If you open up your bulletin and
look to the bottom right hand side, there's an announcement
there about November 13th. So please make note of that. Psalm 87 says, His foundation
is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O city of God. He's talking about the church.
He's talking about where God's people gather to hear the gospel
of God's free grace, where Christ is lifted up. The Lord says,
glorious things are spoken of thee. O city of Zion. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. ? Lord now thy people meet ? To
praise and worship thee ? We bow ourselves before thy feet
? And homage raise to thee ? For thou art God alone ? Eternal
Lord of all Unbended knee before thy throne, upon thy name we
call. Though far from Thee we strayed,
Show mercy is our cry. Without Thy sovereign grace and
aid, We must forever die. O grant that we would live to
praise and honor Thee. All Lord and glory we will give
now and eternally. Exalt thy son, O Lord, who hung
upon the tree. T'was by his death we were restored
and justified by thee. He is our righteousness, his
death upon the cross. delivered us from sinfulness,
from endless pain and loss. Please be seated. It's a great
blessing to be with you. Would you please turn into God's
word to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. It is the desire of anyone who stands
before the people of God to do two things. To glorify God and
to say something of benefit to the sheep. That's why we're here
this morning. And I want us to read starting
at verse 12. This is after the resurrection.
Verse 12, Jesus saith unto them, come and die. And none of the
disciples durst ask him who art thou? They knew he was now knowing
that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh and taketh
bread and giveth them and fish likewise. This is now the third
time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he
was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? He saith to him, yea, Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee. And he saith unto him, feed my
lambs. And he saith to him again the
second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto
him, Yea, Lord. I can just imagine Peter. You've
asked me this already. Thou knowest that I love thee.
And he said unto Peter, Him, feed my sheep. And he saith unto him the third
time. When I read this, I thought,
how many times did the Lord say Peter would deny him? three times. This is not by accident or coincidence. This is by God's purpose. The
third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved
because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Let us pray this morning that
the Lord will feed his sheep and that he would give us the
ability to worship and glorify him. Please join me in prayer. Lord, I pray that you would enable
me to pray correctly. We pray this morning as we gather
that you would be glorified, and that all honor and glory
would be for you and to you. And we confess, Lord, that unless
you enable us, we are not able to do that in our own power.
We cannot worship you right. We cannot praise you. We cannot
glorify you. We cannot be fed unless you send
your spirit to make it possible. We pray for your servant, our
shepherd. Oh Lord, that you would put your
words into his heart and his mouth. Comfort and encourage
him, whomever where they may. Lord, that he may speak and feed
us Christ. And we pray as your people, Lord,
that we would feed upon these words. and that you would give
us faith to believe and to rest and to love you, for you're the
only one that knows our hearts. We ask this that Christ would
take this prayer, that he would make it acceptable to God the
Father. We ask it for your glory. Amen. Let's all stand together once
again and we'll sing hymn number nine from your Gospel Hymn Spiral
hymn book. Hymn number nine. It is not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou, from the sin that stained
me, hast cleansed and set me free. of old thou hast ordained
me that I should live to thee. Your love had no beginning, no
cause in me was found, that you should choose to save me, a sinner
strong But grace not earned or sought for, Was purpose for my
soul. For me salvation wrought, For
Christ paid the dreadful toll. was sovereign mercy called me
and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I loved thee,
thou must have loved me first. Please be seated. Could you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 30, please? Isaiah chapter 30. Most of you will remember in
2001 that our governing authorities in
Washington put together a bill called No Child Left Behind,
signed into law by President Bush in January of 2002 and had
much to do with the education of our children. Well, it was
a worthy goal. But I'm certain that since 2002,
many, many, many children have been left behind. I've titled this message this
morning, one child left behind. And I can tell you with the authority
of God's Word that that's not an exaggeration, that not one
single child will be left behind. In spite of our rebellion, in
spite of our unbelief, in spite of all our sin and resistance,
the Lord will succeed in getting every one of His children to
glory. And I take such great comfort
in that. I hope you will. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. The Lord has gotten the victory,
and not one child will be left behind. Of all that the Father
giveth me, I shall lose nothing, and I will raise them up again
in the last day. Now Isaiah chapter 30 begins
by addressing the people of God as rebellious children. You see that in verse 1? Woe
unto the rebellious children. All rebellion, all sin, all unbelief,
all looking away from Christ is rebellion. And yet the Lord
assures us in this chapter of Scripture, as He does in all
His Word, that though His children rebel against Him, He's going
to succeed in getting them to glory. He's going to correct them. He's going to bring them to Himself. and they'll not be able to get
away. I'm so thankful. Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and they cover
with a covering, but not of my spirit, and they add sin to sin. Oh, that's my rebellion. In my unbelief, I'm always tempted
to look away from Christ. I find it so difficult to be
satisfied with the covering that He has provided. Look what it
says in verse 7. For the Egyptians shall help
in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this their strength is to sit still Now someone said well that's
hard to do No, it's not hard to do. It's impossible to do
It's impossible You can't sit still Unless he sits you still
Look at verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved. I'm gonna turn you to myself.
Every time you turn away, I'm gonna turn you back. Not one
child is going to be left behind. In all of your rebellions, I'm
going to correct you. I'm going to rebuke you. I'm
going to cause you to come and confess your sin before me and
to put your hope and trust in the covering that I have provided
for you. I'm going to do it. And you're going to rest. And
it'll be a labor. Hebrews chapter 4 says that we
labor to enter into His rest. What are we laboring with? We're
laboring with our flesh. We're laboring with the world.
We're laboring with everything that resists the grace of God
and that would set up our salvation as a matter of works or free
will. We labor to enter into His rest.
But in coming before me, returning to me, in resting you shall be
saved, and in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Come before the throne of grace
with confidence." Confidence in what? In yourself? We are
the true circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in our flesh. No confidence in
ourselves. Our confidence is in Christ.
We're confident. that he is able to save to the
uttermost. We are confident that he is able
to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the throne
of God. We are confident that he is omnipotent and sovereign
and will not allow one of his children to fall behind. Not
a one. And you would not. This returning and
resting is a daily struggle. The flesh wars against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh. Sometimes the Lord allows His
children, like the prodigal, to go into a far country, and
to live in riotous living, and to end up in a pig pen, but He
brings them back. Sometimes their rebellion is
only short-lived. Sometimes it's like Peter, who
was so bold to stand up for Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane,
but only a few hours later denied even knowing Him. And then the
Lord cast that eye of compassion on Peter and broke his heart
and returned him unto himself. Peter, lovest thou me? Oh, yes,
Lord. In spite of my denial, in spite
of what I've done, Lord, you've returned me. You've caught...
I would not. But that's not going to stop
you. Just because I would not, doesn't mean that you could not.
And the Lord does. Not one child left behind. Sometimes the Lord allows our
rebellion to go for an extended period of time like He did with
David. David spent the better part of a year trying to hide
his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba and all that went on there until
the Lord sent Nathan. His time of love, his time of
repentance had come. It was time for David to return.
It was time for the bones that he had broken, that God had broken,
to be healed. It was time for the breach to
be restored and for the sin to be put away. And Nathan said,
Thou art the man. And David was broken." God's
going to see to it that His children return to Him, that they rest
in Christ, and that all of their confidence in the accomplished
work and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ and if it if
he has to allow us if he has to allow us to find out how weak
we are he'll do it look what he says look at the next verse
but you said no verse 16 for you said no for we will flee
upon horses therefore shall you flee I'll just work a little
harder. I'll run a little faster. I'll
try a little bit more. I'll say, I can fix this sin
problem. And so I'll let you. The Lord says, I'm gonna let
you. I'll let you flee. And we will ride upon the swift.
Therefore shall they pursue you. That be swift. 1000 shall flee at the rebuke of one
and at the rebuke of five shall you flee until you be left as
a Dead tree. That's the word there a dead
tree upon the top of a mountain That's what you are. Just a lifeless
tree You may a picture of a tree in the wintertime. All the leaves
are gone. There's no fruit on the tree It stands there by itself
on the top of a mountain But the life is in the tree Job said the root of the matter
is in me And That's the reason the Lord
won't let us fall He's going to he'll let you he'll let you
he'll let you run until you get weary Until you be left as a
as a beacon upon the top of a mountain as an instant on the hill and
therefore will the Lord wait Is this your experience We pray, the children of God
pray, Lord, keep me from evil. Lord, I know that if I'm tempted,
I'm going to sin. I can't handle temptation. And yet, there's times when we
don't pray as we ought, and we go about trying to fix things
on our own, and the Lord says, go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead. I'll let you. See if you can
fix this. You see, it's all caused by sin.
And we can't fix that problem. So the Lord says, I'll wait. I'm not anxious about this. I
know that you're one of mine. I know that I'm not going to
leave you behind. I know I'm going to be successful in redeeming
you to glory. But the Father chose you in the
covenant of grace. I shed my precious blood for
you. Not a drop of my blood was wasted. I'm going to see to it. And therefore will the Lord wait
that He may be gracious to you. And therefore, Will He be exalted? Oh, the Lord will let you, like
that woman with the issue of blood, spend all that you have
on physicians, until you've wasted everything you've got. And you've
got nothing left. And then you come and touch the
hem of His garment, and He says, virtue has gone out from Me.
Who touched Me? Lord, who do you mean who touched
you? All these people are touching you. No, someone touched me in
faith. Someone touched me because I
was the only thing they have. I was the only place they could
go. I'm all they've got. The Lord will allow us to spend
all that we've got until Christ is all we have left. All we've got left. And Christ will only be all your
need when he's all you've got. If you've got anything else,
he's going, I'll run. I'll be swift. No, I'm going
to be exalted. I will not share my glory with
another. I'm going to get all the credit. And so your strength is to sit
still. Because only when you sit still
and rest, do I get all the glory. That He may have mercy upon you.
For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
upon Him. Blessed are they that wait upon
the Lord. The Lord will let us lie in the
bed that we have made until that bed becomes so uncomfortable.
We cry, Lord, the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself
and the covering narrower than he can wrap himself. He'll let us eat the fruit of
our own labor until we cry with those prophets, Lord, there's
death in the pot. He'll let us drink of the polluted
cisterns of our own works. That poor woman that met the
Lord in Sychar, The Lord, she was one of His. From eternity
past, she belonged to Him. The disciples wanted to go around
Samaria, didn't they? And what the Lord said, no, I
must needs go through Samaria. Why must I needs go through Samaria?
Because I've got a child there. And I've led her to herself. And as a result, she's been married
five times. And the man she's living with
now is not her husband. She's destroyed her life. But I'm going to fix it. I'm going to fix the breach.
I'm going to forgive the sin. Oh, come meet a man that told
me everything I ever did. Look at verse 26 in our passage.
Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light
of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach
of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound. The light of my countenance and
my glory is going to be so bright The truth of my gospel is going
to be so real to your soul that all the breaches that sin have
brought into your life and all the wounds that they have caused
in your heart are going to be healed. I'm going to see to it. I'm not going to let one child
stay behind. This is how I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it by letting you have your way for a time. But I'm going to be exalted.
Look at verse 19. For the people shall dwell in
Zion. I'm going to bring you to the
church. I'm going to bring you to the only place in this world
where you can hear the gospel of God's free grace in the glorious,
glorious person and finished, accomplished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The only hope you've got is in
Zion. I'm going to bring you there.
I'm going to bring you from afar. from every country, from every
tribe, nation, kindred, and people, all the things that the Lord
does in order to bring His children to Zion. The city of peace, Jerusalem. I'm going to bring you there.
And thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry. The Lord's going to let, I'm
going to let your sin cause so much pain in your life
that you're going to cry out. You're not going to have any
place else to go. And when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. Come unto me, all ye that labor
heavy laden. Cry. Ask, it shall be given unto thee.
Knock, it shall be opened. The Lord has As a parent, you know the difference
between a cry that is feigned and a cry that's real, don't
you? You do. And a feigned cry, you
know it immediately. And you may just ignore it, just
let them, they'll be all right. They're fine, nothing wrong with
them. But when something's really wrong, that child's in a panic
mode, They've got a different cry, don't they? And when you
hear that cry, you drop everything and run to the aid of that child.
And if you, being evil, know how to give good things unto
your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give
good gifts to them who ask Him? Cry. He knows the difference.
He knows the difference between, oh Lord, help me out here and
there, and oh God, I've got a sin problem I can't solve. I cry. When you cry, He shall
answer thee. And though the Lord give you
the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. Now, it
would be It would be at best insensitive,
cold-hearted for me or anyone else to say to you that your
afflictions are light. I can't imagine some of the afflictions
that some people have to suffer in this life. I can't imagine what it would
be like living your entire life having been abused as a child. The adversity of that, the fear
that would grip a woman's heart that's been subjected to rape,
some of the problems that people experience in this world, they'll
break your heart. And we would never say to anyone,
your afflictions are light. But God says they are. And the Lord also says that they
are necessities. And that they've all been sent
of God. You know that all things work together
for good. Why? Because he's working them together
for good. And though the Lord give you
the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.
You say, well, you can't tell somebody who suffered some horrible
indignity in life that the Lord gave that to them. They'll hate
God for it. I would rather you hate God than
for you to think that God didn't have anything to do with that. I would. I'd rather you hate
God than to think that God was powerless
in controlling the circumstances of your life. That having been said, the adversity and the affliction
that is common to all of God's people. And the Lord made it
clear. He said, there hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to all men. God is faithful. God is faithful, he will not
suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but
will provide with the temptation a way of escape that you might
be able to bear it. Now the Lord didn't say he's
not gonna put more on you than you can bear, he's gonna put more on
you than you can bear so that you find the way of escape. Christ
is the way of escape. And the adversity that every
child of God has in common are not the afflictions of life is
the affliction of soul. It's the conviction of sin. And that will break your heart
worse than anything else. If the Spirit of God, it's expedient
for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come, but when he comes, he will convict the world of
sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because
I go to my Father, and of judgment because the Prince of this world
has been judged. To be convicted by the Holy Spirit is not to
have a guilty conscience because of some bad thing you did. To
be convicted by the Holy Spirit is when the Spirit of God shows
you what sin really is. In light of the perfection of
the sinless one, in light of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I've shared this with you before, it's so simple. And yet,
the Spirit of God has to make it real to our hearts, doesn't
He? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What
in your life falls short of the glory of God? Man in his very
best state is altogether vanity. The best thing you ever did,
if God judged you for that, you'd go to hell for it. God makes
you to be a sinner. You realize that your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and that you stand vile before a holy
God, then you'll cry. That's a problem that doesn't
go away. You'll cry. Oh, Lord, save me. And what does he say? When you
cry, I'll hear. I'll hear. Why? Because I'm not
going to leave one of my children behind. We'll save every one
of them. Verse 20, And though the Lord
give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
yet shall not thy teachers be removed into the corner any more,
but thine ears shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall
hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. This is the way, walk ye in it. Oh, you don't know how I pray
that the Lord will enable me to say to you, this is the way. Walk ye in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life. Walk after Christ. Look to Christ. Follow after Christ. Rest in
Christ. He's the only hope we have, but
what hope he is, what glorious hope he is. And when you turn to the right
hand and when you turn to the left, your teachers will continue
to say, this is the way. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the world. Walk ye in Him. You shall defile also the covering
of thy graven images of silver, and the ornaments of thy molten
images of gold. Thou shalt cast them away as
minstrel's cloth, and thou shalt say unto it, get thee hence. When the Lord's pleased to reveal
himself, make you to be a sinner, all your idols become as minstrel's
cloths. Can't get rid of them quick enough. That's what the scripture means
when this Bible says all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. Then shall he give the rain of
thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal, and bread
of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous
in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. Oh Lord, that's what I want. Lord, lead me, lead me into a
green pasture. where I can feed on Thy Son,
where His life becomes my life, His blood becomes my death. The hope of my salvation is completely
bound up in Him. And I've got hope of knowing
that if I'm found in Him, I'm perfectly righteous before God.
accepted in the Beloved. The oxen likewise, and the young
asses that hear the ground, shall eat clean prevender, which hath
been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan." I pray that's
what we're doing right now. Feasting on the Word of God.
Where else are we going to go? Who's going to answer the problem
of the breach that's in the wall? The sin that's been caused. And there shall be upon every
mountain, upon every high hill, rivers and streams of water,
in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. All the rebellion. All the resistance. This chapter started out in talking
to rebellious children, and in spite of your rebellion, I'm
going to correct you. I'm not going to leave one child
behind. I'm going to use the afflictions of life, and I'm
going to use primarily the affliction of your own sin to bring you
to Christ, to break your heart. But I'm going to make you cry. I'm going to make you cry. When you cry, I'm going to hear
you, and I'm going to save you. Moreover, the light of the moon
shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun
shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day that
the Lord bindeth up the breach." Sin has caused a breach in our
wall, and that sin There's only one person's sin
that can cause a breach in your wall. That's your sin. Not somebody
else's. Not somebody else's. Your own
sin. Lord, there's a breach in my
wall. I need it. And the enemy comes through that
breach and ransacks the city. Lord, I need you. to bind up
the breach in my wall. And the wounds that sin has caused
in my life, He heals the stroke of their wound." Oh, He binds up the brokenhearted. Isaiah begins by talking about
how our sin is like a leper from the top of his head to the bottom
of his feet, and their wounds are oozing sores that have not
been bound up. And now he says, in that day,
when the tower of your rebellion is brought down, God binds up
the breach and heals the wound, and causes you to see Oh, what
glorious hope you have. What glorious hope you have.
I'm going to get you home. All the way home. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that You would continue to be merciful to us,
We confess to you, Father, the rebellion of our hearts, and
we ask that, for Christ's sake, that the promise that we've just
read from your word would be experienced in our hearts. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 185, let's stand together. Oh. ? Glorious things of thee are spoken
? ? Zion, city of our God ? ? He whose word cannot be broken ?
? Formed thee for his own abode ? ? On the rock of ages founded
? What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's all surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes. See the streams of living
waters, springing from eternal love. Well supply thy sons and
daughters, and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such
a river Ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace which, like
the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age. Ground each habitation of ring,
see the cloud and fire appear, for a glory and a covering, showing
that the Lord is near. Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God. He whose word cannot be broken
formed thee for his own abode. Amen. I hate when it does that. It
slows down.