Transcript for:
Romans 15:8,13 -The God Of Hope- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2023-11-26

Romans chapter 15 verses 8 through 13, would you please stand with me as we read God's Holy Word together. Romans chapter 15 beginning with verse 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's 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 and him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Father we thank you for your Holy Word and Lord in a time of as the Bible describes perilous times men's hearts failing them for fear on the horizon but even now the birth pangs are causing many to lose hope, high suicides, high anxiety, a whole lot of people trying to cope with various means of medicines and all other sorts of things to try and just deal with life as a whole and Lord we as a people we as believers Lord we pray that we would cope by hoping in you have a confident expectation in you you're the God of hope that we'd walk by faith and not by sight that we would enter into all that you have for us spiritually and that spiritually that life of the Spirit the abundant life of the Spirit would just lift us above the circumstances lift us above the corruption and the demise of our culture Lord help us to be able to hide ourselves in that secret place and experience your peace and your joy and your love and get to know you better and better and better Lord help us not to give in to the pressure of giving up of quitting of giving up on you Lord you're the God of hope and we love you and we pray that you reveal yourself today to a greater measure than we've ever known you Lord just instill within us Lord a greater faith and a greater hope greater love in these last days Lord in Jesus name we pray amen would you please be seated the word hope speaks of a confident expectation of good in Proverbs 10 28 it says the hope of the righteous shall be gladness but the expectation of the wicked shall perish Jeremiah 17 verse 7 says blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is is the Lord your hope today is he his person are you though is he the one you're hoping in who are you trusting in what are you trusting in if you're trusting in Biden or Obama I pray for you man I mean I mean can you believe that kind of leadership that people place their hope and trust when Obama ran for president a couple times you know his his theme was hope you know hope you know you put your hope in him we're gonna fundamentally transform you know America hope for you you know like like as if there was anything wrong with America when he took over you know and and so three terms later his third term presently you know we're watching the destruction of the culture and the country we live in getting ready for the global communism the globalism and all and without on the horizon with the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization and Bill Gates with impunity telling you what he's gonna do you know there's a there's a article that I posted a couple days ago where Bill Gates said this next pandemic is going to affect the children and it's it's gonna be beyond your immune systems to deal with it a lot of children are gonna die and I mean this guy gets away with saying that then they have the audacity to want to censor you and I for telling the truth you know they want to silence us and so he gets to say whatever he wants and sounds like a genocidal maniac you know and if you trace the patents and all the things he's involved in you would say man this guy's this this guy's dangerous you know but he just gets away with saying whatever he wants and then so this morning I looked on Rapture Ready and I posted another article in China just as Bill predicted in China presently the children are facing a new type of pneumonia that the parents don't know what to do and they're getting ready to lock down they have a zero you know policy you know in China so get ready for some lockdowns get ready for some a new type of ammonia that particularly affects the children how sad for these guys that are directed you know toward the children you know it's bad enough to have the first pandemic you know that hit primarily the adults but this second one you know he's directing it specifically toward the children just just cruel and evil and they these kids are in there for like 14 days if you read the article in the hospitals and such and so you and I we can't lose hope you know we look at these guys and their machinations there are different types of plot and scheming and plans and such but we have to remind ourselves continually remind ourselves that they aren't gods you know that our God is on the throne that Jesus is on the throne that you and I are gonna live and we're gonna die right on time you know if the Lord chooses take us home from pneumonia we're gonna go by way of pneumonia if he chooses you know by starvation we'll go by starvation or a bullet to the head I don't know sickness can affect all of us eventually but we can't give in to the fear-mongering we can't give in to these guys you know trying to steal what what moments we have left you know in our holidays they seem to hate Christmas they hate everything about Jesus and they want to steal your joy they want to steal your hope at the holiday season they want to be as doom and gloom as they can possibly be and and we're just not gonna take it we're not gonna live that way we're gonna continue to hope in Jesus because it's a confident expectation for good not of evil so when we teach prophecy it's not doom and gloom prophecy is speaking of a confident expectation for good and so who are you trusting and what are you trusting and who will save you from your sins who will provide for you who will protect you who will preserve you on into eternity is he the hope of glory the Lord Jesus Christ which is which is our hope that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God of hope you know and Savior Jesus Christ so the God of hope we believe in the God of hope trusting that he is number one faithful verse 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 so that word minister means a servant so Jesus come to seek and to serve he said I didn't come to be ministered unto but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many and so Luke 22 27 he says I'm among you as he that serves and so a minister of the circumcision notice so the priority is first to the Jew and then to the Gentile so when we look at the theme of this book salvation in Romans 1 16 and 17 I'm not ashamed the gospel of Christ for is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew first and then to the Gentile so the priority is always to the Jew first Jesus is the minister the servant to the circumcision to the house of Israel he came when he's rejected by the nation of Israel and even like when the Syrophoenician woman came to him and said that her daughter was you know sick he said what do I have to do with you you know she's got the got it down now Lord son of David she understands that he's the Messiah for the nation of Israel but she being a Gentile what what relationship do you have with us you know and she says all but even even the crumbs that fall from the table the little puppies are able to partake when he says all great is thy faith you know he was so blessed by her faith and the Jews didn't have that kind of faith but this Gentile woman had this kind of faith that really bless the Lord and any healed he healed her daughter and such but his priority was to the house of Israel first and so that was Paul's bringing out here the relationship between Jew and Gentiles the priority goes to the Jew so a minister of the circumcision to the Jew and so his ministry is first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel the circumcision so salvation is of the of the Jews the Gospels first to the Jew and then to the Gentile and then the next part of verse 8 for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the father so Jesus is faithful he is truth incarnate there's no empty unfulfilled promises with him he says I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me he says I do always those things that pleased the father and so Jesus was on a mission and that mission was to do what his father had told him to do he prayed three times father if you're willing to remove this cup from me but nevertheless not as I will but thy will be done and for the joy that was set before him the joy of saving you and I both Jew and Gentile he endured the cross despising the shame and the seated down at the right hand of the father so faithfully bearing witness of the truth confirming the promises made in Psalm 1 1914 thou art my hiding place in my shield I hope in thy word and so the the emphasis upon trust Psalm 130 verse 5 I wait for the Lord my soul does wait and his word do I hope do you wait upon the Lord do you hope in his word some of you are reading your Bibles each and every morning each and every day some of you are reading your Bibles more than you ever have and so you're waiting upon the Lord you're waiting upon him you're hoping upon him you're in his word do you trust when you see a promise in his word you grab hold of that promise and you're trusting in his promise your mind is screaming at you you're a weirdo you're an idiot there's no way God's gonna do that for you not you you don't have that hope you don't have that confident expectation in him has he given you these promises you know for a reason and but the enemy would have you trust in yourself or trust a man or trust in somebody else and the Lord wants you to trust in his word when he speaks to you through you know the study of his word and he speaks to your heart he wants you to believe he doesn't want you to go away from there not believing and trusting in somebody else it's not just an exercise in reading it's it's a time of getting to know him getting to know his promises hiding his word away in your heart faith comes by hearing hearing by the Word of God your faith is gonna grow it can excel and the Holy Spirit's gonna remind you of his promises when you're faced with things that you don't understand and you don't have the control or the power of the ability to overcome and so we go to Proverbs 3 5 & 6 trust the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths and so that's that's how we roll we roll by faith we continue to walk by faith over 300 prophecies fulfilled promises fulfilled in his first coming Jesus said search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal life and there they would testify of me the volume of the book is written of me he's truth incarnate and so in John 1837 Pontius Pilate asked him says so you're a king and Jesus said thou sayest that I'm a king you know to this end was I born and for this cause I came I forward to bear witness of the truth anybody that's of the truth can hear my voice and Pilate goes away cynical with all the philosophies of the Greek culture permeate in the Roman culture Pilate says what is true have you ever been that cynical what is true is there any truth anymore you know what is the truth there's so much propaganda so many lies out there but you and I can hope and trust in God's Word it's impossible for God to lie you can take it to the bank God is gonna fulfill his word 100% not 50% or 60% and all the promises that he spoke toward you and me 100% take it to the bank it may not be happening now but it's going to happen he's not done with us yet right don't give up on him don't give up on God don't give up on Jesus he's going to keep these promises there yes and amen you know and the devil would make you think because you're waiting because it hasn't happened just yet that somehow you can't trust him you can't hope in him but you can and you will and you'll get through it he'll get you through it because he is incredibly incredibly faithful in John 17 for his praying to his father and he says I have glorified the on the earth I finished the work which thou gavest me to do and so Jesus is faithful one of the things that I talk with Eric my buddy is a pastor down in Tennessee he and I go through a lot of different mental gymnastics of evaluating the church evaluating our ministries you know after 28 years here he's like 20 some down in Dixon and the churches have never grown to be big like most Calvary chapels and all so we we beat ourselves up we analyze reanalyze look at things you know mull them over back and forth but after this long all I say to him now is you know what Eric I just want to be faithful that's all I want to be as faithful I just want to be faithful what God's given me to work with and I want to be faithful I want to reach the finish line I just want to be faithful and hear him say well done now good and faithful servant you've been faithful over a few things I'm gonna make you rule over much enter thou into the joy of the Lord all of us in this room all God expects of us is for you and I to be faithful unto him he's faithful unto us he will be faithful unto us don't give up on him don't give up on his word don't give up on his promises they're going to be fulfilled on into eternity you and I we can only work with what we have to work with in these last days in Kitsap County be faithful God can do a lot with a little just one person getting saved just one person at a hunting campus as Chris was telling me a guy a couple years ago goes to church this year they found out he got saved you know I mean that's amazing isn't it do you ever tire of somebody getting saved you know some of you got saved this year you know at this church here and some of your friends got saved this year the covid shots and the pressure and all the stuff that's happening brought you to the end of yourself you began to look up you began to look to Jesus some of you rededicated your hearts and lives to the Lord because you know that God is faithful there's nobody else you can trust in you were you were trying to trust in the election trying to think things to get back around but nothing worked nothing happened they stole the election and everybody's passive and given into the theft of it and again the definition of insanity is what doing the same thing again looking for a different result you know I mean it's insanity how could you possibly put your faith and trust in this global system in this in this system within the world that's so incredibly corrupted so I look up I just I just let go of this world and I look up and I say praise the Lord the Lord Jesus is coming he's coming soon it's gonna be soon and I don't lose hope in that way so Jesus is faithful we can hope in him he keeps his promises the God of hope we believe in the God of hope trusting that he is faithful secondly we believe in the God of hope trusting that he is forgiving is there anybody here that doesn't need forgiveness on a regular basis that doesn't need forgiveness each and every day where are you gonna find that forgiveness you're gonna find it from Jesus if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness the Christians borrow soap right you're here this morning there's some junk some defilement some corruption some things that you are around this week maybe it wasn't even your own sin but things you heard things you watch things you're around and you felt filthy a little dirty or whatever you know and you you come to the Lord you get into his word you begin to worship the Lord and by the power of his spirit begins to wash you to cleanse you to sanctify you to wash you from the filth of the world you can't you can't handle you know what the world throws upon you it's filth it's ideas and songs and movies and family members and such you're stuck you know holidays you know but you can drive away worship in the Lord praise of the Lord get back into the word coming to church and allowing the Lord to remind you of his forgiveness that he's forgiven you that you're justified just as if you've never sinned and that for the Gentiles for the Jew God's is still offering to the unbeliever he's still offering forgiveness he's not come to judge he's come to seeking to say that which was lost right the Son of Man came not in the world to condemn the world but the world through him might be saved so presently in this dispensation this time frame right here today today is the day of salvation God stands ready to forgive you of your sins he doesn't want to judge you he doesn't want you to be condemned in fact if you're condemned it's yourself that's condemning you you're condemned already because you're rejecting Jesus Christ you stand in condemnation if you're an unbeliever but he doesn't want you to be there he doesn't want you to stay there he's came to seek and to save those who are lost he came to seek and to save you he's not willing that any would perish but that all would come to repentance all means you right he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their wickedness so why won't you place your faith and hope and trust in him why would you not hope in him who else can you hope in you can't hope in yourself you can't save yourself you can't be good enough to say save yourself it's only through him in this finished work so he says in verse 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy mercy is not getting what we deserve as it is written for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name so Paul's showing how Jesus is the Savior you know of the Jews but also the Savior of the Gentiles the Jews had a hard time figuring that Jesus would save the Gentiles they thought the Gentiles were simply fuel for the fires of hell that's why they hated the Gentiles wouldn't eat with the Gentiles and all but from the very beginning the nation of Israel's was to be the purpose thereof to be a light unto the Gentiles to show the Gentiles the way unto salvation through Jesus Christ and so Psalm 18 verse 49 Paul's quoting here a second Samuel 22 verse 50 that David had penned that they would they would confess they would sing unto Jesus the Messiah Psalm 33 18 behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee I like in Jeremiah or Lamentations 3 where Jeremiah says the mercies of the Lord are new every morning every morning God's mercies are new every day I blow it every day I sin every stinking day every day there isn't a day that goes by that I don't sin in one way or another in thought attitude behavior every day and sometimes by the end of the day I'm exhausted I'm just exhausted it's takes a lot of work to sin like me you know the amount of people I get in arguments with and family members and I get so angry the way they're treating my grandma and you know I'm getting getting so angry and now now I'm just what am I gonna do with all that anger this rage I have for them they're killing her you know and they don't even realize it you know and and so be angry but sin not Rick don't overdo it you know and so the other day the Lord spoke to my heart when I was just just so frustrated they don't see it and that's what the Lord spoke to my heart Rick you're right they don't see it they don't see it they don't have ears to hear they don't understand that faith hope and love is a necessity faith hope and love is essential for your grandma and for you and for everybody upon the planet they're just looking at it robotically they're looking at it as nickels and noses like so many you know they're looking at it like in such a way like like you know she had to take the kovat shot or she wouldn't have got her you know her cataract surgery and I'm like no she didn't have to take it she didn't have to take it there's other ways you know she got the clot shot and then she got isolated she got isolated my grandma couldn't go to church anymore they isolated her you can't tell me she had to be isolated you know do you know how hard that is on anybody let alone the elderly to be isolated and then she and then she gets a stroke and nobody wants to address the stroke of how it happened where it came from everybody just wants to sell the house and get rid of her it's so sad and I'm trying to get that through to my little brother it's the money man they want the money she's in the way she's outliving them oh no no no that's not true that's not true I'm getting really in the flesh by now I'm getting really angry people can't understand this you know nobody seems to care and then she goes from the from the stroke to you know rehab at her house and she's at the house nobody's coming there in home care nobody's bringing her meals they're just she's falling down a couple times get dehydrated we'll fix that make sure she gets meals make sure she gets fed her house is paid for and then she falls down she told Kathy and I if I fall down one more time they're gonna put me in a home and she fell down and she broke her hip partially and they put her in a place to rehab her after the surgery she didn't even have a chance to rehab and they already took her dog in her house away from her I mean and then I finally I think I got through to my dad dad how come she didn't have a choice in any of this who took away her choice she's in her right mind she hasn't lost her faculties who is making these decisions for her does any of that make you mad I mean the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God I have a tendency to hold that stuff in for a long time and then I can be provoked so what I did is I said you guys need to block me from Facebook because if I see any more of your idiocy on there I can't take it you can't sit there and put a pie on there unvaccinated let's go to the Thanksgiving and talk about politics and think that I'm gonna just passively look at that you cowards I'm gonna attack you I'm gonna come after you and so they're they're blocking me and I'm going to sleep thinking what a big sinner I am you know what did I just stir up but then I'm also thinking who else is gonna be an advocate who else gonna say anything why do I have to be passive why can't I have a righteous indignation you know why can't I be angry and sin not the problem is I feel like I I hurt feelings you know I hurt people but then the bigger picture is what did they do to my grandma you know I don't know how to balance that stuff but anyway I'm thankful the next morning that I wake up and his mercies are new every morning and that I can move forward and just kind of say you know Lord you spoke to me you told me they can't hear they can't hear so Lord I'm gonna pray for their salvation I'm gonna pray that they'll be able to hear because they have no idea they have no comprehension of how essential hope is you can't you can't put a woman in a that's live in her house over 60 years and take away her hope of going back home and being with her dog and living her life out all of her possessions sold right out from under you got to let her have a chance to rehab that hip and if she can't rehab the hip then take the next step but no they got their justification just sell everything I told Kathy I says you know not that I have anything but I don't know why anybody would give a power of attorney to their children I don't understand that these kids are vicious now if you if you die sure they have a power of attorney and a will to you know disperse of the assets but why did these kids thing and doctors think that the elderly can't make their own decisions who are you I don't understand that I just don't get it they have their faculties they're not delirious unless they're biting you know it's their decision why don't we understand that it's their decision she wants to stay in her home you know all right there's my rant for my grandma verse 10 and again he saith rejoice ye Gentiles with his people he's quoting Deuteronomy 32 43 and again verse 11 praise the Lord all you Gentiles and laud him all you people Psalm 117 verse 1 don't you like how the Bible proves the Bible that what Paul's presenting the Church of Rome here he's reaching back to the Old Testament with verses that that explained to Jews that God intended all along to bless the Gentiles God intended all along that the Gentiles would be worshippers of Jesus worshippers of God for many of the Jews they don't understand this but if they knew the scriptures they they would see so Psalm 117 verse 1 for verse 11 so again praise the Lord you Gentiles and laud him all you people 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 or the Gentiles shall hope in him so now Paul is quoting out of Isaiah chapter 11 the Kingdom Age chapter of Isaiah 11 1 Isaiah 11 10 were the root the offspring of David in that Jesus would be from the tribe of Judah Jesus would come through the Davidic covenant that God made with David that the Messiah would come forth from from his family and that the Gentiles would hope in him the Gentiles would sing of him the Gentiles during the millennium will come and worship him and and so Paul is alluding to that and so the Gentile woman named Ruth Ruth had trouble in that her husband died or her boys died and Naomi's or excuse me Naomi's husband died and Naomi's boys died and she was married to one of the boys and so Ruth the Moabitess came back to Bethlehem the house of bread with Naomi and she was all embittered and all but this Gentile this Ruth had a kinsman redeemer unbeknownst to her named Boaz and Boaz exercised his right of kinsman redemption he paid the price the go-out price Jesus is our groom we are Ruth the Moabitess the Gentile bride and Jesus marries us he's gonna marry us but he pays the bride price the ransom price to redeem us and so Boaz and Ruth begot Obed Obed begots Jesse Jesse begets David King David Jesus is the root in that David comes forth from him and the offspring later as the Messiah as the virgin-born Son of God through the family of David as Mary was with child and so Paul uses notice the law what is the law Deuteronomy the first five books of the Bible that Moses penned is the law the Psalms he is the Psalms and he is the prophets to prove that the Jews Messiah is the Gentile Savior and so what a blessing that is so Jesus the root in the offspring of David God's only begotten Son who takes away the sins of the world and so are you able to glorify God for his mercy for his forgiveness by placing your complete trust your hope in the God of hope how hard is it to hope in somebody that's died for you greater love is no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends what's gonna be hard for me to hope in him if he's still dead I might put my hope in Buddha Muhammad Confucius but they're dead men they couldn't save me they couldn't raise me from the dead they can't do a whole lot for me right but I can put my hope in a Savior who said destroy this temple in three days I'll raise it up and he's crucified he's buried he raised himself from the dead three days later just as he said he ascends to his father 40 days later he seated the right hand of his father he stood up to give a standing ovation to Stephen the first martyr within the church right Stephen could see up into heaven Jesus standing and Stephen's face shown bright like that of an angel right to be asked of the bodies to be present with the Lord Stephen didn't fear death didn't fear it at all he was gonna do what God called him to do and so can you put your faith and trust in a person like that a person that's crucified buried raised from the dead ascended right hand father and coming again if those first four are true he was crucified buried ascended is he gonna come again can you trust that he's gonna come again you better trust you better keep trusting better not lose hope Jesus will never give up on you how many people have given up on you in your lifetime how many people that have a bond a commitment a friendship bond of marriage bond of family a bond within business whatever it may be how many have given up on you Jesus will never ever ever give up on you you can take it to the bank he's never gonna divorce you he's never gonna ask for an annulment he's never gonna say you know this just isn't working out we got married too young sorry never gonna do that he's forgiving no matter what sins you commit no matter how long you walked away he's forgiving he'll take your sins he'll cast from the east to the west remember no more there's no record of wrong with Jesus he will finish what he started in you he is faithful and you know you need to understand Jesus is just getting started with you he's just getting started if you're 70 years old he's just getting started if you're 80 he's just getting started it's your life's but a vapor we're moving on into eternity in the ages to come he's gonna part his kindness upon us and we need to remember there's so much more so much more he's intended for you so much more he's just getting started don't give up on him we believe in the God of hope trusting and that he is faithful that he's forgiving and thirdly we believe in the God of hope trusting that he is fulfilling do you believe Jesus can fulfill you you're a single guy a single gal can he be fulfilling you're poor can he be fulfilling you're sick can Jesus be fulfilling can he bring meaning and purpose to your life in the condition you're in as you're in his will you absolutely know you're in his will I'm in God's will this is God's will for my life is he more than enough is he enough is enough to fill you this day to fill you this night to fill you tomorrow to fill you fulfill you on into eternity I love the story of Hannah she had a husband named Elkanna and he had a another woman another wife he had two wives and this first wife was pretty prolific she's able to have children for Elkanna and Hannah her womb was purposely shut by God God purposely shut her womb she was in God's will like Sarah like Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist a period of time a period of humility a period of shame within the culture in that you cannot bear a child and Hannah she'd watch the other woman and she'd kind of gloat and she'd make fun and she'd tease Hannah and Hannah just was just beside herself and her husband Elkanna came to her one day and he said aren't I better for you than ten sons and she's like not even close dude not even close and I tell Kathy all the time honey I can't fulfill you if Elkanna couldn't fulfill Hannah I can't fulfill you only Jesus can fulfill you so from the very beginning of our marriage I always pointed her to Jesus and it didn't mean that I needed to be passive and wimp out on my responsibilities it just meant that there's a spiritual need that we all have that only Jesus can fill and if you're looking to a man a woman a relationship that'll bring that fulfillment you're mistaken you're asking too much of that wife or that husband only Jesus can fulfill that spiritual void that he created you with and when both of you in a marriage in a relationship pursue Jesus to be that one that fulfills there's overflow coming forth from your life that spills over in the lives of those around you a life of fulfillment a life of contentment a life of enriched by fellowship with Jesus now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost through the power of the Holy Ghost abounding in hope what is hope a confident expectation of good and so your job and that which you prayed about that which you feared is finally happened to you you've lost it all as in a moment you've lost it all you're the richest guy in your culture richest guy in your neighborhood richest guy of all of them you got wife and kids and stocks and bonds you got it all and Satan and God are you know having a debate and they're debating that you don't really love God for who he is you love God because he's given you a lot of blessings all the blessings you know so Satan challenges your relationship with God and Satan says take away his stuff let me take away his stuff and he'll curse you to your face I know human nature I know how people are long as you say yes to them as long as you give them what they want they'll praise you lift their hands and act like they love you but as soon as there's some adversity as soon as there's a reversal as soon as something goes astray man they're gonna be blaming you man they're gonna be shaking their fist at you and blaming you and God says okay you can only go this far no further God's sovereign Satan's a fallen angel he needs permission but Satan got permission to take all the stuff away from Job except his wife there's a joke in there somewhere poor Job's wife poor job's wife she lost it all too and so you know the story lost it all and Job rather than cursing God he said naked came I into the world naked I'm gonna go the Lord giveth the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord Satan you're wrong he loves me for me he loves me for me I fulfill his heart and life you can take away all this stuff but I'm his portion forever he's in love with me Satan and then Satan says well skin for skin all that a man has will he give for his life let me give him boils let me put him in a hospital bed with cancer let me fill him with pain just where he can't sleep where he can't he can't even deal with it let it be so odious so stinky so smelly his breath and and the boils it all over his body that people shy away from him let him come to the place where he sits down in the street like that like a beggar and scrapes the boils with a pot shirt the pus coming out and all let me bring him to that place and he'll curse you to your face did I paint it good I don't want to go there I don't want to have sores and all the ulcerous sores and all that no thank you nobody does none of us do and some of you have been entrusted of God to go through very similar things and your faith grew your trust grew Satan's wrong the very thing that he tries to use to put a wedge between you and God is the very thing that drove drew you closer to God because he's our portion forever Job's wife comes to him and she says you continue to maintain your integrity she says why don't you curse God and die and he says oh you speak as the foolish women speak shall we not receive good at the hand of the Lord and not evil how is the gospel presented to you how did you hear was Jesus presented was he was he presented and prostituted that he would give you everything you wanted every prayer everything that comes out of your mouth your best life now is that though it was presented that's an adulterous gospel message that's not the gospel message Jesus said if any man come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me all sorts of promises within the scripture that speak of affliction to speak of difficulty and coming to Christ many of the afflictions of the righteous many but the Lord delivers them out of them all we through much tribulation Paul said enter into the kingdom of God Jesus said in the world you will have tribulation pressure upon you but be of good cheer of overcome the world my peace I give unto you not as the world give the eye unto you in the world you will have promise in your promise to our you will have there's nothing wrong with you it's not because you sin it's because you're a believer in Jesus that the tribulation is coming upon you not the trip great tribulation just tribulation pressure things are more expensive harder to get along with kids and family the love of many growing cold iniquity abounding because you're a target because you love Jesus because you love the nation of Israel because you love God's people you're targeted for destruction you're targeted to be wiped out but your relationship with the Lord is remaining steadfast roots are growing deeper the God of hope wants to fill us he wants to replace the discontentment of our soul with himself only Jesus satisfies you can't hope in man can I hear an amen there all right don't kill me this election cycle don't kill me you're gonna kill me man I'm just gonna die so we go to the woman in John 4 the woman of Samaria she thought a husband would fill her heart that first wedding like my mom my mom's married seven times you know I don't even know if she got married with me but in any event the white dress the whole everything by the time she's the Bob by the time she's to the fifth the fifth guy she wanted a nice white dress and everything again and that emotion of excitement of being married you know and she wound up marrying her sponsor at AA and she rejected you know she rejected her husband's have an alcohol problem she's have alcohol problems it's not funny why you laughing and it is funny and I'm like mom what are you doing mom I want to be happy and I said what happiness got to do with it you know kind of like Tina what's love have to do with it you know you're married there's good times and bad times right get over it you know and but that one lasted less than the year but you see that with our girls with our granddaughters there's that day there's that day they're gonna get married and they're looking for that guy and they're waiting for that guy and this guy's gonna bring fulfillment joy and blessing they got a house and a picket fence and all of the sorts of things in their mind and the bedrooms decorated and types of furniture and all these other things and where they're gonna live and so many dreams and ambitions and just ideas and such and then they get married and they find out this isn't the guy I married this isn't the guy I thought I married and so the woman at the well in John 4 she's on her fifth husband she can't get no satisfaction and Jesus makes a perfect divine appointment to meet with this poor woman who's suffering from from just a lack of fulfillment lack of contentment he says I've got water you can drink of you'll never thirst again and you don't have anything to draw with the water that you drink woman that natural water you're gonna thirst again go get your husband and come back I don't have a husband now you're telling me the truth right now you've had five husbands a guy you're living with now she gave up on marriage why even get married what's the point she's just living with the guy go get him come back and and then Jesus told her that he'd give her water that she'd never thirst again that he could fill her heart and life with himself and in John 7 she said if any man thirsts are you thirsty as the deer pants after the water brooks so pants my soul is there a thirst in your soul for meaning and purpose is there a thirst in your soul to know the Living God God made you in Romans 8 verse 20 all creation was subject unto a vanity or an emptiness and that by reason of him who subjected the same in hope God made a hope hole in your heart a confident expectation a God-shaped hole in your heart that nothing can fill except the relationship with Jesus Christ if any man thirst Jesus said let him come unto me and read my book no we didn't say that let him come unto me and do 12 steps no we didn't say that take this formula hey we got a new program at church you do this program and you're gonna be full you're gonna be fixed we'll fix you with this program you just need to give a hundred dollars every month automatically to our account always selling Jesus always selling a program a scam a scheme just introduce him to Jesus let him do it only he can do if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink he that believes in me as the scripture said out of his belly shall flow torrents of living water the overflow of your life is a torrent a mighty rushing stream of the Holy Spirit so be not drunk with wine wherein is excess the wine can't solve it be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be being filled the Greek tense be being filled with the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit the life of the Spirit is the most fulfilling life available the life on the spiritual plane on the human plane marriage between a husband and wife is the most intimate form of a relationship on the human level but on the human level you need to get it on the spiritual level to enter into the true intimacy of what God intended being married to God being the bride of Christ being connected being intimate being one the oneness that he desires for for each of us to have fulfilled to overflowing so you can't open man you can't open wealth Solomon the richest guy throughout all of antiquity at the end of it all he says vanity is vanity all is vanity and vexation of spirit I couldn't find any fulfillment in the women I was with I had 700 wives and 300 concubines let me tell you and now I got all the gold I got everything everything vanity vanity all is vanity and vexation of spirit you know when you don't have it there's a there's like you're chasing the carrot you're chasing the carrot so you have this motivation to chase the carrot I think if I just made that first million I'd be fulfilled off I if I just had to I'd be fulfilled and then you achieve these goals you do well you achieve them you're still empty why do you think so many of the Elvis Presley's and the Hollywood movie stars and rock stars and all these people go to therapists and take drugs and die in their 30s because they discovered what you and I haven't they reach those goals and they're even more empty they're even emptier it was supposed to fill the void and the emptiness but they're still empty you can't hope in wealth or fame or any of those kind of things first Timothy 617 trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy they can't even enjoy it in Luke 12 15 beware of covetousness for man's life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses your 401k your home equity your stocks your bonds your cash your cars it's all fleeting it's all temporal there's no U-Haul truck behind that hearse can't take it with you so you can't hope in man you can't hope in wealth you can't hope in health Job said in Job 7 verse 5 my flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust my skin is broken and become loathsome my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope he'd lost hope he was okay in chapter 1 and chapter 2 but these trials they wear on don't they they wear on we I'm typically pretty good when I'm first hit I can handle anything the first day the second day by the third day fourth day I'm starting to crack under pressure I don't know how long you go but I start to crack I start to like lose it a bit I start like Lord Lord I have my game face on I got my game face on but Lord I'm starting to I'm starting to wonder now Rick it's only been three days why don't we switch places in Lord why don't we switch places no just kid can't talk to him like that but a lot of times you want to say that to people that just you know shy it off like oh it's no big deal well let's switch places it is a big deal and so he set the place where he's lost hope and that's where you and I come in we point people back to Jesus don't we in Job 19 10 he says he has destroyed me on every side can you imagine this is God and God's never going to apologize to Job can you believe that instead God's gonna say that Job Job where were you when were you when when I hung the earth on nothing can can you put a hook and catch Leviathan can you can you explain to me behemoth can you explain to me the Pleiades and Beatlegeese and all these other can you explain anything then why do you think you can explain the circumstances of your life that I've allowed in your life and Job says I have bore myself and I repent and dust and ashes and you know what blesses me the Lord addresses Job in chapter 42 as my servant Job my servant Job my servant Job remember what we said just be faithful to be the Lord's servant what a privilege to be the one that he uses in that way to demonstrate his love to demonstrate how deep this salvation goes relationship with him what a privilege but Eliphaz Bildad Zophar these guys the miserable comforters God did not address them as my servant Bildad Bildad the shoe height shortest man in the Bible shorter than Nehemiah I mean this guy was short but they weren't my servants were they what a blessing he has destroyed me on every side and I'm gone and my hope has he removed like a tree any of you guys pulling trees out get the backhoe out there and pull it out by the root the wind blow and pull that tree out of the ground that whole root system sticking up in the air he's pulled me out like a tree root he took all the way down every root I had he pulled it out of the ground all the faith that I had he ripped it out of the ground he ripped it out of my heart hope deferred makes the heart sick come quickly Lord Jesus come quick and my hope is he removed like a tree hope deferred makes the heart sick so you start to talk to yourself it's rough when you're talking to yourself right walking around talking to yourself it's even worse when you're answering yourself in Psalm 42 David's walking around talking to himself why aren't thou cast down all my soul now some of you have been studying about sheep I saw on Facebook you know what a cast sheep is a cast sheep is one that got a too much turkey and fell over on its back and can't get back up and it's as bad as a little spindly legs and can't get his weight to switch over as a bad you know like a turtle on its back the gastric juices and everything are messing with the mind you're imagining there's a wolf nearby and you're bleeding out and the shepherd leaves the 99 to come find you you know and you can't wait to be found why aren't thou cast down all my soul so differentiating between body soul and spirit the part of his being the soul is the mind the will the emotions his mind is riddled he's cast down he's lost hope where art thou cast down all my soul why art thou disquieted within me and then he answers himself hope thou in God put your hope back in God quit trusting in yourself quit trying to figure it out God's brought you to place we were at the end of yourself you're at the very end but hope is a confident expectation for good the God of all hope has a plan for you he's not done with you yet he's just getting started this is in his will you are in his will really Lord I'm in your will you willed all this yeah I willed all this just as I did with Job just as I did with my son Jesus just as I did with the Apostle Paul you're in good company I've willed this adversity I've willed these afflictions I've willed these things to remind people of the cross for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son it's my will you're filling up the sufferings of Christ people are reminded of Jesus my son when they see you going through these things when they see you worshiping me and trusting in me there's a quality of life there's a quality of life that you're emanating that you're demonstrating a picture that they're starting to see that I'm worth everything and that you'll worship me even if I take away all the stuff even if I take away your health you're gonna still worship me because I'm worthy I'm ascribing worth unto him why art thou cast down all my soul why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance what's David saying Lord don't give up on me I'm gonna praise you for the help of your countenance your presence Lord your presence with me in this fiery trial means more to me than anything you've never left me you'll never forsake me you're never gonna give up on me Lord that means everything you're my portion forever a lively hope Job later says I know that my Redeemer lives you have these times where you faint these times where your hopes ripped out like a tree then you have these other moments where you say stuff like though he slayed me yet will I trust in him there's times where this faith wells up inside of you and it's just like it's so huge and and you know it's like wow Lord I'm finally growing up I'm finally starting to get it he knows the way that I take I'm in his will and when he's tried me I'm gonna come forth as gold where did that come from I was just complaining about how he ripped my heart out now I put my hope back in him and look how he's speaking to me now he's given me a victorious faith faith that glorifies him because without faith it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that is a reward of those who diligently seek him I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and though worms destroy this skin come after this skin and destroy my body yet in my flesh shall I see God he's gonna resurrect me my hope is a lively hope a living hope I didn't hope in Buddha Mohammed or Confucius I put my hope my confident expectations for good in Jesus Christ to be absent the bodies to be present with the Lord Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life he that believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live believe us now this I believe this take it to the bank David said I'll be satisfied when I wake with I likeness I'm not satisfied now I can't get no satisfaction but I will be satisfied when I wake in your likeness that's my hope my confident expectation is a purifying hope beloved now are we the sons of God it does not yet appear we shall be we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is right and he that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure as the hope of the rapture the hope of Jesus come from the hope of Jesus transforming this old wretched body of mine this corruption into corruption this mortal into immortality Oh death the words I sting Oh grave whereas I victory been swallowed up destroy this body in three days I'll raise it up a confidence you can't hope in men you can't hope in wealth you can't hope in health you can't hope in self you cannot hope in yourself yourself you is going to reach obstacles adversity something so much bigger than your ability to solve or fix or remove no matter how strong you think you are as a Christian you're fighting against spirit and principalities of the air the closer you get to Jesus the closer you want to serve him the greater the adversity the greater the fight the greater the pushback against you if you're a lukewarm Christian you'll be left alone you'll be lukewarm and Jesus will be on the outside of your life knocking on the door saying why'd you kick me out because Lord I love Sodom and Gomorrah because I love the world I'd like to live on the fence I just want the eternal life I just want the fire insurance but I don't like the suffering I don't like the cross I want the crown without the cross and you'll fail you'll fail in a greater measure in a greater way than a person that faces adversity and seemingly loses everything I say seemingly because you really haven't the Apostle Paul he says in second Corinthians 1 verse 8 I would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came at us in Asia when he's going to Asia Minor that of Ephesus that we were pressed out of measure above strength how strong are you how strong is the Apostle Paul how much pressure have you faced presh pressed remember Jesus said you will have tribulation that's that pressure you remember Jesus was in the olive press which is Gethsemane and he's sweating as it were great drops of blood the Christian life doesn't mean you don't face anxiety you don't face adversity you don't face the pressure is that when you're in that condition you find the secret place God's peace that surpasses all understanding he's your peace he's your hope that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life so let's talk about depression depression is across the board we all get depressed we all have circumstances that push us to our limit where we might despair of life where we might even be suicidal we don't want to live anymore Job said that he rejoiced more in the his death day than his birthday wished he'd never been born you ever been like that he says that we despaired even of life this is the mighty Apostle Paul and the we there was more than just him there but we have the sentence of death in ourselves so what God's doing God's saying crucify the flesh mortified the flesh killed the flesh don't trust in the flesh with this sentence of death in ourselves the jobs too big I can't live the Christian life in and of myself I can't depend upon myself if I try to depend upon myself then I'm like Rocky I'm like Peter I'm gonna deny that I know him on three different occasions I don't even know the man and Jesus looks over at him it's not that I told you so look it's that look of love of compassion Peter I'm gonna restore you I haven't given up on you don't give up on me Peter don't go back to fishing don't quit it's always too soon to quit Peter I know what I'm doing with you I'm gonna restore you and when you're converted strengthen the brethren I know Satan wants to destroy you I know he wants to beat you to an inch of your life but I'm praying for you Peter I'm praying for you I ever lived to make intercession for you Jesus is praying for you he's praying for you as you go through those trials as you're despairing of life but we have this sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead who delivered now notice the tense here past tense present tense future tense hope is a confident expectation for good verse 10 of 2nd Corinthians 1 who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us why because we're our God is a God of hope God of peace God of joy God of love he's not going to discard us in first Corinthians 10 verse 13 Paul says there's no temptation that has taken you but such as common to man we all go through these trials all of us one way or another you you don't have the market corner you don't have a monopoly on trials unbelievers go through just as severe trials as you and I do as believers Jesus is there with us in the fire Jesus is there with us in the boat and the storms of life to get us through these storms of life there's no temptation testing that's taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not tempt you or test you above which that which you were able so then your friends come the miserable comforters of Job and say hey quit worrying about it God's not going to tempt you above that what you're able don't worry about it you'll he's not gonna put you through something that breaks you God is faithful he won't tempt you above that what you're able but well with the temptation make a way of escape I like the escape right I want to escape I want to get out of here I don't want to go through the valley of the shadow of death not even with Jesus there with me man I want to be escape I want to be delivered from the trial from the problem but then he goes on to say that you may be able to bear it what's that that means you reach the end of yourself that means you couldn't trust in yourself that means that trial that he gave you brought you to the end of yourself he's faithful he won't tempt you above which that you were able but well with the temptation give you a way of escape what's the way of escape in that trial Jesus he's there with me he's my only escape the only way I can bear it the only way I can keep going is Jesus put my hope my faith my trust in him every moment of every day till we get through it and then you know what happens that cast sheep that sheep that was there bleeding crying out when that sheep is reunited with the shepherd that's the sheep that's on the heels of the shepherd never to stray again so broken so hurting and yet so loved and wanting to express the rest of its life how very thankful he is to the shepherd that would rescue him that would deliver him from such a great body of death verse 13 now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost the God of hope will continuously fill us with all joy and peace as we continue to believe the 12 spies Moses sent out Caleb and Joshua came back with a believing report I was finishing up band of brothers this week got a binge on something right and one of the things not just lieutenant Ronald Spears and how brave he is you know telling the one guy you got to die but Danny from the blue bloods is in that that series and Danny tells this guy come with me we got to get you out of here they're at Bastogne and it's bombing everywhere and a guy was losing his mind in fear and Danny's commentary was I got to get him out of here lest it permeates the rest of the guys that kind of fear can spread well that's what happened with the ten unbelieving spies their fear their unbelief was a poison that permeated the hearts of the people Caleb and Joshua had to wait 40 years to go in and take the land Caleb and Joshua they hoped in God they believe in the God of hope they didn't care how big the Giants were they didn't care what the enemy had if they had God they had everything but the 10 unbelievers the 10 unbelievers they factored they measured that the challenge with themselves you can't do it in and of yourself since God's for you who can be against you we're more than conquerors through him that loved us we're always triumphing in him he's abounding in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit the comfort of the Holy Spirit sent unto us only God can fill the emptiness in our lives what are your hopes what are your dreams who are you hoping in you hoping in your boyfriend hoping in your girlfriend are you being injected with the world's hopium for the next politicians the world presents to you are you taking the hopium you being injected with the hopium the Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him the God of hope looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God of hope our Savior Jesus Christ there's nothing hopeless in the Christian life the God of hope will never give up on you he will never give up on me don't ever ever ever give up on him don't ever give up on Jesus the God of hope that blessed hope keep looking on for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior why no matter how dark no matter how difficult it is here Jesus concerning you and I he's just getting started just getting started the best truly is yet to come you know about that church lady that went to all these church potlucks right and she said that she wanted to be buried in her casket with a fork in her hand why because every church potluck she went to they always reminded them save your fork the best is yet to come the dessert right save your fork right it's not your best life now Joel the best is yet to come hope is a confident expectation for good this earth is not our home our citizenship is in heaven these pretenders they're not leaders we're looking for the king of kings and Lord of Lords Jesus he's the one gonna protect our grandkids our kids he's the one that gonna make things right and we're gonna worship him we're gonna lift our hearts and song for all all eternity worship in our Savior our God of hope let's pray father thank you thank you for your love Lord thank you for the truth that is ours as we discover you Lord as we get to know you Lord thank you this morning no matter how much the propaganda outside the media outside the news stations try to steal this moment that we have right now Lord we we're secure we're in the pocket we're right where we're supposed to be our eyes on you Lord don't let the foxes try to spoil the vineyard when we leave here don't let the demons steal what we've experienced on the mountaintop with you this morning Lord help us to walk the Christian life help us to go out into the world with all the junk and all the stuff but let our mind be stayed on thee keep us in your perfect peace Lord because we trust in thee help us to exercise that discipline that habit of life of taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ every high thing every imagination high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ and bring it into every thought into captivity that you're on the throne that you're sovereign that you're in control they can't scare me they can't steal my joy I don't care how much money Bill has or Klaus or any of them Lord you're almighty sovereign you're king of kings you're Lord of Lords the devil's just a fallen angel he's not God and Lord as your plan plays out as we see your prophetic plan play out help us help us Lord to remind ourselves Lord everything's happening according to your plan the stage is set for the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Lord you're coming you're coming soon even so come quickly Lord Jesus and while your heads are bowed your eyes are closed as you continue to pray if there's anybody here this morning you're naked you're undone you're still in your sins your fig leaves won't won't hide your nakedness you need to be clothed with coats of skins clothes of righteousness the righteousness of Christ the blood of Jesus needs to wash and cleanse you of all unrighteousness the righteousness that can only come from him Christ your righteousness anyone here this morning you're coming by faith you're coming according to God's grace you come in according to his mercies he's forgiving you of your sins you're coming in humility turning from your sin crying out to God God be merciful to me a sinner anyone here this morning you want eternal life you want to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ this morning just lift your hand up we want to lead you in prayer anyone here this morning Lord bless you there anybody else the Bible says there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents there's a party in heaven right now and God has blessed us to to see the Lord by his spirit draw a loved one unto himself and so pray along these lines dear gracious Heavenly Father thank you for sending your son Jesus to die for me I confess to you that I've sinned that I'm undone and I need you Lord please come into my heart and life and transform and change me make me new give me the power of your spirit to live the Christian life open your word unto me teach me to pray give me the capacity to love wash me cleanse me of all my guilt of all my shame of all my sins thank you Lord that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life thank you that before the founding of the earth that Jesus is a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth and Lord you knew me before I was even formed to my mother's womb you knew me thank you Lord that I belong that I'm the bride of Christ in Jesus name I pray amen