Let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah
chapter 35. What's the message the Lord gives
to strengthen every believer who is weak and fearful of heart? This passage is one that Paul
gives in Hebrews 12, declaring to us that as believers that
the way to Zion, the way to heavenly Jerusalem has been opened. Judgment's
passed. We saw judgment last week. Judgment's
passed. And the way has come. What does
He say? This is the message. Verse 3,
Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, a hasty heart, be strong,
fear not. Behold, here's the message, your
God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He
will come and save you. Over 2,000 years ago, God came and God saved every believer
sitting there. And He did that in human flesh. in the person of Jesus Christ.
He is God and man. And He came in person and as
a man, as the mediator between God and men, He reconciled His
children to God. He bore the judgment that was
due to them and brought them back to God. He says here, God
will come. He's come. He will save you. He has. He has. Our text is a prophecy of the
gospel age in which we live in threefold way. It speaks of Christ
literally coming the first time. He has, he's come, and he's accomplished
the redemption of all those given him of the Father. And the good
things that we're gonna see here began to take place when he came
the first time. Declaration that All the natural
sons of Abraham, as Paul says in Romans 9, were not necessarily
the true children of Abraham. They were edumia. They were like Esau, left to
themselves, raised up for the same reason God raised up Pharaoh,
to show us that apart from the power and mercy of God's grace,
we won't bow to Christ. We won't cast all our care into
God's hand. We'll try to save ourselves.
We'll try to come to Him by some work we've done. And God said,
I'm going to wipe them off and I'm going to purge it like you
take a dish rag and wipe a dish with it. I'm going to do that
to both the house of Israel and Judah. That's what we read about
last week. And that's when Christ came.
He came, the King, the King, the Savior. And then this text
speaks of Christ returning. I can say this with all certainty
today to you, brethren. your God will come and He will
save you. He's coming back. Christ is coming
back. And when He comes back, all these
glorious blessings that we read about right here shall be ours
fully, completely, uninterrupted, like we saw a few weeks ago,
all things made new. Right now, we're reigning with
Him as kings and priests by His grace. And it's for a set time
and a certain time, and in the end, Satan will be loosed for
a little season. You know, when they were carried
away captive to Babylon, it was just as good to the ones that
were unbelievers and religious, just self-righteous as it was
when they were in their own land. It was just more they were saying,
we're blessed. So it is in our day that many
carried away captive are thinking, we're blessed. God's coming again
and He's going to save His children just like He did when He came
the first time and deliver us into that new Zion, that new
Jerusalem, that heavenly Jerusalem where we will reign with our
God forever and ever. Whole. Made whole. We read of
that here. But we also read here of what
Christ is doing right now in this Gospel age and what He did
when He came. And that is what He does when
He comes into the heart of sinners. what He does when He comes into
the heart by the Spirit and power of His grace. This is what we
read about here. He makes us who are sick to be
whole and He makes us to behold the way to Zion is now open and
we have boldness to enter in by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Open access to heavenly Jerusalem. Alright, it's this third point
I want to look at. When He's come the first time,
when He returns, When He comes in the season of His grace, this
is what happens. This is what happened then, this
is what's happening now, and this is what fully will happen
in the end. Verse five, then the eyes of
the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as a
heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.
in the habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. First thing I want you to see
this morning is that the miracles that Christ performed when he
came to this earth proved he is God and they proved that he
is the Christ sent to save and who saves effectually. Verse
5 says, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. Let's
read some of these accounts. Turn with me to John chapter
9, verse 1. This does have definite reference
to the fact that God opened up this blessed manifold grace to
His children scattered throughout the world, the Gentile nations. This is what our God does when
He comes to a sinner individually. John 9 verse 1, And as Jesus
passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. He
said, The eyes of the blind will be opened. Well, Jesus came to
this man blind from his birth, and his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath
this man sin, nor his parents. At least that wasn't the purpose
for which he was born blind. They were sinners. But that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. The works of God. Thy God shall come, and he will
save you, the scripture says. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened. He said, this man was born blind for this hour,
right now that I walk right up to him and manifest to you, right
here, the works of God. You see, God and what God does
and what I'm about to do. He's saying, I'm God and I'm
going to show you what I'm going to do to the blind. And he said
this, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is
day. He's the only one that can do
the work. This day of grace, He did it. The night cometh when
no man can work. There's coming a day when this
season of grace, this time of salvation is going to be over.
And no man is going to be able to save himself. We've got to
come in Christ or we won't come at all. And He said this, as
long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Because
He is the light, He opened the eyes of the blind. We're going
to see, we're going to see by Christ the light. He has to work
the Word. Verse 5 of our text says, the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and it says, the tongue of the
dumb shall sing. Look over at Mark 7. Mark 7. He said, who's going to speak
and give warning that they may hear? And He said, their ears
uncircumcised, they can't hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord
is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it."
How is that going to be changed? How is the ear going to be circumcised?
And the mouth be loose to speak. Christ is the word, isn't He?
He's the voice. He's the word. Therefore, He
gave physical hearing, opened the ears of the deaf, and He
gave speech to many who were dumb and unable to speak. Look
at Mark 7, verse 32. They departed into a desert place
by ship. I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong spot.
Mark 7, 32. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseech him to put his
hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude and put his fingers into his ears. You see, if we're
going to hear God speak, we got to have our ears closed to what
this world would speak. He put his hands in his ears,
and he spit and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed and saith unto him, Ephphata, that is, be opened. He spoke
it, be opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loose, and he spake
plain. He spake plain. Well, He's the light so He opens
the eyes of the blind. He's the Word. He's the voice.
So He gave hearing to the deaf and speech to those unable to
speak. Look back over at John chapter 5. Christ Jesus is the
power. He's the power that makes His
children willing. The Father said, Thy children
shall be willing in the day of thy power. So He gave the lame
who had no power to walk, he gave them power to walk. He said,
when he comes, the lame will leap as a heart. Verse 1, John
5, 1. After this there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And in these lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down
at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water,
whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped
in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain
man was there. And there was a bunch of folks
there, but Christ came to this man. Picture God coming to his
chosen elect children. He comes to this man. And this
man had an infirmity 38 years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto
him, wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him,
sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool. He couldn't walk. But while I'm coming, another
steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, rise, take
up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole and he took up his bed and he walked. He's the light, He gives eyes
to see. He's the voice, the word, He
gives hearing to the deaf. He gives speech to the dumb.
He is the power whereby His children are made willing. He gave lame
men power to walk. He did all this physically. Now
look at Matthew 11, 2. Matthew 11, 2. This is what I
want you to see. The miracles that Christ performed
proved that he was sent of God. And the fact that he did those
miracles by his own power proved that he is God. He's the Christ. He is the God-man. Now, Matthew
11. John's disciples asked the Lord
Jesus for proof that he was the Messiah. And here's what he told
them. Matthew 11, 2. Now when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again
these things which you do see and hear. The blind receive their
sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, And the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Now what did our text say back
in Isaiah 35 verse 4? Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, behold your God will come. with vengeance,
even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. And then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as a heart in the tongue of the
dumb, saying, Christ is God, He's come, He's the Christ, and
He came. Now, in our day, brethren, by
the simple preaching of the Gospel, by the preaching of this Word,
because God wiped the plate clean. And he said, now, for the wise
and prudent couldn't come to me. Men left to themselves without
God's means and God's way of salvation could not come to God.
And he said, now, in the wisdom of God, they please God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And he said,
he said back in our text, we saw a few chapters back, he said,
Jacob's not going to be ashamed. The true children of Israel are
not going to be ashamed, but they're going to see the children,
His children, in the midst, from Jew and Gentile alike, from all
nations alike, and He's not going to be ashamed. He's going to
see, He's going to sanctify My name because He's going to see
they're My workmanship. They're that which I have done.
And He does this through this Gospel. And He does greater miracles
than any of these that we just read about. Greater miracles
than any of these. He said this, I say unto you,
he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, to his apostles, he
said, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also. And greater works than these
shall he do. You mean greater than giving
a deaf man ears, and a dumb man speech, and a blind man eyes
to see, and a lame, impotent man power to walk? and to leap as a heart, you mean
He's going to do something more miraculous than that? He said
greater miracles than that. Why? Because I go to my Father.
I'm going to the right hand of the Father, having accomplished
the work of redemption, and I'm going to give gifts unto men.
I'm going to send forth pastors and preachers and teachers according
to my own heart, and through them I'm going to bring my children
from the north, the south, the east, and the west, I'm going
to make them every whit hole through this Gospel, through
the Spirit of God, and I'm going to bring them together in one
body, and through the Word of my Gospel, me, Christ, speaking
the Word Himself, through earth and vessels, He said, I'm going
to edify the body. I'm going to strengthen the body.
I'm going to make the body every whit hole. You know why? That
body is His body. It's made up of His people. It's
His body. If you saw somebody, in this assembly and their eyes
were open. Somebody blind came in here and
all of a sudden their eyes were opened. Physical eyes were opened. Would you be impressed with that?
Would that make you think, wow, that's something. Do you believe
miracles? Do you believe miracles happen?
Do you believe miracles are happening right now in this day? We don't
need those physical miracles. Why? Because Christ has gone
to the Father and greater miracles than those are being done now.
Much greater miracles than those. If you saw somebody that was
deaf, I mean stone cold deaf, and all of a sudden they came
in here and they began to be able to hear, would you be impressed
with that? Physical hearing, something greater
than that will happen through this gospel. What if somebody
was wheeled in here in a wheelchair and never walked a day in their
life and they hear this gospel go forth and all of a sudden
they got up physically out of that wheelchair and started leaping
and rejoicing and crying with joy. Would you think that's,
boy, that's really something impressive. When He comes, He'll
do greater things than that. He'll do greater things than
that. What are these things? We need more than corrective
lenses. We need more than any procedure
done to us. We're blind by nature. Absolutely
blind to who God is. Absolutely blind. Totally in
the dark concerning who God is. And we need sight, spiritual
sight. When He comes, He opens their
eyes. He turns them from darkness to
light, from the power of Satan unto God. that they may receive
freely, worked out by Christ, forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that's in Christ. That's
what he does when he comes. Paul said God who commanded the
light to shine over darkness has shined in our hearts, in
our soul, in our innermost being. He shined to give light of the
knowledge of the glory of God. of who God is, how God saves,
of God who's holy, of God who's just, of God who's merciful,
of God who's long-suffering. We can't see God. We're blind. But He gives light of the knowledge
of the glory of God and we see it in the face of Christ Jesus.
We need something more than a hearing aid. We can't hear. were deaf, spiritually deaf. The ear hasn't been circumcised
by nature. We can't hear what God says.
We come forth deaf to God and we can't hear what He said. How
are we going to be made to hear? Lydia was sitting there on a
creek bank and Paul wanted to go somewhere else. He was determined
to go somewhere else. And the Lord forbid him to go
there and sent him down here to Thyatira. And she was sitting down there
with a group of ladies by a creek bank, worshiping God, and it
says, whose heart the Lord opened. He opened her heart, so that
she could attend unto the things which were spoken by Paul. You
see, the ears God gives are not these physical ears, they're
ears of the heart, so that you can hear the things that are
spoken. Some of you hear these things. Some of you hear them
and rejoice in these things. I see it on your faces. Some
of you are beginning to hear these things. I know. You've talked to me. You're beginning
to hear this. Why is that? Why yesterday, week,
two weeks, month, last year, why didn't you hear these things?
Why didn't these things draw you in? And why weren't these
things a delight to you and now they are? Now you begin to hear. He gives the hearing ear. We
need more than speech therapy. You know by nature we're ashamed
of Him. By nature we're ashamed of Christ.
By nature we're ashamed to speak anything of Christ. Why? Because
somebody might not agree with us. And we'd much rather have
the loving embrace of men of this world No matter what kind
of awful, God-hating, self-righteous religion they're in, we'd rather
have their praise than to stand and say, God's true. That's not according to Scripture.
God just doesn't say it that way. But when He comes and gives this
looses the tongue. He puts a confession on our heart
and comes forth out of the heart and the mouth speaks and we're
not ashamed of him anymore. Now we're ashamed of what we
are. Now we're ashamed of our lack
of boldness and the fact that we're sinners and we're We're
wretched in our flesh in that we don't speak of him as we ought
to speak. We're ashamed of that. We want
to speak more boldly of him. We want to confess him now, but
he puts that in the heart, and he brings that forth himself. We can't glory in that. We need
more than just physical therapy. We're impotent. We're absolutely
lame. And we need for God to come and
then give us new life, new power, make us willing in the day of
His power. And only God can do this. Only
God can do this. Christ Jesus, the light, Christ
Jesus, the word, Christ Jesus, the life, through the Holy Spirit,
through the preaching of the gospel, points us and shows us,
shows us. And we look up and we behold
Christ on the cross. And we behold there, God, when
He came forth, He came forth and He swallowed up death. And He swallowed up all the sin. And He swallowed up all of the,
everything that was contrary to the holy name of God. And He satisfied every requirement
holy God demands of an unjust, unrighteous, blind, deaf, lame,
halt, impotent people. And He did that. And He turns
us to Him in the day that He gives us this spiritual wholeness. And He causes us to behold, He
did that for me. He did that for me. And when
He does that, oh, it's just like that man there that was laying
there amongst all those people. And God said, take up your bed
God said to him, Christ Jesus, the Son of God said to him, take
up your bed and walk. And you know what he did? He
took up his bed and walked. 38 years he laid there. 38 years he laid there in that
shape. Somewhat, somewhat religious. We see that in the fact that
he came to that place because he believed an angel of the Lord
was troubling that pool and if he was the first to get in there,
he'd be healed. That's a good illustration of our religion
by nature. It's all superstition. It's all, but he couldn't even
do that. He couldn't even get into that
pool fast enough before somebody else beat him to it. Christ passed
by all of those and He came right to that one and He spoke to him
directly. Christ coming to you is He spoken
to you directly. As He come and said into your
heart, rise up and walk. He says, behold, your God will
come and He will save you. Well, what's going to be the
certain accomplishment when he does this? There's going to be
life and there's going to be fruitfulness. Look in verse 6. At the end there, he says, In
the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water. In the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. Again,
this does speak to that that was a wilderness, that was outside
of the land of Judah. The Gentile nations, God had
done nothing for them. He had just specifically in his
sovereign choice given all this to Israel. But in that day when
Christ came, showing that we're not coming to God in the law,
we're not coming to God in our wisdom, we're not coming to God
in our prudence, Scott read that chapter there of those Pharisees,
and they were sitting there, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
sitting there in their midst. Knows their heart, knows everything
they're thinking. And He says to them, there's
a man there who's sick. And the Lord says, is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath day? And they didn't answer a word.
And by not answering a word, they spoke volumes. Volumes. Volumes. Because what they said
by not speaking was, no, we don't believe it's lawful to do that.
And Christ healed that man anyway, because he's the rest. He's the
power by which we're saved. But those men were too wise and
prudent. They were taking the high and
lofty runes, expecting to come to Christ by their own power
and their own wisdom and their own understanding and their own,
all the works they had done, all their lives to commend them
to God. But those that had never heard
this gospel, those that had never had these oracles preached unto
them, God opened up the door. And he came to them, to the lame
and the maimed and the haught, to those who never even had the
gospel at all. And he said to his servant, is
it enough that you save my children out of amongst the inhabitants
of Jacob and Israel? I'll give you a light to lighten
the Gentiles and go forth in a people out of every nation
and kindred and tribe and tongue under heaven. Christ went forth
calling His people, individually, calling them out, calling them
out, calling them out. And from His throne in glory,
that's what He's doing now through this Gospel. Thy God shall come
and He will save you. And in the day that He does this,
when He pours out His Spirit, He makes this wilderness that's
within us, this desert that's within us, this parched ground
that's within us, this thirsty land that's within us, this habitation
of dragons that we are. He comes, and when He manifests
in us, He's put away our sin. He says, He that believeth on
Me, as the Scripture has said, out of His belly shall flow rivers
of living water. He says here, the parched ground
shall become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water, and the
habitation of dragons, where each flesh shall be grass with
reeds and rushes. Look back at Isaiah 32. He says in verse 2, a man, Christ
the Lord, he shall be as rivers of water in a dry place. Of the fullness of God, we receive
grace upon grace, the fullness of God's, all God's requirement
for us, we receive the fullness of it through Christ as rivers
overflowing, waters of refreshing overflowing. And for you believers
right now, he says, He says to you, He gave this whole description
of this vengeance that was coming. He gave this description of this
judgment that was coming. But He says now, to you believer,
to you who believe, who are feeble and who have a fearful heart,
He says to you, fear not, fear not. Anytime you behold Great. Do you think judgment of allowing
Judah to be taken away, Israel to be taken away in captivity
by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians, do you think, and Esau joining
forces with them and destroying the way to Jerusalem and turning
them all away and breaking that, do you think that was disconcerting
to the people while that was taking place? To the believers
in their midst while that was taking place? Well, sure it was.
It's just like losing your job. Just like sickness that comes
upon your body. Just like when you first begin
to hear the gospel and it's like a battle going on inside you. And there's a war and there's
judgment, but in the midst of it, whether it's a It's a spiritual
work for the believer. It's for the controversy of Zion.
He's doing this and he says, fear not, your God will come
and your God will save you. Now, I'm not going to be able
to do it. You're not going to be able to do it. But this is
what he says. This is the word. I will come
and I will save you. And when I do, There's going
to be waters of refreshing, he says. Waters of refreshing. Look
over there in chapter 35, look at verse 1. The wilderness and
the solitary place shall be glad. Where there's a wilderness now,
there's going to be gladness. The desert, it might appear a
desert, but it's going to rejoice and blossom as the rose. It's
going to blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be
given unto it. The glory of Lebanon where it's
cedars, it's mighty cedars, it's strength of it's cedars. He said
that glory is going, strength and power is going to be given
unto my people. He said that excellency of Carmel
and Sharon, that fruitful, fruitful, fruitful place. It may not seem
fruitful now. Does it seem not fruitful to
you right now? Whatever the trial, whatever
the in the midst of judgment. For his people he's showing mercy,
but he said there's going to be fruitfulness. they shall see
the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. You're going to behold
Christ Jesus, the man, the covert from the tempest, the one who
is the rivers of water in a dry place. That's the end purpose
of every trial of everything God has done in this earth since
he created the first speck of sand. The end purpose. to see His glory in the face
of His Son, Christ Jesus the Lord. That's the purpose. Why
am I being tried like this right now? If you're a believer, I
can tell you why. To bring you to see Christ the
Lord. To bring you from an upper seat, where you'd stay and sit
with the Pharisees and pat yourself on the back and eat, drink and
be merry, down to a lower seat, right now in this life, at the
feet of Christ, so you can behold Him that's going to save you.
That's the case. Whether you've been believing
on Him for two days, or you've been believing on Him for twenty
years, or you've been believing on Him now and you've got about
two hours left, the end purpose for it is to bring us to behold
the glory of God, the excellency of God in the face of Christ
Jesus. And when He brings us there, the blind are going to
see, the deaf are going to hear, The dumb are going to speak.
The lame are going to leap for joy like a deer. And they're
going to overflow with the rivers of water, the rivers of life,
and they're going to rejoice. And here's what we're going to
rejoice in. We'll look at this more next time. We'll look at
verse 8. And a highway shall be there
and a way. And that's Christ the way. The
king's highway is the king himself. He is the way. He said that.
I am the way. When Christ came, he's the way. He's the way. This is what Paul
said in Hebrews 12. We've not come to Mount Sinai
to that mountain that quaked and was on fire and trembled.
God has shaken the world. He's removed that. And now He's
brought His children, and He's bringing His children to heavenly
Jerusalem, to Mount Zion, where we worship God in spirit and
truth among Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Rebekah,
and all the children God saved in the past, who is that great
crowd of witnesses. And we worship Christ, our Redeemer! And that way is never going to
be broken down. That way is never going to be taken over again
by the Edomites. It's never going to be destroyed
by the Chaldeans, by the Babylonians. Never going to be taken away.
We're not going to be turned out of it by the Assyrians any
longer. Why? Why not? because it shall be
called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it. Those who've been washed in regeneration, who've been
washed by the blood of the lamb, those who are clean and spotless
and who have been brought and sanctified by the sanctifier
to behold that he is all our sanctification, they gonna go
in this way. They gonna go in this way. It
shall be for those, the wayfaring men, strangers in pilgrims passing
through, They're fools in themselves, but they won't err in this way.
If you try to turn to the left hand or the right, he'll speak
and he'll say, this is the way. Walk ye in it. No line shall
be there. This is the way of peace. It's
the way of safety. There'll be no line there. Nor
any ravenous beast shall go up there on this way. It shall not
be found there. But the redeemed, this is for
somebody. This way is a way chosen by God
for His people. It's the way of the redeemed.
And they shall walk there. And the ransom of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion. This is the way of joy and singing
and rejoicing. They'll come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads. It's the way of rejoicing. This is the way we're coming. I don't feel like I'm in that
way. I don't have a lot of rejoicing right now. If you're here, just
hold on a little while. You'll be singing. You'll be
singing just a very short while. Your eyes will be open, you'll
see, and you'll see, you'll be back in the way. This is the
way of certainty. There's ten or eleven shalls
right here in two, three verses. This is the way of certainty.
It's not maybe, this shall happen. And they shall obtain joy and
gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. This is, this
is the everlasting way. They'll obtain this. And they'll
have it. And sorrow and sighing will flee
away. Now, the work of salvation. God taking a nation and raising
them up, just like He raised up Pharaoh in Egypt. Read Romans
9. Why did He raise up Pharaoh in
Egypt? To make my power known, that my name may be manifest
to the vessels of mercy. that I chose before the world
began. Why did he raise up Israel? Why did he choose some out of
the, to be Jacob's and call them by his grace and leave others
in the same family to be Esau's? To show you that if he don't
do the choosing and the calling and the saving, you'll be just
like Esau. Salvation is by grace. It's not
of him that willeth or him that runneth, but of God that shows
mercy. Well, how do I know I'm an elect child of God? That's
not the question. The question is, do you believe
him? The question is, are you rejoicing? The question is, are
you singing? The question is, have your eyes been opened? The
question is, can you hear? That's the fruit of his choosing. That shall be the fruit of his
choosing. That'll be the case. That's what's going to happen.
Everyone He's chose. It's called irresistible, sovereign,
saving grace. Now, when He comes to a sinner,
He don't come to offer grace. He don't have an offer for you.
He's not offering you anything. He comes to perform grace. You see, grace as an offer is
not grace. That's work. But grace that's
performed by the God of all grace is grace. Because that means,
if it was offered to you, in that sense of the term, if it
was offered to you, if it weren't for His grace performing it,
you wouldn't receive it. You wouldn't take it. But it's
not an offer, it's a performance of grace given to a hand He's
emptied and then filled by His grace. To a soul He's killed
in a sovereign word of His power and then made alive by His grace.
He's going to make you behold and hear the commandment and
know, I'm a sinner, I'm dead. It's not anything I've done.
I've been dead from my mother's womb. Spiritually dead, blind,
lame, And He doesn't come to show you
the way. He doesn't come to do that. He comes to show you the
way and say, now, won't you get in it? No, He comes to put you
in the way. He put His children in the way
before the world began. Of God are you in Christ? And
He comes and He puts you in the way and makes Christ all unto
you. Putting you in the way. And He
doesn't come to tell you what to do for Him. He doesn't come
to tell you what to do for Him. He comes to do for you what you
cannot do for yourself. And he makes you to behold everything
I've required of you to do for me. I've done it. I've done it. That's salvation.
That's grace. And that makes us behold, if
God's for me, if He's for me, if God's for you, any one of
you young people sitting here right now, you hear me now, listen
to me, listen, if you don't get anything else out of this message,
hear this right here. If you find yourself rejoicing,
God is for you. And you find yourself saying
in your heart, God is for me. Christ justified me. Then you know what he said? Who
can be against you? Who can separate you from the
love of God in Christ? Can somebody who owns all the
land in three counties and tells me now, if you don't bow down
and serve me on the day that you'd ordinarily go and serve
the Lord, you can't have all this stuff I can give to you.
Okay then, take it. Take it. You can have it because
my God, my King owns you and all three of these counties and
He owns this trial He's put me in coming under your Tyrannous
yoke and he's gonna bring me out of it and he's gonna deliver
me from it because God's for me God has sent his son and justified
me. He will freely with him. He's
given me righteousness. He's given me holiness He's given
me perfect complete acceptance with a thrice. Holy God. He's
gonna give me everything else You see I'm not gonna bow to
you Throw me in the fire There's one who will walk in that fire
and save me. Throw me in the lion's den. I'm in the way and
there won't be any lion come up in this way and harm me. Well, that's presumption. Either
presumption or faith. Has the Lord given you eyes and
ears and sight? Has He put His Word in your heart
and your tongue to glorify only Him? Has He put you in the way
by His grace? Then no matter how feeble you
are right now, no matter how fearful you are, and that word
is hasty. When we get fearful, we get hasty.
Don't get hasty. Wait on the, that's what led,
you remember back when they got hasty and fearful and they went
down to Egypt and said, we're gonna make a, Egypt will get
us out of this. He said, wait on the Lord. And
they said, no we're not. He said, therefore the Lord's
going to wait. He's going to break off all, everything, cut
down, cut off every other way, and then He's going to be gracious
to you, and He's not going to let you remove your teachers
into a corner anymore. We Pharisees like to, we don't
like what somebody says, we like to take that teacher and move
them out the door. Or else move away from them. When God puts
you with His teacher, Christ the Lord, the prophet of God,
you ain't not removing Him into a corner anymore. and He'll speak
to you and keep you in the way. Come to Christ and don't ever
stop coming to Him. You who've never come to Him,
come to Him. And you who have come to Him now, this is to believers,
to those who are feeble and fearful, come to Him now. Why? Because thy God will come and
save you. Thy God will come and save you.
And know that you now have and shall have continual open way
to heavenly Zion. Go home tonight, read Hebrews
12. Read Hebrews 12. He's coming
again and He's going to shake the world again just like He
did the first time when He turned the whole system upside down
and made the Pharisees and the wise and prudent to behold salvation
wasn't in the law, it never was in the law. It's always been
in Christ. He's coming again and He's going
to do the same thing again. There's some right now waiting
for Him to come to do exactly what He did when He came the
first time, reestablish some earthly government so they can
live like hell on earth and have everything that they want in
the lust of the flesh now. He's not coming to do that, but
He's going to turn things upside down and make everybody see salvation
really is by grace. It really is by His Word. Then,
then we'll be with Him forever. Unbroken communion with Him forever
and ever. Amen.