Thank you, Gabe. It's a blessing
and an honor to be with you all here. Been looking forward to
this time together. And I want to try to bring a
message from the book of Isaiah. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to the 52nd chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 52. Recently, a young lady in our
church, she didn't grow up in any sort of church, and she started
coming to our church and started listening. And after a year and
a half or so, two years, she came up to me and she said, you
know, when I first started coming here, I didn't have a clue what
you were talking about. And now, it's so simple. simple. And of course that thrilled
my heart. And then the honesty that she
had in the next question, she said, however, I just have one
simple question. She said, what does barely, barely
mean? What does barely, barely mean? And I said, well, you know all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and all Scripture is
profitable. and it's all inspired of God. It's not my private interpretation,
but occasionally the Lord will call our attention to something
that summarizes much of what he's been saying. So when we
see verily, verily, what the Lord is doing, he's saying, now
pay special attention because I'm going to take a lot of the
things that I've been saying and summarize them in a few words
for you. I'm going to simplify them for you. There are statements in God's
Word, there are declarations that God has made in His Word
that are in themselves summary statements. They are just a few
words, but they summarize great truths. when Jonah was in the
belly of the whale. And Jonah said, salvation is
of the Lord. That's a summary statement that
summarizes much of this book. What the Lord is telling us in
those four words, salvation is of the Lord, five words, is in
the covenant of grace in eternity past, before time ever was, God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit entered into
a covenant relationship to save a people. The Father elected
them, the Son became their surety and promised to redeem them in
time, and the Holy Spirit promised in that covenant to regenerate
them and to make them willing in the day of his power. salvation is of the Lord, from
its very beginning it's of the Lord. What the Lord Jesus Christ
did when He came to the earth in redemption is that He fulfilled
all righteousness and by His death He bore our sins and put
them away once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself. He
actually accomplished the salvation of His people when He died on
Calvary's cross. He wasn't making an offer of
salvation for us to accept or reject. He was fulfilling salvation
is of the Lord. And in time, the Spirit of God
comes and takes the message of the gospel and makes it irresistible. He makes it effectual to our
hearts. He doesn't give us a choice about it. He shuts us up to Christ
and he brings us to that place where we have no place else to
go but to him. Salvation is of the Lord. After that, it is the Holy Spirit
that keeps us and teaches us, keeps us in Christ, and He will
bring us to glory in His time. And so from eternity past to
eternity future, salvation is of the Lord. That's one of those
summary statements. Another summary statement in
the Bible would be the one that Paul made in the book of Colossians
when he said Christ is all. He is all of my wisdom, all of
my understanding, all of my discernment is found in Him. He is all my
righteousness, I have no righteousness outside of Christ. He is all
my sanctification, all of my holiness, all the separation
that God would ever do for me is found in Him. And He is all
of my redemption, if I'm going to be purchased it will be in
Christ. Christ is all. That's one of
those summary statements. And of course, how can we talk
about summary statements in God's Word without considering those
glorious words that the Lord Jesus cried from Calvary's cross
when he said, it is finished. It's finished. Everything that
God requires for me to be saved, the Lord Jesus accomplished it.
The entire work of redemption was finished when he bowed his
mighty head and said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my
spirit. You see, the verily, verilies
in the Bible are to call our attention to things that summarize
everything that the Lord has taught us in this entire canon
of scripture. 66 books here are often summarized
by God in simplicity. And there's another, and this
is the one I want to try to preach from this morning. You have your Bibles open to
Isaiah chapter 52, and if you'll let your eyes go to the last
part of verse seven, saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. thy God reigneth. Nebuchadnezzar said, he reigns
over the army of heaven and over all the inhabitants of the earth
and no man can stay his hand and no man can say unto him,
what doest thou? Someone might say, or this young
lady in our church who's not familiar with scripture might
ask, well, why does it say reineth? What does that mean? Well, oftentimes
when verbs are put with the A-T-H at the end of them, it's not
just old English language, it's the eternal tense. In other words,
it's not saying that he reigns now, or he will reign in the
future, or he reigned in the past. It's saying from eternity
past to eternity future, he reigneth. He's always been on his throne. Turn with me to Psalm 2. Psalm
2. Here's what our God says, to
those who would raise their fist to heaven and say in their ignorance,
in their rebellion against God, I'll not have that man reign
over me. And here's what God says, why do the heathen rage?
And why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
And he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have
them in division. Oh, he's in, he reigneth. Say
unto Zion, And that's the church. And though the world foolishly
rebels against the reign of our God, the child of God in Zion
rejoices that they have a God who is on his throne. And he
is in control of all things. And so I believe the Lord has
commanded me to declare this morning to Zion, thy God reigneth. He reigneth. Look down with me in verse six
of Psalm two. I have set my king upon my holy
hill. When the Lord Jesus ascended
back into glory, the father said to him, sit thou here at my right
hand until I make all thine enemies thy footstool. Now we come into
this world at enmity with God. And by God's grace, he causes
us to do what Mary did, sit at the feet of Jesus and choose
that one thing that's needful and to listen to what he has
to say. And he is making those who would
be left to themselves at enmity with God, he has reconciled us
to him and he's setting us at his footstool. And look down at verse 11. Serve
the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. I love the way
the Holy Spirit has said that. We do serve the Lord. We desire
to serve Him. We want to honor Him with our
lives. And we rejoice in it, and yet at the same time we tremble.
We tremble. And only those who have the Spirit
of God can understand what that means. But it is a, you know,
I see some people just talking about God as if He's their next
door neighbor and just, you know, acting so flippant about the
things of God. And then I see others that are
just under such a burden of guilt and shame and fear that they
have no joy. But here's where we're to be. We're to serve the Lord with
fear, and we're to rejoice with trembling. Both of these things
exist in the child of God. Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
and you perish in the way. When His wrath is kindled but
a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Who are we trusting? Go back
with me to our text. We're trusting the God that reigneth. He reigns sovereign and omnipotent. Look at the beginning of verse
seven. Let's see where this is in the context of at least these
two verses. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. We've had men bring good tidings
to us. And we rejoice in the one who wounded for our transgressions.
The feet of the Lord Jesus are the ones that we're following.
His are meant first and foremost here as the one who brought good
tidings. And that publisheth peace, we
have peace with God. Everybody wants to experience
the peace of God, but there's no peace of God until we have
peace with God. And the peace with God can only
happen through in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That bringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God
reigneth. We have a mandate from God to
make this message clear, to declare it without apology, boldly, our
God reigns. Let the kings of the earth rage
against him all they want, our God reigns. And thy watchman, and there's
the men who he has called to preach this message, thy watchman
shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they
sing, for they shall see eye to eye. Now, if you, like me,
have been a part of man-made religion in the past, you'll
know that there is a lot of division among religious folks about what
the truth is and what isn't the truth. And I don't know how many
denominations there are. There's a bunch of them. And
then there's a whole bunch of religions in the world, different
opinions of men. You don't see that among believers.
They see eye to eye. They preach the same message.
What is the message? Christ is all, salvation is of
the Lord, it is finished, and thy God reigneth. That's the
message. They shall see eye to eye when
the Lord shall bring again Zion. world blaspheme by claiming that
they are able to make Jesus Lord of their life. God's already
done it. He's Lord. We don't make Him anything. I
love the time when they tried to take the Lord, I think He's
in John chapter 6 after defeating the 5,000 and make Him king,
and He just departed. He just disappeared out of their
sight. No. No, my Father's going to
make me king. Not you. He is Lord of Lords, and He is
King of Kings. Revelation chapter 19, John heard
a voice, or the voice of a great multitude saying, the Lord God
Omnipotent reigneth. He reigneth. Let us rejoice and
be glad to give honor to Him. Let the heavens be glad and let
the earth rejoice and let men say among the nations, the Lord
reigneth. David put it like this, the Lord
is great in Zion. He is high above all the people. And oh, how thankful we are that
he is. He's high above us. But only
in Zion. Is He rejoiced in and glorified
in His rightful place? The rest of the world will find
out who he is in that dreadful day when every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Though it be with a rod of God's
wrath on the back of their knee, they will bow and they will confess. What a great blessing. What a,
what a, I don't even know words to say. Gift of God. The grace of God
that he would enable us and cause us to do that now. To bow the
knee to him and to acknowledge him as Lord. He is God and we're not. And we love it that way. And yet, brethren, how oftentimes
we find ourselves afraid, how oftentimes we find ourselves
discontent, angry, disquieted, complaining about
our circumstances, murmuring. Why would we do that? Why would
we do that? Well, the answer is sin. And
if we trace back, if we trace sin back to its origin, we'll
find out why we are the way we are and why we do the things
that we do. What was the temptation that Satan gave to Eve in the
garden? God knows in the day in which
you eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes will be open
and you will be like God. That was the temptation to be
like God. hasn't changed. And it didn't
start when Satan tempted Eve. It started long before that.
It started in Heaven with Satan himself. Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. Look with me at verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? This happened before Adam, before
Eve were in the garden. How art thou cut down to the
ground, which doth weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the cloud. I will be like the most God." That was Satan's heart. Yet,
verse 15, thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of
the pit. In Ezekiel 28, verse 15, the
scripture says that Satan was the anointed cherub. He was perfect
from the day that he was created until iniquity was found in his
heart. What was the iniquity that was
found in his heart? We just read it in Isaiah chapter 14. I want to be like God. What was
the temptation that he gave to Eve? I want to be like God. You
want to be like God. What is it that God has that
we want to be like? One simple word, control. Control. Is that not why we find ourselves
getting angry? Is that not why we find ourselves
becoming anxious? Is that not why we find ourselves
afraid and disquieted and murmuring and complaining because we feel
as if we're losing control? And we're desperate to recapture
control of our circumstances and control of one another? Do
we not see in ourselves and in other men manipulating one another
in order to control? Is there any greater demonstration
of sin? You know, people think about
sin as all those shameful behaviors that men want to keep secret,
and those things certainly are wrong, and we don't want any
part of that in our lives. What greater demonstration of
sin is there than for a man to want to be like God? 2 Thessalonians
2 says that man has set himself up on the throne of God. That's why the Lord sends the
watchman. to cry unto Zion and to remind
them again and again and again, thy God reigneth. He reigneth. You don't have to
be afraid. You don't have to take control
of everything. You don't have to manipulate one another. You
have a God who is sovereign and omnipotent, who reigns on the
throne, and he does all things for our good. He said, I know
the good that I have for you. It's not evil, it's good. I'm going to bring you to your
expected end, and I'm going to work all things together for
good, for them that love me and those that are the called according
to my purpose. Oh, brethren, we're We're in
so many ways looking at the backside of the tapestry, and we see all
the knots and all the confusion that's being done on the backside,
and we can't make sense of it. What is the opposite of control?
Is it not faith? Is it not to bow and to believe
that my God's on the other side of that tapestry and he is painting,
he is putting together the most beautiful picture. Eye has not
seen, nor is ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination
of man, the things that he's prepared for me. Oh, what a glorious
picture my God is putting together. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord and we'll see what he's doing. The trials and troubles
of this world cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. Our God reigneth. He reigneth. The harder we fight to be in
control, the more out of control we become. And the most evil example of
a man trying to be God is not the extreme examples of some
egomaniac dictator who's controlling a nation and threatening people
with their lives. We think about some of those
men, and we think, well, that's the guy who wants to be in control. someone accused our president
of being a narcissist. And another person responded
by saying, show me someone in DC that's not. You know, it might
serve you well in this world to take control over other people,
but it's not God's way. But the most evil demonstration
of man wanting to be in control is not the example of powerful
men in the world who have manipulated their way into that position
of power. It is a man believing that God
Almighty needs him to do something in order for God to be able to
save him. You see, it's not the, we see
the evil of man wanting to be in control, not in the high seats
of power. We see it in buildings much like
this, where religious people get together and they boast and
compete with one another over their own morality and over their
own commitments and over their own decisions. and how that God
wanted to save them and he let them do it. It's blasphemy. It's blasphemy. It's not of him that willeth.
It is not of him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy. And someone might say, well,
Doesn't the Bible say, to as many as receive Him, to them
gave He the power to become the sons of God? Isn't there something
that we have to do in order to become a child of God? Turn with
me to that verse just a moment. It's in John chapter one. The
gospel of John chapter one. Verse 12. But as many as receive him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, don't stop there, which were born. You can't receive Christ until
you've been born again. And that's of the Lord. Nicodemus, you can't perceive
of the kingdom of God unless you're born of the Spirit. And
the Spirit's like the wind, he listeth with us wherever he wills.
We're completely dependent upon God for the new birth. And yes,
the evidence of the new birth is that we believe, and that
we receive, and that we rejoice, and that we follow. But that
comes as a result of being born of God. And that's of the Lord. Look, which were born, not of
blood. That means that this spiritual
new birth is not of descent. It's not something you inherited.
Children are not Christians because their parents are. Nor of the will of flesh. It
is not by determination. It is not by my strength and
my determination and my commitment. nor of the will of man. It is
not by decision. It's not by descent. It's not
by determination. It's not by decision. It is by
God. Our God reigneth, and we rejoice. said, Lord if thou wilt, thou
canst make me whole. And what do we hear in the world?
God wants to, but He can't. He wills to save you. God loves
everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants everybody to be saved. Bless His heart. He's in the
heavens wringing His hands. He's voting for you. The Devil
is voting against you. You get to break the tie. Is there any more evil demonstration
that we see there in what I just described? In what the world
would see as respectable religion? Oh, best decision I ever made.
Is there any more evil demonstration of man wanting what God has than
that? I'm gonna be in control. Well,
you're not. God is. And I cry unto Zion, thy God
reigneth. Thy God reigneth. Salvation's
of the Lord. In His wisdom, He devised it.
In His power, He accomplished it. And in His will, He performed
it. And by His Spirit, He applies
it to the hearts of His people. He is able. He is able, oh, Lord,
would you be willing to save me? Lord, forgive me. Lord, how many times I've tried
to crawl up on the throne of God and take control of things. Lord, that's not where I want
to be. I know you are there. You are there. You know, the one piece of furniture
that's most missing in the Old Testament
tabernacle. We have tables, and labors, and
altars, and basins. There's not a chair. There's
not a chair in the Old Testament tabernacle because the priest's
work was never done. What is the one piece of furniture
we read about in the Bible that's going to be in Heaven? It wasn't
there, but it's there. It's the throne of God Almighty.
Thy God reigneth. You don't have to be in control.
He reigns. Philippians chapter 4. Be careful
for nothing. Oh, why do we worry? Why do we
fret? Why do we fear? Be careful for nothing. But in
all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, will keep your heart and your mind in Christ
Jesus." Now, for years, I thought what that meant was that the
peace of God could not be understood. That's what I thought it meant.
The peace of God passeth under excel. It's beyond our capacity
to understand it. It's something that, you know,
that, but that's not what that word means at all. What it means is, is better them.
What is it that causes us so much consternation? Is it not
because we don't understand our circumstances? We don't understand,
Lord, why you would take a loved one? Why this would happen or
that would happen? Why I would lose this? Or what's
happening over here? What's happening outside of my
life in the world? And we want to understand. And why do we want to understand?
Because we want to be like God. If we had the power of God, if
any one of us had the power of God, we'd change everything.
If we had the wisdom of God, we'd change nothing. The peace of God. What is the
peace of God? Resting, believing, trusting
that my God reigns. Trusting that the Lord Jesus
has accomplished my salvation all by himself and given to him
all the glory. And the peace of God, which is
better than all understanding, will keep your heart and your
mind in Christ Jesus. Truth is, we're not going to
understand a lot of stuff. Matter of fact, I would go so far as
to say we don't really understand anything we believe. Not really. God doesn't call us that. You
know, the gospel is not a matter of IQ, it's a matter of I will.
And I will not unless God makes me willing. thankful there's things that
God cannot do. We're talking, preacher you're talking about
the power of God, now you're saying there's things He cannot
do? Yep. He cannot lie. Which makes, I don't remember
who said last night how many promises there are in the Bible,
I think it was 7,400 and something. Our God cannot lie. He cannot be tempted with evil.
He cannot sin. He cannot change. He's the same. He reigneth. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Oh, you sons of Jacob, I change
not. It's the only reason you're not
consumed is because I'm immutable. He cannot change. He cannot deny
himself. When we believe not, yet He remained
faithful. Why? Because He cannot deny Himself. He's faithful to us when we're
not faithful to Him. He cannot let one single sin
go unpunished. That's why it was necessary that
the Lord Jesus bear every sin of every one of God's elect people,
every single one of them, and put them all away If God should mark iniquity,
if God left one sin on us, we'd go to hell for it. And he cannot punish the same
sin twice. You know the irony of it is that
what God cannot do is exactly what we do do. We sin, we change, we're tempted
with evil, We lie. We let some things go unpunished
because, well, we don't want, we have favoritism, and other
things we punish more than once. And that, my brethren, is what
holy means. Holy is not just a word to describe
moral perfection. Holy means that God is altogether
other than we are. He's not like us in any way. He reigns. He's faithful to perform all
of His promises. He promised to pay the penalty
for sin. That's what He did. He promised to establish a perfect
righteousness on behalf of His people. That's what He did. Men
go about trying to establish their own righteousness, why?
Because they're ignorant of the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
seated. Sit thou here at my right hand.
He reigns in heaven. Oh, Lord make us bow. Make us bow. He promised To conquer death,
and he did. He promised to defeat Satan,
and he did. He promised to ascend up into glory,
to return and receive us unto himself. Don't be afraid. You believe
in God. Let not your heart be troubled.
Believe also in me, for in my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, but I go and prepare
a place for you, so that where I am, there you may be also."
And when the Lord Jesus sat down, everything required for the preparation
of that place was finished. He's not been preparing it for
the last 2,000 years. No, it's prepared. But what's
he doing now? He's interceding for us. He's
presenting himself before his Father for all of our salvation,
all of our righteousness. He's our advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Paul put it like this in 2 Timothy
chapter 1, he said, I know, I know whom I have believed. He didn't say I know what I believe,
he said I know whom I believe. I'm looking. I had a man tell
me one time, it broke my heart because he had listened to me
preach for years. preacher, you keep saying, look to Christ. And then he raised his hands
above his head and he looked to the ceiling in the room where
we were standing and he said, I'm looking, I don't see anything.
And now he's involved in a charismatic works religion, why? Because
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
He needed something he could see with his physical eyes. But
they that are after the Spirit, things of the Spirit. The flesh
profited nothingness, the Spirit that giveth life. We look upon
those things which are not seen, for the things which are seen
are temporal." There are temporary things in this world, and all
the things that give us so much trouble that we are tempted to
want to be like God for. The things of this world are
temporal. But the things which are not
seen, are eternal. They're eternal. I know whom I have believed. And I know that he is able. Able to do what? Able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. What have
I committed to him? Everything. Committed to him For all my righteousness,
I've committed to Him to put away all my sin. That word committed,
you know the word commitment? In religion, men talk about being
committed and having commitment, and they categorize people. Lord
makes us that way, He will. The fact that He makes us willing
in the day of His power is not just a one-time experience when
we come to Christ for the first time. He always is making us
willing. He's always weaning us from this
world and causing us to come to the river of life and drink. But this word committed that
Paul uses in 1 Timothy 1.12, he says, I know whom I have believed
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed. It's the word deposited. I'm, I'm not diversifying my assets
here. I'm not looking to, in case he
doesn't do it all, I'll do this, or I'll look that way, or this
way, or I'll have a plan B. No, I've committed everything. If he doesn't save me, I'm not
gonna be saved. Everything is in his hands. I've got no place else to go.
I've got no place else to look. Peter, will you lead me also?
Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal
life, and we know and are sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. Lord, we're not, we've got no
place else to go. That was right after the 5,000
left. The Lord said to the 5,000, you just want your bellies full.
That's the only way, you're coming after me so that you can have,
you know, just worldly comforts. And he looks at the disciples.
Aren't you gonna follow him? Aren't you gonna go with him?
There's the invitation. The invitation is to leave if
you can. And if you can, my experience has been, you will. You will. Sometimes it takes years. Oh
Lord, don't let me. Lord, so many times I've reached
my hand up for the throne of God. Lord, slap it. Slap it down. Lord, increase our faith. Now, I love what the Lord said
in response to that. He said, if you had faith as
a mustard seed, you could say unto this mountain, be thou removed,
then to be cast into the sea. What was the Lord saying? You
don't need more faith. What you need is more of me,
the object of your faith. For if you had faith of a mustard
seed, you see, it's not the quantity of our faith or even the quality
of our, it's the object of our faith. It's the object of our faith.
And where is he? Where is he? He reigneth in heaven over the army
of heaven and over all the inhabitants of the earth. And no man can
stay his hand, and no man can say unto him, what doest thou? He is able. He is able to save
to the uttermost. You know what that word uttermost
means? All the way to the end. That's what it means, all the
way to the end. We haven't got to the uttermost yet. Some of
us might this day get to the uttermost. But if we're his,
he's going to save us to the uttermost. He's able to subdue all things
unto himself. Oh, we have not a high priest
who cannot be tempted or cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He suffered the contradiction
of sinners and he bore All the sin and rebellion of His people
at Calvary's Cross, He knew the sorrow, He knew the shame, He
knew the separation, my God, my God, why'st thou forsaken
me? All the horrible things that sin caused, He knew them better
than we could ever know them. And we have not a high priest
now, who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
for he was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us come boldly. And that word boldly does not
mean arrogantly. No, we come with fear and trembling. But we come confident. Confident
in what? Confident that he reigneth. Confident
that he has done all that's required to save me and confident that
he is doing everything necessary to get me to glory. Confident
that he's reigning on his throne. Let us come to the throne of
grace boldly that we might find help and grace in our time of
need. Isaiah said it like this in Isaiah
chapter 26 verse 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace. Whose mind? Is stayed on thee. How prone we are to wonder. Our
minds get so distracted. Thy God. Raineth. He reigneth. He's not going to
be moved.