Okay, let's turn back now to
Isaiah chapter 19 this morning. Isaiah chapter 19. The Lord God that made this earth,
it gives you your breath to breathe. It gives you the strength to
wink, bat your eye right now. It's the same God who chose a
people and put them in Christ before the world began. He created
this world, He created a people for the purpose of glorifying
His name. That's the only reason. And He's going to glorify His
name. His Son came to where we are, and His Son lived and died
for that particular people alone. And He effectually, fully, completely,
put away their sin, redeemed them from all iniquity, bought
them, and there He is. And He shall send forth His gospel,
and He shall quicken them, and make them alive, and they shall
know the Lord Jesus Christ. And they'll be reconciled to
God in Him. They will come praising God for
all His grace and His mercy. offer, that's no God knocking
at the door if you'll just let Him in. That's no God that's
hoping somehow your will to be in cooperative effort with His
will and everything will work out between you and Him. This
is God who's going to offend you. This is God who's going
to break down every hedge about you, who's going to strip you
completely naked in your sin and rebellion and reveal what
you are to yourself. This is the God who is going
to open up that adamant, that stony heart of yours and create
a heart of flesh and cause you to call Him King and Lord. This is the God we're talking
about. And in Isaiah chapter 19, the Lord said that His dealings
with Egypt, particularly with His elect in Egypt, was so that
Egypt shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel. Right
now, God's people are in Egypt. And there's a host of God's elect
remnant that have been bought with the blood of Christ that
have been eternally, everlastingly secure in their surety from even
before the world began that don't even know God right now. And
they're resting all their security and all their assurance on this
Egypt. On everything about this Egypt
that we live in. And the Lord said, Egypt shall
be no more the confidence of the house of Israel. but they shall know that I am
the Lord God." They shall know that I am the Lord God. Now,
last time we saw here in Isaiah 19.1 that the Lord, this is the
Lord. We're going to know that He is
the Lord God. He's the Lord powerful over all.
He said in verse 1, The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud and
shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved
at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst
of it. He is the Lord, powerful over all." We saw this last time.
Secondly, we saw, He is the Lord who destroys every false refuge
in which His children vainly trust. Verse 2, considering the
civil wars, He said, I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians,
and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every
one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against
kingdom. The Lord said, I do this. Because
when they sought peace in Egypt, He made war to break out in Egypt
so that they could find no peace in Egypt. The only peace that's
going to be had is the Lord Jesus Christ. Then concerning the civil
and the religious leaders, the political leaders, and those
folks who were supposed to be preaching the gospel, in verse
14, the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof,
and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as
a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. Because the Lord was determined
that it will not be by the wisdom of men, by the wisdom of this
world, that His people come to know Him. It will be by the preaching
of Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the power and wisdom of
God. And of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
As it is written, He that glorieth Glory is where? In the Lord.
He's going to make it so that when we come to know Him, we're
not going to glory in the preacher. We're not going to glory in our
decision. We're not going to glory in anything. All the glory
is going to be His. Every bit of it. And then the
Lord turned Egypt over to the hand of a cruel Lord. And He
brought all their wealth and their prosperity to nothing.
He brought His children to mourn and to lament because the riches
of God's saints is not in this world. The riches of God's saints
are the unsearchable riches of Christ. They're the riches of
His grace. They're the riches of His glory.
And He does this stripping and this taking away of everything
that we would value so that our hearts might be comforted and
that we might be knit together in love unto all riches of the
full assurance of understanding and the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God in Christ Jesus. Now, concerning all their strivings
and their purposes, look down at verse 15. He said, neither shall there
be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush
may do. And that day Egypt shall be like
unto women, and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking
of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He shaketh over it." This
is the Lord who is going to bring all the hopes and confidences
to nothing. Then thirdly, we saw He is the
Lord who then reveals His grace in verse 18. In that day shall
five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan
and swear to the Lord of hosts. One shall be called the city
of destruction." Somebody said, a miracle of God's judgment. By a miracle of God's judgment,
the tongues of men were confounded at the Tower of Babel. And by
the miracle of grace, God's people are brought to speak the pure
language of God's free grace. Now, we pick up here in verse
19. And in that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the
midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof
to the Lord. Now the first thing we see today
is that He is the Lord who provides His elect a place to worship. The place our Lord provides is
in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's the sanctuary. That's
the green pasture. That's the place. And we enter
into Him in spirit and in truth. We need to understand that this
prophecy was given to the children of Israel. So they're being instructed
like you would instruct your youngest children. They're being
instructed with types and pictures and illustrations. And that's
why we read here of things like altars and pillars and oblations.
Now in this gospel age in which we live now, the church of God,
we no longer have an animal sacrifice. because Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us. We no longer have an earthly
priest because Christ is our great high priest who has entered
into the holiest of holies and who has given us access and boldness
to come with assurance. Christ has fulfilled and forever
abolished all the carnal ordinances of the Old Testament. And we
no longer need a material altar because Christ is our altar. In that day there should be an
altar to the Lord. Christ Jesus the Way is our altar
to the Lord. He's our way to the Lord. He's
the altar that sanctifies all who come to God through Him. When our Lord has stripped us
of all vain confidence, when He's taken everything away from
His elect, He reveals in us that we have an altar. He reveals
in us that we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat what
serve the tabernacle. And in that day they shall worship
God in the Spirit through faith in the merits of Christ alone.
Look here now at this next thing, verse 19. In that day there shall
be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and
a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. The church of God
is called the pillar and ground of truth. Christ is the head
of the church and He's the foundation of the church. He's the head
of the church. He's the one who gave Himself
for the church. He's the one who purged and purified
the church. And He's the foundation of the
church. He's the rock on which this church is built. He's the
pillar. And the church is called the
church of the living God. The pillar and ground of truth.
His messengers are called pillars. when James and Cephas and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto
men. And so the saints of God, which make up His church, are
built up living stones. This is a place He's provided. He said, when I've gone into
Egypt, And I've taken away all these confidences from them.
I'm going to give them a pure language. I'm going to teach
them the language of Cain. And I'm going to teach them the
language of grace in their hearts. And when I teach them the language
of grace in their hearts, I'm going to make them to behold,
they have an altar. They have a place that they can
come to that I will accept them, and that's Christ Jesus the Lord.
And I'm going to provide for them a pillar, a place where
they can go and find pasture, where they can go and sit down
and rest, and feed on the bread from heaven, and drink of the
rivers of life. I'm going to provide them a place
of refuge. I pray God don't ever let us
take for granted that we have a place to gather and worship
Him. I want to read you something. I've been thinking about bringing
this to you for a while. Let me just give you this. I've
been corresponding with several people along these lines, but
this one letter particularly, let me read you some of this.
I just wanted to let you know how blessed my wife and I are
to have your teachings available to us on the internet. My wife
and I were very involved in different ministries when God was pleased
to show us that our church was teaching the law. They were teaching
that God does all the work, but it's up to you to accept him.
When we started teaching the truth in the small group we led,
the pastors told us we could believe what we wanted, but could
not teach it. And we were cold-shouldered out
of the church. We continue to worship our Lord,
listening to teachings brought through you. Please let your
congregation know how thankful we are to them. We don't know
of any other of God's elect that live near us. That's what makes
it so special to have contact with you and your congregation.
Please make sure you thank all who study at the firehouse with
you each week. We may not be there physically,
but we do pray that God would be pleased to use your words
for the good of His own. Oh, don't ever take it for granted.
You got a place, you come hear the Gospel. And I'm just sure
of this, to the friends that write letters like this, I'm
just sure of this, that if God gave His Son so freely, He'll freely give us whatever
we need. If we have to pick up, move,
and go someplace where there is a church, He that spared not
His own Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?
He'll give us what we need. If it's for the sake of His glory
and for hearing His Son preached, He'll provide. Look what He did.
Look what He said. Look what He said, I'm going
to do in Egypt. Look at all the devices that were planned against
Him and all the host that was against Him and how He brought
everything to nothing. And He said, and in that day,
they're going to speak a pure language and there's going to
be an altar in Egypt and there's going to be a pillar there for
My people. He's the Lord. who reveals His grace. He's the
Lord who gives the believer a place to worship. Now secondly, He's
the Lord whose work bears witness of His great name. Look here
in verse 20. And it shall be for a sign and
for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For
they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and
He shall send them a Savior and a Great One, and He shall deliver
them. And the Lord shall be known to
Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and
shall do sacrifice and oblation. Yea, they shall vow a vow unto
the Lord and perform it." I like this. It shall be for a sign
and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts. It's a sign and a witness
of the Lord's faithfulness to show mercy to His elect. Listen
to these words. We might glance over this, but
listen to this. Verse 20. They shall cry unto
the Lord because of the oppressors. Now, were they crying when they
were in Egypt? eating the onions and the garlics
and the leeks, and they were looking to Egypt for covering
and for protection and for strength? No. But when the Lord in His
faithfulness made wars to break out in Egypt, when the Lord in
His faithfulness made all their purposes to come to nothing,
when the Lord in His purpose turned them over to a cruel Lord,
He says, then they shall cry. They'll cry. Their cry is a witness
unto His faithfulness. That He would bring His people
to cry unto Him. You've heard me say before, the
Lord puts prayer into our hearts. The Lord puts a prayer on our
lips. He puts the words in our mouth. Oh, we can recite prayers
and we can pray and those things, but cry unto the Lord. The Lord's got to put that there.
The Lord's got to put that there. And according to His faithfulness,
He said, I will. And when they cry, He says, He
shall sin. He shall sin. Thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon Thee. One time I was when I still lived
at home when I was about 16 or 17. I remember one night, late,
just about time for bed, I remember seeing some emergency vehicles,
lights flashing and everything, go by my house and go up the
road that was in front of my house. I hopped in my truck and
followed over there to see what happened. And I got over there
and they was all gathered around some people's house over there. and pulled up there and got out.
These folks had a little boy, six years old. And before it
got dark, he wandered off from the house and it got dark. And it was about 11 o'clock by
that time. And they had every emergency
crew in the county there looking for him. Couldn't find him anywhere. And that little fella got to
wandering around out there in the dark. And he got so lost
that he just sat down. He couldn't do anything else,
didn't have any more strength to do anything else. He just
sat down and went to cry, bawling his eyes out. And they found him. And the rescue
workers said, the best thing that could have ever happened
to that boy is for him to come to the place where he couldn't
keep walking to where he had to just sit in one spot and sit
still and start crying because that's how we found him. You know what the best thing
for you and me is? To be brought to where we just
can't move another muscle and we just have to sit down and
cry. He said in that day, I'm going
to deliver them. He'll make you cry and then He'll
deliver you. He said it will be for a sign and a witness unto
Him. It's a sign and a witness of His faithfulness in giving
His Son. He says they shall cry unto the
Lord because of the oppressors and He shall send them a Savior
and a Great One and He shall deliver them. In Titus 2.13,
He's called the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Our
Savior, Jesus Christ, is a man just like me and you. He knows our infirmities just
like you and I know them. And at the same time, He's the
great God. Does that do anything for you?
Does that do anything in your heart? He knows you. He knows everything about you.
He knows exactly where you walk, what you think, what you're going
through, the infirmities of your flesh. He was touched with the
feelings of our infirmities, yet without sin. And He's the
great God. This One is a great Savior. He's
the Great One. This one is that knows you, that
knows what sorrow is, that knows what the feeling of having brethren
turn their back on you, the feeling of being hungry and thirsty,
the feeling of having to go out and work, during a day-to-day,
everything that we go through, He knows what we feel. And this
same One is the One who says to the rain cloud, go there and
rain. And it rains. Stop raining over
there. And it stops raining over there.
That place is too wet. It needs some sun. He shines
the sun on that place. This place over here is too dry.
It needs some moisture and he sends some rain over here to
this place. You get too, this one gets too high and proud and
everything about themselves. They need to be brought down.
He brings them down. This one over here is of a contrite
spirit. They're broken, they're too broken.
He shows himself, brings them up. keeps His people right where
they need to be, keeps His people ever looking to Him, keeps His
people staying on Jehovah. This is a great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. This is who our Savior is. All those days when we were walking
along and so proud and had everything figured out, knew exactly what
we wanted out of life and how we were going to make a name
for ourselves and everything that we were going to do for
ourselves. Every little turn we took, He had us hedged about. The nights we ran wild and went
on our own and was just hanging by a thread from hell, He was
the one holding us. turned everything in this world,
turns the King's heart with us wherever He will, turned our
heart as He would, and for some reason made us walk into a place
where we sat down and heard the Gospel preached. This is a great God and a Savior.
He said, when I bring them to the place where they cry out
for Me, when they behold what they are, when they behold the
sin that they are in themselves, I will bring them to cry out
for Me. And I'll give them a great lunch. Are you a great sinner? A great
sinner needs a great One, a great Savior, a great God. Only a great
sinner needs that. But he says, I'll do that, and
he's great. He's great in his work. How would you like to know? How
would you like to know with full assurance? Now I'm talking to
you that don't have any interest in the Gospel. Or just can't
seem to make yourself have any interest in the gospel. Do you know you're a sinner? Do you? I don't mean that you've
done some bad things. I mean that that's what you are.
Totally undone. Totally deserving of the wrath
of God. Totally deserving of hell for
all eternity. Do you know your sinner? How would you like to know that
your sin has been forever put away? That it's been completely
purged? The sin you thought about just
a minute ago and the sin that you're going to think about in
a minute from now, put away, gone. never to be brought up
again. God will not remember your sin
anymore. By the person of His Son, He
has completely, forever put away sin. God who knows everything,
God who knows all things, who knows the end from the beginning,
says, I remember your sin no more. Period. Instead, I've clothed you in
My own righteousness. Perfect, eternal righteousness. Secured in My Son so that you
can never, ever, ever fall away. Never be turned away from Me.
Never go back into this Egypt again. Would you like to know
that? Is there anybody here that would
like to know that? To rest there? Do you think, well, but if I
did that, I'd have to, there's some things I like, I might have
to give up. And you don't really want to
know it. You don't really want that assurance. You hadn't been
brought to cry. You hadn't been stripped. You
hadn't been made to see what you are. He says, in that day
when you cry, I'll send you a Savior, a great one, mighty to save. You know, a testimony to the
fact that we're depraved in our hearts, a testimony to the fact
that we have to cast ourselves on the mercy of God, is that
any other aspect of our life, if someone promised us unsearchable
riches, You'd break your neck right now getting out of here
and getting to it, wouldn't you? If it was just material riches. And yet the God of heaven and
earth, the God of glory says, I give to my people the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I can't even tell you what that
is. I can't even enter into what that is. It's beyond my wildest
dream of what it is. But it's mine and it's yours
who believe it. You know why somebody don't just
crawl over you right now trying to call on God and crying out
to God to save them? They don't want to know Him.
Don't have any desire to know Him. Don't really think there's
any sin to be put away. Don't need a great Savior because
they're not a great sinner. Isn't that a testimony to how
we need God's grace working in the heart? But he said, in that day it will
be a witness unto me when I, they cry, and when I give, and
when I give this one that's going to save them. Then in verse 21,
And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall
know the Lord in that day. You see how this just totally
takes away all this idea of God has done all He can do, and that's
up to you. How this takes away the idea
that God's holding out a free coupon to heaven for you if you
just take it. How He's offering you something
now if you just exercise something in you and take it. Do you see
how this just does away with all that? He says, the Lord shall
be known to Egypt. And the Egyptians shall know
the Lord in that day. and shall do sacrifice and oblation. Yea, they shall vow a vow unto
the Lord and perform it." Now you've got to think about who
these people were. This is people who were outside of the commonwealth
of Israel. This is people who had never
been given any kind of any of the Law of Moses. They never
had anything to do with the ceremonies. They never were part of all of
the advantages that the Lord had given to Israel. This is
a people outside. The only thing Egypt knew about
the Lord at this time was, is that one time a long time ago,
He had everybody slay a lamb in the camp of Israel. And the
angel of the Lord came through that night, and all the firstborn
died, and the next day He delivered the children of Israel out of
Egypt. And when Pharaoh and his army chased after them, they
were drowned in the sea. That's all they knew about this
God. What do you know about Him? What do I know about Him? Nothing. Not as much. And yet He said, they're going
to know Me, The Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians
shall know the Lord in that day, and they'll do sacrifice and
oblation. They'll vow a vow unto the Lord, and they'll perform
it. This is not sacrifices and oblations
and the ceremonial love. He's talking about spiritual
sacrifices. They're going to pray to me.
They're going to praise me. They're going to walk, be zealous
for good works. They're going to present themselves
as a holy, living sacrifice to God accepted in Christ. And they're going to vow vows
and perform them. You know, in Romans 7, the Lord
says that we're dead to the law. Let's look at it. Let's just
look over there with me. Romans 7. He gives an illustration of marriage
and the law according to marriage. And He says, Verse 1, Know ye
not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the
woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she be called
an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's free from that
law. So that she's no adulteress, though she be married to another
man. Why? Her husband died. You and I, as we're born in this
world, are married to the law. And try as we could to bring
forth fruit, all we could do is bring forth dead fruit. Sin,
rebellion, But verse 4 says, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. When He died,
we died to the law, that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. When you got married, you made
a vow, didn't you? I did when I got married. I made
a vow. You know what faith is? You know what a profession of
faith is? You know what a vocation of faith
is? It's God creating in us a spirit
to where we behold Christ our Husband and we're married to
Him. We enter into a union with Him
through the Spirit and He... What is it you said? You vow
to cherish and obey Him? By faith we enter into this. We have a desire now to bring
forth fruit unto Him, to be honorable to Him, to walk honorable before
Him. But He says here, they're going
to do this and perform it. What's that mean? It means the
same grace which sent Christ to establish the righteousness
for us. brings sinners to profess their
allegiance to Christ through faith. And the same grace which
makes a believer cherish and obey Christ is sufficient to
keep us trusting only Christ. When I started in the faith,
I could remember them saying, we're not of those that draw
back now. This thing's not a one-time deal. When you believe on Christ,
you persevere in the faith. And I can remember saying, I'm
going to follow Him. He's mine and I'm His. Like Ruth
said to Naomi, where you go, I go. Your people will be my
people. I'm with you. but it's by His preserving grace
that I perform it. And by His preserving grace that
you perform it. This is not a maybe. If it was
left up to me and you, He would say, they might thou vow and
they might perform it. He didn't say that. He said they
will and they shall. This is the new covenant written
in the heart, brethren. I will and they shall. Now look
here in verse 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt,
He shall smite and heal. and they shall return even unto
the Lord, and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them." It may seem like smiting to you
with all of the oppression right now in the economy, with the
crazy folks we've got on Capitol Hill, with the crazy people you
see in pulpits and the craziness in religion and all those things.
It may be oppression to you when you're without a job or when
you cut back in your wages, it may be oppressive to you when
you behold your sin and you're made to mourn your sin. But every
bit of it, brethren, just like the Lord was doing here in Egypt,
every bit of it, that which is a smiting in judgment to Egypt
is a chastening, loving hand to the children of God. It's
a turning them from that which is not good for them. That which is against anything
that's good for them. Turning them. It may offend you. I don't guess I've yet disciplined
my children that it didn't offend them. And when this gospel comes
forth into the heart and God corrects His children, it's offensive
against our flesh, but not against the Spirit. The Spirit delights
in the law of God. We delight to do what He tells
us to do. We want to do what He tells us
to do. And when He strengthens us and makes us to mourn our
sin, He at the same time makes us hunger and thirst after righteousness. The same time that He smites
us, He heals us. It's a two-edged sword, this
Gospel is. It cuts and it heals. It cuts
and it heals. He said, I'll smite them. And
He said, and they'll return to Me and they'll be entreated of
Me and I'll heal them. He's the Lord whose work bears
witness of His great name. It'll be a sign for a witness
unto the Lord of hosts in Egypt. He'll give them a place to worship.
He'll cause them to cry out and He'll send them His Son, a great
Savior. And He'll be known to Egypt and
they'll be known to Him and they'll do sacrifice and oblations and
vow vows and perform what He's commanded. Because He'll smite them and
heal them. And then here's the third thing. We looked at this
a little bit last time, but He's the Lord who gives His elect
among all nations the peace that only He can give. Verse 23, And
that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and
the Assyrians shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into
Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. Now,
really to get the significance of this, you've got to remember
what we've seen all through the book of Isaiah, that Egypt was
an enemy to Assyria, and Assyria was an enemy to Egypt, and they're
all enemies to Israel, and Israel to them. Nobody mentioned here
liked each other. They hated each other. But Christ Jesus is the high
way that joins all His people together in one. He said, my
peace I give unto you, not as the world gives. You know, you
got you, these folks, the civil, marching for civil rights, whatever,
they want peace, and protesting, and folks in politics, and all
these things that, they want peace. That's what they, in the
name of peace, doing all these things in the name of peace.
That's peace the world gives. And if peace came about, you
know what happened? They'd be out of a job. They
don't want peace. They want to keep things stirred
up a little bit. The peace God gives really does effectually
work peace in the heart. You want me to give you some
proof? We got Spanish folks here, Italian
folks here, Scottish folks here, Irish folks here. I'm Heinz 57. A little bit of everything. I
don't know what I am. But we're one. We're one. One in Christ. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One. One body. One church. One salvation. He says there'll be a highway
joining all these folks together and I'll bring them together.
Boy, I'll be ready to see when that happens. Look around. It's not going to be some great
thing that's going to be impressive to your eye. It's not going to
be some great thing that's going to make this world stop and everybody
ring a bell and stand up and say, look what the Lord... He's
doing it. It comes without observation.
He's doing it right in the midst of this Egypt right now. Look
around this room. We're reconciled to God in Christ
and reconciled to one another. He says it. He reconciled both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity. And
He came and He preached peace to you which were afar off and
to them that were nigh, and through Him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Is there anybody in here that's
Israelite after the flesh. Anybody in here that's a child
of Abraham after the flesh, put your hand down, Will. Well, then you're Gentiles, and
I'm a Gentile. We're Egypt, but you know what
we are by grace? We're Israel. He's a Jew, which
is one inwardly of the Spirit of God. Well, look at this last
thing. And the Lord blesses His people
and He makes them a blessing. Verse 24. And that day shall
Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing
in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless,
saying, Blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work
of my hands, and Israel, mine inheritance. You know what it
is to be blessed of the Lord? It's right there in that 25th
verse. It's for Him to say, you're my people. You're my people. I can claim
to be His all day, but you know what gives me more assurance?
For Him to say, you're my people. For Him to say it. You know what
it is to be blessed? It's to be for Him to say, you're
the work of my hands. I don't want to be the work of
man, but I want to be the work of His hands. It's for Him to
say, You're my inheritance. I want Him to be my inheritance,
but I get some assurance when He says, You're my inheritance. And then He makes His people
a blessing in the midst of the land. How so? Look over at Acts
26 and we'll be done. How does He make His people a
blessing in the midst of the land? This is what Paul is given the
account of when the Lord called him and stripped him and made
him to cry out, showed him mercy. This is what Paul said. Why he
did it. Verse 16. The Lord told him,
But rise, stand upon thy feet, For I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in which
I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and the
Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and
to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that's in me. You're
a witness unto the Lord of hosts simply by what He's done for
you and in you. And you're a witness unto the
Lord because when He's done doing everything that He does for us
and in us, we don't have anything else to
talk about but what He's done for us and in us. And therein
we're witnesses. You see that?