Isaiah chapter 8 Isaiah 8 chapter. I'm going to give a little review
of what. Many of you already heard Wednesday
night. But it's worth hearing again.
Isaiah chapter 8. Prophet Isaiah writes in verse
eleven, the Lord spake thus to me. He spoke something to me,
he said, with a strong hand. The Lord spoke with a strong
hand to his prophet. In other words, the Lord speaks
with authority. The Lord speaks with power. When the Lord speaks, whoever
he's speaking to, they hear. Whatever he says is done. He said, I have spoken it, it
will come to pass. This is why I resent so much,
why I utterly detest so-called preachers insinuating
that God is trying to speak to someone, that God wants to speak
to you, that God is speaking. Won't you let him this and that
and the other? No, Isaiah, God's true preacher. He said, The Lord
spoke to me with a strong hand. When the Lord speaks, the world
comes into existence. When the Lord speaks, stars are
hung in space. The light shines. The sun does
his bidding. The moon does his bidding. He
upholds all things by the word of his power. The Lord spoke
to me with a strong hand, and that's the way every true preacher
will speak, as the very oracles of God. Now, as a beggar begging
for an audience, as an ambassador come, hear ye,
hear ye, thus saith the Lord. The Lord spoke to me with a strong
hand, and he instructed me, verse 11. The Lord instructed me, he
told me, taught me. that I should not walk in the
way of this people." Isaiah, don't walk like everybody else
is walking. Don't walk in the way that they're
walking. Don't go in the broad way. Don't join up, verse 12. Don't join up with this confederacy,
with this bunch of rebels. That's what they are, a bunch
of rebels who've made their own cause for their own selfish purposes,
not for the glory of God, not for the truth's sake, but for
their own evil purposes. Don't join up with them. Don't
unite with them. That's what he tells his true
preacher. Don't unite with this band of rebels, this confederacy. Don't walk in the way they walk,
the way of the world, a way which seems right, but the end is destruction,
the broad way, the way everybody's going. Don't get in that way.
You go the other way. Whatever they're saying, you
say the opposite. Don't join with them. Verse 13,
or verse 12, don't fear their fear. Don't fear what they're
afraid of. There's no reason to fear what
they're afraid of. Don't be afraid of politics.
Don't get involved in politics. There's nothing to be afraid
of. The Lord sets up, the Lord casts down. The Lord decides
who's king, and he turns his heart with us wherever he will.
Don't worry about what's happening in the world, Isaiah. Don't fear
their fear. Don't fear their social fear. Don't fear their worldly fear.
Don't fear their political fear. Don't. Verse 13, sanctify the
Lord of hosts himself. Here's what you're to do, Isaiah.
Here's what you're to be about. You're in the business of setting
apart your God. That's what sanctify means. Sanctify
means to set apart as different, as separate, as apart from the
rest. You set apart your God. In other words, Isaiah, you declare
your God as far different. than the gods of this world.
He declared him as he is, high above the gods of this world,
far superior to the gods that men worship now, infinitely higher
than the god that men have in their hands to do with as they
please. Isaiah, here's what you're to do every time. Exalt your
God. Set him apart. Show that he is
God. Beside him, there's none else
that he's got not man's not God. He's got that God has man in
his hands, not man having God in his hand. You declare that
Isaiah set him apart. That's what sanctify means. Sanctify
the Lord before all the people as he is. Let him be your fear,
fear him, don't fear me and you stand up and say whatever I tell
you to say and don't fear their faces. He said over in Isaiah
50, who are you to be afraid of a worm? Why would you be afraid
of a worm? A man whose life is breath is,
and I can just take his breath. Why would you be afraid of that,
dear God? Be afraid not to say what God
says. You be afraid not to say what
God has said. You be afraid to say something
other than what he has said. You stand up, Isaiah, and you
set your God apart from all the rest. That's what you're supposed
to be doing. Don't join up with them. Don't
get in this Broadway. Fear your God, let him be your
dread. All right, then he says this,
if you do this. You sanctify your Lord. You walk
alone. You don't enter into a confederacy.
You don't walk in the way of all the people, the way that
seems right. But you walk according to the way of the Lord, according
to his word, according to his truth, that narrow way. Yes, you're going to be called
narrow. You're going to be called bigoted. You're going to be called
a maverick. You're going to be called a rebel
yourself. But you're not, Isaiah. He said, if you sanctify, you
set apart your God as high above the rest, you fear him, not man,
then, verse 14, he shall be for a sanctuary. He shall be for a sanctuary.
That is a hiding place, a place to hide, a place of safety. He'll
be a place you can resort, though he's high and lifted up, sovereign.
reigning and ruling, a God to be feared, a God who is a consuming
fire, yet you can just hug up to him. Though he is a rock that will
roll all over his enemies, you can hide in him. A place of safety that you can
hide when his wrath is kindled just a little. He just has to
kindle his wrath just a little, but you can hide in him. A city
of refuge. But you can run to a resting
place. You can rest. He's going to be a refuge for
you. I couldn't help but think this morning about my little
dogs. I've told you about my dogs.
I've got a little farm, you know. Some of the neighbor dogs are
bad dogs. And they have come on my property
and they've killed some livestock and things like that. They're
just marauding, worthless dogs. And if they come on my property,
I don't take very kindly to them. I've become very angry. And my
dogs now, they're just dogs. They are just dogs. It's in their
nature to do exactly. And for that matter, all I know,
they may have gone on somebody else's property. And I'm quite
sure they have. And done some things. But they're
my dogs. And occasionally they do some
bad things that I don't approve of, that I get angry at. Annie,
that pound dog that I have. Got her at the pound, worthless.
She continues to lay in my favorite flower bed, this flower bed that
I've nurtured and that I have manicured and taken care of. She continues to lie right in
the middle of it. I scold her and scold her and
scold her again. Here's the moral of the story.
What those dogs do, though, when they get in trouble, when they
feel my wrath, when they feel my anger, and they know I'm to
be feared. What they do, rather than run
from me, is they run to me. They get just as close to me
as they can get. Annie tucks her tails between
her legs and her ears are down and her eyes are barely looking
up and she crawls at my feet. And I say things like, bad dog. But then I say, it's alright.
Fear not, I'm a refuge. You're a dog, and if you weren't
my dog, I'd put you away. But you keep
coming to me. In spite of all that you've done,
you keep coming to me. And that's exactly what the Lord
told Isaiah, I'm a refuge. I'm a refuge. Place a refuge. If you fear me, you worship me. Don't be a proud dog. Don't walk
around with your tail up. Have your tail tucked between
your legs. Don't walk around with your nose in the air. You
come crawling to my feet because you're just a dog. And what you'll
find, though, is mercy. You'll find a refuge. But now,
read on. Verse 14, But for a stone of
stumbling To some, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense.
Stone of stumbling. If you turn to Romans 9 with
me, Romans chapter 9, this is what Paul was quoting in Romans
9. And he also quoted it in 1 Corinthians. He also, Peter also quoted this. So three times, this very portion
is quoted by Paul and Peter. Do you hear that, Paul? John,
Paul, Peter, did you hear that? Paul and Peter, both of them
quoted this. Paul quoted it twice. It must
be important. All right, he's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, without a doubt, who is that stone of stumbling,
that rock of a fence, who is Lord indeed, the stone of stumbling.
In Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9, this very chapter. Some of
you may not know this, but Romans 9 is hated by many people. Just
the chapter of Romans 9, many wish was not in God's Word. And I don't know who would wish
that other than a rebel. It is. It's God's Word. It's between Romans 8 and Romans
10. But Romans 9, let's read it,
beginning with verse 27, let's just read Let's just read it.
Verse 27, Isaiah cried concerning Israel, Though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant
shall be saved. And he was just talking up in
verse 11 that the purpose of God, according to election, must
stand. There's a remnant that God has
chosen. It's God's sovereign electing
grace. It's His choice because He's
God. He can do with His own what He
will. He can choose one, make one a vessel of wrath. and another
a vessel of mercy unto honor, another a vessel of wrath unto
dishonor. He's God. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Huh? Cannot he make one what he wants
and another what he wants, what he decides? He's God. And so he chose some, none of
them deserved it. He elected some. That's his divine
right as God, is it not? Who should argue with that? What
should we say to these things? That's what Romans 9 is talking
about. And he said in verse 27, Though the children of Israel,
the nation of Israel, be many, yet a remnant shall be saved.
God just chose a remnant, Judah. Read on. He's going to finish
the work, his work. He's going to cut it short in
righteousness. A short work will the Lord make
upon earth. As Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we'd have been like
Sodom and Gomorrah unless the Lord had chosen some individuals
to save them. And none of them were saved,
and they're all Sodomites. They're all born Sodomites. Even
God's people were born like Lot. That's why Lot was there. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, such
were some of you, rotten, no good, rotten to the core, such
were some of you, but God according to his sovereign, eternal purpose
in election, in election, yes, blessed election. Fetter wrote a book years ago
entitled The Hated Doctrine of Election. That's a bad title. I know men hate it, but it really
should be entitled, but gloriously, marvelous and wondrous doctrine
of election that God chose some of these Sodomites, some of these
sons of Adam, some of these rebels. He chose them, didn't have to.
None of them deserved it. This is what Paul is saying.
This is what Isaiah said. Isaiah said, I am undone. I am
undone. I am a man of unclean lips. The
preacher said that. I'm the one. Paul said it later. I'm the chief of sinners. Bet
God. Here's salvation. Bet God. Not
I did this for Him. Bet God chose me. If He hadn't, I would never have
chosen Him. Who's got a problem with election? That's what he said in verse
27. The numbers, as a saying, is a remnant. God's going to
cut this thing short unless he, verse 29, had left us a seed,
unless he'd counted us a seed, unless he'd chosen us in the
seed. We'd have been destroyed with
Solomon tomorrow, and we'll yet be destroyed. Verse 30, what
should we say then? Gentiles, you have Gentile dogs,
that's us, which followed not after righteousness, have attained
righteousness. The righteousness of faith. Read
on. Israel that followed after the
law. Those that did everything according
to the law. They didn't retain it. They were
rejected. Why? They didn't seek it by faith.
Verse 32. They didn't seek it by faith. They weren't looking
to Christ. They were looking to their works. They stumbled
at the stumbling stone as it is written. Verse 33. I lay in
Zion, I lay in the church, a huge rock, a stone of stumbling, a rock
of a fence. Are you with me? Go back to the text, Isaiah 8. So Paul wrote this, he said,
God laid this stone and no other foundation can be laid than that
which is laid, this rock. Christ, this rock of ages, this
cleft of the rock, this stone, this immovable stone. A stone is a solid, immovable
object. You get one big enough and you
just have to leave it there. Right? You see, many people build
houses and they have to blast to pour the foundation, because
they're on rock. And sometimes you'll see in their
yard huge things of rock. They can't move it. They can't
move it. Our Lord is called a stone of
stumbling, a rock of a fence, a rock solid immovable object
to be reckoned with. I don't know where the old saying
came from. He's between a rock and a hard place. But that sure works in reference
to our Lord. Men are between a rock and a
hard place. They're going to have to get
by Christ to get to God. And if they don't come through
Christ, they're going to go to a hard place. Our Lord said this
one time. He said this. He said, talking
about this stone, and he himself was referring to this stone. So here, it's actually four times,
our Lord Himself. He said, I'm the stone. He said, whoever falls on this
stone, whoever falls on this stone, this huge rock, whoever
casts themselves on this huge stone will be broken. They will
be broken and contrite, and they'll be broken over their sin. They'll
be brought to nothing. They'll realize that they're
nothing, that this God is a God. And they'll realize they're nothing,
that they can't do anything for Him, can't do anything to Him.
He's a huge rock of Asia. Now, they'll be broken, but they'll
be saved. Whoever's broken, To this man
will I look. He is a broken of a contrite
heart. I'll look upon him with mercy and grace and salvation
and long-suffering and peace and love and acceptance. Whoever's
broken, they fall, they cast themselves on this rock. But,
now, he said, now wait a minute, he said, whoever this rock rolls
on, whoever this stone, whoever this stone comes upon will grind
them to powder. So, He's a rock. He's a stumbling stone. He's
a stone and men are going to either fall upon Him and beg
Him for mercy or He's going to fall on them and grind the powder. Back in our text, it says in
verse 14, He's a stumbling stone, a rock of offense. A rock of
offense. Men get offended. They get offended. You know, nobody's offended. Brother Roy, nobody's offended
when you talk only about God's love, are they? If you stand up and declare Jesus
loves you, nobody's offended. No one, without nobody is offended. But now, if you stand up, if
you stand up and tell me and that God wants to save you and
wants to be at peace with you and he is at peace with you,
he wants nothing but good for you. That's not. Who's offended
by that? Where's the offense? Where's
the offense in that? That Jesus died for everyone.
If they'll just exercise their faith and they can go to heaven. Where's the offense? Man, where's
the offense in that? There is none. I ask you to look
for the offense in that message. Paul talked about the offense
of the cross. Here Isaiah says a rock of offense. What is it men are offended at?
What is it about this rock that men and women get offended at?
What is it that offends man? When you stand up and you tell
me in the story about this Jesus. Yes, it's Jesus of Nazareth.
coming into Jerusalem and flattening a whip and going into the good
church house on the Sabbath day morning and cleaning the house. That's not Jesus, lovely Jesus,
meek and mild and sweet and gentle, and wouldn't hurt a flea. No,
it's not. But it's this rock of offense. When you stand up
and tell me, God is in their hands to do with as He pleases. That if He wants to take a human
being and absolutely throw them to the garbage, He can do it. He's God. That's offensive. My God wouldn't do that, like
Barnard said to that man. No, your God wouldn't. The God
of the Bible does just that. You stand up and tell men and
women that God is so holy, he will by no means clear the guilty.
Every sin must receive a just, recompensive reward. So holy,
such a consuming fire that he made a bloody piece of meat out
of his son in order to save just one of us. He forsook his own son. That's
how holy God is. That's why that happened. God
is holy. That's too hard for a Christian.
That's just too hard. God's just not that hard. He's harder than we think. And then you stand up, but on
the other hand, you stand up and tell men and women that God
is so, His love is so eternal. It's so glorious. It's so marvelous.
It's so complete, it's so effectual that whoever he sets his love
upon, that no matter what, no matter what they do, yes, no
matter what they do, if God has set his love upon them, they
are saved eternally. That offends man's self-righteousness. thinking that because he kept
himself holy all his life, therefore God has to love him. You going to love that Jacob? You going to choose that lot? You going to love him? Why he
ain't lovely? Never said he was. Well, then
why? Because I decided to. Well, look at him. No, I'm looking
at my son. All I see is blood. You can't
do that. I already have. Is that everything I've done all
my life, all my religion, and it counts for nothing? Nothing. I don't like that. Fine. This
old sinner likes it. Jacob loves it. Peter loves it. It's offensive. That's right. But there it is. It's a rock
you can't move. It's a gospel men have tried
to move and can't do it. Men stumble at his sovereign
right to choose whom he will. They stumble at that. Wait a minute. You mean God just
choose one and pass by the other? That's right. Stumble at that. Stumble at his
righteousness imputed that God will take this man and absolutely
charge everything Christ did to his account so that he gets
everything he's absolutely accepted in the beloved. Perfect. Hold it. And this man's held
accountable for everything he's ever done. That's not fair. No, it's mercy. Men stumble at that. They stumble
at His Word. They stumble at Romans 9. Well, God's people just settle
in right there. They just settle in right there.
They don't stumble. Look at verse 14. He says He's going to be
for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel. That's
to the religious and to your religion, or to those that seem
to be God's people and those that are God's people. Now, some
of you, if not all of you, when you first heard this gospel, now you're a believer now, you're
one of God's elect, you're one of God's sheep, it's obvious,
you believe. But when you first heard this
gospel, you stumbled through, didn't you? Didn't you? Jeanette,
you told me that time and again. You were one of these self-righteous
Pharisees. You were religious. You were a good, moral Christian. Didn't know Christ. And when
you first heard this gospel, God's sovereign right, Christ
imputed righteousness, your righteousness, filthy rag, you got mad. Stumbled at it,
but, but, but, but. Those people are going to like
it. They might get mad, and then they'll have to get sad, realizing
that, hey, I'm lost. I got mad because you said I
was—because I thought I was saved. Now you're saying I'm not. They
get mad at that and then realize, you know, he's right. It's sad. And then, oh, get glad. I've chosen you. Chosen you. But you might know. Verse 14
says he's going to be a djinn, the snare. A djinn, the snare. That's an old country term, isn't
it? A djinn. A djinn, said a djinn, or a snare,
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. A djinn, the snare. Our Lord, we have time. Turn with me to
Psalm 9, the ninth psalm. the way our Lord spoke with a
strong hand. I love it. You see, the Lord
Jesus Christ that we worship, that we serve, we read about
from the scriptures. Oh, he's a word of his power, isn't
he, Nancy? When he came to this earth, he
was no mealy-mouthed, miserable little minister. Scripture talks about if any
man speak, let him speak as the very articles of God. Boy, God's
son did. God had one son, and he was a
preacher. And boy, did he preach. And then people came to hear him
and said, no man speaks like this man. His very enemies came to apprehend
him, John. They couldn't take him. They
were spellbound. Nobody's going to touch him. And all that He said. Talking
about no fear of man, Sam. Our Lord of Glory standing upon
this earth. This is the Lord of Glory speaking
to worms. Who's He going to be afraid of?
This is the Master talking to dogs. Say what He will to whom He will
at any time. The Ph.D.' 's and the M.D.' 's
and the D.D.' 's and all these idiots tried to ensnare him. Time and again they tried to
trap him, tried to lay a trap for him, tried to take him, Scripture
says, entangle him at his word. They got the best of them together.
They got their lawyers, got their lawyers together, and they tried
to trap him then, all of them, crowds of them. The best minds
on earth tried to trap him. We'll get him now. What we going
to say? And they scheme and connive, got their counsels. I got a good
question. He'll never answer this one. So they begin to ask him questions. Here come this miserable little
bunch of Pharisees. We got him now. If a man be married
seven times, a woman be married seven times, In the judgment, whose wife is
she? And when he answered them, they kind of shriveled on out. And here come the scribes, you
stupid Pharisees. Watch this. And then they had
their question they were going to heap upon him. And they asked
him their question, and he answered them. Never batted an eye. Looking right in their eye. Never,
never fumbled for words. Never paused a second to think
what he's going to say. Just answered them. And they
went shriveling off. And there was a few of them,
a few of them that hadn't shrunk off. He said, now I've got a
question. And this is the question that
we need to pose to our generation. David. Well, let me ask you,
whose son is the Christ? Who is Jesus? The Christ. Who is he? Whose son is he? He's
the son of David. He's the son of God. He's the
son of Mary. OK. If he's David's son, why
did David call him Lord? If he's Mary's son, why did Mary
call him Savior? If he's God's son, why did God
say, call him God? Who is he? Tell me who Jesus is. If you
can, they were trapped. They were
trapped. and their own snares, came to
take him, and he kept them. Look at Psalm 9, verse 15. The heathen are sunk in the pit
that they made, the net they hid. We've got him now, do you? and the prince of the power of
the air, the father of it all, the father of lies, and the chief
question asker, and the one, what's he called, the accuser
of the brethren, John, accuser of the brethren, the prince of
the power of the air, the god of this world, their king, the
daddy of all lies, the father of lies came to him to take him. He said, I got him
now. Don't worry, I've done it now. I've thrown him on the cross.
There he is. There's the Son of God. Look what I've done. Yeah. He's just crushed your head.
The very snare, the very trap, the one you took just took you
captive. Isn't that wonderful? The one
you took. has now taken hold of you, ensnared
you, and you're His. This is the King of Kings. This
is the Lord of Lords. That's who this is, huh? Now,
what is this? This is the testimony. Chapter
8, back to Isaiah 8. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel, people. This is the testimony. This is
God's testimony concerning His Son. This is God. We read it
in Psalm 2. This, Brother Henry, this is
the testimony. God said, I will declare the
decree. In Psalm 2, we read it, didn't
we? Psalm 2. He said, why the heathen
raging? Why are the people imagining
the same thing? Why is everybody saying all that they're doing?
Why is everybody getting together against the Lord and against
His anointing? Why is everybody so upset? Why are they joining
together? It's going to put this suffering grace out of business.
Huh? Well, you're fighting against
the Lord. God said, I've declared a decree. This is the testimony.
This is the testimony of God. This is God's decree, which He
testified before the world began. Before the world began, long
before men ever dreamed of making Him Lord, God said, I've already
done it. He said, I've declared a decree.
I've set my King on my holy hillside. He's my king. He is Lord. Always has been, whether you
acknowledge it or not. He is Lord. Right now. Always has been. He's the same
yesterday, today, and he always will be. It doesn't matter what
men do with it. It doesn't matter. He is what
he is. I've declared a decree. This
is the testimony. Look at verse 16. The testimony
of God. And people, this is the testimony
of the true preacher. This is all the true preacher's
got to say. Every time I hear you preach,
all you preach is God's God and Christ is on the throne and men
are in His hands and salvation's in the burden. That's all there
is. That's the testimony of this
book. And so God says, Wrap it up. Bind up the testimony. Look at verse 16. Look at it.
Bind up the testimony and the law, the word. That's the word.
Bind it up. Spill it, another word. Wrap
it up tight and give it to somebody. Hide it from the wise and the
prudent. Hide it from the world's best minds. Hide it from the
mighty and noble. Hide it from the educated. Hide
it from the self-righteous. Hide it. Give it to my poor people. Give it to him that needs it
the most. Hide it from that self-righteous woman there who thinks she's
never sinned all her days of her life, sanctified herself.
Give it to that chief of sinners. Hide it from that Pharisee who
thinks that God ought to absolutely ought to take him and be so thankful
he's Give it to that publican. Wrap it around his heart. Put
it as a frontlet between his eyes. Put everything he reads,
he sees blind. Everything he hears, he hears
Christ. All the word he hears from God is mercy and promises
and love and grace and acceptance and goodness, so that no matter
what bad news is taking place, he's just Oh, he hears his good
people. So that no matter what comes to pass in his life, he'll
know God did it, and there's nothing to worry about. Bind it around their heart. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Bind it, sealed by the Spirit
in the hearts of his people. Bind it up. Hide it from the
world. Oh, they don't like it. They're offended by it. They
stumble at it. Give it to my people. They're going to receive the
love of the truth. The secret of the Lord. I love
this. I may preach from this on Wednesday night. Psalm 25,
14. The secret of the Lord. That's
the gospel. I know everybody's talking gospel,
people, but it ain't gospel. It's a secret. The true gospel is absolutely
a secret. The secret of the Lord, the scripture
says, is with them that fear him. And them, to them he'll
show his covenant. And I'll elaborate on that later. He says in verse 17, and I've
got to wind this up, wind this up, my disciples. He said, I'll wait upon the Lord.
This is Christ talking here. You know that? Christ is speaking
here. Mind up the testimony. You remember
in John 17 where he said, I've given them thy word. I don't
pray for the world. Remember that, John? I'm not
praying for the world, Christ said. He's talking to the Father.
I pray for them which you've given me. Yes, elected, remnant,
according to the election of grace, children, not yet born,
the chosen, According to that covenant, the ones you gave me,
the ones I came to do what I did for, I've given them your Word,
and they've received it. They believe it. They know who
I am. I'm not praying for the world.
I pray for them which you've given me. The world's going to
hate them because they hate me. But you love them, and I love
them. Mine are thine, and thine are
mine. These are mine, saved ones, elect ones, a remnant according
to the election of grace. Children, verse 18, the children
whom the Lord has given me. You see who's talking there?
See that, Jenny? That's Christ. Behold, I and
the children, every single person whom God elected and Christ died
for will one day be presented to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. Here they are. All your sons
and daughters are here because I'm faithful, because you're
faithful to your covenant. I was faithful to the work and
I was effectual. I got the job done. Behold, I and the children, they're
for a sign and a wonder, a sign and a wonder. Brother Dan, you and I are a
wonder. You know what the sign is? We're a sign of mercy. Henry, you and I are an evidence,
a sign, a proof that God saves sinners. Aren't we, buddy? How
do you know God? Let me show you. Look right there. It's a sign. God came to save sinners. Christ
came to save sinners. How do you know? Look who he's
talking to. Look who he's eating with. How do you know he saved
sinners? Look who he died with. Not between
two of them. Look at the last one he took
to glory. That's a sign and a wonder. We're
going to be trophies in our Lord's trophy case. These no-good sinners
are going to be trophies of His grace for Him to show off for
all eternity. Look what I've done. Trophies, a wonder, a wonder. A believer is a wonder to himself. You know that? Oh, Barbara, we're
a wonder to ourselves. I've not yet got over the wonder,
people, that I'm standing right here, that I'm even in this building. The prodigal never got over the
wonder. I'm home. And there's no man. And furthermore,
look at what he's done for me. What a wonder. He's there for a sign of the
wonder, the wonder of his grace. All this is here. All this is
here. Hey, I got news for you. I know how the election turned
out. Got your attention now, don't
I? Don't edge your seat? Listen. I know who's ruling. I know how the election turned
out. God said in Isaiah 42, Behold,
mine elect. Actually, we read that in Psalm
2. I put him on the throne. You see, isn't this appropriate
at this time? Everybody's trying to decide
who's reigning and ruling. That's what religion's doing.
That's what religion's been doing for years. You see, to make it
very simple, Man, God has been running for
election for years. Jesus Christ has been
running for election. Well neither Jesus Christ has
been seeking votes. Trying to find people to vote
for. And it's a close race. No. Let
me tell you. I know who the elect is. Why? Because God chose him. God chose him. Put him on the throne. And men have been trying to fix
it ever since. They've been trying to rig it. Been trying to change
it. Been trying to change it. We'll hand count every word.
We'll toss this out. We'll toss that out. What we
don't like, right? Why don't we get us a pen, Mark,
and cut this out of God's Word? It doesn't matter. It's fixed. It's found. He reigns. Go ahead, have your hand count. Case dismissed. Any objections? Bailiff, bind
them up. What do you say? This is what
God says. This is the testimony that God
demands of every human being. What do you say to these things?
I've set my opinion on the Holy He didn't make him Lord. I did.
I do what I please because I'm God. I sent my son to die for
whom I please because he's God. He did exactly what he set out
to do, and he's right now seated on the throne of glory, and everything's
working out. His divine, eternal, immutable
purpose ordered in all things and sure, and mankind is absolutely
just in his control. What do you say to this thing?
I object. So it's over. The election's
over. Christ reigns. Christ reigns. All right. What's sixty-two? I think that's
what I want to say. Crown him with many crowns. I
think that's the one. Yeah. Sixty-two. Let's stand
and sing verses one and four. First and last verses. Sixty-two. When him with me he found, there
ran upon his throne, a pair of heavenly anthems, and the music
that it flowed. Go away, fly, soul, and sing
of him who died for me. And we'll be made by Christ the
King through all eternity. Well, give the Lord a name, one
with the Father now, one with the Spirit through Him, just
as John the Glorious told. To thee we end in prayer, for
the power of thy star. Be thou ever true in the faith,
adored and magnified.