and the tolls. Good to have you
guys here. In a moment I want to read Isaiah
53 for our call to worship, but you remember the first verse
of that hymn. Who hath believed our report? And the second part of that hymn,
the second part of that verse in our text is framed as a question,
but really it's the answer to the first part. Who hath believed
our report? to them whom the arm of the Lord
has been revealed. So that's our hope tonight, that
the Lord will be pleased to reveal his strong right arm to us in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we're
here. So let's stand together. Tom, you come lead us in. Tell
me again, I'm sorry. 62. 62. Crown Him the many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully
bear that sight But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries
so bright ? Crown him the Lord of life ? ? Who triumphed o'er
the grave ? ? Who rose victorious to the strife ? ? For those he
came to save ? ? His glory's now we see ? Who died and rose
on high, Who died eternal life to bring, And lives that death
may die. ? Crown him the Lord of heaven
? One with the Father known ? One with the Spirit through him given
? From yonder glorious throne ? To thee be endless praise ?
For thou for us hast done Be thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. Please be seated. Isaiah 53. Who hath believed our report? The believer wants everybody
to believe it. And we're grieved that people don't believe. But
we know that the only way they're gonna believe is the same way
we believed. And that's if the Lord reveals
himself to us. To whom the arm of the Lord is
revealed. For he, that's the arm of the
Lord, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, for he shall grow up before him,
the Father, as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground,
he hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him." Wasn't anything that attracted
us to him? He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not." What an accusation. We didn't
esteem the Lord Jesus Christ. We didn't. Why? Because he hadn't
been revealed. We didn't know him. We didn't
have any interest in him. In spite of the fact that we
had no interest in him, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Everyone the Lord Jesus Christ
was bruised for is saved, healed, made right before God. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. And what is man's way? Free will, good works. That's man's way. We've turned
everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He was fulfilling the covenant
that he had made with the Father before the world began. willingly
laying down his life for his sheep. He had no objections.
He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare
his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living
for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. God made
him sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death Because he had done no violence
neither was any deceit in his mouth Not a word of Every word
he spoke he was he is the Word of God and he spoke the Word
of God didn't he? Yet It pleased the Lord to bruise
him and When God the Father saw our sin on his son, he had no
choice but to exercise his righteous judgment against Christ as our
sin bearer. And so he put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, God made the soul of
the Lord Jesus Christ an offering for sin, not an offering to us,
The world will tell you that Christ died to make an offer
of salvation to man and you get to choose whether or not to receive
or reject that offering. Now he was making an offering
to the Father. That's who he's making an offering to. And the
Father was pleased with the offering that he made. He shall see his
seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hands. He, the Father, shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." When God saw what
the Lord Jesus Christ did, the Father was satisfied. He accepted
the offer. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify everybody? Many, many. For he shall bear
their iniquities. He bore in his body all of the
sins of all of God's people of every generation and satisfied
the demands of God's justice by putting away those sins. Therefore,
because he did this. Therefore, the father speaking
now, will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors
and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. We have an intercessor. We have
an advocate. We have one who stands between
us and God. and we have acceptance in Him. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we come before Thy throne of grace in the name of Thy dear
Son, thanking You for His accomplished work of redemption, thanking
You that You were completely satisfied
with everything he did in order to put away all the sins of all
thy elect. Lord, we pray that your Holy
Spirit would cause us, Lord, to set our affections on Christ
and to believe on him, to trust him,
to rest in him. Lord, we pray that you would
use the ministry of the gospel and the preaching of your word. We pray that you would open our
hearts and open thy word and break for us the bread of life,
revealing to us the glorious person and accomplished work
of thy dear son. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Let's all stand together again. We'll
sing hymn number 39 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns handbook,
number 39. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying, Guilty I deserved God's wrath. Long I fought against
my Master, Hell-bent I was courting death. But the blood of Christ
had bought me, He refused to let me die. This poor sinner, loved by Jesus,
Must be conquered by and by. at the time which was predestined
in the covenant of God's grace. God in mercy sent his Spirit,
blessed time of love and grace. to reveal His Son's great merit
as the sinner's substitute. I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood for sin's atonement,
justice would not ask for more. I heard Christ's God is finished,
and I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening. Grace that broke my stubborn
will. Grace that would not let me perish. Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace, I will proclaim
it, Irresistible and free, Grace that chose me and redeemed me. The grace alone saved me. Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God. Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,
saves poor sinners by His blood. Please be seated. We can go home now. That was
the gospel. Wow, that's a wonderful hymn. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah 51, please? Isaiah chapter 51. While you
do that, some of you may not know, I know I've been out a
good bit the last few months. It's not that I'm popular in
demand, it just so happened. As a matter of fact, I don't
have anything else on my calendar after this coming weekend. But
I am going to go preach for the group up in Pennsylvania this
weekend. And there's a man associated
with that group whose 25-year-old son died this past week. And so they're going to have
the funeral on Saturday, and I'll be there for that. Donnie
Wigginton is gonna go with me. So y'all pray for us as we try
to encourage the brethren up there and Dennis Fitzton will
be here Preaching for you all so he'll preach here Sunday morning
and Sarasota Sunday night, and I know you'll enjoy that so Pray
for Dennis. He's leaving here and going to
California preaching three times out there next week so He was
telling Jeff, he said, I got to preach seven times in the
next week. Pray for me. That'll be good. I'm glad Dennis
is coming. I'm glad you're all going to
get to hear him. Hope for those without strength. That's the title of this message.
Hope for those without strength, not those of little strength,
not those who are struggling, those who have no strength, no
ability whatsoever. That's who the gospel is for. Romans chapter 5 verse 6. In
that, or for when we were yet without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. So the qualifications for the
gospel are that you be completely without strength and that you
be completely ungodly. Now to be ungodly just simply
means that there's no point of reference between you and God.
You're not anything like Him in any way. He's altogether other
than we are. That's what the word holy means.
The word holy means other, separate from sinners. He's holy, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. So we're completely dependent. We're ungodly and we're unable,
without strength. Now, those two things only They
only speak to the believer They only relate to the only the only
the child of God can relate to that the unbeliever Believes
himself to have some contribution that he can make No, let's go
to our text. Look at verse 9 in Isaiah chapter
51 Awake awake put on strength. Oh arm of the Lord Now this is
a cry of a sinner Oh, Lord, put your strength on. I've got no
strength. Oh, arm of the Lord, save me. Lord, if you don't save me, you
remember when the Lord was asleep in the back of the boat, and
the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, and there was storm
came up, and they said, Master, care us not that we perish. We're
gonna die. If you don't save us, we're gonna
die. And the Lord woke up. Oh, ye of little faith. And he
rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. And
the disciples spoke one to the other, and they said, who is
this man? What manner of man is this, that
even the wind and the sea obey him? That's where we are. Well, we're we're in the turbulence
of our sin We have no ability and we cry just like those disciples
Lord awake awake or we perish If you don't speak to this if
you don't speak to the wind if you don't calm the sea And I'm
not talking about the difficult circumstances of our lives I'm
talking about the problem that we have with our sin Lord you've
got to you've got to rebuke it and You've got to put it away,
or I die. Awake, awake, or to have no strength. Now the natural man believes
he has something. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness. Now, that means that men are deceived
in thinking that their righteousness is righteous. That they're deceived
in thinking that their unrighteousness is righteousness. And so the
Lord says they're deceived. They think they have some righteousness.
They don't know that their righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God.
They have a deceivableness of their own righteousness in them
that perish. Why? Because they received not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. What is the love
of the truth? What is the truth? The truth
is that I have no strength. The truth is that I have no ability.
The truth is that the arm of the Lord has to do all the saving.
The truth is that we've got to cry out, awake, awake, O arm
of the Lord. Look at the next verse. And for
this cause, because they had no love for Christ, They had
no love for the truth. They were deceived in believing
that their righteousness, their works, and their will somehow
merited them some favor with God. They had some strength about
them. They had some strength. And for
this cause, God shall send them a strong delusion that they should
believe... Now I want you to take special
notice of this. You can look it up. You don't
have to be a Greek scholar. You've got a program on your
phone probably you can look this up. I don't know why the translators
put the indefinite article a before lie. Because in the Greek text
it is the definite article the. The lie. Now what is the lie? What's the most universally believed
lie among men? Free will. That's the lie. I get to make the decision. I
get to accept or reject the offer. I get to decide when I'm gonna
get right with God. That's the lie. That they might be damned who
believe not the truth, but they had pleasure in their unrighteousness. They took pleasure in the fact
that they thought that, you know, they believed the lie. They really
believe it and when God sends a man a strong delusion. He is
deluded Hey, he's absolutely he will die for that truth for
what he believes to be true, even though it's a lie Let me
show you that in first in Romans chapter 1 verse 25 Romans chapter 1 The translators
did exactly the same thing in Romans chapter 1 verse 25 that
they did in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 11. Who changed the truth
of God into, you see the A there? It's the. They changed the truth
of God into the lie. and worshiped and served the
creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Here's the lie. The lie is that
God has voted for me. He's doing everything he can
to save me. The devil's voting against me. I hold the Trump
card. I get to decide. I saw a picture
of a young man recently who was baptized. And in the baptistry,
he had a t-shirt with letters across the t-shirt, I have decided. And he's being baptized. And
a banner over the baptistry. I have decided. And they're all
so excited. That's the lie. That is the lie. Why would you believe such a
lie? Because it gives you the power over God. You see, you
don't have to cry, awake, awake, O arm of the Lord. The strength
of God. Why? Because I've got some strength.
I've got some strength. I've got some ability. When the
Lord teaches you the gospel, You just realize, Lord, I can't. I can't decide. I can't do. I
am completely dependent upon You to make me willing and I'm
completely dependent upon You to present Your righteousness
on my behalf. I have none. I have none. And if you believe that, then
you can have hope that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for you. Everyone he died for, he saved.
How do I know he died for me? Because I am without strength. I have no strength. And I am
ungodly. There's no point of comparison
between me and God. None whatsoever. He's in the
heavens and I'm upon the earth. He's righteous. He's holy. I'm
a sinner. I'm ungodly. There's my hope. I'm without strength. You see,
the unbeliever doesn't believe that. He believes the lie. He
believes that he's got something in his will, in his works, in
his contribution, and he believes that he's godly, that he's doing
something, that there's some things about him. Oh, he's made
in the image of God. You hear people talk about, well,
everybody's a child of God. No, they're not. No, they're not. All right, go
back with me to Isaiah 51. That is the lie. The lie is free
will, and everybody believes it. Awake. Awake, oh Lord, come to
my rescue. Lord, I'm without strength, I'm
ungodly. You're gonna have to save me.
If you don't save me, I won't be saved. If you don't do it all, I'm without
hope. Put on your strength, oh arm
of the Lord, awake. Now we know that our God never
sleeps nor slumbers, but the Lord will withdraw the awareness
of his presence from us in order to cause us to cry out just like
this. And he'll cause us to, well,
we're going to see, he's going to use the very thing that separates
us from God to bring us to God. That's what he's going to do.
That's what he does. That's how he does it. Watch this. Look
here. Awake as in the ancient days,
in the generations of old, art thou not it that hath cut Rahab? Now here Rahab is being used
as a reference to Egypt. don't you know we could go back
Exodus and we could look at all the historical references to
how God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt that's
all that's all symbol what what what difference does that make
to the soul of a sinner what what does it really mean
not what happened but why did it happen and what's the reference
to Egypt and me well Egypt's a picture of a law We're born
under the law. And the taskmasters of Egypt
are requiring a quota from us that we can't measure up to.
And they're cracking the whip. And the religious believe the
lie that they have the ability to somehow, well, maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we'll meet the
quota. Maybe tomorrow we'll do a little bit better than we did
today. And so they believe the lie. And then the deliverer comes. And the Lord told Moses, I'm
gonna send another like unto thyself. So Moses is a picture
of Christ. Moses came into the Egypt to
bring God's people out. And the scripture says that not
a hoof was left behind. Every child of God and all their
possessions and all their animals were brought out by Moses. Nothing
was left behind. And that's the way it's going
to be. The Lord's not going to lose one of his sheep. Why? Because he's already saved him.
He's already saved him. When He ascended back into glory,
He took with Him the names of those for whom He lived and died,
and He's ever alive, making intercession on their behalf. And those lost
sheep, well, in due time, in due time, the Spirit of God will
make them willing, open up their eyes, and cause them to reject
the lie. Lord, I don't have a free will.
I've got a will. That's pretty clear. But it sure
is not free. It's in bondage to my nature.
And there's nothing about me that's godly. Lord, awake, awake. O arm of the Lord, be my strength,
as you did in Rahab in Egypt, as you went into Egypt and brought
the children of Israel out. That's what I need for you to
do for me. I need you to satisfy those taskmasters. I need you to bring me through
the river, bring me through the water, into the promised land. Look what he says, not only have
you cut Rahab, as I said, that's a reference to Egypt, it's been
used a couple of times in the scripture to refer to Egypt,
this is not the harlot Rahab, And and wounded the dragon That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross he brought
us out of Egypt and he bruised the head of the serpent and And
he set captivity captive. He tore down, he said, when he
asked Peter, when he asked Peter, he said, Peter, whom do you say
that I am? And what Peter say, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God, blessed art thou Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You didn't come to that on your own. You weren't
taught that from a man. My Father which is in heaven
has made that known unto you. And upon this rock, the confession
that you just made, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Why? Because my people are held
in hell. They're held behind those iron
gates. They can't get out. I've got
to go in and get them. And that's exactly what I'm going
to do. Why? Because I've wounded the dragon.
And I've cut Rahab. And I've satisfied the demands
of the law. I've done it all. And I'm going
to get all the glory. And my people are going to worship
me. Knowing that I did it all by myself. I didn't depend upon
them for anything. I didn't depend upon them to
decide. I didn't depend upon them to perform some work. I did it myself. And when those
who are without strength hear what God has said, They cry in
their hearts, awake, awake. Oh, the arm of the Lord, my strength,
do for me what you did for your people back there in Egypt when
you brought them out. And we're not talking about being
delivered from your circumstances. There's something a whole lot
worse than our circumstances. You know, look at The Lord the Lord shall Shall
comfort the afflicted there's a passage in this chapter. We'll
get to in a moment, but The comfort that the Lord gives is not being
delivered from our circumstances it's not the the comfort that
God gives to his children is not the absence of conflict it
is the absence of sin and It's the absence of sin. If I know
that I'm standing before God sinless, then whatever circumstances
the Lord has ordained for me, it's going to be okay. I'm just waiting for the eastern
sky to split and the trump of God to sound and the archangel
to cry and the Lord to descend in the clouds and call us home. Why? Because I don't have any
sin. I don't have any sin. Absolutely, perfectly sinless
before God. That's what it means to be justified.
If you're justified before God, you've got no sin. How are you
going to do that? Who shall stand in His presence? Them would have
clean hands and pure heart. You're going to have to be found
in Christ, aren't you? Not having your own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what hope. What hope. Lord, I'm not dependent upon
the lie. I'm not believing the lie. I don't believe the lie.
I would have believed the lie. I did believe the lie. But you
convinced me otherwise. You made me to have a love for
the truth. and delivered me from the gates
of hell. Why? Because Rahab's been cut,
and the dragon's been wounded, and God's people have been saved.
Art thou not it which hath dried the seas? The waters of the great
deep. Now here's what I want you to
notice. And hath made the depths of the sea away for the ransomed
to pass over. Like a vaccine that's been made
from the very virus that it's designed to cure. So the Lord
uses our sin to draw us to the Savior. It's not men's sin that
keeps them from Christ. Sin properly understood. When
the Spirit of God comes, He will convict the world of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father. And of judgment, because the
Prince of this world has been judged. The dragon's been wounded.
And sin properly understood by the ministry of the Holy Spirit
will drive us to Christ. What did the Red Sea represent? Separation. What is it that God
says separates us from God? Your sin has separated you from
your God. That's what the Lord said. And
now he says, the very depths of the sea that once separated
you are now going to be made away. The older really does serve the
younger. The old man, the old man of sin
is what drives the new man to Christ. I'm going to make a way. The
water that came from heaven and deluged the world in Noah's day
is a picture of the judgment of God, is it not? Clearly. Destroyed
the world by water. And that same judgment that fell
from heaven is what lifted up the ark and saved Noah and his
family. You see, the same judgment that
fell on the Lord Jesus Christ because of our sin is the means
by which God has put away our sin. I'm going to take the depths
of the sea and I'm going to make a way through them. Adam and Eve were cast out of
the garden as a result of their disobedience because of the judgment
of God. But being cast out of the garden
was the very means by which God saved them. Had they allowed
to remain in the garden, God had to set up an angel with a
flaming sword to do what? To protect the tree of life.
If they remain in the garden separated from God because of
their sin and continue to eat the tree of life, they live forever
separated from God. So cast out of the garden, the
judgment of God is the means by which God brings physical
death that we might enjoy eternal life. I'm going to make a way through
the very water that separates you from God, the very thing
that is your problem. The accuser of the brethren,
he's quick to point out our sin, isn't he? And to say to us, if
you were really a child of God, you wouldn't think that, you
wouldn't do that, you wouldn't say that, you wouldn't act that
way. And there's a moment of fear and that very accusation
God uses to drive us back to Christ. I'm gonna make a way. I'm going
to make a way through the waters, and my ransomed are going to
pass over. My ransomed are going to pass
over. Look, therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and
they shall come with singing. With singing, rejoicing in what
I have done. Singing unto Zion, everlasting
joy. shall be upon their head, and
they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning
shall flee away. If I know that my sin, not in
part, but in whole, has been nailed to the cross, and I own
it no more, I've got reason to rejoice, don't
I? I've got reason to sing. I can
have comfort. I can have comfort in the valley
of the shadow of death and fear no evil if I know that my Lord
has put away my sin. If He has prepared a table before
me, I can lie down even in the presence of my enemies and say,
my cup runneth over. If I know that goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and that in the end,
I'm going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever? Lord, whatever afflictions, whatever
conflicts, we'll agree with you, Lord. We just stand in agreement
with God. that these light afflictions
cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
It cannot be. Why? Because why any sin? It's been nailed to the cross.
It's been put away. We've got sinless perfection.
sinless perfection That's why God calls us Saints now. I said
that we're ungodly But you know what the word Saint means it's
the same word from holy God calls us Saints You've been set apart You've been made like him You've got no sin. Perfect. Righteous. Acceptable before
God. Not in your own righteousness.
You have no righteousness. You've got no strength. You've
got no godliness. But in Him. In Him. Only those who are without strength,
only those who are in and of themselves ungodly, will flee
to Christ. and say, arise, arise, O arm
of the Lord, show your strength like you did when you brought
the children of Israel out of Egypt and when you made that
sea of separation away for the redeemed. And they came across
and then in Genesis chapter, Exodus chapter 15, we've got
the song of Moses. But Miriam and Moses and all
the children of Israel they got across the other side God God
took that very sea that was a means of deliverance for them and Again,
just like in the flood destroyed destroyed the Egyptians And they sang and rejoiced in
what the Lord had done look at verse 12 I Even I am he that comforteth
you Who art thou That thou shouldest be afraid of man that shall die
and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass Don't be afraid
of men You know it we are aren't we and mark it down every time
you're afraid of a man's because you've lost your fear of God
and You're either gonna fear God or you're gonna fear men.
You can't do them both at the same time. So when you're fearing
man, just mark it down. I've lost sight of Christ. Arise,
arise, oh arm of the Lord. Save me. Reveal yourself to me. What is it to fear God? It's
to believe him. It's to look to him. It's to rest in him.
You believe him, you won't worry about what people think. You
just won't. They're just like you. They're
going to die. And they're grass. Verse 13, and forget us the Lord
thy maker that have stretched forth the heavens and laid the
foundations of the earth and has feared continually every
day because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready
to destroy. And where is the fury of the
oppressor? Let them make all the accusations they want. They've
got no power. They're without strength too,
they just don't know it. You know you're without strength.
You know you're grass. They're just like you. It's just
that they don't know it. They believe the lie. They think
they've got something they don't have. They have been sent a strong
delusion. Why would you be afraid if somebody's
deluded? You wouldn't be afraid of a person
that was crazy, would you? I mean, you know, I say we're
violent, I guess, but I mean, you wouldn't be afraid of their
opinions or their thoughts or their, you know, they're out,
no. And that's what God's saying. I stretched forth the heavens,
I laid the foundation of the earth. They're just men, they're
grass. They want to oppress you, but
they don't have anything. Your strength is in the Lord.
It's in Him. And He's got all strength, and
all power, and all ability. Know what the Lord said? Matthew
chapter 28, Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always. But before the commission, what
does He say? What does he say? All power has been given unto
me in heaven and in earth, therefore you go. All power. He's omnipotent and
we are impotent. Verse 14, the captive exile hasteneth
that he may be loosed, And that he should not die in the pit,
nor that his bread should fail. Oh, Lord, I don't want to die
in the pit. I need you to feed me with the
bread of life. The Lord said, labor not for that bread which
perisheth. Oh, everybody's setting their affections on things of
the earth, aren't they? They're just laboring, laboring for the
bread that perisheth. The Lord said don't labor for
the bread that perisheth. Labor for that bread which leadeth
to everlasting life. The bread of life. The bread
that came down from heaven. But I am the Lord thy God. I
divided the sea whose waves roared. What does that see a picture
of? It's a picture of your sin. And if God has revealed anything
to you about your sin, it roared, didn't it? It roared. And it continues to, doesn't
it? And it's that very sin that keeps driving you back to Christ.
Because you can't stand the roaring. You've got to have some peace.
You've got to have some comfort. You've got to know that that
sin's been put away, that God's not holding you. He's not condemning
you for it. You've got to know that there's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the spirit, walk not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. The Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts is his name. Now, Romans chapter 10, say not
in your heart, what can I do to bring Christ down from above?
Say not in your heart, what can I do to bring Christ up from
below? Perish the thought of thinking,
what can I do to make what Jesus did work for me? And then the
next verse says, the word is nigh unto thee, even in thy mouth
and in thine heart. For if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thine heart that
God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, is
that a decision? Is that a commitment? Is that
something you've come to conclude? I've got to make it. I've got
to pray this prayer. I've got to believe in my heart. I've
got to confess with my mouth. Look. Look at verse 16. And I have put my words in thy
mouth. And I have covered thee in the
shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the
foundations of the earth, and lay the foundation, and say unto
Zion, Thou art my people." If you confess with your mouth and
believe in your heart the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because He
put it there. It's because He put it there.
See, He does it all. He did everything in saving.
and he does everything in redeeming, and all we can bring to the table
is our sin. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for your grace and your mercy, and oh, how we pray that you
would give to us the faith to believe what you've said. We
ask it in Christ's name, amen. Number 256, let's stand together. Hmm. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot,
thou hast taught me. me to say it is well, it is well
with my soul, it is well with my soul. it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this That Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate And hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well, it is well, With
my soul, with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. And my sin, O the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, ? Not in part but the whole ? Is nailed
to the cross ? And I bear it no more ? Praise the Lord, praise
the Lord ? O my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul, it is well, it
is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back, as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Amen. you