Our next speaker is Brother Cody
Gruber, missionary to Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Thank you, Brother Paul. It's
good to be here with you tonight. Thank you for this opportunity. I want to take opportunity also
to thank this congregation for your prayers and support for
the mission work the Lord has called us to for these many years. I would like to speak to you
and to me about God's invincible, irresistible grace. Invincible, irresistible grace. How thankful, how thankful we
are, you who know the Lord Jesus Christ, that his grace really
does save sinners. by grace are you saved. It is through the faithfulness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by faith in Him, but it
is grace. That faith that you have, by
which you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a gift of God.
God gave you that faith. How thankful I am of the invincible,
sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of God is not
merely a desire in God's heart to do good to men. It's not merely
a sentimental idea in God's mind to do well to man. God's grace
is sovereign grace. There's no other kind of grace.
Sovereign grace. I want to speak tonight from
Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30. And I want us to see the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The guilty, hell-deserving sinners. Woe, woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ was given
a people from before the foundation of the world. One day he's going
to say, Here am I and all the children thou gavest me. But
in Adam, we all rebelled. In Adam, we all went astray. In Adam, we all lifted up our
fist as it were to God and said, No, God, not your will, but my
will. Woe to the rebellious children. that take counsel. We did take
counsel from Satan, not from the wonderful counselor
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the wonderful counselor.
We didn't take counsel from him. We took counsel, as it were,
from Satan. We believed the lie, and Adam rebelled against God.
Woe, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with a
covering. but not of my spirit." When Adam
fell, he went to try to cover himself from his nakedness. Man will never, of his own will,
seek the covering that God has provided, the covering that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Jehovah, our righteousness.
But man goes about to seek to cover his own nakedness, that
cover with the covering but not of my Spirit, that they may add
sin to sin." Not only rebelled against God, but now want God
to bring down his standards. Not only rebelled against God,
but now, you accept my fig leaves. You accept my filthy rags before
you. Would change God. take down his
glory. Woe to the rebellious children
that they may add sin to sin. That walk down into Egypt, and
I have not asked of my mouth, man by nature walks in the counsel
of the ungodly. You know who that is? That's
you and me by nature. Walks in the counsel of the ungodly.
Walks in his own thoughts and imagination. That is, man stalks
the world. They walk and they take counsel,
walk down to Egypt, and I'm not asking my mouth, not interested
in what God says, not interested. This is what I'm talking about.
I'm showing what God says here about man by nature. What God
says about you and me by nature and what how wonderful that grace
is that comes after a guilty, hell-deserving sinner. who is
contrary to God, walk down to Egypt and have not
asked of my mouth to strengthen himself in the strength of Pharaoh
and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Man would rather trust
in anything than to trust God, would rather trust anything than
to trust God's Word. Therefore shall the strength
of Pharaoh be your shame. those that put their trust in
men. The Lord has pronounced a curse on everyone that puts
their trust in the arm of the flesh. Put your strength or your
trust in Pharaoh, it's going to be your shame. And not just
Pharaoh, yourself. You know, the children of God,
by the grace of God, we are the children of God. We are the true
Israel, the Apostle Paul says, that worship God in spirit. We
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we don't have any confidence
in the strength of Pharaoh or ourselves. But man by nature
puts confidence in what man can do. It puts confidence in what
man can do. It puts trust in the shadow of
Egypt. That's going to be your confusion. If the Lord allows
anybody to go out into eternity trusting in man, he's going to
be ashamed. For his princes were at Zion,
and his ambassadors came to Hanes. And they were all ashamed of
the people that could not profit them, nor be in help nor profit,
but shame and also reproach. The burden of the beast of the
south into the land of trouble and anguish from whence come
the young and the old lion, the viper and the flying serpent. They will carry their riches
upon their shoulders of young asses and their treasures upon
the bunches of camels to a people that will not profit them. Man
will spend himself and everything he's got. That's what the Lord
says to his people in Isaiah 55. Why do you spend yourself?
Why do you spend for that which you cannot save? Man will spend
everything he has. Man wants to share the glory.
Man wants to get the glory and salvation. For the Egyptians shall help
in vain. Now, from the time that man fell, man has been trusting
in his own ability. That's the evil depravity of
man. He's dead in trespasses and sin,
and the worst is he doesn't know it. The Egyptians shall not help,
nor their help in vain, to no purpose. Therefore have I cried
concerning this, that their strength is to sit still." How wonderful,
how wonderful that as soon as man fell in the garden, the Lord
came. The Lord came with the message
of the gospel. Your strength, your salvation
is going to be in sitting still and seeing the salvation of the
Lord. We just got to hearing about the salvation of the Lord,
didn't we? He's sitting still. You know
why? Because he's satisfied. He's satisfied. And everyone
that is satisfied in him, he's also. God is satisfied, and that's
your salvation, to be satisfied. God's satisfied. This is what
the Lord has tried from the very beginning. Your salvation or
your strength is to be still. Stand still, Moses said. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. Salvation is of Jehovah,
from beginning to end, and everything in the middle. Stand still and
see the salvation. That's what the Lord has been
from the beginning. That's what that picture was
when the Lord took these animals, these skins of these animals,
and offered the sacrifice and dressed Adam and Eve. And Cain
and Abel, they heard from their father that the way that God
could be approached, the way that we could come to God is
through that one, the Lamb of God that should come. And by
looking to Him and trusting Him, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
believing in that one that were to come and to put away the sins,
that's our salvation. And by God's grace, Abel believed God, and he was
resting in that promise. That's our salvation today. But
look at this, what it says. I've told you from the beginning,
the Lord says, that your peak, that your strength is to stand
still. Now go write it down. I like
that. You know, when you want something,
you want to make sure you get it in writing. Get it in writing. Well, the Lord put it down in
writing. And here's what he says about you and me. He says, write
it down on a table and noted in a book that it may be for
time to come and ever and ever. His word is forever. Heaven and earth will pass away,
the Lord said, but his word will not pass away. This word is set. That this is a rebellious people. Lying children, children that
will not hear the word or the law of the Lord will not hear.
Don't want to hear it. Don't want to hear what God says.
Not only do not want to hear what God says, they tell the
they tell men say. They tell the seers, see not
and the prophets prophesied not unto us right things. Don't tell
us about God's holiness, we want to hear about Relativity. Well,
we don't want to hear about God's justice, we want to hear that
God loves everybody. Don't tell us the right things,
don't tell us how God can be just and justify the ungodly. We want to hear how good we are. We want to hear how good we are,
don't tell us right things. Speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy the truth. That's what men love. They love
to have it that way. And if you don't do it, get out
of the way, it says there in verse 11. Turn the side out of
the path. And here's the main thing. The
enmity of man is against the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in this ecumenical move,
they'll talk about God all day long. They'll talk about God
all day long. But you talk and you say that
there's only salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, only in Him. Oh, we don't want to have that.
We don't want to hear that. Take the Holy One of Israel,
cease Him to be before us. We don't want to hear the gospel
of Christ. Apostle Paul said, when I came
to you, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That is His person, who He is,
Jesus of Nazareth. the Christ of God, the Chosen
One, the Anointed One, Prophet, Priest, and King, and His work
on the cross, that He did put away the sins of His people,
that He is sitting down, that He is the King. We don't want
to hear about that. Wherefore, thus saith the Holy
One of Israel. You don't want to hear it? Here's
what the Lord says. Here's what the Lord Jesus Christ
says, because you despise this Word. And you trust in oppression
and perverseness and say and stay there on. That's your trust.
You trust in this perverseness. Therefore, this iniquity, I think
he's talking about here, he's talking about apostates. He's
talking about apostate. This is going to be to you like
a like a crack in the wall, so to say, and your destruction
is coming soon. Your destruction is coming soon.
Those of you who take the word of God and say, we don't They
have a knowledge of the Holy One of God. They're talking about
and they say, don't talk about it. That's going to be to you
is going to come without without warning. It's going to come fast.
It'll come suddenly in an instant. And it shall break as a breaking
of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces and he shall
not spare so that there shall not be found in the busting of
it a shard. to take fire from the hearth
or to take water with all out of the pit. It would be burst
in so many pieces you wouldn't even have enough to take a piece
of coal off the fire. But now look at this. Though
men, this is so wonderful, though men say we don't want to hear
about it, we don't want to hear the word of God, frostifies smooth
things, and evidently there are some Many, the Lord says, many
have gone out false prophets, yet the Lord continues speaking
his word. He continues sending out his
word through his preachers, for thus saith the Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel. Once again, you hear the message
of the gospel. In returning and rest shall you be saved. In returning
to God in Christ Jesus and resting in him, he's rested. God has rested from all his works.
You rest also in him. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Trust in his finished work and rest in returning and resting
in him. You shall be saved. Inquisitive
confidence shall be your strength. There's the gospel going forth
by faithful preachers. But look at here. Look at what
it says. And you would not. You would not. How stubborn is
man? How stubborn is man? You know,
man is dead in trespasses and sins, but the worst thing is
he will not. He cannot, but the issue is he
will not. The Lord said to those men, he
said, you search the scriptures, you search the scriptures, for
in them you think you have life. And they are they that testify
of me, and you will not come to me that you may have everlasting
life. You will not. That's man's obstinate
will against against the Lord Jesus Christ. You said no. Verse 16, you said no. For we'll
flee upon horses. We'll flee upon horses. Therefore, you'll flee. You say
you'll flee, well, you're going to flee. And you say, we'll ride
on swift, we'll be swift. Therefore, those that will persecute
you will be swift also. Hot on your heel. One thousand
shall be one, not shall you all flee. Till you be left as a beacon
upon the top of the mountain, as an ensign on a hill. In other
words, you're going to be made naked. You're going to be made
naked. You're going to be discovered.
The Lord is going to be after you on your path. You say no,
you say we will not, but bless God. I'm going to say it because
I've got to say it now. The depravity of man. And the
will of man is not going to overthrow and frustrate the will of the
Lord Jesus Christ. No. No. In other words, God's will
to save His people is not dependent on man's depraved will. The Lord
Jesus Christ is not on this throne wringing His hands, hoping His
people will make a decision for Jesus. No. He'll work in their life, and
He'll make them miserable, and He'll make them naked. He'll
make them hungry, because He's going to be gracious to them.
He's not going to leave them out there. He's not going to
let them be rebellious. They're rebellious, just like everybody
else, children of wrath, even as others, until you be left on a heel.
And therefore, will the Lord wait. Therefore, will the Lord wait.
OK, let me catch up with my notes. Therefore will the Lord wait.
God's grace is invincible, irresistible. The Lord will wait." I've heard
people say, well, if God is God, if there's a God, I heard one
man say, if God is on the throne, let him kill me with a lightning
bolt. Oh, foolish man. God will do
with you what He wants to do. But you're not going to provoke
Him. You're not going to frustrate Him. And man is not going to
frustrate God's will and God's purpose to save His people. It's
sovereign grace. You will not. You say no. But
the Lord is going to wait. You know, the Lord is waiting
right now for all His people to come. He's going to sit on
his throne till all his enemies may make his footstool. And like
you said, we were winning enemies at one time. And he, Saul of
Tarsus was an enemy. And the Lord conquered him. Saul
of Tarsus would not. But the Lord had him. The Lord
had him. Saul of Tarsus said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? He's going to wait to show mercy.
In other words, he has a time appointed. The time of grace,
the time in which he will reveal himself, therefore, where the
Lord wait and the Lord is waiting. And I don't mean to say that
he's waiting in a ring in his hand. That's not that's not the
picture. The picture is all things are happening according to his
purpose. Here's what he's saying, he's
waiting to all those that father gave him come to him. Let me
give you an example of this. What if the Lord had come in
the year 1900? Anybody born before 1900? We're all born since 1900. I don't know. I just had to give a sure number. But what if the Lord had come
in 1900? You're his people. You're one who was given to him
before the foundation of the world. And nothing is going to
frustrate God's purpose to have you. He gave his life. He gave his life to save his
people. And when that last one is brought to him, when that
last one, then he'll come. This is what the Apostle Paul
is saying there, excuse me, in Peter. In Peter chapter three
and verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some encounter
slackness, but is long-suffering. He's waiting. He's long suffering
to us, we're not willing that any should perish any of his
chosen people. But that all should come to repentance,
all should come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not willing
that any, therefore, will the Lord wait the patience of God. OK, I want us to look at several
things here. Like I said, first purpose of
God is not going to be overthrown by man's rebellion by man's depravity. He will save his people, but
notice here it says in verse 18. Therefore, the Lord wait
that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be
exalted. In his grace and mercy to you,
he's going to be exalted. God's chief glory. is that he
will have mercy. He will have mercy. This is by
glory. Moses knew the glory of the Lord. He had seen the works
and he said, I beseech you, show me your glory. Look in Exodus
chapter 34 with me. Exodus 34. You're very familiar
with this. Exodus 34. But the Lord said, the Lord passed
by and proclaimed the Lord The Lord, merciful and gracious. Long suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
upon the children's children, under the third and the fourth
generation. God's chief glory is that he
is going to show mercy to guilty sinners. He's going to show mercy. Therefore, will he be exalted
and having grace and showing mercy and being gracious to his
people? Therefore, he'll wait. Therefore,
he'll wait. Therefore, he'll be exalted,
the Lord Jesus Christ. God, who delights to show mercy,
he's rich in mercy, he's rich in mercy to guilty, rebellious
Hell-deserving sinners. But listen to this. God's mercy
could never be shown at the expense of his justice, could never be
shown at the expense of his justice. He's a just God. He's a just
God and a savior. But it says, therefore, will
he be exalted? He'll be exalted. That word also could be understood
lifted up. Therefore, he'll be lifted up.
The Lord Jesus Christ, that he may be gracious unto you, he
was lifted up on Calvary. This is how God can be just and
justify sinners through the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. Therefore, he'll be gracious
unto you by being lifted up on the cross. He said, if I be lifted
up, I'll draw all to me, all men unto me. Therefore, will
he be lifted up? He's lifted up on the cross,
and God declares his righteousness. God declares his righteousness.
The word of the cross, or the preaching of the cross, declares
the righteousness of God revealed, that God is just, that God will
punish sin. And at the same time, he shows
mercy to hell-deserving sinners. And when he's lifted up, When
you hear of the grace of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
this wins God's people. This draws God's people. It is
the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. It is preaching
Christ lifted up on the cross. It is preaching his sufficiency,
his substitutionary death, that he did put away the sins of his
on the cross. This is what this is what our
souls need. This is what I need to hear.
What we just got through here about the sufficiency of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by one sin offering, by one sacrifice
is made perfect forever. Them that are being sanctified. Well, and lifting up the Lord
Jesus Christ, we we preach the gospel. This says here in verse
18, And therefore, with the Lord wait. to be gracious unto you,
that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be
exalted." In other words, in this showing grace and mercy
to you, he's going to be exalted. He's going to be exalted. And
this is why he'll be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you.
In order for God to have mercy on sinners, your sin had to be
put away. Had to be put away. And it was
put away. and the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what it says here. For the Lord God is a God of
judgment. In order for him to be merciful,
God's justice had to fall on his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Lord will awake. How blessed is that? He's not frustrated. He's not
frustrated. He's not wringing his hand. Man
is rebellious. Man is obstinate in his will,
will not come. But he's not worried. He's not
worried. He'll wait. And he'll wait until
his purpose. Look over here in Revelation
chapter six. How long is it going to wait?
Look at Revelation chapter six. Verse nine says, and when he
opened the fifth seal, this is the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting
on the throne and he's opening the seals of God's purpose and
God's providence. All that's happening in time
is being directed. He said, all authority is given
to me in heaven and earth. He is the king and is uncovering
the seals, the purpose of God. And when it opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
For the word of God, those are. The test. The witnesses, those are the
witnesses that were slain for the word of God, for the testimony
in which they held, by the way, that is every believer. And they
cried with a loud voice saying, how long, oh, Lord, holy and
true, does not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on their And right robes were given unto
every one of them. You know what robe that is. That's
the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it was said
unto them that they should rest and returning and rest is yourself.
Rest. Keep on waiting. Rest yet for
a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren
that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. In
other words, everyone for whom the Lord Jesus Christ gave his
life will be coming, will be there. Wait. Therefore, will
he wait? And the Lord Jesus Christ is
waiting. And I don't, I mean to say that everything
that he's purposed to do has come in the past. I see in this that man is not,
God is not frustrated by the events that are happening. So
you just keep on preaching. So you just keep on preaching.
Go and preach the gospel to every creature. But nobody is, seems like nobody
is leaving. Keep on preaching. He's not frustrated. His purpose is being fulfilled.
He is going to call his people. in his time. Now look at this. Blessed are they that all them
that wait. Blessed are all them, all they
that wait for him. That is trust in him. He's going to wait to be gracious.
That is to say, he's going to be gracious. And when he shows
mercy and grace to a person, a believer, somebody, They're
going to trust in him. They're going to wait in him.
That's what they're going to do. You know, the Lord said this
to his disciples. He said, Whom say ye that I the
Son of Man am? And some said the prophets, John
the Baptist. And he said, Who do you say that
I am? Who do you say? And Peter said,
Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And the Lord said, Blessed are thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed the study of
my Father which is in heaven. You're blessed. You're blessed.
And this is what it's saying here. Blessed is everyone that
waits for him. Blessed is everyone that trusts
in him. Blessed is everyone that believes
on him. Are you trusting in the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ? As he revealed himself to you,
as he stripped you from your falsehoods, your own thoughts about how man will come to God, he's revealed himself in his
word, revealed himself in the personal work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And those who trust in him, the reason they trust in
him is because they're blessed of God. They're blessed of God. He's waiting to show mercy. You
know, I was talking to the pastor on the way over. He gave me a
very good illustration. I thought, I wish I'd said that,
but I'm going to say it anyway. We have this over and over again,
the Lord sitting at the well, that Samaritan woman, you know.
Her time was coming. Her time was coming. The Lord
sat there waiting to be merciful to that woman. And when that
time was there, he was merciful. He was not merciful before. In
other words, no one is born out of time. None of God's people
believe before God reveals Himself to them. And there's a time when
He reveals Himself in His Word, and a person's going to believe.
And when you believe, it's because you're born of God, blessed of
God. I trust that's going to bless
you. Now, the ladies have prepared
us some food and tomorrow we'll of a meal also at five o'clock,
five p.m. tomorrow. And thank the Lord
for those messages. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer and give thanks for the food.