You can go back to the book of
Isaiah, chapter 12. By the way, I tried. I thought
Brother Marvin was going to come Sunday after next. We had it
set up, but he called back and something else didn't work out. So he was my first choice. Isaiah 12. Read these verses
with me. Just six short verses. Chapter
11 led into this. And in that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise Thee. Though Thou wast angry with me,
Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye
draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall
ye say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare or proclaim
his doings among the people, make mention that his name is
exalted, sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout. Thou inhabitant of Zion, for
great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of them." I read this a few weeks ago,
and it's stayed with me ever since. And you'd like to think
that's a message from the Lord if you can't get it off your
mind. And I couldn't, so I'm glad. But you notice in verse
1, he says, End that day. verse 4, in that day. And you
read with Gabe in chapter 11, verse 10, in that day. And over and over it says this
in the Scriptures, especially in the book of Isaiah. But I
began to count, and I quit counting after 50 times in the book of
Isaiah alone and throughout the Scriptures, in that day. And
what it's speaking of are three time periods. day, meaning time,
as we would say, an old fellow would say, back in my day, meaning
my era or my time. Three time periods spoken of
in the Scripture. Look back at chapter 11, verse
10. He speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
day there shall be a root of Jesse. He called him in verse
1, the rod of the stem of And he talks about his rest. He talks
about him being an infant. And that's the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And ever since the Lord Jesus
Christ came, that day when he came, that time, it's been the
last days. We've been in the very last days. And then there's the Lord's second
coming. of our Lord's return, and Scripture says things like
this, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of
God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we,
God's people, look for a new heaven and new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness." So that's the day when the Lord comes back
for His people, which is a wonderful day. Now, Peter said we are greatly
looking forward to that day. And then there's the day when
the Lord reveals Himself to you. And that's the day that he's
speaking of in chapter 12. In that day, he said, you will
say, praise the Lord. In that day, there's a day when
the Lord reveals Himself to each one of His people. There comes
a time when the Lord reveals Himself to each one of His people. It's called the day of salvation. In 2 Corinthians, he says, it's
a time accepted. It's the day of salvation. Behold,
Now is the day of salvation. And there was a day, there was
a time when everyone in here who has heard the gospel, there
was a time, there was a day when the Lord revealed himself to
you. And you said, praise the Lord. And all that he says here
in these verses, a time, a day when you first heard his voice.
He said, my sheep shall hear my voice. Now it's not a an actual
day per se that you can trace this back to. Very few people
can do that. Very few people can trace their,
when the Lord revealed Himself to them, back to an actual day. Some may be able to. But for
most, it's a It's a period of time when the Lord began, like
the blind man in John 9, to open your eyes, until finally one
day you did meet the Lord. And there's a time, though, when
He does finally open your eyes and your ears. He opens your
ears to hear His voice. He opens your eyes. The Lord
said, This is the Father's will, that everyone that seeth the
Son There's a time when you finally see the Lord Jesus Christ, who
He is, and you see your need of Him. And there was a time. And it's not an isolated event,
like I said, and it's not a day, an experience per se. There's
a lot of people who go through religious experiences which are
just that, emotional experiences. I had one as a young boy. I'm about 12 years old, and I
made a profession of faith. I remember distinctly being disturbed
by something and went down the aisle and I made a profession. Well, it didn't last. And what
the Lord does, though, will last. What the Lord does shall be forever. So this is not an experience. It's not something that you look
back to and say, I can remember and I'm... I'm saying because
of that day. No. But there is a day when the
Spirit of God through His Word reveals to you the Son of God.
And there's a confrontation, a confrontation like when there's
so many illustrations in the Scripture. Like Jacob, one of
my favorites. There was a day when the Lord
finally laid hold of Jacob and wrestled with him. And that day,
Jacob had his name changed. Had his name changed. He realized
who the Lord was. And that day, Jacob's walk was
changed from then on. And you know, you can't walk
with pride when you're walking with a limp. He was humbled and
he met the Lord. There was a day when Moses met
the Lord, didn't he? He was on the backside of a desert. He went up on that mountain.
He said, I think I'll see that sight. And he went up there and
he saw the Lord in that burning bush. And he was never the same,
was he? Never the same. There was a day
when Simon, Andrew, James, John, all of those fishermen, rough,
longshoremen, when the Lord Jesus Christ came by where they were
and said, follow me. And they did. And nothing was
the same. Matthew, publican, tax collector,
money was his life. There was a day when the Lord
came where he was and he was never the same. A woman at the
well, there was a day. She was religious and living
in sin. But God came where she was and
met her. and revealed himself to her.
And on and on. I could go with illustrations
like that. And so it was with you. And in that day, verse 1, it
says, In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee,
though thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away, and
thou comfortest me. There's conviction of sin. This
is what happened. And this is what I look for as
a preacher. I'm waiting to see the Lord move
in the hearts and lives of people that I preach to. And when that
happens, what you'll see is conviction of sin. Conviction of sin. O Lord, Isaiah said, you will
say, O Lord, I will praise Thee. You were angry with me. There's
a time when we believe the Lord is angry with us. The fear of
the Lord is beginning with us. We say that all the time, but
it is. And there was a time when you felt like the Lord was angry
with you, and you were cut off. Remember Isaiah, when he saw
the Lord, what did he say? I am undone. Woe is me. Before that, he was saying, woe
is you. Woe is you. And there comes a time when we're
convicted of our sin. Conviction comes before comfort.
Guilt comes before comfort. There was a time. I'll tell you
my testimony. As a young man, I believed the
truth. I was raised on the truth. I
was raised under the gospel. And I believed the doctrine.
Well, in my head. And I could argue it. And I did. But I didn't know the Lord. I
didn't know the Lord. And there has to come a time
when that doctrine becomes an experience in your heart. Like
the doctrine of TULIP begins with what? Total depravity. There comes a time when you not
only believe that man is totally depraved, when you believe you're
totally depraved. There comes a time, like an unconditional
election, you not only believe that God elected a people, you
hope He elected you. And that's your hope. There comes a time when you believe
that Christ died for His people, and saved His people. It's the
blood of Jesus Christ God's Son that cleanses us. And you hope
He did that for you. And irresistible grace and perseverance
of the same. So there comes a time when you're
confronted with that. And I distinctly remember a time,
a day, when the Lord began to Break my heart over what it was. And you know, it's not a one-time
thing. It continues to break. And I
remember distinctly feeling like, I need saving. I need saving. Though thou wast angry with me.
Now, I've got news for you. You know that God has never been
angry with His people. And Ephesians 2 where it says
we were all children of wrath even as others. That's not talking
about the wrath of God. That's talking about us being
mad at God. Our wrath. See, Christ was the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God loved His people
while they were yet sinners. They were always under the blood.
But He's going to make you feel like it. He's going to make you
feel like he's angry with you. Thou wast angry with me, and
your anger was turned away, he said, and you comforted me. How?
How do you find out that his anger is turned away? God, who
is angry with the wicked every day, yet is not angry with you.
What turned his anger? How do you have peace with God?
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. That God poured out His
wrath. You find that out. That God poured out His wrath
on His Son. That God's anger was dispensed
on His Son, on Christ. And then you've got comfort.
How comforted this man is. Verse 2, Behold, God is my salvation. I used to believe God is sovereign.
Still do. I used to believe He's sovereign.
The salvation is of the Lord. Then one day I felt like He's
my God. He's my God. Salvation comes
when the Lord comes to you and makes you say, God is my salvation,
my Savior. Verse 2, he said, Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. You know, there was a time when
I was afraid to trust the Lord. I almost thought it was presumption.
There are still times that I feel that way. Anybody? You feel so
sinful and so Unworthy. And when he says, believe,
and you just think, I've sinned away the day of grace or something
like that. It's not presumption. It's not presumption to trust
the Lord. It's permission. He tells us
to. It's not presumption. It's a
promise. He said, believe. Believe, and thou shalt not perish.
Believe. I love these verses. None that
trust in him shall be desolate. That's about all I can do, you
know. Trust in him. I will trust and not be afraid. Fear the Lord, but don't be afraid
to trust him. For the Lord Jehovah, he said,
verse 2, is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Jehovah, my strength and my song. I'll never forget when I first
heard someone preach on the names of the Lord. Those seven names.
And there are more. There are more names of Jehovah. But do you remember that? When you first heard those names?
Like Jehovah Jireh? Genesis 22. Do you remember that?
I'll never forget when I first heard someone preach on Genesis
22, where Abraham took Isaac up on that mountain and would
have sacrificed him, but God said, hold your hand. And there
was a ram caught in a thicket by his horn. He said, lay hold
of that and kill that ram in the stead of your son. Now, when
Abraham was walking up that mountain with his son Isaac, remember
what Isaac asked him? Father, here's the fire and here's
the wood. Where's the lamb for a burnt
offering? And what did Abraham say? In fact, Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord provided. Jehovah-Jireh. I'll never forget that. Jehovah-Sed-Kenneth. I'll never forget when I first
heard that name. Over in Jeremiah 23, this is
the name that he shall be called, Jehovah Sidkenna, the Lord our
Righteousness. I'll never forget when your husband
first heard that I read. The Lord our Righteousness. Oh
my. And that's our name. He said
that too over in another chapter in Isaiah. This is her name.
She's going to be called Jehovah Sidkenna. Like when a woman marries
A man, and that man assumes all responsibility for her. She takes
his name. And all the debt that she has
incurred, he pays it. Or is supposed to. Well, the
Lord did. The Lord did assume all the debts,
all to Him I owe, and He paid it all. And all that He accumulates
is hers, and we are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah.
The Lord Jehovah, Sid Keno, is my strength, He said, and my
song, my strength. He does it all for me. He does
it all for me. That's good news. And that day
I will say, praise Thee, You do it all. Thankfully, salvation
is truly of the Lord. That He will perform all the
works for me. My wife is constantly calling
on me to do heavy lifting for her. To do things for her. And
I don't mind one bit. She needs me. She needs my muscles,
if you will, although they're rapidly diminishing. But she
needs me. And I do not mind. I consider
it an honor to do that for her. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said,
cast your burden on the Lord. He's our strength. Cast your
burden on the Lord. He's our strength. And the Scripture
said, I love this, He'll carry us all the day. From the cradle to your hoary
head, He said, I'll carry you. He doesn't put us down for a
moment. We took the girls out to the dairy farm the other day
to get some milk. Mindy was holding Sophie. They grow up so fast, you know. She's getting bigger. Mindy said,
you carry her for a while. I said, okay, I don't mind. And
I carried her the whole time we were out there. And she was
getting heavy. But she wasn't heavenly. She's my granddaughter. I love
her. And the Lord said, cast your
care upon me. He careth for you. The Lord is
my strength. And He's my song. Look at that.
The Lord is my song. The Lord, Jesus Christ, is my
song. What are our songs of? What do
we sing? Songs of Zion are what? They're of Zion's Redeemer. That's
who we sing about, the Lord Jesus Christ. I will sing of my Redeemer
and His wondrous love to me on the cruel cross He suffered from
the curse to set me free. Sing, oh sing. The Lord has become
my song, my song. I remember, I do remember this
as a young person hearing others sing these songs and I was instructed
as a child to sing these songs as you do your children, which
they should. They should be taught to sing.
Hopefully someday they won't have to be told. Well, there
comes a day, in that day, other people's songs become your songs. And they don't tell you to sing,
you can't wait to sing. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His wondrous love to me on the cruel cross He suffered and from
the curse to set me free. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer."
There comes a day, in that day, those songs become your songs. And I am ashamed to admit this,
but I remember reaching a time when I was a teenager when I
almost didn't want to hear those songs. anymore. Thank God. Thank God He made those songs
my song. My song. That song is my song. He's become my song. He's become
my salvation. Now look at verse 3. Therefore,
now this is really the verse that caught my attention. And
I almost was going to devote the whole message to this one
verse. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells
of salvation." Drawing water with joy out of
the wells of salvation. And that day, you're going to
say, the Lord is my salvation. I'll praise the Lord. He was
angry with me, but he's turned his anger from me. And He's my
salvation. I trust Him. I'm not afraid.
The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He's my salvation.
And so with joy you draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Now, what's he talking about? He's already said God is our
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
salvation. He said this, He said to the
woman at the well. He said, the water of this well
will leave you thirsty. But the water I give unto you
shall be a wellspring, springing up life. God becomes the source
of our joy. Christ becomes our salvation,
the water of life. Now, like Isaac, who represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Isaac did for a
living? Remember what his occupation was? He's a well digger. He dug wells everywhere he went.
Like Isaac, our Lord has dug many wells for us to draw from.
He said, with joy shall ye draw water out of the well. Sources
to draw this water of life, to draw joy from Christ Himself. Okay? What are these wells of
salvation? Well, number one is Word. They
thank the Lord for His Word. We do every time we meet. His
Word. Number one, His Word preached.
Where would we be without this? I'm not sure that most of us
know because we're so used to it. Aren't we? We're so used to it that we take
it for granted. And perhaps if we had to go without
it, like you were saying, we might appreciate it more. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, not only to save His people one time in that day,
but the rest of their lives were saved, were kept by the power
of God. That's the preaching of His Word.
It's an unending source of water. How I rejoice and draw joy out
of preaching, not my own, but others. I thought of the disciples
that went out by twos and preaching everywhere. They went out by
twos. Well, while one of them was preaching,
the other one was sitting. He's getting preached to. And
when he'd sit down, he'd stand up. He'd get preached to. They
need it. Preaching. Preaching the Word.
Preaching Christ. And how I rejoice in hearing
the preaching. I need it. I utilize it all the
time. I listen to preaching. I have to hear the gospel. At times when I'm so downcast,
I go to the well of preaching the Word and I get joy from it. One thing made me ask Brother
Clay, as I just listened to a message by him, well, I've listened to
several over the last several months and other men, and was
so greatly blessed. and thankful what the Lord has
done through him. And he blessed me. He blessed
me. So I thought, I'm going to have
him down here. I'll have him down here. And
I tell you all the time that we need to utilize these means
because it's for your joy. It's for your salvation. The
reading of the Word. The reading of the Word. Now,
I often read out of duty, just like you. I often get up in the
mornings and I know I need to read the Word and I read it that
way. I read it out of duty. And I don't get a thing out of
it. Do you? Anybody? Anybody doesn't say
that. Everybody does. But there are
times when I need it. And I read it and the Lord blesses
me. The Lord speaks to me. I draw
comfort. You're talking about a deep well. A wellspring of comfort. If you
need it, you'll find it. If you dig. It says you'll draw. You have to go to the well and
draw it. Nobody can do it for you. But
it says you go and you'll draw joy from it. The reading of the
Word. The promises of God are wells
of salvation. Promises of God. This book is
full of warnings, yes, lest we presume. Warnings to the unbeliever. Warnings to the world. Dire warnings
to this world. But it's mostly full of promises
to God's people. Promises of salvation. And the Word says, all the promises
of God are in Christ and are, yea, And amen. Meaning, you can
count on it. Promising. Such as these. And
I draw from the same sources over and over again. I draw comfort
and joy from the same verses over and over again, such as
this. Psalm 130, verse 6. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, who shall stand? But, I love the buts in Scripture,
don't you? But, there is forgiveness with
thee. Oh my, verses like this, the
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, and them that
hope in his mercy. Taketh pleasure, that's about
all I can do is hope in his mercy. And I do fear him. Verses like
this, the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none
of them that trust in him shall be desolate. None of them that
trust in Him shall be destroyed. Verses like this. This is a faithful
Savior. How often do you go back to that
verse? This is a faithful Savior and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the
children. Even the children. Verses like
this. The Lord says, I give unto them eternal life. And they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation. But have you ever gone to the
well and you thought it ran dry? Like David. David said things
like this, is his mercy clean gone? You've gone to the well,
you've been needy, and you couldn't get a thing from it. Huh? You
felt like God was hiding His face from you. And the well had
run dry. The well of His mercy. Is His
mercy clean gone? David said, when the heavens
are brass, you try to pray. Anybody? Everybody. I remember when we had a well
out on the farm. And when he dug that well, we
had to go 300 feet, Stephen. You did the same thing. You had
to dig a couple of wells, didn't you? And, Buddy, when they hit
water, it was a glad day. A glad day. When they hit water, I was so
happy. And it was a gusher, 75 gallons a minute, something like
that. And that's a real well. And it
was good water. Not only do you want water, there's
no promise it would be good water. But it was good water, wonderful.
And I was so happy. Well, I took it for granted.
I took it for granted. I just turned it on. City people,
they think water comes out of the spigot. You just turn it
on, it's there and it's always going to be there. It's always
going to be there. If you have a well, has your
well ever run dry? This happened to me several times,
but the first time, I was watering the horses and I turned that
spigot on, you know, to fill up that 100 gallon tank and went
off and did something and forgot about it for hours. I went in the house, turned the
spigot on, no water. My heart sank. I remembered. I went running out there, you
know, shut it off. And then I went around and down
in the basement where my well is and that gauge was on zero. And I sat on the floor. And I
had never had a well before. I thought, it's gone forever. I did. You'll never have any
more water anymore. I've run it dry. And I sat on
that floor and I literally prayed, Lord, please, Don't let the well
be dry." And I sat there, and sat there, and in a minute, you don't know happiness, except
when you go to this well, and you think it's dry, and you think
His mercies are gone. Oh Lord, please, please. There's hope. There's hope. And you know, I did it again.
I did it two or three more times. Let the well run dry. And I found out later from a
well man that most wells are not pools of water, but rivers. You can't run them dry. I was
glad to know that. Because of my foolishness, I
thought I ran the well dry. You can't run the well of God's
mercy dry. Isn't that good to know? Huh? You'll draw with joy. If you've
ever been dry, you'll rejoice to find that water again. Wells. The wells of God's attributes. I was going to deal with God's
attributes. Dad is going to take each one of His attributes, which
is a deep wellspring of joy, to draw from. Each one of God's
attributes, like Malachi 3.6, I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore, you sons of Jacob. You change, you're up, you're
down. I'm not. Always up. Therefore, you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. The immutability that our God
does not change, that is a well you can draw joy from. God is
not going to change. When he calls you, his gifts
and his callings are without repentance. What's in grace? Always in grace. You can quote
me on that. I'll quote the Lord on that.
He said, I will have mercy and His mercy endureth forever. His
love? The love of God is a wellspring,
a deep well. Greater love hath none than Him.
His love is everlasting and is greater than anybody. We love
some people, don't we? After having my first child,
I thought, This is love. This is love. Then had grandchildren, I thought,
this is love. But no, our Lord said His love
is far greater. Far greater. I can't conceive
of that. But it's a well to draw joy from.
His mercy, His grace, the God of all grace. We're going to
need grace. We need grace. By grace he is saved, not only
spiritually, but materially and physically. Grace means gift.
His grace is bountiful, it's sufficient. Their sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. His
grace is superabundant. It's a well you can't run dry.
You need it all your life, and it's there. God's grace. You
go back to the barrel and stick your hand in it. He said, just
promise grace for the day. You go back to the barrel and
you'll find that grace every time. You go back to the cruise
of oil and you'll find just enough, just enough, a well. And in that
day you'll say, verse 4, in that day you'll say, praise the Lord,
praise the Lord. A lot of people use that term,
don't they? Hallelujah. Oh my, God's people
are safe in my heart. They really do. They're not praising
The Lord from their lips, from their heart. Now call upon His
name. Call upon His name. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord. And you call and you call
and you call, don't you, for the rest of your day. Yes, you
do. Declare His doings among the people. His doings. Many of you were in religion
at one time, didn't you? You probably talked about your
doings. What you did for the Lord. But
there was a day when you found out what He did for you. And
that's who's doing you. This is the Lord's doings. And
it's marvelous in our eyes. The Lord's doings among the people.
Make mention that His name is exalted. Oh, my. His name is exalted. Go on. And
I quit. Sing unto the Lord. I love after
Isaiah 53, you know, it talks about the wonderful work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 54 begins,
sing. After hearing about that work
of our Lord on Calvary's tree for His people, by His knowledge
shall His righteous servant justify many." He says, sing. Sing unto
the Lord. For He hath done excellent things,
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, is
known in all the earth. Every tribe, kindred, nation
and tongue are singing. And that's what they'll do in
heaven. That's what we'll do in heaven. A people which no
man can number is singing that song. Cry out, look at it, verse
6, cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion. What do you reckon the
children of Israel were doing when they walked out of Egypt
that day? After being in bondage for 400 years in the slime pits,
what do you reckon they were doing as they walked out that
day? Crying and shouting like in Israel. You know, the noise
was heard. Some were crying, some were laughing
and shouting, and they couldn't distinguish the difference. Crying
and shouting. What do you think they did when
they walked across that Red Sea on dry land and then looked back
and saw their enemies destroyed that were chasing them? What
do you think they were doing? Crying and shouting. What do
you think they did when they walked into that land of milk
and honey? After wandering through that wilderness all those years
and saw the grapes of Eskola, milk and honey. What do you think
Israel did when they saw David standing out there with Goliath's
head in his hands? Very intimate. And when we see
what the Lord has done on Calvary's tree and taken our Our captor,
captive, cry out and shout, Great is the Holy One of Israel! That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says He's in the midst of
death. Oh, God is in the midst of her, in the midst of His people. In that day, thou shalt say,
You were angry with me, but your anger has turned away. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Okay. Standard.