Thank you. Isaiah chapter 9.
Go there to Isaiah chapter 9. Do you remember me saying that the other day I was looking for a word from
the Lord and I just had a venture, and I know you've done this,
I just turned and put my finger down. Have you ever done that?
Admit it. Sure you have. And you think,
well, that's a word from the Lord. Well, all of it is. Wherever
we put our finger down. But I put my finger down on verse 9. Isaiah 7 verse 9, the
last line says, If you will not believe, surely you shall not
be established. And I've been thinking about
that verse ever since, and it caused me to read the whole chapter,
and it caused me to bring a message on the radio this morning from
this chapter. If you will not believe, he said,
you shall not be established. The margin says it's because
you're not stable. If you're not stable, it's because
you don't believe. Or if you do, it's very small. Not settled. Stable means grounded,
settled, unmoved, unmoved. We're going to see in this story
how these people were moved like the trees in the wind, just shaken
over something they heard. And so he says, if you will not
believe, it's because you shall not be established, because you're
not stable. Why do we not have more faith? Huh? Why? Some of us are getting up in
years. Some of us. Most of you are older than me.
Now some of you anyway. Why don't we believe more? Huh? After all these years? After all the truth that He's
shown us. All the goodness, all the mercy we've received, all
our lives, all the provisions, all the protection, all the everything. Why don't we believe more? How could anything ever bother
us? It's because we don't have any
faith. The Lord's been providing, He's
so good, He's so merciful, so gracious, so compassionate, so
caring, and He knows our frame. He knows our frame. But His disciples,
He kept gently rebuking them, didn't He? When He was with them,
they saw even more than we did have. They said, what? Where's
your faith? We need to ask ourselves that
now. Why don't I trust Him more? Well, here in this story, Isaiah
7, here in this story, God sent His Word through a preacher.
That's how God speaks to people, always has. We just read in Ephesians
4, didn't we? That when He ascended up on high,
He gave gifts unto man. The greatest gift that God can
give a people is a preacher of the truth. There's so many false
prophets. To have a preacher of the truth,
a true preacher, is a great gift. And God has not left Himself
without a witness in any generation. God is so good, so merciful,
as to His people, He has a remnant. It's always been so, an elect,
chosen by God. And He sent His Word through
a preacher named Isaiah. to a man named Ahaz, verse 1. It came to pass in the days of
Ahaz, the son of Jotha, son of Uzziah. You remember that story?
When King Uzziah died, chapter 6. This is his grandson. He sent the word through Isaiah
to this king Ahaz of Judah. Now, Ahaz was a wicked man. He
was a wicked king. He did not believe the Lord.
He died in unbelief. But he was a ruler over God's
people. God's chosen people were under this wicked ruler. Does
that sound familiar? It's always been the case. What
goodness and mercy it was of our Lord to send His Word to
this man and to his people. To his people. All the way through
Isaiah, it says, hear the Word of the Lord. All the way through
Jeremiah, hear the Word of the Lord. In Isaiah 1, he says, hear
the Word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Why would He even bother
to speak to them? Why would He even bother? Because
God is so good, so merciful. Hear the word of the Lord, ye
rulers of Sodom, of Gomorrah." God ought to be silent, shouldn't
He? What is man that thou thinkest
on him, or would visit him, or speak to him? God keeps sending
His Word. As long as God's Word continues
to be preached, God's gonna show mercy to somebody. Isn't that
wonderful? You have a burden for anybody?
Anybody in this room? Somebody's not in this room?
You wish he was in this room? As long as he keeps sending his
word, there's mercy, there's grace, salvation. Syria, in this
chapter, it says, look at verse 1. The king of Judah, they told
him that Rezan, the king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Ramaliah, king
of Israel, they went up to Jerusalem to war against it. They were
against it. Syria was a heathen land. You
know that still is. Heathen land. That represents
the world. The ruler's name was Rezan. There's
a reason that's His name. It sounds like the word we use,
doesn't it? Well, that's who people are listening to. Reason. Not God. They were afraid of
reason. You think that's a coincidence
that our English language has that name there that the people
were scared to death. What they were hearing was the
voice of reason. Our God in Isaiah 1, he said,
come now, come to me. Let us reason together. Consult me. Ask at my mouth. I'll tell you the truth. What
you hear from reason is a rumor, and it'll destroy you. And you'd
be like the trees of wood, shaking like a leaf. That's what happened
to them. Israel. Israel was joined with
Syria. Israel. That's supposed to be
God's people. That was a vast majority of 11 tribes of Israel. All of them were idol worshippers. One little tribe, Judah, was
God's people. Brothers and sisters. This whole
world is religious. This United States of America
is religious, but the vast majority of people don't know God. Well,
Israel was joined with Syria, the heathen land, that is the
world. They were all in it together. They all believed the same thing.
They all were listening to reason. And they were against God and
His people. Did you notice it says they couldn't
prevail against Him? Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. They were against God's reason,
a vast sea of people, all believing the same thing, and they were
against God's people, a remnant, according to the election of
grace. They were against it. Turn to Revelation 12 with me. Brother John and I love these
verses, and maybe you don't recall this, but look at Revelation
12. I won't have you turn to too much Scripture, My, my. The best thing in Revelation
12, look at this. In verse 9, it says, the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He's been doing that since
the garden. He still is. He was cast out
into the earth. His angels were cast out with him, his devils,
his demons. The earth is full of them. I
heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His
Christ. What is that? The gospel. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night,
and they overcame him. How? By the blood of the Lamb. By the word of their testimony.
And they love not their lives unto death. Live in faith. I was going to
have you turn to another, but listen to this. Let me read it
to you. It says, the whole world makes war with the Lamb. The
Lamb shall overcome them. Why? He's Lord of lords, King
of kings. And they that are with Him are
called, chosen, faithful. They're not going to be overcome.
Why? They're with Him. He's with them. Emmanuel. That's the next part of this
chapter in chapter 7 of Isaiah. God with us. God with them. Well, the people, look at our
text. Look at verse 2 of Isaiah 7. The people, it was told, the
house of David. That's Jerusalem. Judah, saying,
Syria is confederate with Ephraim. They're all together. His heart
was moved, and the heart of the people as the trees of the wood
are moved with the wind. We would say, or shaken like
a leaf. Why? These invaders are after us. They're coming
to get us. They'll kill us all. Now, brothers and sisters, this
was real. They're not afraid of a disease. There's hundreds of thousands
of people with bows and arrows and spears coming to kill them
all, wipe them all out. Not a portion of them, all of
them. This was real. I've often thought, can you imagine
David coming in, coming in from a field of battle and his garments
are torn, he's got wounds all over him, he's got blood all
over his garment, and he's coming in, people sitting in there scared.
What are you afraid of? What? Get your armor on, let's go outside. This was real. They had hundreds
of thousands of enemy coming after them. And the people's heart was shaking
like a leaf. I thought of my parents. This
generation is gone. To have served in World War II,
you have to be a minimum of 95 years old, 94 years old. So they're
gone. They're all gone. But that generation
lived through the Depression. They lost their jobs. They lost
their homes. They lost all their money. They
lost it all. Scarlet fever. Tuberculosis. Keep naming it. By the way, I
told you my mother was a little girl and 94% of children under
15 that got scarlet fever died. 94%. You think you'd be scared of that?
Well, my mother got it. The Lord gave it to her. Do you
know what? Her sister, two years younger than her, my mother,
listen to this. Her sister's two years younger
than her. My mother was chewing gum. She had that fever. She
was chewing gum and put it on the bedpost. You remember that
old song? She put it on the bedpost. Her
sister came and picked it up and started chewing it. She didn't
get the fever. The God in whose hands our breath
is! Somebody says, this is airborne.
Sure it is. Everything is. And it's God's
air. In all our ways, if we don't
believe, we won't be established. We'll be shaking like a leaf. These people were scared. By
the way, my parents went through the Second World War. And they were afraid that Nazi
Germany would come over here and either kill us all or take
us captives. If not the invading army from
the east, then Japanese from the west. They were coming after
us. England, Scotland, Ireland, they'd
already gone through being bombed day and night. You don't think
that's fear? What are we facing? But these people were scared
to death. Isaiah was sent by the Lord to these people that
were scared to death. He was sent to comfort them.
God sent His preacher with sure words. And everything He said
was future. Everything was a prophecy. It's
going to take a while for them to see it come to pass. Brothers
and sisters, we've already seen it. We ought to have perfect
faith, shouldn't we? We've already seen it. We've
read the end of the chapter. We know the end from the beginning.
They didn't. They didn't have Bibles. They had a preacher. And it was all prophetic. It's
all future. There's a reason that Isaiah
is quoted more than any other prophet. Isaiah is quoted more
than any other prophet in the New Testament. Our Lord quoted
Isaiah. The Lord Jesus Christ quoted
His prophet Isaiah. Now, if that doesn't confirm
the word of that man... There are 66 chapters in Isaiah. How many books are in the Bible?
66. Is that coincidental? Beginning,
from beginning to end, Isaiah's warnings, warnings begins in
the beginning, doesn't it? Chapter 2, chapter 3, 4, 5, 6,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, and then promises. Starts talking
about somebody's coming. Somebody's coming, save his people
from their sins. Oh, when you get to chapter 50,
well, long before then, in Isaiah 6, I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. Chapter 7, I'll show you a sign, God said. I'll show you
a sign. A virgin shall conceive. Who
is it? God with us. Chapter 9. Chapter 9, a child
is born, a son is given. Who is it? The wonderful counselor. Don't take counsel from anybody
else. Don't receive it. Don't go to Egypt. That's what
he kept saying. Don't go to Egypt. Ask at his
mouth. He can't lie. The wonderful counselor. Who is he? The mighty God. God
was manifest in his flesh. The everlasting Father. He's
the Father of some people. Prince of what? Peace. Peace. When He left, Jesus Christ,
He said, Peace I leave with you. Peace with God. Peace of mind. Peace of heart. Peace. What peace? My peace, He said. How's that? In Isaiah, Thou wilt keep him
in perfect peace. How? Mind has stayed on Him. Who? Jehovah. Who's He? The Rock
of Ages. If you don't believe, you won't
be grounded. Firm foundation. He's saints
to the Lord. What more can he say to us than
he has said to you who for refuge on the Lord Jesus hath fled? Huh? Fear not. I am with thee. God with thee. Oh, be not dismayed.
He's our God. He'll always give us aid. I'm
ever with you. Isaiah is quoted more than any
other. From beginning to end, the truth, the truth is told
us about man. There's nothing new under the
sun. Some poor woman, talking to my wife on the phone, claims
to be a believer. She said, took a little jab at
me, knowing that we don't watch the news. She said, I know what's
going on. I watch the news. Oh, do you? So you're listening to people
that say there's no God? And you know what's going on?
Really? We know what's going on because
we listen to the one who has it going on. I know what's going on. If anybody
thinks they know anything, they know nothing is yet out there.
Here is knowledge to know Him. who has all things in his hand.
And you know what's going on. He declared the end from the
beginning. Read this book. Nothing new under the sun. There's
nothing going on now that hadn't gone on before. And we see it
happening. When it happens, we say, the
new is coming. The new is coming. The truth
of God, this is the truth of God. God's Word is to be trusted,
is to be believed, not man. God's Word is to be lived by,
God's Word is to walk in it by faith. We don't walk by sight,
we walk by faith. The things that are seen are
temporal. Our Lord said, don't judge by the sight of your eyes
or the hearing of the ear. How's that? Judge righteous judgment.
True. Things you see can't be trusted.
Temporal. God sends strong delusions. God
sends delusions. Is that right? You've read it.
That's what it says. If they don't believe the truth,
if they don't receive the love of the truth, He said, I'll send
them strong delusions. Well, look, look, look. That's
a fact. It's a fact. This is the fact. God's Word
is the truth. Truth, truth, truth. Mercy
and truth. You know what this book is full
of? Mercy and truth. Mercy and truth. It's the Lord's
mercies we're not considering. mercy and truth. Isaiah begins
with the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint, from
the sole of the feet to the top of the head of people, no soundness
in them, of children that rebelled against me, full of pride, full
of covetousness, full of idolatry, all of that. He said, and then
God warns and warns and warns, but then there's blessed promises.
Well, somebody's coming. Somebody's coming to save some
of these people. Yay, many. from their sin, from
wrath, from judgment, from death, from this world, from the God
of this world. Somebody's coming in the flesh. God manifests in the flesh. The
Son of the Most High God who came in Isaiah 53. Oh, grew up
as a tender plant, root out of dry ground. Why? Why? He became
a man. He became flesh. He became us
to live for us. You made a curse for us, made
sin for us. Pay the penalty, pay the price
to bring us to God. The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the truth. He is the truth. Mercy and truth
have met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he, all through Isaiah,
he talks about the burden, a burden, a burden, a burden. Why would God send a man with
a burden for the souls of people that don't want Him? Isn't that
something? Isn't God merciful? Isn't God
gracious to send the gospel to a people that don't want it?
To kill all the messengers that He sent? Isn't that unbelievable?
Unbelievable. But He says, Emmanuel is coming.
I'll show you a sign. The only sign that God has truly
given, all the types and symbols and shadows, signs and miracles,
you know what they point to? Jesus Christ. Everything throughout
the Old Testament points to Christ. Because He's the one, like the
serpent on the pole, made in the likeness of sinful flesh,
Christ crucified, that men look to and they'll live. Oh, he says,
ask me a sign to this man Ahaz, verse 12, verse 11. Ask a sign in the depth or in
the height above. Ask something deep. Ask of God. That's what God said, ask of
me. But in Isaiah 30, he says, whoa, one of these people that
go down to Egypt and ask, and they don't ask at my mouth. Is anybody asking you right now?
Is anybody asking a word from the Lord? What does God's Word
say about this? Anybody? We do. Don't we? Ask a sign. Ask something deep.
Ask something high. Scripture says, Oh, the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Ask something
deep. Man's a shallow creature. His
understanding is finite. It's darkened. Oh, the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Ask. Didn't
our Lord say, ask and you'll receive? Seek, you'll find. Knock
and it'll be open to you. He said, ask something high. Oh, to know the height and breadth
and length and depth of the love of God. Brothers and sisters, the end
of Isaiah, the beginning of Isaiah is of a depraved people. Throughout
Isaiah is woe unto them, and judgment, and God's anger. If you've read it, I told you
the other day, read Isaiah 13. It's frightening. It's supposed
to be. Because God says, let Him be your fear, let Him be
your dread. But then He says, a man is coming,
a man shall be a hiding place, a refuge, a covert from the storm. And Isaiah goes through there,
the son of God, covenant head, his elect, the substitute in
chapter 53. A people that He'll look to.
And Isaiah ends in chapter 66 with glory. Glory and rejoicing. And so does this book for those
that believe Him. The Scripture says, God says,
Christ said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. From what? Everything. We need saving from everything,
don't we? We need saving from sin. We need saving from wrath,
the judgment of God. We need saving from the world
that threatens to overcome us. We'll overcome the world one
way, blood of the Lamb, looking to Christ. He said, I've overcome
the world. From Satan, the God of this world
who holds people captive, we need saving one way. There's
only one way to be saved, Christ. He leads captivity captive. We
need saving from ourselves. If you read Ephesians 4 with
me, put on the old man, put off the old man, put on the new.
Do you have trouble with that? Without Him, you cannot do that.
We need saving from death, the fear of it. All our lifetime,
we're subject to fear of death. Aren't we? All of us. From the
youngest to the old. How? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. The Lord. He's Lord. He really
is. He's not a figurehead. That's
not just a name. That's who He is. That's what
He does. He's Lord. What's that? Lord of Lords. King
of King. The King's heart is in the hands
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your heart's in His hands. Your
breath is in His hands. Your family's in His hands. Your
future, tomorrow, is in His hands. Believe. Oh, you'd be so settled,
so established, so strengthened. Jesus, call His name Jesus. Why? He shall save His people
from their sins. He's going to save them from
their sin. Did He? Yes, He did. On the cross He said, it's finished.
Sins are gone. I put them away. I took them
to where they'll never be found again. I'm afraid though, I'm
afraid that when it's all over, God's going to send me to hell.
Why are you afraid? Because I'm a sinner. Oh, this is a faithful
saying. Christ came to save sinners.
Are you a sinner? Yeah, I'm the worst. That's who
He came to save. But what? But God. If you've got a but, say that. Then you'll be grounded and settled
and strengthened and sure and settled. My sins were ever before
me. But God, the blood is before
the Lord. Jesus Christ is His name. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, what's that? Second Adam.
God's dealing with you through your substitute. God is dealing
with you through a covenant head. God deals with two men in this
world, Adam and Christ. Those in Adam, in Adam all die. Those in Christ are made alive,
every one of them. He's not dealing with you. He's
dealing with Christ. You're accepted in the Beloved.
You're going to be there because he's already there. Oh, I'm just afraid, I'm just
afraid. Of what? He said, I gave Egypt for you.
I gave Ethiopia for thy ransom. You're precious in my sight.
Who's he talking to, John? Jacob. Oh, happy is he that the
God of Jacob for his help. The God of Jacob is our trust,
is our hiding place, is our shield. Jacob? You wouldn't have anything
to do with Jacob if you knew him. You'd have chosen Esau.
You wouldn't have chosen Jacob. But God chose Jacob. He said, I've loved him, and
I'll love him with an everlasting love. And he said, God just came
to Jacob, wrestled with him, put him on the ground, said,
now here's what I want to do for you for the rest of your life. Boy, that will settle you. That
will settle you. Stayed upon Jehovah. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Our Lord Jesus Christ was saving
and keeping and providing and consoling and saving His apostles
the whole time He was with them. All the time. He kept telling
them. Peace, be still, be not afraid, be not faithless. He's
saving them. One time he was in a ship with
them in a storm. He was in several storms with
them. But he was in a ship with them in a storm and they all
thought they were going to drown. All of them, hardened sailors,
they all thought to a man, we're going down. This is it. You remember
where he was, the Lord. He was in the ship. That boat can't go down. They said of the Titanic that
man built, it cannot sink. And so everybody
got on board. What happened? It sunk. They probably said of the ark,
no way that'll float. There's no way that big ship
with all those animals on it will float. What happened? It
floated. Everything else sunk. But that,
what is that? That's Christ. If you're in Christ,
everything's going down but Him and those in Him. That can't
be. It is so. He was in that ship. He's in
this church. He's in the midst of his church,
the city of God. God's in the midst of her. And he said, I will never leave.
Well, they went running to him. Here's what they said to him.
They all thought they were going down. Master, don't you care? We're perishing. That's what
they said. Don't you care? Look what we're going through.
They were rowing, trying to bail water. Don't you care? What selfish,
unbelieving, childish, their hearts were moved like freezing
wind. Care? He had already shown them
for a long time how much he cared. He came down from heaven because
he cared. You didn't have to do that. Everything he did every
day, day in and day out, was because he cared. They should
have cast their care on him, for he cared for them. Don't
you care? Look what I'm going through.
You ever said that? He arose, wiped the sweet sleep
out of his eyes, walked to the bow of that ship, and told the
wind, stop. He told the waves, lie down.
And he turned to them and said, where's your faith? Another time, another time, they
were in a storm. Another storm, okay? And they
thought he had abandoned them. He wasn't in the ship. He wasn't
in the ship. They all thought they were going
down. They'd been rowing for hours. They thought, this is
it. He came walking on the water. It can't happen. It did. He's
overcome this world. The world is under His feet.
Everything is in His hands and under His feet, okay? He came
walking to them and they thought they saw a spirit. They all thought
they saw a spirit. And Simon Peter said, if it's
you, if it's you, If it's you, if it's you, bid me come to you
on the water. Come. And bless your heart. Simon Peter stepped out on that water. That
can't happen. Well, He did. By the grace of
God, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master of the Sea,
keeping His eye on the Lord Jesus Christ, He did what was impossible
for a human being to do. Walk above this world. Walk over
his fears. No fear whatsoever. Looking to
cry. He walked on water. That can't happen. It did. It
did. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me. Looking unto Him. At Hebrews
11, all those people that refused to be delivered from going to
the stake, how did they do that? Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
They loved not their lives unto death. Well, Simon Peter did.
Briefly. Briefly. And then he started
listening to the waves crashing, he started listening to the lightning,
or the thunder roaring, and the cries of his brother, he started
going down. But the Lord in mercy saved him,
he reached down, and he uttered a three word prayer, Lord save
me. He did. He did. He always does. His people that look to him always
does. He lifted down and brought him up out of the waves and he
got in that ship with them and it says immediately they were
at land. It was calm. And then he said, where's your faith? Why don't
you believe? You thought I wasn't here with
you. I've never taken my eye off you. Never. If I'm in the ship, you can see
me. Nothing can happen. If you don't see me, I see you.
My eye is on you. My eye of love. My eye of mercy.
My eye of grace. I'm the one that set the storm.
I'm the one that set it to try you. You've already been through
a storm. Did you forget that? I brought you through that. Here's
another one. He's left it. No, he said, I'll never leave
you. I'll forsake you. Another time, he had risen from the grave. He said, go and I'll meet you. And he came walking. He walked
through the door. They were sitting there. And
he walked through the door. And it scared them all to death. Here's what he said, I love this.
He said, why do thoughts arise in your heart? He said, it is
I. He said that every time when
they were going through this, it is I. It is I. It is I. It is I. It is I. Whatever it
is, it's the Lord. It is I. Whatever happened, the
Lord said it. And he said, why do thoughts
arise in your heart? Meaning, why do you always think the worst?
Why does your imagination run wild? Why can't you believe me
and trust... Why can't you believe Christ
and trust Him? Why? Why? Why? Why? If we won't, we won't be established.
Well, brothers, here's the good thing. Here's the good thing
is whether we believe or not, He abides faithful. We'll just
be miserable in the meantime. You know what? He's kept us all
this year. He doth keep us. Paul said he hath delivered us,
he doth deliver us, and I trust he will yet deliver us. So I've
got the sentence of death. I know, like Job said, my days
are numbered. My bounds are set. I can't pass.
Paul said, I'm ready. Ready to be offered. Why? He knew whom he believed. He
grounded and set him. He knew home. Let me close with just a couple
of scriptures, okay? We'll just turn to two scriptures,
Isaiah 33. Go over to Isaiah 33. While you're turning there,
I'll tell you a story that happened recently. A man named Steve Jones. Some of you may know him. His
wife, Wanda Jones, plays the piano for Bruce Crabtree in Newcastle,
Indiana. Steve, I guess he's in his 60s,
but he hadn't known the Lord long. The Lord revealed himself
through Bruce preaching the gospel. And boy, he loved the Lord, loved
the gospel, loved God's people. and always seen with them and
always worshiping. Well, one night he was over at
Clarence and Gale Poor. You know, they've been here several
times. You can't forget Clarence. He's 6'6", about 300 pounds.
Been here several meetings, Clarence and Gale Poor. He was over at
their house, the Brethren, and he was sitting there. And he
hadn't known the Lord too long, but he started saying, Steve
said, I don't understand why people are afraid of dying. God's
people. He said, I don't understand that,
especially older people. He said, I don't understand why
older people are afraid of dying. I don't understand that. We ought
to look forward to it. Going to be with the Lord. The next day, they found him
dead. One that found her husband lying
on the ground, dead. The Lord took Enoch out. Enoch
walked on into glory. It's not death. It's better than
birth. True story. Isaiah 33, verse
5, the Lord is exalted. Isaiah 33, right smack in the
middle. Look at this. 66 books. 33rd chapter. The Lord is exalted. He dwelleth on high. He hath
filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. Read on. And wisdom
and knowledge. What's wisdom? Christ is wisdom. Oh, the knowledge of Him. To
be the stability of thy times. Whatever times. Our times are
in His hands. The strength of salvation. It's
the stability. The fear of the Lord. It's His
treasure. What does that mean? It means
few people have it. It's a precious thing, the fear
of the Lord. One more. Turn to 1 Peter chapter
5. 1 Peter chapter 5. And Peter was crucified. Brutally
murdered. By people. By men. Peter. Simon Peter. 1 Peter 5, look at this, and I'll
close with this. Let's end with this. 1 Peter
5, verse 7. Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Has that been one of our memory
verses yet? I don't remember. It ought to be. Casting all your
care upon Him, for He careth for you. Look at verse 10. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while. Remember, the Lord chose Job. The Lord chose Job to suffer. And the Lord chose Job's sufferings. and ours too, after you suffered
just a little while. After that, make you perfect,
establish, strengthen, settle you, settle you down. Because
you know what this is all to? To the glory, to Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. What's Amen mean? Means that's the way it is. And
we need to believe it. Let the Amen sound from His people
again. We've heard these things so many
times. Over and over again. Aren't we blessed? Keep hearing
these things. What things? The things of God.
The things of Christ. Truth. Truth. Truth. You're not
hearing truth in the world. You're not going to hear the
truth from the news. You're not going to hear the truth. You're going to hear hearsay.
We need to hear what He says. And it will ground itself, strengthen
it, establish it. Come what may, we'll say, it
is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good.
And for God's people, it is good. It's all good. Wait, and you'll
see. You just wait. He said, and you'll see. Okay. Let's sing a closing hymn, number
460. 460, and this is taken leaning on
the everlasting arms. It's taken from Deuteronomy 33,
I believe it is. Yes, the eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. Okay, let's stand and sing
that.