Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37 in your hardback temple, number
37, How Great Thou Art. Let's all stand together, number
37. Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the works I has have made ? I hear the rolling thunder ?
? Thy power throughout the universe displayed ? ? Then sings my soul,
my Savior God to Thee ? ? How great Thou art, how great Thou
art ? Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great
Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook and
feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing. He bled and died to
take away my sin. Then sings my soul my Savior
God to How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come with shout
of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
and there proclaim, My God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Please be seated. I was singing that hymn all the
way here tonight. Thank you, Tom. I couldn't help but to think
about Brother Cody on that last stanza. When God shall come,
when Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation and take me home,
what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim Oh God, how great Thou art. We look through a glass dimly
now, don't we? We sing as best we can. In that day, we'll be able to offer
perfect worship. What a glorious day that's going
to be. I'd like to read from Psalm 55
for our call to worship tonight. Psalm 55. And while you look
that up, I think most of you maybe have already met Anthony
LaCassia. Anthony's wife, Linda, is still
in New York and they just bought a house off of Douglas at 436
and I-4. So he just came in tonight, said
we've been watching the service online and this is our new home.
So we welcome you, Anthony. We look forward to meeting your
wife. Jerry Salzberg had surgery yesterday, had a partial knee
replacement, and when I talked to him, he was expecting to get
out of the hospital this afternoon. I assume that he did. That was
around noon today. So he's home recovering. Friday at 2 o'clock is the service,
the funeral service for Cody in Houston. And Trish and I will
be flying out Friday morning early and getting back late Friday
night. I don't think it'll be televised
because it won't be online, I don't think, because it's going to
be at the funeral home. So if I find out anything different,
we'll send out an email or something. All right, you have your Bibles
open to Psalm 55. Give ear to my prayer, O God. Give ear to my prayer. and hide not thyself." Psalm
55. Hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make
a noise. Because of the voice of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked, For they cast iniquity
upon me, and in wrath they hate me." The accuser of the brethren.
Always pointing out our sin, isn't he? My heart is sore pained within
me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness
and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me,
and I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then would I
fly away and be at rest. Not our heart's desire to fly
away and be at rest, to be with Christ. What gain that's going
to be. One day we're going to have wings
like a dove. One day the Lord's going to take us home and be
no more struggle with sin like we have now. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would hear the cry of our supplication, that
you would enable us to enter into thy presence, to come before
thy throne of grace. Lord, that you would open the
windows of heaven and reveal to us a glimpse of thy glory. that we would be singing from
our hearts, oh God, how great thou art. We pray that you would
put a longing in our souls to take the wings of a dove and
fly away. and be at rest. We confess to
you, Lord, even as David bore his soul before you, that the
accuser of the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, our enemy, Father,
is always casting our iniquities before us. Oh, how we pray that
you would give us a fresh glimpse of thy dear son and the accomplished
work whereby he put away our sin once and for all. Father,
we pray for the services on Friday and we ask that Christ will be
lifted up and Lord that our hearts will be warmed, encouraged,
blessed by your grace, by your peace, your comfort. Pray especially
for those that are nearest to Cody. And Lord, be for them what
only You can be. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 30 from your Gospel hymns. Number 30. And let's all stand together. Number 30. Glory, glory, I'm forgiven, all
my sins are washed away. Christ, by his great blood atonement,
all my sin has put away. Sin imputed to my Savior when
He died upon the tree. As the substitute for sinners,
God will not impute to me. Glory, glory, I'm accepted, robed
in Christ's own righteousness. I'm a child and heir of heaven,
saved by God's almighty grace. Christ's obedience to the Father
is impure. In God's sight I'm pure and holy. He declares me so to be. Glory, glory, I'll not perish. In Christ's hands I am secure. He who saved me sure will keep
me. By God's grace I shall endure. This is not a vain presumption. I just take him at his word. Christ has sworn they shall not
perish who believe on me there. Lord. Please be seated. Open your Bibles with me please
to Isaiah chapter 33. Isaiah chapter 33. We looked Sunday on the evidence
of having heard His voice. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. The evidence that we've heard
His voice is that we've heard a message that's done. You saw that in verse 13. And
we're not being presumptuous, as we just sang. We're trusting
His Word. It's finished. Our gospel is
not a gospel of works. Not of our works. It's a gospel
of grace based on His works. There was a time when we were
far off, and He's brought us near. We saw from verse 14 that the
evidence of having heard the Lord's voice is that He removes
from our hearts the fear of hell. Now someone says, well, you know,
sometimes that fear just grabs my heart. And you'll know that
when it does, you're not hearing His voice. And so when you do
hear His voice, that fear goes away, doesn't it? God has not
given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and
of a saved mind. What a glorious evidence it is
to the heart of God's children to not have to fear the wrath
of God, to know that He has satisfied His wrath in His own Son. In verse 15, We saw that the
evidence of having heard the voice of God is that we walk
after Christ, we speak of Christ, we despise a works gospel, we
shake loose from our hands any message that would be based on
a bribe or be based on works. We stop our ears from hearing
a false gospel, and we shut our eyes from looking on a false
gospel. That's every believer's experience. That's the evidence of having
heard the Lord's voice. Now I want us to go to the next
verse because I see in this next verse the result of having heard
God's voice. And then we're going to look
at one more verse in this chapter which will give us the cause
of having heard God's voice. Now, it may seem a little backwards.
We're looking at evidence and then result and then cause last,
but that's the way it is in the scriptures, and so we'll take
it in that order. How do I know if I've heard the
voice of God? What is the result in my heart
of having heard His voice? Look at verse 16. He shall dwell
on high. Now, every time we look at passages
like this, we can't avoid seeing them as they were fulfilled in
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ's heart
was always on high. He was dwelling on high with
his father. Everything he came to do, he received from God. And the scriptures
make it clear that the father received him back into glory
and said to him, sit down here. at my right hand until I make
thine enemies thy footstool." So the Lord Jesus Christ was
received up on high because he had perfect hearing of God's
voice. Where are you right now? Where
are you right now? If you've heard God's voice,
all the blessings of God are in Christ in the heavenlies. It's not, well, you know, it's
sort of as if we were there. No, we're there. Our dwelling
place is on high. When we depart this world, we're
just going to discover where we've always been. Now I can't
explain that any more than that, but the scripture makes it clear
that in eternity there is no time. And our dwelling, our dwelling,
if we've heard We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous One. He took with Him, when He ascended
back into glory, the names of those for whom He lived and died.
And just as we were in Him in His life, just as we were in
Him in His death, just as we were in Him in His resurrection,
so we are in Him in His ascension. And we are with Him right now,
our dwelling place. And maybe Scripture makes it
clear, doesn't it? We're pilgrims, we're strangers, we're sojourners
in this land. This world is not our home. What
is our home? If we've heard the voice of God,
we know that we're secure in glory in the person of our dear
Savior. And so the result of having heard
the voice of God is that we dwell on high right now. And we shall
dwell on high in the fullness of our experience. Right now
we dwell on high through faith, through hope. In that day we
won't have any need for faith, we won't have any need for hope,
will we? Faith will be our sight. Hope will be our experience. What a glorious encouragement
the Lord has given us. When he speaks, when he speaks,
he comforts our hearts in telling us, you dwell on high right now. In the person of your Savior,
you're dwelling there, right there with God. And until I make
thine enemies thy footstool, those who are at enmity with
Christ, with God, because of their unbelief, what does he
do? He makes them to sit down at his feet and listen to his
voice. He, those who have heard his
voice, shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be
the munition of rocks. Now there's many references in
God's Word likening the Lord Jesus Christ to a rock. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, the
scripture says, he is the rock whose work is perfect. He's the rock whose work is perfect. He perfected forever all of his
people. Why? Because our munitions, we've
heard the voice of God. What did God say to Moses? I've
got a place here near unto me. It's a rock. It's a rock. I'm gonna put you in the cleft
of that rock. And then of course we have the
rock that followed the children of Israel all throughout the
wilderness. And what did Moses, a picture of the law, what'd
he do? He took that rod and smote the rock, didn't he? And out
from the rock came rivers of living water. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, if you hear these words and do them, believe them,
you're like a man who builds his house upon a rock. We stand
firm on the rock of ages, don't we? Here's, we've heard God's
voice. Lord, I don't want to build my
house on shifting sand. I don't want to be double-minded.
Now, don't think that double-minded means that you've got this conflict
between your flesh and your spirit. In that sense, we're all double-minded,
but we're not double-minded when it comes to the gospel. We've
heard the voice of God. We know that our salvation has
nothing to do with our works. We know that he's the rock whose
work is perfect. God requires perfection. We've
heard the voice of God. We are looking to Christ alone
for the hope of our salvation. That's the result. Have you heard
his voice? Are you standing on a rock? Because
a works gospel is shifting sand. a message of salvation that has
anything to do with anything that we do, religious ceremony,
keeping of the law. That's shifting sand, isn't it?
Because that's what we are. We're just shifting sand. The
Lord says, if you've heard my voice, you dwell on high and
your place of defense is the munition of rocks, a stronghold,
a safe place, a defense against, well, against the wrath of God,
primarily. That's what we need to be defended
against, don't we? And oh, what hope we have in
knowing that he poured out all of his wrath on his dear son,
satisfied his justice. We've heard his voice. We dwell
with him right now on high. And the place of defense is Christ
the rock. Look at the next part of this
verse. Bread shall be given unto Him. Bread shall be given unto Him.
Now the Lord made it clear in John chapter 6 that He's the
bread that came down from heaven. Moses did not give you bread.
The manna that came down from heaven was Christ. And what does
it mean to eat His body? No, I understand that some of
the persecution that the early church experienced from the Romans
was due to the fact that the Romans thought that the Christians
were participating in some sort of cannibalism. They really thought
that. Well, the Jews thought that,
didn't they? How is it that he's going to give us his body? What
are we going to eat of his body? They couldn't understand the
spiritual meaning of it. What is the spiritual meaning
of the eating of his body? Some of you, like me, came out
of Catholicism, and I'm dealing with that in my family right
now. I'm trying to help my mother understand that receiving the
bread and the wine is not going to save you. Eating of that piece
of bread and drinking that little bit, I said, that bread is a
symbol of his life, and it can only be understood spiritually. The Catholic Church has a doctrine
called transubstantiation. They actually believe that when
the priest blesses that piece of bread, that it transforms
its substance into the body of Christ so that when you eat that
bread, you are actually physically taking the body of Christ into
your body. Something I can do. It's just
a work is all it is. And the words in Latin that the
priest says when he does his thing over the bread is hoc est
corpus. This is my body, that's what
it says in Latin. And that's exactly where hocus
pocus came from. It really is. And all of that
is nothing but hocus pocus, smoke and mirrors. It's just, and so
many people are deceived by it. So the Lord says, my body is
your meat indeed. He said labor not for the meat
that perishes, but for the meat that endures unto everlasting
life. We're not talking about cannibalism. We're not talking
about transubstantiation. We're talking about looking in
faith to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness
before God. Only when he speaks, if you think
that you can eat a piece of bread and somehow that's gonna save
you, then God hadn't spoke to you. But when he speaks to you,
then he enables you to see the truth of him being your bread
through the eyes of faith. His life, his perfect life, this
is the rock that's higher than all other rocks. This is the
one who's perfect, and his life is all our righteousness before
God. Have you heard that? You heard
his voice? You look into Christ and his
perfect obedience to the Father. We've never been able to satisfy
any demands of God's law, and that's all he ever did. Every
thought he had was perfect. Every word he spoke was perfect.
Everything he did was perfect before God and acceptable. And
that's what God requires. He won't settle for anything
less. And so he says, if you've heard
my voice, the result of hearing my voice is that you acknowledge
that you are dwelling on high right now in the person of your
substitute. And you long for that day when
you go to be with Him and see Him in the fullness of His glory. You find your defense, your protection,
hid in Christ, in the cleft of the rock, standing upon that
rock and drinking the water that came out of that rock. God smote
the rock on Calvary's cross. And out of that rock came rivers
of living water. And what does he say next? Your
bread shall be given him. God's fed my soul. He comforts
my heart. Every time the accuser of the
brethren points out my iniquity, every time I feel the shame and
the guilt of my sin, God speaks. And he causes me to look to Christ
and to know that in him, In Him, I have perfect righteousness
before God. I'm found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, but that righteousness which is by the
faith and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only defense I have. That's my comfort. That's my
hope. Oh Lord, give me the faith to
feast on the bread of life. And then what does he say in
the last part of this verse? His waters shall be sure. I like it when God says, it shall
be sure. It shall be sure. When we've heard the voice of
God, we don't drink from the polluted cisterns of man-made
religion. We don't drink there. We don't
try to satisfy our souls. The Lord told that woman at the
well, if you drink from the water that I'll give you, you'll never
thirst again. That just means you won't have
to go anywhere else to satisfy your thirst. You just keep coming
back to this well. And that's what we do, don't
we? Because we've heard his voice, our waters are sure. What'd the Lord say on that great
day of the feast? If any man thirst, if any man
thirst, oh Lord, I thirst for peace. I thirst for forgiveness. I thirst for hope. I thirst for
knowing God and having everlasting life. I thirst for those things. And I live in a dry and thirsty
land. This world can't satisfy my thirst. My flesh might thirst after the
things of this world, and it might get some comfort in the
things that the world has to offer. But if God's spoken to
your soul, you can't find anything in this world to quench your
thirst. And what's he say? Their waters
shall be sure. Sure. I'm sure. I'm sure that
Christ is able to save to the uttermost them who come to God
by him. I'm just sure of it. I'm not
sure of much. Every day, I just, oh Lord, shut
my mouth. You know, we speak so rashly,
don't we, and boldly and foolishly about so many things. And yet,
through all of that, we've heard the voice of God, and we're sure,
we're sure That the only way to have our sins forgiven, the
only way to have the thirst of our souls quenched, is to drink
from that water that came out of the rock. A river, clear as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and from the Lamb. That's a river I want to drink
out of, isn't it? Isn't it for you? Everything
else just leaves you wanting, doesn't it? You know, you do
like Solomon, and you try to satisfy your needs with things
of this world, and what conclusion do you come to? If you've heard
the voice of God, here's the conclusion you come to. Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity. There's nothing to it. There's
no substance to it. There's no hope in it. There's
no comfort for my soul. There's no forgiveness for my
sin. There's no knowledge of God in it. Lord, I want to know
you. I want to know you. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. Would Paul say, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Said, I haven't fully apprehended him yet. One day
I will. One day I'll see him as he is
and be made just like him. And I'll know him in the fullness
of his glory. But this one thing I do, forgetting,
forgetting. God, give us the grace to forget
those things which are behind. Not just to forget our sins,
God's forgotten them. Who is so blind as my servant?
Seeing yet not perceiving. He said, I cast them into the
depths of the sea. I throw them behind my back.
I remember them no more. Separate them from you as far
as the east is from the west. Lord, give me the grace to forget
those things, but also to forget our successes. When Paul said, I forget those
things which are behind, I'm not, you can't live on yesterday's
grace. We've got to have fresh water
every day, don't we? Or don't let me, don't let me
eat worm-ridden manna and drink water from broken cisterns. Let
me hear your voice. Give me a fresh drink of clean
water. Refresh my soul. Lord, speak. Speak to me. And the means by
which the Lord speaks is the preaching of the gospel. It's
his word. God, here's where God has spoken. This is what he has spoken. It's
not what we're just saying. We're not being presumptuous. God has given us faith to believe
what he said and all scripture, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God might be
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Oh Lord, speak to
me by your word. We don't have any other source
of truth to go to. Who else are we going to listen
to? We can't listen to anybody else. God is faithful to his
word. He says, the result of you hearing
his voice is that the waters of life are sure. Are sure. Come unto me. Drink. Any man thirst? I'm the water
of life Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water Look at verse 17. Here's the
result Have I heard God's voice? It's my dwelling place on high
in Christ is Christ my defense is he my rock is his life my
bread, my sustenance, my meat? And has He quenched my thirst,
a thirst that nothing else in this world can quench but Him? Has He given me the ability to
drink from the river of living water? Look at verse 17. Thine eyes shall see the King
in His beauty. We have no beauty except for
that which He's given us. Our comeliness is because of
our union with Christ. Oh, but how beautiful He is,
the beauty of His holiness. The perfection of His holiness.
Turn with me to Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter 5. Look
at verse 1. I am come into my garden. where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. This is
where the spices of his grace are enjoyed. This is where he's
pleased to make himself known. Oh, we pray, Lord, speak to my
heart all the time. We have private times of devotion. We have times just during the
day when the Lord just reveals something to us, but there's
something very special Something very special about when God's
people come together and the gospel of His grace is preached
and Christ is lifted up. There's a special presence. And
he says, I've come into my garden. My sister, he's calling his church
his sister. We shouldn't be surprised at
that. In another place he said, no longer do I call you my servants,
I call you my friend. For a servant doesn't know what
his master is doing. But but you know what I've done,
you know what I've accomplished So he calls us his sister and
then he calls us his spouse his bride Now her husband doesn't
keep any secrets song of Solomon chapter 5 verse 1 He doesn't
keep any secrets from his bride He draws her near unto himself
And she responds by saying, I'm sick of love. I've seen his beauty. He's revealed to me his glory.
Skip down with me to verse eight. She remember she's she's in a
spiritual stupor. She's she's she's she's not spiritually
alert He comes to the door and he knocks on the door and she's
not she's not wakened. Have you ever had that experience?
Sure you have But then she smells the residue of his presence and
she gets up and she goes looking for him. She runs out after him
and she commands the watchman in verse seven. She said, where
is my beloved? She said, I can't find him. And
in verse eight, she says, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick of
love. Why? Because I've seen His beauty. I've seen something of His glory.
And there's nothing else in my life like Him. He is my life. What does he say? Thine eyes
shall see the king in his beauty. And now she's gonna describe
his beauty, but not before they say to her, what is thy beloved
more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is
thy beloved more than any other beloved that thou dost so charge
us? You think you're the only one
that knows God? You think your Jesus is more
special than ours? You think you've got the only
gospel? Have you ever heard people talk
like that? Sure you have. Sure you have. If you tell them
about Christ and tell them that this is Christ, their response is going to be,
what makes you so special? Well, she's gonna tell them.
Here's what we say, oh, my beloved is white and ruddy. And you know
what ruddy means? It means red. So she says, my
beloved, he doesn't look like other men. He's white, perfect,
perfect holiness, glistening white, and he's red. His bloodstains
are my hope for the forgiveness of my sins. He's not like other
gods. He's perfect, he's holy, and
he's successful. He's put away my sins by the
sacrifice of himself. He's the chiefest among 10,000.
There's no one else like him. No one else like him. His head
is as most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of water. Oh, what a tender look he gives
me when he speaks to me and looks at me. How can we not think about
that experience that Peter had? after having cursed his denial
of Christ three times. And the scripture says that when
they brought the Lord out after having beaten Him, He looked
upon Peter. It wasn't a look of anger. It
wasn't a look of disappointment. It wasn't a look of condescension.
It wasn't anything like that. And He doesn't look at you that
way. And He doesn't look at me that way when we sin. His eyes
are like a dove. He looks at us with pity and
compassion and tenderness. And that's what breaks our hearts.
It's the goodness of God that leads to repentance, isn't it?
He doesn't come with threatenings. He doesn't come with a stick.
His eyes are tender like a dove and rivers of water washed with
milk and fitly set. He doesn't squint his eyes. He
doesn't look out of the side of his eyes. He doesn't have
fire in his eyes and anger in his. Now he will for some in
that day of judgment, Revelation makes it clear that his eyes
will be like flaming fire, but not for his children. Not for
his children. He doesn't look at us like that.
They shall see the king in his beauty. And here he's describing
his beauty to us and how beautiful he is, how attractive he is,
how drawn to him we are because of his beauty. His cheeks are
as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies
dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. He doesn't scream at his children.
That's why, you know, I never understood this, you know, pulpit-pounding
preaching, brow-beating, foot-stomping preaching, you know. The Lord speaks tenderly to His
children. He's compassionate towards them.
That's how she sees Him. He hasn't changed. He's the same
now as He was then. When Solomon wrote this, he hasn't
changed. His hands are as gold rings set
with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire. Oh, he's strong. He's strong. He was able to bear the full
weight of all of his people at one time on Calvary's cross. Only God understands the full
weight of sin. If you saw, if you or I saw one
of our sins the way God sees it, Just one. Something that
you don't even think about. You know, well, that was something
small. You take one of those. If you
could see it the way God sees it, you wouldn't be able to show
your face in public. You'd be so overwhelmed with
shame and guilt. We just don't, we're anesthetized
to sin, aren't we? We're so accustomed to it, we
don't see it like it really is. He saw every sin you and I have
ever committed and every one of his people have ever committed
and bore the full weight of them at one time on Calvary's cross.
Oh, what a strong man he is. What a strong man he is. What? He's got belly of ivory and hands
of gold and strength and barrel. His legs are as pillars of marble
set with sockets of fine gold. His countenance as Lebanon, excellent
as cedars. Oh. This is a strong man, isn't it?
Have you seen the king in his beauty? If he's speaking right
now, you're looking at him. You're looking at him, aren't
you? And you're thinking, oh, that's what I need. I need a
strong man. I need one that's able to bear
my sin before God. The full weight of it, not like
I see it. How we see our sin, you know,
we feel guilty and ashamed of it. Oh, it doesn't compare, does
it? His mouth is most sweet. Again, in Revelation, when Scripture
speaks of him bringing judgment against all unbelievers, he's
got fiery eyes and a tongue like a sword, but that's not for his
children. No, he does like that father
did to the prodigal, doesn't he? He kisses them. with the kisses of compassion
and love. That father just kept kissing
his son, didn't he? He kissed him and kissed him
and kissed him. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. Is he altogether lovely to you? Nobody else like him, is there? If God has spoken, You have seen
something of the beauty of your king. Now I'm not suggesting
you've seen the fullness of his glory. That's not possible. Not
in this world. But you see it through the eyes
of faith. You know this is what he's like. You know this is what
you need. You know this is who you want.
And you long to see the fullness of his glory and his beauty. He is altogether lovely. This
is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. Go back with me to our text.
If we've heard his voice, the result of that is that his waters,
his waters shall be sure. And your eyes shall see the king
in his beauty. And look at the rest of this
verse. And they shall behold the land that is far off. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11. I know we get caught up in the
things of this world, but I'm talking about when God's speaking,
we get caught up in the things of this world. When we're listening
to the voices of this world, rather than listening to the
voice of God. But when God speaks and all,
I hope he speaks right now, when God speaks, this is what we're,
this is where we are. We look for a city whose builder
and whose foundations are God. Look what the scripture says
about all of these men and women of faith from the Old Testament.
In Hebrews chapter 11, in verse 13, these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. That's what faith does. Faith
looks beyond our current circumstances. Faith sets its affections on
things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
That's what faith does. If God's speaking, and He's given
me faith, that's where my heart is right now. Right now. These all died in faith, not
having received the promise, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them. I'm persuaded that he is able
to save. I'm just, that's my persuasion. God's persuaded me. God speaks, you just believe
what he says, don't you? They being persuaded, they embraced
them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. Now, what does God say in our
passage? They shall behold the land that
is far off. They're not looking to this world
for their home. They're not putting down roots. They're not trying
to leave a legacy. They're not making this place
their home because they know that they don't belong here.
Why? How did it start out? How did
our passage start out? Go back with me. Let me remind
you. Look at verse 16. He shall dwell on high. It started
out with us being in Christ in the heavenlies. So he says, they
shall behold that land, which is a far off. Every child of
God has done it. Even these Old Testament believers
who had such, such less understanding than what we have. How does Hebrews
start out in chapter one? God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, who is the express
image of his glory. God's spoken. He's come in the
flesh. And he's told us so much more
than these Old Testament saints had, but nevertheless, they believed
what God said. God has said a whole lot more
to us than he said to them. But faith is not, faith is believing
everything that God has said. Now, are there a lot of things
that we don't know? There's a lot of things in this
book that we haven't yet, that God hasn't spoken to us about.
But a child of God who's heard the voice of God never reads
anything in God's Word and said, well, you know, I don't know
about that. No, they're persuaded by every
word of God. Every word that proceedeth out
of his mouth. Never a man spake like this man before. We're just
persuaded, aren't we? And we're persuaded that we are
strangers and pilgrims. We don't fit in, and we're not
gonna be here long. We're not gonna be here long,
just a few more days. The Lord took our brother Cody
home. I hope it's a sobering reminder to every one of us of
the brevity of this life. Lord, don't let me get so caught
up in the things of this world. is to not be able to hear your
voice and set my affections on things above and be persuaded
that I'm a pilgrim. Look, for they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if
they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. If your heart's
still stuck in this world, you're gonna go back. Here's what God's saying right
here. If you can leave the gospel and
return back to this world, you will. If you can, you will. If they're mindful of where they
came from, they're gonna go back to it. But now, verse 16, they desire
a better country, that is, a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Oh, let not your heart be troubled. 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. And if I go, I'll come again,
and I'll receive you unto myself, so that where I am, there you
may be also. O men of Israel, why stand you here gazing up
into heaven? This same one that's been caught up from you is coming
again in like manner." There's my hope. God's spoken.
He has spoken to me, and that's They shall, go back with me to
Isaiah 33. They shall behold the land that
is very far off. Oh, the cause of our salvation. Go down with me to verse 22 and
I'll reserve the notes that I've made and the thoughts that I
have on this verse for a message all by itself. But I want to
read it to you because this is the cause. I shall be their God
and they shall be my people. That's the cause. God made you
to be his child and he made you to bow to him as your judge as your Lawgiver, as your King,
and as your Savior. He has judged you righteous in
Christ. He has given you the Law, and
Scripture says, that all the law and the prophets hang on
these two commandments love the Lord your God with all of your
heart all your mind and all of your soul and the second is like unto
the first love your neighbor as yourself and then God tells
us in 1st John chapter 3 I've given you a new commandment this
is the commandment you believe believe on him and love your
brother we keep God's law with all of our hearts with all of
our hearts We believe the gospel. And we esteem one another. We
believe ourselves to be the chief of sinners. We believe that. And God's put a love in our hearts
for our brethren that no offense can take away. The Lord is our judge. He's our
lawgiver. He's our king. And He's our Savior. And that's the cause of hearing
His voice. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do pray that You would speak to our hearts and make it evident
to us through faith that we've heard Thy voice. we ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Brother Tom. 224 in the Harbeck Temple. Let's
stand. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me He did impart, Nor how believing in His word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, in him, but I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. I know not what of
good or ill may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or new day fair, nor if I'll walk the veil with Him
or meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Oh, I got a cramp. I'm locked up.