For the Egyptians shall help
in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
you, their strength is to sit still. Their strength is to sit
still, to wait upon the Lord. God give us grace to do just
that. Tom's going to come lead us in
number 28 in the Spiral Hymnal. So let's stand together, number
28. God has mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will, he hardened still. To whom he will, he gives
his grace, and when he will, he hides his face. Let none despise God's sovereign
throne. He does what he will with his
own. It is his right to save or kill
according to his sovereign will. Yes, God saved some and others'
lives to reap the fruit of their own ways. In the eternal ages
past, God made His choice and it stands fast. Aware that I'm
a guilty man, and that I'm in God's sovereign hand, prostrate
I fall before His throne, a wretched, helpless, guilty one. Lord, if you will, you can, I
say, take all my guilt and sin away. A guilty sinner at your
throne, I beg for mercy through your Son. Now trusting Jesus
Christ, God's Son, I know that I'm His chosen one. And God's eternal, sovereign
choice makes this poor sinner's heart rejoice. Please be seated. Good morning. For a scripture
reading, could you please turn to the book of Isaiah? Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45. We're going to read
beginning at verse 15. Isaiah 45, verse 15. Thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Savior. They shall be ashamed and also
confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end, for thus saith the Lord
that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth
and made it. He hath established it, he created
it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret
in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves, and come, draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations." And that's what we're doing this
morning. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their
graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye, and
bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath
declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look,
O look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall
one say in the Lord, have I righteousness and strength Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. Let's pray. Merciful and gracious Lord, Unless you are pleased to be
merciful and gracious to give us sight, Lord, we won't be able
to look and be saved. Oh Lord, would you do that this
morning for us? Lord, we want to look. We want
to see Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We want
to believe. We want to love. We want to rest. We want to be comforted. Would
you do so now by sending your Holy Spirit and enable us? Oh, Lord, would you again bless
the gospel in which you have placed in our dear brother's
heart, giving him power and ability? Lord, enable us to hear. Unless
you do it, Lord, this is all empty this morning. Lord, forgive
us of our sins. Cleanse us of all unrighteousness,
Lord. We want to believe. Would you
do that now for us? For Christ's sake, in his name,
amen. Number 239, from your heart back,
Tyndall, 239. Let's all stand together once
again. Art thou weary? Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me, saith one, and coming
be at rest. Hath he marks to lead me to him,
if he be my guide? In his feet and hands are wound
prints, and his side. Is there diadem as monarch that
his brow adorns? Yea, a crown in very surety,
but of thorns. If I still hold closely to him,
what hath he at last? Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed. If I ask him to receive me, will
he say me nay? Not till earth and not till heaven
pass away. Finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer yes. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 86. I've titled this message, Hope
for the Disabled and Distressed. Hope for the Disabled and Distressed. And I get that from the last
phrase in this chapter of Psalm 86, verse 17. Because thou, Lord,
hast opened me and comforted me. Now, we're not talking about
the kind of help that men speak of when they say, give me a helping
hand. or God helps those who help themselves, we're talking
about a person who is not able to do anything for themselves. Listening to a young man recently,
who's in a wheelchair, speaking of his experience at the beach,
going to a beach just like we go to all the time here, dove
into a wave, having fun, miscalculated the depth of the water, completely paralyzed from his
neck down, not able to do anything for himself. All he can do is ask for someone
to feed him, Whatever has to be done, he's completely dependent. That's the kind of help we're
talking about. Are you disabled? Are you in need of that kind
of help? We have a high priest who is able to sympathize with
our infirmities, with our weaknesses. For he was in all ways tempted
as we are, yet without sin. And he says, therefore, come.
Come to the throne of grace and find mercy and help in your time
of need. Has sin left you helpless? Has it disquieted your soul? Lord, what am I going to do?
What am I going to do? I need a savior. I need to know
that the warfare is accomplished. And that my sin has been put
away and that God has done a work of grace for me, blessing me. with the righteousness of Christ
and charging all the guilt of all my sin to Him, satisfying
His divine justice once and for all." I'm disabled. I'm disquieted. I'm distressed. We just sang about that, being
distressed. Oh, God's Word gives us hope. It gives us hope. for the faith
to believe what God has said and what God has done for those
who are disabled and for those who are distressed. Notice in verse 11, teach me thy way, oh Lord. Psalm 27 verse 11 teach me thy
way O Lord and lead me in a Plain path because of mine enemy Who's
your enemy? The sin your enemy Lord you've
got to do work of grace in my heart They shall be all taught
of God Lord. I need to be taught I Need to
be taught I need to be taught who you are and All you that
labor in a heavy laden, come unto me. Learn of me. Learn of me. Learn who I am.
Learn what I've done for you. to win the victory, to get the
victory and win the battle on behalf of sinners. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Teach me about Christ. The scripture
says that Israel knew the acts of God, but Moses knew his ways. Moses understood that that rock
that that was Christ. That was the Messiah. Moses knew
that when he smote the rock with the rod, that that was a picture
of God exercising his justice against our sin bearer on Calvary's
cross. Moses knew that that manna that
came down from heaven was a picture of the bread of life, the son
of God who would come down from heaven. He knew the ways of God. He knew what God was doing. He
knew when that law was given at Mount Sinai and he told the
people what the law was and what was their response, we'll do
it. And Moses knew they couldn't.
What the first thing that Moses said to them, you can't keep
the law of God. And so Moses made a sacrifice.
Lord, teach me thy ways. In my heart, reveal to me, reveal
to me the glorious person and accomplished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lots of folks know the acts of
God. Lord, I need to know your ways. Teach me thy way, O Lord,
and if you do, I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to
fear thy name. Unite my heart to thy heart. When the scripture says that
David was a man after God's own heart, what it's speaking of
is that new nature, the new heart, the new birth that God gives
to his people in regeneration. And here's our cry. Lord, if
I'm going to be abled in my disability and if I'm going to find comfort
in my distress, Lord, you're going to have to teach me thy
way. You're going to have to reveal
Christ to me, and you're going to have to do it in my heart. So much of religion is nothing
more than just looking at outward appearances. Salvation of our soul is a heart
matter, isn't it? Here's our prayer. Lord, teach
me thy way. And if you do, I walk in thy
truth. Lord, if you teach me, I'll be
taught. I'll walk after Christ. I'll
look to him. I'll rest in his finished work,
believing that the work of redemption is completed. It's finished. Will praise thee. Oh Lord my
God with all my heart. I will glorify thy name forevermore
I'll give to you all the praise and all the glory and all the
honor for having done all the work That's why turn with me
to that passage. I I read just a moment ago in
Isaiah chapter 30 Isaiah chapter 30 Look with me at verse 7 for
the Egyptians shall help in vain Don't look to your works That's
what Egypt is a picture of you remember the taskmasters in Egypt
and they were a slave to the law of Egypt and They were never
able to measure up to the quota That was put upon them Beaten
by the law. There's no help in the law. And
the Lord saying, the Egyptians shall not help in vain and to
no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength, their strength is to sit still. To sit still. That's their strength. It's not to do. is to rest in
what's already been done. Oh Lord, give us the grace to
do that. Now go, write it before them
in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to
come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying
children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord,
which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy
not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, and prophesy
deceits. Now there's the, There's the
attitude of the unbeliever. Tell me lies. Tell me lies. Tell me sweet little lies. Don't
tell me the truth. Give me something to do. Tell
me how good I am. Tell me about my abilities. No, God says without Christ,
I can do nothing. Nothing. Go back with me to Psalm
86. Look at the last part of verse
12. I will glorify thy name forevermore. The question, the only question
you have to ask in trying to discern the truth about what
a man's saying is, in the end, who gets all the glory? Who gets
all the glory? If Christ gets it all, That's the gospel. No flesh and
glory in His presence. We are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit and have no confidence, no confidence
in the flesh. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. He gets all the glory Lord if
you teach me I will glorify thy name forevermore for great is
thy mercy toward me and thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest hell Thou has delivered my soul from
the lowest hell That's what the Lord Jesus Christ came to do.
I to save hell-deserving sinners who could not save themselves. Disabled and distressed. Lord, if I've got to suffer the
wrath of God for my sin, I'll be hell-bound for all eternity. I need a Savior. I need mercy. I need grace. I need one to bear
the shame of my sin for me and suffer the wrath of God's justice
for me. Oh God, verse 14, the proud are
risen against me and the assemblies of violent men have sought after
my soul and have not set thee before them. Can you relate to that? Is your old man proud? Your flesh,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? I can't get away from it. When
I would do good, evil is ever present with me. Lord, I've got
an old man that is proud and he's always rising up against
me. He is violent. He seeks after
my soul. But thou, verse 15, here's my
hope. But thou, O Lord, art a God full
of compassion. There's my hope. There's my hope. My hope is that you're a God
of compassion. Full of compassion. That you're not only able to
save, but you're willing to save. And gracious. Gracious. Lord, you do it, not based on
anything that I do, but you do it out of pure grace. Long-suffering
and plenteous in mercy and truth. Our God doesn't fall short of
mercy. He doesn't fall short of the
truth. He is the truth, and He's pleased to reveal the truth,
the truth of who we are, the truth of who He is, the truth
of how it is He's pleased to save sinners and comfort those
who are disabled and distressed. Oh, turn unto Me and have mercy
upon Me. Give Thy strength unto Thy servant
and save the son of Thine handmaid. Lord, if I'm gonna be made strong,
you're gonna have to strengthen me. While we were yet of little strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. No, the scripture says while
we were of no strength, no strength, powerless, unable, disabled,
completely paralyzed, unable to save ourselves, Christ died
for the ungodly. He did it all by himself. And so what does David say? Show me a token for good. Show
me a token for good. What is the token that God gives? It's a sign. The scripture says
that the Pharisees asked the Lord for a token. Show us a token. Give us a sign. Prove to us that
you are who you say you are. And what did the Lord say? A
wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. No sign
will be given to you except for the sign of Jonah. Jonah, who
spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, and
then miraculously came forth. Speaking of the death, burial,
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the
question that we have to ask ourselves. What is the significance
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is the significance
that it happened? No, that's the way of God. That's
the act of God. That's the act of God. Seems
like everybody believes in the act of the resurrection. What
was the message of the resurrection? What's the way of the resurrection? What does the resurrection say
to us? It declares clearly that God's
satisfied. that the Lord Jesus Christ succeeded
in what he came to do. What is it that he came to do?
He came to bear all the sins of all of his people and put
them away all by himself once and for all. He came in order
to establish righteousness on behalf of the covenant people
of God. And that's what the resurrection
proves. But only by the Holy Spirit Here's the token. Lord, give to me. The Lord said
a wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. In another
place, he said, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more will your heavenly father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now, David says,
Lord, give me a token. Lord, give me your spirit and
teach me thy ways and cause me to believe in my heart what the resurrection is really
all about. The power of God being exercised
against my sin. God being satisfied with what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. Show me a token for good. Now turn with me in your Bibles,
if you will, to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9. This is the first place in the
Word of God where token is mentioned. Look at verse 12, and God said,
this is the token of the covenant made between me and you, every
living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud
and it shall be for a token of the covenant between me and the
earth. And it shall come to pass when
I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in
the cloud. And verse 15, and I will remember
my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature
of all flesh and the water shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud
and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between God and every living creature upon the flesh
upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, this
is the token of the covenant that I've made. David said in Psalm 86, Lord,
show me a token. Show me a token. Lord, by your
Holy Spirit, reveal to me the truth of the covenant, the everlasting
covenant. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
four. Revelation chapter four. verse one after this I looked
and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice
which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me,
which said, come up hither, and I will show thee things which
must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the
spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat
on the throne, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper
and sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the
throne in sight like unto an emerald. So now the bow, the
rainbow that God put in the sky to say to Noah, this is a token
of my covenant. John, when the windows of heaven
are open and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon his
throne, he sees a rainbow around the throne. Now turn with me
to Revelation chapter 10. Verse 1, And I saw another mighty
angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow
was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his
feet as pillars of fire. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one that's got the bow around him. What is that bow?
What is that bow? It's the covenant. What is a
covenant? It's a promise, a promise. When God gives you the token
of his spirit, you rest the entire hope of your salvation on the
covenant of grace, a promise that God made to God before time
ever began. That's the token. Everybody else
is hoping in a promise that they made to God. Everybody is. You've made a covenant, God says
in Isaiah chapter 28. But the covenant that you made,
I'm going to disannul. The only covenant that's gonna
stand in heaven is that covenant that was represented by that
bow that God gave to Noah and that John saw around the throne
in Revelation 4 and Revelation 10. It's the covenant of grace. covenant of grace that's why
the Lord says sit still that's your strength your strength is
to sit still to do nothing it's already been done don't trust
in a promise that you make to God put the hope all the hope
of your salvation in a promise that God made to God Lord show
me a token show me a token Lord, I've got a sin problem. My sin
problem has caused me to be disabled. My sin problem has caused me
to be disquieted. I've got to be saved from the
lowest hell. Every promise I've ever made
I'm not able to keep I'm in need of a token Show me a token for
good Now the second place that we see the word token in the
scriptures is in Exodus chapter 12 when God said to Moses, take
the blood from the sacrificial lamb, the lamb that is without
spot and without blemish, and put the blood on the doorpost
and the lentil of the house, and that blood will be for me
a token. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass by you. Oh, Lord, show me a token. I need your Holy Spirit to understand
the significance, the truth of the resurrection. That what the Lord Jesus Christ
did was successful. He did not come in order to make
an offer of salvation. He came in order to accomplish
the salvation of his people. those whom God chose in the covenant
of grace. That's what David said. He has
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things. And sure, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Lord, I need a token. I need
a token for good. You remember Rahab when the spies
came in to Jericho and they went into Rahab the harlot's house
and they had to escape. How did they escape? They escaped,
the scripture says, with a scarlet cord. She lowered them out the
window, but she made them make a promise to her. that when the
Israelites came against Jericho that they would not destroy her
and her house. And you remember what the spies
said? You leave that scarlet cord hanging out the window for
that will be your token. I will not destroy you. Will
not destroy you. You remember when Gideon asked
for a token. He asked for a sign, and he took
a fleece, and he put the fleece out on the ground, and he said,
Lord, cause the dew of the night to gather in the fleece and not
the surrounding ground. And the next morning, the scripture
says that he took that fleece, and he wrung buckets of water,
bowls of water out of the fleece, and the ground around the fleece
was completely dry. And then he asked the Lord the
second night, Lord, give me another sign, give me another token.
And what was it? The fleece was to remain dry. Actually, just the opposite.
Fleece was remained, no, the fleece was remained dry the second
night and the surrounding ground was to be remained, was to be
made wet. And what's that a picture of?
We know that fleece is a picture of Christ. He's the Lamb of God. And we know that He came as the
Christ, the Anointed One, in the full power of the Spirit
of God. And what happened on Calvary's
cross? He was wrung out. The full wrath
of God fell from heaven on our sin substitute. And as a result
of that, The token now, the Spirit of God, that's the water. The
Spirit of God, as a result of the Lord Jesus Christ being made
dry in judgment, has been given to those that are in His church.
We don't ask. You see, this token that we're
asking for is for God to teach us the gospel in our hearts.
Lord, reveal to me the glory of your son. Reveal to me that
the hope of my salvation is completely accomplished by his death on
Calvary's cross. And the proof of that is in his
resurrection. Reveal to me that the hope of
my salvation is completely bound up in a promise that you made
in a covenant that was before time ever began. You know the
glorious. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
he said, no, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, he said, now I know
in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known. We look through a glass darkly
now. We see in part. You ever seen a rainbow from
an airplane? In the cloud, next time you're flying over clouds,
look down in the clouds, chances are you're gonna see a rainbow.
It's not a bow, it's a circle. It's a circle. Isn't that the
way, we look through, we see part, we see in part right now,
don't we? We just see a portion of what,
but we believe in, God says when I see the bow, You look over
you look at a rainbow from above the rainbow and you see the whole
thing And God says then I'll remember the covenant I'll remember
the covenant that I made Lord show me a token Give me a token. I'm disabled. I'm distressed
Sin has ravaged my soul and my life and Lord if you leave me
to myself, I'm going to hell. I Need a token for good I need
for you to reveal to me the truth of the gospel, that they which hate me may be
ashamed. When Moses was on Mount Sinai. He asked the Lord to show him
His glory. And Moses had seen the ten plagues
that God sent miraculously against Egypt. He had seen the death
angel come through. He had seen God bring the children
of Israel miraculously out of Egypt. Cross the Red Sea the
dividing of the Red Sea the water was like a wall He'd been on
Mount Sinai. He'd seen the burning bush and
the voice of God speaking to him and the bush not being consumed
what a glorious picture of Christ that is and What's he say Lord
show me? thy glory And the Lord said,
in order for you to see my glory, I'm gonna have to put you in
a rock. And so he hid him in a cleft of the rock and he put
his hand over him, didn't he? And God said, I'll cause my goodness
to pass before thee. That was Christ that passed before
him. That was Christ. And he said, no man can see my
face and live, you'll see my backside. What does that mean? You're gonna see where I've been.
You're not going to know where I'm going. You and I have no
idea what God's got in store for us tomorrow. But the hope
of our salvation is not based on us understanding. So many
religious people will get all bound up with prophecy, won't
they? They want to know what's going to happen, what's going
to happen tomorrow. We don't know what's going to
happen tomorrow. God may wrap this whole thing up today. But
the hope of our salvation has nothing to do with our understanding
of tomorrow. It has everything to do with
believing what has been done. And we're not looking back to
an experience that we've had. We're looking back a whole lot
further than that. We're looking back 2,000 years to that fleece
that was wrung out on Calvary's cross. That scarlet cord was
hanging from Rahab the harlot's window. That bow, a sign of the
covenant. Lord, show me a token for good. All the tokens that God gives
in the scriptures point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why callest thou me good? For you know there's none good
but God. Do you understand when you called
me good, Master, that you're See there's no goodness in us
is there Paul said in my flesh that in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing and David said in Psalm 23 goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life Lord I'm disabled
I Can't move I'm paralyzed I dove into the ocean of sin, thinking
that it was going to be pleasurable, and it has left me, it has left
me dead. It has left me, Lord, I'm distressed. If you leave me in my sin, if
you leave me in my sin, I'm going to hell. I need a Savior. I need a token. A token for good. I need Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for Your Word. We're thankful for the The blessing of your Holy Spirit
and all how we pray right now that you would anoint the truth
of the gospel and show to us a token for good. For it's in Christ's name we
ask it. Amen. Number 232, let's stand together. We'll sing this a cappella. ? Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross ? ? Died for the sinner, paid all his due ? ? Sprinkle
your soul with the blood of the Lamb ? ? And I will pass, will
pass over you ? ? When I see the blood of the Lamb ? When
I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will pass
over you Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will save, all for his
promise that he will do. Wash in the fountain, open for
sin, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood
When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will
pass over you Judgment is coming, all will be there, each one receiving
justly his due. Hide in the saving, sin-cleansing
blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. Oh, great compassion. Oh, boundless love. Oh, loving kindness, faithful
and true. Find peace and shelter under
the blood. And I will pass, will pass over
you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Okay.