as we read the Old Testament
scriptures, particularly as we read about the nation of Israel,
Israel and Judah in the Old Testament. We ought to always bear in mind
that beginning with the call of Abraham in Genesis 12, all
the way through the history of the Old Testament, the nation
of Israel was typical of and represented God's church. It was raised up by God for that
purpose, so that even the physical nation of Israel, Jerusalem,
Judah, the physical nation, and all their experiences as recorded
in scripture were brought to pass by God to give us a picture
of grace, redemption, and salvation in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
of God's true Israel, His church, and His elect. Israel was typical
of us in great detail The nation of Israel was comprised of a
chosen people God chose Israel Seth and his sons Abraham representing
the father of the faithful Abraham and his children to be his people
above all peoples in the world Having chosen them as his own,
God made a covenant with Abraham. And in Abraham, a covenant with
the whole nation. And the Lord God blessed them.
He gave them certain promises that were sealed to them because
they were Israelites by circumcision, just as the promises of God in
Christ are sealed to his people in the new birth by the circumcision
of the heart by God the Holy Ghost. The children of Israel
were brought into bondage down into Egypt for 400 years. just
as we were brought into bondage and sin and death. And the Lord
God, after 400 years, precisely on the day he had foreordained
and stated, delivered Israel out of Egypt by blood and by
power, as he does all his people. The children of Israel being
delivered from Egypt. had something about them all
the rest of their days that makes them a distinct, clear picture
of you and me, of God's church in this world. They were always declining. Read their history. No matter
what they experienced, no matter what they knew, No matter what
God's prophets taught them, no matter what wonders they saw,
they were always declining. Always like a backsliding heifer. There was never a time in their
history when that was not the case. God chastened them and
they declined again. The whole book of Judges is a
picture of that. And yet, in the midst of it all,
the nation of Israel was chosen and kept of God as a nation. Kept of God because God had ordained
that out of that nation, he would raise up his son, who would be
the savior of his people, the seed of woman, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn with me, if you will, to
Isaiah chapter 30, and we're going to read a chapter together.
that speaks of historic things. Historic things with clear spiritual
instruction for us. Now while you're turning, here
is a sad, sad fact that very few people recognize and few
acknowledge. God's children do not always
act like God's children. Why is it so hard for us to recognize
that and acknowledge it? God's children do not always
act like God's children. God's saints are not always saintly. Sometimes the most devoted and
godly men and women waver just like Peter. Sometimes loving brethren Brethren
who do love each other have deep, sharp, lasting divisions
over petty, carnal, meaningless things. I'll give you an example
that ought to stand out. Paul and Barnabas loved one another.
Paul and Barnabas were co-laborers in the gospel. Paul and Barnabas
traveled everywhere preaching until one day a division arose
between Paul and Barnabas and was over Barnabas' nephew. How silly, how silly. But they parted company and never
traveled together again as far as I can find in the New Testament.
Sometimes people who believe God, many women of true faith,
people who truly trust the Lord Jesus Christ, are terribly unbelieving,
terribly fearful, and act like they've lost their mind. True
believers, true believers. So I expect better from you.
Don't expect too much from me. True believers are often Trembling
unbelieving and fearful. There's a man by the name of
David. You remember his name? None like him David that man
who slew Goliath with a slingshot David that Prince in Israel David
the representative of our Lord Jesus Christ Was terrified down
at Achish and hid in a cave down in Ziklag and let spit run all
over his beard. And when the king came to look
him over, scratched on the walls like a madman. That was David,
that was David. You can read about it in 1 Samuel
21. God's dear children sometimes behave like unbelieving rebels. I read in the book of God about
a man named Aaron, God's high priest, who one occasion made
a golden calf and called Israel to come bow before that calf
and dance naked and called it the worship of Jehovah. David
took Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. Moses, in a fit of anger, took
his rod and smoked the rock the second time. Jonah, God's prophet,
fled from the face of the Lord. Sometimes God's dear children
behave like unbelieving rebels. Are you one of those children?
one of God's dear children chosen, adopted in everlasting love,
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, born of God, saved,
pardoned, sanctified, preserved, and kept by God's grace. If you
are, I have no doubt that you honestly must acknowledge I can
identify with what you said, my pastor. God's children often
Do not act like God's children. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. I have a message tonight for
rebel children. A message for rebel children
from our gracious, gracious Heavenly Father. You will find the message
in these 33 verses of Isaiah chapter 30. The triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the God of all grace, is our
God. God is our Father, and he always
acts like it. Oh, what a thought. God is our
Father, and he always acts like it. though we, his children,
often do not act like his children. He is always gracious, always
gracious, very gracious to his children, even when he appears
to hide his face and feed them with the bread of affliction
and give them to drink with the water of adversity. Isaiah 30
contains a message the Lord God gave to his prophet Isaiah to
deliver to the people of Judah. It's one of those messages God's
church needs to hear again and again. Therefore, the Lord told
Isaiah to write it on a table and record it in a book, that
it may be for the time to come forever and ever. Usually, messages
of great importance are inspired either by a great work of God,
or by great sin in God's people, or by great trouble to his church. This message was inspired by
all three. When the people of Israel, Judah,
saw the huge armies of the Assyrians coming against them, they were
terrified. They were terrified, they shook
in their boots. But rather than turning to God,
rather than consulting God's prophet, rather than hearing
God's word, rather than seeking word from God, they chose to
make an alliance with the Egyptians and with Pharaoh, their king.
They seem to have thought like this. Their strength in multitudes. There's strength to be had with
the Egyptians. We can join to the Egyptians
and drive back the Assyrians. Such an alliance with ungodly,
reprobate, idolatrous people, an alliance with unbelieving
religious idolaters is foolish. It reveals a lack of faith. It dishonors God, dishonors his
people, dishonors his word, dishonors our Redeemer, and forces compromise
on the part of God's children. It always brings trouble. It
always has, and it does now. When God's church, God's people,
individual or collectively, compromise those things they know to be
right, in order to make advantage for themselves, rather than trusting
the Lord God. Oh Spirit of God, be our teacher
this hour, and let us learn the message, and learn it well. I'll
give you my message in five statements. First, verses one through seven.
Understand this. In every trial, in every circumstance,
in every fearful situation, it is our strength to sit still
before God. In every circumstance, in every
trouble, in every adversity, with every onslaught of evil,
With every trial, it is our strength to sit still. Alliances with
the unbelieving are always inspired by unbelief. There's always a
pretense of worship and love and doing God's service and the
advancement of God's cause. I think particularly of churches,
denominations, religious people joining together for various
causes, political causes, to stop abortion, for whatever reason
you want to. And there's always a pretense
of doing this for God's honor. But the fact is, such alliances
are always the result of unbelief. Therefore, the result of unbelief
we find painfully costly if we're gods. Others can get by with
it, not God's people. Judah did not believe God. Therefore, when the Assyrians
threatened them, they turned to the Egyptians. And it was
a costly turn. Verse one, woe to the rebellious
children, saith the Lord. Here's their rebellion, that
take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with a covering,
but not of my spirit. They take a shield, but not my
spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that walk to go down
to Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves
in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust, now watch what it says,
in the shadow of Egypt. To trust in the shadow of Egypt. Amid all the rebellion and all
the unbelief, in the midst of all the disobedience, the Lord
God still calls them children. Rebellious children, but my children.
Disobedient children, but my children. Rebel children, but
my children. And though chastisement must
and will follow their disobedience, the chastisement is designed
for their recovery and their good. Every time God sent various
nations against the children of Israel and then raised up
judges to deliver them, the chastening by the rebel nations and the
chastening of those people was intended to bring them back to
God. So it is with all God's providential
chastisements. The method the Lord used to bring
his people back to himself and do them good, manifest his gracious
intention. They sought strength in Egypt.
So God used Egypt to correct them. They were, the Egyptians
were a chastening rod in the Lord's hands. They leaned on
Pharaoh instead of Jehovah. They trusted the reeds of Egypt
when the rock of ages was at hand. Shame and reproach are
always the consequence of such things. God's word, God's command
to us. Since Genesis 26 has always been
this. Go not down to Egypt. Go not down to Egypt. Don't do it. Some of you were
around when we were building this building and we had to watch
every nickel. We knew what we could do, and
I was the one who made the arrangements for various contracts and so
forth. But one occasion, we were down
at one of the hardware stores, and one of the men with me, doing
what he thought was right to do, suggested to the man who
owned the store that, this is for a church, you ought to consider
giving it to us. And I said, no sir, I don't want
you to give it to us. No sir, no sir. We don't need
that. And I explained to my friend,
this is not something that we need to go begging to the world
to assist us with. No, sir. Don't go to Egypt for
anything, anytime, anywhere. Well, we can't do it. No, we
can't, but God can. We can't protect ourselves. No,
we can't, but God can. We can't provide for ourselves.
No, we can't, but God can. Another time, a dear friend,
one of the men here, I'm not calling names because I don't
want to embarrass them, but dear friends, faithful men, he came
amongst us and is still with us, dear friend, and he's talented,
gifted. He said, I know how to raise
money. And I said to him, we don't employ those things. We
don't have bake sales, we don't go begging, we don't go, go not
down to Egypt. If it means we shut the doors,
it means God shut the doors. That's all there is to it. Go
not down to Egypt. You see, unbelief needs the strength
of others. Faith trusts the power of God.
Unbelief needs the approval of men. Faith seeks the approval
of God. Unbelief brings confusion, and
confusion brings weakness. Faith brings peace, and peace
brings strength. We read in verse seven, their
strength is to sit still. Trusting the flesh. The compromise that requires
such trust. is always costly, very costly. Leaning on the arm of the flesh,
any form of compromise of God's truth and of God's glory is costly,
always costly. Look at verse three. Therefore,
therefore, you chose to put your trust in the Egyptians. Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame. and to trust in
the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his, Judah's princes, were
at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hades. They were all
ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help,
nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach. The burden of the
beast of the south into the land of trouble and anguish, from
which come the young and old lion, the viper and the flying
serpent. They will carry their riches
upon the shoulders of young asses and their treasures, that is
the treasures of Israel, of Judah, upon the bunches of camels to
a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall
help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this people, their strength is to sit still. The arm of flesh
will fail you. It always has, it always will. All who trust the creature. It
doesn't matter whether you're talking about worldly power,
worldly riches, worldly influence, philosophy, logic, your own knowledge,
your own reason. All who trust the arm of the
flesh, sooner or later will find it piercing them like a reed
under their arms. Pharaoh and the Egyptians didn't
require much from Judah for their alliance. They just said, tell
you what, we'll help you. All you've got to give us is
everything. All their silver, all their gold in the temple,
in their palaces, and the children of Israel loaded it all up on
asses and camels and sent it to Pharaoh. In return, they got
nothing. Just shame and confusion. I had been told all my life as
a believer, I need to learn to not be so straight about things,
not to be so dogmatic, not to be so insistent things be done
certain way. I've been told that by friends
as well as enemies all of my life as a believer. You've got
to learn that you got to get along with people. The only people
we've got to get along with is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Nobody else. Nobody else. The only people
we've got to please is God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Nobody else. The only approval we must have
is the approval of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. No one else. Oh God, give me grace. Me, individually. ever to follow your word, your
will, and your glory. Give me grace to lead this people
in that path. And God give us grace together
to follow that path. If Jonah finds a convenient ship
with which he may flee from the face of the Lord. You can mark
it down. He must pay the fare thereof. Tell me, my brothers and sisters,
which of you have ever found yourself in a situation where
you thought it's best, well, I'll give in here. People can't
understand why I'm so insistent. You'll compromise this or compromise
that, compromise the other thing. Have you ever found a situation
when it didn't soak, that situation didn't cost you? Even one? Not one, not one, never. And we've all experienced it
because we've all done it. The princes of Judah carried
their riches down to Egypt, a land crawling with lions, vipers,
and serpents. Inhabited by a people who acted
like lions, vipers, and serpents. Because strange as it may seem,
the Egyptians actually worshiped as gods lions, and vipers, and
serpents. and Israel thought they needed
their help. They thought they needed their
help from a people who worship snakes and lions. How foolish we are when we think
we need help from folks who do not know God. God and his word
were despised by them. Elimelech, you'll remember, in
the opening chapter of the book of Ruth, there was a time of
famine in Bethlehem, Judah, and Elimelech was a wealthy man.
Oh, he had riches. But rather than helping his brethren
by staying in Bethlehem, Judah, Elimelech took all of his wealth
and his family and ran off into the land of idolatry. And there
he lost everything. including his sons, and his wife
was brought to humiliation. I know two men who back in the
late 40s and early 50s attended school, I think it was in the
late 40s and early 50s, at least early 50s, and graduated from
Lexington Baptist College. One of them was Scott Richardson.
And Scott went to Fairmont, West Virginia, and they started that
church there. Actually, he was pastor of another
church for a little while, and they kicked him out, and they
started Katie Baptist Church at Fairmont. And he served as
their pastor until he was an old man, and the church is still
thriving under Brother Marvin Stoner and his ministry. The
other man pastored for a little while. but decided he couldn't
live on what God was providing him as a passenger, so he went
into business and made boostscootles of money. Made boostscootles
of money. And when he decided to retire,
he did everything he could to get himself into the ministry
once he had everything. And he died a miserable old man. Compromise is always costly. Isaiah's word, no God's word
to us, in all times of trouble, trial and need is this, the strength
is to sit still. Moses said to Israel as they
were standing at the Red Sea stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord Jehoshaphat said to Israel the battle is not yours.
The Lord will fight for you stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord children of God hear me Pastor hear yourself Hear
God our strength is to sit still Stand still and watch God work
Stand still and watch God perform his will. Stand still and see
what God does. When you don't know what to do,
your strength is to trust God and set still. When you're in
trouble, your strength is to trust Christ and set still. When you're at your wits end,
your strength is to take refuge in the rock of ages and set still. When Satan roars loud against
you and all hell breaks loose against you, your strength is
to lean upon the arm of the Lord and sit still. When you can do
nothing, that's the thing to do. When you can do nothing,
that's the thing to do. Your strength is to sit still
and quietly wait for God to work. All right, here's the second
thing. verses 8 to 17. Even when the Lord's children
act like rebels, God our Father, the Father of mercies, the God
of all grace, our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, call us
to return to Him and rest. Now go. write it before them
in a table, and note it in a book, and it may be for the time to
come, forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people.
Lying children. Children that will not hear the
law of the Lord. which say to the seers, see not,
and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. Speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits. Get you out of the way, turn
aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease
from before us. Pastor, please now just quit
preaching what you preach Get God out of our way. We can function
just fine as Israel's rebellion dissent Descended like blood
in their veins from father to son generation after generation
They needed a standing message written out in a book so that
they and future generations would ever be reminded of their sins
and of God's mercy. What God by his prophet said
to one applied to all. Isaiah's message needed to be
written down for all future peoples to see and read. Because in every
generation there are countless hireling preachers who are glad
to accommodate their message to the desires of the folks they
preach to. And any preacher who is willing
to accommodate his message to the desires of the preacher,
the people he preaches to, is a hireling. My dear friend, Brother
Bob Lips, when I first came here, you folks who were here knew
Brother Bob, I saw him just before he died, we had a good visit,
but he's a dear friend, dear friend. And he said to me one
day, not long after we moved to Danville, I was out at his
shop and we were talking, Mother Donna, I'm just not sure about
this thing of limited atonement. And we were scraping to get by. We were scraping, Bob was a fairly
wealthy fellow. He was scraping to get by. I
didn't want to drive him off, but I sure wish he hadn't told
me that. So the next Sunday morning, he heard a sermon on limited
atonement. And Sunday night, he heard a sermon on limited
atonement. And Tuesday night, he heard a sermon on limited
atonement. And Sunday morning, he heard a sermon on limited
atonement. It went on for six services. He walked out the door
the last Sunday morning. He said, Brother Don, I get it.
I see that now. I was determined, determined. I will not be influenced,
not by anybody, as to what's to be preached from this pulpit.
It won't happen as God gives me grace. How come? Because the
glory of God and the souls of men, the truth of God is at stake. Look at verse 12. Wherefore thus
saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise this word
and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereo. Therefore this
iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in
a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant, and he
shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel that is
broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there
shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard, that is a shard,
a piece of broken pottery. There won't be a piece of pottery
big enough to take fire from the hearth or to take water withal
out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel. In returning and rest ye shall
be saved. In quietness and confidence shall
be your strength. And ye would not. But ye said,
no, we always do. For we will flee upon horses,
therefore shall ye flee. And we will ride upon the swift,
therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 1,000 shall flee
at the rebuke of one, and the rebuke of five shall you flee,
till you'd be left as a beacon, a warning, like a blazing fire
upon the top of the mountain, as an instant on a hill. This
is the result of unbelief. This is the result of disobedience. This is the result of rebellion. Be warned, my friends. You can't
take fire to your bosom and not get burned. You can't walk in
the counsel of the ungodly and not be brought to shame. You
can't lean upon the arm of the flesh and not fall. You can't
reject the counsel of God and not suffer. Still, even in the
teeth of sins without number, Rebellion without restraint,
waywardness without limit, the God of all grace, oh, how gracious,
calls for sinners to return to him and promises rest to all
who do. For thus saith the Lord, God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest. shall you be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength and you would not. Salvation comes to sinners, saved
sinners and sinners who've not yet been saved. Salvation comes
to sinners by returning to God by faith in Christ and finding
rest in Him. This applies to you and to me. Wherever you are, whatever your
rebellion, whatever your act of unbelief, whatever your course
of unbelief, the Lord God says, in returning and rest, you shall
be saved. Here's the third thing. Verse
18 through 26. The Lord our God, our Savior,
our Heavenly Father, is the ever-gracious God who waits to be gracious. And
therefore, because you said no, because you will not return,
therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto
you. And therefore will he be exalted. I'm positive he's talking
about the exaltation of Christ, our risen Lord, that he may have
mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment,
of wisdom. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. For the people shall dwell in
Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more. He will
be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he
shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, in his
grace and mercy, he's gonna make you suffer. He's gonna make you
hurt. He's gonna take Pharaoh and the Egyptians and you're
gonna suffer for it. Yet shall not thy teachers be
removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy
teachers. And when God sends his messenger
and teaches you, then thine ears shall hear a word behind thee.
Saying this is the way. Walking in it. When you turn
to the right hand and when you turn to the left. You've been
disobedient. You've been rebellious. You've compromised and you know
it. And then you hear the word. God
sends you to hear the message and you hear God speak. He says,
this is the way. Come back to me. This is the
way, trust my son. This is the way, be reconciled
to God and walk in it. When you turn to the right hand
and when you turn to the left. You shall defile also the covering
of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten
images of gold, those vipers and serpents and lions the Egyptians
worship. You will defile their covering. Thou shalt cast them away as
a minstrel's cloth. This is what I think of your
religion. Thou shalt say unto it, get thee hence. Then shall
he give the rain. thy seed. And thou shalt sow
the ground withal, and bread, the bread of the increase of
the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall
thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young
asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath
been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. All of those
things speak of carnal, material things, prosperity, provision,
but they speak of more. They speak of more. They're talking
about something spiritual. How do you know? Read verse 25.
And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every
high hill rivers and streams of water. Now, I used to live
in the mountains, and I've been across a lot of mountains, but
I'll tell you what I've never seen on a high mountain. I've never seen
a river. Rivers flow in ballets. But God's
provision is supernatural provision. And he provides for us that which
is unlikely and unexpected by any carnal sense. There shall
be on every high hill, on every high mountain, rivers and streams
of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. That's when the towers of both
the Assyrians and the Egyptians fall. Moreover, the light of
the moon, when God speaks and causes you to hear, the light
of the moon that was darkness shall be the light of the sun
to you. And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as it's
the light of seven days. and the day that the Lord bindeth
up the breach of his people, when he healeth the stroke of
their wound. My friend by the Thames James
years ago made this statement. He said, God looks upon the sins
of his people, not as crimes to be punished, but as sicknesses
to be healed. He heals the wound he has made. He waits to be gracious, but
if he waited for us to return on our own, we never would and
never could. Oh, my soul rejoice. The Lord
himself it is who binds up the breach and heals the stroke of
our wound. Observe and stand in awe. before
God as you meditate upon his wondrous works of grace. The
Lord breaks out in love and grace before his children drop the
weapons of sin. Not only does the Lord wait to
be gracious, but to be very gracious. Not only does he delight in mercy,
he yearns to pardon, to forgive, and to embrace his erring ones.
Though often the Lord seems to frail, giving us the bread of
adversity we have earned and the water of affliction we've
earned. Everlasting love is the source
of that bread and the source of that water. Turn for just
a minute to this marvelous text I love so well in Micah chapter
seven. Micah chapter seven, verse eight. Brother Don, you sit down some
stern lessons. Yes, indeed. How do you measure up? Oh, my
God. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it prone to leave the God I love. But I have confidence. Rebel
children of God have a gracious father. Micah 7, verse 8. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, and I will, all
you gotta do is wait, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness,
the Lord shall be lightened to me. I will hear the indignation
of the Lord because I've sinned against him. I'll sit still and
wait until he plead my call. and execute judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the
light, and I shall behold his righteousness. When the Lord
God our Savior turns us, we shall be turned. When he calls us,
we shall run after him. When he gives the hearing ear
and the seeing eye, causing those who are called of God to hear
the word behind them, He causes Christ afresh to be
formed in us, and causes His grace afresh to be poured upon
us, and He gives us fresh hope and fresh joy we could not have
known otherwise. Our God is faithful, and He will
never suffer His faithfulness to fail. He will be gracious. He will hear your cry. He will
teach you to walk in his way. He will revive his people. He
will pour out the rain of his grace. He will give abundant
light. He will heal our wounds. And then we read in verses 27
through 30, that when God gives grace, he always gives his chosen
a song in the night. A song to help us through the
night. Behold, the name of the Lord
cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof
is heavy. His lips are full of indignation. His tongue is a devouring fire,
and his breath, as an overflowing steam, shall reach to the midst
of the neck to sift the nations with a sieve of vanity, and there
shall be a bridle in the jaws of his people, causing them to
err. Yes, even our falls and our rebellion
are things performed by us according to God's purpose for our good. If that gives you trouble, you'll
just have to live with trouble. Give me great peace. Ye shall
have a song as in the night. when a holy solemnity is kept,
and gladness of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come
into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty one of Israel.
And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and
shall show the lightning down of his arm, the lighting down
of his arm. He will cause you to sing. He'll cause you to be glad. He'll
show you how he works with his mighty arm. And he'll do this
with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring
fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones. One last thing,
verses 31 through 35. The Lord, our God, our heavenly
Father, will do us good. He will destroy our enemies,
even the old man in us. He will destroy all who oppose
his people, all who oppose Zion. Zion must be triumphant. The woman's seed Yes, that's
Christ. I'll tell you who else it is.
It is we who are one with Christ. Look up here. You're looking
at man who is the seed of woman. I'm one with Christ. The woman's
seed must crush the serpent's head. and the God of peace will
brew Satan under your heels shortly. God's people, in all things,
in all their ways, amidst all their falls, in spite of all
our repentance, God's people shall triumph at last. Greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world. He who
is in you, Christ, the hope of glory, rules the universe, and
we shall triumph in him and with him. Let's just read these last
three verses. Verse 31, for through the voice
of the Lord, by the preaching of the gospel, shall the Assyrian,
all hell be beaten down. which smote with a rod. And in
every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord
shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabris and hearts, and
in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet, that's
a burying place in Egypt, a place of the dead in Egypt, a place
where they bury people. Hell. For hell is ordained of
old. Yea, for the king it is prepared.
He hath made it deep and large, God did. The pile thereof is
fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like
steam, a steam of brimstone, doth kindle it. The Lord hath
triumphed gloriously. his horse and his rider hath
he cast into the sea. So Moses said, so we sing, and
so God's church All the host of God's elect shall sing to
God's praise when we stand with Christ our Redeemer in the last
great day and the beast and the false prophet are cast into hell
and shut up forever in the place prepared by God for the damned. And we will sing as Brother Merle
read back in the office a little while ago, Alleluia, Alleluia,
The salvation of our God is done and our God is glorified. Amen.