Would you turn to the book of
Jeremiah, chapter 9. If we were coming to the table
today, the table of remembrance, and I Went through the procedures
that we normally go through, and I came down here. And instead
of opening the book to Corinthians and reading where the Lord sat
at the final supper and said, here, this represents my body. If I could just start reading
out of some other book, maybe. Would you get up and walk out? Kind of like that song that the
Beatles wrote, if I sing out of tune. I think it was the Beatles.
If you sing out of tune, would you walk out? I ask that question
is because what do we do when we come to the Lord's table?
We do the same exact same thing every time, do we not? Twice
a month for 22 years. Almost 23 now. It's the exact
same thing. Well, it's the same thing in
our messages. I admitted to those who were
here for Bible study, and I'll admit to you folks who are able
to join me now for this morning's message. I have struggled very
difficult to put together a message for you folks today. Reasons
for my own causing. reasons that I had to go to my
Lord this morning and just ask for forgiveness for, ask for
Him to be with me. And I pulled up one of our old
messages and put some new notes in it and rephrased some other
things at the time. It's been a couple years. But it's about these words that
we're going to read in Jeremiah chapter 9. Here in Jeremiah,
the Lord is declaring destruction and gloom to the lost. How many messages have you heard
in a while that talk about what's going to happen to the sinners
of the world? I haven't heard anybody outside
of sovereign grace ministers, which I listen to two or three
times a week. But if you tune into the TV or something, here's
what you're going to hear. Jesus loves you. He loves everything.
Jesus created everything perfect and He just loves everything.
Everything is loved by God. He is love. And that's all they
talk about. They don't talk about what the
true love of God is. Is God love? Absolutely. You
and I think we have an understanding of what love is, folks. His ways
are so far above our ways, we have no idea. He gives us a little,
little sprinkling of what that love is about by sending his
son to die on the cross for us. But even that, even knowing that,
is just such a small drop of what the grace of God is in love. See, the thing is, though, there's
something that's the opposite of that love, and that's his
hate. It's a perfect hate. And the importance to pointing
that out is when you understand the hate that God has for sin, You get a better grasp and understanding
of what it means for God to love you. To understand that God doesn't
love everybody, but that love that He has is perfect, and it's
perfect for those that He loves, is to understand that He also
has a perfect hatred for some. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I don't care what anybody else wants to say, that's what
God says right there. That's His Word. Oh, no, that
can't be. Jesus loves everything He made.
No, He doesn't. He says in His Word, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Plain and simple. And here in
Jeremiah, Jeremiah is crying out unto Israel. He's declaring
the destruction for the lost. He's declaring days of punishment,
as it is in the heading of my Bible, right above the verse
that we're going to be looking at. I mean, not even the right
verse. Hang on a minute. Nope, that's not the right one
either. I'll be there. Here it is. It's called Days
of Punishment. That's the heading at the top
of my scriptures there. Or as on previous pages, it says,
Jeremiah weeps. Folks, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, according to God's word, a day of reckoning is coming. Everyone who has ever stepped
foot on this earth, every person who has ever been born, every
child, man, woman, old person, everyone will have to stand before
the perfect judge, before the throne of glory, and
give an account. The sheaf will be separated from
the wheat in that day. The sheep will be separated from
the goats in that day. Some will hear these words that
we read in Luke chapter 13, verse 27, depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity. I never knew you. Others will hear these words
as we read in Matthew 25, 23, well done, good and faithful
servant. The Lord of all creation, folks,
is angry with the wicked. Judgment is coming. Many who
stand in pulpits today are speaking only of love and not even a true
love, but a love of their own imagination. I just can't think
of anything so negative. Folks, there are negatives. The
world is full of negatives. The whole world that we walk
on is cursed because of sin. Cursed is the ground that you
walk on, sayeth the Lord. There are none good, sayeth the
Lord. They speak of a love of their
own imagination and they completely turn away from the truth of sin. The God of all glory hates with
a perfection all sin. All sin must be punished. All
of creation has been cursed, and all will be burned up in
that final day. Yet God has chosen to save a
remnant. He chose to do so. He didn't
have to. God is not binding to you for
anything. He doesn't need you. He is complete
in Himself. The God of all glory, He hates
all sin. He has chosen to save a remnant,
a small portion is what that word remnant means, a people
that He shall call unto Himself. Why? Look with me if you would
at our text in Jeremiah chapter 9 beginning at verse 13. Jeremiah
chapter 9 beginning at verse 13, and the Lord said, because
they have forsaken my law. You know, every single person
has forsaken the law of God in one way or another. And all it
takes is one little one. There's enough sin in that little
pinky right here. Right there. That warrants me
to go to hell. There's enough sin in that thought
that just passed through my mind to condemn me and put me where
I belong. No, I'm going to back up. I said
that was not correct. I do not belong there. And we'll
get to the reason why in just a moment. But there's enough
sin there to warrant me earning damnation. And the Lord saith, Because they
have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed
my voice, neither walked therein, verse 14, but have walked after
the imagination of their own heart, and after Balaam, which their
fathers taught them. Therefore thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even
this people, with wormwood. and give them water of gall to
drink. I will scatter them also among
the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known,
and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider ye and call for the
mourning women that they may come, and send for cunning women
that they may come. And let them make haste and take
up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing
is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled? How are we
cast down? We are greatly confounded, because
we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Yet hear the word of the Lord. O ye women, and let your ear
receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing,
and every one her neighbor lamentation. For death is come up unto the
windows, and enter into our palaces, to cut off the children from
without, and the young men from the streets. Speak thus, saith
the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon
the open field, and as a handful after the harvest men, and none
shall gather them. Thus saith the Lord, let none of the wise
men glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his
might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that
glorieth glory in this. We've just heard what mankind
deserves. We've just heard the wrath of
God to be laid upon sinful flesh. But let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. Well, what is
it to knoweth and to understand him? Look at this list. that I am
the Lord which exercises loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness
in the earth. For in these, in these, in these things I delight, saith
the Lord." That's the title for this message. For in these I
delight. In what? What are these that
it's talking about? Well, the first one we see there
is, I am the Lord. I'll go ahead and list all four
of you. I am the Lord, which exercises
loving kindness. That's something he delights
in. He delights in the fact that I am the Lord. He is the Lord.
He delights in the fact that he exercises loving kindness. He delights in the fact that
he exercises judgment, perfect judgment. And he does those in
the earth, for in these things, he says, I delight. Now, I'd
like to consider these four points that we just read. First, let's
turn a few pages to the right to Jeremiah chapter 31. And read
with me verse 31 through 35. Turn over to Jeremiah chapter
31. He delights in the fact that
He is the Lord. Did you know that? Well, He's
perfect. Everything He does is right.
What a delight it would be to be the Lord. He delights in Himself
because He is Lord. Look here at Jeremiah chapter
31. Beginning at verse 31. How do
you like that? Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them out by the hand and to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although
I was a husbandman unto them, saith the Lord, but this shall
be a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts."
Now, I want you to understand what that's saying right there.
I will put my law. This one who delights as the
Lord says, I will put my law in their inward parts. You can't
learn the true law of God by reading the book, this book right
here, unless God himself puts it in your heart. That's why
we have so many millions of people walking around in different religions
who are carrying the same book you and I are. God has not given
them the experience. Let me repeat this. God has not
given them the experience of grace. Oh, John, what is that? When you realize, when God has
brought you to understand the depth of your depravity, The
depth of your depravity has earned you what we just read about a
moment ago. What did the Lord say? He's going to put wormwood.
He's going to destroy them. They're going to be cast out
into outer darkness, as we'll see in a little while. That's
what we all deserve. That's what we all have earned. Yet some, some, as it says here,
I will put my law. in their inward parts, and write
it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people." I think I said, I think I might
have just said it a moment ago, I can't remember if I said this
during Bible study or a moment ago, but folks, if God loves
you, if God loves you, and anything can come between the God of all
creation and His love for you? What kind of a God is that? I like the God of Scriptures.
The God of Scriptures that says, all power in heaven and earth
have been given to the Lord Jesus. I like that because that means
I cannot come between Him and His love for me. And I try all
the time, do you? Yeah, we do. And I shall write it on their
hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Our Lord delights in being the
Lord of mercy and grace. In Isaiah 45 verse 7, our Lord
says this. He says, I form light. This is
the power of God. This is the God that I was just
talking about. The one I was just telling you that in scripture
says all power in heaven and earth. Nothing can separate us
from the love of God. Paul knows that, and every true
child of God knows that too. To know the true and living God
has to know the power of God, and He has all power in heaven
and earth. I form the light, He says in Isaiah 45, verse 7,
that I create darkness. There are no accidents with the
God of Scriptures. Everything was purposed by Him
so that He would become the Savior of His people, and we would sing,
hallelujah, what a Savior, for eternity. We have some troubles right now
in our lives that bring tears to our eyes, but there's a day
those tears are going to go away. And all we will sing is hallelujah. Hallelujah to our Savior. Every day I talk with my pastor, and he and his wife just sit
at home waiting. It could be tomorrow, John. And
I know he's smiling, because you can tell on the phone when
people are smiling. You can tell when they're down
and out. You can tell when they're smiling. Could be today, John. Could be this afternoon. I got
no more troubles. It's coming soon. Each day, I
get a little bit closer to that door the Lord takes me through. Our Lord delights in being the
Lord. I form the light and create darkness. He says, I make peace
and I create evil. Now, that's got to be clarified. Our
Lord is not the author of evil. He creates. He creates evil. That's evil, speaking of those
things that go about and do damage to the earth, such as tornadoes
and stuff like that. But He allows the evil in man's
heart so that we can see the grace in His love for saving
us. That's the power of God. That's
the God of scriptures, the one who created all things. He rules
over everything. Our sin is our own, plain and
simple. And just removing His hand of
mercy, His hand of grace a little bit, allowing us to step in that
pile of whatever it is you want to step into, you know what? It brings us right back to looking
to Him. Lord, I can't do this on my own. I can't get through
that walk this next week in this world. He delights in being the Lord. It delights our Creator to reveal
who He is to His people. He declares who He is to all
the earth, but the earth rejects Him. The people of the earth
reject who He is. They reject the works that He
did. They reject Him for where He is right now. And they make
themselves out to be gods by declaring God is without power
over me. How often do you hear somebody
say, oh yeah, Jesus Christ, oh yeah, He's sovereign over everything.
Oh no, but I had to make a decision to come and see Him. But oh no,
I have to worship on Saturday to be His. But oh no, I have
to receive Him into my heart. I have to accept Him. And I'm
just not ready to do that yet. Or I did last week. I might have
to do it again next week, but I did last week, so I'm OK. That's what we call free willism.
My will is over his. That's making myself a god over
him. Did you know that's what the devil did? The devil said,
I will be the most high. And that's what every natural
man, woman, and child do. I will be the ruler of my own
circumstances. Listen to these familiar words.
Matthew 16, 13, we read these words. When Jesus came into the
coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples. Remember,
we're talking about our Lord delights in revealing who he
is. He takes delight in being the
Lord. He came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, and he
asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom
say ye? Who do you say? Are you one who
says that the Lord Jesus is one of those who's set everything
in motion and waiting for stuff to happen? That's not the Jesus of Scripture. But who do you say that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son. Nobody can confuse that. The
Son of the living God, that's all powerful. That's the guy
who created everything. That's the one who said, let
it be, and it was. That's the one who performs a
miracle in every child of God's heart, giving them life where
they were dead. That's the same thing as raising
them from the dead. That's power. Why thou? Lord, Lord, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Do you think Jesus was caught
off guard by that answer? Really? How'd you know that? We were reading in Bible study. There were some people murmuring
about how the Lord made a comment. And they said, this is that Jesus
whose father is a carpenter. We know who this guy is. How
can he say he can save sins? How can he declare that he can
save sins? And Jesus didn't even have to
hear. They didn't say it out loud. They were thinking it.
And the God of all powers, I know what you're saying. I know what
you're thinking. Why are you thinking that way? He knows everything. God, help me to remember, my
Lord knows every piece of me, every piece of you, every thought,
everything. That's the all-powerful God we're
talking about. This is the God that He delights
in revealing to us. His son, all the fullness of
the Godhead dwelleth in him. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, said unto Peter after he declared him, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Virgin. He said, blessed are you. Blessed are all of you right
here today. Blessed are all of his people
who are worshiping our Savior this day in truth. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. You think the pope doesn't know
just about every word? I'll bet you he had to do a test.
In all the years that he was running whatever church, he had
to be doing tests all along the way, work his way up to being
that guy in the pope's seat. I'll bet you he knows way more
about scripture than just about anybody out there. But he does
not know the Almighty God. Anybody who would take their
prayers to a human, another human, thinking that other human's going
to be able to help them, doesn't know the scriptures. Not personally. Not experientially. Blessed are you. for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Would
you say that makes the Lord delighted in revealing who he is? And I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock." Not upon Peter. See, that's
another thing the Catholic Church has made a mistake of. Peter
was never a rock. He was a man. Yes, the name Peter means rock. That's true. But Peter was just
like you and I, folks. Mary, the Virgin Mary was just
like you and I. She called her son, my Lord. The rock is the fact that Jesus
Christ is the son of the living God. You're standing on power
if you know that. And our Lord says, upon this
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Who's going to come between the
love of God and his people? The gates of hell won't. Because He is Lord, nothing can
separate Him from His people. Again, we read familiar words
in John 10, verse 23 through 30. And Jesus walked in the temple
of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
Him. These religious folks. Did you know the Jews were the
most religious people that ever walked the earth? They did all the ordinances right
down to the T. but they didn't have a heart
for Christ. These religious men came and said, how long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus said this so clearly,
you can't misinterpret this. This is as simple as a child
can understand this. I'm not much higher than a child,
and I understand it. So I'm pretty sure a child could
understand it, too. Listen to what Jesus says. He
says, I told you. I told you who I am. I am my father, and I told you
all about it. And the works that I do prove
who I am. Have you ever seen anybody else
turn a guy who's completely leprous into a clean man? Have you seen
anybody else say, come forth, and a guy comes out of the grave?
They come up with a lot of weird miracles that can't be proved
that they even happened. Have you ever thought about that?
This guy over here committed a miracle. This guy over here
maybe committed a miracle. Yeah, I don't know about that.
Somebody saw that guy walking before he came in with a cane. The works that I do in My Father's
name, they bear witness of Me." Does our Lord delight in revealing
Himself to His people? Yes, He does. He says, "...but
ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep." If you don't
believe this Word, If you don't believe that this
is the word of the almighty creator, it's because you're not his sheep,
or because he hasn't called you out of that death and darkness
yet. Because you're not of my sheep,
as I said unto you, he says, my sheep hear my voice, and I
know them. and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Did
you know right after that it says they wanted to stone him. They wanted to take him out.
Who are you to say that we're not saved? I do all the right
stuff. I got baptized. I worship on
Saturdays, right, Mike? Yeah. Looking for that clock
on Friday night. It's time. As soon as that clock
was over, got through it. Another day, another week. Now
we can go about doing what we want to do. Folks, the Lord Jesus is the
Lord of all. And it is His delight to reveal
Himself to His chosen people, to His remnant, to His elect. In John chapter 1, verse 10,
we read these words, He was in the world, and the world was
made by Him, and the world knew Him not. I remember the day I knew Him
not. Johnny go lucky, running around
out there, just doing whatever felt good, as long as I didn't
hurt somebody. Well, maybe I hurt him a little
bit, but I didn't kill him or anything. And then the Lord brought me
to my knees and showed me what I was and my need, my need, my
need of a Savior. Oh, the wretched man that I am
now is no better than the one I was then, except I have a savior,
one who has taken all the wretchedness from this man right before you
and taken it upon himself. He who is perfect in every single
step that he took took the wretchedness of all of his people. the sin
of all of His children, and took it upon as His own. Willingly, willingly took it to the cross,
shed His blood for us, and was in the belly of the earth for
three days and three nights. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not. But, but, here's that
us word we were talking about in Bible study, I should have
brought this out too. But, It's like in Ephesians chapter
2, but God. Isn't that fun to hear? Doesn't
that make you feel good when you know the sin that's in you,
and you know the grace of God who's already taken care of everything
for you? But God. Oh, I like to hear but
God. I feel better already just saying
but God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God. It wasn't something that
they had done. It's not of Him that willeth, nor of Him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Is that not what God's
Word says? Isn't that right? It's not of Him that willeth. God gave He power to them, gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. That's the whosoever. Whosoever
believeth in Him has everlasting life. God so loved the world. He so loved His people in the
world throughout all time, throughout all ages, throughout all tribes,
that He gave His only begotten Son for that people, the whosoever.
to them that believe on His name." And then verse 13, "...which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." I like to hear that. That's God's
grace to you and I. I didn't know it before, but
He's revealed it to me, as He reveals it to all of His children.
I would have never chose Him. You say, well, how do you know,
John? You can't go back. Yes, I can go back. No, I was blind as a bat. And
that's not even worse than that, because bats can sense something.
I had no sense. My mom used to say that to me
all the time when I was a kid. You got no sense, boy. Dad used to. OK, I've got to
share this one with you. Dad gets out of his pickup truck.
We've got a minute or two, don't we? Dad gets out of his pickup
truck. He's with Uncle Earl out there
in Arkansas. And he just lit a cigarette. He says, for some
reason, he just knew it was going to happen. He says, boy, don't
touch that. That was the old cigarette lighter
thing. You'd punch him in like that, and he'd get really red
hot. As soon as he got out of the truck, him and Uncle Earl
got around the front of the truck, John goes, ah! And screams. And Dad just laughs. Boy, you got no sense. Boy, you
got no sense. I know that. I know that I had
no sense. I know that I was blind. That
man who was cured of his blindness, who could see the sky and everything,
he knew he couldn't see it before, didn't he? Look what, wow. Could you imagine his first look,
his first feelings looking upon a loved one and saying, that's
what you look like. Well, that was the first point. He delights in revealing to his
children, his people, that he is Lord. He delights in that. And our
second point is that God delights in exercising His loving kindness. He is not bound by the works
of man. He does not owe us anything for
what we do. Our Lord delights in mercy. Look over Romans chapter 9 if
you would. Romans chapter 9. It won't take
long for us to get through these next three points. I promise you, you'll be home
in time for that barbecue you got planned this afternoon. Romans
chapter 9. Our Lord delights in mercy. He
delights in exercising his loving kindness and his loving mercy.
Look with me, if you would, Romans chapter 9, beginning at verse
9, for this is the word of promise, that at this time I will come
and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, For the
children, the twins that were in her womb, being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. It was said under her, the elder
shall serve the younger. And as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. What God does is
right. I pause for a moment because
I want you to think about that. Think of the worst thing you
know of in history that you can think of. The Nazis? Hitler? People at 9-11? Somebody who's killed one of
your loved ones? That's hard to think of that. Is there unrighteousness with
our God? No. No. For our Lord saith in verse
15, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he, hath God,
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted the will
of God? But O man, O man, who are you? Who art thou that replyest
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? And then Paul
goes on to write there, hath not the potter power over the
clay, the very one who created all of universe, all of those
who walk this earth? Our Creator, does He not have
the potter over the clay, the power of the clay, of the same
lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
What if God willing to show His wrath and to make His power known
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction? and that he might make known
the richness of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he
had aforeprepared unto glory. How shall they be saved? And that brings me to our third
point, judgment. Our Lord delights in exercising
judgment. God took delight in exercising
judgment on His Son. Turn over to the 53rd chapter
of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. He delighted, and we'll see very
clearly here in these words, He took pleasure in laying the
stripes on His Son for our sakes, for His people. He delighted
in exercising judgment Isaiah 53 verse 1, we read these
words, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? This is what we were talking
about just a moment ago back there in Romans. Our God has
mercy on whom He will have mercy. Whom will the arm of the Lord
be revealed to? To those that love Him, to those
He has loved before the world began. Verse 2, for He shall
grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a
dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire
Him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows. Oh, what a Savior! And acquainted with grief. Oh,
what a Savior! My Creator is a man of sorrows
for my sake, accounted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed
Him not. But surely, surely He hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. Our God was perfect. Perfect
in every step that He took. Perfect in everything He did.
Everything the Lord Jesus did pleased the Father. And He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid upon him, upon his Son, our Lord and Savior Christ
Jesus, the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not..." Grasp that! Grasp what we're
reading right there. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. When was the last time somebody
did something to you and you didn't say something about it? I'm not raising my hand because
I can't tell you when. My Lord said nothing as they
accused him falsely. Why? Because it was his purpose. It was His purpose to go to that
cross for my sins. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before His shears. He is dumb, so He
opened not His mouth. Verse 8, He was taken from prison
and judgment, and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut
off from the land of the living for the transgressions of My
people. Was He stricken? And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich, and his death, because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased,"
what did I say a moment ago? What's our subject right now?
What was our next point? Our Lord delights in judgment
upon his son. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. In Matthew chapter 17, verse
5, we read these words. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye Him. And this brings me to my last
point. God delights in the righteousness of His Son. Folks, there is only
one righteousness, There is none righteous other than Christ.
There is no not one. There is only one righteousness
that God will accept, and that is the perfect righteousness
of His Son. The sins of man must be punished.
If it were not for the loving kindness our Lord has for us,
if it were not for the perfect judgment laid upon our Redeemer,
if it were not for His perfect righteousness, all would spend
an eternity in damnation, never able to satisfy the justice of
God. Yet justice for God's elect has
been met. Our iniquities were laid upon
Him. Our sins were made His. Turn one more time, if you would,
to the 103rd Psalm, Psalms number 103. And while you're turning there,
allow me to read these words from 2 Corinthians 5.21. Familiar words, for He, speaking
of God the Father, hath made Him, God the Son, to be sin for
us. The perfect man of God was made
to be sin. Try to wrap your mind around
that one. I say that because this mind
can't. And I've had several try to explain it to me. My God was
made sin for me. This One who knew no sin, that
we, the children of God, the chosen from before the world
was, the predestined to be the children of God, might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Nothing here. Nothing in this
flesh. In Him. Look at verse 1 through
22 of Psalms 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with a loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth
is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
Folks, the Lord God Almighty has loved his people from before
the foundation of all creation. A people that He has sent to
receive His mercy, His grace. A people to be called out of
darkness that all mankind are born into. And as we all once
walk in that darkness, we see His loving kindness towards us,
and we see it please the Lord to bruise His Son, God in the
flesh, in our stead. It's called experienced grace. I know what I've earned, and
I know what He paid. He paid His life. What delights
my Father in Heaven? The Son of the Living God. Him. My Savior. What delights the Father? Him. And I'm in Him. And He's in me. I don't know how, but however
that works, He delights in me. We looked at several verses in
Bible study about the Lord and how He looks towards us. Go read
the pictorial story written by King Solomon, Song of Solomon.
That's about our Lord and Savior and how He thinks of us. We are
fair. in the eyes of our Lord." I'll close with these words.
You can turn there if you'd like in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I wanted to leave it on this closing
thought. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we
read these familiar words in verse 26. Wrong one. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And based things of the world which are which
is despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not
to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. But of him, of God, are ye in
Christ Jesus, who God has made unto you and I, made unto us
wisdom, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. To
God be the glory, great things he hath done.