We're gonna open this hour service
with the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. So let's all
stand together and we'll sing the hymn that's on the back of
your bulletin. Thy work of providence, O Lord,
has brought us to this place. May thy great name now be adored,
thou giver of free grace. Tis not to honor flesh that we
now join our hearts as one. But we have come to worship Thee
through Jesus Christ Thy Son. ? Unto our Father praises be
? ? For blessings numberless ? ? For grace from old eternity
? ? Which we in Christ possess ? ? Thou art our hope and confidence
? ? Thou Lamb of Calvary ? For by thy blood and righteousness
we are from sin set free. ? Thou Holy Spirit, heavenly
dove ? ? We praise thee for thy grace ? ? Because of thy great
power and love ? ? We now the sun embrace ? ? O sovereign God
of earth and sky ? ? This is our one design ? Thy precious
name to magnify, may all the praise be thine. Please be seated. Robert. Good morning. You have no idea
how glad I am to be here. Relations Chapter 5. Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 27. Says it's appointed unto men
once to die. And after that, the judgment.
When your appointed time comes. And you're laying on your back
in the hospital and the bright lights are shining down in your
eyes and people are moving around you and you got tubes running
out of you all over. Where is your comfort? What crosses your mind when you
really think it's your appointed time? There are those that will
lay there and think I am so glad. That I let Jesus come into my
heart. Since I've become a Christian,
I don't drink. I don't run around on my wife.
I don't dip snuff. I keep the law. I do the very
best I can and Christ does the rest. If that's my comfort. I want to be like the rich man
in Luke. In hell, I will lift up my eyes
being in torments and I'll see Abraham afar off. And I'll see
Lazarus in his bosom. But if I'm really a child of
God. If God has given me the grace. To confess with my mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God has raised him
from the dead. If that's the case, I'll lay
there and I'll thank how good it is. That although this house,
this body of flesh, this tabernacle that I live in. Although this
house be not so with God. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And as I'll thank that
God that that for the great love wherewith he loved me, even when
I was dead in sins. He raised me up together with
Christ for my grace. I was saved and he causes me
to set in heavenly places in Christ. My hope will be that
I will go on to be with the Lord. My hope will be that when he
appears in the sky and a trump of God sounds and a voice to
the archangel that I'll come with him. That's the only hope
we can have. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ
was on the cross, he said, it is finished. That's not open
to discussion. It was finished. He has loved me from before the
foundation of the world. He's done everything needful
for my salvation. So I don't have any worries,
but I am glad to be here this morning because you have those
that you love. But when the appointment is not
appointment to die, but an appointment to nearly die. You don't lay
there and think, boy, if God brings me through this, I'm going
to be a better person. You know what you think? If God
brings me through this and I'm able to be with those that I
love again, I'm going to do one thing by the grace of God. I'm
going to stand fast in the liberty where with Christ hath made me
free and not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit,
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Because in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Father, we thank you for the
everlasting hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father,
that you look down on us, Father, in our sin and our rebellion
and our hate, Father, and our enmity, and you raised us up
together with Christ, Father. You gave us a new heart. and
a new eyes and new ears you gave us brothers and sisters in the
lord to love and fellowship with you gave us a preacher father
that preaches the gospel of the lord jesus christ complete salvation
father aside from anything we do We'd ask Father, you'd watch
over Greg this morning. You'd give him the grace, Father,
and the liberty to preach Christ, Father, and give us the grace
to have open ears, Father, and a willing heart to hear these
things. Thank you, Father, for being
our Father. Thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for salvation, Father,
aside from anything we could possibly do. We ask these things
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Let's stand together and we'll
sing hymn number 340 in your hardback tempo. 340. 3-4-0. ? Nearer, still nearer ? Close
to thy heart ? Draw me, my Savior, ? Precious thou art ? ? Fold
me, O fold me ? ? Close to thy breast ? ? Shelter me safe in
that haven of rest ? Shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing
I bring. not as an offering to Jesus,
my King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. All of its pleasures, pomp and
its pride, Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last. Till safe in glory my anchor
is cast Through endless ages ever to be Nearer, my Savior,
still nearer to Thee Nearer, my Savior, still nearer to Thee. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with me
to Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54. I've titled this message, Is
God Angry? Is God Angry? And the answer to that question
is yes and no. Now, I want to be found on the
no side of that question, don't you? Psalm 711, that's an easy one
to remember, isn't it? It says, God is angry with the
wicked every day. Every day. The scriptures are
clear that there are a group of people with whom God is angry. And then in Hebrews chapter 10,
when the Lord warns us about falling away from the gospel,
falling away from grace, falling into a works gospel. The Lord
concludes that warning with, it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of an angry God. Now, I don't want to know anything
about God's anger. I want to know that the promises
that he has given us in Isaiah chapter 54 are for me. Notice in verse 19, for this
is as the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that
the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, So have I sworn that I would
not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." I've sworn. After the flood, the first rain that came out, it
didn't rain at all before the flood, and then that deluge God
sent and over 25 feet of water above the highest mountain killed
every living thing. The only thing that survived
was that which was in the ark. That ark, a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, pitched or covered or atoned on the inside and on
the outside, Noah and his family safe in the ark. Everything else was destroyed.
And then the waters began to assuage, the scripture says,
and the first time it rained again after the flood, Noah thought,
surely, oh no, not again, not again. We got to go through this
again. And God put a bow, a rainbow
in the cloud, and God spoke to Noah. And God said, when I look
at the rainbow, that will be a token unto me to remind me
of the covenant that I have made not to destroy the world again
with water. So God made a promise and he
put a bow in the cloud as a token of that promise that the world
would never be destroyed with water again. And now the Lord
says, even as I made that promise, that covenant promise, So I've
made a covenant promise to you. And my promise is that I will
not be wroth with thee. I'll not be angry at thee. I'll
not rebuke thee. There's no fear. No fear of the
wrath of God if, if we're found in the ark. If we're found in
the ark. Now back up with me. to verse
four of this same chapter. I want to make sure that when
death comes, in particular, Robert, as you just spoke about, that
I'm found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is
by works, by the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and his faithfulness to keep
the law on my behalf. Here's what the Lord said, O
death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God through
Christ Jesus, we have the victory. So that there is now therefore
no condemnation, no condemnation to them that are in Christ. No fear of God's wrath. The Lord said, I am the resurrection. I've defeated death. I've defeated
sin. I've fulfilled the law. I've
satisfied God's righteousness. I stand in your stead. I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Never die. Believest thou this? The only hope that we have to
escape The wrath, the anger of God is to be found in Christ. You see, what happened on Calvary's
cross was that the Lord Jesus Christ bore in His body all the
sins of all of God's elect. When God saw our sins on His
Son, The scripture says, it pleased God to bruise him. God was forced by his holy justice
to pour out his wrath on his own darling son. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, the scripture says in Romans chapter 3, is our propitiation. Now that's just a big word that
means that God's not angry anymore. God's not angry anymore. All
the sins that Christ suffered for have been put away by the
sacrifice of himself once and for all and God's satisfied. God saw the travail of his soul
and God was satisfied. There's no more anger. God's
been made propitious. His wrath his anger has been
put away and he's got nothing for his people but mercy and
grace and love and forgiveness." Look what he says in chapter 54 beginning at verse
4. Fear not. Fear not. There's a lot of reasons to be
afraid. Hebrews speaks of the fear of
death and being delivered from the fear of death. You know,
there are basically three different ways people deal with the reality
of death. Trisha was talking to a young
man the other day and invited him to come to church and he
said, well, you know, I'm just not religious. I don't really, never
been to church, don't have any interest. And she asked him,
she said, do you ever think about dying? What's going to happen
after you die? And he said, I never think about
it. Now that's one way that people deal with death. They just put
it out of their mind. Don't think about it. I'm not
thinking about it. It's not going to make it go
away. The second way people deal with death is that they make
a covenant with death. Isaiah speaks of that. They make
a covenant with death and with hell they're in agreement. And
they present to God their good works or their free will decision
and they expect God to reward them for what they've done in
the covenant promises that they've made to God. And God's response
to that is, I will disannul your covenant. It's a false hope. It's no better off than not thinking
about death. It's just a false hope. And then
there are those who are found in Christ who have a good hope,
a comfort, an assurance in life and in death. My God is my maker. My God is my husband. My God
is my redeemer. Look what Isaiah says, beginning
in verse 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed. You know, shame is a powerful
emotion, isn't it? It's a debilitating emotion,
shame is. Shame and guilt. And here's the
hope that we have in Christ. If we're found in Him, our sin's
been put away. God says, I've separated your
sins from you as far as the east is from the west and I remember
them no more. You have a righteous advocate
who stands in your stead and you're found in him. The Lord
said, the Lord told Moses and Moses, there's a place near unto
me and I'm going to put you in that place and I'm going to hide
you in the cleft of that rock. And that place you'll be safe.
The same thing's true today. There's a place, we're just saying,
nearer and nearer to Him. There's a place that's near unto
God. That place is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Himself. If we're found in Him, there's
no reason to fear. No reason to fear the circumstances
that God might send our way. Whatever they might be. Whatever
they might be. To believe that your God reigns. He sits upon his throne. He hath
done whatsoever he wills. And all that he does is for the
good of his people and for his own glory. That takes away fear,
doesn't it? Takes away fear. Perfect love
casteth out fear. God says, fear not. Don't be
afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid
of death and don't be afraid of life. I've got this. That's what he's saying. I've
got this. Trust me. Believe on me. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed to be able to stand in the presence of a holy God
and have no shame, and have no shame. Now that's going to be
the experience of everyone that's found in Christ in their death,
but it's also the experience that everyone who's looking to
Christ has now in their life. For the Lord said, come boldly
before the throne of grace that you might find help in your time
of need. So we're able to, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're able to approach the very presence of a holy God
and know that we have acceptance in Him. There's no shame. No
shame. Sin's been paid for. I can stand
in the presence of a holy God and know that I have acceptance,
neither be thou confounded. There's no confusion. We're not double-minded about
this thing. When James speaks of being double-minded, we all
know something about that. Why? Because believers have two
natures and they feel double-minded all the time. But when James
says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways, let not that
man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord, James
is talking about mixing works and grace. That's what he's talking
about. Well, you know, I've got to have
the grace of God, and I've got to have the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, but that in and of itself is not sufficient.
I've got to add my two cents' worth. I've got to do my part.
I've got to make my decisions. And that's being double-minded.
That's works plus grace. And God says, if you're double-minded,
you're going to be unstable in everything. You're going to be
confused. Is my salvation secure by what
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross? Or is God
looking to me to make some addition to what Christ has already done?
Which is it? It can't be both ways. If it
is of grace, it can no longer be of works. Otherwise, grace
is not grace. What can't makes works in grace.
It's one way or the other. Stand fast, Robert, and the liberty
we're with Christ has made you free. Be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Don't
go back to Egypt. Don't add anything to what Christ has accomplished. If you do, you're going to be
confounded. You're going to be confused. And that's why religion
is so confusing. Have you noticed how convoluted
religion is? How confusing religion is? If
you listen to what people say in religion, you can't make sense
of it. They say one thing, and then they'll turn around and
say something else. They'll say, God loves everybody,
but most of the folks that God loves is going to send to hell.
What kind of love is that? You're saved by grace. But you got to do your part to
make that grace work. Well, is it grace or is it works?
Which is it? Which is it? Fear not. If I'm found in Christ,
if I'm looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for all the hope of my
salvation, I have nothing to fear. I don't have to fear the
wrath of God. God's not angry. He's made a
covenant promise. And just like every day since
that flood that Noah experienced, every day since then, the world
has never been flooded again. Not like that. Not like that. All that flood they had in Houston
was bad, but it wasn't anything like that flood that Noah experienced. God has kept his promises. It
is impossible for our God to lie. He keeps his promises. And he says, the covenant that
I made is like the covenant that I made with Noah. I'm gonna remember
that covenant. I'm gonna be faithful to my promises. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed. You don't have to be ashamed
to stand in the presence of God. You can stand before him as a
mercy beggar, a naked sinner, and know that you have acceptance
in the presence of a holy God based on the sacrifice and the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. No shame. And there's
no confusion. I'm not confounded. I'm not mixing
works and grace. It's a very simple message. The
message is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is finished. It is finished. Somebody sent
me an article that someone wrote on redemption and they talked
about how the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed a people. Well, actually I wrote
the words that they spoke and I'll read them so that We don't,
listen to this. He said, he said, my purpose
is to inspire God's people to praise and adoration to God for
providing a way for us guilty sinners to be redeemed and to
have forgiveness for our sins. My purpose is to inspire people
to praise God for God has provided a way. for us to be redeemed. And then he talked about the
redemptive work of Christ and then he concluded it with, that
redemption is not going to do you any good until you do your
part. And my question is, did the Lord
Jesus Christ actually redeem a people? Did he? Or did he just make an offer
of redemption? That we have to do something
in order to make it work for us. And if that be the case,
then who's the Redeemer? You're redeeming yourself. All
right, go back with me to our text. Look at what he says. For thou shalt not be put to
shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and thou
shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. If
you look to Christ, there's no shame. There's no guilt. If God's put my sin away, if
God's forgotten my sin, if God's covered my sin, then if God before
me, who can be against me? Who can be against me? Verse 5, for thy Maker is thy husband." How does this book begin? In the beginning, God. If the Lord gives
you an understanding of those first four words of the Bible,
you won't have any trouble with the rest of it. In the beginning,
God created. He's the creator and sustainer
of all of life. God made me. He owns me. And He owns everything about
me. Turn with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Now, this was written 2,000 years
ago, but you would think that you're reading a description
of the world in which we live today. Verse 18, for the wrath
of God, you remember, is God angry? Is God angry? Yes and no. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness." They're looking to their righteousness
as the hope of their salvation. They're looking to a decision
that they made. They're looking to their free
will as the thing that makes what God did work for them. and they hold the truth in unrighteousness. They don't know that their righteousness
is unrighteousness before God. They don't know that. Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him
that created the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead so
that they are without excuse. Man is able to look at the things
that God has created. What did the Lord say? Fear not,
for thy maker, thy maker is thy husband. Our God has created
all these things. He created you. He created me. He holds all things in the of
his omnipotent sovereign hand. Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were
darkened. They looked about and saw, well,
there must be a God. and then they became vain in
their imaginations about God. Why do the heathen rage, David
asks in Psalm 2? Why do the people imagine a vain
thing, an empty thing? Why do they strip God of His
glory and of His power and make their salvation based on something
that they do? Why do they do it? professing
themselves to be wise, they become fools and changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. They
set themselves up on the throne of God and make themselves the
arbiter of truth. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God
into the lie and worshiped and served the creature more than
the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. They serve and worship
the creature rather than the creator. Fear not, your maker
The Creator of all things is in sovereign control of everything
in providence, everything in creation, and everything in salvation. He's done it all. He's done it
all. He's not left any of it up to
man. I was listening to some experts
the other day. You know what an expert is. An
ex is a has-been and a spurt is a drip under pressure. And
I was listening to some experts the other day talk about man-made
global warming. And they've concluded that these
storms that we're experiencing now are because of us. Become foolish in their darkened
hearts, haven't they? wasn't very many years ago, we
actually called these things acts of God. But they don't do
that anymore. Man's doing it. No, he's not. God's doing it. God's doing it. Every bit of it. And he's not just stirring up
the hurricanes. He's stirring up the storms in
your life and in my life. and he's doing it all to cause
us to not fear. To not fear. To know that he's not angry.
You don't have to be confounded. You don't have to be ashamed.
Christ has taken care of it. Go back with me. For thy maker
is thy husband." Oh, what a perfect husband he
is. He chose a wife and he's always
been faithful to her. And even when she's not faithful
to him, he remains faithful to her. And just like Hosea brought
bought Gomer off of the slave block. So the Lord has made of
his wife a woman of harlotry. And He's redeemed her. And He's
provided for her everything she needs. Fear not. Don't be ashamed. Don't be confounded. If you're looking to Christ,
God's not angry with you. He's not angry with you. Your
sins have been put away. Your maker is your husband. He's the best husband. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. He laid down His life for His
bride. He redeemed her to Himself. Is he going to fail in keeping
her? Is he going to fail? What does Ephesians chapter 5
say? That he might present her without
spot and without wrinkle. For no man ever hailed his own
body, but he nourishes it and keeps it. And I speak to you
of a great mystery concerning Christ and His church. Don't be afraid. Your maker is
your husband. He's a perfect husband. He's provided for his bride that
she'd be without spot and without wrinkle. She's going to be perfect
in His sight. For His beauty and His comeliness
has been given to her. One day, one day the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to parade his bride before all of creation,
before everything that he made, heaven, hell, everything. And he's going to say, look at
her. Look what I did. Look what I did. And he's going
to get all the glory. Oh, if you're the bride of Christ,
if you're found in him, if God's given you faith to not be confounded
about the gospel, to not be ashamed of him, know that your maker's your husband. He's going to provide everything
you need. Not only is your husband, look what he says, the Lord of
hosts is his name. How ridiculous is it to hear
people in religion talk about making Jesus Lord? That's his
name. You say, well, I don't believe
in him. He's Lord over your life. Whether you believe in Him or
not, He reigns absolutely sovereign over you and He will do with
you whatsoever He wills. He's Lord. You don't make Him
Lord. God made Him Lord. He made Him
Lord over the living and over the dead. He's not in the least
threatened. you bet, I quoted Psalm 2 a moment
ago, why do the heathen rage and why do the people imagine
a vain thing? I've set my king on his holy hill. He sits in the heavens and the
scripture says he holds them in derision. In other words,
when men say I'm not going to have Jesus Lord in my life, He
laughs at them. He laughs at them. His name, His name is the Lord
of Hosts. The Lord of Hosts. Oh, child
of God, be comforted in that. You remember when Jacob Jacob
lost Joseph. He was convinced he was dead.
His brothers had brought the bloody robe back and implied
that he had been eaten by wild animals. Joseph was down in Egypt
the whole time, preparing for their salvation, wasn't he? And
then they went down to get some food and ended up having to leave
Simeon and came back and told Jacob, the man in Egypt, he wants
Benjamin. And here's what Jacob said, Joseph
is not, Simeon is not, and now you want to take Benjamin? All
these things are against me. That's what Jacob said. Now we
know the end of the story. None of those things were against
him. Simeon was fine. Joseph was the primary minister
of Egypt. And Benjamin is going to get
the blessings of Joseph. What did Joseph finally say to
his brothers? You meant it for evil. God meant it for good.
Have you ever felt that way? All these things are against
me. If you're in Christ, nothing's against you. Nothing is against
you. Not if he's the Lord of hosts.
Not if he's sitting upon his throne. Not if your maker is
your husband. Nothing's against you. All things
He said work together for good for them that love Him and those
that are called according to His purpose. Those have been
called out by the Spirit of God to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's not angry. He's not angry. His anger is
past. For all those found in Christ,
the wrath of God was satisfied on Calvary's cross. Thy maker is thy husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name and thy redeemer. Thy redeemer. Either the Lord is our redeemer
or he's not. Either he actually accomplished
redemption. Now what does redemption mean? It means to have the debt paid. You buy something back that's
been sold after you're redeeming it. You remember when Naomi and
Ruth came back from Moab and Ruth just happened on Boaz's
field and Naomi found about it and she told him, she said, you
stay right there. He's a kinsman redeemer. He is
obligated by the law to buy me back. That's what she was saying. The Old Testament law required
the nearest of kin to purchase a woman back into his family
that has lost her husband. And she knew he was going to
do it. Now, there was a kinsman that was nearer to her than he
was and he had to reconcile with that kinsman and so there's a
kinsman that's nearer to us, that's the law. and that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He reconciled with the law. He
satisfied the demands of the law. And the law required Him
to redeem His people and He actually redeemed us. He didn't make an
offer of redemption. You see, what the Lord Jesus
Christ did on Calvary's cross was not for you and not for me.
It was for God. The payment that he made with
his precious blood was not to us. It was to God. Did God accept
that redemptive price? Did God accept his blood sacrifice? Yes. Fear not. Don't be confounded. Don't be confused. Don't be ashamed. God's not angry. No, to the contrary, your maker
is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. He's thy redeemer, the holy one
of Israel. You see that? The holy one of
Israel. Now, in one sense, he's the only
one in Israel that's holy. When Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus
Christ sitting upon His throne and the seraphim hovering over
His throne, crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth is filled with His glory. Christ is holy, undefiled, harmless, separate from sinners. He's not like us in any way.
And yet, in another sense, when He gives us a new nature, that
new nature is holy. It's holy. That's why the scripture
says, as He is, so are we. We've got a holy nature. If you're
in Christ, you've got a holy nature. And here's the thing about holiness. Adam in the garden was innocent,
but he wasn't holy. And so innocence can fall. Holiness cannot fall. Holiness can never fall. So that's
why the Lord said, don't be afraid. Your old man, that flesh, yeah,
it's going to die. It's going to die. In one sense, that old man is
going to get what he deserves, the grave. He's going to go back
to where he came from. But the new man, it's what the
Lord said. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die, never die. We've got a holy nature. Why? Because the Holy One of
Israel has given us Christ in you, the hope of your glory. The hope of glory is Christ in
you. He's your holy nature. Thy maker is thy husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
the God of the whole earth shall he be called. He's the God of the whole earth.
The whole earth. Everything that's happening.
The Lord, Scripture is so clear. Man is so foolish to think that
he can make God, God. He's God of the whole earth.
He's in control of everything. Yeah, Guy over there in North
Korea, he's God's puppet. He's God's puppet. Putin, he's
God's puppet. Our president is God's puppet
and you are God's puppet. People say, well, that, that,
I don't want to be a puppet. And those people turn God into
their puppet. That's one way or the other. One way or the other. Either
God's in control or you are. Don't be ashamed. Don't be confounded. God's not angry. His wrath has
been put away. Look to Christ. Rest in Him. He's your husband. He's your
Redeemer. He's the Holy One of Israel.
He's the Lord of Hosts. He's the God of the whole earth.
Is He not able? Is He not able to supply us with
everything that we need? Verse six, for the Lord hath
called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and as
a wife of youth when thou was refused saith thy God, for a
small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will
I gather thee. That's our experience all the
time, isn't it? The Lord withdraws the awareness
of his presence and puts on us needs that cause us to cry out
for him. And then we discover a fresh
and a new. Once again, my maker is my husband. The Lord of hosts is his name.
He's my redeemer. He's actually purchased me. He
bought me with a price. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is before the throne of God. God expended all of his wrath
when he put his son to death for those for whom Christ died. You remember Psalm 711, the wicked,
those are the people that Christ didn't die for. And he's angry
with them every day, every day. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." Again, he tells
us again, I'm your Redeemer. Did the Lord Jesus Christ actually
successfully accomplish the redemption of his people? Did he? Or did he make an offer to redeem
you if you'll do your part? That's what religion tells you.
Religion tells you God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody,
God wants everybody to be saved. You do your part and it'll make
what he did work for you. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer, for this is as
the waters of Noah unto me. For as I swore that the waters
of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that
I would not be angry with you or rebuke you." I'm not going
to do it. If you have a view of God as
some angry God who's ready to beat you down
and you walk in fear of his wrath, that's not the God that we're
reading about right now. That's not the God who is. For the mountains shall depart,
and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Now the Lord is using that covenant
that he made with Noah and the promise that he kept in that
covenant to never destroy the world again by flood. And he
says, that's the kind of mercy I have towards you. And then
he uses the mountains. How immovable these mountains
are. How stationary they are. And
the Lord's saying, I'm like that. I'm not going to be moved from
the covenant promise that I made. That covenant promise was the
promise that God the Father made to the Son Before Adam was ever
made, before time ever started, God the Father promised to give
his son a bride. God the Son promised to redeem
his bride and God the Holy Spirit promised to regenerate those
for whom Christ redeemed. And God says, that promise is
not changing. Now, I can rest my soul. in that promise, can't you? If we're resting the hope of
our salvation in anything else, it's a false hope. It's a false
hope. And there's reason to be afraid.
There's reason to be afraid. If God's looking anywhere other
than the covenant promise that He made between the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, then there's reason to fear the anger
of God. Is God angry? Yes and no. What side of the anger of God
do you find yourself? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the revelation of the gospel that you've given us in your
word, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would enable us to find
our hope, our comfort, and the escape of thy wrath in the person
of thy dear son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. We're going to celebrate the
Lord's table. I'm gonna ask the men if they'll come and distribute
their wine and the bread. Tom, we're gonna sing number
10. Number 10, let's stand together.
Or no, just remain seated, I'm sorry. We'll sing this hymn a cappella,
number 10 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book. ? There is a Redeemer ? Jesus Christ,
God's Son, Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. Jesus Christ, Redeemer, name
above all names, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners
slain. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. When he rose to heaven, ? To
his throne on high ? He sat down, his work was finished ? Chosen
ones he can't deny ? Thank you, O our Father ? For giving us
your Son and making sure the work for
sinners was completely done. When we stand in glory, we will
see His face. There we'll worship Christ forever
in that holy place. Thank you, O our Father, for
giving us your Son, and making sure the work for sinners was
completely done. making sure the work for sinners
was completely done. That's so simple. That's so simple. It's finished. This celebration
of the Lord's table is for those who are looking to Christ as
their propitiation, putting away God's anger and God's wrath once
and for all. Their hope is in his sinless
perfection. That's the bread. This bread
was made without leaven. Leaven's a picture of sin and
the Lord's life was lived in perfect righteousness before
God. And those who are looking to him are looking to his life
as their life. Knowing that God's pleased with
him, God's pleased with them. We do this in remembrance of
him. when I see the blood I'll pass
by you. You don't apply the blood, Christ applied the blood. Christ
applied the blood. It's a covering. Tones for our sins. It's the
purchase price that God required. Deaf. Christ suffered the full
wrath of God's justice, died to put away the sins of his people. We do this in remembrance of
him. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. We're gonna close with a hymn
or not normally. Let's stand together. That was
good. That was good. Let's stand together.
Brother Donald Wendt, would you dismiss us in prayer, please,
brother?