اللهم سبحانه وتعالى في كتابه المجيدة وفرقانه الحميد بسم الله الوحماين الرحيم والفجلي واليال عشر والشفع والوطل والليل إذا يصر هل في ذلك قسم لذي حجر ألم تركي ففع ربك بعاد إرمضات العماد التي لم يخلق مثلها في البلاد وثمود الذين جابوا الصخر بالواد وفرعون ذي الأوتاد الذين تغوفوا البلاد فأكثروا فيها الفسار فسب عليهم ربك سوط عذاهاب إن ربك رب من صاد فأما الإنسان إذا مبتلاه ربه فأكرمه ونعمه فيقول ربي أكرما وأما إذا مبتلاه فقدر عليه رسقه فيقول ربي أهانا كلا بلا تكلمون اليتين ولا تحاضون على طعام المسكين وتأكلون الطراث أكلا لما وتحبون المال حبا جما كلا إذا دكت أضدكا دكا وجاء ربك والملك صفا صفا وجي أيومئذ بجهنم يومئذ يتذكر الإنسان وأن له الذكرام يقول يا ليتني قدمت لحياته فيومئذ لا يعذب عذابه أحد ولا يثق وثاقه أحد يا أييتها النفس المطمئنة إرجع إيرى ربك راضية مرضية فدخولي في عباده ودخولي جنة سلوات أمام زمانا أرسلت ألو بردس وستسلام عليكم جميعا ورحمة الله وبركاته أولا تأكلنا بشكل كبير من المدينة أولا بشكل كبير من المدينة أن نريد أن نرى هذه الجنة من صوت الفجر في موضوع المميزة من المدينة المعاربة أبا عبد الله الحسين صلى الله عليه وسلم وذلك تباً من one of the traditions that comes to us in which our 60 مام عليسلام tells us to recite this chapter in our obligatory and in our additional prayers for he who does so will inshallah be erased with the Master of the Martyrs on the Day of Judgement in that very same level of paradise with him and then we have stated that the Quran has a number of levels and we have been looking at the various levels we looked at the oath and how an oath can have various levels and degrees to it and we mentioned yesterday for example that when it comes to these oaths they have a number of ideas as to what these oaths may represent as we peel back the layers as we dive into the ocean that is the Quran we find that these particular oaths by الله سبحانه وتعالى have a number of meanings for example it's a very face value meaning we found that وَالفجر I swear by the dawn can be literally the dawn being the period of the day in which you and I raise for صلاة الفجر but at another level the traditions tell us that this is about the movement of Karbala and that these 10 days are specific to the 10 days of محرم and therefore that this dawn is the dawn of the movement of حسين ابنه عليه السلام and that being the case we look at all of the other oaths in light of that particular movement and can come to various conclusions about what this departure of the night is and the reality that the departure of the night is the departure of the age of ignorance the departure of that ignorance that was lasting over that community at that time and ultimately the fact that that sacrifice was made on the 10th محرم that because of that sacrifice the age of ignorance are now being dispelled to what we have is an Islam that is saved until the end of time as we have these various levels we can see that we can establish a number of meanings per every single verse based upon either a direction or an interpretation as we conclude that point we found that the subsequent verse poses a wonderful statement by الله سبحانه وتعالى he says that within this oath within this series of oaths is a deep understanding for the one who wishes to know about it after this now we take the new verses on tonight's goal insha'Allah and that is where الله سبحانه وتعالى begins by discussing about three individual tyrannical groups the first is by the name of Ad the second is Thamud and the third is under the leadership of Pharaoh we are very much accustomed towards these three we have heard about them on many occasions and we know the prophets messengers have been sent to these particular tribes and to these groups الله سبحانه وتعالى uses these three groups primarily because he wants to show us that each of these three groups have a particular facet or a particular way in which their tyranny is upheld now interestingly we find as we go into the issue of Karbala one of the beauties of the movement of Karbala when we say beauty we need to take it in context when we see the beauty of Karbala is that each and every single martyr on the 10th of Muharram is very individual every martyrdom is different from another martyrdom imagine now if we came and we recited the مقتل of the 10th of Muharram and every martyrdom was the same شاقاسم was the same تعالي أقبر was the same تعالين الأسغر and so on and so forth of course they wouldn't be tracked from the story of Karbala but the reason as to why we have such an emotional attachment towards this movement is because many of us can feel like we can relate in some way or another if I am a mother or a father I can relate in a particular way if I am a brother I can relate to another particular story and so on and so forth and similarly in regards to the various stories within قرآن they are not chosen again at random there is a particular purpose behind each story and therefore the reason why Allah has chosen these three particular stories of various tyrannical rulers and groups is because their stories are particular to the story of Karbala and specifically to Yazid bin Muawiyah Yazid as we know was the tyrant at that time but if we see the movement of Karbala we need to see each and every one of these particular tyrannical groups what they represented how they acted and how this might be established in for example the rulerships of Yazid and Muawiyah themselves and therefore we can see the movement in light of these when we see these verses in fact there is more than one that is dedicated towards this particular group being عاد we find that Allah سبحانه وتعالى actually mentions عاد based within three verses verses six seven and eight he says have you not considered how your Lord dealt with عاد إرم ذات العماد the people of إرم possesses of lofty buildings اللتي لم يخلق مثلها في البلاد the like of which were not created in any other cities now here we need to know two principles in Arabic grammar in order to understand how these three groups are all linked to each other and it is certain in the mind of someone who looks at it from a grammatical perspective that each of these three groups being عاد ثمود and فرعون are linked all together the first one is in regards to the letter وعو now we mentioned actually some depth the previous night about the letter وعو and we said that there is وعو القسم وعو القسم is when Allah سبحانه وتعالى will use the letter وعو and he will make an oath by this for example he will say و العصر I swear by time using this letter وعو but there is also a different usage in the Quran as towards the letter وعو there is also translated to be the word and we often find that the word and is given to us by the letter وعو there are two different types of and that can be used within the Quran one is called وعو عطف and one is called وعو أستي عناف now this عطف وإن إستي عناف are very particular they have a very deep understanding and when you see these two types of and when you know the difference between the two of them you will be able to see a deep level of understanding within them عطف means connection it means when something is joined together إستي عناف means separation so you either have a وعو an and which joins sentences together أو لديك وعوة أستيطناف التي تفتحها أحد من أخرى لذلك when we see these particular قسم and we see these particular oaths taken by Allah سبحانه وتعالى he says and we can see that these are وعوة for oaths but here later on we see for example in verse number 9 that this is an and and the mood who used to shoo out rocks within the valley here we can establish that Allah سبحانه وتعالى wants to join the stories of these particular tyrants together he's not separating it, he's not saying well here's one tyrant but here's someone who's really good and therefore you need to separate the stories by virtue of an and being and of أطف being وعوة أطف it joins these groups together so when Allah سبحانه وتعالى says that have you not considered ad and you also get the وعوة of أطف and ثمود it's the same statement have you not considered ثمود and have you not considered فرعون and therefore when you have these ands in place it joins all of the series of statements together one two the second way we know that they are all grouped together and their story is by the word اللذينة so in verse number 11 it says اللذينة تغوف البلاد so have you not considered عاد they were arrogant have you not considered ثمود what they did have you not considered فرعون what he did اللذينة تغوف البلاد all of these groups committed great inordinacies within the cities by virtue of the word اللذينة we join all of them together and we know that when Allah سبحانه وتعالى wants us to learn about these groups he's not separating them in issues he wants us to know that they are a group of people who are tyrannical and therefore the lessons should be taken from them relative to the story itself as we go further now we see that عاد were a particular group and have a particular series of lessons that we can take from them and when we look at these lessons one or two in particular that we can see were brought out in light of معاوية and يزيد because if we want to see how this story of Karbala moves within this chapter we need to see that عاد, ثمود and فرعون have their own special dynamic towards this story tomorrow insha'Allah we'll take ثمود in depth the following day we'll take فرعون in depth tonight we just look at عاد when we look at عاد the first thing to know is their background as to who they were and where they came from the people of عاد were from the generations that were subsequent to the people of نوح عليه السلام as we know نوح عليه السلام was on his ark and the great flood came destroyed the land and eventually نوح عليه السلام was able to leave the ark and eventually the people would re-establish themselves within the land we have a certain number of generations that are a gap between نوح's people and the people of عاد some generations may say four or six or eight but either way we know that this group of people were eventually after نوح عليه السلام the prophet that was sent to them was by the name of prophet هود prophet هود we see that he has story and عاد story is mentioned in a number of places within the Holy Qur'an as an example two chapters are named after this particular group of people the first one chapter number 11 سورة الهود himself or chapter of هود where prophet هود is dedicated towards the name we also have the chapter الأحقاف الأحقاف means the sand hills and الأحقاف is another chapter that is dedicated towards the history of عاد straight away we can see if 114 chapters are present within the Qur'an and Allah has named two of them dedicated towards this issue of the group of عاد straight away there must be something great within this story it's not a story that can be overlooked there must be something deep within this for the lessons for you and I to take and specifically in regards to the greatest movement history has ever known being كربرا in regards to عاد where were they based geographically they were very far and geographically they were spread out amongst a number of cities but their region was primarily the region of modern-day Yemen Yemen as we know is that strip of land which is adjacent towards modern-day Saudi Arabia that is the primary area in which they lived and therefore the reason why Allah ﷻ specifies the story of عاد so much within the Qur'an is because the people of Arabia knew this story very very well imagine now it's a story that you have been handed down generation after generation much like we have within كربرا our mothers and our fathers may have told us this story our grandparents would have told us this story in the nights of محرم and every time a shahada takes place a Thursday night we come and hear parts of this story in Arabian culture the story of عاد and ثمود was so famous that everybody was told about it constantly one after another as a generation and therefore one of the reasons why Allah ﷻ wanted this to be prescribed within the Qur'an is because the people knew of this story on this point we find a very interesting point why does Allah ﷻ only mention 25 prophets within the Qur'an as in we teach our children that they have how many prophets 124,000 why didn't Allah ﷻ mention the story of 45 prophets why didn't he mention 100 prophets within the Qur'an why only bring us to a total of 25 أيت الله شهيد الحكيم may Allah bless his soul he has a statement within one of his books where he says the reason why Allah ﷻ confined his stories towards 25 named prophets in the Qur'an was because these 25 were the ones that the people of Arabia were accustomed to if Allah ﷻ had revealed stories of other prophets from other lands it may have been a reason to reject the Holy Qur'an as in those people the Bedouins of the time or the people of the Quraish of the time or the Jews and the Christians would have questioned they would have said well hang on a minute we haven't heard this story of prophet X, Y and Z we've never heard of prophet A, B and C in land A, B and C therefore you must be making these stories up we reject your Qur'an we reject your book as a book of revelation Allah ﷻ could not give any reason in existence in history to reject the Qur'an they needed to know it and become aware of it but also stories that they could become attached to by virtue of them being aware of them and therefore عاد was a story that was there to shake the people because we will tell you of a story that you are so much aware of that you should not be rejecting this idea it happened in your own country this story even though Yemen we separate today as a new country of course there wasn't a border between Yemen and Arabia in those days and therefore you are well aware of this particular story here we go further if we turn to chapter number 53 which is سرطن نجم verse number 50 Allah ﷻ says something very interesting as an introduction to the story of A'ad he says بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أنه أهلك عدن الأولى and that he did destroy the people of A'ad of old عدن الأولى now another translation for عدن الأولى maybe A'ad the first now this is key in terms of how Quranic تفسير and Quranic sciences work when we find a statement by Allah ﷻ of there being one the fact that he specifies one in Quran or in أحديث or in explanation there must be two the fact that he has mentioned عدن الأولى عدن الأولى or عدن الأولى there must be a later example of A'ad coming into place now we have many evidences of this within Quran as an example in the verse of تطهير we are very much aware of Chapter 33 verse 33 إنما يريد الله وليدهب عنكم رجة أهل البيت ويطاهركم تطهيرا وهم صلاة الله however we need to know that is not the entirety of the verse as we know that there is a sentence in this verse in Chapter 33 verse 33 that supersedes the aspect of تهارة and تطهير right there is a verse that says or part of the verse the beginning of the verse says that you should not display your finaries just like the people of ignorance of the first period جاهلية الأولى then after this statement of a group of people who are displaying their finaries just like the people of جاهلية الأولى the first age of ignorance that's when the verse concludes with the verse of تطهير therefore the question is if there was a first age of ignorance أولى there must be a second period of ignorance within history the fact that Allah puts a first there must be a second so therefore the question is when is the second principally the scholars say that we are living in the second age of ignorance in the idea that because الله سبحانه وتعالى states that there are people who will present their finaries their bodies the things that should become personal to them just as they were in the first era of ignorance there is a period now when we look turn on the TV turn on the films look at billboards all around us the magazines there are people who will display their finaries in such a way that we are living in a second age of ignorance the fact that there is one there is two another evidence within Quran for us to take can be the terms نشأة الأولى and نشأة الأخرى نشأة الأولى this is the first creation again we have أولى الله سبحانه وتعالى says that we have created you from نشأة الأولى you know that there is a first creation you know because you have been through that first creation we were in our mother's wounds we were given birth to therefore this was the first ever creation but the same way there is a نشأة الأولى in chapter number 29 verse 20 الله says we are going to have نشأة الأخرى we are going to have a letter creation therefore know that letter creation is on the day of judgment we will raise you from your graves therefore the fact that there is one there is always two mentioned in Quran at least there needs to be two in thought process the fact that الله سبحانه وتعالى says that there is أعدن الأولى a first أعد there must be a second أعد as well now in Quran there is no way that mentions a second أعد there is no way in Ahadith that will specify there is a second أعد but by principles of how Quran works there must be a second أعد and the fact that we have mentioned that all of these practical rulers are joined together by virtue of وعطف and by virtue of the word اللتي لم يخلق مثلها في البلاد when there is a first of أعد there must be a second of أعد when there is a first of ثمود there must be a second of ثمود when there is a first of فرعون there must be a second of فرعون as well therefore all of the first of ثمود and the second example of فرعون are indeed none other than معاوية and يزيد بن معاوية does that make sense how the Quran works when you have a first you must have a second you must have a second because اللتي specifies there is a first therefore by the example of how Quran works there must be a second that اللتي mentions there is a first of these there must be a second of the others therefore we need to see these characters in light of these issues of أعد ثمود فرعون that's a very in-depth تفصير ان شاء الله everybody followed it and how we connect the dots and how تفصير works and thus when it comes to the type of tyranny within their hearts and therefore this specific type of tyranny is a basis in which how to work what they have is they have an attitude they have a thought process they have a way in which they believe and therefore eventually when you get to ثمود فرعون you have actions but what you find with أعد and the people of فرعون and therefore what we find in قرآن of their ثماد will be the examples of the ثماد of معاوي and يزيد what is this ثماد we find it within two particular verses of قرآن the first one is within chapter الله سبحانه وتعالى يقوم with the following بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم then as the أعد they were unjustly proud within the land and they said who is mightier in strength than us الله responds by telling them did they not see that Allah who created them first was mightier than they in strength but they denied our communications the first problem with أعد was that they believed that they were mightier in strength than anybody else in the world and because of that they had such a level of arrogance where they were able to reject everyone and anyone that would come to them what happened with their story in regards to أعد we find that their prophet that was sent to them was هود the name of we have for example derivatives of this word we have هادي or we have مهدي these are derivatives of this word هود is the one who is guided and he is the one who was sent in order to guide his particular group when he was born a story tells us that his mother peace be upon her had a vision about prophet هود and that he was the one who was going to go through the trials and difficulty within his own time we find this finds a similarity in regards to the master of the martyrs أبع عبد الله الحسين صلوات الله وسلام وعلي one of the famous narrations tell us رسول الله peace be upon him and his family was out of the house one of these servants within the house ran towards رسول الله and said يا رسول الله there is a problem with رسول الله come towards her when he comes running towards her eventually she wakes and finds that she speaks to رسول الله and says to him the reason why I have collapsed is because of grief of what I have seen what I have heard what has taken place in front of me oh my daughter زحرا what is it that has taken place my son this son within my womb he speaks to me what does he say oh زحرا he cries out أنا الشهيد I am the one who will be the martyr and the second day this same thing happens again he calls out traditions slightly differ but one says أنا الغريب I am the one who is all alone and I am the one who will become thirsty the same way that حود عليه السلام his mother was seeing a vision about prophet حود and the trials and tribulations that he would go through زحرا حود عليه السلام also saw and heard from her womb what would take place one tradition tells us that حود عليه السلام as a youth he was one that never of course prostrated to any idol as he approached his people one of the things that they did to him that they strangled prophet حود to the extent that he became unconscious for a day and a whole night حود عليه السلام when his people with آد they had something that was very specific to their history they were people who had lofty towers this is why the verse says ذاتل أماد that they were the people of very lofty towers أماد according to some translations isn't just lofty towers it is lofty towers which are like tent pegs which were able to go deep within the ground and very high up one narration tells us that at their time they had towers buildings that they lived in which were several stories high now today for you and I having a building which is several stories high isn't anything necessarily grand we don't look at it and say wow masha Allah but you can imagine thousands and thousands of years ago after the period of نوح عليه السلام to have a house and a building and a palace which was several stories high was of the grandest thing at the time and this is why الله سبحانه وتعالى confirms this by saying اللتي لم يخلق مثلها في البلاد that of these people they were none that had this kind of city there was none that were able to create like this because they had such grand cities number one they felt arrogant they felt that they had achieved so much because of what they had achieved with their own technologies they were a group that used to have great farming lands and people of great agriculture almost as if akin to factories today they were people in terms of the history of anthropology and archeology they were people who would be able to grow a lot of things and therefore they felt very proud of what they had achieved secondly they felt very secure they felt because we were the first people of our age in our area to grow such grand buildings that none can come and destroy us and the ending of them was based within this very arrogance that they had Allah SWT speaks in many verses that a great wind overtook them that they actually ran for security within their great lofty buildings and a great wind took them for seven days and for eight nights it completely destroyed them hence the term in Quran الأحقاف الأحقاف being the sandhills because so much sand was sent upon them such a great dust storm was sent upon them that it was as if that their high several-story buildings were covered by sand and that's why you have the chapter الأحقاف the sandhills that covered the people of Aad one day two caliphs of Banu Abbas had to deal with this we find that they were people who had their own level of arrogance two in particular المنصور and المهدي المنصور started to dig a well within this area of Yemen he dug and dug and dug and continued eventually he died it so happened that the next caliph المهدي continued to dig and they dug until they managed to get towards the bottom of the well when they got towards the bottom of the well rather than water raising out a wind came out a wind that scared the people who were digging they wrote a letter towards the caliph the caliph said continue to dig he sent more diggers and eventually they created a well that was large enough for humans to drop down into people went and dropped down and they began to dig further going in and straight towards when they dug they wrote a letter back towards the caliph and said that we have seen something which we have never seen before we have seen houses grand tall buildings that have remained the way in which they were from thousands of years ago but when we dug and we entered into these grand buildings we found human beings that were dead but they died in such a way in a way in which they were still when we touched them they were covered with sand as we touched them the sand broke into pieces and their entire body scattered into pieces he had never heard something like this he read that letter and called our seventh Imam the seventh Imam came and said what do you ask he says we have seen these things what are these things that we have seen the seventh Imam said do you not read Surat Al-Ahqaf this is the sand hills which have taken place this is Aad have been destroyed and this is the sand that has burst upon them another verse of Quran begins to discuss exactly what has taken place and this is from Surat Al-Sh'ara chapter number 26 of the Holy Quran in which Allah SWT sends a second description of the people of Aad he says within verse number 123 to verse number 130 and he said بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Aad gave a lie to the apostles when their brother who had said to them will you not guard against evil surely I am a faithful apostle towards you therefore guard against the punishment of Allah and obey me and I did not ask you any reward for it except my reward is with Allah the Lord of the Worlds do you build on every height a monument vain is it what you do and you make strong fortresses that perhaps you may abide within and when you lay hands upon men you lay hands upon them like tyrants this is how you treat people not only are you arrogant in thinking that you are stronger than everybody else to the point in which you are willing to reject Allah how you treat people is that you treat them like tyrants here Allah SWT wanted to show us the poor qualities of these two of this particular group that what they were like is how their attitude was towards people the attitude of معاوية and Yazid here need to come into question to see how they were with towards the messengers of their time because if you can see that this principle attitude was that they thought that they were better than anyone else this is how عدوة and this is with the presentation of these people as a group of human beings we find so sorrowfully that an incident took place with معاوية ابن سفيان معاوية after the death of the commander of the faithful معاوية he called one of the grand companions of the commander of the faithful towards him this particular companion was very elderly and he was someone who actually had outlived his four sons the reason why he had outlived his four sons was because his four sons had died in the battle of سفين on behalf of the commander of the faithful against معاوية so what he wanted to do was call this man and trick him into saying something bad about the commander of the faithful maybe he is upset with علي because his four sons have died he calls the old man and he says to him I hear that you are someone who praises علي so much therefore tell me why is it that you praise علي like this what is the reason he wanted to get him rattled and angry about the death of his four children the old man who was so old his back was bent because of his age but he used to wear one of those ropes that tied around his stomach and he in the narration tied that and pulled it pulled it to the point where it became tight around his back and he was able to stand firm against معاوية tell you as to why I love علي so much why I praise علي ابن عبي طالب every single day the reason why I praise علي is because of the time in which I spent with him and what I saw of him I will tell you of the face of علي ابن عبي طالب his face shone like it was a shining star to the point in which we could not even look at him directly in the face when he smiled when his teeth shone like a row of pearls in front of us shall I tell you more of علي عو معاوية I will tell you that during the day he spent time with us as if he was one of us and during the evening he would be the one who would take account of himself and each and every one of his deeds when he thought people were sleeping during the night he would go and he would give the people food and look after them this is why I praise علي ابن عبي طالب so much معاوية is narrated to have tears streaming down his eyes having heard the praise of his enemy علي ابن عبي طالب the attitude of these people the attitude of the tyrants were that they were greater than anyone else when really they were the lowest of the low that has ever been created our attitude our attitude is towards loving these people and you find that many a times we are challenged about changing the mind set of an individual we have come in these 10 nights for the purpose of reformation within ourselves and therefore to change the attitude of a tyrant is the most difficult of things once a caliph is one of his servants an advisor within his court the court's advisor the advisor's name was اياد اياد was a very deep spiritual man and when he was an advisor he would always give the best of advice to the caliph so the caliph said to him اياد advise me tell me how I can change my life my attitude towards this situation he says to him اياد I'll present to you a scenario understand this scenario and you will if you have deeply understood a change everything about yourself and your life your outlook he says to him imagine now you are going on a trip in a desert let's assume you're going on a hunting trip within the desert or you're going out and you are with your party and for whatever reason you are separated from your party it's happened to many of us we go out and we get separated from our family members and we think we are lost and so on and so forth it happened and you imagine this scenario we are separated from your party and I am coming towards you due to your separation within the desert of course as you are walking you would be to the point of thirst and when you come towards me you say to me do you have any drink of water that can quench my thirst of course I would say to you oh great caliph I will present you with this water but on a condition I will give you this water but on the condition that you give to me half of your kingdom would you do it the caliph says of course I would do it if I need to have a drink of water I would save my life from the thirst of the desert in exchange for half of my kingdom of course I am going to give you half of my kingdom so I will take and then Ayah continues he says oh caliph if that's the case once you drink that water that water causes you an infection whereby you are unable to pass water and it's giving you so much pain that you think you are going to die you are unable to pass water you are painful of disease but with me in my group is a doctor who can cure you of your illness but I was to say to you I would not allow that doctor to come and give you a remedy unless and except you give me the other half of your kingdom would you do it caliph said of course I would if it meant I could pass that water and stop being in such great pain of course I would give you the other half of the kingdom and he looks at him and says to him oh caliph I will be upon you in your attitude towards your superiority within this world you think that you are so great you think your position is of such high stature the reality is in your eyes your entire kingdom isn't worth one glass of water to you you'd be willing to exchange your entire kingdom for one glass of water why then do you think you are a lofty king in the eyes of this world you see the attitude of a tyrant and how they really perceive themselves and how they really are and ultimately Yazid was of exactly the same nature if Aad felt that they were the most superior in the land there is no strength like our strength what attitude Yazid had towards Hussein ibn Ali imagine where you have the audacity that you can behead the grandson of Rasool Allah nay it does not stop there imagine now you are presented with that head and you have the audacity to be able to poke a stick at that head imagine it does not it does not stop there imagine he has the capability the audacity to place that head on a chess board and on that chess board next to him is a glass of alcohol and in his drunken state he is capable of knocking over that glass of alcohol and alcohol mixes with the blessed blood of Hussein ibn Ali is this man not an example of the most arrogant tyrant history has ever seen is this not an example of the people of Aad where they said to themselves that none has strength like us and Quran we are the ones who created you in the first place do you not think that we have strength over you and when you hear a story like this your heart cannot help but have such grief and pain for the state of such tyrants your heart cannot bear but bleed and shed these great tears for Hussein ibn Ali we want to tell you a story in understanding what it is like to be a true lover and companion of Hussein ibn Ali the night tonight we are commemorating is that of Habib ibn Madaher Habib is a companion an individual who one really cannot fathom one doesn't really have the ability to understand and the grief in which he would have showed towards Hussein maybe just maybe can be understood in this particular story it's one said that may Allah bless his soul was sitting and he would receive delegations and one person would come to him day after day after day and this particular person would come three days in a row and he came with the same question day after day he comes to him and on the first day he says to him I have heard that the imams used to shed tears of blood over the death of Hussein ibn Ali is this true as in we hear it don't we imams used to shed tears of blood as in we hear that the 12th imam in his yarat shed tears of blood for Hussein ibn Ali oh ayatollah hakeem is this the case he says to him indeed we have come across this in the books so the second day this man comes back towards ayatollah hakeem he asks exactly the same question is it true our imams shed blood maybe he is not satisfied he wants another answer he wants evidence ayatollah hakeem responds with exactly the same statement we have read this within the books the third day he comes back to ayatollah hakeem and he says to him is it true the imams shed tears for Hussein ibn Ali at this point ayatollah hakeem cannot respond with exactly the same answer there is nothing in which he can say if it's the same that will give satisfaction toward this man's answer ayatollah hakeem bows his head and begins to weep profusely he takes a hanker chief out of his pocket and dabs his eyes he puts that hanker chief towards the man and says oh man i cannot speak for the imams because i was not there but my hanker chief has tears of blood maybe i am able to show you through my tears of blood that yes indeed the imams i cannot prove to you but maybe my one example will show you of the pain of someone who truly loves Hussein ibn Ali imagine Habib ibn Madaher when he received that letter from imam al-Hussein which said to him oh Habib you are a scholar and a jurist you are a free man you know our lineage and you know my proximity رسول الله therefore come to my aid Habib ibn Madaher as a young child was someone who was in love with Hussein ibn Ali the narrations tell us that he used to follow imam everywhere he would go one tradition tells us that رسول الله used to see Habib's father Madaher and at one point he wept and wept and Madaher said to him رسول الله why do you cry he says i have just seen your son Habib he follows my son Hussein everywhere he goes this young son of yours will even follow Hussein and protect him on the day of and indeed Habib moved with imam when he went to and he followed imam at that time he was waiting in fact the narrations tell us that the very first letter that was received by imam رسول الله was that letter from Habib ibn Madaher and then imam is in the plains of Karbala he has sent that letter towards Habib Habib comes and he says to his servant that we must now leave we will be waiting for the grandson of Hussein the grandson of رسول الله has called you go towards him Habib knows how much of a difficult time it is in Kufa how the tyrants are within Kufa at that time he says to his servant i want you to take my horse and take it outside of the grounds of Kufa and wait for me there if people say to you that you are there tell them that you are grazing your horse Habib now goes and he waits for a time in which the mosque of Kufa is filled maybe at prayer time and at that time he leaves and he sneaks out of the city of Kufa he comes towards that servant of his and he says to him i free you in the name of Allah go and flee this evil city the servant responds and says to him oh Habib my master please tell me that you are now going towards Hussein the grandson of رسول الله to assist him in this time why is it that you are telling me to flee and to become free at this point do you deny me the opportunity to go and serve the son of the daughter of رسول الله why are you allowed to have this action and this blessing but you deny me of this at this point Habib begins to cry and says to himself if this is such a great response how can I deny him he tells the servant come with me we will go towards the plains of Karbala at this point إمام الحسين عليه السلام is handing out the standard he is now handing out the standard and one is left there is one in which he is available and they ask him يا حسين يا رسول الله oh master tell me who is this one standard that is left available for إمام responds back by saying this standard is for Habib there is a man who is going to come and indeed at this point in time the narrations tell us that a cloud of dust could be seen and that cloud of dust was coming closer and closer and it became intense indeed that Al Habib فِن مضاهِر Habib was about the same age as رسول الله a great companion of his he comes and he meet he comes and meets and he comes and there is a great commotion that is made outside the tents they are coming and giving the salutations towards him they come and giving him a pat on the back and saying to him رأيهم للأكثر من رسول الله هذا ملاع은 هو يتسمع بسيديu zainab سأتصل على اكثر من رسول الله لكي يسأل الشخص الذي يخرج من أول أمر هنكي تخفض أن تعود حبما على كان لأخبار رسول الله فعلا اخبار ما ستبقى لقد تأتي حبيبها تأتي ونقول مبجر منها ؟ أنهم يخبرونها أنها حبيب أنه يقول أنه يتبقى سلوتتي من حبيب حبيب يتبقى هذه السلوتتي أنه يتبقى سلوتتي يتبقى أنه يقول أنه يتبقى سلوتتي من who is this low individual who receives the salutations from such a great lady who says it is enough how can I be given such great salutations was a leader upon that day one of the grand companions that would attack the enemies traditions tell us that he attacked and killed many of the enemies one of the traditions tell us that at this point in time he continues to come towards the grandson of Rasoolallah he says to him oh my master Hussein please allow me to go and fight upon your behalf Imam responds to him and says حبيب you are such a close friend of mine you are such a dear friend how can I bear to let you go out if you go out my closest friend my ally will be taken from me I cannot bear to see that you are departing from me but at this point the battle begins to rage and حبيب continues to ask at this point it comes to the time of Sirat al-Dahar one companion comes towards and says to him the time of prayer has come let us come and perform our prayers he says to him congratulations to you may Allah make you amongst those who have established the Salah at this point one of the enemies by the name of Hussein calls out to the grandson of Rasoolallah and says to him oh Hussein do you think your prayers are going to be accepted حبيب shouts out in a fit of rage oh man oh drunkard do you think that your prayer will be accepted before the grandson of Rasoolallah nay you will enter into the pitfalls of hell at this point he begins to abuse and curse حبيب حبيب turns towards Hussein and says oh my dear friend Hussein I wish to go and pray my Salah within the seven heavens I wish to be praying my Salah behind Rasoolallah and behind Ali ibn Abi Talib allow me to enter into the battlefield Hussein gives his great friend the permission to go and enter into the battlefield he comes and strikes the enemies like a great lion one tradition says that one man comes to him with a sword he lifts that sword towards his head and strikes the head of Hussein حبيب حبيب's head is split open and blood gushes forth but the end does not stop here for حبيب he falls towards the floor another man picks up a spear and thrusts it into the chest of حبيب حبيب calls out towards his grand friend Hussein peace be upon you السلام عليك يا أبا عبدالله except my final salutation at this point أبا عبدالله comes and sits beside حبيب حبيب you are my greatest of companions since my young age oh حبيب how difficult it is for me to sit see you in this scenario at this point حبيب begins to waiver from this world to the next when he passes away Hussein lets out a deep cry he says oh حبيب indeed you are the one who used to recite the Quran the whole Quran in a night oh حبيب you are the one who used to recite a thousand prayers within the night but then it does not stop for حبيب the enemies do not leave the body of حبيب حبيب one man comes and beheads حبيب one man separates the head from حزت حبيب but now it is narrated that حبيب's head was treated differently to the heads of all of the other شهدار all of the other شهدار their heads were placed higher upon a spear example one narration says to us that when the heads were taken towards the muskis one of the great ladies came towards the enemy and said please we ask that you put the heads of our family members at the front so they can be observed we the women of أهل البيض do not want ourselves to be seen we would rather the heads of حسين and أكبر our boss be seen than our own cells at this point the narration tells us that the head of حبيب was treated differently to everybody else the head of حبيب it was not placed upon a spear they placed the head of حبيب and they hung it from in front of the horse they hung it from the horse and it dragged along the ground so that when the enemies they left the plains of كالبرا the horses hooves were stepping on the head of حزت حبيب they were kicking the head of حزت حبيب all the way towards the cities of كوفا and the muskis and at one point a young son a young man by the name of قاسم was a young son of حزت حبيب when they entered into those cities قاسم came towards that man who was sitting on that horse he comes to him and he stands in front of that horse he looks and continues to stare at the head he continues to stare at the head of his great father he says to him please give me this head so I can bury this head properly the head of حبيب look back at his son is if to say oh my son قاسم how can you consider my head first and want to bury my head whilst the head of حسين is still upon a spear but we ask you young قاسم if you looked at the head of your father حبيب like this what did little سكينة have to put up with when the head of حسين was sitting upon a spear ألعنة الله للضوم الضوم المسي علم الذين يومون قنبي ينقنمون إِنَّا لله وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ Oh Allah we seek your forgiveness for all of our sins the sins of our parents all those whom we love all those that have us we ask you Allah for the opportunity to perform the the art of حسينة حبيب and all the companions we ask you Allah whatever situation we are going through be with going through spiritual problems health problems financial problems grant us the in the intercession of حسينة حبيب ماتم حسين يا حسين


One by Francis, forward for Dixon. Clarendon College, Dixon. Charles Yiston-Hales, who talks it home. College are level. It's one-one. Clarendon College maintained position. Here is the long reach. Efra gets the same. Dixon.


So we're in Romans chapter 5. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 5 this morning as we continue a verse by verse Look at the book of Romans and so as we arrive here Let me read to you verses 1 and 2 we'll get into our study Romans chapter 5 And we're going to begin by looking at peace with God. That's what Paul begins to speak to the Roman Church about here in Romans chapter 5 so Romans 5 beginning at verse 1 reading verses 1 and 2 Paul writes Therefore having been justified by faith We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and Rejoice in hope of the glory of God Now as we look at this passage Paul is going to now begin to outline what would be called the benefits of salvation and He begins to give to us the benefits of salvation by building on a doctrine that we've been looking at a Doctrine that is called the doctrine of justification Now he's been laying a solid theological foundation for the Roman Church And he's been outlining certain basics for them from chapter 1 So as we've gone from chapter 1 up to chapter 5 We know that he has been pointing out certain things one he pointed out that all humanity is under condemnation because of sin He developed that by saying Humanity would include both both Jew and Gentile He then went on to say that there is no escape outside of God deciding to completely forgive our sins He made it clear that God's plan for forgiveness is based on grace and that this grace is Revealed in the gospel and then he was teaching this is not a new doctrine Because that's how Abraham and David had been accepted by God And so as he's been saying that he had arrived at that word justification and as we've been looking at that doctrine Justification I was pointing out to you that justification is an act whereby God completely Forgives us completely forgives us of our sin He cleanses us from all sin not just some sin and He does not hold those sins against us any longer when you when you get saved God justifies you and says if you had never sinned God cleanses and washes you and At that point you're brand new in the Lord If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us the Bible says from all Unrighteousness and that's what he does he he forgives us and cleanses us from all Unrighteousness and as I was pointing out last time we're together as we're looking at the doctrine of justification It is more than the forgiveness of sins It's more than the removal of the guilt and it's more than the the removal of the condemnation It goes beyond that it's not only the removal But it's also the imputation or the giving to you if something you didn't have before and what he does is he removes our sin And he gives to us righteousness That's all in justification and the righteousness that you have is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus Now when Paul was writing to the Philippians in chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 this is what he wrote Paul said yes, everything else is Worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have discarded everything else Counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ and become one with him I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law Rather I become righteous through faith in Christ for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith So your faith that has been deposited in Christ has the result of justification and receiving righteousness and so that's what we've been looking at that's what we've looked up Look at up to this point So it's great that we're not guilty and it's great that we've become righteous But what is the practical benefit of all of this and that's what chapter 5 begins to introduce to us the practical benefit Now notice in verse 1 here Romans 5 how he says therefore Having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ One of the practical ramifications of having faith in Christ and being justified is that we have peace Now I want you to notice he says we have peace with God. He doesn't say we have the peace of God The peace of God comes through us Abiding in him. It's part of what happens when we have the fruit of the Spirit that is Producing this fruit of peace in our life. He's not speaking concerning that what he's speaking of is The effect of being justified You see before you and I got right with God the Bible says we were actually in opposition to him The Bible says that we were at war with him that we have hostility towards God We'll see that later on in Romans 5 at verse 10 how he refers to us in verse 10 as enemies we were enemies of God and So there is a constant hostile Opposition to God and that's just part of human nature if God says something is black We say it's white if God says something is up. We say it's down if God says something is sweet We say it's sour so we have a tendency of being at war with God and So the gospel is called the gospel of reconciliation and the reason it's called the gospel of reconciliation is because God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and Because God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself He has given to us this gospel of reconciliation to what we say to people that they can be reconciled to God And so this gospel is what is called the terms of peace Because we were at war with God God has won the war and has given us terms of peace the terms of peace call for complete and Unconditional surrender It is not one of those surrenders that you actually sit in a council meeting and begin to negotiate What you're going to give up the gospel speaks of a complete Unconditional surrender where we say to God you win and I lose That's what happens when you repent That's what happens when you confess your sins to God. You're agreeing with him The word confess is the word homo legale in the Greek homo legale simply means to say the same thing If I confess my sin, I am agreeing with God I'm just saying the same thing God says you are a sinner my confession is Agreement with him. I am a sinner and it's not a negotiated kind of agreement where I say well I'm kind of a sinner because I have done some things But you have to take into consideration that I wasn't raised right or I came from a hard family I don't know what love is. I'm not educated. It depends on my neighborhood or my ethnicity. It's none of that It's simply me saying God. I'm guilty. I have sinned Forgive me. I agree with you. So I'm not negotiating a peace with him I'm surrendering to him when I surrender to him. I can be reconciled to him And so that's what the Bible talks about when the Bible talks concerning the fact that we need to be justified by faith And we can have this peace with God Psalm 7 verse 11 says God is a just a judge and God is angry with the wicked every day So the wrath of God abides on those who are rejecting him and there is a hostile opposition to him Then I hear that gospel message where it says God loves you God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for you God's standard for you to enter into heaven is perfection Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God You have failed. You have failed in thought. You have failed in word. You have failed indeed You have completely failed to meet the standards Jesus never did So by faith I accept what has been done on my behalf through Jesus Christ and by faith I say God forgive me a sinner Wash me and cleanse me by the blood of Jesus Christ so that I might stand before you Justified in Christ Reconciled to you no longer in opposition to you. I am no longer in war with you So that's the piece he's talking about in verse 1 again having been justified by faith. We have peace with God Now after I have peace with God then I can enter into having the peace of God and that passes all human Understanding so we have peace with God What that does is that results in a present tense sense of assurance? That's the piece that each person longs for that comes through complete surrender And only comes through complete surrender to him Someone once wrote if any man is not sure that he is in Christ He ought not to be easy one moment until he is sure Dear friend Without the fullest confidence as to your saved condition You have no right at all to be at ease and I pray you may never be so This is a matter too important to be left undecided And so we can have peace with God and that's the only way you can have peace with God is by completely surrendering to him So when that happens verse 2 says Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God So by faith we obtain the favor of God and we are justified in him And now we have notice the word access we have access that speaks of direct access or communion We have access by faith in Jesus Christ. I can now approach the throne and obtain mercy from him And I want you to notice this is an important thing. It's not just an afterthought I want you to see it We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ And I was growing up I was raised by a mama who loved me and Did her best for me She wanted me to have faith in God So she encouraged me to go to church and all and went with me She would take me to church some of my memories of my mom in the early days. It's how she would take us to church, you know and My mom was trying to teach me something about prayer I still remember this lesson and I don't know what your religious background is Perhaps you don't even have one or maybe you had a Baptist or Presbyterian or Pentecostal, whatever my background was Roman Catholicism So my mom wanted to teach me prayer and she wanted me to learn to pray to Mary So my mom said if you have a request to take to God you go through Mary and I said why and I was like seven years old wife She says because Mary will take your request to God She said it's like this David She said you know how that your dad's at work and is busy and you have a need So you bring it to me and then I bring it to your dad and I said yes She says well, that's how it is with Mary What you do is you take your need to Mary and Mary will take it to the father Well from from my perspective that made some sense, but then I got saved And when I got saved I started reading the Bible to see what the Bible has to say about my prayer requests Who do I take them to? Because I kind of figure that if God gave us the Bible I ought to follow it Especially as it relates to those kinds of things, right? I mean that just made sense to me I was 20 years old no genius, but made sense to me the Bible says that I ought to do it and So I start reading the Bible. I read John 14 6. I am the way the truth in the life No man comes to the father, but by me I read 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 There's one God one mediator between man and God and that is a man of Christ Jesus And I discovered that there's only one way that I get to God and that's through Jesus Christ And so it's not that my mom intentionally was lying to me or deceiving me My mom was giving to me what she had received from hers From her family and so I've never condemned my mom for giving misinformation But it was misinformation because the Bible makes it clear that I stand in grace through Jesus Christ That I have access to God by faith in Jesus Christ Now somebody immediately says I've had this said more than once so that means you don't honor the Virgin Mary, right? That's why I have a problem with you Protestants Well, one I don't call myself a Protestant. I call myself a Christian in two I do honor the things that the Virgin Mary said all I need to do is look into John chapter 2 When I look at John chapter 2, I see a wedding feast at a place called Cana of Galilee And I see that Jesus is there with some of his men and his mother's there also I See that she walks up to her son Mary walks up to Jesus and says to him they have no wine And then I see Jesus's response where he says woman. What have I got to do with you? My time has yet to come it has not come and Then I see what Mary says and so Mary says whatever he says to you do it So when I speak to those who would argue and say you don't honor I say I honor because she said whatever he says to you do it now What did Jesus say Jesus said unless a man is born again? He will not enter or see the kingdom of God. I honor him Jesus said there's only one way to the father and that is a man Christ Jesus I honor that See so that's how you do it because the Word of God tells me that I am saved by grace I am saved through faith I am saved and now can enter into the presence of God himself through Jesus Christ Not through some man not through some saint not through even the mother of Jesus. I come to God I can come to God through Jesus Christ himself That's what the Bible teaches in in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need So through Jesus Christ and that's what Paul is saying here. I have access I have direct communion by faith through faith in Jesus Christ I can go and see the speak to the Father through prayer now notice in verse 2 He says we now by faith stand in grace and rejoice in hope of the glory of God So he says we stand in grace that word stand is a Greek word that carries the connotation of a settled condition It speaks of permanence. He's saying it's God's grace that makes us secure in salvation It's not my continual Attempt to make myself Acceptable to God by the things that I'm doing It's the grace of God that makes it possible for me to have a relationship with him And I stand firmly in his grace and it's God's grace that makes me secure in Philippians 1 6 it says being confident of this very thing That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ And so the result of standing in grace is rejoicing in hope And when he speaks about rejoicing that word rejoicing speaks of a jubilant rejoicing We are excited about the future Hope is made up of desire for something and an earnest expectation of obtaining it Sometimes people have what there's a common say saying they have a fool's hope Because it isn't really something that you could actually ever obtain true hope is when you have a confident Expectation of obtaining something that's been promised to you And so I have a hope I have a hope in the Lord Jesus Christ now I look at the world and I don't have hope in the world When I was a hippie in the 60s ancient history time when I was an ancient hippie We used to say there's no hope without dope Who we were the dopes, but we would say there's no hope without dope man And and and that's a kind of that really was my creed. That's really what I thought You know, you know little marijuana will get you a long way and things like that You know and so I used to really think that way But not anymore because I I can rejoice in hope a confident expectation and I should Because my destiny what God is doing in my life what he's what he's intending for me My destiny is to share think about this for a moment and Paul is teaching this to share in the glory of God That's your hope a confident expectation You are going to be conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ It does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he appears we shall be like him We're going to see him as he is We are going to be conformed into his image Our whole lives are going to be transformed and glory is going to be what we have and we have that through the Lord Jesus Christ We will be glorified and then we're going to be on display for God's glory It says in Philippians 3 20 and 21 our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body According to the work in by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself We will receive glory. We will be glorified We'll be living in heaven with the Lord and we'll be having fellowship with God and and all those who love him for eternity What a glorious thing for us. That's your future That's what's awaiting you if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. What what a future. Yes, I think you should clap for that That's a great thing Now with that said he goes on to give some practical Applications because in verse 3 he says not only that but we also glory in tribulations Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope Now hope does not disappoint Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts By the Holy Spirit who was given to us Yes, we're going to be glorified indeed But we glory in tribulation Because we know that tribulation is going to produce something Tribulation produces he says perseverance The word tribulation speaks of pressures And he's saying we know that God's plan for us is good and therefore we can glory in the midst of the pressures of life Because we know that pressures are simply part of the life that we live Jesus prepared us for that Jesus made it clear That we would go through difficult times I used to wish that I could get up And I could say to you listen if you don't know christ get saved You'll never have another problem in your life I can't do that I can't do that I had a guy I used to work with his name was Gus And Gus was speaking to me one day and I was sharing the Lord with him and He said to me Well, you're a christian You took the easy way out I said Do you don't know anything about christianity, man? I said no, you don't take the easy way out gust. It doesn't work that way I said because we have something called a flesh And it's easier for me to live according to the flesh than it is to die to it. I tell you that It's easier for me to give into temptation than it is to resist it It's easier for me if i'm upset about something or heard about something It was a lot easier for me to go out and buy a six pack And drink it Then it was then it is to just say lord give me strength I have to get through this because my habit in the past Was should I have pressure just get drunk? Should I have pressure just get loaded? That was my habit But now that i'm saved I can't yield to the temptations of the flesh the inclinations of the flesh. I have to die to those things So no, it's not easy. I didn't take the easy way out You know for me as a young man if somebody bothered me it was easier for me to get angry than it is to turn the other cheek Any day of the week It's a lot easier just to just vent to say what's on your heart What's on your mind just to give them a piece of your mind? It's a lot easier to do that than it is to to bite your tongue And say god help me. I don't want to offend with tongue. I don't want to say something that is wrong here God help me. It's a lot easier just to give in and to vent my flesh than it is to die to it So no, I didn't take any easy way out because christianity is the way of death When christ calls a man he bids a man come and die. That's what he calls us to do To die to ourselves It's not easy. Is it easy for you? It isn't easy for me I mean people come into church understand that because even on your way here sometimes It's difficult. Isn't it? I mean you wanted to be here first service you third service people It didn't work did it The kids were all dressed up and they decided to go out and make a mess of themselves Then you had to wash them up clean them up You had to recomb the hair then you get and we'll go to second service and then something happened second Now you're here in third service and on the way here As you're driving here and the kids are making noise in the back seat And you're saying if I could only reach you I I'll be fixing you right now And you're all mad and you're raising your voice, but something happened when you hit the driveway Because you were doing this and then all sudden you hit the driveway and you We're in church.  We haven't dealt with it So what is easier dying to self or venting the flesh? But you know what the bible teaches us very clearly That we can glory because god produces through tribulation something we would have no other way and that's called perseverance And god gives us strength Jesus said in john 1633 these things i've spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world You will have tribulation be of good cheer I have overcome the world So we can glory in tribulation because god uses those things to refine us We can rejoice because hardships are evidence of faithful living Which is blessed and rewarded by god In second carinthians 4 17 and 18 paul said it like this. He said our light affliction, which is But for a moment Is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory While we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen Are eternal you see paul says these tribulations ultimately produce spiritual benefits And when we are armed with that kind of mindset we can endure we can persevere Through pressure because we're looking to the future and that enables us to endure the present In romans 8 18 paul said i consider that the sufferings of this present time Are not worthy to be compared with the glory Which shall be revealed In us tribulation produces perseverance Perseverance is the ability to overcome It gives you that strength to endure in the face of opposition It is a calm temper that suffers evil without murmuring or discontent It's developed as we wait on the lord And as we learn the lessons that he wants to teach us It is one of the distinguishing marks Of maturity in the lord perseverance I have been young and now i am old And i can speak from experience of 42 years of following jesus That when i was young I would say god give me patience Now You don't want to wait for it.  He needs to be there And yet i'm saying oh lord. Have you given up on me? Oh god. Where have you gone? I don't know what you're doing. How can you put me in this position?   They begin to walk. They begin to speak Pretty soon. It's time for them to go to school and you dress them up send them to school You worry about them. Are they going to be okay?  Do you have a gift exchange? Is there some way that i can you know You know Anyway at all and and you wonder what happened what happened This little kid who liked to dress so well and always had everything was so modest All of a sudden they come walking into the house and their their pants are passed their underwear and they go And they think they're cold and what happened What happened to you You were so cute And i got all those things all over your head, you know you set off metal detectors I can speak from experience I can so can my mom I can speak from experience There's a time that happens in most of our lives not all i have i have friends one friend One friend i can't even do the plural one friend who has had great great Kids as long as i've known him Unbelievable the rest are like ours You fall on your face sometimes at night and you pray You say god i dedicated this child to you You want him back And you hold on You persevere You hold on Because what has brought me through and i can speak this now with experience my kids are not children anymore They're all adults Train up a child And the way they should go And when they are old they will not depart from it Pour into them the word Pour into them prayer Pour into them love Never never never Give up Hold fast because god has something good in store for them They may be fashioning amen Amen They may be fashioning their testimony I wanted to save them from having one like mine I wanted them to have a different testimony But they're fashioning their own But i have a god I have a god i trust in And i know my god is able And that's what you learn that's called perseverance You hold on and you don't let go You wait on the lord If it takes a week if it takes a month if it takes a year if it takes 10 years if it takes 20 years You hold on and you don't let go and some people have prayed for their children and they died on their Death bed still lifting their children in prayer There are last sayings of certain saints their prayers were for their children and their children were there watching the father die And he dies and the child comes to faith after the father died His prayers were answered not in his lifetime, but they were answered.  He knows all things He's everywhere at one time and he's all powerful and he is there with you now He's able now and he's aware of you now And if you can grab hold of that you will make it you will make it You will be on the other side and you will know that god was true to his word Because he is And whatever you go through and stresses you out and and causes you tribulation and pain at the end You will not complain about it because what has happened with me in my walk with the lord is he has strengthened me And made me even more determined to see him glorified And that is a mark of maturity in james 5 versus 10 and 11 my brethren Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the lord as an example of suffering and patience Indeed we count them blessed who endure you have heard of the perseverance of job And seen the end intended by the lord that the lord is very compassionate and merciful Hold on perseverance goes on to forge character character that he's speaking about here's a greek word That means a proven character a character that has been revealed under fire Long testings have a way of revealing what we really are on the inside And when we endure and are victorious in them it reveals the genuineness of our faith So you are going to be tested And your your faith will be refined as by fire That's what peter said in first peter 1 7 That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes Though it is tried with fire might be found into praise and honor and glory at the appearing of jesus christ And so our character is refined and we become that person we wanted to be I've prayed and i'll say this briefly from the time that i was first saved because Because i was just just mean i was just a mean person not a violently mean person just a mean person And i've been praying for 42 years God please help me to be kind help me to be gentle help me to be loving How may to be those things that's what i see jesus to be that's what i want to be And the lord does refine you over time he does produce that in you it does happen It produces this character will produce a hope This hope that we have is in god we discover that god is faithful We discover he performs according to his promises And during the time of pressure our gaze will be directed to another place that's better than this one It's like what it says in psalm 31 24 Be of good courage. He shall strengthen your heart All you who hope in the lord Now hope he says in verse five does not disappoint Because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit Who was given to us Hope does not disappoint Hope does not disgrace Hope does not make you ashamed A hope not based on the stability of god's promises will lead to shame Because the hope was placed in that which we simply could not obtain But the believer's hope is firmly established on god's goodness as well as his truth And our lives become evidence that we have placed our hope and trust In god And it is not disappointed Because god Loves us why i don't know I don't know I know that i've met people in the past who when you see you know god loves you they'll say of course Why wouldn't he and i say how many reasons you want me to give you right now Some people are so caught up with themselves that they think that they're just the most lovable thing in the world But those of us who are aware of what we really are I'm amazed that my wife loves me I'm amazed that my children love me. I hope they do I'm amazed that my mom loves me as much as she does. I'm amazed Because i know what i am But i'm especially amazed to know my god loves me And the love of god has been poured out by the holy spirit The holy spirit Is that person of the trinity that i need To work within me because i become the temple of the spirit of god Which makes christianity more than just Me reading a book and trying to do what the book says But it's me reading the book god's book And him supplying the power for me to do what he says I become the temple of the spirit of god and the spirit of god begins to abide or dwell in me He produces in me what is called the fruit of the spirit Which is love and then eight other accompanying virtues that describe that one word As he produces the fruit of his spirit in my life and he seals me to the day of redemption He also empowers me by his spirit Giving me gifts that i can use That perform spiritual ministry to help others to have relationship with him And develops me into a mature believer All of this comes because he's lavished on me His spirit which has produced as its earmark the love of god I need to be saturated by the spirit of god So that i might be able to be Manifesting the character of god to the world And express through his gifts the power of god through my life Paul says in verse five hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit Who was given Who was given to us poured out The holy spirit has been poured into us the love of god has been revealed in us By the power of that holy spirit if there's anything that the church needs to remember today in our last days Is that We need the power of god We need the power of his spirit in our lives Because if you're frustrated trying to live for god right now it may be because you're trying to live in your own strength You're just trying to do the best you can in your own power But i've discovered that god begins to release his power when i come to an end of myself and i say i cannot do this I need your help I can't do this The will is with me the ability to perform that which i desire is not God you need to help me So i want to rely on your spirit and i need your work and then he works in you and produces in you Love and if there's anything that this world needs to see today It's needing to see loving christians By and large many people already know that the things that they're doing are pretty much wrong And a lot of times they don't need me or people like me to point my finger at them and to point out every single thing that they're doing that is wrong Sometimes what they need from me Is to love them in spite of the fact that they're doing what is wrong Not that i give approval because they don't Because jesus died on the cross to set them free from that But at the same time taken into consideration there but for the grace of god go i i'm no better than they And i haven't been ever in my life i'm simply a sinner in need of a savior And my savior has saved me and i want others to be saved too So it's not an attitude of judgmentalism It's going to be an attitude of redemption And it's hard to see people right with god to see their lives changed transformed To see them blessed To see them forgiven because when you see someone Who's come to christ change Especially men When you see men change Especially husbands and fathers That husband and that father has a tendency Of influencing the whole house You can you can win a wife to the lord and that's a great thing. Bless jesus. She has a certain amount of influence But when that man gets saved the house changes the house begins to change Because that man takes upon himself that role that god gave to him To be that influence And those children Begin to follow the lead they may rebel at first and they may rebel for a long time But they will say something happened to my dad. He's different. He's not the same guy Something happened to him And men we do have tremendous influence When god pours his love and his spirit into our lives we can influence tremendously our families But every believer needs to be an influencer Every one of us needs to power the spirit every one of us needs to walk in grace So what have we seen? Well, we see that Being filled with the holy spirit establishes us and strengthens us It gives us confident assurance that we're justified by god We have discovered that we have peace with god We rest firmly in our being reconciled to him through jesus We have security and salvation We stand in his grace We can rejoice about our future knowing that we will receive glory We can endure under pressure because our faith is being refined And we know that god's love for us and our love for him produces by his spirit and inner peace Joy that sustains us in the midst of anything that we ever go through And this all comes back down to having been justified by faith and having peace with god through our lord jesus christ That's how it happens