If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 51. We'll be looking
at three distinct verses, three verses from Isaiah 51 and Isaiah
52. And I'm going to read these three
together and you can see how they link together. Isaiah chapter
51, if you'll look in verse 9. The Scripture says, Awake, put
on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in ancient days in the
generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut
Rahab and wounded the dragon? Now, if you look in verse 17,
you'll see the correlation here. Awake, awake. Stand up, O Jerusalem. which
hath drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, thou
hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them
out." Now if you look at chapter 52 and verse 1. Awake, awake,
put on strength, O Zion. Put on thy beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, holy city. For henceforth there shall no
more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." We see in these
three places, in two chapters, the Lord says, Awake! Awake! And these three different times
He is speaking to three different groups of people. The first one
we're going to see is He is speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord. Awake. So I've entitled
this message, An Urgent Call to Awake. An Urgent Call to Awake. And the first urgent call is
given to the one that we need the most, isn't it? the Lord
Jesus Christ. Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Savior of spiritual Israel from the bondage of sin
and Satan. If you read in the remainder
part of verse 9, he says, Art thou not it, or he, that hath
cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art thou not he that hath dried
the sea and the waters of the great depths of the sea away
for the ransom to pass over." You see, this is speaking of
how the Lord has saved Israel from Egypt. Is it not you who
redeemed Israel from Egypt? Is it not you who made a way
in the sea? This is speaking to who? The
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the arm of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as He
saved Israel, which is a picture, a type of the elect from Egypt,
even so has the arm of the Lord saved His people. He saved us. He was our Passover
Lamb. He was our Passover Lamb who
redeemed us from sin and reconciled us to God. It was Jesus by His
righteousness and blood as our representative and surety, that
He alone parted the sea of God's wrath, God's justice, so that
we could walk through to glory on dry ground." What a picture
it is of the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation. He has come
to save His people. Therefore, the prophet says,
Come. That's what he's talking here. He says, Awake. It's not
as though Christ was asleep. It's as though He's saying, look,
come, come now, come now, you that saved Israel from Egypt,
come and save us even as you have purposed to do. Therefore,
Isaiah said, we are sure that the redeemed of the Lord shall
return. Look at that in verse 11. Therefore,
the redeemed of the Lord, what? Shall return and come with singing
unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. and
they shall obtain gladness, and joy, and sorrow, and mourning
shall flee away." You see, when Christ shall come, this is what
he's saying, when Christ shall come, the arm of the Lord is
going to come and redeem us like he did Israel of old. Those who
he has redeemed, this is a promise, they shall return. They shall come to him. All that Jesus redeemed by His
blood shall at the appointed time of God's grace come to Christ. Isn't this what our Lord said?
In John chapter 6, He said, All that the Father giveth me, shall
come to me. That is, all the elect, all of
spiritual Israel, all that are like Jacob, eternally loved,
sovereignly chosen, were given to Christ, and by sovereign grace
and power the Holy Spirit will cause them to come." Now, tonight,
have you come? Have you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you know why you have? Because of this text
being fulfilled. Awake! Awake! Put on strength! Who? Jesus Christ, the arm of
the Lord. Come and save us. That's what
Isaiah is praying. Come and save us! And I know
this, all that you have purposed to save shall return, and they
shall come." And how will they come? They will come with singing. That's what he says, isn't it?
He said, they will come with singing into Zion. And we're
going to see here in a little while, Zion's the church. It's
a picture of the church. They shall have everlasting joy
shall be upon their head. In other words, who's our head?
It's Christ. Where is the source of our joy?
When we return, who is the source of our joy? It is Christ, the
everlasting Head. It is from Him we receive all
this joy, and this is the promise, they shall obtain gladness and
joy. And sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. Is this not the experience of
grace? Have we not come with singing,
with joy? Of course we have, because Christ
has redeemed us. We come to Christ, and we come
not unwillingly. Does this sound like these singers
come unwillingly? Do they return from captivity
unwillingly? No! No. We, by nature, are unwilling
to come. Isn't that right? By nature,
we were unwilling. Christ said, You cannot come
unto me. In Romans 8, it says, The carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law
of God. In other words, you were not
willing to be subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. That's our will by nature. But in the day of our return,
When the arm of the Lord is put on strength and comes and saves
us, delivers us, we are made willing, not by force, but by
a new heart. You were given a new heart and
a new spirit. God has put within you so that
you are willing to come. You come willingly. And we begin
this singing. We begin this walk of grace. You know, I think of our journey
in the Christian faith. Which came first, sorrow or singing? Well, in order for sorrow and
mourning to be done away with, there has to be first sorrow
and mourning. And then comes what? Then comes
singing. We begin not with singing, but
with sorrow and mourning, which, when Christ comes, what happens
to that? That flees away. That flees away
when Christ reveals His strength. And this sorrow and mourning
are a result of this second cry. Now, that's the first cry. The
first cry is, Awake, who? O arm of the Lord, come and save
us. And what's going to be the result
of this? They shall return. and they shall return singing,
and what they had experienced, sorrow and mourning, are going
to flee away. But where does this sorrow and
mourning come from? Well, that's revealed in the
second call to awake. Look at that in verse 17. He
says this, Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk
at the hand of the Lord. Now listen to what Jerusalem
had drunk. that drunk the cup of his fury,
thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung
them out." I want you to see that this is
put in order because as soon as Isaiah sees, as soon as Isaiah
sees the gospel of Christ, as soon as he, by faith, receives
the word of the promised victory, that sorrow and mourning are
going to flee away, God gives comfort to his heart. God gives him comfort. Look at
that in verse 12. As soon as he finds out that
salvation, the arm of the Lord is coming, and that joy is coming,
he said, God says, I am even I am he that comforteth you. You see, God comforts those he
saves, doesn't he? He gives comfort to us. And what is this comfort? The
comfort is that our bands have been loosed. We have been set
free. Free from the guilt of sin, free
from the power of sin, and the promise is one day free from
the very presence of sin. This is the comfort. Isn't that
what he says in Isaiah chapter 40? Comfort ye, comfort
ye, my people, saith the Lord. What is your comfort? It's the
gospel of Christ. It's the strength of the arm
of the Lord that has saved you. It is Christ that has saved you
and loosed you from your bands. He says in verse 14, the captive
exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not
die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the
Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared. The
Lord of the host is my name. I have put my words in thy mouth.
I have covered thee with the shadow of my hand, that I may
plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth, and
say to Zion, Thou art my keeper. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel Isaiah heard. Deliverance of the captives.
By who? I am the Lord. I purpose to lay
the foundation, which is what? Christ. And what does He do with
those that He saves? He says, I put My words in your
mouth. In your mouth. And now the Word of God is in
the mouth of His prophet. And what is this thing that he
cries? What is the word that he cries? Awake, O Jerusalem. Awake. stand up, O Jerusalem."
This is a cry to the lost, to the lost of the house of Israel.
Now listen, I preach the gospel to everyone. Anybody that'll
listen, I want to tell you of Christ. I want to point you to
Christ. I want to show you Christ. I want to show you the success
of His salvation. I want to show you the victory
of Calvary, the empty tomb. But I know this, only God Jerusalem
is going to hear that. But I know this, Jerusalem, if
they've not yet come, they're lost. They're still in their
sin. And they must hear this gospel.
They must hear this gospel. So my call is to who? Jerusalem. And what is the call? Stand up
from the dead. That's what this call means.
Awake. Awake as though one were dead. Is it not always the result of
the converted to cry out to the lost to receive the gospel? Isn't that what you desire for
your family, for your lost loved ones, those who do not know Christ,
those who stand on the precipice of eternity and have no clue
that they're about to fall off into hell? Is it not your heart's
desire that God should save them? How is God going to save them?
He chose this means by preaching the gospel, by declaring the
gospel of Jesus Christ to them. God says to his saints, you are
my witnesses. Do you know that? Not just me,
you. You are his witnesses. I am his
witness. Listen, we're witnesses because
we've experienced the grace of God. If you've not experienced
the grace of God, you're not His witness. But if you have,
you are His witness. Jesus said, you are the light
of the world. We're not waiting to be the light
of the world. You are the light of the world. And what is this light that we
shine? It is the gospel of Christ. Therefore, we who have received
the grace of God, we who have been redeemed by the blood of
Christ and saved by the power of His grace, we have found His
Word to be true. Let God be true and every man
a liar. We found His Word to be true.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And what was
the rest of that? Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out." Have you found that to be true? Have you
found His Word to be true? If you've not yet come, come
and you'll find it to be true. I don't care who you are. You
come and you'll find it to be true. You come to Him in faith,
trusting Him, and you will find His Word to be true. He will
not cast you out. How do you know that? Because
that's what happened to me. Isn't that what happened to you? When you came to Him, did He
not embrace you? Was the Father not running to
you before you ran to Him? We were the prodigal son. You
know, that's exactly the picture. The Father ran and didn't even
allow him to finish his confession. He fell on his neck and he kissed
him and said, this my son that was dead is now alive. Kill the fatted calf, kill the
substitute in his place and put the ring on his finger and the
robe on his back. Is that not what you experienced?
Then you are his witnesses and you are called to say this to
the lost, awake, awake. We have come to Christ, and we
came how? We came singing. We've been redeemed
of God. We came to Christ through the
preaching of the gospel. Someone preached that gospel
to us, didn't they? Awake. Awake. Oh, Jerusalem. And what are we
awake to? What is the message we are to
come to the lost with? First of all, it is a message
of their condition. In order to be saved, you must
first realize you're lost. Listen, if you've never been
lost, you've never been saved. You must know your condition,
and this is what He's awakening them to. Listen to what He says.
Awake, Jerusalem. Now, what does He want them to
see? He wants them to see this. You've drunk at the hand of the
Lord, what? The cup of His fury. And you
have drunken the dregs of his treasure. If there's ever to be joy, there
first must be mourning. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, So, what's the result? So death passed upon all men. Why? For all have sinned. When Adam sinned, when Adam died,
you sinned, I sinned, and we all died. This is our condition. We, through the representative
man, Adam, have drunk the dregs of sin. We have drunk the cup
of God's fury, and all of us have died. Spiritually dead. When Adam sinned
against God, it was no light matter. The lost man cries out,
what have I to do with Adam? What does Adam have to do with
me? Listen, everything. I don't care if you like it or
not, he was your representative. And so when Adam died, so did
all his race. And therefore, when Adam sinned
and died under the fury of God's justice, so did we. We all died. This is not a debatable subject.
You know, I've heard men say, well, you know, I debate with
my Armenian brethren about, no, you don't. This is not a debatable
subject. When Adam sinned, you sinned.
When Adam died, you died. This word is offensive. To the natural man, it's foolish
to those who are dead in sins. By his one sin, all of his race
were held captive. Desolation and destruction was
upon us all. The sword of God's justice loomed
over our heads, and only one breath away from eternal damnation. Isn't this how all men are born
into this world? In verses 18, If you look at
verse 18, it says, There's none to guide her among all the sons
which she has brought forth, neither is there any that taken
her by the hand of all the sons she has brought up. These two
things are come unto thee. Who shall be sorry for the desolation
and destruction and famine and the sword? By whom shall I comfort
thee? Thy sons have fainted. They lie
at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net. They're
full of fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. What's the
result of this? There's nobody to help you. There's
nobody to guide you. There's nobody to pity you. You
understand this? In hell, God does not pity any
of them. There is no mercy there. There's
only eternal justice. I'll tell you this, one day God
is going to gather all of Adam's race together, whoever lived
upon the face of the earth. The scripture says, and the books
were open. And another book was open, which
is the book of life. And what did God do? He judged
them out of the books. He judged them out of the books. One book. will be the book of
God's elect. That's the Lamb's book of life.
And those redeemed by the Lamb are written in that book. But
the judgment of all men will be out of those other books.
And what are in those other books? Those are all the deeds of men. All the works of men. And every
man shall receive a just recompense of reward according to his deeds. So then, son of Adam, what are
your works? What are your deeds? Not your
works in the eyes of men? We watched a movie the other
day about this man. He saved, I think, 75 of his
fellow soldiers. He went back into battle many
times and saved 75 men. Now, we look upon that and we
say, well, man, that's a good work. I'll tell you this, if
that man was out without Christ, I don't care how many men he
saved. Even his best deeds are full of sin. That's not going
to help him before God. It helps him before us, but not
before God. What are your works in the eyes
of God? So this morning, this evening,
I say this, awake. Open your eyes to see this, that
your best deeds are nothing but sin, full of sin. Sin is mixed with all we do. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in the eyes of God. Are your works holy? Are they
pure? Are they perfect in every action,
in every thought, in every motive? Are your works? Shall they receive? What kind of reward shall your
works receive? Listen, if they are sin, if they
are mixed with sin, the Scriptures are clear, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. Wake up. See this is vital. See this is important. To call
men to see their condition before God. Stand up and view your condition. But you know those in that other
book, those who are in the Lamb's Book of Life, they're going to
be accepted. Now how is that possible? I just
told you we're all condemned under Adam's sin. We're all sinners
by nature. How is it that these in this
book are any different from those in the other books? How is there
any hope for the sons of Adam? Even because in this other book,
the Lamb's Book of Life, those whose names are found written
in this book, they will be counted perfect.
Now, how is that? Well, look at your text. Look
back at chapter 51. And look at verse 22. He said, Thus saith the Lord,
thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people. Behold, I have
taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs
of the cup of my fury." Yeah. You see, the cup of our sins
has been taken from us, and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself drank. He said that, didn't he? He said,
the cup that my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? What cup is that? It was the
cup of the dregs of our sin. It was the cup of the justice
of God and his wrath and his fury and his trembling. The Scriptures are clear that
He shall drink of the brook in the way. What brook is that?
That was that brook Kitron. That brook that flowed from all
the sacrifice. It was the drainage ditch from
the sacrifices, the blood and the entrails and the dung flowed
down the brook Kitron. And He said, Shall I not drink
it? Look upon the cross. You see
the Son of God suffering and hear His words of agony. My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? In Psalm 22, He said, I am a
worm and no man. These are the very words of our
Lord Jesus Christ in agony. on the cross. Yet even in the
agony, he trusted God. He believed God. You see, he
was doing this in our stand. In Psalm 69, this is another. He said, Save
me, O God, for the waters are coming to my soul. I sink in
deep mire where there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. He says in verse 4, They hate
me without a cause, and are more than the hairs of my head, that
they would destroy me and bring my enemies wrongfully. Being
my enemies wrongfully are mighty. Why did He do this? Why did He
take the cup from you? so that you should not drink
the fury and wrath of God." Why did he do that? He says that
in Psalm 69, verse 4. He says, "...then I restored
that which I took not away." He did it to restore what he
didn't take away. It was Adam that failed. By one
man's sin and disobedience, many were made sinners. Even so, by
the righteousness of one shall many be made righteous. He did it as our substitute.
He restored what he didn't take away. And he confessed, O God,
thou knowest my foolishness, and my sin is not hid. How could
he say that? Because God has made him to be
sin for us. Who knew no sin. That. we should be made the righteousness
of God in him." See the works of all the elect. They were not overlooked. Our
sins were not overlooked, were they? No, they were rightly,
justly punished in Christ. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever and sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high. henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool." He offered that one sacrifice of himself, and when
the justice of God could demand no more, he said what? It is
finished. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. God is satisfied. Why? He drank the cup in our
state. And what is the proof? There
is nobody in the tomb. The tomb is empty. God was satisfied. God raised him from the dead.
And what do you see if you were able to look into heaven tonight?
What would you see? You would see a man seated on
the throne of God. That's what you would see. You
would see Jesus Christ seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Therefore those whose names are
written in that Lamb's book of life have their sins blotted
out. You see, my name really is in
both books. It's in the book of life, but
it's in those other books as well. But you know what's beside
my name in those other books? Nothing but blood. Why? God says, I have blotted
out thy transgressions as a thick cloud. So when God sees the other
books, you know what he sees? Nothing. There's nothing to see. Nothing but the blood of Christ
that paid the debt for our sins. He blotted out. Our ledger book
of sin has been blotted out by the blood of Christ and testifies
that the justice of God has been satisfied for our sins have been
paid in full. And not only our sins have been
blotted out, but in this place, We have the righteousness of
Christ written in. You see, all of my works were
sin, and they've been blotted out. But you know what's been
written in there? All of His works. All of His righteousness
has been given to us. Over in Romans chapter 3, you
read this very plainly. In Romans 3, verse 22, it says,
"...even the righteousness of God." Here's how it's earned by the
faith of Jesus Christ, but yet it's unto all and upon all them
that believe. It was merited by His faith,
and it's imputed and imparted to us who believe, who believe
on Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation. You see, this is the gospel we
preach, isn't it? This is what we preach. We preach
to the lost. What? You have drank the dregs
of God's fury. You are dead. There is no possibility to heal
yourself. But there is one, there is one
who has drank the dregs dry. There is one who has extinguished
the justice and fury of God's wrath by His offering. Believe
on Him. Trust in Him. And what? Sorrow and mourning shall flee
away. Shall flee away. And what replaces
that? Joy and gladness. Joy and gladness. He has blotted out our sins.
Have you been aware of your condition? Have you been made aware? Have
you seen Christ and He that has, in our place, satisfied the justice
of God? Then I want you to see this last
awake. Go to chapter 52. Chapter 52,
and look at verse 1. He says this, Awake! Awake! Put on strength. Now listen.
Oh, Zion, the first one was to Christ, who is the arm of the
Lord. Oh, come, come now and save us. And he did. He came and saved
us. Then the call goes out to the lost. You're dead in your
sins. You need a savior. Behold, Christ
has extinguished the wrath of God in your stead. Come and believe
on him. Now, if you believed on him,
this word is to you who is This word Zion, this is speaking to
us who have belief. This is to us who are in Christ. He is addressing the church.
The church. Now, Zion throughout all Scripture
is a picture of the church. You know, Zion was built on a
mountain. It was a mountain. And David
built his city there. And in that city of Zion, the
temple of God was placed there. It's upon this mountain Solomon
erected the temple of God, and it is that God rested His presence
there over the Ark of the Covenant. That's where the blood was offered
by the high priest. And these all pictures of Zion
point us to Christ and His church. For Jesus our King has built
His holy city, which is His church. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. You that believe, is there any
other foundation you wish to have than Christ? No. Why? We have been built on Christ.
We are His church. And Jesus established His presence
in Zion, His church, in that we are the temple of God. I know this, you know this, that
the Holy Spirit dwells in you. As God dwelt in that temple on
Zion, even so God Himself dwells in every believer. His Holy Spirit
dwells in us. And because of Jesus' blood and
atonement for our sin as our High Priest, God has made His
abode with us and in us, so that we shall never be separated from
Him. So when you hear this, Zion,
you should rejoice. Because that's a picture of God.
You are the city of God. You are the temple of God because
of the blood of Christ. Believer, let us therefore sing
praise to our God who has built His church upon Christ. Where? In Zion. He says in Psalm
65, verse 1, for praise waiteth for the Lord. Where? In Zion.
Behold, believer, you are Zion. And God hath said all nations
shall flow into Zion. That's Isaiah 2 and verse 2.
He says all his people are going to come into his church. Paul
said you are not come to Mount Sinai but to Mount Zion, to the
city of the living God. And so then why does God call
then us who are His people? We have been quickened by the
Spirit of God. We've been redeemed by the blood
of Christ. Why is it now that God calls
us to awake? Well, He's not calling us to
awake from the dead because that had already been taken place.
We are quickened already from the dead. That was the previous
calling. tells us that the church is prone
to sleep. The church is prone to spiritual
slumber. We have been raised from the
dead, but believers, we need not be quickened from the dead,
yet because we still possess the vile nature of our birth,
we are still prone to spiritual sleep and unbelief. Now, if you're a believer, for
any length of time, is that not true? Is that not what we sing? Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. If you notice back in the first
cry, the prophet, he cries unto God, Awake, awake, O arm of the
Lord, put on strength He's saying, display your power, reveal your
salvation, which God did by the Holy Spirit pointing us to Christ.
He revealed that to us. Yet in our text, we see this.
It was not God who was asleep. It was not God who was without
strength, but it's Zion. Zion who is asleep. You remember
over in Mark, the Lord Jesus Christ was asleep in the boat.
He told them, you go across the sea and I'm going to get some
sleep. The Lord went down in the bottom of that boat and he
went to sleep and that storm came. And those experienced sailors,
boy, they didn't want to bother the Lord at first, didn't they?
They said, well, this storm's coming, we can handle this. And
then the storm got so big, it got so bad. They endured the
wind for a little while, but pretty soon the storm had prevailed
over them. The waves crashed against their
little vessel. It flooded the bow of their little
ship. And what did they do? They said
to the Lord, Awake! Awake! Put on strength and save
us lest we perish. Is this not often our case? Are we not at times so confident
in our skill to navigate the storms of life that we don't
cry unto God, we don't offer prayers unto Him seeking help
for the little things? We're so assured of our strength,
of our faith, that we presume to conquer our foes and ride
out the storms of our trouble without God's help? Too often
we must confess and we boast. We boast of our sailing ability
so long as we're upon the shore. But put us in the midst of the
storms and we must confess we are powerless to navigate this
life without God, without His strength. But when we fail, when
our foes and our sins and our fears beat upon our souls, when
troubles overflow our bark, we cry what? Awake, awake, O Lord. What? Are you asleep? Do you
not see my trouble? Do you not know what's going
on with me? Let me tell you this. Who was
really asleep? Was the Lord asleep or were they
asleep? Had they known, had they remembered
that the Lord must go to Calvary, that the Lord must go to Jerusalem,
that He must die for their sins, surely they would have known
they would have never perished in that boat. They were asleep,
they had no faith. Matter of fact, the Lord rebukes
them, O you of little faith! You see, they were asleep, not
Christ. Christ knew what was going on
even when He was asleep. Who sent the storm? The one asleep in the bottom
of the boat. He was not asleep. We say, Awake, O Lord. Don't
you know our trouble? No, the trouble is you're asleep.
The trouble is we're asleep. But I'll tell you this, when
they called the Lord to arise, what did He do? In mercy He arose,
didn't He? And He said to that storm, Peace,
be still. He displayed His strength and
power to them. Even so does He graciously answer
our prayers. He comes by way of His gospel
and He says to our souls, Peace, be still, fear not. I have redeemed
thee, thy sins are forgiven thee. My righteousness is imputed to
thy soul. If God be for you, who can be
against you? These words come to us in the
midst of our trial when we say to the Lord, Awake, come and
help me. He comes. How does he come? By
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he tells you, Peace, be still. Believer, our God has by his
counsel and oath sworn by himself that you may be comforted and
assured that you have a perfect refuge. Don't you know that you
that have laid hold of Christ as a refuge, that you have a
foundation underneath, that you have the wall of fire round about
you, that you have a refuge over your head so that even the justice
of God cannot condemn you? God confirms His covenant by
an oath He swore when He could find no one greater. He swore
by Himself, I swear that my counsel to save you cannot be thwarted
or changed by time or eternity. For I have sworn and I cannot
lie. And upon whom did God swear to
save you? He swore by Himself. Behold,
in every storm the Lord says, lay hold upon my word. Behold
thy refuge, lay hold upon the hope set before you, Christ,
the solid rock. Behold the power of thy Savior
against all the foes of our soul when he arises in his word and
says to all my heart, peace, be still. Believer, thy hope
is not in this world, it's not in the body of this flesh, but
our hope is that which is entered into the veil, into the presence
of God, the anchor for our souls, Jesus Christ. He is the anchor
in the midst of every storm. Does this not calm the storm
of doubts that God swore by Himself to save you? It should be an end to every
doubt, every fear, We love to sing that song, safe
in the arms of Jesus. Safe on His gentle breast, there
by His love o'ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest. But you know
the Lord did, after He calmed them, rebuked them, He said,
O you of little faith, there was no chance that that storm
was ever going to destroy them. So it is with you and me. There
is no storm of life that can ever separate us from the love
of God that is in Christ Jesus. Paul said, I'm persuaded. I'm
persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, and if I'm left out, anything else, nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God that
is in Christ Jesus. Nothing shall separate us from
Him. But I'll tell you, there are
times when we, like the disciples, our faith is low, our love is
low. There are many times we fall
asleep. And God says to us, If you have
fallen asleep, if your faith is low, if your love is low,
listen, wake up. Wake up. Awake, awake, put on
strength. Listen, whose strength are you
going to put on? You have no strength. You put
on his strength, his strength. Sometimes we're like that Shulamite
bride, aren't we? We beg the Lord to come, and
when He comes at an inconvenient season, He finds us asleep. What'd
the Lord do? He put His hand to the hole of
that door, and her bowels were stirred within her. He stirs
our hearts by His gospel, and we awake! Does He not call our hearts now
to communion with Him? May God give us grace and power
to put on strength. Awake, O Zion, put on strength,
the strength of Christ, which is displayed in the gospel, His
strength that has put away thy sin. His strength that has quickened
you was His strength that keeps you. And so then, why do we languish
and pine? Why does the living man complain? Put on the strength of faith.
Believe Him. Trust His Word. Rest upon His
grace and power to deliver you. Trust His Word. And all that
are opposed to us, forsake them. All that oppose Christ, forsake
them and cling to Him. This is what it is to believe.
It is to trust His strength, to trust His power, to trust
His grace in every trial, in every circumstance. Awake and not only put on His
strength. Look, He says this. He said,
Put on thy beautiful garments. What is this but the robe of
His righteousness? Is this not what all of the saints
are adorned in in heaven? The robe of His righteousness.
He says, You got that now? You have that now, that new nature
that He has given you. Put it on. What does that mean?
Trust Him. Believe His Word. How true it is, for we know our
sin, we see our sin, we experience the depravity of our nature,
and we loathe ourselves. Yet God says this, put on by
faith, not by sight, not by observation, not by feelings, but by faith,
put on what Christ has made for you, righteousness. Don't you
know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ? That's not a question. That's
a statement. He has made us righteous. We put that on by faith. You
put that on by faith. He says, O Jerusalem, the holy
city. Don't you know this? You are
made holy by Him. Now wake up and see that. Wake
up and believe and trust in His strength, in His power, in His
righteousness, and listen to His promise, from henceforth
shall there no more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the
unclean. Wake up, believer, and see this, that there is nothing that can
separate you from God. There is nothing that can come
in and molest what God has created in us. That new holy nature cannot
sin. It cannot sin. Now, the old nature
cannot do anything but sin. Therefore, there's a warfare
in every believer's heart, struggling. This is why we are asleep, is
because of the flesh, because of the old man. But God says
to us, wake up, believe me, trust my word, put on my strength,
put on my righteousness, because no one will ever take that from
you. I know he's not talking about
Jerusalem here, because eventually there were. The Romans came and
conquered them. The Babylonians came and conquered
them. That's not speaking of physical Israel, but spiritual
Israel here. There shall no uncircumcised come. This means that there is none
to accuse you before God. You know that? There is none
to accuse you before God. That's why he says plainly, there
is therefore now, now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
What about now? What about now? Well, there is
therefore now. You can keep on saying that forever.
There is therefore now, no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. Why?
Because Christ has taken our sins away. The justice of God
is completely satisfied with him. And because we are in Him,
He is satisfied with us. Oh, that God would awake us from
sleep to believe that. What kind of church would we
be if we really believed that? What kind of witnesses would
we be if we really believed that? Oh, God, give us faith to believe
that. Cause us to wake up out of this
slumber and cast the dust of this world off and trust Christ. I pray you
would do that. Our gracious Father, I pray you
dismiss us with your blessing and mercy. Forgive us our many
sins. Oh God, awake us out of sleep. If there's any that are lost
tonight, wake them out of the sleep of death, that they may
believe. If your people are asleep, wake
them up, Father, that we may adorn the strength of Christ,
the robe of his righteousness, and trust in the power of his
keeping us. Give us peace in our hearts,
comfort in our souls, as we see Christ. I pray in his name. Amen.