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Tom Harding

Our God Will Abundantly Pardon

Isaiah 55:6-13
Tom Harding November, 17 2021 Audio
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Isaiah 55:6-13
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

The sermon "Our God Will Abundantly Pardon," preached by Tom Harding, centers on the doctrine of God's abundant mercy and forgiveness as presented in Isaiah 55:6-13. Harding emphasizes that God, described as "ready to pardon," provides grace specifically for sinners who seek Him, showcasing the core Reformed belief in salvation by grace alone through faith. He draws upon various Scripture, including Psalm 86:5 and Nehemiah 9:17, to illustrate the point that God's willingness to pardon is rooted in His unchanging nature and glory. The practical significance of this message lies in the call for believers to actively seek God, repent, and turn from their wicked ways while fully relying on the assurance that all sins can be abundantly forgiven through Christ’s atonement.

Key Quotes

“Our God says he will abundantly, abundantly pardon.”

“Grace is for the guilty. Mercy is for the miserable. Salvation is for sinners.”

“Salvation is not by what we do. Salvation is not due. Salvation is done.”

“True saving faith is continually looking unto the Lord.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Highlighting the message from
the words found in verse 7, the last part of verse 7. Our God
will abundantly pardon. Our God. Now, I don't know about
the God of this world, but the God of Scripture, the God of
Holy Scripture, our God says he will abundantly, abundantly
pardon. God does everything You know,
He does everything in an abundant way. He will abundantly pardon. I'm interested in pardon because
I'm a sinner. By nature, I'm guilty. By nature,
I've sinned and come short of the glory of God. I need pardon. Grace is for the guilty. Mercy
is for the miserable. Salvation is for sinners. If
you're a sinner, how about good news? Christ died for the ungodly. Our God will abundantly pardon.
In Nehemiah 9, 17, don't turn, let me just quote this to you.
These words are found. Thou art a God ready to pardon,
gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. I would
have you turn to this scripture, Psalm 86, turn over there. We'll
be studying Wednesday evening, we'll be studying Psalm 86. But we find this statement in
Psalm 86 verse 5. For thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive. He's ready to pardon. He's good
and ready to forgive. And he's plenteous in mercy unto
all them that call upon him. Calling upon the name of the
Lord. The Lord is ready to forgive,
ready to pardon. He will abundantly pardon. I
give thanks unto the Lord." Our Lord and our God has always been
that way because He does not change. He's eternally the same
from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, He said, I'm the
Lord. I do not, I do not, I cannot change. He's always been ready
to pardon. Those who are in need of mercy. Need of mercy. Now we learned
from our message last week that the Lord our God shall call out
His covenant people, as we read in verse 5, thou shalt call a
nation, a nation, a nation of His elect, a nation chosen in
Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, and they shall
run unto the Lord thy God. We run to him. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of God's power. We read a moment ago in
John chapter 6, he said, all that the Father hath given to
me, those covenant people given to me, they shall run to me. They shall come unto me. And
those that come unto me, he said, I will never, no, never forsake
them. I will never, no, never cast
them out. And he gives us three reasons.
found in verse 5, he said, because I am the Lord thy God. Salvation is his doing. Salvation
is of the Lord. He planned it, he purposed it,
he provides it, and he applies it. Because I am the Lord thy
God, I'll call you and you will run unto me and rest in me. Secondly, he said, because he
is the Holy One of Israel. He came to accomplish our salvation. He didn't come to make it just
a possibility. He came to actually accomplish
our salvation. I'm the Holy One of Israel. He's the only one that can make
us righteous in God's sight. And then thirdly, and here's
the bottom line, in all things that He does, found in the last
part of verse 5, Isaiah 55, for He, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath glorified the Father in
all things." That's the bottom line. Of all things that God
does is His glory, isn't it? His glory. His glory. Our Lord
prayed in John 17 in His priestly prayer. He said, Father, I've
glorified Thee on the earth. I've finished the work You gave
Me to do. And the reason that sinners seek
Him, call upon Him, and run to Him, you know why? He has been
exalted in our heart, in our soul. Therefore we run unto him. We read in scripture, Colossians
chapter one, Christ in you, Christ in you, in you. is a hope of
glory. Now the fruit and effect and
the reason of the Lord accomplishing our salvation and then calling
us unto himself by his purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ before the foundation of the world are found in these
next verses. Verse 6 and following. Look at
verse 6. Isaiah 55, seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord while you have
breath, while he may be found, where he is found, and call upon
him while he is near." Now our running and our seeking and our
calling upon him is a fruit and the effect of him accomplishing
salvation for his covenant people. He's called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light that we should show forth the praises
of Him who has called us, translated us out of the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Now notice this carefully
in verse 6. It says, Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. You see, every
blessing Forgiveness, righteousness, every blessing we need. Salvation,
every blessing we need. All spiritual blessings are found
in Him. We're not to seek the blessings,
we are to seek to bless over the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenlies in Christ
Jesus. So seek ye the Lord, all blessings
are found in Him. This book teaches this. In Him
dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily. In Him all fullness dwells
and we are complete in Christ Jesus. In John chapter 1, John
the Baptist says of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His fullness,
the fullness of all salvation is found in Him. I want to be
found in Him. Don't you? Salvation found in
Him. Seek ye the Lord of His fullness,
have we all received grace? For grace, because of His fullness. Seek ye the Lord, Jehovah, God
our Savior. In Matthew chapter 6, when the
Lord is teaching in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, this statement is made. The Lord
said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. and his righteousness."
Now who's he talking about? The king in the kingdom and his
righteousness seek that first, almost, always. And all these
things, other things, he said, I'll take care of that too. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you." The Lord knows that we have need
of shelter, food, clothing, these things. But seek ye the Lord.
Now listen to these scriptures. This is God's instruction to
His covenant people who have been called out of darkness,
who run unto him, and they do seek him. Psalm 34, just listen,
sit still and listen. I'll read them to you. Psalm
34 verse 10, you can drop these down if you want to. The young
lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. Psalm 105, glory in his holy
name, let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Psalm 105 says, Seek ye the Lord
and His strength. Seek His face forevermore. Eagerly pursue Him. All blessings
are found in Him. And then it says in our text,
Call upon Him. How do we call upon the Lord?
Well, we call upon Him in prayer, don't we? We call out in our
heart by faith, looking to Christ to provide all things for us. Call upon Him while He is near.
I'll have you turn to the book of Psalms again. Turn back over
here to Psalm, look at Psalm 18. Call upon Him. David said in Psalm 116, I will
take the cup of salvation, I'll call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 18. Look at verse 1. I will love
thee, O Lord, my strength. For the Lord is my rock and my
fortress, my deliverer, my God, and my strength, in whom I'll
trust. You see, all fullness is in Him. He's my buckler. He's
my horn of my salvation. He's the power of my salvation.
He's my refuge. He's my high tower. Verse 3,
I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will call upon the
Lord. You ever call upon Him? His people do constantly. I will
call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be
saved from my enemies. I will seek the Lord. I will
call upon Him. I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will call upon the name of the
Lord. Psalm 116 says, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of
thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. And all of
you know this scripture very well. Romans chapter 10 says
this, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, they
shall be saved. I'm going to call upon the name.
Now, make sure you call upon the name of the Lord as He revealed
in His holy book, His holy word. You see, seeking the Lord and
calling upon the name of the Lord and coming to the Lord,
repenting, of all that we are and think and have and said and
done, everything that constantly repenting. This seeking the Lord
and calling upon Him and coming to Him and believing Him is not
some isolated one-time experience. It's not. Not true faith. True faith is constantly in our
heart coming unto the Lord, running unto the Lord. True saving faith
is continually looking unto the Lord. coming unto Him, resting
in Him. It's not something that happened
way in the past one isolated time. It's the constant life
of every believer. We continually seek Him. We are continually calling upon
the name of the Lord, always looking to Him, always believing
Him, always loving Him. That's the life of a believer,
seeking the Lord, coming to Him, believing Him, always while He
is near. See, He's neither of them of
a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite spirit. Now, While we're seeking the
Lord, and coming to Him, calling upon Him, and running unto Him,
looking unto Him, He said, look unto Me and be ye saved. Remember
Isaiah 45? Oh, ye the ends of the earth,
for I am God, there is none else. While we're doing that, I tell
you what else happens. Look at verse 7. It causes us
to forsake. our own wicked way and our own
wicked thoughts. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn or return unto
the Lord. What is this turning? It's repentance,
repentance, repentance and God will have mercy upon him and
to our God, for He will abundantly, abundantly, abundantly pardon."
Now there, what we read here is more the fruit of that salvation
that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for us and that
God works in us by the power of His grace. We not only seek
Him, call upon Him sincerely and constantly for all salvation,
but believers gladly forsake our former wicked idolatry, our
former wicked ways, our former religious pride, our former wicked
thoughts, and we count, as the Apostle Paul says, we count all
of our former religious idolatry as dung and rubbish that we may
win Christ and be found in Him. We do forsake our wicked way.
We do forsake our evil thoughts. And let us, and we do by His
grace, we turn to the Lord for all pardon, forgiveness, and
salvation. We look to Him. Now let's take
a closer look at these two things here that's mentioned. Let us
forsake our wicked and evil way. Our way. Our way. Now, Because
of our fallen rotten nature, we have this tendency in our
heart to say, it's my way. I want it my way or no way. That's a deadly thing when it
comes to salvation. Because I tell you, my way, left
to myself, my thought is always contrary to God's way and his
thoughts. So, those who were taught of
God, blessed of God, to seek Him, to call upon Him, we do
forsake our evil way. The Scripture says there is a
way that seems right unto men, the way that appeals to the flesh.
What is that way that appeals to the flesh? Works, self-glory,
self-righteousness. But the Lord said the end of
that way, that way, you know what it is? Death. I don't want
to go that way. Nothing more evil before God
Almighty than to seek salvation apart from the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Nothing more wicked and evil
in God's presence than to seek salvation in something else other
than what God has provided. What has God provided? Everything
for us in Christ. It's an insult to the high and
holy God to seek salvation apart from His provision. His provision
is Christ. Let us forsake our evil way and
let us by His grace embrace and receive the right way. What is
the right way? The Lord said in John 14, I am
the way. Not a way, I am the way, the
life, and the truth. Now, look at the second part
of that verse seven. So let us forsake our wicked
way, and let us forsake, be done with our unrighteous thoughts,
our thoughts. You say, preacher, you can't
condemn a man for his thoughts. I can't see what you're thinking,
but I'm not the judge. God knows your heart. God will
condemn you for your thoughts. Your wrong thoughts. Let us forsake
and abandon our wrong and evil thoughts. Our Lord said to those Pharisees,
you are they that justify yourselves before men. But that which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
God. Those who are seeking the Lord
and calling upon Him and running to Him, by His grace we have
abandoned all wrong thoughts of God because we have been taught
of God. He's been our teacher. He is
the lesson. Salvation's in Him. By His grace,
believers have forsaken their thoughts about the way we think that it
ought to be. Let us forsake and abandon our
own wicked and evil ways. Let's forsake and abandon our
thoughts that are contrary to the God of Scripture. God, the God that's found and
taught in this Holy Word, His Holy Bible. God is not who we think He is.
He's who He is. as he's revealed in his book.
Holy. Holy. Sovereign. He will have mercy
on whom he will. He's eternal. His gospel is an everlasting
gospel. Let us forsake and abandon our
evil thoughts about God, the true and living God. Let us forsake
our evil thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not some weak,
pitiful Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
almighty Savior. He is almighty to save. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come to make salvation a possibility. The
Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished salvation with His blood and
with His sacrifice and with His death. He said, I've obtained
eternal redemption for you. That He has obtained eternal
redemption for us with His own blood. We need to forsake our
wicked thoughts about the God of the Bible. We need to forsake
our wicked thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not some
weak, pitiful Savior. He's almighty to save. We need
to forsake our thoughts about our own self. We think too highly
of ourselves and we think too low of Him. You see, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understand,
there's none that left to themselves that seek after the Lord. None. Forsaking our way and our thoughts,
which by nature are contrary to the way of grace. Forsaking
our way and our thoughts is a miracle of God's grace that He works
in our heart when He teaches us the truth. It's a miracle
of grace. It's a drastic change that God
brings about by His power through the preaching of the Word, through
the teaching of the Holy Spirit. He changes our thoughts, which
changes our life, which changes our way. This is a miracle of grace, the
miracle that grace works in us. You see, He changes our mind
about who He is, our thoughts about who He is. He causes us
to have a change of not only a change of mind, but a change
of masters. No longer serve self, we serve
the Lord. We bow to His Lordship. This
miracle of grace causes us not only to change our mind, our
thoughts, Change, it's a change of masters, but a change of manners. A change of manners. If anybody
be in Christ, those who are in Christ are new creatures. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things become new. And it causes us to have a change
of motives. Grace changes our mind, our master,
our manners, our motives. What motivates a believer? Is
it fear of punishment? Is it promise of reward? What
motivates you? I'll tell you what motivates
God's people. Christ. We're motivated by love. You know, love is a strong motivator. Oh, love is a strong motivator.
Believers love the Lord Jesus Christ. He is altogether lovely
and they're highly motivated. By His love. You see, we love
Him because He first loved us. And then it says in verse 7,
let us turn to the Lord in repentance and faith. Repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let him turn to the Lord.
Turn to the Lord. Turn from yourself. Turn from
your way. Turn from your thoughts. That's repentance. That's not
something that we do naturally. Repentance is a gift of God.
Faith is a gift of God that causes us to change our thinking, change
our mind, change our thoughts, and to turn unto the Lord for
all things. Now make sure you understand
this. This repentance and this turning and believing God is
a gift of God, not something that happens naturally. Faith
and repentance are His sovereign gifts. He gives it to whom He
will. Both faith and repentance, you
know what they do? They both have the same characteristic.
True, saving faith that's God-given, the faith of God's elect, you
know what it does? It acknowledges the true and living God. It acknowledges
that salvation is all of the Lord. Same thing with true, God-given
repentance. It acknowledges that salvation
is of the Lord. True faith, true repentance are
His sovereign gifts. They both acknowledge that salvation
is the working of God, by the grace of God. Now, look at the
last part of verse 7. So we turn to the Lord, we, by
His grace, we seek Him, we call upon Him, we forsake our wicked
way, we forsake our wicked thoughts, and we turn to the Lord, and
you know what He does? He has mercy upon us. And to
our God, for He will abundantly, abundantly pardon. Now here's
the fruit of the Lord's gracious call, which causes us to eagerly
seek salvation and motivates us to call upon Him. He will
have mercy upon us. You need mercy. You know what
the Lord says? Come boldly unto the throne of
grace that you may obtain mercy, thine grace to help in time of
need. He will have mercy. I need mercy. You see, it's of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saves us. Mercy. If you ever take your place before
the throne of God as a mercy beggar, And like the publican
in the temple, God have mercy upon me, the sinner. The sinner. I've never read in scripture
where the Lord has turned away a mercy beggar. A mercy beggar. Blind Bartimaeus set by the wayside. Heard about the Lord Jesus coming
through, and he cried out. He called, seeking the Lord.
Have mercy upon me, thou son of David. And his friend said,
Artimaeus, he doesn't have time for you. Why don't you just hush?
And he cried out to more. Why'd he cry out? He had a need.
He knew the master, the Lord Jesus, could meet that need.
And he called out to more. Thou son of David, have mercy
upon me. And the Lord stood still. And
said, Bartimaeus, what do you need? Oh, that I might see. The
Lord said, okay. Gave him sight to see. He will
have mercy. Call upon him. Seek him. And
then it says the second part of that, he will abundantly forgive,
abundantly pardon. How can he pardon and forgive
all our sin? How can he do that? You know, he does it justly.
He justly forgives our sin. You know why? The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin because He paid
the debt for my sin. He took all my sin unto Himself
and made full atonement, full satisfaction. Upon that basis
of His full payment, He forgives our sin. He will abundantly pardon. Abundantly
pardon. Turn back to Psalm 130 again.
The book of Psalms 130 this time. He will abundantly pardon. Call
upon Him. He will abundantly pardon. Look
at Psalm 130. Look at verse 7. Psalm 130, verse 7. I would encourage you to read
this whole psalm. It's short, but look at verse 7. Let Israel
hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy. There is mercy. And with him
is plenteous redemption, deliverance from sin. He shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities. One other psalm. We studied this
Wednesday night. Turn to Psalm 85 this time. Psalm
85. By him all that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Acts chapter 13. Look at Psalm
85 verse 1. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob thy people. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin, thou hast taken
away all thy wrath, thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness
of thine anger. Now, O God, turn us, O God of
our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Thou
hast covered all our sin, taken away all our iniquities. Now look back to the text again,
Isaiah 55, let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous
man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord and he will have
mercy upon him to our God for he will abundantly pardon." What
greater motive? To seek mercy where it's found,
forgiveness where it's found. Look at verse 8 and 9. For my
thoughts, God said, are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. The Lord's ways and thoughts
are so far higher, greater, superior than our puny and wicked way
and our wicked thoughts. This is evident in all things,
isn't it? But especially, especially in the way of salvation. Our
ways and our thoughts left our own thinking about salvation
are all wrong. need to be corrected of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. The foolishest none to him, neither
can he know them. God must teach us the way of
salvation. God must correct our thinking. By nature, left to ourselves,
we think that salvation is by something we do. Salvation is
not by what we do. Salvation is not due. Salvation
is done. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
salvation by Himself. Naturally, after ourselves, we
think salvation ultimately rests in the will of the sinner. That's
not so, is it? It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy. Of
his own will be he us with the word of truth. Of whose will?
His will. His will will be done. Naturally,
our ways and our thoughts are contrary to God's way and God's
thoughts. Naturally, the old natural man
thinks that Christ died for everybody, that God loves everybody. You
know, that's not so. The love of God is sovereign.
The love of God is in Christ. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. The natural man thinks that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for everybody, but that's not so. He laid down his life for
the sheep, for his elect. He said, call his name Jesus.
The scriptures declare he shall save his people from their sin.
That's why the Lord said in verse 8 and 9, my thoughts are not
your thoughts, my ways are not your ways. They're higher And
the heavens are above the earth. So are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Verse 10 and 11 of
Isaiah 55. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, it does not return there, but waters
the earth that it may bring forth, but that it may give seed to
the sower, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It
shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in a thing whereunto
I send it." Lest we might think that the sovereign purpose and
will of God might fail, We have this clear statement of fact
that God's purpose cannot fail, shall not fail, nor can He be
frustrated. Just as He sovereignly sends
the snow and rain to accomplish His purpose in the earth, so
too has He sent forth His Word to accomplish all things in salvation. The Lord sends out His Gospel,
the Lord sends out His Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall accomplish all God's
purpose. Look at verse 11 again. So shall
my word, and this can be referring to the written word, the living
word, the preached word, the Lord Jesus Christ has called
the word of God, shall go forth out of God's mouth, and it cannot,
he cannot return void, the word cannot return void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please. I like these words here, accomplish. Salvation is something the Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished. And because He accomplished salvation,
it shall prosper. Can that which He accomplished
fail? Can the purpose of God be frustrated? Can the grace of God fail? It says in Isaiah 42.4, He shall
not fail. Cannot be frustrated. Not at
all. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
the work the Father gave Him to do. He prayed that way in
John 17. Father, I've glorified Thee on
the earth. I've finished the work You gave
me to do. Christ accomplished all that
God was pleased to give Him to do on our behalf as a representative
man. What did He do? Let me give you
several things. He fulfilled the law of God for
us. Our Lord said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to
honor the law of God, and He did that as a representative
man for His covenant people. By His obedience, we are made
righteous in God's sight. He established for us an everlasting
righteousness which He freely imputes and charges and gives
to us. He fully put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. He fully justified His people
at Calvary with His own blood. He shall accomplish that which
God pleases." Now did he fail in any aspect? As a surety of
the covenant? As a savior or sacrifice of the
covenant? Did he accomplish all of God's
purpose in salvation? Absolutely so. He cannot fail. He cannot be discouraged. I like
this word here, not only, these three words here, look at them
carefully. Accomplish. Accomplish. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not an amateur Savior. He's not a rookie Savior. He's
an accomplished Savior. He shall save His people. And
then this word, please. Whatever the Lord is pleased
to do, that's what He does. That's what He does. Now you
can't say that. You can't say that of yourself. You can please to do many things.
You can say you are pleased to do many things, but there are
many things that you say that you might do that you will never
be able to do. If I could, I'd like to fly like
a bird. That would please me, but I'm
not able. I'm not able. to do so. And you
can take that illustration and stretch it out as far as you
want. But whatsoever the Lord pleases to do, that's what He
does. He works all things at the counsel
of His own will. It pleases the Lord to bruise
the Lord Jesus Christ in our room instead. It pleases God
to reveal Himself to sinners through Christ Jesus. And this
word here, accomplish, please, and then I like this word too,
prosper. You remember Isaiah 53, 10? The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Prosper, prosper. Here's the
prosperity we sing about in verses 12 and verse 13. Here's the prosperity of the
gospel that's accomplished. that which God is pleased to
work in our heart. For it says in verse 12, you
shall go out, out of bondage, out of death,
out of sin's bondage, out of the curse of the law, with joy. being delivered. He delivers
us and causes us to joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. We joy in
Him. We rejoice in the Lord, don't
we? And we have no confidence in the flesh. You shall go out
with joy, joy in your heart. And you should be led, led of
the Lord, led forth with peace. We have peace with God. Now think
about it. I may not have peace among men,
I'm interested in living as peaceable as I can among men, but that's
not the essential thing. The essential thing is that believers
have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a
fruit of the covenant of grace. The fruit of salvation. We have
joy. Joy. We rejoice in Him. We have peace with God. The mountains
shall break forth before you into singing. We sing of His
power. We sing of His grace. We sing
of Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. And all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. Who are these trees? Turn over
to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. Look at verse 3, Isaiah 61. This
is along the same thought as found in Isaiah 55. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is appointed unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty, His beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy, the oil of joy, the spirit of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. that they might be called, here's
these trees again, trees of righteousness, trees of righteousness. Now who's
righteousness? The Lord, our righteousness.
We're found in Him. That they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. That, here's the
bottom line, that He might be glorified. Everything God does,
He does for His glory. His glory. Back to the text.
Instead of the thorn, verse 13, shall come up the fir tree, instead
of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. Now I don't know
a whole lot about the fir tree and the briar tree, but I know
it's an opposite of the thorny tree and the briar. One will stick you and poke you
and irritate you, that thorny flesh, the briars of the flesh,
the briars of sin. And He gives us the fir tree,
the way of grace. He gives us the myrtle tree,
the way of peace in Christ Jesus. And this shall be to the Lord,
It shall be to the Lord for a trophy of His grace. It shall be to
the Lord for a name. God's given Him a name above
every name, that at that name every knee should bow, every
tongue should confess that He's Lord to the glory of God the
Father. It shall be to the Lord for a name. No other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's an everlasting
sign. What God does shall be forever. We shall be made trophies of
His grace forever. An everlasting sign that shall
not end. Never be cut off. He has given
us eternal salvation. He's given us everlasting pardon,
mercy. It won't end. Everlasting righteousness,
eternal redemption that shall not be cut off. Shall not end.
Tom Harding
About Tom Harding
Tom Harding is pastor of Zebulon Grace Church located at 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky 41501. You may also contact him by telephone at (606) 631-9053, or e-mail taharding@mikrotec.com. The website address is www.henrytmahan.com.

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