Once again, it's a joy to be
here. David said, I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And when
the time comes that we are together in the house of God, it is a
time of joy. It's a time of refreshing. It's
a time of great peace and comfort. And as we attempt to open the
Word of God, we seek for His guidance. We ask for His mercy. We ask for His grace. in giving
us an understanding. If we open this book without
understanding and we read the scripture without the Spirit
of God anointing our hearts and causing us to see it, it will
do us very little good. But oh, that if God would bless
His Word and give unto us a heart to receive it. Prepare the hearts
of thy people to receive thy Word. If you will, turn with
me to the book of Isaiah chapter 12. We're going to look at the
first six verses of Isaiah chapter 12. And here Isaiah offers up
unto his God a song of praise. He offers up a song of thanksgiving
for the redemption of his soul, that God has redeemed his soul
from sin. One writer said, this psalm of
praise is strictly a family affair and cannot be appreciated, cannot
be understood, and it cannot be sung but any except those
that are redeemed of the Lord. And Isaiah starts off here in
chapter 12 in verse 1, in that day, at the title of our lesson,
in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee. Though Thou
wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast
comforted me." Isaiah here uses this term in that day several
times in his writing. Now this is a time that is a
set time. It's not a 24-hour period as
we know one day, but it is a time of visitation. It is a time of
Exclamation. And it is a time of visiting
His people. In that day, in that day, when
the Lord is pleased to reveal His gospel unto His people, it
is a time of great mercy and great grace. It is a time of
conviction in that day. It is a day of conviction. In
Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 10, it says, Enter into the rock.
and hide thee in the dust for the fear of the Lord and the
glory of his majesty. The lofty look of a man shall
be humble, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. In that day, when
God speaks to the heart of his people, he convicts them of sin,
telling them who they are. and the lofty, once we exalted
men, once we exalted ourselves, but in that day, when God speaks
to our hearts, only the Lord shall be exalted. We shall be
put into the dust. We shall fall at His feet and
cry out, have mercy upon me, O God. When God convicts us of
this thing of sin, He shows us and He tells us who we are and
what we are to some degree. If he would reveal the whole
manner of who we are and what we are, we would be totally consumed. This is how sinful we are. We
see through a glass dimly this thing of sin. We know something
about it, but it's strictly something that we do not completely understand. But on that day, When God shall
speak to us and convict us in this thing of sin, He drives
this to our heart and He causes us to understand to some degree
what sin is. For the day of the Lord of His
soul shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon
everyone that is lifted up, and He shall be brought low. When
is that? Well, we are brought low when
God convicts us of sin and shows us who we are. Judgment, judgment
always precedes justification. Emptiness always precedes feeling. Redemption always precedes comfort. When these things come, when
we are judged of our sins, then He reveals unto us who we are
and what we are. In that day, it is a day of revelation. It is a day of revelation. In
Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 8, it says, He will swallow up death
in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from all faces. And the rebuke of His people
shall be taken away from off the face of the earth. For the
Lord has spoken it. And it shall be said in that
day, This is our God. He reveals unto us who He is. He convicts us of sin in the
day of visitation. And He reveals unto us in the
day of revelation who He is. This is our God. We have waited
for Him, Isaiah said. And He will save us. This is
the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will
be glad and rejoiced in His salvation. In that day when God speaks to
us through and by His Word and causes us to see as the old man
Simeon did, the Lord had told Simeon that he would not depart
this life until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And when Simeon
went into the temple and lifted up the Lord Jesus Christ as a
babe, he said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Let thy servant
depart in peace, for I have seen thy salvation. And this is the
way it is when God reveals something to us in this time of revelation. I have seen the Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen Him by the eye of
faith. I've seen His birth, how that He was conceived by a virgin,
how that He was of the Holy Spirit of God. We have seen His walk
through this life, how that He walked perfectly and upright
before God and before men. And we have seen His suffering
there hanging on the cross between heaven and earth. We've seen
the suffering for sin. And we've also seen his resurrection.
How do we see these things? We see them by the eye of faith. A pastor and his wife sings a
song that says, I wasn't there when these things happened, but
I saw it by the eye of faith. I wasn't there when he walked
this earth, but by the eye of faith I know and understand that
he did. I wasn't there when he was raised
from the dead, but the scripture says he was raised and that's
exactly what it means. And now he's exceeded and exalted
at the right hand of God. He's sat down. His work of redemption
accomplished. And in that day of revelation,
he reveals this to our heart and to our souls. In that day, in that day, it
is a day of assurance. It is a day of assurance. Isaiah
said in chapter 26 and verse 1, And that day shall this psalm
be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bullets. Open ye gates that the
righteous nation with keepets of truth may enter in. Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because
he is trusted in Thee. It is a day of assurance. We
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. It is a day of assurance
when God speaks to us and says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Speak unto her comfortably and tell her that her warfare is
accomplished. And she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her iniquities. We have received grace and mercy,
peace and satisfaction, righteousness and justification. We have received
these things of the Lord. And when He speaks it to our
hearts, it is a day of assurance. And we know, we understand, and
we are sure that this is our God. Behold our God. In that day, when we rest, we
rest. in His peace. He said, Peace
I give unto thee. My peace I leave with thee. We rest and we are settled in
this thing of joy. Our hearts are lifted up to Him
in songs and in praise and in thanksgiving in the day that
He has assured us that Thou art mine and I am His. And we can rest with complete
confidence. knowing that our Lord cannot
fail. He has accomplished salvation
on my behalf. He will perfect that which concerneth
me. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. This sentence here, though thou
was angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comforted
me. The anger of the Lord to his
elect is something that is difficult to understand. We read in scripture
that he has said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. But we also read here in scripture
Thou was angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortest me." Now how can both of those be? How can both of
these be a true fact that we know it must be? It's in the
Word of God. We know that it must be true. Well, the only illustration that
I can find as of preparing this was our children. Our children. When they do something that causes
us disappointment, When they do something that causes us grief
and pain and suffering, we're angry with them. We're angry
with them. But at the same time, there is this love that we cannot
turn away from them. We cannot forsake them. They're
mine. These are my children. These
are my people. These are my loved ones. And
so it is with our God. Thou art mine, Thou art mine. I have redeemed Thee from the
curse of the law. I have done all things for Thee,
though I was angry with Thee, yet have I loved Thee with an
everlasting love. Scripture tells us Jacob have
I loved before Jacob was ever born. But the scripture says
in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desire of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." Oh, but it does not
stop there. But God, but God, who is rich
in mercy for His great love for which He loved us, even when
we were dead and trespassing in sin, has quickened us together,
made us alive in Christ Jesus, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ, that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His glory towards us, His riches of His
kindness, His love towards us, though He was angry with us,
yet He loved us with an everlasting love. Wherefore, remember that
ye being in time past Gentile in the flesh, which is called
uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the
flesh, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant
of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. But
now, oh, here we see, but now His anger was turned away. His
anger was turned away from us. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Whatever it means for the Lord
to be angry with us, we know that in Christ Jesus His anger
is appeased. His anger is wiped away. His
anger is turned. And now, He can speak unto us. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Come, my people, come. Come unto me. And we see, if God be for us, who can be
against us? God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. And we're comforted here. He
speaks to our heart comfort and peace and joy through his word. He tells unto us that our warfare
is accomplished. That Christ has finished the
work and that he has sat down at the right hand of God. And
not only is he sat down, but he has promised to us that we
shall be with him where he is. In John chapter 14 and verse
16 it says, I will pray the Father and He shall give you another
comforter. This is when our Lord is going away. He spoke to His
disciples. He said, I must go away. I must
go away. But I will not leave you comfortless.
I will pray the Father and He will give you another comforter
that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth
Him, but ye know Him. How do we know Him? We know Him
by revelation. We know Him by God speaking unto
our hearts and telling us who He is. For He dwelleth in you,
and He shall be in you. I will not leave thee comfortless. I will come again. And in that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou was angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me." Verse 2. Behold. Oh, how does he comfort
us? How does he comfort us? He says,
Behold, God is my salvation. Stand in amazement. Stand in
awe. God is my salvation. I will trust
and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song. He also is become my salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God in human flesh, brought salvation unto me. He is my salvation. We dare not set God the Father
and God the Son at odds with one another. They are one. They
are one. They cannot be separated. The Son was appointed by the
Father back in the Old Testament's covenants. Back in the Old Testament
we read of this thing of God appointing sacrifices. On this
day you shall offer up this sacrifice. On this day you shall offer up
that sacrifice. These sacrifices pointed to Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of
that covenant. And He was appointed and anointed
by God the Father to come into the world and take away the sin
of His people. He was promised that He shall
come The Old Testament Scriptures tells us there's one coming.
There's one coming. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
says He's here. Behold the Lamb of God. And from
Acts through Revelation, it says He's coming again. He's coming
again. In Acts 13, verse 38, it says,
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. What
man? This man, Jesus Christ the Lord. And by Him, all that believe
are justified from all things. Believing in God, we are justified
from all things, from which you cannot be justified by the law
of Moses. In 1 Peter 3, verse 18, it says,
For Christ also has once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit of God. I will trust in thee, and
not be afraid. I cannot be afraid. He is my
Lord, and he is my God in whom I trust. For the Lord Jehovah
is my strength and my song. I will trust Him for all things
needed, all things required. Whatever God requires for a man
to be holy, just, sanctified, and redeemed, we find in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that we need to stand
before God and hear Him say, welcome in unto the joys of the
Lord, we find in Christ. We see Him as He is. And one day we shall be made
just like Him. We find everything that we need
in Him. So why do we look anywhere else?
Why do we run anywhere else? Sit down. Sit down and see Jesus
Christ the Lord. Years ago, Brother Henry came
to Dingus, and one of the first messages that he preached, I
remember him making this statement. He said, come to Christ right
where you are, without moving a muscle, without taking a step,
without doing anything, come to Christ. And this is what it
is to come to Christ and not be afraid for He is my strength
and He is my song. I come unto Him with my heart. I don't walk the aisles and make
professions and this and that. I come to Christ with the heart.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. For He is my wisdom. He's my
righteousness. He's my sanctification. Everything
that I need to stand before God, holy and complete, I find in
Him. And I rest right there. I rest
right there. With complete confidence. With
complete confidence that I am accepted in the Beloved. In Romans 8 verse 1, There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Right now,
right now, there is no condemnation sentenced to me or charged to
me. Why? Because I've been a good
little boy and I've done this and that? Oh no, no. Because
I'm in Christ. Christ has suffered the condemnation
that was due me. And He has taken this away. And
now, now I stand before God complete in Him. We're not to fear. We're not
to fear. Be not afraid. Thy sins are forgiven. We are not to fear this thing
of sin. Yes, sin troubles us. Yes, sin
causes us grief and pain and disappointment and this and that.
But we're not to fear this thing of sin. Sin has been dealt with. God has dealt with it in His
own manner. And He has put it away. Neither
are we to fear this thing of Satan. We're not to fear this
thing of death and hell. Christ has suffered on my behalf,
and now I stand before the holy throne of God, complete, accepted
in Him. I will trust Him, and I will
not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also has become my salvation. In the light of our weaknesses,
in the light of our failures, in the light of this sinful flesh,
how can we make such a statement with confidence? How can we make
such a statement that I am accepted in the beloved? Because God has
spoken peace into our hearts and he has spoken this thing
of righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He has applied
it to our hearts and now we receive it with total, complete confidence
that he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto
God by Jesus Christ. And we can say these things because
he is our salvation. He is our strength, and He is
our song. God has set Him forth to be a
mercy seat. God has laid on Him the iniquity
of His elect, and He has taken my sin away, and I bear it no
more. In Romans 8, verse 32, it says,
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How? How shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? All things are yours in Christ
Jesus. Someone said it would be nothing
short of blasphemy to reckon that God would renege on his
promise to Christ and to the church. It would be nothing short
of blasphemy to say that God will not do what he has promised
to do. In Isaiah 46, verse 9, it says,
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning in ancient times for
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. What God has promised, He will
also bring to pass. He said, I have purposed it,
I will bring it to pass. I have spoken, I will also do
it. calling a ravenous bird from
the east. Demand to execute my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, and I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will
also do it. For the gift and calling of God
are without repentance. He will do according to His own
will and according to His own pleasure, and He will perfect,
He will perfect everything that concerneth me. Verse 3. Therefore, oh, because the Lord
is my strength, because the Lord is my stone, because Jehovah
is my salvation, therefore, With joy shall we draw water out of
the wells of salvation. The Father is called the fountain
of living water in Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 31. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the giver of living water in John chapter 4 and verse
10. The Holy Spirit is the source
of rivers of living water in John chapter 7 and verse 38. These are the wells of salvation. From which joy we draw. We draw with joy this thing of
water, this thing of grace and mercy and truth. We draw it from
the wills of salvation. Our needs go far beyond a once
for all justification. Our needs are daily needs. I
need God's grace every day. Every day. It's not enough for
Him to speak peace to my soul yesterday. I need it today. And by the grace of God, I'll
need it tomorrow. So we draw. This is a continuing
thing. We draw from the wells of water. This thing of salvation. We stand
on it. And we plead His righteousness.
And we plead His satisfaction. Our Lord taught us to pray. He said, give us this
day our daily bread. Yesterday's bread is not sufficient.
We need new grace every day, every day, every day. We need
this thing of comfort. We need this thing of faith.
We need this thing of joy. We need this thing of peace,
love, and strength every day, every day. Brother Henry made a statement
that said, I must always remain at the fountain drawing water
for my thirsty soul. This is a continuing thing. I
must do it every day, every day, every day. Verse 4. In that day, and in that day shall you say,
praise the Lord. Call upon His name. Declare His
doings among the people. Make mention that His name is
exalted. If you have in your hearts experienced
that day, a day of divine visitation, a day of conviction, a day of
revelation, a day of mercy, then you shall say, praise the Lord,
for He has shown unto me mercy, mercy to the chief of sinners.
And we will. We will call upon His name. Who
else can we call upon? Who else do we have to turn to
except the Lord Himself? Man's wisdom is not sufficient.
My neighbor's strength is not sufficient. My family is not
sufficient. I must call upon the name of
whom is sufficient. I must call upon the name of
the Lord. How do we do this? We do this
in this thing of worship. To worship God is to call upon
His name. We call upon His name for mercy.
We call upon His name in prayer. We call upon His name in thanksgiving. We call upon His name in the
singing of the song. And we call upon Him daily. I need Thee every hour of every
day. declaring His doings among the
people. Oh, my soul, we could spend the
rest of our days declaring the doings of the Lord, what God
has done for His people, what great marvelous works Thou has
done for the children of men. Oh, that we could understand
just a little bit of it, what great things our God has done
for me. How that He lived for me. How
that He suffered for me. How that He died for me. How
that He arose for me. And how that He ascended back
unto the Father for me. Declare His doings among the
people. Tell the people what great things
He has done. And when He sat down, oh, He sat
down for me. My redemption is finished. My redemption is accomplished.
make mention that His name is exalted. Oh, how great thou art. None other name given among heaven
whereby we must be saved. There's none that can compare
to Him. He is beyond compare. He is the lovely one. He is the most excellent one.
He is the mighty one. He is the exalted one. He is
the glorious one. All others are marred, all other
names are marred and scarred by this thing of sin, but he
is fairer than ten thousand. Verse 5. Sing unto the Lord,
for he has done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Let us, oh let us, the people
of God, sing the glory of God. When Mike sings these songs,
he sings from the heart, knowing something about who he is by
nature, and knowing something about the glorious Savior. And
we sing, as we join in and sing together, we sing of the Exalted
One. We sing of His glory, His majesty,
what great power He has accomplished, what great things he has accomplished
and what great power he has. But the half has not been told.
Oh, we could spend our lifetime singing of the glory of our God
and never scratch the surface. Great, great is our loving kindness. Let Him, let Him be the subject
of our song. Let Him be the subject of our
worship. Let Him be the subject of our
conversation. And let Him be the subject of
our heart to glorify Him. Psalm 150 says, Praise ye the
Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmness of
His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts.
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Let everything that
hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. This is our
desire that we may praise and reverence and give glory and
honor unto our great God. Verse 6 Cry out and shout. Thou inhabitants of Zion, for
great, great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Jesus Christ the Lord is the
Holy One of Israel. We are the inhabitants of Zion
and He is in the midst of us. He dwells in us and with us and
He leads us and guides us and directs us according to His own
good pleasure. His presence dwells with us and
in us. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of a living God? For God dwelleth in you, the
Spirit of God dwells in you, and we are the temple of the
Most High God, for God dwells in us. Let us by His Spirit that
is within us give praise and honor and glory unto His great
name. Mercy, mercy, mercy unto the
needy and His grace unto such unworthy creatures such as I
am. In Revelation chapter 5 and verse
9 it says they sung a new song. This is the whole realm of heaven. This is the whole realm of God's
elect. This is the whole realm of the
angels and all the old Prophets and priests and kings that have
gone on before us, they all joined together in this one song. And
they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was
slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every
kindred, tongue, people and nation. And we sing, praise be the Lord,
and has made us, He has made us unto our God, kings and priests,
and we shall reign upon the earth. Worthy is the Lamb, is our theme,
for great things He has done. This will be our song in that
day, in that day. when we shall see Him as He is,
and we shall be made just like Him, in that day when we shall
worship Him as we desire to this day, in that day when we shall
be exalted to the right hand of God, in that day when we look
upon our Savior's face, in that day when we see Him there standing,
the majesty that is around Him, the glory that crowns His head,
and the majesty that that as all around Him we will be speechless. We will be speechless. We will
fall and cry out our God and our Savior. Worthy, worthy is
the Lamb. Worthy to receive honor and praise
and glory for great things Thou hast done. The Lord Jehovah is
our God. Let us praise His name. today
and forevermore, and this will be our song. This will be our
song. Our God is worthy of all praise
and honor and glory, both now and forever, and He shall be
exalted And we shall be with Him, for we shall be made just
like Him. We shall see Him as He is. Mine eyes shall behold Him for
myself and not another. I will be made just like Him,
and I will praise Him then, that day, as I desire to this day.