that hymn. We're going to be reading from
Isaiah 64 for our scripture reading tonight, the first eight verses
of Isaiah 64. We already have guests coming in
for our conference this weekend. I know some others landed tonight
around six and they're not able to get here in time, but And
then I think all the preachers and their wives are going to
be here tomorrow and other folks coming in on Friday. So I'm sure
I'm looking forward to this weekend. Isaiah chapter 64 verse 1. that thou wouldst rend the heavens,
and that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow
down at thy presence." What a prayer. Lord, would you open the windows
of heaven? Would you rend that veil that separates us from thee
and make thyself known to us? If you'll do that, all will be
well. As when the melting fire burneth,
and the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known
to thy adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence."
There's something in each one of us that stands in opposition
to God. It's called the old man, it's
the flesh. that the Lord would make himself
known and quiet that man. When thou didst terrible things
which we looked not for. Now he's talking about the incarnation
and the life of righteousness and the sacrificial death and
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says. When thou didst terrible things
which we look not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down
at thy presence, for since the beginning of the world men have
not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen,
O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for them that waiteth
for him. Oh, we had no idea that this
is what our God would do to save us. never entered into our imagination. I have not seen, nor is ear heard,
nor is it enter into the imagination of man the things that he's prepared
for us. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,
those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold thou art wroth,
for we have sinned, in those is continuance. Is that you? Have you been able to conquer
sin? You would think that in light
of what he just said, for we have sinned and in those is continuance,
therefore you're angry with us. But no, look at the next phrase,
and we shall be saved. Only those who continue to sin
shall be saved. If you're not a sinner, and you're
not a candidate for salvation, Christ came to save sinners. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do
fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. And there is none that calleth
upon thy name, or that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
No man seeketh after God at any time. If he doesn't seek us and
stir us up, we'll never know him. For thou hast hid thy face
from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O
Lord, thou art our Father. We are the clay, thou our potter,
and we are the work of thy hand. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Let's pray. merciful, gracious, and glorious
Heavenly Father, we come before Thy throne of grace in the name
of Thy dear Son, thanking Thee that we have an advocate, a Savior,
the righteous One who intercedes on our behalf and presents Himself
to you for us. We ask, Lord, that you would
cause Him to be lifted up tonight We pray that you would send your
Holy Spirit in power to open the eyes of our understanding
and enable us to see into that window of heaven that thou hast
opened. Lord, cause thy face to shine
upon us and we shall be saved. Truly, our sin is a continual
problem. We're in need of a Savior. Lord,
we pray that you would bless us to that end tonight. And we
pray for this weekend. Father, we ask that you would
give safe travel to all those that are coming to be here. We
pray that you would bring those that are lost and undone, those
that are strangers, to your grace. We pray that you would cause
them to hear and to believe. We pray for your children, that
you would encourage them as they get to know one another and enjoy
the fellowship that only believers can have one with the other,
and that you would strengthen the bond of our love and the
cause of thy church. We pray for Mike and David and
Todd and ask, Lord, that even now you would burden their hearts
with the messages that we need to hear. Give us ears to hear. Bless the services in power,
we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 318, an evening
every hour. 318. Thank you, Tom and Joy. If you
were able to sing that hymn as a prayer from your heart, you're
going to be encouraged with this passage of scripture tonight.
For these are what the Lord has promised to do in meeting the
needs of his children. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Jeremiah chapter 20, 32. Jeremiah chapter 32. Often we commit ourselves to
do something by saying, I will. Only to find that the power of
our will wasn't what we thought it was, or the circumstances
of our situation wasn't what we anticipated, and consequently
our will was not fulfilled. That's never the case with our
God. When he says, I will, you can be sure that he will. And there are no circumstances
that he hasn't anticipated. A matter of fact, he works them
all in to that purpose that he has in blessing his children
with his I wills. We're gonna read these verses
together, there's just a few of them, and I want you to notice
how many times the Lord says, I will. Begin reading with me
in verse 37 of Isaiah, Jeremiah chapter 32. Behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger
and in my fury and in my great wrath, and I will, bring them
again unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely and
they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them and I will
make everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away
from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me yea I will rejoice over them
to do them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and my whole soul. Just in case you have any doubts
about what I'm going to do, I'm going to do it with all my power.
For thus saith the Lord, like as I have brought all this great
evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good
that I promised them. And we might say to somebody
with great emphasis, look. And we're not talking about looking
at something with the natural eye when we say that. You speak
to your children, you're trying to teach them an important life
lesson, and oftentimes you might say to them, look now, look. Pay attention. This is very important. 1,250 times in the Bible, God
says, behold. behold and that's what he's saying
to us as a faithful father he's saying to his children look now
this is this is an important lesson this is a life lesson
this is real life this is not just temporal life this is your
eternal life look put your blinders on give me your undivided attention
and be amazed about what you're about to see ask God to give
you eyes to see The Lord asked that blind man,
what would you have me to do for you? Oh, Lord, that I might
see, that I might see. Enable me to behold. You see, it starts out that way,
doesn't it? God's saying to you and to me, be amazed and behold. God said to Noah in Genesis chapter
9 verse 9, Behold, look now Noah, I am establishing my covenant
with you and with your seed after you. Noah, I'm about to destroy
the whole world. But look now, behold, I'm going
to establish a covenant with you. In Genesis chapter 22, The
Lord said, Abraham? When the Lord tempted Abraham
and had him take Isaac up on the mountain and the Lord said
to Abraham, Abraham? And Abraham responded by saying,
behold me. Lord, look upon me. Here I am. Job, after the Lord
spoke to him, responded by saying, behold, oh, I see something I
never saw before. I am vile. When John the Baptist pointed
his finger at the Lord Jesus Christ and said, behold, look,
yes, look with your physical eyes, but look with your eyes
of faith. There is the Lamb of God. He's the one that taketh
away the sins of the world. And when the Apostle John, in
Revelation chapter 19, saw heaven opened, the scripture says, he
beheld a white horse. And he that rode upon that horse
came to conquer. He beheld him. And in Revelation
22 verse 12, behold, the Lord Jesus Christ says, I come quickly
and my reward is with me. A little space, a little space,
that's all there is. In Exodus chapter 33, the Lord
said to Moses, Moses, Behold, look, there is a place near me
where you can stand. Stand upon this
rock. You'll be safe there. Behold. This passage of 10 I wills Ten glorious promises. Ten answers to that prayer that
you and I just offered up to God in asking Him to bless us. Begins with the admonition to
behold. Look. Look. Set your affection on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Look
to Christ. Know that all the promises of
God, all the promises of God, all the promises of God are yea
and amen in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of all the I wills of God. I will and you shall. Hang everything on that nail
that's been fastened in a sure place. It's secure. It's the anchor of our soul.
God says, I will. It's not like when we say, I
will. You can trust the eternal destiny
of your soul. on the promises of God. Oh, these
precious promises. God says, this is what I'm going
to do. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this for my people.
Lord, would you enable me to behold the fulfillment of these
promises in my life? Don't let me just sit back and
think about them. Don't let me just apply them
to other people. Lord, would you cause these precious
promises to be true for me? God said to Abraham, when Sarah
laughed, is anything too hard for God? Is anything too hard
for Him? You're a 90-year-old woman. Armita
turned 90 this week, yesterday. 90-year-old woman having a child,
rightly, I mean, somebody said Armita was having, we'd all laugh,
wouldn't we? That's just not possible. Is anything impossible
with God? What's impossible with man is
possible with God. It's impossible for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle. Easier. We're all rich in our
own righteousness, aren't we? And we're in need of God to work
a miracle of grace in our hearts and cause us to be put through
that eye of a needle. Oh, the pride of man. He thinks
he's got such willpower. You know, we do have a will,
but it's pretty much about the weakest thing about us. You know, I mean, it really is.
How many things have you willed to do that you didn't follow
through with? You can't will yourself out of a common cold. The will is the agent that decides
for us what we're going to do. And the problem is until the
Lord does a work of grace in our hearts, we have no desire
for Him. We have no desire for Him. The
scripture says we're dead in our trespasses and sins. And
unless He makes us willing in the day of His power by His Spirit,
we'll not desire Him. Coming to Christ isn't a matter
of the will anyway. To will something means that
you have two or more options to choose from. Well, I could
do this or I could do that, and you had to decide this morning
what clothes you were going to put on, what you were going to
eat, and you had choices and options, didn't you? And people
think, well, because I can make choices in my life, therefore
I have a will. The problem is coming to Christ is not a choice.
If you have a choice between the Lord Jesus Christ and anything
else, you will choose something else. When the Lord is pleased to make
you willing, He shuts you up to Christ, doesn't He? Takes
away all your choices. Oh, it's not an option. Lord,
where should we go? Where are we going to go? Thou alone hast the words of
eternal life. We know and are sure that Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You've shut us up
to Yourself. He gave the crowd a choice. You
can leave or you can stay. And they all left. You look to the disciples, aren't
you going to join them? Lord, we don't have that choice. We don't have that choice. Oh, we used to sing, I have decided
to follow Jesus. I am resolved no longer to linger. I surrender all. There's actually
a hymn in our hymnal entitled, Have You Done Your Best for Jesus?
We don't sing it here. Never will, will we, Tom? But
that's, you know, that's what we thought, isn't it? We just
do our best, we'll make our decisions, we'll commit ourselves, we'll
try harder, and when we mess up, we'll pick ourselves up and
brush ourselves off and we'll do better. The promises of God are not based
on your will or my will. They are wholly dependent upon
His will. It is not of Him that willeth.
It is not of Him that runneth. It is God that showeth mercy.
Didn't we just read in Isaiah 64, thou art the potter, we are
the clay, And Paul, in quoting that passage in Romans chapter
9, says he has the sovereign right to make of the same lump
of clay some vessels of honor and some of dishonor. Lord, it's
not my will. Not my will. Cause me, Lord. Let's look at
these. Look what he says. There's ten
of them. We'll go through them very quickly. I will gather them out of all
the country whether I've driven them in my anger and in my fury
and in my wrath. Now you ask my family and you'll
find out that I am, my wife will tell you, I'm the world's worst
of hiding things from myself. I get this wild idea that that's
a perfect spot for this item and I'll know it's there. It's
in a special spot and that's why I know it's there. And 24
hours later you ask me where I put it? I don't know. I moved
on to something else. God's never hid anything from
himself. You know why he knows where every one of his sheep
are? Read it. He put them there. He put them there and he didn't
forget where he put them. He knows where every one of them
are. And he leaves the ninety and
nine and he goes after the one and he gathers them. David found
out exactly where Mephibosheth was. Where was he? He was in
Lodabar. Go fetch him. I will gather my
sheep. Onesimus, that runaway slave,
thought that he was safe in Rome. I'm free now! Got himself in
trouble and ended up in the same jail cell with the Apostle Paul,
of all people. The Lord knew where he was all
along, didn't he? The Lord knows where you are. He knows where I am. He knows
all of us. How does he know? Because he
put us there. He puts you right where you are, right in the midst
of all the circumstances that you have. Look what he says,
I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven
them. Jonah thought he'd flee from
God, didn't he? Threw him into the sea, swallowed
by a great fish. And God saw him at the bottom
of the ocean in the belly of the fish when he cried, salvations
of the Lord, and caused that fish to come to the surface and
vomit him out onto dry land. God knew where he was the whole
time. You know, sometimes we get fascinated with stories of
people who hear the gospel in remote places, in unsuspecting
circumstances, in the dark jungles of some foreign country. But
in fact, their circumstances are no more unlikely or no darker
or no more difficult than were yours and were mine. The Lord had to go to the bottom
of the pit, didn't he? He knew exactly where we were.
He knows where his sheep are. He knew where Saul of Tarsus
was. Saul had seen Timothy stoned. And the prick, the goad had been
pricking him ever since he saw that and experienced that. Saul saw. Why persecutest thou? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecute. Why kickest thou against the
goad? The Lord's ready to shine the
light from heaven and knock us off our high horse and put us
in the dirt. Goad us to himself. He's gonna do it. I will gather them out of all
the countries that I have driven them. In my anger, in my wrath,
I put you exactly where you are for the purpose of redeeming
you in those circumstances. Look at the second one, I will
cause them to dwell safely. I'm sorry, the second one is,
I will bring them again unto this place. He doesn't just go
out and find the sheep and save them. He brings them into the
fold, doesn't he? Oh, the blessing. I mentioned
this Sunday, I want you to appreciate so much the blessing that God
gives to His children to have fellowship with their brothers
and sisters in Christ. There's nothing like it in this
world. I was telling somebody yesterday,
you know, I try to be nice to people. I have acquaintances
with people. I speak to my neighbors. I have
family members. I have zero, zero friends that
aren't believers. Zero. I don't have any. I don't
want any. I don't want them. I don't have
anything in common with them. And I've got such sweet fellowship
with my brethren. What fellowship hath light with
darkness? There's nothing there. There's
no substance. I don't care if they're religious
or irreligious. If they're not believers, we've
got nothing in common. I'll pray for you. I'll do whatever
you need me to do for you. I'll tell you about Christ. But
I don't want to spend any time with you. I don't want to go
on vacation with you. I don't want to sit down and
have hours of conversation with you. Where are we going with
that? What are we going to talk about? The weather? The football
game? That's it, isn't it? And that's
the end of it. But oh, when God brings His sheep
into the family of God, and He gives them the sweet fellowship
of the gospel with one another, I'm going to go get them, I'm
going to gather them, I'm going to bring them in. This is where
they want to be. It's just where they want to
be, with other sheep. Is that your experience? I don't get it. I don't understand
how a person who says, I believe the gospel, I don't get it. What fellowship
hath light with darkness? He prepares a table for them.
He leads them beside still waters. He's a good shepherd. He's like
David. who went and fetched Mephibosheth
and brought him. He didn't just go get him, what
did he do? He brought him and sat him at the king's table.
And Mephibosheth never wanted to leave, did he? He never wanted
to leave. Now I know as a shepherd, I have
seen shepherds, you've seen shepherds. gathering their sheep and leading
them. And sheep are pretty stupid.
You know, they need that shepherd to keep that staff, keeping them
in line, doesn't he? But he does, and they don't get
out. We've got a family of raccoons in our yard. Four, five, five
babies. And those are smart animals. And when that mother decides
she's going somewhere, those little five babies are right
behind her. She never even looks back to check on them. They just
follow right in line with her. We're just not that way, are
we? We're like those sheep. Well, maybe we won't get through
all 10 of these. I will bring them, and I will
cause them to dwell, to dwell safely. Oh Lord, would you cause
me, David said, cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning.
Lord, cause me to be turned and I'll be turned. Cause me to believe. Lord, you're going to have to
do it. We just read in Psalm 64, no man seeketh after God
at any time. You didn't stir yourself up for
him. Lord, cause me. If you don't
cause me, I'll go astray. David said another place in the
Psalms, deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape. Lord cause me and that's what
he says he's going to do I will cause them to dwell and that
word dwell means to sit down to sit down what you're doing
right now isn't it And I pray the Spirit of God is ministering
grace to your heart and enable you to sit down in your heart
and rest safely in Christ. I will cause them to dwell safely. The surety of the covenant has
taken care of all the needs of everyone in that covenant. We're
all Benjamites, aren't we? And Judah, our surety, has made
a pledge and he struck his hand with the Father. And he says,
charge it to my account if I don't bring them back. Dwell safely. Dwell safely. Sit down securely
in the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's finished
it. He's finished the work. He's
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. We
have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous one. It's finished. Oh, what a safe
place. Somebody was telling me, I was
reading something somebody wrote this week and they were talking
about how much they were going to do for God. People monitor
their success in the Christian life by how well they're doing
and how much better they're getting and all that kind of stuff. The
only thing you can conclude about a person like that is that they're
a liar. They're just a liar. They're
deceiving themselves. God has sent them a strong delusion
and they have believed a lie. An honest man and an honest woman
knows that they're not getting any better. They know they're in need of
grace more now than ever, ever before. And that's what drives them to
dwell safely in their substitute, in their Savior, in their sin-bearer. Oh, and what rest there is there. He is our Sabbath. Hebrews chapter 4, He's our rest. We just flee to Christ and I
will cause them. Well, so what is he says, I'm
gonna go get them because I know where they are, I put them there.
I'm gonna bring them in, I'm gonna gather them into the fold.
And I'm gonna cause them to sit down safely, to dwell, to abide
in Christ. That's what that word means.
When they hear the gospel of my grace, they're gonna go, I
can rest there. Boy, I've been working so hard.
Lord, I've been sinning continually. Continually. To will is present
with me. I want, you know, we're talking
about I will. I would if I could. Paul said to will is ever present
with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. I just can't do it. Where can I rest? Where can I
find one who can make me acceptable before God? There's only one. There's only one. Oh Lord, would you cause me to
dwell in Him. They shall be my people. and I will be their God. What did that Syro-Phoenician
woman say when the Lord called her a dog? Truth, Lord, and she
worshipped Him. You know, all this stuff that
goes on in religion, I know I was there. Many of you were there.
We did it. It was feigned. It was just fake. We were just putting on airs.
We were pretending to worship God when in fact we believed
that the God we were worshiping depended on us. There's a song
in our... I went through the hymnal today.
There's a song in our hymn, you know, I'm God's hands, I'm God's
feet, I'm God's mouth, I'm God's eyes. There's a song in that
hymnal right there. God can't see without me. He's
got no hands unless I give Him my hands. He's got no feet unless
I give Him my feet. He can't go get those sheep unless
I go get them. The whole song is about that. We believe that stuff. I will be their God. We called him Lord, we honored
him with our lips, but our hearts were far from him. Why? Because we didn't believe he
was God. We called him God, but we stripped him of the essential
essence of deity. We stripped him of deity. We made him weak and dependent,
vulnerable. Changeable. Oh, he'll change
his mind if you, you know, you do your part. If he's God and
he's immutable. Somebody asked me recently, do
you believe in eternal justification? I believe that everything that
happens in time has already happened in eternity. Why? Because I believe that God is
God. And nothing has happened outside
of His purpose. Everything that happens in time,
every breath you take, every thought you have, every circumstance
you're in, everything, and most especially the salvation of your
soul, has already happened in eternity. Now that's a God to
bow to. That's a God to worship. That's
a God to beg mercy from. That's a God to believe in. That's
a God who doesn't need you. That's a God that you are completely
and totally in need of. Worship. I will be their God. And they
will be my people. My children. My children. How much do you love your children?
Your grandchildren? You love them with all your heart,
don't you? If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give gifts to His children? How much more? He took care of the lilies of
the field. Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed as
one of them. He takes care of his children. There's nothing you wouldn't
do for your children. God provides for his children.
I'll be their God. They'll be my people. I'm going
to take care of them. I'm going to provide everything
they need. Everything. May not be everything you want,
but it's everything that your wise and loving Heavenly Father
knows you need. Like I said a few weeks ago,
if you had omnipotence, if you had the power of God, you would
change pretty much everything in your life. You would. You'd tweak everything. You'd
say, well, I wouldn't change. No, you would. You'd have some
adjustment to make on pretty much everything in your life.
If you had the wisdom of God, you'd change nothing. You'd know
you're exactly where you're supposed to be. I'll be their God and
they'll be my people. Oh, what a glorious God we have. I'll finish with number five
out of the ten. It's going to be my scripture
reading. Lord willing, Friday night I'm planning on reading
this passage of scripture just to open the conference. So this
will help you to read the rest of it and think about these other
I wills between now and then. Perhaps the scripture reading
will be special to you. And I, verse 39, will give them
one heart. I had a conversation with the lady
just this afternoon. She's been listening to me preach,
and she says, well, what you're preaching is true, but you're
leaving a whole bunch out. You know, you're not telling
us about healing and about tongues and about, you know, and she
went on and had a list of things. And I said, well, you know, I
hope you'll come. You're not going to hear me preach
on those things. I will give them one heart. Christ is not divided. Go to Fairmont, West Virginia,
Lexington, Kentucky, or wherever the brethren are from, Louisville,
Kentucky, you're going to hear God's preachers preaching the
same message. We're going to have brethren
here from all over the country this weekend. I'm going to give
them one heart. one heart. They're going to see
eye to eye. I heard about a man that's planning on coming and
he's got a reputation for being a debater. And I told him, I
said, well, I said, you won't find anybody here that will debate
with you. Nobody here is going to argue
with you. We're just going to rejoice in the message of God's
free grace in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
welcome to join us. one body, one spirit, one hope
of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of us all, who is above all, through all, and in all. And Paul said in Colossians chapter
2 that Christ is all and in all. I'll give them, I'll give them
one heart. And that one heart is going to
be based on the one way. There's only one way, isn't there?
Well, you know, no, there's just one way. Just tell me about Christ. Don't give me any options. Shut me up to Christ. Tell me,
thus saith the Lord. I will give them one heart and
one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and for their children after them." Oh, that our children. Pray for our young people. Pray
for our children. Pray this weekend that perhaps
God will be merciful to make these precious promises real
to them. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father, we ask that You would minister grace to our hearts
by Your Spirit through faith to believe what Thou hast said
and what Thou hast done. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together, Brother
Tom. 290 in the hard back temple.
290. Let's stand.