I'm gonna make a suggestion,
and y'all can tell me what you think of this, but since this
is flu season, what do y'all think about not having a meal
on the first Sunday until about April? I don't want anybody feeling
like I felt this week. So if that's okay with y'all,
we'll observe the Lord's table, but we will just not have a meal.
Y'all let me know later what you think of that. All right,
Isaiah 51, verse 17. Awake, awake, stand
up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup
of His fury. Thou has drunken the dregs of
the cup of trembling and wrung them out. There is none to guide
her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth. Neither is
there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that
she hath brought up. These two things are come unto
thee. Who shall be sorry for thee? Desolation and destruction,
and the famine and the sword. By whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted. They lie
at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net. They're
full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God." Now,
we're going to read further here in a moment, but I want to tell
you the subject is the Great Awakening. This is a true revival
here that the Lord's performing. He's saying, awake, awake, stand
up, O Jerusalem. Now first, let's consider who
this applies to. Who does this apply to? Now in
the immediate context, we know this applies to the children
of Judah who were taken captive in Babylon. That's what it applies
to immediately. And for God's saints among them,
This was chastening, this was correction by the Lord. It was
fury poured out on those that worshipped idols and rejected
God, but for His people who had sin of their own, this was chastening
and correction. Proverbs 3.12 says, Whom the
Lord loveth, He chasteneth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth. But this also can be applied
to the last of the last days before the Lord Jesus Christ
returns. Scripture tells us that before
Christ returns a second time, Satan shall be loosed for a little
season. Revelation 11, I won't have you
turn there, but it tells us that every form of false religion
and every form of wickedness will be so widespread that the
church will appear to be desolated. The church will appear that it
doesn't even exist. The witnesses of the gospel will
lie dead in the streets. That's what Revelation 11 tells
us, and that means there will be a famine of the gospel. Turn with me to Amos chapter
8. Now this is something that is
coming. This is something that shall
come. Verse 11, Amos 8.11, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine
in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. and they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from the north even to the east they shall run
to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find
it." Now, with everything that we see going on in the world
around us right now, it looks like Romans 1 Exactly. If you read Romans 1 about all
the sin and the idolatry and the wickedness, it's what it
looks like. Sodomy is approved of and promoted and false religion. We could very truly be living
in the last of the last days. It's reasonable to think that.
The unregenerate, the reprobate, love the lusts of the world.
While this is going on, while this is happening, that's one
thing Revelation tells us. The unregenerate world, the reprobate,
will love it. They'll be having a high time.
But for God's saints, as verse 17 says, it'll be the cup of
trembling. You know, if a whole nation goes into captivity, and
the Lord's elect are among that nation, they're going to suffer
as well as the ones God is performing His fury upon. We pray for God
to raise up pastors after His own heart to send them forth,
and we don't see many being raised up. Verse 18 describes that. There's none to guide her among
all the sons whom she's brought forth, neither is there any that
taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she's brought up.
We see all around us desolation and destruction. We see famine
and we see the sword. Famine and war. Persecution. Now these afflictions can have
an effect on a local assembly and they can have an effect on
individual believers, on the local assembly and individual
saints. We fall into the sleep of sorrow
and despair Sometimes things get so tough that it's not a
sleep of unbelief as much as it's a sleep of sorrow and a
sleep of despair that we have to be awakened from. But Revelation
11 tells us this too. It says that this affliction
will only last for a short and definite period of time. It will
be a short period of time, it will be a definite period of
time that the Lord has set And it says, then there will come
a revival. Then there will be a reviving, an awakening. Let
me read this to you from Revelation 11. And after three days and
a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into the two witnesses
that lay dead in the street, and they stood upon their feet,
and great fear fell upon them which saw them. A reviving of
the church. That's what we have here in our
text. This happens with every trial
we go through. If we need to be awakened, it's
the Lord who revives us, who renews us, quickens us. But we
see here the Lord calling to His people saying, Awake, awake,
O Jerusalem. That's what a true revival is.
It's the Lord reviving, the Lord awakening His people. When our Savior renews us, when
He revives us, He speaks affectionately into the heart. Just like verse
17, Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem. Now, our faithful Heavenly Father
and our sovereign Savior always delivers His people. He shall
deliver His people. Now, when He speaks through the
gospel, And He speaks into the heart. It's not an audible voice,
but you know what I'm saying. It's Him. It's His Spirit. And
He awakens you. He awakens you and causes you
to stand up. He causes you to be able to stand
by faith. And He might correct us. He will
correct us. And when He does that, it feels
to us like it's His fury poured out. It feels to us like it's
a true cup of trembling to His people. But He renews us, brethren,
with this good news, that He's still the Lord thy God. He makes
you know this in the heart, that He's still the Lord thy God.
Look at verse 21. He says, Therefore hear now this,
thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine. You're afflicted
and drunken with sorrow and despair of the darkness that you're in.
He said, Thus saith thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God. Even
though He afflicts, even though He may chasten us for our good,
He's still thy Lord, and He's still the Lord, ruling everything.
He's still thy God. Each of God's saints, this is
true, the Lord is thy Lord. He's thy God. He's thy God. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. That's who Christ is. And He's
thy Lord, and He's the Lord. He's not God, that's who he is.
Son of Solomon 2.16 said, my beloved is mine and I am his. He's thy God, and you're His. That's so of His people. God
our Father chose His people by free and sovereign grace. He
chose us by free and sovereign grace. He first loved us, and
He everlastingly loved His people. He said, that's why we're not
consumed. He's not like us. He loves His elect with an everlasting
love. He came and regenerated us and
gave us life, not by any works we did. He did it by His mercy. He chose us by grace in Christ. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ before the world was made according to the
praise and the glory of his grace. That's why he did it. And he
regenerated us to the praise of his glory and his grace and
his mercy. That's what Paul said in Titus
3. It wasn't by works of righteousness which we had done, but it was
his mercy. It was because Christ had justified
his people. And since He's the one who first
loved us, when He chastens us, He doesn't stop loving His people.
When He chastens you, it's for your good. It's not for your
destruction, it's for your good. False religion, this world, the
reprobate, anybody who meets God without Christ, it shall
be destruction for them. But for His people, He's correction,
He's chastening. He's keeping you looking above.
He's keeping you looking to Christ rather than the darkness and
sinking down in these waves and the trouble and the things you
see in this earth. He's going to keep His people.
He's going to preserve His people. Christ entered the covenant to
bring every elect child of God to the Father and present us
without fault to God. That's what He shall do. He has
already done it when He arose and sat down at God's right hand.
And He will personally bring each one of His children and
present us to the Father faultless, without blame. And it will all
be by His mercy and His grace. But I want you to get that since
He first loved us, And since He chose us by grace, and since
He quickened us by mercy, and He redeemed us freely, justified
us freely by His grace, since He did this, brethren, nothing's
going to stop His elect from being His. Nothing's going to
separate us from Christ. Nothing is. He bought us. He
redeemed us. We're His. He asked the question
there in verse 19, Who shall be sorry for thee? He will. He will. In a time like this,
in this darkness He's talking about, when the world's in the
shape it's in, and you don't see very many people preaching
the Gospel, and it's a famine of the Word, He's still going
to comfort His people. He said, Psalm 86, verse 15,
Thou, O Lord, art God full of compassion. and gracious and
long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and in truth. Psalm
112 verse 4 says, until the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. He's gracious and he's full of
compassion and righteousness. He said, who shall be sorry for
thee? Who's going to have compassion on thee? He said, I will, I will. He asked in verse 19, by whom
shall I comfort thee? It won't be by any of the sons
produced by false religion. They lay like a bull caught in
a net, he said. It won't be by them. Who's it
going to be by? How's his people going to be
comforted? Look back at verse 12. He said, I, even I, am he
that comforteth you. Now these are the promises of
our Lord. These are sure and steadfast. And how does he comfort
us? He comforts us by making us know
nothing has changed between his child and him. He says, thy Lord,
thus saith thy Lord. The Lord and thy God. He's still
your Lord and He's still your God. And He's the Lord. He's
ruling everything. Everything that comes to pass.
This is our comfort right here. No matter what comes to pass,
We know He's doing it, and He's ruling it, and He's doing it
for His glory and for the good of His people. When Scripture
says, all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose, it means all
things. All things. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look at verse
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it's written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long,
we're counted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things,
in all these things, we're more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. For I'm persuaded, now listen
to this now, Neither death nor life, that takes in everything. That takes in everything we're
gonna face. Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus thy Lord. Thus
saith thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God. I am his and he is mine. That's what he's going to keep
his people knowing. That's how he has compassion on us, and
that's the comfort he gives us. Now, next I want you to see more
good news. This is more good news by which
he's going to renew his people and keep us believing Christ
and walking by faith. He's going to comfort us to remember
he's the one who pleads our cause. He's the one who pleads our cause.
Look at verse 22. Isaiah 51, 22. He says, Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord,
and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people." He pleaded
the cause of his people. Our Lord Jesus in eternity agreed
with the Father that He would plead our cause. He would plead
our cause. And our Lord Jesus in the fullness
of the time, at the appointed time, the fullness of the time,
He was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. He came to save us from the curse
and condemnation that we put ourselves in. That's what He
did. And our Lord Jesus came and He
talks here about the cup of trembling. He talks here about drinking
it to the dregs, to the sediment in the bottom of the cup. That's
what Christ did on behalf of His people. He took that cup,
the full cup, the fierce fury of God's wrath that we earned,
that we deserve, and he drank that cup, and he drank it to
the very dregs. And because he did that, he accomplished
our redemption. Oh, that we could understand
what that means, brethren. That means that everything that cursed us before
has nothing to say to us now. The whole law of God has nothing
to say to us because we fulfilled it perfectly. We have kept every
law God has given. We've dotted every I, we've crossed
every T in our Lord Jesus Christ. He did it, and we did it in Him. and He accomplished our redemption. He brought in everlasting righteousness,
the Scripture says. Everlasting, never come to an
end. He gave us eternal life and He is that everlasting righteousness
and He is our eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life. Eternal life. And just like the
holy justice of God demanded, we had to die. because we sinned
against God in Adam and in our own self. We sinned against God.
We had to die. But because He satisfied that
justice, that same justice demands we must live. We must be saved
from our sins. None can be lost for whom Christ
died. This world is going around preaching
a false gospel that Christ died for everybody, but really accomplished
nothing. What comfort is there in that?
that He could love you today and tomorrow He could stop loving
you and cast you into hell. Where is the comfort in that?
The comfort is those God the Father chose, that's who Christ
laid down His life for. I laid down my life for the sheep.
He laid down His life for His people. And He redeemed His people. And He's going to keep His people.
And there will not be one loss. That's the good news of the Gospel.
That's how He comforts His people. He shall plead the cause of His
people. Now listen, He's going to do
this. You remember in Galatians, let me see if I can find this.
Galatians chapter 4, I believe it is. Yeah, Galatians 4. Verse 6 says, And because you
are sons, God, Galatians 4, 6, And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. He sent the Spirit of Christ
into your hearts, and the Spirit of Christ was crying, Abba, Father. You know, he said in Romans 8,
we don't know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit makes
intercession for us. With groanings that can't be
uttered, and he who knows the mind of the Lord, the will of
the Lord, he hears us. And it says here, the Spirit
of Christ enters us, crying, Abba, Father. Well, look back
at our text. In Isaiah 51, I'm showing you
how He's our intercessor. In Isaiah 51, verse 9, Truly, even when we can't cry,
even when we're in the darkness and we can't even, we can just
groan and mumble. Listen, Christ prays to the Father
on our behalf. Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord. He's interceding with the Father
on our behalf. Awake, awake, O Lord. O our mother
Lord. And then on behalf of the Father,
He comes to me and you in verse 17 and He says, Awake, awake,
stand up O Jerusalem. Do you see what I'm trying to
show you? He's the mediator, He's the intercessor. In verse
9, He pleads with the Father, Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord,
power of the Lord. And then in verse 17, He comes
and pleads His cause with us and says, Awake, awake, stand
up, O Jerusalem. There's one mediator between
God and men, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man sins,
brethren, I know, won't you be happy when you're done with sin?
Won't you be happy when you don't have any more sin? God's children,
we don't want to sin outwardly, and we don't want to sin inwardly.
We want to be pure in our very thoughts. We want to be pure
in our very deeds. That's what we desire. That's
what we want, and one day that's what we'll have. But here's the
good news. If any man sin, when you do sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
and He is the propitiation for our sin. and not for ours only,
but for His people scattered all over the world. And you remember
this now, even in that dark season when it appears like there is
a famine of the world and we run to and fro and you can't
find the Gospel preached anywhere, remember this, God never leaves
Himself without a witness. Remember when Elijah prayed,
Lord, I'm the only one left. They've killed all your prophets,
I'm the only one left. The Lord said, I've reserved
to myself 7,000 men that have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so, at this present time, there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. God never leaves himself without
a witness. And He will, so He's not only
the propitiation for our sins, but for His people wherever they're
scattered in the world. And that's from age to age, from
one generation to the next generation. He's the advocate for all His
people. Christ Jesus, our God and our Savior, will plead our
cause when it comes to every enemy that we face. He's already
pled our cause before the holy law of God. He's going to plead
our cause before... The very enemies he uses, men
and powers and principalities, are all ruled by the Lord. When
he loses Satan for a little season, it doesn't mean Satan's going
to have free reign. He can only do what the Lord permits him
to do. But all these powers and principalities and men that He
uses to correct His people and chasten His people, and while
He's making it effectual in our heart and spirit and in truth
so that we know it's the Lord and we know it's Him, listen,
when He's done using those that He uses to correct, He'll plead
our cause. He will stand between His people
and the enemy. Look at verse 22. Thus saith
thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God that pleaded the cause of
His people. Behold, I've taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury.
Thou shalt no more drink it again. Now we know He took that cup
out of our hands when Christ went to the cross and laid down
His life for us. But as far as the suffering in
this world and that time when it comes when there will be a
famine of the world, He's going to take that cup out of our hand
too. What's He going to do with it?
That cup represents His judgment. For you and me who are His, it's
His chastening, loving hand. It's His keeping, preserving
hand. But for those that are not His, it's the fierce, unmitigated
fury of His wrath. And He said, verse 23, But I
will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, which
have said to thy soul, By damn that we may go over, and thou
hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that
went over. Jeremiah 50. Jeremiah chapter 50, I want to
show you this, what Scripture said. I'll tell you something that'll
help you. When you think about the last of the last days, I've
heard so many brethren say, it sure does appear like we're living
in that little season where the Satan's been loosed. I agree,
it does. It does. But I want to give you
something. You know, it was that same way
when Christ came the first time. When Christ came the first time,
they hadn't heard a word from the Lord for 400 years. And was He able to save them?
Did Christ, the Redeemer, did He come forth and was He able
to call out His apostles and save His people? Every one of
them. Well, He will in the end too.
Look here, Jeremiah 50 verse 33, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. That's thy Lord, the Lord, brethren. That's the one who's the host.
He's ruling all the hosts of heaven and all the hosts of earth
and all the hosts of hell. He rules them all. He said, Thus
saith the Lord of Hosts, The children of Israel and the children
of Judah were oppressed together. And all that took them captives
held them fast. They refused to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is His name.
He shall thoroughly plead their cause that He may give rest to
the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. That's what the Lord
shall do. That's what He has done for us
in Christ. That's what He did when He came
and quickened you and gave you a spiritual life. And that's
what He's gonna do through every trial we go through. That's what
He's gonna do in the last of the last days. when he saves
us completely, when he returns the second time. So when he corrects
us, and even when he uses men to correct us, we say what Micah
said. You remember this, Micah? Listen to this, Micah 7, 9. This
is what we say. He settles you down. settles
you down by His chastening loving hand to look to Christ. And here's
what you say, I will bear the indignation of the Lord because
I've sinned against Him until He pleads my cause and executes
judgment for me. What's that going to look like?
He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold His
righteousness. That's what's going to happen.
And as for those that oppressed you, He said, they'll be trodden
down like the mire in the street. Our Lord declares here to His
church, though you are in the dark, though you have no light,
remember He said it in Isaiah 50, for you that love Him and
fear Him and have been called by Him and trust Him, if you're
in the darkness and you have no light, He said, you trust
in the name of the Lord and stay upon your God. And as you do,
you do so remembering this, our Redeemer, the one who laid down
his life for us, is in total sovereign control over everything
that's coming to pass. Everything. And it's only working
for His glory and our good. Everything. The Church and the
Kingdom of God is absolutely secure in Christ. He said back
up there in verse 16, He said, I've covered thee in the shadow
of My hand. That's right, you're secure in
His hand. And therefore the people of God,
every one of His people, you that He's called, the whole church
together, shall be triumphant in the end. He won't lose one. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Oh, we're waiting on this great
awakening. When He awakens, when He tells
us, stand up, stand up, the whole church is going to stand up.
And it's said when He does that, that's when He's coming. And
the whole world's going to be so afraid when He does that. But we're going to be triumphant,
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. All right,
brethren, let's go to the Lord. Our great Father, our great Lord,
our Redeemer. How we thank you that we're able
to call you our God and our Lord. Thankful we can call you our
Redeemer. And Lord, we're thankful that we are yours. The purchase
of your precious blood, your own possession. Lord, wherever
your people are, be they in darkness and despair and sorrow, wherever
they are, Lord, we pray that You'd awaken them, revive them,
renew them to know everything is well. You're ruling and reigning
and all is well for Your people. Lord, when You bring to pass
these times that are darkness for us, Remember mercy, we ask
You. Remember mercy when You're chasing
us. Remember Your grace and Your love in Christ toward us. Lord,
we're dust and we would not be able to stand up. We can only
stand by Your quickening, effectual Word making us to awake and stand. Lord, but we trust Your Word
that You are able and shall make Your servants stand. Lord, we
pray for you to come and revive us even now. Work your will,
bring glory and honor to your name, and bring us to praise
you for your grace. Lord, forgive us our unbelief,
forgive us for our despair and sorrowing. You call it light affliction,
but Lord, it seems hard to us. But we know it's to turn us to
things that are eternal from these things below. We thank
You. We praise You. We ask, Lord,
that You bring glory and honor to Your name. Save us for Christ's
sake. Amen.