Left ear is your good ear. You
can sit over here with me. You get that speaker, you can
hear it. He can't hear me right now. Well, let's open this evening
service with hymn number two from our Gospel Hymn Spiral hymn
book, number two. Number two. Yeah. Lord, we come before Thee now,
At Thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain, Shall
we seek Thee, Lord, in vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. In thine own appointed way, now
we seek thee, here we say. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah 52. I suppose everybody heard that
Maria pretty much made a direct hit on St. Croix and I was able
to talk to Moose last night and again this morning. And surprisingly,
he still had self-service this morning, and so he said that
they had a roof and four walls and a generator. And they had
not been in touch with anybody else on the island, so I think
the island was was pretty much decimated yesterday. Last night,
so it was a long night. But they're well, so that's all
I know right now. All right, Isaiah chapter 52,
and we'll begin reading at verse 6. And there could not have been
a more appropriate hymn for us to open the service with, Tom.
because I want us to think tonight about being taught of God, being
taught of God. How do I know if I've been taught
of God? And how does God teach his people? Therefore, verse
six, my people shall know my name. Therefore, they shall know
in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it is I. The Lord said in John chapter
6 verse 45, and they shall all be taught of God. The Lord teaches
His children. We know that the heart is wicked
and deceitful and that no man can know it. And it's easy to
deceive oneself in thinking that God has taught you something
that He didn't teach you. I don't want to be deceived.
I want to know that what I believe God taught me. How beautiful upon the mountains,
verse 7, are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace. Peace. It's one of the clear
ways we know that God's spoken. I've got peace. I've got peace
with God. I've got comfort. I've got hope.
I've got joy. When God speaks, He gives peace
to the hearts of His children. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good and publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. That's our message,
isn't it? Our message is let God be God.
He occupies the highest throne in all of creation, in all the
universe. And he reigns sovereign. He hath done whatsoever he wills.
He's accomplished the salvation of his people. Thy watchman,
those who speak for God, shall lift up the voice. With the voice
together they shall sing. For they shall see eye to eye
when the Lord shall bring again Zion. So the men that God's called
to preach the good news, the gospel, are all going to tell
you the same thing. Christ is not divided. They're going to
preach the same message. They're going to see eye to eye.
Break forth into joy. Sing together. Ye waste places
of Jerusalem. For the Lord hath comforted his
people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. Past tense. an accomplished work,
redemption, hath been done. The Lord has done it. The Lord
hath made bare His holy arm, and we know who that holy arm
is. We know it's the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's made Him bare.
Who hath believed our report? Them to whom the arm of the Lord
has been revealed. And all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. I pray the Lord will be pleased
to speak to our hearts tonight. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, we come before Thy throne of grace in the name
of Thy dear Son, having hope and faith that He is all our
righteousness before Thee, that we have complete acceptance in
him, that you are looking to his shed blood, and that you
are satisfied with the travail of his soul. Lord, how we pray
that you would cause him to be lifted up, that we would set
our affections on him, and that we would be satisfied with him
even as thou art. We thank you, Lord, for your
hand of protection on our friends in St. Croix. We pray that you
would use this time of trial to strengthen all of us together
as we're reminded to pray for one another and to encourage
one another and to bear one another's burdens. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Let's stand together once again
and we'll sing hymn number 291, 291, from our baptism. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more. Feed me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain
whence the healing streams doth flow. Let the fire and cloudy
pillar, lead me all my journey through. Strong deliverer, strong
deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield. Be thou still my strength and
shield. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside. Bear me through the swelling
current, land me safe on Canaan's side. ? Songs of praises, songs
of praises ? ? I will ever give to thee ? ? I will ever give
to thee ? Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54. Bree, it's
so good to have you and the kids back. We missed you. That verse
I quoted a moment ago from John chapter 6 verse 45, and it is
written in the prophets that they shall all be taught of God. This is where it was written
in the prophets. Isaiah is the one that said that.
here in Isaiah chapter 54 at verse 13, and all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. Now I want God to teach me. I
don't want to be deceived. I want to know, I want to hear
His voice. I want to know what He has to say. I want to be like
those disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24, don't
you? They walked with Him and He conversed
with them and it wasn't until the breaking of bread, and that's
what we're doing right now, we're breaking the bread of life, that
their eyes were opened and they beheld Him. And after He left,
what did they say? Did not our hearts burn within
us as he spake with us along the way? The Lord speaks, your
heart will burn. You'll know you've heard a voice
that is different from all other voices. And so in this passage
of scripture, we learned something about God teaching his children,
the means by which he teaches his children. And how do I know
that I have been taught of God? How do I know? Now, we'll begin
in verse 11, O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted. Now, that's the condition of
the soul that drives us to seek the Lord to speak. There's no
other voice. Lord, I'm afflicted. I'm afflicted
by my sin. I'm afflicted by my circumstances.
I'm afflicted by the fact that nobody in this world seems to
have the right answers for anything. I'm amazed at the number of people
that I meet that are conspirators. You know, everything's a conspiracy. Men are not that powerful. There
are There are unintended consequences to every decision that men make. And they have no idea what they're
going to be. And oftentimes, the consequences
are worse than what they were trying to solve to begin with.
You know that in your own life. And that happens with governing
officials. It happens, you know, the Lord's
on his throne. The Lord's working all things
after the counsel of His own will. And yet, if we look to the voice
of man to give us answers, we're left empty. We're left with no
direction. And so he says, you're afflicted. You're afflicted with the fact
that you live in a sin-sick world. and that the men of this world
really don't have the answers that are necessary to solve the
problems of this world? What are, what is the real, you
see, what men are doing is they're putting, they're putting band-aids
on cancer patients, aren't they? They're just trying to, they're
just trying to treat the symptom and they don't know what the
problem is. The problem's sin. The problem is that man is estranged
from God. The problem is that he hasn't
heard the voice of God. He's not been taught of God.
And so he's basing all of his decisions off of human wisdom,
human knowledge, human logic. And God says, when you try to
get an answer to your sin problem, when you try to get an answer
to the conflicts that are in this world. Are you afflicted? Are you like that ship that the
Apostle Paul was on in Acts chapter 27 that fell completely apart
in the waves and was completely destroyed? That's what he said.
It was tossed about in a tempest. Everything's up and down. There's
no lifeboats, there's no safety. And then what does he say? Those
who are not comforted. Lord, I can't find any comfort.
I can't find any comfort in anything that I've done. I can't find
any comfort in anything that man tells me. There's no comfort
for my soul. There's no hope for salvation.
There's nothing in this world and there's nothing in me that
speaks to the problem. It's just all a bunch of talking
heads trying to solve things that they don't know what they're
talking about. The politicians don't know what
they're talking about. The educators don't know what they're talking
about. They're just focusing all their attention on symptoms,
aren't they? And if we get caught up in that, then we'll be discomforted. We'll be tossed about in a tempest. We'll be afflicted. with no solution, but there is
an answer. God has spoken. God has spoken. Lord, I wanna hear your voice.
I wanna know what you have to say, because when God speaks,
there's peace. When God speaks, there's comfort.
When God speaks, we're no longer being tossed about in a tempest.
When God speaks, we're no longer afflicted with the shame and
guilt of our sin. We're no longer afflicted with
the uncertainty of our circumstances. We're given comfort, we're given
peace, we're given hope. Look what he says, all thou afflicted. If that's you, that's who he's
speaking to. God speaks to those who qualify
or meet the qualification to the ones he's speaking to. So
he's identifying who it is he's speaking to. You say, well, I'm
not afflicted. I'm not tossed about with a tempest.
I'm not discomforted. I'm okay. Everything's good. Well, then you don't need God
to speak. You don't need God to speak. But if you can't find
any answers anywhere else, in yourself or in the world, then
God has a word. God speaks to those who are discomforted. Those are tossed about in a tempest
and those who are afflicted, particularly with their own sin. Now, how does the Lord give comfort
to the afflicted? How does he give peace to those
who are tossed about in a turbulent sea of uncertainty? How does
he do it? The same way you would comfort
your children. You have a child, comes home
from school, has had a heart-wrenching experience, a conflict, what
do you do with them? What do you do with them? You
sit them down, don't you? They put their face in your hands,
and you speak comfort. You speak to them. You teach
them. You use those as teaching opportunities
to reveal to them the truth of life, don't you? And our Heavenly
Father, that's what He does. Look what He says. tossed and tempest and not comforted.
Behold, I lay thy stones with fair colors and thy foundations
with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of
agates and thy gates of carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant
stones and all thy children, all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. Now in first John chapter two,
The Lord says, you have an unction. You're not like the men of the
world. Turn with me to that passage, 1 John chapter two at verse 20. But you have an unction from
the Holy One. And you know all things. I have
not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
that you do know the truth. And no lie is of the truth. No lie is of the truth. What
is the greatest source of our affliction? It's the guilt of our sin that's
the greatest source, isn't it? And the scripture refers to Satan
as an accuser of the brethren. Now, what is the truth? What is the truth? The truth
is that our sin's been put away through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that it's been separated from you as far
as the east is from the west. God remembers it no more. And
so the Lord says, you have an unction from the Holy One. You
don't need to be To be no no lies of the truth You know the
truth Here's your hope Look what he says in verse 27 of that same
chapter but the anointing which you have received of him abideth
in you and You need not that any man teach you but as the
same anointing teaching you of all things is and is truth and
is no lie, even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in Him." The Holy One, the Comforter,
Scent of the Father. What does He do? He teaches us. That's what the scripture says
in 1 Corinthians 3. He teaches us of all those things
which I have taught you. That's what the Lord said. And
so we have the Spirit of God, we have God teaching us. And
what's He doing? He's pointing us to Christ. He's
taking away the affliction. He's taking away the being tossed
about in a tempest. He's assuring us that He makes
all things beautiful in His time. He's assuring us that He is sovereign
over our circumstances and that He is working all things after
the counsel of his own will, and all things work together
for our good." Now that's the truth. That's the truth. And
if you have the Holy Spirit, you know that's the truth. And
the Lord said, you don't have to have a man to teach you, you've
got the Spirit of God to teach you. I've heard preachers, I
heard one this past week, stand before his congregation and say,
you have the obligation to obey me. You hear a preacher say that,
you get as far from him as you can. You search the scriptures
to see if what he says is true. And our obligation is to follow
after Christ, is to obey him. Don't take a preacher's word
for it. You've got the spirit of God. I love that passage about
the Bereans being more noble than those who were in Thessalonica
because they received the word gladly and they searched the
scriptures to see if that which they were taught was true. First Corinthians chapter 2,
would you turn with me there? How does the Lord comfort the
afflicted? He teaches them. He teaches them. As it is written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. The Lord may use the voice of
a man, but that voice can't comfort the afflicted. My voice can't
comfort your affliction. My voice can't settle the turbulence
of the seas that you're in. My voice can't do that, but God's
voice can. Look what he says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 beginning at verse 10, but God hath revealed them
unto us by His Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. You have the Holy Spirit. He's
God's teacher. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world. There's no answers in the world. for the conflicts, the temporal
conflicts of this world or the spiritual conflicts of sin. There's no answers in the world.
We don't look to the spirit of the world but the spirit which
is of God that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God. He freely teaches us. which things
also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
Now, those verses we just read in Isaiah 54 about the foundation,
what is that foundation? Well, the Lord tells us in Ephesians
Chapter 2 that the church is built on the foundation of the
prophets and the apostles. So the means by which God speaks
is always his word. Let's, let's finish this word,
this, the natural man, verse 14, the natural man, the man
devoid of the spirit of God. And the Lord makes it clear in
Romans chapter eight. If you have not the spirit of
God, you're none of his. Oh Lord, give us your spirit. Give me
your Holy spirit. Teach me. But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned." The man devoid of the Spirit of God is not capable
of hearing the voice of God. And so all he can do is hear
the voice of man. But he that is spiritual, now
that doesn't mean The person who's living with his head in
the clouds and walking above sin and being a more spiritual
than a, he's talking about a believer. Having the spirit of God makes
you spiritual. You see, he's comparing the spiritual to the
carnal, the believer to the unbeliever, but he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, for who hath
known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him or teach
him, but we have the mind of Christ. we have the mind of Christ. So the Holy Spirit, who is sent
of the Father, reveals to us the voice of Christ
and teaches us from the Word of God. And all of the things
that the world is trying to solve in terms of their discomfort
in terms of the turbulence of their circumstances and in terms
of their affliction of sin is to no avail. But you have the mind of Christ. You've got the word of God. God
has spoken. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9, Paul
said, but as touching brotherly love You have no need that I
write unto you, for you are all taught of God to love the brethren. See, that's the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in the heart, doesn't it? You don't have to have somebody
tell you to love the brethren. If you've got the Spirit of God,
you love everyone that's got the Spirit of God. Why? Because you're taught of God
to do that. You're just taught of God. John chapter 14, let's look there
just a moment. Verse 25, these things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the comforter,
the Holy Spirit, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name. He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, giveth I unto thee. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither be afraid." When God speaks, He speaks peace to the
heart, doesn't He? He assures us that the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ was successful in putting away our sin, eternally
put it away, never to be brought up again. He assures us that He is reigning
sovereign on his throne. And then he is ordaining the
circumstances of our lives. All for our good and all for
his glory. When God speaks, that's what he does. He reveals to us
the glory of Christ. He assures us that we have an
advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one who
seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. That's the Holy
Spirit. He just said, when the Comforter
comes, who is the Holy Ghost, sent to you by the Father, He
will teach you of the things that I've taught you. What is the means by which He
teaches us? Well, we've seen that, haven't
we? It's the foundation. The foundation. The church is
built, according to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20, on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. God doesn't speak in the clouds. He doesn't speak through creeds
and confessions. He doesn't speak through the
Pope. He doesn't speak through our intuitions or our feelings. He speaks by His Word. And in His word, He reveals to
us the glory of Christ. Turn with me back to John chapter
6. I want you to see where the Lord
quoted this passage from Isaiah about being taught of God and
see what the Lord said about it. John chapter 6 verse 45, it is
written in the prophets right there. Isaiah chapter 54, it
is written in the prophets, and they shall all, every single
one of them, if you've been given the Spirit of God, you have discernment,
you've got the mind of Christ, you've got the ability to know
the mind of God, the heart of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." How do
I know if God's spoken to me? Because I've made a beeline to
Christ. I don't know where else to go. I've just got to flee
to Christ. I've got to cling to Christ.
If you've been taught, that's what the comforter does. He points
us to Christ, doesn't he? That's what John did and that's
what every faithful preacher does. Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sins of the world. He must increase,
I must decrease. Go back with me to our text. Men learn things from other places
and then they go to the Bible in order to try to in order to
try to justify what they've learned and so that they can say they
were taught of God. It happens. People learn things on YouTube,
they learn things on Facebook, and then they go to the Bible
in order to try to prove that what they learned from another
source, a godless source. They've got to justify it and
prove that this has been sent to me of God. As I said Sunday,
you go to the word of God with a preconceived idea, you can
prove anything from scripture. You wanna twist the word of God,
you wanna take the word of God out of context, you can prove
anything to scripture. Don and I were talking about
that Sunday and he said, yeah, he said, you could even prove
from scripture that God doesn't exist. All you gotta do is leave
the fool has said, off that verse and just pick out there is no
God. But that's how foolish men are. That's how foolish men are. They'll take bits and pieces
of the Word of God in order to prove something that's not taught
in the Scriptures. The means by which the Lord speaks
is the clear, plain teaching of the Scriptures as it reveals
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are they
which testify of me. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." He's
the foundation. He's found all throughout the
scriptures. And so when the Lord speaks to us and He says, He
says, those of you that are afflicted, Those of you that are tossed
in a tempest, those of you that are discomforted, those of you
that can't find the answer to your problem anywhere else and
you've come to realize that the world has no answers and that
you've got no solutions, then I'm going to lay a foundation
and it's going to be a beautiful foundation. You see what he says? He says, I will lay thy stones
with fair colors and I lay thy foundations with sapphires. Christ is the foundation. This is what everything is built
on. Everything is built on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the cornerstone. He's the foundation. Abraham
looked for a city which hath foundations. whose maker or architect
and builder is God. So he designed the building,
he built the building, and the building's got firm foundations.
No risk of this building collapsing. I'm gonna, are you tossed about
in a tempest? Are you afflicted by your sin?
Are you discomforted by your circumstances? I've got a word
for you. There's a foundation. A foundation
that's sure. A foundation on which you can
stand. And it's a beautiful foundation. And I'm going to teach you. I'm
going to stand you on that foundation and I'm going to teach you the
things of God. And all of your discomfort is
gonna fade away into peace. Look what he says, "...and all
thy children," verse 13, "...shall be taught of the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of thy children." Isn't that what the Lord said? My peace I give unto thee, not
as the world gives. The world says peace, peace when
there is no peace. The religious world tells you
that you can have peace by a decision you make or work you can perform.
The natural world says, oh, there's gonna be world peace. There's
not gonna be world peace. Wars and rumors of wars are gonna
continue till the last day. When God speaks, His children have peace. One way we can be sure that God
hasn't spoken is when a word claimed to be from God causes
conflict among God's people. Because Christ is not divided. And when God speaks, He speaks
through His Holy Spirit. And we've already seen that every
one of His children have the Spirit of God. And they all see
eye to eye, and they're in agreement. So if somebody stands up and
says, well, God said this, and it creates anything other than
peace among God's people, God didn't say it. God didn't speak
it. I'm going to lay a foundation,
and there's going to be peace among my children." You hear
somebody say something that's new or novel and claim that it
came from God, don't believe it. Don't believe it. The Lord's not coming up with
new revelations. We're content with Christ, aren't
we? We're not We're not of a perverse
mind supposing that gain is godliness, supposing that we've discovered
some new revelation that makes us more godly than someone else.
We're content with Christ as our godliness. He is the mystery
of godliness and godliness with contentment is great gain. Everything that God teaches,
He points His children in unison to Christ, doesn't He? And He
speaks peace to our hearts. He doesn't create conflict. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians,
hold fast the form of sound doctrine, which you have heard from me. People come up with some crazy
ideas and they say God said it. Well, I don't see where Paul
ever talked about that. He didn't deal with that. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 2,
the things which thou hast heard from me teach to faithful men
who will in turn be able to teach others also. So what are we doing? We're passing on the same old
story. Tell me the old, old story. Don't change it. Don't make it
new. God's Word hasn't changed. God's
voice hasn't changed. He's saying the same thing now
that He's always said, and His children hear His voice. The
world may be listening to the voice of the world, and as a
result, they have no comfort. They have no comfort. They don't
know that their warfare is accomplished. They don't know that their sin
has been taken away. Why? Because they don't know
Christ. They don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God speaks,
he points us to Christ. He reveals to us his glory. He
speaks peace to our hearts, and he gives peace among his brethren.
among his children. That's what he said. And all
thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be
the peace of thy children. Somebody said, well, I got a
word from God and it's given me peace. Does it give peace
to all of God's children? If it doesn't give peace to all
of God's children, it's not a word from God. How else do I know? Great shall be the peace. I have confidence in the successful
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have confidence that he is
on his throne. What we just read, what we read
in Isaiah chapter 52 verse seven, What does the prophet say? What is his message? What is
his message? The last three words of Isaiah
52 verse 7. That's our message. That's our
message all the time. Thy God reigneth. He reigns in creation. He reigns
in providence. And he reigns in salvation, doesn't
he? He just reigns. And what does that, what does,
when God speaks that to your heart, when God speaks it to
your heart, what do you have? What do you have? Great peace,
great peace. I know that my God's in control.
I've got peace in knowing that he reigns in my salvation. the salvations of the Lord, he's
accomplished the work of redemption all by himself. I've got confidence
that he reigns in Providence. As I said Sunday, don't say,
well, I'm content with Christ for my salvation, but I'm not
content with him for my circumstances. He can't have it that way. If
your God reigns, If your God reigns, you have to be content
with Christ all the way across the board for your salvation
and your circumstances. Otherwise, there's no peace.
There's no peace. Look at verse... I mentioned earlier about a conspiracy. You know people love to Love
to imagine these grand conspiracies among men. There is a conspiracy. It's among God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It's called the covenant of grace
and he lets his children in on it. And they're the only ones
that know about it. And everybody else is left in
the dark. God the Father conspired to choose
a people according to his own will and purpose. God the Son
entered into that conspiracy with the Father to redeem those
whom the Father chose. And God, the Holy Spirit said,
I'll go teach them. I'll teach every one of them.
They'll all be taught of God. They'll be pointed to Christ.
They'll be caused to believe. Verse 14, how do I know I've
been taught of God? Came from his word, spoke great
peace to my heart and the heart of all of God's children, built
on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets, the word of
God, the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 14, I
know that I've heard from God if all my hope is in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no righteousness outside
of Christ. I can't look to the gain of my
knowledge. I can't look to anything other
than the Lord Jesus Christ for all my righteousness. In righteousness
shall they be established. All my establishment, all of
my strength, all of my hope, is in the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not resting in a feeling. I was talking to somebody recently
and they said, well, I've got this great feeling of peace.
I said, don't trust in a feeling. Don't trust in a feeling. Feelings
come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. What did the hymn writer say?
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, on Christ, the
solid rock. There he is. There's the foundation.
I'm going to lay a beautiful foundation for those of you that
are afflicted, those of you that are tossed about in a tempest.
Those of you that are discomforted, I'm going to give you a place
to stand. I'm gonna build you on the foundation
of Christ, on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground,
all other ground is sinking sand, isn't it? Every other house is gonna
fall. House is built on sand. When the storms come, the tempest
comes, in this life and in the next, that house won't stand. It won't stand. But in righteousness
thou shalt be established. Christ is all my righteousness
before God. I have no righteousness outside
of Him. Apart from Christ, the only thing I can bring is my
sin. Look at the rest of verse 14.
And thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and
from terror, for it shall not come near to thee. If God has
spoken to my heart, if he's spoken peace, if he's revealed the glory
of Christ, if he's calmed the tempest and comforted my heart,
I have nothing to fear from men. Now, by that I mean this. I know
men, I know men who have told me that God has spoken to them
about certain things, but they're not going to speak to anybody
else about it. And I said to them, if God told
you what you say God told you, and he spoke to you from his
word, you have a obligation to declare it to men. And if you
don't, you're a coward. If you don't, you're being dishonest. If you learned it from God, shout
it from the rooftops. That's what he said. God speaks
in righteousness, I'm going to be established and oppression
from man is gonna be far from me and I'll have no fear or terror. It shall not come near unto thee. I'm not afraid to tell anybody
what God has taught me. And when God teaches you something,
God before me, who can be against me? If God's taught you something,
You know it's true. Nobody can teach you out of it.
Nobody can convince you otherwise. And you've got no fear. Nobody else believes what God's
taught you. If you know God taught it to
you, you're going to declare it, aren't you? That's how I
know I've been taught of God, because I'm not ashamed of it. Behold, verse 15, what did we
declare without apology? What did the, you remember what
the Pharisees said about Peter and John when they drug them
in there to the Sanhedrin? They said, these are ignorant
and unlearned men. They don't know what they're
talking about. but they took notice that they had been with
Jesus. They've been taught of Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ taught
them something and they were willing to put their lives on
the line to declare it. Though they didn't have the formal
training that the Pharisees thought they should have, they had learned
something from the Lord that they weren't gonna keep to themselves.
They took notice that they had been with Jesus. Even the unbeliever
will take notice. God teaches you something. You're
not ashamed of it. You declare it without apology.
What Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, preach the word, the whole word,
the whole counsel of God. Preach it in season and out of
season. Don't compromise it with all
long suffering. For the time will come when men
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust, they
will gather to them teachers having itching ears to tell them
what they want to hear. Preach the whole counsel of God.
And that's what we do, isn't it? And that's what the Lord
is saying here. I've spoken. I've spoken to those
who are afflicted, those who are tossed with a tempest, those
who are discomforted, and I've given them a foundation. and
I've revealed to them the glory of my Son, and I've given them
great peace, because they know that they have a righteousness
before God in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're not afraid
of men. They're not afraid of men. Verse
15, Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me.
Whether they shall gather together, they shall fall for thy sake.
Now he's talking about the world's gonna turn against you. You hear
from God, you're gonna believe something that's contrary to
what everybody else believes. If God teaches you, what he's
gonna teach you is the opposite of what everybody else believes. What'd they say about Peter and
John? They've turned the world upside down. No, the world was
already upside down. They were just turning it right
side up. But that's it. You see, this isn't just a little
different view of things. This is a complete 180 degree
difference. Behold, I have created the Smith
that bloweth the coal in the fire and that bringeth forth
an instrument for his work. And I have created the waster
to destroy, but no weapon that he makes. No weapon that your
enemy makes. No, not one I've taught you.
You see, I've heard people say, well, I've learned the gospel,
and then they forsake the gospel. No, they didn't learn the gospel.
You know that passage we looked at in 1 John 2, you have an unction
given to you of the Holy Ghost? The verse right before that says,
they went out from us because they were never of us. For had
they been of us, they would have remained. But you have an unction
of the Holy Spirit. You're not going out, not if
you've got the Spirit of God. Nothing will deter you. Nothing will change your mind. That's the hope that we have,
isn't it? When someone who is a brother or claims to be a brother
goes astray, our hope is to know that if they belong to the Lord,
if they belong to the Lord, he'll bring them back. And that's your
hope for yourself and for me, isn't it? If I belong to Christ,
he's not gonna let me fall. No weapon, verse 17, that is
formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord." I've got a perfect standing before
God. Why? because I have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He's laid
for us a foundation, hasn't he? He's spoken to us in his word.
He's given us his spirit. We have an unction and we keep
coming back to Christ. He's gonna keep us from falling
and present us faultless before his throne with great joy. We
have a righteousness with God and nothing can deter us Let
the opinions of the world go as they may. We shall fear no
man. If you fear God, you're not gonna
fear man, are you? It's just that if God's spoken,
I know this is the truth and here I must stand. afflicted, tossed with a tempest,
discomforted. That's who God speaks to. And when he speaks, he comforts
our souls. He gives peace to our hearts.
He does what he did for those disciples on the Sea of Galilee.
What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey
his voice? It became a placid lake, didn't
it? Peace. Peace from God. My peace I leave you. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that you are speaking We pray Lord that you would continue
to speak and that you would reveal to us the glory of thy son. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 268, let's stand together,
268. you ? How firm a foundation ? ? Ye
saints of the Lord ? ? Is laid for your faith ? ? In his excellent
word ? ? What more can he say ? ? Than to you he hath said
? to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, I am with
thee, O be not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will still
give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent
hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, The rivers of hope shall not thee overflow,
for I will be with thee thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy
pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design thy draws to consume. and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not deserve to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Thank you.