Good evening. Would you grab
the blue hymnal books, turn to number 318. Cheryl and I were
saying it's so needful to be here. Well, this is an appropriate
hymn. Pray the Lord would meet with us. I need thee every hour.
If you could please stand. Number 318. you I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, stay
Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, O I need Thee, Every
hour I need Thee, O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, enjoy
your pain. Come quickly and abide, or life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee
every hour. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, most
holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I know I say this every time
we sing that hymn, I can't help but to be reminded that this
hour is the hour we need him the most. If he would speak to
us, meet with us in this hour, what a, what a blessing. Claire,
it's good to have you with us from Lexington and Jason. Nice to have you here in a long
time. Let's open our Bibles together to John chapter 17, John chapter
17. This is our Lord's high priestly
prayer as he is interceding to the father on behalf of his church. And there's really no way to
understand the gospel or the Bible without an understanding
of unity. the mystical union that exists
between Christ and His church. As He is, so are we. God has made a spiritual union
with our Savior and looks to Him for everything that He requires
of us. That's why Paul said, that I
need to be found in him, in him, not having my own righteousness.
All right. You have your Bibles open to
John chapter 17. Here's our Lord's prayer. We'll
begin at verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. Who's that? That's us. Lord's
praying for us. that they all may be one as thou
father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in
us that the world may believe that thou has sent me. There's
no believing the gospel apart from this matter of spiritual
union between Christ and the father, Christ and his church. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. The only way that we can be perfect
before God is to be in Christ. And that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. There's
no understanding of the gospel apart from this spiritual union. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, and that they
may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, But I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
how we pray that you'd be pleased to answer this prayer in our
hearts this night. That we would find ourselves
looking to Christ, resting in Him, waiting upon Him, trusting
Him for all our righteousness before Thee. that we would look
to his sacrificial death on Calvary's cross for the hope of our justification
and his glorious resurrection for the proof and the evidence
of our salvation. Lord, we know that you are satisfied
with Christ and oh, how we pray that you would put it in our
hearts tonight to be satisfied also. Oh, we ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. The blue handbook's again, number
176. You can remain seated. Number 176. ? Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me ? As thou didst break the loaves beside the sea
? Throughout, throughout the sacred page ? I seek thee, Lord
My spirit pans for thee, O living Word. Bless thou the truth, dear
Lord, to me, to me. As thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall, And
I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of
life, O Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above. Teach me to love Thy truth for
Thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me. that he may touch my eyes and
make me see. Show me the truth concealed within
thy word, and in thy book revealed I see the Lord. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Isaiah chapter 41? Isaiah chapter 41. The gospel is for sinners. It's only for sinners. It's for
all sinners. A sinner is a person who cannot
do anything for themselves. They are completely dependent
upon Christ for all their righteousness and all their justification before
God. They have no righteousness of
their own. A sinner is one who finds no comfort and no hope
in a message that leaves them something to do. A prayer to
pray, a will to exercise, a decision to make, a work to perform gives
them no comfort whatsoever because God's made them to be sinners
and they know that they have nothing to offer. They have nothing
to offer. That's why Isaiah said in chapter
40 of Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. Tell them what? Their warfare
is accomplished, their iniquity is cleansed, and they've received
of the Lord's hand double for their sins. That's the comfort
that I need to hear about. A salvation that is of the Lord. That's what Jonah said, isn't
it, when he found himself in the belly of the whale? He cried,
salvation is of the Lord. That's the title of this message
tonight. Salvation is of the Lord. And this is a message of
comfort for sinners to know that the Lord's done it all. He's
done it all. He in His own sovereign purpose
and will before time ever began chose a people, placed them in
Christ, put them in the covenant of grace. He successfully redeemed
them through the shed blood of His sinless Son. He worked out
a righteousness for them. That's why this matter of union
is so important. There's no understanding of the
gospel apart from union. And we're going to see that in
our text tonight. The mystical, spiritual union
that Christ has with His church. And when He gives His people
faith, they can do nothing but look to Him for all the hope
of their salvation. And what comfort there is, knowing
that God's pleased with him. What more can I add to what he
has done? Nothing. Nothing. And I dare
not take anything away from it. I'm a sinner. I'm in need of
salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's the Lord that makes us willing
in the day of His power, calls us to Himself, gives us faith
to believe. It's the seeing eye and the hearing
ear is of the Lord. He does it all, doesn't He? So
we need to hear a message that gives to Him all the glory and
all the praise and all the honor for our salvation. And if He's
pleased to give us faith to believe Him, then we'll rest all the
hope of our immortal soul on the glorious person and successful
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. Now, you
have your Bibles open to Isaiah chapter 41. As I said, this matter
of union is a theme that's brought all throughout the Scriptures,
even in Ephesians chapter 5 when the Scripture speaks of Christ
and his church. I speak to you of a great mystery
concerning Christ and his church when he's talking about the husband
and the wife. He says, Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,
for no man ever hateth his own flesh, but he nourishes it and
he cherishes it, even so Christ did the church. And so he's reminding
us and how much stronger the bond is in marriage when we're
reminded of the union that we have with our spouse. That the
two shall be made one flesh. I mean we're so prone. to insist
upon our rights and our needs and our individual whatever. But when the Lord reminds us
of the union that we have in marriage, it strengthens that
bond, doesn't it? Same thing when He reminds us
of our union with Christ. when He said, she shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. He gives to us His name. And as I've already quoted, as
He is, so are we. John said it like this, the child
of God cannot sin. Why? Because His seed remaineth
in Him. Now, the only way to understand
that, if you're a sinner, is this matter of union. The new
nature. The oneness that we have with
Christ through faith. That's what God's looking to,
as the sinless nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the
mind of Christ. The old man's still there, isn't
he? But there's my hope. There's my hope that I have union
with Christ. Even when the Lord's encouraging
us to guard our bodies, what does he say? He says, Don't you
remember that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? And
so it's being reminded that we have union with Christ. And he goes on to tell us not
to grieve the Holy Spirit. So these things are, this spiritual
union that we have. is in every part of our walk
of faith. And it's seen clearly in this
passage. The Scripture tells us that Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. James tells us that Abraham was
a friend of God. And Abraham's the one that the
Lord is speaking of here in our text. But Abraham represents
the whole church. And so we're not just reading
this as a description of what God did for Abraham, but what
he's done for the whole church. Look what he says in verse 2
of Isaiah 41. Who raised up the righteous man
from the east? Who raised him up? Who called
Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees and set him on a path? He did. He had to trust God for
everything, didn't he? He just, he believed God and
he was persuaded that God was able to accomplish that which
he had promised. And so he's, he's talking about
Abraham. He's talking about Every child
of God, Abraham being the father of the faithful, he's the one
who raises us up and makes us righteous in Christ. He's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You see, all the promises of
God are first applied in the Bible to Christ. And then in
him they are yea and amen to his people. So behold my servant
whom I uphold and all the promises that are made are made first
and foremost to the Lord Jesus Christ. So those who are found
in union with him Receive the blessings of those promises just
like he got them There's our hope we're not we're not we're
not looking for God to bless us Because of something we do
We're looking for God to bless us because of what Christ did Who raised up the righteous man
from the east now Abraham's not getting any glory here the question
is who did it and Who did it? God did it. God could have left,
Abraham was a pagan just like everybody else in Ur of the Chaldees.
God could have left him there to die a pagan just like everybody
else. But he distinguished him out.
And he called him out from the east. And called him to his foot. When God calls, he calls us to
the feet of Christ. That's where we come, isn't it?
we just sit at his feet and learn of him. That he's not only the
teacher, this Bible is the Word of God. It's a revelation of
Christ in the volume of the book it is written of me. He's not
only the teacher, he says, learn, they shall be all taught of God. And so God has to teach us. And
then he says, they shall be taught, learn of me. So he's the subject. He calls us to His feet, even
as He called Christ, the righteous man, and set Him down at the
Father's feet. And as we just read in John chapter
17, the Lord Jesus Christ trusted the Father for everything. He
gave the nations before Him and made Him rule over kings. Ethiopia, Egypt, and Saba has
been given to you according to Isaiah chapter 43. The whole
world, you remember in Isaiah chapter 40, the nations are but
a speck of dust on the scales. God's talking about all the nations
of the world. And he's comparing the vanity of the world to the
value of his church. And all the nations God sees
that way. Now, let me clarify something,
because that's all the nations. That's the United States of America.
I love this country. I am thankful for the freedoms
that we have in this country. I'm thankful that the Lord gave
us all the things that we benefit from. But my feelings towards
this country are not the same as God's. You know, this isn't God's nation. It's my nation as a citizen.
It's your nation. We're to support it, vote, fight for it, whatever
we have to do. But God says it's a speck on
the scale. You're the ones that are important
to me. He says he made him rule over kings. You remember in Genesis
chapter 14 when Abraham, the kings of the new world that
Abraham had come to were in a battle with one another and they invaded
Sodom after Lot had gone into Sodom and they
took Lot captive along with his family. And Abraham put 350 men
together and chased after the kings and slaughtered them and
delivered Lot and brought him back. And remember that's the
same story where Abraham met the Lord Jesus Christ as Melchizedek,
the king of Salem, the king of righteousness, and gave unto
him tithes. So the reference here is clearly
to Abraham, but it's to us. And we're the children of Abraham,
and it's to Christ who made Him to rule over kings. And He reigns sovereign over
all the kings of this world. There's nothing that happens
in this world that He hasn't ordained. I've got someone in
my life that lets me know every time that they see something
mystical take place in the world and they make a spiritual connection
to it, you know. And, you know, I've just been
thinking Everything has a spiritual connection because everything
is ordained of God. Everything is. You know, the
superstitious are always looking for something mystical. But we have the comfort and hope
of knowing that our God controls everything. He gave Him to rule over kings.
He gave them as the dust to His sword. Now the scripture says
that God has made his children to be kings and priests. That means that we are princes
in the family of God, we're royalty. You can't get any higher than
to be a child of God. So here we are, princes in the
family of God and priests in that we have direct access to
God. We don't have to go through another man. We go straight to
Christ. And so, then what is the sword
a picture of throughout the scripture? The sword of the spirit, which
is the word of God. Has the word of God slayed you? Has it laid you open? Has it
cut to the marrow of your bones, as the writer of Hebrews calls
it, exposing the intents of your heart? Have you come to conclude
that my heart is desperately wicked and I can't know it? And
the word of God is the only truth that I can hang the hopes of
my life and soul on? That's what he said, these kings
shall be the dust of his sword. And certainly those kings that
Abraham slaughtered were, and the ones that the Lord Jesus
Christ reigns over and makes subject to him, and as driven
stubble to his bow, he pursued them. and passed safely, even
by the way that he had not gone with his feet." The Lord Jesus Christ, in his
incarnation during those 33 years of his earthly ministry, never
left Palestine. And yet, here we are, how many
miles removed from there, where His feet never went, and He has
pursued us. He's pursued us with the Gospel,
with His Spirit. He has caused us to come. Who hath wrought and done it?
Who did it? Who wrought it out? Who planned
it? Who purposed it? And who did
it? Calling the generations from
the beginning. Who's the one who ordained who
would be saved from the beginning of time? I, the Lord. Now, here he's not talking about
the way he identifies himself in Revelation when he says the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last, because he says, I the Lord, the first, and with the
last. In other words, I'm not going
to lose one of my sheep. Every single one that I purpose
to save, everyone that I accomplish their salvation, in my life and
in my sacrificial death, I'm going to see to it that they
come. They're going to believe. I'm not going to lose a single
sheep. No child will be left behind.
Don't you love it when the children of Israel came out of Egypt,
the scripture says, and not a hoof remained behind in Egypt. They brought out the men, the
women, the children, the cattle, and the Egyptians gave them their
riches, and not a hoof was left behind. And there it is. Not
a hoof will be left behind. Every child of God will be delivered. I am the first and I will be
with the last, all the way to the end, every single one of
them. Now, the next three verses is talking about idolatry. The fear of the gospel. drives the unbeliever closer
to his idol and closer to other idolaters. The fear of the gospel drives
the unbeliever closer to his idol and closer in union with
other idolaters. You put into this room a representative
of every religion of the world, and let each one stand and explain
their faith. And in the end, I promise, the
child of God, the believer in the grace of God, will be ganged
up on by every one of them. If getting along in this world
and being at peace with man is your goal, the gospel is not
the way to go. I had this experience last week.
I got on a fishing boat and struck up a conversation with a man
on the boat. He told me he was a born-again Christian Well,
I told him that I I told him I he asked me what I did and
I told him I was a pastor Oh, that's exciting. He's I'm a born-again
Christian and And he started asking questions and so we just
talked and he was he was, you know, very excited about having
a you know a brother to talk to these other people that were
on the boat and Well, four hours later, he wasn't speaking to
me. And I was kind, I mean, I wasn't
ugly to him, I was just answering his questions. And within four
hours, he had everything in common with the irreligious people on
the boat and wouldn't even look at me anymore. They will find that they have
in common that God loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved. They will find that they have
in common that all men have a free will. Even those who don't believe
in Christ. Well, you know, the Muslims or
the Hindus or anybody else in the world, they will find more
in common with one another than the child of God. They will all agree that good
works are either necessary for your salvation or at least need
to be looked at as the evidence of your salvation. They're all
going to agree with that. And you're going to be left out
in the cold as far as your relationship with man is concerned. But oh,
look what he says, after I the Lord, the first and with the
last, I am he, I have done this. The isles saw it and feared,
and the ends of the earth were afraid. They drew near and came,
they helped everyone his neighbor. And everyone said to his brother,
be of good courage, don't worry about what they're saying. So
the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smothereth
with the hammer, him that smote with the anvil, saying, It is
ready for the soldering. And he fastened it with nails,
that it would not be moved. He's talking about the effects
that the gospel has on every other person in the world as
far as drawing the... What happened when the Lord came
on the scene in Jerusalem? The Pharisees and the Sadducees
wouldn't even talk to one another. They were bitter enemies. And
when the Lord came and presented the gospel, what did the Pharisees
and the Sadducees do? They joined forces, didn't they? Let us make for ourselves an
idol. Now let me say this about idolatry.
When God teaches you the gospel, when he saves you, when he reveals
Christ to you in your heart, you're done with idolatrous religion. You'll never go back to it. I'm
just confident of that. You don't want anything to do
with it. It's repulsive to you. The thought of robbing Christ,
who you now love, of His glory and salvation is the last thing
in the world you would ever do. Go back to that. And yet, in
another sense, idolatry is the one sin that you can't ever get
away from. What is idolatry? Putting something
before the Lord. You shall have no other gods
before me. Don't put them before my face. How many times in a day do you
put something else before the Lord? You see, we're cured of idolatry
in one sense, and we're diseased with an incurable idolatry in
another sense, aren't we? He's talking about those who
will worship a false god. Those who will fashion and they'll
say, be of good courage, let's get together. We'll all agree
to disagree on the differences that we have and we're all going
to the same place, we're just going to get there a different
way. Isn't that what they say? And you can't agree to disagree. And for that, you're called narrow-minded
and unloving and cold. Isn't it? But, look at the next verse,
but thou, Israel, art my servant. Jacob whom I have chosen the
seed of Abraham my friend I Want to be a friend of God, don't
you? But I remind you from Genesis from Galatians chapter 3 that
in here again, we're back to Union the seed of Abraham was
singular turned on me to Janet to Galatians chapter 3 and Verse 16, yes. Now to Abraham
and his seed, singular, were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ. So Christ is the seed of Abraham.
And all the promises of God go to him. Why? Because he satisfied
the demands of God's law. He accomplished the purpose for
which he was sent. He pleased the Father. And the
Father rewarded him with all the promises that were made to
Abraham. And the only hope that you and I have To be blessed
with those promises is to be found in him. And just as the Lord Jesus Christ
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So we are called
the friends of God found in him. Turn back with me to our text
and then turn over a few pages to Isaiah chapter 49. I want
to show you something in Isaiah chapter 49. Verse 1. Listen, O Isles, unto me, and
hearken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from
the womb, and from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention
of my name. 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, and he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel,
in whom I will be glorified. Now clearly that's a reference,
all those verses we just read were referenced to Christ. And
so God, we often talk about how she shall be called the Lord,
our righteousness, and we're Christians, we have the name
of God written on us. But here's a picture of Christ
taking the name of His bride. Turn with me to Psalm 22. Psalm
22. Verse one, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Can there be any doubt that Psalm
22 is all about Christ? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and I'm not
silent, but, Thou art holy. You see, even when the Father
forsook Christ on Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus Christ trusted
the Father. He knew he was holy. He knew
what he was doing was right. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praise 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 despised of the people. So the Lord Jesus
Christ calls himself a worm. He's imputed now on Calvary's
cross with the sins of his people, charged fully with all the guilt
and shame of all their sins, satisfying God's justice. And
he calls himself a worm. He calls himself Jacob. Go back
with me to our text. But thou, Israel, art my servant,
verse eight. Jacob whom I have chosen look
at verse 14 fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel So the Lord is here's the glorious
here's the glorious truth of all of this is that our Savior
has taken the name of his bride to himself and Not only has he given us his
name, but he's taken our name to himself. He calls himself
Jacob, a supplanter, a deceiver. As he's burying our sins under
the wrath of God, he calls himself a worm. God chose him. Behold, mine elect,
whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham. I'm in verse 8 now, in Isaiah
chapter 41. Salvations of the Lord. It's
all of him. What hope do we have? To be found
in him. That's our hope. God don't look
to me for anything. Look to Christ for everything
that you require from me. Thou, when I have taken from
the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof,
verse nine, and said unto thee, thou art my servant, I have chosen
thee and not cast thee away. I'm not cast away. I'll not leave
you nor forsake you. I've cast your sins away, hid
them under the blood of Christ. And though Christ was forsaken
as our sin bearer on Calvary's cross, he was rewarded for what
he had done by the father raising him from the dead. Verse 10, fear thou not, for
I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Now the Father is speaking to
Christ here, and the Father is speaking to us. We're in union
with Christ. These things are true of us.
Don't be afraid. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Now our
heart goes out to people who don't know Christ. We want them
to be saved. We take no delight. in, in the judgment and damnation
of centers. And when men treat us with, with,
with disrespect because of what we believe, we, we don't get
angry at them, but our Lord's holy. And, and he's saying here, they,
the strive with you, they're going to perish. Thou shalt seek
them and shall not find them. Even them that contended with
thee, they that were against thee shall be as nothing and
as a thing of naught. Don't stand against Christ. The
only hope that we have is to be found in him. If we're outside
of Christ, what'd the Lord say? If you're not for me, you're
against me. I hear people say, well, you
know, this gospel, it's too narrow, it's too demanding. But I don't have anything against
God. Yes, you do. That's what the Lord's saying
here. If you're not found in Christ, you're at enmity with
God. There's no middle ground. You
can't be neutral on the gospel. You're either all in or you're
all out. That's it. Who's going to put you all in?
God's going to have to. Isn't that what we started out?
Who raised up the man from the east and called him to his foot
and gave him the world? God did it. God's got to do that. Verse 13, For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, fear
not, I will help thee. You know, we're all such a bunch
of control freaks, aren't we? How many of you all think if
you want something done right, do it yourself? I think that all
the time. And we've got way too much confidence
in ourselves and not enough in the Lord, don't we? We doubt
Him. We suspect Him. We don't believe
His promises. And we believe we want something
done right, do it ourselves. Don't believe that when it comes
to the gospel. You might be the best person
you know at some things, but the Lord's making a promise to
Christ and all those that are in Christ. All the promises of
God are first and foremost to Christ. And the benefit that
we have is to be found in him. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. He's calling Christ the worm,
Jacob. How could the Son of God, the
sinless, holy, undefiled Son of God, be called a supplanter
and a worm? Only if God made him sin who
knew no sin. God dumped the whole mass of
all the sins of all of God's people on Christ. He bore them
in His body and He bore them away. I will help thee, verse 14, saith
the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I'm gonna
help you and I'm gonna help your Redeemer. It's the father speaking to Christ
and his church. Behold, I will make thee a new
sharp threshing instrument having teeth. And thou shalt thresh
the mountains and beat them small and shall make the hills as chaff. He shall make the mountains as
valleys. The valleys should be made high
and the mountains should be made low. And we see that in Isaiah
40. What does he do? He does it with
his teeth. It's just a symbolic language of what's coming out
of it. He does it with his word. His tongue is called a flaming
sword. His word is called a sword. His
teeth here is everything that comes out of his mouth. It's the word of God. It's believing
God. Thou shalt fan them, and the
wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them,
and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and thou shalt glory in
the Holy One of Israel. You're not going to take any
credit. You don't want any credit. You see, you're a sinner. You're
a sinner. And you know you don't have anything
to bring God. How am I going to make peace
with God? What am I going to do to atone for my sins? I need
a Savior. And here He is, and this is what
He's done. And I'm going to glory in Him. When the poor and the
needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth
for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them, and I, the God of
Israel, will not forsake them. Children of Israel thought they
were gonna die of thirst out there in the wilderness, and
a rock showed up. And Moses took a rod and smote
the rock, and out of the rock flowed rivers of living water.
There's the law, smiting Christ. And out of your heart, the Lord
told that woman at the well, shall flow rivers of living water. You'll not have to go anywhere
else to get water again. Drink of this well, you're going
to thirst again. Drink of the well that I'll give you, you'll
never go anywhere else. I will open the rivers in high
places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.
You feel dry? We live in a dry and thirsty
land, don't we? As difficult as the circumstances
of this world are, the most difficult trial that you and I face is
the sin of our own flesh. And we get so dry and indifferent
and cold-hearted toward God, don't we? We see the idolatry
that's ever before us, and we're constantly looking away from
the Lord. I will. And men love to say, well,
I will, I'm gonna do this. So God says, I will. I will plant
in the wilderness, trees of righteousness, which are the plantings of the
Lord. I will plant in the wilderness, the cedar and the shita tree
and the myrtle and the oil tree. And I will set in the desert,
the fir tree and the pine and the box tree together that they
may see and know and consider and understand together that
the hand of the Lord hath done this. Now all these different trees,
generally these particular trees wouldn't grow in the same forest. We've got trees here in Florida
that you don't have up in the north and got trees up there
we don't have here and trees down by the water that you don't
have in the desert. This is a whole bunch of hodgepodge
of trees that are supposed to grow in lots of different areas
and they're all growing in the same area. That's the way it is, isn't it?
You see it, don't you? We're a bunch of different kinds
of trees, but we're all growing together, aren't we? Because
the Lord's planted us. The Lord's planted us in the same forest. The hand of the Lord hath done
this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. And let me remind
you what it is to create something. We talk about a person being
creative. In fact, all they're doing is
taking raw materials and shuffling them around and making something
different out of them. But to create in its strictest
sense of the word is to bring something out of nothing. And that's what God does when
he saves a sinner. They bring something out of nothing.
The Holy One of Israel hath created it. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful for the comfort that you speak to sinners in
knowing, Lord, that salvation is your work from start to finish. Oh, how we pray that your Holy
Spirit would bless your word to our hearts and cause us to
look to Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Brother Bert, number nine in
the hymn book, number nine. is not that I did choose thee
for Lord that could not This heart would still refuse thee,
hath thou not chosen me? Thou, from the sin that stained
me, hast cleansed and set me free. of all Thou has ordained
me that I should live to Thee. Your love had no beginning. No cause in me was found that
You should choose to save me. sinners strongly bound, but grace
not earned or sought for was purpose for my soul. For me salvation wrought, for
Christ paid the dreadful toll. T'was Sovereign Mercy called
me and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me, to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns not before Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first. Thank you.