It's going to become a reality
soon. I'm looking forward to it. Turn with me to Isaiah 12 again. Isaiah chapter 12, I read this
for our scripture reading last Wednesday night. And it blessed me so much, I
just haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I just want
to go through this Psalm. This is truly a precious Psalm,
Isaiah. It sounds like a Psalm, doesn't
it? But this is precious, this is a wonderful chapter. And I
pray it'll be a blessing. Look with me at verse one. Isaiah 12, verse one, it says,
and in that day, that day that we're marching
to Zion, yes, But I was reading a commentary
on this particular chapter by a man named Robert Hawker, and
I like what he said about that. He said, that day in that day. He said, that day is the gospel
day. It's the gospel day. Yes, that day is the great day
when all of God's people go to be with him. But that day is
also the gospel day. The day when the gospel comes
to a center. The day when the revelation of
Jesus Christ comes to one of God's own. It's such a precious
day. It is such a precious day. It's the day of quickening. The
day that the gospel of Christ is made alive. to somebody. You know, until the Holy Spirit
of God makes this alive, it's dead to men and women. It's dead
to men and women. Until God shines a light inside
a soul, you can see it on people's faces. They're dead to it. It's dead to them. It's a saver
of death unto death. But when life comes, When life comes and it's made
alive, this day that God's spirit comes and resides in the heart
of God's own, takes up residence, lives there. Christ liveth in
me, every child of God says. The day when this right here
is revealed to one of God's sheep, verse one, it says, And in that
day, thou shalt say, this is what happens, thou shalt say,
oh Lord, I will praise thee. You know, before it's I will
not have that man rule over me. I won't have that man reign over
me. But on the gospel day, that soul says, Lord, I will praise
you. Yes, I will. You've made me willing
in the day of your power. Verse one, and in that day thou
shalt say, oh Lord, I will praise thee though thou wast angry with
me. Thine anger is turned away and
thou comfortest me. The day of awakening, the day
of Christ, the day of Jesus Christ, this glorious moment when Christ
comes. What a day. Let me show you a
couple of men who know a little something about that day. Go
with me to Luke 19. Luke 19 verse 1. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was, and could not for the press because he was little of
stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And
he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when
they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be
a guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. And if I have taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said unto him this day, is salvation come to this house. For as much
as he also is a son of Abraham, for the son of man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost. He said, Zacchaeus, today
salvation has come to your house. What a thing to say. The Lord
say that about my house. Say that about this house. Say
that about this house. Say that about our homes and
our families. Today, salvation has come to
your house. Who came to the house? Christ
did. The Lord Jesus Christ, the day
that Christ comes, that's our gospel day. That's our gospel
day. People hear. You know, have they
not all heard the scripture says? This thing was not done in a
corner. They hear about this man, Jesus. They hear about him. They hear about him. They hear
about him. And then in God's good time and
will and purpose and mercy and grace, one day they hear from
him. And they They hear their own name. He
calls his sheep by name and it just. Today, salvation has come
to this house. Turn with me to Acts chapter
9. Acts chapter 9 verse 1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is
hard for thee to kick against the bricks. And he, trembling
and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And
the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And
Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he
saw no man. But they led him by the hand
and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without
sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain
disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias? And he said, behold, I am here,
Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street
which is called Srait, and inquire in the house of Judas for one
called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth, and hath
seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting
his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias
answered, Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil
he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority
from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. But
the Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel
unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the
children of Israel. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went
his way and entered into the house, and putting his hands
on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou
mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. And he received sight forthwith
and arose and was baptized. It's amazing to me that every
person who the Lord calls by name knows him. Saul, what will
you have me to do, Lord? Ananias, I'm here Lord, what
would you have me to do? It doesn't say he spoke to Ananias
before that. He knew who he was, didn't he? Paul said on the day that it
pleased God, when it pleased God, he revealed Christ to me. And that's what all of God's
people say. And they're glad because of it. They're so glad. Aren't you so glad God revealed
Christ to you? Aren't you so glad you're not
lost in religion trying to figure this thing out? Trying to figure
out what is everybody doing? What are they talking about?
Why are they so faithful to this? I believe it's important for
us to know that usually it's hard for a child of God to pinpoint
exactly when that day was. For me, it was somewhere over
the span of 20 years. I'm not sure. It could have been
at the beginning of 20 years. It could have been at the end
of 20 years. I don't know. But honestly, it doesn't matter
because it's every day. For a child of God, the gospel
day that Christ comes is every day. It's every day. A child of God has Christ revealed
to him or her every single day. Don't you come into this place
and read these things and feel like you're having a brand new
revelation all over again. Every day is the gospel day.
Go with me back to Isaiah 12. Verse one. And in that day thou shalt say,
Oh Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away. and thou comfortest me. That's
what happens when we see the cross. That's what happens when
we see God's anger on the sin of his people poured out on Christ
his son, consumed on Christ his son, Christ the substitute, Christ
the provided sacrifice, Christ the lamb, the lamb slain for
every soul that was chosen to be saved in him. When we see
the anger of God's judgment poured out on Christ on that cross,
and appeased on Christ on that cross, and satisfied on Christ
on that cross, when we see that, we're comforted. We are comforted,
comforted by the cross. God's people are comforted by
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they say this, all right,
they're comforted And this is what they say. They are known. God's people are known by saying
this. Verse two, behold, God is my
salvation. God is my salvation. You know,
you ask people, what is your salvation? What is your hope
of being saved? This morning, our message was
titled something like the ground and confidence of our hope or
our confidence and hope. I don't remember, but that's
the subject we looked at. But when you ask people that
question, what is your hope of being saved? They say, whether
you ask them or not, they're gonna volunteer this information.
They're gonna say, a long time ago, I made a decision for God. That's what they're gonna say. I made a decision for God. I made a decision to give my
heart to Jesus. A long time ago, I was baptized. What are you going to put your
finger on? What is it? What is it? Well,
I was baptized by somebody somewhere, and that's it. Or they'll say, My confidence
in being saved is I try to be the best person I can be. I've got a couple of people who
stand out in my mind throughout the years that have told me that. I'm always trying to be fair
with people, and they do. They honestly do. They try to
be fair with people, and they try to do the right thing, and
try to be a good neighbor, try to be a good friend. You know
what God's people say? Those who have been truly comforted
by the gospel day of the cross, they say, God is my salvation. It's that simple. It's that plain
and simple. God is my salvation. God saved
me. A long time ago, God made a decision
for me. That's what happened. God made
a decision for me a long time ago before the foundation of
the world. God gave his heart to me. You know, everybody's
talking about giving their heart to him. The reality is he gave
his heart to us. He joined himself to me. He lived
for me, died for me, rose for me. God is my salvation. He said
he came to save sinners and that's what I am. Therefore, that's
where my confidence lies in being saved. What is my hope of salvation? It's in the fact that God saved
me and I didn't save myself. Verse two says, behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. I'm not my strength. He's my
strength. I'm not trusting in me. I'm trusting
in him. What gives me so much confidence
that I'll be with him in the end? What gives me so much confidence? It's because I'm not trusting
in me to get me there. I'm trusting in him to get me
there. And if He is in charge of getting me there, then I have
all the confidence in the world that I'll be there. Verse 2 says, Behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. What are the wells
of salvation? Christ is the wells of salvation. For whatever it is that we need,
we go to him. Whatever well we need to draw
from, we go to him. He is that well. Our Lord told
the woman at the well. He said, if you knew who was
talking to you right now, you would ask of me and I would give
you living water. living water. And he said, you
would never thirst again because that living water would be a
well springing up inside of you unto everlasting life. She answered him and said, Lord,
give me that water. Lord, please give me that water.
You know what she was doing? She was drawing from the well
of salvation. And that's what we do when we
say that same thing. It comes from you. I know it
comes from you. I'm asking you. I need salvation. Do you need water? Then go to
a well that has water in it. You need salvation, then go to
a well that has salvation in it. Lord, I need salvation. That's why I'm coming to you.
John chapter 7 says that on the last day, that great day of the
feast, Our Lord stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. That's how we draw out of the
well of salvation. We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We believe on him. Verse three
says, therefore, with joy, shall you draw water out of the wells
of salvation. And in that day, shall you say,
praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among
the people, make mention that his name is exalted. That makes me want to repeat
the things that we said last Wednesday night for reasons to
praise him. We had all of these different
reasons that the scripture gave for praising him. And it said,
I'm going to repeat him, it said, praise him because of his righteousness,
his power, his sacrifice, his help. Praise Him for His help,
His deliverance, His mercy, His forgiveness. Praise Him for His
forgiveness. Praise Him because His truth
endures to all generations. How could we not praise Him for
that? He hath not left off his kindness
to his people. He is good. He stands at the
right hand of the poor to save them from those that condemn
their soul. He is high above all nations.
His glory is above the heaven. He humbles himself to behold
the things in heaven and in earth. He is great and greatly to be
praised. He's full of compassion. He's
slow to anger. This will make you fall in love
with him. He upholds all who fall. He raises up all who are
bowed down. He's righteous in all his ways
and holy in all his works. He's nigh unto all them that
call upon him. Salvation, glory, honor, power,
all of it belongs to him. True and righteous are his judgments. He sovereignly reigns over everything. He loves his bride. Praise the
Lord, he loves his wife. Verse four says, and in that
day, shall you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare
his doings among the people, make mention that his name is
exalted, exalted above everything, everything and everyone. Every
knee bows to him. And that makes us glad. Verse
five says, sing unto the Lord for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion for great is the holy
one of Israel. in the midst of thee. That's
so comforting. That's so reassuring. It's so
strengthening. It's so true. Great is he. Great is he. We just sang that
song. I wrote these lyrics down and
he picked out the song and I didn't know he was picking it out. Holy
and true are all his ways. Let every creature shout his
praise. Through earth and heaven one
song shall ring from grateful hearts this anthem spring. Arise
ye saints, salute thy king. All thy days sing his praise. We do, don't we? We do sing his
praise. Look at verse one. Let me just
read these six verses and I'll stop. Let me read it again. In
that day, thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou
was angry with me, thine angers turned away, and thou comfortest
me. Behold, God is my salvation.
I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation, and in that day shall
you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings
among the people, make mention that his name is exalted, sing
unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known
in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of Zion, marching to Zion. For great is the Holy One of
Israel in the midst of thee. How true that is. Amen.