Well, we continue our studies through the book
of Isaiah, and I want to read all of Isaiah
12 right now, six short verses. Isaiah 12, let's read those six
verses. thou shalt say, O Lord, I will
praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine angers 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 you say,
Praise the Lord. Call upon his name. 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
thee." I wanted to read that in case I blow it. In case I don't say anything
worth hearing, we just read something worth
hearing. Several times throughout the
Scriptures, it talks about that day and that day and that day
and that day. Turn with me to Hebrews 3. Hebrews
chapter 3. The Apostle Paul, we believe,
is a writer, and he's quoting what Brother Sam read Psalm 95, Hebrews chapter 3, that day, in that day. And then
we're going to look at several days, I believe it's speaking
of, in that day. Hebrews chapter 3, look at verse
3, verse 7, Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today, if ye
will hear his voice." Today. Verse 13, "...exhort one another daily,
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened." Verse
15, "...while it is said today, if ye will hear his voice, harden
not your heart." Today, and it's not speaking
of a particular 24-hour period. It's not talking about a particular
day. He's talking about a time. Today
is the day of salvation, it says. Today. Well, that is, right now,
at this time period, the gospel is being preached. The gospel
is the gospel of God's salvation. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness,
what the world now calls foolishness, preaching. That's how he's saved. That's how he's always saved.
Christ said, My sheep will hear my voice. And that through the
preaching, the reading, the hearing of the gospel. All of them will
hear it, and it'll be a day of salvation. It'll be a time of
salvation. As long as this gospel is still
being preached, there are still sheep to be brought into the
fold. The gospel is still here in this
little congregation. That tells me that the Lord is
not through with us. That perhaps there are some sheep.
Perhaps today you will hear His voice. Someone who's never heard
it before. Perhaps today, if their hearts
aren't hardened, perhaps today will be the day of salvation. Today. While it's called today. While the gospel is still being
proclaimed. The day of salvation. The gospel
being preached. I like this passage. You don't have to turn, but Paul
said this, and it's a great comfort to me as a preacher. He said,
Thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Or that is, as long as we preach
Christ. He always causes us to triumph.
He makes manifest The savor of his knowledge by us in every
place. Always. Whenever God's Word got gospel
is proclaimed. This this is victory. He said this Johnny said my word
will not return void. It will accomplish what I sent
it to do and Paul said now somewhere a savior of life and some death,
but he always it never it never. Is a useless thing. I feel pretty
useful. I feel very. Come far short. Of doing this
as it should be done, especially when I go here. My preacher,
my pastor, a man of so many years experience, I hear him preach,
I think. And somebody made the comment. After hearing him at
that funeral, they said he he's the master preacher. I said,
yes he is. And, but Dan, this is my comfort. Whenever Christ is preached, he always calls us to try. It
doesn't matter how good I feel. It doesn't matter if I yell or
if I don't yell. It doesn't matter. I feel good
and it doesn't matter. It's not up to the preacher.
But it's God's Word, and when bloweth where it listeth, it
cannot tell the sound thereof. And upon whom, whomever the Holy
Spirit is pleased to make that Spirit, to have that Holy Spirit,
for him to come upon and have the Word, then it's done. And I've seen it, I've experienced
it so many times, so very many times. that one whom I did not,
was not even thinking of whatsoever, who did not come to mind at all,
was touched by something. And a particular message in which
I thought, oh, that was a failure. It was a total failure. I felt
so bad, so down, so... My pastor preached that Saturday
morning in Lexington, Kentucky, and afterward he... He said to
me, I'm so bound, I'm so bound. I just didn't feel any liberty
at all. Was the word bound, Nindy? Whoa. Todd and I were going,
this is wonderful. Just what we needed. Everything
Brother Todd and I have been discussing for a couple of days,
he dealt with and with power. But he said, I feel bound. Well,
the word's not bound. Never. Today. I don't know when your day will
be, a day of salvation. There was a day. I believe they
probably gave up on me. I believe that perhaps many had
given up on me. The prodigal son, you know, he'll
never, we'll never see the day when he's, oh yeah, there was
a day. There was a day. And that day,
When the gospel comes in power, when the Holy Spirit decides,
in the fullness of time, when God sends forth His Son very
readily, when the gospel comes, here's what you'll say. Verse
1, In that day shalt thou say, thou shalt say, O Lord, I will
praise thee. We read that psalm that said,
Oh, come, let us worship. Come, let us. Well, there comes a day when
you say, I will. I will worship. I will. When you personally say, I will
praise the Lord, there's so many days, times passed when you didn't
give the Lord a thought, but when the gospel comes. And that
day, when He sends the Word, you're going to say, yes, from
your lips, from your mouth, you're going to say personally, I will
praise Him. I will praise Him. And you'll
say this too, verse 1, though thou wast angry with me. You
know, men and women don't even have any idea that God is angry
with anybody. They don't think that. Preachers
It's preacher's fault. They've convinced everybody that
God loves everybody. But he's not angry. Now, when
the gospel comes, you realize, don't you, Marvel, you realize
God is angry with me. And it has every right to be.
And I'm a child of wrath, even as others. But in that day, now
when you hear the gospel, the good news, you realize that his
anger is turned, turned away. How? Because he laid it on somebody. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on a substitute. Christ took the anger and the
wrath of God on behalf of his people. His anger was turned
from us, but God's anger, God's holiness, God's wrath, God's
justice has to be vented, doesn't it? It has to be. God's justice
has to be fulfilled. God's anger against our sin has
to be carried out, doesn't it? The soul that sinned must surely
die, but He turned upon that one hanging on the tree on our
behalf. It should have been that. So many times I've driven my
father as a young boy to anger. Well, how many times? How many
times before and still have we brought our God, or should have
brought him to anger? But he slowed anger. Slowed anger. Plenteous in redemption. Plenteous
in mercy. And he turned that anger upon
Christ. And now God is not angry. He's angry with the wicked. Every
day. Isn't that what the psalm says?
But you say, well, I'm wicked. I feel wicked. No, no, no. Say
to the righteous. Say to the righteous it's well
with them. But it'll not be well with the
wicked. But I'm wicked. No. Now wait a minute. Say to
the righteous. Here's how he comforts you. Verse
1. You comforted me. Say to the righteous it'll be
well. Say to those that look to trust
in Christ. Verse 2, this is what he said,
Behold, God is my salvation. Who? Who's God? We saw over there
in Isaiah 9, didn't we? He told us who God is. He's Christ. A child is born, a son is given,
and government's upon his shoulder. Call his name wonderful, Counselor. God was manifest in the flesh,
and he's my salvation. In that day, when the gospel
comes, when God reveals Himself to you, reveals Yourself to you,
and He ought to be angry with you because if you sin, He'll
reveal Christ to you too. So you'll see that He's the God
of your salvation, that He's your righteousness. Jehovah,
verse 2, I trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah. Jehovah
Sidkeness. Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Raya.
Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah, my righteousness, Sid Kenneth, the
Lord Jehovah is my strength. I will praise Him that day, the
day of salvation, when He comes. And He speaks comfortably through
the preaching of the gospel. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
He said. This is one thing I am beginning
to learn from my preacher. I don't think a man can be a
very good preacher if he's never had or doesn't have a pastor
himself, doesn't have someone to hear preach, hear the preaching
from himself. I really don't. But this much
I'm learning from him is that the chief thing that God demands
of his preachers is to comfort his people. That's what he said
in Isaiah 42. Isaiah, you know, the first five
chapters was going, woe is unto you, woe is unto you, woe is
unto you. And it was true. It's all true. Woe is unto you, you bunch of
rebels, you bunch of, you know. And in chapter 6, Brother Henry,
it says, he saw the Lord. And what did he say? Woe is me. And then he went on talking about
Christ from then on out. And then chapter 42, God said,
now, you comfort my people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Say unto them, warfare is accomplished. Don't keep telling them how far
short they come. They know it. Remind them, yes,
but don't keep, don't beat them down in the small of the dust. Lift them up. Comfort and tell
them that warfare is over. Tell them the Lord is their salvation.
Comfort them. I think, I hope I'm learning
that. Brother Sam, throw away the last ten years worth of messages,
OK? Let's start new. Let me start
all over again. God overrules, doesn't He? He
says, He comforts them. Comfort, tell them, tell them.
The Lord Jehovah is their salvation. Trust that they can trust and
not be afraid. That's what Isaiah said, I will
trust and I'll not be afraid in spite of my sin. In spite
of my sins. Ask Peter, Peter. Do you trust the Lord? Can you
trust the Lord? Can you look to the Lord? Can you can you? Can you expect forgiveness? Oh,
yes. I trust in the Lord. Ask Saul of Tarsus, called Paul,
ask him. Paul, you chief of sinners, you
who is less than the least of all the saints, you who was before
a blasphemer, injurious and a persecutor, is not fit to be called a disciple.
Can you trust the Lord? Can you look to him? Can you
expect to hear a word of Salvation? Oh, yes. Yes, you can. Ask the thief on the cross. Ask
the last, the least, the lost, the most hopeless, the most damned,
doomed and dying sinner on the face of the earth. Breath away
from facing the Kenya trestle. Oh, you just look to him. You
just call on him and he'll hear you. God is my self, and I'll trust.
I will trust. He's my strength. As the most
helpless, David said, I'm weak. I'm weak, but he's my strength.
Verse 3, look at it. Ask Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth. Can you expect mercy from this
king? Oh, yes, you can. More than that. Strength for
the lame. My strength and my song. He also,
I like this, that verse two before we get to verse three. We're
not through yet. He said he also has become my
salvation. I didn't catch that just a moment
ago when I was reading over. What that's saying is, you know,
he's become my salvation also. Me too. That's what that's what
he's saying. I know God's, David's salvation. David is a wonderful man. I know
God is Abraham's salvation. David, Abraham, well he's the
father of the faithful. I know God is Joseph's salvation. What a man. What a wonderful
man. I know he is. I know God is John,
John the Apostle's salvation. Brother Todd and I are kindred
spirits, and we talk a lot on the phone. And just recently,
we stayed up till late, wee hours, talking. We're talking about
various ones in Scripture we can relate to and those we can't.
John, I can't relate to John. He just was so close to me, always
so close. James. There's others I can't
relate to. I know John. I know he's John's salvation.
I know that. But me too? I believe Peter would say
that. Me too. Mine too. Yeah, he's my salvation
also. Because he said so. He said so.
He said, go tell my disciples. Peter too. Be sure and tell Peter,
too. Tell Peter first. You too, Barbara? I know all
these people, these godly, righteous, wonderful slaves of the earth,
of whom the world is not worthy. I know He's going to salvage.
I know He's going to accept them, but just believe me, too. I just believe me too. He's become
my salvation also. Isn't that a good word? In season? Here's what would be a good title
for this message. The Wells of Salvation. Verse
3. With joy shall you draw water
out of the wells of salvation. The wells of salvation. The wells of salvation. You know, it just occurred to
me, Isaac was a digger of whales. Abraham, his father, was also.
You know, they dug a lot of whales. Have you ever read that? We looked
at it together. They dug a lot of whales. Isaac
would, Jacob, Jacob was a whale digger, wasn't he? That whole
family was whale diggers. Jacob, you remember, He'd dig
wells and they'd fill them in. And Isaac, his enemies would
fill them in. And he'd just dig and dig well
after well after well. There was always a well. God's
people needed water and there was a well. Jacob's well, it
said, was there. And they came to it. The wells
of salvation. So many times I have I've been afraid of running out
of water on our farm. Anybody here? I know you. You've
got spring water. You went through that drought.
There have been times when this is the awfulest feeling. I know
you men with whales have done this. Steve, you and I have talked
about this. The times I've gone out to water
the horses and I put the hose in the water big watering trough
and go off and do something. And hours later, I let the water run out. You
ever done that? Anybody? Oh no, and I run back,
and there are a couple of times when there's no water coming
out. I've run the well dry. My heart sunk. Oh, awful, awful,
awful. I turn it off. I wait, you know,
a little while, just hope, oh, I hope it's not dry. I hope it's
not dry. I wait a little while. I go out
to Brother Henry to turn it off. Just wait. Afraid to turn it
on. Afraid no water will come out. Finally, I can't stand it any
longer. I go out there and open that spigot. And I thank the Lord to high
heaven. Thank you, Lord, for water. I've
been so foolish, I so foolish. But that's the way it is with
this mercy of God. That's the way it is with this
salvation of God. That's the way it is with this well of salvation.
You're going to have to keep coming back, Jenny, aren't you?
Time and time again you think, I've exhausted His mercy now. I've done it now. I'm Esau now. I've passed the point of no return
now. I'm a profane man now. Surely
he's done with me now. There'll be no more mercy now." And you go back to the well.
You got that. To whom shall we go? And the water comes gushing. And you drink, don't you? With
joy. Know what that verse 3 says?
With joy. So you draw. You people, those of you who
don't have wells, you don't know what I'm talking about. You city
folk, don't, you don't know. You think water's endless. Don't they matter? They think,
you turn on a spigot and there it is. The city provides it. You don't have to worry about
it. Run or dry, it'll come back and pay you bills. But if you've ever exhausted
that supply, and boy, your life depends on it, and all the lives
of those around you depend on water, you'll thank God for water. And so it is with every sinner. Every sinner goes back to the
same well, the gospel well, the wells of salvation. You see,
our Isaac, son of promise, He dug lots of wells, dug lots of
wells. That's where he meets sinners,
isn't it? That's where he met that chief of sinners, that woman
sitting on a well. You remember that message? Jacob's well was
there. Well, Jacob's Lord was sitting
on Jacob's well. All right, verse 4, it says,
Now here's another day, a day, like I told you, a day of salvation.
When you hear the gospel, oh, a day of salvation. When you finally hear the gospel,
when your ears, those, those deaf ears finally hear. How could I have been so foolish? You hear, a day of salvation. You see those blind eyes are
opened up. You see your need of Christ that
day. You hear. And your mouth, the
tongue, that dumb tongue of yours is open. Praise the Lord. You sing his praise. You start
worshiping him. You start singing these songs,
not because mom and dad are standing there, not because this is what
you do on Sunday morning, but because it's right there. How great thou art. you start sinning, not because
you're supposed to, because you want to. And in that day, there's
a day of visitation when you need that forgiveness again.
You need him to visit you again. You need him to say to you, say
unto my soul, would you say, I believe you said it before,
and I believe you then, I trust in you. And now here I have done
what I've done and what I am. Would you tell me one more time? Would you renew those vows to
me? Would you tell me that covenant one more time? Would you say
unto my soul, I'm still your salvation? And then that day
shall you say the same thing. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. One of these days, in verse six,
it says, cry and shout. One of these days, somebody in
here is going to do just that. Cry and shout. For the first
time. And the second time. And time and time again, as if
they've never done it before. Going to taste that water like
it's the first time. Going to come back to the well. With a bitter taste in your mouth,
you'll come back and go away with sweet. Refreshed. And in that day, you'll say,
praise the Lord. Well, call upon his name. Here, this is good,
good counsel. I give you good counsel, sinners. I give you good counsel. Call
upon his name. I don't care who you are, what
you've done, what you're doing. Call upon his name. Would you
look at this? I want you to just browse with
me through the Psalms, OK? Go to. To. Psalm. I just started Psalm 54, I just
started browsing through the song. How often David talks about I
cried under the law. Isaiah says, call on the Lord.
Cry unto the Lord. Call on the Lord. That's what
he said. Call on him. You need to. Call on him. I tell all you young people,
those or whoever who doesn't not yet know the Lord, call on
him. Anyone. Go home. Call on him. Pray. Ask
him. Call on him. Look at Psalm 54. Let's just browse through several
psalms. Verses 1 and 2. Save me, O God,
by thy name. Judge me by thy strength. Hear
my prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth.
Psalm 55. Verse 1 and 2. Give ear to my
prayer, O God. Verse 2. Attend unto me. Hear me. Hear me. He's crying
in verse chapter 56. Verse one, be merciful unto me,
O God. Be merciful. I'm going to be
swallowed up. Chapter 57, verse one, be merciful,
O God, be merciful. Verse two, I cry unto God most
high. Chapter 61, Psalm 61. Look at this. Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God. Attend to
my prayer from the end of the earth. Will I cry? Till this
whole thing's over, I'm going to keep crying, he said. My heart's
overwhelmed. Oh, you have been, verse 3, a
shelter unto me, a strong tower. So I'm going to stay right here
crying. Chapter 88, you like that answer,
61? Look at chapter 88. I heard that
you liked that. Psalm 88, look at this. Oh, just,
and I'll pass by a minute. Psalm 88, verse 1 and 2, O Lord,
God of my salvation, I have cried night And I have cried day and
night before. They let my prayer come before.
They inclined my ear unto my cry. I'm full of trouble. I'm
full of trouble. My life is near. I'm going to
be like one that goes down in the pit. I don't have any strength. Psalm 102. Turn over here real
quickly. Psalm 102. You could do this
yourself. Just browse through here. Bend your ear my way. The day
I call, would you answer me? And would you hurry? Now listen, turn to Psalm 116.
Finally, Psalm 116. Guarantee you, I guarantee you,
on the basis of God's Word, by the promise of God's Word, everybody
in here, anyone in here who cried that with David, Anybody in here
who did what David did, anyone in here who does what Isaiah
said to do, call on the Lord, who does what the Lord Himself
said, ask, call, seek, knock, I guarantee you'll reach Psalm
116. And you'll say this, verses 1 and 2, I love the Lord because
he hath heard. why he heard me. Verse 2, he
inclined his ear. He did. He heard me. Therefore, I'll call on him as long as I
live. I don't care how far down I get. Verse 3, the sorrows of death
encompassed me. I'm not going to get through
this. Pains of hell. I'm a hellion. God hold on me. I found, where do I find nothing
but trouble and sorrow? What happened? I called on the
Lord. Deliver my soul. What happened?
Well, He's gracious. Verse 5. Gracious is the Lord.
Full of grace. He give us more grace. Just when
you need it most. Righteous you are. God is in
mercy. He preserves the sinful. I was brought low. He helped
me. I just found my favorite song.
Go back to Isaiah. So I guarantee you on the basis
of God's word, you do what Isaiah said to do. You do what David
said to do. You do what David did. You do
what Christ said to do. You call on the Lord and he'll
hear you. He bends his ear. He stops for every Bartimaeus. He stops for every Zacchaeus.
He turns and looks upon every thief. Every murderer. The door of the city of refuge
is always open. The blood is ever before the
Lord. And the veil is rent. Go on in. Lay hold on the horns
of the altar. Isaiah 12. This is a good message. This is a wonderful message.
Message of comfort. Verse 4, he says, Verse 4, in
that day you'll say praise the Lord. We'll call on Him and declare
His doings. Declare His doings. I declare
now. I just declare. That's an old
country saying it. Well, I declare. What do you
declare? What does God's people declare?
What do they always declare? What is it always that they're
talking about? His doings. This is how you know them. This
is how you know God's people from those that just profess
to be. What they're always declaring
is His doings. They never make mention of their
doings. They're never talking about Mama's
doings. They're not talking about His doings. They're He-hath-ites. They're one of the He-hath-ites.
He hath elected me. He hath called me. He hath chosen
me. He hath saved me. He hath redeemed me. He hath
saved me. He hath had mercy. He hath shown
grace. He hath spared me. He hath been
long-suffering." And some day, Barbara, we're going to stand
before Him and say, Well, He hath done it, hasn't He? Declare His
doings. I declare. I just declare. Salvation is of the Lord. Make mention that His name is
exalted. God's people, they fear His name. God's people reverence His name.
They say holy and reverent is his name. They never use that
name. Except in worship and reverence,
they're afraid to use it. They fear his name. They make
mention contrary to what the world is doing is dragging his
name through the dirt and through the putting it on. They make
mention that his name is exalted, exalted. Let me just tell you,
bud, let me just make mention here that you're taking his name
in vain. His name is to be exalted. That
name is never to be used, except in the highest way. And God will
not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Make mention his name is exalted.
Oh, we could dwell there. Verse 5, sing unto the Lord. Sing unto the Lord. God's people sing. They love
to sing. They love to sing under the Lord. You know, nobody loves to sing
solos. Do you, Jeanette, do you enjoy? I don't know of anybody that
does. You're willing. I remember one time asking Brother
or hearing someone ask Brother Bill Clark one time if he would
sing, and his answer really caught me by surprise. He said, Oh,
I would be happy to sing unto my Lord. Well, you know, that's wonderful,
but I don't. I don't like to stand up here
and sing. But I do in a crowd. I do in a crowd. Where was I
recently? In a small place where the acoustics
were so wonderful and everybody was singing, I just thought,
this is wonderful. And I was singing loud unto the
Lord. You've got something to sing
about. You've learned that new song,
you'll sing it. He hath done, here's what the
song is all about, verse 5. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things. Yes, the excellencies and the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, excellent thing. We need another hour. This is
known all the earth. This has been heard throughout
all the earth, this gospel of his excellency. Of his excellent,
so excellent, so great salvation, the gospel of the excellent one,
the gospel of his salvation known all the earth. Cry out, verse
six, cry out. Shout. I've got an advantage
over you. I really do. I can get up here
every now and just shout. And not be so conscious of it.
You hear me do it, don't you? Well, I'm glad that there's times
when I'm glad I'm up here where I can do that. And it be legal. Cried and shouts, Thou inhabitant
of Zion. Who's he talking about? Preacher?
Everybody lives here who dwells in Christ. For great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of day. He is just so great a salvation,
so great a one. Well, isn't he great? In that
day, That day, may this be the day for someone. If not the day
you hear, may it be that day of visitation for another. May
it be that day when a dusty, dry, thirsty, ready to die, ready
to halt sinner, takes a fresh draft of how that well, the day. May it be a day, we can say with
David, leaving here. It's the day the Lord has made,
and I'm rejoicing and glad in it. All right. Brother John, what hymn? 449.
Let's stand and sing. First and last verse. first and last. All right. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done, so that we know, Lord, that He gave us His Son. Who yielded His life, and of
hundreds more sang, and opened the life-gates that all may go
in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus our Son, and give Him the glory, great things He has done. Great things He has promised,
great things He has done, and we are rejoicing with Jesus the
Son. The fewer and higher and greater
we'll be, our wonder, our tremble with Jesus we'll see. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, to see
the Son, and give Him the glory they seek in Heaven.