What are we opening with? 239. OK. 239. Let's find our
seats. We're going to celebrate the Lord's table and observe
the baptism of a new believer this morning. Adam Sharon did our scripture
reading this morning in the study. He read from Psalm 132, and this
goes so well with the message that I've tried to prepare for
this morning. The psalm starts out with, Lord,
remember David and all his afflictions. Remember David and all his afflictions.
And that's a prayer for us to ask the Father to remember us
for Christ's sake and the afflictions that he suffered on our behalf. Lord, remember David and all
his afflictions. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom's going to come lead us in number 132, 132. I'm sorry, 239.
Didn't get any of that right. 239. Number 239, Art Thou Weary. Yeah. Art thou weary, art thou languid,
art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
be at rest. Path He marks to lead me to Him,
if He be my guide. In His feet and hands are wound
prints, and His side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety,
but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask Him to receive me, will
He say b'nai? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that
the Old Testament saints were stoned, sawn asunder, killed
with the edge of the sword. They wandered in the desert and
the mountains. They lived in the dens and the
caves of the earth. But they obtained a good report
through faith. but they did not receive the
promise. The promise he's speaking of
is that the seed of woman would crush the head of the serpent. For 4,000 years, the children
of God waited and prayed and expected the seed. And when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law. The promise is kept. Luke chapter
2. Luke chapter 2, beginning in
verse 6. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them at the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around about
them. And they were so afraid. And
the angel said unto them, fear not. For behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Because
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest. And on earth,
peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing
which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. the most amazing thing that could
ever happen in eternity past or in time and space that the
Son of God should take on the likeness of human flesh. The
promise is kept, the Savior is here, and the world slept through
it all. The only ones to know were A
bunch of shepherds and goat ropers living out in the desert. And
it brings to mind Matthew Chapter 11 and verse 25. At that time,
Jesus answered and said, I thank the old father, Lord of Heaven
and Earth, that thou hast revealed these hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent. And reveal them under babe even
so farther for it seemeth good in thy sight. Father, we thank you that you've
kept your promise. We thank you, Father, that the
Lord Jesus Christ took on him the likeness of sinful flesh,
that we might be able, Father, to stand holy and without blame
before you in love. We thank you, Father, that you
first make us babes and then you give us the truth, Father,
and we hear it and we believe it. We're especially thank you
father that these things are not up to us. But you've taken
care of all things on our behalf. We'd ask father you'd be with
Greg this morning as he brings a message. You give him the Word
of God father and you'd give us hearing ears father and a
willing mind and a willing heart. We ask these things in the Lord
Jesus Christ name, Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The
hymn on the back of the bulletin. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are my glorious dress. Midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. When from the dust of death I
rise, To take my mansion in the skies, Even then shall this be
all my plea, Jesus hath lived and died for me. Behold, shall I stand in that
great day, for who ought to my charge lay, while through thy
blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous curse and shame. This spotless robe, the same
appear While ruined nature sinks in years No age can change its
glorious hue The robe of Christ is ever new Oh, let the dead now hear thy
voice. Bid, Lord, thy banished ones
rejoice. Their beauty this, their glorious
dress. Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness. Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me to
Isaiah chapter 63 please. Isaiah chapter 63. I want to introduce this message
by making a statement about our God and that is that there is
only one who loves you more than you love yourself. The only one. The only one that
loves me more than I love myself. We cannot comprehend the love
that he has for us. The compassion, the pity that
he has for his children. But just know that the greatest
love that you know in your human experience is the love that you
have for yourself. That's it. If you're honest,
you know that's true. He loves you infinitely more
than that. I titled this message, Pity for
the Pitiful. Now we correct our children when
they put on a pity party, when they sulk and and act that way,
we correct them for it. We correct our children when
they don't show the independence that they ought to be showing
at whatever stage they are in their life. Our objective is
to get our children to be independent and not self-pity and sulking
and responsible and that's all very good. But our God is not anything like
us. The Lord said, you thought that I was altogether as thyself.
And so men attempt to relate to God the same way they relate
to each other. They think, well, I'm not pitiful. I'm independent. I'm strong. Oh no. No. If you're going to approach the
throne of grace, you're going to come as a pitiful sinner. If you're going to have His grace
and glory and hope of His salvation, you're going to be completely
dependent upon Him for everything. Don't come to God the way you
come to man. He is not like us. You have your Bibles open to
Isaiah 63 verse 9. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted. You know, we punish our children.
We say, this hurts me more than it hurts you. And it does in
a sense, but all the afflictions that the Lord has ordained for
us, he suffers, he suffers infinitely more than you've suffered or
I've suffered. In all their afflictions, I was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. He looks at us with eyes of love
and pity. He pities us. Now the, well let's read the
rest of this verse. He redeemed them and He bare
them. and carry them all the days of
old." Oh, we're being carried when
we don't know we're being carried, aren't we? Now, the God of religion,
the Jesus that you hear preached in most churches today is a Jesus
to be pitied. He's to be pitied. Well, he made
the ultimate sacrifice. Won't you do what you need to
do in order to make what he did not in vain? You know, the God
of man-made religion is a Jesus who's in the heavens wringing
his hands, wishing that you would let him have his way. He and
I, in fact, he's a figment of men's imagination. He's not God
at all. Men set themselves up on the
throne of God and they want a God that they can control, a God
that they can pity. You remember when the Lord was
carrying his cross to Calvary and the scripture says that there
were many women weeping for him? And the Lord stopped. I mean,
he had been up all night, been scourged, Had the plait of thorns. He was carrying this heavy cross
and he stopped and he looked at them and he said, weep not
for me. Don't feel sorry for me. Weep
for yourself and for your children. For if they did this to the green
tree, what do you think is going to happen to them which are dry? Don't weep for God. He doesn't
need your pity. He's not to be felt sorry for.
And he didn't make the sacrifice that he made in order to get
men to pity him and to give him no. We're to weep for ourselves. He knew what he was doing was
going to be successful. He knew that he was going to
satisfy the demands of his father. He knew that those for whom he
was dying would be justified by his vicarious, successful
death on Calvary's cross. He wasn't doing this to be pitied. Weep not for me. Weep for yourself. Our Lord is telling us here that
He has pity for the pitiful. So, the question that you and
I have to ask ourselves is as we stand in the presence of a
holy God, are we pitiful? Are we pitiful? I mean poor,
sinful, unable to help ourselves, completely dependent upon Him?
Are we able to weep not for Him, but for ourselves? Lord, have
mercy upon me. Or do we come like the publican
who said, God, I thank Thee that I'm not like other men. Why I? And then give God your laundry
list of achievements, which are all going to be shaken. Why? Because they were made by man. Or are we going to say, not so much as even able to look
up out of shame. Lord, have mercy upon me, the
sinner. Have pity towards me, Lord. I'm
not walking around in this world expecting everybody to pity me.
I want to be responsible and independent and not put that
burden off on other men, but I've got a burden, Lord, that
you're going to have to bear for me. And so God says, in all their
afflictions, I was afflicted. Oh, in more ways than we can
even imagine, the Lord Jesus Christ suffers
the pain of his people. But before we see that, I want
you to turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 45, Isaiah chapter 45,
and let us be reminded as to where our afflictions come from. And this fits very well in the
message of First Hour, doesn't it? Our God's ways are past finding
out. He said, my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. As the heavens
are high above the earth, so are my ways above your ways.
My thoughts above yours. But what I do, I do for my people. I do for my
kingdom. I do for my children. And, you know, I brought this
out. several months ago, it seems
like every time we have a national tragedy, the question that everybody asks,
it's always the same question, always the same question, how
can an all-powerful, all-loving God allow so many innocent people
to suffer? Now again, We pity people who
suffer. Our hearts go out. We ought to
do everything we can do to relieve the suffering and pain of others
the best we can. But the religious pundits always
answer that question the same way. The question's impossible
to answer the way it's worded. How can an all-powerful, all-loving
God allow so many innocent people to suffer? The question has to be changed
in order for it to be answered. It's impossible to answer that
question. If he's all-powerful and he's all-loving, then why
would he allow such suffering? And so what do they do? There's
three presuppositions in that question. Number one, God's all-powerful. Number two, God's all-loving.
Number three, people or at least some people are innocent. And
without exception, the religious experts will change the one presupposition
that's true. They'll change the one that's
true. You see, it's not true that God
loves everybody, and it's not true that men are innocent. And
so what do they change? They change the very first one.
God is not all-powerful. He has abdicated His throne of
sovereign control over to the free will of man, and man is
responsible for these things. That's not true. Let me show
you. You have your Bibles open, Isaiah
chapter 45, verse 5. I am the Lord. And there is none beside me,
none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know
from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none
beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down ye heavens from above
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
formed it, why makest thou, what makest thou, or thy work? He hath no hands. Whatever afflictions the Lord
is talking about, well, all the afflictions in Isaiah chapter
63. Go back with me to our text.
Isaiah chapter 63 verse 9. In all their afflictions, He
was afflicted. Whatever afflictions He has ordained
for you and I to suffer in this world, He ordained them. He sent them. Every single one
of them. He's not He's not surrendered
his sovereignty to anybody or anything. He hath done whatsoever
he wills. He is omnipotent and we're to
bow to that. But his omnipotence is not cruel,
it's not arbitrary, he doesn't just Our God is love. Now He's angry with the wicked
every day, but toward His children, the afflictions that He's ordained
for them are all for their good. Let me show you that. Psalm 119. David said, before I was afflicted,
I had gone astray. Look at verse 66 of Psalm 119. Teach me good judgment and knowledge. Lord, teach me to make righteous
judgments to know that whatever happens, it is all happening
according to your sovereign purpose and will, and that whatever afflictions
you've ordained for me, you are being afflicted in those things
more than I am, more than I am. Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I have believed thy commandments. Now in the Psalms, particularly
in Psalm 119, The word statutes and commandments and laws are
all used to describe the full canon of scripture, the word
of God. And so what is the subject of
God's word? Christ. Who is the subject of
God's word? The Lord Jesus Christ. And so
when David says, I believe thy commandments, I've believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything your word has
to say about him, thou art good and doest good. That's the good
judgment. Oh, that God would give us grace
to say from the heart. Now you hear people say it all
the time. You know, the world loves to say, it's all good.
It's all good. In fact, what they're doing is
whistling through the graveyard. They're just trying to shellac
over something. They're trying to make it sound
like something that... But for the child of God, we can say,
it's all good. Our God's on His throne. He did
it for His glory and for my good. Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. I know the good that I have for
you, not evil, not evil, to lead you to your expected end. The proud have forged a lie against
me, but I have kept thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart
is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. It is good for me
that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." You see, it's the afflictions
that the Lord has ordained for us that cause us to see our need
for pity. It's the afflictions that the
Lord has ordained for us that causes us to see our dependence
upon him, isn't it? And without these things, what's
the world say? God helps those who help themselves. You ever heard that? I grew up
hearing that. I mean, that was the mantra of
the, you know, of our, God helps those who help themselves. I
guess it's my parents' way of trying to get me, get responsible,
you know, or something. I don't know, but it's not true. The opposite's true. God helps
those who are incapable of helping themselves. And the Lord sends
these afflictions in order to reveal to us, in order to show
us our inability. our inability. Our God is not capricious. He's
not arbitrary. He's not impulsive. He always
has a purpose. Our God is in the heavens. Psalm
119, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Oh, now this
is a God that can be worshipped. This is a God that can be entrusted.
Why? Because He said I have sent these afflictions for your good. And I didn't just put you through
them, I went through them with you, every single one of them. Now, if I made this statement
to you, I would be callous and cold-hearted, the statement I'm
about to make. If I made this to you in the
midst of your trials, in the midst of your troubles, I would
be the most insensitive, cold-hearted, callous individual. If I said
to you, your light afflictions are but for a moment, and they
cannot be compared. If I called your afflictions
light, or if you called my afflictions light, you'd be a hard person. But God says, our light afflictions,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more and exceeding
weight of glory." You see why the Lord has sent us these afflictions?
Because they work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory.
And then the Lord said in Romans chapter 8, for I reckon And again, that word doesn't
mean, you know, it may be this way, it may be that way. God
said this is the way it is. Reckon it to be so, because it
is. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. Faith looks beyond circumstances. and sees the God who holds all
things in his hand and does all things for our good. Now, go
back with me to our text, Isaiah 63. In all their affliction,
this word affliction, you'll find it translated in God's word,
trouble. distress or anguish. So let me ask you a question.
In all of your afflictions, what is your greatest affliction?
What is your greatest trouble? What is your greatest distress? What is your greatest anguish?
It's not your circumstances. Not if you're a child of God. Circumstances come and go, don't
they? You know, you're in trouble now, you'll probably be out of
trouble soon and then you'll be back in again. You know, it
just comes and goes, doesn't it? But there's an affliction that
no amount of money and no amount of time can solve. And when the
Lord said in all their afflictions, I was afflicted, this is what
he's talking about. Yes, he walks with us and carries
us through all our circumstances. But the greatest affliction that
the Lord Jesus Christ suffered was bearing in his body the sins
of his people. and suffering the full wrath
of God's justice in order to put them away. The shame, the
separation, the suffering for sin. Every child of God raises
his hand and says, I'm my own worst enemy. I don't have an
enemy as bad as me. The Lord has set for us a table
in the presence of our enemies, hadn't he? And we're sitting
in the seat of our biggest enemy. We just are. That's our affliction.
It's our unbelief. It's the sin that does so easily
beset us. That's why in the book of Hebrews
it tells us to come with boldness, with confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ to the throne of grace that we might find help. and grace in our time of trouble
and need and affliction. And here's the truth. Whatever
shame, whatever strength, whatever consequences your sin has caused
in your life, we have no clue as to what affliction sin really
causes. The Lord Jesus Christ did. Consequences of sin? Forsaken
by God. That was the consequence. And
the Lord is saying, in all of your afflictions, I was afflicted.
I bore your sins. I suffered your sorrow. I felt
the full weight of the wrath of God's justice on me. In all
of your afflictions I was afflicted." God saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. You see the natural man thinks
that he's going to be saved by suffering. That's the mindset of the natural
man. I'll be saved by suffering. You know, I've got to bear my
cross. I've got to suffer my circumstances. And if I can just
be sorry enough for my sins, I'll be saved by suffering. No,
you won't. You can't suffer enough. The Lord Jesus Christ said, in
all your afflictions, I was afflicted. I was afflicted. That's why I introduced this
message by saying there's only one that loves God's people more
than they love themselves. And he was afflicted in their
afflictions. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all ways tempted even as we are yet without sin. He knew, he knew by experience
the real burden of sin. And in all their afflictions,
he was afflicted. And that's why the writer of
Hebrews goes on in the very next verse, let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in our time of need. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. And the angel of the Lord, the
angel of the Lord saved them. He saved them. Angel of the Lord is the one
that met Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 and said to Abraham, lay not thy hand to the child,
to the lad, stopped Abraham in his sacrifice of Isaac on that
altar. For God hath prepared for him the sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sacrifice of God which taketh away the sins of God's people. The believer's greatest affliction
is his sin. Next time we see the angel of
the Lord, is in Exodus chapter 33 and the scripture says, I'm
sorry, Exodus chapter 3, when Moses saw the burning bush that
was not being consumed and turned aside and the angel of the Lord
spoke to him and said, Moses, take off thy shoes for thy standing
on holy ground. And God spoke to Moses, sent
him to Egypt. Why? Because he said to Moses,
I have heard the affliction of my people." He hears your afflictions. Whatever
troubles and trials He has ordained for you to suffer is to cause
you to believe on Him. And we ought to cry out for Him
all the time. But the greatest cry that the
child of God makes is a cry for His sin. And the Lord says, in
all your afflictions, I was afflicted. I sent the angel of the Lord
to save you, to buy you, to redeem you, to purchase you. Why? Because
I pitied you and I loved you and I bore you up and carried
you all the days of your life. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father, we ask that you would forgive
us for our unbelief. Forgive us, Lord, for the ways
in which we are distracted by the things which shall be shaken. Cause us, Lord, in this moment
of time to believe that in all of our
afflictions you were afflicted. For you pitied us, loved us,
and redeemed us, and carried us all the days of our life. Lord, you are the God that we
need. We pray that you would bless
this table, pray that you would bless this baptism, and Lord,
that you would be glorified in it all. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. We're going to sing a hymn, and
we're going to have baptism first. Let's sing a hymn while Jake
gets ready. Number 31. Stand together, please. Number
31 in your spiral hymnal. We'll repeat the last two lines
of each verse. ? Hear the voice of grace and glory
? ? In our dying Savior's cry ? ? Rending rocks and hills asunder
? ? And the veil to bring us nigh ? ? It is finished, it is
finished ? Our victorious Savior cried. It is finished! It is finished! Our victorious
Savior cried. It is finished. See God's pleasure
prosper in our risen Lord. Covenant blessings without measure
flow to us by Jesus' blood. It is finished! It is finished! Oh, how sweet the Saviors were! It is finished! It is finished! Oh, how sweet the Saviors were! Finished all justice demanded,
finished all required by law, finished all portrayed and promised
in the shadows of the law. It is finished, it is finished. Bow, believe, rejoice with awe. It is finished, it is finished. Bow, believe, rejoice with awe. Jesus finished our salvation
when He died upon the tree. Righteousness and full redemption
for His love and chosen seed. It is finished. Hallelujah. Praise the Lamb of Calvary. It is finished. Hallelujah. Praise the Lamb of Calvary. Please be seated. The scriptures teach that baptism
is our testimony, our public confession of faith. They believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized. Baptism is very
simple. It's a picture of the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jake,
being baptized this morning, is confessing to you and to God
that when Christ died, I died. When Christ was buried, I was
buried. When Christ was risen from the
dead, I was risen from the dead. It's finished. All the hope of
my salvation is completed in the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has We baptize you in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ
in baptism. Raised to walk a new life. It
is a new life, isn't it? In Christ Jesus and all God's
people said. Amen. All right. We're going
to observe the Lord's table. I want to have baptism first. Just remain seated. Yeah. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body
Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us ne'er forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope
and expectation, We rejoice to keep this feast Celebrating our
redemption Till we lead on Jesus' breast I think it's going to be in the
bulletin next week, but I wrote an article titled, Complicated
or Contrary. And the premise of the article
is that the gospel is not complicated. It's not. It declares that salvation
is of the Lord, that Christ has done it all, and that we are
unable to do anything to help ourselves, completely dependent
upon Him. It gets complicated when men
try to understand the gospel in light of their preconceived
ideas that are not true. So, baptism is not complicated
and the Lord's table is not complicated. This is my body which has been
broken for you. Take and eat as often as you
do it. Do it in remembrance. Reflect
upon my righteousness, my life, my death for the hope of your
salvation. Do it in remembrance of me. At the end of the supper, he
took the cup. He said this is the cup of the blood of the new
covenant. It's not like that shed blood of bulls and goats,
lambs of the Old Testament. This is my precious blood, which
has been given for you. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. Most of y'all know that Jake
is Burt Dunbar's son-in-law. And I would like to ask him to
close the service by praying for us to remember what the Lord
has taught us and pray for Jake. All right, let's stand together. Our gracious and merciful Heavenly
Father, Lord, how full we are. You have gathered us here in
purpose for us to be here this very morn, in eternity's grace.