All right, brethren, let's turn
to Psalm 68. Back to Psalm 68. Now this is the gospel beginning
to the end. I just want to look at these
six verses, but before we get into the verses, I want us to
see who this Psalm is speaking about. Who's it speaking about? Now, in the original Hebrew,
there's a lot of different names for God used in this psalm. Verse
1, when it says, let God arise, the word is Elohim. Let Elohim
arise. That's often used in reference
to God as the judge. The judge. He is the judge. Verse 4, he says, extol him that
writeth upon the heavens by his name, Yah. We're saying hallelujah. The last three letters is this
name of God. It means praise Jehovah, praise
God. And that's a shortened version
of Jehovah. It's not a contraction. It actually
is a very sacred word and it means the existing one. the existing one. Verse 11, the
Lord, as Jehovah, same as Yah, but that's the actual word, Jehovah,
would dwell in His holy hill forever, the existing, the eternal
one. Verse 19, It says, blessed be
the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God,
the El, of our salvation. And it means the strength of
our salvation. The strength. You have him here
as Elohim, the judge, Yah, the existing one, Adonai, the sovereign,
controlling, supreme ruler. You have Shaddai, The almighty,
the most powerful, you have Jehovah, the eternal one, and El, strength
of our salvation. Now who is this that he's talking
about? Who is this? Look at verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high, Thou
hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men,
yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell
among them. Ephesians 4a tells us that's
Christ. And this whole psalm, all those
different names of God, is fulfilled in Christ. He is Yah, Christ
is Yah, the eternal existing one. From the beginning, Christ
has been the one mediator between God and man. From before the
foundation of the world, to the garden, to the last select child
is gathered in, Christ is the one through whom God deals with
his people. He's the one in whom He manifests
Himself. Christ is the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. The fullness of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in a body. If you took
all those names, you could put Jesus at the end of all of them.
He's Yah-Jesus. He's El-Jesus. He's Shaddai-Jesus. He is Jehovah-Jesus. That's who he is. He said, you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. He said, I and my Father are
one. He's the judge, all judgment's been given to Christ. He's Yah,
the existing, eternal one, God eternal. He's Adonai, the sovereign,
controlling God. Christ is El Shaddai, the strength,
the almighty God of our salvation. Now David wrote this psalm when
they were moving the ark, and they were taking it from the
house of Obed Odom, and they were moving it, Obed Edom, and
they were moving it to Mount Zion. And you know, the ark pictured
Christ, it was where God promised his presence would be, between
the cherubim over the mercy seat. And so, I could see David looking
at this ark, but by faith, with spiritual discernment, He was
looking to Christ, not just a piece of wood. He saw he was looking
to Christ by faith. And so when they began to move
this ark, when they picked it up by the staves and they began
to move with this ark, this is the song they sang. As we go,
I'm gonna show you there's some stages in this song that sort
of, you can sort of see Christ going through the ages and progressing
along as he goes and going to the cross and then ascending
up to Mount Zion at God's right hand and then the work he's doing
in this earth now. It progresses like that in stages.
But tonight I just want to focus on these six verses, but you
see verse one, he says, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered,
let them also that hate him flee before him. Now that's the exact
words Moses spoke. way back there whenever they
would move the ark. When the ark would be moving,
when the whole camp of Israel would be around, it says Numbers
10.35, it came to pass when the ark set forward that Moses said,
rise up Lord, let thine enemies be scattered, let them that hate
thee flee before thee. So this is the song Moses wrote
it when they're moving the ark and he wrote it as a song that
they would sing any time it moved. Now look at verse two. As smoke
is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the
fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let
the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God,
yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to
His name. Extol Him that rideth upon the
heavens by His name, Yah, and rejoice before Him. All of that,
all of those words right there, Rejoice before God, let them
exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to
his name. Extol him that rideth upon the
heavens by his name. Yah and rejoice before him. That's the intensity of the word
hallelujah. That's what that word means.
More than just praise God, it means with that kind of fervency
is what that word means. A father of the fatherless, a
judge of the widows is God in his holy habitation. God said
of the solitary and families, he bringeth out those which are
bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Christ is
Yah. He's Jah. Christ is the existing
one who has, is, and shall save his people from all our enemies. That's who he is. He is the existing
eternal God. The existing eternal God. Verse
4, sing unto God, sing praises to His name, extol Him that writheth
upon the heavens by His name, Yah, and rejoice before Him. When He says here, He writhes
upon the heavens by His name, Yah, it means He existed before
the heavens, it means He created the heavens, and it means He
controls the heavens. That's power. And that's who
Christ is. He's the self-existing, everlasting,
I am, the eternal God, the second person in the Trinity. He said in Revelation 1a, Christ
speaking, he said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which
is to come, the Almighty. He's eternal. You can't speak
of him in the past tense or the present tense or the future tense.
In our language, we have to say he is, he was, and he is to come. He's eternal. He's eternal. He's
God, and that's God. God's eternal. He's the existing
one. When he appeared to Moses in
the burning bush, God said unto Moses, I am that I am. We can't even get our puny little
mind around that. I am that I am. Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me to you. Before time was created. Go with
me to Proverbs 8. Before time was created, he is the I am. Proverbs 8. And look at verse 22. He was
the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God in eternity.
Proverbs 8, 22. The Lord possessed me. Not created
me. Possessed me. The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of His way before His works of old. I was
set up from everlasting. from the beginning or ever the
earth was. When there were no delts, I was
brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust
of the world. Christ is wisdom. He was with
God. John 1, look there with me. He's the word who is God. John 1, 1. It says, in the beginning
was the Word. This is Yah, this is Christ,
the existing one, the eternal God. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. When the
Scripture speaks of Christ being begotten of the Father, It doesn't
mean that he was created or born of the Father. It means Christ
was in the bosom of the Father. It means Christ was one with
the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He's the second person
in a trinity. He's the Word of God. He's the
wisdom of God. We just worship one God. People
want to try to work out in their mind, you know, when there was
God the Father, and when the Son of God came into being, and
when He became the Christ and came into being. He's the I Am. He's the existing one. He's the
eternal one. Our prayer is let God arise. Let Him save us from our enemies. He arose for His elect in eternity. Before He made anything, before
we even fell in Adam, He arose. Let God arise. He arose for His
people in eternity. In Christ, God the Father chose
a people and purposed all His acts of grace toward His people
and gave the whole work into Christ's hand. He's first in
God's thoughts. He's first in His purposes. He's
first in His decrees concerning our salvation. It was in Christ
that the covenant was made. And so much eternally done when
he decreed it that God calls Christ the covenant. I've given
thee for a covenant to the people. And you say, was Christ in the
beginning? Was he with God then? Listen, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he chose
us in him before the foundation of the world. That we should
be holy without blame before him in love. Go to Colossians
1. He's Yah, he's the existing one. He is Jehovah. He's God. He's God, eternal God. Colossians... One, look here in verse 15. Verse
15. He's the image of the invisible
God. He said there right in the verse
before it, He spoke about the kingdom of his dear son. He says
we have redemption in him through his blood, the forgiveness of
sin. He says, and Christ is the image of the invisible God. You want to see the invisible
God? Behold Christ. Look at this, the firstborn of
every creature. That means he was before everything
created. Why? For by him were all things
created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. And he's before all things. And
by him, all things consist. And he's the head of the body,
the church. This is what's marvelous. This
one we're talking about, who's before all things and created
all things and has all power and is the eternal existing God,
He's our head, brethren. He's our savior, our keeper,
our defender, our provider, what we just sang. That's who He is. It says, the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Some people
want to say, well, They want to put God the Father and God
the Spirit as if they're at odds with the Son of God, with Christ,
and will say, well, you need to talk more about God the Father,
you need to talk more about God the Holy Spirit. We talk about
Christ, we're talking about God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. We don't worship three gods,
or as some people would think, four gods, counting Christ. In
Christ is our one God. He's the God-man mediator. We behold the invisible God in
Christ Jesus the Lord. Unto the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write, these saying saith the amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. That's
who he is. He's always gone before his people. That's the point I'm trying to
make. He went before his people in
eternity. He arose for us in eternity,
and he's been going before us in everything that he does. He's
self-existent. He's the eternal God. He's the
I am. Even before we fail, he arose
for us. They're saying, let God arise.
Even before we fell, he arose for us. Can you prove that? Look
at 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter one. Some of you are very familiar
with this, but I want those that aren't to read it. 2 Timothy
chapter one, and look at this. He says in verse nine, He says, God hath saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. God doesn't do anything
by accident. That's how we do things. God
does everything on purpose. And he knew who he would save,
he knew Christ would do the saving, and he knew how it all would
be worked out, and he willed and purposed it all and gave
it all to the hands of Christ before this world was made. And
then he came forth. He says, but he's now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
So my point here is he's Yah, he's the eternal existing one.
Christ has always been going before his people, even before
there was a people to go before, as far as physical goes. He was, we were in him then. Now look, secondly, knowing this,
knowing he arose for us in eternity, then we can be sure he will arise
for his people in time. I go back at verse one, let God
arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee
before him, as smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As
wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the
presence of God. This is at the presence of God
our Savior, the presence of Christ, the presence of Yah, at his presence. You remember whenever Moses was
in the wilderness and he said this, He said, he said, if you don't go with
us, the Lord said, my presence shall go with thee and I will
give thee rest. And Moses said to him, if thy
presence go not with us, carry us not up hence. We don't wanna
go if your presence don't go with us. For wherein shall it
be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy
sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. The only way we're gonna be separated out and kept separated
and defended and protected and saved is the presence of God. presence of Christ with us. And
when he goes forth, his presence, those who hate Christ, the devil
and all his seed who hate Christ, they're the enemies of Christ,
but they cannot come up against him. His presence drives them
away like smoke, like smoke before the wind, like wax before the
sun of righteousness, they melt before Him. The Lord your God
is He that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies
to save you. He said in Psalm 12, verse 5,
for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
now will I arise, saith the Lord, and set him in safety from him
that puffeth at him. He said in Isaiah 45, 2, I will
go before thee. and I'll make the crooked places
straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and
sunder the bars of iron. And I will give thee the treasures
of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest
know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy name, I'm the God
of Israel. In the garden after the fall,
Christ arose for us. That's right, in the garden as
soon as Adam took of that fruit and disobeyed God, Christ arose
for us. There's one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. If God's talking to a man, it's
Christ doing it. He's the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And what happened
with Adam and Eve? They fell in sin and what did
they do? Soon as they heard the voice of Yah speak. said they
hid themselves from what? The presence of God. All enemies are gonna try to
flee from before Him. And when we were enemies in our
mind by wicked works, we tried to flee from before Him. Throughout
history, Christ arose for His people. When the children of
Israel were in the wilderness, He had a people there, His chosen
people, and He arose for those people. and defended those people
and went before those people. Look down at verse 7. Oh God,
when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march
through the wilderness, that seems like an odd place to put
a sea lion, doesn't it? But look what he said, the earth
shook. The heavens also dropped at the
presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at
the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst
send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance
when it was weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. Thou, O God, hast prepared of
thy goodness for the poor. That was Christ in the cloud,
it was Christ in the fire that went before them. It was Christ
who made the rain fall in the desert like it had never fallen
for his people. It was Christ who made the bread,
the manna, fall from heaven and fed them. He even pictured himself
in that bread. He's the one that gave the quail.
He's the one, he's the smitten rock from whom water came out. He went before them all through
that desert, and look what the result was, verse 2, I mean verse
12. Kings of armies did flee apace. Kings of armies fled from before
Him, like smokes driven away by the wind. Verse 14, the Almighty
scattered kings in it. He did that for His people. See,
from the beginning, He's always been going before his people.
In eternity, he went before. He arose and went before us.
When he entered the covenant of grace in the garden, we had
to be born if we're gonna be saved. So he came forth, saved
our mother and our father, Adam and Eve. And in the wilderness,
the children of Israel, Christ is gonna come through the seed
of Judah. He gotta save them. and he had a people there, and
he's going before them, and he's providing for them, he's protecting
them, he's making sure they're safe, no harm came to them as
they went through that wilderness. And then on the cross, Brother
Scott just read, he told Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That serpent Those serpents came and they were biting all the
Israelites. And they began to complain, we're
being bit by these poisonous serpents. We're going to die,
we're dying off here by these poisonous serpents. A picture
of the devil, a picture of sin entering in, and us dying by
sin, by the serpent's bite. And the Lord said, make a serpent
out of brass and lift it up on a pole. make the very thing that's killing
them and lift it up on a pole. And they have to look to that.
All they do is look to that and they'll be saved. And they began
to look to that serpent and God saved them. Christ said, as Moses
lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. He's the one who came forth and
was made sin for his people. He was made the thing that was
killing us. And He was lifted up on that
cross and He answered to divine justice for us. And so now God
says to you and me, look to Him. Look to Him. Stop doing. Stop
trying to work. Stop trying to do to save yourself.
Look to Christ. Believe on Christ. And you'll
be saved. That's why He came into this
world. To save His people from our sin. And when he went to
that cross, Colossians 2.14 says, he blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. That's another way of saying
he fulfilled the law for us. He blotted out all the ordinances
that were against us, which were contrary to us, took it out of
the way, nailing it to his cross. And at the same time, he spoiled
principalities and powers and made a show of them openly triumphing
over them in it. All our enemies fled before him
like smoke. They melted like wax. He triumphed
over our enemies. He conquered the devil, death,
and hell for his people. He did it by arising. Let God arise, he arose for his
people on that cross. And now what is he doing? He
arose to God's right hand with all power and all glory
as the head of his church. And right now he is working everything
in this earth, going before us, going before his people to fill
all in all. That's what he's doing. Our prayer
should always be, let God arise. Let God arise. Let God go before
us. I'm telling you, brethren, with
all the stuff you see going on in this country and in this world
today, it's not anything new. It's been going on. It's been
going on. It was going on with nations
in Israel's day in the wilderness. It was going on before that.
It was going on in Noah's day. But God's working His will. He's
going before His people. He's feeding His people, providing
for His people, saving His people. And He won't let anything, He
rides upon the heavens. This is Christ who rides upon
the heavens. Look at this last thing. Our
risen Savior continues saving His people from His holy habitation. Look here in verse five, a father
of the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God in his holy
habitation, in his holy habitat, in his holy dwelling place where
he's seated at God's right hand. God said at the solitary and
families, he bringeth out those which are bound with chains,
but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. All God's elect by virtue
of our fallen Adam, we were all Fatherless. We came into this
world fatherless because our father, Adam, died too. And we
come forth into this world fatherless. We come forth orphaned. And because
our sins separated us from Christ, our husband, we come forth into
this world as widows. And sadly, we came forth into
this world rebellious. Rebellious. No difference between
us and any other sinner in this world. None. There's nothing more helpless
than an orphan. He has nobody. He has nobody. I'm not talking about an orphan
in a home where they're doing things for him. I'm talking about
an orphan that don't have nobody, no place to go, no roof over
his head, naked, destitute, nothing. That was up. And there's nobody
who's more apt to be oppressed and taken advantage of than a
widow. A true widow was just like an
orphan. A true widow was somebody that, a widow's not somebody
who lost their spouse, but they got children to take care of
them. That wasn't considered a widow in the scriptures. A
widow was somebody that didn't have anybody to take care of them. Powerless, alone, afflicted,
oppressed, that was us dead in sins. And you know what? You
that he saved, he sent us forth into this world with this gospel,
and what are we looking for? We're looking for his chosen,
redeemed orphans. That's what we're looking for.
We're looking for his chosen, redeemed widows. That's who we're
looking for. And through this very means, through the preaching
of the gospel, Christ also arises in the hearts of his redeemed.
He arose for us in eternity, He arose for us in the garden,
He arose for us in the wilderness, He arose for us on the cross,
He arose to God's right hand for us, and then He arises in
our hearts. He finds us under the power of
the prince of the air, our enemy, but when He arises in the heart,
He finds the strong man. He said, our enemies are going
to flee before him like smoke. Those enemies, when he came to
that demoniac in Gadara, and he had a legion of devils in
him, and they had to get permission from Christ, he bound them. He
said, go out, go into the swine, and they left. And he comes to
you and me, who are under the prince of the power of the air,
and he binds us, or binds the strong man. casts him out, makes
him leave, makes him leave his house where he's gonna dwell.
And then Christ subdues the enemy of our flesh, who is just as
much a strong man while we were dead in sin. And he does it by
creating a new man within. When Christ enters in, he creates
a new man within, he gives you life and faith in him through
the Spirit of God. What's that? When am I gonna
know that's happened, preacher? What does that look like? You
can't see it. The kingdom of God comes without
observation. You'll just be sitting here in
this gospel like you're hearing it tonight, and next thing you
know, for some reason, you want to go hear it again. And for
some reason, you want to go home and look it up and see what you're
hearing. And for some reason, you start seeing some things
in the scripture you never saw before. And for some reason,
you find yourself rejoicing in it. My dad, for 36, 37 years
of my life, he never believed the gospel. And one night, Don
Fortner was leaving the church down there in Arkansas, and he
called me. And he said, Clay, he said, I don't know what's
happening, but not only is your dad listening, he's listening
with delight. What happened? He come in and
subdued the strong man. He come in and subdued the flesh.
He come in and created a new man. and he reveals himself to
you as a father of the fatherless. Adam sinned and left us orphans
in sin, but Christ our last Adam has always been and will always
be the father of his children. He's the everlasting father.
He'll never stop being our father. He brings us to see his great
love in laying down his life for us, and he brings you to
confess. Listen to Hosea 14.3. Here's what he brings you to
see. Asher shall not save us. Whatever strong man you trust
in him, whatever prince or president or anything strong that you trust,
Asher won't save us. We won't ride on horses. Neither
will we say any more to the work of our hands. You are our gods.
For in thee the fatherless find mercy. It's in Him we find mercy. And when He arises in your heart,
He reveals that He's been the judge of the widows. He's the judge of the widows.
Turn over to Isaiah 54. We were in our widowhood, and
we were oppressed by the law. We were under the curse of the
law, but Christ settled that judgment for His people. He bore
our sins. He was made a curse for His people,
and He took us out from under that curse. He made us the righteousness
of God. And when He arises in your heart,
He says to you, I've taken care of that judgment. Your sins are
forgiven, they're gone. Look here, Isaiah 54, this is
speaking to the church as his bride, but this is so of each
individual believer, this is what he says to you. Verse four,
fear not, thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for
thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and you shall not remember the approach of thy
widowhood anymore, for thy maker is thine husband. The Lord of
hosts is his name. Thou Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. You
know what he just said? He just said Christ is Yah. He
said Christ is the eternal existing God. He's your maker. He's the
God of the whole world. He's your Redeemer. Look at verse
13. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. You mean I'm going to have children?
The great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness
shalt thou be established, and you'll be far from oppression.
You were oppressed before, always under sin, always guilty before
the law, always troubled in your conscience. You're gonna be far
from oppression. Thou shall not fear, you'll be far from terror. It shall not come near thee.
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. Whosoever
shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
Behold, I've created the smith that blows the coals in the fire,
that brings forth an instrument for his work. I've created the
waster to destroy, but no weapon that's formed against thee shall
prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment
thou shalt condemn. You mean every tongue that's
gonna rise against me and charge me is gonna be condemned? How
can that be? I'm such a sinner. Here's why. This is the inheritance of the
servants of the Lord and he says their righteousness is of me. That's why. That's why. That's
how he took care of our judgment. And our Psalm says this too.
He sets the solitary in families. We were foreigners and strangers. We didn't know anybody that believed
God and didn't have a father or mother in this world. Not
really. Not really. Remember Peter, he told the Lord
one day, we've left all and followed thee. Lord said, verily I say
unto you, there's no man that hath left house, or parents,
or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God's sake
who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, right
now. Manifold more houses, and parents,
and brethren, and wives, and children, manifold more in this
present time, and then in the world to come, you'll have life
everlasting. Brethren, we have a multitude
of fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Your brethren with
Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they're our fathers. We're sisters,
we're mothers of Sarah, Rebecca, Martha, Mary. We're brethren
with Isaac and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Peter and Paul and James
and John. That's our brothers and sisters.
Look down at verse 27 of the Psalm. There's little Benjamin
with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the
princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. And we got families
all over this country and all over this world. And God is our
father and Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. It's what
Paul spoke about, what Brother Ben preached on the other night,
the whole family in heaven and in earth. That's the families
he puts you in. And he brings out those that
were bound with chains. I've got to hurry here, but the
Spirit of the Lord guides upon me, the Lord said. The Lord has
anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound. He comes
to where you are, and you're under the law, and you're bound,
and he comes and he reveals to you, you're no longer under the
law, you're under grace. I've set you free. He says to
the prisoners, go forth. He says, I paid the price to
put away all your sin, so now the guard comes and he opens
the door and he says, you're free to go. Remember Barabbas? We gotta release somebody. Barabbas
couldn't hear that. He was sitting there and everything
was quiet. And the ruler said, we gotta release one man to you.
Who do you want it to be? And they started shouting, Barabbas,
Barabbas, Barabbas. And if you're in jail awaiting
to be executed and you hear the crowd shouting, Barabbas, Barabbas,
Barabbas, don't you just know he thought he was fixing to be
executed? And then the ruler said, who do you want me delivered
to be condemned? And they began to shout, Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. And here come that jailer down
through there with them keys a-jangling. And you know Barabbas
is sitting there in that cell thinking, I'm fixing to die.
And that jailer opened up that jail cell and said, you're free
to go. Jesus Christ died in your place. That's what he comes and tells
you. That's how he opens the prison door and sets you free.
You don't stay in prison when you hear that news. You come
out. Now look over here at Zechariah 9. I'm going to close with this.
I want you to see what he says to you and me as the church now.
Look here at Zechariah 9. Verse 11, he's speaking this
to you and me, who are his church. I said, we're looking for these
orphans, we're looking for these widows, we're going forward to
set these prisoners free through the preaching of this gospel.
Now listen to what he says to us. At Zechariah 9, verse 11, he says, as for thee, also, by
the blood of thy covenant. You see, it's our covenant. It's been fulfilled by the blood
of Christ, but it's our covenant. By the blood of thy covenant,
I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no
water. He's speaking this to the church,
and he's saying to you and me, you got some prisoners that are
still out there, but I've already redeemed them. I've already redeemed
them. Now you just go forth and you
preach this word, and I'm gonna set them free. And as you preach
this word, Verse 12, he says this, to turn you to the stronghold,
you prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that
I'll render double unto thee. This is our message. We go forth
preaching the work is done. It's finished. He's already redeemed
them by the blood of the covenant. They're prisoners of hope now.
Why? Because he's going to send this
gospel to them and make them hear it, and they're going to
turn to him, and he's going to reward them double. I pray right
now that Jah would come riding upon the storm. I pray he would
come right now and speak into your heart and say, seek you
the Lord while he may be found. Call you upon him while he's
near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. He said, I'll reward
you double. He will have mercy upon him and
he will abundantly pardon him. He said, speak comfortably to
Jerusalem, cry unto her, tell her her warfare's accomplished,
her iniquity's pardoned. And she's received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sin. Her warfare's accomplished and
her iniquity's pardoned. And He sets you free. He sets
you free. That's why back in verse 4, this
is what He tells you and me to do. Sing unto God. Don't sing to each other. Don't
sing to each other. Sing unto God. If you can't carry
a tune, sing to God as loud as you can sing. Sing praises to
His name. Extol Him that rideth on the
heavens by His name, Yah, and rejoice before Him, because this
is what He's done for us. Praise Him. So we don't have
anything to worry about, do we, Cheryl? Nothing. Nothing. I pray God will bless that.