For he said, surely they are
my people. Now that's referring, the word
for, because he said, back to the previous seven verses of
this chapter, Isaiah 63, eight says, because he said, they're
mine. So all of the previously mentioned
truths and promises concerning who the Lord is. Who is this? And we talked about that. We
know who he is, what he's revealed and what he did. Why is he arrayed
in red? Why is he pictured the way he
is here? It's because of what he did,
what he accomplished. And especially verse seven, Verse
seven is restricted here to those he calls in verse eight, his
people. This is true because look, somebody's
gonna be talking about the loving kindness of the Lord. I will
mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of
the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us.
He's blessed us. Talking about opening the Red
Sea where we read, he's been blessing the children of Israel
long before they knew him. and the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving
kindness for, here's why, you're mine. You're mine. He made a covenant
with them, even the sure mercies of David. And David said about
that, this is all my salvation and all I want, all I desire,
that God made a covenant with me. Now he says here, they will
not lie. We know that we're all liars
by nature, but seen in Christ, this is certainly true of them,
as the Lord sees us in his son, but also now God's elect will
not lie concerning that which is vital. I believe that's what
this is referring to here. Of course, we're perfect in Christ,
we're holy, but this is talking about, look, We can lie just about anything
else, can't we? We're liars by nature. We lie
and we don't even know we're lying sometimes, often. But listen,
when God reveals the gospel to somebody, can you even say God's
not sovereign? Can you even say that he didn't
save everybody he died for? Can you even think that? Would
you ever say that to anybody, that Christ didn't save everybody
that he gave himself for? No, we can't even do that. It's impossible, isn't it? It's
just not even possible. God's made it so. It's not because
of anything in us by nature. We still have our sin nature.
We're very capable of any sin. Any and every sin, we're fully
capable of it, including lying. But I'll tell you this, if somebody
lies about God, if somebody lies about his son, if somebody lies
about how sinners are saved, they're not one of his. They
just not. At least if they are, they don't
know it yet. He hadn't told them yet. That's just the truth now. They
will not lie, not about that. Not about that which is most
vital. So they being his people, look,
he was their savior. So I was their savior because
they're mine. I saved them because they're
mine. That's why he went for that one sheep. You remember
that? Left the nanny in that. Why in the world would he do
that? Because he said, it's mine. That sheep's mine. I love that. I love that, don't you? Oh, I found my sheep, which was lost. Let's rejoice. His people by
covenant and their Savior. Now think about it. They're my
people and I'm their Savior. His people by covenant promise.
Their Savior by the fulfilling of that covenant. By all of those
promises being yay and amen in Him. You see that? It's two sides
of the same coin. His people by decree. Their Savior
by victory. accomplished his people by promise,
their savior, by righteousness, by sacrifice, by what he did. And then verse nine, in all their
affliction, he was afflicted and the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. And he bared them and carried
them all the days of old. Now this is talking about the
days of old. This is talking about how he's
delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. But what clear, beautiful
gospel language. This is a spiritual truth revealed
by historical events that took place. It's referring, and the context
here shows us that it's referring to Old Testament Israel, how
God dealt with them. We read that about him parting
the waters of the Red Sea. But they are a picture of God's
elect. The nation of Israel are not
God's elect. They are a picture of God's elect.
It's saying that God was with them in their affliction and
pitied. and undertook for them. In all
their affliction, he was afflicted." Boy, what verse does that remind
you of? We don't have a high priest which
can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was tempted
in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. He, as God, was afflicted as man, but God,
how can God be afflicted? But because He's with us in heart,
and even talking about Old Testament
Israel, can He be touched with the feeling of their infirmities
back then? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Can He be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities tonight? He's the
same. And the angel of his presence,
what does it say? Saved him. He had to come down here to save
us, didn't he? His presence. His name means
God present, God with us, Emmanuel, God with us. Of course, we're
saved in his eternal purpose and decree by his electing grace,
but he had to come down here and be present with us in order
to save us. That's what we see there. The
angel of his presence saved them. He did that in person, didn't
he? He did that in person. That's how he saved us, by being
us, by taking on our nature, being made under the law, subject
to all of our infirmities, and yet, the sinless son of God. And look, in love and pity, he
redeemed them. These words are not random. The
scripture doesn't just throw out These things randomly, in
love he redeemed. That's what love is, remember?
Here ends love. He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. This refers to the Jews' deliverance
from the bondage of Egypt by the blood of the lamb. They were
redeemed by the blood of a lamb. But the spiritual message is
so clear. Christ, in love, laid down his
life for us redeemed us from the curse of the law being made
a curse for us. He's the lamb of God which taketh
away sin and sets the sinner free. The price of our redemption
was his own precious blood. That's the definition of love.
I think of the last part of verse nine. He bared them and carried them
all the days of old. I want us to learn something
about right now from that, from the days of old, if the Lord's
pleased to teach it to us. If you had to tell the history
of Israel, how would you describe it? Man, from the time we see
them under the bondage of Egypt, being tortured and under cruel
bondage now. Caused to make brick without
anything to make them out of and punished when they couldn't
do it. That picture's the law, doesn't it? We can't produce
what the law demands. But that's the bondage that we're
under by nature and rightfully so, we deserve it. But listen
to that, what a hard and fearful journey to the promised land
Israel had. You ever think about that? They
were scared to death at the Red Sea. They were saying, we're
goners. You've brought us out here to die. We can't go back. The Egyptian army's behind us,
and here's the Red Sea in front of us. It's over. It was a great
dream, but it's over. And the Lord said, told Moses
to tell them just to stand there and watch me save you. But they were scared to death,
weren't they? And they were ambushed by the Amalekites not long after
they left Egypt, enemies immediately. Can you imagine that? They had no food or water along
the way. They murmured against God and
Moses, because they had nothing to eat and nothing to drink.
And God sent them manna from heaven and water from a rock. But that's a trial, isn't it?
We got nothing to eat. but what's the lesson there? It's not good to have nothing
to eat, but don't say we've got nothing to eat. We never should
have listened to God. We should have just stayed in
Israel. Say, we got nothing to eat. Lord, could you give us
something to eat? That might work better, wouldn't it? But
no, they murmured against God. You should have just left us
in Egypt. We had, you know, something to eat there at least. That's
us, that's our nature, isn't it? We complain about, Hmm. Hmm. Paradise wasn't enough,
was it? It wasn't enough and still not.
It never has been enough for us since the fall. But many were killed at Sinai
for rebelling against God. Remember, they danced around
the golden calf and God sent his law down in Moses and he
drew the line in the sand. He said, who's on the Lord's
side? And I don't remember how many thousand refused to step
over there and say, I'm with the Lord. They ought to go to hell, shouldn't
they? You reckon, after all that God had done for them? Ought
to go to hell. All of us are in that case. But
boy, what a history. And what a terrible trial that
would have been for those who weren't killed. You think anybody's
brother or family or father, mother, husband or wife was on the other
side of that line? Friends, people they'd grown
up with, gone through a lot of things with. And how does, but we can't talk
all night about the history, but you see what I'm talking
about hard. It was a hard road to the promised land. You know
how it's described? God carried them. He bore them
and carried them to the promised land. How would you describe
your journey? That's what I want to know. How
would I describe mine? You see what I'm talking about?
This is us now in this life, tried, afflicted, scared to death,
full of unbelief, ought to go to hell. And we watch some that
we love go to hell. I've seen them go, haven't you?
It's a hard... But what's happening tonight,
God's carrying us home. He's carrying us off. This is
just the way he does it. And if that's how he does it,
that's fine with me. It'll be all right. He's carrying us home. Verse 10, but they rebelled.
We always do. We always do. They rebelled,
they murmured, they complained, were full of unbelief and they
vexed his Holy Spirit. And therefore he was turned to
be their enemy and he fought against them. Then he remembered
the days of old Moses and his people saying, where is he? Now think about this. He was
turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. And indeed
the greater part of the nation of Israel was his enemy. That's
just the truth. And you could see that in this.
But you could also see this. I wanna deal with these two verses
together, 10 and 11, because they seem to show a change of
heart in God. And it says he remembered, he
remembered something. God remembered. That's interesting
about when you're talking about God. But of course, this is human
language describing the way that God dealt with them. This is
what it's describing, the way that he dealt with them. God
is never the enemy of his elect. You can see in this that most
of Israel did hate God, and he was their enemy, and he never
saved most of Israel. There was always just a remnant.
And you could see it that way. He became their enemy as a nation,
but he remembered his covenant with that remnant, didn't he?
For the elect's sake, there's mercy in there. There's always
mercy for his elect. But God's never the enemy of
his elect, but he does afflict. He does correct. He does try. And so you might, even the elect
might see it that way. It might look that way. When
you were a child and you got a whooping, I don't know if you
got whoopings like I got whoopings, but my mama didn't play. And
you know what? I hated her. Can we be honest
about it? for about 10 minutes, I hated
her. Absolutely hated her. And I thought she hated me. I
thought, boy, this is it, you know? It wasn't true though,
was it? She didn't hate me and I didn't
hate her either. I loved her. She loved me. You see what this is saying?
I believe that's the spirit of that is here in this text. He took that, tone with them
and afflicted them and chastised them. It looked almost, if you
read the Psalms, David often said, Lord, have you turned your
back on me? Have you hidden your face from me? Are you my enemy? Of course, it's not so, not concerning
his elect. But if you had parents that did
discipline you, hopefully, if they were godly parents, they
made it clear. We ought to always make it clear that it's love.
It shouldn't even be anger, much less wrath, when they're disciplined. We do so in love. It might seem
to you a different way, but it's not that
way. And it says several times in the scripture, often in the
scripture, that God remembered, God remembered his covenant with
Israel. It says that a lot. It doesn't
mean he ever forgot that. It doesn't mean, we know that.
It's simply saying that it's because of that covenant of love. It's because of that eternal
covenant that he made for them and with them, that his afflictions,
his chastising of them was done in love and not as punishment
for their sin, it's correction, not destruction. And that's why,
because they're his, because they're his, he remembered that.
He didn't ever really forget that, but it looked that way,
you see, when he was dealing with them harshly because they
needed it. And that's the language here.
And the question was asked, where is he? Where is he? Where is
that God that led them from the land of Egypt? You see what he's
saying there? Then remembered he the days of
old, Moses and his people, verse 11, saying, where is he that
brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? Where is he
that followed them with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire
by night and took care of them and fed them from heaven? Where
is that God? It doesn't look like he's around
anymore. Now it's a God of anger. He's dealing fiercely with us.
You see the idea there. God is remembering when he did
all of those things for them. Verses 11 through 14, let's read
them together. And verse 12, that led them by
the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm. It was Moses'
hand that led them, but it was the glorious arm of God using
Moses' hand. There's a lot in these. Verses
that we won't stop and talk much about, but you see that. With
his glorious arm dividing the water before them to make himself
an everlasting name. He saved them and that led them
through the deep as an horse in the wilderness that they should
not stumble. As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit
of the Lord caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people
to make thyself a glorious name." Where is that God? Where is the
God that took care of them all the way? That did these wonderful
things for them. The implication being that he's
not dealing with them like that anymore. It doesn't look like
that they're on that path anymore, that he's doing that for them
anymore. Maybe they thought that he was no longer carrying them
in mercy and love. But the unspoken answer here,
of course, is that he hasn't gone anywhere. Where is he? He's
where he's always been. Where did John see him? John's
given a revelation from God. And where did John see him? All
through the book on his throne and in his church with his people,
with his elect. That's where he is. He ain't
never been anywhere else. That's always where he is. He's not forsaken them. So see
the question now at the end of verse 15. Look at verse 15. Look
down from heaven. This is a cry. This is the prayer.
of them because they are afflicted he is chastising them sorely
and they're saying that look down from heaven and behold From
the habitation of thy holiness and thy glory, where is thy zeal
and thy strength? Where is the arm that peeled
back the Red Sea for us? Where is your desire, your zeal
to protect and to care for us and deliver us and watch over
us and speak to us and commune with us? The sounding of thy
bowels and of thy mercies toward me. This is Israel speaking. Where is all of that? Are they
restrained? Are these things restrained?
Is there some reason that it's not that way anymore? Is there
something stopping you from continuing to save us? And
this is the prayer of God's people. Look down on us and see us as
the sinful wretches we are. He's not denying that, is he? We're sinful, we're wretched.
You're not denying that, but nevertheless, you chose to show
your glory in us. You chose to reveal yourself
to us. Are not the riches of God's glory
shown, Romans 9, 23, on the vessels of mercy? We need your mercy,
but you've always been there in mercy for us. But though there's
concern here, there is a cry. There is that, as you see all
through the Psalms, again, is a good example of this type of
language of David saying, Lord, where are you? Where are you?
Is your mercy clean gone for me? So there is that cry for
God to show the zeal and the strength of his love again and
his mercy toward us, but there's faith also. There's faith also. By grace, there's faith. Even when everything looks dark,
even when everything seems to be going against you, even when
everything looks like God's mad at us. Look at verse 16, doubtless,
you're our father. So you see, God says, you're
mine. And we say, you're ours. Though Abraham, though even Abraham,
the father of Israel, even though he forget it, even though he
don't even know us, he don't even claim us. And Israel acknowledges
not thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer. We know that. We
know it doesn't look good. We know things are bad. We know
it's not the way we would want it to be. What is, we're asking, what is
restraining you from helping us and from being with us and
from showing us these things? One thing's not in question,
you're our father. And notice that last line, his
name, his attributes. Who he is, his name, it's not
just letters, it's not just like our name. His name is his character. It's who he is, it's his attributes. Who he is, he always is. That's why we can say, even when
it's dark, you're our father. If he ever was our father, he
is our father. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil for thou art
with me. He's still carrying us. No matter
if our circumstances may cause us to doubt, we might have reason. If we look away from him and
look at the waves and the winds, we might have reason to doubt. If we look away from him and
see the waves boisterous, Then we might have reason to say,
we can't walk on water. You know why? Because you can't
walk on water. That's why you look into him. Don't look away. He's still carrying
us though, no matter if our circumstances cause us to doubt. And it's his
immutability. It's that last line. Thou art
our father, our redeemer, and you've always been and always
will be. That don't change, I'm the Lord,
I change not, therefore, therefore you sons of Jacob, you sons of
the worm, are not consumed. It's the immutability
of God, that's our hope in that verse. I'm the Lord, I change
not, and because I don't, You're safe. Because of the eternality of
his name, his character, his integrity, his person. He might afflict, but he'll never
forsake. He will correct, but he won't
destroy us, not his own. And I love that word doubtless.
Let's go back and look at that for a second, doubtless. Doubtless,
that's the word of faith, isn't it? That's faith. Well, we doubt just about everything,
don't we? But not who he is, not who he is. of the gospel,
doubtless, you're our father. I wish I could honestly say that
word more, doubtless. There's no doubt in my mind.
I wish I could say that more, don't you? There's no doubt in
my mind, you're my father. Even though the dearest of earthly
friends, even though Abraham won't have anything to do with
this, he's not even aware of us, and this is hypothetical
language, I believe, Even though Israel, even though
our brothers, our countrymen forsake us, God's still our father. These two verses I'm about to
read, Psalm 27, nine and 10, perfectly express the thought
of our text right there. Listen to it. Psalm 27, nine. Hide not thy face far from me,
Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me. Now you see that? That's what
I was talking about in the Psalms. God's promised not to forsake
us. We know he won't, and yet at times it appears, it appears
as though he has. We doubt, don't we? We doubt. But listen to it. Turn over there
with me, 27, nine, Psalm. It's worth looking at. Psalm 27, now you see our text
in that? Hide not thy face from me, Lord.
Where is he that delivered us from the Red Sea, from the bondage
of Eden? Where is that God? Don't hide
from me. Put not thy servant away in anger,
verse nine. Thou hast been my help. You parted
the Red Sea for me. Where are you now? Where is that
God? You see our text there, leave
me not, neither forsake me. Oh God of my salvation, you're
the one that saved me. Can we plead with him like this? And look what he said next, there's
still faith though. The faith that he gives never
fails. Job, look at what he went through. He said, I know my redeemer lives.
He's my redeemer. I know that. And listen to what
he said in that, when my father and my mother forsake me, then
the Lord will take me up. You see our text in that? When
Abraham and Israel, when our own brethren won't have anything
to do with us, the Lord is our father, our redeemer. Same verse, our
father and our redeemer. and thy name is from everlasting.
It'll never be any other way than that. Verse 17, O Lord, why hast thou made us to
err from thy ways and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return
for thy servant's sake. the tribes of thine inheritance.
Now that's just another way of describing we're your servants
and we're the tribes of your inheritance. Now think about
this. It's not that the Lord forces
us to do when it comes to sin, when it comes to us sinning,
which is all we do pretty much. It's not that the Lord forces
us to do something that we wouldn't have done otherwise. Well, I
wouldn't have sinned, but the Lord, you know, he's not saying
the Lord made me do bad thing. That's not what he's saying at
all. This prayer is not accusing God of doing anything wrong,
but it is lamenting our own sin and wishing that God would have
kept us from it. He could have, couldn't he? He
could have stopped it. Isn't that what we pray? Deliver
us not into temptation. Don't deliver us into trial,
because we know what happened. If we get tried, we know what's
going to happen. Unless he keeps us, unless he brings us through
it and holds us up. So it's not accusing God, you
see that? He's saying, Lord, would the God you would have
kept us, wouldn't have let us depart from you. We erred from
your ways. We deserve what we get. But we're
taught to pray, Lord, don't let it be so. God forbid. Don't allow us, don't restrain us, restrain our evil. That's our prayer. Keep the door
of our lips, keep our feet. That's our prayer. And he's able
to do that. He's absolutely able to do that. But this expresses
the attitude of this prayer. This is another way we understand
that he's not accusing God. He's not saying, well, if you
hadn't, you know, if you hadn't, you know, how can you blame us
if you're in control and, you know, the nonsense that Paul
was dealing with in Romans chapter nine. This is not the attitude
of this prayer, because look at the last part of it. You see
what the remedy is, the last part? Here's how That'll be fixed. Here's how us erring from your
ways and hardening our heart from your fear, return. Just come where we are. Just come back to us. As long
as you're with us, it'll be fine. That's what we need. We need
his presence. Return for thy servant's sake. We're the tribes
of your inheritance. You see, the remedy is not for
us to do better. If you're waiting on people to
do better, you're wasting your time. What we need is for God
to come. That's what we need. Return to
us, the clear message being that he left us to ourselves for a
while. That's why we erred from his ways. That's why our hearts
were hardened. He left us to ourselves. Don't
we pray, Lord, don't leave us to ourselves. Because we know
what'll happen. We know what we're gonna do. We don't wanna be left to ourselves
anymore, Lord. Return and don't ever leave us.
That's our prayer, that's a good thing to pray. Don't ever leave
us. If we're left to ourselves, we
fail, we doubt, we err, we grow cold. Return, keep us, hold us,
hide us, encourage us, keep us looking to you alone. That's the prayer there. And
then verse 18, the people of thy holiness have possessed it
but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden
down thy sanctuary. So just think about this for
a minute, not thy holy people, the people of thy holiness. That's
a good name for us right there, first off. Though God's elect
are holy in Christ, but it's the people of thy holiness. The
holiness is all his, and so the glory is his. That's who we should
give the glory to, the one that deserves it, not unto us. but
unto thy name give glory, O Lord, the people of thy holiness. And
listen, it's not completely certain what's referred to here as us
having possessed this but a little while. What is he talking about?
Some say it's the temple. The temple was destroyed. The
first temple, I believe it said after 400 years or so, the first
temple was destroyed, and that's in the big scheme of things,
a little while, and that's maybe what's being talked about here.
But the important thing is this, when there's a scripture like
this where you're not sure specifically what it's talking about, you
can be sure about what's being taught because the whole word
of God sheds light on the whole word of God. Whatever it is, the sentiment
here is that the adversaries have trodden down that which
is precious to the people of God. In this world, we possess
that which is precious from God, don't we? And his adversaries
would tear it down. And they may do it. They get
away with it sometimes because God allows them to do it. We
had it for a little while, but our adversaries have trodden
down by sanctuary. And it seems to be talking about
the temple, whether it's the sanctuary, the actual temple.
Some say it's the land of Canaan, the sanctuary that he led them
into. The reason he opened the Red Sea for them was to take
them to the promised land. And that was a sanctuary for
them for a time, wasn't it? Until the captivities, until
the adversaries ruined it. So that's the sentiment here,
whatever the specifics are. If it was important what the
specifics are, then the Lord would have given us the specifics.
But you see the idea of God, The affliction expressed here,
the affliction that they were under, and this idea that God
had turned against them, and that they're crying out that
he would return unto them. This has given us a little more
information about this. Their enemies had something to
do with it. That was often the case, right, in the history of
Israel, that the Lord would allow their enemies to afflict them. God used the enemies of Israel
often. You remember when God said in
the book of Isaiah earlier on where specifically, I forget
the name of the nation and the king, but it specifically says
he used them to afflict Israel and then he punished that king
for afflicting Israel. So that's what's happening here.
God used the enemies of Israel to try them, to cause them to
cry unto him. Does God do that? Turn to Psalm
107 with me. Psalm 107. Listen, we may or may not read
this whole Psalm, but I'm telling you, you need to read this if
you're interested in what our text is talking about. Listen
to this now, this is what's happening here. Oh, give thanks, Psalm
107.1. Give thanks unto the Lord, for
he's good. For his mercy endureth forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If you've been redeemed
of the Lord, say, the Lord redeemed me. That's a good thing to say. whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the
east and from the west, from the south, from the north and
from the south. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in,
hungry and thirsty. That's what we talked about tonight.
Then he says, he said, we've got nothing to eat. We don't
even have water to drink. Their soul fainted in them. Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And he said, The one that sent the storm said,
peace, be still. Isn't that the way the Lord works? Then he delivered them out of
their distresses and he led them forth by the right way that they
might go into a city of habitation, the promised land. Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness. And for his wonderful
works to the children of men, for he satisfied the longing
soul, he filleth the hungry. They said, we're hungry, we're
hungry. And they cried to the Lord and he fed them. But don't
forget the spiritual lesson there. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they'll be filled. Christ
is the man from heaven. Filleth the hungry soul with
goodness. Verse 10, such as sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron
because they rebelled against the words of God and contend
the counsel of the most high. They murmured against God. God's
counsel was, I'm gonna deliver you from Egypt. And what did
they say? You should have left us in Egypt. Therefore, he brought down their
heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help. And then, what do you know? You see our text
now? You see that? Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their
distresses. And you read the whole rest of
that chapter, and it's on and on the same thing. Look at verse
25. Let's skip down to 25, because
I want to see the last part of the chapter now. Because look
how it ends. You think, well, this is an endless
cycle of them getting in trouble and then crying out to God, and
God's saving them, and then they're on the right path. Now, thank
you, God. And they sing songs to glorify, and then they rebel
again, and get themselves in trouble again, and the Lord saves
them again. How many times has he saved you? It's all just one big saving,
isn't it? It's just one time. It's just all from the start
to finish, isn't it? From start to finish. But look
at verse 25, for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind. We talk about him calming the
storm there when the disciples were on that ship, but don't
forget who brought the storm. He's the one that raises the
stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths
and their soul is melted because of trouble. Boy, that's scary,
isn't it? They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. This is almost
a prophecy, isn't it? They said, Lord, we perish. They're at their wit, then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble. Why do you think God sent the
storm? And he bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof
are still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. He's carrying us home, isn't
he? Well, what a way to do it. We would never do it this way.
If it was up to us, we wouldn't go through all that we go through,
would we? It's not up to us, that's a good thing. It's up
to him. He's carrying us home. You think
about all of the horrible things that Israel went through, but
here's how God describes it. I've carried you to the promised
land. Well, that's my favorite part of our text in that, I think.
He's just carrying us home, isn't he? Just carrying us home. He's bringing us to the desired
haven. Oh, that men, oh, that we, oh, that you and I would
praise the Lord instead of murmuring all the time. Instead of saying,
why me? Instead of second guessing, just
praise him for his goodness and for his
wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him also
in the congregation of the people. Can we do that tonight? Can we
do that here from now on? Until we die whatever way we
die, may we praise him in the assembly. Verse 33, he turneth rivers into
a wilderness and the water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land
into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He
turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water
springs. That's what he's doing all the
way home. He's doing that for us. And there
he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city
for habitation, sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may
yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also so that
they are multiplied greatly and suffereth not their cattle to
decrease. Again, they are minished and
brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth
contempt upon princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness
where there is no way, yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction
and maketh him families like a flock. The righteous shall
see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. who so
is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. Well, I want to, don't you? I
want to understand that. I want to understand that even
the storm is his love. I want to understand that even
when we're in the desert and we got nothing to drink, That's
his loving kindness. That's him carrying me home. Can we observe that? And by God's grace, he said,
if you lack wisdom, just ask and I'll give you some. Didn't
he say that? And he won't upbraid you for being stupid. Hmm. And then look at this, what
they pray next. When crying to the Lord, pleading
with him to return and deal graciously with them. And that includes
keeping us from our own evil. Lord, why did you let us do that?
Don't let us do that again. Keep us from the evil. But here,
speaking of the enemies of the church, primarily in the world,
isn't it? The part we're in right now, speaking of the enemies,
we mentioned this all-important distinction. Listen to it. We are yours. We're yours. This passage started
with him saying, you're mine. And it ends with us saying that
we're yours. That's how we plead. That's why
he blesses us. And when it doesn't look like
he's blessing us, it's the way we plead with him, we're yours.
It's how he blesses us because we're his. And when we cry for
his blessing, we say this, we're yours. And they're not. The ones
that are the problem, they're not. They're not, thou never
barest rule over them, not in the way you do us. They're not
in your kingdom. Of course, the Lord bears rule
over everybody in a sense. He rules over everybody in this
world in a sense, but this world is not part of God's kingdom
in the spiritual sense. They don't call him king. This
world is not called by his name, but we are. You see that last
part? They were not called by your
name. But we are. You're our Father. And think
about this, being called by His name. Let's close with this thought
tonight. We're called by His name. Because we're His, we're
called by His name. In other words, who He is, His
name is who He is, defines who we are. We're named His name. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. And the church's name is the
Lord, our righteousness. Who we are is defined by who
he is. And every spiritual blessing
is ours for that reason, because we're in Christ Jesus. and we
bear his name, we're his, we belong to him. You remember John,
I love the fact that John in his gospel referred to himself
as the disciple whom Jesus loved. That's my name. What defines
me is him and what he did for me. I've always thought that would
be a good tombstone. If I ever have a tombstone, you
can just put this on. A disciple whom Jesus loved. What difference does it make
what my name, don't put my name on there. That's not gonna mean
anything to anybody. If you know me, you know that.
A disciple whom Jesus loved. What else matters?