All right, turn to Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59, and my text is short. It's the second half, the second
sentence in Isaiah 59, verse 19. Isaiah 59, verse 19, the second
half. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. Our title this morning is The
Lord's Standard. We'll have just two divisions,
the enemy's flood, and then the deliverer from the flood. So,
our Savior said in Mark 3, 27, that no man can enter into a
strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first
bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. And this is exactly what our
Savior did when Satan is the strong man here, and this is
what our Savior did when he bound Satan, when he crushed Satan
under his foot, and he took us who were dead in trespasses and
sins and were his captives. By nature, we are the captives
of Satan. We are sinners, hopelessly lost
and dead in trespasses and sins, unable to deliver ourselves,
unable to set ourselves free, so that the Scriptures say that
being kept in darkness and in that kingdom of darkness and
kept by the power of darkness, we can't save ourselves and Satan
can take us captive, take us captive to do his will at his
will. We can do what he wants us to
do and it says it there in 2 Timothy 2.26, Paul said we are taken
captive by Satan at his will. So Christ himself had to come
in and bind the strong man and put him to death, had to slay
him and destroy his power that he had over us, which was because
of our sin and our corruption and our hatred of God by our
nature, Christ had to destroy all that to deliver us from that
captivity so that Those of us who do not know the Lord Jesus
Christ and are not saved and cleansed by his blood, the scriptures
declare that of us, we are kept in store, just waiting for that
wrath of God to be poured out upon us. In 2 Peter 3, 7, he
worded it this way, but the heavens and the earth, which are now
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. So because of
that fact, because we are kept under the power and bondage of
sin, Christ came to deliver his people from their sin by laying
down his life and shedding his precious blood to deliver us
and to cleanse us from our sin. He obeyed the Father in all things
and did that which was pleasing to the Father so that he could
destroy the works of the devil. And Satan, no doubt, thought
that he had this worked out. He thought that he had finally
gotten the air that he was going to destroy the Christ and put
him to death, and he thought that he would seize the inheritance,
which is God's and God's alone, but he thought that he would
be able to do this, and so he moved men to bind Christ and
to crucify him. He thought, finally, we've destroyed
the Christ. And the Lord spoke of this. He
spoke of this in that parable of the vineyard being led out
to husbandmen to take care of the vineyard, the Lord's people.
And they were abusing the Lord's people and they weren't telling
the Lord's people the truth. And so that he alluded to this
saying in Mark 12, 7 and 8, those husbandmen said among themselves,
this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the
inheritance shall be ours. And they took him and killed
him and cast him out of the vineyard. But they didn't know that this
was all according to the wisdom of God. Man doesn't know or understand
the things that God is doing because they wouldn't do them
otherwise, right? If you turn over to 1 Corinthians 2, 6, and
8, 1 Corinthians 2, 6, and 8, Paul
writes this, speaking of the wisdom of God. How be it we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect, Yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing. But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. And the reason why this
is wisdom, the wisdom of God and not of this world, is because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men. So man doesn't hear the things
of God, doesn't receive the things of God, doesn't understand the
things of God. He thinks that they're foolishness.
And because he would not worship God, or thought it wise to worship
God, or thought it wise to seek the Lord, to know him or to worship
him as he's revealed himself in scripture, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind to do those things which are evil and not
convenient to do, including, not the least of which, when
they took the Lord and they crucified the Lord of glory, putting him
to death, thinking that finally they could break and cancel his
power over them, that they might be free to do that which please
them. And Peter made application of
this to his heroes when he said in Acts 2.23, Him, that is Christ,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. But Christ, this is the wisdom
of God, because Christ in his death, that he was put to death
when he shed his blood, it was for our justification. When he
was put to death, that was our reconciliation to God. So because
Christ bore our sins, he bore us in his own body, and he put
that, he canceled the power of sin, setting us free from our
sin there on the cross so that God is fully satisfied, God is
fully pleased with us because of the work that Christ has done.
For Christ has made us righteous, the very righteousness of God
in him, so that there's no more There's nothing more for us to
do to put away our sin. There's nothing more for us to
do to make ourselves pleasing to God. Christ has done all the
work necessary, everything that was needed. Christ did it fully
and completely, and we now declare that work which Christ has accomplished
for his people. And we're thankful for what he's
done. Galatians 3.13 says that Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tray." So that now Christ
has taken that strong man, Satan, and he's bound him with a great
chain so that he cannot do those things that he would. But he's
angry. He's angry, the scripture said that he's angry and he's
going about seeking to do what he can do because his time is
short and he wants to harm and hurt us and do those things which
are against the Lord and contrary to the Lord because he wants
to destroy us and make trouble for us and harm us and cause
us to flee from Christ that he might try and break or cancel
that union that we have with our Savior. But thanks be to
God, it's not up to us to hold on to Him or to save ourselves
or to keep us there, but that Christ is on all things, including
not just saving us from our sins, but giving us his spirit so that
by his spirit we walk in him and we serve him and we trust
him the rest of the days of our life. We'll see this as we grow
together and as the Lord establishes us in the gospel, we'll see how
it's his power, his work that teaches us and unites us together
in Christ under his blood. But the scriptures say of Satan,
Revelation 12, 12, having great wrath because he knoweth that
he hath but a short time. So the scriptures declare that
he's the enemy of our souls. And because he's the enemy of
our souls, 1 Peter says that he warns us saying, be sober,
brethren, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. But our eternal salvation is
secured. Don't fear. The Lord, you'll see the hidden
evils of your heart, and you'll see things that will cause you
to fear and to tremble about your own selves. You'll see it.
The Lord will allow it to be so, and Satan will desire to
sift us like wheat. But the promise came to us back
there in the garden when he said in Genesis 3.15, And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
And Christ is that promised seed to the woman. And throughout
all history, you could see how the women, when they gave birth
to a son, they rejoiced because they thought, is this the Christ?
Is this the Christ? Could this be the Christ, the
promised Savior that would come? Those who were godly, who looked
to the Lord for his salvation, thought and wondered, could this
be the Son? So that when Cain slew Abel,
I'm sure that Eve and Adam's heart was broken. They thought,
is this it? Have we lost the seed? And yet
when Seth was born, she rejoiced, saying, God hath given me another
son. Because there was hope that maybe
this was the promised Christ. But we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is the promised Christ. He is the promised seed that
should come to set us free and to bruise Satan under our feet. As Paul said in Romans 16, 20,
he even said it this way, the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. So we have this enemy, brethren,
and this enemy comes against us and he's looking to do us
harm. He's looking to harm us and he comes to attack us and
he wants to come against us. There are times when we're frightened
and we see just what we are and we think, surely I'm the one. I'm the one that's going to fall
away. It's going to be me. of all my brethren that's going
to be taken away in this flood that the enemy's brought against
me, surely it's going to prove me to be one who is not his,
to be a reprobate, to be another Judas. And we think that because
it's very real to us. When we're attacked by the enemy
and when we see the hidden evils of our own heart, it's very real
to us. It's no joke. I mean, we really
think that we're undone and that we're about to be swallowed up
and destroyed. And so our text here says that
of Isaiah 59, 19b, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, and
Satan throws many floods against us, right? He comes against us
in all manner of different ways that come to try us and prove
us. I mean, some of us are more prone to certain things and certain
sins perhaps, although we should never think that I don't have
to worry about that because that wouldn't affect me. As soon as
you think that, that's usually where you're going to fall and
where you're going to see that no, you're just as susceptible to
any one of those things. So the enemy comes in like a
flood and he means to destroy us. He's not playing games. He's not playing any games with
us, but he really means our destruction and to destroy us and to bring
us low. It's not for our good. The Lord can turn all things
and use them for our good and drive us to the arms of Christ.
But that's not what the enemy is looking to do. The enemy is
looking to destroy us and to tear down the work that God is
doing. So when the enemy shall come
in like a flood. If you turn to Revelation 12,
15, you might as well put a marker there in Revelation, because
we'll look at a few verses that are there. But in Revelation
12, 15, you see this imagery that's given to us of the serpent,
which is Satan, and he's looking to destroy the woman, who pictures
the church here. Revelation 12 15 it says the
serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman
that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood and
the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth
and the dragon was wroth. He was angry with the woman and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So let's just
look at some of the ways in which this flood comes against us. To some, it's a flood of lust
and immorality and the desire for the pleasures of this world.
Hold your place in Revelation, but look over in Timothy, in
1 Timothy chapter 3. And we'll see how there's just
a spirit of Antichrist that just comes over us that desires the
lust and the pleasures, the momentary pleasures of this life. In 1
Timothy 3, and you might hear something of your own selves
in this, or you might know some people that are described here.
1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5. This know also that in the
last days perilous times shall come, For men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, which means without
self-control, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof
from such turn away. And brethren, you know, you think,
you know, every generation truly thinks, well, this, the generation
of today, these young kids, they're the worst that I've ever seen.
Like there's never been a generation worse than them. And it's probably
true because, you know, every year, you know, we, we, our generation
takes the ball and we run it so far down the field, further
and further away from God. And the next generation comes,
picks up the ball. carries it a little bit further and so each
generation is worse because we get further and further and further
away from the truth as it's revealed in God. And then there's others
that are taken away by the flood of heresy and false religion
and every foul lie that there is. I mean there's many religions
out in the world. You see that there's many teachings
about how to know God or how to have peace or how you can
become a better person and things like that. There's many lies
out there and in Revelation 16 13 we can see this in Revelation
16 13 through 15 it says I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of
the beast and out of the mouth of the false false prophet for
they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold,
I have come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. So brethren, we ought not to
be surprised or wonder why there's so many ways to God. Like sometimes
you think, well, if God is God, Why did he make it so it's so
confusing? Why is there so many religions and so many things
that sound good or sound like they could be the truth? Well,
it's because the deception is real. The deception is great
and it seems that way, but God didn't make those. That's man.
That's man's evil heart and his wickedness that creates all these
different ways, just like from Cain when he saw that he didn't
have the favor with God, He went and created and made up his own
religion. Well, if I can't come to God by my way, then I'm going
to do it my way. I'm not going to go this way
and here and sit with you men. I want to go and do my own thing.
And so all these religions, they break off and there's all manner
of various things. I don't know if it's down here,
but up in the Northeast, you see this bumper sticker that
says coexist. You have that down here. I don't know if you do,
but yeah. And you think, If you were talking to those people,
you can almost picture, just picture a frog crawling out of
their mouth there, because they're spewing out lies and deceit,
and it's not the truth. It might sound good, and certainly
they try to make it sound like it's good, that it's about love
and peace, and can't you just get along, and it sounds so appealing,
but it's a peace founded on what? What is their peace rested on?
because there's no unity there, there's no substance to it, because
we know what we are in our hearts, and we know what we are against
our fellow man and against our own selves, so that it's all
a lie, and it doesn't bring us the truth, it doesn't bring us
any peace or comfort with the living God, so don't be deceived
by that. The thing to watch there, it
says there that Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." So that
they make us to feel ashamed because we hope in Christ and
we don't unite with them in their lie. And yet, when we stand before
God, And you find yourself there clothed in the white righteous
garment that Christ himself has wrought for us and given to us
as his gift to us, making us the righteousness of God. And
you look at him, I mean, you look at that righteous garment
and you'll see others there that are like standing there in the
emperor's clothes, you know, the emperor's new clothes, thinking
that they're in some beautiful garment and they're going to
walk up there to holy God and say, Lord, look at all the wonderful
works that I've done. Look at all the peace and the
love that I spread here in the earth, but I hated Christ. And
they're going to be ashamed because they're naked. And you're going
to see them going right up there in confidence and boldness, and
they're going to be ashamed because they're cast out from the presence
of the Lord. And then you'll know of a surety that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only hope for sinners, and that He did
all that work, doing all the things necessary that we might
know Him. Third, there are some that are
overcome by fear of persecution. You know when you declare Christ,
you know how there is a persecution that occurs because people treat
you differently. They don't know you in that way. They don't understand why you
declare Christ and why Christ is so important to you and so
precious to you so that you become nothing to them. It says in Revelation
13 verses 15 through 17, and he had power to give life unto
the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the
beast, the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in
their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name. And brethren, to this day, they
do still kill you. When they find out that you love
the Lord, and that there's nothing that they can really get from
you, that there's nothing they can really profit from you in this
world, They despise you. They cut you off. They might
as well just kill you. That's how they kill you because
they'll destroy your character, they'll destroy your name, and
they'll want nothing to do with you. And that's a very real thing.
And I'm just being honest with you that if you can't profit
them in this world, they don't want anything to do with you.
And I remember talking to a woman that I worked with once and she
told me that her husband was just open about that. That if
he didn't think that he could get something from knowing you,
he didn't know you. He just cut you off. He wouldn't
speak to you. You could say hi and he would just walk right
past you, ignoring you because you're nothing to him. And that's
how this world will see us, that love Christ. That there's nothing
that we can do to contribute to this world and what it's trying
to do and building up its Tower of Babel, whatever that might
be, as it's going to do its thing, they're going to cut you off
and want nothing to do with you. So there's a fear of persecution. That's why people don't like
to talk about religion, because it's a great way to sever a friendship,
right? Because there's going to be disagreement and they're
not going to want to know you in that way, so they'll cut you
off. The Lord says, I mean, the fear of persecution is real.
I mean, you might think that it's not there, but when you
realize that the relationship is breaking down because of your
love of Christ, what are you going to do in that day? What
are you going to do in that hour? Our Savior said this in Matthew
16, 23. He spoke of of his coming suffering, right?
He had just been speaking of the suffering that he would suffer,
and Peter takes him aside and says, Lord, you're not going
to suffer. Don't talk like that. You're discouraging the brethren.
Don't speak like that. And he turned to him and he said,
Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. And let me just take a little
side note on that thing. Brethren, as we grow, you know,
the Lord will shine his light on us and he'll show us what's
in our heart. But don't be discouraged. I mean,
you'll be sad because you see the sin that's in your own heart
and how much we love and try to preserve this flesh. But don't
be discouraged. Just seek the Lord. Stay upon
him. Keep seeking him. Beg him for mercy and his kindness
and he'll He'll work that love in our hearts for him more and
more and for his people. He'll break that love of this
world in us and keep driving us more and more to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But he said, Christ said unto
his disciples, if any man will come after me, Let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. For what is a man profited if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of
Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and
then he shall reward every man according to his works." So brethren,
we're weak. we're weak and unable to keep
ourselves. We're not able to stand strong
in that day, not able to withstand all the various floods that come
against us, whether it's persecution, or lies about religion, or just
the lust that rises up in our own hearts. And there is lust
there. I mean, Peter had to say to his
hearers, men and brethren, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. So the
lust of the flesh, it's very real, whether we're desiring
whether we're desiring power or fame or more things to build
our kingdom here in this life, but don't be deceived. It's just
a flood that comes to take us away from Christ, but the Lord
will preserve us. Our Savior said in Matthew 24,
24 and 25, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets
and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have
told you before." So, I'm just saying what the Lord has said
to us, that we would be warned and know that the enemy shall
come in like a flood, and he does come in like a flood, and
he seeks to destroy us, and to separate us, and to break us
down, and to turn our eyes off of Christ. It's very real, and
the Lord says, I've warned you, I've told you about it so that
you'll know. When it comes to pass, when you see these things
coming against you, when the flood comes against you, and
it will, and it does, you know. You already know, don't be surprised
by it, don't be afraid and fear because he's warned us that these
things would come, that we would see these floods and these attacks
in this way. Alright, so that's how the enemy
comes in like a flood. Now let's look at the Lord's response,
how the Lord delivers us from that flood. And there's one hope
of salvation, one way of salvation, and it's by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we're going to be
saved. That's how our loved ones are going to be saved. It's by
Christ and Him alone. That's why we must bring forth
this gospel, because it's by the Lord Jesus Christ that any
of us is delivered from this flood. So, one thing to understand
is that It's not that the Lord is unable to keep us or that
he's not able to preserve us, but he allows us to come to the
end of ourselves because by nature we're very proud and we're very
capable and able people in our own minds, right? I mean, we
think that. Many of you men, you have your
own businesses and you're women and you work hard and you're
successful and things like that. So it's very easy and very natural
for us to think highly of ourselves. We're pretty capable people and
the Lord has given us these things that we might be able to give
to the gospel. But the Lord is going to allow
us He's going to allow that enemy to come in like a flood against
us, that we might come to the end of ourselves, that we might
see our weaknesses and know that we're not able to save ourselves
and we're not able to keep ourselves and keep our hearts. The moment
we think that, the Lord brings us low. He allows us to be brought
low in ourselves. He'll allow that enemy to come
against us, not because he doesn't love us, or that he's forgotten
about us, or that he's not able to save us. He allows us to be
brought to the end of ourselves. The flesh profiteth nothing.
We've got to learn that because naturally we don't understand
that the flesh profits nothing. We think our flesh is something. A lot of us think pretty highly
of ourselves even when we don't think highly of ourselves. I
know I have a tendency to still think pretty highly of myself
and I've got to see a lot and often that I'm nothing. I really
am nothing. It's the Lord's faithfulness
that teaches us that. Paul said this, and this is the
Apostle Paul saying this, and we look up to Paul and we have
a lot of respect for Paul because he laid down his life that we
might have this gospel. He said in 2 Corinthians 1.8,
he said, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble,
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure
above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But
we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. So brethren, when
the enemy comes in like a flood, don't fear. Don't fear, but the
Lord, the Spirit of the Lord, our text says, the Spirit of
the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. It doesn't say that
we lift up that standard. It says that the Lord shall lift
up that standard. And what does he do? But he exalts
the Lord Jesus Christ in our eyes. We see how weak we are,
how unable we are to save ourselves. how unable we are to deliver
ourselves from that flood that's coming against us, but he exalts
the Lord Jesus Christ in our eyes. So as we come and we hear
the gospel, and as he feeds us with Christ, as we heard today,
that Christ is our bread, that his blood is our drink, and that
we are shown that our strength, our comfort, our hope, and our
peace is in Christ and in Christ alone. We don't find joy and
comfort from this life. At least when we do, it's very
momentary. It's passing. It doesn't last
and it doesn't sustain us. Only Christ and Christ alone
can sustain us. Zechariah says, the word of the
Lord says it's not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith
the Lord of hosts. So that You know, we've got to
be brought to see that, you know, we go about our daily life and
get our eyes fixed on various goals and various things that
we want to achieve in this life. And we set our sights on various
things in this earth and what we want for our kids and things
like that. And, you know, so often the things that we want
for our kids just turn their eyes away from Christ, you know.
tell them to set your eyes on a good education or set your
eyes on this and make sure that you get a really good paying
job and things like that. And a lot of times that's not
what you should be saying to our kids, but encourage them
in the things of the Lord and the Lord will direct them. Some
will go to get a good education and some will have various jobs,
but that's not the thing which is most important because we
know in our own hearts as we go about our business, And we
get to thinking about our home and what we should have there
and about our families and our kids and what they should have
and what we want. And we get so caught up in that,
and our eyes get so taken off the Lord and on those earthly
things, instead of trusting that the Lord said he'll provide. He doesn't promise us great riches,
and I get it. I mean, if you get a good education
and you really are industrious in that sense, maybe you can
make some more money than somebody else who doesn't have that same
education. But think, is that really the
thing that you want most? Is that life? Is that where your
peace and your comfort is? Because the rich man... depends
on his riches. He really does trust in his riches
and the Lord will show us that that's not life, that he's able
to provide for us and sustain us even when we don't think that
we can sustain ourselves. In Zechariah, it also says this,
in Zechariah 4.1, the angel that talked with me came again and
waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. He wasn't asleep,
but he was wakened as one who was wakened out of his sleep.
And it's a description of us, brethren. I mean, this man's
a believer. He hopes in the coming Christ, Zechariah here, and he
was wakened out of sleep. And we can see that when you
look back on your own experience, how the Lord, I mean, there's
times when I've looked back and just come to myself, in a sense,
and realized, where am I? Why am I here? Why am I doing
this? Why am I thinking these thoughts? Haven't I even thought
about the Lord all this time? What have I gotten myself into?
I feel like Adam in the garden who's naked and hiding behind
fig leaves and trying to cover his nakedness. And the Lord wakes
us out of our sleep and converts us, bringing us back to see that
Christ is the thing which is most needful. Don't ever forget
that it's Christ that we need, brethren. Paul said this to the
Romans, knowing the time. that now it is high time to awake
out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us remember, brethren, we're
in a war with an enemy that hates us, that comes against us with
a flood, seeking to overwhelm us and destroy us and take us
apart. Christ said to Nicodemus, if
I've told you of earthly things and you believe not, how shall
you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? So I just pray
that the Lord would show us these spiritual things and these spiritual
truths that we are in a war and that the times are desperate
and that we must come together under the blood of Christ because
that's where our hope is and our salvation, that's where it
will keep us. The Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against the enemy so that the Spirit exalts
Christ and shows us it's Him, it's His blood that keeps us
and preserves us over and over over again. We're going to see
it so that we are convinced of it and believe it and trust in
Him. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting,
but have eternal life. So brethren, we preach Christ.
We pray that Christ is preached from this pulpit, here forward,
forevermore, that that our Savior is one that's exalted, because
if we come through the trial, or we come through the flood,
and we can think, wow, I did it, I made it through, I did
what I needed to do, and yeah, I knew I could do that, I could
beat that, that's not the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ
is gonna show you your weakness, and you're gonna see, thank you,
Lord, for saving me. Thank you, Christ, for doing
for me what I could not do for myself. It's painful, but when
we go through the flood, and you're swallowing that water,
and you're choking nearly to death, and you think, surely
I'm going to be overwhelmed and destroyed in this flood, and
Christ brings you through it, you'll be giving God all the
glory. You'll be thanking Him for what He's done. It'll be
painful in the flesh. You'll look back at that time
in sorrow, and weep, and not be proud of what you've seen
in yourself. But you'll look back and say,
Lord, you drove me into the arms of Christ my Savior. And that's
perfect. That's exactly what I needed.
Thank you, Lord. You might come through it with battle scars
and weaknesses and things that you have to carry for the rest
of your life. But if it brings you to Christ,
if you're without an eye, without an arm, that'll be okay because
you'll have all things, we have all things in Christ our Savior
and we shall have them to the end. Well, let me just say a few remarks. You know, this was the first
message I was, you know, I thought about, what am I going to say
to the brethren as their pastor, their first message? And I thought
back to something, you know, when I first met you brethren,
I was thinking how, you know, Paul saw a vision of a man, I
think it's in Acts 16, and he saw a vision of a man from Macedonia,
praying him that he would come and help them. You know, and
I thought about how the Lord had, was uniting you brethren
together, and bringing you together and it was sweet in my eyes.
I believe the Lord is among you brethren and that he's doing
this work or else I wouldn't be here. I just was thinking
about that and how the Lord caused Paul and Silas to go there to
Macedonia and you saw Lydia and her household being saved And
you saw, you know, there was a woman there who had a demon
possession and her owners brought much gain by her, you know, and
Paul finally cast the demon out. And they were angry. They were
angry. So that persecution arose against them. I was just thinking,
you know, it's a mercy how the Lord didn't leave you, brethren,
alone. You know, you were seeking help from the men. He gave you
a pastor, and that's a sweet thing. I mean, that's, the scriptures
say that the pastor's given for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. So we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And we don't
know what troubles are going to come against us, but like
Paul, you know, when he was there, Paul and Silas, they cast that
demon out of that girl and they were angry because they didn't
have the power over her anymore. You know, and they took Paul
and Silas and they stripped them naked, they beat them and they threw
them in the prison and the Lord used that even for his glory
because that's where the jailer was saved and his whole household
and I was just thinking about that passage. We don't know what
floods are coming our way. I know I had this thought in
my mind when Clay first became our pastor. I had this thought
in my mind that this is great. We've now arrived. We've done
a bold step. you know, the pressure would
be taken off of me, you know, as one of the men who were doing,
you know, labor in there, and I was so happy. And I remember
Clay saying this, that it was something to the effect, you
know, that Satan was going to sift us like wheat. All the men
there, I mean, you could see he was praying for the men and
care, caring for the men and the thoughts that, you know,
just wondering what is going to come upon you men. you know,
and you women, and I would just say, the flood's coming. You
know, if you think that Satan and the devils are happy that
there's a gospel church being established here by the Lord,
that the light's gonna go forth, that they're just gonna sit back
and be like, oh, well, lost that place. Like, no, they're gonna,
the flood's coming, and you're gonna see just how weak we are. We'll see how weak we are. The
worst, I was telling Carl Jr. last night, the worst years of
my life in the flesh have been since Clay was my pastor. The
things that broke me the most and destroyed my flesh the most
so that now I can stand here with the desire to be your pastor
and now being called to your pastor, I was wiped out. I mean, I was destroyed. in the
flesh. And they were the worst years
in my flesh of my life. But Christ is more precious to
me now than ever before. And you know, when I see those
passages, you know, what Christ says, you know, how hard we are
of hearing. I can think back how hard I am
of hearing, you know, and how the Lord had to just break me
and bring me to the end of myself. Brethren, I just say, don't be
surprised if, you know, when you see it coming against you
and that attack comes against you, don't immediately think,
you know, wow, this isn't, you know, the Lord's not here, but
rather, the Lord is here. And don't be quick to be offended
by your brethren or to be put off by your brethren or to get
upset with me. Don't do it because it's just
one of those floods of the enemy. And he's just gonna come and
seek to destroy us. And we don't know when the Lord's
gonna call people out from this place. We just don't know. It
may take time that the Lord wants to settle us and establish us
so that we're well established in the gospel before we really
grow. We don't know. I certainly have a hope that
the Lord has many people here and that he'll call them out
in time. Even now, the church where I come from in New Jersey
is just starting to grow. It's just really starting to
grow and it's been there a lot of years. We don't know, You
know, I know that the other men were sifted. I don't know because,
you know, but we all told Clay. Clay knows it. I mean, he knows
what we went through. And Clay was good. He never shared any of that stuff,
you know, what anybody told him. So, but I'm sure that they all
went through it because I know I went through it. And so, I
just wanted to say that to you, men and women, don't be surprised
when the floods come and you're attacked. And like, don't think
that it's going to get easy now. It's going to get hard. It's
going to get hard because we don't know what... But the Lord uses
that. He uses our weakness so that
Christ is the one that's glorified in this, not us. We're not going
to be the ones that come out looking great. Christ is the
one that will look great. And we'll be glorified with Him
in the end, in the day when we stand with Him. So, I just pray
the Lord would bless that to our hearts and just help us to
fervently to stay upon Him and seek Him. Let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, Father, we thank you for your mercy, for your kindness,
Lord, in establishing a church here, Lord, and giving us a heart
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, deliver us from the flood
that's coming against us. Lift up the standard. Lift up
our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us see him and rejoice in
him. Lord, help us not to be ashamed, but to rejoice in what
Christ our Savior has done, and let us see his deliverance and
his salvation. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.