Let's open the second hour with
a hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. All right? Let's
all stand together and we'll sing the hymn that's on the back
of your bulletin. dear lord we come to meet with
thee our lord and king to bow this day before thy feet and
hear thy praises sing may every worldly Be banished from our
mind. May we thy word with profit hear,
And peace and comfort find. Our strength will soon decrease,
unless our souls be fed. We know, O Lord, our hope and
peace depends on living bread. Join every tongue to sing the
mercies of our Lord, the love of Jesus Christ our King, let
every heart record. Please be seated. Good morning. A call to worship
scripture reading is going to be on Psalm 22. Psalm 22. It's our Lord that said that His love
leadeth to repentance and it's love that constraineth us. I can't think of the more highest
form of that Then we look to the cross. Pray that God the
Holy Spirit would enable us this morning to enter in into this
plea and cry by our Savior to His Father. Beginning in verse
1, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and
am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto
thee and were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I am a worm and no man. A reproach of men and despise
of the people. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They
shake the head saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou
art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me whole. When I was upon my mother's breast,
I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my
mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble
is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have come past
me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon
me with their mouth as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured
out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is
like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength
is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs
have come past me, the assembly of the wicked having closed me. They pierced my hands and my
feet. Now, when you were crucified,
you typically would survive three or four days. But since it was
the Passover, it was customary that no dead bodies would be
allowed to remain. So they broke the bones of the
two malefactors. And when they came to our Lord,
he already gave up the ghost. The scripture says that he kept
all his bones and not one of them is broken. We are those bones. We are his
body. And look at verse 17. I may tell
all my bones, they look and stare upon me. That is us, beloved. If you're a child of God, that's
us. May he be pleased to enable us to look and stare at him this
morning and that he would comfort our hearts. The highest form
of love. He gave it all. Let's pray. Oh Lord, How thankful we are
that you have gathered us here again this morning in your presence. And Lord, we believe your promises
that what you require you have provided and only you have provided. We're thankful for our dear,
blessed Savior who accomplished everything. And when he suffered that cruel
death 2000 years ago, Lord, we were there by union. We were
there in his body. Looking to him. And so now we
ask this morning. By your Holy Spirit, enable us
once again. To look to him and stare. And
to wonder and to marvel at his beauty to worship him. Lord, give us faith to do that
this morning. Bless your word, bless your gospel,
and bless my dear brother as he comes now to preach it with
boldness, with clarity and strength. Draw your people this morning
to yourself, for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 17 from your hardback hymnal, number
17. Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Dreams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I've come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger interposed
his precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy mercies, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 49? Isaiah chapter 49. I've titled this message, Hear,
O Isles. Our God is speaking to us and
He's calling on us to hear. You say, well, my Bible, it says
the word listen. It's the only place in the Old
Testament where they took the word Shema, which is always translated
hear, and translated it listen. I don't know why the translators
did that. But if you grew up Jewish, even
to this day, Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 would be the verse
that you would learn first as a child. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord thy God is one Lord. It's the same word here. That
verse is called the Shema, and it's the most important thing
that we hear what God is saying. And so the Lord is calling upon
us to hear. And I want you to hear. I want to hear. I want to hear
the voice of God. I really do. I want to hear Him
say, Thy sins are forgiven thee. I want to hear Him say, Be of good cheer. I have forgiven
thy sins. I put them away. I want to hear
Him declare unto me His grace and His mercy. His love for me. Now, the scripture makes it clear
in Proverbs 20, verse 12, that the hearing ear and the seeing
eye, the Lord hath made both of them. So if we are able to
hear the voice of God, it's only going to be by the grace of God.
You and I came into this world spiritually deaf. We came into
this world spiritually blind. That's why the Lord said, let
him who has ears hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. So unless God gives us an ear
to hear, we won't be able to hear. But here he's calling on
us to hear. And the first response of the
child of God, Lord, give me ears to hear. Lord, enable me to hear
thy voice. Enable me to be comforted in
knowing what you declared when you said, let not your heart
be troubled. Lord, I don't want to have a
troubled heart. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you, for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where you are, that where I am, there you
may be also. And I wanna hear that, don't
you? I want to hear that voice speak effectually to my heart
and to convince me. Now faith comes by hearing. It comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the Word of God. Faith doesn't come by understanding.
The scripture doesn't say faith comes by understanding, faith
comes by knowledge, faith comes by hearing. When God gives you
ears to hear, you just believe everything God says. People say,
well, how much of the Bible do I have to believe to be a believer?
Let me ask you a question. What's the difference between
a believer and an unbeliever? What's the difference? The answer
to that question is in the question. That's the only difference. Faith
is the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things
not seen. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God, for they that cometh to Him must believe that
He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. The only difference between a believer and unbeliever is
a believer believes God. Why? Because he has spoken and
they've heard. And his word was sharper than
any two-edged sword. It was powerful. It divided us
under the soul from the spirit and the thoughts from the intents
of the heart. It revealed to us the glory of
Christ. They believe everything God says.
How do I know I've heard from God? I can't not believe what
God has said. Hear, hear O Isles. This word, well the scripture
says it came not by private interpretation but holy men of God wrote and
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And all scripture
has been given by inspiration of God. It's all profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness
that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto all
good works. We hear God speak when we believe what God has
said. That's just, when you see what
God sees, I just believe it. I believe it. Listen, listen, O Isles, unto me. Who do we listen to? We listen to God. Look what he
says in verse 2, And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. in the shadow of His hand hath
He hid me, and made me a polished shaft in His quiver hath He hid
me." Now what is the quiver? This book is the quiver. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
speaking. And He's saying, I'm hid in this book. I'm hid in
this book. The Lord told the Pharisees,
he said, you search the scriptures because you think in them you
have eternal life. You think that by living by the
law, that somehow you're going to earn favor with God, but you've
missed the whole message of the Bible. The whole message of the
Bible is of me. These are they which testify
of me. The only hope to have eternal
life is to know Christ. to know Him. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. And if we're going to know Him,
we'll know Him by His Word. People say, well, God spoke to
me, and God led me to do this, and God led me to do that. No.
God speaks by His Word. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of truth. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. This is the means that God uses. Paul told Timothy, he said, study
to show thyself approved, a workman that needeth not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. And people ask me, what
does it mean to rightly divide the word of truth? It's to see
Christ in the scriptures. People love to take that passage
of Scripture, and they like to promote what's called dispensationalism,
and they set up different eras of time and events, and rightly
dividing the Word of Truth is seeing Christ in the Scriptures.
That's what it is. And so he says, he says, Listen,
O Isles, unto me. And hearken ye people from far,
the Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of
my mother, had he made mention of my name." Sometimes you hear somebody refer
to a passage of scripture, Psalm 22, that Brother Burt just read,
as a messianic psalm. This whole book is messianic.
From the beginning to the end, it's all about him. This is Christ
speaking prophetically. He said, God the Father made
mention of me from my mother's womb. Now what's that a reference
to? The angel went to Joseph when Joseph was thinking about
putting away Mary privately because here she was expecting a child
and he knew he had not been with her so he could only come to
one conclusion. And the angel spoke to Joseph
and said, that holy thing that is in her, that's the son of
God. And you shall call his name Jesus. He made mention of me from my
mother's womb, for he shall save his people. He's going to accomplish
the salvation of God's people. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come into this world to make an offer of salvation. He did
not come into this world to do his part so that you could do
your part. He came for the purpose of saving
God's elect and he did just that. And I want to hear him say to
me, I want to hear him say, it is finished. It is finished. The work of redemption is accomplished
your sins have been put away I've separated them from you
as far as the East is from the West and I remember them no more
This was all about It's all about the saving of our souls And that's
what Christ came to do He didn't come into this world
to give you a life of ease. He didn't come to give prosperity. People think that,
well, peace, that's the absence of conflict. No, no it's not. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
did not come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. to set
a man at aught against his brother. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he came to do. He
came to give us peace with God. Coming to Christ is not going
to... God never promised absence of conflict. You're going to
have conflict with the world. You're going to have conflict
with yourself. You didn't know you had an old man until the
new man came, did you? And all of a sudden I'm a contradiction
to myself. I've got my flesh worn against
my spirit and spirit against my flesh so that I cannot be
what I would be. People think, well, this Religion
is all for the purpose of giving me peace and prosperity. No, you need to be prosperous
with God. You need to have a righteousness
that's acceptable to God. And that's only going to be found
in Christ. Only going to be found in Him. Hear, O Isles. Hear. Hear what I've done. hear what
I've accomplished. Have you heard that his name
is Jesus with a capital J? There's lots of Jesus's in the
world and in religion, but there's only one that actually saves. There's only one who has succeeded
in satisfying the demands of God's holy law. There's only
one who has succeeded in putting away all the sins of all of God's
elect once and for all. There's only one that was successful
in saving. That's what his name means. Jesus We often say that his name means
Jehovah saves. It means Jehovah is salvation. The literal interpretation of
his name is Jehovah is salvation. He is salvation. He's all our
salvation. Here, all isles. Now if you'll allow me to use
a couple of personal examples. from my own life. I want to tell
you two quick stories. Because in Isle, notice where
he says, listen O Isles unto me and hearken ye people from
far. From far. Now I can remember when I was
probably in the second or third grade, I decided I was going
to run away from home. My mom wanted something I didn't
want to do, and so I just packed up my stuff, and I decided I'd
leave. And I can remember very clearly
getting about two blocks down the road, and I came to the corner
and realized, if I go any further, I'm gonna get lost. And I sat
down right there. I could see the house at a distance,
and I knew that if I went any further away from my home, I
may not be able to find my way back. I wasn't very far. You know,
a lot of folks think that's the way they are with God. I can
see. I know where I need to go. I'll
go when I'm ready. And I sat there in rebellion
as a second or third grader until I got hungry, I guess, and decided
I need to go back home. And then about at that same age,
my family took a trip to the beach and uh... we were with extended family
in multiple vehicles and everybody packed up their cars at the end
of the day and headed back home which was many miles away and
everybody thought i was in another car and i was absolutely terrified
left at the back to know my dress I didn't know how I was going
to get home. I was left there at the beach in Virginia all
by myself. Until a kind man came up to me
and realized I was in trouble and he kept assuring me that
they would come back and get me. It's all right. It's gonna be
all right. Just sit right here He sat right there with me until sure
enough few hours later. They came back Pick me up Now
I want to be like that kind man I Want to say to you God gives
you grace to hear the message of the gospel He'll come to where
you are You're a far-off You're lost. You don't know your
way home. You can't get there on your own.
That's our condition naturally, isn't it? We're completely dependent
upon Him to come get us. But I find so many folks thinking
that they're like that little boy sitting on the street corner.
Well, I know where my house is. I'll go back there when I get
ready. Here, O Isles, an island is completely
surrounded by water, it's far away. You that are far off, you
who can't save yourself, you who don't know your way home,
you who cannot produce any righteousness, be terrified and cry out to God
for mercy. he hath made my mouth like a
sharp arrow, a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand hath
he hid me. If you're gonna be saved, he's
gonna have to do it all, isn't he? Every bit of it. And he said unto me, Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Now God the Father is speaking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, the Father said
unto me, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. You remember when Jacob was trying
to figure out how he was going to escape the judgment of Esau
and he divided up his families and he wrestled, the scripture
says, with the angel of the Lord all night long. And at the end of that night,
Jacob, that was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. No question, Christ was the angel of the Lord. Jacob
was wrestling with the Lord. And Jacob kept saying, what is
your name? What is your name? And the Lord
said, why do you ask me my name? I'm going to change your name.
and he changed his name to Israel, a prince. Now the Lord Jesus
Christ was answering Jacob's question when he changed his
name. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is
being called by God the Father as Israel. the Prince, the Son of God. And when Christ gave Jacob the
name Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ was giving His name to Jacob. And the only hope that you and
I are going to be saved is if we have His name. We have union with Christ. Otherwise, we're just like Jacob,
aren't we? We're just supplanters and deceivers,
a far off, no hope of salvation. He gave him his name, Israel,
in whom I will be glorified. God said, I'm going to be glorified
in Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Verse 4, according as He, God
the Father, hath chosen us in Him, that's Christ, that's the
covenant of grace. God, according to His own will
and purpose, chose a particular people and put them in Christ
before Adam was ever made. according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love." If we're in Christ,
then we're holy and without blame before God in love. Why? Because God's looking to Christ,
the Prince, for us being like Israel. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself According
to the good pleasure of his will say well. Why would God choose
some and not others there's your answer? There's your answer,
and if you've heard the voice of God you just believe that
Just believe that To the praise of the glory of His grace wherein
He has made us accepted in the Beloved. I'm going to be praised
by you, Israel. I'm going to get all the glory.
Now turn over a couple pages to Philippians chapter 2. Verse 6, who, speaking of Christ,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. He knew that he was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He thought it not robbery to
claim equality with God. He was the Prince. He's Israel,
the Son of God. but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him and given
him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things of earth
and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. To the glory of God the Father. Now turn back with me to our
text. Verse three, God said to Christ,
thou art my servant. The Lord was sent as a servant
to the father to do his bidding, to accomplish his purpose, which
was the salvation of his people. And I'm going to be glorified
through your accomplished work. Then I said, then I said, here's
Christ speaking, and this goes so well with what we read in
Psalm 22 a little while ago. When the Lord cries out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Lord Jesus Christ hanging
on Calvary's cross was forsaken of God. When He bore our sins
in His body upon that tree, God's eyes were too pure to look upon
sin. There was a breach in the perfect fellowship that God the
Father had with His own Son for all eternity. This is the cup.
that our Lord prayed might pass from him the bitter dregs of
God's wrath as a result of the sins of God's people. And so,
prophetically now, Isaiah is speaking of what the Lord Jesus
Christ would suffer on Calvary's cross when he said, I have labored
in vain. I have spent my strength for
naught and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord
and my work with my God. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was hanging there and forsaken of God, could see no no profit,
no benefit. He could see no evidence from
his circumstances that what he was doing was of any value. Nevertheless, nevertheless, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. He believed God. And what God requires from you
and from me is perfect faith. Perfect faith. That's what he
requires. We need one who has perfect faith
to stand in our stead before God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the
only one that ever had perfect faith. He's the only one whose
hands were clean. He's the only one who never lifted
up his heart in vanity. He never spoke any guile. He believed God all the time. And so even in the midst of his
sufferings on the cross, he said, surely, you see that in verse
four, surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work is with
my God. I'm going to believe God to reward
me for what I'm doing. I'm going to believe God. You
see, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, entered into
a covenant with God the Father before time ever began. That's
what we just read in Ephesians chapter 1. And He struck hands
with the Father as our surety. And though on the cross He could
not see any evidence of salvation for anyone. He believed back
on that covenant. And so when David spoke and said,
although my house be not so with God, isn't that, can that not
be seen as the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Although my house
be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and sure,
this is all my salvation, all my desire. Though he make it
not to grow. David as the son of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is called the son of David,
isn't he? A type of Christ. Is expressing the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And our faith, our faith is in
the faithfulness of Christ. Lord, I can't go anywhere else
for my acceptance before you, except to look at the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, verse five, and now
saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, He came unto his own, his own
received him not. If this is to be understood the
way it's written, he's got to be speaking of national Israel. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
gathers all spiritual Israel. Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God
shall be my strength. God the Father is pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not pleased with you. He's
not pleased with me. He's satisfied with Christ. Faith is being satisfied with
what God's satisfied with. It's trusting in the faithful
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ for all my salvation. And God
gives you that kind of faith. You just believe it. Believe
it. How can we understand? How can
we understand God? In the beginning, God. You believe
that? And he said, verse six, here's
God speaking to Christ. It is a light thing that thou
should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to
restore the preserve of Israel. I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation until the ends
of the earth. Not only are you gonna save my
elect in Israel, but I'm gonna send you to the isles. I'm gonna
send you to the far reaches of the world. And you're gonna save
them too. Everyone that I've chosen, you're
gonna save them. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ, contrary
to what men in religion say, is not offering redemption. He's
not trying to redeem. His shed blood on Calvary's cross
actually purchased for God. Christ wasn't making an offering
to you and me on the cross. He is making an offering to the
Father. And the Father accepted that
offering. for the salvation of all of God's people. Thus saith
the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to Him whom
man despiseth, to Him whom the nations abhoreth, to a servant
of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because the Lord, that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
He shall choose thee. You did not choose me. I chose
you. God does the choosing. Hear, hear, O Isles. This is so clear to me. This is so glorious. It's speaking of Christ and His
accomplished work of salvation, isn't it? Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped
thee. I will preserve thee, and give
thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause
to inherit the desolate heritages. That's what we are by nature.
We're desolate, far off, stuck off, exiled like John on Isle
of Patmos. God's got to come to where we
are. And He's promised to do just that. And give ears to hear. My sheep, they're going to hear
my voice. And they're going to follow after
me. They're going to believe the gospel. How do I know if
I've heard God? I just believe Him. I can't explain
it, don't understand it, can't begin to comprehend it, but I
do believe it. I believe God, I believe Christ,
I believe His Word, every bit of it. Shema, hear, hearken, ye people
from afar. Has God given you ears to hear? The hearing ear and the seeing
eye are both of the Lord. It's a miracle of the new birth.
If I've heard the gospel and I believe the gospel, I believe
God. That's the only evidence that
I have. If I start looking to my life
To try to figure out if I'm a Christian, if I'm a believer, I get myself
in trouble real quick, don't I? Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. It is the substance of things
that we cannot see. I've heard the voice of God when
I have believed God. Believed Him. I can't not believe
Him. Believe Him. Believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thou shalt be saved. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful for the revelation that You've
given us in Your Word. Lord, how hopeful we are that You would
attend Your Word with Your Holy Spirit and give us faith to cast
all our care on Him who careth for us. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Number 34. Number 34. Let's stand together. Yeah. It is finished, sinners hear
it. Hear the dying Saviors cry. Hear the Lord Himself declare
it. Justice has been satisfied. It is finished, go proclaim it
to poor sinners far and wide. Holy Spirit, Make them hear it,
Jesus Christ, for sinners died. It is finished, all is over,
Jesus drank damnation dry. What a Savior! What a Savior! See Him now, exalted high! It is finished, look, behold
Him, seated at His Father's side. Yonder on the throne, behold
Him, Christ our Substitute who died. It is finished, hear him
pleading, As our advocate on high. His own words, great merit
pleading, Pleading justice satisfied. It is finished, can you hear
Him? All the work is fully done. Now believing, looking to Him,
we are saved by God's own Son. Amen.