Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
48. Isaiah 48. Now this morning, we looked at
the very simple metaphor of water. And now we're going to look at
a very simple metaphor of fire. Fire. Because you see, when the
Lord gives us the showers of blessing, and Christ Water of
life enters in and we have this water. We have this well of salvation. We so often want to turn away
from the well of salvation to dry wells, to wells that will
provide us no water. And so God keeps us by correcting
us just like we do our children. And that correcting is to us
like a furnace of affliction. Look at Isaiah 48 verse 10. The Lord says, Behold, I have
refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. Now every child of God who He
will effectually call by His gospel, by His grace, to faith
in Christ, will be called by God because they are a chosen,
elected child of His grace, that He chose freely, without any
merit in them, just according to His grace and His purpose
to do them good. Because there was nothing in
us to merit that choosing. And everyone that he's chosen
to call whom Christ has redeemed, those whom he chose before the
foundation of the world, he's chosen to refine us in the furnace
of affliction. Now, not with the intense destroying
heat that like silver is refined with. He says in verse 10, Behold,
I have refined thee, but not with silver. But God's chosen
to refine his children how? The next part. I've chosen thee
in the furnace of affliction. Now it's called a furnace of
affliction because it's hot like a furnace. When God corrects
us, it is chastening. It's affliction. It's not pleasurable
at all. And it's contrary to our flesh
in every way. But the words we just sang tell
us the purpose of God in the furnace of affliction. That fourth
verse of how firm a foundation is the point I want you to get
today. When through fiery trials thy
pathway shall lie, God says my grace all sufficient shall be
thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee. Feels like it's going to. The
flame shall not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine. Now, everybody in this world
suffers. We live in a world full of sinners
and a world full of sin and everybody in this world suffers. Now, not
everyone who suffers is a child of God. But all God's chosen
shall suffer. But not all who suffer are chosen.
We have a, I got a little tomato plant. Chris and Kevin recommended
this little tomato that grows in a pot. And up until the fox
or the deer, whatever it was that ate it, up until that, I
was taking care of that tomato plant. And I'd go out there and
I would prune that tomato plant. I'd take those little suckers
that come up in between the branches and I'd snip them out. And I'd
use care when I did that. And it would cause that vine
to be broken. I mean, the surface of it to
be snapped loose. It was painful, is what I'm saying,
to that plant to do what I did. Well, at the same time, there
was briars in the flower beds and different things like that,
and I was pruning them, too. And I was taking great care with
the tomato plant to make it produce fruit. But the briars, I was
just cutting them, just cutting them down, getting them out of
the way. That's the difference between how God deals with—everybody
suffers, but God deals with His children in love and mercy and
grace. Well, He's going to lead us as
He's leading us. He's going to refine us in this
furnace of affliction. We're going to go through a wilderness.
That's what we're going through. You know, the Lord could have
taken Israel straight into Canaan, but He didn't. He took them,
if you follow the path He took them, it's a meandering path
through that wilderness. He did that on purpose. He did
that on purpose. He said over and over, I'm doing
this to prove you, to try you. And God's going to carry us through.
He's going to show us that this wilderness doesn't have any lasting
bread in it. He's going to show us we can't
find any water. As soon as we come to a well of water, it's
going to be like Mara. It's going to be bitter. We're
going to find there's no lasting oasis in this world. And God's
going to make us seek to it. Now, the person who's not His
child may find that oasis in this world. But God's children,
He's not going to allow them to find it. He's going to show
us over and over that there's nothing here, no shade here. There's nothing to protect us
from the scorching heat here. He's going to keep showing us
that all that this land is going to provide for us are storms
and scorching heat and tribulation. He's going to keep us from looking
to it. We may encounter Our brother or our sister that we thought
was as truly our brother and sister as Abel thought Cain was,
and yet they treat us like Cain treated Abel. We may come along
and God may tell us to leave your land that you grew up on,
leave your mother, your father, your sisters, your brother, leave
your family behind. And that's not pleasant, but
he'll do it. Rather than see us perish, he'll
do that. And that's a correcting, that's
a turning, that's a chastening, that's a pruning of God's children. He may make us come into contact
with those that mock us and look down on us, just as Peter was
mocked and ridiculed by the upper echelon of religion in his day,
like Noah was when he sat there in a world that nobody around
him believed. Nobody around him trusted the
Lord. And there he is, building this ark, and they're saying,
it ain't even ever rained, Noah. And he just kept on, kept on.
Think of what he endured. Think of what he endured that
whole time that he sat there and did that. In our text here,
the Lord's turned Israel and delivered them into the hands
of the Babylonians and that whole nation was taken captive. Imagine
if our whole nation was taken captive. That wouldn't be pleasant
to us, not pleasant at all. But if that's what it takes to
keep His elect remnant stayed upon Him and looking to Him,
God'll do it now just like He did it then. And it'll be for
the good of His people. Every javelin that's thrown at
you, every fiery dart, every pit that's dug by wicked hands,
every net that's laid to entangle our feet, every fire that's built
to destroy us, God's teaching His child our utter helplessness
in this flesh, our utter helplessness to save ourselves. And He's teaching
us that Christ is our shield and our defender. We may dwell
with poor ones that have nothing and we may live hand to mouth
and never have any abundance, never have any extra. That's
how God's church usually functions. But He shows us through His gospel
and by His hand of providence upon us that He's going to feed
us and sustain us just like He did Elisha with that handful
of meal and that little oil that sustained him. We're not destroyed
because our intercessor is at the right hand of the Father
and He prays now what He prayed then. And His prayer is, Father,
I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. And that's what God
does. And we don't ever learn this
anywhere like we learn it in the furnace of affliction. That's almost scary for me to
say it. Because I don't like the furnace of affliction. I
don't, but that's where we learn it. That's where we learn it.
Well, the first thing I want you to see is this. Affliction,
when we're chastened, it doesn't mean God has forsaken us, or
that he ceased to love us, or that he's turned his back on
us. Look at Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15. Have you
ever corrected your child? Have you children ever been corrected
by your father, your mother, and you? blurted out something,
you know, to the effect of, you just don't even love me or something
like that. Make you feel like they just
have just turned against you. That's not the case. Be thankful
if you've got a faithful father who will correct you. You know,
would you rather have a father that would let you play with
a deadly poisonous snake or one that's going to grab you and
snatch you away from it? Well, that's what God does for
his children. And when he does it, that's snatching us away.
It might pull our arm out of socket. And it's not pleasant,
it's not comfortable, but He's going to do it to save us. But
He's showing us when He does it that He's never forsaken us,
He's never going to leave us. You think about it. He chose
His people before the foundation of the world. That's what the
Scriptures tell us. Blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world. Now think of what has
happened to us since He chose us. We died in Adam. We spiritually came into this
world dead and went astray as soon as we were born. And that
didn't stop Him from sending the gospel and calling us by
His grace and giving us life. And even since He's done that,
we've strayed from Him and sinned against Him, and He still kept
us. His grace is not changing, and
it's not going to change. He teaches us this over and over
and over. Now let me show you this. This is how assurance we
have. We have God's everlasting covenant
written in our hearts. And that's assurance for us.
That's what David said. This is all my hope. He's made
with me an everlasting covenant. It's ordered in all things and
sure. Ordered in all things and sure.
Scott was reading that scripture just now from 2 Corinthians and
Paul said, he said, do you think that it was that in our flesh
it was yes, yes, and no, no? I don't have the power in my
flesh to make a promise to you and make that promise come to
pass. That's what Peter was saying. He said those wells without water,
they're gonna make great swelling promises to you. Promises of
vanity that they can't give. that they cannot bring to pass,
but God can. All His promises are yes and
amen in Christ Jesus. Genesis 15, 7. When God called
Abraham and made this everlasting covenant in Abraham's heart,
I want you to see what Abraham saw. Genesis 15, verse 17. It came to pass that when the
sun went down and it was dark, behold, he says, a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp. that passed between those pieces. Now let me tell you what had
taken place. The Lord ordered Abraham to lay all this stuff
out and he did. Those pieces, those pieces there
were of some animals that were slain. It was a bullock and a
lamb and a ram and a goat. And he cut those up in pieces
and laid them out there. That's what the Lord commanded
him to do. Those pieces pictured Christ who's slain in the place
of his people. That's what those slain members
of those animals laid there. Each one of them has a distinct
meaning about something about Christ. But this is what I want
you to see for now. It's in the sacrifice of Christ
through his blood that God reaches through his slain son into our
heart and writes His covenant in the blood of His Son on the
new heart that He's made. And when He does that, He's promised
us that everything that God requires has been fulfilled in His Son.
He saw these things go through those pieces. Now notice also
what Abraham saw. Look there. He saw a smoking
furnace and a burning lamp. Now be sure you catch that. He
didn't see a burning furnace. He saw a smoking furnace. The
furnace was not burning, but the lamp was burning. And he
saw them go through that picture of Christ slain there. God's
covenant word to us is this, that burning furnace That flaming
furnace of infinite justice has been quenched because Christ
bore those flames for His people and satisfied justice so that
the flames are extinguished. And the smoke is a reminder to
us, it's finished. It's finished. It is finished. And that lamp, that burning lamp,
but that lamp was burning. That lamp was burning. Because
Christ is our light, and we have the light of the Gospel, and
we have the light of the Spirit, which shall burn continually
and lead us all our days. This is what He said in the Psalms,
Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive
me to glory. And when Abraham saw that, look
at verse 18, it says, In the same day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,
from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. That's a picture of that everlasting
covenant being made in the heart. Now you hold your place there.
I'm going to show you something here, but let me make a comment.
When God wrote this covenant in our heart and gave us the
assurance that He'll never turn from us to do us good, And you
sinners sitting here that have not entered into the peace of
this covenant. I hope you do. I hope you hear
what I'm saying to these believers here because this is where all
peace is. Maybe what it is is you just
hadn't been rejected enough yet by sinful men and sinful rebels
in this world to see that you can't trust yourself and you
can't trust another man. Maybe that's what you need. Maybe
you need to put your trust in some of the things of this world
and come to find out that you can't trust man's word. And you
certainly can't trust that man that's looking you back in the
mirror. The heart's desperately wicked. It's deceitful above
all things. He'll look you right square in
your eye, right square in your face, and lie to you, and lie
to you, and lie to you. I'm talking about you. I'm talking
about your own heart. And maybe that's what it is.
Maybe you just need to see that. This covenant that God makes,
when He makes it, He makes His testimony sure in that blood,
and He makes us to see that when He chose us in Christ, that's
one of the ways He chose us in the furnace of affliction. He
chose for Christ to bear that infinite justice on our behalf
so that we don't have to bear that, so that that furnace is
just smoking to us because we've been justified by what He's done.
And He's made that covenant of assurance in our heart. He made
those bonds of everlasting, unbreakable covenant Word in our heart. The
Word can't be broken. If God says it, God's going to
do it. If He makes a promise to you
of what He's already done, it is finished. And if He makes
a promise in our hearts of what He shall do, He shall do it. Nothing can stop Him. Everything
in this world, He made it, and He made it for Himself, and He's
working everything together. for the good of his people. And
it's not just that he's going to do it in spite of the evil
and the wickedness and the devils of this world. It's not that
he's doing it in spite of them. He's using them to do it. They're
serving his purpose to bring it to pass. It can't be broken. Now you get that. A new heart,
he said, I'll give them and a right spirit I'll put within them and
they shall be my people and I will be their God. That's what he
said. And you know this too, because
it can't be broken, because it's through the blood of his son,
when you see that smoke rising up, you remember this too, because
he's given that lamp in our heart, he's given that light in our
heart, and he's promised to lead us by his gospel, by the light
of Christ, by the light of his spirit. Know this, brethren,
that he does that in all good fidelity. He will lead us. He
will continue to lead us by his word. And faith says this, I
believe. I believe the Lord. I believe
He is able to do everything He said. Am I? Nope. Nope. With me and my flesh, I
can't say, yes, this is how it's going to be. I have to say, if
the Lord's wills, I'll do this or that. But God can say, yes,
and amen. This is how it is. And the faith
says, I believe Him. Faith's so simple. I believe
Him. I believe He's able. That's right. Alright, I want you to see this
now. Go back there. Genesis 15. You there still in
Genesis 15? Look back up at verse 13. But
the Lord showed him something else. The Lord showed Abraham
something else too. You need to see this. He showed
Abraham that his children shall suffer trials and affliction. Look at verse 13. He said unto
Abram, Know of a surety. that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs. You know what you are, believer?
You're a seed of Abraham. That's what Paul said in Galatians.
You who believe and are born of his Spirit, we're children
of Abraham. We're truly Hebrews. He's not
a Jew which is one outwardly. Circumcision is not that which
is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is that of the heart whose praise is not of men but
of God. We are the circumcision. We are
the true Jew. We are the Hebrews. We are the
sons of Abraham. Whether you were a Gentile by
birth or a Jew by birth, a natural Jew by birth, we are the sons
of Abraham who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Somebody that was here visiting
one time and they told me, well, I'm a Jew. I said, well, I am
too. And they looked at me like I lost it. I said, I'm a true
Jew. I am. That's right. Well, look
back. He said they're going to go.
He said to Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that's not theirs. That's what we are. We're a stranger
in a land that is not ours. And he says, and they shall serve
them. We're in this world, we're not
of it. We're not serving them like we
once did, but we do have to work in this world. We gotta make
a living in this world. We gotta do what ungodly men in this world
tell us to do that's lawful according to God's word. We have to do
it. So in a sense, we do have to serve them. and they shall
afflict them 400 years. It's going to be affliction all
our days. All our days. So first of all, when we are
afflicted, this is the first thing I want you to see. It doesn't
mean God's forsaken us. It doesn't mean that at all.
He never will forsake those He's chosen freely. But what does
it mean? What's the reason for the furnace of affliction? Look
there in verse 14. Genesis 15, 14. He said, and
also that nation whom they shall serve, Will I judge? Now get this, he said that nation
there, you remember what he did to Egypt? He came into Egypt
and he turned Egypt upside down for his chosen remnant. He turned
that nation upside down for that people that he had in that place.
He said, this is why they're going to come into that affliction,
this is why they're going to be in that trouble, because I'm
going to come and turn those that afflict them, I'm going
to turn them on their head. and I'm going to deliver them
out. And look, and afterward, they shall come out with great
substance. Great substance. And thou shalt
go to thy fathers in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good
ole' age. You know what that substance is? That great substance. Every time He brings us through
a trial, when He brings us out of that trial, He brings us out
of that with great substance. You know it? Riches, laden down
with the riches of Christ, assurance of his promises to us. We wouldn't
have got them, though, if we hadn't have been through that
and seen what God's able to do for his children. Would we? Would
we? Well, go to Malachi 3. Malachi
3. The Lord said, he does it that
we'll be partakers of his holiness. No chastening for the present
is It's joyous, it's grievous, but afterward it yields peaceful
fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. That's
that great substance He brings us out of these trials with.
I have a friend who was up in years, I say up in years, he
was 17 or 18 years old, but he was big. Y'all met Gabe. You know Gabe
Stoniker. Well, Gabe, when he was 17 or
18, Gabe's as big as he is now. He's a big old boy. And he come
through the house one day, and he won't be embarrassed me telling
you this, but he came through the house one day and sassed
his mama. And his daddy said, go to my room, bend over the
bed. And he went back there and took
his belt off and gave him a spanking. Picture him, big as he is now,
laid over that bed getting spanked. And he told Marvin later, he
said, I'm so thankful you did that for me. I so appreciate
you doing that to me. That's the peaceable fruit. God
brings us to say that. He brings us to say, Lord, I'm
so thankful. that you did that. I'm so thankful. You chasing me and wouldn't let
me perish. You kept me. I'm thankful. Look
here at Malachi three. Our trials, they're going to
be as much a part of our blessings and our justification. He delivers
us from them, and He always brings us out with great substance.
And He teaches us in them, in those trials, that His love for
us doesn't change. Because, see, we really don't
see what we've latched on to. We don't see the dross that we're
calling gold until God purges it from us. That's when we see
it's a filthy, wretched thing we've been latching on to. But
He does that to show us His love doesn't change. Malachi 3.3,
He says, He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. He shall do that. It's much like
the purification of silver. It feels as hot to us as that
flame that purifies silver when we're in the fire. He says, and
he shall purify the sons of Levi. That's who his elect children
are. Priests unto God. Sons of Levi. Levi. And he'll purge them as
gold and silver. Why? That they may offer unto
the Lord an offering in Christ our righteousness, truly in the
righteous way, that we may offer unto Him an offering. Christ
our righteousness, thankfulness, praise to Him. Then shall the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as
in the days of old, as in former years. And look down at verse
6. And he tells us, well, let's
read verse five, and I'll come near to you to judgment, and
I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the
adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that
oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless that
turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith
the Lord of hosts. That's the dross that's in us.
That's the dross that's in his children. And when he does this
chastening, the reason it is affliction, and the reason it's
just like a grown man getting a spanking by our Heavenly Father,
is because that's the stuff we love. All that draws right there
is what we love. But he says, I'll be a swift
witness against you on that stuff, and I'll turn you from it. And
I'll make it so you offer me an offering in righteousness.
And this is why he does it. He teaches us through that, verse
6, I'm the Lord. I change not. and therefore you
sons of Jacob are not consumed." You know what would happen if
he just left us there? We'd pass through this world heaping dross
upon us and dross upon us. As James says, and I think it's
James chapter 3 or James chapter 4, he says, he says, heaping
up treasures of wickedness, that'll be a witness against us in that
day that we meet him in judgment. And you know what would happen
in that day? We'd be totally, thoroughly consumed in the wrath
of his justice. So He does this for us and turns
us back into Christ who satisfied that justice that we be not consumed. And He does it because He says,
I'm the Lord and I change not. That's why us stinking, slanderous,
rebellious sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's the only
reason. All right, let's go now to Romans
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. I said to you that this is how
He shows us His great love for us. You see, justification is
accomplished by Him, and that justification is a blessing just
like His love is a blessing to us. And they're united together. Look right here in Romans 5.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we've accessed by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God." That's that well of living water that
we talked about in the first hour. Now here's the fire. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also. You see, there's as much a part
of this blessing as His love and His free justification is.
Knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame, because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. The love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us. This is how we know God loves us. This is how we
know God loves us. And He reveals something else
to us. Back in Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43, He reveals something else
to us. Isaiah 43, he makes us to see
that He's with us all the time. All the time. You remember when
John looked up and he saw the Lord through faith? And this
is what he saw. He says, His feet was like unto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and His voice as
the sound of many waters. And I said to you, Christ has
extinguished that fierce heat of God's wrath towards us. There
is now no condemnation to God's people. And He walks where we
walk in the fire that we're going through to show us He is continually
with us. Look at Isaiah 43, 2. Isaiah
43, 2. Look at the second part after
the colon. He says, when thou walkest through
the fire, Thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee." How can that be? How? It feels like I'm going
to be consumed in this trial and this affliction. How is it
I'm not consumed by it? What is it that keeps God's anger
from being fierce anger against my sin and my rebellion? What
is it that keeps that from happening? Look back up at the beginning
of verse 2. After he talks about passing through the waters, look
at that next line. I will be with thee. What keeps
God's wrath from pouring out upon his child? Christ is with
us. Christ is between us and our
God. Christ has put that flame out. He's the one that God sees
and says, I'm satisfied. Look over at Daniel, Daniel chapter
three. I got a few more scriptures I
want to show you. Daniel chapter three. This is that story of the three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
being cast into the flames. They wouldn't bow down and worship
Nebuchadnezzar. They wouldn't bow down and worship
his idols and his gods and so forth. So they heated up this
flame, they heated up this furnace, and they threw them in that furnace.
Now, that's what happens whenever we won't bow to the gods of this
world. They will heat the furnace. They
will. They'll put the heat on. They'll
put the heat on you. And try to consume you. Try to
prove that everything you've ever trusted is just chaff and
that's all you are. That's what they'll try to prove
you out to be. They heated that furnace up and
they threw those three in that furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar looked
in that furnace and verse 24 says, it says, Then Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished. He rose up in haste, and he spake,
and he said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt, and the former, the fourth, is like the Son of God. Look down at verse 27. And after that he says, he saw
these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power. That fire
didn't have any power upon them. Nor was a hair of their head
singed, neither was their coats chained, nor the smell of fire
was passed upon them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and
he said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in
him and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies,
here's why he does it, here's the purpose of the trial, that
they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god. Oh, the man that don't have any
root in himself, the man that he made a good profession. He
sprung up quick and he's boy just delighted about everything
that you say and everything. It's Oh boy, that's how I love
it. I love it. I love soon as persecution
arises for the word and the fire gets a little hot. It burns up. He just burns up. He just bows
down and wilts and just bows down to whatever new God has
come along and says, that's what I believe. That's what I believe.
I believe that lie right there. But God's children don't. God's
children, the fire gets hotter and it gets hotter. But God,
by His grace, is consuming all the dross that would turn us
from Him. And He makes it so that we don't serve or worship
any God except our God. That's what He's doing. Soon
as we become acquainted with the man of sorrows, Christ Jesus,
who was acquainted with grief, we become strangers to this world
so that we become men of sorrows, acquainted with grief for his
sake. But still we have to continually be made to see our flesh, our
wisdom, our way is all draws and see he's all gold. And trusting
Him is the golden path that's going to protect us and keep
us. That's why God sends the fire and that's why Christ delivers
us through it. That we might not serve nor worship
any God except our own God. That we might learn to trust
our Father and look to Christ His Son alone. That's why He
does it. Now I want to give you one last word and I want two
more scriptures. I'm going to go to two more scriptures.
Ezekiel 20. Ezekiel 20. And he said, over there, that
I've done this, in Malachi, he said, I did this so that they
offer unto men an offering in righteousness. An offering in
righteousness. When he does that trial and he
brings us out of it with that great substance, made us to see
how faithful he is to keep us and how faithful, just like a
faithful father in a house, in his house. That's what our God
is. He's our faithful father. He makes us living sacrifices. He makes us burnt offerings upon
Christ our altar. What do you mean by that? Well,
that burnt offering was brought and it was burned. In the fire,
it was burned. And when it burned, the fat,
everything went up off that altar, and it yielded a sweet smell
to God. Came up a sweet smell to Him.
Well, after we suffer the fire of affliction, that great substance
that He brings us out with, it causes us to turn again to Christ
our holiness. It turns us again to God our
Father, and it causes us to yield up sweet-smelling praises unto
God, which is well-pleasing to God. We praise Him for His faithfulness. We praise Him for His goodness
in keeping us from our polluted flesh and keeping us from the
evil of this world. We praise Him that He's delivered
us from this world and He's gathered us together with His people,
with His elect under that land of Israel, under that land that
is His land, under that heavenly Jerusalem, under Mount Zion in
the spirits of just men made perfect, under God our faithful
Father, to Christ Jesus, the mediator of this everlasting
covenant to our hearts. He brings us to praise Him and
thank Him for that. You know what He said He would
do? Just that. Just that. Look at Ezekiel 20
verse 41. I will accept you with your sweet
savor. When? When I bring you out from
the people. He don't just do that once. He
keeps doing that over and over and over. When I bring you out
from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein
you've been scattered, and I'll be sanctified in you before the
heathen, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I shall bring
you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I
have lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. I've sworn
I'm giving it to your father. There shall you remember your
ways and all your doings wherein you've been defiled. And this
is what we do. And you shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight for all your evils that you've committed.
And you shall know. that I am the Lord when I've
wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked
ways, not according to what your sins have warranted and deserve,
not according to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel,
sayeth the Lord God." And we praise Him for that. We loathe
what we are. We loathe what we are. That to
a worldly man is crazy. They think we're teaching folks
to have a low self-esteem. No, we're teaching folks to have
no self-esteem. Don't trust in yourself at all. That's what we're teaching people.
And what you'll find through that is God is strength to you
that you never had strength. When you would walk around in
all your self-esteem, you were a weak, helpless, hell-deserving,
godly wretch. But when God makes you see Christ
as all your strength, now you see who there is to esteem as
all strength. And that's where we find true
strength, true strength. Well, let's end by going to Romans
12 now. Now you sitting here listening
to this, some of you, I always bring this home. I'm not gonna
let you off the hook. God help me, I'm gonna keep saying
this to you that are perishing in your sins. Remind you of this,
the wrath of God abides on you. The wrath of God abides on those
who don't trust Christ. The scriptures tell us this.
Let me read this to you before we get to Romans 12. The Lord
said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. One thing a man just can't do
on his own. Stop doing and start believing. For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. That's
not why he sent his Son, but that the world through him might
be saved. His people are scattered throughout this world in every
little nook and cranny and every little place in this world. And He loves them, and He's going
to call them, and He's going to save them. And He sent Christ
for that purpose. But Christ didn't come to condemn
the world. He that believeth on Him is not condemned. There is no condemnation of them
that are in Christ Jesus. But here, He that believeth not,
He's condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You're not in that
condition simply because you have not believed. That's not
what the text is saying. You're born in that condition,
but because of your unbelief, you remain there. Just remain
there in that state. The only way to have no condemnation
is to believe on Christ. Just believe on Him. What do
you mean? I mean just Jump into his arms and trust him and believe
him. Listen to the words of that song.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert
to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. That's his promise. That's his
promise. You either believe him or you
don't. We either believe him or we don't. That's his promise.
But believer, you that have suffered a while in affliction and like
a child, you know, when you get finished correcting your children,
we don't like doing that. I don't like doing that. But
when you finish and your child comes to you, And they calm down,
and everything's settled, and all the dust is settled. And
they come, and they sit down by you, and they're talking to
you, and they thank you. And they say to you, I see what
you're teaching me. I thank you. Doesn't it make
everything that you as a parent had to endure to correct them,
doesn't it make it worthwhile of not just letting them have
their way? And it makes it pleasant for
that child. to see. There's a union there.
There's a union there that wasn't there before. That's what God's
doing every time. So after we've suffered a while,
like that child's thankful for his father's correction, lift
up the feeble hands and go straight to the Redeemer, straight to
our Father, and thank Him. Thank Him for what He's done.
Thank Him for the trial, for the affliction. I have a friend She lost her mother at a very
young age. And she's told me this before,
time and time again, that she said, she said, I would not at
all change it. She said it hurt, it was painful. And she said, but I would not
have known the communion, the closeness, the nearness that
I have with Christ had I not suffered that. I wouldn't change
a thing. That's when you've been brought
to the end of the trial. What do you do after that? What do
you do then, from then on? Verse 12, Romans 12, 1. I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed
to this world. Alexis, Robert, you're fixing
to go into school, a schooling that's going to be teaching you
in the classroom and out of this classroom to be conformed to
this world. Be not conformed to this world.
Don't be conformed to this world. Get what you got to get to get
the paper and get out of there, but don't be conformed to this
world. But be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace
given unto me to every man that's among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think. Don't think you won't
do it. I told you this before when I
went to Tennessee. My grandfather told me, you'll
be in the fast lane before you know you're in the fast lane.
And he was exactly right, exactly right. Don't think more highly
than you ought to think, but think soberly, according as God
hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many
members in one body, and all members have not the same office,
so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another. We're members in one body in
Christ. How we go all together? Here
we are, all spread out here in this room, each one of us who
believe the Lord. How are we together going to
present our bodies, plural, as one living sacrifice unto God? We're all coming together, right
here together like this, and we're coming to God in one body,
and that one is Christ. And in that living sacrifice,
who lives at God's right hand, who's perfected us for everybody's
one offering, we are acceptable unto God, holy, without blemish,
without spot. That's how we're going to present
our body to God, a living sacrifice. And we go forth in this world,
not to be conformed to it, but to know by what God's done for
us in our heart, there's something greater greater than anything
this world can give us. He put me in a body with God's
people. He's given me a people. He's
given me a people. He's given me brethren. That's
why I want y'all to go to the conference. I want you to go
there and see God's given us brethren to live for and die
for, to promote and help and to be that help us and promote
us. I want you to meet people that
supported this work since it started. That's what I want you
to do. that they've given and given and given every month to
help this work continue. That's what I want you to see.
He's given us something greater than this world could ever give
us. So don't be conformed to this world. Help God's body,
help God's people. That's what he's teaching us
through the trial. Amen.