Alright, let's turn to Isaiah
chapter 30. The Lord sent a great trial to Judah. And at the same time that He
sent a great trial to Judah, He sent His messenger to Judah. And the trial that he sent was
to turn the children of Judah away from their sin, away from
their toys, the idols of this world, away from trusting in
the strength of their own hand, to trust God alone. And Isaiah was sent with this
message. We find it here in Isaiah 30,
verse 7. He said, I cried concerning this,
their strength is to sit still. But when Judah was faced with
the trial, Judah became fearful and they rebelled against God. The first thing we see here is
a description, God's description of rebellion. Begin in verse
1. Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover
with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin
to sin, that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked
at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and
to trust in the shadow of Egypt. The first thing we see here is
they took counsel, but not of God. They had God's Word to them,
but they wouldn't hear it. Look at verse 9. He said, this
is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will
not hear the law of the Lord. Word means the Word. They wouldn't
hear the Word of the Lord. They had God's prophet, but they
wouldn't hear him. Verse 10. which say to the seers,
see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things,
speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. They had access
to the Holy One of Israel, but they wouldn't ask Him. Look at
verse 11. Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path,
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. They
went through the motions of prayer. They went into the temple. We
saw that in the last chapter. He said, you draw near me with
your mouth, but your heart's far from me. They sought deep
to hide their counsel. They sought deep to hide the
fact that they were really praying with the lips, praying with the
mouth, going through the motions of worship, but all along doing
what they wanted to do in their own heart. The second thing we
see here is they covered with a covering, but not of the Holy
Spirit. This word covering has to do
with making a covenant. They entered into an alliance
with Egypt, into a covenant with Egypt, with the world, with those
that they thought could save them. And they were convinced
this is what they should do. But it wasn't of the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God hadn't moved them to do this. the hearts
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? And they added sin to sin. In
the beginning God sent the tribes of Israel came up against them
in the beginning and this was a great trial to them and God
was reigning on His throne and in the very beginning when He
sent Ahaz to them Isaiah to Ahaz, King Ahaz, he said to him, don't
worry about them. Don't worry about them. This
is not coming to pass. He said, it's just a very little
time and they're going to be consumed. Don't worry about them.
Here's what you need to be concerned about. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and be with child, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the mighty Immanuel, God with us. That's what you
need to be concerned about, Isaiah said. Not what's going on out
here in these waves around you. but they made a pact, a covenant
with Assyria to save them from the Israelites. Then when the
Assyrians troubled them, they began to make a pact with Egypt
to save them. So in all this, they were turning
from one neighbor to another neighbor, from one neighbor to
another neighbor, making alliances here and there, all through the
world, anywhere. They were just tossed to and
fro. And yet they never sought God. And here's when God sends
a trial to you and I. When He sends forth the Word
of Grace and declares that you are a sinner in need of God to
save you, in need of mercy. Or when you, as a believer, He
sends a trial to you. He's sending forth these things
to separate you, to turn you from yourself and those things
that will keep you separated from God. It's utter rebellion
when that trial comes and you latch on to things that take
you further away from God. That's what they did. The trial
was sent to turn them from themselves to God and they latched on to
these unlawful alliances and went further and further away
from God. They walked to go down into Egypt rather than asking
God. Now, we saw this morning what
God had done for their fathers. We saw what the Lord did on the
night of the Passover, how He provided His lamb, that beautiful
picture of Christ, and how He magnificently passed over them
when He smote the firstborn in Egypt. And He brought them out
of that bondage. He brought them out. He opened
up the Red Sea, took them across the Red Sea out of that bondage
in Egypt from under the hand of those hard taskmasters, from
under all that that rebellion, all of that, those chains and
those, that bitterness. He took them out of all that.
And now here they are, turning around and going back through
that wilderness, back down to Egypt and putting their trust
in Pharaoh. You think about, and this is
what's amazing about this, they did all that work all that labor,
all that toil to make this alliance with the king of Egypt, instead
of just sitting still and asking God. You ever think about sometimes
when you see criminals, And sometimes you read these stories of criminals
and all the work they go into committing crimes and staying
under the radar and trying to elude the law and all this work
they put into it. And you think, man, if they just
channeled all that into something productive, you know, it's all
this work. Why do you want to do all this
work when you could just, I mean, it's nice to go work a job and
come home and rest and live an honest life. Well, All they had
to do was ask God and rest in God and trust God to deliver
them. This is what Isaiah was sent to declare to them. And
instead of all that, they worked and worked and labored and labored
trying to save themselves. It's going to always take far
more effort and far more work and far more sweat from you for
you to rebel against God than it is for you to submit to Him.
Trust Him. Always. And here's what they
were doing. They sought to strengthen themselves. Not in God, but in the strength
of Pharaoh. They put their trust in a shadow
rather than in the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Oh,
that shadow looked... it looked substantial. There
was a lot of horses. There was a lot of army. There
was a lot of... defenses that Egypt had, it looked
substantial. But it was a shadow. It was a
shadow. Well, the second thing we see
is rebellion against God is always costly. Verse 3, Therefore shall
the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow
of Egypt shall be your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan,
and his ambassadors came to Hades. This is two places in Egypt,
and they sent ambassadors there from Judah. But they were all
ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help
or a profit, but a shame and also a reproach. That's what
they got for all their labor and their work and their toil.
They were ashamed and reproached. And it cost them dearly in their
treasures, in their riches. Look at the next verse. The burden
of the beasts of the south into the land of trouble and anguish.
That's where they went. into the land of trouble and
anguish. This is how they walked. This is where they went rather
than trusting the God of heaven and earth. They went into the
land of trouble and anguish from which come the young and old
lion, the viper and the fiery flying serpent. You remember
when they went through that waste howling wilderness, they went
right back into that wilderness, headed right back down there
to Egypt. And he says, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders
of young asses and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to
a people that shall not profit them. They went through the temple
and got every piece of gold. They went to their houses and
got gold. They got everything that was of any value to take
it down to Pharaoh and to pay it into the hands of Pharaoh
to save them. And he says, The Egyptians shall
help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this. Their strength is to sit still. Isaiah cried and cried and cried
and said, your strength is to sit still. Compromise with this world's
gonna take everything from you. and it's going to give you absolutely
nothing. You can't be a friend of the
world. You can't look for salvation in the world. You can't look
for strength in the world. You can't look for your house
to be built up and saved and kept by the world and be a friend
of God. It can't be. We can't ignore
the counsel of God and expect to prosper. Never. Rejecting
the counsel of God will also cost us through the judgment
of God. Look at verse 8. Now go, write
it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may
be for the time to come forever and ever. You know what I sometimes
think about doing? I've thought of this before.
This is what the Lord did. I've thought of When I see my
children doing something I know they're going to get hurt doing,
I've thought of just writing it down, what's going to happen
to them, and just sealing it up so that they know it was sealed
beforehand and written down beforehand so when it happens I can open
it up and say, look, see, I told you this was going to happen.
He said, write it in a book that it may be for the time to come
forever and ever. that this is a rebellious people,
lying children, children that will not hear the Word of the
Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets
prophesied not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth
things, prophesied to cease. Tell us what we want to hear.
Quit telling us this truth. Get you out of the way. Turn
aside out of the path. Ye are in my way. Cause the Holy
One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the
Holy One of Israel. because you despise this word.
Trust in oppression and perverseness and stay there on. Therefore
this iniquity shall be to you as a breech ready to fall, swelling
out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instance."
You're going to be like a wall. It's going to swell out and all
of a sudden it just falls without notice. That's what he says of
them. And he The Lord shall break it as the breaking of the potter's
vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare so that there
shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from
the hearth or to take water withal out of the pit. And that came
to pass. He's broken. He broke that nation
of Israel. He broke Judah. He just disintegrated
like you would when you're fashioning a pot and it's marred in your
hand and you take that pot and you just sling it against a brick
wall and break it in pieces. That's what He did. For thus
saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and
rest shall you be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength, and ye would not. But you said, no. We will flee upon horses. Therefore
shall you flee. And said, we will ride upon the
swift. Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. We can't
outrun God. We can't outrun God. One thousand
shall flee at the rebuke of one. At the rebuke of five shall you
flee, till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and
as an ensign on a hill. The marginal reading in the King
James translations says it's like a tree. It's got all its
branches broken off. Just broken off. So we see that
what rebellion is, first of all, according to God. And we see
that rebellion against God is always costly. Now, thirdly,
I want us to look at the believer's strength. Here's the believer's
strength. Verse 7, the Egyptians shall
help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength is to sit still. Look at verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel. This is someone worthy to listen
to. This is someone worthy to give
your full undivided attention to. Here's what he says. In returning and rest shall you
be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength. Some of you sitting here now
have never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel says this, in returning and in resting you
shall be saved. Isn't that contrary to this world?
Isn't that totally opposite to what our natural thinking is?
Our natural thinking is we have to put our hand to the work.
Our natural thinking is we have to be up and about and running
and getting things done to be saved. But our Lord does things
the opposite way than we do things by nature. If you want to go
up in the Kingdom of God, you've got to be brought down first.
If you want to be brought into the fold, into Christ, you've
got to be cast out of this world and cast go without the camp
to enter into Christ. If you want to lay hold of Christ,
you have to let go of everything that this world, this Egypt has
to offer. In returning, the word is withdrawing. Withdrawing. Withdrawing. from every vain confidence in
returning to Christ. You compare yourselves with other
sinners and you think, well, I'm not as bad as them. Compare
yourself with the Holy One of Israel. Compare yourself with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the plumb line. He's the
straight line. He's the righteousness of God.
Compare yourself with Him. You look to your own works and
you think God will accept you? You say, a man will go through
his whole life, the lust of his eyes, he wants all the world
to look at him and say, now there's an honorable man. The lust of
his flesh, he wants to get everything he can, do everything he can
to provide for himself. and the pride of life. He wants
to march up to God and say, like Cain did, and say, look at all
my fruit. I've done all this for you, Lord.
I've done all this for you. And the Lord won't have it. You
can work and labor and make all the alliances with this world,
all the alliances with your flesh. You can make your covenant with
death and with hell. God will not receive you because
you are a sinner. God will only accept a sinner
through faith in His Son. That's the only way. Jesus said,
I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. Salvation is returning from all
your all your refuge, your false refuge, and resting in Christ
Jesus. That's where salvation is. Turn
over to 1 John with me just for a moment. 1 John chapter 1 verse
8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Sin is a
heavy load. Sin, guilt weighs upon your conscience. You've sought deep to hide your
counsel long enough. It's a burden, it's a trial,
it's a working, it's a continual labor. to try to put on this
disguise of righteousness and try to fit in where you don't
fit in. It's a labor. It's uncomfortable. Sometimes folks just seem so
uncomfortable trying to appear righteous. It's a work and it's
toilsome to try to do it. But listen to this Word. Listen
to this Word. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. You know, God won't receive liars.
God will not receive liars. It's time to be honest with God.
He already knows your heart. He already knows what's in your
heart. It's time to be honest with Him. Come to Christ and
confess what you are. come to Christ and confess, all
I am, Lord, is sin and rebellion. He's faithful to forgive us.
Listen to this. He's faithful to forgive us. You know, if you go into any
police station in this country and you walk in and you turn
yourself in and say, I'm guilty, I did the crime. They're going
to march you right back into the jail cell and open the door
and put you in the jail. You might get a lesser sentence
because you pleaded guilty, but you're guilty and the law is
going to carry out its sentence upon you. But what our Lord is
saying is if you come to Him and confess your sins to Him,
He's faithful to forgive you. He's faithful to say to you,
your sins are forgiven. Go, sin no more. Your sins are
forgiven. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine coming to Him and taking off that yoke of bondage and
that yoke of striving and that yoke of labor that you've been
under? That awful weight of that ugly
disguise you've been wearing around and you take it all off. And the Lord says to you, you're
completely forgiven. You talk about a load off of you. You talk about just freedom. And he's faithful. Listen to
him. This is what he said, All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. He says, He that covereth his
sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy. Mercy. And look here what it
says too. Not only is He faithful to forgive
us our sins, not only is He faithful to His Word, He said here He'll
show mercy, but He's just to forgive us our sins. He's just
to do so. Because Christ satisfied justice
on behalf of all those that the Father gave to Him. He's just
to send forth the Spirit. He's just to take that stony
heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and cause
you to hear His Word. He's just to draw those for whom
He died to Himself. He's just, when you come to Him
on your face, crying and mourning your sin and confessing your
sin before Him, He's just to say, your sins are forgiven. because He took them all upon
Himself when He went to the cross, and He paid the very last debt
that you owe, and He took them away forever, never to be brought
up again. And He's just to speak peace
into your heart and say, your sins are forgiven. I want you
to hold your place here in 1 John. Hold your place right here. Well,
I'll tell you what, turn over to 1 John 5. This is the other
thing about coming to Christ. Not only do you come and you
confess what you are, you come and you confess your sin, and
He's faithful and just to forgive you, but you don't come to Him
unless you believe God's record concerning Him. This thing of
repentance and faith go together, brethren. You won't come to Him
and confess your sins to Him until you really believe that
He's faithful to forgive you. You really won't do it. Do you
believe the record of God's Son? Look at verse 10. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. That's going to be
why you come. That's going to be why you'll
come to Him and confess what you are. And ask Him to save
you is when the witness is in you. When the Holy Spirit bears
witness with your spirit. But he that believeth not God
hath made him a liar. Because he believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life, and this life's in His Son. He
that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath
not life. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe
Him? Three things we've seen here.
Do you believe that if you come to Christ, confessing your sin,
that He will really do as He's promised to do in His Word, and
He will speak peace into your heart, forgive you? Do you really
believe He's just to do it? Do you really believe that He
justified everyone for whom He died and His love and His grace
and His mercy is in accordance with His holy justice and He
is just to give you the peace in your heart? And do you believe
that He's life? Do you? Do you believe He is
the life, eternal life? I'll tell you when it'll be manifest
you believe these things concerning Him. You'll come to Him. You'll want everybody to know,
this is all my hope. And you'll go tell all, you'll
run straight away and you'll want to tell your best friend.
You'll say, you know what? You have got to believe on Christ.
I've never known the peace I know right now. I never have known
the joy I know and the weight that's lifted off of me from
trusting God. I've never known this before.
And right away you'll discover this grace is particular and
this grace is sovereign because those friends that haven't been
born of the Spirit of God just can't enter into what you're
talking about. But do you believe him? He said, come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, if He draws you to the breast
of His Son this hour and causes you to believe upon Him, causes
you to repent from all that you've ever trusted in and confess what
you are to Him, if He speaks this peace into your heart, you
know what your heart's going to be overflowing with? You're
going to be saying with Micah, who's a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of His heritage? Oh, he retaineth not his anger
forever, for he delighteth to show mercy. That's what you'll
find out about this God. You'll find out, and you'll think
to yourself, you'll think, what in the world, why did I spend
so much time not coming to Him? Why did I waste all that time
not coming to Him? He wasn't my enemy. How was my
enemy? Oh, Egypt was my enemy. All that
I put my trust in was my enemy. Why didn't I come a long time
ago? Alright, now here's a word to
you who believe. Back in our text, Isaiah 30,
verse 15. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength. Now these two go together. The
basis of the believer's quietness is confidence in God. And those
who have confidence in God will sit still and rest in Him and
wait upon Him. Are you confident that God is
able? Is your confidence that God is
able? The God who spoke the heavens
and earth into existence. The God who's held them in place
by the word of His power. The God who rules in heaven and
in earth and does whatsoever He pleases. A God who is able
to call a ravenous bird from the east, a man to execute His
counsel. Do you believe He's able? Now
let me ask you a better question. Do you trust Him? There's a difference between
believing He's able and actually trusting. You can believe He's
able, but do you trust Him? Do you trust Him to do what He
said He'll do? Do you really trust that this
One who spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up to that
cruel, agonizing death of the cross, bearing the hell of men
and the wrath of God in your room instead, putting away your
sin forever, obtaining eternal redemption for you, making you
the very righteousness of God in Him. This One who sent forth
the Spirit of His grace and in power called you and made you
bow to Him and trust Him and lay hold of Him. Do you really
believe this One who gave His only begotten Son will provide
all things freely for you? Are you trusting Him to do that?
Are you trusting Him to do that? Here are some things to consider
in every decision you have to make, whether it's a great one
or a small one. I've been thinking on these things
quite a bit lately. This is what we need to consider.
First of all, have I sought God's counsel? I didn't say, have you
prayed? Have you said your prayers? Have
you sought God's counsel? Have you truly asked Him to give
you His Word? To show you? Have you looked
into this Word to see what He says in this Word? You see it
right here today. You see right here today what
became of these who sought counsel but not of God. Have you heeded the Word of His
Gospel? Have you heard your brethren
speak and heard your pastor speak to you? Have you really listened
to what God is saying to you? I don't mean just while we're
sitting right here and goes in this ear and comes out this one
and go out to the world and rise up and eat and play. I mean really
think on these things. Have I really sought God's counsel?
Here's the second thing. Am I convinced by the Spirit
of God in my heart that this is what the Lord would have me
to do? The Lord said, Judah covered
with a covering. They made a covenant. But it
wasn't of my spirit, He said. Is this really what the Lord
would have me to do? We hear the Word of God and we
profess to trust Him. Sooner or later, God puts us
in the fire, brethren. And when He puts us in the fire
like He did Judah, far too often, fear takes the place of faith. We panic. We panic. We want the answer from God right
now. We want to be delivered right
now. You know, a drowning man will grab on to
things that can't even float. That can't even bear him up.
Just because it's the first thing available to him. Isaiah was sent with this word.
Their strength is to sit still. Am I sure that this is what the
Lord would have me to do? I know this. If I'm not convinced,
if I'm not persuaded in my heart that I should go, the best thing for me to do is
sit still. Always, always. Here's the third
thing. Will this decision be one that's
honoring to my God? Judah's offense was that they
counted their own wisdom and the strength of Pharaoh to be
greater than God. That was the offense. They dishonored
God. They dishonored God. That's why
Isaiah said back in Isaiah chapter 8, sanctify the Lord of hosts. Remember who He is. Meditate
on who He is. Sanctify the Lord of hosts. Don't
stop until He's as high as your understanding can take you, and
He's as powerful and as absolutely in control of everything as your
thoughts can take you, and you behold Him so able to save. Just continue by faith to look
to Him so much so that you just... He's just the highest and the
most holy and the most honorable so that You just brought to say,
Lord, I don't want to move this way or this way unless you go
with me. I want you to have all the honor
and all the glory. Here's the fourth thing. Will
this hinder me and my family from attending the worship of
the Lord Jesus Christ? This could be the very first
thing in importance. Pharaoh is going to always require
your most costly treasures and your most costly riches. These right here. These right
here in this place. It's going to require you give
up these riches and these treasures. If you try to serve the world
and God, you're going to have to give up some of these riches
and this treasure to do it. And Judah ended up desiring for
the truth not even to be spoke to him. They said, prophesy not
unto us right things. Don't tell us smooth things. Tell us deceitful things. Don't
bring up the Holy One of Israel to us. That was the end of it,
where it led to. That's what God says in His Word.
That's where it's going to lead. I'm talking about big decisions,
little decisions. I'm talking about once-in-a-lifetime
decisions. I'm talking about everyday decisions. These are the things we think
about. And here's the fifth thing. Will this encourage and benefit
God's people, my brethren? You see, what Judah did affected
every man, woman, and child in Judah. This judgment of God that
came upon them, it affected every one of them there. All of them. Christ has fitly joined His body
together for a reason. I've got something some of you
need. And you've got something this
one needs. And you've got something that one needs. And you've got
something that one needs. Just like the body's complete
when you have all the digits and all the members and everything
is complete. My hand needs my eyes. My eyes
need my hands. Every member of my body needs
every other member of my body. And he's fitly framed this body
together to provide for each other through each member. That's what he's done. So when
I make a decision, I'm not making a decision just for myself. I'm
not making a decision just for looking out for my best interest.
Not if you have the love of God in your heart, you're not. You're
looking out for the interest of the whole flock. There's a
greater family now than just my immediate family. There's children, there's sons
and daughters, mothers and fathers, spiritual mothers and fathers,
spiritual sons and daughters, spiritual children. These are
the ones I have to think about in what I'm doing. Would you
do something if you knew that what you're doing is absolutely
grieving your brother or your sister. If you were aware that
whatever it is, the decisions you've made, what you're doing,
is just completely, totally grieving your brother or sister, would
you still do it? John said, how can we say we
have the love of God in our hearts if we would? Well, everything
they did affected the whole body. Everything they did. Listen to
this word over and turn with me over there, Matthew chapter
six, Matthew chapter six. Therefore, verse 31, therefore
take no thought, don't be anxious, overly concerned, and living
for these things. Saying, what shall we eat, or
what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? That's what
was happening in Judah. They saw that enemy coming, and
they got panicked and fearful, and fear took the place of faith.
And they said, oh, they were looking with sight, not with
faith. They said, what are we going to do? He said, all these
things do the Gentiles seek. The heathen seeks after those
things. The worldly man seeks after those things. That's all
he's living for. His belly and his back. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. See that? Look back at Isaiah 49, just
a second. Look back at Isaiah 49. When I read this scripture, I
think of Paul on Thursday night, what we saw Thursday night. Look
at Isaiah 49, verse 22. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard
to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms,
and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, and kings
shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing
mothers. They shall bow down to thee with
their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet,
and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. For they shall not
be ashamed that wait for me. You think of Paul. Paul was in
that prison, and he knew the Lord had said, I'm going to stand
by you, Paul. I'm going to be of good cheer,
Paul, as you've preached in Jerusalem. You've got to be delivered to
Rome to preach also. He knew that's what the Lord
had promised him. Just like you have this word of promise from
God. But the Lord don't tell us how He's going to get us there,
does He? And the very next verse begins with 40 men banding together. They said they wouldn't eat anything
until they had killed Him. If word came to me like that,
I would thank the Lord. You told me you were going to
save me. You told me you were going to deliver me. I'm sitting here in prison under
a Roman guard. I don't know how this thing is
going to work out. I don't see how it's going to
happen. But I'll tell you this, when he was sitting up on top
of Rome's horses, their finest staggards, and he was just resting
and riding and looking around at 470 armed soldiers protecting
him and taking him right out of their midst, right to Herod's
judgment hall, where he could go up there and crawl up in a
big nice bed, Paul was saying, Lord, I'm amazed. He said, you just wait and you'll
be amazed. Judah thought Egypt was something
else. Boy, they were going to go down there and there was going
to be some kind of protection from them. The Lord said, if
you just wait, you'll find out something more, way more amazing
than Egypt's got to offer. Oh, brethren, the psalmist said,
wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen
thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Read
that scripture one more time, Isaiah 30 verse 15. For thus
saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and
rest ye shall be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength. Amen.