What a wonderful song that is.
Isn't that such a good song? We have a brother in glory right
now. Mac Torrance was his name on
earth. I don't know exactly what it is in glory, but we sang How
Great Thou Art this morning, and he would not allow anybody
to sing How Great Thou Art without singing the third verse. And
that's how I feel about that song right there. We gotta sing
the third verse. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord, oh my soul. Go with me to Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62, I want to read this
chapter again. Let's open with this. Verse one
says, for Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace? And for Jerusalem's
sake, I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth
as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hepzibah,
and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have
set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, until
he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn
by his right hand and by the arm of his strength, surely I
will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies, and
the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for the which
thou hast labored. But they that have gathered it
shall eat it, and praise the Lord. And they that have brought
it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go
through, go through the gates. Prepare ye the way of the people.
Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. And they shall call them the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called
sought out, a city not forsaken. I have titled this message, Not
Forsaken. And I've been excited to preach
this to you all day. I woke up this morning just wishing
it was Sunday night. I want to ask you this question,
and I want you to really ponder this in your heart before you
give an answer. Think about the life, and I'm
being very serious. I thought about you. I know where
you sit in the pew. Some of you mix it up a little
bit. But I know where you sit, and
I think about your faces, and I've thought about you, and now
you think about you, okay? I want you to think about the
life that you have lived up to this point. You think about the
life that you have lived up to this point. You think about where
you've been, and you think about where you
are right now. And after you've given it a good
amount of thought, answer this question. You answer for you,
I'll answer for me. Has our God ever forsaken us? Has he ever forsaken us? The word forsaken means abandon. It means neglect. It means to leave destitute. It means to refuse. It means
to desert. Honestly, has our Lord ever forsaken
us? Has there been one time Has there
been one time? Turn with me over to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 verse 1, it says, but
now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, And he
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. Don't you wish you could
get a hold of those two words from God Almighty? Fear not,
for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I'm with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone
that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him, yea, I have
made him. Look at verse 14. Thus saith
the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your
sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles
and the Chaldeans whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord,
your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. When it comes
to the spiritual matters of our eternal salvation, our Lord has
not forsaken us and He never will. And when it comes to the
physical matters between this moment right now and our eternal
salvation, Our Lord has not forsaken us, and He never will. He never will. Right here, verse
18. Remember ye not the former things,
neither consider the things of old? Behold, I will do a new
thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall
you not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness. and rivers in the desert. The
beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls,
because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give
drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my praise. And he goes on right here to
say, you have done nothing to deserve this from me. If you
read the next few verses, that's what he says. You have done absolutely
nothing to deserve this from me, but I'm gonna do it anyway
because you're mine and because I'm faithful. Look at chapter 44, verse 21,
it says, Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forest, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. That's one
of my favorite lines. The Lord has redeemed Jacob and
glorified himself. Chapter 46, verse three says, hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, which are carried from the womb, and even
to your old age, I am he. And even to gray hairs will I
carry you. I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry and deliver you. Good news, isn't it? Eternally,
temporally, spiritually, physically, our God has never forsaken us
and he never will. He never will. Look with me at
Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 23, it says, the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And the only way that a man can
be good is in Christ. There is none good but God. and only in him is a man or a
woman found to be good. Verse 23, the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the
Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am
old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken. nor his seed
begging bread. That is so true, isn't it? Especially
that spiritual bread. That is so true. But even physical
bread, even in the things in this life that we need, it's
so true. You know how we know that's true? All we have to do is look backward.
So all we have to do is just turn around and look backward.
When we look into the future, there is so little faith. When we look into the future,
we have such little faith. We have so much fear. Why is
this? But when we look this way, it's
nothing but doubt and nothing but fear. It's so uncertain. Everything seems so uncertain.
All you gotta do is turn and look that way. That's all you
have to do, is just turn around and look that way. When we turn
around and look behind us, what do we see? We see that we have been kept
by the power of God from day one to this point right here.
Our God doesn't change. That's why we sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And so far, all he has done to
this point is he's kept us. Kept by the power of God. When
we turn around and look backwards to this point, all we can see
is we have been clothed, we have been fed. Again, spiritually
and physically. We've been robed in righteousness.
We've been robed in clothes. When we turn around and look
behind us, we can see that our God has been gracious to us in
not giving us everything we wanted. How much have you wanted from
day one to this point right now? How much have you wanted? I want
this and I want that. We can see that our God has been
so gracious to us in not giving us everything that we have wanted.
But he has been overly abundant to us in everything that we've
needed. Everything that we've needed.
What have we needed? What have we needed? We have
needed the gospel. We've needed the gospel. Can
you imagine going without the gospel? We have needed Christ. Can you
imagine being without Christ? We have needed faith. We have needed brethren. We have
needed worship. Brother Cody gave that illustration
last Wednesday night of not getting the job he applied for. Applied
for the job and didn't get it. I cannot tell you how many times
I have experienced the heartbreak of not getting what I wanted.
I can't tell you, just so disappointed because I didn't get what I wanted.
Everybody here can say the same thing. You know why we don't get those
things sometimes? It's because we don't need those things. We
need these things. We need one thing. There's one thing needful. Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ. We need one thing. Jesus Christ. And our Lord has poured him on
us. Jesus Christ, and He who is our
one thing needful, He will supply all of our needs, and He has
supplied all of our needs, and He does. Turn with me over to
Matthew 6. Matthew 6 verse 24, it says, No man can serve two masters,
for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon. And that's just this world. I
mean, that's whatever's in this world. Therefore I say unto you,
take no thought for your life. Why? Because our God has. Take no thought for your life.
What you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your
body what you shall put on, is not the life more than meat and
the body than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,
neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you? O ye of little faith. Therefore,
take no thought saying, what shall we eat or what shall we
drink? For wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, For the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. What our
Lord is saying in all of that is, if you belong to me, you're
not gonna be forsaken. You're not gonna be forsaken.
Go with me back to Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62 verse 1 says, for Zion's
sake will I not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will
not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory. And
thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord
shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of
thy God. That word diadem means crown,
it means miter, it means headdress, it's a glory. Verse four, thou shalt
no more be termed forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be turned desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. That means my delight is in her. For the Lord delighteth in thee. And thy land Beulah, that means
married. For the Lord delighteth in thee
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I've set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. You that make mention of the
Lord, keep not silence. Keep declaring him to my people. Keep declaring me to my people. Verse seven says, and give him
no silence. That's what that word means.
You just don't stop crying. Give no silence till he establish
and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn
by his right hand, Christ, And by the arm of his strength, surely
I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies,
and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for
the which thou hast labored. But they that have gathered it
shall eat it and praise the Lord, and they that have brought it
together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Now listen
to this. This is the grounds of why we
will never be forsaken, all right? This is the cross of Calvary,
verse 10. Go through, go through the gates. Go through the gates
of judgment. Go through the gates of condemnation.
Go through the gates of punishment. Go through the gates of death
for sin. Those are the gates that Christ
went through. Verse 10 says, go through, go
through the gates. Prepare ye the way of the people. The Lord told John the Baptist
to prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord,
prepare the way of his name, his glory, his honor. The Lord
told Christ to prepare the way of his people. Verse 10, he said, cast up, cast
up the highway. A highway for my people shall
be made. There's going to be a highway.
What is the highway? It's the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the way. The only way for
all of God's people to enter into glory. Verse 10, he said,
gather out the stones, my people, my living stones. He said, lift
up a standard for the people. Christ is the standard. He said, if I be lifted up, if
I be lifted up, he said, if I cry, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He said, you're not gonna be
forsaken. But if I'm forsaken in the set
of my people, if I cry to my father, why have you forsaken
me? all of my people will enter in. Verse 11 says, behold, the
Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the
daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold his
reward. Your salvation is coming and
his reward. What he's saying is your salvation
is a person. Thy salvation cometh, behold,
his reward is with him and his work before him. His people,
his reward, his work. Verse 12 says, and they shall
call them the holy people. He will redeem them, he will
wash them, he will cleanse them. As he is, so shall they be. They shall call them the holy
people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called sought
out. I am come to seek and to save
that which was lost, sought out. A city not forsaken. I know that
there are times that it feels like we are being forsaken. All
right, I'm done. But let me close with this. I
know that there are times that it feels like we're being forsaken. I understand that. But according
to the word of the Lord that stands forever. We are not. And we never will be. I know
it feels like we are, but we are not. And we never will be. The Apostle Paul told us that
in 2 Corinthians 4. Go with me there and I will close
with this. 2 Corinthians 4. Verse six, it says, for God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Verse eight says, we are troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh
in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of
faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. knowing that
he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus
and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes. We're not forsaken. It's not
him forsaking us, it's him doing something for us. All things
are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many Redound to the glory of God, for the
which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Never forsaken eternal. He said, I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you. Not now, not ever. Amen.