Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn number nine. The tune is
Darby, 324. Awake my soul in joyful lays,
and sing thy great Redeemer's praise. He justly claims a song
from me, his loving kindness. O Alfre, hymn number nine, tune
Darby, With my soul in joyful praise,
And sing thy praise with inmost praise. Angels, we praise the Son from
Him, His lovingkindness throughout the ages. There's love in kindness unbounded. ? Peacefully moving in the cold
? ? Yet climbing out without a foe ? ? They saved me from
the cold ? Of my lost estate, His lovingkindness
I have paid. His lovingkindness I have paid. Embrace us, almighty God. Downward
and up, I make the path. It safely beats my soul and I,
This loving-kindness, earth and sky. There's love in my nature, how
strong. Then travel like a curvy cloud, As you were that day, and thought
of how. Day in my soul has always stood, His lovingkindness so helpful.
His lovingkindness so helpful. How can I feel my sins apart? How do I say I have to give out? But where I have been both forgot,
His loving-kindness changes not. His lovingkindness changes not. Soon shall I cross the gloomy
plain, Stem, O my bough, the past, past, then, Now may thy
last expiry breath His love and kindness sing in death. His love and kindness sing in
death. Then let me mount and soar away
Till there I come again that day Dancing with rapture and surprise,
His loving kindness in the skies. Let us read together from the
holy word of God in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 63. Isaiah chapter 63. Who is this that cometh from
Eden, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to say, wherefore art
thou read in thine apparel? and thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine-fan. I have trodden the wine-press
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none
to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread
down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury,
and I will bring down their strength to the earth. I will mention
the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the
Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and
the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath
bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to
the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are
my people, children that will not lie, So he was their Saviour,
in all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his
presence saved them, in his love and in his pity he redeemed them,
and he bared them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his
Holy Spirit, therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and
he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of
old, Moses and his people, saying, where is he that brought them
up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that
put his Holy Spirit within him, that led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them
to make himself an everlasting name, that led them through the
deep as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble.
As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord
calls him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people
to make thyself a glorious name. Look down from heaven and behold
from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory, where is thy
zeal and thy strength? the sounding of thy bowels, and
of thy mercies toward me, are they restrained? Doubtless thou
art our Father, thou, Abraham, be ignorant of us, and Israel,
acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father,
our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting.
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? and harden
our heart from thy fear. Return for thy servant's sake. The tribe of thine inheritance,
the people of thy holiness, have possessed it but a little while.
Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine. Thou never barest
rule over them. They were not called by thy name. May the Lord bless that reading
of his own precious word and grant to us a spirit of real
prayer. Almighty, most merciful and eternal
God of heaven, the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity,
whose name is holy, we thank thee for thy word that we have
read together the word of thy grace. We've read together, O
Lord, and we've sung together of thy lovingkindnesses, and
we pray that thou would visit us here with thy lovingkindnesses
here this afternoon, that thy love may be shed abroad in our
hearts, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love
of God our Father and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit
may rest and abide upon us. May we know those divine drawings
of our Heavenly Father, drawing us to the feet of Jesus, to worship
Emmanuel, God manifest in the flesh. O most gracious Lord,
God with us. We do thank Thee for that incarnate
mystery. We do thank Thee for the glory
of His name, the fullness of His grace, and we do thank Thee
that he is the way, the truth, and the life. We do thank thee
for that holy life he lived, for that holy law he fulfilled,
for that holy sacrifice he offered, for sin put away. We thank thee
for that precious, precious blood of Jesus. We thank thee, most
gracious Lord, for the resurrection from the dead. Come, see the
place where the Lord lay. He is not here. He is risen,
O Lord, we do thank Thee for a risen Saviour, for sin put
away, for divine justice satisfied, for God and sinners reconciled,
for peace made between God and man. Oh, we do thank Thee that
we have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God. Oh, we thank Thee that He is
the Son of God, that he is declared to be the son of God with power.
O most gracious Lord, he is the son of David, the son of man.
We do thank thee for the glorious mystery in his person of God
manifest in the flesh. O most gracious Lord, may we
worship thee this afternoon. And as we meet around the table
of the Lord, may we be given that true worship of our Lord
Jehovah, As we partake of the bread and of the wine, we pray,
most gracious Lord, that we may feel thy sacred favour and blessing
in our hearts. We pray for our dear beloved
sister, who will sit down with us this afternoon for the first
time, and we pray that it may be a very special time to her.
We do humbly beseech of We pray for our brethren, the deacons,
that grace, wisdom, and help may be given them. We pray for
each one of our brethren and sisters in church fellowship,
that thy blessing may rest upon us, that we may love each other,
serve each other, bear each other's burdens, thereby fulfilling the
law of Christ. We thank thee for that peace
and harmony that dwells among us, and we would be thankful
to thee for it. And O Lord God, we do pray that
there may be others added unto us, unto the church, such as
should be saved, gathered to the feet of Jesus, constrained
to follow him in love, we do humbly pray thee. Let thy work
appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children,
O Lord, we do beseech thee. And that we do pray, most gracious
Lord, for the divine and the heavenly power of the Holy Ghost,
as we gather around thy word, that the word of truth may be
opened and that our hearts may be opened, that we may receive
the word of the Lord, the word of thy grace, that we may be
sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise, we do humbly beseech
you. Without thy heavenly power, O
Lord, no sweets the gospel can afford, and we pray that it may
be that we may drink drink spiritually of the wine of the kingdom and
eat the bread. This is my body broken for you. Oh, that we may draw near to
thee and that thou was drawn near to us and that we may truly
worship thee in thy Son, Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, do remember
us as a church, as a congregation. Do work mightily, do work powerfully,
do work effectually, And that do remember the prodigals that
have wandered away, that they may be led and brought back by
thy grace. That they may hear that the Lord
has visited his people, he given them bread. O gracious God, do
hear as we humbly beseech thee. And do grant real, true spiritual
prosperity. Send out the glory and light
of the gospel into this village. precious souls may be gathered
in from the surrounding villages. Bring our sons from far and our
daughters from the ends of the earth and do arise thou mighty
God of grace and into thy rest descend thou in the ark of thy
strength and let thy priests be clothed with salvation and
thy saints shall shout aloud for joy. Lord abundantly bless
the provision of thy house and satisfy her poor with Let us
see thy goings in the sanctuary. Let us see Zion's offspring come. Let us see thy mighty work among
us. We do humbly beseech thee. Indeed,
O Lord, thou art able to do abundantly more than we can even ask or
think. Remember the little ones and
the children and richly bless them. Remember the young friends
who graciously guide and direct them. Remember each and every
one in the midst of the journey of life and be gracious and merciful
unto each one, and deliver us from temptation, from the power
and the dominion of sin. O Lord, we do beseech thee. Remember
dear Ina at home in her great age, and remember those of us
here, O Lord, that are in the evening time of life journey.
Prepare us for that great day when heart and flesh when we
must soar through tracks unknown and see thee on thy judgment
throne. Great God, prepare us, we humbly
beseech thee. Forgive us of all our many sins.
Wash us in the precious blood of Jesus. Come and touch one's
lips with a live coal from off the heavenly altar. We ask for
Jesus' sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 161. The tune is Foundation, 829. The Lord in the day of his anger
did lay our sins on the Lamb, and he bore them away. He died
to atone for our sins, not his own. The Father has punished
for us his dear son, him 161, Toon Foundation 629. O come ye, O come ye, O come
ye to Bethlehem. ? Since no man has ever known.
? ? Yet for us, yet for Israel, ? ? How sweetly it sounds. ? Chai Om Vishwa, Vishwa Nanda and joy like this. He came for us such to Him were due. We loved Him as our God, because
He would love us. His word shall go forth, and
earth shall know how great Thou dost love. which we rely. For Jesus has
loved us, we cannot rely. ? Of this we can turn our fear
from the sorrow ? ? For tonight has been taught to break the
night ? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I will direct your attention to the prophecy
of Isaiah, chapter 63, and we'll read verse 9 for our text. Isaiah, chapter 63, verse 9. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. When the angel of his presence
saved them, In His love and in His pity, He redeemed them and
He bared them and carried them all the days of old. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted. It speaks in this context here,
verse 7, the loving-kindnesses What a beautiful word, isn't
it? The loving kindnesses of the Lord. What a wonderful mercy if you
and I have an interest in the Lord's loving kindnesses. And
he says here, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on
us, the great goodness toward the house of Israel which he
hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude
of his loving-kindnesses. It was these words, these repeating
words of loving-kindnesses that led me to the first hymn that
we sung together. His loving-kindness, oh how good. And so he says in verse 8 here,
surely they are my people, children that will not lie. So he was
their saviour. So the person it's speaking of
here is the saviour. There's only one saviour. There's
only one name given unto heaven whereby you must be saved. The
name of Jesus Christ. He was their Saviour. He came to, indeed, He was named
Christ or Jesus because He shall save His people from their sins. And may it please the Lord to
grant us a little meditation on this Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. who took our nature. He is the
eternal son of the eternal father. He took our nature upon him. A profound mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. He became bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. Now there was a purpose in that.
And it's really in our text, the purpose that why The Lord
Jesus Christ became the Son of Man. He is the Son of God, but
he became the Son of Man. He is the Son of God from all
eternity, but he became the Son of Man, while still remaining
the Son of God. What a mystery there is in the
person of Christ. The Athanasian Creed, it puts
it so very simply, very God. very man. And that is Christ. He's very God. He's very man. And to us that is something that
is beyond our comprehension. And even the scriptures teach
us, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. It's a great mystery. It's a
wonderful mystery. and it becomes more wonderful
if the Lord reveals it unto you in a personal way and surely
that's what we need, a personal realisation that he is our saviour
and in our text it says, and it's speaking here of the person
of Christ in all their afflictions he was afflicted and the angel
of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them and he bare them and carried them all the days of old in all
their afflictions. That's his church. He's bright. He's loved her with
an everlasting love. It says here, and carried them
all the days of old, which really means the days of eternity. He
carried them all the days of old. in eternity past. We read in that beautiful word
in Proverbs chapter 8 and Christ is speaking, he says, my delights
were with the sons of men. That's in eternity past. My delights
were with the sons of men. He delighted to think of the
day when he would come and redeem his church and his people. and
deliver them from sin and Satan's power. For my beloved friends,
we all have sinned, every one of us. There is no exception,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no exception. We all stand in need of a saviour,
of a redeemer, of a deliverer. In all their affliction, there
is a people that were chosen chosen to eternal glory eternal salvation
and eternal deliverance from their sins and it's this people that are
spoken of we read in the Gospels All that the Father giveth me,
so it's words of Christ. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise
cast out. All that the Father giveth me. And surely what we want to know
and what we feel to need to know, was I in Christ? Was I chosen
in Christ? because that was a divine transaction
that took place before the foundation of the world.
There's those beautiful words I just think of in the first
epistle of Peter in chapter 1 and we read from verse 18 for as
much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers." That does not redeem you, that
does not deliver you. Even though you've been brought
up under the sound of the truth, that is not salvation. No, not
at all. but we are redeemed he says but
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world but was manifest in these last times for you Christ
manifest in these last times for you the apostle he speaks
of that you in In Ephesians chapter 2, you hath he quickened who
were dead. You know, we have to have the
quickening power of the Holy Ghost before we can believe. That is
what enables us to believe when we're quickened and awakened
from our state of spiritual death. You know, here's some ministers
and some good men have done it and they'll stand in the pulpit
and, you've only got to believe, you've only got to believe, you've
only got to believe. And the implication is that you
can believe. And then they will go on and
say, you'll go to hell if you don't believe. In a sense, they're right. But
in another sense, they're trying to get somebody to do what they
can't do. You has he quickened who were
dead? You would look at a man as mad
if he went into a mortuary and he started preaching to all those
dead bodies in the mortuary and saying you've only got to believe,
you've only got to believe. My dear beloved friends, we need
grace to believe. The grace of faith, that is what
enables us to believe and that is the wonderful gift of God,
the Holy Ghost. The old Puritans used to say,
he works faith in the heart. He works faith in the heart.
He brings these precious souls from darkness into light, from
bondage into liberty, from being far off, they are made nigh.
This is the divine work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of
the Lord's people. Now, he brings these living children
who were dead, he brings them to, he makes them aware of their
lost condition. He makes them aware that they're
dead in trespasses and in sins. They begin to feel it, they begin
to know it, they begin to understand it. And it's these precious souls,
the Church of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, chosen before
the foundation of the world, in all their afflictions. He was afflicted, our Lord Jesus
Christ. We read of him, he was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Christ was, but he lived
here upon earth. He didn't just suffer in the
sufferings on the cross of Calvary or in the Gethsemane, that was
indeed the integral part of his sufferings, But he suffered all
his days. The Holy One of Israel living
in this sin-cursed world with sinful men and women, beholding
their sinfulness and their opposition to the truth. He was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. The hymn writer speaks of this,
doesn't he, when he takes up that point that the apostle makes
in the epistle to the Hebrews. How our great high priest is
touched with the sympathy within. He knows. You think of that. The holy, righteous, just God
manifest in the flesh. He knows what sore temptations
mean. For He has felt the same. He knows where you are. He knows
the temptations that you pass through, because He's been there
Himself. The Apostle says, He was tempted
in all points, like as we are, yet without sin, in all points
like as we are. To me, I've always felt that
there's one of the most deep and profound words in Holy Scripture. That the pure, the holy, the
spotless Jesus was tempted in all points. There's nothing,
child of God, where you can come where he hasn't been before.
No. He knows. He feels. He's touched. Within. He knows the temptations that
you're passing through, the trials that you're passing through,
because he's been there before. He's been there before. He's
walked in it before. He was tempted in all points.
You know, it's beyond our comprehension, isn't it? That the Lord Jesus Christ knows
everything in an experimental way. There's no place that you
can come to that he doesn't know and that he doesn't sympathize
and empathize with you in that pathway of temptation that you're
passing through. Even in providential trials you
might say, well he's king of kings and lord of lords. Yes
he was, but what did Christ himself say? The birds of the air have
nests, the foxes have holes. But the son of man hath not where
to lay his head. And we take it that when he took
a coin, or the disciples did, from the mouth of the fish, that
it's because he didn't have a coin with him. But he took it out
of the mouth of the fish and he paid the dues that was due.
You see, he knows even what providential trials providential temptations
where Christ knows he feels in all it's comprehensive word is
it in all their afflictions he was afflicted and of course in
that deeper deeper sense of the word than what he passed through
in the temptations that he passed through when he was here upon
earth in the garden of Gethsemane when the sin of the church was
laid on Christ and what happened then when the
sin of the church was laid on Christ he swept as it were great
drops of blood falling down to the ground in all their afflictions he was
afflicted why did he suffer for their sins the sins of his bride,
his church, his people He loved them with an everlasting love.
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and the praises of
the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which he
hath bestowed on them according to his mercies. It flows from
the mercy of God and the mercy of God flows through Jesus Christ. know some of the Lord's people
get very tried and tempted because they do not have a specific experience
of something say the blood of Christ and they desire an application
of it to their soul and to feel the power of it now that's a
good desire and a good prayer but you know friends I was so
sorely tempted in a time of great blessing and the devil tempted
ah but you know nothing of the blood And it was that line of
a hymn that delivered me completely from that snare. Every blessing,
every favour freely flows through Jesus' precious blood. If you
have felt the blood of Christ, if you have felt the love of
Christ, if you have felt the mercy of Christ, If your heart
has been touched with his loving kindness, there's only one reason
that you have that blessing, because his blood was shed for
you. It's the only reason you have
those blessings. It is so true, every blessing,
every favour freely flows through Jesus' precious blood. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. What a wonderful thing that is.
The angel of his presence. There may be those times when
not even a word is spoken, but you feel the presence of the
Lord Jesus. The presence of the Lord, the
angel of his presence. It's a beautiful way of putting
it, isn't it? An angel is a messenger. So the messenger sent into the
heart from the, Christ is called the angel of the everlasting
covenant. We read of the children of Israel
in the wilderness and the Lord sent his angel, it's a capital
A, he sent his angel before them and he led them and he guided
them and he directed them. The angel of his presence. In
thy presence I am happy. In thy presence I am secure.
In thy presence I can easily all things endure. How true that
is. in the Lord's presence, under
the Lord's favour. You can feel crushed by the sense
of your sin, and your alienation from God, and the corruption
that is in your heart, and you can be absolutely crushed under
the sense of that. But if Christ draws near, if
you feel His presence, that is all removed. It's all removed. What a wonderful thing then to
know the angel of his presence and your heart softened by his
presence and the overflowing sense of love in your heart from
his presence. Loved with an everlasting love
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them. You know, friends,
we have a wonderful example that is given us in the Word of God. The example of Christ. And in my mind it just goes now
to parents bringing up children. I've heard of some parents actually
throwing their children out of the house because they've done
this, because they've done that, because they've done something
else. Where would you and I be if the Lord did the same to us? You see, my beloved friends,
that is not the witness of Christ. That comes from our own wicked
heart. God's love is unchanging and
our love to our children, they're your children, should be unchanging. Should be unchanging. And perhaps the more they may
go against what you, things you believe, then the more love you
need to show, because that is what your heavenly father does
to you. And we have the example given us in scripture of how
the Lord deals with his people. And my beloved friends, we need
to follow Christ in all these things. And if we follow Christ
in all these things, in his love and in his pity, he redeemed
them. And he bare them and carried
them all the days of old. All the days of old. It says in one of the
minor prophets that he loved them from all eternity. He loved
them from all eternity. And he loved them for all eternity
to come. It's an unchanging love. It is. It's an almighty love. It's a
love that moved him to live as a man here upon earth, a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It was a love that moved
him to submit. When his father was to lay the
sin of the church upon him, he said, Father, if this cup pass
from me, this cup of suffering and sorrow for my church and
for my people, not my will. You see the willingness, not
my will but thine be done. In all their afflictions he was
afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love
and in his pity he redeemed them. He paid the redemption price
and he bare them and carried them all the days of old. He bared them and carried them.
Christ does. Christ did and Christ does. And Christ will do. And what
he says to these, in all their afflictions, he was afflicted,
their afflictions, it's his church and his people, it's unchanging. my soul for many changes goes
his love no variation knows it doesn't change his love is fixed
on his people forever now he chastises them but not in anger
not because he hates them no because he loves them you listen
to that word in Hebrews chapter 12 is a quotation from the book
of Proverbs. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastens,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If we have the
Lord's chastisement and we have the evidence that we're loved
with an everlasting love. He loves you and therefore he
chastens you. And the Apostle says in that
same context in Hebrews 12 about the father chastising his children.
Why? Because he loves them. Indeed
he says there, and they for their pleasure. But the Lord chastises
his people for their eternal welfare. Our flesh, and I'm speaking
now to the people of God, our flesh is sinful. It always has
been, it always will be. It is the spirit that quickneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. So what happens when the Lord
chastens is that He crucifies our flesh. He puts us in a pathway
that is exceedingly trying. And He crucifies our flesh because
He loves us. And to subdue the old man of
sin You see, my beloved friends, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteth
and scourges every son whom he receiveth. And then he goes on
to say there, that if ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards
and not sons, if ye be without chastisement. The mark and the
evidence of the everlasting love God to his people is when he
chastises us in all their afflictions he was afflicted and the angel
of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them he's redeemed them and he bared them and he carried them
all the days of old he did he carried them from all eternity
there's never been a time when he didn't love them God's love
is an everlasting love. There's never been a time when
he didn't love them. They were given to him by his
eternal father. And he agreed in that holy covenant
to redeem them. And in those divine decrees of
salvation, the Son of God was made flesh and became bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. and he suffered and bled and
died in that flesh he had a holy body and soul just the same as
you and I and he suffered and bled and died in that human nature
that he assumed you know friends it could only be the Son of God it could only be the Son of God
that could carry us all the days of It could only be the Son of
God that could suffer, bleed and die. Because that human nature
that he assumed was without sin and that sacrifice he offered
was without sin. And the reason he suffered, bled
and died because the Father laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He suffered, he bled and died
for our sins. And you know, friends, that is
what the true child of God desires to know. Did he suffer for me? Did he die for me? Did he rise
again for me? Did he shed his precious blood
to take away my sin? And the desire of the living
soul is that the Lord might answer those questions. Answer them. Because he'll never let you go.
Is that hymn, isn't that? Beautiful hymn. Oh love that
will not let me go. And it won't. This love will
never let you go. In his love and in his pity he
redeemed them. They're redeemed. They're saved. He was afflicted on their behalf.
He suffered on their behalf. In all their afflictions. He
was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. in His
love and in His pity He redeemed them and He bared them and carried
them all the days of old. What a wonderful thing when you
and I get a view by faith of this suffering Saviour, suffering
in our room and in our place and in our stead. When you have
a view by faith that He was wounded for our transgression, He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed in all their afflictions. He was afflicted and the angel
of His presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He
redeemed them and He bared them and carried them all the days
of old. May the Lord bless you.