About here. Also, bring your attention to
be praying for a gentleman named Christopher Chong Wei Chong Wei. I don't know how you say the
last name. He's from Lusaka, Zambia. He's contacted me this last couple
weeks, a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago. I guess he's been
listening or following messages and everything. But anyway, the
Lord has saved him. Seeking out the truth, looking
for a place of worship. Of course, he hasn't found anywhere
he lives. He's come through many different
religions, he said. And most recently, Islam. But the Lord has brought him
out of that. Some of the things we've been
preaching is that some of the things that the Lord has been
teaching him already, even though he doesn't have a place to worship
or fellowship, that the Lord has been teaching him these things
as well. And he's attested to the truth that these things to
be true. And anyway, he's asked us to
pray for him. He's a gentleman, same age as
I am. He has a wife with five kids
like I have. And they live in a kind of the
poor part of the village, or it's called Compound over there.
It's called part of Lusaka. But anyway, he's asked us to
pray for him. He's asked me to continue to
correspond with him and help him with a lot of questions that
he has. and everything, so we pray to the Lord to give him
understanding. He has mentioned that since we've been corresponding,
he's taken a lot of the things that I've been sending him. As
far as some of the questions he's been asking, I've been sending
him a lot of scripture verses to look at, and different things,
and they don't have a computer, they don't have any kind of electronics
or anything. He has a, they have one phone,
he has a phone, he says it's not even a real, real smartphone,
it's a, it gets the, a few things on there, but it doesn't have
hardly any storage on there. They're able to open up Facebook
on there, but they're really not able to do a whole lot of
stuff on there, like going on YouTube and all that kind of
stuff. So anyway, but he's been taking some of the things that
I've been sending him by text and sharing it with his family
and sharing it with some of his neighbors and friends already. And they are hopefully meeting
today, he said, with some of their neighbors have agreed to
come over and they're going to all gather around and they're
going to go through some of the verses and some of the topics
that we've been talking about and look at those verses and
stuff that I sent him about those things and what we believe about
those and everything and share it with him. But he's already
said that his family, his wife and all of his children, his
youngest child is four years old. That child, he said, you
know, was not responsive to anything. But all of his children, except
for his oldest child, who is still deep into Islam, but all
the other ones of his children are beginning to respond also
to the gospel and everything. So, it's good to hear that the
Lord has saved the people over there and has began to minister
in that man's family. He started out with asking me
what he can do to become a Christian, and when I told him there's nothing
you can do to become a Christian. You have to be a Christian. You
have to be made one by Christ, you know, and basically began
to speak to him about sovereign grace and things like that. He
came back and he said that was a blessing for him to hear because
that was also how he believed. You know, he was checking to
see if what I believed about you know, works, because he believes
there is no works involved in being saved. It has to be by
Christ. So everything got off to a good start in our conversation.
But anyway, remember him. They've asked, their pretty poor
family, they've asked if we could maybe send them some used Bibles
or some hymn books and everything also, so we may gather some of
our hymn books together. A couple extra that we have,
we have a few extra red handbooks that maybe we could probably
send to them and everything. And maybe pack those up and get
them a few Bibles and stuff and send over there to them. They
would like to ask if there's any help that we could do to
maybe help them get maybe a computer or a laptop or even an iPad or
something like that, an iPhone or something, some kind of a
tablet or something to be able to to be able to view and his
main deal is he'd like to pull up these studies that me and
him has been doing on there and to be able to share them and
to print them off and share them with his village, the compound,
it's called a compound. I don't know the difference between
a compound and a village, but it's a small section in a bigger
city, but it's a small section of that city, so I don't know
if that means a suburb or what, Anyway, it's a poor part of the
town. Anyway, if y'all remember them,
pray for them. You know, the Lord is the Lord
that controls all that. He's in charge of all that stuff,
and we're thankful that the Lord is bringing salvation to all
His people wherever they're at. Well, turn with me this morning
if you would over to Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49. I've been spending a lot of reading
in Isaiah over the last few months or so. Isaiah 49, I was looking
at these passages this morning and I pray that the Lord will give
me words this morning to be able
to speak of Christ. That's who we want to talk about
this morning. That's who we always want to talk about, whether we're
in the Old Testament or whether we're in the New Testament. It's
all about Christ. So we want to find Christ in
all that we talk about. He'd be pleased to give us that.
As I said, chapter 49, I'm going to start reading in verse 1.
I'm going to read down to verse 10, and we'll probably only get
through six or seven verses, more than likely, this morning
as the Lord directs, however he directs, may get less, may
get more. Don't know, but at least those
are the ones that I'm gonna read and see where we go from there.
It says, listen, O Isles unto me,
and hearken ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from
the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention
of my name. And he hath made my mouth like
a sharp sword, In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and
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. Then I said, I have labored in
vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain. Yet
surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be 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
and to restore the preserve of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation under
the ends of the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel and His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him
whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, king shall see and
arise, princes also shall worship, because the Lord that is faithful
and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. Thus saith
the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the
day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee,
and give thee for covenant of the people. To establish the
earth to cause to inherit the desolate heritages, that thou
mayest say to the prisoners, go forth to them that are in
darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them,
for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them. Heavenly Father, we come
now and we ask that you be with us this morning. We pray that
you would set before us Christ Jesus and that you would just
give me utterance. Lord, I pray that you would open
up your word today in the hearts of your people. I pray that they'd
be taught of God. Lord, we pray that today that
Christ will be glorified and honored. We're so grateful today.
Thankful for his salvation. We're thankful for forgiveness
of sins and we're thankful for justification, for sanctification
that's in and through Christ Jesus. Lord, we know that we
are undeserving. We know that we're sinners. We
know that we cannot keep your commands. We know that we cannot
keep your law. We know we have no righteousness
in and of ourselves, but here today we stand as your people.
righteous before you because of our substitute, Jesus Christ.
And we're here to glorify and praise his name today. We're
here to shout praises to him because he has accomplished all
that God has set before him, that he has done all that is
required for justice. He has done all that is required
for righteousness. And Father, he has granted that
unto us as his people. And we are so grateful for that
today. We stand humble today because we have been elected
of God We boast not in ourselves. We know that it is only by your
pleasure that we have been chosen if we be His. And Father, we
know that it is only by your pleasure and your grace and your
mercy that we have received this salvation. And even today, if
we hear and learn and grow in grace and knowledge from you,
it's only because of your grace that you've given and extended
to us even today. And so, Father, Lord, we just
thank you for all that you have done for us. And we just pray,
Lord, that today Christ will be glorified in our service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, brethren, on the outlook
on this thing, you'd think, of course this was written by the
prophet Isaiah, and you would think on the outset, whenever
you first began to look at this, you'd think that Isaiah is talking
about himself. This is in the aspects of God
raising him up as a prophet, as a preacher and evangelist,
to preach to the people of God and to be a servant to the people
of God. I mean, that's what we hear here,
you know. He said, listen, O wiles unto
me, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me
from the womb from the bowels of my mother, hath he made mention
of my name? And he hath made my mouth like
a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand. Hath he hid me? And he hath made me a polished
shaft and a quiver, and his quiver, hath he hid me? And said unto
me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
We think, well, this obviously is talking about Isaiah coming
and being the prophet of God to the people and speaking these
things to the people and preaching to the people and keeping them
straight and all that kind of stuff. But brethren, as we look
at this, we see as once again, as we always do, these things
are speaking about the Lord Jesus. While this was actually something
that actually happened, it was a physical It was a historical
thing, a historical event. This was real life. It's not
just a story. It was really something happening.
Isaiah was a real man that God raised up as a prophet who spoke
to a real nation of Israel that was going through a lot of stuff.
And God sent Isaiah as a prophet over those people to proclaim
the things of God to them during that time. But brethren, let's
not forget that whenever we speak of natural things, whenever we
speak of physical things in God's Word, remember the Bible says
that these things, speaking of the Old Testament, these things
were written for our understanding, for our learning. So the things
of the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, are written
for our understanding, that we might understand Christ more.
He said, lo, in the volume of the book it was written of me,
speaking of Christ. He said all these things from
Genesis, all from Moses and the prophets, all the things that
are written in there are written about Christ. And so if we start
taking these things and we only look at them in their wooden,
literal, natural, physical sense, then we're going to miss the
beauty of the spiritual nature of these things.
Now, we're not going to miss them if the Lord teaches us that.
But may our minds always be asking the Lord for that spiritual understanding,
that hidden manna that comes from God alone. But we see here,
this isn't speaking about Isaiah. This here, brethren, is speaking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look with me if you would,
and I'm going to kind of go through these verses here and just Because
as I read this, I just keep thinking of other places in Scripture
where this is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And really,
whenever you get to thinking about it, bro, whenever you start
looking at all the passages of Scripture and all the things
that were said about Christ in the Old Testament, and you start
getting into the New Testament, you see all the things that Christ
did and how it was the fulfillment of these things in the Old Testament,
as he said he did. He came and fulfilled all the
things that the Lord had given him to do. That all the things
that were prophesied, all the things that were laid out in
the Old Testament, Christ fulfilled all those things. I mean, all
those prophecies. I can't remember, I've heard
some people say, and I don't know this to be a fact or not,
I don't know what the numbers are, to be honest with you, but
I've heard there's been like over 700 prophecies in the Old
Testament that had to do with just coming to Christ and His
ministry that He fulfilled to a T. Well, brethren, it may be
more than that, it may be less than that. I don't know what
the number is, but I do know one thing, what the truth is,
is that Jesus came and fulfilled all that was said of Him. He
didn't miss anything. He fulfilled every job and every
title of the law. He came and did all that the
Lord required of Him because He said He did. And if He said
He did, then we know it's true because He's God and He cannot
lie. He said, I've come to do thy will, O Lord. He said, I've
done all that you've given me to do. I've finished everything
that you have done. Whenever He died on that cross,
He said, it is finished. He didn't leave anything undone. So whenever we speak of Christ
and we speak of what He has done and what He has accomplished,
He has accomplished everything in God's purpose. He has accomplished
everything in God's predestination that has to do with the people
of God and their salvation. And so nothing is left undone.
Now I also will say that Jesus Christ is also the one who is
carrying out the rest of God's predestinating order. Everything
else in God's purpose unrelated to the redemption and salvation
of God's people is also being carried out by Jesus Christ,
because Jesus is also the one who the Bible says that all things
are under His control, that all things are by His power, that
all things are by His constraint. The Bible says that by everything
it consists of Him. He is the one that is holding
all things together. He is the one who is bringing
it in the Revelation. The Bible says that he is the
one who took the scroll and was the only one worthy to take the
scroll and to unroll it and to bring forth the things that were
found therein. And listen, brethren, I believe,
and I might be wrong with this, and brethrens that are listening
or watching or whoever might be able to correct me on this
if they have scripture for that. I believe that that scroll that
he's unrolling because it said that it was written on the front
and the back, therefore identifying it as a legal document I believe
that that was the purpose of God, His decree, His official
decree that He made before the foundation of the world. And
in that decree, He decreed and predestinated every action, everything
that would ever take place. And Jesus Christ is the one whom
God has set forth to govern over the kingdom of God and over all
of His creation. And He is bringing about all
things. The Bible says, of him, from him, through him and to
him are all things. To him be glory forever. He is
the one who is carrying out all of his purpose. He said, I will
do all my purpose. I will do all my purposes. So we speak of Jesus Christ being
the servant of God. And we see that here in our passages
here. Verse 3, he said, And he said
unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. We know that that word Israel
there is a direct name for Jesus Christ. He is the true Israel. And in Him, because of us being
in Him, we are Israel. We are the children of Israel.
We are His people. We are the true Israel of God,
the spiritual Israel of God. He is our head. We are His descendants. We are His children. We are those
true Jews, those true Israelites, who are the Israelites in spirit. Okay, this is a spiritual thing.
Again, we're talking about a spiritual thing. He said, Thou art my servant,
O Israel. So we see that we're talking
about Jesus Christ here. But I look here at the very beginning
of this, and it already begins to speak of Jesus Christ. It
says, Listen, O Isles, unto me, and hearken ye, people from afar,
The Lord, here it is, the Lord hath called me from the womb,
from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. Now one of the things I think
of whenever I read that is Matthew chapter 1. Turn over to Matthew
chapter 1 with me if you would. Matthew chapter 1. Look with me starting to read
in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to purge her away of privilege. But when he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
thee marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. So now back in Isaiah, we look
at there, he says, the Lord hath called me from the womb, and
the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. He was already named before He
was born. While He was still in the womb of Mary, God had
given Christ His name. His name shall be called Jesus. He wasn't going to be called
Isbar. He wasn't going to be called
Yehu. He wasn't going to be called
Gubagu. He wasn't going to be called
any other name. He was going to be called Jesus. That was
God's determined name for him. Now, of course, we know we're
saying this in English. We're using names that are common
for us that are translated into our names, our understanding. But the point is, is God gave
him that name, that name Jesus or Joshua or Yeshua, however
you want to say it in whatever language you want to say it in.
He give him that name because there was a reason behind that
name. The reason was because he shall save his people from
their sins. That's what the name meant. The
name Jesus means savior. The name Jesus means the one
who saves. And we see here in Isaiah, he
said, the Lord had called me from the womb before he was ever
born. God had already set him up. Matter
of fact, we find in the, I believe it's in the psalmist, it might
be in Proverbs, my mind is kind of fuzzy on that right now. The
Bible says that He has set me up before the foundation of the
world, that He has set me up before the mountains were laid,
before anything was laid. God called Him to be the Christ,
the Messiah, the Savior of His people. God already did that.
And before He was ever placed in that womb by the Holy Spirit
of God, before He was ever born from Mary, God already had purposed
from the foundation of the world that Christ Jesus would be the
servant of God that would redeem the people of God. He would be
the mediator. He would be the prophet, the
priest, the king. He would be the one that all
the government would hang on his shoulders. And he would be
the wonderful counselor. He is the mighty God, but yet
he would be the Prince of Peace. He would be that everlasting
Father that would come in flesh. And that everlasting Father that
came in flesh was the one who saved his people from their sin.
And that was before he was ever born. And so we see here that
the Word of God, it is true throughout all the
scripture, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament, it speaks of
him. He has made mention of my name. What did he mention about
his name? Think of that. What did he make
mention of whenever he said, I shall call his name Jesus?
Whenever He gives Him that name, He also gives Him the purpose
for why Jesus came. He also tells us the reason that
Jesus is here. Why did God manifest Himself
in flesh? Why did God condescend from the
God whom the Bible says that the heaven of heavens cannot
contain Him? This invisible God that is everywhere. He's everywhere. We use the word
omnipresent. That means that, you know, The
Bible says that where two or three are together, He's there
in His name. But brother, He's not here. He's out there too. He's on the other side of the
world. Wherever two or three are together, He's with them
as well. But He's not just with them. The Bible says, if I ascend
into heaven, there you are. If I descend down in hell, there
you're there also. The Bible says that there isn't
anywhere that we can go that we're not outside of the presence
of where God is. And how can that God who the
Bible says is holy, who the Bible says is righteous, would come
in human flesh. Well, the reason why is because
He shall save His people. He came as a servant for His
people. Look at verse 2. He says, And
He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. He hath made my mouth
like a sharp sword. Do you recall other places in
Scripture where He speaks that? That speaks of Christ this way?
I do. I remember in Hebrews, I believe it's chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, look what it says there.
It says, For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and morrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. What is that talking
about? It talks about that the Word
of God is a discerner. of the thoughts and intent of
the heart. It means that nothing is going to be hidden from God.
That His Word is going to be able to discern all things. He
knows all of men's hearts. He knows all of men's deeds.
He knows everything about everything. He is all wisdom. He knows everything. And whenever He speaks, He speaks
truth. Therefore, whenever He speaks,
and He declares to the reprobate, their sin and their unjustness
and their deservedness of wrath, nobody's going to be able
to say a word because He speaks truth. He is able to discern
all the thoughts and the things in our minds. His Word is able
to get past the falsities. We may be something on the outside,
but the Word of God pierces into our heart. that we are wrong. We know that we are sinful. We
know that we have failed Him. We know when we are lying. We
know that when we are being hypocritical, whenever we're acting to be as
Christians and we know on the inside that we are not acting
like Christians, you know. Not that I'm here to tell you
how to act or anything like that. That's the Spirit's job to do.
But the fact is, is that God's Word is sharper
than any two-edged sword. It pierces. It's truth, and truth
cannot be brought down. Now, we live in an age today,
and I don't mean to get off on too much of a tangent here, but
we live in an age today where truth has been twisted. Truth
is being suppressed. Truth is being ignored. Truth
is being rejected outright. We live in a society where people
are making up and saying this is the truth when it's not. Brethren,
this right here is the only truth that there is. Scholars don't have truth. Seminaries,
colleges, the highest degree of colleges, your astrophysicists,
your lawyers, Congressman, all your professionals out there, they
don't have truth. They have perceived truth. But
this right here is the only thing that's the truth. And this right
here, if it says something, then anything that is contrary to
that is not truth. It's falsity. It's lies. And
so if the Bible says something, it doesn't change with society. It doesn't change. God doesn't
change. Now some will say, well, you're
saying that things doesn't change with the times or with society,
but yet you preach that there was a time of the law and then
there's a time that we're not in the law and all that kind
of stuff. Brother, it doesn't change because God's eternal
covenant existed even when the law was going on in the Old Testament. Not to mention the law in and
of itself was never given to the Gentiles. The law was fulfilled
in Christ, therefore the purpose for the law and everything was
to bring people to Christ. Christ fulfilled the law, so
for His people they are no longer under law. So it isn't that God
has changed or times have changed or now God's stuff is being,
you know, catered to today's society. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that even
though we are not under the law, even though that we are under
grace, God does not change. Therefore, his principles do
not change. The truth of things do not change. And whenever He speaks, His Word
is sharp. His Word can discern. It weeds out the lies. I mean, whenever you preach the
truth, it weeds things out. Whenever you preach in a congregation,
you keep preaching the truth, eventually those who are unbelievers,
those who do not believe the truth of God, it's going to weed
them out because they're not going to like it. It's not going
to be savorful. What's the word? It's not going
to be a savor to them. They're eventually going to want
something else to eat. That's why we see all these big,
giant megachurches and everything. Those people, they like to eat
on entertainment, don't they? They like to have their ears
tickled. They don't like the Word of God. They don't like
the preaching of Christ alone. They don't like the preaching
of just Jesus every week. They don't like the preaching
of just the gospel every week. They want to hear other things.
Tell me how to get rich. Tell me how to be profitable.
Tell me how to get healed. Tell me how to get out there
and live for the Lord so that I can get out there and be God's
champion. Tell me how to reach a thousand
souls in a week, you know, how I can get more stars next to
my name in Sunday school. They want to hear these things.
They want worship teams and rock stars and rap stars and all these
people up on their stages to do all their worshiping for them,
so they can say they came to worship, but yet it was somebody
else who supposedly did it. They want people in there just
to give them the full entertainment. They don't want Christ. They
don't want the gospel. They don't want God as the Bible
teaches God. They want somebody else. But the people of God, they desire
these things. They desire these things. Now,
I've gotten so far off track, I don't even know where I'm at
now, so let's just go back to the Scriptures. I've lost my
train of thought. He says, He hath made my mouth
like a sharp sword. If I remember, give me just a
second, let me look this verse up. Yeah, turn over with me to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter
19, we also see this spoken of Jesus Christ. Now, a lot of people
are saying, well, you're going to Revelation, this is speaking
of what's going to happen in the end times. This is what's
going to happen during the tribulation. This is what's going to happen
during a thousand year reign or something like that. You know,
brother, listen, the book of Revelation, of the Revelation,
Jesus Christ? This is talking about now. It's
not talking about some way on in the future beyond after some
rise of an Antichrist and the rapture and the seven-year tribulation,
the thousand-year reign and all this stuff. This is speaking
of the revelation of Jesus Christ that was written to people at
that time to give them warning and to give them comfort of things
that were soon to take place. And brethren, it is still going
on. It is cyclical. Through every generation, through
every age, the Church of Jesus Christ is experiencing the things
that we see in the Revelation. And the purpose of the Revelation
is to give comfort to the children of God that Jesus Christ is on
the throne. That He is controlling all things.
Why do you think, right in the smack dab middle of the whole
entire book, we see the one who steps up on the throne and takes
that scroll that I was talking about. The one who is given the
honor of holy and worthy because He is the one who is carrying
all this stuff out. He is the one who lets. He is the one who does not let.
He is the one who releases plagues and famine, pestilence, death. He's the one. Who's the rider
of the four horsemen? It's Christ. He's the one. But
he's also the one on the white horse. The one who comes in,
who has a name on his thigh that no one knows. He's the one that
comes in. That is the control of everything. Listen, brethren,
the Revelation is about Jesus Christ and His total control
over all creation. And it's written as a comfort
to the people of God that we have been built into a city that
the Lord our God dwells in. So whenever we read these things,
we need to read looking for Christ, and if it does so say, His relation
with His people. But look at verse 15. He says,
"...and out of His mountain..." Let me just back up because it's
describing the Lord Jesus here. Let me just back up to verse
1. It says, And after these things
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia,
salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God.
For true and righteous are His judgments. We see that found in our passage
as well. I didn't even think about that. I'll get to that
though here in a minute. True and righteous are His judgments
for He hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth
with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants
at her hand." Brethren, this is talking about the false churches.
It's not talking about just the government. It's talking about
that false church system, false religion. All those things that
set itself up as worshiping God, that is not according to God's
Word. That is not the true gospel. Everything that is not the true
gospel, that is not the true church, is false. You're either
true, following God's word, or you're not. It's false. And everything that is false,
the Bible says, is antichrist. The Bible says that there will
be many, many antichrists. Anything that is against Christ.
There are churches that are antichrists. Why? Because they don't hold
to the truth. They don't hold to the God of the Bible. They
don't hold to the Messiah of the Bible. They have all other
kinds of God and Jesus and salvation plans, but they don't have the
one that's out of God's Word that is true. Christ is said here, let's continue
on, He says, And again they said, Alleluia,
and her smoke rose up forever. And the four and twenty elders
and four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the
throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. Now remember, it's Christ that's
on the throne, by the way. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his saints, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And as I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunder, and saying, Alleluia, for the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Who is the Lord God omnipotent
that's on the throne? It's Jesus Christ. It's God manifested
in the flesh. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen." Now, I'm just going to make a
little side note there. Don't pass by that. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen. You might have
mistaken that verse right above there that she has made herself
ready and think, there you go. It's free will, free choice.
We have to make ourselves ready. If we don't make ourselves ready,
then we won't get there. But look what verse 8 says, And
to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of
the saints. What is the righteousness of the saints? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
the righteousness of the saints. And who has granted Christ's
righteousness as our righteousness? It is God. God has granted that
our righteousness is His righteousness. Now don't mistake to think that
I'm saying that God and Jesus are two different people. They're
the same people. But what I'm saying is Jesus in His role as
mediator, Jesus as His office as prophet, priest, and king,
as surety, has secured all those things. God in the flesh came
and did those things. God making the plan. God Himself
bringing and doing the deeds. He did it. But He is the one
that granted that we should be arrayed in fine linen. Why? Because
He had purchased that righteousness for us by His blood. So it was granted that she should
be arrayed. So how did we make ourselves
ready? We didn't make ourselves ready by our own works. By faith
we looked unto Christ and what He had already done for us. Verse
9, And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they. Not owed
are they. It isn't something that we're owed,
but we're blessed to be a part of that marriage supper. It's
a gift, it's by grace that we are included in that number.
And he said unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thou fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that have that have the testimony
of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven open, and behold,
a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful
and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called, what
is it? The Word of God. Now look what it says here in
just a second. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. Now, I grew up thinking this
now, and I know, especially as a young kid, We get the imagery
here and we start thinking this. But listen, I've seen people
make illustrations of this. Dispensationalists that make
illustrations of this because they take everything here to
be wooden literal whenever they think that Jesus is coming, that
his eyes are really going to be fire shooting out of his eyes,
that he's going to have all these crowns wrapped around his head,
that he's going to come on this horse and his vesture is going
to be dipped in blood, dripping in blood. And that's, that whatever
it says here, that the sword came out of his mouth, there's
going to be a sword coming out of his mouth. I mean, I've actually
seen people that actually believe that. This is imagery. Again,
write these things. They're signified. That's what
he told John. These things are going to be
signified. They're going to be symbols. They're going to be signs and
symbols that I'm going to give to you. They're going to be images,
imagery. It's going to be apocryphal writing. It's not going to be literal
writing. It's going to be apocryphal writing,
which means it's going to be in visions of, you know, just
like whenever we look at stuff like The Lion, the Witch, and
the Wardrobe, you know, those shows that was written, those
were written to get And all this fantasy imagery, but there was
something that was supposed to be behind it. When I talked about
the lion in that thing, it was to be Jesus. All that said, I'm
not promoting C.S. Lewis or anybody like that, but
I'm just trying to give you an idea of what it's talking about
when it says apocryphal writing. It's talking about writing and
imagery. And this is what we see here.
And it says, Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron. And he treaded the winepress
with the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And so we see
here that out of his mouth, his name
is the Word of God, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword.
What is coming out of his mouth? It's His Word. It's His judgment. It's what He says. What God says. What Christ is speaking. Whenever
He came and He preached, the Bible says that whenever He preached,
those men said, this man preaches like nobody we've ever heard
before. Whenever this man preaches, he preaches with authority. Whenever
he says the things he says, it's not like the Pharisees, it's
not like the Judaizers, I mean the Sadducees, and all those
other leaders and men. It's not like them at all. Whenever
this man speaks, he speaks with authority. Why? Because he is the Word of God.
He is. Whatever God's thoughts and intents
are, whatever God's decree and purpose is, it is embodied in
the man, Jesus Christ, and whenever He speaks, He speaks the purpose,
the decree, He speaks the wisdom of God. Everything that is, I mean, what
are words? All words are our thoughts make
vocal, right? And he said, the thoughts of
my heart are going to be made known to all generations. How
is that going to be made known? By the Word of God. And the Word
of God is the one who came and inspired those writers to write
these things down. What? The Words of God. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Who is it that gave that inspiration?
It was Jesus Christ. He's the Word of God. He's not
the third or second person in the Trinity. He is God. And that's part of who God is,
is that God has given us His Word. And that Word was made
flesh. It came in a body. And it spoke
in a body. Instead of by inspiration through
the ears, or however He did it to those writers in the Old Testament
and to the New Testament, He came and He spoke physically
through his own mouth. I'm getting way off on a lot
of different tangents here, but anyway, the thing is, is whenever
he speaks here, he says, he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword,
meaning that all judgment, all truth was going to be in him. We just read in Revelation that
with him came judgment. He brought judgment. What he
says is going to be. Whatever He judges, that's going
to be the judgment. There's not going to be any argument.
There's not going to be any pleading. There's not going to be any begging.
There's not going to be any bribing. We're not going to bribe God.
Whenever Jesus gives judgment, the judgment follows. Whenever
Jesus speaks, whatever He speaks is truth. But what else about the sharp
sword? The Bible says it was like a two-edged sword. Very
sharp. Either side is going to cut you,
right? So we see that this is speaking
of Jesus Christ and what it says about Him as the Word of God. He is the Word of God in that
He has all of truth behind Him. He has all of God's judgment
behind Him. He has all the purpose of God
behind Him, that He is the one fulfilling all the things of
God. Therefore, He will receive all
the praise. He will receive all the glory.
Why? Because He is all of God. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwelt in Him bodily. So that means that God who is
invisible has manifested Himself now in flesh. And in flesh, he
continues to dwell. The Bible says that whenever
he went away, he's going to come back just like he went away.
That he's went away and he went away and that new spiritual body
that was resurrected from the grave and that spiritual body
is going to be the spiritual body like the ones he's going
to make for us. Therefore, we'll be conformed
to his image. We will be like him. How are
we going to be like him? Because we who are natural are
going to put off the natural and then we're going to put on
the spiritual. We're going to be raised in a
spiritual body. And therefore, we'll be like
Him. No more will we have a sinful
flesh. He says, in the shadow of His
hand hath He hid me and made me a polished shaft. In His quiver
hath He hid me. Now that polished shaft is talking
about an arrow. And again, whenever you take
something and you polish it down, What does that do? You know,
you look at these arrows today and how sleek and how polished
and stuff they are. What does it do? It makes it
penetrate even further, right? If you take an old wooden arrow
with a rock, carved out rock point, and shoot it at something,
it's gonna go in, but it may not go in all the way. It may
not go in as far as it could if it was a sleek, shine, smooth
arrow tip. I mean, it goes, It cuts through.
It may go all the way through you. And so what is he saying
here? All he's doing is adding on to
the imagery of what it's saying about him that he, as Christ,
he's going to penetrate. He is going to go to the very
bone and marrow, as we see. There's nothing going to be hidden
from him. There's nothing that's not going to be revealed. Everything's going to be uncovered.
And that by his Word, by him, all things will be judged. Verse
3 says, And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in
whom I will be glorified. My thoughts there went to what
Jesus prayed in John chapter 17. He said, Well, it's just
about time. I'm going to have to pick
up with this Next week. In John chapter 17, look at verse
1, it says, These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son,
that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was." So here we see, he says, in whom I will
be glorified. How was God glorified? He was
glorified in Christ Jesus. God is glorified in Christ Jesus,
in Him, in God being manifested in the flesh. As a matter of
fact, I can take you to some other places, especially John
chapter 1, and we can see that the glory that we see is the
glory, we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of
the Father. Who did they beheld? They beheld
God manifested in the flesh, who was Jesus Christ. What was
the glory they beheld? The glory of God being manifested
in flesh. That was the glory. Glorify thou
me with the glory I had before, though. What does he say in there?
This body thou hast prepared for me for a specific reason,
that it might die. But the body that I will continue
in, that spiritual body, is that body that you gave me, that I
took up before the foundation of the world, whenever you set
me up before the world was. In Revelation the Bible says
that he was the first creation of God. What is he talking about
there? He's talking about that body,
the manhood of Christ Jesus was laid and brought up before him
before anything ever was. Because it was in that body that
God created the world. It was in that body that God
spoke to His people. It was in that body that He came
down and He manifested Himself to all those Old Testament people
that we read about. It was in that body that Jesus
Christ sits on the throne and He rules and He reigns. It's
in that body. But a body He had prepared also
for Him whenever He came to die. And that body He took on whenever
the Bible says that He submitted Himself unto the Father and became
like unto His brethren. But whenever He resurrected in
John 17, He said, Restore to me that glory that I had with
you before the world began. Remember in John 1, verse 1,
it said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was with God in His manhood,
and He was God. in His deity. So how is He glorifying God? God is glorified in the manifestation
of God in flesh. God glorified Himself through
Jesus Christ. Look at verse 4. He said, Then
I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for
naught. Now at first Whenever I read
this, I thought, wait a minute, now how can this be speaking
of Jesus? Because he said he labored in vain. The Bible says
that God's word will not return void. It won't be in vain. It says that Jesus was successful. I mean, Jesus did something in
vain? It says that I have spent my
strength for naught and in vain. But if we look at this as we
should throughout all Scripture and take all Scripture into account,
this isn't Jesus saying that He did something in vain and
that He didn't accomplish something, but He is giving revelation of
something that actually took place. He says, Then I said,
I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught,
and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work
is with God. Look if you would, and this is what the verse that
comes to mind, John chapter 1, John chapter 1, and look with
me if you would at verse 11. He says, He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not. The Bible said that He was despised
and rejected. That He was calmly and that no
one would even, whenever they looked upon Him, they wouldn't
even think nothing about Him. There was nothing attractive
about Christ Jesus. And this is what I think is being
said back here in Isaiah verse 49, is that He's saying, listen,
I have labored But on their behalf, those religious leaders, his
people, who the Bible said they received him not. Now, his elect did. His elect
received him. But those people received him
not. And I think that's what it's talking about. He labored,
but it was in vain to them. He labored, but it was for naught
for them. You say, well, Mike, I think
you're making a pretty good stretch about that. Look at verse 5 though. This
is the reason why I say that. I think you can't divorce verse
4 from verse 5 and you can't divorce that from the rest of
Scripture. We know that Lord Jesus Christ didn't do anything
in vain and we know that He didn't do anything and it comes to not
that He did it. But yet those people for whom
it was not intended, to them all the preaching that they ever
will hear is for not because they will not be saved. For all
the people that hear all the gospel message, it's for not,
it's in vain for them because they will not hear. They weren't
intended to be heard, right? They never was intended to be
heard or to hear. And here's the reason why I say
that this is spoken in a way which is meaning not Jesus making
a failure, but Jesus actually speaking of those for whom this
is not intended. Because in verse 5 it says, And
now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel, not as a nation,
or as a nation, be not gathered, Though Israel be not gathered
as a nation, as a whole people, look what it says, yet I shall
be glorious in the eyes of 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 and to restore the preserved
of Israel. See, it wasn't intended for all
Israel. He said, though Israel be not
gathered, it looks like I've done something in vain. It looks
like I've done something for naught. It looks like not everybody's
believing. Not everybody's believing that
you're the Messiah. Not everybody's coming to Jesus.
But he's saying that was not the purpose for whom I came.
He said that it is a life thing that thou shouldest be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob restore the preserved of Israel. And that right there, brethren,
I think is corroborated through Scripture. Look at Luke chapter
2 and verse 32. It says, verse 30, for my eyes have seen
thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel. So Christ has come as a light,
not only to the people of Israel, but a light to the Gentiles,
which we also see in our passages here. where he says that, in
verse 6, that he is a light to the Gentiles. But he has come
as a light unto the Gentiles. Now, with that being said, look
at Acts 13. In verse 47. He says, For who hath the Lord
commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. So here we see that Christ is
not only a light to Israel, but He's a light to the Gentile.
However, not all the people of Israel are going to be saved
and not all of the Gentiles are going to be saved. But there
will be people saved from Israel and from Gentiles. They will
be saved from every tribe, language, nation, and tongue. So whenever
we go back to our passage in Isaiah and we see where he says
here that not all, though Israel be not gathered, if we're speaking
in the term of the nation of Israel, the physical Israel,
though all them are not gathered, the ones who are preserved are
the ones who will be restored. And I will give also a light
to the Gentiles. So not only the preserve of the
Jews or the Israelites, but the preserve of the Gentiles. Now,
again, to cooperate that, turn with me to Romans chapter 9. Verse 6, it says, It's not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect. What does our passage
say? He says, He says that, Then I
said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for
naught and in vain. There are going to be some people
that say, Wait a minute, you're preaching all this stuff, but
it's, the word of God has fallen. Not all of Israel are being saved.
Not all of Israel is being saved. That's the purpose of Romans
chapter 9. Paul's argument in Romans chapter
9 is to prove election, individual election, not national election,
individual election to those hearers. He's saying, listen,
you've got it all wrong. It never was intended that every
person in Israel be saved. Only the preserved of Israel,
only the remnant of Israel, only the elect of Israel shall be
saved. And he said, we have had it wrong
all these years. We thought it was because of
our physical person that we were going to be saved, but it's not. It's the spiritual that's going
to be saved. The spiritual is, but here we go. Keep on reading
here. not as though the word of God had taken none effect.
So we know by this God's word did not do something in vain
or for naught. Our understanding of it might
make it look like that or we might be included in the number
of people for whom this was not intended and therefore any preaching
is for naught is in vain because it's never going to change their
heart. It's never. going to cause them to be born
again. It's never going to cause them to be saved. It doesn't
in the elect either, only the Spirit of God does that. But
what my point is, is that all the preaching is for the people
of God that are the spiritual people of God, not for the people
out there just to reprobate. But let's move on. He says, verse
seven, Well, verse 6. Not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel. So that means that there is an
Israel that doesn't include all of Israel. But there is an Israel that includes
some of Israel and some of the Gentiles. Look at verse 8. That
this, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time will
I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but
when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." So that
right there puts to bed anything that we are saved by anything
that we do. or that we are elected by anything
we do. Some people say that we're elected.
God looks down the corridor of time and sees us and elects us
because he sees us choose him. The Bible says here that we were
chosen not according to anything that we had done, good or bad.
So God doesn't look and choose us according to anything that
we do of works. Anything. God chose us of his
own good pleasure. If I'm a child of grace, I'm
a child of grace by God's good pleasure and there isn't no reason
for it. other than his good pleasure.
He says, It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Why
shall we say then, Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for he
saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee. and that my name might be declared
throughout the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say unto me, why dost thou still find fault? For who hath resisted
his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against
God? Shall the thing formed say to that which formed it, why
hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known his riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he hath aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. As he saith in
Osi, I will call them my people which were not my people, and
her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah
also cried concerning Israel, though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the seas, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath hath left us a seed, we have been as Sodom
and been made like Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
have not attained to the law of righteousness? Wherefore? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by works of the law. for they stumbled
at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and whosoever believes
on him shall not be ashamed. So here we see that the argument
of Paul was that election includes some of Israel and some of the
Gentiles, not all of them, but whenever they all are gathered,
they all make up the Israel of God. We see over in I think it's
in chapter 11. Yes, chapter 11. He said, I say,
hath God cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite, seed of Abraham, child of David. God hath not cast away
his people which he foreknew. Now, he cast away Israel that
he didn't know, but he did cast away the people that he foreknew.
What ye not what the scripture saith in Elias, how he made intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my
life. But what said the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men, whom have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so, then, at this present time, also there is a
remnant according to the election of grace. So there is a people
of God according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
it is no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not attained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath attained it,
and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling
block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened
that they may not see, and bow down their back always. I say
then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid,
but rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles.
For to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches
of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,
I magnify mine office. If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are of my flesh, and might have saved
some of them. For if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the receiving of
them but life from the dead? For if the first fruit be holy,
the lump is holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
And if some of the branches be broken off, if thou be a wild
olive tree, where grafted in among them, and with them partaker
of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against
the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee. thou wilt say then, the branches
were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because
of unbelief they were broken off, that thou standest by faith,
but be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural
branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. Behold,
therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell. Severity,
but toward thee, goodness, if thou continuest in this goodness,
otherwise thou shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide
not still, belief shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft
them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the
olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary
to nature, into a good olive tree, how much more shall these,
which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive
tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
the mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, and to the fullness
of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. Now I read all of that to give
you the context of Paul's argument that it is by election, but it
is Jesus Christ who has saved all of Israel. He hasn't, the
argument of Paul was the Word of God has not been made void.
It hasn't been for naught. Jesus is accomplishing everything. All of Israel What does it say? Shall be saved. As it is written,
there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob. For this my covenant under them,
when I shall take away their sins. Now, back to our passage,
he says. He says, then said I, I have labored
in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain. Yet surely
my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God. He said,
my judgment is from the Lord and my work is with my... I'm
coming to do that. My intent was never to save all of physical
Israel. The all Israel that's going to
be saved is all of the ones preserved of God. Now, and now saith the
Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring
Jacob again. Is that what we just read? Chapter
nine, to bring back Jacob. to save, to bring Jacob again
to him. Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in thine eyes, O Lord, and my God shall
be my strength. As he said, it is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved Israel. I will also give thee
for a life to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto
the end of the earth. Then verse 7, it says, Thus saith
the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom
man despiseth, to Him whom the nation accordeth, to His servant
of rulers, king shall see and rise, princess also shall worship
because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
He shall choose thee. So here, brethren, we see before
us work. We see Jesus Christ being
the perfect servant, sent of God to accomplish all that God
had given him to do. And that in the volume of the
book, both old and new, it's written of him and his work.
It's written of his salvation. All of this is to give his people
comfort and peace in himself and what he has done. And I pray
that it's been a comfort to you guys as well this morning. Alright,
does anybody have any questions or any comments or any corrections? Anybody have anything they'd
like to say? Again, any prayer requests or anything? Lord, we once again thank you
today for your mercy and grace upon us. We thank you for the
beauty that is in Christ Jesus. We thank you for all that you've
done, all that you will do in the future for us. We look forward
to that day that we come to be with you. We put off these garments
of flesh and put on that robe of righteousness, that spiritual
body that you have given to us. Father, we are so grateful that
you have called your people and that you have faithfully carried
out your work. And Lord, we know that nothing
can be put to it or taken away from it as we learned a few weeks
ago. We know, Father, that everything
that you say is true and that your word is like a strong sword
and it's going to divide the heart, the mind, the soul, the
bone, the marrow. It's going to come in deep and
it's going to divide us. That which is false will be made
false and shown to be false. That which is true will stand.
We know, Father, that Whenever it comes in, it will judge us.
And if we be found in Christ, the ruling of justified on the
grounds of Christ's death will be heard for all those whom the
Lord has saved. And so, Father, we're so grateful
once again to be here, to be able to proclaim your gospel. And we ask, Lord, that you be
with us as we leave this place. I pray for my daughter Kaylin
this morning and ask, Lord, that if it be your will, that you
grant her relief from her sickness. Lord, I pray for this man that
has contacted us from Africa. Lord, I pray that you'd be with
him and with his family, especially as they have now stood up publicly
amongst the Islamic mosque where they once worshiped and have
declared they're leaving the mosque and have now professed
faith in Christ Jesus And Lord, as their family will probably
be under scrutiny and persecution by that community, Lord, I pray
that you would keep them safe. I would pray, Lord, that you
would continue to grow him in the grace and knowledge of the
Lord and that you would encourage him, that you would be with this
family as well, Lord, that you might keep them safe and that
you might help him to be the shepherd of his family as he
shares with them things of God and Lord I just ask now that
you just be with that whole community Lord that if there we know that
you say in your word that you have people in every city and
even in a small rundown village that's what seems to be where
he lives now Lord we know that you have people there and that
you will raise up your people you are the Good Shepherd and
you will find your sheep you will lead them home and they
will follow you and so Father Lord we pray for the success
of the gospel to come, even to Zambia, Africa, in this lowly
little place in the southernmost part of such a great big country,
continent, Lord, that seemed to be insignificant to many people.
But Lord, you have people there, and we know that they cannot
hide, that they will not be kept captive by other religions. That as you call them out, they
come. Your people shall be willing in the day of thy power. We know
that to be true. So we pray, Lord, the success
of your gospel, and we proclaim the glory that it brings to you
in and through it. And it's in Christ's name that
we pray. Amen.