All right, brethren, let's open
with hymn number 62. We'll stand and sing hymn number
62. This is crown hymn with many
crowns. Round him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him
who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through
all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side, rich wounds yet visible above, in beauty
glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully
bear that sight But downward bends his wandering eye At mysteries
so bright Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the
grave, who rose victorious to the strife for those he came
to save. His glories now we sing, who
died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring, and lives
that death may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven. One with the Father known, One
with the Spirit through Him given, From yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise, For
Thou for us hast died, Be thou, O Lord, through endless days
adored and magnified. You may be seated. All right. Take your Bibles, and I'm going
to read from Isaiah 58, which is where our text is found this
evening, I'm going to read the whole chapter from verses 1 through
14. We'll be looking at verses 9
from the middle of it through verse 12 tonight. So we see here
in the first few verses the chastening word, and then we see that word
that the Lord gave us from five through seven of his teaching
word. And he taught us what a true
fast is. And we saw last time from verses
eight and nine, we saw the blessings that our God gives to us freely,
abundantly in the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight we'll see
again a repetition of what we saw in verses five through seven
of what, when the Lord teaches His people what a true fast is,
His fast, and we see there how that, we saw that it's an example
of the ministry of reconciliation. It's that service, that those
works of faith that we do, being blessed by the Spirit of God,
given a heart that loves the Lord and wants to honor the Lord
and so that's what we see tonight and then next time that we're
here we'll see the Sabbath rest of the Lord Jesus Christ in verses
13 and 14. All right so let's read chapter
58 together. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness
and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me
the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching
to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say
they, and thou seest none? Wherefore have we afflicted our
soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast,
ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast
for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.
Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be
heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have
chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his
head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed
go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast
out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh? Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily,
and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the
Lord shall be thy re-reward. Then shalt thou call, and the
Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall
say, here I am. Here's our text. If thou take
away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the
finger, and speaking vanity, and if thou draw out thy soul
to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy
light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day.
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy
soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be
like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters
fail not. And they that shall be of thee
shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations
of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer
of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. And thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day. And call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy of the Lord, honorable. And shalt honor him, not doing
thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine
own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth. and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob, thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your mercy upon your people. Lord, that you would be so pleased
as to gather us, few here this evening, to hear your word, to
be ministered, by your spirit with the gospel that is such
a comfort to your people and such a joy to those whom you've
revealed this word to. Lord, we thank you because we
know that we are unworthy sinners, undeserving of your kindnesses
and your blessings, but you are the God of grace and you have
established the covenant of grace in the blood of your son, Jesus
Christ. Lord, we thank you for this.
We pray that you would pour out your spirit upon us, that you,
Lord, would come upon us as you've come upon your saints from of
old, pouring out your spirit of grace
and revealing faith in the heart of your people. Lord, we ask
that you would indeed pour your spirit upon us and that you would
fill us with faith and hope and love in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, we pray for your people, those that wanted to be here
tonight and could not be. Lord, we ask that you bless them
and restore them again to us soon. And we pray, Lord, that
you would bless your word to our hearts that are here and
that you would use this message, Lord, to reach the ears of your
hungering afflicted sheep that are yet lost that you would call
them out of from dark places and gather them together here
with us it's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks amen all right we got one more hymn
we're gonna sing hymn number 301 which is the king of love
my shepherd is and the tune we're gonna do is not the tune that's
in the hymn so Johnny, the girls around you know it, so it'll
be, yeah, you'll know it when we start it. So if you know it,
just join in. It's a dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. All right. I'll be listening for your key.
All right, 301. The King of love my shepherd
is, whose goodness faileth never. I nothing lack if I am his, and
he is mine forever. Where streams of living water
flow, my ransomed soul he leadeth, And where the verdant pastures
grow, with food celestial feedeth. Perverse and foolish, soft I
strayed, But yet in love he sought me, And on his shoulder gently
laid, And home rejoicing bought me. In death's dark veil I fear
no ill, With Thee, dear Lord, beside me. Thy rod and staff
my comfort still, Thy cross before to guide me. And so, through all the length
of days, thy goodness faileth never. Good Shepherd, may I sing
thy praise within thy house forever. You guys going to be okay? Is
the noise... what? I think so. I mean, it's quieter than when
they do the... the other... Yeah. Well, are
you going to be okay? You want me to... Well, I can find out if they're
leaving in a minute, so... Okay. One second. All right. Take your Bibles and turn to
Isaiah chapter 58. Our text is verses 9 through
12. Once you're there, put a marker. And let's go over to 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. John puts our hearts in the context,
in the thought of love, the blessed love that our God and Father
has poured upon us through his son, Jesus Christ. And I think
that's a good way to come into this text here, is with that
understanding of our God's love for us. And he says there in
verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God? Therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. So our passage tonight in Isaiah
is an expression of love, an expression of love which is wrought
in the heart, in the soul, in the breast of God's children. It's a love for their Lord and
Savior, and it's a love for those whom the Father brings. to them,
to minister the gospel to them, to serve them in love of their
Lord and Savior. In Isaiah here, our Lord is repeating
words that we heard before in this chapter. They're worded
a little differently, but we see in them that these too, these
also are the words of the ministry of reconciliation. These are
the words that are part and parcel with that ministry of reconciliation. And in our text, we see how that
they are described as a fast. Our Lord says, this is this is
my fast. This is what I will have you
to do in service to me. These are the things that I will
have you to do. And this is my fast. This is
this is the self-denial that I bring forth as fruits in my
people and my children when I pour out my spirit upon them and they're
moved. with compassion and love and
a desire to honor the Lord whom they love in preaching the gospel
faithfully and declaring to others faithfully what our God has done
for us in his son Jesus Christ. And so these are the things that
we heard before when our Lord said to his people, is not this
the fast that I have chosen for thee? Is not this the fast that
I've chosen? All right, so we're going to
see some similarities. And it's with a focus of tender
love for others. He actually said earlier, he
said to us, hide not thyself from thine own flesh. And if
you remember what we saw in those words is that we're called to
remember what we are in ourselves, that we ourselves are sinners
saved by the grace of God. And so when we speak to others
and we see what others do or hear what others have done, it may be wrong what they do,
but we're no better than they are. It's by the grace of God
that we have a heart for the Lord, that we hear him speak.
And brethren, minister the gospel of Christ. Minister the grace
that God has shown to you to others, especially them that
are known sinners. All are sinners, but minister
that gospel because the Lord may use it to their blessing
and their edification. and their restoration in the
things of God. I've titled this message, A Soul
Drawn Out With Love. A Soul Drawn Out With Love. And so, our Lord gives us love,
brethren, for others. Not only for their spiritual
needs, but even for their physical needs. Without love, we're not
going to do anything for others. We're going to find excuses,
make excuses, find reasons not to be drawn out with compassion
and care and concern for others. So a soul drawn out with love. So last time we were here, we
stopped in the middle of verse 9. And so we're gonna pick up
in the middle of verse nine, the back half of it, and you'll
notice that there's three things that our Lord lists here that
he calls us to not do, three things. And you'll notice that
these three things have strong implications for how it is that
we, as the Church of God, minister to others. So let's pick up there
in the middle of verse nine. at the word if. If thou take
away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the
finger, and speaking vanity. Now you'll notice that these
words have a weight, they have a weight of a legalistic burden. There's a weight of a legalistic
burden. It speaks of a yoke, putting
forth the finger and speaking vanity. And this burden is exercised
by religionists, zealous religionists, upon their hearers. They think
that they're laying upon their hearers things that will help
them, things that will be for their good. But when this is
our focus, these legalistic, burdensome things, when this
is our focus, it produces a starving. It produces a fast in others. It produces a hungering and a
starving because they're not being nourished and cared for
in the Lord. There's no comfort in the burden,
in the weight of legalism. And so all it ends up doing is
afflicting the weary sinner. It's just laying on the weary
sinner who's already weighed down with the burden of their
sin and lays a heavier load upon them, calling them to do that
which they cannot do for themselves. So the purpose of the law, then,
is to make us know the depths and the breadth of our sin, of
what we are, our depravity in Adam. And so in Adam, we sinned. We rebelled against God. Adam
rebelled against God. We continue forth in that sin. Well, the law makes us to know
the intricacies and the ways in which we do come short of
the glory of God. And when it's heard rightly,
it humbles the proud, vain, arrogant, self-righteous sinner. It humbles
us because we realize, wow, all this time I thought that the
things I was doing was for God's benefit. What a shame I am. Now I see how foolish I am to
think that there's anything I can do to please God and merit His
favor. But when the law is used rightly,
and when it's heard rightly, we see our need of God's salvation. We see that we need a Savior.
We hear what the Lord is saying to us, because we see the exceeding
sinfulness of our sin. And, by God's grace, we see the
fitness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He sent to
save his people from their sins. And so Romans 3 verses 19 and
20 says, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law. that every mouth may be
stopped. We're not going to boast. When
we hear the law rightly, we're not going to boast before God.
It's going to shut our mouths. And all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. So if we continue to minister
to our hearers that law for a work of salvation in an effort to
try and produce good works, what are we doing? We're saddling
sinners. We're burdening sinners with
a burdensome yoke, and it causes them only to further fall in
sin and in darkness and in dead works. And if we continue to
minister to others with that law, which reveals sin in us,
then we haven't heard what the law says. And we're fasting,
as it were, according to the flesh. We're just doing works
according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit of God. And our Lord pointed this out
in verse 4 when He said, Behold, ye fast for strife and debate,
and to smite with the fist of wickedness. That's your fast,
and it produces works of wickedness, because they're works of the
flesh. But our Lord says to his children,
ye shall not fast as ye do this day. I'm going to take that fasting
away from you and teach you a better way. And so our Lord begins here
in our text, and the first phrase he says is, if thou take away
from the midst of thee the yoke. If you take away from the midst
of thee the yoke. Now, let me first acknowledge
that we see words here, if, and then. And we know that the words
if and then are words used under the Covenant of Works. Under
the Covenant of Works. If you do this, then God will
do that. Those are words pertinent to
the Covenant of Works. Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior,
has fulfilled that covenant perfectly. in perfect righteousness for
you, his people. And so we're not under the covenant
of works. God's saints are not under the
covenant of works. We're born again of the spirit
of our God. And so we hear these words in
the new man. And so when we hear these words,
it's since, someone said it's since and then. Since the Lord
has done these things for you, then you shall do these things.
Because he teaches us, he shows us, oh, we're not whipping and
beating to produce fruits out of dead flesh. We're not going
to bring forth spiritual living fruit out of dead flesh. So our
Lord teaches us, preach the gospel, minister the covenant of grace,
minister to your hearers with the grace that you've heard by
the Lord. All right, and so that's how
we're hearing this. So our Lord says, if thou take
away from the midst of thee the yoke, you shall. All right, so
in the early church, we know, we see an example of how the
Lord taught his people. There were Judaizers. People
who claimed to believe on the Lord, but thought that all other
hearers had to first become Jews. They had to come under the law.
They had to be partakers of the manner of Moses. And so for their
men, they had to be circumcised. Now, turn over to Acts 15. This is where this is brought
up in Acts 15. And we see that they were trying to bring the
Gentile believers under the yoke of the law. And they said in verse one, while
you're turning there, they said, except ye be circumcised, unless
you're circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be
saved. And thankfully, the Lord raised
up men like Paul and Barnabas to hear what they were saying
and to oppose it. vigorously and not accept it,
and not give any place to those false, vain words. They're vain
words because that's not salvation. That's not salvation at all.
Our Lord is salvation. Now drop down to verses 7 through
10. So in verse 7, there had been some disputing, some words
back and forth, and Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and
brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And now here he shows, he demonstrates
that when the Gentiles were saved, it wasn't because they were circumcised,
it wasn't because they did some work to earn their salvation,
but watch verse 8, God which knoweth the hearts, bear them
witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us,
while as yet they were uncircumcised. And He put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. God saves His
people by the Lord Jesus Christ, and He turns our hearts. The
Spirit turns our heart, taking off the veil, looking to Christ,
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, which is revealed in
us. He didn't pour out the Spirit
upon them because of the law. He poured out the Spirit upon
them in grace. And he revealed faith in their
hearts, both Jew and Gentile. And so Peter says, now therefore
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? And so
just as our text says, take away from the midst of you the yoke. Don't bring in the preaching
of the law for righteousness. Don't bring in the preaching
of the law for morality. It's not a rule of life. The
law is not a rule of life for the believer. Christ is our life. And if you don't think that Christ
is able to produce fruit and keep His people, then what are
you doing claiming the name of Christ? Why do you say you believe
on Christ? That's not faith. That's turning
to the flesh to produce what Christ alone produces in His
people. Christ produces salvation. Christ
gives salvation. Christ is salvation. So take
away from thee the midst of thee the yoke. The yoke of the law
is not your salvation. Christ is our salvation. If you
want to honor the Son, then preach Christ crucified, because he
will do the purifying of our hearts by faith. He purifies
our hearts by faith, not the whipping, not the threatenings
of the law, not the teachings of the law. He teaches us. He's
our teacher. He's our guide. He's our keeper,
our savior, our husband, our friend, our king, our all. He's
our all. And He gives them the Holy Ghost
even as He did unto every other saved child of God, every one
of them. And then he says, take away from
thee, you could say those words again, take away from the midst
of thee the putting forth of the finger. And so what do we
do in the flesh? Well, when we see others doing
a thing that we think is wrong or know to be wrong, we can stand
up and we can point it out. And we can put our finger in
their face or we can put it in their chest or we can just point
it at them and it's real demeaning to others and it really sets
us up apart as though we know something. And what the Lord
is saying is, put your finger away. Don't be accusing others.
That's not how they're going to be delivered. I mean, there's
times when people need to hear and know what they're doing is
wrong and hurtful, and they do need to be rebuked. But that's
not salvation, us doing that and telling others what to do.
and pointing out all their faults, like we're inspectors of their
fruit and that we know better and we can guide them in the
way of life as though we're something, as though we're the Savior. That's
wickedness. We're trying to take the place
of Christ for his people. We preach Christ, not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord. We're ministers, we're servants
of the Lord's people, coming to minister those gracious words
that the Lord has given to us and revealed in our hearts. And
hope that I have isn't because someone's yelling at me and telling
me what to do and how to live my life, but the Lord by his
grace and power and glory. raises me up and gives me a hope
in Christ. And I'm compelled by His love
for me. And that's how you're compelled.
You're taught the same way, by His grace. And you're comforted
by the same words that I'm comforted with. And it's not by the pointing
of the finger, but by the grace of God and the kindness of God
and revealing faith in you. When Christ used his finger,
it was for good. We read if you just look up finger
and go to the New Testament and you see how Christ used his finger
to open the ears of a deaf man and touched his tongue and loosed
his tongue so that the mute could speak. He was able to speak. When he used his finger, he said,
I, by the finger of God, do cast out devils among you. I'm casting
out devils among you with the finger of God. With his finger,
he delivered an adulteress who was surrounded by her accusers
who were going to stone her. And he delivered her from all
her accusers with his finger. And I'm referring to John chapter
8 when he stooped down and wrote in the dust, and rose again and
said, he that is without sin, let him be the first one to cast
a stone. And then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust
again. And then they all left and he
rose up again. And the significance, the beautiful
picture in that is that our Lord, who was in the bosom of the Father,
humbled himself and stooped down, taking upon him this flesh and
came down and dwelt among us. and did works, demonstrated the
finger of God among the people in the dust, did the works of
God in the dust. And then when he rose up, he
declared, he declared to us that he is the light. He declared
that we're sinners and that we need a savior. And when he said,
let he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone, that
was declared when he was lifted up. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. And
he said, when I'm lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. And
so our savior went to the cross. That's what that second lifting
up of himself and declaring is picturing him going to the cross
and putting away the sins of his people. And then he was taken
down from that cross and buried and laid in the grave. He was
buried and then he rose again. And when he rose again, all the
accusers were gone. There were no more accusers because
Christ delivered his people from all our accusers. He defeated
all our foes. He shut their mouths and drove
them away. And so we see that beautiful picture, how our Lord,
with his finger, did wonderful works. He said in Luke 11, 46,
woe unto you also, ye lawyers, for ye laid men, you put on men
burdens grievous to be born, and ye yourselves touch not the
burdens with one of your fingers. So the Lord's telling his people,
put forth your hand, not to accuse, not to point out the faults and
sins of others, but use your fingers and use your hands to
help, to help the burdened sinner, to help the weary and the tried
one, the hungry one, help them. As he says in John 20, verse
27, Our Lord said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and
behold Christ's hands. And reach hither thy hand, and
thrust it into his side, and be not faithless, but believing. Use your hands for good. to minister
to others, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be faithless,
but believing. So to preach the law and dead
works religion in order to get an effect out of a sinner, in
order to produce something, he's telling us it's vanity. It's
vanity. It's all gonna be burned up.
Those are the works that are burned up along with the wood,
the hay, and the stubble. It's all gonna perish with the
using, and it's all gonna pass away and not appear in the life
ever after with our Lord. And so preaching the law is having
a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. We preach
Christ because we're so confident We're so confident in the Lord
Jesus Christ that he's delivered us and blessed us, that he's
the one who saves his people. He's the one that's triumphant
and glorious in all things. It says in 2 Corinthians 3, 4,
and such trust have we through Christ to God. That's why we
preach Christ, because we're so confident that He is the Savior
and the salvation of God and works salvation in His people.
If we're not confident in Him, that's why we preach the law,
because we think that's what's going to produce good works and
good fruit. And Christ says, that's vanity. It's vanity. Those
are vain words. They cannot save you. We're not
going to bring forth fruit by cheating on our husband with
Moses. That's not going to produce good spiritual fruit. Our husband
is Christ. He's the one that brings forth
fruit unto God. You keep looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's our husband. All right,
now moving on to verse 10. Here we see this tenderness of
love which is wrought in the Lord's people for our neighbor
and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We're taught love. And he says
in verse 10, and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and
satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity
and thy darkness be as the noon day. And so when we're preaching
the gospel, when we preach Christ crucified, we're ministering
to others the grace which has been ministered to us by the
Spirit. We're simply declaring what the
Lord has taught us. Turn over to Ephesians 4. Let's
see this again. Ephesians 4, and I'm gonna look,
let's look together at verses 28 and 29. Paul says, let him that stole,
steal no more. Don't preach the law. That's
just stealing the glory of God. That's just stealing from God's
glory. He's the one who is worshiped,
praised, and honored, and glorified for the salvation, and the teaching,
and the deliverance of his people. You know, to rob, when someone
robs you, you know who's taken from you. They come right up
to your face and they say, give me what you got. And they threaten
you with some violence and you're being robbed. When they steal
from you, they're doing it secretly. They're coming in like a thief
when no one's around and they're taken from you privately. That's
what they're doing in the preaching of the law. It sounds good, it
sounds like godliness, but it's vanity. It's denying the power
of God. But rather let him labor in that
which is good, working with his hands, right? There's a picture
there of us ministering to others. of the words of faith which we've
heard, and what Christ has done, working with his hands the things
which is good, that he may give to him that needeth. Preach Christ,
testify of what he's done for you, brethren. And verse 29 speaks
to what we see, let no corrupt communication, don't preach vanity,
let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Salvation
is not by the law, that's vanity. But that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And there's many people sitting
in churches, so-called, all over the world that are hungering
and afflicted and troubled and tried, and they're not hearing
anything that's gonna help them. They want, they desire to know
the Lord, and they're not hearing anything of His grace and of
His mercy, and they're hearing confusion and darkness, and having
burdens laid upon them. Preach Christ to them. When you
meet them, when you hear them, preach Christ, and pray that
the Lord reveal His precious, saving, living faith in His people. And so I was thinking of an illustration
too with these words that we're seeing here where he says in
verse 10, draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted
soul. And then shall thy light rise
in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day. And you know,
there's a great understanding that we can see regarding the
heart that we have for sinners who need Christ. And we can see
that illustrated in those that are hungry and those that do
have needs and are afflicted. And we were just talking before
and a lot of people are noticing just, I think the last week the
gas prices popped up 20% in one week. I think it's still going
higher and and and food prices are going up. I was in the store
with Alyssa Today and and there was a section of pasta or where
the pasta should be I think those shelves could have held three
or four hundred boxes if I'm not mistaken I think there was
maybe 30 or 40 boxes left on those shelves now They may be
filled up soon tonight or something like that But it does seem like
like there's some difficult times ahead and and if prices keep
rising obviously people at some point are gonna hit a point that
they're They're having to make choices about what they can afford
or what they can purchase. And so there seems like there
are some perilous times coming. I don't know. The Lord knows.
And thankfully, he's seated on the throne. And that's a great
comfort to us. And he said, because iniquity
shall abound, the love of man shall wax cold. love of man shall
wax cold." And so I was thinking how just that physical hunger
relates to this spiritual word that we're seeing here in the
preaching of the gospel, because in times of affliction and difficulties,
It's real easy to shut up one's bowels of mercy and compassion
for others. It's real easy to think of self
and to think of providing only for self and what you need to
the neglect of others. And it's real easy to get cold
and to insulate ourselves and become cold and indifferent and
therefore, see that that waxing of coldness in our own breast.
And we want to protect against that because that's where people
are amazed when when people are kind in in difficult circumstances
that they would take thought of them. whom they don't know. And so it's a wonderful time
to minister to others. And we see that with the physical
hunger and the physical afflictions that people have. And that's
relevant to us even in the gospel. Because there are spiritually
sick, hungering, afflicted souls. And so just as we want to minister
to others, and we may have opportunity to minister in that way to others
in the near future. Take that same knowledge and
minister the grace that your God has given to you in Christ
in preaching the gospel. Just speaking what Christ has
done for you, how precious He is. When we think we have to convince
someone of what we believe, it puts a lot of pressure on us
and we say things awfully. We say things that are wrong
and we get messed up. But when you're just speaking
of what Christ has done for you and how precious He is to you,
What can they say? What can they say against that?
And it may actually be an opening for you to continue to preach
the hope that the Lord has given to you in Him. And so the good
news is that salvation And Christ is free to the sinner who has
no good works, has nothing to give to the Lord. Isaiah 55,
1 says, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. And so our Lord promises
the saints that this is where his light will be seen. in ministering,
in being kind, in being patient and gracious with those who need
it, who are needy sinners. And even if they're not asking
for it, even if you don't think they deserve it, we didn't deserve
it. We didn't earn His mercies, so
be merciful to others even when they don't deserve it. And so
he says, when you're ministering to the hungry, When you're preaching
the gospel or you're helping put a bite of food in their mouth,
he says, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness
shall be as the noon day. And so it's in that trial of
adversity that we all go through that the brightness and the light
of the Lord Jesus Christ shines evidently more brightly. It's
just more apparent how glorious and wonderful he is and how much
he means to you that you would also take that time to love another
and be kind and gracious to another. And so our light, brethren, isn't
our light, but Christ. Christ is the light of his people. You know, as Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, when they were thrown in that fiery furnace,
they went in three men. But when Nebuchadnezzar looked,
he saw four men. And he said, behold, I see one
whose appearance is as the Son of God. as the Son of God. Or you consider what Peter says
in 1 Peter 1 7. He says that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though your faith be tried with fire, that it might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And yes, in one sense that's
when He returns again, the second time, to redeem His people, but
also He appears more brightly, more gloriously in His people
as they are held up by His hand of grace and kept through the
fiery trial, trusting Him, believing Him, looking to Him. All right,
now in verse 11, he says, and the Lord shall guide thee continually,
and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou
shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose
waters fail not. And so, he's saying, this is
wrought in my people. This is wrought in my people
who are born again by my spirit, who I filled with my spirit to
know me. Turn over to John chapter 7.
Go to John 7 verse 37. We read John 7, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, but that Jesus was not yet glorified,
because Jesus was not yet glorified. So the Holy Spirit, brethren,
is given to us to show us Christ, to reveal His power in us, to
reveal His hand in us, His finger working, the fruit that He produces
in His people, and it's unto praise and honor and the glory
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, Even though our
flesh experiences drought, and the Lord will do that for His
people, He strips His people down of the vanity and the pride
and the arrogance and the self-righteousness and the pharisaical nature that
we are in this nature, in this flesh, but in Christ. Though this flesh wither away
and be stripped away and brought low, in Christ we're refreshed,
we're well watered, we're well taken care of and kept by Him,
we're satisfied by Him. And though our flesh become weak
and these natural bones get frail and brittle and break easily,
your spiritual bones are made fat. They're made fat. And that's
the blessing, as though we wither away in this flesh. You know,
when you think about how we age as we get older and we get weaker,
what a beautiful picture of grace and what the Lord does for His
people at any age. when he reveals his spirit in
them, and though we're made weaker in the flesh, yet Christ shines
more gloriously, and we want to love others, and help others,
and be compassionate, and kind, and not so self-absorbed in our
own little worlds. And so, Paul was blessed in this
regard, and he wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 12, verses 9
through 10. We see where Paul had suffered
in the flesh, and God said to Paul, my grace is sufficient
for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most
gladly, therefore, Paul says, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then am I
strong. And so this flesh does, and it
shall suffer trials, afflictions, persecutions, difficulties, setbacks,
hardships. We'll go through things. That's ever been present, and
those who confess the Lord and seek the Lord, they're going
to suffer persecutions and they're going to suffer things which
then brings about and reveals Christ in them. But our Lord
promises his saints, thou shalt be like a watered garden and
like a spring of water whose waters fell not. And so your hope And your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is given to you, will be made
evident. And that without the law. You
don't need the law to bring forth these fruits. You have the Spirit
of Christ living in you, dwelling in you, because you're the temple
of the living God. And the Spirit of God dwells
in you, and Christ dwells in your hearts by faith. And so
Christ in you will be evident. that he's in you, that he dwells
in you. And it's having no deceit. When it says, whose waters fail
not, those words mean that there's no lie. It's not deceitful. It's
true because Christ is in you. All right, verse 12. And they that shall be of thee
shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations
of many generations. Thou shalt be called the repairer
of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. When I read
this, I can't help but see Christ the master builder. Christ is
the master builder spoken of here. He's the one who effectually
works in his people, giving them his spirit, and his power is
wrought in them, and it's all taught us, and reminded, and
we're reminded of it, and refreshed by these things by the grace
of our God through the gospel word being preached. And Christ
is the foundation that is laid. That's who we preach. And his
foundation is laid. And upon him the old and the
wasted things are removed. Behold, all things are become
new. And you're new creatures in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the repairer of the breach. Our Lord restored that which
he took not away. sinned and rebelled against God.
We come forth sinners rebelling against our God. But Christ came
and he did no wrong and yet he paid the price for his people.
He paid the debt of sin that we accrued, that we built up
by our own wickedness and our rebellion against God. But Christ
paid it all and reconciled sinners to holy God. And our God has
given us this ministry of reconciliation to preach to others, to declare
it to others. That is the ministry of reconciliation
by faithfully preaching Christ crucified and his glorious power. and what he works in his people. And he pours out his spirit,
revealing faith in them, purifying their hearts by faith, purifying
your hearts by faith. And so he's the restorer of paths
to dwell in. He is the way in which we approach
unto our God and are accepted and received of him. And we do
live by him and dwell in him. And we love him and are taught
to love him, and to know him, and to see him more gloriously
in all things. And so that, brethren, is how
our soul is drawn out in love to others. It's drawn out to
our God whom we love. It's drawn out to others, needy
sinners who are hungering and thirsting for the truth of God
revealed in Christ. Don't lay on other burdens. Be
a helper of their joy. Preach Christ. Amen. All right,
brethren, let's close in prayer and then we'll sing a hymn. Our
gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace in your
Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we see how far short we
fell in Adam and do fall in ourselves, how easily we're turned back
to the flesh, and how quickly we do go astray in looking to
ourselves and thinking that we can produce something good for
you. Lord, we ask that you would indeed
pour out your spirit upon us. Help us, Lord, to be ministers
of the grace to our hearers that we have heard and that has been
ministered to our hearts. Help us, Lord, that our souls
would be drawn out in love to others who are weary in their
way and are struggling in their sin and have only had burdens
of the law laid upon them. Lord, help us to to preach the
word in season and out of season. Help us, Lord, even when we're
weak and busy pitying over ourselves, help us, Lord, to see others
and to help them and to minister to others. And what a joy it
is. Let us not grow cold as this
world grows cold. evermore as wickedness abounds. But Lord, help us to be helpers
of others in need and help us to be compassionate. And we pray
that, Lord, when you produce that fruit in us, that you would
appear most gloriously, most evidently to those and that you
would be seen and glorified in the hearts of your people. Lord,
we see This need is ever growing in
our day, both physically and especially spiritually, Lord,
and how few hear and know and believe the truth and believe
Christ and look to Him for salvation. How many are looking to their
works and looking to fleshly, vain things that cannot save.
Help us to be testifiers, to testify of what we have seen
and heard. of our God and Savior in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Help those who are sick and weary. Help those who are troubled and
afraid. Help those, Lord, who are struggling
with many things, many trials, Lord, that you would pour out
your spirit upon us and that you would restore your people
here, that you would build up your church here by blessing
us with your spirit and sending upon us a time of refreshing
and a time of peace and a time of joy and thankfulness. It's
in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray this.
Amen. Okay, so the last hymn. Oh, let's do hymn number two.
Let's do hymn number two. This is Love Divine. You guys okay to keep sitting? Comfortable? All right, let's
pray. This is a sweet hymn. Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded, love Thou art, Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, oh breathe, thy loving
spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in thee inherit. Let us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning,
Alpha and Omega be, End of faith as its beginning, Set our hearts
at liberty. Come almighty to deliver, let
us all thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore
thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above, Pray and praise Thee without
ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love. Finish then Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation,
perfectly restored in Thee. Change from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before
Thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.