Welcome to the Susquehanna Valley Baptist Pulpit, preaching a life worth living, abundant life in Christ. And now the message. Finish reading there in 1 Peter and note that one of those last verses we read just a moment ago. For by whom or for by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Now, keep that ribbon there and move over to Psalm 42. I'll read you three verses here, two in Psalm 42, one in the next Psalm, but draw your eyes to verse five. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? We're disquiet usually a number of times in the Old Testament. In the Kings it's an uproar. In Isaiah it's a roar like a lion. It's like a tumultuous city. You ever had a disquieted soul? Maybe it's a fear, a trouble, a trial. That's certainly the context here of Peter. He talks about a manifold heaviness and being tried with fire. Something robbed your sleep and your peace before God? Something that weighed on your heart so heavily that it seemed that even in the regular activity this was so far upon your heart that it had noised abroad? That's what he's talking about. Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. Move your eyes to verse 11, the second refrain here. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise Him who is the help of my countenance and my God. And then in the 43rd Psalm, the very next one, the fifth verse, the third refrain, if you will. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God. I want to speak a little bit this morning on the power, the power that hope provides as it relates to a sound mind. I want to speak on that this morning. You'll notice our text back in 1 Peter 1 and verse 13. and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Several weeks ago we considered really what were some byproducts or results of biblical hope in the life of a believer. And just by way of introduction I remind you that a biblical hope stands in stark contrast to the hope that we often speak of. For instance, we might be talking about camp and I would say to the campers, my, I sure hope that the cabins are comfortable when you get there and sleep overnight. I hope it's that way. Well, it's so full of things that you can't count on and things that you don't know. For instance, do the air conditions work? Are there air conditions? Well, I hope it's cool. But there's nothing that I can control. And there's a host of knowledge that I don't know. Well, that's a human aspect of hope. Biblical hope does not speak in that sense. Biblical hope seizes upon the promises of God. Someone's compared faith and hope to this, that faith, for you and I, looks back at what God has done and at trust Him. Hope, based on that faith, looks forward and anticipates what God will do because of His promises. If you will, hope is forward-looking faith. And so there's a number of things in the Scriptures I can look at the attributes of God and I can attest to them faithfully regarding what He's promised me. Let me off the cuff share some of these with you. It'll help us get our spiritual mind in gear. You think about your prayers. I have the biblical hope of knowing that he heareth my prayers." Now I'm grateful for this. I don't care around a prayer book. Well, I care around the Bible a lot, but I don't care around a prayer book. There's nothing wrong with pre-written prayers. In fact, there's been times in life that I've been called upon to pray in certain special cases and I thought, man, I don't want to ad-lib that. And so I gave myself to thinking. and preparing and kind of penned something that would serve as kind of the theme of my prayer that was being offered. There's certainly nothing wrong with that in that case. But oftentimes in the life of a believer, we're engaged in prayer and we don't have the opportunity to sit and frame every word that is upon our heart. And there's sometimes things that come into our life where the reality of the matter is simply this, I don't even have the words to pray. I think of current things as it relates to our geopolitical situations. To be honest with you, I don't know how to pray on all that. I don't pray with heart, hate, and malice in my life, but I'm an American and I want to pray for the advancement of my country. My country is for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That seems to be the general theme of my country, and I want to see that advanced. And I don't want to have adversaries, but at the same time, we as Americans have never endeavored to be warlike people. How do you pray for all that? How do I pray for the fact that knowing that going to war means the loss of lives and always means, always means collateral damage? The loss of innocent life. Sometimes I don't know how to pray for that. Sometimes there's physical infirmities that come to our life. I don't know how to pray for that. There can be physical infirmities in my life that I may not be willing to tell you about them. I have no doubt that there's some physical infirmities in the greater part of people present or troubles in lives that you have not shared with people outside your close realm of influences, your friends. How do you pray for all those? When your soul is troubled and it's disquieted over an issue of life, I sometimes lack the words to pray, but you know, I have a promise that I can have hope in. He heareth my prayers. And if you want a reference, that's 1 John 5 verse 14. But that's one thing. It's one thing to hear our prayers, isn't it? It's another thing that he will answer them. Well, that's 1 John 5 verse 15. And we know that if he heareth our prayers, then we have the petition that we ask of Him. I'm thankful for Romans chapter 8. We'll get there in a few moments. But the Spirit maketh intercession for us. We know not how we ought to pray. The Spirit maketh intercessions for us. See, I have the great glorious promise of forward-looking hope to know that I'm going to have trials in this life. And there's going to be troubles in this life. And there's going to be times in my life where I think that things are not just and fair. But one promise I can always rest in, he heareth me. And it ends in that ETH, what does that tell us? It tells us there's never, no how, no way a time where he won't hear my prayers. I'm in him, I'm in Christ Jesus. I'm born again, as Peter will say, not of corruptible seed but of an incorruptible seed by the word of God, verse 23, that liveth and abideth forever. He hears me like a good father would hear his child. Now there's an audience. Romans chapter 5, I have access. God's under no prerequisite to hear the prayers or to answer the prayers of the ungodly. But God by divine precept has placed Himself in a predicament that He has guaranteed to me and you that He'll hear my prayer. Now when will He hear my prayer? Well, He'll hear it in the morning. and he'll hear it at noontime and he'll hear it at evening. I'll be direct with you. He'll hear it when it's sorrowful. He'll hear it when it's full of lamentations. He'll hear it when it's exalting in praise. He'll hear it when it's full of grief. He'll hear it when it's conflicted soul. He'll hear it when it's just a bunch of noise. You ever prayed a prayer of noise? You know, you want to inculcate in your prayer praise and thanksgiving and supplication and intercessions be made for all men. You're so distraught, you just, your whole prayer revolves around the trouble that you have in life. Your prayer and the petition seems to be greater than your acknowledgement of thanks to God's provision. Friend, look forward, I have hope because I know that he hears my prayer. What else can I have hope in? Will I have hope that he's going to provide? Now, I will say his provision may not be what I thought it would be. But he is able to provide how much? Well, I think of our verse. He is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. That's a pretty potent way to pray, isn't it? That's a promise. That's a fact that rests in the very attributes of a thrice holy God. Ergo, my soul you just quieted. Hope thou in God. Biblical hope isn't guesswork. Biblical hope is forward-looking faith that rests in the promises of God. And that biblical hope, as we spoke some time ago, has wonderful byproducts. Let me just list these quickly for you. Biblical hope, number one, provides motivation for me and you in your life, in our lives. It changes how we see ourselves. I'm no longer a stranger or simply a resident of this life. I'm a pilgrim and a stranger. It changes what I value. Biblical hope does. Biblical hope tells me to lay up for myself treasures in heaven. Personal hope says I hope I have enough in this life. They could not be more stark and conflicting. Biblical hope affects what I do with my life. That is, biblical hope directs us. Because I have the indwelling of the Spirit of God, I'm called a son of God. And beloved, now that we are the sons of God, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when we see Him, we shall be like Him. Wherefore, purify yourself even as you are pure. Biblical hope directs me. We'll see that again in verse number 15. It directs me to be holy. Why? Because I have hope in the exceeding great precious promises of a great God. Biblical hope provides joy and peace and it gives divine assurance. Biblical hope provides for protection. Biblical hope gives endurance. I'm partial to that one. That's Romans chapter 5 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm thankful that biblical hope gives endurance. Your heart overwhelmed? You're fearful? You lack faith? You're a little bit, you know, like the second half of Proverbs chapter 3. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and what? Sometimes the greatest adversary to biblical hope and peace in our life is our own understanding. We cannot see the indefinite. We cannot really grasp the eternal. And so what do we do? We deal with the finite and the temporal. The what's right now. I'm amazed at the epidemic of our society of anxiousness and how easy it's pervasive in this society. We all have a tendency, do we not, of having grand anxieties over things beyond our ability to control or influence. That's the very definition of anxiety. I was talking to a fellow some time ago. He was telling me, back about two years or so, he said he felt as though he was having heart attacks. He even wrote his will, kind of wrote a will. He said, I felt like I was dying. And I saw him some time later and I said, well, how did things go for you? And he goes, well, I found out I wasn't having a heart attack. You know what he's going through? Panic attacks. took his blood pressure in the middle of a panic attack. It was 192 over something. It was over things he could not change, things he could not control. He was anxious. His soul was disquieted. I said, well, what was the solution? I don't mean to oversimplify the matter, but hope thou in God. You know, too often times what we do to cure anxiety is we try to put it out of our mind. The reality is there's some things in life that I need to be mindful of, but there's a difference in being mindful of something and being controlled by that activity of thought. I don't think that the answer to overcoming some of the cares of life is putting our head in sand and pretending like it doesn't exist. People get anxious about retirement. Well, retirement's a great thing to consider in mind and there's gonna be preparation that need to be made. But at the end of the day, you don't control everything. People get worried about health. Well, that's something I need to be mindful of. God's not gonna give me two bodies on this side of eternity. Although with the promise of AI, maybe one day they'll just take our heads off and place it on a robotic body and we'll just go about as we ever had. I adjust. But we're not going to get two bodies of science. So you know, I'm going to have to be careful with what God has given me. But you know what? I can't be anxious about it. Some things regarding your health, you don't have the final answer to. You are genetically dispositioned to certain things. So what do I do? You hope in God. You put him first. You see, biblical hope gives us endurance. So when things do not go the way in which I will, rather than being anxious, what do I do? I commit to the good hand of a great God. I think of Philippians 4. Be careful for nothing. Careful, synonymous with anxious. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made to God." And the next verse, "...and the peace of God which passes all understanding will..." Do you remember the next word? Do you know what that means? It fortresses me. It doesn't remove the problem. You get a bad health diagnosis, God's peace can still keep you. Does that remove the health diagnosis? Maybe not. You get bad employment news. Someone once said that the difference between a recession and a depression. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. You got a difficult financial outlook. It's not all the time you can do anything about that yourself. What can you do? You can commit it to God and let him keep your heart and mind. Faith and truly hope gives endurance. And another thing that we shared the other week with you is that hope flows from the very good God of heaven. He is the God of all hope. One thing that should never be said about a Christian is that we lacked hope. The future is as bright as the promises of God is towards us. I can rest in that glorious thing. Now, notice if you will, verse 13 this morning. I wanna talk just for a second on verse 13 and then move forward a little bit about some of these, this power of hope as it relates to the sound mind. In verse 13, there's a triptych that is given. He says, gird up the loins of your mind. And if you just are taking notes for outline say, you might look at that as being a prepared mind, a prepared mind. Gird up the loins of your mind. Now, obviously your mind is more than just the gray matter. And as you think of this girding up that has the idea of preparing to do something strenuous. You and I would do well to spend time preparing our minds on a regular basis to serve God and to walk with him. It doesn't come natural. It isn't common to us. It's laborious, it's opposed at time. You would do well to prepare your mind to serve God. And one of the chiefest ways that you prepare your mind to serve God is by walking in the Spirit. For only walking in the Spirit, Galatians 5, will you not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You want to be the tree that's planted by the river of water? Or do you want to be like the wicked and the chafe that is blown to and fro? You want to be like the man that built his house upon the stone or the man that built his house upon the sand? Which one do you want to be? Doesn't matter which you choose. Storms are still coming. The storms beat with ferocity upon the house that was built upon the stone. They did not beat less. They beat ever much as much as they did upon the man upon the stone. Which one do you want to be? Now, it's kind of a binary question really it's a either or thing we would see. That's the parable that God put forth. So we look at that and say well of course I want to be like the man whose house was built upon the stone. I don't know of any Christian that gets up one morning and say now I want to be anxious and I want my house to be destroyed because I built it upon the sand and that's the kind of life I've never met that Christian that got up intentionally living that way. I think in the morning every believer gets up with the desire to walk with God. I mean maybe there's a rebellious one like Lot that is going to say, no I got up with something else in mind. But as a general rule believers get up, I want to serve the Lord, I want to walk with God, that's what I want to preach. Well if you're going to accomplish that it will not happen by accident. It takes a prepared mind. That's what Peter's admonishing the believers. You're in manifold temptations. You're being tried with fire. Have a prepared mind. Set your mind today and tomorrow to please God. I think too often we're on cruise control when it comes to making decisions and following God. We want to, but we allow the weakness of our flesh to dominate the power of God that worketh in our spirit. And many times, I had years ago a fellow I was talking to and I said, boy, I notice you're not being as faithful as you used to or you know, how's this going? He goes, man, he said, just the flesh is weak, preacher. And I said, it is. What are you doing about it? My flesh is just as weak as your flesh. But if I trust in my flesh, The vessel of my life will go splat when the storms come upon it. If I want it built upon a rock, it's gonna come because I made a perspicuous choice, and that first choice is being and having and maintaining a prepared mind. That's what Peter's saying, gird up the loins of your mind. Notice the second thing that's going to come. If I'm going to have this sound mind, it's gotta be prepared. But notice number two, it's gotta be sober. That's an interesting word, be sober. Now this word sober has with it and carries with it the idea of watchfulness. In fact, several times in the New Testament watching and being sober are mentioned together. And by the way, we all need sobriety of mind. I need a prepared mind. I need a sober mind. Listen to these words in Titus. Titus is being sent to plant a church in Crete. The church is in Crete. In verse 2, the scripture says, but speak thou the things that would become sound doctrine. And I'm just gonna kinda touch on these, but listen to it carefully. He's about to admonish, and really he's being conveyed in what he should admonish to each gender, the two genders, and each generation that exist. You know, a challenge can be in ministry of laboring intergenerationally. You know, when you're dealing with... I had a conversation this morning about millennials. I self-identify as a geriatric millennial, you know. But you can have troubles a little bit between generations. But there seems to be a common theme that Titus is communicating to all believers, male and female, aged and young. Let me read these to you. It says, as you preach these things and become sound doctrine, I'm in Titus 2. that the aged man be sober, grave, and temperate, sound in the faith, charity, and in patience. So, what's the first and foremost thing of the aged man? Have some sober-mindedness. The aged women, likewise, that they be as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things, Why? Verse 4, that they may teach the young women, first thing off the bat, to be sober. And then he comes to verse 6. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. It's always jumped off the page to me. In every generation, sobriety of mind. It's a considerably easy thing in the Christian life to have a mind that's not really seriously committed to doing right. And why not so? There is the allure of this world. There's a hundred things my mind on a regular basis and your mind on a regular basis can go about and go to and from and seek to engage in. It's not to say that they're sinful. I'm not saying that. I'm saying they're distracting me from a preeminent responsibility that I have to be a discerning, sound, sober-minded believer. Many a young man, a young woman got carried away with things that they didn't think mattered. It's interesting to me that the older you get in life, you tend to get more serious about things. There's a natural reason for that. And God hears it, admonishing that there be some sober-mindedness in the life of His people. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, He exhorts them, In 2 Timothy chapter 4, to the preacher Timothy, the Lord admonished, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof thy ministry, that word, watch thou in all things, akin to the sobriety. In 1 Peter chapter 4, you're here in 1 Peter, you can turn there, look in chapter 4 and verse 7. Peter's gonna comment yet again on how important it is to have a serious mindset. We want a life that's blessed of God. You want a sound mind? Well, number one, a sound mind is a prepared mind. Number two, a sound mind is a sober, serious mind. Listen, 1 Peter 4. Draw your eyes in verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore what? Sober and watch unto prayer. a level of seriousness. Notice, if you will, in the fifth chapter, he gives you a motive on why you need sobriety and seriousness of mind. Look, if you will, in verse number eight. What does that start off with? Be sober! Be vigilant! The word vigilant It means to keep awake, to be watchful. Why? Why must I be sober and vigilant? Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. What I'm trying to relate to you is if we want a mind that is prepared to hope in God, if we want a mind that is prepared in our life to be blessed of God, if we want security in our mind that comes to the peace of God, it is an intentional decision. And that mind must be prepared to labor for God. It must be prepared to study the word of God. It must be serious in nature. There are many dangers out there. Sometimes among the youth, we don't recognize how dangerous certain decisions are. You know why? Because there's always tomorrow. There's a common issue, I've noticed it, and I would tell you it's generationally common. A young man, he'd finish up high school and then go get a job. And what does he do right after that? He becomes the number one spender in the world. His eyes are bigger than his pocketbook. I can remember many of the guys I went to high school with and they got that first job and pretty soon before they married, they had a big truck and toys and we call those four wheelers, you know, and just a ton of stuff of that nature. Well a few years later they met a little lady and they decided that he was going to get married and they went out to buy a house and guess what they found out? That many of those youthful lusts that they had in their early days was going to impact their life into their late twenties and into their thirties. Now I'll tell you this. You ever been around someone that's been very serious about saving for retirement and they're getting within those last couple years of retirement? You know what they often seem to be? Tight wads. No Christmas gifts, no birthday gifts, no tips. Your taxes on your tips can be free because I ain't giving you one, you know. Well, I've got to be careful. This is serious. I'm going to get on a fixed income. They're being serious. Listen, that is what I'm trying to convey. There ought to be a seriousness in life. We think that we can do things and it doesn't have a consequence in life, that we can be casual with our minds, that we can let them wonder and dream and meditate on whatever and let let anything come in our heart and bounce around like a pinball machine and think that that does not have a spiritual, serious consequence in life. It does. Therefore, watch and be sober. I'll give you another passage. 1 Thessalonians 5, and I believe it's 21st verse. Listen carefully to this. This ought to be the directive of every child of God's life. Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. abstain from all appearances of evil. You know what the word prove means? Judge it. You see, too often, and this is especially common among younger believers, we think there's the promise of five years from now and we can make decisions now and it doesn't reverberate. But it does. You bring into yourself laziness in your spiritual life. I promise you, you'll be in a different place spiritually in five years than you wanted to be. You start making decisions based exclusively off of your preferences and what you like and what you dislike. I promise you that mindless embracing of your own theology will put you in a place where you did not want to be. And by the way, in a place where you cannot easily change. A sound mind is a very serious thing to have. It considers, in fact to prove all things, denotes at the very basis that I'm thinking about things. I'm litigating them in my heart and mind. Where's this action going to put me in five years? How's this going to navigate? As many a young couple, they marry someone and they think, well, I love them. And I know there's theological differences between us, but we're going to work that out after marriage. Friend, there's still couples that have been married 50 years that still can't be in agreement on which way the toilet paper goes. And you want to get into something about theology? Let me, let me tread out into the deep water. There's couples that go and they say, well, he saved and I'm saved or she saved and I'm saved, whichever the case would be. And we're mostly agreement. We're mostly agreement. And you can ask them a favor, a question. Y'all on the same spiritual plateau? Sometimes there'll be a mature Christian and they'll marry a very young Christian. They won't grow up as fast as you hope they will. you're going to have troubles. And you can apply that in nearly every circumstance. Be sober. Now notice the third characteristic, if you will, the power of a sound mind. What is the power of a sound mind? Well, it's a mind that is prepared. Number two, it's a mind that is serious. Let me give you a third thing. I want you to notice that last part. Hope to the end for the grace to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There's a mind that is secured in the hope of an almighty God. You're there in Romans, I believe. Keep your marker here in 1 Peter and look in Romans. I was reading through this some time ago actually for Thursday night. We're coming out of Romans 8 as many of you know. And verse 5 and 6 speaks of the mind. In fact, there's several references to the mind made in Romans chapter 8, but in verse 5 and 6, he says, those that are after the flesh do mind. If you circle that word, it means the idea of setting their mind. And if you set your mind one way, it's not set another way. Those that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit The emphasis is mine here. Do mind the things that are spirit. What's most important to you in life? Think about that for a moment. I'm not asking for your confession. We have no confessional booths here. We do have closets, but we keep stuff in them, not people and not skeletons. What's most important to you? What is it that motivates you? And that would be the point I'd make here for number three, you're hoping to the end. A sound mind is a motivated mind. What motivates you? Sometimes wealth is a motivator. People do things because financial ends. Sometimes it's prestige. People do things because of what others think of them. By the way, I think there can be such a thing as positive peer pressure. I'll be honest with you. I enjoy to preach, but sometimes you folks make it so hard for me because I think, man, I got this whole lesson ready last week and we put it on a PowerPoint, I'm talking about Sunday school, and we got a handout, and I think how disappointed people might be if I didn't have a PowerPoint and a handout. And so I go through that every week. Now don't tell me at the end of the service doesn't make any difference to me because then I'll spiral and I'll be all destroyed inside and I'll cancel Sunday school for a month. No, I tease. But you think about what motivates you. Sometimes it is the applause of men. Some of you go home this afternoon or last week's Father's Day and last month had Mother's Day or your anniversary Sunday and your personal anniversary. And maybe you'll do something very nice for your spouse. And you do kind of long to hear those words of appreciation and affection. And that fondness by which they spoke of the kind deed that you did is something of a motivation for you to what? Do it again. What motivates you? See, here's an interesting thing. Are you motivated spiritually or carnally? He goes on in verse 6, for the carnal mind or for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. He speaks in the following verse about the carnal mind being enmity against God. You see, biblical hope produces a sound mind because it is a mind that is motivated in the promises of God. and therefore it rest in God's glorious promises. It's forward-looking by faith. Romans chapter 8 here and verse 24 and 25, notice this. For we're saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what man seeth. Why doth he yet hope for it? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. See, one of the glorious things about biblical hope, it provides that endurance for me and it motivates me with each passing today to know that I'm going to one day be in the presence of God all to stir me and accelerate me down life's road. One day that I'm going to give an account of my life and I don't want a building in my life that I have built on the glorious, sufficient foundation of Jesus Christ and watch it careened because I have lived and made my decisions carnally minded. because I decorated this, and I'm speaking metaphorical in a moment, that I've dedicated this house to that which pleased me. And I put the windows and the roofs and the fashions that I wanted, and I never had the sobriety and preparation of mind to ever consider what God wanted in my life. And maybe there is the applause of man that says, my, that's a fancy, nice house that you've built with your life. But when it's weighted up against the eternal word of God, It will be proven forth in that day to be wood, hay, and stubble. No, biblical hope motivates us. A sound mind has the power of being a motivated mind because it rests in the glorious truths of the Word of God. Listen to what Paul says in verse 18 of this passage. This is a man that's going through trials. He says in verse 18, Wasn't the applause of men. He had brethren that he led to Christ, that he prayed for, that he taught and trained. And time passed and they said, Paul, you know what we think of you? You're not even an apostle. Wouldn't that be enough to make you quit? I think it would be. He's prayed and sought that men come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and was on the receiving end of threats and beatings and robberies. Wouldn't that be enough to make you quit? He's got infirmities of the flesh and no doubt they are linked together because of his arduous ministry to God. Wouldn't that be enough to say, well I'm done now? And even in Philippians chapter 1 he's imprisoned. Why? For preaching of the gospel of Christ and there were those that were preaching certain doctrines seemingly so that it would just add affliction to his bonds. Yet in Philippians chapter 1 he said, but I give thanks unto God. You note here in this phrase he says, "...they're not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." That's a sound mind, friend. It was motivated by the promises of the glorious truths of the Word of God. You're still in Romans 8. I want you to look at the last couple of verses. You see a sound mind recognizes God's Word and His truths that we, in verse 29, would be conformed to His very image. Perhaps I'll get here next week, but that conformed to the very image is wonderful. It's akin to the word fashioned. My friend, the Lord tells us in Romans 12, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Philippians 3 in verse 21, he says, for he shall change our vile bodies, fashioning them like unto his glorious body. That word fashion, it just carries with it the idea that he's going to remake. He's going to change. Now, yes, he's going to change me in the future. One day I'll have a new body. And I hope God's people say amen. But He should be fashioning you right now. He should be changing you right now. And it's biblical hope produced by the promises of God that create in you and I by His mighty working power a motivation to press forward. In verse 31 He says, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who could be against us? Verse 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? That ought to secure our mind a little bit. That God withheld not, God the Father withheld not the diadem of glory, Jesus Christ, but allowed him who was in the form of God, same as the word fashioning, to be made a little bit lower the angels that he might be exalted and it was for my redemption he gave me all things. Now notice verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is it that condemneth? It is God that died, yea rather is risen again who is even at the right hand of God and who also maketh intercession Prepositional phrase, for us. Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Should tribulation, shall distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? He quotes Psalm 44, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Isn't that amazing? Manifold temptation, Peter. Tried like unto fire. Paul saying, I could recite the 44th Psalm to you. And there's many believers, verse 36, that are killed all the day long. To be honest with you, I don't like to reflect on how easy it is to be a Christian at this time in our land. It's easy. I mean, we live in the day of bumper stickers. Honk if you love Jesus. We can fly our banners, we can come to church. What great sacrifice did you make to be in the assembly this morning? Missed an hour of sleep? Did you get to sleep in until 1130? What did it cost you? Paul's saying here, even if it cost you all things, you cannot compare that to the great promises of God that He has for you. What is this great promise that you speak of? Verse 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than what? Conquerors through Him that loved us. Now His personal reflection preserved for us for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, and in case you're wondering, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That's a hymn of security. It's the song of the sound mind. It's the song of the mind that is prepared. It's the song of the mind that is sober. And it's the song of the mind that is motivated to please God. Yes, there'll be manifold temptations. Yes, sometimes our faith will be tried by fire. Yes, sometimes there may be cost, but I reckon it all inferior to the great glory of God. And I am persuaded that He is able. and that he will keep that which is committed unto him until that day. My, it is because of his marvelous work that there is a sound mind. And that divine enabling of a sound mind can have a wondrous impact on the life of a believer. For his house, unlike the man that built on the miry sand, He that builds on the rock, his house will stand. The power of the sound. Let's stand on our feet this morning. Thank you for listening. If you would like to contact us, please write us at P.O. Box 126-541-Harrisburg, PA 17112 and visit our website at www.sbbcpa.org. Until next time!