Isaiah chapter 49. We'll be looking at verses 24 through
26, and then referring back throughout the chapter. The title of the message is,
The Prey Taken and the Captives Delivered. The prey taken and
the captives delivered. You see that clearly from our
text in verse 24. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty? Or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered for I will contend with him that
contended with thee and I will save thy children and I will
feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh They shall be
drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh
shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob." Here, the prophet asked the question, He asked a question. This is
the first point. Who are the prey and who are
the captives? Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty and the lawful captives delivered? Who are the prey and
who are the captives? Now, we know this physically
speaking of the nation of Israel who was very weak. A weak nation? and totally dependent upon God
as their protector. It was God who delivered them
from Egypt. It was the Lord who gave them the land of Canaan.
It was God who destroyed the Amalekites and the Philistines. And during Isaiah's time here,
it was the Assyrians who came and destroyed the ten tribes
of Israel. But the Lord spared Judah and
Benjamin. But this prophecy of God is not
concerning their captivity by the Assyrians or any of the other
past captivities. This is speaking of Babylon.
This is God prophesying of them being taken to Babylon. Over
the past few chapters, He was telling them about Cyrus and
how Cyrus would come and deliver them. And so, He is talking about
the nation of Israel being the prey of the mighty Babylon. And not only were they the prey,
defenseless and helpless people, but they were under the judgment
of God. Because they had left God, because
they had forsaken God for the false gods of their neighbors,
God gave them over to the captivity of Babylon.
And so Judah was not only a prey, but they were lawful captives. And once they were slaves to
their enemies, they were reminded that God's judgment against them
was lawful. It was right. It was a just sentence. Therefore, they were a prey,
because they were also lawful captives of God's justice. God
had for hundreds of years warned them to keep His commandments,
follow and obey His Word, believe on Christ, but they rebelled
time and time again. And what was always the response
of God's judgment to that nation was to give them over to their
enemies. And this was no different. He
gave them over to the mightiest enemy that Israel had ever succumbed
to. It was Babylon. Remember that
statue and image that God gave in that vision of Nebuchadnezzar? Remember Babylon was at the top.
This is the mightiest foe of Israel. And God gave them over
to it. But let us constantly be reminded
that the nation and people of Israel are meant to picture the
elect, you and me, who were born again of God, the Holy Spirit. We are the Israel of God, Jew
and Gentile alike, bond-free, male, female, there is no difference. All are saved only in Christ. And so then, with this in mind,
yes, Israel, the nation, Judah was a prey, a weak nation. Yes,
they were lawful captive, but this text is speaking to you
and to me. We are as a prey, weak and defenseless. incapable of defending ourselves
against our foes, and we are lawful captives to the justice
of God. So first of all, let us see that
we are a prey. Prey. How are we a prey? Why? When I think of it, just think
of a mouse before a hawk, a lamb before a lion, all of which are
defenseless animals. Fear not thou worm." Jacob, can
you think of a more defenseless creature than a worm? That's what we are. Why? How
has this come about? Because when Adam was created,
he was created upright and perfect before God. Your father and my
father was created perfect and upright. He fully trusted. He had the capacity to trust
in God for everything to provide for him. He was capable of communing
with God. Can you imagine the strength
that it took to stand before the Almighty and commune with
Him? Yet that was our strength. When
He was strong, so were we in Him. And so long as he trusted
God and obeyed the law of God concerning the fruit, He would
be able to commune with God, however long that was. But we know this, in the moment
that Adam did sin, he who was the strongest became the weakest. He became a prey. He became defenseless regarding
death and sin. He lost his ability to commune
with God, to stand before God. He lost his righteousness. He
died spiritually and became outwardly and inwardly corrupt. in every
way. From the sole of our foot, the
Prophet said, even to the crown of our head is nothing, nothing,
no soundness, no wellness, no goodness, but only wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores that were not bound up nor mollified
with ointment, not cared for, not covered. Adam was then incapable and unable
and unwilling to come to God. You see all that at the very
beginning, don't you? Everything in Genesis is a seed plot throughout
the whole Scripture. And this is no different. When
God called him, what did he do? Did he beg for mercy? Did he
plead to God? No. He ran from God. He hid from
God. He tried to cover his sin, which
is exactly what all of us do. Yet all that work Did nothing. Why? He was a prey. Defenseless. Incapable. Incapable. He became a prey to all wicked
thoughts and evil desires. He became a prey to Satan, whose
vile heart only longs to ruin all of our race. He became a
prey to sickness, to sorrows, to grief, and to death. And so
did we in Him. The root of our weakness is found
in our Father. And all of His weakness, all
of His weakness passed down to every one of us. Not one misses this weakness.
Not one. And next, I want you to see that
Adam became a lawful captive. A lawful captive. Not only was
he weak, he was also bound. Bound, justly bound by the law
of God. He was not only a prey to sin
and death and sorrows, but he was a captive and subject to
ruin by lawful judgment. God warned him. In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die." Now listen, Adam, in his intellect, was the
highest of men in all order, in his holy condition. Which means the truth, as Paul
tells us. Adam was not deceived. Adam is not to be pitied. Adam murdered his entire race
on purpose. The greatest act of genocide
was at the garden. He murdered his race knowingly. And as soon as he did, the law
of God's justice fell swiftly, and he died. He died. He broke the law of God, and
the just sentence of God's law was fulfilled. In the day he
ate thereof, he surely died. But lo, His sin and death, His
nature, His sentence, was not confined to Him, but rather passed
down to us. Listen, we are a prey. Wherefore,
as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. For all have sinned. You are a prey to death, and
you are a prey to sin, defenseless, and you cannot reverse it. This is our lot as we are born
into this world, a prey. And not only a prey, we are lawful
captives. By the offense of one judgment
came upon all unto condemnation. We were by nature under the sentence
of God's law. Jews were under the sentence
of the law of Moses. Gentiles under the sentence of
the law, written in our hearts. But make no mistake, you were
all born under sin in judgment. Dead. You were lawful captives. Lawful captives. Paul says all men then are without
excuse. There is none righteous, no,
not one. All are filled with sin. None
that understandeth. All are ignorant of the righteousness of God and
how to be accepted. And there is none that seeketh
after God. Jesus said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which has sent me. Does that not sound
like a prey and a captive to you? A man's not only unwilling,
but he's unable. Prey and a captive. We all are an easy prey for sin. Who
among us is not an easy prey for sin? How often have you been such
an easy prey when sin crouches at the door and in an instant
you're overcome by it? Before you even know what happened,
you've already fallen. You're a prey. Have you ever
tried to stop sinning? Do you want to know how weak
you are? Try it. David did. He said, I said within
myself that I will not sin. And it began like a boiler in
his bosom. It was about to explode. He couldn't
help it. The more a man tries to restrain
himself, you know, I don't know if you've noticed, this is a
perfect example. You see some of these big-time
preachers, they'll get up there and they're always talking about
adultery. I mean, man, they just fire, adultery, adultery. Oh,
you fornicators. And they find out that's what
they've been doing the whole time. Why? They're a prey. They thought themselves strong
enough to resist and condemn you, condemn people, themselves,
not realizing they themselves are a prey to it. We're a prey
to it. We're prey to all manner of sin. Even believers. Isn't that right? We're the only ones that actually
realize that. We are prey to all types of sin. All attacks
of Satan. We are vulnerable by nature. We are defenseless by nature.
Unable to save ourselves or keep ourselves from sickness or sorrow
and death. Isn't that right? Can you keep
yourself from sickness? Anybody? You try. You really
put your effort into it. I do too. But you know what? We're a prey. We're a prey to all kinds of
troubles and sickness and sorrow. But why are men not as vile as
they can be? Have you ever asked that? Why
are we not as corrupt as we are by nature? Why is it that sin
has not so engrossed us that we have left off every moral
fiber? Because of the mercy of God.
That's the only way. The only reason there's any civility
in the world whatsoever is the confining and restraining hand
of God's mercy. That's it. If God let go, we
would all be a prey to sin and there would be no reversal. No hope. The wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain."
Remember how the Lord described Peter before Satan? You remember
that? He said, Behold, Satan hath desired
to sift thee as wheat. Now, I'm not a wheat farmer.
I really, I've heard that a lot. I had to look, I wanted to look
it up and exactly see what sifting looked like. You know how easy
that is? A bunch of women get some grain, they just beat on
it and they put it in a little basket and they just shift it.
They just throw it up in the air. So how strong are you? How can you resist Him who is
much mightier than you are? How easily is wheat beaten and
the chaff separated from the wheat? That's what Satan wanted
to do. Separate Peter from Christ. That's what he wanted to do.
Why could he not do it? Was it Peter's strength? No! Peter was the prey. Why is it
that he was capable then of resisting, of keeping to Christ? But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Even so, we are all prey before
our foes, before our Satan, our sin, our nature, sorrows and
troubles. And let me be clear. I want you
to understand this. God would be just and right to
leave us there. Men believe God owes them something. Well, you made me, so you've
got... God doesn't have to do anything
for you. God does not have to save you,
except you are His elect. And He only imposes that on Himself,
and not by any merit of yours. God is holy and just, and He
must and will punish all rebellion, all sin, all lawful captives
will die. That is a sure thing. The soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die. Us all of us were born then
under captivity, born weak and unable to save ourselves or free
ourselves from this just sentence of death. I pray God open our eyes to see
that. Every one of us. We should see this. We should
know this. What we really are, a prey and
captives. By nature, prey and captives. Ruined. To see that we are a perfect
weakness, helpless, defenseless beings, and no matter how hard
we try to free ourselves, no matter what we do or how sincere
we are to escape the just sentence of God, we are nothing less,
nothing more than lawful captives and a prey. If you see this, in any sense you understand your
need. Your need. Do you see your weakness, your
inability to please God by works or free yourselves? Good. If you do, it's good. Because I have a message of hope
for such prey and captives. I don't have a message for free, strong people. I just don't have
a message for you. I do have a message for weak captives.
Now, here's the hope of our text. Look at this. You know who they
are now. What's the hope here? Notice this is in a form of a
question, not a statement. If this were just a statement
of fact, we would be in trouble. You are a prey. You are captives. Period. No. The question is not
about that. You are a prey. You are captives. The question is, can we be delivered? That's the question. Shall the
prey be taken from the mighty? Shall the lawful captive be delivered? Now I want you to see the answer
is yes. That's yes. And not me, it's
not man that says it, it's God. Look at that. But thus saith
the Lord. Now I don't care what the prey
and the captive says. I care what the judge of all
the earth says. Can I, who am a prey, who am
a lawful captive, be delivered from my enemies? and from the justice of God. The answer is yes, and he divides
it into two, the two parts. Look at this in verse 25. Thus
saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken
away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. Now, did
you notice it's in reverse order? In the first it says the prey
and the captives. Now it says the captives and the prey. It's
very important that you understand it's not accidental. This is
necessary. In order for the prey to be delivered,
the law first must be satisfied. In order for us who are the prey
to be delivered from our enemies, first we must be delivered from
God's justice. The law must be dealt with first. Behold then the mighty, the Lord
says, even the captives of the mighty. The mighty here is the
justice of God, which none of us can escape,
but all are justly under its judgment. The lost rebel of the world would have God save
them unjustly. Men desire to be saved. Nobody
wants to go to hell. Nobody. Yet they desire God to
save them in such a way that He would be unjust. They believe God to be capable
of unjust salvation. That sin against God is nothing
more than a child spilling his milk or making an error. That's
what men view about sin. They see God as some kind old
man who desires to forgive without the need of payment. They just need to do good. They
just need to make up for what they did bad. And make some kind
of sacrifice. They got to give up candy for
a week. I'm telling you, this is how people believe God's justice
is satisfied. Is if they give up something.
God will take care of them. God will forgive them. They just
do penance. They just do enough. God will
forgive them. They want to be saved without
a true blood sacrifice. Why? They don't view sin as anything
more than a mistake. They don't see it's against the
very law and nature of God. My friends, God is not a God
like that. God is just and holy, and if
He were to forgive one offense without justice being fully satisfied,
God Himself would be unjust. But God removes all doubt of
such foolish ignorance. Go over to Exodus chapter 34.
Exodus chapter 34. God here is revealing Himself. to Moses. Verse 6, "...and the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
of sin." Well, preacher, that just sounds like he's forgiving,
he's merciful, he's gracious. He is! God is merciful, God is
gracious, God is long-suffering, God is kind. But notice this, his last statement here. and
that will by no means clear the guilty. God will never show mercy, never
forgive or pardon sin at the expense of His justice. For God to show mercy to a sinner,
He must by no means clear guilty. Cannot do it unjustly. So how will he do this? How will he
deliver the lawful captives? The only answer is that the justice
of God must be satisfied by another. That's the only answer. You and
I are lawful captives. How can a lawful captive satisfy
the justice of God except by death? And even in our death,
we know this, we shall not ever satisfy the justice of God by
our death. So then the only answer is that
by another, a substitute, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. It was by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, so we all became captives. Even so, by the righteousness
of one shall the captives be set free. by Jesus Christ who came to fulfill
the law as a representative man. The Word of God, Jesus, the Son
of God, who was God, was with God, was made flesh, and it was
to Him the Father gave all His spiritual seed, all of His elect,
and all the Son of God from eternity was a covenant of grace. And
He swore to represent them, to be their surety. You can see this in the very
beginning of the chapter. Look at this. It's talking about Christ
throughout this whole chapter. Throughout this whole chapter.
Look at verse... He said, Listen, O Isles, and come unto me, hearken
to my people. I'm sorry, uh... Yes, the Lord
hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother,
hath he made mention of my name. He hath made my mouth like a
sharp sword, and the shadow of his hand hath he hid me. and
he made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he hid me,
and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I
will be glorified." Friends, this is speaking of Christ. You
want to know how the lawful captive is delivered? Jesus Christ, who
was spoken of from the womb of eternity, from the womb of the
morning, He was the one chosen of God. And as He came forth from the
virgin's womb, He was called of God. And Jesus was the instrument,
the sword, the arrow by which He would free all the captives. He was a servant of God who was
to glorify God. Notice this in verse 3. Have
you noticed, O Israel, He takes our name? Isn't that what He
did when He took our nature? He took our name. We take His
name, but He took our name. By which He would glorify God. Scripture says in Galatians chapter
4, I'll read it to you without misquoting
it. Galatians chapter 4 and verse
4, it says this, When the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of the woman, made under the law. For what
purpose? To redeem them that were under
the law. Just captives. Lawful captives. That he might receive the adoption
of sons. And how should he do this? He
should do it by fulfilling the law. By accomplishing righteousness. Meriting for us what we in our
weakness could not merit for ourselves. Righteousness. But
also, to fulfill the law, he must endure the penalty. penalty. This penalty was endured only
at the cross to redeem them, to buy them, to pay the debt
in the stead of them. How would He do that? By being made a curse. by being made a curse for us. He came into the world to obey
the law. And look at this in verse 4,
it says, And then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent
my strength for naught in vain, yet surely my judgment is with
the Lord, and my work is with my God. When Christ came into
the world, do you realize that He only had 12, and one of them
was a devil? When He died and rose again,
there were only 120 in that upper room. Did it not by all outward
appearances as though He failed? By man's standards, would you
not consider that a failure? But yet what did He say? He said,
I'm not looking at what I see, I'm looking and trusting in God.
By which He established our righteousness. And now saith the Lord that formed
thee from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again
to Him, Though Israel are not gathered, yet shall I be glorious
in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength."
And he said, "...it is a light thing that thou shouldest be
my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, restore and preserve
Israel. I will give thee for a light
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of
the earth." And so what is the work of the Lord? It is to raise
up Israel. It is to free the captives. He
came into His own. His own received Him, not but
as many as received Him. To them gave He the right to
become the sons of God. He trusted in the judgment of
God. He offered Himself before the
judgment of God as a spotless sin offering. God willing, to deliver the lawful
captives lawfully, made Him to be sin for us. Who else could
do that but God? Who else could transfer guilt
but God? And there, on Calvary's tree,
you who were lawful captives, behold, He was made sin for us. Endured the wrath of God. Divine
power and authority. God justly made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, did no sin, thought no sin. And there
the Lamb of God justly received the full measure and power of
God's holy justice. And when the law could demand
no more, justice was satisfied. So how can the captives of the
mighty be taken away? Only by the fulfillment of the
law in Christ. Only by his fulfillment of the
law. The scriptures tell us, he shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. Now are you a captive? Are you
a captive? If the Son shall set you free. You shall be free indeed. Forever free. From what? The law of God. The law of God. For Christ is the end of the
law. To everyone that believeth. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. What the law could not do, and
is weak through the flesh, God sending His Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemns sin in the flesh, that
the law of God might be fulfilled in us. In us. And the second thing, He not
only is to deliver the lawful captives, but He is to also the
prey from the terrible. Deliver the prey from the terrible. What is the terrible? Well, that's
the lion. That's the thing that instills
fear in the helpless, the hopeless. What are these things? The world, the flesh, and the devil. These are all our enemies. all
those things that we are susceptible to. God says, I will deliver
you from the terrible. Isn't this refreshing? This is
refreshing. What is the worst thing to us?
The world is terrible. It is a terrible world. Satan
is awful terrible. But I think the worst thing to
me is myself. He will deliver me from my own
nature, my own self. If it wasn't for my own nature,
surely Satan and the world would not have any place, anything
to cling to, anything to tear me apart, if it wasn't for me. Now, all of the elect and chosen
and redeemed We were redeemed from the curse of the law long
before we ever experienced it. We were by nature born captives
and prey, weak and defenseless, yet God purposed long before
our birth to deliver us from all our enemies. And how was he going to do that?
He was going to do that through Jesus Christ. Though Israel be
not gathered, verse 5, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of
the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Even before we were
gathered, Christ said, I will be the glory of my God. And he said, God said, it is
a light thing you should be my servant to raise up Jacob to
restore and preserve Israel. I will give thee as a light to
the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of
the earth. What he's saying, I'm going to gather them, I'm
going to get them, you're going to save them, and I'm going to
get them. I'm going to gather them, restore
them. I'm going to deliver these that
are prey from the terrible. In verse 8, He says, Thus saith
the Lord in an acceptable time. That's when He's going to do
it. In an acceptable time. When were you delivered, you
pray, from the terrible? You were delivered in an acceptable
time. An acceptable time. an acceptable time. I have heard
thee in the day of salvation. I have helped thee. I will preserve
thee. I will give thee a covenant for
of the people to establish the earth and to cause them to inherit
the desolate heritage. Thou mayest say to the prisoners,
go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways and
the pastures. shall be as all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst,
neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them. For he that hath
mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water." What a comforting thing. God
promises to deliver the captives, to deliver the prey. How would
He do this? By Christ. By what means in that
acceptable time should he show his salvation? It says it in
the next verse. He says, I will make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted. What is he saying? This
is the preaching of the Gospel. He shall lift up the way, make
a highway. He shall cast down all objections,
all mountains that stand, and obstacles that stand between
us and God. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life, and no man comes to God but by Me. This
is the gospel message by which He draws us in, by which He shields the prey. man how Noah in that ark was
safe he was safe I imagine he didn't feel safe
at times 18 months in that that boat but you can bet he was safe now was he a prey to the winds,
to the storm? No. The ark was. But he in the ark was safe. Now,
friends, I know you feel weak. I know you feel troubled. I know
you are in great difficulties, great afflictions. But what does your God say? I
will deliver the prey. from the terrible, from the terrible,
from Satan, from the world, and even from his own sin. In verse 13, he tells us to sing,
O heavens, and be joyful, O earth. Pray forth unto singing, O mountains,
for the Lord hath comforted his people, and I will have mercy
upon the afflicted. Now notice that. Do you still
feel vulnerable? Do you still feel you are a prey
to all manner of sickness and trouble and affliction? Listen,
you are. The Lord's not without understanding
about your affliction. Matter of fact, He says that
He'll be merciful upon who? The afflicted. The afflicted. And so afflicted, this is what
you'll say. Look at verse 14. Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken
me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." Anybody said that? Anyone? Believers? You who have
been delivered from the law, and delivered from your sin,
from Satan, and from all afflictions, you not feel that God has forsaken
you at times? That's the worst thing in the
world is God hide His face from a believer. And yet this is what God says
to the prey, to those he's delivered, the lawful captives delivered.
He said this, can a woman forget her sucking child? That she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, she can. How many women today kill their
children? Hmm? How many? The children of their very womb,
they go in and have them killed without conscience. They forsake
them, they leave. How many children are up for
adoption because their parents just don't want them? Can a woman
forsake? Yes, they can, because they're
depraved. They're subject, they're prey
to sin. Yet I will not forget you. I will not forget you. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually
before me. Thy children shall make haste,
thy destroyers. And they that made thee waste
shall go forth of thee." Believer, this is true of us
who were a prey We are still subject to all sorts of troubles
and difficulties, but God says He will not leave us nor forsake
us. He is engraving us on the hands
of His Son. And as that high priest hath bore those jewels upon his
breast, even so the Son of God right now bears you before the
Father. He bears us, He keeps us, He
sustains us, He delivers us from all the terribleness of our own
sin, our own lack of love for Him, our own lack of praise,
and yet every day He delivers you from that, constantly forgiving
us of all our sin. I will be with Him. look what
he says at that in part of of chapter uh... of first one about
he says i will contend with him that contended with the anything
continue with you what contends with you the most is it not your
stand was got sick i'll continue here i think the best picture that
was in zachariah when that high priest joshua went in before
the Lord and he was in those rags. He was supposed to be in
white garments, in linen, fine linen, clean and white. But what
was he? He was there before the Lord in rags. And Satan was standing
there ready to accuse him, ready to say with him, you know what
he's going to say? He's going to say, this guy's
not worthy. Look at him. Look at him. He's full of sin.
But he didn't get one word. The Lord rebuked him even before
he was allowed to speak. He said, is this not a brand
pluck from the burning? Who contends with you? Who? Does your conscience contend
with you? Christ said, I'll contend with
him. If any man say he hath not sinned,
he's a liar. The truth's not in him. But if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. When you sin, you have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, who will contend
for you. Plead your cause. Plead your case before God. And so then Christ daily, constantly
as our advocate, pleads for us. Are you a prey? Are you a lawful
captive? Look, there's hope for you. There's
hope. Only in Christ, only in Christ
can you be free from the law of sin and death. Only in Christ
shall you be delivered from the enemy of your soul, the sin of
your own soul. Only Christ can do that. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not
shall be damned. Believe on Him. Trust in Him. And He'll free you. He'll free
you. He'll set you free. He'll be
your refuge and strength. in all your trouble." But notice
what he does with everyone else. Verse 26, he said, "...I will
feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall
drink, be drunken with their own blood as sweet wine." You
know what it is for a sinner to oppress the church? It's sweet. It's sweet. He thinks he's devouring
God's people, but in actuality he is feasting
on his own flesh. He's feasting on His own flesh. They heap up for themselves destruction
and death and misery, thinking they're heaping destruction and
death upon you. And listen, God is so confident
of Christ's deliverance of the prey and the lawful captives.
Do you know what he does? He sets us in the middle of our
enemies. Isn't that what he said in the
Psalm? He said, Thou preparest a table before me. Where? In
the presence of mine enemies. It is though Christ is defying
them to touch you. Scripture says that we are as
sheep counted for the slaughter. That's what it appears to be,
right? Sheep counted for the slaughter. That's how we view
ourselves, isn't it? What does He say? No. You are more than conquerors
through Him who loved you. You who are a prey, you're not a prey. You are lawful
captives in Christ. You're free. Free to what? Believe. Free to hope and wait for his
mercy. Free to love him and worship
him. It is always my hope God would
free the captives and save the prey today. And if you have been,
praise his name. Isn't that what he said? I said,
I will show myself to be the Lord and Redeemer of who? Jacob. Jacob. Isn't that what he naught
to you? Is he not your Lord and Redeemer? Of who? Jacob. His people. I know him to be
that. Because He's delivered this prey
and this captive. And He can deliver you. I pray you would believe on Him.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.