Good evening, let's begin our
evening service by standing and singing 354, what a friend we
have in Jesus, 354. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer Have we trials and temptations Is there trouble
anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness,
take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care? ? Precious Savior, still our
refuge ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? ? Do thy friends
despise forsake thee ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? In his arms he'll take and shield
thee, Thou wilt find a soulless pair. All right, I'm going to be reading
from 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I'm just
going to read the whole chapter. Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God. Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small
thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment,
yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself,
yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore judge nothing before
the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. And then shall every man have
praise of God. And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think of men above
that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one
against another. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Now ye
are full, now ye are rich. Ye have reigned as kings without
us. And I would to God that ye did
reign, that we also might reign with you. He sayingeth, If you
were reigning in heaven, we'd be there with you. We'd like
that too. For I think that God hath set
forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. For
we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and
to men. We are fools for Christ's sake,
but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are honorable, but we are
despised. Even unto this present hour,
we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and are buffeted, and
have no certain dwelling place. And labor, working with our own
hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We
are made as the filth of the world. and are the offscouring
of all things unto this day. I write not these things to shame
you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand
instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech
you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto
you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ,
as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up
as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly,
if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up, but the power. for the kingdom of God is not
in word but in power. What will ye? Shall I come unto
you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? Let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you. for your grace and mercy, for
the power which you have exhibited in us, which you have demonstrated
in your people who have heard the glorious good news of your
salvation provided freely in your son. Lord, what a blessing. What a blessing of grace, of
mercy, What a showing of your love for us who now believe you. Lord, we confess that we are
nothing in ourselves. That in this flesh, Lord, we
see weakness. We see sin. We see failings. We see all shortcomings. but Lord in you we see power
and glory and grace and majesty and Lord we pray that you would
indeed open the heavens and that you would pour out yourself your
spirit upon us that you would come down Lord, that you would
attend the preaching of the word and bless it, that you would
cause your people who sit in darkness to hear it, to see the
light of Christ, to hear his voice, to be called out of darkness,
out of the prison of sin and death, and to be brought into
the light, and to see and confess that the works that are done
in them are of you, Lord. for truly salvation is of the
Lord. Lord, we pray that you would
help us, that you would help us as we wait and look for your
coming. Lord, that you would strengthen
us, that you would keep us, that you would teach us and fill us
with your spirit, that you would help us, Lord, to walk by faith
even as you have called us. that you would help us and make
us to be faithful stewards with that which you have given to
us. And Lord, that you would indeed use this work here to
call out your people in the surrounding areas, your sheep, that you would
bring them out of the fold of death and bring them into the
fold of your people, of your sheep, those whom you gather
to the praise and glory of your name. Lord, we can't do this,
we don't have the power to effect it, but we pray that you would
do it, that you would bless your people here and now, in our generation,
in our day. Lord, that you would indeed Look
upon your people here who are faithful, who are coming, who
want to be here. Lord, help us in our infirmities,
in the struggles that we have. We think of Brother Scott, we
think of Brother Ron, we think of Johnny, we think of Alyssa.
Lord, all those who want to be here, who would be here but are
struggling for various reasons, Lord, strengthen them, help them,
bless them, comfort them. And Lord, gather us together.
to hear your word, because it's such a blessing, Lord. You teach
your people and answer the questions in our hearts and the concerns
we have so often, and it's in the word preached that you do
that. Lord, help us to hear, help us
to hear and to receive the word, to be filled and blessed with
your word, with your Son, Jesus Christ, to know your power, your
glory. Lord, we pray that you would
do this in our midst and Lord, that you would call out your
people through the various means which you've given to us to send
your word forth, that you would indeed turn the heart of your
people, cause them to hear and to come to sit and to listen
and to feed upon Christ. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. I'd like to sing Christ of the
Cross. That's your paper, sung to the tune of the old Rugged
Cross. Christ of the Cross. On a hill far away, by the Christ
of the cross, He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace He died
in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the
Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For He is the King I must crown. O the Christ of the Cross, so
despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll bear the Christ of the
cross. And before His throne I'll bow
down. I will cling to the Christ of
the cross, For He is the King I must crown. In the Christ of the Cross, and
His blood so divine, a marvelous beauty I see. For He opened mine eyes, that
long had been blind, To behold Him now on His throne So I'll
cherish the Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, for He is the King I must crown. To the Christ of the Cross I
must be true, His shame and reproach gladly bear, For in love He constrains, till
all shall be gain, His glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the Cross, And before His throne I'll bow
down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, For he is the king I must crown. Thank you. All right, brethren, let's go
to Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64, we'll be looking at
verses one through five. The last time we were here in
Isaiah, we were looking at the personal experience of grace
for every believer. The Lord shows us, he teaches
us in his word and he teaches us by experience that every child
of God is going to experience the grace of God given to him
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleases God to teach us. It pleases God to show us what
he has accomplished for us in his son. It pleases him to show
you personally. If you are his child, he shows
you personally what he's done and demonstrates his grace to
you in his son. Now, in this passage, the prayer
of the church is carried over from chapter 63 into chapter
64. And it's the cry of the church
here, and she's seeking her God for help. She's seeking the presence
of her God in her day, in her time of need. And it's a time
where she longs to see a demonstration of the power and the glory of
her God and Savior. She wants to see him appear gloriously
in bringing salvation to his people. She wants to see the
fulfillment of his promises made unto her in the Lord Jesus Christ. As I was studying this passage,
I was made to think of this passage in Romans chapter 8. Why don't
you go there, Romans chapter 8. And it picks up in verse 19. Romans 8, 19. The Scriptures say, For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. And everything is going according
to God's good will and purpose, exactly as He's purposed it to
come to pass, because it glorifies His Son in the salvation of His
people. Verse 21, because the creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He's saying
that there is coming a day when this flesh, the flesh that we're
in, is going to be delivered from the presence of sin now
in it. The sin that we yet know to be
in this flesh, we're going to be delivered from it entirely,
the presence of a God. Verse 22 For we know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. He's talking about
we that have the down payment of the Spirit. not the first
believers, but the down payment, the earnest that our God gives
to us to declare to us, to teach us, to reveal to us that we are
the sons and daughters of our God, of our Savior, we're His
people. Even we ourselves grown within
ourselves waiting, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption
of our body. You see, the body still suffers
the effects of the presence of sin. The body is still tempted
by the sin that remains in us. For we are saved. We're saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeeth, why doth
he yet hope for? In other words, we're walking
by faith here and now. We are saved. Christ has saved
us. But it is a walk of faith. It's a walk in hope, believing
the promises of our God. But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. So in other words,
brethren, don't be discouraged. Don't be turned back. As Peter said, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. How do we give diligence
to make our calling and election sure? By faith. By faith. By continuing faithfully in what
our God has called us to do. To believe his son. To believe
his promises. To know to know that he has called
us to this work, to this labor, believing that he has a purpose. He has a purpose and he has a
people and he's feeding his people, he's calling his people, he's
teaching his people, he's blessing them in the Lord. So, we give
diligence to make our calling and election sure, continuing
in faith, doing the will of God, that is, looking to the Son and
waiting patiently for His return. I've titled this message, The
Love of God Witnessed in Waiting. Now previously, back in Isaiah,
in Isaiah 63, actually, in verse 15, the church prayed asking
the Lord, look down from heaven. Lord, look down upon me. Lord, remember me. Lord, help me. That's the nature of her inquiry,
was wondering where is God for me. And that's part of the experience
of grace when he awakens us to see what sinners we are and to
see our need of him and to know to hear that gospel and know
he is the one who is able to save his people to the uttermost.
He is sufficient. Lord, save me. Wash me in that blood of your
savior. Deliver me with the salvation
that you deliver your people with. Include me in that body. Bring me into that fold, Lord.
Have mercy upon me. That's what she was crying for. And so here, having experienced
that personal experience of grace and knowing that Christ is her
Savior, she now cries out, Lord, save your people. Have mercy
upon your people. Deliver your people. our day
have mercy upon this generation Lord call your people out of
darkness and the bondage that she is in she's taught that she's
led in this way as she waits for her Lord's return as she
experiences that grace of her God and her she's moved to pray
by the grace of God in her she's moved to pray Lord Come down
and have mercy on your people. Move these rocks, move these
mountains, which we can't do. But Lord, they bow before you.
Do these things in our day. Isn't that what you want to see?
Don't you want to see the Lord move powerfully and graciously
in our day, in our midst? We do. We want to see the Lord
do that for his people. And that's the prayer that we
have here in this prophecy in Isaiah 64 verses 1 through 3. Let's read these verses. Oh,
that thou wouldest rend the heavens, tear them open, Lord, that thou
wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at
thy presence. And the sense is that, Lord,
none can stand before you. None can turn away from your
will. When you purpose to do something,
Lord, your people shall do it. I will and you shall, the Lord
says. And we're praying, Lord, no nature,
no man, nothing of nature, no creature can stand before you
when you have purpose to do a marvelous work in our sight. Whatever the
natural order of things might be, it's the true and living
God who rules over them all. And none can stay his hand or
say to him, what doest thou? Why have you made me thus? Who
art thou, O man, to reply against God? God does exactly as he pleases
and purposes, and what he does is perfect and right and just
and good. We're the ones who have the problem,
because we're the problem. We're the ones who are sinners.
But God is just and right and perfect. Verse 2, he describes
this overcoming of natural things by God. Verse 2, as when the
melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to
make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations
may tremble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things
which we looked not for, we weren't looking for them, thou camest
down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Now this seems
to have reference to the historical experiences of the children of
God. There were mountains in their
history where the Lord appeared to them in the mount and did
marvelously in their eyes. For example, I'll just quote
Psalm just to keep it brief, but Psalm 68 verses 7 and 8 says,
Oh God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, When thou
didst march through the wilderness, Selah, the earth shook, the heavens
also dropped at the presence of God, even Sinai itself was
moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. There was a time when The true
and living God brought his people up out of bondage and captivity
in Egypt and he led them through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. And he did marvelously in their
eyes. They weren't looking for him.
It says, when thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
thou camest down. Thou camest down. The Lord, in
grace and mercy, stirs up his people to see their need. Their prayer here, them praying
for the Lord's presence is a mark of his grace for them because
they weren't looking for it. You know when we're caught up
with worldly things and worldly cares, the last thing on our
mind is what the Lord's doing in our day. We're just thinking
of ourselves and what we need to be doing and all the loose
ends we have and everything that's going on. And yet, even in that
midst, there are times when the Lord brings us to ourselves as
the prodigal son to say, where am I? How did I get here? What
am I doing? What am I doing, Lord? And we
turn to the Lord and we go to him in prayer, knowing that we're
not even worthy to be a doorkeeper. in the Kingdom of Heaven, but
we know that He is faithful and just and that He does marvelously. Where does that come from? Where
does that understanding and that turning of the heart to look
to the Lord come from? Just even to ask Him for grace
and mercy? It's because He is gracious and merciful to stir
us up, to melt our hard heart, to come down upon this mount
and to move these stones and to cause us to bow before him
and to be humbled before the grace of our God. And so we see
it there in the past where the Lord did this, and so it is that
we need him to do it for us now in our day, in our day, to come
and to meet with us. Lord, meet, meet with us, meet
with us. It says, look at verse five there,
Isaiah 64, verse five, thou meetest him. that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways, behold thou
art wroth, you're angry, for we have sinned, and those is
continuance, and we shall be saved." It's we continue in sin,
but Lord because of your grace we shall be saved. Now you may
recall that when the Lord came down on Mount Sinai it was not
I wouldn't describe it exactly as a pleasant experience for
Israel. It was a terrifying and a frightening
experience. I'm gonna look at Exodus 19.
If you wanna turn there, we'll just look at a couple verses.
Exodus 19, and the first verse we'll look at is verse 16. It says, and it came to pass on
the third day in the morning. that there were thunders and
lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice
of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was
in the camp trembled. Moses himself trembled. Look
at verse 18. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mount quaked greatly. And then it tells of the Lord
telling Moses, you need to get down there and tell the people
not to touch the mountain. He said, I've already done that.
You told me to do that, Lord, and I did it. We set up barriers
and everything around. He said, get down there lest
they come up and I break out against them. And so the understanding
here which the Lord is teaching us is that in the law, because
that's where the law was given, We're not going to approach unto
the Lord in peace and in comfort. Anyone who comes to the Lord
in that day of judgment is going to be trembling and quaking and
shaking because they're going to know that they've not done
righteously before the Lord. and their works are not going
to be accepted by him. And so he's teaching us here
that none can approach unto him in the law and in the works of
the law. But in Isaiah here, The prophet,
the cry of the church is, Lord, come down. Rend the heavens. Come down upon the mountains.
Do those things upon the mountains which you did. But it's in good
news. It's in good news. Our God meets
with the mediator of his people, the one who is the very righteousness
of God. The one in whom we see and are
made to know, I have no righteousness of myself, but I see in him perfect
righteousness. And we lay hold of that righteousness
by the faith which he gives to us. To know that I'm nothing
in myself, but he's everything. He's altogether lovely. He's the one in whom the Father
is well pleased. Lord, come and meet with us in
Him, in that Mediator. It says, Thou meetest Him, in
verse five, it said, Thou meetest Him that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness. That's Jesus Christ, our Mediator,
whom the Father sent in love graciously, mercifully to call
us who are unworthy sinners continually, continuing in sin, and yet makes
us to know we are saved in Him because of the wonderful work
which He did on that cross for His people. You see, as it says
in Hebrews 12, you're not come unto the mount. Zion or Mount
Sinai which could not be touched that's not the mountain you've
come to that burned with fire nor under blackness and darkness
and tempest but rather ye are come unto Mount Zion you've come
to a mount upon which we cry out to the Lord to meet with
us, Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel, rather than his blood which was shed is in crying
out for justice and vengeance against us. but rather calling
us in grace and mercy, washing us clean of our sins, and reconciling
us to holy God, to know Him. We're sinners by nature. It says here, behold thou art
wroth, there in verse five, thou art wroth, you're angry, for
we have sinned and those is continuance. We are sinners by nature. In this flesh yet dwells sin. The presence of sin is here.
We feel the temptation of sin. When we're being honest, we know
I'm a sinner. I'm not perfect in all my ways.
My flesh is not perfect. It's just as wicked as it ever
was. This flesh is vile and corrupt
and is not changed. And you know something? The law
isn't going to change it. The law doesn't change that.
And you might say, well, we that believe in Christ, He didn't
change it. Not yet. He's promised to change
it. The law isn't going to ever change
that. But Christ shall. And though we have that present
in us right now, you know what He has done that the law can't
do? You know what Christ has done
that the law can't do? He set us at liberty. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Galatians 5.1 and
as we saw in that message a few weeks ago in Galatians 5.1 what
he has delivered us from is the guilt of sin. You're free. You're not going to stand before
God with a load of debt because of your sin to pay off. Christ
paid that off. You have no guilt of sin. You've
been delivered from the dominion of sin so that we are made partakers
with Christ. We're not laboring in fear. We've
been set free. The works we do are good works
in the Lord Jesus Christ, not to obtain justification, not
to obtain sanctification, not to obtain a reward with our God,
but because we have been given everything freely in the Lord
Jesus Christ and He has given us His Spirit. We have been delivered
from the condemnation of sin, so that we stand in the inheritance
of our Adam, the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God whom he sent. We have no part in that inheritance
of Adam. When the Lord opens those books
in heaven and judges the people out of the books, out of those
books, we have no fear of the second death because our names
are written in the Lamb's book of life. If all we're doing is
looking at our works, that's horrible. We don't want that.
But in Christ, that's where I want to be found. Not having my own
righteousness, but His righteousness. Him alone. So that's what we're
looking for is the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold thou art wroth. Well, let me just say to that
point then, Romans 3 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. So the Lord appearing on Mount
Sinai was terrifying to the people in the law. But we stand on Mount
Zion. in the Lord Jesus Christ, under
the blood of Christ, who has reconciled us to holy God." Reconciled
us. In Christ, there's no peace.
There's no peace. There's only assurance. Sorry. In the law, there's no peace.
In Christ, there is only peace. Only peace and assurance and
comfort. And we confess in him saying,
and we shall be saved. We shall be saved. We are saved
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the church has a more glorious
mediator who came in grace and mercy and draws us with cords
of love and assurance comforting our hearts declaring that it's
all done. He's finished the work. He's
finished the work. It reminds me of in John 1 verse
16 through 18 it says and of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. and he that now calls us friends. We call out to him, Lord, show
yourself, come down powerfully, come down in power and in grace
and mercy and pour out your spirit upon your people here in our
day, Lord. Do that for your people, our
brothers and sisters, yet in darkness, just as you've done
for us. Lord, call your people in this
our day. It says over in 2 Peter, let's
go there, 2 Peter chapter one. 2 Peter chapter one in verse 16
through 19. He said, for we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father the honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him, where? In the Holy
Mount. where God meets with His people
on Mount Zion, not in Sinai but in Zion with Christ. We have
also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. It's the
Spirit of our Savior. It's the Spirit of Christ, the
Holy Spirit, which has made us to know the fullness and the
sufficiency of our Savior. And knowing the power of God
which revealed this in us, we pray, Lord, pour down your spirit
upon us in our day. Do this for others. We know that
you have your sheep here, Lord. Have mercy upon them. You've
shown this to me personally. Have mercy upon your people in
our day. And this is what the prophet
says. Let's look at our text now in verse four. Verse 4 For
since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived
by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God beside thee,
what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. hidden from the eye of the natural
man, our God has provided full, free salvation in His Son, Jesus
Christ. He came willingly and made a
full atonement, a full sacrifice, did all the work that was needed
to be done. He did it all for His people. This is the place prepared for
the people of God by the Son of God, who said to us, I go
and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will return. That where you are, that where
I am, you may be with me also. He's coming again, brethren,
and so we preach Christ, and we pray for the blessing of our
God in Christ to come upon the hearts and minds of His people,
that He would come down upon the hardness of our hearts by
nature, that He would come upon us and remove these mountains
of sin that stand in the way that we have no power over, but
He has every power. He does as He pleases and can
remove all the hardness, all the barriers, all the obstacles,
and put them away and lay us low before our Savior, bow before
Him to await Him to lift us up, to lift up our countenance upon
His face, to see Him who's done everything for us. And we pray
because we know there's many that won't hear. It's only by
the grace of God that we hear. We're preaching the truth. But
how few hear, unless God in mercy and grace helps them to hear.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. left to ourselves in nature,
it's foolishness. Paul says for the preaching of
the cross, that's what we preach, is Christ. We're not preaching
programs, we're not preaching good works, we're not preaching
what you do for the Lord, we're preaching what Christ has done
for you, for his child, what he's accomplished, the work is
finished. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. The natural man is always looking
to his own wisdom. He looks to his own works to
reconcile him to God or to recommend him to God. But Christ says that
you're going to die in your sins if you do not hear and believe
that Christ is all the salvation of God. You're going to labor.
You're going to work. You're going to think you're
doing what you're supposed to do. But in the end, you're going
to die in your sins. That's what he said to the Jews.
If you believe not that I am He, that I am the Christ, that
I am the salvation, that I am the Savior of my people. If you don't believe that I'm
He, you shall die in your sins. But God has revealed unto us
a better way. in Christ, turning us away from
dead works, away from dead religion, to the way of Christ, to behold
that He is the way, He is the salvation, He is the truth of
God, He is the life which God has given to His people, that
in Him we live, so that through the provision of Christ, He does
that spiritual work in His people. He's the one that turns the heart.
So we pray, we pray for him and we seek to be faithful in preaching
this word. Look down at 1 Corinthians 1
verse 19. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. There is a people who
will hear, but the word's gotta be preached. It's gotta be preached,
because that's how the Lord saves his people. The Jews require
a sign, verse 22, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Those who hear are called by
grace. It's the grace of God that makes
the difference in His people from those who do not hear and
do not believe, but continue in their own works of religion,
even calling it a Christian religion, even saying that they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But if God doesn't do the work,
they continue hoping and entrusting in what they've done for God,
rather than resting in what God has done for them in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now turn over to the next chapter,
1 Corinthians 2, verse 7 through 10. But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory. which none of the princes of
this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither I've entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. He's quoting Isaiah there. But
God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. We're calling upon the Lord to
manifest his power Because we can't do it ourselves. We don't
have the strength, or the ability, the wisdom, or the means to save
people. We have one offensive weapon.
It's the preaching of the gospel. It's the sword of the spirit,
the word of God. All we can do is be faithful
in preaching Christ. And we pray, we cry out to the
Lord to come down, to rend the heavens, to come down upon this
mountain. Mount Zion and meet with your
people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord bless your people, feed
them, teach your people. We have nothing else to do in
this but to pray and to look to Him. Now I do want to give
you five things in closing, five things while we wait upon the
Lord that the Lord would have us to consider, to know, to understand
about His coming, about waiting. So first, believers wait for
their Lord's return. We wait for the Lord's return.
It says in 2 Thessalonians 3, 5, and the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Don't forget the promise of your
Lord that he shall return. And when he returns, he's going
to take you to be with him forever. Don't forget that. We're waiting
patiently for the Lord. Second, when our Lord returns,
we're going to experience the adoption. And what that means
is the redemption of our bodies. That's his word to us. It says
in Romans 8.23, And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, or to interpret it, the
redemption of our body. He's going to change these corrupt
bodies. He's going to deliver us from
sin in these bodies and raise us a new body, an immortal body,
an incorruptible body made after the image of Christ. Third, during
this time of waiting, our God has given us a good hope of righteousness
by faith. He says in Galatians 5.5, for
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith. It's not a mystery whether or
not we're saved. It's not a mystery whether or
not Christ has accomplished salvation. He's given us a hope that in
Him is all my righteousness. Though I don't see in myself
what I would see, what I think I ought to see, I know what my
Savior has declared that He has done, what He said to me that
He's done, that in Him I have no fear of the second death,
that in Him I am washed, I am clean, I am accepted of God,
I am faultless before the throne of God. in Him. That's my hope. There's nothing more I can bring
to improve upon what He's done. I wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. Fourth, remember that it's a
walk of faith. That your God has called you
in Christ and He's teaching you to trust Him, to lean upon Him. No, you're not, you don't see
in yourselves what you think you should see, lest we should
be puffed up and vain in our own understanding. We do see
our weakness, that we would continue to look to our Savior, to lean
upon Him, to cry out to Him for every need, knowing that only
He can provide it, lest we think more highly of ourselves than
we ought to think. James 5, 7, and 8 says, Be patient
therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the
husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath
long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter
rain. Be ye also patient, establish
your hearts for the coming of the Lord, draweth nigh. And so be patient. Trust the
Lord. And related to that, He's also
bringing in His lost sheep. Just as He's delayed all this
time, some 2,000 years since Christ rose again and ascended
to the Father, He extended it all this time, being patient
for you. to come in, being patient for
the time when He purposed to bring you into the earth and
to call you. And so it is that there are other
sheep, other sheep He has that He's still yet bringing in. Be
patient, establish your hearts to wait upon the Lord. And fifth,
during all this time, your God is teaching you all about His
love for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. Take your time with it. Seek His face. Seek to know Him. To rejoice in Him. To be thankful
to your God for what He has done for you in His Son. Trusting
Him. Casting all your care upon Him
for He careth for you. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 and 13. Let's go there. The final one.
1 Corinthians 13. Look at verse 12 and 13. For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith,
hope, love. These three, but the greatest
of these is love. Your God is witnessing to you
love, the love that He has for you in Christ constantly while
you're waiting for Him. There's no dead space. He's involved
in every detail every day. Remember Him. Remember that you're
waiting for His return. Pray to Him and seek Him daily
and seek Him to know Him. and to abundantly bless the other
sheep that are yet to be called in. Cry out to him to pour out
his spirit upon us and that we would see in our day his glory,
his power, his grace in his son Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace. We thank you, Lord,
that all the power, all the glory is yours. Lord, help us as we're
here waiting, as we wait for the return of our Lord to cry
out to you, to seek you, to know you, to walk in hope, to walk
in faith, believing you, trusting you, learning of you, of the
love that you have for us and your son. Lord help us, because
we have nothing in ourselves. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's just stay sitting for our
last one. We're going to sing Lamb of God, Our Souls Adore
Thee, the paper handout. Lamb of God, Our Souls Adore
Thee. Seems to go nice with the message
too. Lamb of God, our souls adore
thee, while upon thy face we gaze. There the Father's love
and glory shine in all their brightest rays. Thy almighty power and wisdom
all creation's works proclaim. heaven and earth alike confess
thee as the ever great I am. Son of God, thy father's bosom
ever was thy dwelling place. His delight in Him rejoicing,
One with Him in power and grace. O what wondrous love and mercy
Thou didst lay Thy glory by! And for us to come from heaven,
has the Lamb of God to die. Lamb of God, when we behold thee,
lowly in a manger lay, Wandering as a homeless stranger in the
world thy hands had made. When we see thee in the garden,
in thine agony of blood, With Thy grace we are confounded,
Holy, spotless Lamb of God. When we see Thee as our Savior,
knelt to Thee a cursed tree, For our guilt and folly stricken,
All our judgment borne by Thee. Lord, we own with hearts adoring,
Thou hast washed us in Thy blood. Glory, glory everlasting, be
to thee the Lamb of God. Thank you.