Well, I thank you for that. Open
your Bibles to Isaiah 25 tonight. The book of Isaiah chapter 25. In chapter 24, we looked at that
a little bit this morning, we saw that Isaiah It sets forth
the absolute certainty of divine judgment on an ungodly world. We know this. God must punish
sin. If he doesn't punish sin, well,
he'd have to give up his throne, wouldn't he? He'd just have to
stop being God. And that can't ever happen. God
must punish sin. And He is going to pour out His
vengeance on all sin. Thank God all the sins of His
people, vengeance has already been poured
out on them and wrath has already been exhausted. And we have nothing
to fear, those of us who believe Christ Jesus. There is no way God can condemn
us. He condemned His Son in our step. We can't be judged for sin. Sin
has already been judged. Twice payment. The top lady said
this. He said twice payment God will
not demand. First in my bleeding shirt, His
hand, and then again in mine. The debt of God's people has
been paid. We're forgiven of all of our
sins. I wish I could more fully enter
into the joy of that, don't you? I do rejoice, and I'm thankful
to know that my sins, which are many, are all washed away, but
I want to enjoy it more fully in order that I might praise
Him more fully. You and I who are the Lord's
people, do you think we fully realize what it means to stand
before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ? As the fellow
said, we're just commencing to beginning to get started to understand
that, aren't we? But I know it's true. I know
it's true. I know that before God's matchless,
awesome throne, no sin is registered against His people. And while I would echo the words
of John when he said, My little children, these things write
I unto you that ye sin not, we do sin. Thank God we've got
an advocate, and that's Jesus Christ the righteous. And I know
that you won't take this the wrong way while others will,
but the fact of the matter is you cannot out-sin the grace
of God. For where sin abounded, grace
did much more, much more. much more about. You know, I love to think about
what the Lord has done. I love to think about His creative
glories. I love to think about the scripture,
He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. You know, God created the world
just with His spoken word. In the book of Genesis chapter
one, I forget it, eight or nine different times, the scripture
reads this way, and God said. And then at the end of the verse
it says, and it was so. And God said, and it was so.
It just goes right down. You go down through chapter one
sometimes, just mark those. God said it, he's spoken into
existence, and it was so. But I'll tell you, when it came
to this matter of redemption and salvation, he couldn't just
speak the audible word and then it was so. His only begotten son had to
come into this world to save us from our sins. Because God's
a just God. God's a holy God. Job says, how then can man be
justified with God? Or how can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon it shineth
not, yea, the stars. How much less man that is a worm
and the son of man that is a worm. Job 9 verse 2 says, How should
man be just with God? How should man be righteous with
God? God could speak the world into
existence. Just say the word and it's done. But He can't redeem that way.
Because there's the matter of the judgment against sin that's
got to be settled and finalized. That's why the Lord Jesus came
into the world. He came to do something about
our sin. according to God's eternal purpose. The Lord Jesus is our propitiation. He is our mercy seat. He is the
one who satisfied divine justice for us. And justice is satisfied. You know how we know? An empty
tomb. God raised Him from the grave.
And that's God's way of saying, that's my son and what he did
meets my satisfaction. And all for whom he died are
now clear of their sins. They've been taken care of by
their substitute. He's a propitiation for our sins. We read that in Romans and also
in the book of 1 John. Propitiation, the satisfaction
of God's justice. He's our mercy seat. Tell you
a little story. When I moved to Almonte in May
of 1966, we had a wonderful piano player and she was an elderly
lady. She was a widow. And she used
to teach school in a one-room schoolhouse years ago. And I'd been there several weeks,
and she said, Brother Jim, I'd like for you to come over to
the house for a visit. And I said, okay. So I went over
to her house for a visit. She walked over to her piano,
and she picked up a piece of paper. I just want to tell you,
there are two words that you always mispronounce. And I said,
that's why you called me down here? She said, yeah. She said,
you know, I'm a schoolteacher. I said, yes, ma'am. And I said,
well, what are they? She said, well, let me ask you,
how do you pronounce O-F-T-E-N? And I said, often. She said,
wrong. I said, well, what is it? She
said, it's often. She said, don't pronounce the T. I said, well,
you know, I'm from the South. And I said, we kind of take the
easy route or whatever in our language. And I said, I've been
saying often all my life. And she said, well, you're wrong.
And I said, well, I'll work on that. I said, well, what's the
other one? She said, how do you pronounce P-R-O-P-I-T-I-A-T-I-O-N? I said, propitiation. She said,
wrong. She said, that T is silent again. I said, well, what is it? She
says, propitiation. Well, you know, she's right.
Because I went home and looked it up. I couldn't wait to get
back and look it up in a dictionary. Doggone, she didn't prove me
wrong. And I said, well, is there anything else? And she said,
no, that's it. And she took a piece of paper and dropped it in the
trash can. She said, let's have a cup of coffee. And I said,
well, let me ask you this. I said, do you believe what I
have to say about propitiation? Because I say it real often. And she said, yes, I do. And
I said, well, we're all right then, aren't we? She said, yeah,
we're all right. And we were good friends until the Lord took
her home to glory a few years ago. But you say it any way you
want. You say propitiation or propitiation
any way you want to say it. Say it as often and as often
as you want to say it. It still means this. We have
a mercy seat. There's somebody who has satisfied
divine justice for his people. In fact, he is our propitiation. The Lord Jesus is. God has dealt with our sins. And he's dealt with them once
and for all. And I'm not accountable. I'm
not answerable. I had somebody who's already
answered divine justice for me. Somebody stood for me. Somebody
died in my place on that old rugged cross. And he paid my
indebtedness. And I don't have any indebtedness.
I'm free of any debt to God. And like I said this morning,
the greatest evidence that our God will punish sin is to be
seen at Mount Calvary. Listen to what we read in Romans
8. For what the law could not do in that he was weak through
the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. We don't walk after the religions
of the flesh. We don't walk after the beliefs
of the flesh. We walk after the gospel that
we're taught by the Spirit of God. We walk according to the
Spirit. Judgment. That's what I'm trying
to impress upon you today is the subject of judgment. Back
in chapter 24, we dealt with it a little bit this morning.
Isaiah sets forth the certainty of divine judgment upon Babylon. Babylon, the city of confusion,
the city of desolation, and the city of destruction. In fact,
let me read a few verses to you again from chapter 24 that I
did not read this morning. Look at verse 17 of chapter 24
of Isaiah. Verse 17, Fear and the pit and
the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come
to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall
into the pit. And he that cometh up out of
the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows
from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The windows are open for God
to pour out His wrath and pour out His vengeance. The earth
is utterly broken down. The earth is dissolved, clean
dissolved. The earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro
like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage. And the
transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall
and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that
day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. They
shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the
pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days
they shall be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded,
and the sun be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign
in Mount Zion, in the church, and in Jerusalem, the city of
God, and before the ancients gloriously." Isaiah sets forth
the certainty of divine judgment. But not everybody is going to
perish. There are some folks that are
going to be spared all this. Look back at another verse. Look
at verse 6 of chapter 24. Watch this. Chapter 24, verse 6. Therefore
shall the curse, therefore hath the curse devoured the earth.
And they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants
of the earth are burned. But wait a minute. A few men
are left. There is the remnant according
to the election of grace. Not everybody. Not everybody
is going to perish in their sin. There is a few. At any given
time, there are just a few. But when they are all put together
in the end, it is a multitude which no man can number, of every
nation, kindred, tribe and tongue, washed in the blood of the Lamb
and robed in His righteousness. These shall be safe for a time
and for eternity. These are God's remnant. These
are God's people. And in chapter 25, Isaiah speaks
for this remnant. And he says in verse 1 of chapter
25, O Lord, thou art my God. And this is what all of the remnant
says. This is what all believers say. Watch this, I'll show you three
things tonight. Number one, here's Isaiah's declaration
of faith. He says, O Lord, thou art my
God. Thou art my God. The Lord Jehovah
in this scripture is God incarnate, that One who is the Son of God,
Jesus Christ our Savior. He is Jehovah Jesus. He is the
Lord who is our salvation and He is the Lord who saves. The
name Jesus is taken from the Old Testament, named Joshua. Jehovah is our salvation. Joshua who led the people of
Israel into the land of promise. Joshua who was their leader,
their preserver, their savior, and their protector. That's our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Look down at verses
8 and 9 of chapter 25. I'll show you this is the Lord
Jesus. He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
all tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of His people
shall He take away from off all the earth. How do we know this? For the Lord hath spoken it.
Look at verse 9. And it shall be said in that
day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him. He will
save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in
His salvation. The saints of God in the Old
Testament, they waited for Him. They watched for Him. They believed. They looked to Him throughout
all the days of their conversion when God brought them to faith.
They were saved the same way we are saved. Saved by grace. Saved by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Saved by the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ received by God-given
faith. They waited for Him. They looked
for Him. They stood on the toes of faith,
the tiptoes of faith, and they said, He's coming, and we believe
Him, and we look to Him, and He's all of our salvation. That's
what they said. Isaiah begins this chapter by
giving all praise to Jehovah Jesus, for this is the very essence
of worshiping God and praising God, exalting Jesus Christ the
Lord. You don't worship God unless
you exalt the Lamb of God, unless you lift up Jesus Christ the
Lord in His work of substitution as the God-man, as the all-sufficient
substitute, the suffering Savior, the successful Savior. Unless
you lift Him up, you haven't worshiped God. Back in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham
took Isaac up on the mount to offer him as a burnt offering
per the Lord's commandment. And Abraham said to the two servants,
he said, you fellows remain here. I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and we'll come back. And Isaac, I don't know how old
he was, old enough to carry the wood. He went willingly. He went following his daddy's
command, let's go son. And he got to thinking along
the way, well, you know I heard dad say, we're going to go to
the mountain and worship. So he said, dad, here's the fire
and here's the wood, But she was talking about worship a while
ago with them two servants. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb? In essence saying, Dad, we can't
worship without the lamb. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And I say,
where's the lamb? And if you don't have the lamb,
you don't have any worship. You can have religion. You can
have ceremonies, and you have ritualism, but you don't have
any worship. Isaiah begins by saying, O Lord,
in essence, and here's my, the way I would translate this, O
Lord Jesus Christ, thou art my God. Thou art my God. Isaiah begins this chapter by
giving praise to Jehovah Jesus, for this is the very essence
of praise to God, believing and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, both
His person and His finished work of reconciliation and redemption. The Spirit of God teaches us
to rejoice and to worship and to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Spirit of God's Word.
I was talking yesterday with one of the men up at the church
in Michigan. And we were talking about the
work of the Spirit of God in us. And that's a necessity. Our Lord Jesus said, you must
be born again. That's the work of the Spirit
of God in us. Well, what is His work? What is the design of the very
presence of the Spirit of God in the heart, in the soul of
a child of God? Isn't it to direct our attention
to the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His work of redemption?
That's His job, isn't it? That's His work. Yes, if you ask me what is the
work of the Spirit of God within us, I'd simply say this, He leads
us away from ourselves to view the Lord Jesus Christ in all
of His glory in the work that He's already accomplished for
us. Did not the Savior say of the
Spirit of God, He will not speak of Himself? The Spirit of God leads us to
renounce every little s savior and embrace the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. He leads us away from every work
and every way contrary to grace to that only one who is a mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He leads us away
from our works. He leads us away from our natural
ideas. He leads us away from our filthiness,
because that's all we are within, is filthiness. Oh, wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And the Spirit of God leads us
to Christ Jesus, and then the saint of God cries out, I thank
God through Jesus Christ my Lord. He leads us to the Son of God.
And we're brought like Isaiah to say, Oh Lord, thou art my
God. I will exalt thee. I will praise
thy name for thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels are of old
truthfulness or faithfulness in truth. Thou art my God. We praise him for who he is.
Who is Jesus of Nazareth? He's my God. Oh, Thomas. We call him Doubting
Thomas. But all these hundreds and hundreds
of you, that's still how we call him. Be careful what you do. You'll get a name tag you'll
never lose. He never lost that. But you know
what? He was a believer. And I suspect, I got a sneaky
feeling it could be said of all of us, I could be called Doubting
Jim. Because though I have faith,
I got a lot that don't even resemble faith in me. Our Lord met with his disciples.
They had a blessed time together. And Brother Thomas wasn't there.
I don't know why he missed church that day. Maybe he had an awful
sinus headache. He wasn't feeling good. Maybe
he had to work that shift when they were meeting. I don't know
why he wasn't there, but he wasn't there. And I promise you this,
when the people of God are meeting, the Spirit of God is there to
lead us to Christ Jesus again. You are going to miss out on
something if you are not in attendance. And it may be a very valid reason
for not being there. But if the Lord of glory meets
with us, If he meets here among God's people, and for whatever
reason I can't be here, I'll be the poorer for it. Isn't that
right? I'll be the poorer for it. And Brother Thomas, did he
miss his service that day? The resurrected Christ Jesus
appeared to them and taught them and fellowshiped with them and
encouraged them. And man, the service was over
and when they saw Thomas they said, you should have been in
church today. Oh, my goodness, Thomas, the
Lord of Glory preached to us today. And it was such a blessing
to see him. Never a man spake like him, Thomas. Oh, the words of grace that flowed
forth from his lips and how we were blessed. And Thomas said,
I don't believe it. I don't believe it. In fact,
I'm just going to have to see them wounds and thrust my hands
in or I'm not going to believe. Well, eight days later, they
had another service. I'll tell you who was there then.
He didn't miss that service. Old Thomas. And the Lord Jesus
said, Thomas, touch me. It's me. Thomas fell down before
him and he said just exactly what Isaiah said, my Lord and
my God. My God, who is Jesus Christ? He's my God. And if you deny
his deity, you in trouble because nobody can save you. Nobody can
help you but him who is God alone. That One who is God of very God,
eternally God in the heavens, who has made flesh and dwelt
among us. John said, we beheld His glory.
A glory as of the only begotten, full of grace and truth. He's my God. Now watch this. I know He's the
revealer of God. But he's more than that, he's
the revelation of God. I know he spoke the words of
God, no question about it. But more than that, he is the
word of God. And I know he's the man Christ
Jesus. But he is also the image of the
invisible God. He's my God. He's my God. Oh Lord, oh Lord Jesus Christ,
oh Jehovah who saves by your blood and by your righteousness,
you're my God. You're my God. That's Isaiah's declaration of
faith. Here's the second thing, Isaiah's
determination of faith. Here's his determination. We
have this same determination if we are born of the Spirit.
Watch His determination. I will exalt Thee. I will praise Thy name. That
is determination. Isn't that your determination?
By the enabling grace of God to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
After all, He is our Savior. He is our only Savior. He is
our Almighty Savior. He is our successful Savior. He is our all-sufficient Savior. He is our effectual Savior. He
got the job done. We're determined to exalt Him. And like the Apostle Paul, I'm
determined to preach Him. That's exactly what Paul said.
I determine, he wrote to the Corinthians, I determine not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What a determination. Let other
men say what they will, preach what they will, run rabbits this
way and preach about politics and all of this kind of stuff.
I have a determination, he said. to preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Isaiah says, I have a determination. I will exalt Thee. I can't exalt
You like You ought to be exalted, but I'll give it my best shot.
I'll do the best I can on it. And I will praise Thy name, because
there is no other name to be praised. There is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved
in the name of the Lord. Jesus Christ. That's Isaiah's
determination. And I'll tell you, when we preach
this gospel that the Apostle Paul was determined to preach,
that message, this message that I'm preaching today, this message
that you preach, and all of God's servants preach this message,
it will accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished.
It will meet every need. It will do everything that we
design everything we desire. Would we exalt God? Would we
brag on God? Would we magnify God? There's
no message more honoring to God than the message of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Would we be a help to poor sinners? Would we be a help to those who
are in ignorance yet? Who are in blindness yet? Who
are still deaf? Who are still lame? Would we
be a help to them? Preach the only message that
the Lord of glory has ever promised to bless. Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Would we be a help to the saints
of God as we journey toward glory? Preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, but preacher, you need to
tell us how to live. I tell you what, the more you
fall in love with Him, and the more you see His glory, and the
more you see the successfulness of His work, and how exalted
He is in the heavens, the more contented you'll be, and the
more you will purpose in your heart to seek to honor Him in
all that you do. Because we love Him. We love
Him. There is no greater motivating
power in the world than love. And I know we love him because
he first loved us. But we do love him. We love him
as it is revealed in his word. This is our determination. This
is the message that magnifies the Lord. It humbles the sinner.
It gives hope to the lost. This is bread for God's children. This is meat for the aged and
milk for the young. If you've been in the faith for
years and years and years, this gospel you've heard today, it's
steak for you. You can just chew on it a good
while. And if you've only known the
gospel for a short time, it's milk for you. You say, boy, that's
good. That's good. Anytime you hear
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Here's Isaiah's determination
of faith. I will exalt Thee. I will praise
Thy name. And then here's the third thing.
Here's Isaiah's reason. Isaiah's reason for praising
the Lord. Watch it. For thou hast done
wonderful things. That's why we praise Him, for
He's done wonderful things. First of all, for His wonderful
everlasting counsels. He says, Thy counsels of old
are faithfulness and truth. Hey listen, in the counsel of
God, this is where it all started anyway. And actually, this is
where it was all ordained. And in the mind and purpose of
God, finished. Because Christ Jesus, in that
eternal counsel, is said to be the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And I tell you, everything God
did back there before the world began. That's the way we express
it. But really, He's always done this. He's eternally done this.
He's eternally saved us. He's eternally justified us through
the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
an everlasting salvation. I don't know much about the eternal
counsels of the infinite triune God, but I do know this, from
eternity God chose to save an innumerable multitude of undeserving
sinners for the glory of His grace. I know that. I know this,
Christ Jesus in that eternal council volunteered and he stood
as the surety of those elect people. He said, I'll redeem
them. He said, Father, I'll bring them
all safely home to you. You can trust them to me. And the Spirit of God pledged
himself to regenerate, effectually call and preserve the elect by
his infallible, irresistible grace. These things were fixed
in the purpose of God, in God's eternal counsels. That's why
we praise Him for His counsel. And we praise Him secondly for
the wonderful and certain judgment of the wicked. Look at the second
verse. For thou hast made of a city an heap, of a fenced city
a ruin, palace of strangers, to be no city at all. He'll never
be built. Therefore shall the strong people
glorify thee and the city of the terrible nation shall fear
thee. He speaks of the overthrow of the wicked as if it had already
taken place. I tell you, Isaiah didn't have,
he didn't have any use for those that preached a false gospel
and we don't either. We don't either. And I pray for people who are
wrapped up in false religion. I was one time. And I was a preacher of a false
gospel. But ever since God taught me
the true gospel, I have had no use whatsoever for those who
deny this gospel of grace. And anybody who believes the
gospel, you won't have any use for me. And we'll all shout hallelujah
when God shuts every lying mouth once and for all. Won't we? We'll
shout hallelujah. Now listen, I love you, and I
appreciate you, but if you don't love this Christ of the gospel, and you die, and you go out into
eternity, trying to find refuge in something else and somebody
else other than this glorious Savior. When God puts you in
hell, I'm going to say, Lord, you did exactly what's right.
I'm going to praise His name. You say, how can you be so cold-hearted? Well, I don't think I'm being
cold-hearted. I think I'm being true to God.
I have a greater responsibility to the Lord. You see, the gospel,
this is His glory. Isn't that right? This is His
glory. And if you don't believe that message that glorifies the
Lord, and you die and leave this world in that kind of state,
I don't have any use for you either. And when God shuts the mouths
of all the false prophets, I'll just say, thank you, Lord. They
can't lie on you ever again. I don't like people telling lies,
do you? I wouldn't want somebody to lie
on my wife. Well, what about lying on my God? That upsets me. I believe it's what you might
call righteous indignation. And when God gets even, and He
will, I'll just say, Lord, I praise you. You shut their mouths. I'll give you the glory. That's
not too hard, is it? Just being honest with you. We praise Him for His wonderful
and certain judgment of the wicked, and then we praise Him for His
wonderful providence. Look at verse 4. For thou hast
been a strength to the poor. That's me. I'm poor. I'm poor. Aren't you poor in yourself?
What are you going to offer to God? He owns everything. You can't bribe Him. Because whatever you got, He
gave it to you. It came forth from His treasury.
And it's really just on loan to you. I'm poor. I'm poor spiritually. I said,
Lord, let me make sure I don't have anything in my pocket. I
said, Lord, I don't have one thin spiritual dime to offer
you. I'm poor. The psalmist said, I'm poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. And as long as you have
this idea, you've got something you can offer to God, you haven't
been convinced that you're poor yet. You're like those Laodiceans.
They said, we are rich and increased with goods. The Lord said, you
don't know that you are poor and miserable and blind and wrecked. You don't have anything. It is
a wonderful day when God shows you, you are absolutely broke.
Isn't that a wonderful day? Poor. Poor. Give strength to the poor and
strength to the needy. I am needy. I am needy. What do I need? Well, being poor,
I need everything. And I've got no way to get it. But while I'm poor by nature,
I'm rich in grace. And I'll tell you why. Because
he who left the riches of glory came down here. that through
his poverty I'd be rich. I'm rich in forgiveness. I'm
rich in righteousness. I'm rich in a family. I got family
all over the world. We're rich people. Poor and needy. What's this? A refuge from the
storm. A shadow from the heat. when
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's our
refuge in the time of storm. He's a shatter from the heat
of God's wrath. He shatters me. It fell on Him. The heat of God's wrath fell
on Him. I'm sitting in the shade. I'm enjoying the grace of God,
the salvation of the Lord, setting in the shade while He bore the full blows
of divine judgment, the heat of God's wrath. He's my refuge
from the storm. He's the ark. He's the ark of
my salvation. God said, Noah, you and your
wife, your sons and your daughters-in-law, come into the ark. Come into
the yard. And God shut the door. And wrath
fell. Vengeance fell. All around them
was the wrath of God. as in the ark. And I don't know
how Noah's sons and daughters-in-law or his wife either, they may
have been nervous, they may have been scared to death as they
heard the water rushing up from the fountains below and as the
heavens opened up, they may have been scared to death. But I suspect
brother Noah said, you don't have anything to worry about.
We're sealed in here. And this ark, This ark has been
designed by my heavenly Father to absorb all the force of the
storm. Just enjoy the ride. Enjoy the
ride. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ is our ark, and God has called us by effectual grace
into the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, brothers and
sisters, enjoy the ride. There's no wrath. You don't have
to worry about the rain. You don't have to worry about
the clouds, the thunder, and the lightning, all the vengeance
of God. It's exhausted itself in our
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we praise Him. We praise
Him. And then verse 5. Thou shalt
bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a dry place, even
the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The branch of the terrible one
shall be brought low. Don't worry about your enemies.
They've already been conquered by your Savior. A delightful verse in Jeremiah
47 verse 7. The Lord said, Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, He's just a noise. That's all He is. He's just a
noise. He can't hurt God's people. And
I tell you, all of your enemies, children of God, and all the
trials of life, they can't hurt you. They'll make a noise. Even that one who is a roaring
lion, going about seeking whom they may destroy, He can't destroy
God's elect. He just makes a noise. Make some
noise. Don't be afraid. Oh, the Lord Jesus, our Savior,
Jehovah, my Savior, He's my God. And I have this determination
as best I can. It will be feeble. It will be
pitiful. It's not going to be what it
ought to be. But I have this determination to exalt Him. Don't
you? That's exactly what we want to
do. because of his wonderful works to us. Well, let's sing the closing
song. What is it? Number 352. Number 352. This is a great,
great hymn, and it's a good one to close with today. 352. Let us stand as we sing. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters While the tempest
still is high, Hide me, O my Savior, high, Till the storm
of life Oh receive my soul refuge have I done, hangs my
helpless soul on thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on thee, All my help from Thee I bring
Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing Thou,
O Christ, are all I want all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain o'er,
freely let me take of Thee. Thou art within my heart, rise
to all eternity.