Now back in Isaiah chapter 51,
I had intended when I first started studying the rest of this chapter
to actually go through and finish this chapter tonight. But when
I got into the last verses beginning there at verse 17 to the end
of the chapter, I used to say it this way. I said, I got a
hold of something. But now I want to say it this
way. I got a hold of something that got a hold of me. And I
want to deal with it in one message. I don't want to quickly go through
that because there are some things that my prayer is, as I study
it, that the Lord will help it to get a hold of you, too. So
we're going to stop there, verse 16. But tonight I just want to
bring a message on the joy of the redeemed. The joy of the
redeemed and what joy it is. And let's set up the scenario
here, the setting, the scene. Here's the people of God, the
people of Israel. They're downtrodden. They're
just beat down with troubles and trials and tribulation. And we all know something about
that. You know, sometimes we think,
well, we're worse off than anybody else, but we know better. We
know there's always somebody worse off than us. And just like
I said in my prayer, and we were talking about some of the men
in the study earlier, what Job said, man is a few days and full
of trouble. And that's so. I mean, we don't
want to go around with our heads down all the time, just getting
to know our feet better. We want to be a people of joy. We want to be a people of happiness. But we don't want the joy and
the happiness to be fake. That's what religion is. We don't
want it to be euphoria, false happiness. We want it to be real. We want it to be from the heart.
That's what I want. Well, the only way it can be
real and can be from the heart is as we keep our eyes on Christ. Now that's the reality of it.
Because He is our joy. You know, Paul wrote in Philippians,
Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice. And I want
that to come through in tonight's message. As you know, this is
prophetic. This whole thing is prophetic.
And the ultimate prophecy that is given here is the prophecy
of the coming of the Savior. The coming of the Redeemer. God had promised all the way
back right after the fall in Genesis 3.15. that he was going
to send a Redeemer, a Savior, the woman seed, who would bruise
the head of Satan and put an end to Satan's reign and ruin
that sin. And you see many manifestations
of satanic activity, satanic thought, all the way down through
history. And what is talking about here
is the satanic influence that comes in Babylon. And of course,
we've seen throughout the book of Isaiah that Babylon, it was
a real place, a real empire, populated by real people, unbelieving,
idolatrous people, headed by an unbelieving, idolatrous king
and down through the kings. But Babylon is also symbolic
of of the world against Christ. Religious world, economic world,
the philosophical world, and the governments of the world
against Christ. And the Babylon, you know, that's
a symbol that's used over and over again in the book of Revelation. It's called the great harlot,
the great whore Babylon. Because she entices men, just
like a harlot, entices men with a fake love. that has no possibility
of developing into the real divine love that God shows His people,
His Bride, Christ, the Bride of Christ, through the sending
of His Son. And that's what Babylon does.
Well, here's the people of God. They're in exile in Babylon.
And what they're expressing here in verse 9, to open up with,
is that it seems to them, and I want you to understand that,
It seems to them, if you ever made that statement, whether
it seems to me, or this is, make the statement, I thought, or
I think, you know, this is the scenario here. It seems to them
that God has left them. It seems to them that God is
actually asleep. That's what they're thinking
in their old sinful minds. God's asleep. And He's forgotten
us. Look at where we are. Would God? You know, the thing about it
is, we look at the world, we look at things from our point
of view on this plane here now, and we'll see people who are
not following the Lord prosper. And we'll wonder why. Somebody said one time, well,
if God's in it, it'll prosper. If God's not in it, it won't
prosper. You better read the book here. I've heard people say, you know,
they'll do something that is totally against the Word of God,
and they'll say, if God's in it, listen, if it's totally against
the Word of God, God's not in it. Now, let me tell you something,
He's in control of it. And He's going to work it for
His glory and the good of His people. But whether they prosper
monetarily or with population, If that's what it seems like
to you, you better go back to the book here and read it. And I'll tell you, think about
it. This is important. So they say, well, it seems thus
God's forsaken us. Babylon was prospering. But Israel,
down in their exile, a downtrodden people, people that were stepped
on, Babylon's foot was on Israel's neck. And they're saying, well,
God's forgotten us, He's asleep. He got tired of it, and then
He finally went to sleep. So here's what Israel prays. Awake! Awake! Put on strength,
O arm of the Lord. Now that's Israel saying to God,
wake up. That's what that is. It's not
God saying to Israel, wake up. Many times that happens. In fact,
verse 17, look over there, he says, awake, awake, stand up,
O Jerusalem. We read in the epistles, the
writers of the epistles will constantly tell the people, wake
up, you that sleep. This is not the time to go to
sleep. We're going to be studying the parable of the wheat and
the tares Sunday morning. And the tares were sown while
men slept. Now, some commentators say, well,
that's not necessarily a bad thing. You've got to sleep sometimes.
Some say, well, that means that they were lax in their duties.
And you really can't tell from the parable which way to go on
that. But I know this. There are times that the people
of God go to sleep when they should be awake. I know that. Whether that parable is teaching
that or not is another matter. But it does happen. So wake up!
Satan's attacking. You know, the time to go to sleep
is not when the enemy is attacking. When the trumpeter who issues
the warning, if somebody's attacking, he shouldn't play taps. He ought to be playing charge
or reveille. I don't know. Is that what it is? Reveille,
I guess. I don't know. Wake up. What do they play when
they wake up? Reveille. And that's what it is, people.
So wake up. But now here the people of God
are in exile and they say, wake up, God. Wake up. But now here's the fact of the
matter. God is not asleep. He is not asleep. Listen, God
never sleeps. He never even grows weary. He never leaves us. He never
forsakes us. He never turns His back on us,
even though we might think so. But now let me tell you something
now. What's the problem here with Israel? The problem's not
with God, you see. He'd already explained to them,
the reason you're where you're at is because of sin. You're suffering the consequences
of sin. Now, God's eternal elected people,
the redeemed ones, we will never, never perish for our sins. But many times we do suffer consequences. You see, and that's why they're
in this position here in Babylon. They're suffering the consequences
of their sin. And this is nothing more than
unbelief. Now, believer, we experience
this too. We know God. because He's revealed
Himself to us. He's brought us to Himself. He's
revealed Himself to us. He's given us the gift of faith. We're born again by the Spirit.
We have life. And we're not in unbelief, but
unbelief is still in us and we have to fight it. And whenever
we get to thinking, no matter what we're going through, no
matter how bad it is, whenever we get to thinking that God has
gone to sleep on us or God has forsaken us, or what's wrong
with God, it is no more than just sinful doubt and unbelief,
and that's all it is. There's no excuse for it. Now,
we know we have a great Savior who died even for our unbelief. Isn't that right? The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses from what? All sin. I've heard people say,
trying to talk about the unpardonable sin, well, he died for every
sin but unbelief. Well, if he died for every sin
but unbelief, that leaves the whole world in hell. Now, you
mark it down. But what this teaches us is this,
and I said this over the weekend, I don't remember if it was Sunday
morning or Sunday night, but we never, we never deserve the
blessings of God. Not even as justified sinners,
not even as believers, not even as born-again people because
we're still sinners. We never deserve it. Always think like
this, I am constantly and continually and will be eternally a recipient
of blessings and glory that I do not deserve. My only entitlement,
that's what we mean by entitlement. When you say you have an entitlement
to something, it means it belongs to you and you have a right to
it. But you see, my only entitlement to all grace here and all glory
hereafter is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that's it. Worthy is the Lamb. So when we
read passages like this, don't look down and say, well, those
stupid people of Judah. Just go look in the mirror at
any given moment when things start going bad and start going
wrong and those thoughts that shoot through our mind and say,
what have I done to deserve this? What's wrong with God? Wake up,
God! Look at me! No, that's unbelief. And that's the problem here.
You see, God saves us and He keeps us in spite of ourselves. Isn't that right? And our salvation
is sure and solid and certain, not because of our hold on Him,
but because of His hold on us. And it's because of His hold
on us that we'll continually hold on Him. I love that hymn that James sings
sometimes, The Lord Remembers Me. Even when I forget Him, the
Lord remembers me. He will never leave us. He will
never forsake us. even though we and our pitiful,
pitiful, sinful unbelief might think He does. He doesn't. He
keeps His covenant. He keeps His covenant. But now
one thing about it. One thing about it. Israel is
brought back to trusting the Lord. And that's where every
child of God is ultimately brought to all the time. We're constantly
brought to see our sinfulness and His glory, His worthiness,
our impotence and His power. And that's what they're saying.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Now, whenever
we see that term, arm of the Lord, that's the power of God.
And think of Christ Himself as the arm of the Lord. For in 1
Corinthians 1, we read this before, He is the very wisdom of God.
He is the power of God to save His people. And the reason you
say, well now, somebody come back and say, well now, everybody
in Judah here in this nation was not eternally saved. No,
but I want to tell you something. The reason God kept them intact
in their exile in Babylon and the reason God delivered them
out was to fulfill His ultimate purpose to save His people through
Christ. You realize down through history
how many nations who had been conquered, put into captivity,
exiled and scattered, had remained intact as a nation? None. Except this one right here. And
it remained intact until A.D. 70, and that was because the
work was done, the Messiah had come, Christ had come and done
His work. But up until that time, in all of their maneuverings
and all their wanderings, and all of their idolatry and sin
and unbelief and all of the conquerings that they went through and exiles
that they went through, they were still, especially the tribe
of Judah, kept intact until Messiah came. So it's all according to
the strength of God and the arm of the Lord, His purpose to fulfill
the salvation of His people. Now, they say, awake as in the
ancient days, in the generations of old. They rest back upon God's
works of the past, and that's not bad. You see, God's not resting. Now, He's not gone to sleep.
Whenever the Bible says God rested on the seventh day, it doesn't
mean He got tired and went to sleep and had to restore His
energy. It means this, His work was done and He was satisfied.
That's what it means when it says God rested. He didn't get
tired. He didn't have to be refurbished
like we do. It means His work was done and
He was satisfied. When creation was done, He finished
His work and He was satisfied. That's what that means. Just
like when Christ, over in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 10, it says,
Christ entered into His rest. Now Christ, in His humanity,
did get tired and had to rest. But as God, He never had to rest.
But what it means in Hebrews 4.10 when it says He rested from
His labor, it means He finished His work and God was satisfied. He settled the matter at the
cross. He put away our sins. He established righteousness.
He finished it. The veil was rent in two from
top to bottom. And He sat down at the right
hand of the Father. He rose again. He ascended to the Father. He
sat down at the right hand of the Father. His work was done.
Finished. And God was satisfied. But so
here, Zion, which is a symbol of the church, recognizes God's
mighty works of the past, in the ancient days. What did God
do in the past? Well, look at verse 9. Are thou
not he that cut Rahab? He cut Rahab to pieces. Now,
when you think of Rahab, you probably think of Rahab the harlot.
That's not what that's talking about. Rahab was Egypt. And you
say, well, why was Egypt called Rahab? Well, the name Rahab means
pride. That's what that name means.
That was an appropriate name for Rahab the harlot. Because
before God saved her, she was operating as a harlot in her
pride. But Rahab here refers to Egypt. God cut Egypt to pieces. Think about the plagues of Egypt.
By the time the last plague came, the Passover, the firstborn in
Egypt died because they had no blood. Egypt was ready to get
rid of that bunch of Israelites, that Hebrew bunch. Get them out
of here. We know that Pharaoh hardened his heart. God hardened
his heart even after that. But God cut Rahab into pieces. He cut Egypt up. And he wounded
the dragon. Now, the dragon here, or the
serpent, was a common symbol in Egypt. It was often used as
a symbol of Pharaoh himself. But who is the ultimate serpent?
Satan. And of course we know it was
Satan who inspired men like Pharaoh to oppress Israel and stand against
God in their idolatry. So God cut Rahab into pieces. He cut down the dragon, Pharaoh
and his army that were drowned in the Red Sea. And then we see
the ultimate fulfillment of that when our Lord and Savior, cut
Satan into pieces. And you know how he did it? By
his death. By another Red Sea. The Red Sea of his blood. And
that's what he makes reference to in verse 10. Look at verse
10. He says, "...Art thou not he which hath dried the sea?"
Talking about the parting of the Red Sea. When Israel walked
across on dry land, not in mud, but they walked across safe,
The walls of that Red Sea on either side of them, and he says,
"...the waters of the great deep that have made the depths of
the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over." Now, who passed
over in the Red Sea here? Who was it? Who specifically
was it? I'll tell you who it was. It was the ransomed. What
was the ransom price? It was the blood of the Lamb.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you, he says. What
is that but a type and a picture of our Savior on the cross shedding
the red sea of His precious blood to pay the ransom for our sins
so that we can walk across into glory itself on dry land without
even being touched? That's what that symbolizes.
That's what this is all pointing to. On the cross, just like when
Pharaoh's armies were drowned in the Red Sea, on the cross,
Satan and all of his armies were drowned in the blood of Christ.
They have nothing to accuse us of. That's when the prince of
this world was judged. Now, Satan is not yet destroyed. But my friend, he will be. He can still operate. He can
still be a real pain. But let me tell you something.
That old dragon, as Revelation chapter 12 says, is turned back. His accusations are turned back
by the blood of Christ and by the testimony. What is our testimony? Salvations of the Lord. Is that
right? Now, who is it that walked across
the ransom? The ones whom He bought with
the blood. And who's going to be saved eternally? I'll tell you exactly who. The
ransomed. The redeemed. Look at verse 11.
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord, not the unredeemed, but only
the redeemed. And all of the redeemed. all for whom Christ died and
shed his blood." You see, if there was blood on their door
in Egypt, they got out of Egypt and walked across the dry land. And it is the same thing. There
will be no sinner in hell for whom Christ died, who he redeemed. Therefore, based on this, the
ransom passing over, therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall
return. We were redeemed by the red sea
of his blood. Peter said, for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Perfect, pure
blood, untainted by sin. You see here, we see that even
back in the Old Testament, and this has been taught to you,
this is not the first teaching of this lesson here. It was taught
when God shed the blood of animals and made coats of skin for Adam
and Eve. It was really taught even before that, because you
remember what God told Adam about the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil? He said, in the days that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt what? Surely die. Sin demands death. That's what he said. And then
he showed without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness.
He shed the blood. He killed those animals. I believe
it was a sheep. I believe it was a lamb because
that's what Abel began to sacrifice. And he said he put that coat
of skin representing the perfect righteousness of Christ, the
imputed righteousness of Christ. That will never be abolished,
verse 6 here, Isaiah 51. It'll be here forever. Oh, we
have a better righteousness than what Adam had before the fall,
don't we? The righteousness of God, it's called in the Scriptures.
But you see, the Lord's salvation is one of redemption and ransom.
And for both words, this ransom here and this redeemed, or redemption,
For both words to hold their meaning, there must be payment
to secure the result that follows. If there is no payment, there
is no result, there is no salvation. So this payment was made by Christ
who redeemed us by His blood. And that was the establishment
of righteousness in time. And as a result, the ones whom
He ransomed by His blood will return. Scripture says here,
therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return. They're going
to return to God. They're going to return to Zion.
They're going to come with singing unto Zion. You see it there?
That's His church. They're part of His family. They're
His elect. They're His redeemed ones. He
justified them in Christ. And He will give them life. And they'll come with singing.
They'll be singing the new song, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
That's their hymn. Great is our God with strength. And they'll return, as Hebrews
12 says, to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now you see here,
Isaiah's subject here is not about a return from Babylon as
much as it is a greater future salvation with the kind of singing
to be found entering into the Church of God with joy. Look back at verse 3. Remember
what he says here? For the Lord shall comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness
like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Entering
the garden of the Lord, the vineyard. Christ said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. And he says, joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of melody. And over here in verse
11, he says, they'll come with singing unto Zion. And listen
to this. He says, an everlasting joy. You see that? In other words, it's not a temporary
joy. You know there are times of joy
here on earth, aren't there? You often think about times of
joy. You hope, and I hope, that there are times of joy to come.
Don't you? But here's one thing you know
about all the times of joy here on earth with family, with friends,
things like that we go through here on this earth. They will
not last, will they? Whatever joy you're experiencing
today, tomorrow sorrow will come. And it's a cycle of things, isn't
it? Kind of like, you know, there's joy, there's sorrow, and it seems
as we grow older, the times of sorrow get to be more and the
times of joy less. We have to experience the pains
of this body of death, because this body is dead because of
sin. Thank God the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Thank God that we're going to be changed. Aren't you glad you're
going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye? Young people don't
really know much about that yet. But you do, don't you? I do.
But it's not going to last, is it? But now here he says that
we're going to sing with everlasting joy. This is a joy that cannot
be destroyed. You see, this is the joy that
we have in Christ. and because of what He has done
for us, because of what He's done in us, and because of what
He is to us, and because of what He's going to do. This is the
joy. This is not joy in the world.
This is the joy of the redeemed. I'm redeemed by love divine. Glory, glory. Christ is mine. That's the joy. with every enemy
defeated, and every obstacle taken care of, so the ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to sing Him with joy." See,
it's not going to be with sorrow here. It's going to be with joy. And this is another promise with
both a near fulfillment here, because these people were going
to be delivered from Babylon, but it has an ultimate fulfillment
in the deliverance of Zion, God's people in Christ. You see, even
their deliverance from Babylon was temporary because, you know,
when they got back in Babylon, you know, they were still under
a Gentile conqueror when they got out of Babylon and back into
Jerusalem. And that continued throughout the rest of their
history up until the time that the nation was utterly destroyed
in A.D. 70 under the Romans. So even that time of joy when
they went home from Babylon, To Jerusalem, it was a temporary
joy, but this isn't temporary. The joy of the redeemed is eternal,
it's everlasting, it will never die. Isaiah 29, 19, listen to
this, "...the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord."
What does it mean to be meek? It means to be submissive to
God's will and God's way and God's way of salvation, submissive
to Christ. The poor among men shall rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel. Were they going to rejoice in
their poverty? No, in the Holy One of Israel. You don't rejoice
in poverty, but we rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. That's
Christ. Philippians 4, 4, Rejoice in
the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Romans 14, 17, for the
kingdom of God is not meat and drinks, not what you eat and
drink, but righteousness in Christ, peace in Christ, and joy in the
Holy Ghost. Why in the Holy Ghost? Because
He points you to Christ. He convicts you of your sins,
but points you to Christ. And it's everlasting joy. Why?
Look back at verse 6 now. He says, Lift up your eyes to
heavens, look upon the earth beneath, the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, that's temporary, that's going to be destroyed.
The earth shall grow old like a garment, that's temporary,
that's not going to last. And they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner, death's coming. Now you can hoot and holler,
you can You can bang on the wall, you can get on your knees in
prayer, and you can talk about how if your life's not right
with God, you'll be sick, and if it is, you won't be sick.
But I'm going to tell you something, they're going to be laying in
that grave. Unless the Lord comes again, and then if they're not
found in Christ, they're going to perish eternally. But it's
coming. But here, look here, but my salvation
shall be forever. Now that's God's salvation that
He provides freely in Christ. And my righteousness shall not
be abolished. That's why it's joy everlasting.
Right there. You see that? Look at verse 12
now. He says in verse 11, the everlasting
joy shall be upon their head, they shall obtain gladness and
joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. It will be no
more. Verse 12, he says, I, even I,
am he that comforteth you. Our comfort is from God. Remember
we read there in 2 Corinthians 1, we get our comfort from God
so that we can comfort with each other with the same comfort.
And what he's talking about there is that God, it is God who gives
us the peace and the joy and the security that we have in
Christ so that we can tell each other and talk to each other
and point each other in the same direction. My hope is in Christ. And when I get my eyes off of
Him, what are you to tell me? Bill, stop looking in. Stop looking
there. Look to Christ. That's what you're
to tell me. That's how you comfort me. Look
to Christ. Stay focused on Him, you see.
And He says, I am He that comforts you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die? If God is our joy and our
comfort and our salvation, why should we be afraid of any man
who's going to die? Whatever man that you're afraid
of, I'm going to tell you something, that man is going to die. He
may be big and strong and mean and threatening, but I want to
tell you something, he cannot conquer death. God is our God. God is on our side. So he says,
why should we be afraid of a man? And of the Son of Man which shall
be made as grass. Even His children aren't going
to bother us. They're grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof fadeth away. And why should we, verse 13,
be afraid of man and forget us the Lord thy Maker? When you're
afraid of men, When you're threatened by men, you see, in your own
mind, in your own conscience, what are you doing? You're forgetting
the Lord. And we're prone to do that. Prone
to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That's us by nature, isn't it?
Don't forget Him, you see. You're forgetting your Maker
that has stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations
of the earth, and has feared continually every day because
of the fury of the oppressor." In other words, you're fearing
every day because of the fear, the anger of those who would
oppress you. And he says, "...as if he were
ready to destroy." Literally, it means as if he had made himself
ready to destroy. That oppressor is not going to
do any more or any less than the Lord God of glory enables
him and allows him to do. That's right. What can man do
unto me? And where is the fury of the
oppressor? Where is it? He says. You see,
our fears and unbelief and our anxieties only come when we forget
the Lord and take our eyes off Christ. You remember when The
disciples were in that boat, and the Lord took that boat,
and they went out over the sea to the other side. And they saw
Him out on the sea walking. And they became afraid, and He
said, Peace be still, it's I. And Peter, He said, Lord, if
it's You, command me to come unto You. He said, Well, come
on. What did Peter do? He got out
of the boat. He was walking on the water right
over there. But then what did he do? He took his eyes off Christ
and he looked at the water and the storm and saw how great it
was. And he began to sing. And he
cried out, Lord, save me! And the Lord saved him. He said,
O thou little faith. You see, that's when we get into
the trouble. When we take our eyes off the
Savior, that's when the doubts and the unbeliefs and the fear
of man and his oppression and his big talk really gets to us
when we take our eyes off the Savior. Paul wrote in Romans
15, 13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
what? Believing. What is that? Looking
to Christ. That's what believing is. Resting in Christ. That you
may abound in hope. Overflow with it. through the
power of the Holy Ghost. Look in unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Look at verse 14. He says, The
captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he
should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. What
he's talking about is the anxiety of the captive. You see, we want
relief, and we want it now, don't we? Lord, make it all go away
right now. That's what he's talking about.
But he says, And what that does, it makes us think, or have an
attitude rather, that, well, God, He's forgotten us and He's
just not able to do this. But look at verse 15. But I am
the Lord thy God, not just the Lord, but the Lord thy God. He
says, I'm your God. Aren't you thankful that He's
our God? Now, He's the God of the whole
universe. There's none that can stop Him
or stay His hand or even say anything to Him. But He's our
God in such a sense that we can't even imagine the love and the
care that He has for His people. So much so that He allows us
to call Him Abba, Father. Papa, Papa. That's our God. And He divided the sea whose
waves roared And the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, the
Lord of an invincible army is His name. So here's what He's
saying here. He says, you're sitting here
fretting over this problem, whatever it is. And you're thinking, well,
God's forgotten us. God's asleep. God cannot do this. Maybe we finally come to a point
where God cannot help us anymore. He says, look, I'm the Lord your
God. I'm your God. I'm your Heavenly
Father. And I've divided the sea that
roared, and the Lord of hosts is my name." I'm able to do it. He's not come to the point where
He's finally met His match, because He has no match. He's God. You see, He's our Savior. And
so in verse 16, look at this. He says, and listen, He's going
to do it in His time too. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son. And he says in verse 16,
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee
in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and
lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my
people. Why is God doing this in the
way that it is being done? Have you ever thought that? I
do. You know, we know God's active at work. He's never quit. He's
always working all things together for good to them that love the
Lord, who are called according to His purpose. Well, why is
God doing it this way or doing it that way? You say, well, first
of all, that's a boast, isn't it? I mean, am I wiser than God? No. It's almost like we're saying,
well, I've got a better way to do it. It's a way that I don't
have to suffer any pain or have any problems. But that's not
the way God does it. Well, here's why He does it.
That we might learn His Word. I've put my words in thy mouth.
He's going to drive us to His Word. And that's Christ. Some
commentators say here that this is the Son Himself speaking.
And it is, because it's the Word of God. And He speaks. He put the words of the mouth
in the prophet. Isaiah spoke the Word of God, not the Word
of Isaiah. God's preachers speak the Word of God, not the Word
of Bill Parker or Henry Mahan or any other preacher. If it's
not the Word of God, it's not even worth listening to. And
so here it is. He said, I've put my words in
thy mouth and I've covered thee in the shadow of my hand. That's
trusting Him. Why does God do it the way He's
doing it? So that we would trust Him. We're in His hands. He's
got the whole world in His hands, that Him saying. He does. He's
got us, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand, He's saying.
And He said, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations
of the earth. I believe He's talking about
the new heavens and the new earth. This is all a preparation for
that, see. Whatever we go through. I think
about our dear sister Sue in hospice. Do you know that everything
she's going through right now, And one of our brothers made
this statement to him. She's been such a great and grand
testimony of the grace of God. And I know she'd wonder, we wonder,
why does the Lord let her linger? She's a testimony to His grace
to other people. She's been an encouragement to
me, Stan, I know to you too, in all things, of grace. But everything she's going through
right now is a preparation for something that we can't even
imagine. Paul said that he saw a glimpse
of it in the third heavens in a dream and he couldn't even
describe it. She's right now being prepared for something
that the Apostle Paul could not even put into words. She's going
to be face to face with her Lord and her Savior. And that's why
God does it this way at His time. Isn't that right? And then he
says, and saying to Zion, you're my people. You're my people. She's one of God's precious sheep. That's what you are if you know
Christ and rest in Him. The claim of ownership. You know
what that is? When God does it His way in His
time, according to His sovereign power, that's His claim of ownership.
Don't you do what you want with the things you own? Don't you? Don't you put them where you
want them to be? If I walk into your house and say, I don't like
that lamp there. I want to move over here. You'd
say, who do you think you are? I own that. Well, God's the same way, except
better. I mean, that might be the worst place you could ever
put a lamp. That might be ugly, but it's yours. You put it there
anyway. But let me tell you something, everything that God puts in its
proper place, for its proper time, in its proper way, what
He's showing, I'm showing you my claim of ownership on you.
You're my people. The reason you're in Babylon
is because of your sin, but I put you there. And you're going to
stay there not one second more, and you're going to get out not
one second early than what I've determined. And I'll put you
where I want you to be. And that's the way it is with
every one of God's children. Now, what a comfort that is for
God's people. If we could just keep our minds
right there, isn't that right? We would experience continually.
And I know we don't. I'm not sitting up here telling
you this is the way I think all the time because I don't. I mean,
I get mad and angry and frustrated and say, why, God, I do that
all the time. Lord, forgive me. But if we could
think like that all the time, we would continually experience
the joy of the redeemed, wouldn't we? All right.