It's a good turnout for a Wednesday
night. Let's open tonight's service with a hymn from our hardback,
Tim Noll, number 239, Art Thou Weary. Let's all stand together.
Number 239. Art thou weary, art thou languid,
art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
be at rest. Hath he marks to leave? 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,
lot 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 me nay? 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. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles together to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 and we'll
begin reading in verse 18 and read down to verse 23. Matthew chapter 13 and verse
18. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart, this is
he which receives seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that
receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word,
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. These are the three
conditions of men's hearts, whereby the gospel has no saving effect. Either the message is completely
disregarded or it's responded to, but only for a little while,
or the things of this world choke it out. And then there's another
heart. This is our hope, isn't it? Lord,
give me a heart after Christ. But he that receiveth that seed
into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth
it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some a hundred,
some sixty, some thirty. The Lord gives fruit to his word,
fruit of faith, fruit of following after Christ. And each one of
his children bear, they bear fruit, they do. We don't compare ourselves to
one another. But we ask the Lord to give us
a heart that will receive his word gladly and to make us fruit-bearing
to his glory. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, we know that if you don't give
us a new heart, if you don't give us hearing ears and seeing
eyes, if you don't give us faith to believe. If you don't put
the love of Christ in our hearts, we'll be like those who the word
has no profit for. Lord, we pray now that in this
hour, That you would give us tender hearts. That you would
give us faith to believe and to receive the things that you've
said. Lord, that you would bear the fruit of faith and grace
in the lives of your children to your glory. For it's in Christ's
name we ask it. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 488 from the Art of Acting. 488. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered,
from the set me free. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. ? I will tell the wondrous story
? ? How my lost estate to save ? ? In his boundless love and
mercy ? ? He the ransom freely gave ? ? Sing, oh, sing of my
redeeming grace ? With His blood, He purchased
me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I'll tell, How the victory He giveth over
sin and death and hell. With His blood, He purchased
me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. ? I will sing of my Redeemer ?
And His heavenly love to me ? He from death to life hath brought
me ? Son of God with Him to be ? Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer With His blood, He purchased
me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. Please be seated. We're going to be in Isaiah 54
tonight. If you'd like to turn with me
there to Isaiah chapter 54. But before considering that passage,
if you want to mark it and turn with me to Genesis chapter 30,
I want to show you where I got my title for this message. In Genesis chapter 30, you remember
Jacob goes to Laban fleeing from Esau and Laban deceives him. Jacob sees Rachel and loves her
and wants her to be his wife and Jacob gives him Leah. And then he gets Rachel. But
Leah, the Lord gave children to. There's a whole bunch of
them. And the scripture says that Rachel
was not able to have any children. She was barren. And so in Genesis
chapter 30 at verse 1, and when Rachel saw that she bared Jacob
no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob,
Give me children, or else I die." Now that's the title of the message. Give me children, or else I die. Now the Old Testament is full
of examples of this same scenario. Abraham and Sarah. Abraham wasn't
able to have Sarah was barren wasn't able to have children
and it wasn't until she was 90 years old that the Lord opened
her womb and she bore Isaac and and the child of promise Same
thing same thing happened to Isaac and Rebecca Rebekah, the
scripture says, was barren, and Isaac entreated the Lord for
her, and she bore Jacob and Esau. And so this desire to have children
was reinforced in figure with the fathers of the faith. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, all their wives, were barren and weren't able
to have children. And the Lord had to do a work
of grace for them in order for each of them to bring forth children. And what do these things represent
to us? Well, turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 54. Men will read stories like this
in the Old Testament and they'll read stories like the story of
Job. Job starts out with 7,000 cattle
and ends up with 14,000. He starts out with 3,000 camels
and ends up with 6,000. He starts out with seven sons
and three daughters and gets seven sons and three daughters
in the end. And the Lord blesses Job in that regard. Men will
read stories like this and they will come to the conclusion that
the evidence of God's blessings are seen in posterity, or in
prosperity, or in position. That's what they'll conclude.
And if you conclude that, then you are misunderstanding all
of Scripture. If you think that the number
of children that you have is somehow a symbol of your righteousness
or an evidence of God's blessings, you've misunderstood. Some of
God's choicest servants have had no children, were never married. I think of David Brainerd who
took the gospel to the American Indians. The Lord took him at
27 years old. Top lady Augustus top lady 37
years old never married neither one of those men were married
Mary of Magdalene was never married never no evidence that she was
ever married or have her hanging children the Apostle Paul Never
had children the Lord Jesus Christ Had no place to lay his head
Never married never had what is the spiritual? significance
for me and you on this emphasis that's given in the Old Testament.
Where God shows the evidence of His grace and the evidence
of His blessing through posterity or through possessions or through
position. Because that theme is not carried
into the New Testament. The Old Testament is full of
types and symbols. full of things that they're shadows
of a greater spiritual truth. And the greater spiritual truth
that we have doesn't have anything to do with how many physical
children you have, or how much money you have, or what your
position in this world is. It has everything to do with knowing God. Having righteousness. Lord, give me children. Give me spiritual children. Lord,
I'm barren. I'm barren. I'm barren of righteousness. I don't have anything. I'm barren
of knowledge. I don't know anything. I'm barren
of ability. I can't do anything. So when
God saves a sinner, He makes them barren in and of themselves. And God's people cry with Rachel,
Lord, give me children lest I die. I'm gonna die if you don't bless
me with children. If you don't cause me, Lord,
to have a righteousness and a knowledge of God and an ability to approach
the throne of grace, Lord, I'll be barren. These are spiritual
pictures. Look what God says in Isaiah
chapter 54, verse one. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not bear. Break forth into singing and
cry aloud that thou didst not travail with child. For more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Now, the larger picture of the
meaning of this verse is a prophecy to the Gentiles, saying to us
that the married wife, Israel, is going to have less children
than the barren wife, the Gentiles. You know, the fact that God would
save a Gentile. All salvation is by grace. All salvation is
a miracle of God's grace towards anyone that's saved. But Gentiles,
we're dogs. The Lord called that Syrophoenician
woman a dog. He said, the bread's not for
the dogs, it's for the children. It's for the children. What did
she say? Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. But the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the children's table. If I could just get a few crumbs,
Lord, I'd be satisfied. What did Mephibosheth say to
David? What would you have to do with
such a dead dog as I am? Mephibosheth wasn't a Gentile,
but he saw himself as a dog, didn't he? And the fact that
God took Gentiles all throughout the Old Testament The only people. Romans chapter
3. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. Verse 1. What advantage then
hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much
in every way chiefly, because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God. In the Old Testament, there's
not a Gentile nation that God spoke to. Not a single one. They were born, they lived, and
they died with no knowledge whatsoever of God. The only people that
had the gospel was Israel. They were God's chosen people. And now the Lord, after the coming
of Christ, takes the gospel out into the Gentile world. And the
barren woman, that's us, the barren woman, are bearing more
children now than the married woman. And it ought to make us appreciate
God's grace all the more. And here we were, Gentile dogs,
with no hope of being saved, had the Lord not brought the
gospel to us and revealed himself in us. We didn't have the oracles of
God. We didn't have the truth. We didn't have the gospel. The
Lord had to go out into the highways and hedges and find us and bring
him to himself. Now that's the broader picture
of what the Lord is prophesying here. He says, enlarge the place
of thy tent and let them stretch forth, oh I'm sorry we're back
in Isaiah chapter 54 at verse 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations.
Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. For
thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed, neither shalt thou be confounded, for thou shalt
not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy
youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more, for thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is
his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of
the whole earth, shall he be called. For the Lord hath called
thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife
of youth. When thou wast refused, saith
thy God." You were forsaken. You were a
Gentile dog. You had no hope of salvation.
Had the Lord not come to you? Had he not revealed himself?
Had he not taken this forsaken woman, this barren woman, who
had no spiritual fruit whatsoever? She had no faith. She had no
righteousness. She had no access to God. She
had no hope of salvation. These are the things that those
children and possessions and position in the Old Testament
are referencing to. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
52, Isaiah chapter 62. Verse 1, for Zion's sake will
I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth and the Gentiles, the Gentiles,
the dogs of the earth, the unworthy, the unable, the unrighteous,
the ungodly, They're going to see my righteousness and all
kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which
the mouth of the Lord shall name. That's the New Testament church.
This is spiritual Israel now. Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God and thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. You're not going to be barren
anymore. You're going to produce more children than the Jews could
ever produce. Neither shall thy land anymore
be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. My delight is in her. My delight is in her. Your husband
delights in you. You are now the bride of Christ
in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. All those blessings that
the barren woman could never could never bear. are now given
in abundance to his church. And thy land, thy land is not
going to be desolate anymore, it's going to be Beulah, married. You have a union with Christ
so that everything that he has is now yours. That's the Old
Testament picture, isn't it? The women in the Old Testament
didn't inherit any property. The only way they could enjoy
property was to be married to a man. All the property went
to the sons. Now the father who owns everything has one son. He has one son. And he gives
to that one son everything. And those who are in union by
marriage to that son have all the blessings, all the spiritual
blessings, all the posterity, all the possessions, all the
position that a sinner could ever hope to have. Though they
were barren, they now have everything. You've heard this illustration,
I've given it, but it's been a while, so it's a good one. It's a good one. A man and his
son, had a very loving relationship
with one another. And they were extremely wealthy. And they enjoyed collecting fine
art. And they traveled together all
over the world and collected priceless pieces of art. And
one day, the son died and the father grieved his death. And
then, in just a little while, the father passed away. And they
had an auction, auctioning off all these priceless pieces of
art that had been collected over many years. And the auctioneer
got up to display the different items, and the first painting
that the auctioneer shows to this gallery of very wealthy
art collectors was a portrait of the man's son. It wasn't very
professionally done, but it was clearly the man's son. And the
auctioneer began to ask the audience to make bids on this picture.
No one was interested in that picture. Let's get to the good
stuff. And so there was just silence in the room and the auctioneer
kept egging on the people and finally a man in the back stands
up and he makes a bid and no one else challenged his bid and
the auctioneer dropped the gavel and announced that the auction
was over. The auction was over. The man
that had made the bid was the butler for the father and the
son. He knew that was a picture of
the son. He wanted that picture. The father had written in his
will, whoever got the picture of my son gets the whole collection. The butler got it all. He got
it all because he got the picture of the son. Now there's the gospel,
isn't it? If you've got Christ, oh, barren
woman, you who have nothing, you who can do nothing, you who
don't know anything, if you've got Christ, you've got perfect
righteousness with God. You know God. You've got the
knowledge of God in your heart. And you've got access into the
very throne of God's grace to receive from Him all the blessings
that belong to Christ. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Him. And the scripture says Christ
in you. is your hope of glory. So this symbolism of being pregnant
and bearing children, we're pregnant with the Lord. If you've got
the Lord Jesus Christ, everywhere you go, He's there. He's there. That's what the Lord was saying
to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you can't see the kingdom of God
unless you're born again. You've got to be born from above,
spiritually born. Nicodemus thought, you know,
how can I go back into my mother's womb? Oh no, Nicodemus, that
which is of the flesh, it's flesh. Don't look at posterity as a
blessing. Don't look at possession as a
blessing. Don't look at your position in
this physical world as the evidence of God's blessing. The blessings
are spiritual. They're spiritual. They're knowing
God and having the hope of eternal life. Having the Holy Spirit
confirmed to your heart that you're a child of God. That's
the blessing. And so, go back with me to Isaiah
54. Remember, you know, some people think, well, the blessing
is to be able to have spiritual authority and spiritual power.
And the disciples went out and the demons were subject unto
them. And they came back and they were rejoicing, saying,
the demons are subject unto us. And what did the Lord say? Rejoice
not that the demons are subject unto you, but rejoice rather
that your names are written in heaven. That's what to rejoice. That's the blessing. the blessings
eternal life. And as I said, some of God's
choicest servants had no posterity, physically speaking, had no possessions,
and had no position in this world. And yet they had everything in
that they had Christ. And so the Lord says, Sing, O
barren, thou that didst not bear. You didn't bear any righteousness,
and now you have all righteousness. You didn't have any knowledge.
You were ignorant of God. You weren't of the commonwealth
of Israel. You were separated from God.
You were without knowledge. You were without God in this
world. But God, but God, through the preaching of the gospel and
by His free grace, took this barren Gentile woman and said
to her, oh, you've got more children now than can be numbered. You've got all the possessions
that belong to my son. You've got position in the kingdom
of God. What did the Lord say about John
the Baptist? When they were talking about
John, the Lord said that no man born of a woman is greater than
John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament
prophets. And then the Lord said, yet greater
is least of them in the kingdom of heaven than was John. See, John lived and died pre-crucifixion,
pre-resurrection. And so John was still part of
that Old Testament economy of looking at these possessions
as the evidence of God's blessings. That's why John said, are you
the one or do we look for another? This doesn't make sense to me.
I can't reconcile the fact that here I am in prison about to
die, and is the kingdom going to be set up or not? You see,
he was looking for an earthly kingdom, wasn't he? We know better
now. We understand that my kingdom
is not of this world. My kingdom is a spiritual kingdom,
and I give to my children spiritual blessings. And I'll provide for
them everything that they need in this life and in this world,
but they're not going to be looking at their possessions and at their
posterity and at their position in the world as evidence of my
blessings on them. They're going to be looking to
Christ. Sing, O barren. Lord, I was barren. I was barren of all righteousness. I didn't have anything. I couldn't
do anything. I didn't know anything. I was
incapable of producing life. I was barren. And God put it
on my heart to cry with my sister Rachel, give me children lest
I die. Lord, I'm going to die. If you
don't make me barren, if you don't make me fruitful, if you
don't give me spiritual life, I'm going to die in my sins.
I'm going to be separated from God for all eternity. I've got
no hope. Give me children lest I die. I'm unworthy. I'm devoid of all
righteousness. I'm poor. I'm needy. I'm naked. The self-righteous go around
parading their fig leaf clothing all they want. Lord, I look just
like I did when I came into the world. Naked are you when you
come into the world? What's a baby have? Nothing.
He's naked. And it's certain that you shall
take nothing out of this world. So the Lord said, labor not,
labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat
which lieth everlasting life. Christ is that meat. I am your
meat indeed. I am your drink indeed. The self-righteous look at physical
things as evidence. Listen, some of the people This is not just anecdotal. People
have had multiple children and possessions beyond imagination
and position of authority in this world, kings and presidents,
and died and gone to hell. Now you'd think they didn't look
at all those things as their blessings from God? Sure they
were. How are we looking at stuff?
Physically or spiritually? Lord, I need a spiritual blessing.
I need for You to give me children. Give me children lest I die. I don't have any ability. I don't
have any righteousness. I don't have anything to bring
You. I'm like blind Bartimaeus. Son
of David, have mercy upon me. I'm barren. I'm poor. I'm like the man at the pool
of Bethesda. How can I? How can I get in the
pool when the water's stirred unless a man should help me?
I've got no man to help me. I can't get up on my own. I'm
crippled. Like the man at the gate called
beautiful, silver and gold have we none, but such as we have,
in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I say unto thee, stand and walk."
Oh, he's barren, wasn't he? He's barren. Sing Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54, sing, O barren. You see, we have reason to sing
because though we're barren in ourselves, we are pregnant in
Christ. We are, we are We have everything
in Him. And so the Lord says, sing, rejoice. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not bear. Break forth into singing and
cry aloud that thou didst not travail with child for more of
the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Now, I've got a righteousness
in Christ that's perfect. Perfect. Absolutely perfect before
God Not barren anymore. Oh, I'm still barren in myself
every time I come to the throne of grace. I'm reminded my own
barrenness I Have nothing to bring I continue to come naked.
I continue to come as a sinner We continue to come as poor and
needy don't we that never goes away? Because both things are
true Left to ourselves, we have nothing. And in Christ, we have
everything. tried to find a passage in Malachi,
and I realized as soon as I got in the car that I was looking
all through, I was frantically looking through the book of Micah
for Malachi 2.17. It's impossible to find Malachi
2.17 in the book of Micah, okay? So Malachi 2.17, turn with me
there. You have wearied the Lord with
your words, yet you say, wherein have we wearied him? When you
say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,
and he delighteth in them. Now who would say that doing
evil is something that God delights in? Who do you know that would
say, God delights in me murdering somebody, in me lying, in me
stealing, in me being unfaithful, but God delights in that. No
one would say that. So what is it that's wearying
the Lord? You see, what men call good,
God calls evil. What this is a reference to is
the self-righteousness of the Pharisee who is declaring his
good deeds to God as the hope of his salvation. And God says,
you're wearying me with your words because you're calling
evil good. You're saying, but Lord, we did
many wonderful works in thy name. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. You're calling
evil good. And you're wearying me. You see,
here's how I know I'm a barren woman. Because I know, in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I've got nothing
to bring. When I come before the throne
of grace, I'm coming naked. I'm coming pleading the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ for all the hope of my salvation,
and I'm rejoicing in His promises, knowing that it's impossible
for Him to lie. Come to God by Him, I will in
no wise cast you out. No wise. Look what else they say. Look
what else they say in Malachi chapter 2 verse 17 at the end. Where is the God of judgment? Who do you know that fears the
judgment and wrath of God? The unbeliever doesn't. The self-righteous
doesn't. They're not walking around fearing
the wrath of God. They're not fearing the judgment
of God. They're saying, where is God's judgment? I don't deserve
to go to hell. I'm good as most folks, better
than most. So the Lord says, you weary me
with your words. We know the judgment of God is
real. And that's why we plead the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And God said, when I see the blood, when I see the blood,
I'll pass by you. Now, when you see it, when God
sees it, Lord, look to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for
all the hope of my salvation. And don't call it. Don't let
me look anywhere other than Christ. And when the Lord gives you faith
to rest the hopes of your salvation on the Lord Jesus Christ, then
you're able to rejoice. You're able to sing. Go back
with me. You're able to cry aloud. You're
able to say, no longer am I desolate. I'm now Beulah. I'm married to
Christ. I have a husband. I've got an
advocate with the Father. I know the Lord Jesus Christ. More importantly, He knows me,
and I rejoice that my name's been written in heaven. Look at verse two. Enlarge the
place of thy tent. I've heard preachers say, you
know, we need to build a bigger building so we can enlarge our
tent and get more people to come in. Enlarge your expectations for
God's blessings. We think so small, don't we? We just have such a limited view
of God. Oh, He's so much bigger than
we. You're not barren anymore. You're in Christ. Christ is in
you. He's your hope of glory. All
the blessings that the Father has given to His Son belong to
the Bride of Christ. Look out, Romans chapter 11.
I'm going to have to preach from this passage pretty soon because
I've been reading it several times lately. The Gentiles were priding themselves
over the Jews. And the Lord's correcting them,
saying, you know, you were a wild branch, and you were grafted
in to a good root stock. And if God cut off the bad branches,
don't think he can't cut you off. Don't pride yourself in
thinking that you had anything to do with your salvation. It's
not of works. It's all of grace. But then look
how this chapter concludes. Look at verse 33. Oh, the depths
of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how
unsearchable are His judgments and His ways, past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been His counselor? Who hath first given
to Him that it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and
through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever."
Enlarge your tent, there's more to come. There's more blessings,
there's more grace, there's more faith, there's more hope, there's
more assurance. There's more of Christ. He's a whole lot bigger than
we think He is. Whole lot. He's able to take
care of the needs of his children. He provides for, a good husband
provides for his wife, doesn't he? No husband like this has ever
provided for his wife before. He's provided everything. Everything
for our salvation and everything for our lives. Rejoice, oh barren
one. Yeah, you came naked. You came
with no righteousness. You came with no knowledge. You
didn't know God. And you still come that way,
don't you? Lord, my knowledge is so limited. I think I get
a little glimpse of truth and then it's almost like it starts
fading away. Lord, give me more. Give me more
knowledge. Let him who, knowledge in a human
sense puffs up. Love edifies. Let him who thinks
he knows, he doesn't know anything like he ought to know it. Lord, I don't know anything.
Like I want to know it, like I ought to know it. I don't know
you. I just, I keep wiping the glass off and I keep getting
glimpses of your glory through that glass dimly and then as
soon as the fog starts coming back. Lord, just show me more. Show me more. I'm a barren woman. I want to know you. That's how
Paul closes his life. I have not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I press towards the prize that
I might know Him, the fellowship of His suffering, the power of
His resurrection. Oh, that I could have a better
understanding of who I am in Christ and what God has promised
me in Christ. And that I wouldn't be so enamored
with possessions and with position and with posterity and all these
things that the world is caught up with. Lord, give me children
lest I die. It's always our cry, isn't it?
Lord, I'm going to die. I'm going to die if you don't
give me children. If you don't make me able to come, I won't
be able to come. If you don't give me a righteousness,
I won't have a righteousness. Oh, but the promises of God are
sure. They're sure. So I can sing. You see, we come broken, we come
dependent, we come as mercy beggars, and we come rejoicing. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
verse 52, verse 2, and let them stretch forth the curtains of
thy inhabitation. Spare not! Spare not any expense. Trust God. Trust Him with everything. I
beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present
yourself as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God as
your reasonable service. Be not conformed, be not conformed
to the image of this world. This world's all concerned with
what they've got, what they know, and what they can do. And we
come before the throne of grace, Lord I've got nothing, I don't
know anything, I can't do anything. I'm a barren woman. Give me children,
lest I die. The Lord says, you're my bride. Everything that's important,
eternally, belongs to me. And I give it freely to my bride. She's got half my kingdom. Isn't that what Ahasuerus said
to Esther when she came forward? Ask what you want, honey. Up
to half my kingdom is all yours. Whatever I've got is yours. Broaden your tent. There's more
blessings than we know anything about. Ask God. Ask God to give you children. Children of righteousness. Children
of ability. Children of grace. Children of
hope. Children of eternal life. All
these important children. For thou shalt break forth on
the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and make desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for
thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded. Yeah, you
were naked, you were desolate, but you're Beulah now, you're
Hephzibah. You're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. You've got everything my son's
got. Rejoice, sing. Sing, you've got it all. And
expect more. Broaden your expectations for
the blessings of God are beyond our comprehension. One day we're
going to see as He is. We can't even begin to imagine
what that's going to be like. But I'm sure that the Lord has
more light more sweetness of His grace to show us still in
this life than what we've experienced. Rejoice, O barren. Go before
the throne of grace and cry with Rachel, Lord, give me children
lest I die. Let's pray. Heavenly Father that
is a prayer that you put on our hearts and we thank you for it
We ask that for Christ's sake you'd be pleased to answer it We pray in the name of thy dear
son Amen 168 let's stand together number 168 We sing this a cappella. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Thou art scattering, full and
free. Showers the thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessings
fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor, whilst
Thou art calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty Spirit,
Thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
Speak the word of power to me. Even me, Even me, let thy blessing fall
on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me. Even me, even me, let Thy
blessing fall on me.