If you've found your place, I'll ask you to stand. We'll reverence the Word of God. Romans 15, I'm going to begin reading verse number 8. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, For this cause, I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. And again, he saith, rejoice ye Gentiles with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye people. And again, Isaiah saith, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now look at verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Word of God today. We thank you, Lord, for the worship of your saints, the songs that have been sung. Thank You, Lord, that salvation is free and the Lord Jesus didn't cost us a thing, but Lord, thank You that it was not a priceless sacrifice, Lord. It cost heaven, the very, very Son of God. And we thank You, Lord, for providing salvation for us. Lord, we look to the Word of God today to give us strength and instruction, comfort and help. And I pray that as we look at these verses, You just open these verses up to our understanding, apply the truth to our heart, And Lord, have your perfect will accomplished in this service. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want to preach on that thought. Rejoice with one another in hope. Now, for those of you just joining us, or even for those of us like myself, Sometimes our memory's not the best and I'm quick to forget. And so just by way of reminder, we've been looking at this section, which really starts in chapter 14, verse 1, and it concludes in verse 13, the verse that I finally read here. It is a section in the Word of God that deals with unity among God's people as it pertains to liberty in Christ. When you open chapter 14, you learn that there were those who were considered weak. Weaker brothers, weaker sisters, weaker Christians in the faith. Others that were considered as stronger in their walk with the Lord. So you have the weak and the strong. What's amazing is, is neither one is spoken of as being any lesser a Christian. They're both just as much a Christian as the other. Though one may be a little stronger in their faith, one may be a little stronger in their understanding, One may be a little stronger in their liberty. We've discussed how there are black and white issues that are clearly stated in the Word of God that are not up for debate. We don't negotiate with one another as God's people with the Word of God concerning black and white issues. If the Bible says it's wrong, We must have the courage and boldness to stand for what is right and against what is wrong. But there are areas of our lives where the Bible does not speak plainly and specifically. And those are areas where it is left up to the individual's conscience. And one individual may have liberty in their conscience to do a certain thing or to participate in a certain activity that someone else may not have. And it can be things that are real serious and things that may not be very serious. And we're not going to get into all that. That's the other messages. But this is the conclusion of those thoughts. I've tried to bring out three principles, and today the fourth principle. The first one we found in chapter 14, 1-12, and that was the principle of receiving one another with mutual respect. that you and I as believers can receive one another into Christian fellowship and we can continue serving the Lord together with a mutual respect one for another. We don't have to be haughty or proud or arrogant looking down our nose at someone else. We don't have to be legalistic and condemn others, but we can have a mutual respect one for another around the fact that Jesus Christ has given Himself for us, has died in our place, and we're all His children. Look to verse 13 to 23 on this principle, edify one another without offending. And how that as we coexist in the local church and in the body of Christ, that even when there are differences, we are to be able to edify one another. Sometimes for the stronger Christian, that means laying aside some liberty that might offend a weaker Christian to help build them up and strengthen them in the faith. But we are to edify one another and to do so without offending one another. We're not to put a stumbling block and an offense before a brother or sister in Christ, something that would cause them to fall or to hinder them in their walk with the Lord. Chapter 15, last time we looked at verses 1-7 on this principle, cherish one another without prejudice. that we ought to be able to cherish and love one another without being prejudiced against one another. And now today I want to look at this thought which is the title of our message, this fourth and final principle in this section of Scripture, rejoice with one another in hope. Rejoice with one another in hope. And here's the point these verses is making, if we're saved, were saved by Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross of Calvary, we were all saved the same way. In the immediate context, it was a little bit of a confrontation here between Jew and Gentile. The church at Rome, mostly made up of Gentiles, but also having Jewish believers. The Gentiles here in the text are the stronger brethren, having some liberties that the Jewish brethren didn't have. The Jewish brethren had come out of a life of Judaism, a works-based, legalistic-based religion. And they had to live according to the law, and even some of the things that weren't the law but were added as the traditions of men, they had to observe certain holy days. They couldn't eat certain meats. And that was the issue here in this portion of Scripture. It was those two things, days and diets. And that was where they had a lot of confrontation. And here the point's being made, whether you're Jew or Gentile, you're all saved by the same Savior. You're all going to the same heaven. God's included the Gentiles in His program. And we need to be able to rejoice together with one another in what Christ has done for us in lieu of the hope that we all have, that we all share. Whether strong or weak, whether Jew or Gentile, no matter who you are and where you are at in your walk with Christ, this one thing we have in common, we all have the same hope. And we thank the Lord for that and so we rejoice with one another in hope. And so that's the idea of where we want to look today and some of these thoughts that we're going to consider in these verses that we've read. I read a story about two mountain villages. And bear with me, I'm going to give you a parable, and then this parable, this story, I think will serve to help us with these verses. One of the villages got its water out of a spring. It was a spring way up in the mountains, and in the summer months, when the weather was dry, the spring would dwindle down to just a very small trickle. During the wetter months of the year, it would flow down, and there was plenty of abundance and supply for those that were thirsty. But in the summer months, when things got dry and hot and it was difficult. The water would just barely trickle and there was just barely enough water to keep the village alive. They'd have to go up into the mountains every day and collect just enough water to get them by. And then there was another village and in the center of that village there was a fountain. A fountain that was always flowing, springing up with a seemingly endless supply of thirst-quenching, life-sustaining water. It was an artesian well that continued to gush regardless of how much water was taken, regardless of how dry the summer months became. And this village always had an abundance of water, an abundance of supply for its own needs as well as for the needs of others around them. Now again, these two villages really stand for us as a parable today of you and I. And you and I are one of these two villages. They picture two kinds of Christians. Some believers that live a life like the dwindling, trickling stream that barely gives evidence of existence. And then the other Christian who lives a life that is overflowing with the spiritual blessings of God's redeeming grace that show forth His peace and the joy of the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been looking at the life of Elisha and some of our other services, and you'll remember that the theme of that study is the life of Elisha living the abundant Christian life. And Elisha lived the abundant Christian life. He had life and life more abundantly. That's what John chapter 10 verse 10 tells us that Christ came into the world to give His people, not just life, and He does, He gives us life, but that we might have life more abundantly. Speaking of living the abundant Christian life, this is a life that is overflowing with the blessings of the Spirit of God. And He tells us that when we trust Him, When we believe upon Him, we will be like an artesian whale that is springing up with life everlasting and abundance of resource and blessing to others. In fact, is that not what Jesus spoke of, of the ministry of the Holy Spirit? If any man thirsts, let him come to Me, and I will put within him a fountain. of living water springing up into everlasting life. God would have us to live the abundant Christian life. And we see that in these verses. The dead, dry Christian is a contradiction by the very nature. Jesus did not save us to be dry, dull, barely clinging to life. Christians, He saved us to be filled with His Spirit, to be full of His glory, to experience His peace, to have His joy unspeakable and full of glory as we sang about this morning. He saved us to overflow with spiritual bounty and spiritual blessing to each and every person, not only in our family or our church, but in the world that is around us. According to these verses, God has given us all that we need, not only to live our Christian life with abundance of peace, joy, and power, but also to be a blessing to others as well. And so with that in mind, I've got just two points today. Number one, I want us to see that we are to rejoice in the confirmation of the Savior's promise. And we see that in verse 8 down to verse 12. Rejoice in the confirmation of the Savior's promise. And then I would have us also to see today that the Lord would have us to rest in the confidence of the Spirit's power." Rest in the confidence of the Spirit's power. Notice first of all with me as we begin in verse number 8 and look at these verses, we're to rejoice. I find it interesting, rejoicing, joy. That's a major theme of the verses that I just read. I don't know if you were able to listen or if you were paying attention as I read or read along with me, but in these verses, the Bible tells us in verse number 9 about glory. It speaks of glorifying. It speaks of singing. Verse 10 speaks of rejoicing. Verse 11 speaks of praising the Lord and to loud Him. It means to cry out unto Him. Isaiah speaks of his reign over the Gentiles and in verse 13 how that fills us with joy, peace, and the power of the Holy Spirit. And so you see at least four or five times the emphasis of praise, rejoicing, or glorying in what the Lord has done for us. And so we are to rejoice in this confirmation. Now, as we think about this, I thought about how verse 8 introduces us to the source of our rejoicing. As we rejoice in the confirmation of our Savior's promise, notice it comes through Jesus Christ. Verse 8, now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God. And as we look at that, verse 8 tells us that the ministry of Jesus Christ was a confirmation of the promises of God made unto the Jewish fathers. You go back to the Old Testament and you find promise after promise after promise, literally after promise. You have the very first promise, redemptive promise in Genesis 3, verse 15, where he said that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, and the serpent would bruise his heel. That was a prophecy of Christ's coming and His redemptive power to conquer Satan and to bring victory over sin. You have the second promise in Genesis chapter 22, where he said that his seed would be a blessing to all the nation. And there it's a singular seed, the Lord Jesus. It wasn't just that Israel would bless the nations, though they have. The nations have been blessed by the nation of Israel. But we have been mostly blessed. The greatest blessing that came from the Jewish people was Jesus Christ, the seed. of Abraham, the seed of David, who grew up as a tender plant, Isaiah tells us, and became the sacrifice for our sins. And then you have the next one over there as Jacob is on his dying bed and he talks about how the scepter will not depart out of Israel until Shiloh comes. And that is a reference, the only reference in the entire Bible with the word Shiloh, but a reference nonetheless to the Messiah coming and His power to rule and reign. What are you saying? I'm saying the Old Testament is chock full. It is absolutely slap full of prophecy after prophecy after prophecy of the coming Messiah. And Jesus Christ is the confirmation of that. When Jesus came, He confirmed every prophecy, every promise that was made concerning Himself. And so we see that Christ is the fulfillment of those promises. And that He continues to fulfill those promises as prophet, priest, and king. We see the confirmation of His ministry. The confirmation of His ministry here. We see here the context of our passage. Again, how Christ is the minister. The word minister here, it means servant. And while He was here, He spoke about His role as a minister, did He not? Matthew 20 verse 28, Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. Jesus Christ confirmed the prophecies concerning Himself in the position of service that He came. Not only is He the source of this confirmation, but He is the servant of this confirmation. He is the minister. We see here in these verses His ministry as prophet. It's dealing with prophecies, dealing with promises. Y'all remember Christ as the fulfillment of the tri-fold ministry of Old Testament. You had the prophet, the priest, the king. Well, Christ fulfills all three of those in one person. He is prophet, priest, and king. And here in this text, it points to His fulfillment as prophet. Prophet proclaiming the goodness of God. And did not Jesus come into the world proclaiming the goodness of God? Does His ministers, that you and I servants today, not continue that ministry of proclaiming His goodness to mankind? That Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life? As King, He ministers judgment to the people. As priest, He is the minister of the true tabernacle. He offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, for His people. And even now, He continues that ministry as a high priest, making intercession for us at the right hand of the throne of God. But we also see that He is the minister of the prophetic ministry, the prophetic office, in which He is such a minister as there never has been before. You know there's never been a greater prophet than the Lord Jesus Christ? There never shall be a greater prophet than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that fulfillment of the prophetic office. There's never been one before, since, or ever will be. And if we consider the dignity of His person, He is the Son of God. He's not just the Son of Man. He's not just some son of man. But He's the Son of God. That makes Him the great prophet. If we consider Him Not only in the dignity of His person, we can consider Him in the greatness of His qualifications. What qualified a prophet in the Old Testament? Well, they had to have the Spirit of the Lord upon Him. And they had to be able to prophesy and those things come true. Well, Christ is greater in His qualifications. Having the Spirit without measure, the Bible says. What about the nature of His doctrine? Well, the doctrine of Christ came forth in amazing words of grace and truth. Never a man spake as this man did. You can consider his manner of delivery. He delivered his message in greater power than any other man ever did. He had authority like no other man. And that's said of Christ over and over in the Gospels. Often it's said that they stood with amazement because he spake as one having authority and not as What? The priests and the scribes. The preachers of their day. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that and we see that here. We see the confirmation of His ministry that He was who the Bible said He was and He did exactly what the Bible claimed He'd do. But we find here in verse number 8 that it says Jesus Christ was a minister, servant of the circumcision. Some people may be confused by that statement. Well, what does that mean? But I think it's very simple. This word circumcision is to be taken in a simple way, meaning that Christ was their minister and their preacher. Just as Peter was the Apostle to the Jews, Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles, Jesus was the Preacher, the Savior, the Prophet of the Jews. In fact, the Bible tells us in the Gospels salvation is of the Jew. Because Jesus was a Jew. And so we see that word here. It doesn't mean that Jesus preached a gospel of circumcision, that you had to be circumcised to be saved. We know that because He preached a gospel of repentance and faith. just as John the Baptist preached, and just as all the apostles preached, and just as the churches commissioned to preach, and just as we preach, that if you're going to be saved, if you're going to come to know this Christ, that's been proven time and time again in the Word of God, that history declares His acts. If you're going to know Him, you must know Him by repeating of your sin and trusting Jesus. as your Savior. So we see His confirmation in His ministry, but we also see this confirmation in His mercy. Look at verse number 8 and 9. To confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His, what? Mercy. Mercy. Aren't you glad for mercy today? Do you know what mercy is? Mercy is God not doing to you or giving to you what you deserve. Say, well, I'm a pretty good old boy. I deserve kindness. I deserve blessing. No, I'm sorry. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says there's none good. No, not one. There's none that seeketh after God or after knowledge. Every man's gone his own way. He's turned his own way. He's gone after the world. And outside of the gospel, outside of the gospel witness, outside of Christians trying to point sinners to Christ, sinners would never consider God. They'd never think about God. They'd just go on in their sin. Because that's what's in their nature to do. But aren't you glad that God in His mercy didn't let us just go on in our sin. He didn't let us just continue down the road of destruction on the path to hell. But He stepped in. He intervened in our lives. He showed us mercy. He held back wrath and instead gave us grace. Grace! Marvelous grace! And so we see this confirmation in His mercy. His mercy was to the Jewish people. We see that in verse 8. In verse 9 even. He's talking about how He came to be the preacher to the Jews. And He was. Jesus Christ primarily spent His life among Jewish people. He preached to the Jews. He wept over the Jews. He was the Messiah to the Jews. And at the end, nearing the end of His earthly ministry, He wept over Jerusalem. Because they had rejected Him as the King and as the Messiah. And so He came unto His own, the Bible says, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, gave He the power to become the sons of God. They stumbled over His cross and they rejected Him. The Jews said, we'll not have this man to rule over us. And in that day, the nation as a whole rejected Christ. But there were individuals who received Him. And that's the same today. There's Jewish individuals that are being saved around the world, but the nation as a whole still reject Christ as the Messiah. We also see not only God's promises, to the Jewish people. But we also see God's prophecies to the Gentile people. And what's amazing is these were prophecies that were made in the Old Testament to the Jews, but they were about the Gentiles. And their fulfillment includes you and I today. You and I are Gentiles. We are here. Not as Jewish people. Not having a heritage of being the seed or the lineage of Abraham or David. And yet you and I are able to call upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. were able to come into the very presence of the God of David, and worship Him, and serve Him, and love Him, and know of forgiveness of sin. And it's all because He prophesied concerning that. And in His earthly ministry, Christ fulfilled the prophecies that He made to redeem out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue a people that are Gentiles unto Himself. And that's why you and I are here today. It's by the grace of God that He shows by the mercy of God that He extends. So God's prophecies to the Gentile people. And we see that. That's the majority of our text this morning. You see it in verse number 9. He picks up. Says, As it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. When did Jesus do that? During His earthly ministry. He confessed Himself to the Gentiles. After his resurrection, he was seen before his ascension of over 500 witnesses, his own disciples and apostles. They bore record that he had lived, and there were many Gentiles as well as Jews that saw this and heard this in that day. You can move to verse 10, and again he saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people, And again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and loud him, all ye people. Here he is speaking of the prophecies of the Gentile nations being brought in to the covenant of grace of God, redeeming, saving, and renewing lost souls. Again in verse 12, and again Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, and him shall the Gentiles trust. I said, what are you saying to us? I'm saying we see God's prophecies to the Gentile people. I think it's amazing. Here Paul, he goes back to the Torah, which is the first five books, the Pentateuch. He quotes Scripture. He goes to the Psalms. Verse 10 and 11 are both quotes from the Psalms. And then verse 12 is a quote from the prophets, Isaiah. You've got the first five books, you've got the Psalms, you've got the prophets. Here's the point Paul is saying. All, all, all of the Old Testament pointed to the fact that Jesus Christ would come. And not only would He come to save Israel, but He would come to save Gentiles. You say, why is this so important preacher? Because we're Gentiles. And if you're not saved today, you're who Christ came to save. Yahuwah Christ came into the world to save. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to the lost houses of the Gentiles, those people groups that had never heard the gospel, never been included in God's program. He came, He lived a perfect life, a sinless life. He died on the cross of Calvary, a sacrificial death, substituting Himself for us, taking our place on the cross. He died. He was buried. And He rose again on the third day. And we can rejoice in that as His people, but if you're lost today, understand God wants you to join in with all of His saints rejoicing with one another over the hope that we have. The hope of eternal life. The hope that when this life is over, that's not the end. It's not the beginning of torment. It's not the beginning of separation and wrath. But for God's people, it's the beginning of glory. It's the beginning of enjoying eternal life. And so he tells us here, we are to rejoice with one another in that hope. It doesn't matter if you're a weak, quick Christian today, a strong Christian. It doesn't matter if you've been in this thing 40, 50, 60 years, or if you've only been saved a couple of years. It doesn't matter where you're at as a Christian or what your background may be, what your past might hold, what your economic status might currently be. None of those things matter when it comes to the hope that every child of God has As they've trusted in Christ, we can all rejoice with one another. And we don't need to allow differences to get in the way of our rejoicing and praising and enjoying the Lord for His goodness. So rejoice with one another. And if you're lost today, come to Christ and join in with the rejoicing of God's people. And know what it is to enjoy that blessing. Let me give you the second point, though, this morning. We've looked here at the rejoicing, which points to the confirmation of the Savior's promise, but now I want us to look at the rest. He says, rest in confidence of the Spirit's power. Look at verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. You'll notice the word hope is used twice there. The word hope in the Bible does not speak of an unexpected or uncertain future event. Somebody might say, well, I hope to go fishing tomorrow. It's Labor Day weekend. I'm going to go try to enjoy some time. But you don't know what might come up between now and then, and so you may not get to do that. You're hoping to. But hope in the Bible is a confident thing. It's confidence is how it's literally translated. It's the confident expectation of something that is going to come to pass and nothing can hinder that. Let me say, the hope that the believer has in the Lord is an expectation that we can be confident in. We know in whom we have believed. And we are persuaded that He is able to keep that which we've committed unto Him against that day. God's going to keep us saved. He's going to get us out of this thing saved. He's going to take us home saved. And we're going to be forever in heaven saved. That's the hope of the believer. And we can rest in that. There is rest. There is peace. There is joy in that. We see in this verse, this is one of overflowing glory. Overflowing glory. Notice the words that we find in this verse, not only the two words hope repeated, but notice in verse 13, the Bible says, now the God of hope fill, fill you. Now, move on down and it says this, that you may abound. Abound. And so verse 13, he tells us that we are to be filled with joy and peace and believing and that we may abound in hope. And these words refer to that which is filled to the top. Something is filled and is full. It's not only just full to the brim, but it's full to overflowing. The idea of the word abound, it carries that idea to overflow. And so God is telling us as Christians, He wants us to be full and overflowing with peace and joy, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the hope that comes with the relationship with God. The Lord wants us to know that as His children, Not only has He redeemed us and given us a relationship with Himself, but He's also fixed it so that life doesn't have to be dull and dry and boring. He wants us to know that we can live a life that's overflowing. Overflowing with the best blessings that God has to offer. Now, as Jared said last night, I'm not a health, wealth, and prosperity preacher. And if you're looking for that, I'm sorry to disappoint. The Christian life is not going to be one of riches and wealth and fame and ease. But I want to say there is some things that riches and wealth and fame and ease don't even compare to. And that's the peace of God that passes all understanding. That's the joy of the Lord. Full, full of glory. So we see that in these verses. We see the author of abundant life. The Bible tells us here that God is the giver of that abundant life. Let me just say, there is no life apart from Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And if you don't have life today, you're not going to find it in the world. You're not going to find it in a job. You're not going to find it in a sport. You're not going to find it in a hobby. You're not going to find it in friends. You're not going to find it in a relationship. You're only going to find it in the source of abundant life, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You can look for it in the world, and many have. You can try to get it in the world, and many do. But you're going to come up short. Take the advice of Solomon, the greatest king that Israel ever had. The wealthiest king. He expanded the borders of Israel. He tried women. He tried wine. He tried wealth. He tried everything that you can possibly imagine. He had it all at his fingertips. And at the end of his life, he said, all of these things are vanity. They're all empty. They'll leave you feeling empty. They're going to leave you coming up short. If you're going to know anything about lasting joy and peace, you're going to have to know it through the God of heaven. And it's the same for us today. There's so many people trying to find peace and joy, contentment, meaning, purpose in life, and they're looking in all the wrong places. Look to Jesus Christ today. Look to Christ. Look at God who loves you and He gave His Son for you. He's put you in this service here today to hear the gospel once again. If you don't know Him, I plead with you, come to know Christ. He is the author of abundant life. And there is no abundant life apart from Christ. There's no life apart from Christ, let alone abundant life. Not only do we see the author of abundant life, let me say we see the attributes of abundant life. And they're very plainly stated in verse 13. Number one, joy. Joy. God would have us to be filled with joy. Joy. Well, what is joy? Well, a lot of times when you think of joy, people immediately think of happiness. Happiness is not joy. Real joy is more than that. It's more than happiness. You can take somebody that's just went through the most difficult situation they've ever faced in life, and they may not be happy, but they got the joy of the Lord in their heart. The joy of the Lord sustaining them. The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. You need strength to make it through the dark days. You're going to need something more than happiness. You're going to need joy. And joy alone comes from God. This isn't a slappy or some silly feeling. It's not just throwing a silly grin up on your face and walking around and telling all the world how happy you are. This isn't pleasure. All of those things, happiness and pleasure and excitement, they're affected by circumstances. And you can take a child on Christmas morning that opens a present, and there's happiness, and there's excitement, and there's that thrill of the experience, and a week later, they're so bored with that toy, and they don't mess with it anymore, and you spend all that money thinking, man, this will really make my kid happy, and it did for a few seconds. But the new is worn off, and their friend at school got something bigger or something better, and so now they're not happy anymore, and they're not even playing with the very thing they had, because it was circumstantial. But joy lasts. Joy comes from the Lord. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Real joy cannot be touched by the circumstances of life. Real joy is a gift from God. You and I will not always be happy as we go through life, but we can always experience the joy of the Lord. Listen to what Paul said in Philippians 4, 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. And Paul here isn't saying that we should always be happy. He is saying that there should always be the joy of the Lord in our lives that is real, that is vital because of our relationship with Him. May I ask you, do you have that kind of joy today? The kind of joy that even when things are uncertain, and there's waves that are rocking your ship back and forth, and your whole world's fixing to be turned upside down, that you can just continue on with that deep-seated joy in the Lord. Be able to say, it is well with my soul. There's joy here. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1.8, and we sung about it this morning, that the Lord gives us joy unspeakable and full of glory. We may learn like Job of old, when attacked by the devil, he never lost his cool, he just worshipped the Lord and served God. Job knew the truth that many today never grasp, and that his joy comes from the Lord. We find it in Nehemiah 8.10, the joy of the Lord is your strength. So I ask you this morning, do you have joy? Or are you looking for that in something else in this world? We also see the attribute of peace, not only joy, but peace. The abundant life is characterized by peace. How many of you want peace this morning? I don't know anybody that wouldn't raise their hand. Yeah, I'd like to have peace. Oh, I worry about this. I worry about that. I worry about what's coming. I worry about what's already passed. I worry about things to worry about. God says that we're to have peace. This word means to join together. It is the exact opposite of the word to worry, which means to pull apart. The word worry literally means to pull yourself apart. Peace means to bring yourself together. And the life that is filled with the Lord's best is a life that is not pulled apart by worry, It is a life that is resting on the promises and the power of God experiencing true peace that only comes from the Lord. God would have us to experience true peace of heart. That kind of peace that no matter what comes into your life, no matter what you face, out of nowhere, no matter how bad or dark it may get, even the death of a loved one or the total collapse of the economy and bankruptcy of every one of us, none of these things still will rob the peace of the child of God. The Lord promised us peace in John 14, 27. My peace I give unto you. I'm glad we have the peace of the Lord. And this is something that can never be taken away. But then we see the third attribute, not only joy, peace, but there's hope. Hope and abundant life. This is again not that wishful thinking that society places upon it, but this is a deep settled conviction based upon the clear Word of God. I'm glad today we have the clear, revealed Word of God on the subject of Christ's redemptive work and His second coming. And we can have a hope that is steadfast and sure. Something that the devil can't take away from us, that the world can't rob us of, This is a promise that will go on forever, throughout all eternity. No matter how good it may appear on the surface, nothing in this world can give you hope like the Lord is able to give you hope. Money, marriage, none of it can give you hope. I'm glad that there is hope for the saved, for the redeemed. And it doesn't matter again your status in life. Listen to me. As a child of God today, there's hope for you. It doesn't matter how far along you are or how young you are in the faith. Whether you're strong or weak, God has hope for you. It's available to you. And it's through the personal work of the Holy Spirit. Look to Him. See the attributes. But then we see lastly, and I'll finish with this, the appropriation of this abundant life. You'll notice in verse 13, the words, in believing. You see it there? Now the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Paul says that the abundant life of the Christian is an appropriated life. It is appropriated by faith. Now, that may be a problem for some this morning. There are people who may think that they have no faith. They say, Preacher, I just don't have the faith to believe that God can give me joy and peace and hope. I know He may give it to you, Preacher. He's given it to others that I know, but I just don't seem to have the faith. I want to say, number one, if you're saved, you've got faith. You might not have, but just a little bit of faith. But if you've got a little bit of faith, that's all the faith you need. It's not how much faith you've got, but it's where your faith's been placed. Are you trusting in Christ? Are you trusting in His Word that is forever settled? You've got all the faith you need. Oh, preacher, you just don't know about me. You don't know. I can understand what you're saying, but I just don't have the faith. Well, do something for me. Go out and try living this week without any faith. You can't do it. The first act of faith that you probably are going to perform when we leave here is when you go next door. You got faith that the food that's been prepared isn't going to make you sick. You've got faith that the chair you sit in is going to hold you up. When you go to leave, you've got faith that the vehicle you're getting into is going to crank. I don't see none of us, but none of us are lifting up the hood and checking all the cords and peeking down the gas tank and making... We jump in, we turn the key, and we got faith that's going to come on. I just simply say you've got faith today. But you need to appropriate that faith, not just in the things of this world, but you need to have that faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust that He can do for you. Take your hands off the situation. Say, whatever comes, Lord, I'm trusting it with You. And experience the joy, the peace, and the hope that only He can give. So what are you today? Are you a spring up in the mountains that barely has anything to offer whenever the heat of life comes upon you? You feel dull. You feel dry. You ain't felt God. You don't feel nothing. You're in a wilderness experience as a Christian. You're going through Some hard days. Or are you that Christian that's got that fountain springing up? No matter how hard it gets, no matter how dry and dull it seems, everyone around you are, you've still got that joy of the Lord springing up. You've still got that peace of God, that hope in the Lord. Well, if not, you can have that today. And that's the point of the message. We are to rejoice with one another in hope. We can all experience this. You don't have to be a preacher to have joy and peace and hope. You don't have to be a Sunday school teacher. You don't have to be a deacon. Any Christian can have this. That's what I want you to know if you're not experiencing it today. Christ fulfilled a whole bunch of Old Testament Scripture so that you can enjoy what He's promised you. Enter into it. By faith, trust that God has purchased it for you. And you can experience that. And if you're lost today, it's for you as well. You can enter in to the manifold blessings of God. And I say manifold because there's so many blessings that come from being saved by the grace of God, but along with them is joy and peace and hope. And that's some of the greatest. Experiencing the love of God to redeem you and save you. If you don't know Him, come to know Him today. And enter in with God's people as we rejoice together in the hope of the Lord. And if you're not rejoicing today and you are a child of God, get your eyes set back upon Him. Look to the source of that joy. And trust that He has it for you. Let's bow our heads this morning. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your attention to the Word of God today. I trust it'll be a help and a blessing to us. If you need counsel today, I'm available. If God's spoken to your heart in the preaching of the Word of God, maybe you realize today you've never been saved, and that's why you've never had joy or peace or hope. I want to say you can come to Christ. Turn from your sin. Trust Him today.