knows our hearts. Man looks
on the outward countenance. God looks on the heart. He deals
with the heart. And if we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us. But whosoever hideth his
sins, shall not prosper. Oh, my sins, the bliss of that
glorious thought, my sins, not in part, but the whole, are nailed
to the cross, and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. It's well with myself. That's
a good hope. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Blessed is that man whose sins
are forgiven. That's good hope. Thirdly, all
right, having no righteousness of my own and no goodness, for
my righteousness is a filthy rag. Here's another thing I want
you to understand. This is what the Word of God
teaches. Our righteousnesses, we're not talking about our evil
thoughts and our evil words and our Our evil deeds, we're talking
about the best thing we do. Listen to me, Isaiah 64, verse
6. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. Meaning by that, this, that in
the flesh no man can please God. In the flesh, well, it's no good
thing, actually. There's sin in our prayers because
there's self in our prayers. I've said this before, I'll repeat
it again, it's worthy of being repeated. The only right way
to pray for forgiveness of sins is to pray in this way. Christ
taught this, forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who
sin against us. That's the only way. Because
he said, if you forgive not your brother his sins, neither will
God forgive your sins. And we don't pray that way. We
pray selfishly. Even our prayers are selfish.
Our giving is selfish. Even our worship. Even our fellowship. There's a little evil in all. Even our zeal for God is promoted
by a selfish spirit and motive. You examine, while I examine
my motive, you examine yours. What we do is it totally and
absolutely for the glory of God. There's not in it anywhere any
self-praise or any self-seeking or any self-satisfaction or any
self-justification or any self-righteousness at all, none at all, but totally
and completely as an open martyr for the glory of God. Every word
I speak, every thought I think, every deed I do, Every prayer
I pray, oh, what a liar we'd be. Our righteousness is a filthy
rag. They have a form, but they're
filthy. They are covering, but they're
filthy. They have a way of covering us and shielding us, but they're
filthy. Unacceptable. So having this
nature and having no goodness and recognizing that we don't
even know the thing we should pray for except the Holy Spirit
teach us. Old Bishop Rutherford said, my
repentance needs to be repented of. Most of us are so sorry over
our sins and so satisfied with our goodness that
we don't recognize our goodness may have more sin in it than
our sins. Because here is the area where
man offends God most, in the spiritual area. Now, if you don't know what I'm talking
about, you need to start back at the first grade. The wrath
of God through the Scriptures, the wrath of God generally, is
in the spiritual area. Nearly every man God's judgment
fell upon in wrath. He was going through some kind
of act of religion. Did you know that, Charles? That's
where God's offended. That's where most folks can't
understand the enigma of David. They watch David in his sensual fashion. They say, how
can a man like that be a man after God's own heart? No, they
can't understand that because David was a spiritual man. His
communications and fellowship with God was spiritual, an area
that's foreign to most people. Their religion, like everything
else, is a fleshly thing. It's a fleshly thing in their
minds, in their doctrines, in their theology, in their behavior,
in their conduct, and in their enthusiasm. But David was a man
who read his Psalms. He was a man who walked with
God and talked with God and talked with God and sought God. He was
a man who never offended God in a spiritual area. God loved
him. God loved him. So having no righteousness, a
good hope is to have one, to be clothed in before God, to
be covered before God with a spotless, glorious robe of Christ's righteousness. Let me tell you something, there
was a man one time who did please God. There was, and you know
I thank God for this, he was representing me when he did that.
The Father, there was a man, there was a man born on this
earth, born of a virgin, so that he wouldn't partake of the line
of Adam's evil, Adam's seed. Born supernaturally conceived,
supernaturally begotten, in the virgin's womb by the Spirit of
God, and he came forth a perfect man, not having any association
with that fellow in the garden. Yet all men, thirsted, wearied,
hungered, wept, knew sorrow, a man as sour as a quaint with
grief. Jesus rejoiced. All men, all God, but all men.
And that man walked on this earth and he never saw, his eyes never
flashed with anger, his word never spoke guile, his heart
never thought evil. He always had a perfect relationship
with God. One day the Heavenly Father looked
down upon that man when he was thirty years of age and said,
That's my son in whom I'm well pleased. He's perfect. And because of His perfection,
and because of His righteousness, and because of His obedience,
and because He bore my name before the Father from the eternal past,
I have a righteousness with God. Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 5, verse 19. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. Romans 5, verse 19. The fifth chapter of Romans deals
with the fall, representation. You know anything about federal
headship? Representation, if you don't, you better learn it.
Because that's where it all is. It ain't but two men. Adam, Adam.
First Adam, second Adam. The man of the earth, the Lord
from heaven. God sees all men in one of them. That's right.
God deals with all men through those men. By one man, sin entered
the world. By one man, judgment. By one
man, death. By one man, condemnation. Even
so, look at verse 19. By one man's disobedience we
were made sinners, the many is the word. So, in the same manner,
in the same way, representation, federal headship, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. You don't only look to the cost
for salvation, you look to the life of Christ. You don't only
look to the blood for cleansing, you look to the righteousness
and holiness of Christ for acceptance. You don't only look to the death
for justification, but you look to the life of Christ for sanctification. Brother, a good hope, a good
hope is to be found in Him. All right, next. You with me? What is a good hope? What is
a good hope? Oh, holy and righteous in His
presence, in His sight, in His sight. in Christ. All right,
fourthly, being frail flesh, and that's what you are. You
may be saved flesh, but you're still flesh. You may be redeemed,
but you're still flesh. You're still subject to temptation.
And my friend, you may be the most enthusiastic, zealous, dedicated,
devoted, orthodox, religionist in this town. you may yet fall. You may yet fall. A whole lot
of folks before you have fallen. I've been around a pretty good
while, and I've watched some of the most zealous, enthusiastic,
orthodox fireballs in this world totally, completely walk away
from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've seen others be bought off. I've seen others sell their birthright
for the sorriest mess of pottage you've ever looked on. I've seen
it happen. And I'm not so presumptuous. I'm not so arrogant before God
Almighty that I suppose for one moment it couldn't happen to
me. I'll tell you only one thing that will keep it from happening.
His grace, His hand, His power. We are kept by the power of God,
not apart from faith. Don't be foolish. Not without faith, but through
faith. We're not kept apart from obedience. Without obedience, don't be a
fool. We're kept by the power of God
through obedience. And I say unto you with all my
heart, a good hope. What's a good hope? I still like
what old Brother Barnard said when that dear lady asked him
after she gave him her testimony and what she believed. She said,
you think I'm saved? He said, see me in 30 years.
You're still hanging around. You're still fighting the fight
of faith. You're still walking in the light. You're still walking
with Christ. You're still growing in grace. There are a whole lot of Roman
candles around. Boy, they come out of the chute
just so bright they blind everybody standing around. And they go
about as high as they can go, about as fast as they can go,
and they come down the same way they went up. But good hope is that by the
grace of God I'll continue in the faith of Christ, that I'll
hold fast the profession of my faith. that I'll come to the
end of my life being able to say with the Apostle Paul, I
have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith. Huh? That'd be a good hope. That'd
be a good hope. What are you going to sell out
for? Prone to wonder, prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. The songwriter said, prone to
leave the God I love. Oh, not to leave a God. Everybody's
got to have a God. But to leave the God I love.
Here is my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it
for thy courts above. That'd be a good hope. That'd
be a good hope, wouldn't it? That's to come to when the hair
gets white, and the wrinkles in your face, and the walk's
a little slower, and the soul is astute, and in the sunset
years of life, not to have been attracted away with some praise-the-Lord
club, or some tangent, or driven and taken away by some glamorous thing that came on the scene,
or some new revelation, or some new doctrine, or taken away by
prosperity and business, or because of some sorrow or sickness or
loss of your wife. I've heard people say, My wife
dies, I'm just through. But you were through a long time
before she died. Your death didn't make you through, it just revealed
how through you were. Oh, God take my baby, I just
threw up my hands. You threw them up a long time
ago, it just took that to reveal it. That's right. Endureth he, and endureth to
the end. In that scripture, the same shall
be said. I'm not looking for professors, I'm looking for soldiers.
I'm not looking for folks that clean something, I'm looking
for folks that have something. And come to the end of that life
still preaching the same message, with the same enthusiasm and
same love, and holding to the cross with the same determination. Somebody said, Henry Mann doesn't
preach anything with the same message. I hope you can say that
when I'm 80 years old. A lady came to Scott Richardson
one time, one of these super-religious, past self-righteous, religionist,
Pharisee, and said, you don't preach anything but the gospel.
Look here, I've marked your messages. It's grace here and grace there. He said, write that on my tombstone. He didn't preach anything but
the gospel. Brother, there's nothing else
to preach. Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you want to hear something
else, I plan to stay around here as long as God will let me. You
pitch your tent somewhere else, because it's going to be Christ
Sunday morning and Christ Sunday night, by God's grace. And if
I ever quit preaching this one message, you say, oh boy, missed
it after all. That's right. It's just there's
one undeniable evidence of faith, and that's perseverance in it.
That's right. That's a good hope. Where are
they? John said, I'll tell you where
they are. They went out from us. What'd they do that for,
John? Because they never were out of
us. What makes you say that, John? If they'd been out of us,
they'd have stayed with us. Now what is that? Yeah, they've
still been here. All right, here's the fifth mark
of a good hope, being a dying man. I'm a dying man. The instrument
of death may already be here. My friend Don Fortner came home
one day. He wasn't 25, 26 years old, 24
maybe, young maybe. Felt around on his neck, told
his wife. He said, I feel some knots on
my neck. Well, she said, maybe you ought
to go have a check. He went to the doctor. Doctor checked. I don't find a thing. He said
they're there. Take some tests. I know they're there. Doctor
took some tests and came back in and said, I want you in operating
room in the morning. You've got cancer in your lymph
gland. I don't know what kind of news you're going to get tomorrow
and what kind of news I'm going to get. The instrument of death
is already prepared. God knows what it is. It may
already be in your body. It may already be in your bloodstream.
Preacher, don't be so depressing. What should I do? Keep my mouth
shut and watch you die without Christ? If I can't have a free
pulpit, I'm not going to have a pulpit. I'm a dying man and
you're a dying man. You and I are going to walk the
way of all flesh. We'll die and not live. Job said, I'm going
the way from which I will not return. It's appointed unto me
and wants to die. What's a good hope? Good hope,
my friend, is when I lay my head down on that pillar upon the
bed from which I shall not arise, and I can lay it there in comfort
and peace and joy, knowing that the redemption of my soul has
been committed to my Redeemer. It's all right. That's what Charlie
said when he went into surgery. He said, let's tell Henry, he
preached the truth, it's all right. Isn't that right, son?
It's all right. What God does is all right. But to live is Christ, to die
is gain. The worst thing that could happen
to me tonight is not to die, that would be the best thing
that could happen to me. It would be good for my wife and family,
good for this church, humanly speaking. It sure would be good
for me, Bob. You've got that right, Jack.
Be good for me. Be good for me, for I'd look
on his face. These eyes shall see him in that
day, the Lord that died for me, and all my rising bones shall
say, Glory to God, who's like unto thee. That's graduation
day. But you know what a good hope
is? Not to die in religion, not to die in a profession, not to
die in a theology. Not to die in the right church,
but to die in the Lord. Blessed are they that die in
the Lord. When I die, let me die the death
of the righteous. Who are they? They're folks in
His righteousness. All right. Six. I told you I'd
give you seven. Six. Having a corrupt body. Someday you're going to bury
it. I already got a plot out there in Rose Hill. And I bought,
this is the way we think, I bought four, I had to buy two more because
it's filling up. And I've got a corrupt body that's
going to be buried, going to be eaten of worms. Someday this
flesh will be eaten of worms. It starts as soon as the soul
leaves because we have to hurry and get them in the ground. If
we don't embalm them, fix them up. It already smells in a short
time. It's eaten from the inside. It
decays from the inside. It'll go back to the dust from
which God picked it out. What is a good hope? Boy, it's
a hope that someday Christ is coming, and when He returns,
I shall have a part in that first resurrection that this corruptible
shall put on incorruption. Don't you know that this flesh,
is an abomination to God. Don't you know, God who is holy
and immortal and eternal and glory and righteousness, when
he looks on this flesh, our fleshly thoughts and our fleshly ways
and our fleshly actions, and this corruptible shall put on
corruption put on incorruption, this mortal immortality, this
weakness, his strength, this shame, his glory. That'd be a
good hope, the first resurrection. I want to be in that first resurrection. What's a good hope? In the seventh
place, having a desire to be like Christ, to be with Christ.
Paul said, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. He
didn't just have a desire. People who try to commit suicide
have a desire to depart. They want to get it over with.
They want to get out of their misery, they say. Well, that
wasn't what Paul was saying. He said, I have a desire to depart
and be with Christ. This good hope is to be like
Him, to live eternally in His presence, to be conformed to
His image. That's a good hope. But I want
to ask one more question, and then I'll dismiss you. What is
the source of this good hope? Well, it's not in here. And it's
not in our works. And it's not in the law. And
it's not in a religious experience. Our hope is in Him. Our hope
is in Him. And you know what he says here?
I'm going to show you three things. In verse 13, in verse 13, Paul
said, I'm bound to give thanks. He talks about the falling away.
He talks about apostasy. He talks about a departure from
the faith. He talks about Pharisees creeping
in. He talks about the man of sin
taking over. But he said, Beloved, I thank
God for you because he hath chosen you. That's where the hope all
started. It didn't start when you were
ten years old and made a confession of faith. That's not when your
hope started. If that's when your hope started, it's a frail,
earthly hope. But a good hope started a long
time before that. He chose you. When did He choose
me? From the beginning. In the beginning
was the Word. In the beginning, God created
heaven and earth. In the beginning! He chose you. And our brother millions, that
means everybody's chosen is going to be saved, no matter whether
they want to believe or not. And everybody's not, couldn't
be saved even if they wanted to. That's a fool talking. I
hope you didn't think that. Scripture says that God is the
God of the end and God is the God of the means. And God who
decreed the end also designated the means. And He includes it
in every verse where He talks about eternal election. He talks
about the means of grace. Watch this. God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. You want in? Come on in. And
by coming in, you reveal that God enabled you to come in. That's right. Come on in. The
quickening of the Spirit, the awakening of the Spirit, the
revelation of the Spirit, the converting work of the Spirit,
and belief of the truth. No man will be saved without
hearing the gospel. This is why we must preach it.
This is why we must send missionaries. This is why we must preach on
television. This is why we must preach through
the Tate ministry, that men and women, boys and girls, might
hear the gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a function? You heard it put to them. You
heard one. All right, secondly, He chose
you, verse 14. He called you. He called you. Don't ever forget that. Don't
get that twisted around. You didn't call Him. He called
you. Don't you think? He didn't leave me alone. He
called me. Lord, don't leave me in the blindness. Don't leave
me alone. You know the Pharisees, our Lord
was teaching the truth. And our Lord always had a kind
word for the harlot, and a kind word for the public, and a kind
word for the sin, and He always had a scathing rebuke for the
Pharisees. Get acquainted with your scripture.
He called them a generation of snakes. He called them whited
sepulchres, that's tombstone. He called them children of the
devil. He said, you have your father the devil. He said, you
don't know God. And one day, These religious
folks were attacking him, and he taught a parable, and his
disciples said, you offended those religious hypocrites, and
he said, you leave them alone. Just walk off and leave them
alone. They're blind leaders of the blind. If the blind lead
the blind, they'll fall in the deep. Lord, don't leave me alone. Don't leave me alone. You better hope he doesn't leave
you. You better hope that you don't in some way. And I'm not
worried about the fella that's staggering down the street tonight.
I'm worried about the fella that's taking the holy things of God
in his hand. Like that man you told me about
down in central Kentucky. He's in trouble. You don't do
that. You don't mess with the things
of God. Just don't do it. Let the potsherds
of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth. That's
all right. There's no problem. There's no eternal consequence. Just fight it out. Punch one
another in the eye. That's no eternal... Don't mess
with God's business. That's what he said. Turn to
Ecclesiastes. Let me show you something. We need to learn something
here. Don't mess with God's business. You're messing in a place, you're
fooling around where you got no business. Turn to Ecclesiastes
5. Listen to it now, Ecclesiastes
5, verse 1. Keep your foot when you go to
the house of God. Now, you might go to the show
and see something you ought not see and shame on you, but it'll
pass. But if you come to the house
of God, you better watch it and be careful. God said, don't you
touch my anointing. Don't you do my prophets any
harm. I'll deal with you. I'll deal with you. You go and
fight the generals and admirals and lieutenants and captains.
Don't you mess with my appoint of my anointing. I'll deal with
you." He said, if they hear you, they
hear me. If they don't hear you, they don't hear me. I'm warning
you. Listen to it. Keep your foot and you go to
the house of God. Be more ready to dare than to give the sacrifice
of a fool. You don't consider that you do
evil. That's not evil, say. Men don't see that as evil. They
get up in the pulpit or in the classroom and voice their opinions
and go contrary to Scripture. That's not evil. That's religious.
Evil is something out yonder. Evil is something out there.
But this is evil. You're messing with God's business.
You're putting your hands upon the things that are precious
to God, like His Son and His blood. Don't talk about it if
you don't want to think about it. Be careful. His church. He loved the church. He loved
the church and gave Himself for it. It's His bride. Talk about
my bride, but don't talk about the Lord's. You'll be in trouble.
You've got to deal with Him. You talk about my bride, you've
got to deal with me. But if you mess with God's bride, you deal
with Him. See what I'm saying? What's the reason I get upset
about this? Because you messed around with something that's
serious. Read on. Consider it. Be not rash with
your mouth. Let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. God's in the heavens and you
upon the earth. Therefore, let your words be
few. He called you. He didn't leave
you alone. Leave Him alone. All right. Thirdly,
and I close, verse 16, Therefore now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, who hath loved us. Where's this good
hope come from? You with me? He chose me. He called me. And He loved me. He loved me. And that's my hope. And that was David's hope. One
scripture, 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23, verse 1. 2 Samuel 23, verse 1. How these be the last words of
David, son of Jesse, man raised on high, anointed of God, and
so forth. Verse 5, although my house be
not so with God, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. It's ordered in all things, and
it's sure. This is all my salvation, and
this is all my desire. That's a good home. Our Father in heaven, oh, even
how delicate it is to say our Father in heaven. What right
have we got to call Thee our Father? Do we assume the right? Because Christ loved us and gave
himself for us, because our spirit had quickened us, we have the
right and the privilege to call Thee our Father. But other than
that, we have no right to use that term. And we pray thy blessings upon
us. Thy blessings can't rest upon us unless we're in Christ.
There's no way you can look upon us and love us. There's only
one way that you can deal with us, and that's in judgment and
wrath. For you said in your word, he
that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. And Lord, we say bless our neighbors
and bless our friends and bless so and so. How can you bless
me in evil and rebellion? You can't bless them, you can
only judge them. But Lord, we pray that you'll
bless them with the knowledge of your Son. Bless them with
conviction of sin, how blessed it is when men are stripped.
Bless us and strip us. Knock our foundations of flesh
out from under us and expose us. That would be a blessing.
Don't prosper us in our rebellion. Don't prosper us in our evil.
Don't prosper us in our self-will and self-righteousness. We don't
ask for that kind of blessing. We don't ask it for these to
whom we preach. And Lord, if you'll humble our
hearts, it'd be a blessing. And make us weep over our sins,
it'd be a blessing. And take away the things, even
the right hand that offendeth, or the right eye that keeps us
from Christ. Or whatever it might be, it'd
be a blessing. Take away everything we've got, if it'd bring us to
Christ, it'd be a blessing. Teach us how to pray. We turn
our eyes on Christ. We're trying to look at Him through
so many different glasses, so many different directions, with
so many things in between. Move it all out of the way like
the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration when they saw
naught but Jesus only. And all the things of the world
will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and His grace.
Lord, give me a good hope. Not just a hope, or any hope,
a religious hope, but a good hope. For Christ's sake I pray. Amen.