Let's begin this evening service
by standing and singing 445, no not one, 445. Let's begin by standing and singing
445, No Not One. There's not a friend like a lowly
Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. None else could
heal all our soul's diseases. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all
about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. No friend like him, moon like
him, is so high and holy. No, not one. No, not one. And yet no friend is so meek
and lowly. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all
about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. There's none. There's not an
hour that he is not near us. No, not one. No, not one. No night so dark, but his love
can cheer us. No, not one. No, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Did every saint
find his friend, forsake him? No, not one. Or sinner find that he would
not take him. O not one, O not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. O not one, O not one. Is there a gift like the Savior
given? No, not one, no, not one. Will He refuse us a home in Heaven? No, not one, no, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is
done. There's not a friend like the
lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. Thank you. I've got to work on
that a little bit. I pieced that together on the
computer before I came, so. All right. 222. There is a fountain. Good place to practice on Wednesday
nights, right? 222, There is a Fountain. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty
stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. ? And dying thief rejoice
to see that fountain in his day ? ? And there may I though vile
as he wash all my sins away ? ? Wash all my sins away, wash all my
sins away ? And there may I, though vile as sea, wash all
my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. Where since by faith I saw the
stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die, And shall be till I die, And shall
be till I die. ? Redeeming love has been my
theme ? ? And shall be till I die ? ? And this poor list'ring stembring
tongue ? ? Lies silent in the grave ? ? Then in a nobler, sweeter
song ? ? I'll sing thy power to save ? I'll sing thy power
to save, I'll sing thy power to save. And in a nobler, sweeter
song, I'll sing thy power to save. Thank you. I would like to read the first
part of Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37, a Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for
they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green
herb. Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in
the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also
in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord,
and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake
wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, for evildoers
shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the
Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while,
and the wicked shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the
earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The
wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him,
for he seeth that his day is coming. Our heavenly merciful father,
we thank you for providing us a place once again to gather
together to hear the glorious gospel declared unto us. What
a great blessing father. And also when we consider what
you have done for poor sinners, father, you have taken care of
everything necessary for our salvation. And if you had left
it up to us, we would have continued on in our own way, building our
own God and worshiping a false God. But Lord, you have taken
reasons out of yourself and you have called us out of nature's
darkness into your marvelous light. And Father, remember us
pertaining to this local assembly. Will you continue to provide
for us and give us wisdom as we go forward? And will you continue
to give us a location and give us wisdom, Lord, as we we have
to make plans and perhaps make decisions in the coming future.
Father, unite us together under this glorious gospel. And remember,
especially this evening, Lord Brother Eric, where he hopes
to stand before us again. Father, we thank you for him.
And will you continue to give him strength? and help him this
evening, especially Lord. Give him pour out your spirit
upon him and remember us also as we listen. Give us Lord a
little time together that we can focus and be with those also
that are listening online. Lord, you know all things perfectly
and bless them where they are. Lord, thank you for giving health
to those that have been sick and remember those that continue
to struggle. Be with our loved ones, Lord, wherever they are.
You know their situations perfectly. and nothing is out of your control.
Father, we think of our children and our loved ones. And Father,
if it would please thee, will you call them by your spirit
and give them a love in their heart for the Lord Jesus Christ.
For what is impossible with man is possible with you. Father,
remember us in this community. Call out your sheep and bring
them as you would to hear your glorious gospel proclaimed. For
Jesus' sake alone, amen. Okay brethren, let's turn to
Isaiah 45, and we'll be looking at verses 4 through 8. Now we
saw last week that the Lord began to speak
to Cyrus. And Cyrus is a pagan king who
is used at the Lord to provide deliverance for his people, Israel,
who were taken captive by Babylon. And so they were under the dominion
of Babylon and they couldn't just go where they pleased because
they were taken captive by Babylon. They were their rulers now. And
then the Lord brought it to pass that Persia overcame Babylon,
and they were the rulers now, and the king of Persia was moved
by the Spirit of God to declare that the Lord's people were free
to go back home to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. Although Cyrus is a pagan king,
it's clear from his history and the writings of the historical
writers that he acknowledged the true and living God of Israel,
but he didn't know him in spirit and in truth or worship him even
after he saw this prophecy concerning him. And he released the people. That didn't turn him. He just
was used of the Lord as a type who pictured God's deliverer
whom he provided, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would set his people
free from spiritual Babylon. And so that's really what Cyrus
is for us. He's a type. He's a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Lord sent, whom the Lord called
and sent to be the Savior of his people. And that's how our
God accomplishes our salvation. It's through his Son. So tonight's
passage, it declares to us for whom the Lord delivers. It's declaring for whom it is
and what we also see is that the Lord is revealing himself
and revealing himself to the people. He then sends the blessings
of salvation and regeneration upon the people that we know. that we know who it is that saves
us. We're going to have, as his people,
we're going to have an understanding of what he's done. He's giving
us, he's going to give us a knowledge of who he is that saves us. And we're going to know this.
We're going to know it. If you're his child, you shall
know the God that saves you. It pleases him to do this. So
I've titled this, That They May Know. That They May Know, which
comes from, it's a phrase from the sixth verse in our text. The Lord here, he's talking,
he's been talking to Cyrus, and the Lord's revealing to him how
he's going to use him. And in the first verse that we're
looking at tonight, he tells Cyrus why he has called him. So look at verse four. with me
there. Now the Lord says, for Jacob,
my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect. That's why he's raising
up Cyrus, why he's called him and given him this will in his
heart to be a deliverer, to deliver the people from their Babylonian
captivity. Who's it for? It's for Jacob,
my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect. And he says, I have
even called thee by name. He's speaking to Cyrus. I've
called thee by name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. And so what we gather from this
We know Cyrus read this and was moved by the Spirit of God to
do what the Lord prophesied that he would do, but what we see
here as the people of God is this is a promise. This is a
promise of God to the people that he is their deliverer, that
you that believe on him Your God is your deliverer and he
fulfills his promises. He keeps his word and it comes
to his elect people, his chosen and ordained people who were
chosen and ordained of God before the foundation of the world.
Romans 8.29 tells us, it's a familiar passage, Romans 8.29 says, for
whom God did foreknow, which we understand is for whom God
did love. He knew them in a loving manner,
in a way that he looked upon them, and he delighted in them.
He chose them, and he foreknew them, it says. Well, those that
he loved, those that he foreknew, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. And honestly, when you're reading
the scriptures, what the Lord is doing is He's revealing His
purpose and will for you. All right, we're receiving what
the mind and the will of God is through his scriptures, which
is brought to light to us in an experimental and in a spiritual
way in which we understand by the spirit, by the Lord Jesus
Christ through the gospel. That's what the Lord is declaring
to us in these scriptures. They're not just nice stories
for us to learn historical facts about a people a couple, a few
thousand years ago called Israel, right? It's to declare to us
who God is. And if you're his people, you're
learning whom the Lord is and what he declares that he's doing
for his people. So he tells Cyrus, I've surnamed
thee, though thou hast not known me. And so this isn't for Cyrus's
sake, this is really for our sake. This is a promise to you
and me who have no hope, who by grace are learning. how corrupt and unable we are
to deliver ourselves. We're like Israel and Judah who
were taken captive by Babylon. We can't deliver ourselves from
the dominion of spiritual Babylon, what we are in our flesh. The
Lord is giving us assurance through his promise that he himself is
our deliverer. This is his word of promise to
us and he's going to fulfill it. And so what we see is that
our God knows all things. He knows that were taken captive. He knows it because in Adam,
in the garden, we were taken captive by sin and death came
into the world through sin. And we were, we died spiritually
and have no more fellowship with God. And so we were taken captive
and brought under the dominion of sin and we had to be delivered
from it. And that's what Cyrus is picturing
here now. They deliver from the captivity,
all right? And so our Lord, he, you know,
again, Cyrus is a type of Christ. And so our Lord, by the scriptures,
he's promised, he's spoken of our deliverer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom Cyrus pictures. Look over there in Isaiah 7.
Go to Isaiah 7, verse 14. This is by that same prophet
that we're hearing speak to us tonight, Isaiah. The Lord said
by him in Isaiah 714, therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, meaning God
with us. It makes me think of Daniel,
the prophet, who was actually taken captive in Babylon according
to the will and purpose of God. And if you recall, he says that
I, through studying, through reading the scriptures, and what
the Lord did is he revealed to him that they would be in captivity
for 70 years and the Lord would deliver them. Well, the Lord
gives us his word by the mouth of his prophets and by the writers
here who were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak of the promises
of God that we should know them and that we should be encouraged
just as Daniel was encouraged and believed God that the people
would be delivered in 70 years from the time of their captivity.
Well, here the Lord is promising us in Isaiah 7.14 that he's going
to provide and deliver the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we
find? In Matthew 1.21, the Lord sends
an angel to speak to Joseph who would tell Mary so that she could
record it and give account of it to the Gospel writers that
the angel said, she, that is Mary, shall bring forth a son.
one that she's conceived by the Holy Spirit and thou shalt call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins."
Alright, so the Lord's promising his people of our deliverance
and then he fulfills his promises to you and as we know because Christ came
and every time now that I see these promises being fulfilled
it makes me think of of Romans 15 verse 8 and verse 9 I you
know just to see it which says where Paul says now I say that
Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision right to Israel
and Judah for the truth of God to confirm the promises made
to the fathers right he is the confirmation of all the promises
of God made to his people that he should deliver them from their
sins and take them out of that spiritual captivity that we went
into when we sinned in our first father, Adam. And so he's the
promise, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy,
he says there. That occurred while as yet, just
like Cyrus, we knew not God. God did all this work even for
us who were yet enmity against God, having deep-rooted hatred
in our very heart and soul for God. and yet he did this work
for us. He promised it and he fulfilled
the whole thing and that's what we see in Romans 8 30. Moreover
whom he did predestinate right those he loved he predestinated
and those who he predestinated them he also called and whom
he called them he also justified right he justified meaning that
we were called by the gospel and by faith we understand the
justification that God has wrought for us by his son Jesus Christ. And then he's justified, he also
glorified. There's another promise that
this ain't over yet. He's promised us deliverance
in Christ, and he's promised us an inheritance in Christ our
Lord and Savior, our mighty God, who saved us, who loved us, and
did everything necessary for us that we should be with him
forever. All right, now, in verse five,
he says, I am the Lord, back in Isaiah 45, Verse 5, he says,
I am the Lord and there is none else. All right, now he's declaring
to us who it is that's our savior, right? He's given us promise
that he's gonna deliver us. And now he's telling us who he
is. He says, I'm the Lord and there is none else. There is
no God beside me. I girded thee though thou has
not known me. All right, so he's speaking to
Cyrus, telling him, I've prepared thee. I raised you up. That's
what girded means. In this sense, it means to prepare,
right? If you were going into battle,
you would gird yourself up with the armor to go into battle and
to do war with. But in this, so it's that sense
of preparation and the Lord saying, I've prepared thee for this day. I've prepared thee, I've called
thee and prepared you for this very hour to do my will for my
people. All right. And so he says, I
girded thee. And what we understand having
greater light by the revelation of Christ through the gospel,
is what our Lord said in 1127, right? That he's been sent to
the Father to be our deliverer from our sin captivity. Matthew
1127, all things, Christ says, are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." So
what we're seeing here in verse 5 is a revelation that we might
have knowledge that this is God. He's the only God and there is
no other Savior. Hear Him, hear His voice, because
if you're to be delivered from the coming judgment, which is
coming upon the inhabitants of the earth, it's in one salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's whom God has promised
to deliver His people by. Beside Him, He says, there's
no other. There's no other salvation. There's
no other God. Don't look anywhere else, because
I, the one who I'm talking to you, He says, am your God. there is none none other all
right i've prepared you even though you didn't know me all
right and so what the lord is is showing us here are these
truths that that that we were dead in trespasses and sins,
unable to save ourselves, not able to bring forth acceptable
works to God to make ourselves justified in this sight or to
make a righteousness for ourselves. He's showing us that there is
no other deliverance. It's in Christ and in Christ
alone. And so he prepared the one who
should save us, the Lord Jesus Christ. He girded him. He prepared
him. He sent him and Christ became
a ransom for many. A ransom for many, Matthew 20,
28. And so our salvation had to be
this way. It had to be this way. Christ
had to come. There is no other way. As Paul
would say to the Galatians 3, 21 and 22, he said, if there
had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, under sin to such a degree that that's it. There
is no way we're getting out from under the dominion of our conqueror,
of this sin. We're not going to deliver ourselves,
just like Israel couldn't deliver themselves from Babylon. God
raised up another deliverer to set them free from their captor.
That's us spiritually, we couldn't do it. So the scripture hath
concluded, meaning making known to you and me, making it clear
to us that this is what God has declared, that all come short
of the glory of God, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them. that believe. So we have this
assurance through the gospel that this is it. This is our
salvation. This is whom God has provided
for his people's hope and joy and confidence and deliverance. And so Our God, he gives us his
spirit and he sends ministers to preach and declare so that
we're convinced that, just as the scriptures say, that we're
all sinners and not going to free ourselves, that we should
stop our works of vain, false self-righteousness and hear our
God and hear the one whom he sent and look to him for salvation,
all right? when he saves us, verse six now,
back in Isaiah 45, verse six, when he saves us, we're gonna
know. We're gonna know that this is
the one who saved us. All right, verse six, that they
may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there
is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. All right, so there's things
that the Lord has determined that we're going to know. And
we're not going to know them until he reveals them to us. And that's why all men and women
don't see it. If the princes of the earth knew
who Christ was, they wouldn't have crucified him. And we'd
all yet be in our sins. But the Lord He's going to make
known to us spiritually. He's going to give us an understanding
by his spirit. He's going to give us spiritual
life by the seed of Christ, regenerating us so that we know what Christ
has accomplished for us. He's going to communicate that
to us through the gospel, all by the power and the grace of
God who makes known his purpose through the gospel and what he's
purposed and determined for us in Christ. 1 Corinthians 8, 1,
3. 1 Corinthians 8, 1, 3. Look there
with me. 1 Corinthians 8. Skipping over the first sentence
there, which is speaking about idols, right? There's a powerful truth here, where Paul
says, we know that we all have knowledge, right? We all have
a knowledge of things and how things work or should work. And
he says, knowledge puffeth up, right? It makes our heads swell
with pride and arrogance. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
or love edifieth. Charity or love edify. And if
any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing
yet as he ought to know. Because the Lord, as he's growing
us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, he's revealing to us grace. And grace reveals to us
what sinners we are. And it brings us low in the estimation
of ourselves And our knowledge and that knowledge that puffs
up because we see it that when we know we see things in the
sense of if we see the horrible crimes that are committed in
this world, right? And we hear of heinous things
and things sometimes that even go on in churches that are disturbing
to us. And it's very easy to judge a
thing and say, that's wicked. I can't believe they did that.
And the punishment that came upon them, that's just, and we're
happy with that. But what grace teaches us is,
is Lord, I can't believe what a filthy sinner I am. because
I know that I'm just as capable of any of those wicked, disturbing
crimes that we hear that go on in the hearts of men and in practice
of people. And it's very troubling. And
what grace shows us is, Lord have mercy on me. And if there's
a brother or sister who repents of that and turns from it, and
the Lord works repentance in them, we should be willing to
love them and to embrace them and to receive them in the spirit
of grace and charity, right? Because knowledge knows, yeah,
it's just that they get what's coming to them for being so foolish
or wicked or whatever it is that they do, but grace teaches us
they need love. When the Lord works repentance
in their heart, be kind and merciful and receive your brethren, all
right? So, and that's what he says there
is, if any man loved God, the same is known of him. And therefore
he's going to teach you grace, right? He's going to show us,
even we ourselves come into times where we're reminded of just
how awful our heart is and how low we can go in our thoughts
or in our hearts or in our minds or actions. The Lord shows us
lest we should be puffed up with knowledge and hurt and divide
from brethren for things that we ourselves are guilty of. with
that understanding is taught to us by Christ and it's wrought
in us by Christ. And our Lord says in John 17,
verses two through four, he says, as thou has given him power over
all flesh, right? Speaking of Christ, our deliverer,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. And you think about what Cyrus
did in releasing the people. They were set free. They were
set free from their captor, that they could go and serve God. They could rebuild the city of
Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. And they were given blessings
through riches and a letter saying, they have my permission to do
this. So all their enemies who came opposed to who opposed them
when they went there they just showed the letter saying wait
a minute we've been given permission for this and and the king said
we can do it all right and so that's what Christ has done for
us spiritually and he says this is life eternal that they may
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do." And that's what our Savior did
on the cross. He accomplished our deliverance.
He satisfied every debt that we owed unto the Father for perfect
righteousness. Our Savior settled the debt. and we go free. He is our propitiation,
meaning that we go free from the just punishment and condemnation
for our sins because He bore it in our place. He died our
death that we should go free and have life, eternal life and
fellowship with God our Father. And then again, he says in 1
John 5.20, I'll read it 1st John 5 20 and we know right we know
that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding
and listen to these words that we may know right just like what
we saw the first phrase in verse six, that they may know. That's
what our God has purpose to do, that they may know who I am and
what I've done for them from the east to the west. Everyone's
gonna know what I've done. And that's what John says here,
that he's given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. All right, that they may, just
as we read, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord
and there is none else. And John continues, and we are
in him that is true, even in his son Jesus Christ. This is
the true God and eternal life. And this is why Christ came.
He came to reveal to us who God is. He brings to light, he brings
life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's what
our Savior has accomplished for us. He's making us to know true
life and and and he's he's making us to know What we have in him. All right Now furthermore verse
7 back in isaiah 45 verse 7. He makes us to know that he's
sovereign over all things He says I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil
I the Lord do all these things right and so What we understand
there is that he's the creator of all. He's the sovereign God
and creator of all things. We're all his creatures. Light
is his creature. Darkness is his creature. They're
created for his purpose, right? He created the natural light
and he created the darkness in the absence of that light. And he said, let there be light.
And then darkness came, and each day went. And it was eventually
he created the sun, I think, on the third day, if I'm not
mistaken. And so, yeah, and so we see there
that the Lord, he's in control of, he created all things. And
additionally to the natural lights that we see, he gives a natural
light of reason, right? Some of you have a light of understanding,
a natural understanding of certain things and other people are in
the dark to those things. Certain things are clear to you
and you understand them and they make sense to you and others,
they don't have that same understanding because God distributes separately
as he wills and purposes to do in the earth. Well, same thing
with salvation. There are those to whom He gives
spiritual life and reveals the Spirit and reveals His salvation
in Christ. And there's many that are left
in spiritual darkness and don't know these things. They're religious. They know a lot of things about
religion. They know a lot of things about the Bible and the
administration of a church or temple or whatever their religion
is they know a lot of things but they know not the true and
living God unless He reveals it to them and it's always only
through the Lord Jesus Christ right when the spirit comes there's
a lot of people who speak of and seem to have spiritual gifts,
but their boast is in the Spirit that gives them those gifts.
And therefore, we know that's not of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because His Spirit, when His Spirit comes, shall testify of
one, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, He'll take the things
of mine, and He'll show them unto you. And that's what the
true Spirit of Christ does. He reveals Christ to His people. And so our Savior was sent for
this very purpose, to give us light. It says in John 1, 4-5,
in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the
light shineth in darkness, which is where we are, and the darkness
comprehended it not, until He brought it with power. Naturally,
we don't understand any of these things until He gives us the
power of His Spirit or the power by His Spirit and His grace to
work His purpose in us and to reveal these things. Alright,
and then the one who makes peace, it's Christ. Christ makes peace. That's why God sent His Son to
make peace, to establish peace and reconcile us to the Father. It's called the Ministry of Reconciliation. Because that's what Christ accomplished
by the death of himself. And by giving us life, we now
are reconciled to God. Additionally, it speaks of an
evil, right, this evil, and the Lord says, I'm the one who makes
peace and creates evil. I do it. I control all these
things. In Amos 3.6, it says, shall a
trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? The Lord, he controls and determines
all things that shall or shall not come to pass. And if we're uncomfortable with
that, just remember that in Acts, 223, we read that Christ being
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. And so we see there that our
God, it's not that in man's heart doesn't reside that evil and
that God has to work up that evil. The evil is there. We're
sinners. We are fallen in Adam. and man
hath sought out many inventions, and we do many wicked things.
And the Lord, being sovereign, is able to work all things so
that it effects and works his purpose and will and the earth
as it pleases him for the good of his people and especially
the glory of his name." All right, and so he probably said that
I mean, I know it's purposely, but he said that because Cyrus,
at that time, the scholars there in what is now modern-day Iran,
Persia and media there, they believed that or taught that
there were two gods, one good and one that did evil. And the
Lord's saying, no, no, no. There's one God. There's not
two gods. I'm the only God, and I create light and darkness.
I make peace. and evil, and that evil is anything
really that's just uncomfortable to this flesh, right? The murders
and the crimes that are perpetrated and the difficulties and trials
that we go through, that's what he's saying. It's anything that's
difficult against this flesh and hard for this flesh to accept
or handle. But the Lord's controlling everything
in order to bring to pass his glory, and the salvation of his
people. All right, so now having declared
who he is, he now sends his blessings which fall upon the people, all
right, which result in our salvation and regeneration. Look at verse
eight, Isaiah 45, eight. He says, drop down ye heavens
from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it."
So while as yet we were enemies, enmity against the true and living
God, the skies poured down righteousness. Our father, who foreknew us,
sent his beloved son to lay aside his glory with the Father, and
to take upon Him flesh, and came to be the perfect sacrifice,
the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of His people scattered
throughout the world. And so our Savior accomplished
this work, and He died on the cross for the sins of His people,
to put them away, and was buried. Having died, He was buried in
the earth, and then He arose the third day. And we arose with
him. We were raised to eternal life
with our Savior. Just as we read, let the earth
open and let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness
spring up together. And that's what our Savior accomplished.
He came. And he accomplished his salvation
and died and was buried and we died unto the law in him. And
the law is satisfied and our father is satisfied and we are
righteous in Christ. And so when he raised from the
dead, we were raised from the dead in him. And our life is
now in Christ our Savior, right? As it says in Romans 4.25, for
Christ was delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification. to declare to us, we're saved,
we're justified, we are received of the Father, He's pleased with
us. And so our God tells us, I the
Lord have created him that they may know. He gives you salvation,
He gives you this understanding, He brings the light of this knowledge
to you, who are his people, that you may know that this is your
God, that this is your Savior. And those things that have yet
to be fulfilled, the returning of Christ and the resurrection
of the dead, we can be certain and assured that he shall fulfill
his promise, just as he's fulfilled every promise so far in Christ. Everything's been fulfilled that
he said he would fulfill. So I pray that that's a blessing
and an encouragement to you in God your Savior. Look to Him.
There is no other salvation. Another interpretation for that
is when he says there's none beside me is beside me there's
nothing. There's nothing. There's no creation. There's nothing besides God.
Everything exists because of the true and living God and besides
Him there's nothing. And there is no savior but the
Lord Jesus Christ. So I pray that the Spirit reveal
faith in you to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would
cry out upon him for mercy and grace, that he would grow you
in his grace and mercy. And it's all revealed in Christ
through the gospel. So I pray he bless your hearts
in that. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy and grace in revealing
your purpose and grace to us through your son, Jesus Christ.
Lord, there is no salvation apart from you. Beside you, there is
nothing, Lord. There's no one, no thing. And Father, we thank you for
your mercy. We pray that you would send your
spirit with power to reveal this word, the faith of your grace
and salvation, that you would reveal it in our hearts, that
we would behold, that we would know and have an understanding
that we may know that you are our God, that you are our salvation,
and that there is no other. And you would indeed bear fruits
of your life, your righteousness in us. Lord, for you are our
hope, you are our confidence, and we have nothing apart from
you. Lord, bless your people. Fill
your people with your spirit of joy and gladness and rejoicing. Give us a knowledge of these
things, Lord, not to puff us up, but that grace would be seen
in our hearts and that we would love one another. Lord, that
we would would work in charity and love for one another and
for your name. Lord, we pray that you would
establish us in this community, that you would be pleased to
bless us, Lord, and that your gospel would gain a sure footing
here and that the people here would be blessed to hear it and
that you would call out many for the glory and power of your
name. It's in Christ's name that we
pray these things. Amen. We're going to stand and sing
175, standing on the promises. 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, One to howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By
the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God, Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting
in my Saviour as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God.