As I said, I was just reading
through God's Word and came across these verses, verses 22 and 23. Behold, therein shall be left
a remnant that shall be brought forth, sons and daughters. Behold,
they shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and
their doing, and you shall be comforted concerning the evil. that I brought upon Jerusalem. They shall comfort you. You'll see their ways in doing
that. And it gives me great comfort that you all are here this morning.
Great comfort. I need comfort. And we're going
to read 2 Corinthians where Paul said, The God of all comfort
comforts me. Paul said, Comforts me with the
same comfort I'm trying to give you. We're all comforted one
way. We just say, God will take care
of his people in the midst of all of this. Ezekiel was God's
prophet. He prophesied, he warned his people, everyone. Not only the
unbelieving world, but God's people. He warned them of consequence,
of wrath. Yes, wrath. It amazes me. You remember John the Baptist
said, Who hath not warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Like all prophets, apostles,
and preachers, they warn. Paul said, I cease
not to warn you day and night with tears. I didn't warn him. But it happened. People didn't
hear. They didn't listen to Ezekiel. They didn't listen to Isaiah.
They didn't listen to Jeremiah. They didn't listen to Daniel.
That's the lamentation of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Over in chapter
30, it said, don't turn there, but the Lord said, they're going
to come to you and they're going to sit and they're going to listen
to you and you play well on an instrument. He said, but they're
not going to hear you. I pray that this remnant does. Not me, but what the Lord says
to us. Go back to chapter 3 of Ezekiel. This is repeated three times
throughout Ezekiel. Three times. Chapter 3, chapter
18, chapter 33. Ezekiel 3, verse 17. Son of man, I have made thee
a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word
at my mouth and give them warning. When I say unto the wicked, thou
shalt surely die, thou givest him not warning, but speakest
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, and save his life. That
same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will
have acquired your hand. Yet, if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall
die in his iniquity, but you've done what I told you to." But,
verse 20, When a righteous man turn from his righteousness,
leave the gospel, commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before
him, he shall die because I has not given him warning. He shall
die, but his blood will I require at your hand. But, verse 21,
nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man, the righteous
man sin not, and he does not, he'll live because he's warned
and you've delivered your own soul. But he said this three
times to Ezekiel. Watchman, watchman, I back up
the same thing. Watchman, watchman, what of the
night? I warned them, I tell them, that's what I'm doing.
It's old-fashioned, isn't it? My, my. It sure is relevant,
isn't it? So, Ezekiel preached what the
Lord said, God's Word. Warnings and promises. That's
what we just read. Warnings and promises. He preached
repentance toward God. Isn't it? Repentance toward God. That's still the message today.
As old-fashioned and out-of-date as it is, it is still the message
today. Not now more than ever, not more
than ever, but it still, it always has been. And anyone that turns
by God's grace, by God's mercy, that's the only way we'll turn.
But anyone that does, He'll have mercy on them. Hmm. And comes to Christ. He preached
repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, he did. Ezekiel did. He preached Christ. He said,
Ezekiel, no Christ. Oh, yeah. Christ said, no man
comes to the Father but by man. You don't think that story in
Ezekiel 16 of Christ coming by that child in the field. And
on and on it goes. Ezekiel saw Christ like Daniel
did, a vision of the Son of Man, like unto the Son of God. Well,
chapter 14, now let's look at this, just look at it. Chapter
14. He said these religious leaders came to him, like they did our
Lord, and he said, they've set up their idols in their hearts.
I'm not their God, they don't come to worship me. They draw
near with their lips. That's what Isaiah said. And our Lord repeated that advice.
Well, did Isaiah prophesy of this generation? They draw near
with their lips. Their heart is sparked from it. It's going
through the motions. They've come to worship God.
They're going through the motions. And that describes most religion
today. So God said. That's what I'm
going to do. And you've heard me say repeatedly
You've heard God say repeatedly that religion is not the answer,
it's the problem. This is why the Lord sent all
this on Israel, and why He sent it now. And these prophets that have
been saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. So? This is
the hand of God. It's a hand of wrath, yes it
is. All the plagues of Egypt were
not mercy on Egypt, were wrath. It was mercy for the children
of Israel. Right? You know itself. That's what
God's Word says. I was going to read Psalm 107, Psalm 106,
and on and on it goes. God said, He even grew angry
with His people. Well, idols. What are idols?
Well, everything. Who's not guilty of it? The Scriptures call it covetousness,
I doubt it. Who is not guilty of it? Money,
career, home, family, recreation, food, drink, the things that
we give all our time and energy and effort and spend our thoughts
on and love and live for and think on, give ourselves to,
and give God the occasional thought. Anybody guilty? All of us. All of us. Everyone saw that verse 22
yet, or but, but God. Well, the Lord said, verse 3,
look at verse 3 of chapter 14. He said, they put a stumbling
block of their iniquity before their face. A stumbling block. What is that? I kept saying this,
didn't I? Chapter 3, stumbling block, stumbling
block. What does the New Testament say
about stumbling block? Because Christ is that stumbling
block. To the Jew, the stumbling block
gets in the way of their righteousness, you know. Gets in the way of
all their pretense. Christ came, man, oh man, He
exposed them all. It got in their way, so He said,
let's get rid of Him. They weren't worshiping God in
spirit and truth. They weren't rejoicing and looking for the
Christ to come. They weren't sinners. It was
a stumbling block then to the Greeks' foolishness. Now, we'll
figure this thing out. We don't need somebody to tell
us. We don't need somebody to reveal it to us. We don't need
somebody to die for our sins. We're not that bad. We're educated.
We're civilized people. We'll figure this thing out.
We'll get ourselves out of this mess. That's what the Greeks
say. Christ said, no, you cannot. Somebody's got to die. That's
how serious it is. Stumbling block. Foolishness
to the great. Christ is that stumbling block,
right? They set up this stumbling block of their iniquity before
their face. David said, I set the Lord always
before my face. But this is their righteousness.
This is some people's righteousness, if you ask them. First thing,
what is your hope of heaven? Why do you expect to go to heaven
when you die? The first thing out of their
mouth is what they believe. It's so, people. You know it's
so. You've talked to them. First thing out of their mouth.
And they say, well, I... You what? They say, Christ, who is he that
layeth anything in the charge of God's elect? It's God that
just That's what God's people say. All of them, without exception,
say, God is my salvation. Christ is my hope. Nothing I've
done. Not by works of righteousness
which I've done. When He mentioned these three
men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, three of the finest men on the face
of the earth, right? Was Noah a sinner? Oh yeah. He knew it. God showed us, didn't
He? Not too long after the flood,
God destroyed everybody. Noah saw that. Noah was warned. Noah moved with fear. Noah believed
God. That's righteousness, to believe
God. It's imputed to us for righteousness,
like Abraham. Abraham believed God. He didn't
do anything. He just believed God. God said,
this is what I'm going to do, and Abraham said, I believe. It's imputed, charged, reckoned
for righteousness. Not by works of righteousness
we have done. No one knew that, didn't they?
No one knew His salvation wasn't His good work. It was Christ,
which that ark represented, right? No one knew that if I'm going
to be spared the wrath of God that's coming on the whole world
because of all the sin, no one knew this ark is going to take
all the wrath. No one knew that. And so do you. So did all of God's people, without
exception, that's right. You know what, Daniel? Job? You
know, for a little while, Job was pleading his righteousness.
You've read it, haven't you? He said, I'm going to... He got
so self-defensive. He said, I've been righteous
and all that. Oh, no, Job. Now, come on now,
Job. Come on, you're going to lie, he said, Job. You're not
righteous now. I'm going to have to approve
you. It's not your righteousness. It's Christ's righteousness.
All of God's people do that. It's not a doctrine either. This
is the faith, the petition of their heart. They bring this
sacrifice of Christ always to God. Lord, let the blood of God's
Son be propitiation on the mercy seat for my soul. Doctrine. That's our hope of heaven, a
person. And he says, they put these idols
in their hearts. They had this stumbling block
before their face. And then God said, well, I'm
going to send them prophets. That's who they want to hear,
and that's who I'm going to send. Did you notice that God said
that He put a line like He did to Saul, King Saul?
He had Saul go to that witch and bring up what he thought
was Samuel. It wasn't Samuel. Oh, no. It
was a strong delusion. And on and on it goes. Because
if they won't hear God, it says God shall send them. He'll choose
their delusions. He'll send them. Prophesy smooth
things, okay? Here's a bunch of them. There's
plenty of them to tell you exactly what you want to hear. But you're
not going to have any peace. And when you see all these things
coming, that's now. And it's nothing
new. This has gone on from the beginning.
Nothing new. But God has a remnant. He has a remnant. Oh, look at
it. Verse 22. Let's just go on down
here. Behold, therein shall be left
a remnant." What's this remnant? Go to Romans 9 with me. You know
what this remnant is. You know where they came from.
It's a remnant according to the election of grace. There you
go. You're going to preach that election
again. Brethren, ain't nobody but a small class should be saved
if God hasn't chosen somebody. There's not a human being that
gives God a thought. The first man, Adam and Eve.
First woman. The angel, Satan. We don't want
a God. Why would God save anybody? Why would God save Adam and Eve? How ungrateful! They didn't need anything. But
they wanted the one thing He said you can't have. Why? We don't want to have this God
reign over us. We want to be free. Ain't that
right? That's mankind. It's all of us. And such were some of you. But
God, rich in mercy, chose you to salvage. Look at Romans 9.
We know this is so from experience. Again, it's not just doctrine.
This is our experience. Verse 14, what do we say? Is
there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. He said to Moses,
I will have mercy. The fact that God said, I will
have mercy is amazing. It's mercy. It's mercy that He'd
have mercy on anybody. But He said, my people. How merciful
is God? He said, I've chosen a people
more than the stars in the sky. Not one of them deserved it.
That ought to give us hope for those that we're praying for. Verse 15, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Mercy is always sovereign by
definition. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, not free will, it's God's will. Not of him that runneth,
it's not our works, but it's of God that showeth mercy. The Scripture said about Pharaoh,
for this same purpose have I raised thee up. To do what? To damn
him. Oh, it's not fair. He didn't
deal with us in fairness and justice. He didn't deal with
us for our sin. He had mercy on us. If he hadn't
stopped our wild career, he'd have dumped us in the river like
he did Pharaoh. And I might show my power in thee, my name might
be declared. Verse 18, Therefore have thee
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he harden. That's pretty clear isn't it?
Look at verse 27. Isaiah cried this concerning
Israel. Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. Chapter 11, go over there. A
remnant. Chapter 11. Again, Elijah, and we said this
earlier, Elijah poured out his heart, verse 3, Lord, they've
killed thy prophets, they've digged down thy altars, I'm left
alone, they seek my life. Do you remember when Daniel was
praying? We looked at Daniel's prayer
here, or you heard it with me, Daniel 9. He was praying that
when the nation said, you can't pray. He was praying for them. He was praying for them. They
said, you can't do this. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Daniel's prayer is going to be
the means God used to help somebody. But they said, you can't do it.
Stop this. They came to get Christ in the
garden right after he prayed that prayer. Coming to get you. What evil have I done? Look at verse 20, chapter 11,
verse 4. Elijah said, What saith the answer
of God unto him? God said, I have reserved to
myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the
image of Baal. Even so, men, at this present
time also. Right now. Then and now, there
is a remnant according to the election of Christ. Now, buddy, the world right now,
rather than argue with this and find fault with this, need to
give diligence, need to cry out, call unto God to make their calling
and election sure. To ask the Lord. I don't know if I'm one of the
elected or not, but I want to be. And how you know is you believe. It's your calling. When we did
4-0, we did predestinate. When we predestinated, he called
by our gospel. And he justified. How? Thank
you. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't God
merciful? Isn't God so gracious? Isn't
God so good? Aren't we so bad and God so good? Verse 6, so it's by grace. It's not works. Otherwise, grace
is no more grace. If it be works, it's not grace. It can't be both. It cannot be
both. Chapter 11, over there, look
at verse... Let's go on. Anyway, he said... Oh, I know, it's chapter 9 where
he said, Though the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." He said, except
the Lord had left us a seed, we've been like Sodom and Gomorrah
too. Right. Alright, Ezekiel 14, look at
verse 22. So he says to his remnant, his... Yeah, but God. Behold, therein, in all of this
shall be a remnant that shall be brought forth. A remnant,
both of sons and daughters, male and female, rich, poor, old,
young, black, white, and in fact, out of every kindred, tongue,
and nation under heaven. Isn't God good? The Jews resented
that. We're God's people in the whole
world, a bunch of dogs. No, God so loved the world, He
has people out of And sons, daughters, any, like he said to Zeke, any
that come. All, all that come. And he says
here in verse 22, they'll be brought out, that is brought
forth. Where will they be brought out
of? Out of the world. Out of darkness into his light.
Out of death into his light. Out of sin. Out of religion into
the truth, which is Christ. Where were they brought forth?
The Lord said to Ezekiel, they're going to come to you. Who's that? Christ. The higher Lord said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And you know,
when I'm preaching right now, exactly what Ezekiel preached.
Exactly what Ezekiel preached. And so does every true preacher
of God. Exactly what Ezekiel preached.
The same God, the same sin, the same judgments, but the same
mercy. The same one. One way, one truth,
one life, it's Jesus Christ. Come! We say, come unto Him,
all ye that labor in every land. He will give you rest. He will
have mercy. He will. All that the Father
give us now, a remnant. Have you come? Why we come here
tonight? We didn't have to come. Did we? Or did we? Or do we? This really is the one thing
that we have to do. Not especially in times like
this, but it just seems more needful to me. We'll go away from this place
with more peace and more joy than when we came. If we're here,
we will. That we wouldn't have had otherwise. He says in verse, oh, I love
this, I love this. He said, they will come to you,
sons and daughters, behold, they shall come forth unto you, and
you shall see their way and their doings, and you shall be comforted
concerning the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem, concerning all
that I brought upon it. You're going to be comforted
in this remnant according to the election of grace. You're
going to see their way and their doings. Christ, Scripture says,
shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He shall
not be discouraged, Isaiah said. He'll die on the cross for his
people. He'll send the Holy Spirit to the preachers of the gospel,
and they shall come. There won't be many at any given
time, but they'll come. There'll be a few. Here and there,
they'll come. All that the Father giveth, they'll come. They'll
come, they'll hear the gospel. Because Christ did not shed his
blood in vain. He did not shed His blood for
every man, but He did shed His blood for His sheep. And all
His sheep will hear His voice and come, and they will be brought
into the fold. And they will know, they will
realize the Lord is their shepherd. Their salvation, their strength,
their comfort, their everything. A remnant. And they'll know. They'll know. You know, a preacher,
we just preach Christ. Tell men to come to Christ, not
me. False preachers like these fellas
that have this altar call and all that, and they come down
front by the thousand like Billy Graham used to do. Those people aren't coming to
Christ, they're coming down to get closer to that evangelist.
And he's counting heads. And he's putting notches on his
belt. The true preacher like John. One time John was preaching,
Behold the Lamb, Behold the Lamb, Behold the Lamb. John had some
disciples. And Darrell, two of his disciples
quit following John and started following Christ. And John said,
Revival has come. He lost two members. He thought,
Hallelujah! Wow! And I'm following Him. And
following the Lord. That was his aim all along. Look! There he is! I told you, I'm
not the Christ. I'm not preaching myself. Well,
who are you? I'm the voice. What are you saying? Behold the Lamb. And God's people, they're going
to follow Him. His sheep are going to hear His voice through
the preaching of the Gospel. And they're going to come to
Christ. And the preachers are going to rejoice. You're going
to see their way. What is your way? There is a way that seems
right to man. The religious man. Their way,
the end of their way is death and destruction. There is a way. But God's people, His remnant,
His elect say, Christ is my way. Christ is the way. Christ is
the way, the truth concerning everything. Christ is made unto
me. You ask a believer anything,
ask him any question, he has one answer. Christ! What do you know? I'm an old
sinner and nothing at all, but I do know this, Jesus Christ
is my all and all. Wisdom He's made others with.
What about righteousness? I ain't nothing but an old sinner,
but Jesus Christ is all my righteousness. Sanctification. I'm an old sinner
and nothing at all. I can't seem to make myself one
whit better. I can't add one cubit to my stature. I can't grow one hair on my head.
But Jesus Christ is my ultimate hope and redemption. I have no
redeeming qualities. I cannot undo anything I've done.
I cannot atone for or undo anything I've ever done. But bless God,
my hope is that Jesus Christ undid it all. Paid for it all. He's my redemption. And God is
pleased with that price. Yes, laugh. Oh, rejoice. You'll see their way and their
doings. What about their doings? What do God's people do? They
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They come and sit and worship
Him. They give thanks unto Him. They offer the sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving with their lives. Oh, we murmur and complain like
everybody else, but by and large, by God's grace, We're going to see who did this.
Ezekiel 36. Go over there. Ezekiel 36. Let's see why this is their way
and they're doing it. Okay? Let's see who did this
work in them. Ezekiel 36. Some of you already
know this. Somebody that's listening, if
you've never read this, prepare to be blessed. Ezekiel 36. Look at them. You know, Barnabas came into
a city called Antioch, full of heathen people. They didn't know
God, they didn't know Christ, they didn't know anybody. The
Gospel was preached there. Barnabas says he saw the grace
of God. He says he saw the grace of God.
That is, he saw the grace of God at work in the hearts of
heathen. What did he see? Here's what
he saw. This is what God does. Chapter
36, verse 17. Son of man, when the house of
Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own
way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the
uncleanness of a rude woman. Didn't Isaiah say, All our righteousness
is in the right hand? Some of you were in religion
just like everybody else today. You were in religion. Some of
you. Some of you, like me, were in
the gutter. Same thing. Take the same mercy and grace.
Their way, whatever that way be, it ends in destruction. Verse
18, I poured my fury upon them. Verse 19, I scattered them. Verse
20, they entered unto the heathen, whether they win. And my story
particularly, terrible, since I was raised like the Jews, unto
the truth, and like that prodigal, brought great reproach on my
God and my family. They profaned my holy name, verse
20. But, verse 21, I had pity for
my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned. Verse 22,
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord,
I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my
holy name's sake, for Christ's sake, like old Mephibosheth. David said, this is for Jonathan's
sake. If we hadn't made a covenant,
he'd be killed like the rest of your brothers that were rebels
against me, Mephibosheth. And God in his goodness turned
Mephibosheth's heart, didn't he? Fetched him, brought him
to the feet of his king to hear mercy, what he'd done for him.
23, I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among
them, which you profaned in the midst of them. I am the Lord,
saith the Lord God. I'll be sanctified in you before
their eyes. I will take you from among the
heathen, gather you out of all countries, and will bring you
into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean. What's that? The blood of Jesus
Christ. The Word of God, the Gospel. From all your filthiness,
from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart. No, idols aren't
going to be in your heart. I am. Will I give you a new spirit,
or will I put it within you? Holy Spirit. I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh. I'll put my spirit within you. Cause you to walk in my
stature. You shall keep my judgment. And
do then, this will be your way and your doings, And ye shall
dwell in the land that I gave to your father, and ye shall
be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from
all your uncleanliness. I will cough up the corn, will
increase it, and lay no famine upon you. I will multiply the
fruit of the tree, increase of the field, that ye shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then, when I do
all this, Shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good, and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquity and your abominations. Not for your sake
do I this, saith the Lord God. Be it known unto you. Be ashamed
and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith
the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from
all your iniquity, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities.
The way shall be built in desolate land, tilled. And on down, verse
37, it says, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired.
They're going to pray. They're going to call. Whosoever
shall call. And we wouldn't have called.
We won't call unless the Lord calls us. And he said, verse 38, The holy
flock, the flock of Jerusalem, So shall the waste city be filled
with the blocks of men, and they shall know that I am the Lord."
What is the way? He said, in our text, go back
there. He said, you're going to see
their way. Some of you have been sitting there for years. Right
there where you're sitting right now. It's just the way. It's just what you do. Why? Why? Because God has put you in the
way, has put you in Christ, right? And your doings, you believe,
you trust, you look to the Lord, you thank Him. Why? Because it
is God that works within us, both the will and the do of His
good pleasure. What pleases the Lord? Faith
in His Son. Worship of His Son. Let everything
that hath breath do what? Praise the Lord. That's what
we're trying to do. That's all we're trying to do. Isn't it? He said, you're going
to be comforted concerning all the evil I've brought in this
land. That I brought. I did this. And
verse 23 says, they will comfort you. And I quoted to you 2 Corinthians
1 where Paul said, the God of all comfort and all grace, comforts,
He said, He comforts us in all our tribulation. Brethren, there
is no other comfort but God. His only comfort, knowing that
God sent this according to His will and His purpose. It's just. It's right. Judges all the earth
does right. And no innocent people suffer.
No, no. That can't happen. And to know
that God hath not dealt with us after our sins. that God hath
dealt with Christ according to our sin, in strict justice, poured
out on him, laid on him, and iniquity on us all, made him
to be sin for us. And there's therefore now no
condemnation in their crime. And whatever God sends because
of crime, is good. It's mercy. Mercy. And this is our comforted. And our Lord said, you must do
much tribulation. In the world you shall have tribulation. It's all going to come. You're
going to be right in the middle of it. You're going to be right in the middle
of it. But you need not despair. Don't fear. Don't fear ye their
fear. Listen to me now. Listen to the
Lord. If we be afflicted, Paul said, whatever it is, we have
the sentence of death in ourselves. We're going to die. Yes, we need
to realize that. We're going to die of something.
And what is it? It's going to be the Lord. It's
going to be God. Our days are set. The number
of our months are set with the Lord. They're appointed. We cannot
pass. That's God's Word. That's God's
promise. Fear not. Be not afraid. Didn't He say
that? And when time comes, you're not going to stop it. Because
it's the Lord, and He's going to give you the grace to endure
it. I haven't said at any point that God's people are not going
to get to Him. I have not said that one time. Have you heard
me say that? No, I have not said that. We might. But if we do,
it's the Lord. And He'll give us the grace to
get through it, and we'll bear a testimony like never before.
Like Job, who said, the Lord did all this. The Lord gave it
all, the Lord takes it away. Can everybody hear this? Blessed
be the name of the Lord. That all my life I've received
nothing but mercy, mercy, mercy and grace. Why shouldn't he stand
evil upon me? That's what he said to his unbelieving
wife, who received good at the hands of the Lord, not evil also.
But it's not evil. It's not evil. It's what we think
is evil. It's good for God's people. Do
you not find yourself now calling on the Lord as you haven't in
a long, long time? Huh? That's good! Because we forget Him time and
again, don't we? We do. I do! God sent this in mercy and
grace to His people. If my people, they're called
by my name, He'll humble himself and pray and turn from their
wicked way. I'll hear it from heaven. Seek my face and my people shall call on me and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked way and humble themselves. I'll
hear from heaven. I'll forgive all their And I'll
heal the land. I'll heal the land. So we collectively,
we call on the Lord for mercy upon all of us. All of us, not
just ourselves, but our nation, our people, don't we? We're all
getting really what we deserve, but God has not dealt with his
people that way. He's had mercy on us.
Remember that. You know what scares us is our
cause of our sinfulness. This is what scares me. I think
I'm a sinner. I really know better than anybody
else in the world. And in fact, the sins of God's
people are really worse than unbelief. It's worse. We sin
against knowledge. We sin against mercy. We sin
against grace, like Israel. The goodness of God ought to
lead us to repentance. And it does. But then it scares us that
because I'm such a worse sinner. Well, surely he's going to cut
me off. Surely, it won't be judgment,
no. Believe me. You're the same sinner now that
you were when you first came to the Lord for mercy and grace.
That was the beginning of your covenant. That was your hope
when you first came, wasn't it? God be merciful to me, the sinner.
And now here in the end, we plead the same thing. Let the blood
of Christ. Will He? The next message to the second
shift is Psalm 45. David said, I know you have been
favorable. And he goes on to say, but will you? Will you? Will you continue? So you might
want to tune into that. Yes, he will. Surely. I'll give
you the answer. Surely he will. He said he will.
So our Lord says to his remnant, to His preacher and Christ in
whom we're bound. They're going to come to you.
I'm going to bring them out. They're going to come to you.
And their way and their doings, they're going to come to you
by faith. And you'll be comforted. You're going to see this. And
you'll know, verse 23, in closing, you'll know that I've not done
without cause. I've not done anything without
cause. All that I have done, I've done all that. We see that
clearly don't we? Like Israel above the hand of
the Lord. And has it done it without cause?
God is just in all that he does. In judgment, in all the earth. And he's not shown mercy and
grace upon us without cause. What's the cause? Christ. Christ is the cause. And because,
because Christ died, brothers and sisters, hear God's Word,
we'll never die. Believe us that way. Then why don't we, my friend,
stand with me. Brother John, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please? We thank you for bringing us
here to hear thy word proclaimed, to hear the Lord Jesus Christ
high and lifted up. O Father, have mercy upon us,
for Christ's sake. Help us to worship thee. Be with thy people this day. Give us ear to hear and heart
to receive thy word. Let us not fear the fear of this
world, but cause us to fear Thee, O Lord. Thank you, Lord, for
Thy blessed coming. And in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we pray. Amen. Amen. And those who listen
on Mixed Radio, tune in again at 9.30. Mmm. That is amazing.