The scripture we're going to
be looking at is from Isaiah 35 verses 3 and 4, so we'll look
at that as soon as we begin in prayer. Let's pray. Father, we
thank you for your many blessings to us, which cannot be numbered. And yet, Lord, we find even in
our coming, we find we have to confess the sin in our prayer. We don't know what to pray as
we ought to. We ask that you would put in
our heart your own desire, that you would put the words of your
truth in our heart that we might think them, and words for us
to pray to express that need that you've shown to us in ourselves
and in others. And we pray, Lord, that you would
point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all our help is, all
of our hope, and you would encourage our hearts. We should not be
weak in faith, and yet we find ourselves weak in faith, and
so we pray for faith itself to believe you. We pray for a heart
that beats one with yours, a heart that's turned by your hand of
grace, the operation of your spirit in us to look to Christ
only and to hope forever in him. And out of this, Lord, we pray
this blessed fruit of love would spring from our hearts by your
own spirit so that we might love you because you first loved us
and we might love one another for the same motive and for the
same reason because the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased his
people with his own blood. We thank you that we can glory
in the cross that which was to the world great shame and mocking
and scorning and weakness and that which was to our Savior
the greatest suffering and shame We glory in that, and we find
all of our glory in our Lord Jesus Christ, who in love to
our souls laid down His own life, bore our sins in His own body,
and took His life again in triumph, and so now reigns over sin and
death and all of our enemies. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. If you want to turn to Isaiah
chapter 34 This verse almost speaks for
itself. I really want you to read it. I'm going to read several
scriptures to you, because the Bible itself is the Word of God,
and God is the one who has put this in His Word, and therefore
we have every reason to believe it and no reason to doubt it.
And that's why we look at God's Word, isn't it? The foundation
of our soul and our life and our eternity is what God has
said in His Word. Isaiah chapter 35. I'll read
from verse 1. I should actually read from verse
16 of the previous chapter from Isaiah 34, so I will from verse
16 of Isaiah 34. The description here, if you
understand how God has written in the Old Testament and through
all of Scripture, He has one view in mind. It is the eternal
redemption of His people by His Son, the glory of His Son in
their eternal redemption, and joining them to Christ and an
eternal union to the praise and glory of His grace. And this
is really a summation, as I see it, of all of Scripture. And
so here, in the history of the nation of Israel, Isaiah was
a prophet sent to that nation. During a time of great sin on
their part, and great rebellion, and idolatry, and unfaithfulness
to God, complete lack of consideration and remembrance of all of His
mercies to them, delivering them from Egypt, bringing them through
the Red Sea, through the wilderness, into Canaan, driving out their
enemies, establishing them there as a nation, and giving them
an inheritance in that all of which points to our own salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ who brought us out of sin, out of
Satan's dominion, through the Red Sea of God's judgment on
our enemies, through the wilderness of this world, which we now experience,
and into that promised land, that land of eternal salvation,
our rest in Christ, and establishing us in Christ. All those things
were pointing to really the Church of God, the elect of God who
were redeemed by the Lord. And so in this text of Scripture
here, as through the Old Testament throughout, God holds up to us
a people. And those people are a sinful
people, living in idolatry, in spite of God's goodness to them.
And they experience great tribulation and trouble because of their
own sin. God brings enemies upon them
because of their sins. And they, we'll read in another
place, they actually seek out salvation and trust in the gods
of their enemies. like the Egyptians, for example,
or the Syrians, or the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, all these
nations around them, even the Philistines and the Amalekites,
and we could go on and on naming these people. There were strangers
to the covenants of promise, strangers to God and to the nation
of Israel. as they sojourned in that land
that God had given them. And so what we're reading about
here is really a portrayal of the blessing that would come
on God's people in the New Testament era when he would pour out the
gospel with his spirit through the preaching of the gospel and
bring his people into eternal rest in Christ and that would
be for their salvation. So he says in verse 16 of Isaiah
34, seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read, no one of
these shall fall or fail, none shall want her mate, For my mouth
it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he
hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided unto them
by line. They shall possess it forever,
from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. He's
speaking about an inheritance granted to the people of God.
And we know in several places of scripture that God has given
his people an inheritance. Remember those precious places
where it says, for example, in Psalm 16, the Lord is my portion. God himself is our inheritance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we've inherited all things
in Christ our Savior. But going on, chapter 35, verse
1, So now the areas of the earth, he's picturing the blessings
that God would pour out on his people, and he says it'll be
like when the desert blossoms. an unexpected place for a garden
and it will become a garden. Verse 2, it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice even with joy in singing. The glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Those
were the choice places of the land of Canaan. And so he's saying
that God's people The Church of God would be given the greatest
blessings of His grace and of His favor because of their redemption
in Christ because of His favor towards them in Christ. Verse
3. And this is where I want to focus
a few moments of your time. Notice what he says here. Strengthen
ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Now here's a promise. It's a
promise given by God, written in his word, concerning a people
who are fearful and they're described by their weakness. Their hands
are weak and their knees are feeble. Their weak hands and
their feeble knees is just a pictorial way of describing their spiritual
weakness. Their inner weakness in themselves. And God has a word to say to
them. And here is what he says. Say
to them. He sends his messengers with
his gospel. And he says to them, this is
what you are to say to them. I apologize. He says, say to them that are
of a fearful heart. Now, in Revelation chapter 21
verse 8 it says that the fearful, among many other things, whoremongers
and adulterers and so on, idolaters, will all have their part in the
lake of fire. And I remember reading that or
hearing a message about that one time and fear gripped my
heart because I knew that I was fearful of having my part in
the lake of fire. And my fearfulness actually gave
me a good reason to think I would have my heart, my place in the
lake of fire. And so the Lord knows that this
is the tendency of His people is to be fearful. We looked last
time we met at the fear that struck the armies of Israel when
Goliath challenged them. They were all afraid from the
king on down. Only one was not afraid. It was
David. And so the Lord here is saying
to his people, to the fearful in heart, those who think themselves
to have good reason to fear that they have their part with the
wicked and not with God's people. That's the fear that grips the
heart of the doubting believer. And notice, those seem to be
a contradiction. How could you be a doubting believer?
Well, the disciples prayed, Lord, increase our faith in Luke 17,
verse 5, remember? And then I think it was in Mark,
chapter 9, where the father, who was told to believe, told
the Lord Jesus, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. So there's
always a measure of unbelief mingled with true faith. We see,
the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 13, as through a dark, through
a glass, darkly. It's like we're looking through
what should be glass, but to us it appears opaque. The image
through the glass just doesn't appear in its clear form because
our eyes are clouded. And a lot of that clouding is
because of our own unbelief. So God speaks to the fearful
in His congregation. And He speaks to them through
His ministers and He says, say to them of a fearful heart, this
is what God says now. Now a lot of times you'll see
people encourage one another, be strong. Just keep a stiff
upper lip or whatever the common phrase is. You can get through
this. You'll see people describing
their attitude toward a deadly disease like cancer and they
say, I just fought it. That's interesting how you can
fight something you have no power over. But God here comes with
His authority. God knows all things, doesn't
He? He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the outcome before He
created the world. He knows all His works. And so
He speaks, the One who knows all things. The One who orders
all things now speaks to us, speaks to the heart of His fearful
people. And he not only knows and orders
all things, but he does all things for us. The Lord performeth all
things for me. Psalm 57 verse 1 and 2. So, it's God now who's speaking,
not just a man. But he's speaking through the
prophet, through the preacher. And he's telling his people,
be strong. Be strong. It's like when your
dad, when you were afraid as a child and he spoke to you,
be strong, my son. There's nothing to fear. I'm
here now." And you took comfort in that, didn't you? Maybe you
were still a little afraid, but you knew that Dad was there and
he was going to take care of it. If Dad says he's going to
take care of it, it's pretty much a done deal. But here with
God, there's no doubt whatsoever. If God says there's no reason
to fear, And He cannot lie, He cannot fail, He does not change,
His will will be done, whatsoever He says shall come to pass, then
what can we know for certain? We have every reason to be strong. There is a foundation, a rock. Our Lord, our God is our rock. We cannot be moved because our
God is not moved. And He says, you who are fearful,
be strong. Fear not. You see that? Fear
not. Behold. Here's why. Look to your
God. Behold your God. You see? Don't look at your own strength. Don't view yourselves through
the eyes of your enemies. Don't look at the weakness you
know you have. Don't look at your ignorance.
Don't look at the weakness of your spiritual strength, or your
bodily strength, or your understanding, or your ability to pray, or your
ability to speak, or whatever it is. Don't look at yourselves. Behold your God. And then he
says this, your God will come with vengeance, even God, with
a recompense. Vengeance is taking out justice
against the offender. God is the one who does that.
And a recompense is a reward. It's a payback for good, or in
this case it could be a payback for evil done. And notice it
says, Behold your God, he will come with vengeance, even God
with a recompense, he will come and save you. Is there any possibility
that God will not fulfill his word? No. There cannot be any failure here.
He doesn't lie, he doesn't say, in this he doesn't say, now it's
dependent upon you. Does he? He just says, your God
will come and save you. And it's essential for us to
have any assurance before God, any confidence of hope, any trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ to realize that God's Word that points our
eyes to Him is the final terminating point of that gaze of our faith. We're not to look elsewhere.
We're not to consider anything else. Don't put any conditions
on God's Word because He Himself will do what He has spoken. Isaiah
46 verses 9 through 11 talk about this. I the Lord have spoken
and I will also do it. You see? And so, it's important
that we understand the comfort that we are to draw from this.
Those trembling souls in the kingdom of God, and this includes
all of us at one time or another, are to look to our God and His
promise that He will come and save us. And how did that happen?
In history. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Isn't that what God has said
in Galatians 4, 4-5 and 6? At the appointed time, God waited
with great anticipation. From eternity it was in his heart.
I can't hardly keep anything in. As soon as I hear of any
kind of news, whatever, I want to blurt it out. tend to be a
gossip or whatever. But God held it in at the right
time because He needed to wait in order to bring the full display
of all of the perfections of His nature and character in His
salvation of His people in His Son. He waited and waited until
the situation looked as dark as it could be. Until they had
no strength and they knew it. until their sins overflowed them
like a flood, and the justice of God was against them, until
they were in themselves children of wrath, even as others, and
in themselves dead in sins. And then God spoke life. And He spoke life because His
Son first took their sins and bore them too. And overcame their
sins and death and Satan and hell and the curse of God's law.
And freed them from the bondage and set them free. And then he
proclaimed it to them. He says, stand still now and
look and see the Lord's salvation. And so we see this here. It says
in verse 5, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and
the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame
man leap as a heart and a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall
shall sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams
in the desert and the parched ground shall become a pool and
the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of dragons
where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes and an
highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way
of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, the fools
shall not err therein." You see, God's salvation is so of God's
grace that it requires nothing from us, directs us to Christ
alone, and promises to save even the wayfaring man, the man who
is even a fool, he cannot err in this way because Christ's
wisdom, Christ's faithfulness and power and his obedience and
love unto death has established our everlasting righteousness.
And so he goes on, verse 9, No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon. Nor any ravenous beast shall
go up thereon. It shall be found there, but
the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. So God's accomplishment
of our salvation and the application of that great news to our hearts
through God-given faith produces a God-given joy, gladness, and
peace and rest. And God commands us, be strong,
fear not. And so what are we to do? We're
just going to pull up ourselves by the bootstraps, aren't we?
And we're going to get ourselves busy getting joyful and glad
and having peace and resting. But that's not the way it works,
does it? We don't get out of the pit that we got into by our
sin and unbelief with the same method. God has to rescue us,
and so we look. And even though it's a shameful
thing that we can't believe God who never lies, and we're unfaithful
and liars ourselves, and we ask him to give us grace even to
be strong and to fear not. So we take our needs back to
the Lord. Isn't that what we do? We cry,
Lord, save me, Lord. And look at the way that the
psalmist puts it in Psalm 106. In Psalm 106, in verse 4, he
says this, we often are fearful for various reasons. One reason
we're fearful is we think, I don't know if I'm one of God's elect. I don't know if God loved me
and gave his son for me and spared him not, but delivered him up
for me. So that I can say with confidence, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? If God is for me, who shall be
against me? I can't say those things with confidence because
I don't know if I'm one of God's elect. How can I start here? Remember
the song we just sang, just as I am without one plea, but that
thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come. Do you want anything more than
the veracity of the Lamb of God, who sits on heaven's throne and
conquered sin and death? Do you want anything more than
his word to tell you to come to him, and that him that cometh
to me, Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out? Do we want
anything more than that? Do we want Him to say more than
He's already said? He's pointing us to Himself.
He deliberately tells us that He has redeemed His people, that
God the Father has chosen them. If He didn't do that, then we
couldn't be saved. We couldn't choose Him. Would
you want Him to say, I've loved everybody, died for everybody,
God's going to offer Himself to everybody, and those that
turn from their sins and believe Him will be saved? Do you want
Him to say that to you? Well then good luck with that
because you will have good cause to fear then because some part
of your salvation, in fact all of it, will depend upon you.
But God doesn't say that. The Lord Jesus tells the truth.
You come just as you are and find your all in Christ. Why? because he bid you come, because
he died for his people to redeem them. And so he says this here
in Psalm 106, verse 4, he says, Remember me, O LORD, with the
favor that thou bearest unto thy people. Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me
with thy salvation. See, this is a person who heard
of God's grace to his elect people and salvation and he says, remember
me, O Lord, like you remember them. And visit me with that
salvation that you give to them. This person is a fearful person
needing salvation and grace, and they bring their need to
the Lord and say, remember me. Where else are you going to go?
Are you going to clean yourself up? Are you going to produce
something in yourself to give yourself some kind of confidence
and assurance? More than just coming to Christ
and finding your all in Him. No, he says, no, remember me.
He leaves it all like the thief did. Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom. I know you're king. I know you're
going to rise again from the dead. I know you did this according
to the will of God to save your people. Now, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And the Lord Jesus, who in scripture
can you find who came to him that way that he turned away?
He himself said, He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. Come unto me all you who labor
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. That's the words of
Christ, the Son of God, the one appointed by God to save his
people from their sins. And so the psalmist prays, Lord,
this is the psalmist, by the Spirit of God, praying out the
words, the truth of God. And he says, Lord, remember me. with a favor. Aren't these words
that we can take into our own heart and pray them because God
has given these words to us? We want to borrow these words,
don't we? Claim them. Lord, you put this
in your word for sinners. You said, Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners, and I find myself to be the chief
of sinners, fearful and doubtful, finding no reason in myself for
hope or confidence. Okay. Then look to the Lord,
behold your God, he will come and save you. Lord, therefore
remember me with the favor that thou barest unto thy people.
Oh, visit me with thy salvation, that I, verse 5, that I may see
the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness
of thy nation. that I may glory with thine inheritance."
The people that you've claimed as your own, as your own inheritance.
You've called your holy people, your chosen generation, that
royal nation. Lord, remember me with them.
I don't know how you'll work it out. Lord, I'm coming to you
with whom nothing is impossible, asking you to do. For me, as
you do for your people, and I'm leaving it there with you. I
bring nothing. Just as I am, I come." In verse
6, he says, we have sinned with our fathers. We have committed
iniquity. We have done wickedly. You see
how he's pouring out a confession here? It's not pretense. He's
not trying to either butter himself up to make him look better or
to make himself look worse than he thinks it is. He just says,
look, we've sinned. We've done wickedly. Our fathers
understood not thy wonders in Egypt, they remembered not the
multitude of thy mercies, but they provoked him at the sea,
even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. Lord, since you saved these sinful
people who didn't even remember your mighty works and were sinful,
Lord, that nevertheless, that, but God, let that conjunction
interpose your grace in my life and save me and give me the courage
to be strong and the faith to fear not. You see? I want to
take you also to Numbers chapter 13. Here at the entrance into
Canaan, the nation of Israel stands, that first generation
that came out of Egypt, and they stand at the entrance. And I
want to read this to you because the narrative here is powerful.
You can see the trembling of the people here, and what God
did for them, promised to them, and how they responded. It says
in Numbers chapter 13 verse 26, and they went and came to Moses,
this would be the people who were sent out by Moses
to survey the land of Canaan. They were supposed to go out
and look around and scope it out and see if it really was,
how big it was and who was there and what kind of good things
were there according to God's promise and bring back the report
to the people. So they went and they came to
Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of Israel unto
the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh and brought back word to them
unto all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the
land. And they told him and said, we came to the land whither thou
sent us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this
is the fruit of it. And they were holding this one
cluster of grapes between two men, it was so huge. Nevertheless,
the people be strong. So they're saying, it's great,
it's wonderful, accept. The people be strong that dwell
in the land and the cities are walled and very great and moreover
we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land
of the south and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites
dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and
by the coast of Jordan. What are these people doing?
Well, it's great, but man, there's a lot of impediments in the way
and we cannot overcome those things. We're terrified. These
things confront us and impose a threat to us. We don't think
it's wise to do anything, to try to subject ourselves to the
dangers of going into this land. Verse 30, and Caleb, stilled
the people before Moses. He said, stilling the people,
they were confused, they were terrified, and they felt themselves
to be weak. And Caleb says, let us go up
at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, we are not able to
go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. Duh. Didn't the Lord know that they
were stronger than you? He didn't send you up to find
out that they were stronger than you and then have you turning
back. He sent you up to see what the
Lord was going to do to your enemies. Like Caleb saw. In verse 32. And so they brought
up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto
the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have
gone to search it is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof,
and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature,
giants. And there we saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in
our own sight as grasshoppers. And so we were in their sight. We looked upon ourselves and
what did we see? A little bug compared to the
giants. They're going to eat us up. And
so guess what? They saw us in their own sight
as little grasshoppers. We're doomed. And they brought
this report to the children of Israel. The ones to whom God
said to his prophets, tell them this. Those whose hands are weak
and knees are feeble, you tell them this, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God shall come and
save you. But they didn't do that, did
they? They looked at themselves through the eyes of their enemies.
Caleb looked at the enemies through the eyes of God's promise. And
that's why Caleb was strong. He didn't look upon his own strength. He saw them like David looking
at Goliath. He saw them in the eyes of God.
And so in verse 14, And all the congregation lifted up their
voice and cried, and the people wept that night. This is what
happens when you are fearful. God said be strong. God says
do not fear. And here they are trembling.
What does it mean? It means that they had some expectation
that the success depended upon their own strength. That the
circumstances that they saw, the appearance of things, was
the way things are, instead of what God had said in His word. And that the outcome, the expectation,
was what they could see with their eyes. But faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so he says, In verse 2, "...and
all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
and the whole congregation said to them, Would God that we had
died in the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this
wilderness?" The fate of ourselves is worse now. than it would have
been if we would have just died in Egypt or in the wilderness.
Wherefore has the Lord brought us up into this land to fall
by the sword that our wives and our children would be appraised?
You see what unbelief does? It accuses God in your heart
of an evil intent. Look at my circumstances. Things
are horrible. The outlook is bad. I don't know
what to do. I'm not surprised, because you're
looking at everything through the eyes of your carnal mind. And God says, you look at what
I've said, you listen to what I've said, and put your hope
in the Lord. So he says, verse 3, and wherefore
hath the Lord brought us up? I read that, verse 4. And they
said one to another, let us make a captain, let us return to Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly
of the congregation of the children of Israel, and Joshua the son
of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them
that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake
to all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which
we pass through to search it, it is an exceeding good land.
And if the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this
land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey,
only, listen, rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the
people of the land, for they are bred for us, their defense
is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not."
That's God's word. God's the one who said it. God's
going to fulfill it. And the heart of God's people,
though faint and weary, though feeble and weak, here's God's
word. takes God's own word to him and
says, Lord, do as you have said. That's what David said in 2 Samuel
7 25, when the Lord gave him all these promises concerning
the house he was going to build for him, pointing to Christ.
And the Gentiles and the nation of Israel, the elect among God's
people being brought in. And David said, Lord, it's too
great. I'm praying this prayer because
you put it in my heart, Lord. You do what you have said. I'm
praying this prayer that you have put in the heart of your
people, Lord. Remember me with the favor that you have towards
your people. Remember me and visit me with
your salvation. Let me see the good of thy chosen,
that I may glory with your inheritance. You see, these are the words
of God. Now turn to Psalm 42. I want to take a look at this
psalm. Just briefly with you. Psalm 42. The scriptures are
filled with these two things set side by side. The despondency,
the fear, and the weakness of God's people. God's word that
exhorts them to look to Him. in his son, and find they're
all in him, and then the salvation that he gives them against all
outward circumstances. And inward too. Psalm 42. This
is the worst kind of enemy, I think. An inner discouragement, an inner
despondency, because I've lost a sense of God's saving grace that can deliver
me, not by my own strength, but for what He finds and has done
in the Lord Jesus. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. When the deer
runs from the dogs or when the deer is in the desert and there's
nothing to drink and they're having to eat things like snakes
or whatever they eat. And there's no water, and they're
thirsty. The deer cries out with his thirst, oh, thirsty. And so my soul is panting for
God. I'm pursued by the hound of my
own sins, my own fears, and my own weaknesses. Oh, God, I'm
thirsting for you. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God, to appear in order to see his face? Verse three,
my tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually
say to me, where is thy God? Look at you. Verse four, when
I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had
gone with a multitude. I went with them to the house
of God, with a voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that
kept holy day. I remember going with the people
of God. I remember hearing the great
things of God's word. I remember that. But I've lost
that sense. He says in verse 5, he speaks
to his soul now. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? I used to be quiet and had peace
and rest, and now I do not. I'm disquieted. Why are you disquieted
in me, O my soul? And then he tells his own soul,
hope thou in God. hope in God, for I shall yet
praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul
is cast down within me, therefore will I remember thee from the
land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill of Nizar. Deep
calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy water spouts all thy waves
and all thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command
his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall
be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say
to God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in
my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily to me,
where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God,
for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance
and my God. You see, this is a common theme,
isn't it? God's people are fearful and
weak in themselves. And then the word of God comes
like a spring of water in the desert to the thirsty deer. And
it tells them, hope in God, hope in God. Hoping the Lord Jesus
Christ, our God and Savior, isn't He our God? Didn't He say, His
name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins? We
need not fear because of our sins. That's the very first and
most fundamental fear. What has God done? What has the
Lord Jesus Christ done with our sins? Hasn't He, in His own body,
borne our sins, and carried them, and done away with them? I want
to turn with you to Romans chapter 5, if you want to turn there. Look at this verse here. The
Lord Jesus Christ has taken away the sins of his people. He says
in verse 21, As sin has reigned unto death. Remember Pharaoh
reigned over the Israelites in Egypt and they were in bitter
bondage for 400 and some years, 430 years. And they were going
to die there as slaves. He just wouldn't let them go.
I don't care who you're talking about. I don't know the Lord.
I'm not going to let these people go. Sin reigned to death. And how did the Lord deliver
the people from Egypt? He delivered them by the blood
of the Passover lamb, didn't he? He delivered them out of
Egypt. The Lord Jesus Christ here says,
Sin reigned unto death. Even so, As that sin reigned
to death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Through His righteousness,
because by the love of His own heart and His mind and will and
strength, He gave Himself for our sins. That's the everlasting
righteousness imputed to His people. And through that righteousness,
we are given eternal life all through the Lord Jesus Christ.
There we are. Bound in Egypt, under the curse,
having no hope, and without God, without hope in the world, without
Christ in the world, and the Lord comes to us and saves us
and delivers us, and He tells us this, be strong, fear not,
behold your God cometh, He will save you. And so we see that
Christ has done away with our sins, He's done away with death,
Here he says he's done away with sin, which is, sin is the sting
of death. He's taken the sting out of death.
He's overthrown death. He says, I will be thy plague.
I will be thy destruction. And we know this is true. All
in Christ shall live. You see, everything in scripture
comes to the fearful and weak hands and feeble knees of the
believer. And it redirects their concerns
and their anxieties away from themselves. Even the temptations
of Satan are under God's control. He can tempt no further than
God allows. And even his temptations are
used by God for our good. And greater is he who is in you
than he that is in the world. The world has been overcome by
Christ, John 16, 33. So, there's nothing that can
separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. If God be for us, who can be
against us? And you say, well, but still
the matter still remains. I don't know if I'm one of God's
elect. I don't know if Christ died for
me. And you begin to bring up all these objections. Is that
what God does? Does He say, well, you need to
find out if you're elect, you need to find out if Christ died
for you. No, He just says, look unto Me. And be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. Isaiah 45, 22. So this is exactly
the condition we find ourselves in. Helpless and hopeless, look
to Christ. And that's what God tells his
preachers to do. Point them to their Savior, their
Redeemer. Remind them of this. and show
them the words of other sinners in scripture who have prayed
with the same fears and see this but I want you to see one last
thing in this and then we'll close We get wrapped up in our
own despondencies, in our own fears and weaknesses because
we trust in ourselves. It's a sin of unbelief, isn't
it? But we can't see until God removes the scales, until He
takes away the darkness and lifts it and shines His light. We're
still utterly dependent upon Him. He says, be strong and don't
fear, fear not. But we're still utterly dependent
on His grace, don't we? With the Word has to come the
ability. And so we're still hanging on
His grace. But I want you to see one more
thing here. That the reason that we have this foundation of hope,
the reason we have any confidence that all of our sins have been
taken away, and that Satan has been overthrown, and subdued,
and defeated, and shamed. And the world has been overthrown.
And death and hell and the grave have been defeated. And even
God's law has taken sides with Him in justifying us for Christ's
sake. So everything now is for us.
God is for us and everything of God is for us. And He's given
us everything in Christ. And yet the whole reason for
this is that the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins in his own body. He became the man of sorrows. Is there any sorrow like unto
my sorrow? I want to take you to a couple
of scriptures. Look at Lamentations. The words of the psalmist in
the cry of his heart are because Christ has taken our sins and
therefore borne our sorrows. And because of this, we look
away to him who has already taken and overcome these things. Look
at Lamentation 1 verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done to me wherewith the Lord
has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. From above
hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them.
He hath spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back, he has
made me desolate and faint all the day. And then in verse 14,
Lamentations 1.14, The yoke of my transgressions is bound by
his hand, they are wreathed and come up upon my neck. He has
made my strength to fall. The Lord has delivered me into
their hands from whom I am not able to rise up." You see, what
is happening here? There's someone God has chosen.
Not you, not me, but our surety, our captain, our high priest,
our king, who has come in the power of God's Spirit with a
sinless life and an eternal life and he's taken our sins and bore
our sorrows in his own body on the tree and endured the curse
of them. And no one could bear those sorrows
but he. And so he's borne them. He's
taken them away. Look at Lamentations chapter
3. He says in verse 18, I said, my strength and my hope is perished
for the Lord. 3 Why is his hope and strength
perished? Because our sins were laid on
him, and they became his to bear before God, the guilt and shame
and reproach of them, and the terror of them, and the forsaking
of them. So he says, my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul has them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are
new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. And we can go on
and on. Psalms 69 and 22 and 31 and 38. All of these Psalms, Psalm 40,
they're all speaking of the sorrows. He was called in Isaiah 53, a
man of sorrows. Because he took our sins. He
bore our sorrows. I'll read this last one to you
in Isaiah 53. These are the words of the Lord
concerning Christ, and God directs us to Him. He says, don't look
at the giant despondency, don't look at your giant unbelief,
look to Christ. He says, Three, he is despised
and rejected of men. We didn't help him. We only despised
and rejected him. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne
our griefs, our diseases. and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Look
at one more verse. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter
4. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe Him? Do you believe that He was able
to take away the sins of His people and put them away so that
God would remember them no more? And having done that, He sits
in heaven to call his people to be strong and to fear not. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. Verse 14, he says, Seen then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, or in other words, we have a high priest
who can be touched, but was in all points tempted, like as we
are, yet without sin. He underwent sorrow. He underwent
grief of soul. He knew what it was to thirst
in his soul. He knew what it was for the waves
of sorrow and God's wrath and forsaking to come over him. He was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
as needy sinners looking to Christ, knowing we're received only because
of what God thinks of Him, come boldly, openly, with our needs,
just as I am, without one plea, unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And what is the form of that mercy and grace? How will it
come to us? He's going to hold up Christ
to us. He's going to tell us, there's your hope. He's all you
have. Is He enough? Is He enough? If He's not enough, what hope
do you have? Then you have reason for despondency. But if Christ is all your hope,
then be glad. I said I was going to only give
you one more verse, but I'm going to read another one to you. Let
me read this to you. From Psalm 92. I just saw this
before you got here. It says, Psalm 92. For thou,
Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. Psalm 92, verse 4. Thou, Lord, hast made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. Let's pray. Lord we thank you
that you have made us glad because of the Lord Jesus and by his
work and that we can trust you that when you said that we are
complete in him who in whom the fullness of the Godhead bodily
dwells and that that we lack nothing that he is our life because
he lives we live also that he's entered heaven that we can now
therefore see our place there with him, that we are accepted
because he was accepted, we triumph because he triumphed, and we
are seated in heaven with him because he's seated there, and
he is all of our hope, he's all of our salvation. We thank you
for this word that you tell your fearful people, be strong. Fear
not. Behold, your God shall come and
save you. And here He has come, and He
has saved us by His own sin-bearing, curse-bearing, sorrow-bearing
substitution for us on the cross. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.