How good is our God and the most
awesome and wonderful things happening here by the grace of
God. I love Isaiah 35. I love the allegories that are
found in scripture and there are several of them to be found. where the Holy Spirit has one
thing represent another. And usually it has to do with
the wonder of the grace of God. For instance, in the book of
Galatians chapter four, there's an allegory there. And if you
want to turn over there, I'll just go through it briefly with
you. Galatians chapter four. And verse
22, it says something like this. For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. Now this allegory concerns law
and grace. The apostle Paul in the book
of Galatians has been calling the Galatian churches back to
the gospel of free and sovereign grace. in the opening chapter
of the book of Galatians. He said, I am shocked, I'm surprised
that you're so soon removed from him that called you unto another
gospel, which is not another. And then he made a very strong
statement in Galatians 1. He said, if anybody preaches
any other gospel than I've delivered unto you, let him be condemned
to hell. There's only one gospel, and it's the gospel of God's
free grace. So Paul in Galatians is talking
here in this allegory in verse 22 about the covenant of works
or the covenant of law and the covenant of grace. In verse 23,
he said, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the
flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. So he's talking
about the two covenants, the covenant of law works. That's
the bondwoman. the covenant of free grace, God's
unmerited favor. That's the free woman. And these
women each had A son, verse 24 says, which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, one of the Mount Sinai, that's
where the law was given, with gender to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, Hagar, and answers to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. So everybody who are trying to
get to heaven by law works are in bondage. You're like the legalistic
salvation by works folks. Verse 26, but Jerusalem, which
is above is free, which is the mother of us all, for it is written
rejoice. There is no rejoicing in legalism. If you're under law, you're a
miserable person. Cause you know, first of all,
you're a liar. You're not keeping the law. You may act like you
are, but you're not. You're a Pharisee. You're hiding,
trying to camouflage your sins. Look at verse 28, now we brethren
as Isaac was, so there was two women, Hagar and Sarah, they
each had a son, Ishmael was Hagar's son, Sarah had a son, his name
was Isaac. So verse 28, and we brethren
as Isaac was are the children of promise. In other words, You,
little Isaacs, are miracle children. You were a child by promise.
Had nothing to do with law works. God promised Sarah and Abraham
a child. Abraham was over 100 years old.
Sarah was in her 90s. Most of you 90-year-olds and
100-year-olds who are in here today know you're probably not
going to get pregnant and have another baby unless the miracle
takes place. Isaac was an absolute miracle. He was a child of promise. God
promised him. All of us who have been born
of the Spirit of God are children by promise. The apostle says
this is an allegory. I think it's interesting too,
verse 29, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. The by works
salvation people hate the preaching of the five points. They hate
the preaching of the message of grace. They don't like it
that it's unmerited favor because they're doing things trying to
earn their way to heaven and not doing things in order to
get on the good side of God. And then somebody like me comes
along and says, it's not by works at all. It's totally by the grace
of God. It's God's unmerited favor. It's
not what you do, it's what God did. Verse 30 said, nevertheless,
what sayeth the scripture, cast out the bond woman and her son
for the son of the bond woman shall not be an heir with the
son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not
children of the bond woman, but of the free. We are grace kids. That's what we call ourselves.
We are the grace kids. There's another allegory in Hebrews
chapter 12 where the Apostle Paul, again, is confronting this
thing of law and grace. And the Apostle Paul in the book
of Hebrews, Hebrews 12, says this in verse 18. For ye are not come
unto the mount that might be touched, you great kids are not
coming to Mount Sinai where the law was given. And I would just
say this about all of the folks who are law works, earning salvation
by what you do. You don't realize what you're
attempting to do. You really don't get it. Because
when the people came to Mount Sinai, where God was come down
and give the law, there was thundering and lightning, and it was a very
fearful thing. Even Moses, the man of God, did
exceedingly fear and quake. It ought to be a scary thing
for all of those of you who are in here seeking salvation by
baptism, by being a Catholic, or a Baptist, or a Methodist,
or by works of your own hands. You ought to really, if you understood
what you're attempting to do, which is take the glory of God
away from him, to actually say, we know that Jesus came and bled
and died, but we have to put our part in in order to save
ourselves. God doesn't like that. God doesn't
like that. Verse 18, for you're not come
unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the
sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard
entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. When they heard the law being
given, they said, stop, stop, it's too much. For they could
not endure that which was commanded, verse 20 says, and if so much
as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust
through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But you are come
to Mount Zion. Mount Zion represents the place
where the king dwells. You've come to God himself, unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And you've come
to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. The
blood of Jesus Christ that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
That's what you've come to. So these allegories are wonderful. In the book of Ezekiel, another
kind of allegory about the babe that was thrown out in the open
field. A mother had just given birth
and God is talking about his grace and how you can't save
yourself. And gives this illustration of
the baby put in the open field. And the Bible says its navel
had not been cut. It was laying out there in its
own blood in the open field. Where the beast, those that could
devour this baby, this baby was without strength to save itself. And then God says this, it was
a time of love for you. And I passed by and saw you in
your blood. And I said, live, that's salvation
by grace. Well, there's so many. In the
book of Ezekiel again, the dry bones. And the Spirit of God
had to breathe on those bones, and the Bible says they were
very dry. Some of you are not just little
sinners, you're very dry. You've already turned yellow
out there in the dry bone field, and God gave life. So, here in
Isaiah 35, we have an allegory type message, actually a prediction,
of the future glory and flourishing estate of the gospel church.
I've been waiting for this. I'm still waiting for this. I
don't think this has entirely happened here. A time of great
awakening. But I do believe it's coming.
In fact, I've had a tremendous theological turnaround. I believe
awakening is going to happen. I believe revival is going to
happen in our land. Here's what Isaiah 35 says, the
desert, the barren and unfruitful. That's the type of the church
without the power of God, without the Lord in the assembly. The
church before the gospel comes in word and power with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven. You can't even imagine What would
happen if this morning, in this place, the Holy Spirit would
come down in power and give me unction to preach and open your
eyes so you could see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Here's what this 35th chapter
says. I want to see this. I want to
live long enough to see this. The wilderness, verse one, the
solitary place shall be glad for them. even the world when
the gospel comes down, even what has happened here. What is going
on with this Grace Gospel Fellowship? Now look what they've done. They
bought an old church building up the street. They've turned
it into a women and children's center up there. They put a $5
million remodeling in that building. And then the next thing you know,
somebody buys and gives them the clutch cargo saloon where
where they're having church now and hundreds of people are attending
the services there. And I've had people say to me, I'm
so glad for you, Pastor. I'm so glad. In other words,
the world even rejoices in it. In the Psalms, it says, the Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. And even
the heathens say, the Lord hath done great things for them. Even
those out there in the world recognize that a miraculous thing
has happened. Those are the kind of days that
I want to live in, days of revival and anointing. You know what? I know the cure for the heroin
epidemic. I've been thinking about this
for weeks now and weeks now and weeks now. You've heard me tell
the story about the little boy in Ponderosa that had the corncob. He was chewing on it and his
mom and dad were trying to leave and he would not put down that
corncob. He just would not put it down.
Somebody walked up with a Hershey bar and went like this to him.
You can have the Hershey bar, but you gotta give me the corn
on the cob. What do you think would happen if people began
to experience God in their life? If there was an awakening, if
the Holy Spirit would come down and make this gospel real, you'd
never get high on heroin again. You'd give up the corn on the
cob for the Hershey bar, the gospel of Jesus Christ. For the
wilderness, the solitary place shall be glad for them. The desert
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. I believe it to be
true that in days of awakening and revival, even those around
who are not involved directly in it, it may not even be converted.
I do know this, Grace Gospel Fellowship now has 50 some houses,
houses that we did not build and houses we did not own. Say,
can you explain that to us? No, except God is doing something. People's lives are being changed.
Verse 2 says, the desert shall blossom abundantly and rejoice
even with joy and singing. People get so tickled about what
God is doing, they began to rejoice and there's great joy in singing.
They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our
God. Isn't that something? They'll
see the caroling's changed. They'll see Matt get his children
back out of the courts. They'll see mothers come to be
real mothers and take care of their kids. They'll see people
who have great marriages and they'll rejoice in it. Oh, when
the gospel comes in power and in demonstration of the Spirit,
it brings the joy of its message with it and a sweet fragrance.
Everything is great. I hate to hear people say, my
life sucks. I love to hear people say, this
is a day the Lord's made and I'll rejoice in it and be glad. I want to see the desert blossom. Do you know what? I believe this,
don't tell anybody, but Pontiac is beginning to blossom. I mean,
there are some good things going on in this city. I used to hear
people say, I would never move to Pontiac. I hate their schools.
I hate their neighborhoods. Everything's run down. Even addicts
say, I'm not staying there. As soon as I get out of Grace
Hunters, I'm out of here. Streams in the desert. Streams
in the desert. I've read this passage many times,
it's Acts 433, and it says, great grace was upon them all. Oh,
that today the wilderness, the solitary place, would be made
glad that Christ would come into this congregation today. I guarantee
you, if Christ is here in power, you'll never be the same again.
If Christ comes here in power, he will draw so many to himself. You'll stop using. I'm telling
you, Christ is the answer. He is the answer. Over the years, over 50 some
years, the Lord many times has said to me, hey, Dodo, the answer
is right in front of you. I'm the answer. Amen. Isn't it? Isn't it? Think about
this. The heroin headache becomes a
Sunday school teacher. God calls you to preach the gospel
from the pulpit, and we all go, oh, that had to be a God thing. Gospel glory. We have an experience
that you and I do not know, and I've been in this a long time.
I mean, up until I was 17, 18 years old, I don't think I ever
missed church. I'm talking about Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night. Even my kids used to say, no
more church, mommy, no more church. I mean, we were always going
to church. Church can be a dry desert place. I don't see how
some people go and do the same things over and over. Say, you making fun of my church?
Something like that. I marvel that some of you endure
that. I could not endure it. I could
not. The solitary place shall be glad. Think about this. The desert
rejoices and blossoms as a rose. The eyes of the blind shall be
open. You can't see it. Many of you
sit here and sit in the back and you're on your phone or you're
looking at a magazine or, you know, you're doing something,
you think you're just, you're blind. You wonder why people
raise their hands and what is all the excitement. You are bored
to tears. You're dead in your sins and
trespasses. You don't see any glory or wonder
in this at all. That's why you get high. because
life is just full of hurt and there's no joy, there's no gladness. Let me tell you, there's no high
like the Most High. If you could find Him and know
Him. The eyes of the blind shall see.
Wouldn't that be something this morning if about 50 of you began
to cry out, I see Him, I see Him wounded and bleeding, dying
in my place in my stead. Suffering my hell. He's my Lord. He's my, wouldn't that be something? Blind eyes see. The eyes of the
blind shall be open. The ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. That's what verse five says.
The lame man leaps as a heart. Some of you would absolutely,
you know, I don't know what you would do if somebody got so,
I mean, if they just got converted and got so happy, they couldn't
sit in their chair. I remember I was preaching in
Hopkinsville, Kentucky at a place called Gracie Baptist Church.
And while I was preaching, Brother Green got saved and got happy. Well, it was my first experience
of somebody really getting happy. I mean, he got so happy, he was
all over the place. jumping and screaming about the
Lord saving his unworthy soul and making him whole. And actually
I just kind of did this. I was only 19 years old, 20 years
old. I didn't know exactly how to
handle that. Now, if you're a phony, I would have to call you down.
But if you get so happy you just can't sit still, we'll all understand
that. I won't stop preaching. It's amazing how the most, it
is amazing to me. Are soap operas still on? Are
they? I caught some of you going like
this, yeah? What that means is you're probably
watching. Okay, soap operas. You know, I used to see people
weeping over, you know, John ran away with Susie. Who's John? Oh, he's on As the
World Churns. You didn't get that, did you? Is As the World Turns still on? Anybody know? No. That's why
you didn't really get that when I said, As the World Turns. I'm
outdated. Anyway. Finally, when Brother
Green finally got settled down a little bit, I got to finish
the message. But I've never forgot how happy
that man was about coming to know the Lord. The lame man leaps
as a heart, verse six says. You know, that's found in scripture.
where the Apostle Paul healed this man through the Lord's grace
and power. And the man began to leap and
shout and rejoice. The tongue of the dumb shall
sing. I see some of you sitting here
on Sunday. When we sing blessed assurance,
you're like a rock. Wouldn't it be something if you
were able to sing, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine. That would be an awesome thing.
In the wilderness, waters break out. You ever been in a desert? It's an awful place in the desert.
You wouldn't want to get lost in the desert for very long.
But if waters were breaking out in the sandy desert, it would
be an awesome wonder. The parched ground becomes a
pool. In the thirsty land, there are found springs of water. And
a highway shall be found in this wilderness. A highway in the
wilderness. There's not supposed to be a
highway in the wilderness. We could call it, there's a freeway
in the wilderness. A highway to heaven in the wilderness. And then God says to the preachers
in verse three, strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the
feeble knees. Ah, dear preachers, how often
it is that the little child of God needs to be comforted. And
that's what I try to do every time I preach, to comfort God's
people, to call those that are without Christ to Christ, but
to comfort the people of God. How many abused children there
are among the family of God? I'm sure that most of you have
come here today to be comforted, and you need to be comforted.
And as ministers of the gospel, we have to do with weak and feeble
persons. We are a weak and feeble. Every
one of us in here who've been saved by the grace of God, we're
weak and feeble. We need to be fed gospel food. David said, I will lift up my
hands, and in thy name. And Paul spoke of lifting up
holy hands in 1 Timothy chapter 2. And the ministers of God are
instructed to lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen
the feeble knees. You see, there is victory when
the hands are up. I know this, when you're putting
your hand up, I suspect that you're feeling victory. That
there's joy in your soul and in your heart. You see, many
of God's kids can hardly lift up their hands to God for they're
under a sense of sin in view of the wrath and ready to sink
and faint because they haven't heard the gospel for years. There
are people come in here and say to me, you know, I haven't heard
that kind of preaching in years. And I don't think they just mean
that this hillbilly preacher is loud. I think they mean there
is power and demonstration of the Spirit of God behind the
preaching. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. I know that I comfort many of
you as I comfort myself when I talk about Romans 7 and the
Apostle Paul saying, what I want to do, I don't do. That's the
experience of every child of God. Oh, wretched man that I
am. That was a man that had been
converted for 30 years who said that. Oh, wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God, he said, Jesus Christ already has. By the way, with regard to lifting
your hands and feeble knees, you know, this is the way I get
in my car now. You need strong knees to get
out of your car and strong hands to get up. And I'm not playing
with you, I'm telling you the truth. And I don't like it. I think one of the glorious things
is, what a day that will be when I get new knees and new hands
that are strong. And here's what verse four says.
As Isaiah sends us this allegory, he says, he will come. Who? God's coming. That's the message
of the Old Testament. Somebody's coming. Somebody's
coming. The New Testament says he has
arrived. The Book of Acts says he died
and was buried. The Revelation says he's coming
back again. Somebody is coming. How sweet
is the gospel sound and happy are the people who know the joyful
sound. Is the gospel joyful to you? Is the good news joyful to you?
It is indeed. Note this, that our message is
not one of hopelessness. I don't know what folks who are
just religious are doing with this heroin epidemic, but I'm
not hopeless. No way, shape, or form, because
I've got a God who holds the reins to this universe, and I
know He is the answer. Notice, you are not called upon
to look to yourself for help, but the message is, somebody's
coming. That's a good message. Thank
God the message is not, God is counting on you, God is waiting
for you. God has done all He can. It's
up to you. You see, here's the good news.
God took the initiative in the salvation of poor sinners. The
good news is that salvation is of the Lord. He's come down to
deliver us. Jehovah in human flesh has invaded
history to redeem a people. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people. Not he might, not per adventure,
not he's trying to, but he shall save his people. He's come to
some of us. Oh, He came to me. He came to
me when I could not and would not come to Him. He came to me. You see, He's a seeking Savior.
Jesus is not sitting this morning passively waiting for you to
make a move. How glad I am about that. I'm
glad today that it is not me in my own strength who must persuade
you to come to Christ. There is the hound of heaven,
the Holy Spirit of God who seeks out poor sinners and quickens
them and gives them life. When I could not and would not
come to him, he came to me. May he come to you today. For
what purpose did he come to you? Verse four says, he has come
to save you. That's good news. Salvation is
not the new birth. Salvation is not faith, nor repentance,
nor justification. Salvation, first and foremost,
is something Almighty God has done outside of man, for man,
on man's behalf. Jesus Christ, on the tree of
the cross, saved a whole lot of folks. Over 2,000 years ago, he paid
the ransom, he paid the price, and all those he paid for will
come to the knowledge of repentance and faith in him. That's the
good news. Salvation is something Almighty
God has done in history. It happened over 2,000 years
ago. You were not born, you were not
here, but Jesus Christ in the person of God Himself came to
this earth, died on the tree of the cross, and satisfied justice
for your sins, and said, it is finished. went down into the
grave and made it a fit place to wait for the resurrection.
On the third day up from the grave he arose with a mighty
triumph for his foe. He arose a victor from the dark
domains. Hallelujah, Christ arose. Isaiah 44, 23 says, sing, all
ye heavens for the Lord hath done it, shout ye lower parts
of the earth, break forth into singing ye mountains, all forests
and every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and
glorified himself in Israel. Redeemed Jacob, Jacob have I
loved and Esau have I hated. What a twisted passage that is
for many people. Jacob, God loved Jacob and hated
Esau. Esau was the better guy. Jacob
was a crook. Amen. Jacob was just an outright
scandal like some of us. And God saved him by his grace. That's why Matthew 1 21 is so
precious to me. His name, I love the shalls of
God. His name shall be called Jesus.
It means God is our Savior. Yahashua, God our Savior. Yahweh has saved us. Almighty
God has saved us. Think about the powers that overcome
you in your daily life. The power of lust, the power
of crack, the power of heroin, the power of church entity, the
power of religion. You need somebody that's an almighty
God to save you. And I'm thankful we have that
in Jesus Christ. He didn't try to save you. He
saved you. How many of you has he saved
today? Let me see your hands. Amen. Thank God. Hallelujah. There is therefore now no condemnation. Say, Pastor, what are you trying
to do? I'm trying to get waters to break out in the desert. That's
what I'm trying to do today. I'm trying to preach this good
news until you get happy. to preach the good news until
you're comforted, and you can sing, Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe, sin had left
a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. The
eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as a heart and praise God for his salvation. The tongue of
the dumb shall sing. Oh, wouldn't you like to be living
a few days when that was happening? When that was happening, when
there was a breakout of the Holy Spirit of God in the house of
God. Forgiven of all my sins. What a glorious thing it is.
Streams in the desert. Dreams in the desert. I remember
when I was a little boy, we were, my dad was preaching in Arizona
to Native Americans on an Indian reservation there. And we were
just, we went through the desert. And I remember how fearful I
was as we traveled, just a young boy, six years old, no gas stations,
no stores. just for miles and miles and
hot over 100 degrees as we traveled along. I remember my dad and
mom talking about it, about what would happen if the car broke
down. You know what has happened in our religious world? The car
has broke down in the desert. We need streams in the desert,
water in this dry place, an abundance of grace. I read passages in
the book of Acts where it says, and great grace was upon them. You know, God should have killed
you a long time ago. Ungrateful, just wretched. out there using and abusing other
people as well as yourself. But he didn't. Here you are today
in the house of God hearing good news and glad tidings. The parched ground shall become
a pool and the thirsty land springs of water. Are you like a parched ground?
I mean, tough guy. smoking weed, hitting the joint,
using the heroin, from woman to woman, having kids, not marrying,
not being true to a woman, you're parched ground. No good in you. No good in you. And unless Jesus
comes, you'll never see yourself as parched ground. But what if
he would today? That's why some of us sing this
with such gusto. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, and now
I'm found. Was blind, but now I see, and
both hands go up in the air. The parched ground shall become
a pool. The inner cities inhabited by
men are dragons. Verse seven talks about that,
the inhabitants of dragons. But even in these places, the
grass turns green with reeds and rushes shall spring up I
think to some degree that's what's happening here in this city.
God in the strongholds of Satan shall spring up a people and
make them partakers of his grace. Think about this. I would say
we have at least 200 addicts here. I'm talking about real
genuine, you know, addicts who have been saved by the grace
of God. Amen. We are ashamed of our past, but
not of our present. I'm bound for the promised land.
Oh, who will come and go with me? I'm bound for the promised
land. Do we have it all together? Us
saved addicts? Not yet, but we're in the work
zone. You've seen the sign, slow men
at work, that's us. You know in the Corinthian letter,
the church at Corinth, I hear people talking about we're a
New Testament church. We're just like the New Testament
church. Oh, like the church at Corinth? You know what was going
on at the church at Corinth? I'll tell you how bad the church
at Corinth was. They met to take the Lord's supper and all got
drunk. Is that what you mean when you're bragging on your
church anity and you're a Baptist or Catholic a method? Oh, we're
New Testament Church in that church at Corinth There was all
kinds of adulterous things happening. It was a hodgepodge of mess but
in that church and in that city God said to Paul said I'm getting
out of here and God said to Paul don't leave this city because
I have much people in this city and And I don't know, you're probably
sitting back there on the back row and you're thinking, you
know, it's seven minutes after 12, the choir's making their
way, we're almost out of here, thank God, that's what I'm happy
about. We're almost out of here. God put a highway in the desert,
you ought to get on the highway. You ought to come to Christ just
as you are without one plea. It's the freeway. And the Bible
says, you know, there's no wild animals on that highway. There's
no lion there seeking whom he may devour. God's going to take
you all the way to heaven. He who hath begun a good work
in you will complete it. Well, I had 40 some pages of
notes here, but I think most of us are happy
right now at least. We're enjoying the blessings
of God, knowing. Think about this, just all of
you who have been down. Maybe your mom's and dad's here
and you have a son or daughter that's using and it just looks
like the whole thing is out of control. There's a day coming
when revival's gonna break out in the house of God, in the church
of God. And I suspect it might be right
here. I suspect this is a likely place for God to show up. Because
we have a mess here. We are sinners. And Christ Jesus
came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save. He shall save, not he might save,
he shall save. And so I'm so encouraged when
Pam and I come by, we're driving in from Troy and we come by the
parking lot and it's not filled. I say this, that's okay. Susie may be there for the very
first time. Jack may be there for the very
first time. And all of this is just for them
to hear the good news, the glad tidings. Look at me. You are
not here by accident. You are here on purpose for a
purpose. God brought you here. You say,
you know, pastor, that kind of makes sense to me because I had
no intentions of ever being here. I got drunk right over there
one night when it was clutch cargo. I remember that. But something's happened. Since
I've been here hearing the gospel, I pass from darkness to light.
Let's stand together, praise our God, come to Christ, trust
Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.