Alright brother, now in Isaiah
48, I want to focus your attention
on a verse here. Isaiah 48. The Lord said in verse 18, Oh that
thou hast hearkened to my commandments. Oh that you had listened. Oh,
that you had obeyed my commandment. Then had thy peace been as a
river, thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, thy seed also
had been as the sand and the offspring of thy bowels like
the gravel thereof. His name should not have been
cut off or destroyed from before me. Oh, that you had listened. Oh, that you had obeyed my commandment. Let's go back up now and let's
go through this together and let's hear what the Lord is saying.
The Lord Jesus is the one speaking. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
This is in Isaiah's day, but He's eternal and He's speaking
as one who'd already come into the earth and been made a man
and speaking to His people. He says in verse 12, Harken unto
me, O Jacob, and Israel my call. Now, are you Jacob? Are you Jacob? Do you fit the character of Jacob
in your sinful nature? Are you just a cheater? Are you
just a supplanter, just a vile, wicked, ungodly sinner? Well,
are you Israel? Are you so sinful, so ungodly,
that the only way God could save you is if He did it entirely
by grace only? Chose you simply because He would,
loved you simply because He would in Christ with no cause in you.
Does that fit? Do you fit that? I do. I'm Jacob and I'm Israel. Jacob,
sinful, wretched, wicked, ungodly sinner. And Israel, simply because
God had to choose me by grace. There ain't no other way He could
have saved me. He couldn't have found any merit in me. Well,
if that's so for you, then here's what the Savior says. First of
all, Christ reveals who He is. He reveals who he is. He says,
verse 12, hearken to me, O Jacob and Israel, my God. I am he. I am the first. I also am the
last. Christ, that man, Jesus of Nazareth,
who walked this earth, he's God. He is the great I am. He is Jehovah,
the existing one. That's who he is. Moses said,
God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, he's
at that burning bush, and he said, behold, God, when I come
to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, the God of
your fathers have sent me to you. That's who Christ is. He's the God of your fathers.
And I say, he sent me to you. And they shall say, what's his
name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am that
I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say to the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. I am. If you go with me over
to John, our Lord Jesus declared that's him. The Lord Jesus is the great I
Am in human flesh. He's God in human flesh. Emmanuel,
God with us, all-powerful, self-existing, always present I Am. Unchanging. In Gethsemane, in
John 18.4, in Gethsemane, I hope I wrote each of these scripture
references down right. In John 18.4 in Gethsemane, They came forward to Him and
He said, Whom seek ye? And they answered, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am. I am. Verse 6, And soon then
as He said to them, I am, they went backward and fell to the
ground. Look at John 6, verse 35. John
6, 35. You and I are spiritually dead
by nature. We have no life whatsoever. Who's the life of those that
are saved? Christ Jesus, the great I am.
He said in John 6.35, I am the bread of life. I am. He's the great I am. He's the
bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. You that know Him. Isn't it so?
You've never hungered or thirsted for righteousness since He called
you. You have a perfect righteousness all the time. His people are
in darkness. Look at John 8. These people
are in darkness. Who is this one that's speaking
here? He said in verse 12, I am the
light of the world. He's the great I am. I am the
light of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You may have
some dark seasons, but he said, I'll never take my light from
you. You're going to have the light of life. Look over at John
10. John 10, we can't come into God's
presence. We need a new and a living way
into God's presence. Long as the law is over us, it's
just like it was in that tabernacle. You can't enter the holiest of
holies. We couldn't, nobody in that under the law could enter
the holiest of holies. That's the absurdity of a man
saying he wants to be under the law. If you're under the law,
you can't enter the holiest of holies. They couldn't go in that
holiest of holies. Not even in the earthly tabernacle.
How are we gonna come in the holy of holies into God's presence? Only by the I am. He said in
John 7, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. I am. He said in verse 9, I'm
the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall
go in and out if I pass you. John 14, 6, he said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father by
me, but by me. He's the only way. He is the
truth. He is the life. There is no other
but him, the great I am. Look at John 10. We're like little sheep. A little
sheep, you know a little sheep, it'll just wander off. It'll
just go walking off and just wander off, go astray. You know
if a sheep gets tipped over on its back, it just lays there. It can't get up. It can't get
back on its feet. That's me and you. That's us. If a wolf comes around, a sheep
can't protect itself. It's a sheep. It don't have an
ability to fight. That's us. We need a shepherd. Who's the shepherd? He said in
John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. I am. The great God of glory,
Christ Jesus, He's the great I am, the good shepherd. The
good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. He said in verse
14, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known
of mine. He said they should hear my voice and there'll be
one foal and one shepherd. We went astray, but he found
us and he brought us back to him. He's the good shepherd and
he keeps leading and guiding his sheep. You and me, look at
John 15, we're absolutely incapable of doing anything without the
Lord. We can't produce fruit of ourselves,
not in ourselves or of ourselves, and when you talk about the fruit
of a sinner who's recreated and born again, we can't produce
that fruit. But he said in John 15, five, he said, I am the vine. It says, cry, I am the great
I am. I am the vine. You're the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you
can do nothing. These bodies of death, John 11,
these bodies of death one day, they're going to go back to the
dust. They're going back to the dust. Well, how are you going
to obtain that eternal inheritance? How are you going to be with
the Lord in body, soul, and spirit in perfection? How's that going
to happen? John 11, 25, Jesus said, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Now let
me show you something in John 8. Why are you telling me this? Why is he telling us this? In
our text, he's declaring, if you'd hearken to me, Will you
hearken to Him today? Listen. John 8. Why is He telling
us all this? John 8, 24. Here's why. I said unto you that you shall
die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am, you shall die in your sins. You know what faith believes?
That He's the Son of God. That's faith. If somebody comes
to me and they want to confess Christ, I'm not interested in.
I've had people come tell me, oh, I believe the doctrine of
election and I believe the doctrine of particular redemption and
not say a word about Christ. You know what I told them? Let's
just wait a while. What did the Ethiopian eunuch
say? I believe he is the son of God.
Unless you believe that I am. You'll die in your sin. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
the I Am, and believe that you might have life through His name,
and neither is there any other name. There's no other name under
heaven whereby we must be saved. God came down and saved His people. Now, go back to our text. That's
who's speaking. And he says this in verse 12,
he said, I am the first and I also am the last. He said, he told
the Pharisees before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham was,
I am. He said in Revelation 1.8, I
am Alpha and Omega. That's what he says in our text.
I'm Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty. You know that baby born in Bethlehem? That baby that was born in Bethlehem,
that little baby that was born in Bethlehem is the great I am. God, that's who that was. That
was God. The immutable Jehovah, the Alpha
and Omega, He that is and was and is to come, eternal, the
author and finisher of salvation of His people. Now that's who's
speaking here. That's who's speaking. He said, oh that you'd hearken
to me. Believe we better listen to Him,
don't you? Believe we better hearken and obey what He said.
This is the one who's speaking. Well, next he reveals what he
has done and what he is able to do. He declares what he has
done and what he is able to do. Verse 13, he said, mine hand
also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand
hath spanned the heavens, and when I call to them, they stand
up together. Child of God, you that believe
Him, listen, the same One who laid down His life for you, who
shed His blood for you, who redeemed you, who is your righteousness
with God, that same One created everything. He created everything. He said, with one hand I laid
the foundation of the earth and with the other I spanned the
heavens. I created everything. Colossians 1.16 said, By Him
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and by Him all things
consist. This is our Savior. The same
sovereign Savior is now risen. He's the God-man mediator. He's risen now as the God-man
mediator. He's got all power And he has
it all, it's all his alone. There is no other power but him.
You know that? Men that appear to have power
only have power because he gives it to them. He told Pharaoh,
I raised you up to show my power. Men don't have power. He's the
only one that's got power. Verse 13, and this is what he
says about his creation. When I call unto them, he said,
I created them all. He said, and when I call unto
them, they stand up together. That's how he created them. He
just spoke and created everything out of nothing. Me and you's
never created anything with our hands, much less spoke and created
something out of nothing. He created everything out of
nothing. And that's how He rules everything.
He said He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.
That's how He rules everything. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to nothing. He makes devices of the people
of no effect. How? He just calls to His host
of heaven and His host in this earth and they stand up. They
do whatever He commands. Wins. Blow from west to east
and be a hurricane across Missouri. Done. Hurricane wind, blow. Come up
from the Gulf and come up the Gulf of Mexico into the south.
Done. Whatever he commands, it's done.
Hail or fall, it's done. He performs all His counsel and
none can stop Him. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever in the thoughts of His heart to all generations. This
is the same one. Now you want to talk about loving
His people? You want to talk about loving
the Father? You want to talk about being perfectly faithful
and perfectly righteous? Being long-suffering and patient
and doing everything for His elect sake? This same one who
has all this power to do all this, submitted to let men pluck
the hairs of his beard out and spit in his face. And right now, he permits men
to take the breath he gives them and blaspheme his name, take
his name in vain. But our gods in the heaven, He
had done whatsoever He had pleased. Everything He did when He submitted
to suffer that cross, He did what He determined before to
be done. He was accomplishing His will and His purpose to save
His people from our sin. He uses entire nations to accomplish
his will. He uses men and women, and they
do exactly what he's determined to do, and they think they're
doing only what they will to do. They boast in their will
that they're doing what they want to do. They boast at how
much they accomplished and what they accomplished, and all the
while, they have no idea they're doing exactly what he made them
to do. Isaiah 14, 24, the Lord of hosts
hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. I will break the Assyrian in
my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall
his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off
their shoulder. This is the purpose that's purposed
upon the whole earth. This is the hand that's stretched
out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back? He said, I'm just using this
Syrian as an example, but I do this throughout the whole earth,
throughout all time. This is how I do everything.
If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop
under him. When he gives quietness, who
can make trouble? When he hides his face, who can
behold him? Whether it's done against a nation
or against a man only. That's God. So, he says now verse
14. All ye assemble yourselves and
hear which among them hath declared these things. You ever heard
anybody, do you hear anybody in our day amongst all the popular
preachers and all the politicians and all the people, all the talking
heads, do you hear anybody declaring this God? Do you hear anybody
of all man's idol God, do you hear anybody declaring this God
right here that we're talking about? Not a one, not a one. All right, next. God the Father's
gonna speak about Him. But then it sounds like it's
Him speaking. But it sounds like it's the Father
speaking. Why? Because if you hear one, you
hear the other. Because they're one. That's why it sounds that
way. Listen to verse 14. Isaiah 48, 14. He says, the Lord
hath loved him. He will do His pleasure on Babylon,
and His arms shall be on the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken, yea,
I have called Him, I have brought Him, and He shall make His way
prosperous." God is so well pleased with His Son. He said He shall
make His way prosperous. He said in Isaiah 53.10, it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. brought satisfaction to divine
justice, saved his people from our sins, fulfilled his everlasting
purpose, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to
grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. That's what he says in our text. He will prosper in
all of God's pleasure. save every one of His people.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged until He has set judgment in
the earth. And His people in the isles all over this world
are going to wait for His gospel. This is the true God. This is
the Savior. This is the great I Am who is
the Savior of His people. Then we have the Lord Jesus speaking
in this earth to the Jews who rejected Him. Now he's speaking
in the earth, he's speaking to the Jews, to Israel, to the scribes
and Pharisees and all who rejected him when he was in this earth.
And he says this, you know how he, remember how he, when he
walked this earth, he continually bid them come to me. And he says
here in Isaiah 48 verse 16, come ye near unto me and hear ye this.
What's He saying, come here? What's He declaring? He's just
telling us who He is and what He does, how He saves. What's
He tell you to come in here? Why does He tell you assemble
together? Come ye, come here. What's He telling you to come
here? He's telling you to come here about Him, about His person,
about His works, not about us, about Him. He constantly was saying this
when He walked this earth. He said, Come ye near to Me,
hear ye this. Will you come to Him today? Will
you come and hear? Will you come now? You sit there. Will you listen to what He's
saying? This is the Lord of glory, the Savior. When He walked this
earth, He said, All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.
No man knows the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man
the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
Him. I draw near to Him because if
you're going to know Him, it's only going to be by Him revealing
Himself to you. But He said this, listen now,
Man gets so upset about election. Oh, that's stopping people from
coming. It ain't stopping nobody. He
said, come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. He's saying, oh, come to me.
Come on. You laboring? You heavy laden? Come to me. I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, learn of me. I'm meek, I'm lowly in
heart. You'll find rest to your souls,
for my yoke's easy and my burden's light." We're fixing to hear
him in a minute say, oh, that you'd hearken to me and obey
my commandments. He's fixing to tell us here in
a minute, he's going to say, show us how light and easy this
yoke is. Listen to him now and obey what
he says. He says, verse 16, I've not spoken
in secret from the beginning. I've not spoken in secret from
the beginning. I'm not hiding anything. You know, in the garden,
in the very beginning, in the garden, He's the one that spoke
to Adam. He's been speaking through all
the law, through all the prophets. He's been speaking the whole
time in all these pictures and types in His Word. He recorded
it all through the ages. Then He came in person. And he
was every day in the synagogues, speaking, declaring who he is.
He's been declaring who he is ever since then, through this
gospel. He's been declaring himself from
the beginning. He has not hid any, we can't plead ignorance. I've not spoken to Zeke from
the beginning. He said in John 18, 20, I speak
openly to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple where the Jews always resort, and in secret
have I said nothing. Nobody can plead ignorance. I've
been preaching. I've been speaking from the beginning,
he said. He said in verse 16, from the
time that it was, there am I, and now the Lord God and His
Spirit has sent me. From the time time began, he's
been speaking. And he said, and now the Lord
God and His Spirit has sent me. There he is standing on the earth
speaking. And he told the Pharisees, he said, if God were your Father,
he said, you'd love me because I proceeded forth and came from
God. He said, from the beginning,
there I am. I'm wisdom who was with the Father
in the beginning, before every time was made. And there I was,
I'm wisdom in the garden. He said, all through the ages,
when the burning bush, there I am. Whenever Isaiah beheld the glory
of the Lord and said, woe is me, there I am. He said, and
now I've come forth. And he said, the Lord sent me.
He's speaking, he's here today speaking. There he is, he's speaking.
Wherever his gospel's going forth, it's the Lord speaking. He declares who he is now. Now
this is who he is to you in whose heart he's spoken, who he's given
faith to believe in. This is what he is to you particularly.
But He's declaring this to all, and He's saying, all who bow
and trust Him for everything, this is what He'll be to you
now. This is what He is to you, who He's called, made this gospel
affectionate. Thus, verse 17, thus saith the
Lord, thy Redeemer. He's thy Redeemer. He's the one
who laid down His life for you. who know Him, you that He's called,
revealed Himself to, He laid down His life for you, and bought
you, paid His blood for you, purchased you, redeemed you from
the curse, and He says, you're Mine. I'm not going to lose you. Paid too dearly for you, you're
Mine. He's the Holy One of Israel. He's the Holy One just for you,
His people. He's the Holy One in whom, with
Him in you, you're holy, and that's how you've been turned
to see that in Him, by Him, you are in a sanctuary, separated,
holy, kept, and will never be separated from. He's the Holy
One of Israel. I'm the Lord thy God. I'm the
Lord, the existing Jehovah, and I'm your covenant God. I made
my covenant, I awarded it, I purposed it, I came and fulfilled it,
and then I came and made it to you. I'm the Lord thy God, I'm
your covenant keeping God. And I teach thee to profit and
lead thee by the way that thou shouldest go. That's who He is. He doesn't teach you anything
but how to profit. I teach you how to profit. Every
word the Lord says is teaching you how to profit. That's all
He teaches His people. I teach you in the way you should
go. He said, though the Lord give you the bread of adversity,
Sometimes He gives you the bread of adversity because He's teaching
you how to profit. He said, but though the Lord
give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
your teachers will not be removed into a corner anymore. Not when
He's called you. Your teachers will not be removed
into a corner anymore. He said, your ears will hear
a word behind thee when you turn to the right or the left saying,
this is the way, walk ye in it. Sometimes that might be one of
his messengers he uses to speak, but he don't have to use his
messenger. If you turn to the right hand or the left, you can
hear that still small voice say, this ain't the way. This don't honor me. Turn from
that way, follow thou me. You wanna know the law we're
under? You wanna know how we're led?
That's how we're led. He said, I'm the one that teaches
you to profit. I'm leading you in the way that you should go.
You and me know, we can't plead dignity. We know, you know when
you ain't supposed to be doing what you doing. You know that,
I do too. But it takes him speaking in
your heart affection and make you realize this will not profit. and He'll make you hearken, He'll
make you bow and obey. And isn't that what you want?
Don't you find yourself, I pray all the time, I've been praying
lately, Lord, turn me, just turn me. You can just, you can break,
you can break me of my sin. You can just turn me and stop
this, stop me. I ask Him that all the time. I don't want to sin against him.
He can do that. He's the only one that can. He's declaring now, this is what
he's saying. Now this is what he is to his
people who he speaks to affectionately. But he's declaring, this is the
general call going forth. And he's saying, this is what
he will be to you if you bow and you trust him and you believe
him. This is what he'll be to you. You know, the majority in Israel
despised and rejected him. The majority in Israel despised
and rejected him. And here's what he said to him.
He said all these things when he walked this earth. He told
him who he is, told him he's the creator, told him before
Abraham was, I am. He gave him all those I am's.
I'm the life, I'm the door, I'm the bread. He declared all this
to him. And he said, now just come to
me. and believe on me, you'll find rest for your soul. That's
what he's saying right now. But they despised him and they
rejected him. They said, no, there's more to
it than this. There's more to it than this. Listen to what
he said, verse 18. Oh, that thou has hearkened to
my commandments. Oh, that you had listened to
me and obeyed my commandments. Then had thy peace been as a
river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. Thy
seed also had been as the sand, and that offspring of thy bowels
like the gravel thereof. His name should not have been
cut off nor restored from before me. That's the promise he made
to Abraham. Remember, we saw it this morning.
That's the promise he made to Abraham. And Abraham believed
him. And you know what our Lord Jesus
gave Abraham? Peace like a river. He had the
peace of knowing wherever he went, whatever he did, the Lord
said, I'm cursing them that curse you and I'm blessing them that
bless you. Ain't a soul gonna touch you. I am your shield and
your exceeding great reward. I'm your salvation, I'm your
righteousness, I'm your acceptance with God. I've saved you, I'm
gonna keep you, and I'm gonna fulfill all my promise to you.
Peace like a river, that's what that is, that's peace. That's
what you and me have, peace. Peace, my peace I give unto you.
Peace reconciled with God. Knowing you have peace with God.
God called Abraham a friend. You know how he did that? Because
Christ gave him peace like a river. Eternal righteousness forever.
Acceptance with God. And He's brought forth all Abraham's
spiritual seed, just like the sand of the sea. All those that
God calls to faith in Christ are Abraham's seed, and they're
as innumerable as the sand of the sea. Can't be numbered. Christ
promised He'd do all that. And in Abraham, I mean in Christ,
Abraham's name hadn't been cut off. We're still talking about
his name right now, aren't we? Why won't any of the elect, redeemed,
called children of God, why won't your name be cut off? Because
our name's Christ's name, and His name won't ever be cut off.
He was cut off in our room instead one time, and our name will never
be cut off now, because our name's His name. See that? He said, if you had
just hearkened to me, and obeyed my commandment, you'd have what
Abraham had. Why is it that men have... Why is it that men have so much problem simply believing Christ? Men hear that word commandments,
and oh yeah, that's right, we got to keep those ten commandments.
That ain't what he's talking about. What did he tell them
to do? He said, believe on me. He said, love your brethren. Submit to one another. He said,
love them as I've loved you. He said, I'm going to give you
some messengers to preach this gospel to you. Obey them. Submit
to them. Believe me that I'm ruling them
for you. I'm correcting their mistakes
for you so I can teach you that I'm the one that does the chasing.
You don't do it. And I'm doing it to teach you
that I'm the one chasing you and correcting you. And I'm going
to keep you, and I'm going to save you, and I'm going to get
all the glory for doing it." That's what he's declaring to
his people. And you know His people hear that word and His
people bow. And here's what He says to His
people, verse 20. Go ye forth of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans
with a voice of singing. Declare this to My people. Tell
this, utter it to the end of the earth. Say, Ye the Lord hath
redeemed His servant Jacob. And they thirsted not, when He
led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow
out of the rock for them. He clathed the rock also, and
the waters gushed out. This is our Redeemer, just like
He did for them in Babylon, and He delivered them out of national
Babylon by Silas. So our Lord Jesus came, and He's
delivered His people out of mystical Babylon. He delivered us from
the curse and condemnation of the law. He's delivered us from
the bondage of our sin nature. He is the rock through whom the
water of life gushes out to His people, and He's leading us through
this wilderness, and He's continually giving us the bread of life and
the water of life, and He's providing every other lesser thing we need,
and He's keeping us. Why won't men trust him to do
everything else with their brethren, and their pastor, and all his
people wherever he is, and stop trying to run roughshod over
people? Why won't men do it? Because they don't believe him,
that's why. Oh, that thou had hearkened to
my voice. Oh, that thou had hearkened to
my voice. He's the faithful shepherd. Now you get this point right
here. Here's the point of the whole passage. Here's the point
of the whole passage. Christ said to those who reject
him, if you had hearkened to my commandment, if you'd believed
on me, if you'd have believed my father, if you'd have assembled
with my people, loved my brethren, love my people, forgive them
as I have forgiven you, help one another to hear this gospel
and proclaim this to one another and keep looking to me and trusting
me to save you. He said, everything I did for
Abraham be true to you. Now listen to what he said now,
Matthew 23, 37. He said this, he literally said this to Israel.
He stood and he said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent to thee. How often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." That's what
Christ said to him. You wouldn't. And he said, behold,
your house is left to you desolate. There is no peace, saith the
Lord, unto the wicked. Who are the wicked? Every sinner
that refuses to bow and believe on Christ. That's who the wicked
are. Every sinner in this world who
refuses to bow, believe Christ, and trust Him for everything. Will you be like Reparate Israel?
Now listen carefully to what I'm going to say. What if some
did not believe? Preacher, you sound like you're putting it
in the hand of the sinner. Oh, no, no, no, no. Listen. If
you don't believe, you're not making the faith of God without
effect. If a man doesn't believe, he
just proves what Christ said. Without me, you can do nothing.
Without him, you can't obey him. I can't either. That's the only
thing we prove. If we won't bow and believe Christ,
if we're gonna depart from the gospel, if we're gonna reject
the prophets he sends to us and all the things he said that involved
in disobedience, if we're gonna do that and not trust him only,
All we've proven is, we can't. Without Him, we can't. But He said, if you had of all
this peace and all this salvation and all this goodness I give
my people, He said, it'd all been yours. I'd have done it
for you. See, the fault's not His. Oh,
well, I know God's sovereign. Stop blaming God's sovereignty
for our own sin and rebellion. He said, I'd have gathered you.
But the question he puts forth in our text is this. This is
the question he's saying. He's not a beggar now. That's
not what we have here. Here's what he's saying to everybody
in this earth who hadn't bowed to him yet. Why will you die? Why will you die? Why will you
perish? Just bow. Just submit to me. Just fall
down and confess your sin and ask for mercy and beg mercy and
I'll save you. That's what He said. That's what
He said. Hear Him, believe Him, you'll
have peace like a river. Not only that, you'll have an
innumerable family as the sand of the sea. Peace with God, peace
with your brethren, peace in His family and an innumerable
family. And it'll all be Christ. And
full assurance of knowing Christ has you in the palm of his hand
and everything's running just like it should be. Well, you
know, that's a piece there. When you constantly got to blame
everybody and everything and the politicians and debating
and hooking and crooking and it's this one's fault and that
one's fault and everything's conspiracy and this and that,
that's a miserable human being. But when you know he's got it,
it's good. I'm good. It's all good. Remember
that Emmett Smith commercial? It's all good. The running, the
jumping, it's all good. And with God, it's all good.
You just trust him. Peace like a river. For you that
he's called, I pray he make you lay down in green pasture, the
green pasture of his grace, and know this is our Savior, the
great I Am. He does not fail and shall not
fail. He's salvation. Amen. All right, Brother Greg.