Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 46, O for a Thousand Tongues. Let's
all stand together. Number 46. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of Thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's
ears, tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of
cancelled sin He sets the prisoner free His blood can make the phallus
clean His blood availed for me Hear him ye deaf, his praise
ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ. Ye blind behold your
Savior come, and leap ye lame for joy. Glory to God and praise
and love be ever, ever giv'n by saints below and saints above
the church and earth. Please be seated. If you'd like to turn with me
in your Bibles to Psalm 98 will be our scripture reading for
tonight. Psalm 98. It's good to have Brie's sister Rose
with us tonight. Rose, welcome. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His
holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. Who has believed our
report? To whom the arm of the Lord is
revealed. Christ is the right hand of God
and He's His holy arm. He's the one that's done marvelous
things and gotten the victory over sin and over death and over
hell and over the grave. The Lord hath made known his
salvation, his righteousness hath he openly showed in the
sight of the heathen. That's who he shows his salvation
to, heathens. Are you a heathen? By nature
we are. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise
unto the Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp
and with the harp and with the voice of psalm. with trumpets
and the sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord,
the King. Let the sea roar and the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods
clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together
before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness. He's going to judge all men by
the righteous standard of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall he judge the world and
the people with equity? With equity. All that we can
bring to the table is inequity. He brings equal righteousness
and judgment before the father. How blessed we are to be able
to come to this place and worship him. Let's pray together. Our
merciful heavenly father, oh, how we hope and pray that you
would send your spirit in power. You said if the Lord Jesus Christ
be lifted up, that he would draw all men unto himself. For as the serpent was lifted
up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.
Oh, Lord, bless our tongue and our ears. Bless our hearts with truth and
cause us to look upon Christ. Define him to be all our righteousness. Define him to be our joy, our
peace, our strength, the one to whom we sing and the one we
sing about. Or draw us to thyself. Comfort
us with that comfort that only you have to give. We ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Number 226. We've sung this hymn
before, but it's not a real familiar tune, so if it is, sing out.
226. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
His right hand is one who is my Savior. I take Him at His word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read, for in my heart I find a need of Him to be my Savior. That He should leave His place
on high and come for sinful man to die, you count it strange,
so once did I. before I knew my Savior. And oh, that He fulfilled, they
see, the travail of His soul in me, and with His work contented
me, as I with my dear Savior. Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring That he who lives to be
my King Once died to be my Savior. Please be seated. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. Six verses in this chapter. And I hope the Lord will enable
us to believe what he said and to understand the joy of rejoicing. Christ is our strength and our
joy. I've been thinking a lot, I've
been looking at this chapter for a couple of weeks, but I've
been thinking a lot about that message from Sunday morning,
where David's mighty men came to him. They were disabled, they
were destitute, and they were discontent. The older I get,
The more I see of my own disability, the more I understand the debt
that I owe God, and the more discontent I become with this
world, with myself. I understand better what Solomon
meant when he said, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. really not anything in this world.
And whether we try Stoicism, looking from within to try to
discover some meaning of life, or whether we try Epicureanism,
looking without into the world, trying to discover some meaning
to life, the more you look, the more you realize there ain't
nothing there. Nothing there. And in contrast
to that, What great joy, what great contentment, what great
comfort, what great hope, what great meaning and purpose we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ when God makes Him to be your
life. Not that He gives you a life
worth living. He becomes your life. You understand that there is
no life outside of Him. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom Thou
sent. I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. The Lord said, if any man thirsts,
John chapter 7, let him come unto Me. Let him come unto Me
and drink water, living water. Told that woman at the well,
if you knew who it was that spoke unto that ask of you a drink,
you would ask it of Him. He'd give you living water. Living
water. Isaiah chapter 12 is the believers
delight in Christ. He's rejoicing in who the Lord
is and what the Lord has accomplished. And he's resting his whole soul
on Christ as his Savior. My hope tonight is that the Lord
will make these six verses a song that we'll be able to sing in
truth from our hearts. Lord told that woman at the well,
the father seek of those who worship him in spirit. This is the spiritual truth of
life. And in truth, the day shall come. And even now is right now, right
now, Lord enable me, enable me to behold your glory and to rest
my soul in your accomplished work. We praise lots of things in this
world. We are always amazed to see extraordinary
greatness, whether it be achieved in athletics or whether it be
achieved in the skill of a great musician, Whether it be a timeless book
that's been written or a landscape, we look at the Grand Canyon or
some great mountain and think, you know, that's amazing, extraordinary. But none of those things capture
our attention very long. They're just a temporary enjoyment,
aren't they? A temporary moment where we're
able to delight in something and then it fades. It fades. If the Lord enables us to see
him and to believe him, he never fades. He only becomes more glorious. He grows in greatness in our
hearts. And that's what Isaiah is saying
here. And in that day, Isaiah is prophesying
in the 7th century BC, 600 plus years before the coming of the
Lord. And he's talking about the day
of Christ, when the Messiah comes. That's what he had just been
talking about in the previous chapter. The glories of the Messiah. And so now he says, in that day.
That day is here. We're living in that day right
now. That day is today. This is the
day of grace. This is the day where the Lord
has been pleased to manifest His glory. The believers in the
Old Testament only saw through types and shadows. God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake to our fathers in times
past through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto
us by His Son, who is the express image of His person. Here's the
glory of God now has come to earth and made himself known
to us. And if the Lord gives us eyes
to see him, we'll set our affections, we'll set all our affections
on things above, not on things of the earth, where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God. So Isaiah says in that day, we're
living in that day, Lord, make this my experience today. Because I've tried the world.
I've tasted everything the world's got to offer, pretty much, and
it just doesn't satisfy, does it? It doesn't satisfy. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. There's the one I'll praise.
Michael and I were talking about this before the service. He was
talking about somebody that had mentioned to him You know, they
couldn't wait till they got the glory to see someone that they
had, you know, loved in this world. And we were just saying,
you know, if your eyes are fixed on Christ, why would you divert
your attention away from Him to look on anyone else? The splendor
of His glory is going to grow for all eternity. And so Isaiah
says in that day, I will praise Thee, though Thou wast angry
with me. Now we know that in the covenant
of grace that God has loved his elect with an everlasting love.
There's never been a time when he didn't love his children.
There's never been a time when he didn't see them in Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb that was slain before the
foundation of the world. And in that regard, the wrath
of God has never been on God's people. It was always expiated in the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was spent on Him. It was satisfied
on Him. So what is Isaiah talking about? He's talking about our experience. When the Lord seemed so far from
us. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2 and this really clarifies
what what Isaiah is talking about. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1,
and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. That was a time when we were
spiritually dead in our experience. In Christ, in the covenant of
grace, I had someone say to me recently, well, I've always been
a Christian because I was always in Christ. No, no, no. We, we have to experience the
new birth because we're not born into this world. Christians were
born into this world, spiritually dead in our own experience with
one nature at enmity with God, wherein in times past, you walked
according to the course of this world. We didn't know God. We're strangers to His grace,
trying to find hope somewhere outside of Christ, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, and among whom also we had our
conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. In our nature, we only had one
nature. Prior to the new birth, the only
nature we have is our old nature. And so even though our new nature
is hidden in Christ and the Lord's going to be sure that everyone
that he chose in the covenant of grace is gonna come to the
knowledge of Christ, in our experience, we are the children of wrath
even as others. at enmity with God, but God,
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins." That's what we were. Spiritually dead. Blind, dead,
unable to do anything. Unable to take a breath. Unable
to believe. Completely dependent upon him.
to quicken us together with Christ, for by grace are you saved. And
he has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. There's our hope. And that's
what Isaiah is talking about when he says, I was at enmity
with you. I walked in the course of this
world. I didn't know God. I didn't have any hope of salvation.
I didn't have the truth. My eyes weren't opened. I was
dead. Go back with me to our text.
Oh, Lord, I will praise Thee, though thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away, and
thou comfortest me." Now that I know Christ, or are rather
known by Him, now that I have the hope of salvation, I've got
great comfort. I know that all the wrath of
God was poured out on Calvary's cross and that God's justice
was satisfied and there is now therefore no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to them. Tell them what? Their warfare
is accomplished. There's my comfort. My comfort
is that that there's no wrath, there's no judgment, there's
no anger. There's nothing but grace and love and acceptance
in the Beloved. Now that's reason to praise God.
If it doesn't go any further than that, what more could we
ask for? Those of us born into this world,
and if the Lord doesn't show great grace toward us, will die
and be separated from God for all eternity. This is what it's about. It's
not about being happy in this life. It's about having life. Having life. Behold, look at verse two. There's
my comfort. Oh, I've got great comfort. in
knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ quenched the fire of God's wrath. When those three Hebrew children
were thrown into the fiery furnace, there was a fourth who was like
the son of God. He was the son of God. And when
they came out, not a hair on their head was singed, not a
thread on their garments were burned, and the smell of smoke
wasn't even on them. Why? Because that fourth man
consumed the heat of that furnace. That's what he did. He walked
in the furnace with them, and He consumed all the heat to Himself,
so that they walked out free. There's no condemnation, nothing
but comfort, nothing but hope, nothing but joy. Behold, verse 2, oh, take notice. And Job said, Behold, I am vile. What he's saying is, I see something
I never saw before. This is absolutely amazing. This
is incredible. This is fantastic. This is beyond
anything that can be experienced or seen or heard or believed
in this world. Behold, God is my salvation.
And notice he doesn't say, God will lead me to my salvation
or he will reveal to me salvation. He is my salvation. I am thine
exceeding great reward. So when we rejoice in the Lord,
we're rejoicing in him. We're in Him, and He's in us. We just read in Ephesians chapter
2, we're in the heavenlies right now in Christ Jesus, seated at
the right hand of God. It's not as if we were there,
we're there. We're there, right now, in the person of our substitute. We're there. God is My salvation. The Lord didn't
bring us to salvation. He himself is our salvation. It's not that we have salvation
from him. We have salvation in him. In
him. That's why it's so important
that we, that we preach Christ. We don't preach about Christ.
We don't preach doctrine. We lift up the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, and I, I love the
way he said that. He didn't say if I'd be lifted
up, he said, and I, if I be lifted up, he repeats that personal
pronoun twice, doesn't he? I be lifted up. I'll draw men
to me. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him. We're not rejoicing in the events
of life. We're not rejoicing even in the... We're rejoicing in Christ. Rejoice
in the Lord. In the Lord. And again I say,
rejoice. Let your gentleness be known
unto all men. Why? Because the Lord is at hand. He's near. Be not anxious for anything,
but in all things, a prayer and supplication, let your requests
be known unto God. And the peace of God, the peace
of God, which passes human understanding, Keep your heart and your mind
in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are good and holy and just and all those things
that are mentioned in that passage, they all relate to Christ. If
there be any virtue, think on these things. Think on Christ. Set your affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Behold,
God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. Don't you hate fear? Fear's awful. We all know what it is. Religion's
based on fear. You do this, you avoid that,
you follow the line and keep the rules and regulations, and
in the end you'll be saved. But if you don't
toe the line, and it's just based on fear, and perfect love casteth
out fear. There's no fear in love. We're not fearing God's wrath. We're not fearing His judgment.
There was a time when we had reason to fear, when we were
walking according to the course of this world. But God, who in
great mercy has shown His love toward us, now He comforts us. And He says, I am your salvation.
I'm the one that you're to trust in. Trust in Me. Put your trust in Christ. And
don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. You don't need
to fear the wrath of God. You don't need to fear the providence
of God. You don't. We know. We know that all things work
together. I know the thoughts that I have
for you. Thoughts of peace, not for evil. They may be hard sometimes,
but they're necessities to bring you to your expected end. No fear. No fear. Now there's only twice in the
Word of God where Yahweh and Jehovah are put side by side.
And here's one of them. The other one is in Isaiah chapter
26, we'll look at that in just a moment. But the emphasis here
is on the triune Godhead. And so what Isaiah is saying
is, I will trust in him, I will not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah
is my strength and my song. He also is become my salvation. The Lord Jehovah. It's talking
about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
God the Father, who according to his own will and purpose,
chose a people in the covenant of grace, wrote their names in
the Lamb's Book of Life, entered into a covenant before time ever
began with God the Son. God the Son agreed to work out
a righteousness for those whom God the Father had chosen. He
agreed to come into this world and to do for them what they
could not do for themselves, perfectly obey the law of God. Keep the law of God perfectly. And that's exactly what he did.
He did it for the Father. He did it first and foremost
to fulfill that covenant. that had been established by
God the Father and God the Son before time ever began. And then
he promised to receive the full fury of God's wrath and drink
damnation dry in order to satisfy the justice of God and deliver
those who were guilty of their sin from the penalty of sin. And that's exactly what he did.
That's who we're trusting. We're trusting that the father
chose a people. We're trusting that Christ satisfied everything
that God required so that everything that God requires of me and you,
he's looking to his son for. And then God, the Holy Spirit
entered into that eternal covenant of grace. and promised to the
Father and to the Son to come into this world and to make the
gospel message effectual to the hearts of God's elect, regenerating
them, giving them life, enabling them to believe, causing them
to come to Christ. And that's who Isaiah is talking
about, the Lord Jehovah, God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit. They're the ones I'm trusting.
I'm trusting them to save me. Is there any way that that salvation
could not be fulfilled? Is there any way that anyone
that God chose and Christ died for and the Holy Spirit promised
to make willing in the day of His power, is there any possible
way that any of them and all three of them would fail to accomplish
their purpose? What greater thing do we have
to trust Him? Nothing. Nothing. We can't trust ourselves. Can't
trust this world. We can't trust our politicians.
We can't trust anything, can we? But we can trust God. And
so Isaiah says, there was a time when I was at enmity with Him,
but now He's comforted me and I've trusted Him and I'm not
afraid anymore because my hope is that he will accomplish what
he promised he would do, which is the salvation of sinners.
Are you a sinner? That's who Christ came to save.
That's how we know. How do I know this is for me?
How do I know I'm one of God's elect? Because God's made me
to be a sinner. I was talking to somebody recently
and they said, He said, well, you know, before I became a Christian,
I did lots of things I didn't feel guilty about. And now when
I do them, I feel guilty. And so that's the evidence that
God's that, you know, no, that's just evidence that you've got
religion. That's evidence that you've got a conscience one for
finding. You should have felt bad about
them before. That's not evidence that you're a center. Evidence that you're a center
means that you've come to believe that you can't do anything but
sin. That's all you can do. Everything you put your hand
to is sinful. You've never been able... All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You and I are
not capable of having a holy thought. I mean a pure, holy
thought. Love the Lord with all your heart
and all your mind and all of your soul. I can't. I want to, but I can't. Why? Because God's made me be
a sinner. And being a sinner, I know that he's the only one
that can do it. And I'm lock, stock, and barrel.
I've got all my eggs in one basket. I don't know anywhere else to
go. Lord, thou alone hast the words of eternal life, and I
know and am sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And if you can't recommend me to God, I'm lost. Got no place
else to go. So here's the two sides of it.
How do I know if this is for me? Number one, I'm a sinner.
Number two, Christ is my Savior. He's the only Savior I've got. And with that, I'm not afraid. With that, I've got the Lord
Jehovah as my strength, He's my righteousness, and He's my
joy. You know, I'm thankful for the
moments of happiness, I guess we could call them, that we enjoy
in this world that God gives us in our relationships and things
that we have and things we enjoy. But that's not our joy. Those
things are fading, aren't they? They're vanity. You try to find
peace and purpose in those things and there's just nothing there. He is my strength and my joy.
He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy, with joy, shall you draw water out of the
wells of salvation. I was thinking about Jacob when
he went to get Rachel. Remember when he was fleeing
from Esau and he went to Laban's house and he met Rachel and the
well, Rachel brought her sheep and the well had a large stone
on it and the shepherds that were there refused to move the
stone. And Jacob moved the stone all by himself and watered Rachel's
sheep. Christ is the well. You know,
those shepherds, when the Lord told the children of Israel to
go into Moab, he told them to cut down all their trees and
stop up their wells. Why? Because they were polluted.
And when Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 2, speaks of false prophets,
he calls them wells without water. Wells without water. When the
Lord Jesus Christ was, we don't go to those wells, we stop them
up. When we're delivered from Moab, we cut down the trees and
we stop up the wells and Christ becomes our well. So what does
he say here? He says, therefore with joy shall
you draw water out of the wells of salvation. Out of the wells
of salvation. Don't you love the story of the
woman at the well in John chapter 4? If you knew who it is that
saith unto thee, give me to drink. Why did the Lord ask her to give
him to drink? You know, people think, well,
I'm going to give God something. No, you're not. What are you,
a Jew, asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink? The Jews don't have
anything to do with Samaritans. Good. You've come to that realization
that you can't give me to drink. That's why I asked you. So you've
come to that. Everything the Lord asks her,
she comes to the right conclusion about, doesn't she? And if you
knew who it was that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you'd
ask it of me and I'd give you living water. You wouldn't have to come back
to this well anymore. Well, let's go there, because
that's what she thought, actually, what she thought he was talking
about. Go with me to John chapter four. Lord, enable us, like Jacob,
to take the stone away from the well and to water God's flock. And keep us from drinking from
the polluted wells of Moab. and cause them just to be stopped
up for us. We don't even want to hear that
stuff anymore. Anything that has to do with man's will or
man's works, that's a dry well. That's a well without water. Look what the Lord says to this
dear woman at the well. Verse 10 in John chapter 4, If
thou knewest the gift of God, If you knew that salvation was
all of grace, and it's all of me, and who it is that saith
unto thee, Give me to drink, thou would if I ask him, and
he would have given thee living water. And the woman saith him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, from
whence then hast thou living water. It's good. The Lord's
just drawing her out in me. I'm not talking about that well.
Here she is. Dialoguing with God And she says
to him you don't have anything to draw with and the well is
deep Where are you going to get this water from? And the one
and aren't out greater than our father Jacob oh Yes, I am I'm the one that
wrestled with Jacob I'm the one that left him with a limp the
rest of his life. I'm the one that changed his
name. which gave us this well and drank
thereof himself and his children. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but
whosoever drinketh the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. Oh, sir, give me this water
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. No, you drink
this water, you're gonna thirst again. But you drink the water
that I give you, you won't have to go anywhere else ever again
to satisfy the thirst of your soul for life, for God, for forgiveness,
for salvation, for comfort, for hope, for meaning, for peace,
for joy. You won't have to go anywhere
else for the forgiveness of your sin. If I give you to drink from this
well, John chapter 7, if any man thirst,
that's the problem. People aren't thirsty. They're
satisfying their fleshly thirst with fleshly things. And until
God puts a concern for your soul on your heart, and causes you
to realize that everything in this world is vanity, then you'll
go through life just drinking from the wells of this world
and thinking that's it. That's it. Or you'll drink from
the wells which have no water. Or you'll drink from those polluted
wells of Moab, of religion, and think, well, I've got it. Peace,
peace, when there is no peace. Making a covenant with death,
a covenant that God'll disannul. Here's what he says, I'm going
to, go back with me to our text. I love that story of the woman
at the well. She drank, didn't she? Come,
come, meet a man that told me everything I ever did. And what
she meant by that was, He knows every sin I've ever committed. But He also told me that in Him,
everything I ever did was perfectly righteous. Perfectly righteous. So there was a time when I was
at enmity with God, but now He's comforted me. Now He's caused
me to trust in Him, and He's given me peace. The very first miracle that our
Lord performed, remember in John chapter 2? The turning of the
water into wine at the Feast of Canaan. And Mary was obviously,
must have been a family member or somebody, she had some responsibilities
at that wedding because she went to the Lord and said, you know,
they've run out of wine, we need to do something. Ladies, you
know what it's like when you're hosting a thing or whatever it
is and you're running out of something and you get frantic,
don't you? What are we going to do? And the Lord, she told the servants,
whatever he says to you, do it. And so what did he tell them?
What did he tell them? They had water pots. Now those
water pots aren't like what you might think of standing tall
water pots. They were flat water pots, more like bathtubs. And
the scripture tells us how many furlongs of water they would
hold. They were for ceremonial hand washing. And there were
six of them. And they held 25 to 30 gallons
a piece. And when you went into a feast,
you started in the first one and you washed your hands in
all six, ceremonially cleansing yourself before you went into
the feast. And what did the Lord tell those
servants to do? Fill them up to the brim. Fill
them up to the brim. What was that representing? I've
come to fulfill all the requirements of the Old Testament law. I am
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. All
those ceremonies, all those rules and regulations, they're fulfilled
in me. So fill them all up to the brim.
And then he tells the servants, draw out now and take to the
master of the feast. Now, I'm not gonna make a big
deal out of whether they got the water out of the ceremonial
wash pots. The word draw out, maybe they
did, showing that this Old Testament law has now become the New Testament
wine in Christ. But the word draw is very specific
that's used there in John chapter two. It's a word that's used
for drawing water up out of a well. See, I don't think they got the
water out of the wash pots. I mean, people had washed their
hands in those things. I think they went back and got
to the well, it must have been a well close by, the same place
they got the water that they filled up the water pots with,
and that's where the wine came out of, out of the well. An inexhaustible
source of wine coming out of that well. And brought it to
the master and he said, you know, most people, they serve the good
wine first and then the bad, you saved the best for last.
Oh, Christ is that. He's the well. He's the wine. He's the fulfillment of the Old
Testament. Look at, uh, go back with me now to our text. So many
references to these, to these wells in Genesis chapter 26,
we're looking at, I'm thinking about this verse three, therefore
with joy, shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation? Christ is the well of salvation. Yeah. How often we go to broken
cisterns and we drink polluted water and, and we get sick, don't
we? We get sick. This well won't
make you sick. It's the only well for healing
that there is. The Lord caused me to draw water
out of the well of salvation. In Genesis chapter 26, when Isaac
was digging wells in an area where Philistines lived and he
hit a spring, he hit the aquifer is what happened and the water
came forth and the Philistines says that's ours and and so he
just went on somewhere else and dug another well and he hit another
spring and the Philistines came and said that's ours and so finally
he went and he dug another one he didn't contend with them We
don't argue over the gospel. We don't argue over the word
of God. Somebody else wants it, let them have it. Let them have
their argument. Let them have their contention.
He called those first two wells the wells of contention. And
then he dug a third well, and you know what he called it? Room. room. There's room enough for
all of us here. We no longer do we have to contend
with the Philistines. We've got a well that will supply
a source of life for all of us. Therefore, with joy, shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Deuteronomy chapter 6, the Lord
says to the children of Israel through Moses, I'm going to give
you a land with houses that you did not build, with vineyards
that you did not plant, with olive trees that you did not
plant, and with wells that you did not dig. And I'm going to
give it to you. You didn't do it. I did it. I dug the well of salvation.
When I came into this world and worked out your righteousness
through my perfect obedience to the Father, I dug the well. When I laid down my life for
the sheep on Calvary's cross and suffered the full wrath of
God's judgment to satisfy His justice and deliver you from
any wrath, I dug the well. Come, drink of this well. It's
good. You'll never have to go anywhere
else. You'll never have to go anywhere else. And in that day, verse four,
shall you say, praise the Lord, praise Him, thank Him, call upon
His name. Don't just praise Him. Call on
Him. Plead His mercy. Ask Him to save
you. You know, I've talked to people
who have been under the gospel, and I say, well, have you asked
the Lord to save you? Have you called out to Him? Well,
no, not really. I've been thinking about it.
I've been listening to it. No, ask Him. No one's ever cried
out for mercy that's been denied. So he says, I'll praise him.
And he says, he says, call upon his name. He's the Lord Jehovah. He's the God of salvation. His
name is Jesus because he has saved his people. He's accomplished
our salvation. It's all done. It's finished.
It's finished. Nothing more left to do. Declare
his doings among the people. Tell people that he entered in
to a covenant relationship with God the Father and God the Son
to save a rebellious, sinful people before those people were
ever born. Tell them about his wonderful
doings. Tell them about his incarnation. Tell them that he stepped down
from the throne of glory and took on the likeness of sinful
flesh and was born of a woman, born under the law to redeem
those who were cursed by the law. Tell them about his perfect
obedience to the Father, that he trusted God. And when he went
to Calvary's cross and God imputed to him our sin and made him sin,
who knew no sin, even then, and here's the mystery of the gospel,
I can't explain this, even then, whatever's not of faith is sin.
Would you agree with that? Well, you hope God says it. Whatever
is not a faith is sin. Did the Lord Jesus Christ have
perfect faith even when he was bearing in his body our sins
on Calvary's cross? Yes. To his dying breath, he
believed God. So we have the sinless Savior
becoming sin at the same time, trusting God perfectly. and yet satisfying the demands
of God's justice and bearing all the shame and all the guilt,
all the horrors of sin. He bore it. He knew it by experience. Tell them. Declare his doings
among the people. Tell them about how God raised
him from the dead. to prove, to declare, to testify
with surety that God the Father was pleased and satisfied with
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Nothing left to be done. He's
done it all. Declare His doings among the
people. And then he ascended back into
glory. He said, you be my witnesses in Samaria and in Jerusalem,
Samaria and Judea and out of the outermost parts of the world. And I'm going to come again in
like manner. The trump of God will sound and
the dead in Christ will rise. And those of us which are alive
will be caught up together with him in the air. And so shall
we ever be with the Lord. I'm coming again. Declare His doings among the
people. God's people are longing for
that day, every day, waiting, watching, hoping, maybe today's
the day, maybe this is it. Make mention that His name is
exalted. No other name has been given
among men whereby we must be saved. God has given Him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every niche
abound, every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Oh, how wonderful His name is.
come to Christ right now right now Lord have mercy upon our
souls forgive us forgive us Lord for being so easily turned away
from you being so easily distracted by the the false promises and
lies of this world when we've got the fullness of your glory
to rejoice in He is my strength and He is my joy. That's what
Isaiah said and that's what every believer says. Oh would God give
us the grace for us to say that. Brother Tom. Number 225. Let's stand
together. Number 225. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down thy weary one, Lay down
thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I look to Jesus and I found in
Him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. th th th