verses 1-8 Isaiah 44, Yet now
hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus
saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb,
which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, I
will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine
offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows
by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's,
and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself
by the name of Israel. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel. and his Redeemer, the Lord of
hosts. I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there
is no God. And who, as I, shall call and
shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed
the ancient people? And the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither
be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? You are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know
not any. Let's pray. Lord, we pray tonight that you'd
teach us, Lord, as we look into your word again by your providence
and grace. That you'd speak to us by your
Holy Spirit. Turn the light on in our hearts,
Lord, that we might see and Rejoice again in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sure salvation wrought by him for us. In his precious name
we pray, Amen. Now it begins with the word yet
because of the last few verses of Chapter 43. The Lord says,
put me in remembrance, verse 26. Let us plead together, declare
thou that thou mayest be justified. Thy first father hath sinned
and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore, I have
profaned the princes of the sanctuary and have given Jacob to the curse
and Israel to reproaches. So even though chapter 43 is
a very comforting chapter for the people of God, the Lord speaks
again at the end of it of the nation of Israel as a whole and
how that they were under his judgment as a nation. But he
says, yet now here, O Jacob, my servant. Just because you
were an Israelite didn't make you a servant of God. So he singles
out those here who are called his servants. And here's the question. Now,
there's a special message for the servants of God. And so I'm
interested in that if I'm a servant. That's the question. Are you
a servant of God? Have you submitted to him, his
will, his word and his way? Because if you, if not, if you're
not his servant, then these promises in these first eight verses are
not for you. They're for the servants of God. And of course,
believers are identified in many ways, but this is one of them. And so that's, that's a way that
we can search our hearts to see if we are truly a servant of
God. Servants say things like Lord, what wilt thou have me
do that's what Saul said on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter
9 What wilt thou have me do that's what a servant says Servants
say like the woman of Canaan in Matthew 15 She said truth
Lord Truth Lord, whatever you say is right. Whatever you say
goes Samuel we just saw in 1st Samuel
chapter 3 not too long ago how that when the Lord spoke to him
He didn't know who it was at first and he asked Eli about
it, and he thought it was Eli calling him And Eli told him
when he calls you again. It's the Lord say Speak Lord
for thy servant heareth That's what he did And the Lord spoke
to him thy servant heareth A servant always hears his master, not
just audibly, but hears with an ear of obedience and an ear
to discern the master's will that we might do it. Servants
serve. That sounds simple, but a lot
of people call themselves the servant of the Lord that aren't
serving the Lord. Servants count the will of their
master preeminent over their own will. Somebody that knows what God
said and yet rebels against it or does what they want to anyway
is not a servant of God. And that's most of religion. The Pharisees, the Lord accused
them often of doing contrary to the word. Have you not heard? He kept saying, have you not
heard? Because they did not obey God. The relationship of God to his
people is pictured in the law of the bondservant. Let's read
that again because I think that's it's important we establish right
off here who the Lord is speaking to. Look at Exodus chapter 21 verse 1. Exodus 21. See if this describes
you because this is This is a picture of all of the
people of God. The Lord established this law
of the bondservant to teach us our relationship with Him and
His to us. Chapter 21 of Exodus, verse 1.
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. This
is God's law, His judgments, His way of doing things. That's what a master does. He
says, here's how we're going to do things. Here's my judgments. If thou buy an Hebrew servant,
six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out
free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master hath given him
a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters, the wife and
her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife
and my children, I will not go out free. Then his master shall
bring him unto the judges, and he shall also bring him to the
door or unto the doorpost. And his master shall bore his
ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. If that happened, imagine that
you serve for six years. I suspect if your master was
a slave driving idiot, you're probably going to go out free.
You're not going to say I love my master unless he was a good
master, unless he was good to you, honest, and did right by
you. But if he did, imagine being
able to go out free and then say, no, I don't think I want
to do that. I enjoy where I'm at now. I love
my master. He's a good master. And I love
my family. What a picture that is of the
church. We're free from the law. But do we want to be free to
do what we want to do? Or do we want to be free to serve
Him? We're free. But free people,
when you have a master like Him, We want to serve Him. I love
my Master. I wouldn't have it any other way. Why would I serve
myself or anybody else? The best thing I can possibly
do for me is to serve Him. And so if that's you, and I love
my family. I love my brethren, my sisters. The Lord said, who is my mother?
Who is my brother? The people of God. Sheep. And
if that's you, God says, here, here. But before he gives us
the message, he reminds us of one other thing. We're not bondservants
strictly by our choice. Sounds like that in the picture,
doesn't it? The bondservant makes a choice,
and we do. But remember first, look at our
text again. You're my servant, and we are
bondservants But we're also Israel whom I have chosen. We choose
Him because He first chose us. We do love Him and we do choose
Him. The Lord never responds to us.
We respond to Him. It's not if you will, God will.
It's if God will, you will. And He did. He chose His people
and they choose Him every time. And always remember now that
we're not just servants either. This is whenever I think of what
it is to be a servant, I remember what our Lord said in John 15,
12. He said, this is my commandment that you love one another as
I have loved you. That you love one another. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. You are my friends. If you do
whatsoever, I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called
you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I've
made known unto you. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain And whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Now, did the disciples choose the Lord? Boy, sure they did,
in a sense. Peter said, we've left everything,
Lord, and followed you. When he called them, they weren't
robots. They didn't mindlessly lay down
their fishing nets and just in some kind of a trance. They said,
I'm going with him. Forget everything else. You can
have all that. I'm going to be with him. But he reminds them why they
chose him. You didn't choose me first. I
chose you. And he said, they are servants.
He's not saying you're not servants, but he says, I don't just call
you servants. You say master and Lord and you say well that's
who I am. He said that too. He is our master and we are his
servants but he said not just servants because servant doesn't
know the business of the household. But God's revealed to us his
will, his purpose, his grace, his love. And so I always think about that
when I think about what it is to be a servant. It's to be more
than just a servant. It's a great privilege to serve
him as friends, as those who say, I love my master and I wouldn't
have it any other way. I bow to him with all my heart,
willingly, and count it a privilege to bow to him. And now next he
introduces himself again, as he does often throughout the
book of Isaiah. But first he identified them.
Jacob, remember Jacob, the name Jacob, we'll talk about it a
little bit in a minute, Lord willing. My servant, Israel whom
I have chosen, he's identifying who they are. You serve me, I'm
the master, I'm God, you're not. And I chose you, you serve me
because I picked you out. And now he introduces himself,
thus saith the Lord that made you. He introduces himself as
who he is relates to us. You notice that? Often he'll
say, I am the Lord God, the holy God of heaven. And like that,
but here he says, I'm the Lord that made you. Again, you see
a relationship being identified here. And I don't think we have
a real good understanding of that. I thought about that quite
a bit as I looked at this. God made us. We don't just stop and think
about that much. There is no us without Him. He made us. Think about how people, their thinking toward God and their
opinion of God. The God that created them out
of dust and they defy Him. They shake their fist at him,
spit on him, the one that made him. When you start thinking
about things like that, you see why we ought to be able to understand
real clearly why God would put sinners in hell. We just flat
deserve it, don't we? God made us and put us in paradise. Had paradise prepared for us
before he ever even created us and then he breathed into us
the breath of life And gave us everything to enjoy and we defied
him anyway The one Who made you can you
serve him? Can you can you serve the one
who created you that you wouldn't exist without and You see the
contact. My servants. And rightly so. Rightly so. Shall the thing formed
say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Shall
we complain when we wouldn't even exist without him? Now we
know we're not going to serve him unless he chooses us. That's
what we see here. But we should be constantly aware
of that. But He created us, we don't exist, we're nothing, we
have nothing, we can do nothing, we are nothing. Without God,
literally. And notice, it doesn't just say
He made us, but He formed us from the womb. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb. He not only created me,
there's not only a me because he determined and purposed and
wanted there to be a me. But I'll tell you this too, I
have brown hair and brown eyes and I'm relatively short. And
I am a boy, not a girl. There is a difference. And I can't choose. He made me
a boy, so I'm a boy. When I start choosing, I'll be
a freak. If he lets that happen. I won't be either one. I'll be
a freak is what I'll be. If he lets me. But he made me
a boy. That's what I am and I'm fine
with that. I don't want to be anything else.
And I have a love for music. I have everything about me. He made me and he formed me. He made me the way I am. My personality, my characteristics,
my appearance, everything about me. All of the details of my
person. Physical appearance, talents,
gifts. He gives certain people gifts
and doesn't give them to other people. And listen, this is the best
one of all. The next phrase, I'll help you. I'm the one that's
going to help you. I made you. I made you who you
are. And I'm the one that's going
to help you. I'd rather God had not made me
at all if he's not going to help me. Wouldn't it just be better
just not even to exist if God's not going to help me? I see that
now. I hadn't always seen that. I don't deserve his help. I've
forfeited every right to any help of his a million times over
but I can't live without his help and when I say help if I
say can you help me that means I'm going to be doing it but
I could use a little help that's not what we're saying when we
say God helps us what we mean by that is God's
going to do it and we're going to watch now God has identified us and
himself as he relates to us I'm the God that made you, I'm the
God that formed you, I'm the God that helps you. And you can't
do anything without his help. Without him you can do nothing.
So he's identified us, we're servants, chosen, elect. No other way are we identified
in the scripture more often than we are that way. The elect of
God, chosen of God. And now here's the message he
has for us to hear. The next words, fear not. How many times, let me ask you
this, how many times have you said that to your children? Those
of you maybe that your children are grown up, do you remember? Maybe they're little now and
you still are saying that every once in a while, a storm, a thunder
will be loud, Something startles them, something scares them,
they have a bad dream, maybe. We hold them in our arms and
we say, don't be scared. Don't be scared. We comfort them. Why? Because we can't stand to
watch them suffer. We can't stand to watch them
be unhappy. It hurts us when they are afraid,
doesn't it? It just does. No matter how crusty
we are, it still Even dad, it hurts him too. I can't stand to see him trouble.
I want him to be at peace and rest and comfortable and happy. And this, this is a difficult
command for us to obey. Because fear is a very primal,
it's an instinctual characteristic of man because of sin. We know
that by nature we have every reason to be afraid. So we have
to be taught over and reminded over and over and comforted over
and over. The first time mom and dad say
don't be scared we don't just say okay and then just we're
never afraid of anything again. No, it don't work like that does
it? It's ingrained within us. And
as adults, we still get scared, don't we? The world is a scary,
scary place. People. You know why the world
is scary? Because people are scary. They really are. People are just so ragingly evil. I'm astounded. I hope in the right way. I hope
I'm astounded to see what I am. Because I can see it better in
other people than I can in me. And then I have to understand
though, when I do see it in others, that that's me. I'm looking at
what I am. People are scared, but listen
to what David said in Psalm 56, 11. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. People don't scare me that much
they do they are scary but because the Lord Because I trust him
I'm not gonna worry about it too much. There's not that much
they can do there's really not Psalm 118 6 the Lord is on my
side. I will not fear What can man
do unto me? It's a good question, isn't it?
What is anybody gonna do to hurt us as scary as people are, as
absolutely blind and upside down and evil as people are? What are they gonna do to us
if we're in his hand? The Lord taketh my part with
them that help me. I meant to have you turn to,
but listen to this carefully. The Lord taketh my part with
them that help me. Now, I first thought that was
saying, well, I've got, there are those in this world that
are on my side and I'm on their side. We help one another. And
the Lord is one of those. No, that's not what it's saying.
The Lord taketh my part. How does he do it? One of the
ways he does it is with them that help me. He gives me people
that aren't scary. Isn't that right? You got some
folks in your life that love you and would do anything for
you? That's the Lord taking your part. He gives us angels too. You remember that? That's hard
to forget, isn't it? But we do. He gives his angels
charge over us. Those that help us, that's the
Lord taking our part. Nobody would help us if not for
Him. Therefore shall I see my desire
upon them that hate me. There are those that help me,
that love me. And because God has taken my
part, and that is evidence of that,
that there are those that help me, I know that my desire upon
my enemies shall be realized. They're not going to win. They're
not going to be able to hurt me. So people are scary. That's the
first thing I thought of. What makes me afraid? That's
the first thing that popped into my mind. Satan is way down the
list. People are way scarier. Way scarier
than Satan. What about this? Are you afraid
of the curse? There's a reason why I ask that.
You might say, well, you know, I never really thought about
that, Chris, but let me remind you of something. Remember when
Adam fell into the curse? You remember what happened? When
the curse was upon him, when he fell in the garden. It says in Genesis 3, 8, and
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, where are you? And he said, I heard that voice
in the garden and I was afraid. When he fell, when he sinned
and God's curse was put into effect, the first thing that
happened was he was afraid. Are you afraid because of the
curse? Yes. That's exactly why you're afraid for the same reason
Adam is. Here in that text, that's why
we're afraid, if not for the curse that we brought upon ourselves,
we wouldn't have any fear. But do you know why God says
to his sheep, fear not? Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Remember we talked
about this morning how the remedy for us being a disaster is not
for us to be less of a disaster. It's for Christ to come as our
substitute and put himself in our place and be punished for
being the disaster that we are. He was made a curse for us. You
see, that's what first people think of when you say, when you
point out something wrong with them, is well I need to make
it right. No. You can try, that's fine. But don't trust in that.
That's not your hope, that's not salvation. You're doing better,
you're turning over a new leaf, you're making a decision, none
of that. There's no hope in that. Now the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, in the sight of God, and you must be
justified, you must be guiltless, you must be cleared of any wrongdoing
in the sight of God. And that happens by Christ being
made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. That's why he says, fear not.
Adam, you sin, you're under the curse. What happened? Fear. Yeah, but Christ redeemed us
from the curse. No reason to fear. Are you afraid
of the devil? You know the scripture teaches
us to be sober and to be vigilant because of the devil. But we're
not to fear him. We don't fear him. Do you fear
death? Death is swallowed up in the
victory of his cross. He's taken away every reason
that we could possibly have to be afraid. And that's why he
says, fear not. It's not just idle words. He doesn't just comfort us with
words. He comforts us with words that express deeds. There's a
reason not to be afraid. For as much then as the children
Are made partakers, but let's turn over here Hebrews 2 14. I want you to look at this with
me the words tend to Sink in better. I think when you look
at them Hebrews 2 14 For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death. That is the devil. We're talking
about death. Are you afraid of dying? Everybody
has some kind of fear of dying. I'm a little bit worried about
it and have no reason to be. But we still are. We still are. But he took flesh and blood so
that he might die. God died. God became what I am. Except for sin. Yet without sin. But he took my place and he became
flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. It hangs over our head all the
time, doesn't it? And it's unreasonable as believers,
really. It's just instinctual, it's hard
to get rid of it. But it's just everything you
know. I'm afraid of heights for example. I don't even like to,
I mean there could be a rail up to here made out of solid
steel and I still think I'm going to fall. And I'm not the only
one. I mean everybody's got a little
bit of that and everybody's got a fear of something and it's
unreasonable. It doesn't make any sense. Things
make me anxious and I worry about them that don't make a lick of
sense. All my lifetime, there's been that bondage in some form
or another. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that
he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to secure
them that are tempted. he can say he is able to say
fear not and it means something not only because he has taken
away every reason for us to ever be afraid of anything or anybody
but because he faced and conquered everything that there is to be
afraid of himself he himself faced it experienced it and conquered
it that's why he's able to comfort us who are afraid of death because he died in our place
and he died in a way there's no death like his we're never
gonna die like he died under the wrath of his father having
to cry my god my god why has thou forsaken me Think of it. Our Lord faced all of the consequences
of our sin. Death in every sense of the word. We're going to experience death
in the best sense of the word and not even like the rest of
the world. Death is victory for us because of Christ. To die is gain. He faced all of the consequences
of our sin, though he had no sin of his own. Think about all
the consequences of our sin, not just death, but disappointment,
betrayal, injustice, sorrow, all of the grief and fear that
we experience every day. It's difficult for us to even
imagine our Lord experiencing these things, but He was a man.
He is a man. He is the man but he is a man glorified now but he walked in
the same dirt that we do and he faced everything every trial
that we face that was due and we deserve to face these things
every day and because of our sin but we'll never really experience
any consequence any real consequence for our sin because The fear
and the grief and the pain and the suffering that we face, there's
no reason for it. And it's temporal. And if He
does use it, if there is a purpose, and God does purpose it, doesn't
He? He does purpose trials and griefs, but when He sends them,
and He does for His sheep, He does it for us for our good.
Even the trials that our sin bring. our blessings in the hand
of our Father. And so we see a lot of reasons
to be afraid. And yet I'm often, often able
to enter into what David said in Psalm 4, 8. I will both lay
me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord only, makest me
to dwell in safety. That's one of my favorites. And you know the same thing applies
here that we said about good works and our behavior in one
of our recent studies. I thought about this. You may
remember this. Religion says now that when you
do wrong, you do evil, you do bad, you make wrong decisions
and do bad things, that what you need to do is learn better.
You need to learn to do right. No, you need to know him better. I guarantee you, you know this
is right. What will make you a more faithful servant? What will cause you to grow in
grace is to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. What will make you wiser? Every improvement you can name
If you're going to experience it, you know what's going to
be the reason for it? You're going to know Him better. That's
how that works. And this is like that. It's the
same principle. We don't need to learn to be
brave or to conquer. We don't need to learn to conquer
our fear. We just need to know Him better. You want to quit
being so scared and anxious and worried and just down about the
things that happen in this world? Learn of me. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me and you shall find rest. Oh my God, may he teach us of
himself. May we learn of him, grow in
the knowledge of him. In the end of that verse, Jeshurun
means upright one. upright one. This is God speaking
to his people whom he has never seen any other way but in Christ.
I got to thinking about that. Why would God call me Jeshurun?
It's not that he doesn't know that I'm Jacob. It's not that
he isn't aware that I'm a worm and a supplanter and evil. It's not that he's unaware of
it. But he's never seen us any other way than washed in the
precious blood of his Son. We have also been Jeshurun from
the start. upright one. And again in that verse he calls
us his chosen again. He stresses it, he emphasizes
it. I wonder if we really understand
what it means to be chosen of God. Picked out, selected. Somebody said in a message that
I listened to recently This is one of those things that sticks
with you. Don't remember for sure, I think I remember who
said it. Doesn't matter who said it, this is the truth now. Ask
this question, and this was a comfort to me and a weighty thing. How
many of the fallen angels do you reckon ever just up and decided
one day, you know, I shouldn't have fallen, I shouldn't have
sinned, I shouldn't have rebelled, I think I'll just go back to
God. How many of the fallen angels do you think have returned to
God? and beg for mercy. We just read that God didn't
take upon Him the nature of angels. You know why He didn't do that?
Because He didn't love them. He didn't love them. The reason
God sent His Son born of a woman made under the law in the likeness
of sinful flesh is because herein is love. Not that we love God,
but that he loved us and sent his son to become who we are,
become what we are, to take on him our nature. So why didn't
he take on the nature of angels? He didn't love them. He did not redeem angels. He
did not choose and predestinate any of them, and they are forever
lost. And by contrast we see how gracious
he's been to us. Why didn't he just let us go?
He couldn't let us go. And I can't ever understand that,
but I know that's right. And again now, you remember when
Paul said, I bow my knees unto the Father, that he might reveal
unto you something of the and the breadth and the width and
the height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.
That's my prayer for you. You know why? Because like I
said the other day, if we have any idea, if we ever get an inkling
of how much he loves us, then we won't be afraid anymore. We
won't be worried about anything. He took upon him our nature because
He loved us from the beginning. Verse three, we're not gonna
get eight verses tonight, I don't guess, but let's look at what
we can. For I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty. What a picture that is. What
a picture that is. And floods upon the dry ground.
I will pour water. This world is a desert. Doesn't
that make God sound big? I will pour water on him. He
is big. I will pour water on you. I thought
about, I can't help but think of just earthly thing. Our Lord taught using earthly
illustrations to give us some perspective on heavenly things. When Clark goes to, you know,
our dog Clark, He'll go to the back door and he'll get anxious
and kind of jump up and hit the doorknob with his nose sometimes.
And usually when he does that it's because he's thirsty. He
just wants to go out and get a drink and come right back in.
We have to keep the water bowl outside because he drinks and
then he turns and water goes and not just water but slobbers
go everywhere. So we have to keep it Out there,
but sometimes I'll open the door and he'll run out there to the
bowl and there won't be any water in the bowl. And he starts freaking
out a little bit. He'll run around, you know. And
I'll go get a pitcher or something and fill it up with water or
Vicky will. And we'll just pool pour that water in that bowl.
And he can't just sit there. Now the water hits the bowl.
There's water in that bowl immediately. But he's got to drink it out
of mid-air for some reason. And it gets all over his head
and everything. That's a little bit of it gets
in the bowl and then I'll go get more and I'll pour it in
there because he drinks a lot and it makes me happy. It makes
me happy to see him get what he needs. What he's anxious for,
he wants that, he desires that, he needs that and I'm able to
give it to him and I sit there watching him drink and it just
makes me happy. And this is our God. He pours
water on us. He gives us that which we need
in abundance. In abundance. He makes a river
in the desert for His people, He said. And He does it by pouring
it out. It comes from Him. He made it.
He gives it. He provides it. Do you reckon
I got to thinking about this. Do you reckon it makes me feel
good inside? It warms my heart to pour water
on my dog, Lauren's dog, sorry. You think it makes me feel good
to do that because God delights to provide for his sheep? And it's that way in us to give
us a little idea. If marriage is because of Christ
and the love that we have for one another, that we experience
that just so we can get a glimpse of Christ's love for his church.
Do you think all of our emotions are like that because of who
he is? And he would teach us who he
is? Do you think it's maybe just
an echo of that of how God delights to give us what we need? And he doesn't
just keep us alive now. We don't just give Clark food
and water. I give him bacon. I give him
eggs. I give him treats because I love
and I delight to do that. I love to see him devour that
and just Appreciate that from my hand. It blesses my heart
and God. God just not not just keeping
us alive, is he? There's so many good things in
this world to enjoy. Yeah, this world is a scary place.
But you know, a world with great snow cones and it can't all be
all bad, can it? You know why it's not all bad?
Because he loves us. I can tell you where to get a
real good grape snow cone. And if you ask nice and pay 50
cents extra, he'll put some sweetened condensed milk on that thing.
And you'll be glad he did. But you see what I'm saying?
The Lord gives us, he pours out his blessings upon us every day. Are you thirsty? This is why
our Lord said in the Beatitudes, blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after me. Because I'm going to give them
what they need. I'm going to give them what they
need. God pours it upon our heads.
Water and so much more. His Spirit, it says there. He
pours His Spirit upon us. It's not just earthly, physical,
temporal blessings, although I thank Him for those. But He
pours His Spirit upon us, it says in that verse. I will pour water upon him that
is thirsty and floods upon the dry. I will pour my Spirit upon
thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. I take great
hope in the Word of God here about our offspring. I'll pour
my blessing on them too. Now I know that this is spiritual
language and it's talking about the seed of Christ. It's talking
about the spiritual seed, the church. But I believe this too. I believe the children of God's
people are blessed to have parents that love the Lord. Now whether
that'll come to fruition in spiritual things, that's up to the Lord.
But I thank God that the children of believers hearing the gospel
of life, hearing of Christ. And that's a blessing not to
be taken for granted. Verse four, and they shall spring
up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. Let me
just close with this. I've got so much more here. But you know what? If the Lord
gives us another Sunday night, We'll see it then, and if He
don't, we'll see it even better, won't we? And they shall spring up. I'm
going to pour water because they need water in order to have life,
and when I give it, they're going to have life. When God pours
something out, it don't return unto Him void. He waters us to give us life,
and we're gonna spring up. We're gonna live. And we know
that what nourishes our souls is His body and blood, His person
and His work. And we feast upon Him by faith.
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth. and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
In other words, it gives life. So shall my word be that goeth
out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching. To save them the belief His word
goes forth from his mouth And it accomplishes what he pleases
and he said it shall prosper In the thing wherein to I sent
it isn't it wonderful to worship him To trust him by his grace
to choose him because he first chose us to love him Because
he first loved us you know about his grace we just
we've just gotten a little glimpse of who he is and who we are to
him and what he's done for us in 14 years we've gotten a little
bit more of a glimpse together and just that glimpse is utterly
life-changing utterly transforming isn't it and i just want to see
a little bit more Let's pray.