Let us turn again to God's Word. In the Old Testament portion
we were reading the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And I'll read the first three
verses of chapter 54 for our text. Isaiah 54, 1 to 3. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not spare. Break forth into singing, and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child, for more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations.
Bear not, lengthen thy courts, and strengthen thy stakes, for
they shall break forth on the right hand and on the left, and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. Here we have then a promise of
spiritual enlargement and it's interesting that it comes immediately
after that remarkable prophecy that we have in the 53rd chapter. What a prophecy is that concerning
the Lord's suffering servants so graphic in its description
of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm sure you're
aware that of course when we come to the New Testament there
are several references to that 53rd chapter I think in a sense
we hardly need to have any reference in the New Testament because
it is so evident from the content that the one being spoken of
is none other than the Lord Jesus himself. But we do have quotations
several times in the New Testament from chapter 53 here with regards
to Christ. But also when we come into the
54th chapter we find a reference to that opening verse and it
was in the portion that we read there in Galatians chapter 4. It's quoted, you may have observed,
at verse 27 in that chapter. But in the context, what is it
that is being spoken of? It's interesting just to turn
back briefly to that particular portion of Scripture. It speaks
of Abraham having two sons, the one by a bondmaid, and the other
by a free woman. And then we're told that these
are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from
the Mount Sinai which genders to bondage, which is Agar, For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and Antareth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all." And that Jerusalem
above is identified therefore with Sarah, who was the free
woman. And then we have the quotation
from Isaiah 54, it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest
not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not, for the
desolate have many more children than she that hath a husband.
Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. It's in the light of what we
have there in the New Testament that we really have the key whereby
we can unlock and understand something of what is being said
here in the verses that I read for our text this morning. And
what do we see? Well we see Hagar is that one
who represents law and Sarah is the one who represents the
gospel. We have the old covenant as it
were and the new covenant and these are an allegory. Sarah was barren. She had no
child and Sarah gives her husband Abram Hagar, her bond-mate, to
be his wife, to bear a child, as it were, for Sarah. And so Ishmael is born. He is the son then, not of Sarah,
he is the son of the bond-mate. But then the promise of God comes
there in Genesis 18. Sarah shall have a son. We have
it twice in that 18th chapter of Genesis, in verse 10, and
again in verse 14. This is the promise. Abraham
is going to have a son by Sarah. And that is the true seed of
Abraham. And in that seed, all the nations
of the earth are going to be blessed. And now that promise
is confirmed in Genesis 22, that remarkable chapter in which we
see the Lord God testing the faith of his servant Abram because
Abram is commanded to take this son that Sarah is born quite
miraculously Abraham was 100 years old when the child was
born. Sarah was long past the age of childbearing and yet the
child had been born and then God gives that strange commandment
in chapter 22 that Isaac is to be sacrificed and
of course he isn't sacrificed the Lord God makes provision
there is a ramlet court there in the mount court in a thicket
and this Islam is to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. It's a wonderful type really
of the substitution in death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then God renews his promise to Abraham. The angel calls on to Abraham
out of heaven, by myself have I sworn saith the Lord For because
thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy Son, thine
only Son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven. And as the sand which is upon
the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies,
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,
because thou hast obeyed my voice. And the seed, of course, is this
son that has been born to Sarah Isaac's the seed and Isaac is
clearly a type of the Lord Jesus Christ he is that one who is
the true seed of Abraham and that one in whom all the nations
of the earth are to be blessed in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed and it's quite clear again when we come
to the Galatian epistle what Paul says there in Galatians
3.16 and we see he says thy seed is Christ unto thy seed which
is Christ of whom Isaac was but a type and when we come back
to the words of the text this morning, what is being said here?
Well this is that promise that God had given to Abraham concerning
Sarah having a son and then the testing of his faith as that
son is to be sacrificed as it were but he receives the son
as it were again from the dead and then the promise is renewed
as we saw in those verses that we just read there at Genesis
22 at verse 16 following. The promising of a spiritual
enlargement. And as we come to consider these
three verses this morning at the beginning of this 54th chapter,
I divide what I want to say into two sections. First of all, to
see what we have here is an unbounded prophecy, a remarkable prophecy. and then in the second place
to see how it belongs to a particular people. It's such a large prophecy
and yet it belongs to a very specific and particular people. First of all then to look more
closely at the words as we see them here in the Old Testament,
the prophecy. And we must of course not ignore
the historical context. Here is Isaiah, he's the Lord's
servant, he's prophesying round about the year 700 before Christ,
700 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus. And in many ways
he speaks of what God is going to do to Judah within a hundred years. And what
it was was to be a terrible judgment that they were going to be taken
away from Jerusalem, away from the Promised Land, they were
going to go into exile and they would spend a period there in
captivity. Seventy years. That's the figure
that's given in the prophecy of Jeremiah. But Isaiah also
speaks of that awful event and it came to pass round about 605
before Christ. A hundred years after Isaiah
had been ministering and speaking the word of God. And it clearly
foretells that captivity to King Hezekiah, that most gracious
king of whom we read, remember here in the middle of this book,
We have something of Hezekiah's history, his prayer, those remarkable
events that are spoken of in chapters 36 right through to
39. And there in chapter 39 we find this word spoken to King
Hezekiah. Verse 5, Then said Isaiah to
Ezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the day
is come that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers
have laid up in store, until this day shall be carried to
Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord, that thy sons
shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget shall they take
away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of
Babylon." Quite a specific prophetic word, spoken nearly a hundred
years before it actually came to pass. His foretelling then
is the prophet, the Babylonian captivity. And what was God doing? Well, it was by means of that
captivity, that awful period that God was sifting his people. and in the sifting God was preserving
those who were his true spiritual remnants. We have to remember always, of
course, in the Old Testament that the nation of Israel, then
the kingdom of Judah, these are typical people. This nation is
a type of those who are the true people of God, the spiritual
Israel. Paul tells us in Romans they
are not all Israel which are of Israel and he is not a Jew
which is one outwardly but he is a Jew which is one inwardly
and circumcision is not that of the flesh but it's that that
is of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise
is not of men but of God God's people are a spiritual people,
and this is what God is doing with them. He's sifting the nation,
but in that act of sifting He is preserving those who are His
true people, and they're there in the exile. And in the appointed
time they will be restored, they'll return to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem
will be rebuilt. But how the prophets many times
speak of God's strange dealings, Amos, Amos 9 and verse 9, God
says, Lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel
among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall
not the least grain fall to the ground. God preserves His people. And we know that the ministry
of this prophet Isaiah was very much a sifting and a separating
ministry. when he receives his call to
be the Lord's servant, to be the Lord's prophet, back in chapter
6, how he is told what the consequences of his ministry are going to
be. Verse 9 there, Go tell these people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not, see ye indeed, but perceive not, make the heart of these
people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their hearts, and convert and be healed. Then said I, this
is the Prophet speaking, the Lord has spoken, then said I,
Lord, how long? And He answered, until the cities
be wasted, without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord hath removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land. But yet in it shall be a tent, a tithe, and it shall
return." Oh, God will indeed preserve that remnant, and they
shall return. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. It's not all That
negative ministry, there is something positive that the Lord God is
doing, He's dealing with His people. And when we come to the
words here of the text, this is the promise, you see, of the
restoration. That that came to pass in the
days of men like Ezra and Nehemiah. The land will be inhabited again,
Jerusalem will be rebuilt and filled again with people, the
desolate cities restored in the goodness of God. Well that is
something of the historical context that we must always bear in mind
when we come to consider these portions in the Old Testament,
but we're not just dealing with history, we're dealing with the
Word of God, we're dealing with a prophetic word. And there is
a great spiritual fulfillment that is also to be understood
in these words as a gospel fulfillment. Because what we have here, as
you'll see, is really the calling of the Gentiles. Look at verses
2 and 3, "...enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch
forth the curtains of thy inhabitation. Spare not, lengthen thy courts,
and strengthen thy stakes, for they shall break forth on the
right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles,
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." And in many
ways what we have here in the third verse is a repetition. of God's promise, the promise
that He made not only to Abraham but He repeated of course to
Isaac and to Jacob and it's that same promise really that was
given to Jacob at Bethel. Remember what we are told there
in Genesis 28 where where Jacob has that vision of
the ladder set upon the earth and his top reaches to heaven
and there the Lord God enters into into covenant with his servant
Jacob and gives him a gracious promise. Verse 13 of that 28th
chapter in Genesis We're told, behold, the Lord stood above
it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou loest, to thee will I give
it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and
to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now it's interesting because
there in verse 14 we read thy seed shall be as the dust of
the earth and they shall spread abroad. And the margin tells
us, the alternative reading, they shall break forth They shall
break forth to the west, and to the east, and to the north,
and to the south. And is it not really the same
promise that we have here in verse 3? They shall break forth
on the right hand, and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles. It's all the Word of God, it's
all the great promise of God, and it finds its fulfillment
ultimately in the New Testament. It finds its fulfillment with
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sang in our opening
praise those lovely words in the hymn by William Cooper, Jesus,
where'er thy people meet, there they behold thy mercy seat. And there are many more verses
than what we have in Gatsby's selection. One of the verses
is this, Behold, at thy commanding word we stretch the curtain and
the cord. Come thou and fill this wider
place and bless us with a large increase. We know something of
the history behind that particular hymn because it was when there
at Olney and of course Cooper was a great friend of John Newton
he attended the ministry of Newton there in the parish church and
they were having a prayer meeting and they had to meet in another
place because so many were gathering. They had to find a larger place
that would accommodate the numbers who were gathering for these
special prayer meetings. And so he is referring in that
hymn to that particular incident. and bless us with a large increase."
But clearly, the poet is mindful of the words of our text, and
he's basing that prayer, because the hymn is really in the form
of a prayer, he's addressing God, and praying for a great,
in gathering, a great increase. Now, when we consider the context
here, of the words, in this chapter we have to recognize that all
of this promise is flowing from what we have in the previous
chapter as I've said many a time we we find these divisions that
we have in our Bibles into chapters and verses very useful very convenient
it helps us to navigate our way through the Word of God and to
remember particular portions but These chapters and verses
were not there when God first gave the Word. All of this layout
is something that was introduced much later. And so we're not
to make unnecessary breaks. What we have in chapter 53 immediately
flows into chapter 54. It's what we have at the end
of that 53rd chapter, isn't it? concerning the success of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, all that bitter anguish
that he had to endure last Lord's Day, we were considering something
of the content of Psalm 22, that prophetic psalm, that messianic
psalm, that speaks of the sufferings of the Lord, and all the agonies
of his soul, his roarings, his great cry, when he felt forsaken. But what do we have here at the
end of 53? Verse 11, 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 sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And then this exhortation, Sing,
O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing,
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child, for more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. or the married wife, that's Israel
in the Old Testament. The desolate, the Gentile nations. But God is going to fulfill a
great purpose. Christ has come and now his gospel
is to go to sinners amongst all the nations of the earth. This
is the great promise. But who is it in particular that this word is being addressed
to? and so I want to turn in the second place to the particular
people and to observe three things with regards to those to whom
these great promises belong three things first of all you will
observe that they are a barren and a desolate people single barren it says thou that didst not bear break
forth into singing, cry aloud thou that didst not travail with
child, more are the children of the desolate, or they're barren
and they're desolate. Now, we know that that was very
much the case when we go back to the historical context, that
was very much the case with regards to the Jews who were taken into
exile and the situation that then pertained at Jerusalem. We have the lamentations of Jeremiah. How doth the city sit solitary
that was full of people? How is she become as a widow,
she that was great among the nations and princess among the
provinces, how is she become tributary? the ways of Zion do
mourn, because none come to the solemn feast. All her gates are
desolate, her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she
is in bitterness." And that was the situation, that was the situation,
of course, when God's purpose was fulfilled, the Babylonians
had removed those Jews into exile, but eventually God judges the
Babylonians. The Babylonian Empire falls to
be replaced by that of the Medes and Persians. And Isaiah, doesn't
he also speak of Cyrus? He named Cyrus, the great Persian
emperor. He was the one who issued a decree
in the days of Ezra that they were to return. and so it was
in the days of Ezra, the days of Nehemiah and even when we
read of Nehemiah's ministry there in the opening chapter and he's
heard news concerning the situation amongst those who had returned
they'd engaged in the rebuilding of the Temple of the Lord under
Ezra of course but still Jerusalem was so desolate the remnants
that are left of the captivity there in the province are in
great affliction. Reproach is upon them. The wall of Jerusalem broken
down, the gates burned with fire. This is a situation that pertained
when Nehemiah is moved to return and to engage in the rebuilding
of the walls of Jerusalem. Desolation. We have the desolate
cities mentioned here at the end of the third verse and it's
not only here but previously in chapter 49 towards the end
of that chapter Verse 19, thy waste, thy desolate
places, the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow
by reason of the inhabitants. And they that swallow thee up
shall be far away. The children which thou shalt
have after thou hast lost the others shall say again in thine
ears, the place is too straight for me. Give place to me that
I may dwell. It's a promise of a great enlarging,
a great increase. enlarging the place of thy tent
and so forth. It's the same promise that we
have there in chapter 49 as we find here at the beginning of
chapter 54. But isn't there an application
to those that the Lord is dealing with under the gospel? These
are gospel promises really and they're suited to those who feel
their barrenness. those who feel the desolation
because of their sin those who so often feel so shut up in themselves and they cannot they cannot exercise
faith they feel sometimes they have no faith they want the Lord
to increase their faith I do I do like the closing verse of
that hymn that we sang just now, 897. Lovely hymn of John Berridge. But often times I think of those
closing words of the hymn, O Lord, increase my feeble faith and
give my straight and bosomed room to credit what thy promise
saith. and wait till thy salvation come. Do we not sometimes feel like
that? That we're so straightened in ourselves we're so shut up
in ourselves, we're so full of unbelief and we read the Word
of God and we find nothing in the Word of God because of that
awful sin, that sin which continually besets us, so easily besets us
as the Apostle says there in Hebrews 12 we need deliverance
from on belief. And here we have that gracious
promise. And why is it left on record
here in Holy Scripture? Is it not here for us to plead
it? These people are barren, they
feel themselves to be desolate, but God has given His Word. And
why is the Word written here? It's written for our learning.
that we through patience really it's endurance there in Romans
15 endurance and comfort of the scriptures might have hope you
read those words there at the beginning of Romans 15 and Paul
is referring to the Old Testament he's referring to passages like
this it's written for us that we might endure and in our endurance
that we might find some comfort in the Word of God. But how do
we find that comfort? We have to pray. We have to pray
over God's Word. We have to plead God's Word.
Enlarge the place of thy tent. Let them stretch forth the curtains
of thy inhabitation. Spare not Lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the
right hand and on the left." Well, what are we to do? We're
to pray over God's Word. The old Puritan said that when
we come to pray, we should ever thicken our prayers with God's
promises. Wasn't it Huntington who said
we have to hold God true to what he has said? He is not a man
to lie, not the son of man to repent, hath he said he shall
he not do it? hath he spoken he shall he not make it good?
all we have the word of God and we want God to enlarge our scanty
thoughts we may feel our experience at
times is so small You sometimes think like that, you think, well,
what experience have I had? I've had any real experience
of the grace of God. What have I known of conviction
of sin? You might read something like
Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and you think,
well, look at the experience of this man and the conviction
that this man felt in his soul. Well, the Lord was preparing
him to write a book like Pilgrim's Progress. The Lord's not going to deal
with us in those ways unless He's going to do something quite
remarkable by us. We read these books and we look
at ourselves and we think, well I have such a small experience. I really feel little of real
dependence on the grace of God. How can I claim any of these
promises or pray over any of these promises? Maybe sometimes
we're fearful of being presumptuous. That's not a bad thing, really.
You don't want to be presumptuous. But then, on the other hand,
we might go to the other extreme and find ourselves so shut up
in unbelief that we find nothing in the Word of God. Well, let us remember that word
that we have in the book of the Prophet Zechariah, there in the
fourth chapter. We're not to despise the day
of small things. Who has despised the day of small
things? What is the answer there that
is given? It's looking to Zerubbabel, isn't
it? If I remember it right, that's
the answer. Who hath despised the day of
small things? We are not to despise it. They shall rejoice, and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven that
are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and throw through the
whole earth." Who is Zerubbabel? Isn't he a type of the Lord Jesus?
The rebuilding of the temple, it's Christ building his church,
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. or they're going
to bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying,
grace, grace, unto the day of small things. We sometimes forget
that though it be a day of small things, it's still the day of
grace. It's still the acceptable time. It's still the day of salvation. How we need to pray, and how
we need to pray over God's promises even the words that we have here
before us this morning how we need to learn from that man Jabez
remember how we have him there in the fourth chapter of that
first book of Chronicles was it last week that I referred
to him and his prayer there in that opening part of the first
book of Chronicles we have all those genealogies, lists of so many
names so-and-so begat so-and-so and so-and-so begat so-and-so
peculiar names, names that are not easy for us even to pronounce
sometimes we just skip over such portions of God's word but we
need to be careful lest we should by skipping over portions, miss
something. Because there in 1st Chronicles
4, 9, what do we read? Jabez. Jabez was more honorable
than his brethren. And his mother called his name
Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow. His name means
sorrowful. But then we have his prayer.
Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that they would just
bless me indeed. and enlarge my coast, and that
thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me
from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that
which he requested. And see amongst his petitions,
what does he ask? He wants God to enlarge his coast. He wants God to enlarge his coast,
to give him a greater and a richer experience of the grace of God.
Now we need God to come to enlarge our hearts, to enlarge our scanty
thought, to have right views of God. We say we believe in
the sovereignty of God, but do we live the sovereignty of God?
I always remember, before I think I ever met Sidney Norton, I was
assistant pastor with David Fountain at Spring Road all those years
ago, and of course, it was David Fountain who knew Sidney Norton.
Well, he was the man who introduced Ian Morrie to Sidney Norton and
then after that of course the beginning of the work of the
Banner of Truth but David Fountain had gone up to Oxford as a undergraduate
he'd been attending as a younger man the ministry of Dr Lloyd
Jones in London went up to Oxford and met people who were going
out to Squitchy Lane in Somertown where Sidney Norton was ministering
just to a handful of people I always remember this, it stuck in my
mind immediately really, it's never gone. He said, you know
when I met Sidney Norton, he said, I sat at the feet of Dr.
Lloyd-Jones but suddenly I was introduced to and I met a man
and he was living the sovereignty of God. He didn't just believe
it, he lived it. He believed in the sovereignty
of God. That nothing is impossible with
God. And one of the favourite texts
of Mr. Norton in those days was that word in Job concerning God
he hangeth the world on nothing that's what God does, he hangs
his world on nothing that's how great he is and sometimes we
are so straightened up in ourselves and so straightened up in our
unbelief What are we to do? We have these words, we're to
plead the promises of God. The psalmist says, I will run
the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. It's only as God enlarges our
hearts that we can run in the way of his commandments, delight
in his precepts, as well as his promises. All this word you see
is for a particular people. They're barren, they're desolate,
they feel it. They feel the smallness of their
heart, the smallness of their experience, how fearful. They
don't want to be presumptuous. What can they do? We can pray,
and plead, and plead the words of God. And then finally this
morning, concerning this particular people, are they not a pilgrim
people? Or are they strangers, really,
pilgrims on earth? Look at the language in verse
2. It's a figure that is taken from the common practice in Israel,
and it's still true. This figure is still true in
the Middle East with regards to those Bedouin tribes. They live in tents. And the tent
has to be enlarged as the family grows. That's the figure that
we have here. And remember we said that this
is the echoing of the promises that were given to Abraham and
to Isaac. These men of faith are spoken
of, aren't they, there in Hebrews 11. And what do we learn concerning
Abraham and the faith of Abraham? Hebrews 11, verse 9, by faith,
He sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles, tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him
of the same promise, for he looked for a city which had foundations,
whose builder and maker is God." Or they had no continuing city.
No continuing city. But we're looking for one to
come. They were strangers in the earth. Is that us? We look not at the things which
are seen. But the things which are not seen, the things which
are seen are temporal. The unseen things are the eternal
things. Do we live our lives here as
pilgrims? Do we look into the risen Christ? Where is the risen Christ? Why
is he ascending? He's ascended to the Father's
right hand. He's in heaven. He has gone there to prepare
a place for His people that where He is there, they may be also.
Well, if ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitth. At the right hand of God, we're
to set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth. We're to be that people then
who are spiritually minded, heavenly minded. or the Lord grant that
we might find then some comfort, that we might be able to discern
in ourselves something of the marks of the particular people
that these words, these verses, these promises really belong
to. We feel our own innate spiritual
barrenness. What are we? What are we? We're sinners. All our righteousness
is. our filthy rags and He grieves
us and we feel our desolation but we can pray and we can pray
over the Word of God and plead with God that He would enlarge
our hearts and we can live our lives as pilgrims here upon the
earth. What a word of encouragement,
we're to sing, we're to praise, we're to worship our God, sing
O Baron Thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing, cry
aloud. Thou that didst not travail with
child, for more are the children of the desolate than the children
of the married wife saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy
tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations.
Bear not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For
thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and
thy siege shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. Well before we close it comes
to my mind that these words were the ones that
William Carey preached from previous to going out to India when he
was burdened He preached a sermon, I can't remember now whether
it was in Northampton or Leicester, it was somewhere up in the Midlands.
And he bore the title, if I remember it right again, trying
to recall, Expect Great Things from God,
Attempt Great Things for God. I think that was the title, Expect
Great Things from God. attempt great things for God. And it made such a stir. Subsequently,
of course, he went out and was all those years ministering and
translating God's Word into some of the languages there in the
subcontinent of India. It's a portion then of God's
Word that has made some impact, or that it might make some impact
in all of our hearts. The Lord be pleased to bless
his Word.