The notices for the coming week
are God willing as follows, pastor will preach here next Lord's
Day at 10.30 and two o'clock. Also on Thursday evening at seven
o'clock. And there will be a prayer meeting
here on Tuesday evening at seven o'clock. Let us commence our
services today by singing together hymn number 515. Tune is Ephraim.
463. Holy Ghost, we look to Thee. Raise the dead, the captive free. From the mighty take the prey. Teach the weak to watch and pray. Hymn 515. Holy Ghost, we look
to Thee. Raise the dead, the captive free. From the mighty take the prey,
Teach the weak to watch and pray. Now, dear Lord, the heavens break,
Make some hope thee revel in, Life and light and truth impart,
To some careless sinner's heart. If it be thy holy will, Now thy
gracious work fulfill, Quicken souls and make them cry, Jesus, save me, or I die. Nor thy mourning chains forbear,
Thy sweet unction still repeats, Daily lead us unto Christ, As
a prophet, King, and Priest. Thine it is a church to bless,
And to comfort in distress, Trembling helpless souls to find, Safe
to Jesus' wounded side Out of self to Jesus' care Forth
and in a splinter see, Guide us down to death and death, When
we shall have built and built. Ne'er, and then, support the blind. May we be to death resigned,
And with an immortal song Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the prophecy of Isaiah, chapters 31 and 32. The Prophecy of Isaiah, chapters
31 and 32. Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because
they are many, and in horsemen, because they are very strong.
But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the
Lord. Yet he also is wise and will
bring evil and will not call back his words, but will arise
against the house of the evildoers and against the help of them
that work iniquity. Though the Egyptians are men
and not God, and their horse is flesh and not spirit, When
the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall
fall, and he that is hopin' shall fall down, and they all shall
fail together. For thus hath the Lord spoken
unto me, like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his
prey. When a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him,
he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for
the noise of them. So shall the Lord of Hosts come
down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof. As
birds fly in, so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem, defending
also he will deliver it, and passing over he will preserve
it. Turn ye not unto him from whom
the children of Israel have deeply Turn ye unto him from whom the
children of Israel have deeply revolted. For in that day shall
every man cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold,
which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Then shall
the Assyrian fall with the sword not of a mighty man, and the
sword not of a mean man, and shall devour him. For he shall
flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomforted.
And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear. And his
princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, whose
fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. Behold, a king
shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment,
and a man shall be in hiding place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that
see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall
hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge,
and the tongue of the strammer shall be ready to speak plainly.
The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl
said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak
villainy, and his heart will work iniquity to practice hypocrisy
and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul
of the hungry, and it will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The instruments also of the churl are evil. He deviseth wicked
devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy
speak rightly. But the liberal deviseth liberal
things, and by liberal things shall he stand. Rise up, ye women
that are at ease, Hear my voice, ye careless daughters, give ear
unto my speech. Many days and years shall you
be troubled, ye careless women, for the vintage shall fail, the
gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at
ease. Be troubled, ye careless ones,
strip you, make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
They shall lament for the teeth. for the pleasant fields, for
the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall
come up thorns and prius, yea, upon all the houses of joy, in
the joyous city. Because the palaces shall be
forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left, the forts
and towers shall be for dens, forever a joy of wild asses. a pasture of flocks, until the
Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be
a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in
the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in
a peaceable habitation, and in shore dwellings, and in quiet
resting places, when it shall hail coming down on the forest,
and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are you
that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of
the ox, and the ass. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word and grant to us a spirit of real
prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
which is an art, an art to come, the high and lofty one that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is holy, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we
desire to bow before thy great majesty, for thou art God alone,
and we desire as we come together to worship thee, the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We desire, O Lord,
to come to thee humbly in confession of our sins, with true humility
and love. We desire to bear our hearts
before thee. We think of that solemn word,
if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Gracious
God, oh, we pray for that true, open confession of all our sins,
our wanderings. Holy, blessed, divine spirit
of truth, truly convince us of our sins. and lead to Jesus'
blood, and to our wandering eyes reveal the secret love of God. May we be favoured this day to
know those divine drawings of a Heavenly Father, and to know
the divine leadings of the Holy Ghost, and to know the sacred
and wonderful presence of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of the
Father. that we may worship thee in spirit
and in truth. Lord, many have been our wanderings,
our backslidings, our coldness, our hardness, our ill manners
in this wilderness journey. Gracious God, we pray that today
thou wouldst take away all hardness, take away the heart of stone
and give us a heart of flesh, and a heart that beats for Thee,
a heart submissive, meek and mild, that only lives for Thee. Oh, we pray that most blessed
Spirit to guide us into Thy truth. Thou art the author of Holy Scripture
and Thou alone are able to open it. We pray that Thou would come
this day and open the Word of God to our heart and to our understanding
But we pray, most gracious Lord, that we may be drawn into spiritual
things. None come except the Father draw. Oh, to know those sacred drawings,
that our heart, our mind, our affections may be set upon things
above. And Lord, indeed, if that is
the case, then we shall love the Lord our God with all our
heart, with all our mind, and our neighbour as ourselves. We
pray for that grace, even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that we may truly worship Thee, follow Thee, and serve Thee in
our day and in our generation. We deeply feel our shortcomings,
our heart wanderings, and we pray that today that we may feel
a fervency and a zeal in our hearts, in our souls, as we gather
in the sanctuary. that we may worship our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth, that we may touch the
hem of his garment, that we may draw from that sacred fullness
that is in him. We thank thee for those wonderful
words of grace. He will not fail. Oh, we pray,
dear Lord Jesus, that thou wouldst uphold us by thy free spirit,
that thou wouldst guide us into thy truth, that thou wouldst
help us to follow thee and serve thee in our day and in our generation,
that thou wouldst enable us to present our bodies, a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto thee, which is our reasonable
service, and that we might be found redeeming the time for
the days are evil, and that we may be found true witnesses in
our walk, in our conduct, in our conversation, that men may
know in whom it is that we believe, they may see it, that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Lord, may it be so. We do humbly beseech thee. While
our days on earth are lengthened, may we give them, Lord, to thee,
cheered by hope and daily strengthened. O most gracious Lord, hearken,
we do humbly beseech thee. Forgive all our many sins and
heart-wanderings and backslidings, and draw us unto thyself, even
this day. Draw me, we will run after thee. Oh, do increase our faith and
increase our love. We pray for our beloved brethren,
the deacons. Bless them indeed. graciously
guide and direct them in all matters. They have much responsibility,
Lord, not only among us, but among the churches of God, and
we pray that they may be girded with all sufficient grace. Be
with our brother this morning at Tunbridge Wells, and thy dear
servant there, enable him to set forth the gospel in all its
sweetness, savour, and the person of Christ in all his loveliness.
that we pray that thou wilt bless each one of our brethren and
sisters in church fellowship, that we may truly love each other,
serve each other, bear each other's burdens, be kind and forbearing,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. We pray, most gracious Lord,
that it may be, we may have that witness, by this shall they know,
that ye are my disciples, because ye have love one to another.
O Lord, increase our faith, increase our love. That we pray, most
gracious Lord, that thou wouldst graciously work mightily among
us as a church, as a congregation, that thou wouldst let thy work
appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children.
We pray that precious souls may be gathered in from this village,
and from the surrounding villages and hamlets, that there may be
an in-gathering, that there may be a building up, that there
may be a reviving, a renewing, that this little house of prayer
may yet be filled with hungry longing souls, that there may
be the fulfilling of the prophecy for the place wherein thou dwellest
is too straight for thee. Lengthen thy cords, strengthen
thy stakes. Gracious God, we look to thee
send prosperity, send a real reviving, grant that we may see
the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan and the setting up of
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the hearts of sinners. Gracious
God, this is thy work and thine alone, and we bow in humble supplication
before thee. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants and thy glory unto their children. We pray that Thou wouldst
graciously bless the little ones and the children. We thank Thee
for them. We love to see them and hear
them in the house of God. And that Thou hast said in Thy
words, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And that raise up
a generation among us that shall call Thee the Redeemer blessed,
that shall follow on to know the Lord. We do humbly beseech
Thee. and graciously undertake for
those on the threshold of life's journey all the temptations and
the things that will allure them, and that we pray that thou wouldst
quicken them, that thou wouldst give them spiritual desires and
spiritual longings, and give them the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, and bring them to living, vital,
saving faith in Jesus Christ. Hear us, O Lord. Let thy work
appear. let thy power be known. Grant
that it may be with us as it was with the dear apostle when
he was at Thessalonica, when he could witness, for our gospel
came unto you, not in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost,
and with much assurance. Remember our young friends in
all the paths of providence, in their education, Give them
wisdom, guidance and direction. Help them to seek Thee and look
to Thee. Remember them regarding any future employment and graciously
grant them Thy divine direction. Lord, remember we do humbly beseech
Thee each one of them regarding a partner in life's journey. That great God that did spring
of Ruth under Boaz, Thou didst bring a Rebekah unto Isa. Thou
art able to do abundantly more than we can even ask or think.
We pray for those that have wandered from the sanctuary. We pray that
thou wouldst stretch out thy almighty arm and cause them to
return. Nothing is too hard for thee.
O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel, O Thou that dwellest between
the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
and come and save us, O Lord, we beseech thee. Send now prosperity. Turn us again, O God of hosts,
and cause thy face to shine. Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, the son of man, whom thou madest strong
for thyself. Remember, that those in the midst
of the journey of life, especially we think of parents, that they
may be given wisdom and guidance and direction in the bringing
up of their children. May the family all to be raised,
the word of God read and prayer made, for all things are sanctified
by the word of God and prayer. Lord, we pray that thou would
deliver us from the temptations of Satan, from the allurements
of this world, from the power and the dominion of sin and make
us more spiritually minded. We do humbly beseech them. Remember
those in any particular trial or trouble or perplexity or sorrow
or affliction. Remember them for good. We do
humbly beseech them. May we see Zion's offspring come. Lord, what rejoicing there would
be. Lord, remember those of us who
are now in the evening time of life journey, and we pray that
Thou wouldst graciously make us, O Lord, to be more spiritual,
that we may be found often in Thy word, studying and reading
Thy holy word, meditating therein, and that Thy word may be a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our path. May it be so today. Prepare us for that great change
which must surely come. Be with all in the path of bereavement
and grant thy consoling mercy and thy upholding grace. O Lord,
we do humbly beseech you. Remember all thy servants as
they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion. Grant
them the spirit of power, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit
of understanding. Grant that they may preach the
word, be instant in season and out of season. Grant, Lord, that
gracious determination to know nothing among men, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Hear us, Lord. Grant that the
Lord Jesus Christ may be exalted as a prince and as a saviour,
for to give faith and repentance and remission of sins. Remember
all thy servants up and down the nation, remember our nation,
thou seest, O Lord, that all matters, all is before thee,
all is known to thee, for by thee kings reign and princes
decree justice, and the powers that be are ordained of God.
We pray for our King that thy blessing may rest upon him and
each of the royal household, and that thou wouldst give wisdom,
guidance, and direction to our political leaders. We do humbly
pray thee. O Lord God, we thank thee that
thou art God over all and blessed for evermore, and there is nothing
too hard for thee. We do pray thy blessing upon
those that labour in word and doctrine among the nations of
the earth. We think especially of those that go forth from among
us as a group of churches. That great work of the Savannah
Education Trust in Ghana, that thou wouldst bless them indeed,
that it may redound to the honour, glory and praise of thy great
name in that nation. Remember Oh Lord, the Mombasa
mission and that great work that they are doing in Kenya. Oh,
do gird them with all sufficient grace, strengthen them, supply
all their needs. Remember, oh Lord, Ian Sadler
and that great work that he does in the distribution of the word
and in the teaching of ministers in India and Pakistan and Africa. Lord, help him, support him,
Undertake for him, supply all his many returning needs. Gracious
God, we do pray for a thankful heart. Thy mercies to us each
are new every morning, and great is thy faithfulness. And we would
enter thy gates with praise and with the voice of thanksgiving,
for great is thy goodness. Great is the Lord, and great
thee to be praised. And we would seek to praise thee. We thank thee for the wonderful
glories of Christ, for the sacred and profound doctrine of the
incarnation of the Son of God, and the holy life he lived as
a man here upon earth. We thank thee for the holy law
he fulfilled for his people We thank thee for that glorious
everlasting robe of the righteousness of Christ that is for his people,
the bringing in of everlasting righteousness. We thank thee,
most gracious God, for the wonders and glories, the solemn wonder
and the solemn glory of Calvary, where the Lamb was slain, where
sin was put away, where divine justice is satisfied where the
curse is removed, where a new and living way is made into the
holy place. We thank Thee for the precious
blood of the Lamb that cleanses from all sin. We thank Thee,
most gracious Lord, for the resurrection of the dead, for the one that
liveth forever and ever, who now sits at Thy right hand, our
great High Priest. Lord, fill our hearts with gratitude,
with thanksgiving, for the wonderful glory of his name, the wonder
of his grace. In him we know the love of our
eternal Father, and through him we receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Come and touch one's lips with
a live coal from off the heavenly altar. We ask for Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 925. The tune is Ombudsly 385. Peace by his cross has Jesus
made, the church's everlasting head,
for hell and sin has victory won, and with a shout to glory
God, hymn 925. He is mine, he is God's, and Jesus' name. ? The church's everlasting hymn
? ? O help and shame not decreed reward ? ? And weakness shall
? ? To glory love ? ? When all thy men ? ? Turned in
the dark ? ? And shades of sin obscured them ? Yet still this man proudly you
shall meet It rejuvenations, holy days,
Born on the mount of sovereign grace, O'er the calm, the clear, and the sweet,
This glorious town thy peace shall be. ? When thy eye of faith is dimmed
? ? Excel, O Jesus, safe, O sweet ? ? And thy tears, O Lord, should fall ? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the prophecy
of Isaiah in chapter 32, and we'll read verses 17 and 18 for
our text. Isaiah chapter 32, verses 17
and 18. And the work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect
of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever. And my
people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings,
and in quiet resting places. We have some beautiful, sacred
prophecies concerning our Lord. and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The old Puritans used to refer
to Isaiah as the Gospel according to Isaiah. Why did they do that? Because it is so full of sacred
prophecies concerning the person and work of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. In the beginning of this chapter
is such a prophecy Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in judgment. This is speaking of King Jesus.
Just as David, when he writes Psalm 45, he says, my tongue
is indicting a good matter. The word indicting in the original
Hebrew, it means bubbling over, boiling over. My pen is the pen
of a ready writer. I speak of the things that I've
made touching the king. See, behold, a king shall reign
in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a
man. This opens up to us the sacred
and the profound, the fundamental mystery of our most holy faith,
that God was manifest in the flesh. that Paul, when he writes
to Timothy, he says, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle
himself speaks of him in the epistle to Timothy, when he relates
his own call by divine grace. And he breaks out in that beautiful
word, now unto the King eternal. Immortal and invisible, the only
true God, be honour and glory everlasting. Amen. The King Eternal,
immortal, unchangeably the same. Jehovah Jesus, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday and today and forever. Upon this rock I
build my church and the gates of hell. shall not prevail against
it Christ is the eternal rock of ages he's the eternal son
of the eternal father in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the godhead bodily and as john says he is full of grace always
full of grace he's full of grace and truth and and All that grace
that he constantly gives to his people, he's still full of grace
and truth, and he always will be full of grace and truth, because
there is an endless supply in our Lord Jesus Christ of grace. That's been such a good word
to me over the years, and he giveth more grace. Do you feel
to need grace? Are you one of those poor and
needy souls that we read of in Holy Scripture? a man shall be in hiding place
from the wind. The winds of affliction, a covert
from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow
of a great rock in a weary land, a man, the glorious holy God
man. The apostle in more than one
occasion in the Hebrews, he says, but this man, but this man, the
man Christ Jesus, the man that has power to save, the man that
has power to redeem, the man that has power to deliver, the
man that has said, all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. But this man, a man, shall be in a hiding place, a
refuge. It's lovely what the hymn writer
says, isn't it? A refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known
It is found in the merits of Jesus alone, the weary, the tempted,
the burdened by sin, were never exempted from entering therein. Come then, repenting sinner,
come, and trust upon his grace, so what thou wilt, the total
sum, is cancelled by his death. Peter, he says, to whom coming,
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God
and precious, a living stone. And a man shall be in hiding
place from the wind and a covert from the tempest. You know, we
come into sometimes very tempestuous pathways, very trying pathways,
very perplexing Look at those women that came to Christ when
he was here upon earth. My daughter is sick. Look at
the ruler of the synagogue. My daughter is dying. The centurion, when he came,
his servant was sick. Just speak the word, you see,
and they believed. That dear woman that came with
that sick daughter, she said, Lord, help me. But listen to
what he said. It's so instructive to us. And she worshipped him, saying,
Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Did he turn her
away? He tried her. He tried her patience. He tried her faith. And you may be walking in a path
at this time, you're so tried and so tempted as to whether
you're in the faith or no. And Christ said to her, it's
not meat for me to give bread unto the, meat unto the dogs. But what did she reply? The dogs
eat of the crumbs from under the master's table, you see. Woman, great is thy face. Great is thy face. He didn't
cast her away, did he? Tried her? Maybe that's where
you are, tried. But you feel when the devil tempts
you, the Lord will never hear your prayers. I think of my late mother-in-law,
and the last time I saw her, when she quoted that verse of
the hymn, I can no denial take when I plead for Jesus' sake. I had a good hope of that woman. It's for Christ's sake. Whatsoever
ye ask in my name. Not your name. All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We're all as an unclean thing.
But whatsoever ye ask in my name. That's the secret to real true
Christian believing. whatsoever he ask in my name
this is the name the father loves to hear his children plead and
all such pleading he approves when offered in his name he does
maybe you feel so burdened and tempted and tried with unbelief
and with your burden of your sin and you feel coldness and
hardness you feel to be such a weak, wretched, ruined sinner,
you can't make yourself better, and you give up hope almost of
ever being able to obtain that wonderful salvation that is in
Christ Jesus. He speaks to such souls. He speaks
to them today. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and
ye, shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. What does it mean when he says
being yoked? Well, the illustration still
happens in some countries in the East where oxen are used
to plough the ground. And you put a yoke over two oxen
and it unites them together so they can pull the plough. Christ
is using that as an illustration to be yoked, to be united to
Christ. You know friends, this is the
fundamental and the vital thing in all real religion. It's to
be united to Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest, the rest of faith, faith in the bleeding
Lamb, faith in His precious blood, faith in His glorious righteousness,
faith in all His perfections. And a man shall be in hiding
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of
water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land. That's what Christ is to his
people. The other word here in this chapter which is exceedingly
instructive and precious is verse 15. Until the Spirit be poured
upon us from on high and the wilderness be a fruitful field
and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. The Spirit. the Holy Ghost. We've spoken
of the glorious divine person of Jesus, the Son of God, his
ability to save, his precious blood that cleanses from all
sin, his glorious everlasting righteousness that clothes a
poor sinner to stand in the presence of Almighty God. But then we have here, until
the Spirit be poured upon us from on high. Now the effect
of the Spirit being poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness
be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for
a forest. You think of this and then let
us just turn for a moment to Isaiah chapter 41. And there
in Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 17, we read, when the poor and needy seek
water and there is none. You know, that when, there comes a time in the personal
experience of every child of God, when the Spirit is given. The Spirit of life that is in
Christ Jesus, the Holy Ghost, How vital is the indwelling of
the Holy Ghost? Now it speaks here of the effect
of that indwelling of the Holy Ghost. When the poor and needy
seek water, why do they seek it? Because they're thirsty. Why do they hunger and thirst? Because the Holy Ghost has entered
their heart and quickened their soul into life. And they have
a spiritual need, they have spiritual longings, they have spiritual
yearnings. Like one of the hymn writers
says, you have an aching void that the world can never fill.
Do you? Do I have an aching void that
the world can never fill? You know, what a wonderful thing
if you and I are found seeking. What a wonderful thing if you
and I are found poor and needy. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall be filled. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. When the poor and needy seek
water. Who's come to chapel thirsty
today? You have a need. You have a longing. You dear young friends, do you
have a need? You dear children, do you have a need? Do you have
a longing? Do you feel a longing toward the Lord? Do you feel
a longing to be found among the Lord's people? Like the hymn writer says, numbered
among them would I be. What a wonderful thing if you
do really feel that hunger and thirsting. When the poor and
needy seek water and there is none. The world, under the divine
influence and power of the Holy Ghost, the world becomes a wilderness. Like it says elsewhere, and it
says here, and there is none. There's no water. And you're
thirsty. In Psalm 107, hungry and thirsty,
their souls fainted within them. Their souls fainted within them.
And there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst. Have
you come to chapel like that today? Your tongue failing for
thirst? There's a wonderful word of promise
here. I, the Lord, will hear them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. He's promised to
hear the poor and the needed. And he's promised not to forsake
them. Fear not, I am with thee, be not dismayed, I am thy God,
I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness. I will open rivers in high places,
this is the rivers of his grace, the rivers of his love in Jesus
Christ, and fountains in the midst of the valleys, I will
make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs
of water. Now these thoughts come from
this word that we have in verse 15, until the Spirit be poured
upon us from on high. And when the Spirit is poured
upon us from on high, and we begin to hunger and thirst after
righteousness, and we begin to be spiritually exercised and
concerned about our soul, and we begin to feel something of
our darkness and our bondage under sin and Satan's power,
and then Christ is revealed as the way, the truth and the life,
and we hunger and thirst after Him. And we can then understand
a little of what the Apostle says, that I may know Him. Is
that how you've come to chapel today? That I may know Him, in
the power. You see, my beloved friends,
You want to know the power of that truth. Now where the Spirit
is poured out from on high, in this wilderness world, that's
where the Lord plants a church. You look at what it says here
in Isaiah chapter 41, I will make the wilderness a pool of
water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the
wilderness, now these trees represent the different types there are
of the children of God you have the mighty cedar you have the
shitter tree and the myrtle in the oil tree I was set in the
desert well naturally speaking that we would say what a foolish
thing to set in a desert trees they'll just die no because the
spirit is poured out from on high and it's a continual flowing
That is so beautifully illustrated when we read of it in the last
chapter of Holy Scripture. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. God is the Father, the Lamb is
the Son, the river is the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father
and the Son. And where does he proceed to?
Into the church. He's poured out for one high.
And he will plant there in his church. The mighty cedar, the
shitter tree, the myrtle, the oil tree. I was set in the desert,
the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree. You know, that
little box tree. You know what a box hedge is
like? They're all evergreen, these trees. See, this is what the Lord is
going to do in his church. You know, do it to the end of
time, when the Spirit is poured out from on high. And he will
plant in his church these trees. And they shall take root downward,
and they will bear fruit upward. Oh, my beloved friends, are we
one of those trees? Maybe you feel just like that
little box tree. But there are others, by the
grace of God, that are cedars in Lebanon, send out their boughs. You see, the Lord has all these
different types of people in his church until the Spirit be
poured upon us. Oh, how we need to pray, my beloved
friends, for the outpouring of the Spirit. Those of us that
are spiritually minded, it's only as the Spirit is poured
into our soul that we become more spiritually
minded, that our affections are set upon things above, that we
have the exercise of living faith in Jesus Christ. We have the
spirit of real repentance and godly sorrow for sin. But it
was the thought of this verse that led me to our first hymn.
Holy Ghost, we look to thee. Raise the dead, the captive free. From the mighty, take the prey. Teach the weak to watch and pray. Oh, how we long for the power
of the Holy Ghost in our assemblies, under the ministry of the Word,
and also in your own private devotions when you read the Word
of God, and you pray over the Word of God, how we need the
Holy Ghost to open it, and to give us a spirit of real meditation,
and for Christ to be revealed in the Scriptures. That's the
work of the Holy Ghost. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
is come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. He will take of the things of
Jesus and reveal them unto you. Or as the Apostle says in Corinthians,
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. And the work of righteousness It goes on from that verse 15
says then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness
remain in the fruitful field and the work of righteousness
shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance forever. What is this righteousness? This is Very fundamental, isn't
it, to our subject? What is this righteousness? It's not our righteousness. Let
us be very clear on that. The Lord Jesus, he gives us that
very clear and apt illustration of the Pharisee and the public,
and two men went up onto the temple to pray. The Pharisee
had need of nothing. I thank God that I'm not as other
men are, even as this publican. I do this, I do that, I do something
else. He was trusting in his own righteousness. He didn't have need of anything.
The Lord's living family are a needy family. When the poor
and needy seek water and there is none. They're a needy family. They need salvation. They need
redemption. They need deliverance. They need
reconciling unto God. That's what they stand in need
of. And they look within and they
have to confess, I am all unrighteousness. I'm all unrighteousness. They read in the Holy Scriptures,
the Apostle quotes in Romans 3 quotes from Psalm 14. There
is none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. That's man by nature. That's
you by nature. That's me by nature. There's
none that doeth good. No, not one. But then he goes on. in Romans
3 and he speaks of that righteousness which is by faith. He says in Romans chapter 4,
he speaks of Abraham, that Abraham obtained a righteousness by faith,
by faith of the Son of God, by faith of Jesus Christ. Not having
mine own righteousness, but that righteousness which is of Jesus
Christ. This, my beloved friends, is
the righteousness that is found in our text, and the work of
righteousness shall be peace. What is that work of righteousness? It was the whole life of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He did no sin. for all the 33
years that he was here. As the apostle says, made of
a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that
are under the law. There's a glorious righteousness
that he wrought out. I love those words, he did no
sin. Neither was guile found in his mouth. Everlasting righteousness. Daniel, he says, doesn't he,
by way of prophecy, till they bring it in. of everlasting righteousness. What does he mean? He means the
righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of the King
eternal, immortal, and invisible. You know, all the value, all
the worth, the intrinsic value and the intrinsic worth of the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ is found in this. He is the Son of God. Therefore, his righteousness
is an everlasting righteousness. It's an eternal righteousness.
He'll clothe and couple his people forever. As it says in our text,
and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect
of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever. I've often
told you of that wonderful experience that I had, a time when we were
in great trouble. It was actually at the time when
my youngest daughter, my wife, was expecting and she was taken
into hospital. And it was on that day that the
Lord, He so blessed my soul. There were no words spoken, but
all the blessing of the Lord in my soul, it overflowed. And it was the words of the hymn
writer that was made so sweet and precious to me. I'm blessed,
I'm blessed, forever blessed. My rags are gone and I am dressed
in garments white as snow. You know, friends, I looked for
my sins and my sins could not be found. And the effect of that
peace, quietness, consolation in the midst of trouble, and
the work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance. This is the righteousness of
Christ. This is something that the Lord's
living family need to be laboring for. That righteousness, which
is by faith of the Son of God. We find in the 61st chapter of
the prophecy of Isaiah, and in the verse 10, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth
her barden, as the gardens causeth the things that are sown in it
to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all nations. It's that glorious
everlasting robe. It's that lovely hymn I can't
quote it exactly, it's written by Murray McShane, Jehovah Sidkenu. In the last verse of each of
that hymn, Jehovah Sidkenu. The Lord, Our Righteousness. It's a quotation, of course,
from Jeremiah chapter 23. It's written in capital letters,
The Lord, Our Righteousness. In the Hebrew, it is Jehovah
Sidkenu. the Lord, our righteousness. You'll never find any righteousness
in yourself. I've proved it many, many times. Sometimes when you're not even
aware of it, you're trying to work out a righteousness. You're
trying to make yourself better. You're trying, as it were, to
please God and think that by so doing, you'll obtain the favor
of God. You can't. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We cannot fulfill God's holy,
righteous law. It's an utter impossibility.
We're born in sin. We're shaped in iniquity. Oh,
sinner, you need something far greater than your own obedience
and righteousness. You need the sacred obedience
and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the eternal son, of the Eternal
Father, who was made of a woman, made under the law, that you
might redeem them that are under the law, that glorious everlasting
robe of His righteousness, to be clothed. It's beautiful,
isn't it? In the seventh chapter of the
book of the Revelation, how there the Lord revealed unto His servant
John And he says in verse 13 and one of the elders answers
saying unto me What are these which are arrayed in white robes
and whence came they? And I said unto him sir thou
knowest and he said to me These are they which came out of great
tribulation She's the lord's living family and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb therefore
notice the connection therefore are they before the throne of
God and serve him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them. The only reason that they're
in heaven and the only reason that you and I will ever be in
heaven is through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That's what that means. And that is exactly what is meant
by the spouse in the Song of Solomon. When she speaks of her
beloved, my beloved is white and ruddy. White, representing
the glorious perfections of Christ, his holiness, his righteousness. And red, representing the blood
of Christ that he shed on Calvary. The blood and righteousness of
our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, is our only hope. It's our only hope. It is. It goes on in Isaiah chapter
62. I was looking at it this morning before I came out. For
Zion's sake, Zion being the church of the living God, I will not
hold my peace. For Jerusalem's sake, I will
not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. and the
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and
thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the
Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God. You see, this glorious person
of Jesus Christ, the King eternally mortal and invisible, he's wrought
out a righteousness for his people. He's brought out a perfect obedience
for his people. That righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ. It's the righteousness of the
holy God man when he lived as a man here upon earth. I come
not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And that's exactly
what he's done for his people. And this is what the believer
receives by faith in Jesus Christ, an everlasting righteousness.
and everlasting righteousness, and the work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness,
and assurance forever, forever. It's something that is eternal. It's something that is unchangeable. It's as Christ is, as the eternal
Son of the Father. So his righteousness, it's eternal,
unchangeable. Twice in the Psalm 119, thy righteousness
is an everlasting righteousness. It is the righteousness of Christ. And the effect of that righteousness,
quietness and assurance. Very sacred to have that assurance
forever. The assurance. You know, sometimes
we look at the word assurance and we have a very narrow interpretation
of it. In the sense that we're speaking
of what we call gospel assurance, which is a lovely thing to have
and a very blessed thing to have. But you know, we can have assurance
in very different ways. We can have that assurance, we
know that we're sinners. And we have an assurance, we
know that we're sinners. The fruit of it is in our heart
and life every day. And to the living child of God,
that is a great burden and a great grief. The more I strove against
sin's power, I sinned and stumbled, but the more. We can have that assurance that
Jesus is the way to God. we know if ever my poor soul
be saved is Christ must be the way that's assurance you know
you may not have entered into the assurance of it in your own
experience but you know that in Christ is the forgiveness
of sins now you may know that but you haven't yet experienced
it when you experience it then you know your sins forgiven you
look for your sins and your sins cannot be found There's such
an assurance that is given. And my people shall dwell in
a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting
places. Resting, resting by faith in
the finished work of Christ. Resting by faith on his perfect
obedience his righteousness, resting by faith in that glorious,
sacred, holy, precious sacrifice of Calvary, where the Lamb was
slain. What happened at Calvary? Well,
to know more fully what happened at Calvary, we need to look at
Gethsemane. What happened in Gethsemane?
when we see the Lord of life and glory bowing before His Holy
Father, sweating His word, great drops of blood falling down to
the ground. What happened there? What was
accomplished there? What was afforded? What was performed
there? Our Eternal Father, laid upon
Him, His only begotten Son, manifest in the flesh, laid upon Him the
iniquity of us all. That's what happened in Gethsemane.
The father took the sin of the church. He took it away from
the church and he imputed it unto his son. His son manifest
in the flesh. He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. What a profound thing, isn't
it? It doesn't stop there. That in itself is profound. our
sins and our iniquities, he will remember no more. This is why
Christ went to Calvary. He took our sins and he nailed
them to his cross. He nailed them to his cross,
our precious Redeemer. He freely took our sins and he
nailed them to his cross. He suffered, he bled, he died.
for the sins of his people. You see, when you have a sight
of this by faith, you'll understand verse 18, and my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation. It will bring peace and consolation
and assurance in the sacred sacrifice of Christ. Joseph Hart says,
my sins And you know, friends, we need something personal here.
It's not in some abstract way to know that Christ died for
our sins. We know that Christ died for
the ungodly. That's the wonder of grace. But
you want to know it's for me. Was it for crimes that I had
done? He hung and suffered there. Were
my sins the nails and the spear? It's a very personal thing. But
when you have that personal application, it's such a precious thing. I've often told you, time not
far from here, near Wadhurst, as I was about my daily work,
that day I was so defiled by sin. And I was in deep distress
of soul. I was begging of the Lord to
have mercy upon me. And those words in Isaiah, Chapter
53, were poured into my heart like a heavenly balm. He, that's
Christ, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. The effect, peace,
reconciliation. but it made me weep. Why did it make me weep? I did
rejoice, but it made me weep. Why? I had a sight of that blessed
redeemer, that holy, sacred person of Jesus Christ in my wretched,
ruined place instead. He suffered for my sins. He was
bruised for my iniquity. It broke my heart. It broke my
heart. to think that it was my sins
that crucified him. But all the peace that I felt
in my soul and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. And my people
shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in
quiet resting places. There's another thing that will
bring peace into your heart, a beautiful word when the angel
spoke to the disciples. Come, see the place where the
Lord lay. He is not here, he is risen. Sin has been put away. The Saviour
has set his people free. He swallowed up death in victory.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Oh, that's the evidence
that the Word of God gives us that sin has been dealt with
because the Son of God has been set free and delivered from death
and from its power. And he says, because I live,
ye shall live also. The work of righteousness shall
be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in
sure dwellings and in quiet resting places. May the Lord add his
blessing. Let us now sing together hymn
number 103 to the tune Justification 360. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head. Hymn 103. ? By virtue of Thy glorious will
? ? This day the world is Thine alone ? Lift up my head. With joy shall I lift up my head. Then from the dust of death I
rise, There take my passion in the skies, Even to this day, O my dear,
Jesus has delivered, died for me. Jesus has lived and died for
me. Though to death I stand, yet
brave David, Thou, who o'ertill my charge can pay, Come to thy mother, Sophia, from
sin's tremendous curse and shame. From sin's tremendous curse and
shame. Thus spake Abraham, the friend
of God. Thus for the hour is wrought
with God. Sacred are sinners, deep are they, sinners of whom the chief
I am. Sinners, of whom the chief I
am. Disperse from this world, ? Fame appears ? ? When ruined men ? ? To singing
ears ? ? Are made strangers ? glorious view, the home of Christ is ever
new. The Word of Christ is ever new. Hark! the herald angels now hear
thy voices! Hail, O thy banished ones, rejoice! Their beauty is their glorious
rest. Jesus, the Lord of righteousness, Now may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us here. Amen.