Thrills my soul to see you all
enjoy each other's company. What a blessing. It's true, true
fellowship, isn't it? True fellowship. And we don't
have it anywhere else in this world. I don't. It's the only
place I can come for this. My immediate family, I'm thankful
our believers and my extended family. And you shall know that I am
in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God and none
else. And my people shall never be
put to shame. The Lord's pleased to make us
free, give us a new heart, cause us to have our hope in Christ. That'll be true of us. We'll
know that he did it and that we have nothing to be ashamed
of. Let's stand together. Brother Burt's going to come
lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. We're going to sing this to the
tune, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. Pass me not, O gracious Father,
sinful, wretched though I be. Though you might in truth condemn
me, let your mercy fall on me. Love of God so everlasting, Blood
of Christ so rich and free, Grace of God so strong and saving,
Magnify them all in me. Ask me not, O blessed Savior. Let me hear your gracious call. I'm a guilty, helpless sinner. Savior, at your feet I fall. Love of God so everlasting, blood
of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and saving,
magnify them all in me. Pass me not, Almighty Spirit. You can cause the dead to live. Speak the word of saving power. Give me faith. and make me live. Love of God, so everlasting. Blood of Christ, so rich and
free. Grace of God, so strong and saving. Magnify them all in me. Pass me not a poor lost sinner. If you will, you can save me. Reach down with your hand of
mercy, saving others, Lord, save me. Love of God so everlasting,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and saving,
magnify them all in me. Good morning. The scripture reading
this morning is going to be in the Gospels of Luke. chapter
14, Luke 14, beginning in verse 15, is a parable of the great
supper. And when one of them that sat
at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then he said
unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many,
bade would mean today invited many, and sent his servant at
supper time to say to them that were bitten, come for all things
are now ready. And that's the invitation of
the gospel. Everything is ready. The Lord has prepared everything. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. He has prepared everything necessary. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first one said unto him,
I have bought a piece of ground and must needs go to see it.
I pray thee have excused. So the first one bought a piece
of property, which is pretty important in the world now, and
he has that excuse. And another one said, I bought
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray they have
me excused. That's another excuse. And another
one said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
They all had what seemed legitimate excuses. Now, before we go judging
these three men, This is what a natural man does to the gospel,
the gospel call. If without grace, this is what
we will have a similar excuse. We don't want to come. So that servant came and showed
his Lord these things. Then the master of the house
being angry and said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets.
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the mean,
the haught, and the blind." This is us. But this is us only by
God's grace that he shows us. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou hast commanded. Yet there is room, there's still
room. And the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the
highways and hedges and compel them to come in. This is what
the Lord God has to do to each and every one of us. He needs
to compel us to come. If he doesn't compel us to come,
we'll be one of those three giving excuses. We don't put priority
in coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're only able to come because
we don't want to come, because we're a sin. So he needs to compel
them. And the Lord said unto him, go
into the highways again, that's the same verse, and hedges, and
compel them to come in, that the house may be filled. The
Lord's houses will be filled, and it is filled in Christ with
all of those who he compels, all of his elect. Not one of
them will not come in. It's all filled. And I say unto him that none
of those men which were bitten, that's the invitation. None of
them were invited. You see the gospel that saves
is not an invitation. It's a compelling command to
come. And the Lord gives us the grace
to see ourselves as poor, mean, old, and blind. So we are. Father
God, we come before you in thanksgiving, Lord, for giving us the privilege
to come here in the year of Christ, Father God. We come before you
by His righteousness, by His sacrificial death. We come to
you in thanksgiving. We also are totally dependent
on your Holy Spirit, Father. We pray for the Holy Spirit,
for the pastor, for his preaching. We ask him to fill him. We ask
you to fill every pastor that preaches the gospel this morning.
And we also ask for our portion of this Holy Spirit. Fill us,
Father. We are in desperate need of your Holy Spirit, Father,
to hear the message, to be able to see Christ glorified, Father.
We need to see Him more. We need to see more of His glory,
Father, and we pray for this. In Jesus' name, amen. You can remain seated for this
next hymn, number 176. Number 176. This is our prayer. Number 176. Break thou the bread
of life, dear Lord, to me. Passed out its breakdown low
beside the sea. Throughout, throughout the sacred
page, I seek thee, Lord. My spirit pans for Thee, O Living
Word. Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me. As Thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall, And
I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of
life, O Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live. with Thee above. Teach me to love Thy truth, for
Thou art love. O send the Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me Show me the truth concealed within
thy word. And in thy book revealed, I see
the light. That's a good prayer. Lord, send
your Spirit. Open my eyes. Reveal yourself
to me. Don't leave me to myself. The
natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, for they
are spiritually discerned. He cannot know them. That's a
good hymn. I hope the Lord put it on our
hearts to sing it to him. Would you open your Bibles with me
to Ezekiel chapter 20, please. Ezekiel chapter 20. This passage
of scripture is so clear, so wonderful, so powerful and so
contrary to what most men believe about God. My hope and prayer
this morning is that the Lord, by His Spirit, would just simply
give us the grace to believe what He has said about Himself. Just to believe it. If we leave
here believing God, we will have worshipped. Believing God. Nothing else. I've titled this message, A Sovereign
Ruler. A Sovereign Ruler. Our God reigns,
period. He reigns sovereign over all
the affairs of men and over the armies of heaven. He's not trying
to get something done. He's never frustrated. He's never in need of help. He
accomplishes everything he purposes to do, and everything that's
done is according to his purpose. Our God reigns. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. He said, I form the light and
I create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Now that's the God that we're
bowing to. We're bowing to a God who's never threatened by the
disobedience or unbelief of men. He said, why do the heathen rage? Why do they rage? Turn with me,
hold your finger on that Ezekiel 20 and turn with me to Psalm
2. Why do the heathen rage? And
why do the people imagine a Bane thing? The imagination of the
natural man is that God is wanting to save everybody, God loves
everybody, God's doing His best to get His work done, but you've
got to cooperate. You've got to do your part. His
hands are tied. He can't quite, and the Lord
calls that the heathen raging and imagining a vain thing. The
kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed. That's Christ saying,
let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from
us. I won't have that man reign over me. Well, you know what? He does. He does. Whether you want him to or not,
our God reigns over your life right now. And I say that to
every person in this world. He reigns. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Who are these people, these creatures
of mine, who think that they can somehow control things their
way? All right, go back with me to
our text. I love the passage in Isaiah
chapter 42. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets. Our God doesn't
have to try to manipulate men. He doesn't try to have to woo
them, or plead with them, or beg with them to let Him have
His way. Our God always gets His way. Always. Always. But we'll either bow to him and
rejoice in knowing such a God, a God who's truly omnipotent. He possesses all power, a God
who truly is sovereign, a God who truly rules and reigns as
the God that we need. Or we'll be like those folks
that the Lord just described in Psalm 2, that he holds in
derision and laughs at their foolishness. And if they remain
in that rebellion, we'll spend all eternity separated from him
in the devil's hell. Oh, Lord, I need a God that's
all-powerful. I need a God who always gets
His way. I need a God who doesn't need for me to fix anything or
change anything or do anything. And that's the God that's described
in our text. And so my hope is that the Lord
will just simply give us the faith to believe what the Lord
has said about Himself. Verse 33 of Ezekiel chapter 20. as I live. How many times do we see in the
word of God, thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord. Now God
himself is speaking and he's saying, as I live, saith the
Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched out
arm and with fury poured out, will I rule over you. Now you will either rebel against
that statement or rejoice in it. Rejoice in it. Faith rejoices in having a God
who says, I'll rule over you as long as I'm alive. The only
way you're going to lose the rule of God over your life is
for God to die, is for God to cease to be. Is that possible? As I live, saith the Lord, surely. You see the emphasis that's here?
As I live, I'm telling you this, I'm the Lord God, surely. Don't question it. Don't even entertain the thought
that it's not true. With a mighty hand, and with
a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule
over you? Isaiah asks this question in
Isaiah 53, who hath believed our report? And then he answers
that question in verse two when he says, to whom the arm of the
Lord has been revealed. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
strong right arm of God. He is the right hand of God.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who saved his people
by accomplishing the righteousness of God through his obedience
and the justice of God through his death. And so the Lord's
saying, surely with a mighty outstretched arm and with my
hand and with fury poured out the fury of God fell from heaven
and poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ when he hung suspended
between heaven and earth on Calvary's cross and God wrath was put away
this is our this is our hope the Lord's not just talking about
our salvation, he's talking about our lives. With an outstretched
arm, and with a strong hand, and with fury poured out. Some
are not going to bow. Some are not going to believe.
And for those who don't bow and who don't believe, all they have
to look forward to is the wrath and the fury of God. I will bring you out from the
people and I will gather you out of the countries wherein
you are scattered with a mighty hand and with a stretched out
arm and with fury poured out. With a mighty hand I'm going
to find you. I know where all my sheep are. Isn't that glorious? Acts chapter eight, we looked
at it Wednesday night with this Ethiopian eunuch. The Lord sent
Philip down to Gaza in the desert to find this poor eunuch who
found no hope of salvation in Jerusalem. And here he was reading
the book of Isaiah and didn't know what he was reading. And
the Lord sent him a preacher. to declare the gospel to him. And Philip, beginning with Isaiah
chapter 53 verse 7, preached unto him Jesus. And God gave
him faith to believe. The Lord knows where every one
of his sheep are. Not a single one of them are going to be lost.
He said, I won't lose a one. Everyone that he, everyone that
God Almighty chose according to his will and purpose in the
covenant of eternal grace, the Lord Jesus Christ succeeded when
he came with a strong right arm and with a mighty hand. And when
the fury was poured out by God, he saved him. And he's going
to use that same strong arm and that same mighty hand and whatever
fury he needs to use in order to remove the obstacles of the
world and the obstacles of men in order to get every single
one of his sheep to faith in Christ. What a glorious God we
serve. And how contrary this description
of our God is to the God that we hear being preached about
today. Won't you let him have his way in your life? Won't you
come? Men hollering in the streets
and begging men to let God have his way. What a small, insignificant,
powerless God. You see, in the end, man has
set himself up on the throne of God, hasn't he? God sent man
a strong delusion that he would believe the lie. The lie is that
man's will trumps the will of God. That's the lie. It's that
simple. And everybody believes it. God
is subject to my will. I get the final vote in all things. And that's exactly what the scripture
is teaching us against here. with a mighty arm, an outstretched
hand, and with fury poured out. I'm going to do it. I'm going
to find every one of my sheep, and I will bring you into the
wilderness of the people, and I will plead with you." That word was used when the Bible
was translated into English because it comes from a word that means
to to plea a case in a court of law in such a way as to win
that case. This word doesn't mean what we
normally mean when we say plead. It doesn't mean that God's begging. It doesn't mean that God is trying
to woo you. or that he's trying to get you
to let him have his way. That's not what it means at all.
As a matter of fact, this word is most often translated judge
in the Old Testament. It's also translated avenge,
contend, deliver, and defend. So don't misunderstand. It's
used two or three times here in our text. The word plead.
I will plead with you. I will judge you. I will contend
with you. I will plea my case in a court
of law and I will win. That's what God's saying. I will
win. I'm not begging you for anything. I'm not pleading with you as
we normally use that word. And on top of that, the word
is in the perfect tense, which means that it's an action already
completed. It's an action already completed.
So when God says, I will contend with you, I will judge you, I
will sway you, I will win my case over you, I've already done
it. I've already done it. Everything that happens in time,
God has already accomplished in eternity. Now that's how glorious
our God is. And he's describing himself here,
he says, I will bring you into the wilderness of the people,
and there I will plead with you, I will contend with you, I will
judge you, I will avenge you, I will deliver you, I will defend
you, face to face. Face to face. Oh, that's what
I want. I want God to be able to say
of me what he said of of Moses. He met with God as a friend face
to face. Lord, would you would you shine
the light of the gospel in my heart in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ and cause me to be able to see? Lord, it's going to take your
almighty power for that to happen. I can't help you. I can't help
you. You've got to do it all by yourself.
You've got to take me into the wilderness. You've got to contend
with me. You've got to speak to me. And
you need to do it face-to-face, Lord. I don't want second-hand
knowledge. Is the knowledge that you have
of God been taught to your heart from God? They shall be all taught
of God. Father, I thank Thee that Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed
them unto babes, even so, Father, it seemed good in Thy sight."
God teaches every one of His children face to face. The last thing in the world I
want is for you to believe something because I said it. or believe something because
anybody said it but all I want you to believe
God and if he speaks to your heart nobody be able to talk
you out of that when God teaches you something
you know it's so you know it's so Like as I pleaded with your fathers
in the wilderness, verse 36, of the land of Egypt, so will
I plead with you, saith the Lord God. Again, that word plead doesn't
mean beg. Don't misunderstand it. I'm going
to plead my case and I'm going to win. Why? Because I'm the Lord. I'm God. I'm omnipotent, I always get
my man and I always get my way. Always, always, always. No exception. Do you believe that? And do you rejoice in that? That's
the kind of God I need. I need a God that can overpower
me. I need a God that can control me and my circumstances to His glory. Lord, give me faith to bow in
rejoicing and in faith to the God who is. The God that's manufactured
today in the imagination of men's idle factories is such a wimp. He can't do anything. He can't
do anything. He wants to, but he can't get
it done. He's got to have your help. I will cause you to pass under
the rod. Now that's not the rod of wrath. When a shepherd would count his
sheep, he would stick out his rod and
other shepherds would single file the sheep underneath that
rod so that he could count every single one of them. And so when the Lord says, I
will cause you to pass under the rod, I'm gonna count my sheep. I know them by name. And not
one of them's gonna be lost. Not one's gonna be left behind.
Why? Because as I live, saith the
Lord, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm
and with great fury, I shall rule over you. Verse 37, and I will bring you
into the bond of the covenant. I'm so thankful for that. Our
salvation is not determined by a covenant that we make with
God. He's talking about that eternal covenant of grace that
was established between God the Father and God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit before time ever began. Before the stars were
made. Before the earth was created.
Before the angels were made. God had a covenant. He promised
His Son a bride. And the Son coveted with the
Father to redeem her, to pay for her sins. And the Spirit
of God entered into that covenant and promised to come into this
world in the power of God and regenerate the hearts of those
chosen by God and redeemed by Christ. And the Lord says, I'm
going to put you in that covenant. Because any covenant you make
is a faulty covenant. And it'll be disannulled. Men
by nature think that, well, what is a covenant? It's a promise.
That's what it is. And most folks' salvation is
hanging on a promise that they made to God. You want the salvation
of your soul to be hanging on that? You've never made a promise
in your life that wasn't mixed with impure motives. Not before God. The heart is desperately wicked
and deceitful. Who can know it? I need my salvation
to hang on a promise that God made with God. That promise can't
be changed. It can't be broken. I will cause you to pass under
the rod, verse 37. I will bring you into the bond,
the bondage of the covenant. That's it. You see, once you're
bound to the covenant, you can't get out. And you don't want out. You don't want out. Lord, I need for you to lead
captivity captive. I need for you to tear down the
gates of hell. and come into the dark recesses
of my sinful soul and bring me into the bondage of your covenant. It's the only hope I've got. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things. And sure, this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though we make it not to grow. That's my
hope. The covenant that God made with
me. I'll bring them into the bondage of the covenant. And
I will purge out from among you the rebels. Here's the fury poured out. Here's the fury poured out. Now
often in the scriptures God refers to his people as being rebellious. And there's not a single one
of us that doesn't have a rebellious streak. But never that I can
find does God ever refer to his children as rebels. As rebels. So when the Lord says,
I will purge out from among you the rebels, He's talking about
those described in Psalm 2 who say, let us break his bands asunder. We'll not have this man to reign
over us. We'll rebel in our will against
God, which is all the will of man can ever do is rebel against
God. And them that transgress against me, I will bring them
forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall
not enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
the Lord." Child of God, I know you felt it. I know you have. If God's redeemed you, if He's
revealed Himself to you, I know that you have asked yourself
when seeing the rebellion of rebels, God, why did you deliver
me? When you hear the false gospel
being described by the religious, you see the difference. And you're humbled that the Lord
would make you to differ. Why don't I believe what they
all believe? Rachel texted me this week, she
was in a college class at school and they were talking about religion
and her professor is an acting professor and he was telling
the class that he has had preachers come to him. to teach them how
to act, because the Bible's not sufficient to attract men, so
we've got to figure out a way to appeal to men. And Rachel
saw the foolishness of that, but what really encouraged me
was when she said, why do I believe that? Because the whole class
was in agreement that there was no truth to anything. And humbled,
why do I believe? Why do I know? Why do I see?
Look at, they shall, verse 38, they shall
not enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
the Lord. When I make a distinction between
the Egyptians and the Israelites, you're gonna know that I did
it. and you're gonna wonder, why did I choose you? Who maketh
thee to differ? What do you have that you have
not received? Lord, why would you have mercy
upon me? Why don't you leave me out there
in the world to believe what everybody else believes? Why
would you cause me to rejoice in your sovereign grace and in
the glorious person of your dear son? Why would you do it? As for you, O house of Israel,
verse 39, thus saith the Lord God, go ye. I love this verse. I've thought
about this verse a lot. Now the Lord's talking to his
children. He's talking to his children. O house of Israel,
thus saith the Lord God, go ye, serve ye everyone as idols. And
hereafter, if you will not hearken unto me, but pollute ye my holy
name, no more with your gifts and with your idols. Now I want
to read a paraphrase of this verse because it's worded sort
of awkwardly in the King James. But here's what this verse really
means. As for you, O house of Israel,
thus saith the Lord God, go, let everyone serve his idols,
but later you shall most certainly listen to me and shall no longer
profane my holy name with your gifts and with your idols. Now
what that verse is saying to us is that when we rebel against
God, He's not worried. When your children rebel, you
fear, don't you? Why? Because you know you don't
have the power to correct them. When you rebel, you are afraid
because you know you don't have the power to control yourself. But when God's children rebel,
He doesn't worry about it. So go ahead, go serve your other
gods. Don't sin again. It's okay, I got you on a leash.
You're not going to be able to get away from me. I'll bring you back. And if you're
a child of God, you know that you're experienced, don't you?
You couldn't stay away. I told my wife this morning,
I said, we were talking about somebody and I said, well, you
know, it seems like they're always on the fringe of falling away. And my only hope is that if they
belong to the Lord, they won't. They can't. And if they don't,
they eventually will. If you belong to the Lord, you
can't fall away. You won't fall away. He's gonna bring you back. And so he says, what we can't
say to ourselves, or what we don't say to our children, he
said, you wanna go serve an idol? I'll give you some leeway. And
you'll learn from, did he not do that with Peter? Peter, before the cock crows,
you're gonna deny me three times. But Peter, be of good cheer,
I prayed for you. I'm giving you some leeway. I'm giving you an opportunity
to sin grievously against me. But I'm not worried about you,
Peter, because I'm going to bring you back. Could God have stopped David
before he committed that awful sin with Bathsheba and Uriah? Was God wringing his hands in
heaven worried that, oh no, I've lost the king now? No! He said to David what he says
to you and says to me. You want to go serve another
idol? Go ahead. It's okay. You're mine. He's not saying
it's okay, but go ahead. You're not going to be lost.
And you're going to learn some lessons through that experience,
and I'm going to bring you back. Isn't that glorious? It all fits
what the Lord is telling us about Himself in this whole passage.
I'm the Lord. With an outstretched arm and
with a strong right hand and with my fury poured out, I'm
going to get my way all the time, even when you sin. I'm going
to get my way. That's the kind of God I need.
Isn't that the kind of God you need, Jeremy? That's the kind
of God A sinner needs a God that's all powerful and a God who's
able to save. Verse 40, for in my holy mountain,
in the mountain of the height of Israel, what's he talking
about? He's talking about where we are right now. That's where
we are right now. You are sitting on the top of
the holy mountain. This is Jerusalem, this is Zion,
this is the house of bread. Saith the Lord God, there shall
all the house of Israel, all of them in the land serve me,
and there will I accept them, and there will I require their
offerings and the first fruits of their oblations with all your
holy things. This is where the Lord is glorified. This is where he's pleased to
accept the worship of his children after what he has done. in calling
us out of all the places where he scattered us and causing us
to hear the gospel and being almighty and all powerful in
our lives. He said, I'm going to bring you
to Zion and you're going to worship me and I'm going to accept your
worship. Why? Because it's the worship
that I put in your heart. And let me make this clear. The
only thing that God will ever accept from you and me is that
which came from him. You try to give God something
that didn't come from him and it's polluted. But if it came
from him, it's acceptable in his sight. I will accept you
with your sweet savor, verse 31, and I will bring you out
from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein
you have been scattered, and I will be sanctified in you before
the heathen. And you shall know that I am
the Lord when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into
the country for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your
fathers. And there shall you remember
your ways and all your doings wherein you have been defiled,
and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your
evils that you have committed. And you shall know that I am
the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake,
not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt
doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Do you loathe your rebellion
against God? If you're a child of God, I know
you do. I know you do. I'm going to keep bringing you
to myself, not because you're worthy, not
because you deserve it, but for my name's sake. I'm the Lord. I'm God. I'm going to be glorified
and you're going to be humbled in my presence. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that you've, that you've revealed yourself so gloriously in your
word. We ask that you would be pleased
now to give us faith, to believe what you have said and to bow
rejoicing that you are God. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen. Brother Burt, 296 in the hardback
tendon. Let's stand together, 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heav'nly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus, do it all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus, do it all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial. Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a spring of joy I see. gushing from the rock before
me, lo, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me. Oh, the fullness of His love,
perfect rest to me is promised. In my father's house above, when
my spirit clothed the mortal, winged fly to realms of day. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages. Jesus led me all the way. Okay. Thank you.