Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 199 from the big hardback hymnal.
199. And let's all stand together. Sinners Jesus will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway leave. All who linger, all who fall,
sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receive his sinful man. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ received sinful men. Come and He will give you rest,
Trust him for his word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er. and or again. Christ receive his sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receive his sinful man. Now my heart condemns me not,
pure before the law I stand. He who cleansed me from all spot,
satisfied its last demand. Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Christ receiveth sinful man,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with Him I enter in. Sing it o'er. Please be seated. That's a good hymn, isn't it?
Even me, with all my sin. That's the message I want to
hear, and I hope that it's the message the Lord will enable
us to preach tonight. Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah 41. And we'll begin reading in verse
17. When the poor and the needy seek
water, and there is none. Been seeking water this week?
Couldn't find any, could you? And their tongue faileth for
thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I the God of Israel will
not forsake them, my promise. I will open rivers in high places
and fountains in the midst of the valley. I will make the wilderness
a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. And I will
plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shita tree, the myrtle, the
oil tree. I will set in the desert the
fir tree and the pine and the box tree together. say what's
the those are all different varieties of trees and but they're all
the plantings of the Lord the trees of righteousness and you
know it's been that what we look like we're just a bunch of different
kinds of trees but all plantings of the Lord that they may see
and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the
Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it
what a promise Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that we can sing with some understanding that
you receive sinful men. We thank you that your Holy Spirit
has done a work of grace in our hearts, causing us to acknowledge
our sinful state so that we are poor and needy before thee. Lord, we confess to you that
we try to drink from the broken cisterns of this world. And we're
so very thankful that in our attempts to satisfy our thirst
with worldly things, we remain thirsty. And then you bring us
to this place where you promise to open rivers from on high. Oh, how we pray that you would
open the windows of heaven and cause the water of life to flow
to our souls, that you would cause us, Lord, to drink of that
river of life that flows from the throne of God, and that we
would find ourselves happy, content, satisfied, full, at peace, with
the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is in his name we pray,
amen. Upon my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father's hand controls the
world, and what He does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In ranging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harm. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. ? My God with skill
infallible ? And great designs of grace ? With power and love
that never fail ? Shall order all my ways ? So be still my
heart and doubt no more believe, and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God, who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love and truth
and power combine to make thee blessed. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to Isaiah chapter 33. Isaiah 33. Verse 2 begins with, O Lord,
be gracious unto us. I say every believer's prayer.
Lord, I need your grace. I need you to give to me what
I can never, ever deserve. I need you to bless me with your
presence, with the forgiveness of my sin, with your power. And if that's to happen, Lord,
you're gonna have to be gracious to me. I've titled this, When
the Lord is Gracious to Us. when the Lord is gracious to
us. And I see about 10 things in these first six verses that
demonstrate the Lord's grace toward His people. And so as
we look at these things, I'm hopeful that the Lord will confirm
His grace to our hearts and answer this prayer that We all have
in our hearts, if we're children of God, the Lord be gracious
to us. The first one is seen in verse 1, when God is gracious
to us, when the Lord is gracious to us, we trust Him to avenge
our enemies. We trust Him to avenge our enemies. We don't take revenge in our
own hearts. Dearly beloved, Paul said in
Romans chapter 12, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place
to wrath, for vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. When God is gracious to you and
to me, he teaches us this great truth. that we don't have to
get vengeance. We don't have to avenge ourselves. Look at verse 1. Woe to thee
that spoileth, and thou wast not spoiled. In other words,
they're treating us with contempt, but we've not done anything to
them to incite that sort of treatment. The Lord says woe unto them Woe
unto them that spoil my people and have not been spoiled by
my people they deal treacherously and they and they were not dealt
treacherously with God's people don't treat the
enemies of Christ with treachery and with deceit we We seek to
love them and witness to them, and yet their response oftentimes
is so hateful and contrary to grace. When thou shalt cease to spoil,
and when thou shalt make an end to dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously
with thee. Luke chapter 18 verse 7 says
shall God not avenge his own elect which day and night cry
unto him I tell you he will avenge them speedily when God is gracious
we don't we don't try to take justice into our own hands we
trust him to do that We know the end of the story, don't we? You ever watch a sporting event
and your team was losing but you already knew the final score
and you knew in the end you were going to win and so you didn't
get anxious. You didn't worry about it, did you? You know, I was thinking about
December 7th, 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and all
of Japan celebrated as if they had gotten the victory over the
great United States, not knowing that in less than four years
there would be a holocaust in Japan, and they would surrender
immediately. We know the end. We know who
wins. And so in these skirmishes that
take place in life, if God's been gracious to us, if He's
answered this prayer, Lord be gracious unto us. And one of
the evidences of that is that we won't need to take revenge
against those who hate Christ and hate the gospel. Pray for
them that despitefully use you. That will be our response if
the Lord is gracious. Matter of fact, in that passage
in Romans chapter 12, he says, if your enemy is hungry, feed
him, and if he's thirsty, give him to drink. Pour coals of kindness
on his head. That's how we're to, if God's
been gracious to us, and he's forgiven us, then we certainly
will be forgiving to others. So we trust Him to avenge our
enemies. Look at verse 2. If the Lord
has shown us grace, then we've learned something about what
it means to wait on Him. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31 says,
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And that all comes from waiting
on him. And that's what faith does. Faith
waits on the Lord. Oh, Lord, be gracious unto us. Verse two, we have waited for
thee. We've waited for you, Lord. We're
willing, if God's been gracious. then you know that in the end,
you're gonna be waiting for something that, well, is unimaginable,
isn't it? And we're willing to make that
wait. Look what else he says in verse
2. He says we have we have waited for thee but Be thou their arm
every morning If God's been gracious to us he renews that grace every
day We know something about what it means to say, Lord, give us
this day our daily bread. If God's been gracious to us,
we know something about what experience it is to try to feed
off of yesterday's man. And it doesn't work, does it?
It doesn't work. try to reflect on the things
that the Lord has shown us and taught us and comforted our souls
with in the past, and there's no comfort there. And so we find
ourselves coming again and again and again to the throne of grace. To whom? Coming. We can't not
come. So he says, he says, be gracious
unto us for we have waited for thee, be thou their arm every
morning. Our God delights in showing mercy.
And every day is a new beginning for the children of God. What
a great delight it is when we experience the grace of God and
knowing that he remembers our sins no more. and that he delights
in giving daily bread and mercy to his children. If we lack his
mercy and we lack experiencing his grace, it's not on his part,
is it? Look at the rest of verse two.
Our salvation also in time of trouble. If God has been gracious,
then he saves us from all trouble. We know what it means to be saved
out of trouble. We know that when trouble comes
in this life, we know something about the comfort and the hope
that he gives us in assuring our hearts that he's working
all things together for good for them that love him and those
that are called according to his purpose. That's his grace. We wouldn't believe that. We
wouldn't be comforted in times of trouble. He reminds us that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
to the glory that shall be revealed in us. And so, Lord, be gracious
unto us. We're waiting for you. Let the
arm of your strength be our daily bread. And and and save us Lord. Look what he when we says save
us in our time of trouble whether that trouble be in temporal circumstances
or The real trouble the real trouble that's gonna come when
we meet that final enemy death There is a God with whom we must
do Oh Lord be my salvation in that time of trouble. I Lord,
let me have hope. The Lord Jesus Christ told Mary
and Martha there in John chapter 11, I am the resurrection and
the life. He that believeth in me, though
he be dead, yet shall he live. Yet shall he live. Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Oh Lord, be gracious
unto me in that hour. Don't charge me with the folly
of my sin. Be an advocate for me, Christ.
Be my Savior. Be my righteousness before God.
That's going to be, that's a day of trouble. And you know, if
you've prayed for God to be gracious unto you, one of the evidences
of that grace is that you're reminded about how brief this
life is. You think about death all the
time. You're not like the rest of the world. I was talking to
a family member as we were discussing my mother's situation, and she's
the same age as me, and I told her, I said, well, you know,
we're right behind, we're the next generation. She, oh no,
I don't think about that. That's what she said, I don't
think about that. I said, I think about it all
the time. God's been gracious to us. We understand that it's
coming a whole lot quicker than we think it is, even those of
us that do think about it. But the world's not thinking
about it. They're living as if life is gonna go on forever,
and they're not worried about that day of trouble. We know
that our God is holy, and if he doesn't If he doesn't stand
in our stead, provide for us a righteousness and put away
our sin through the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's cross,
we're gonna have trouble. A trouble that we can't bear. So if the Lord's been gracious
to us, we say he is our salvation in time of trouble. He's my salvation. I've got nothing else to bring
before him Look at verse look at verse 3
When God is gracious Not only do we trust him to avenge our
enemies? Not only did we wait for him.
Not only does he renew our grace daily he saves us from all troubles
and We don't run from God like the world does. We run to him. We don't run from him. Look at
verse three. At the noise of the tumult, the
people fled. At the lifting up of thyself,
the nations were scattered. When God shows his strength,
men run from God. You know, Adam hid once, but
after the Lord regenerated Adam, we don't find Adam covering himself
with fig leaves anymore and hiding from God. No. God's been gracious to us. then
he irresistibly draws us unto himself. And we know that he's
our only hope. Verse four, and your spoils shall
be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar, as the running
to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. If God's been
gracious to us, we don't fear his wrath. We don't fear his
wrath. We're trusting that the wrath
of God was expiated at Calvary's cross. And that God has nothing
for us but his mercy and his grace. Here's what he says, now
those who run from him, the nations that flee at the sound of his
coming, He says they're gonna be like the spoil of the caterpillar
or the spoil of the locust. They're not gonna be able to
escape him. And we're gonna see what it means to fear God in
here in a minute in the last verse that we'll look at. But
at this point, we're not fearing his wrath. We know that the justice
of God has been satisfied. And we, you know, I love thinking
about the fact that when the Lord was here, sinners were never repelled from
him. They, you know, the worst of
sinners were drawn to him like a magnet. Has anything changed? No, it hasn't changed. Lord, oh Lord, be gracious unto
us. When the sound of your justice
causes the nations to flee, and when you gather together your
spoil like the locust, Lord, I'm not fleeing from you, I'm
fleeing to you. Oh, for his mercy and for his grace. Look at verse five. God's been gracious to us. And
we see where the Lord Jesus Christ is right now. He's exalted. God has given him a name that
is above every name. He has made him head over the
church and given him preeminence in all things. He's glorified
and he's exalted. He's exalted in the gospel. He's
exalted in the church. He's exalted in heaven. He's
seated at the right hand of God. interceding for us. And we, and
we bow before him and worship him. We, we acknowledge, let
the world, let the world fool themselves into thinking that
they're going to make him Lord. We bow to his Lordship. He's
been gracious to us. Turn to me to Colossians chapter
one. Look at verse 16. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. If God has put it
in our hearts to pray, oh Lord, be gracious unto us. Then we're
able to say with the prophet Isaiah, the Lord is exalted. He's exalted. Look at verse 17. And he is before all things and
by him all things consist. We know he's holding this world
together. And when he's finished with it, He's gonna roll it up
like a scroll the scripture says and it'll be it'll be done Verse
18 18 and he is the head of the body He's the head of the body
We're we're if God's been gracious to us. We we acknowledge Christ
as being exalted as the head of the church and That we don't
look to a man as the head, we don't look to a committee as
a head, Christ is the head. Who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. Preeminence. in all things. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him, to reconcile all things unto
himself by him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things
in heaven. You who were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. God's been gracious to you. You're
not an enemy of God anymore. You're not at enmity with him.
You're not alienated from him. You say the Lord is exalted. He's been placed in his glorious
position of exaltation and preeminence. Go back with me to our text. Philippians chapter chapter 2
the scripture says Christ who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be in the form of man thought it not robbery
to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and
Took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of men Wherefore? God has exalted him Because of
his obedience on the cross, God has exalted him and given him
a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every
tongue shall confess, every knee shall bow. He, the Lord, is exalted,
verse five, verse five, for he dwelleth on high. God's been gracious to us. We
know who's in charge. We know who's in control. We
know that everything else is in his hand. And he hath done
whatsoever he wills with all the armies of heaven and all
the inhabitants of the earth. And as we just read in Colossians,
even the principalities, the things on earth and the things
under the earth, the demons, they all belong to him. He's
exalted and he dwells on high. And look at the rest of verse
five. God's been gracious to us. Then the church has judgment
and righteousness for he hath filled Zion with judgment. What do we judge? We judge the
Lord Jesus Christ to have been successful in accomplishing the
salvation of his people. We judge him to have been sufficient
to satisfy the demands of God's holy law. We judge that the father
is satisfied with Christ. And we judge ourselves to be
satisfied with him. We judge that he's Lord. Robert,
you quoted a verse Sunday before last, no man can call him Lord
but by the Holy Ghost. Not with understanding. A lot
of folks call Jesus Lord, but they're talking about another
Jesus. And then when they say Lord, they don't really mean
Lord. They honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far
from him. You listen to them define their terms, and Lord
doesn't really mean Lord. No man can call him Lord except
by the Holy Spirit. And we do. He is exalted. He has filled Zion with judgment. We judge ourselves to be poor
and needy. We judge ourselves to be sinners.
We judge ourselves to be completely dependent upon his grace for
all our salvation. We judge works good only because
they are good for men. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. Quoted this verse Sunday. But
I want you to see the few verses afterward. Verse five of Titus
chapter three, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done. Oh, we make that judgment, don't we? Our salvation is not
by any works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy. Titus three, verse five, but
according to his mercy, he saved us. God had the only hope that
we have to be saved is if God would have been merciful toward
us by the washing of regeneration There's a judgment that we make
That the Lord has to do a miracle of grace in our hearts regenerating
us now in in in the order of things Regeneration necessarily
precedes faith Not in time In time, they happen simultaneously.
But in order, in order for us to believe, God has to do a miracle
of grace, causing us to be born again by his spirit. And so we're
washed by regeneration and renewed and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So this is all a work of grace. God be gracious unto us. We judge
that the only reason that we would be acceptable before God
would be to be found in him. That being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We judge that he is faithful
to his promises and we have hope of eternal life. Now look at
verse eight. Here's another judgment that
we make. We don't judge that therefore
it doesn't matter how we live. Look at verse eight. This is
a faithful saying. Now there's about five of those
in the New Testament. In other words, this is a faithful
saying, worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. These were proverbial
summaries, if you will, that the believers would often repeat
back to each other. Here's a faithful saying. Here's
a here's a summary of many things that are taught in the scriptures.
And this is a summary. This is a faithful saying and
these things I will that you affirm constantly affirm this
to the believers constantly that they which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works. Be careful. We judge that. We make a judgment that this
is good and pleasing. But look at what he says. These things are good and profitable
unto men. They're not profitable to you
for your salvation. They're not deemed good as far
as You know, the Lord said, why
calleth thou me good? There's none good but God. No
good works are good in the sight of God if they're done by us,
but they're good and they're profitable to men. And so, be
careful. And the Lord says, affirm these things constantly
to the church. Remind them to be careful. to maintain good works. We judge that to be faithful.
But you see where it is in light of verses 5, 6, and 7? There's
no way that you could read verse 8 after reading verse 5, 6, and
7 and come to any other conclusion that works are not in any way
part of our salvation, but they're good and they're profitable to
men. And we maintain that to be true. Avoid foolish questions and genealogies
and contentions, striving about the law, for they're unprofitable
in vain. Don't argue with people. I was
telling somebody yesterday, people start trying to contend with
you and argue with you and tell you what they believe. I've just
told folks, I'm not asking you any questions. I know what you believe. Now,
if you have a sincere question about what I believe, I'd be
more than happy to tell you. But I'm really not interested
in what you believe. I just kind of, you know, I'm closed-minded. You're closed-minded, yeah. Yeah,
with the Lord shut, no man can open. So, you know, avoid those
foolish debates, contentions with people. Here's the when
God is gracious. He gives to his church a spirit
of judgment Go back with me to our text a spirit of judgment
and righteousness Judgment and righteousness if Christ is exalted
if he is preeminent In the church, as he's lifted up, then we know
that all things are of him and through him and to him for his
glory forever and ever. He's the righteous one, isn't
he? He's the one that fills all and is in all God says I Christ
will be exalted. He will dwell on high. He will
fill Zion with judgment and righteousness then look at verse 6 and Wisdom
and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times How many people are looking to
the economy for their stability. They're looking to their circumstances
for their stability. Where is your stability? Where
is the even keel of your life? If he's been gracious, your stability
is in wisdom. It's in the wisdom that God's
given to you. What did James say? If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask it of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
it not. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, for he that wavereth is like the waves of the sea,
tossed to and fro. Now what does that mean? Let not that man think that he
receive anything from the Lord, for a double-minded man is unstable
in all of his ways. Do you feel double-minded? We
we know something about what it means to be double-minded
with the spirit worn against the flesh and a flesh against
the spirit but but when the Lord says when you when you ask for
wisdom you're asking for Christ and To be double-minded means
that well, you know, I'd like to know something about him I'd
like to I'd like to know something of God's of God's truth so that
I can consider it and And then after having considered it, I'll
decide what I want to do with it. Ted and I were talking the
other day and he said, Lord just brought me to the place in my
life where I had to say, after having investigated so many different
religions, he said, I finally had to say, Lord, I want to know
the truth regardless of the consequences. Regardless of the consequences,
whatever it means. Whatever change is gonna make
in my life, I have to know the truth. I have to know Christ. I'm not coming to you double-minded. I'm not coming to you saying,
well, I want to check it out and then I'll decide what to
know. Double-minded means that you're
that you're that you're vacillating with the choice and as you know
coming to Christ is not a choice He shuts you up to himself. And
so he says if you lack wisdom ask him don't ask don't ask don't
be double-minded about it Cast yourself on his mercy and he'll
show you the truth He'll give you wisdom and look what he says
and it give you he'll give you knowledge and knowledge. Now, the world thinks that accumulating
information about worldly things is knowledge. And they pride themselves in
how much knowledge they have about worldly stuff. And that knowledge is going to
die with every worldly man. It's not what he's talking about.
He's talking about the knowledge of God. Herein is life that they might
know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. What did Paul say? I have not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I press towards the prize. Oh,
that I might know him. I want to know God. The power
of his resurrection. I want to know that when He raised
from the dead, I'll raise from the dead in Him. And that just
as He was victorious over the grave, I'm victorious over the
grave, that He's the firstborn among many brethren, and that
I don't want to be like Martha. Oh Lord, we believe in the resurrection.
No, I am the resurrection and the life. I want to know that. I want to
know that experientially. I want to know that in a stable
way. You see that wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability. That's the steadiness, the firmness,
the steadfastness of my soul is grounded in that. I know what
God's wisdom is because I know God. how uncertain this world is in
all of its, we need stability. Wisdom and knowledge shall be
the stability of thy time and strength of salvation. I need to be sure. If my salvation
has anything to do with anything I do, then I can't have strength
of salvation. The strength of my salvation
is strong because I know that God did it all. He chose me according to his
own will and purpose before time ever began. He satisfied all
the demands of the law for me. He put away my sin all by himself
through the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's cross. He presented
himself before God on my behalf. He ever lives to enter to intercede
for me He sent his Holy Spirit in power to regenerate me and
to cause me to cry out for grace and he keeps me crying for grace
every day and It's gonna present me faultless before his throne
with great joy Now that's strength of salvation it's nothing is
dependent upon anything that I do and Now look at, I want
you to notice the last phrase in verse six and we'll finish.
The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Now the Lord said in Matthew
chapter six, where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also. And so the question that you
and I have to ask ourselves is, what is our treasure? What's
our treasure? Turn with me to that passage
in Matthew chapter 6. Verse 19, lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break in or steal. So he's talking about earthly
treasures versus spiritual treasures. The fear of the Lord is my treasure. If God's been gracious to me,
that's my treasure. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also. Now he's not changing thought.
Look at the next verse. The light of the body is the
eye. If therefore that eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if that eye be
evil, evil. Look it up. That word is many
labors. Many labors. If you're looking to your many
labors as the hope of your salvation, then that's your treasure. That's
your treasure. That's why when you tell someone
the gospel of God's free grace and the finished work of Christ,
oftentimes the very first thing they'll say to you. I was talking
to a brother yesterday about this. He was talking, he was
sharing his faith with somebody and they said to him, you're
saying I'm not saved. And he said, I never said that.
I never said that, but the very truth of the gospel robbed them
of their treasure. Why? Because their treasure was
evil. Their treasure was their labors. Their treasure was their works.
Their treasure was their will. And the gospel strips men naked
before God and causes them to see that their treasures are
full of rust. They're moth-eaten and thieves
have taken them. And so when the Lord says, lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, He's saying set your
eye singularly on Christ and your whole body will be full
of light. But if your eye be evil, if you be looking to all
your labors for the hope of your salvation, then what does He
say? then your body shall be full
of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness."
You see, if the light that be in thee be darkness, how great
is that darkness? How many people have you heard
say, That they are, they, well you know, I used to do this and
I used to do that and I don't do this and I don't do that anymore
and I'm this way and that way and so their eye is evil because
they're looking at all these things as the evidence of their
salvation and they're saying that's my light, that's my light.
That's the proof of my salvation. And if the light that's in you
be that, how great is the darkness of it? Why? Because they're thinking that those things have
proven their salvation or contributed to their salvation. A man who thinks he can see when
he can't is more blind than the one who knows he can't see. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Second Corinthians chapter 4
verse 6, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So the gospel
shines in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of
God. What is the glory of God? It's the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. So here we are, earthen
vessels, but we have a treasure. What is the treasure? It's the
knowledge of the glory of God. That's the treasure. Who is the glory of God? In the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. If God has put on your heart
to say with the prophet Isaiah, oh Lord, be gracious unto me. then the Lord Jesus Christ is
your treasure. He's your treasure. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that You would continue
to cause us to cry for Your grace, and we pray that these Experiences of grace that believers
have will will be our experience and that the Lord Jesus Christ.
Will be our treasure. That you'll give us wisdom and
knowledge. Stability. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. with Tom. Number 290. Let's stand together. Number 290. Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change he faithful will
remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways leads to
a joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God doth
undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let
nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Be still, my soul, the waves
and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt
below. Be still, my soul, the hour is
hastening on, When we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and
fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul, when change
and tears are past. All safe and blessed, said we
shall meet at last. I'm sorry, Julie. No, I didn't. I just was kidding. No, I wasn't. I'm talking, so. I didn't mean
it. Just a. You hurt your leg? Oh, my eye. Oh, it's a video.