Morning. Turn with me, if you
would, to chapter 53 of Isaiah. Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from
him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we're healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not
his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is done, so he opened
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bared the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our most holy father in heaven,
we come to you, transgressors, Lord. We thank you that you made
the soul of your son an offering for sin and that it was found
to be satisfactory. Lord, we ask that you would continue
to give your mercy and grace to us, not because we deserve
it, but because Christ paid for it. Lord, we ask that you would
heal us of our leprosy before you. We ask that you would just
cause us to look to you, not only in this hour, Lord, but
as we go out into the world. Lord, we ask that you would be
with Jennifer as her clinical trial begins this week, that
you would be with the doctors and give them wisdom and cause
that medication to be effective. Lord, we thank you for the forgiveness
of sins and ask that you would see us as your elect chosen people,
that you would have mercy upon us. It's in the name of Christ
we pray, amen. Let's stand together, we'll sing
hymn number 12 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book. We sing
this a cappella. Upon my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father's hand controls the
world, and what He does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harm. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arm. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace. With power and love that never
fail, shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God. Who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Be ye leave, and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. Please be seated. I want to sing this hymn. I wasn't
planning to do this, but after that first message, this is a
good hymn. ? Your word, O God, I love to read
? ? For here the Bible read to me ? ? Earth's greatest privilege
indeed ? ? To have the book declared to me ? The word is like a fire
to melt My heart so cold and make me grow Its power is like
a hammer felt And breaks this stubborn heart of stone ? God
speaks again, His word reveals ? The substitute for sinners
slain ? Forgiveness by His blood it tells ? A balm to heal my
heart's great pain Spirit of God, my teacher be, give eyes
of faith always to see the Word's great truth and mystery in every
line show prize to me. ? Dear Lord, my thanks I give to
you ? For your inspired and holy word ? My reverence and allegiance
to you ? It claims the mighty word of God Thank you, Tom. When God gives faith, those who receive faith just
want to know what God says. And so when we stand to preach,
we are declaring, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Mark, you don't want me to waste
your time with anything else, do you? I came here to hear what
God has to say. That's all I'm interested in.
Well, if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter
15, we see in God's Word where the Lord
has given us a name of himself that is not
often looked at. I don't know if I've ever preached
from this passage. I don't know if I've ever made
reference to it in all the years that I've been preaching. We call upon the name of the
Lord and we shall be saved. And his name reveals his nature, his character,
his attributes, his glory is in the many names that he gives
of himself in his word. And we have here in our text,
as I said, a name that is As far as I know, this is the
only place where it is in the scriptures, 1 Samuel chapter
15. And we'll begin reading in verse
28. And Samuel said unto him, the
Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day and
hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou
and also The strength of Israel, there's the name. The Lord Jesus Christ is being
referred to as the strength of Israel. Will not lie, nor repent, for
he is not man that he should repent. The strength of Israel. When we were yet of little strength,
is that what God's word says? No, it doesn't. When we were
yet without strength, without strength, no strength whatsoever,
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. The strength of
Israel, was able to do as the strong right hand of God what
you and I could never do. He was able to bear the guilt,
the penalty, the shame of all the sins of all of his people,
and by his strength, put them away by the sacrifice of himself. His strength was so great that
he buried the sins of his people in the depths of the sea. He was able to do what you and
I can never do. Why? Because we have no strength.
But the strength of Israel was able to bear all the duties and responsibilities
of God's holy law and keep it perfectly and present to the
Father a righteousness by his strength that you and I have
no strength to do. Oh, how we need the strength
of Israel. We all, every one of us, come into this world trying to reign over the kingdom of God
in our own strength. That's what Saul, here's the
problem, here's the problem. Saul was king. God is rending
the kingdom from Saul and giving it to another. We know who that
other is, it's David. And we know who David represents,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord tells Saul that
this one that he's gonna give to him is a neighbor of his,
and he's better than he is. Now that's what you and I need.
We need someone who's close to us and someone who's better than
us to reign over the kingdom of God. We come into this world just like,
just like Adam. was tempted in the wilderness,
I mean in the garden. And when the devil came to Eve
and said to her, God doesn't want you to eat of the fruit
of the knowledge of good and evil because he knows in the
day in which you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you become
like God, able to discern good and evil, able to judge the difference
between right and wrong. What was the temptation that
Satan was given to Eve? You can be God and you can have
the power of free will and you can reign over the kingdom
of God and over your own salvation and that's the lie and that's
how we come into this world, thinking that that our free will and that our
works and that our wisdom is sufficient. Why did God, why did God reject
Saul? Well, turn back with me to verse
22. Verse 22, and Samuel said, hath
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of lambs. For rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he also
has rejected thee from being king. What a picture. Saul's disobedience that resulted
in the kingdom being taken from him. What a blessing it is when God the Holy Spirit causes
us to see that we're not capable of reigning over this kingdom.
We don't have the strength. We don't have the power. We don't
have the ability. We don't have the ability to
atone for one sin. We don't have the ability to
bear before God the sufferings sufficient to satisfy his justice
for one sin. The Lord Jesus bore all the sins
of all of his people of every generation and satisfied God's
justice. Oh, what strength, what strength. We don't have the ability to
obey one of God's laws. We've never sufficiently obeyed
a single one of God's laws. With all of our hearts and all
of our minds and all of our souls, all of our being being able to
present one act of obedience that is not infected with our sin. Never been able to do it. The Lord Jesus Christ, every
thought and intent of his heart, every motive, every action, every
word he spoke, everything he did was in perfect obedience
to the law of God. You see, what we have a picture
of in this story is our salvation. And I want you to notice that
the Lord said, I'm going to rend the kingdom from you. We're not
willing to give this kingdom up. We're like a drowning man
that will hang on to an anchor in order to save himself. We'll
go to the very pit of death, holding on to our sin, unless
the Lord rends the kingdom of God from us. We'll not have that man reign
over us. We'll try to save ourselves.
We'll do our best. The world is full of, it's what
we are by nature. We're like Saul, trying to reign
over the kingdom of God, trying to accomplish our own salvation. Trying to present something to
God that would somehow be sufficient to save us. And the Lord in his mercy has
to rend it from us. He has to tear it from us. And what a blessing. What a mercy. What a grace it is when God makes
us to be Nothing. You see, Christ cannot be everything
until we're made to be nothing. Christ cannot be made to be our
strength until we are left without strength. Christ will not be
our life until we see that without him, we have no life. We have
nothing but death. He cannot be our righteousness,
all our righteousness, until we're brought to see that we
have no righteousness outside of Him and that our best deeds,
our best deeds at our best moment are altogether vanity and our
righteousness is as filthy rags before God. What a blessing it is to have
the Kingdom of God rent from us. And if we're going to give
up on trying to save ourselves and reign over the kingdom of
God, God's gonna have to make us. He's gonna, turn me, oh Lord,
and I'll be turned. Lord, if I'm gonna have faith,
you're gonna have to give me faith. If I'm gonna see, you're
gonna have to give me eyes to see. I love what the Lord said
to those Pharisees when they said to the Lord, they said,
are you suggesting that we're blind? And what did the Lord
say? He said, if you were blind, your
sins would be forgiven thee. But because you say that you
can see, therefore your sins remain. You see, there's no sight
until until we come before the Lord. Lord, if I'm gonna see
anything about Christ, if I'm gonna see anything about salvation,
if I'm gonna see anything about truth or anything about myself,
Lord, you're gonna have to give me eyes to see. I have no strength
in and of myself to see it. I have no ability. I'm blind. Oh, blind. Bartimaeus, what would
you have me to do for you, Bartimaeus? Oh Lord, that I might see, that
I might see. Lord, I have no strength. Bartimaeus
had lived his whole life as a blind beggar. He had no strength in
and of himself to give himself sight. Lazarus had no strength
within himself to give himself life. He was dead and buried
in a grave for four days. His body stunk. And only as the
strength of Israel, the strength of Israel said, Father, I thank
thee that thou has hid these things from the wise and the
prudent, and you have revealed them unto babes. Lazarus, come
forth. Come forth. And there he came. You and I need the strength of
Israel. The oil of gladness, the Spirit
of God, is only poured out into empty vessels. The vessel is not empty, it can't
receive oil. What a blessing it is when God
takes away all our strength. He leaves us with nothing but
Christ. Is Christ, Christ all you have? Hmm. That's why faith is necessary for salvation. Because faith by its very nature, faith is a work of grace in the
heart. Faith is not our gift to God, it's God's gift to us. Faith is not the cause of our
salvation, it's the evidence of our salvation. But there's
no salvation without faith. And faith by its very nature
is a complete dependence upon Christ for everything. It's when the Lord brings us
to that place where we have nothing, we can do nothing, We know nothing. We're completely dependent upon
the Lord Jesus for all of our salvation. Saul of Tarsus was made to be nothing, wasn't
he? Oh, he thought he was somebody. Thought he was somebody. Light shined from heaven. God
knocked him off his high horse, put him in the dirt. Lord, what
would you have me to do? What a blessing. We'll know nothing of the strength
of Israel until we have no strength. He blesses the poor and the needy. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob
brings his 12 sons in and bestows a blessing upon them before he
dies. And Jacob's firstborn was Reuben. And Reuben's name translated
means, behold, a son. It was Jacob's firstborn. And when Jacob saw Reuben, Jacob
said, you are the beginning of my strength, the excellency of
dignity and the excellency of power. And then Jacob said this to Reuben,
and You are as unstable as water. There we are. Behold the sun. Unstable as water. Dependent upon the strength of
Israel. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
13. Exodus 13. Saul, like you and I, was trying
to reign over the kingdom of God. Saul's disobedience disqualified
him. And the Lord rent the kingdom
from him and gave it to the strength of Israel. Is this not our story? Did we not try to reign over
the kingdom of God? Did we not try to save ourselves? And the Lord Rent that kingdom
from us. And look who he gives it to.
Exodus chapter 13. Look with me at verse three. And Moses said unto the people,
remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the
house of bondage, and by strength of hand, the Lord brought you
out from that place, from this place. By strength of hand. Oh, we were
in bondage to sin, in bondage to our inability to save ourselves. And the Lord brought us out by
the strength of his hand. Look at verse 14 in this same
chapter. And it shall be when thy son
asked thee in times to come saying, what is this? that thou shalt
say unto him, by strength of hand, the Lord brought us out
from Egypt and from the house of bondage. Look at verse 16. And it shall
be for a token upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine
eyes, for by strength of hand, the Lord brought us forth out
of Egypt. by strength of hand. The Lord Jesus Christ did for
us what we could not do for ourselves. He is the strength of Israel.
Aren't you thankful that he rent the kingdom from you? That he was pleased to show you
your inability. That's what a sinner is. And
that's what faith is. And that he gave you grace and
faith to look to another, a neighbor, a friend who's better than you,
who's able to save by his own strength. Turn to me to Numbers chapter
23. And I bring this passage up for
one reason. I think it's a great illustration
of what man left to himself does with God. Man left to himself will put
himself on the throne of God. Man left to himself will believe
that his will and his works and his wisdom are the things that
save him. He believes that. He will take
God down and set himself up. And in Numbers chapter 23 at
verse 21, we read, something very glorious about
the strength of Israel. Surely, I'm sorry, verse 21 of
chapter 23. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
neither hath he seen the perverseness in Israel. The Lord, his God is with him. And the shout of the king is
among them. And look at verse 22. God brought
them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. The strength of a unicorn. Now,
when you think about a unicorn, what do you think of? You don't
think of what's being referred to here as some sort of fierce
wild beast, a large version of a rhinoceros that is able to
defend itself against all foes. That's what's being referred
to. Probably some sort of extinct
animal that was was terribly fierce. What do we think about? We think of a unicorn. I'll tell you what you think
about. A wispy white horse surrounded with butterflies and rainbows
tiptoeing through the tulips. Isn't that what man has made
of a unicorn today? You see the contrast? Do you see the illustration of
what man has done with God? He's not a God to be feared. He's not a God to be worshiped.
He's not a God that is all powerful. He has saved us as it were with
the strength of a unicorn. And this one, go back with me
to our text. Verse 28 of chapter 15, 1 Samuel. And
Samuel said unto him, the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel
from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine. Now this word neighbor is not
just a reference to one who lives near thee, but it's often translated
the word friend, the word friend. And the scripture tells us that
a friend loveth at all times. A friend loveth at all times.
And a brother is born for adversity. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
no longer call you my servants. I call you my friend. Let's turn
to that passage. Turn with me to John chapter
15. John chapter 15. The strength of Israel, the Lord
Jesus himself, the one able to save to the uttermost is being
defined here for those who've had the kingdom rent from them. And look what our Lord says in
John chapter 15, and we begin reading at verse 13. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. I've chosen a neighbor, a friend,
and you are my friends. If you do whatever I command
you, Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends for
all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known
unto you. Oh, what a friend, what a friend
we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear,
what a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer.
Yes, he has the strength of a unicorn. And in that strength and in that
power, he has accomplished the salvation of his people. Now he comes to us as a friend. There is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He has given it to a friend of
thine. He is a friend of publican and
sinners. Abraham believed God and he was
called the friend of God. You see, believing God, you, This is what it is to be a friend
of God, it's just to believe God. Truth Lord, truth Lord,
whatever God says. He says about us, dogs, truth Lord. Says about Christ, the son of
God. Successfully saving his people,
truth Lord. Why did Saul have the kingdom
rent from him? Disobedience. And here the Lord tells Saul
that there is another that the kingdom has been given to. His
name is the strength of Israel and he's better than you. He's
better than you. He's able to keep the law. Without contradiction, scripture
says in Hebrews chapter seven, the less speaking of Abraham
is blessed by the better speaking of Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed
Abraham. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
Melchizedek and how we need his blessing, how we need his blessing. He's better than we are, infinitely
better. Scripture tells us that we have
a better hope, a better Testament, a better country. Oh, everything is better. He's
the strength of Israel. Psalm 118 verse 8 says, it is
better, it is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence
in man. Oh Lord, rend the kingdom from
me. Raise up a friend, a neighbor who is better than me and let
the strength of my salvation be to his glory. I have no strength,
I have no ability. Psalm 63 verse three says, because
thy loving kindness is better than life. Because thy loving
kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Oh,
we have one that's better than we are. And notice also that the Lord
says in verse 29, that the strength of Israel will not lie. He will not lie, nor will he
repent. Hath he not said and shall he
not do it? Hath he spoken and shall he not
make it good? Are not the gifts and the callings
of God without repentance? Is our God not immutable? Is He not faithful to all of
His promises? Yes. Yes, He is. He's better than we are. He's
the strength of Israel. He cannot lie. He cannot go back
on His word. He cannot do anything but accomplish
perfectly what He promised He would do. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights
with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He
doesn't change. He said, I'm the Lord and I change
not and therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed The promise
that the Lord Jesus made to his father in the covenant of grace
before time ever was to be the surety of his people. He fulfilled when he came into
this world. He kept his promises and all
the promises that he's kept, that he's made, he will keep.
He will keep. Faith just believes God. Lord,
I have no strength. I need the strength of Israel.
He's the only one able. Turn with me to Titus, first
and second Timothy and Titus. Chapter one. Titus chapter 1 and verse 1,
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect and according to the truth, which
is after godliness in hope of eternal life, which God that
cannot lie promised before the world began, but hath in due
time manifested his word through preaching, which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God, our savior. We preach the promises, the precious
promises of God and the strength of Israel. All the promises of
God, the scripture says are yay and amen in Christ. We look in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ to fulfill. all his promises, all his promises. Saul reigned for a little while
over the kingdom of God. Because of his disobedience,
because of his inability to keep God's law, the Lord rented from
him. He took it from him. And he said, I'm going to give
it to your friend, one who's better than you are. And his
name is called the strength of Israel and he cannot lie and he will
be faithful to me and he will save all Israel and that's who he is and that's
what he's done. For us We sing from our hearts all the
way my Savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his
tender mercies? Who through life has been my
guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him
to dwell, for I know whatever befalls me, Jesus doeth all things
well. All the way my Savior leads me,
all the fullness of his love, perfect rest Perfect rest to
me is promised in my father's house above. When my spirit,
clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of day, this my song
through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way He was my strength and my salvation. Number 296, let's stand together. Brother Tom, you come lead us
please. you. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divine
as comfort, here my faith in Him to dwell. For I know what
e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what
e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior
leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace
for every trial, feeds me with the living bread. Though my uneary
steps may falter, and my soul a thirst may be. Gushing from
the rock before me, oh, a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, oh, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the wholeness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. ? When my spirit clothed in mortal
? Wings its flight to realms of day ? This my song through
endless ages ? Jesus led me all the way ? This my song through
endless ages ? Jesus led me all the way us.