We are at the very end of the
book of Acts in Acts chapter 28. And the verse that we have been
looking at is Paul speaking to these Jews in verse 20. He says, Therefore have I called for you
to see you and to speak with you because that for the hope
of Israel I'm bound with this chain. It's just such a delightful
thought, isn't it, that Acts finishes with Paul bound with
a chain by the hope of Israel and I pray that the Lord might
bind us Let's go down to verse 23. There came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. And
some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed
not. This is... A great testimony
of what church is about, isn't it? This is the activities of
church. We expound out of the Scriptures about the Lord Jesus
Christ. That means to lay it down, to
set forth who He is, to fix, it means to establish who He
is out of the Scriptures, to testify the Kingdom of God. That word testify is where we
have martyr from. It's in a sense to lay down our
lives for Him. in witness to him, but the king
that we're speaking of has a dominion, and I wanted to talk about that
this morning, Lord willing, out of both Joel and Jeremiah. So the kingdom is the king's
dominion Our King is a King who has a dominion over all things.
He has a dominion over all things from before the foundation of
the world. He declares the end from the beginning. He's a King
over every thought and everything that wriggles in this universe.
He's a King that's ordained that we be here this morning to hear
about that King. And I love what the next word
says, persuading. Paul persuaded them. That word, persuade, is the same
word that's used down in verse 24, the next verse, believed. So when you are persuaded, you
believe. It means to have confidence in,
to have trust And as I said last week, the
wonderful thing about those that believed, some believed the things
that were spoken, that word believe is in the passive tense. So if
you're passive, who's active? Where does believe come from?
We read it in 1 Peter, isn't it? Of him, by him, on account
of who he is, on account of his activities people believe. They're
persuaded and they have confidence in who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. That's what this hope is that Paul's talking to these
people about. And the some believe not. The
believing not is an active activity. To remain in unbelief is to remain
active in your unbelief. Belief comes from God, is sustained
by God, is nurtured by God, is revealed by God throughout His
Word as the Spirit takes the Word and makes it spirit and
life to us. And believing is a person. We believe in who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, because that's all that the law and the
prophets were speaking about. They spoke from Genesis 1-1,
right through to Malachi chapter 4, they spoke about one thing.
The Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. A king, a king on
a throne. A king who came, a king who rules,
a king who now sits in heaven and reigns. And remarkably, all
God's children are seated with him in glory. So this world will
throw up all sorts of issues and problems for us. If our king
reigns, then we're fine. I love what Spurgeon said. He
said, if you're getting through a hedge, if your hedge got through,
it doesn't matter, the rest of your body will get through as
well. You might have a few scratches, but you'll get through. The Lord's
people will go through trials and tribulations in this world
as Jeremiah so poignantly reveals to us and Joel will describe
to us. But we have a king. We have a king on a throne. What's the king doing? Exactly
what he's always been doing, he's reigning over all things
and he reigns over the hearts of his people. We're going to
sing again, Normie. It's so good that you've chosen
this. Special song for Daisy. When
we sing, Colossians says that we actually sing to each other.
It's lovely to be back singing again. And I reminded you some
little time ago that when the Lord Jesus Christ finished that
little song, he sang. Be thou my vision, O Lord of
my whole heart, not be all else to me, save that thou art. Thank
you. It's so good to be singing again.
I can't help but think of my children when you did something
exciting, threw them up in the air, or did something like that.
Do it again, Daddy. Do it again. We went down to
Bega some years ago and had a service with them here. We had a service
at Owens, and the people down there had never sung. We took
our songbooks down there. Remember that? We sang. We sang
most of our songbook. It was a lovely time. The hope of Israel. There is just one hope of Israel. There is just one hope for all
of God's children. This hope, as we have seen in
our previous weeks, is a man, a real historic man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and he is the hope of Israel.
At Israel, the word Israel means a prince with God. You might
recall that Jacob had his name changed. Jacob's name means supplanter,
one that takes hold of things. A layer of snares is what his
name means. And he was, after he met with
the Lord Jesus Christ and wrestled with him, had his name changed
to Israel. It's a name that's given of Jacob
by God. And Paul is here before these
Jewish leaders, and I want to remind you that they were so
steeped in the Old Testament scriptures that when Paul made
mention of the hope of Israel, they would have known a multitude
of Bible verses, but in particular that phrase is used in Jeremiah
14, verse 8. He says, O hope of Israel, the
Saviour in time of trouble, Jeremiah 17.13 says, O LORD,
the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed. And then listen to these next
words inspired by the holy prophets. This is Jeremiah speaking. They
that depart from me shall be written in the earth, not names
written in heaven, because they have forsaken the Lord the fountain
of living waters. It's a glorious description.
It's a lovely picture of the fact that the prophet of God
is commissioned of God to bring God's word. And like Paul before
these Jewish leaders, You believe Paul, you believe God. Paul wasn't
there to give his opinion about things of this world or things
of the Scriptures. He was there to actually just
bear the Word of God to these people. He just spoke to them,
persuaded them out of Moses and the prophets. All he ever did
was quote Scripture. And what a day that must have
been! From morning to evening. He would
have started at Genesis 1, wouldn't he? In the beginning God. Who
was that? Let us make man in our own image.
Who was that? Who was the one that walked in
the garden in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve but the
Lord Jesus Christ? Who was the one pictured in that
first death in the garden, that bloodshed? Who's the one pictured
in Noah's ark all the way through the scriptures everywhere? What
a glorious day that would have been. Scripture after scripture
just would have rolled out. And the remarkable thing is that
these Jewish rebels who'd rebelled against God for all of their
lives before Paul actually bowed to the Word of God and they were
led by God to believe. So our Lord, our hope of Israel,
all that forsake thee, to forsake him is to forsake the Word that
comes from God. all that they that depart from
me. If you depart from Jeremiah, if you turn from the advice that
Jeremiah had in his day, you died. You died at the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. You died of famine and pestilence.
You died under the hand of God. But I love what he goes on to
say. They've forsaken the fountain
of living waters. It's remarkable in the scriptures
how waters is often in the plural. The fountain of living waters. Waters that bring life, waters
that sustain life. For those that lived in those
desert lands, that would have been a glorious picture. We'd
turn on taps these days. They had to go and get it. A
fountain that just flows with living waters. Living waters. And what does the prophet say?
In the very next verse, Jeremiah 17, 14, it's just amazing. He
says, Heal me. Save me, and I shall be saved,
for thou art my praise. We will return to Jeremiah a
little bit later on, but the final passage I wanted us to
look at, which would have come to mind for these Jewish leaders
to whom Paul was speaking, is in Joel chapter 3. So if you
can turn to Joel that would be really good. Joel is one of the
first books of what they mistakenly call the minor prophets. None
of the prophets are minor in what they say or what they do.
But if you start from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea,
then you'll come to Joel in your scriptures. Joel 3 speaks, and you might
recall that Joel is the passage of scripture that began this
apostolic testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Joel chapter
2 that Peter quotes from on the day of Pentecost. He says, these
things are happening because Joel predicted them. Joel prophesied
these things. But in verse 14 of Joel 3 it
says, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For
the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun
and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw
their shining. The Lord also shall roar out
of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth
shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, the
stream So, this is the purpose of it,
isn't it? So that you shall know that I
am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion. Zion, of course, is
a picture of the church. My holy mountain. Then shall
Jerusalem be holy and there shall no strangers pass through her
anymore. Zechariah says there'll be no
Canaanite in the land anymore. There'll be no sin. There'll
be no sin left. So I want us to spend a little
bit of time, Lord willing, just looking at Joel and just going
through this remarkable book of prophecy. It's a message of
God. It's a message of God that is
a timeless message in very many ways. It speaks repeatedly of
what is called the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is
the day of His dissertation. The Day of the Lord, of course,
is every day in large measure, but the Day of the Lord is a
day of particular, relevant revelation about God. And in verse, we don't
have time to read all of Joel, but if you just follow with me
for a little bit through it, it's a message. He says in verse,
the word of the Lord came to Joel, Joel. His name means Jehovah
is God. He's the son of Pethuel and he
says, hear this ye old men and give ear, all ye inhabitants
of the land. Hath this been in your days,
even in the days of your fathers? There is a remarkable thing happening
when the day of the Lord comes and he says, tell your children
about it. Tell ye your children of it and let your children hear,
tell their children and their children and other generations.
Prophecy of Joel is a prophecy that speaks particularly of things
that were happening in Israel, but not at any particular time,
and it speaks of the Day of the Lord. And so the Day of the Lord
is an imminent day, it's immediate, it's at hand if you go down to
verse 15. It says, Alas, for the Day, the
Day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty
shall it come. It's a day that is at hand. It's a day that is imminent,
a day of judgment that might come at any time. He says in
verse 1 of chapter 2, he says, The day of the Lord cometh, for
it is nigh, near at hand. Judgment will come and it's near
at hand. It's immediate, it's imminent,
and it's in the future. Over in chapter 3 verse 14 it
says, we read that verse, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. One of the things that is so
evident in the scriptures is that the scriptures are a book
of history and the gospel revelation is set in history. And all history
is a purposeful history. The history of this universe
is a purposeful history. This universe exists. because
the Lord Jesus Christ would come into this place and die on a
cross. The only reason for this universe to be made was for him
to do that, and the only reason this universe as it is exists
is because of the Lord Jesus Christ coming. the cross of Calvary of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything flows to it and everything
flows from it. The Day of the Lord is any day
in which the Lord displays his sovereignty. It's a day of warning.
It's a day at hand. As verse 15 says, it's a day
at hand. It's a day that is at hand as a destruction from the Almighty
shall it come. He then speaks in chapter 1 verses
1 down to 20, he speaks of this plague of locusts that brought this famine
upon the land. And with the plague of locusts
which come as a judgment of God upon people who have turned from
him and apostatized as the people in Jeremiah's day did. where
the centerpiece of apostasy is a disregard for the character
of God and in particular a disregard for the Lord Jesus Christ, and
in particularly particular fashion it's a disregard for what he
did on the cross. It's a disregard for his sacrifice
and for his blood. You have no way of entrance into
the presence of God apart from the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We have no place in the presence
of God apart from his intercession, and to mock those things was
to mock God, and he brought destruction upon the nation Israel again
and again because of what they did regarding the Lord Jesus
Christ and him crucified. These locusts of destruction
come, but in verse 9 of chapter 1 it says, and the meat offering
and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord. The
priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn. The meat offering and
the drink offering obviously represent the body and the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so this physical
judgment that came, this physical destruction that came upon this
land had a spiritual overtone and a spiritual meaning to it.
And he says in verse 1 of chapter 2, he says, air with darkness and darken
the sun. They attack all the green things
and they even eat the bark on the trees so the trees are no
longer fruitful. The fig trees and others are
no longer fruitful and they leave the land desolate. It's so desolate
that it takes years for it to recover. They have a sound like
a forest fire that's devouring a forest. And finally in verses 7 and 9
they actually enter into the houses and the cities like an
army. It is, of course, a real judgment
and the locusts were very real, but the picture, of course, is
a picture of false religion. False religion, like the locusts,
devours everything. False religion leaves nothing.
False religion eclipses the sun, so you can't see the sun of righteousness,
you can't see the light of the world in his glory. False religion destroys the souls
of men. False religion comes as a judgment
upon the people who refuse to worship him. You see, this army
is God's army. This army, verse 11, says, the
Lord shall utter his voice before his army. His army. His army. The question in verse 11 is,
who can abide? Who can abide it? Who can abide
this day of the Lord, this day when he comes in judgment of
wrath? Joel is saying that judgment
is sure, judgment is real, judgment is certain. And there's nothing
more clear about the judgment of God upon sin and God's detestation
of it than what happened on the cross of Calvary. If ever there
was a time when God would have and could have in any way turned
A blind eye to sin was when it was on his dear and precious
son, and when his dear and precious son was reduced to the ignominy
of hanging naked on a cross and suffering the ridicule and the
mockery of religious men. and God is holy and he must punish
sin. The judgment of sin fell on the
Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. So anyone who thinks that God
doesn't take sin with that level of seriousness is greatly, greatly
mistaken. But I love, as we saw in Jeremiah
last week, and as we see throughout the scriptures, in the midst
of what is darkness and gloom, there is of the glory of the character
of our God, and His character is set forth before us in great
glory because of the great evil that men have brought upon themselves.
He says in verse 12 of chapter 2, Therefore also now saith the
Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, not your
garments, Real religion is a heart issue. People can do all the
externals and people can have confidence in all of the externals,
but real religion and real worship and real relationship with God
is a heart matter. Rend your heart and not your
gums. Turn unto the Lord your God for
or because, I love what he says here, he's gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great of great kindness grace and mercy great kindness
I think we read it in Jeremiah last week there's a glorious
description of our God in Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 24 he says let
him that glory glory in this let him that bus find this is
his confidence that he understand and And knoweth me that I am
the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. And what does he say? Who knoweth if he will return
and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering
and a drink-offering unto the Lord? You can't provide it by
your own activities. The dearth in the land has taken
it all away. The priests mourn. the glories of the Gospel isn't
it? That what God requires He alone must provide and He only
and ever provides it all in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're in
your garments. He says, verse 15, blow the trumpet
in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. gather the
people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the
children of those that suck the breast, let the bridegroom go
forth of his chamber and the bride out of her cloak, let the
priests and the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch
and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and
give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them. Wherefore should they say among
the people, where is their God? God will answer the accusers
of his people when they say, where is their God? Our God is
in the heavens. Then the Lord will be jealous
for his land and pity his people. The Lord
will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you
corn and wine and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith,
and I will make you no more a reproach among the heathen. All that I
want to lay as a foundation, the Lord coming, the Lord providing
a blessing, because in chapter 2 verse 26, In some measure, given what the
Jews understood of the hope of Israel, Acts begins with the
hope of Israel. It begins with Joel and the great hope of Israel
that God would do something that he alone can do. The Acts of the Apostles finished
with Paul in chain because of the hope. He says in Acts 2,
and Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, you'll know these
words well, and it shall come to pass afterwards that I will
pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your
young men shall See visions, and also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And
I will show wonders in the heaven and in the earth, blood and fire
and pillars of smoke, and the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of
the Lord come, and it will come to pass. This is one of those
glorious promises in all the Scriptures, isn't it? and it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered, shall be set free, shall be saved. This is God's word, isn't it?
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be due for in, because
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the
Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. You might recall what happened
in Acts chapter 2 when Peter took that same verse and quoted
those same words to that crowd that had the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ on their hands. in Acts 2, he took this verse
of Joel and he split it in two. He says, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He quoted that great
promise from Joel in Acts 2, verse 21. And then in the next
verses, those verses are just a description God. The name of the Lord is his character. We have no right to modify the
character of God in any way at all. Peter spoke to these people
as Paul would have spoken to the Jews before him of a great
and sovereign God. A great and sovereign God who
came and bore in his own body the sins of all of his people
and he was raised gloriously He was resurrected. He was speaking
of the resurrection. This Jesus, this particular Jesus,
hath God raised up, whereof we're all witnesses. Therefore, being
exalted to the right hand, being by the right hand of God exalted
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Isn't it glorious that we come
into this world as enemies of God? We are foes by nature, we
are foes by desire, we are foes by practice to God, and he makes
us his footstool. Where was Mary found? sitting at the Lord's feet and
listening to Him. He makes His enemies His footstool,
all of them. He makes His people willing to
sit and be His footstool. He'll make His enemies to be
trodden under His foot. He says, Peter says in Acts 2.36,
Therefore let all the house of Israel, this house of Israel
that has hope in God, know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified. You're 100% responsible for your
sin before God. You've crucified him. You with
wicked hands have put him to death. God has made him both
Lord and Christ. I'm sorry, they're way, way too
late. He was Lord of your life a long, long time ago, and he's
Lord of your life right now, and God's children will love
it to be so. Let's go back to Joel. In chapter three, Joel says,
for behold, in those days, activity of Jerusalem. I will
gather all nations and will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat is a named thing.
Jehovah has judged or whom Jehovah judges. To the valley of Jehoshaphat.
It was right near Jerusalem. And what will he do? and will
plead with them for my people and for my heritage, Israel,
whom they have scattered among the nations and parted from my
land. If you have opportunity, turn
back in your scriptures to 2 Chronicles 20, and I want us
to just look at what it is for people to be brought into this
valley of Jehoshaphat. which Joel will go on to talk
about. Jehoshaphat was one of the more
faithful kings of Judah and Benjamin, the southern two tribes. He did
some silly and wicked things like going up and having an alliance
with Ahab for which he was rebuked. But nevertheless, Jehoshaphat
is a remarkable picture of God and his salvation of his people.
But Jehoshaphat is faced, as all the children of God are faced
with, with enemies. An enormous multitude of enemies.
In verse 20 it begins, and it came to pass after this also,
that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, you might
remember that Moab and Ammon are the children of Lot, these
are people who had a knowledge of the true and living God. They
owed their very existence and life to God. They were neighbours
of Israel, and as you will recall they remained enemies and they
went off to the imagination of their own evil hearts. And with
them others besides the Ammonites and came against Jehoshaphat
to battle. Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee.
Is that how you feel? That sin is like a great multitude
against you, isn't it? The trials of our flesh are like
a great multitude that come against thee from beyond the sea on this
side of Syria. And verse 3 it says, and Jehoshaphat
feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaim to fast
throughout all the cities. Sorry, let me read that again.
Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed
a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord even out of all the cities of
Judah. They came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in
the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the
Lord before the courts. before the new court, and said,
O Lord God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven? And rulest
thou not over the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thy hand
is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
thee? Aren't they not our God? You
see what Jehoshaphat does when he's confronted by enemies? He
goes to God and he pleads the character of God back to God. It's a good thing to do, isn't
it? It's a good thing to do, to go back and take God's character
and take it back to him. You see, personal pronouns are
so incredibly important. Who did strive out the inhabitants
of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed
of Abraham thy friend forever. For want of time, we need to
go down to verses 17. And the Lord replies to him.
through the Prophet. Verse 15, let's go back there. And the Prophet said, Hearken
ye all Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and our King Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude. For the battle is not You heard that before? That was
exactly what happened at the Red Sea, isn't it? God says the
battle's not yours, it's mine. You stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. You stand still. You stand still
and worship. Tomorrow, Verse 16, go ye down
against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Ziz, and you shall find them at the end of the brook before
the wilderness of Jeruel. And you shall not need to fight
in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem,
fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And
the Levites and the children of the Korhites stood up to praise
the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high, and they rose
early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of
Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, I just love these words. Hear me, O Judah, and
ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God. Believe in the Lord your God,
so shall ye be established. Believe his prophets, so shall
ye prosper. I want us to be reminded that
when Paul spoke to those Jewish with such great clarity. They
lived this history, these people. Isn't it glorious? Believe in
the Lord your God and so shall you be established. That word
means assurance. Believe in the Lord your God
and you will have assurance. Believe in his prophets and so
shall ye prosper. And what does he do on that day
of battle? And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed
singers. They go out to war against a
multitude, a vast multitude, they go out to war. And he appointed
singers unto the Lord that should praise, what? the army. How's he going out
to war? With a band playing, singing
the praise of God. We should praise the beauty of
holiness as they went before the army and to say praise the
Lord for his mercy endureth forever. Praise our God. See, praise comes from believing
God, and real praise to our God comes from the beauty of His
holiness. Do you find His holiness beautiful? Holiness, the beauty
of His holiness, it covers all of His attributes. Whenever you
think of an attribute of God, you can prefix it with holy.
His love is a holy love. His sovereignty is a holy love.
does is holy. No wonder the angels cry out,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. And what happens? Praise the Lord. And we're in
verse 22. When they began to sing in praise,
the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon and Moab
and Mount Seir. When they were come against Judah
and they were smitten, For the children of Ammon and Moab stood
against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy
them. And when they had made an end
of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy one another." The enemies of God. And they're
doing it to this very day. They're doing it to this day. That valley is called the Valley
of Baraka, which means the Valley of Blessing. Let's go back to
Joel and finish. Verse 16. This is what was in
the minds of those people as they thought about Jehoshaphat
and this Valley of Decision, which is just outside Jerusalem.
Verse 16 of Joel, chapter 3. And the Lord shall roar out of
Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and
the earth shall shake, but... See, everything is going to be
shaken. This world is shakable. going to be shaken. Read Hebrews
chapter 12. And the one thing that is unshakable,
the one thing that will never be shaken, is the glory of our
God and his great throne. The Lord shall roar out of Zion
and utter his voice from Jerusalem. That's exactly what the gospel
does, isn't it? It's the voice of the Lord coming
out of Jerusalem. It's the voice of the Lord gathering
his people. It's the voice of the Lord that
Paul is declaring to It's only the voice of the Lord which will
draw His people to Himself. They'll hear the Shepherd's voice.
They will hear the Shepherd's voice. When the Lord Jesus Christ
is raised up in the glory and the beauty of His holiness and
the glory of all of His attributes, He's promised to draw His people
to Himself. And all that come to Him, He'll
never cast them out. And no one can ever pluck them
out of His hand. No one. Not even yourself. Which
is a great comfort for sinners. He'll utter his voice from Jerusalem
and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will
be the hope of his people and the strength of the children
of Israel. Is that where your hope is? Is
that where all your strength is? Have you been like Jehoshaphat,
reduced to the place where you have no strength of yourself?
You are completely and vastly outnumbered, and you cry out
to the Lord. I love, let's finish with verse
17. So, so shall you know that I
am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion. He dwells in
his church. He dwells with his people. If
he's with us, everything's fine. That's what Paul said. If Paul
finished his days in 2 Timothy, everyone, it seems, had deserted
him, which is an extraordinary thing to contemplate. And there
he was with the sword, Caesar's sword, about to send him to heaven. The Lord stood by my side. If the Lord stands by your side,
everything is fine. So shall you know that I am the
Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then shall
Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through
her anymore. Just quickly, Jerusalem means,
in the Hebrew, a vision of peace. It means to see peace. And Zion
is a monument raised up. Beautiful for situations, says
the psalmist. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. Glorious things of thee are spoken,
thou city of our God. The great enemies of God's people were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ
and he suffered the absolute infinite wrath of God for them
and they're gone. They're gone forever. We raise
up a monument and it's the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The notion that the Lord Jesus Christ could try and do something
and fail is just an absolute anathema in the scriptures. He shall not fail. He says he
shall not fail. And Zion it shall be said, this
and that man was born in her, the highest one, our God, shall
establish her, the Lord shall come, when he writeth up the
people, this man was born in her. Isaiah said, he lays in
Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone. Have you tried
him? A sure foundation, anyone who's
built on him He's a precious stone. He's a sure foundation. May the Lord bless his words
to his people's hearts. Let's have a break. Thank you.