Turn with me to the book of Isaiah
chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. Six verses in this precious book. Let's read these six verses. Isaiah chapter 12. And in that
day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee. Though thou wast
angry with me, thine angers turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall
you say, Praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His doings
among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing
unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent things. This is known
in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. Time after time after time, we
hear Isaiah using this phrase unto the inspiration of God's
Spirit in that day, in that day, in that day. And he's referring
to the day of salvation, to the day of the gospel, to the enlightenment
of God's elect. that Almighty God would be pleased
to call His people out of darkness in that day. Now, it's not that
we're looking at a specific date. I know many, many people, and
if you have knowledge of the exact day and hour for that,
I'm glad. I'm glad. But as a general rule,
you'll find that God's people, the Lord begins to teach, and
they hear, and they're starting to have an interest, and they
realize something. God has taught me. God has opened
my eyes. When did He do that? Well, I don't know, but I know this. I see some things now that I
didn't see before. And the Lord has been pleased
to reveal something to me, revealed Himself. In that day, Isaiah
says in verse 1, in that day, thou shalt say. You know, out
of the abundance of a man's heart, his mouth is going to speak.
He says in that day, thou shalt say, Oh, capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D, oh Jehovah, Lord, Lord, Father, Son, and
Spirit, I will praise Thee. Lord, I'm going to say to You, what you have said concerning
yourself. What does the Lord say? Isaiah
45, 5, this is one thing that He said, I'm the Lord and there's
none else, there's no God beside Me. Nobody rules in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth but Me. I'm God. Oh Lord, I will praise
Thee for Your mercy to me." You know, the Lord does us well by
reminding us often how merciful He is to us in keeping us, preserving
us. I think to myself, how little,
and I say this Embarrassingly, Jim, how little do I find myself
thanking God Almighty that He would call me out of darkness
and give me a new heart, give me a new mind, give me a
new love, teach me something of myself, and give me a heart
to call upon Him for mercy Isaiah says, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry
with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Though thou wast displeased with
me, thine anger, thy displeasure is turned away. Now I can tell
you for a fact, God's people, God's elect, the church, the
bride, the chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ have never been
under the wrath of God. You say, how can you know that?
Well, the Scripture says, He hath not appointed us to wrath.
And having not appointed us to wrath, God doesn't change. God never changes. God never
has looked upon anyone one way and then changed his attitude
or his look and saw them a different way. Then He would have changed.
He would have changed somewhat. He said, I don't change. I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you supplanters, you tricksters, you who by nature are rebels
against God, that's the reason that you're not perishing, because
I don't change. So I know this, God's people,
God's elect, were never under His wrath. They've always been
accepted in the Beloved, always accepted in Christ. But His anger,
He says, thou wast angry with Me. His anger is best understood. And I looked up that word specifically
to make sure I understood it. You know, Scripture says the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. You think Moses
was a believer? The Lord said, Moses wrote of
Me. Moses knew God. But the displeasure of the Lord has been turned away. And His
anger is best understood to be turned away when we by faith
behold the cross. When was His displeasure with
His people? I tell you what He did. Wrath
that has never been spewed out upon us personally was spewed
out upon our substitute and we in Him. He bore the brunt. He took the wrath of God Almighty. I was telling you about that
ark last week. All of them that were in the
ark. Did the rain fall on Noah? Yes! Yes! But he was in the ark. And the
ark took the wrath. The ark took the rain. I was thinking, my mind, it did
go, my mind went back to that. I was driving through Clendenin,
Thursday afternoon, Thursday 12-1, I don't know when it was. Going down to preach for Tom
Harding and I told Glenda Jean, I said, I cannot believe the
rain. It just, if I'd have been in
a car wash for two hours, it wouldn't have been faster. Windshield
wipers were just almost useless. It was amazing, the rain. But I think about when Almighty
God poured out, the heavens opened up, the earth opened up, poured
out the wrath. Noah and his wife and his boys
and their wives, they were in the ark. Isaiah says, though thou wast
angry with me, thine angers turned away, and thou comfortest me. I think concerning the Lord turning
away His anger in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
now we can, with a heart convinced scripturally, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. His anger
has been turned away, His displeasure poured out upon Christ, but even
now, Lovingly, lovingly, He chastens us because He loves us, because
His anger has been turned away and there's no condemnation.
Now in loving kindness, He chastens those that He loves. And Isaiah
says, you comfort me. You comfort me. David said, it's
good that I've been afflicted. I think about the chastening
hand of the Lord and how I need it. I need it. It's good. It's
good that He corrects me and leaves me not to myself and shows
me something. I told you time and time again,
my children, They'd need a spanking. They
was going to get it. And I told them. And every time
they knew how many licks they were going to get, they knew
just exactly what was coming. And after I whipped them, I put
them in my lap. I dried their tears and I said,
now listen. I love you. I love you. I didn't do that because I hate
you. I did that because I love you. You're not going to act
like that. You're not going to walk like that. You're not going
to talk like that. You're not going to do it. And
I said, if I don't spank you. I said, the Lord whipped me for
disobedience. They grew up, as adults, they finally asked me.
I said, I never understood what you were talking about, but I
do now. Isaiah says, thou hast turned
away thine anger, comforts me." He said, I'm not going to leave
you. I'm not going to forsake you. Here the Lord of glory has
ascended into heaven. And now He ever liveth, ever
liveth to make intercession for His
people. And we're comforted by that. I know by faith, I know
right now He's interceding for His people. You say, well, what
is exactly being said? I don't know. But I can tell
you this, whatever is needful, He's performing. He's doing.
And that's a comfort to me. We have an intercessor. I have
a mediator between God. Remember when the people told
Moses, up on Mount Sinai, they said, we don't want to go. It
was lightning and thundering and it was loud and it was fiery. And he said, Moses, you go up. You go up for us. What believer
would say, I think I could just talk to God myself. I don't want
to. I don't want to talk to Him in myself, of myself. I need
for one in whom He's well pleased, I need one accepted of Him, one
that has obeyed Him, one of whom He says, the Father said, this
is my beloved Son whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. Lord,
intercede for me. That comforts me. Thou comfortest me. We hear the gospel of God's grace
being preached today I know this. The Scripture says that it's
the power of God and salvation. And I can stand here, Pat, with
a ready heart and know this. Preaching and exalting Christ,
honoring Christ, setting forth Christ, talking of Him, and not
talking about myself. I can, with a comforted heart,
say this. This is the message. That's a
comfort. Verse 2, Behold, look upon this
by faith. God is my salvation. God. The Lord Jesus Christ is
my Savior. He has eternally been appointed
as the surety of the sheep. Eternally has He been God's provision
for His people according to His everlasting covenant promised
in His Word sent in time and revealed to be the author and
finisher of our faith. Behold, God is my salvation. God is my salvation. Well, I
thought it was my baptism, I thought it was my My decision, I thought,
no, not in that day. Not in that day. That's not what
a believer says. Here's what a believer says.
Salvation is of the Lord. That's what a believer says.
Salvation is of the Lord and I don't have any confidence in
my flesh. I will trust and not be afraid. A believer is not
presumptuous. He's convinced by the grace of
God that God has been pleased to save him. Do you have any
assurance to yourself? Let's look at Romans 8. Let's
listen to the Apostle Paul as he speaks under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, 14 to 16. For as many as are led, by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God." God's people, given heart to
look to Christ, trust Him. Love Him. Peter said, Lord, You
know all things. You know I love You. And they
hear the Word of God. They hear the Gospel of God's
grace preached. They hear the message of redemption.
They hear the message of irresistible grace and of preservation of
the saints. And the Spirit of God, the Scripture
says, bears witness to their spirit. This is where he says, you're
mine. You're mine. You've been bought
with a price. You're mine. Bears witness with
our spirit that we're the sons of God. He said, I will trust
and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song. The Lord Capital L, capital O,
capital R, Jehovah is my strength. How strong is
that? Well, the Father chose me. The Father chose to show mercy
to me. Who am the least of all the saints.
That's what Paul said. Christ Jesus came to this world
to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief.
What is the strength? God Almighty, Jehovah, the Father
chose me. And the Son redeemed me. Laid
down His life. Shed His precious blood for His
people. Everybody's giving me a heart
to believe that He died for me. I believe Him. I believe Him.
He that believeth on the Son shall be saved. Now if you think
about this, everybody says, well, I believe in Jesus. That's not
what He said. He that believeth on the Son means that I believe
that He is my salvation and not me. I'm telling you, the day
that God Almighty opens up a man's heart and gives him a new heart,
New life gives him a new spirit, new love. When God Almighty saves
a man, I'm going to tell you something. This is what he's
going to say. The Lord, Jehovah, is my strength. And the Spirit of God has called
me out of darkness and regenerated me. He had to give me life. And until He gave me life, I
didn't know Him. I did not know Him. When He gives
life, He gives faith to believe. Somebody asked Brother Henry
Mahan, which comes first, life or faith? He said, you can't
separate them. God Almighty speaks and His people believe. The Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. I'm going to tell you something.
God called a man and a woman out of darkness and they've got
something to say now. They've got a new song, Revelation
5. Revelation chapter 5, verse 9, 10. Here's the song of a believer. This is a believer song. I listen
to all these silly, these so-called Christian rocks. Oh well. Revelation 5, verse 9, 10. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy, take the book, and open the seals thereof. For
Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation hast made
us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. The Lord Jehovah's my strength
and my song, And the Scripture says, and also, He also is become
my salvation. You know the beauty of looking
up words is you understand what they mean when you understand. Become. You know what that word
become means? Accomplish. Doesn't that make
sense? He has accomplished my salvation. He's the author of it, the procurer
of it, and the applicator. He applies it. He has accomplished. He's brought it to pass. When
the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, He went on purpose. He had a purpose. Whenever Pilate was standing
before Pilate and Pilate told the Jews, he said, you crucify
him. I don't find any fault in him. You take him. You kill him. I told you last week, well, the
Jews' manner of death was stoning. But the Lord had said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. It was prophesied He was going
to be crucified. And when He went to the cross,
He went to the cross on purpose according to God Almighty's everlasting
covenant to show mercy to His people. And He went and He bore
the guilt of all that the Father had given Him in electing grace.
John 10, 15, He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. He died
for the sheep. Did He die for everybody? No.
No. Does He pray for everybody? He
said He didn't. John 17, 9, He said, I pray not
for the world. Who do you pray for, Lord? He
said, I pray for those that You've given Me out of the world. Is that not the plainest statement
you've ever heard in your life? Does Christ pray for everybody?
No, He didn't. Did he die for everybody? No,
he didn't. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Most Pharisees came up to him
in chapter 10, verse 25, you know what I'm going to say. He
said, how long are you going to make us doubt? If you be the Christ, you tell
us. He said, I told you. I told you. But you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And I
know they follow me. Verse 3, Therefore with joy shall
you draw water out of the wells of salvation. John chapter 7, John 7, verse
37. In the last day, that great On the day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, O blessed are those that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are they, blessed are
they when God Almighty reveals to them the righteousness of
God, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's righteousness. There's righteousness. The Lord,
our righteousness. Righteousness that is imputed
unto God's sheep. At the last day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. And he that believeth on me,
as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly, out of his heart,
shall flow rivers of living water. This he spake of the Spirit,
which they that believe on should receive. For the Holy Spirit
was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. If any
man thirst, that woman at the well, he told that woman, as in John
4, remember she came and he asked her for something to drink, How
is it that you being a Jew ask me, a Samaritan? Jews and Samaritans,
if you don't have anything, listen to the Lord's word to her. John
chapter 4 verse 14. Verse 13, Jesus answered and
said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water, that water that
she was getting out of that well, he is going to thirst again.
But whosoever drinketh of 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. And the woman saith unto him,
Sir, Give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw." Then the Lord told her, He said, Go get your husband.
Oh, verse 3, back in Isaiah 12, Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Verse 4, In that day
shall you say, Praise the Lord, Call upon His name. Declare His
doings among the people. Make mention that His name is
exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for He hath
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth."
Not only does a believer praise the Lord for himself, but I tell
you, he encourages other believers to do the same thing. Verse 1
says, O Lord, I will praise Thee. Verse 4, in that day, you're
going to say it. That's what a believer says. You're going
to say, too, we're members one of another, brethren, one body. We're all engaged in worship
to Him. Call upon Him. Praise Him. Sing
unto the Lord. For He hath done excellent things. What has He done? What has the
One who is the subject of our songs, that new song, what has
He done? I'll tell you what He's done.
He's done excellent things. He's wrought out our salvation. You and I would have never, never,
never, not only thought of it, but can you imagine saying that
we accomplished it? He has reconciled us back to
God. He's done excellent things. He
has ever stood as the surety. I'm going to answer. I'm going
to answer. I've told you before, oh, from
the time, and again, I can't speak eternally. I don't know
how to say that. But from the time that the Lord
Jesus Christ has ever stood, which is eternally, as the surety
of the sheep, I'm going to answer. The Father never looked to the
sheep again. to answer. I'm going to look to the one He trusts.
That's what He said. It was the Father who first trusted
in Christ. He chose them in Him and the
Father looked to Him. Always looked to Him. He's done
excellent things. Even now, as I said a moment
ago, ever living to make intercession. And I'll tell you something else
that he said he's done. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. In my Father's house are many
mansions. And I'm telling you, many dwelling
places. Somebody that knows a whole lot
more about that can go ahead and comment on that, but I can
tell you this, this is what the Lord said. And whatever the fullness
of that is, here's what it means. We're going to be where He is.
Father, I will that those that Thou hast given me be with me
where I am, that they might behold my glory. He said, I'm going
to prepare. I go to prepare a place for you.
He went to the cross first. He went to the grave. Conquered
death. Came out of that grave. Ascended
into heaven. And He said, I'm coming back
for you. I'm coming back. And God's people, they're looking
for Him. They believe Him. Sing unto the
Lord, He hath done excellent things. This is known in all
the earth. Jews and Gentiles. All of God's
sheep, they're going to know this. In all the earth, every
nation and kindred and tribe and tongue, they're going to
know this. How are they going to know? They're
going to be taught of God. That's how they know it. God's
going to teach them. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of the church. That's what that is. Zion. For
great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." Great
is the Holy One of spiritual Israel because He's in the midst. Remember
when John, look at Revelation, I'm going to end with this and
then I'm going to just quote one verse. Look at Revelation
1. Great is the Holy One of Israel
in the midst of thee. Look at Revelation 1, 12 and
13. Revelation 1, verse 12 and 13. John was on the Isle of Patmos and he heard a voice. That's
what he said in verse 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day and I heard behind me a great voice as a trumpet. In verse 11, he said, this is
what the voice said, I'm Alpha and Omega, first and last. And John says in verse 12, he
said, I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being
turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. Now the Lord, thankfully, the
Lord tells us what, in verse 20, what those seven candlesticks
were. It says in the middle of the
verse, the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars of the angels,
the pastors of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which
thou sawest are the seven churches. So here's what it is. These candlesticks
represent His assemblies. They're like this one. God's
assemblies. There's one church, there's one
universal church, and there's many assemblies. We all believe
the same thing, we're all one body. But he said, I saw seven
golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks,
one likened to the Son of Man, clothed with a garment, down
to the foot, and girded about the paps with a golden girdle. The Lord says back in Isaiah
chapter 12, That last verse right there. Great is the Holy One
of Israel in the midst of thee. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name. He said, I'm there. I'm there. He is in the midst of His people. In that day, this is going to
be the cry of a believer. They're going to praise Him.
saying back to him what he said concerning himself. He said,
I'm God. There's none else. Lord, bless
the word to our hearts this morning, for Christ's sake.