I worship this afternoon by singing
hymn number 563. The tune is Requiem, number 685. Come, Thou now exalted Saviour,
bless us with a solemn frame. Teach us now, henceforth, forever,
to adore Thy precious Name. Lovely Jesus, never let us stray
again. May we never rest or glory in
a form without the power. Jesus, make us wise and holy,
Thee to love and to adore, and in living, live in Thee forevermore. in number 563. ? Precious be the sun of grace
? ? Dignified and true forever ? ? To adore thy precious name
? All it is, all it is, ever that
I shall love thee. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of ? And with pleasure, and with pleasure,
trespass not ? In July, afraid in sorrows, men
were sulting, swiftly fled. May it ease the mournful worries
That within thy heart pervade Have faith in me, have faith
in me, For I worship with Jesus Christ. ? Rest all glory ? ? In the fourth
wheel ? ? And the fifth ? ? Jesus, make us wise ? ? And early be
to go ? ? That's true at all ? ? And in
Him ? ? In God and in Him ? ? Let it be ? ? Forevermore ? O come all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant O come ye, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem Every road has doors in wonder. Every road I've already seen. Amen. Lord help us as we read from
his word this afternoon from the book of the prophet Isaiah. and chapter 40. Isaiah, chapter 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the
flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not
afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold your God. The Lord God will come with strong
hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with
him and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. Who hath
directed the spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath
taught him? With whom took he counsel, and
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient
for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as
nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and
vanity. To whom then will ye liken God,
or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth
a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,
and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. he
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing,
he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither. And the whirlwind shall take
them away, as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out
their host by number? He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power,
not one failing. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There
is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint. Leave the reading of God's holy
word there, May we each now be given that true spirit of real
prayer. Most holy, holy, holy Lord God
almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, blessed Trinity, fill us now as we come to worship
this afternoon with that awe that Isaiah experienced in that
vision, that we may rightly come to worship thee. For Lord, we tremble, lest we
come wrongly before thee. And yet may we come boldly this
afternoon, knowing that we can come boldly to that throne of
grace through thy dear son, That we have that mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. That thy dear son sits at thy
right hand, ever living to intercede for us. And so now may the weakest,
poorest, most feeble of saints here this afternoon be able to
lay their petitions before thee, the mighty God. And as we have
been reading in that chapter together just now, Lord, may
we be filled with awe at thy power, in control of everything. Yet, Lord, left to ourselves
how we doubt it. Our faith fails and we think that everything is against us. And yet we forget. that if we
feel that way, and if it appears that that is the way, it is all
thy will. Lord, we are not promised a smooth
journey here below. We are told it will be a wilderness
to thy people. We are told that it is through
much tribulation. And yet, Lord, increase our faith. May that be our prayer, the prayer
of everyone here, as it was the prayer of thy disciples, Lord,
increase our faith that we may go on here below in that right
way, humbly acknowledging thy continued mercy unto us each. Oh, Lord, help us to be truly
thankful for what we have. For we are surrounded by thy
goodness. So often we take it for granted. We have thy word before us in
a language we can understand. We have that freedom to worship.
We have places of shelter to gather in. We live in a peaceful
land. Yet, Lord, we so often just come
and go, we so often are left to treat this day as an inconvenience,
to view it as, sadly, if we are left to ourselves,
and if we have not had that work of grace within us that one day
in seven which is stopping us from doing that which we want
to do yet we know there are those here this afternoon who value
thy day and may it be the case that all do dear lord not to
value it that it may be a day of rest and sleep and slumber
but that it may be a day of rest where they are strengthened for
another week of time For Lord, we do naturally need that strengthening
for our bodies, but how much more we need that strengthening
for our souls so that we can faithfully walk here below by
thy grace. Lord, that we can be that light
in a dark place and help everyone here not to be ashamed of Jesus,
that dear friend on whom our hopes of heaven depend. And as
we enter another week of time, may it be our prayer that we
can be that right witness in this world. Lord, do cause those
opportunities to arise in each of our daily lives where we can
profess thy name, where we can acknowledge whom we worship,
where we can lovingly and as wisdom is given to say a little
thing here or there. to encourage or to rebuke or
to point one and another of those we know the way to God through
thy dear son. Yet Lord, we see in this dark
day so little desire for worship. And yet Lord, give us that faith
to believe that in a moment this place can again be filled to
bursting. Lord, it is a day of small things,
yet may we not despise it, for we truly thank thee that thou
still art working in the churches that we are connected with and
other churches too. Lord, thy hand is still going
forth and touching one another. Lord, we pray that we may yet
see more, that even in the remainder of this year, there may be those
that will put on that profession of their faith, and that there
may be many that continue to grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Oh, may we not be content
to be static, but feed us, Lord, that we may grow, that we may
grow and be faithful servants here below. And to be with the
faithful servant, thy pastor over this block. Oh, we thank
thee for his many years of preaching unto them and other duties too
unto them. Lord, do continue to bless him
and help him, and as he travels to America in the coming few
days, you take him there in peace and safety, if it be thy will,
and as he labours amongst the people and preaches thy word
there, Lord, may it do good, and may there be those encouragements
over there. Lord, we pray that there may
yet be in that land that great word, Lord, we see and know that
there is still in that land, many that do truly worship Thee. And yet Lord, we see there as
we do over in Europe, a solemn declining in all these things. But Lord, do be with him and
help him to faithfully preach the word and bring him back in
peace and safety and that the appointed time, if it be Thy
will. And those that preach in the coming weeks, Lord, do help
them each. where those extra responsibilities
may fall upon the deacons to give them that wisdom too. And
Lord, help the church and the congregation to knit them together
more and more by their love. Lord, help them to help one another. And Lord, may we see, Lord, thy
hand still working. Lord, do raise up those that
preach the word that are laid aside or are unwell in one way
and another. Those there are many in their
latter years of their life and are being brought naturally to
their end, it would appear, as they have to lay aside preaching
engagements and feel the weakness of their frame. Oh Lord, if it
be thy will, do raise up others to faithfully preach the word.
But Lord, we need more in the congregations too, for we see
places here and there brought down to ones and twos, and Lord,
as man looks, they cannot stay open much longer. Lord, do bring
in many, we pray, and may it be our true concern to see many
come in, and may we be given that grace to take them as they
come in, for who they are, and watch and see thy hand working
upon them. Lord, do deliver us from the many distractions that we
are confronted with in our lives. Oh Lord, we all know what it
is to attempt to do something and to be distracted. Lord, help
us throughout our daily lives to be diligent in all that we
do. Help us to search thy word and to be much in prayer, to
be seeking thy face. And to, Lord, truly be searching, searching
and searching. and asking and begging that they
will apply thy word with power unto us, that we may go through
each day with thy word in our mind. Lord, do be with the children
and the young people here. Lord, as we prayed for them this
morning, we pray for them again now. Lord, we know there is so
much to draw them away. Lord, we pray, keep them. May
they have, while they are young, that work within their hearts.
May they remember their creator in the days of their youth. And
Lord, do indeed hedge their way in. So we look back at our own
life and we can see those times where our way was guided in this
way and the other. May they, in years to come, look
back to and truly thank thee for thy guiding as they may have
those decisions to take, and as they may wonder what the future
may hold for them. Lord, may they be much in prayer,
seeking that guidance. Lord, be with the parents, but
indeed everyone. May we hold up the young people
in prayer, for they are the future of our churches. Oh Lord, we
pray, may there be that burden sharing between every one of
us. and that true prayer for everyone in our congregations. Pray for those that are not here
today. Lord, thou knowest the reasons
why one and another are unable to gather. And Lord, if there
may be those that are listening in this afternoon too, Lord,
may the word there be spoken through that medium with power.
And yet, Lord, if there be those that do not regularly gather
in a place of worship, May they know that it is right to do so,
and may they be constrained to do so. Lord, and we ask that
there may be a strengthening of the churches in our day. Lord, we pray again for our leaders
and our royal family at this time of mourning for them. Oh
Lord, we beg that they will be the acknowledgement of thee,
and not just an Outward form of words, but it may be from
the heart. Oh Lord may there be also with
our new prime minister and the members of the cabinet that God-fearing
spirit put within them and that public acknowledgement of thee
Lord that is not what we that is what we need But Lord if it
is not I will there will be that public acknowledgement may thy
people see thy restraining hand upon them Guiding them and directing
them in these coming times weeks and months. And Lord, we pray
for peace in our land, that although we live in a peaceful land, Lord,
there could soon be upheaval and civil unrest in so many ways. Lord, we pray for peace, that
thy people may continue to worship thee. We pray for those lands
of the earth where there is great conflict, not only in Eastern
Europe, but in many places of the world where there is warfare
and bloodshed. Oh Lord, what a thing, what a
solemn thing it is that sin has brought into the world. Lord,
do we pray overturn where there is that evil and bring that peace,
Lord, we truly beg. But where there are these conflicts,
may there be that questioning in the hearts of many, the brevity
of life, the futility of everything here below. And may there be
those that through the gospel look to that treasure which cannot
be taken from them. May these times be a time where
thy word goes forth and thy name is glorified. But as we, a people
here, gather round thy word and seek to worship thee, Lord, do
gather with us now. Be with us in all aspects of
our worship this afternoon. Lord, do truly own and bless
it. Lord, send thy spirit down, that the word spoken may be applied
with power by thy spirit, that the ears of the people may be
opened, that the hearts may be prepared, Lord, that thy word
may fall upon that prepared ground. And, O Lord, may there be that
fruit seen to thine honour and glory. Lord, may it be seen more
and more in our time, that true fruit. Lord, may it be, even
today, a word here or there may do real Lord, humble us, and
may we only be thy messenger this afternoon. Lord, we are
nothing without thee. We know that we have no strength
and natural ability in and of ourselves, but may we prove once
again that we can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth
thee. So give us strength, everyone. Help us to preach the word, and
where there may be that weariness and that tiredness in one another,
may there be that concentration given. Lord, that there may be
something this afternoon that honours thee. So help us, we
beg. And Lord, that which we have
forgotten to pray for, Lord, thou knowest it may have been
prayed for by those before us, and our prayer be a united prayer
this afternoon. For we ask all in thy dear name,
Lord Jesus. Amen. in your service by singing hymn
number 692, Junior's Confidence, number 317. Solomon for wisdom prayed, the
Lord before had made him wise, else he another choice had made,
and asked for what the worldlings prize. Thus he invites his people
still, but first instructs them how to choose, then bids them
ask whate'er they will, assured that he will not refuse. Hymn number 692. ? This our land ? ? Glory, glory
? ? Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory ? To touch
the water ? ? Of its flow'r ? ? Blessed by His ? ? Immersion ? ? God bless Israel's heavenly King
? ? Israel, our heavenly King ? ? There's joy and healing ? ? Love
and peace ? ? There's joy and healing ? ? Love and peace ? For thy mercy is my golden crown.
I pray to thee, graceful beings, ? And freedom's singing ? ? Chainsmelt
crown ? ? Lord of thy presence ? ? Lord in Christ ? ? O'er all the prairies ? ? Let
me pray ? ? Here am I now ? ? Living at last ? In misery, not other sin, ? And from thy joys to know my
strength ? ? Till ev'ry land has heard thee sing ? ? In all its heights and breadth
and length ? ? O peace with heaven's light ? ? God shed light ? ? Until I get the best result ?
? Singapore will have a place of hope ? In need of the Lord to help every
one of us here again this afternoon, whether it be in the preaching,
for the hearing of the word. I'll ask you to turn with me
please to the chapter that we read. The book of the prophet
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 8. But I'll read from verses 6 to
8. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 8. I'll begin reading at verse
6. The voice said cry and he said
What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. This 40th chapter or the book
of the prophet Isaiah, contains much comfort for the
people of God. And this verse in particular has given the Lord's people strength
over many, many, well, through the centuries and indeed millennia. that although the grass withers,
the flower fades, the word of our God shall stand forever. This 40th chapter in Isaiah marks
a shift in this book. Looking at it simplistically,
the first 39 chapters really set forth the judgments that
are coming upon the land of Israel and Judah and the other surrounding
nations because of their sinfulness. And yet this 40th chapter and
indeed the chapters going on for the rest of this book point
out the way of comfort for the Lord's people. But before we get on to our text
specifically, these opening words in chapter 40, comfort ye, comfort
ye, my people, saith your God. And as we preach the word of
God, one thing that we need to be very careful of is that We
don't let you rest in a false comfort and a false hope. Because the translators of our
Bible had a tremendous task in translating it from Hebrew and
Greek to English. And there is a lot contained
in this word comfort. This word comfort is also interpreted
in other places as the word repent. Where Job says, I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes. It is the same word. It is the
same word. It's the same word that we read
of in Psalm 23, where it probably knits those two words quite nicely
together. where we read, don't we, I will
fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they
comfort me. The rod which can often be viewed
as that which protects and the staff as that which directs. And for there to be true comfort
for the child of God, there must be repentance. And that's what
Isaiah was setting before the people in those first chapters
of this book. There must be a turning. There
must be a turning of repentance for there to be comfort. And so as we, today, the first
Lord's Day after the passing of our Queen, it reminds us doesn't
it, that the grass withereth and the flower fadeth. So we need to question ourselves,
don't we? And ponder where we stand today
before a holy God. And you know, we can often sing
that hymn, can't we? 698, a few pages over from what
we have just sung, where it says, pause, my soul. and ask the question. But do
we truly pause as we sing that hymn and ask the question? Maybe we each need to pause now
and ask the question to ourselves, are you ready to meet God? Are you made a real Christian?
Are you washed in the Redeemer's blood? Have you union? to the
church's living head. Because if there has not been
that God-given repentance, that turning unto him by faith, we
have no comfort in our gathering together here. We have no comfort
in always attending a place of worship. Are we ready to meet
God? Do we know him? Do we know the
Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour? Is he whom our hope is fixed
upon? Or are we still a total stranger
to his precious name and blood? If we're in that position, we're
on the brink of danger. Canst thou face a holy God? Thing
can tremble this afternoon. Death is now upon the road. And
the problem is with all of us, we don't know how long that road
is. That road might only be a few more meters. It may be many,
many miles, but we know that the road of our life will come
to an end as it has for our Queen. So let us ponder these words,
the grass withering, The flower fadeth. The grass. Surely the people is grass. It's how you and I are viewed
as grass and throughout the Old Testament there are those references
to the grass as being that which passes away. Just a few chapters
back, chapter 37, verse 27. Therefore their inhabitants were
of small power, they were dismayed and confounded. They were as
the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass
on the housetops and as the corn blasted before it be grown up.
And many, many references throughout scripture, grass being that which
fades, which withers. We've seen it this summer, haven't
we? We've seen that green grass that we've had through the spring,
The sun beats upon it, and it soon withers. Yes, it has now
sprung up again to life, but what is being laid before us
here is if it is cut, if it is made to hay, it cannot stay green. It must die. And you know, we
all need to ponder the brevity of life. whatever our age is. Many of
you here, very young or in your teenage years, you think you've
got all your life before you. Well, you have, but you don't
know how long that life is. You don't know. And we live in
a day, don't we, where what are we told to do? What are you told
to do? Make the most of your life. Be the best you can be. You've got one life. Live it.
Fill yourself with everything you can. Enjoy yourself. Yes,
and we should rightly do that, as long as it is not against
the word of God. But is that all we've got? Is
that all we've got? That which will soon be gone,
that which will fail, that which will fade. I think James describes
it very well in his writings, doesn't he? He describes life
as being like that vapour. What is your life? It is even
a vapour in chapter four, verse 14, that appeareth for a little
time and then vanisheth away. That sets an image before us,
doesn't it? You think when the kettle goes on at home, you see
that steam rise up from the spout of the kettle. It spirals up
and it's gone, isn't it? That's our life. That's our life. Whether we live to 90, whatever
it was that our queen lived to, that's her life. Poof, it's gone,
extinguished, disappeared. She will now be laid in the grave.
Yes, a queen, yes, ruling over our nation. It doesn't mean anything
now. And all that you pursue and all
that I pursue in my life and all the riches that we can collate
and gather together will mean nothing to us when we're in the
grave. There's a time to be born and
a time to die. Death is a great leveller, isn't
it? It really is. And after death, the judgement. There is that hymn number in
the late 400s, isn't there? Which describes that life as
an empty vapour. What an empty time, what an empty
vapour it is, and days how swift they are. Swift as an Indian
arrow flies, or like a short shooting star. The present moments
just appear, then slide away in haste, that we can never say
they're here, but only say they're past. How true that is, and you
know, those of you in the latter part of your life, doesn't seem that long ago, does
it? When you were young like some of the people here, those
of us that are in the middle of our lives, We look back and
we view our teenage years as only being but yesterday. But
those years are rapidly going. Rapidly going. And we will fail. We will wither. We really will. The grass withering. All flesh
is as grass. and the flower fadeth. As we have in the preceding verse,
it says that description, or in verse 6, we have, don't we,
all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the
flower of the field. And in 1 Peter chapter 1, where
we have that similar, those similar verses, we have there, don't
we, the grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away,
but it describes there the flower as the glory of man. The glory
of man or the goodliness. What are we glorying in today?
What is our glory? Do we only have that here below? We think of Solomon when he was
here on this earth. All those many, many riches that
he had. We read there was not a man that
had the riches that he had, not a man arrayed like he was with
all that he had round about him. Did he glory in it too much?
Did he glory in it? But what did he have to come
to and say? And in his writings there in Ecclesiastes, he was
brought to that point, wasn't he? Where he said, vanity of
vanities, all is vanity. And it is, dear friends, but
how infrequently we feel it. Everything is vanity, all going,
fleeting, worthless. Really, because we must leave
it behind. What are you clinging to? And what am I clinging to? Oh, to be brought to that point
in that hymn. where it says, I could from all
things parted thee, but never, never, Lord, from thee. What
are we glorying in? What are we refusing to be parted
from? What are we clinging to here
below? But dear friends, it must all be removed, whether it be
our loved ones, whether it be our parents, whether it be our
husbands and our wives, whatever it may be that is nearest and
dearest to us. We will be removed from them
or they will be removed from us at some point. Whatever we
glory in will fade and will go. Maybe you are glorying in the
strength of your younger years, your wisdom, your pursuit of
a good career. Your strength will fail. Your
faculties will fail as you get old. You will not be able to
do the things you once did. There'll be no good at one point
or other. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth. I really wanted to concentrate
more on the latter part of this text. But before we get there,
why does the grass wither and why does the flower fade? We
read it in verse seven. because the spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon him. We often sing again, don't we,
that our life's minutest circumstance is subject to his eye. The time when various things
are taken from us in our lives is all appointed. where various
diseases and afflictions come upon us and we begin to wither
are all appointed by God. It's as the Lord chooses. Without
taking this thought too much out of its context, do we know
the Spirit of the Lord blowing upon us? Not blowing upon us
to the point of our death, but blowing upon us that breath of
life. Do we know that form? of the
wind of the Spirit in our lives. That's what we need before we
can enter into the second part of this verse. That's what we
need before we can draw strength and comfort from this chapter. We need to know that work of
regeneration, that work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus,
wasn't it? and the necessity of being born
again. Nicodemus in John chapter 3,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Except a man be born again, he cannot draw comfort from the
word of God. And what do we read there, don't
we? That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is
born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
the breath of the Spirit blows where it chooses, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. It was George Whitfield who so
often used to preach on the necessity of the new birth. The necessity
that we must be born again. And it is wholly and solely by
the spirit as laid before us here. But he was once questioned,
why do you constantly preach or so often preach on the necessity
of being born again. And his reply was, because you
must be born again. And unless we have that new birth,
unless that new spirit of life has been given unto us, all the
promises in scripture of everlasting life, of sins forgiven, of comfort,
we cannot truly enter into them because we are not. born again. We need that breath of the Spirit
and may it be our cry and if we have got that true cry within
our hearts to know it more and more and more then the Spirit
has begun to work. For without that work there will
be no true cry unto Him. There will be no true repentance.
There will be no true turning. There will be no true faith. Accept a man he born again, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The grass withereth,
the flower faded. But when there is that new life
given, when there is that conversion, when there is that regeneration,
can we not then enter into the second part of this verse? And
the security and the comfort that it brings to the Lord's
people, but the word of our God shall stand forever. What a comfort those buts can
bring. In an uncertain world, we know something is solid. In a world where men are called
women and women are called men and everything in between. In
a world where we do not know how to call people or what we
should call them or we're told we don't know what we should
call them. When politics is changing, when leaders are changing, when
standards are changing, when, as we are led to believe, the
climate is so-called changing, what can we stand upon? What
can we get comfort from what is there? What substance is there
in this earth? The word of our god The word
of our god which shall stand forever It's an abiding foundation
It cannot be removed. It cannot be altered and it cannot
be changed There are many, and there are many even in so-called
churches now which would like to take a pair of scissors to
various parts of the Word of God and remove it. But we can't. We can't. It shall stand forever. We look back to the times of
the early church in that great persecution. They then tried
to stamp out the Word of God. They couldn't. It will endure
forever. And it will endure until the
end of time, the word of our God shall stand for ever. Just a few chapters over in Isaiah
55, we have those words in verse 11. So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper
in the thing where to our sins. My word shall not return unto
me void. My word shall change not. The word of our God shall stand
forever. And in considering this verse
yesterday, my thoughts did go to Psalm 119. where we have contained
in that psalm so much about the Word of God, don't we? And the
precepts of God and so on and so on. Oh, what comfort we can
bring from that psalm. The Word of God. The Word of our God shall stand
forever. We can look at verse 105, can't
we? The well-known text that is,
is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And before we look
at the word of God spiritually, do you know what it is providentially?
For the word of God to be a lamp unto your feet, a light unto
your path, to direct you in your steps, to check you in your way,
Thy word is a lamp, a lamp and a light. And how we need
that light, dear friends. Because you know, naturally,
if we go out on a dark night for a walk and there is no light,
we're in danger. We don't know where our feet
are going. We don't know where we might trip and fall and stumble. But if, as the word of God, is
applied to ours, and only then, as we believe the word of God,
and only then will it be a lamp unto our feet. You know, you
can read your Bible through every year, every word of it, and the
word won't mean anything. The black letters won't mean
anything, unless the Lord gives you that light, and causes that
to be a light in your life. That's why we should, as we try
to draw upon those duties and commands this morning, that's
why we should look to the word of God for direction, for direction. But without that heart to truly
enter into it, we won't enter into it, we won't want to. Because
we will think we've got our own light, our own light to guide
us. our own strength to direct us.
But the Lord will not have it be so. He will have his people
to look to his word. The entrance of thy words giveth
light. It giveth understanding to the
simple. So it is the word of God which
changes not. The word of God which shall stand
forever will be that continual lamp And dear soul, this afternoon,
have you proved it as a lamp in your life? Can you look back and say yes?
There's something in the word of God which, a little verse
that you can claim as being yours. What will the devil try and tempt
you? Ah, but that was many years ago. Look what's happened since
then. What's changed? You? Your feelings? Or the Word of
God? The Word of God, which illuminated
you then, and illuminated your life then, hasn't changed. Yes, there may have been, as
it were, that veil that has come down and has hidden the sweetness
and the light which you felt at that point, but it hasn't
changed. It may be hidden for a season
in God's wise wisdom, but the word hasn't changed. Yes, we
long to enter into those words, which are applied with power
unto our hearts. And we long to have that feeling
again of the blessedness we knew when we first knew our Lord,
but he changes not, dear friends. That word changes not. It cannot
change. And you know, I find such comfort
and have done recent months in the lines of that hymn. My soul
through many changes goes, but his love no variation knows. And we can sometimes build our
religion upon our experience. And yes, we must have that experience,
but we must build our religion upon the God of our experience,
and not our experience itself. You know, otherwise we can be
left to wander and build upon our own innate strength. The Word of God changes not,
and it's a lamp to our feet. But what else do we have in this
Psalm 119 about the Word of God? Verse 74, we have, don't we? will be glad when they see me,
because I have hoped in thy word. I have hoped in thy word. Have you hoped in the unchanging
word of God? Is that still your hope this
afternoon? Once again, as our language changes. In our language now, we use that
word hope, don't we, in a uncertain way. We may say, I hope it's
not going to rain tomorrow, when we know that it probably will.
We can say, we hope our future king, our king now, will be godly
and upright, but we have no evidence to back that up. there is a difference
with the word hope in the Bible. Because there is that confidence
behind it. It is, that word hope really
implies a confidence, a confidence, not a vain, whimsical hope, but
a confidence in God. A confidence in his unchanging
nature. That's what we have in Hebrews
11, the first verse. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But to those that have
been able to lay hold on the word of God through faith, when
it comes with power, it's no faltering hope, is it? It's substantial. It's something
of confidence. It really is. It's the word of
God. your hope, because I have hoped
in thy word. And if you've been ever brought
to hope in his word, what raised that hope up within you? What raised it up within you?
Did you have it when you were in your teenage years? What changed? Who changed? Who changed you? The spirit. giving you that new
heart, that new desire, those new longings, because I hope
in thy word. Oh, and it's a comfort, isn't
it? A comfort. My thoughts go to hymn number
1106. Can you enter in here? My hope
is built on nothing less. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. You got hope in that unchanging
word of God? Have you got that hope in the
unchanging blood and righteousness of Christ? Yes, there may be
that darkness that veils his lovely face, but can you rest
on what? His unchanging grace. and know
that in every rough and stormy gale, my anchor holds within
the veil. And as the refrain says, not
in our book, on Christ, the solid rock I stand, and all other ground
is sinking sand. And if our righteousness, if
our hope of eternal salvation is built on anything less than
the blood and righteousness of Christ, we are on sinking sand. We're on sinking sand because
it will not endure forever. It will be taken from us when
we die. But Isaac built on his blood and his righteousness. Has his word ever caused you
to rejoice? We read in Psalm 119, 162, I
rejoice at thy word. as one that findeth great spoil. Or we could say one that findeth
great riches. As the word of God is applied
by the Spirit, cause a rejoicing in your heart. It will endure forever. It endures
forever, it stands forever. It cannot change. I rejoice at
thy word. And what a thing it is to rejoice,
to be filled with joy, to be filled with comfort, to be filled
with happiness, to be filled with peace. My thoughts
go to the first verses in Romans 5, Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Well, that
sums up a few of those points that we have just been trying
to look at, doesn't it? Rejoicing, that hope. But what do we rejoice
at? The peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. In a world of upheaval, dear
friends, if we know that peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, that peace in the word of God In Jesus Christ, it will
hold. It cannot change. It endures
forever. And yet, is there one here this
afternoon who is trying to justify themselves? rather than being justified by
faith. Maybe I should try and explain
that a little more. When the Lord begins that work
in the hearts of his people, there will often be a conviction
of sin to one degree or another, and from that we can then think that to make ourselves right
with God, our standing before God, we must do something. And we can be led down that road
to think, now this has happened, now that has happened, I will
cease from this and I will cease from that. And you may strive
in your own strength to cease from that, Seeing that besetting
sin, the other besetting sin. But you know what? It can very
soon and will bring you to despair. Because what you are trying to
do is justify yourself. And we can never do so. That
is why Paul in his letter to the Romans later on in chapter
7 had to cry out, do you not? Oh wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? He was trying
to. He was already justified, wasn't
he? But it's a continual journey. He was trying, as we must all
try, to flee from sin. But that will not justify us.
That will not justify us. The only thing that will justify
us is faith in the merits of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
is to be humbled in the dust, is to realise that we have nothing,
we have no strength, we have no ability, but we can wholly
and only fall upon his mercy, his mercy. And it is at the cross
where mercy and justice meet, where Jesus Christ pays the price
for his people's sin, where he clothes us in that robe of righteousness
so that we can stand before our holy God at that great day of
judgment, justified by faith. That's how we can rejoice in
the Word of God, in the hope of the glory of God. But I see
time has nearly gone, and there was one final point I wanted
to look at in Psalm 119, and it was that verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is
settled in heaven. That ties in, doesn't it, with
it shall stand forever. It shall stand forever. We sing
in hymn 329, don't we, how firm a foundation, ye saints of the
Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more
can he say than to you he has said, you who unto Jesus for
refuge have The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though
all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never
forsake. And why is that? Because the
word of our God shall stand forever. So as we Draw our thoughts to
a conclusion this afternoon. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, for the word of our God shall stand forever. Our thoughts
go to Jesus' words when he was upon this earth. And may it be
instructive for all of us here. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, Where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal. Where things that will fade and
wither, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. So whether young or old this
afternoon, we're grass, we're withering, and our flower is fading. Can you get past the colon in
this verse and rest on this, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. It's vital. Vital. There's no comfort here below.
There's no comfort except in God-given repentance and turning
to Him. For whatever else you're building
your hopes upon, if it's not built on Jesus' blood and righteousness,
it will fade with you. It will die with you, but the
word of our God shall stand forever. So maybe the Lord has spoken
a word to you in your life. We cannot rest on past promises,
past comforts, but we can look back and find a sweetness in
them and think, well, Yes, the Lord spoke to me then. Yes, I
remember how good that word was to me. Yes, I may have gone through
much, but the word of God hasn't changed. We conclude our service this
afternoon by singing hymn number 423. The Juniors at Maple State
at number 43. Not with our mortal eyes have
we beheld the Lord, yet we rejoice to hear his name and love him
in his word. On earth we want the sight of
our Redeemer's face, yet, Lord, in most thoughts delight to dwell
upon thy grace. In number 423. ? And we lift them up to the Lord
? Let me rejoice to hear His name,
and follow Him in His way. ? Oh, may we follow that star ?
? Thou, Thou, mayst lead us safe ? ? Yet for ever in Thy courts divine ? ? Dear to you, O my friend ? ?
God, when we trace thy road ? ? And earth is divinely bright
? ? God speaketh through my lips above ? ? And heaven is filled
with life ? Lord, we pray that thy word may
be used of thee today. And may thy people draw comfort
that thy word changes not, that it endures forever. And may each
one here come into the lines of that hymn we have just sung
and rejoice to hear his name and love him in his word. Lord, Leave us not as we leave
thy house. Give us that meditation upon
thy word. Give us that prayer, one for
another, that the word may be applied and used. For Lord, our
work is not done as we leave thy house. Lord, may it continue. Beware the dear people here.
Help them in these coming weeks with the absence of their pastor.
and take him and give him those journeying mercies we pray, and
work in this place and in this village for thine honour and
glory. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit rest and remain with us each
now and forevermore. Amen.