Number 21, the Covenant, Ordered
Ensure. Familiar hymn. Let's all stand
together. Number 21. The Father, and the Son, and
the Spirit, three in one. In eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast. God my Father chose His own in
the person of His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly,
Stood as my great surety, For my price He offered blood, To
appease the wrath of sin. ? God the Spirit heavenly dove
? ? Promised to come down in love ? ? Bringing life and peace
and grace ? ? To the chosen church's praise ? ? He seeks the lost,
heals the lame ? ? And he brings us to the Lamb ? By His mighty
sovereign call, God's elect are gathered. This poor sinner is
secure, for God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's
own Word, by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant
God, I am yours by tithes of blood. Please be seated. Don't you love that hymn? That's such a clear, glorifying gospel
message. that not everybody would be able
to sing that hymn, but we can. We can with some understanding
and with some great joy, and I'm very thankful. I want to begin this hour in
Isaiah chapter 55. If you'd like to turn with me
there in your Bibles, Isaiah chapter 55. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. Our Heavenly Father, how much we need Thee to enable
us to worship You. Lord, we need You to open the
eyes of our understanding. We need You to open that which
we are not able to open, and which, when you do open it, no
man can shut. Lord, open the windows of heaven.
Lord, open your word and enable us to find our hope and our rest
in the glorious person of thy dear son. Lord, that covenant
of grace that he established with you in eternity past when
he promised to be the surety of his people. Lord, confirm
to our hearts by your word and by your spirit that we are thy
people. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Isaiah chapter 55, At verse one, ho, that's sort of like behold with
an exclamation mark. Behold, take special notice of
this. This is so critical to your soul
and so glorious to God. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
you thirsty? Have you tried drinking from
the polluted cisterns of this world and didn't satisfy your
soul? You need some water clear as
crystal that flows from the throne of God? Yo, you that are thirsty,
come, come ye to the waters, that inexhaustible well of living
water. Come, come to Christ. And you that have no money, you
have nothing to offer God for his blessing. You're poor and
needy. You're broke. Haven't got anything
to offer. Come ye. In spite of the fact
that you have nothing to give to God, come. Buy and eat. Yay, come buy wine. Joy, the
Spirit of God. Milk, the sustenance of Christ
and His Word. Without money and without price. Now that word price means to
barter. It means to barter. How oftentimes
we are tempted to barter with God. Lord, if you'll do this,
I'll do that. Try to strike deals with God.
Now here's the problem with bartering with God. We barter with one
another. You've perhaps done that before. Any of you that are in a trade,
I'm sure have bartered with a customer. I'll do this for you. I have
the skill. And in return, you'll do this
for me. You have a skill that I need.
And it's bartering. It's common, common practice
among men. Here's the problem with bartering
with God. You and I have nothing he needs, nothing he wants. We don't have anything to offer
on our side of the table. We are completely dependent upon
him. And so he says, when you come
to the rivers of living water, don't come with any price to
be paid. The price has already been paid.
The precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has already been
shed. Everything that God requires has already been offered. And
don't come bartering with God. Don't come thinking that you've
got something to offer God. He doesn't need anything you've
got. And you need everything that he has. I've titled this
message, All Things Are of God. And I get that from 2 Corinthians
5, verse 18. And here's the glorious truth,
brethren. If we are to give anything to
God, he must first give that to us. That's so simple. I remember
hearing a pastor friend whose church was struggling financially
at the time. And he said, yeah, I had to give
in order to get paid. And I thought, well, you know,
isn't that the way it is with God? If we're gonna have anything
to give Him, He's gonna have to give to us. God only accepts from us that
which He provides. And, you know, it's sort of like
in the book of Genesis, particularly in the first few verses, the
first few chapters, well, we could say the first few verses,
the whole gospel is there. But think about creation. After
each day, when the Lord sat back and looked at what he created,
he said, and it was good. And it was good. And at the end
of creation, he saw it all and he said, and it was very good. Here's the point. God is pleased
with what he does. He delights in what he has done. He requires absolute perfection
and only he can provide that. And so if we have anything to
give, We're gonna have to, like this
church I made reference to, we're gonna have to first have it be
given unto us. He's pleased with his work. Now let's just begin with what
we're doing right now, what we're hoping to do, worship, worship. A man and woman can come to church
in the power of their own flesh. They can make a commitment and
dedication to get up and get ready and make the effort to
be here. And can come and sit down and
yet to worship God. To worship God. I mean, we need
God for all those things I just mentioned in terms of we need
him to give us breath and desire and interest, but I'm just saying
that there's a difference between the efforts that's made to get
here and what we're hoping to do when we are here. The woman at the well in John
chapter 4 said, You know, talking to the Lord,
she said, you know, you're, you Jews say that we have to worship
in Jerusalem, but my father say, no, here in Samaria on this Mount
Gerizim is where we should worship. And the Lord said, the place
you worship is not important. It's how you worship. It's how
you worship. The true worshiper must worship
God in spirit and in truth. for such the father seeketh after. Now that doesn't mean that the
father's looking for those who have a spiritual interest in
worshiping and have an understanding of the truth so that he can bring
them into his worship. No, no, if we're gonna have the
spirit of God, the Lord is going to have to give it to us. If
we're going to have any understanding of the truth of the gospel in
terms of who God is and who we are and how it is that God's
pleased to remit sin. And with any understanding, he's
going to have to give it to us. so that to worship God, to them
the Father seeketh after, he is the one who seeks us out and
gives to us his spirit and reveals to us his truth and enables us
to come into this place and enter into worship. So the worship
that we have is given to us of God. A man can
receive nothing except to be given to him from heaven. So
all things are of the Lord. We don't barter with God when
we come to church. We don't say, Lord, I'll go to
church and I'll do this and I'll do that if you'll do the other
and try to make a deal with God. Come without money and without
price. No, we come in hopes that the Lord will enable us to worship
him. Lord, worship is a spiritual
work of grace that you've got to do in my heart. How many times
have you come to church and sat there and had a million things
on your mind and never were able to enter into anything spiritual? and you left and soon forgot
everything, and the seeds that were planted were plucked away
by the birds of the air, and you just went about your life.
We've all had that experience too many times. Might the Lord
cause us to realize and to believe, Lord, if I'm gonna worship, you're
gonna have to give it to me. You're gonna have to enable me What about prayer? God has to set our hearts to
prayer. You know, when someone asks us to pray, our response
ought to be, I will as the Lord enables me, as the Lord enables
me. How many vain repetitions have
we all offered to God? How many words have we spoken
that just bounced off the brass ceiling and never made it into
glory? Why? Because those prayers weren't
given to us. You see, God accepts only that
which he provides, and he sees that it's good. And so when he
works in our hearts, what I'm saying is, Lord, give me words
to speak. Put words in my mouth. Lord,
enable me to pray. Lord, I can't pray. I can't pray. Turn with me to Job chapter 23. Job chapter 23. Job is desperately
trying to understand what's happening to him. And
he can't find the words to express his desire before the Lord. And when he does speak, he makes
accusations against God that what he's experiencing is not
fair. His prayers are not given to
him from God. And so in Job chapter 23, beginning
at verse 1, then Job answered and said, Oh, that I knew where I might
find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my
cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would
know the words which he would answer me and understand that
which he would say unto me. Oh, if I just knew where God
was, if I knew the words that I should speak unto him, if he
would just reveal himself unto me, And he does. He does. Elihu comes and preaches the
gospel to Job, and then God begins to speak to Job. And God begins
to interrogate Job and ask Job, he said, who is this that darkens
my counsel without knowledge? Oh, Job, brace yourself like
a man, and I'll ask you a few questions. And when God's finished,
what does Job say? Behold, I had spoken without
understanding." Turn to me to Job chapter 42. Job chapter 42. God's finished speaking, and
now Job is gonna pray. Job's gonna pray this time. He
hadn't prayed yet. He's been speaking a lot of words.
He's been complaining. He'd been bellyaching, but he
hadn't really prayed yet. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that thou canst do everything that no thought
can be withholding from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will, and that word demand
means ask. I will ask. thee and thou shalt
declare unto me I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear but now mine eyes seeth thee wherefore and here's the last
thing Job says wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes and the Lord blesses him that's True prayer. True prayer is when God works
the work of grace in our hearts and causes us to not just offer
up our complaints and our defenses, but to bow before him as a sinner,
saying, Lord, I abhor myself. Whatever you do is right. Lord,
I'm completely dependent upon you. Lord, I need Christ. I need your mercy. I need your
grace. That's the spirit that the Lord
gives when we're able to pray. All things are of the Lord. David put it like this in Psalm
19. He said, let the words of my
mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy
sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer. I have no power. I have no hope of redemption
unless you give it to me. What am I saying? Be afraid to
pray? No. No, pour out your soul. But know, know this, that true
worship and true prayer is a work of grace in the heart. And God
only accepts that which he provides. We are dependent upon him, aren't
we? Come without money and without price. Don't barter with God. Don't think that God's going
to reward us because of the sincerity of our prayers. Lord, if I'm
going to pray, you're going to have to, you're going to have
to enable me. You're going to have to cause me to pray. My
words are vain. My words are empty. My thoughts
are without understanding. Lord, fill my mouth with arguments. fill my mouth with thy word,
that they might be acceptable in thy sight." And we're talking
about what we're doing right now. All things are of God. All things are of God. And the
gospel preacher knows that so, so deeply and so experientially. If the Lord doesn't give me a
message, I've got nothing to say. Nothing to say, completely
dependent upon him to open my heart, to open his word, to give
a word for the season and for God's people. And whatever benefits,
spiritual benefits, whatever profit this experience is to
your soul, it came from the Lord. It came from the Lord. We thank men for preparing and
preaching to us, but in doing so, we know that they got that
message from God. And they know that. They know that. If they have
a message to speak, they know. And their response will always
be, I'm so thankful to the Lord that he was pleased to speak
to your heart and to mine. What about faith? Now we're getting
down to the essence of salvation. What about faith? And most men
make a work out of faith. They think, well, you know, God's
done his part. Now I'm going to make my contribution
and God's going to be obligated because I decided to believe
to save me. That's bartering with God. You've
got nothing to offer God for by grace. Are you safe through
faith? And that faith is not of yourself. It's a gift of God,
not of works less than any man. It is from faith to faith. If
we have faith, it's because God gave it to us. And the only faith
that he accepts is the faith that he's given a faith that's
determined and dependent upon a decision that man made or a
commitment that he made. That's not God given faith. No, it's not. Call upon the name
of the Lord and thou shalt be saved. How shall they call upon
him in whom they have not believed? You can't call on God until he
gives you faith. Faith is the evidence of our
salvation, not the cause of it. And it's given to us from God.
So we've got, Lord, I've got nothing to barter with. I can't
come to you and bring you my faith. If I'm gonna have faith,
you're gonna have to give it to me. If I'm gonna pray, you're
gonna have to enable me. If I'm gonna worship, you're
gonna have to give me your spirit and enlighten the eyes of my
understanding with the truth of the gospel. Lord, I'm completely
dependent upon you for these things. And God saw what he did
and he said, it is good. It is good. I'm pleased with it. I accept
it because I did it. Repentance. Well, you know, I'm
just gonna, I'm gonna change my ways. I'm gonna clean up my
life. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, You know, turn over a new leaf. I'm
going to reform and men do that. I mean, men quit doing bad things
and start doing right things. And, you know, and they, and
they look to that as their bargaining chip with God. I've bartered
with God and now God's obligated to reward me for these changes.
No. Oh, you can change your clothes
and you can change your hairstyle. You can dress up the outward
man, but the heart, That's a whole nother matter. That's a work
of grace, a change of mind, a change of heart. That's what repentance
is. Lord, turn me and I shall be turned. Know what the prophet
said? Lord, you're gonna have to turn me if I'm gonna be turned.
I can't turn myself. I can dress up the outside of
the cup, but the inside is full of corruption. I can whitewash
the tomb, but the inside's full of dead man's bones. Lord, I'm
dependent upon you to do a work of grace in my heart. If anything's
gonna change, you're gonna have to change it. You turn me, and
then I'll be turned. Come, without money, without
bartering. All things, all things are of
God. Isn't that glorious? That's so
hopeful that we don't have to, we don't have to depend on the
quality of our faith and repentance. And no, we look to the object
of our faith, the object of our repentance, the object of our
worship, the object of our prayers. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and he gets all the glory because he did all the work of grace
in us and for us. You can change your doctrine.
Men go from Arminianism to Calvinism all the time. You can go from Catholicism to
Pentecostalism. You can change that. You can
change churches. But you can't change your mind.
And that's what repentance is. Can't do it. Can't change the
way you think. Can't change who you are. But
if any man be found in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away, yea, all things have become new. That's the new birth. Lord, you're going to have to
birth me. You're going to have to birth me from above. Lord,
I can't go back into my mother's womb and be born again. If I'm
going to be born again, I've got to be born by the spirit
of God. Lord, that's your work in my heart. All things are of
God. God only accepts that which he
provides. Everything that he provides,
he provides in Christ. And not only does he accept it,
but he looks at it and he says, that's very good. That's very
good because I did it. And he looks at what we did.
No, that's not good at all. What about good works? The Bible
speaks of dead works. Dead works are those things that
we do to try to barter with God. It's, you know, it's the things
that men offer up to God, and they look to those works as the
evidence and hope of their salvation. The Lord made that clear when
he said that in the day of judgment, when he separates the sheep from
the goats, the goats will say, but Lord, We've done many wonderful
works in thy name. We've cast out demons, we've,
you know, we've preached, we've prayed, we've done all these
things. Yeah, and you've done them. Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. Those things that you did in
the power of your flesh did not equal up to what I require. And
so they are works of iniquity. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you." And that describes all the man-made
religious works of this world. So does that deny the fact that
believers don't do good works? No, it doesn't at all. Ephesians
chapter two, verse 10 says, we are his workmanship created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath ordained that we
should walk in them. You see, a work that's a good
work, not a dead work, a truly good work, a work that God looks
at and says it is good, is not acknowledged by the person who
does it. The person who does it believes themselves to be
an unprofitable servant. Lord, when did we see you that
way? When did we see you naked and clothe me? When did we see
you hungry and feed you? Lord, we didn't do any of those
things. In that you did it to the least of these, my brethren,
you did it unto me. He's talking about preaching
the gospel, which we do together. You all know this, I never, hardly
ever refer to preaching as a singular person's event. This is something
we do together. And as we preach the gospel,
we are clothing the naked, and we are feeding the hungry, and
we are taking in the stranger, and we are visiting those that
are in prison, and that's the gospel. The Lord rewards his whole church
for that. In God's people, the scripture
says in Titus chapter two, that he has purified unto himself
a peculiar people, and that word peculiar means purchased. They've
been bought with a precious price of his blood. He has purchased
to himself a people who are zealous for good works. Their desire, the zeal of their
heart, is not only for them to be clothed and for them to be
fed, but for others to be clothed and fed. Their heart's desire
is for their salvation and for the salvation of others. You see, God only accepts that
which God provides. Whether it be worship, prayer,
faith, repentance, good works, God has to give them to us in
order for us to be able to give to him. They're not gonna have
anything to give me unless I give them. And that's what he does. We see this in the matter of
giving. I'm talking about monetary giving. God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a willing giver. Giving
is acceptable to God when the giver acknowledges the fact that
what they're giving came from God and belongs to God. You say,
but I worked hard for this. Yeah, and who gave you the ability
to work hard? Well, you know, I was smarter than most folks.
Well, who gave you that ability? Do you believe that everything
you have came from God and still belongs to God and just is on
loan to you? Then you'll give and God will
be pleased with it. He'll be pleased with it because
he's pleased with that which he gives. That's so simple. If you don't want to give, don't
give. Don't give if you don't want to. God doesn't want it. He don't need it. Isn't that
so glorious? Lord, you're going to have to
work in my heart to cause me to believe in my heart that what
I have came from you and belongs to you. Give me a willing heart,
a cheerful heart, and it'll be acceptable in thy sight. You see, this relates to everything,
doesn't it? All things are of God. All things are of God. What about
love? Well, I've just decided I'm going
to love people. No, we love him because he first loved us. You're not going to love God
unless he puts the love of God in your heart, unless he causes
you to love him. If he caused you to love him,
you're going to love him because he first loved you. Hearing his
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his
son to be the propitiation of our sins. You see, everything
that we give to God, We're just returning to him that
which he gave to us. That's it. Our bodies. Scripture not say
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and it's been
bought with a price and that you are not your own. You're
not your own. You've been purchased with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. present your bodies, a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. It's reasonable because that
body doesn't belong to you. You know, we have a, you know,
everybody's saying my body, my choice. No, it's not my body. It's his body. And it's his choice. It's his body. It's his money. It's his worship. It's his prayer. It's his spirit.
It's his truth. And he gives it to us in measure.
so that we will have something to give to him. And if he doesn't
give it to us, we've got nothing to give him. We've got nothing
to give him. The Lord speaks to his church
in the Song of Solomon chapter eight, verse two, and he says,
I would lead thee. He talking about finding his
bride out there outside the garden. outside wandering around looking. And he says, I will lead thee
and bring thee into my mother's house. I will cause thee to drink
of spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranate. I will cause
thee to satisfy thy soul on my graces and my gifts. How could he do that? because
on Calvary's cross, he drank wine mixed with gall, not spiced
wine, not the sweet juice of the pomegranate, which he now
offers his people. He drank the bitter dregs of
God's wrath on Calvary's cross and satisfied God's justice,
in order that he might provide for his people all the things
that they needed to give back to him. All things are of God. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.