I'm not going to be in Psalm 27 this morning, but I did want to go there for just a moment if you want to turn over there to the 27th Psalm, which is where we've been for those of you that haven't been with us. We've been going through the book of Psalms and most of the more distinguished elderly crowd says they'll die in the book of Psalms. But I was reading something this week where a man was going through and pulling out parts of Psalm 27 and making application of it to our Lord's death. Sorry, give me a second. This is bothering me in that pocket. I'm going to have to put it in my vest pocket. I can't handle the cord. sticking out from my suit jacket pocket. But anyway, he was pulling out verses from Psalm 27 and making application to our Lord's death and resurrection. And so I wanted to go there for just a moment. And one of the ones that struck me the most was verse number two. When the wicked even mined enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Can you see how there might be application of that verse, you know, to our Lord? You think about what, what particularly comes to mind? Hmm? Yeah, exactly. So this mob comes to the garden to arrest Jesus. And he says, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he says, I am he. And they all fall down backwards. They stumbled And they fell, didn't they? The amazing thing is that they got back up and finished what they had started. But when the wicked came upon me, came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Could we make further application? That was the application that this particular commentator was making to the second verse. You know, I would think, you know, there's other application that we could make. You think about the bulls of Bashan Scripture talks about had surrounded him. You think about the demons, you know, that were there. You think about how that the devil thought, I've won the day. I have the victory. He's being put to death. He's being crucified. And yet he rose from the grave. And, um, The devil was defeated. Death was defeated. The grave was defeated. The last enemy to be destroyed is... death, right? The Lord said upon the cross, it is finished, didn't He? So, we're not without application, you know, to some of the things that we've been looking at in Psalm 27, but I think also of Colossians 2.15 where it says that He spoiled principalities and powers. Now, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, right? But what? Against what? Spiritual wickedness, and I know we've got different versions, so I'm going to say it differently. But, you know, wickedness in high places, right? So, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly. He led captivity, because we were captive, weren't we? He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. He spoiled. You think about when an opposing army goes and defeats, you know, their enemy and they spoil, you know, the enemy. How many times do we see in Scripture where Israel went against, you know, a nation and they spoiled that nation and brought back But he spoiled the enemy. He led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men. But he says he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it, right? So just a little bit of Psalm 27 this morning, but I want you to turn with me to 1 Peter, the first epistle of Peter, the first chapter. And really the third verse, 1 Peter 1, 3 really is going to be our focus this morning, but I'll read a little more to you. I'll just, I'll begin reading in verse number one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the stranger scattered. throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace be multiplied." What an introduction to a letter, right? How you doing? Verse number three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible Think about that for a moment. What God has done in you is not corruptible. Incorruptible. Undefiled, it says. And that fadeth not away. No end unto it. Earnest of our inheritance. Full inheritance we're going to receive. It's not going to fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you. Has the color of our hair faded? Have your cars faded? Have your clothes faded? How many things have faded? There's lots of things that have faded. But the youthful look that we once had upon our faces, it's faded. Some of us retained it a little better than others, but it's faded. But this doesn't fade away. There is not going to be any tarnishing. The moths are not going to eat this thing up. You know, this is what God has prepared. It is what God has provided and it will not fade away. And it is reserved. You know, have you ever had a reservation canceled? You know, because an event was canceled? This reservation is not going to be canceled. It is reserved in heaven for you. Why is it not going to fade away? Why is it not going to be canceled? Well, verse number 5 says that we are kept by the power of God. How are you going to make it? How are you going to get to the end? Kept by the power of God. How are you going to make it through another day? How are you going to make it through that situation at work? How are you going to make it through that situation maybe in your family or in the community? How are you going to make it through these things? What if you were the parent of that 13-year-old girl that Brother JT told us about that died in that ATV? We say accident. Are there any such things? Not with God. How are you going to make it through a 13-year-old child dying? How are you going to make it through your spouse dying, kept by the power of God? Does that mean that we may not get pretty low? I've been pretty low, I don't know about you. How are we going to make it? Kept by the power of God through faith. I was talking to somebody this morning about going through a difficult time and how are we going to make it through that? We're kept. We need to rely upon that and praise the Lord for that, that we're kept by His power. I've gotten to the end of my rope lots of times, but I wasn't to the end of God's rope. I wasn't in a place where His hand was too short. or his ear was too dull. No, kept by the power of God unto salvation. That's the end, the end of our earthly existence, the salvation that's reserved in heaven for us. We're kept all the way there, kept secure. There's some assurance. I may not be assured so much upon what I'm able to do or how that I may feel right now, but I can be assured in what God's able to do and what He has promised, right? So, wherein you greatly rejoice, verse six says, though now for a season. Here we are, right? So we're talking about if need be, you are. And so what are you going through right now? The Bible says, if need be, that's where you are. If need be, you'll go through that. Right? If need be, that thing is going to show up on your doorstep. And it may be dressed in dread array, as the hymn says. Though now for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold, many trials, many troubles, many tribulations. that the trial of your faith, and I said this to someone this morning, we were talking about this, you know, these things come, why do they come? Well, one reason I can assure you, it's because God is, he sent it, I was about to say it aloud and I was gonna get a look from Brother Bruce, but he sent that thing, right? But why'd he send it? What's the purpose of it being there? What good is it doing you? What was it, brother? To glorify Him? Sure, absolutely. Absolutely to glorify Him. What else? Sanctification. Draw near. We sang that hymn, The Secret Place, and Under the Shadow of His Wing. I don't know what these hens that we have, the wings that they may spread out, we've never let them hatch, any little chicks, but if they were to spread out their wings, could that chicken hawk still get them? Yeah, probably happens all the time. You know, we've had the chicken hawk take adult chickens. What's a little nugget, you know, to them? They fly right off with that, right? They may not be able to fly off with a full-grown bird, but, you know, with a little bitty chick, they could take off with that. But guess what? Under the shadow of his wings. What's going to touch you there? In His hand, what's going to pluck you out of that place? I'm going off preaching more verses than what I had intended on. I want to stay with verse number three. I went back to see the last time I went through 1 and 2 Peter at one time. I think it was about 12 years ago that we went through this study. Peter in our passage mentions in verse number three, a living hope. It's not a dead hope, not a vain hope, but it's a living hope. It's alive within you. If you're a believer, you have a living, abiding hope. It's not going to fade away. There may be things that affect you and your feelings. That affect your circumstances, but this hope doesn't fade away. This hope is going to abide. The Lord is going to keep you. This is a living hope. When everything else there is that we hold onto is gone, this remains, this living hope. So he mentions living hope. And so in thinking about that living hope, I was trying to imagine the disciples. And I was trying to imagine from the time the Lord found them, right? From the time the Lord found them. I know Andrew runs to Peter and says, we found him, but he found them, right? But from the time the Lord found them until the time that he was taken from them. I've been thinking about that a lot this week. When he was taken from them, Did not their hope seem dim? Do we not see that expressed, you know, in Scripture? Can you imagine walking with the Lord? The Messiah, the long-awaited Messiah has come. And having walked with the Lord those three years, you know, John, in the very beginning, he points and Andrew, you know, sees who he's pointing to and he says, behold, the Lamb of God, and we'll kind of come full circle to that later during communion, but he says, Behold the Lamb of God. John says, We beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He says, We heard Him. We saw Him. He says, Our hands even handled Him. Then he was arrested with a different kind of hand. Those hands that handled him that John was speaking of, you know, were hands that adored him, were hands that loved him, were hands that worshipped him. And then a different set of hands in the garden arrested him, Peter says, with wicked hands in another place. They tried him. They tortured him. They crucified him by the very hands that he had made. He made those hands that crucified him. He made that mouth that spat upon him and cursed him and said, if you'd be the son of God, come down off of that cross. He was buried, and the apostles, like I said, trying to enter into, you know, where they were in these days, they seemed to be baffled by it all, right? And so, we look at places like, well, let me go on and say the miracles they saw, the nearness to the Lord that they knew, how they left all to follow Him, right? They began to hear the Lord say such things, though, during that time, as in Luke 9, 44. He says, And after all that they had seen, the miracles and things they had seen, That didn't sink in, I don't think. The Lord said, let these things sink into your ears, but it didn't really sink in because verse 45 says, they understood not the same. And it was hid from them. So we know why they didn't understand it right. It was hid from them. That they perceived it not, and they feared to ask Him of that saying. I assure you that during the Bible conference that just happened, whenever they had the question and answer discussion, there were people that were afraid to ask questions. It's always that way. And I think there was in this situation an anonymous way for people to ask. Brother Conrad would always Tell people, OK, we're going to have the Q&A this afternoon. If you have a question, write it down and lay on the pulpit. And so people could do that without fear of knowing who asked the question. Because there's always somebody out there, and I've been that person myself before, and I'm sure you have too, that thinks that's a stupid question. Other people know that. It's simple. But it's the thing that person's going through, and they need help. And they may be afraid to ask the question, but they feared to ask Him that saying. And you go on to places like Mark 9, 31, where He taught His disciples and said unto them, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him. And after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day. Can you imagine their minds trying to figure all this out? Truly, it was baffling to them. Verse 32 says, they understood not the saying and were afraid to ask Him. You know, they had been with the Lord, the Lord taught them so much, but yet they still would retreat within themselves and not ask the question. Luke 18 31 says, then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished. Their minds must have been racing, you know, through passages. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit upon. And they shall scourge him and put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none. None, it says, of these things. And this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which are spoken." When it happened, when the Lord was arrested, when He was taken and He was tried and He was scourged and He was brought out, who shall release? Jesus of Nazareth or Barabbas? And the people cried out, Barabbas. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Let His blood be upon us and our children. Isn't that amazing? Can you imagine the despair? Can you imagine the doubt creeping in? The devastation of it all. They didn't want Him to depart. They didn't want Him to leave. They wanted to remain by His side. I mean, we know something of this, don't we? I mean, I think there'll be a day that, and in Psalm 27 talks about it, when my father and mother forsake me, the Lord shall take me out. There's coming a day they're not gonna be here anymore. You know, we enjoy these days, and Brother JT stands up here and speaks to us, one day he's not gonna be here anymore. Your spouse that you have loved for so many years, one day is not going to be here anymore. And if you could keep them and hold on to them, you would. And they would have held on to the Lord and kept Him if they could. Imagine Peter having denied the Lord three times how he must have felt. How troubled he must have been. I mean, even Judas went out and hung himself. Why didn't Peter go out and hang himself? Kept by the power of God. Kept by the power of God. He was kept from that. I'm not saying that people that are Christians have never hung themselves. It's happened. Why was Peter kept from hanging himself, though, like Judas? Kept by the power of God. Through faith. Through faith. He was deeply troubled though, surely. So they seemingly spent those days in gloom. We have no doubt they were depressed. We have no doubt that they were confused. We just have to go to Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus and we see it, don't we? Luke 24, 13 says, and behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score furlongs. And they talked together of these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said to them, what manner of communication are these that you have with one another as you walk and you're sad? And one of them said, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Have you not known the things that have come to pass in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. And besides that, they said, but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, there's these things that he said to us that we couldn't comprehend. Besides all this, today's the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company have made us astonished. which were early at the sepulcher when they found not his body. They came saying that they'd also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. They didn't have just the things that Jesus said during those three years of his earthly ministry, they had the things the prophets had said. So he says in verse number 26, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone further, but they constrained him. saying, abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. That was customary, wasn't it? You meet a stranger along the way and you've got the place that you're abiding and they don't have anywhere to stay, come and stay with us. The day is far spent. And he went in to Terry with them and marked the fact that he's not revealed himself unto them yet, right? And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and break, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. I mean, you imagine all these feelings, all these thoughts, all these things running through their hearts and minds. And they rose up the same hour. Remember it was late in the day, right? They rose up the same hour, it says, and returned to Jerusalem. And the journey they had made, they made it back and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them saying, the Lord is risen indeed. We just saw him. He came to us on the road to Emmaus and he revealed himself unto us. The Lord is risen indeed. And it appeared to Simon, and they told what things were done in the way, and how that he was known of them in the breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, peace be unto you. And still, right? I mean, we would want to say that we would respond differently if the Lord appeared unto us, but it says that they were terrified. and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen the Spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? And they were full of those, weren't they? They were full of trouble, full of thoughts arising in their hearts. Behold my hands and feet. that it is I myself, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, okay, you're still, you know, not there. Do you have any meat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you. I said these things to you. I told you these things. I let you know about these things before time, that all these things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms." We're going to the book of Psalms, right? And in the Psalms, concerning me. Then he opened their understanding. Young people, as you meet on Tuesday nights, it is not Steve Lawson that's going to open your understanding, because they have a study guide that they're using that Steve Lawson has written. When they were going through the things, it's not R.C. Sproul that's going to open your understanding. It's God. And when you meet, you need to go to Him in prayer, and you need to ask that He would open your understanding. When we come here, adults, to this place, whenever I sit down at my desk, which I don't get to do as often as I would like, And Teresa is often up and comes through the door whenever I'm sitting there and my phone rings. Or the phone is a text coming through and the day is beginning. And she hears the sigh because it's time for me to get up and go to work. how we need to seek the Lord to give us understanding as we come together. We're not going to have any unless the Lord opens our understanding. I'm not saying you can't read these words and you don't understand the English language. I'm saying for these to make any impact upon your life in any meaningful way, the Lord is going to have to do it. I can't do it. I can study all week. I can't do it. You can't do it. You parents, you can't do it for your kids. God has to give them an understanding. I'm not saying we don't speak to them and we don't point them to Christ and we don't speak to one another and point one another to Christ going beyond our children. But the Lord is going to have to open the understanding Then he opened their understanding that they might, excuse me, understand the scriptures. And he said unto them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my father upon you. And they weren't going to be left comfortless, right? He was going to send. He would depart, but He was going. They would watch Him ascend, right? But He would send unto them the Comforter. Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. Where does power come from? It comes from God. The power to believe. I mean, Paul's in prison for speaking the truth, for preaching the gospel, and yet he prays in Ephesians 6 saying, and pray for me, that I might boldly speak as I ought to speak. Right? How are we going to boldly speak as we ought to speak? I'm not ashamed to tell you, especially as a young man, it's not so much in these days as it was in those, but I was afraid. There was fear. It wasn't fear that paralyzed me and overcame me to keep me from preaching, especially when I'd get in situations to preach to 300 people. you know, or maybe more. Where does power come from? Where does strength come from? That's just one thing. We could speak about different things in every one of our lives. Where does the power come from for that? The power to go on, but kept by the power of God, right? Till you be endued with power from on high. Where would we be without the Spirit of God? I mean, what if you'd just been forgiven of your sins and left in that condition? You know, well, the Lord's died for your sins. You know, you're going to go to heaven one day. But until then, you just got to abide and somehow muddle through. No, the Spirit of God abides with us. The fruits of the Spirit are born within us, right? So power from on high. You think they might have been afraid? They'd gathered themselves up and they'd hold themselves up in that. I mean, you might as well have, you know, the, you know, opposing gang back in the Wild West, you know, and they're coming after, you know, the good guys and they'd hold themselves up, you know, with OK Corral or whatever. They had arrested the Lord and put Him to death. Do you not think that there was some fear within them? That the same thing might not happen to them? I mean, they heard what the Lord said in the garden and said, I'm the one you're seeking, let these alone. The shepherd was going to be smitten and the sheep were going to be scattered. He led them out as far as to Bethany. I mean, it was just like old times, right? He was leading his own alone. And he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them. They lost him once. You know, at the cross and here He was departing again. And carried up into heaven and they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And certainly there would be, wouldn't there? Wouldn't there be? I mean, they were confused about all these things and the Lord's appeared unto them. He's come and made Himself known unto them. He's opened their understanding and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually... There wasn't a question about You remember even John the Baptist, he sends word, are you him? Or should we look for another? Think some of that might not have passed through their minds when the Lord was crucified? But here their understanding has been opened and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually, now where are they at? Continually in the temple, those were the people that had arrested the Lord. were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. They understood the Lord had risen. He's alive, resurrected from the dead. Their hope, now we're back to 1 Peter 1.3, their hope was alive. Yes, we sang that song. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust, what? Hmm? The sweetest frame, what does that have to do with? I've told you before. What does that have to do with? I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. What's the hymn writer saying? I dare not trust the sweetest frame. Are there frames of mind that you have? I mean, here everything's going okay. You know, everything's going my way, zippity-doo-dah, right? I dare not trust the sweetest frame. Paul said he had learned to be content in all things, whether he had or whether he had not. He lived when he had as though he had not, when he had not as though he had. The Lord's my provider. The Lord's my strength. The Lord's my song. I'll rejoice in him. If I have, if I have not, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Maybe to make that hymn mean a little more to you, I don't know. But, I mean the hymn writer is not here for us to question him. You know, but we had to have something to do with that sort of a thought, but ours is a living hope. That's what Peter's telling us in 1 Peter 1, 3. Peter exclaims this living hope in a living Savior. Now, those three days they spent before they had seen the Lord risen from the dead, they had hope. I'm not saying it was gone, but there were a lot of things that were creeping in. They were being kept by the power of God through faith. Even on the road to Emmaus, they said, and this is the third day. You know, there was some hope that was still alive. This is a living hope though. This is the hope the disciples had when they were in despair, until they knew that Christ had risen from the grave. Peter says that we are begotten again. Born again, right? Born anew, right? Born from above, right? Begotten again. unto a lively hope, having this hope of salvation. I feel sorry for you this morning if you are here and you do not have this living hope. I feel sorry for your soul. if you don't have this living hope. Yeah, there's some that are without, their understanding hasn't been opened. They were like Lydia, her heart was open, the Lord opened her heart. There are some who don't have this living hope. If you're a child of God, you have this living hope. If you're not, then you don't. What a hope, because he lives. You ask me how I know He lives? Isn't that a hymn we sing? He lives within my heart. He abides with me and in me. He is with me constantly, everywhere that I go. David said, there's nowhere that I can go. Even if I go to the grave, behold, thou art with me. Did y'all read that that I sent to you? Those of you that are able to get that, I'll have to print it out for others if you want it, but that little four-year-old boy, And he was saying, Mom, come here. He couldn't understand why his mom couldn't see what he saw, but he saw the Lord coming for him. Haven't you read accounts like that before? How men upon their deathbed, they were so weak and feeble and frail, and they would raise up. And then they were gone and their bodies sunk back down. I've read accounts of the reverse as well. Demons coming through walls in hospital rooms and nurses watching men that did not know anything about the grace of God and knew only condemnation and judgment and the cries, not from physical pain of their physical malady. but cries that arose because of that that was coming to drag them, as it were, into the depths of that hell itself. Spurgeon said, and truly this is a blessing beyond all comparison, this thing that Peter's talking about here in 1 Peter 1, or imagination, that we have been begotten again by the divine Father unto a living hope, for that is better rendering than lively, he says. Our first birth brought us into sin and sorrow, but our second birth brings us into purity and joy. We were born to die, now we are born never to die, begotten again, unto a life that shall remain in us evermore, a life which shall even penetrate these mortal bodies and make them immortal by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's the power of God that's in operation in you. John 1.13 says, this begotten again, we're born not of blood, not by blood relation. We're Abraham's seed, they said. born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." It's the power of God. He's caused us to be born again. It's God's work, you know, within us. You know, the Pharisees, they went about trusting in their own work, went about establishing their own righteousness. You remember the rich young ruler that comes and says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You hear what he's saying. What must I do? I've done all sorts of things. I've kept those commandments since my youth. It's nothing different than the Pharisee and the publican, is it? I've given tithes. I have done this. I've done that. I'm not like that man over there, that publican. The Bible tells us he prayed thus with himself. He prayed with himself. Why have we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved? What have you been saved from? Have you been saved from anything? I mean, if you're saved, you've been saved from something. What have you been saved from? Have you been saved from your sins? Is there a work that's been done within you where you long for righteousness and holiness? You long to please God in all that you do. Or have you just done this morning what Brother JT was talking about and shown up just to appease the conscience for one more week? Lord, I showed up today. I listened to that preacher ramble on for an hour today. I sang those hymns today. What kind of credit does that get me? What will that buy me? What have I produced? What have you been saved from? Have you been saved from the wrath to come? Have you been saved from the wrath to come? Saved from a holy God who will judge men for their sin. Therefore, we who have been saved warn people, flee. Wrath is coming. Flee. Death is coming. Another hymn, hell is moving. Can we bear to let them go? Time is short. The time is short. So we warn people, flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, because y'all listen to that testimony that I sent out? Brother Jimmy, did y'all see that? If you didn't listen to it, go back and listen to it. Brother Jimmy Downing, did you see it, sister, on signal? He should be back there somewhere. But he was a flight line mechanic in the Air Force. Guess what? The Lord sent a flight line mechanic with a tail number just the one after his to tell him. And he was raised Catholic but didn't know anything about the Bible, didn't know anything about God. And the man told him, you're going to hell. That was startling news for him. What do you mean? I'm going to hell. I've been to church. I believe there's a God. I've got a Bible. You know all those things in his mind. He goes home and tells his wife Kim like. This is what this man said to me. You know. The Lord graciously saved both husband and wife. Then they had a child brought up in a godly home who despised the fact that he was homeschooled, despised the fact that he was drugged to church, called their Christianity a cult, and would call his father often and just spew you know, these things out. Until one day, his dad, who'd been praying for him, gets a phone call. He looks at his phone, he sees his son's name, and his heart begins to sink because he knows what this phone call, he thinks, is going to be like and what he's going to have to endure. And his son tells him, Dad, the Lord saved me. I'm so sorry for all that I said and all that I've done. Forgive me. That is the power of God. Jimmy couldn't save his son, but God mercifully and graciously did so. He says in there, he said, I didn't think there was any hope for my son, but God graciously saved him. These are great realities that we're talking about this morning. A man named Gerald Bilk said this, he said, Christianity does not deal in small realities. These things that we're talking about, these are the greatest of realities. This goes beyond the theory of relativity. This goes beyond E equals MC squared. This goes beyond the highest of intellect that men have produced and accomplished. These are eternal realities. So Christianity does not deal in small realities, but in great realities. One man said, when God deals with us, you think about when God dealt with you, when God opened your understanding. He says, we do not try to make our sins appear little. We saw our sins as great, great sins in the sight of a holy God and the eternal reality of being cast into hell forever. He said, most people imagine a little God with a little wrath against whom they've sinned just a little. And as a result, they only need a little pardon. a little holiness, a little Christ, and a little heaven until the time when they drop into a great hell because they were greatly mistaken. You may have heard me repeat that in a funeral message if you've been to some of them. Not what most people sitting there want to hear. But we were dead in trespasses and in sins, weren't we? But Christ, if you are in him, hath quickened us. There's that living hope. There's that being begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Listen to what Ephesians 1 says. Ephesians 1 19 says, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe? Stop and think about that a second. the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe. According to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, you have been risen as it were from the dead already. There are dead people walking all over the face of this earth that do not know anything about God, truly, really. That's just the little kids next door. We were out here yesterday and they're not in trouble. You don't need to go out and try to, you know, probably heard of last night, you know, but they've got a little swing set just right here by the side of the building and, and it's two little sisters and they fought some of the time. Um, imagine that, um, siblings fighting, uh, over the swing, even though there's two of them, you know, fight over this one. I want the one on the left, not the one on the right, you know? Um, but that's what that is. So, but His mighty power wrought in Christ, raising Him from the dead. You have had that, if you're in Christ, you have had that power wrought in you. Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. In that place that we read in 1st Peter that's reserved in heaven for you. First Peter 1.23 says, being born again not of corruptible seed, right? We already spoke about that, didn't we? That work that has been done within you is not corruptible. The devil has been bound and cast out and he cannot overthrow the work that God has done within you. Don't you feel sorry for people who think that's the case? They are in a state of flux all the time. They're saved, and then they're lost, and then they're saved again, and then they're lost again. They don't know this assurance that we have in Christ. You know, I didn't write it down, so I may not, maybe Brother Bruce or somebody can help me, but the Amish people, I believe, they don't have, as far as what they're taught, they don't have any true assurance. They can only hope that what righteousness that they have done, when added to the righteousness of Christ, will be enough. Again, a sad place to exist. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Forever. This work, it's a forever work. It's a work that can't be undone. You think about Christian and pilgrim progress when his name was graceless. You know, before he received the name Christian, you know, he talks about being undone. You know, everything that he had hoped in before, whatever righteousness that he had held to, whatever hope that he had had to escape the city of destruction in and of himself was undone. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, right? So is this hope alive within you? Do you have hope in Christ? Do you have hope of heaven? When you think upon that day that will come, unless the Lord returns while we're still alive, but when you think upon that day of your death, which is not a subject that you'd like to dwell upon, I have to call your attention to it. Or the Lord has to call your attention to it. that our life is but a vapor. It appears for a little while and then vanishes away. And the scripture says, teach us to number our days. But that day will come. Do you have hope of heaven? Do you have hope of the Lord saying unto you, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into my kingdom of joy and gladness? Do you have hope in Christ? Hope of forever being with the Lord? Can you exclaim with Peter here, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope? Because your sins have been nailed to the cross because they are no more. cast far as the east is from the west, been tossed over into that sea that has no bottom and has no shore. Because there is therefore now no condemnation, because you now have acceptance before God, because you are dressed in the righteousness of Christ alone. Do you have this hope or are you hoping in something else? If you're hoping in something else, your hope is vain. Your hope is vain. It's dead. It's worthless if your hope is in anything other than Christ. And let me add to that, anything in addition to Christ. You know, that would be the Amish position, I suppose. What are you resting in? if not in Christ's righteousness. What are you resting in? Hopefully, that's your hope. Hopefully, you're not like some who depend upon their own goodness for favor with God. Hopefully, your hope's not bound up in what you can do. If it is, your hope's in the wrong place. Your hope's in the wrong place. Your righteousness, the scripture says, has to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. They were the epitome of those who attended church. They were the epitome of those who memorized scripture. They were the epitome of those who prayed and made long pretense of prayer upon street corners. You know, they were those who all around them thought, these are the religious boy. They have really attained a higher plane, you know, as it were. But that's not our hope. Our hope is in Christ. If your righteousness doesn't exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you have no hope of heaven. It's got to go beyond that. Remember what the Lord said about them? Do as they say. They sit in Moses' seat. What they're saying is true. But don't do as they do. There's no living hope in them. They weren't born again. They weren't begotten from above. Peter says it's according to God's great mercy, to His abundant mercy, to His riches towards us in Christ. If you don't have this hope, seek to know the Lord. Seek to know the salvation that's to be had in Him. Repent of your sins. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That mercy is abundant. It's abundant. Why will you die, the scripture says? Though your sins be as scarlet, they can be white as snow. Have you not ever had people to tell you, oh, I couldn't come into your church? The roof would cave in. You don't know the things I've done. My reply is, you don't know the things that I've done. and the forgiveness and the mercy and the grace that I found in Christ. I'm not gonna compare sins with you, but I assure you that mine are as great as yours, especially in the sight of a holy God. He hasn't run out of grace. Well, I'm gonna have to skip over some things because I'm not gonna be able to make it through all of them. Can you exclaim these things with Peter and say, with Paul, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? This corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality. 2 Peter 1.4 says we've been made partakers of the divine nature. Do you just read over these things? Will you stop and think about that? Made partakers of the divine nature, the very nature of God. That is incredible. That ought to cause your heart to sing and to rejoice. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Don't you see people around you dying and going to hell every day? Have you escaped this corruption? Well, here's a test. The epistles of John are good about this, right? 1 John 3, 3, every man that hath this hope, it's a living hope, we're talking about a living hope, has this hope in him purified himself even as he is pure. Is that a reality in your life? Biblical hope is not found in crossing one's fingers and saying, oh, I hope that I'll make it to heaven. No, our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It's not, oh, I hope it'll be so. That was the Amish position that I told you about. They hope they might, maybe it could be, maybe I've done enough. No, this is a living hope that Peter talks about, a certain hope. I hesitate whether to use this illustration or not. I actually used it in his presence, because he used an illustration once, and he said, before I got married, you know, he said, I had hope, but after I got married, I had no hope. And it was a bad, bad analogy when it got to that side of things, that he had no hope when he got married. What he was trying to say was, you know, that he had this hope towards getting married, but then he saw the fulfillment of it. He didn't have to hope for it anymore. He had it. He knew it. He possessed it. And so we have this living hope, you know, that in the same way we'll find the fullest expression of it in the eternal life that is to be ours in heaven. Will we have enough money to retire? Those questions go through our minds, don't they? You know, what about long-term care? Will I have enough money for that when I get to that place? I've got to be put into somewhere that's going to be very expensive every day. Will I have enough of this or that? Right? Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. One thing, right? Last week. One thing. We hope for what we desire to obtain, and there's a certainty. It's a living hope. It's reserved in heaven for us. It's not going to fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you. That's where our assurance is. It's found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has risen again from the dead. He's resurrected and ascended on high, and He's seated at the right hand of the Father. Hebrews 619 says, which hope we have as an anchor, this living hope, this hope we have as an anchor, an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that that is within the veil. And heaven hasn't been opened unto us yet in that sense. I mean, we're seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We haven't received the fullness of our inheritance yet. But we have this hope, and it's a living and abiding hope, and it's an anchor for the soul. We're kept by the power of God. It's sure. It's not like some of those movies where they throw the anchor out, and it's just dragging along the sand and the bottom of the sea floor. No, this has found a point that it's anchored within, this hope that we have, and it's in Christ. It's again that rock. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. This is where our hope is, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within.