Good evening, everyone. Let's
all stand and sing. He is able to deliver thee. 2-0-1. He is able to deliver
thee. Tis the grandest theme through
the ages sung. Tis the grandest theme for a
mortal tongue. Tis the grandest theme that the
world e'er sung. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. ? Tis the grandest theme in the
earth or made ? ? Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strain ? ?
Tis the grandest theme tell the world again ? ? Our God is able
to deliver thee ? ? He is able to deliver thee ? He is able
to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
Him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Grandest theme, let the tidings
roll To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul Look to God in
faith, He will make thee whole Our God is able to deliver thee
He is able to deliver thee He is able to deliver thee, though
by sin oppressed. Go to him for rest, our God is
able to deliver thee. Thank you. Let's turn to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands
asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said, Unto me,
thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and
I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt
break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, that you are sovereign and you do rule over all things. Lord, we thank you for your grace
and mercy which you've shown to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you
did not leave us to ourselves, but that you poured out upon
us a spirit of grace and mercy, giving us a heart that needs
you, that seeks you, that looks for you, that asks you for help. Lord, thank you for your mercy.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your grace and
your son. given to us freely, Lord, without
us able to do anything to deserve it or earn it. Lord, thank you. Father, we thank you for this
place where you've gathered us together here to meet, to hear
the words of your Son, to hear your word spoken to your people. Lord, teach us. Be patient with
us. Be gracious to us, Lord. Help
us. Lord, we don't have the strength
or the wisdom or the know-how to build your church, to grow
it, to bring in your people, to gather them. Lord, all we
know is that we were blind and now we see. All we know is that
we are guilty sinners saved by grace, cleansed of our sin, delivered
from the condemnation. Lord, we know that message. We know our Savior. We know the
Lord, and we know how glorious and wonderful He is. Help us,
Lord, to exalt Him, to lift Him up before the people, to preach
the glories of our God in Christ, to preach Christ and Him crucified,
to preach and glorify our God faithfully in the preaching of
the gospel. Lord, help us. Don't leave us
to ourselves. Don't leave us to our own devices.
Don't leave us to our flesh. Lord, pour out your spirit upon
us. Bless this people. Teach us,
Lord. Help us. Keep us, Lord. Cleanse us and fill us with your
spirit. And help us, Lord, to minister
to those around us. Lord, bring them in. As it pleases
you, Lord, bring them in. Cause them to hear, to be settled,
to be comforted, to be healed by the great physician, your
son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we know that you are God,
you are King, you are all. And so we ask this of you, Lord,
knowing that only you can do it, only you can bring it to
pass. Lord, help those among us and those that fellowship
with us who are sick and ill and just not doing well. Help
them, Lord, heal them, comfort them. Ease their minds and comfort
their trembling hearts. We pray that you bless all the
churches meeting this night, preaching your word. Fill the
people with your spirit. Bless us and bless us too, Lord. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks, amen. If you would, turn to 460, Leaning
on the Everlasting Arms. I think we all know this hymn,
we just haven't sung it yet together. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,
460. What a fellowship, what a joy
divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what
a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning,
safe and secure from all Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim
way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path
grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning,
leaning. Safe and secure from all alarms,
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms,
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. Leaning on the
everlasting arms, leaning, leaning. Thank you. I might just slow
that down just a little bit. Take your Bibles and turn to
Isaiah chapter 58. I want to look at verses 8 and
9 with you. The Lord, here in this chapter,
we see Him chastening His people. He stripped away the hope that
we have by nature in this flesh. We hope in vain things. We hope
in fleshly things. We hope in the works that we
do that these will gain us some favor with God and our God in
mercy and grace deals with us by stripping that hope away because
it's a false hope. It's a vain hope. It's a hope
that cannot save us. And so he chastens us by stripping
that away, by showing us that these things which we do in the
flesh cannot save us. And then having stripped his
people, he teaches us. He shows us what true worship
and what true works of righteousness look like. He teaches us that
this under the ministry of reconciliation, so that by our God, we've been
reconciled unto our God. by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is a work of grace that
our God does for us, meaning that it's nothing that we've
earned, it's nothing that we deserve, it's strictly, purely
by His grace, according to His love that He has for His people
from the foundation of the world when He chose us and separated
us to know Him. to be delivered from our sin
and corruption in Adam. He chose us before it ever happened
and gave us, committed us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so having done that, having
chastened us, having stripped us, He now, in these verses,
these one and a half verses of 8 and 9, He gives us an understanding. of what our blessings are in
Christ, the spiritual blessings. He continues to teach us. He
continues to grow and bloom that flower of grace to show us the
beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here in these next one and
a half verses, our Lord declares these spiritual
blessings. spiritual blessings. What I'm
saying to you is that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. You can see that in Ephesians
1 3. So our Lord here speaks of, in this one and a half verses,
He gives us six blessings, six of those spiritual blessings
whereby we behold our Lord, we understand and know Him according
to the gospel of the grace of our God. I wouldn't say this
is an exhaustive list by any means, because Christ is a diamond,
if you will. He's as a diamond, so that we
behold him in all his sparkling brilliance and glory and the
light reflecting and refracting, of course, across the many facets
of a beautifully shaped diamond. And Christ is the Son of God. And so he is beautiful. He is
glorious. There's none more beautiful,
more fairer, more lovely than the Lord Jesus Christ. So I've
titled this, Blessings of Our God in Christ. And we'll see
these six blessings. So in the last message, we saw
that our Lord, what he does in teaching us, it is seen in that
ministry of reconciliation. Our God reconciles us through
Christ. And that ministry of reconciliation
is described here in chapter 58 as a fast, as a fast. The people thought they were
holding to a fast. They thought the fast that they
were doing in denying themselves and bringing afflictions upon
themselves at a set time was a true fast. That's what we thought
by our own works, by our fleshly thoughts. But a true spiritual
fast can only be kept, can only be followed by one who is born
again, one who is born from above, born by the Spirit of God in
regeneration, which simply means to be born again, to be recreated,
created anew. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord said to the people in verse 6, Is not this the fast that
I have chosen? You have your fast, but isn't
this the fast that I have chosen for my people, my people who
are living souls by my Spirit? It's to loose the bands of wickedness. Stop preaching lies. Stop preaching
falsehoods. It's to undo the heavy burdens. Don't lay on them more works
of religion and bury them with heavy loads of things that we
cannot do, with works we cannot perform. Not truly, not spiritually,
not in a manner that's pleasing to God. It's to let the oppressed
go free and to break every yoke. It's to deliver them, not to
weigh them down with works that are unprofitable to anyone. They're not profitable and they
turn our eyes away from Christ. He said it's to bring the poor
that are cast out to thy house, bring them As the Lord teaches
you, go and speak to others and bring them. Invite them here
to the house of the Lord. When you see them naked, working
and laboring on that which cannot satisfy and do nothing to satisfy
themselves, cover them. Preach Christ, cover them with
his righteousness. And that thou hide not thyself
from thine own flesh. which we see is a reminder to
us of what we are in this flesh, how that when our God saved us,
we were covered in our blood, we were covered in filth and
refuse, and our God passed by and was gracious and merciful
to us. When you see others, sinners,
and those not doing well at all, Preach Christ to them. Don't
withhold preaching Christ to them also, because you're just
like them. You were just like them when
I saved you. And you are that in the flesh.
We're saved by grace. We're kept by grace. We're preserved
by grace. So these are the works of Christ
for every sinner, and he engages his bride to publish this good
news that she's heard, that which has reached her ear and hit her
heart and delivered her from death and darkness. Preach those
things that comfort you. Preach to others what Christ
has done for you. So we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ
to others as the only salvation for sinners. There is no other
salvation. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And so we preach him as the one
who saves his people to the uttermost. Our Lord said in John 12 verse
32, he said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all
men unto me. And that's what we do. in the
preaching of Christ crucified. He was lifted up in that he was
crucified so that all his people are saved in him because he put
away their sins. And we lift him up in the preaching
of Christ and him crucified, declaring that's how God saves
us, by the blood of Christ. That's what God has done for
his people and how he delivers us from death and darkness. And
so when Christ has delivered the condemned sinner from eternal
and spiritual death and ruin, then, then, he says, look at
verse eight, and then verse nine. 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. And so these are the six blessings
that we're going to look at tonight that our Lord blesses all his
people with in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in the Lord, because
that's where our God meets with us. All the blessings of God
are had by the people of God in Christ. And outside of Christ,
there are no blessings. There is no comfort. There is
no joy. Nothing lasting. But in Christ
are all these things to be had. Let's look at these six blessings.
First, He says, Then shall thy light break forth as the morning. So preaching Jesus Christ, lifting
Him up, declaring who He is, He's the Son of God, and He came
in the flesh willingly to save His bride. to love them, to be
their righteousness, to fulfill all righteousness for them, and
to go to the cross, to their death, in their place, to die
their death, to put away, to pay their debt of sin, and to
put it away that God may forgive us justly by the blood of Christ,
because he bore, he took that wrath unto him. It's to declare
what he did. He did everything according to
the scriptures, perfectly fulfilling all that was written of him for
his people, and having died, having done what he came to do,
to put away our sin, he died, was taken down from the tree,
and laid in the grave, and rose again, all according to the scriptures. And in that he rose again, it
declares that we are justified. And that's what the sinner desperately
wants to hear. God say, you're justified. And what that means is God says,
you're righteous. You're righteous. You're perfectly
accepted in my sight. You want nothing more. I want
nothing more from you. You're perfectly righteous. That's
what it is to be justified in our Lord. And so we preach Christ,
and in the preaching of Christ, that word shines into the darkness. Sinners who've never heard this,
never understood it, always heard this is religion, this is the
way, this is the way you're to go for life. Do this here. Keep doing that there. Keep listening
to us over here. Do these things. Well, when you
preach Christ and exalt Him and what He's done, not what you
do, but what He's done, that's shining a light into a dark place,
into their minds, their hearts, which is full of darkness and
is shut up to the things of God. And so that's good news that
we're carrying. We're carrying good news. So we bear witness
of this truth. It says in Isaiah 9 verse 2,
it says, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Now we
know that was true of the Gentiles so that the Jews weren't the
only ones who heard Christ and heard what he came to do. And
it wasn't only them to whom it was explained and the mystery
revealed. But that mystery revealed went out to the Gentile nations. Those who had never heard these
words, had never read the Bible, never heard of what, of who the
true and living God is and what he sent his son and accomplished
in his son. That was true of them, but you
know, that continues to be true today because there's many in
religion who still have never heard, who've never heard what
Christ has done. All they hear is what they do
and what they need to do and the choices they need to make.
And that's not salvation. You and me doing stuff is not
salvation. Even doing it in the name of
God or for God, that's not salvation. Christ is salvation. He is the salvation. And so there's
many that are religious and read their Bibles and go to services
often who have never heard the gospel, have never heard the
voice of Christ, have never heard what he's done for his people. And so we preach the gospel. And when that word is brought
to a sinner with power, they're called out of that darkness and
into the light of Christ. In Isaiah, I want you to turn
there since we're in Isaiah. Look at Isaiah 60, Isaiah 60
verse 1. It says, arise, shine, for thy
light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. And that's what our Lord declares
when he brings that gospel word home to our heart with power. Arise, shine. We shine in the
brightness, the glory of the Lord, just like the moon, right?
The moon is a picture of the church. She has no light of her
own, but she reflects the light of the sun. And that's the light
we see in the night sky. And that's what the world sees
in the church of Jesus Christ, his bride. She's a reflection
of his light and his glory. And so, all that we could not
do for ourselves and ridding ourselves of guilt and shame
and the filth and stench of our sin, Christ by His blood accomplished. His blood shed washes us clean
of the filth and the stain and the guilt and the shame and the
separation. He puts it all away for His people
to bring us, to reconcile us to holy God. You that hope in
Him, though you don't feel it in yourselves, though you don't
see what you would see in yourselves or what you think you should
see, you that hope in Christ, He's all, and you're precious
and accepted with the Father through Christ, through His blood. Trust Him. Keep believing Him.
I know it's hard to believe it, but to see it when you look at
yourself, it's hard, it's impossible. We don't see it, but looking
to him, we see it all. We know, Lord, thank you for
your son, because if it's on me, I'm a goner. I'm lost forever. And so this
is what he works for us. Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning. He says in 2 Corinthians 4, 6,
for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's where
we see God's grace and mercy, his salvation, his hope for sinners,
his mercy and forgiveness. It's all in Christ. And so by
our Lord, we walk in that light. We just keep looking to Him,
and He leads us right on out of the darkness. We don't see
what we're doing, but we just look to Him, and He just brings
us along right out of that darkness, not looking at what's all around
us, just looking at Him. Our Lord said to the Jews about
him, he said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And I pray you hear that for
the promise of God that it is. That's not Christ telling us
how to live. It's Christ telling us what he
does for us. You that follow him shall have
the light of life, and you shall not walk in darkness. Keep looking
to Him. He keeps you and teaches you
and does everything for His people. Peter says in 2 Peter 119, we
have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye do well,
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. Give yourselves to the preaching
of the word and to the hearing of the word preached. Seek your
God until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. We don't do anything to affect
the dawn and the day star rising in our hearts. Our God does all
that. He takes care of that. We just keep looking to Him,
and seeking Him, and trusting Him, and He takes care of everything,
even keeping us looking to Him, and seeking Him, and looking
for His grace. Second, He says, and thine health
shall spring forth speedily. so that when Christ is formed
in the heart of his child, when we hear in that day of grace,
when he brings that word to our hearts with power and faith is
revealed in us, which looks to Christ and trusts him and believes
him, we experience the immediacy of forgiveness of our sins. And what I mean by that is you
are as fit for heaven as you're ever gonna be. If the Lord leaves
you on this earth for any amount of time, sure, you'll grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
and you'll hear more glorious things of our Lord, but when
Christ covers you with his blood, you are as fit that very day
for heaven. Just like he said to that thief
on the cross, this day shall you be with me in paradise. And so that's what our Lord does.
You immediately are forgiven of all your sins. It's not a
process that has to be worked out. There's not steps that you
have to follow. You don't need to fear. If you die right then
and there, believing on Christ, you are as fit for heaven in
that hour as if you had lived another 25, 50 years. The Lord is full and complete. We experience this forgiveness
and health, are given health and life by our Lord. It says
the tongue of the wise is health, and we're healed by the grace
of our God in Christ. Turn over to Mark 5. Look at
Mark 5, and we see an example of this immediate cleansing. Mark 5, 25. Let's look at a few verses there.
It says, a certain woman, which had an issue of blood for 12
years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, many
false religionists, verse 26 there, and had spent all that
she had and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she
had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind him, she came in
that crowd pressing around him, and touched his garment. For
she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. It's the faith that she had.
She believed that if she just touched him, she would be made
whole. Verse 29 says, in a straight way, or immediately, the fountain
of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. She was healed immediately, and
that's what our God does. Rather than dealing with us as
our sins rightly deserve, we deserve hell, we deserve eternal
punishment and wrath of our God, but rather than deal with us
in that way, he treats our sin as a plague and something to
be healed by the great physician who is his son, Jesus Christ,
whom he sent. He treats our sin as a plague
to be healed. And the great physician, the
Lord Jesus Christ, as this woman was healed, that's what he does
for us, for our sin in healing us from the effects, from the
eternal damnation, from the dominion and the power of sin to deliver
us into his kingdom of righteousness. And so our Lord, we understand
that when he came, He restored that which He took not away.
He didn't bring us into condemnation. He didn't bring us into sin and
death and misery and all the wickedness that we see about
us. Christ didn't do that. Adam did that, and we in Adam
do that. Christ came and restored that
which He took not away. He didn't do that, but He restored
that fellowship and that light and life with our God. And so
this is the blessing that our God does for us. He gives us
Christ who is our healing for our sin. Third, he says, Thy righteousness
shall go before thee. This righteousness that he speaks
of is not our righteousness. It is not our works. He's speaking of Christ, our
righteousness. His righteousness is imputed
to us, meaning that our God has made us righteous with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he imputes to us. He declares,
you are righteous. He's made us righteous, and he
declares what we are in Christ. He's imputed righteousness to
his saints. And so the righteousness that
our works bring, when we look at ourselves, those things bring
about, they're filthy rags. They're filthy rags and they
do nothing for us that we can boast of them. They don't give
us anything to stand on. Our works don't produce anything
for us to hide in. and to protect ourselves and
deliver ourselves with. We cannot clothe ourselves with
our works because they're filthy rags and they're insufficient
for the righteousness and holiness of our God. But Christ is our
rock. He is the foundation. He's the
sure footing, the hope that his people build all their confidence
and all their hope and all their trust in. It's all on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he has gone before his sheep
to prepare the way for them. He's the one who went before
us through the veil to obtain for us that righteousness which
we need to stand before God. And so he came as the shorty,
as the one with the payment. To pay to the perfect law and
justice of Holy God, He came as the surety of His people and
paid that price to deliver us from that debt and the wrath
which comes. And we remember some verses like
this in John 10, 4. It says, when he put forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. So
we see that where he wants to bring us, he goes before to prepare
that way, and we follow him. He went through the veil first.
He's the faithful high priest who may be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities because he's experienced everything that we
go through. He knows what we're experiencing
and what we feel and what we think and our fears and worries.
He knows it all. In Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews
6 verses 18 through 20, what we see there is that Where He
goes, we go, because we are tied to Him. We're anchored to Christ. He's everything for us, and we're
not on our own. And He's not an example. He is
the way that we go. He's the one in whom we stand. He's more than just an example.
He's our all, our life. So Hebrews 6 verse 18 says, we
have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us. You see how the Lord works in
us to flee to Christ, to trust him, to be moved by the Spirit
to the Lord. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, made and high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And he says then in Malachi 4.2,
for unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. So we see there that we follow
him. And the blessing of our God is
that he has provided Christ our righteousness. That's the third
blessing that our God does. He's provided Christ, who is
our righteousness, and he makes that way and leads us unto the
Father. Fourth, he says, the glory of
the Lord shall be thy re-reward. And what that picture is is that
the Lord goes before us and he comes behind us, gathering up
the stragglers, gathering up the weak ones, gathering up those
who have no strength to bring themselves over the finish line.
He's carrying us all the way. And the picture is is that he's
gathering us all in together. None shall be lost, none shall
be left behind. And you that know yourselves
to be weak and weary and fools in your own hearts and minds,
the Lord says, I gather you. I have you in my arms. You're
my people. You're gathered unto me, and
I'm carrying you, and I'm bringing you home. I'm taking you. All right, so the glory of the
Lord shall be thy reward. In John 10 3, we see this, how
the Lord gathers his people. The sheep hear his voice and
he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And that
picture was how the Lord comes to us where we are in foolishness
and in the wrong places, in darkness, and he calls us and gathers us
out of those foolish ways and those dark works. And again,
in John 10, 16, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, of
the Jews, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And that shepherd
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the promised seed who should
come. He is the line of the tribe of
Judah. He is the root of David. He is
Shiloh, our peace, and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be. We're gathered by the Lord unto
the Lord. And so for this purpose, our
Lord came to deliver his people. We were in darkness. We were
in the kingdom of death. He came to bring us out of that
kingdom of death under the wrath of God with the inhabitants of
the earth. And he brings us out of that
inheritance and brings us to himself to be made partakers
by his grace of his inheritance, of his inheritance with the saints.
Ephesians 1 verses 10 and 11. says that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, in the appointed time of God, he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. And so the blessing of our God
to us is that he has sent the good shepherd who gathers us
to himself unto life everlasting. Fifth, here's the fifth one.
He says, then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer. Now, this language, it signifies
that our God has poured out his grace upon us. He's made us a
praying people. Meaning that we seek Him. We
call out to Him. We breathe out, Lord have mercy
on me. That doesn't necessarily mean
you set aside an hour or a half hour or even ten minutes as we
ought to. But as foolish as we are, we're
always praying. We're always saying, Lord have
mercy. Lord keep me. Lord help me. Lord, please teach me. Lord,
please help me to be faithful to you. Lord, please forgive
me. Lord, please heal me. Lord, help. Help me, Lord. Help me. He makes us a praying
people, and that's by his grace that we call upon him and that
we seek him. We're made a people who call
upon the Lord for grace, for help, for mercy, for comfort. And that's a big change from
what we were, which we see in verse three. Look back at Isaiah
58, verse three. When we cried out in this way,
wherefore, why have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?
Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?
Now we trust the Lord. Lord, help me with this burden. Help me in the affliction. Save
me, Lord. Nevertheless, not my will be
done, but thy will be done." And we're made partakers of His
grace and to trust Him and labor knowing that we have fellowship
with our God and that He's doing His work and will in the world.
And so now we're made a praying people who call upon their God
with a new spirit and a new heart. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's the promise
that's given to us here. Then shalt thou call and the
Lord shall answer. And so the blessing of our God
to us is that he pours out upon us his gracious spirit whereby
we breathe out prayers to the Lord Lord help me. Lord help
them. Lord save us. Lord forgive us.
Lord keep us. We pray to him. That's a gracious
spirit. Sixth, thou shalt cry and he
shall say, here I am. And the sense there is the immediate
nearness of your God to you. Your God is near because he dwells
with you. His presence dwells in you. 1
Corinthians 3.16 says, know ye not that ye are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? You are the
temple of God. That's how near God is to you. Our Lord dwells in our hearts
by faith, by faith, whereby we know him, whereby we trust him. And so when we're troubled and
made afraid, his promise to us is, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. In 2 Corinthians 1.4, he says,
we're told that our God comforteth us, and we know this, our God
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. And so the blessing of Christ
to us is that our Lord, we have a friendship with our Lord, and
I don't mean that in a trite, careless way, but We have a friendship
with our Lord. He is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. And His presence is with us. And He knows you. And He hears
you. And when you call out to Him,
He says, here I am. And how often we do feel our
troubles and call out to the Lord and we're reminded, Lord,
I'm so thankful, so thankful that you're in control. I'm so
thankful that you know all things and that you're doing everything
according to your will, Lord. Thank you. And he reminds us
of that because we do see things and they trouble us and we work
ourselves up and we get troubled about many, many cares and many
worries. But then he reminds us, as we're
breathing out, Lord have mercy, because he's gracious to us,
we cry out to him, and he shows us, I'm right here, I'm right
here, I'm with you, I keep you. And lo, he says, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world, amen. So I pray the
Lord bless that word to your hearts. All right, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you for these six blessings. And Lord, we know that all, all
blessings are given to us in your son, Jesus Christ. Those
we see and understand and those we don't see and don't understand. Lord, we're so thankful that
you keep us and we're saved by your grace and not by our works,
not by our knowledge, not by our wisdom, not by our ways,
not by our blood in dying, but by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. By His sacrifice, by His life,
we are kept, and we are given life in Him. Lord, teach us,
keep us, grow us, preserve us in Christ, and help us, Lord,
to indeed be ministers of reconciliation, declaring to others what Christ
has done for us. Make us to declare to others
the comfort that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to teach
others what they are to do or not do, but to tell them of Christ
and what He has done for all His people. Lord, that's our
salvation and that's our hope. Lord, help us when we have opportunities
to speak to others to speak of Him. And Lord, we pray that your
will will be done, that you would pour out your spirit, and that
you would gather in your sheep into the fold, and that you would
bless your people, pour out your spirit of grace upon us, and
help us to ever be walking in the spirit and led by the spirit,
breathing things which cannot be uttered. But Lord, you know,
you know and you're doing all things according to your grace
and power. Help us, Lord. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. So I'll stand and sing a closing
hymn, 472 Heavenly Sunlight, 472. There we go. Looking at sunlight all of my
journey, over the mountains, through the deep vale. Jesus
has said, I'll never forsake thee, promise divine that never
can fail. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing
His praises, Jesus is mine. Shadows around me, shadows above
me, never conceal my Savior and guide. He is the light, in him
is no darkness, ever I'm walking close to his side. Heavenly sunlight,
heavenly sunlight, flooding my soul with glory divine. Alleluia, I am rejoicing, singing
his praises, Jesus is mine. In the bright sunlight, ever
rejoicing, pressing my way to mansions above. Singing His praises,
gladly I'm walking, walking in sunlight, sunlight of love. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing
His praises, Jesus is mine. Thank you.