Okay. Open your Bibles if you
would to Psalm 83. Psalm 83. Do you know that God's
people are a hidden people? They're a hidden people? God's people are hidden people. They're hidden in Christ. And We're even hid from ourselves. We don't know we're God's people
before he saves us, do we? We're hid from the world. The
world just thinks we're one of them. They don't see any difference
in us, except after the Lord saves us, and then they think,
well, what happened to that fellow, or what happened to that lady?
But when God regenerates us and we're born again. We are truly
new creatures in Christ and we're given faith to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. But even before that, we are
the hidden ones. We are the hidden ones, beloved.
The name of the message is God's hidden ones. God's hidden ones. Let's look at this in Psalm 83. Let's read the first five verses.
Keep not thou silent, O God. Hold not thy peace and be not
still, O God. Now we're told to be still before
God. Asphere is praying that God wouldn't
be still, that he'd move. For lo, thine enemies make a
tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. That's
still true today, right? Men and women lift up their heads
in pride against our great God, even today. Before the Lord saved
us, we did it too. Israel was called a stiff-necked
people. That could be said of all the
world, right? We're a stiff-necked and proud
people, we human beings. Look at this, though. They have
taken crafty counsel against thy people. Look at this. And consulted against what? Thy
hidden ones. We see here that God has a people.
They're called thy people. And they're also called right
here, thy hidden ones. They have said, come and let
us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be
no more in remembrance. So during this time, the enemies of God's people had
come up against them, and they wanted to cut them off. Sounds
familiar, doesn't it? Sounds similar to what's happening
to Israel today, isn't it? People want them destroyed. My oh my, but more importantly
too, God's people, the true Israel of God, are the hidden ones. And it says here, for they have
consulted together with one consent. Now they're joined together.
Nations that were enemies once with each other are now in a
confederation against the nation of Israel. We have seen in our
lives enemies of the gospel go into
confederation against the true gospel. It says here, verses 6 to 11, Oh, it speaks to those who are
confederate against. Look at this. The tabernacles
of Edom, and the Ishmaelites of Moab, and the Hagarines, Gebel,
and Ammon, with Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
Arsure is also joined with them. And they have hopened the children
of Lot, Selah. My oh my. They're a confederation
against the nation of Israel. Now look at verses 12 to 18. Who said let us take to ourselves
the house of God in possession? See that's what this confederation
wanted to do. They wanted to wipe Israel off
the map. Oh my God make them like a wheel
as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and
as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, so persecute them with
thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces
with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Now look at
that. He's not asking that they be
destroyed, he's asking that they be turned to God. That's our
heart cry, too, even for our enemies, isn't it? Lord, save
them, please. Please. Save those who confederate
themselves against the gospel, against your Christ, against
your people. And we can understand how people can confederate against
the gospel because we were in the world at one time, even though
at that time we did not know it, But we were hidden. We were
some of God's hidden ones. And we had no idea. No idea at
all. Let them be confounded and troubled
forever, yea, let them be put to shame and perish. That men
may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah. Look at that. aren't the most high over all
the earth. We have a picture here before
us of how God protects the church and keeps us safe amidst all
the trials of life that we go through. And we've went through
many trials, haven't we, Brother Brian? We've went through many
trials as individuals and as a body. And God has kept us. the whole time. Brother Zane,
we talk about it all the time, how the Lord took care of us.
Brother Dave, even before the Lord saved us, He took care of
us. We talk many times about that. He just watched over us,
guided us, directed us. Amen! He takes care of us even
today. And Sister Linda, we can look
back on our lives and we can see how God's, how He's moved
in our lives. How He's protected us. It's absolutely
amazing, even before we were saved. Do you know we were redeemed
then? See, all the preacher does, I'm
just telling you about, I'm telling God's people about what Christ
did 2,000 years ago. And we pray that one of God's
lost sheep will hear the voice of the shepherd and be born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And you know what? Find out they're
one of the hidden ones. Find out they're one of the hidden
ones. They're one of the ones who are hid in Christ, didn't
even know it. My oh my. Israel had all these
nations. We saw the list of some of them.
All these nations confederate against them. Coming up against
them. They joined together. They were
plotting to wipe Israel right off the map. To quiet them forever
if they could. What a picture of the Church
of God. My. You know there was a place that
was a famous fellow who was against God. Can't remember where the
place was, but I remember reading a story about it, and he used
to put out literature. You know what happened after
he died? They printed Bibles from that house. Oh my! Isn't that amazing? My, oh my. And the world, I mentioned
this on Sunday, the world hates God's people. They might not
manifestly openly say it, but they don't like him. They don't
like us. No. I had a fellow today, I walked
in and all the guys are sitting there and there's this new guy
that's been coming sitting there and he found out I was a preacher
and he don't like talking to me a whole lot. He sat, I sat
down, and he was in the seat beside me, and I sat down there,
and I'm just talking with the guys like I talk with you. Right? He looks over, and I started
laughing because my friend and I were sharing a joke. He goes,
what are you laughing about? I said, oh, Gary's making me
laugh like crazy. You know? And he just looked
at me really weird, really kind of stone-like, and I thought,
I know that look. I know that look. You can't get
at my master. So you want to take it out on
me, but that's okay. I'm used to it by now, aren't
we? We get used to it. And I'll tell you what, my own
dad came at me when the Lord saved me, my own dad. My own
dad tore me apart at dinner nights at my mom and dad's house every
night after I professed Christ. I lived with him for six months.
I had to move and get my own place, but six months I just
sat there and prayed for him. So if anyone else tries to come
at me, my dad came at me, man. Everybody else, nothing that
way, right? He prepared me, brother. Amen. And he does, doesn't he? From
the very place you think you'd get love, I got hate. But that's
okay. I know my Heavenly Father loves
me. And like you said, there was a reason for all that, Brother
Zane. He was preparing me for the ministry. Baking the cake,
brother, that's right. All the ingredients got to go
in there, don't they? But that's what happens. My, oh, my. So now when someone like that
acts like that with me, it's just, that's nothing. That's
me. That's me before the Lord saved
me, right? That's you before the Lord saved you. He could
be a sheep, brother. That's right. And that's why
I just keep talking about the Lord. I don't care who's there.
The Lord opens the door. I'll be talking to my buddy and
he's right there hearing. He can't shut his ears up, can
he? He'd listen then. He'd listen then. See, that's
why we just, when the Lord opens the door, you just talk. And
those guys over there, you guys can join me. It's a lot of fun
now. They ask questions sometimes and man, the door just swings
open. Oh my, but anyways, but we face
persecution from places we don't expect, right? The Lord told
us that even our family members would turn against us, but we
have a new family now. You guys are my family, right? All born again believers are
my family. And we have the same father, we have the same spirit,
we have the same savior, And praise God, we've been born again
by the same spirit and given the same faith, too. We have
the same faith, don't we? Same object of our faith, that's
right, Christ. Amen, Brother Dave. Christ. So
here we see the heathen raging against Israel. And nothing's
changed, has it? The heathens still rage against
God's people. God's church. They still rage against the Israel
of God. I'm talking about the elect of
God. The ones who come from every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And they still rage. But you
know what scripture says? It says this, he that sits in
heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.
You ever think of that? When you hear all these things
going on in the news and these people protesting all this stuff,
just think of that. They're in derision. The Lord's laughing. He just laughs at them. I was
thinking this today. And if you agree with me, you
can agree with me. If you don't agree with me, you
don't. But we are such proud beings, right, that we think that what
we say when we're rebels in our heart matters to God. It's gonna
maybe, maybe, maybe gonna offend him. He laughs. He laughs. Beloved, the scripture
says this. He that says in heaven shall
laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision and confusion. That makes me pity my fellow
men. Right? Because we were there. But we did not know we were hidden
ones. We were hidden ones of God. And
like you said, Brother Dave, we don't know if there's another
hidden one sitting right there. The hidden ones are the elect
of God. God knows where they are, doesn't
he? He knew where to find us, didn't he? That's right. But he knew exactly
where we were, Brother Dave. And he came and he took us out
of that pit, man. Help came from above. Amen. Remember Jeremiah who's
in that pit? They threw him in the pit, and
it was mirey clay. It was all wet clay. Every time
he climbed up, he'd slide right back down. That was us. That
was the condition we were in, beloved. And help came from above. Here comes a hand. And what's
he do? He lift us right out of that
pit, didn't he? And he put us on solid ground. And that being
himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We're not
in that pit anymore. We've been redeemed. My, we thought, I have no hope,
and yet he says, you're one of my hidden ones. Remember back before the Lord
saved us? Do you remember the loneliness
and despair that sometimes happened in our lives? All that time, he was looking
upon us with love. All that cake mix that was going
on in our lives to make us who we are. All those things, right? All things worked for the good,
for those who are the called, for those who are in Christ Jesus,
right? All those things, good and bad,
that happened to us, just mixed up. And all that time, he's got his
eye on me saying, Because you're a hidden one. Everlasting eyes of love upon
you. Sees all our pain, all our sorrow,
all our tears, and yet there he is. Ever watching over, ever
caring for us, ever carrying us. We thought we were doing
everything on our own. Look what I've done. That's right,
brother. Very proud. See, it's in our
nature, isn't it? Even after we're saved, we struggle
with pride. And yet, and yet, the whole time
he's sustaining us, beloved. Because we're one of his hidden
ones. My, if not even a sparrow falls
to the ground without him knowing, think of how much he watches
over us. And we're called in the text
there in verse 3, we're called thy hidden ones. Look at that. They've consulted against what?
Thy hidden ones. Notice it's plural too. There's
more than one. As a matter of fact,
the hidden ones are a number no man can number. My. And think of this. What we have in Christ is hid
from natural man. When we saw Christians before
the Lord saved us, we didn't go, oh, there's one of the hidden
ones. Right? That's what we used to
think. Yeah, there's one of them holy
rollers. We never thought, we never thought, we never thought,
well, there's one who God's watching over, protecting the whole time. Oh my. See the Lord Jesus Christ
is God in the flesh. And he was manifest to redeem
those who are called in our text by hidden ones. That's why he
came to redeem us. Because we were given to him
by the Father. A natural man can't perceive
that. I had no clue about that before
I was saved, did you? Never even entered my mind. But
yet, here's the Lord Jesus Christ dying on Calvary's cross, redeeming
a multitude of people that no man can number. And they walked
by him and said, well, he saved others. How come he can't save
himself? And meanwhile, here he is. given
his life for a multitude of people that they can't even number. They had no clue who he was.
Just like we had no clue who he was before the Lord saved
us. It's only by revelation that we know who he is. And the spiritual
life of the saints is hid from the men of the world too. Natural
man's alienated from God. And we who believe were in that
state at one time. We were alienated from God in
our minds by wicked works, the scriptures say. We had no clue
who he was. And the world really knows nothing
of eternal life. They think they know what it
is, but they really don't have any clue what eternal life is. They know nothing of the heavenly
manna who came down from heaven. to redeem his people from their
sins, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came down from heaven
to this world and lived as our substitute, beloved. They have
no idea. Did you have any idea of that,
Brother Zane? No, I had no idea. Growing up
as a teenager and a young man, had no idea. Totally clueless,
weren't we? Groping in the dark. We're open
in the dark, but you know what, beloved? Oh, rejoice. We've been
taken from the darkness of our sin, and we've been translated
to the kingdom of the dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we're his hidden ones.
We're his hidden ones. My, this is why we preach the
gospel. We have no clue who God's people
are. So we preach the gospel, send it out on the internet,
send it out to wherever we can, praying that God would use it
to save his people from their sins, and we'll rejoice. We're
gonna rejoice whether we know that the Lord's saving people
while we know he's using the message, because it won't return
unto him void, and whether he's just building his people up.
We're gonna rejoice no matter what, aren't we? We're going
to rejoice. I was listening to Brother Tom
Harden. He's got these little 16-minute messages. Oh my gosh. I was about shouting today listening
to that. The finished perfect work of
Christ. It's done. It's complete. And there's nothing we add to
that. Now scripture says this, now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. See it has to
be revealed to us. It says which was kept secret
before the world began. but now is made manifest and
by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment
of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever
amen that which was hidden the gospel is now revealed do you
know it was hidden from ages and generations it says in Colossians
chapter one and now it's now It's been made
manifest. Who came into this world? The
Lord Jesus Christ. God's salvation is now manifested. And that's what we preachers
do. We stand up and we proclaim Christ. I don't have any time
preaching anything else, and I don't want to waste your time
preaching anything else, because there's nothing else to preach,
is there? There's nothing else. If Christ
isn't enough, then there's something wrong. I mean, there's something
wrong, beloved. Oh my. So the believers hid with Christ.
Our spiritual life is in Christ, right? Outside of Christ, we
don't have any spiritual life at all. He's the head, the root,
and the foundation of our spiritual life, of our eternal life. And
this is why the believer is safe. This is why we're safe, because
we're hidden in Christ. We're hidden in Him, beloved.
If we weren't hidden in Christ, we wouldn't be safe, would we?
Do you know God's, do you know God's, oh my, think of this,
beloved. God's wrath against our sin has
been extinguished in Christ. I mean extinguished, there's
nothing left. Isn't that wonderful? Yeah, amen. That's wonderful, it's gone. There's not even a wisp of smoke,
it's gone. The king of kings and the lord
of lords, the prince of peace cried, it's finished. What's
finished? Well, the salvation of God's
people, finished. The wrath of God's extinguished.
And as I said a couple weeks ago, our sins were buried with
Christ, beloved. Hallelujah, right? What a blessing. So God says, I don't even see
your sin. Oh, Father, give us faith just
to rest in that truth. Right? Oh, my. And what joy that can
bring our souls. So just rest in that truth. They're
buried, brother. They're gone, never to be remembered
anymore. My. And he's the water of life. God's
people are hidden in him. We have eternal life in him.
Look at verse three again of Psalm 83. They have taken crafty
counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden
ones. Now, God's people aren't hidden
from God. Note here they're called His hidden ones. Who's hid us
in Christ? God the Father. When did He hide
us in Christ? Before the foundation. Amen,
brother. Before the foundation of the world, man. We didn't
have anything to do with that, did we, brother? I'm glad. Amen,
man. Amen. Can we mess it up, Brother
Zane? Amen! We can't mess it up, can
we? No? Oh, praise God. Oh my. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. They're not unknown to him. He
knows them all. Christ has redeemed them. He's
known them from eternity. He's loved us from eternity.
He's loved the hidden ones from eternity. And then he's going
to glorify us one day, beloved. Our brothers and sisters are
in glory. They've already been glorified. They're in the presence
of Christ. Yeah, and we will be one day
too. Why? Because we're the hidden ones of Christ. We're the hidden.
We're hidden Christ. We're the hidden ones of God.
Isn't that amazing? We say, me? That's what the scripture
says. I'm just going to trust the scriptures,
and I believe what God says. And if he says we're the hidden
ones, prayers be to God, we're hidden. Right? It's wonderful,
isn't it? Oh, it's wonderful. Oh my. And we're not unknown to Christ
because he knows every one of his sheep by name. You didn't
think of that. You know, before we were even
born, God knew what our name would be. And here we have a new name in
heaven. It's called the Lord Our Righteousness. Got a new name. It gives all
the glory to Christ. See he's called the Lord our
righteousness and we're called the Lord his righteousness. We're
his, we're his beloved. Isn't that amazing? It's mind boggling brother, it
really is. My, turn if you would to Psalm
57, a few Psalms over. few Psalms over, and note, note,
note, I'm going to just read that last verse of the Psalm
while you're turning there. Psalm 83, 18 says, that man may
know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high
over all the earth. See, we're saved to magnify God,
right? Remember a couple weeks ago I
preached on We were born for the glory of
Christ, just like that lame man was born for the glory of Christ.
Do you know every one of us? Brother Dave, you were born for
the glory of Christ. Isn't that amazing? Oh, yeah, we just glorify
Him. And now that we're saved, now
we just seek to glorify Him, don't we? We seek to praise Him.
We seek to worship Him now. And the world will try to raise
up against God. And again, as I said earlier,
He just laughs at them. He laughs at them, beloved. And the world may mock his hidden
ones, they may try to destroy his hidden ones, but God will
protect them. God will always protect his people.
Always, always, always. Why? Because we're hidden. We're
hidden by God, and if God hides us in Christ, there ain't nobody
in this world getting to us. Now they may kill the body, but
they cannot take away the soul, beloved. They cannot take away
the soul. Do you know we're his jewels?
Do you know we're his peculiar treasure? You ever think of that? We're jewels. My oh my. We're like rubies in the eyes
of the Lord. It's amazing. And we're clothed
in Christ's precious righteousness. And the last verse in Psalm 83
there says, "'Tis Jehovah." That's a self-existent one, beloved.
Now let's look again at 57. We'll read verses 1 to 3. Oh,
what rest and comfort God's people can find! in Christ. Look at this. It's a Mitchum
of David when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto
me, God. Or be merciful unto me, O God.
God has been so merciful to us in Christ, we can't even measure
it. We can't even plumb the depths.
We can't even measure it. As high as the sky is and heaven
is from us, it goes even further than His mercy. We can't even
measure it. As deep as the ocean is, His
mercy is depthless. Be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee. Oh, look at that. That's by God-given
faith. That's by the power of God, the
Holy Spirit. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge
until these calamities be overpassed. That's like a hen putting her
feathers over her little chicks during a storm. And she'll let
that storm beat upon her and she'll stay right there as long
as she can. Oh my. I will cry unto God most
high. Look at this. Unto God that performeth
all things for me. That's our God. Who performed our salvation?
Christ. Who planned and purposed our
salvation? God the Father. Who regenerates us? God the Holy
Spirit. Who keeps us from falling? God. He does everything for us. Isn't
this amazing? See, and you preach this and
men hate this. But God's people love it. We love it, don't we?
We love it. We love, because you know, we
know, we know we're but dust. And God knows we're, I read that
on Sunday, God knows we're but dust. Just think of that. He
knows the frailty of our being. And yet He still has such mercy
upon us. You can't measure the depths of mercy. where his dust
is right yeah we're hidden dust hey oh my look at this he shall
send from heaven yeah there it is again there it is again one
of the sisters here she pulled me aside on Sunday she goes you
know I've been reading more and more and I I see shell everywhere
9,000 times it's used in the scripture,
if you do a search on the word shall. Oh my. He shall send from
heaven, and he did. He sent Christ, didn't he? The
Father sent Christ. And saved me from the reproach
of him that would swallow me up. He did that. He did that,
beloved. The world, the flesh, and the
devil swallow us up. God's justice would destroy us. His wrath would consume us. He saved us from himself, from
his own wrath. My! But look at this. God shall, there it is again,
Dave, send forth his mercy and his truth. Who's the way, the
truth, and the life? The Lord Jesus Christ, sent by
God. Remember our study in John 17?
Sent, sent. So God's hidden ones are found
where the people of the world would least think they are. They're amongst the despised
ones. They're amongst the weak ones.
Not many noble. Not many noble are called. God
uses the foolish things of the world. Again, I've said this
many times. It doesn't mean we're not intelligent. That just means
we're common. That's what that means. Henry
Mahan said that one time, and I love that. He said that that
doesn't mean God's people don't know nothing. It just means we're
common people. Well, we find that we really
don't know a whole lot, though, don't we? In everything we know,
we learn from God. He gave us the ability to learn
it, right? And to know it. My, oh my. So the world, think of this,
think of how the world shuns those who are the hidden
ones of God. Think of that woman at the well. She had to come
in the afternoon because otherwise she'd be mocked because she had
five husbands. Think of that lady who was bought
to Christ. I was talking with one of the guys today about that.
The lady's bought to Christ and caught in the very act of adultery.
And he says, he that has no sin cast the first stone and from
the oldest to the youngest they left and left her there. And he said, is there any that
condemn you? And she said, none, Lord. She called him Lord. None,
Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Oh my, despise one. Think of Paul. Think of how the
church despised Paul. He was going around murdering
Christians. Wow, he was an object of God's
eternal love. He was one of the hidden ones.
Think of David with Bathsheba. Think of how he sent Uriah to
the front lines. A man after God's own heart.
The one who the brothers said, or the dad said, no, you don't
want him. He's the youngest one. He's just
a ruddy little man. And Samuel said, bring him. And the Spirit of God had Samuel
anoint him, didn't he? Oh my. Think of how Saul despised
David, yet Jonathan loved him. So much so that he even went
against his own dad, who was king, because he recognized that
God's hand was upon David. that he was God's true king.
My, we could go on and on too. Saints of old, who the world
thought there's no hope for him. No hope for her. Mary Magdalene,
a prostitute. The Lord saves her. Remember
the, and I actually love this, in Luke chapter 15, when the
Lord's sitting there with publicans and sinners, Dave, he'd be sitting
there with you and I in our natural state, sitting there with publicans
and sinners, and them Pharisees come and say, why is he sitting
with publicans and sinners? Praise God he sat with publicans
and sinners, didn't he? Because that's who we are. See,
the who's who, the noble, the higher ups, hated them without
a cause. Now, there's a few that the Lord
saves. Not many, but the common folks, there's a whole bunch
of common folks the Lord saved, isn't there? And I'm one of them. I'm just a common little Canadian
boy from Canada, right? You're all a common American
boy, right? Man now, we're both men now. You know, when I was born, there
was no trumpets or nothing, right? Were there any trumpets when
you were born, brother? No. Yet here we are. We're born into
the world, and we're the hidden ones of God. Princes, we don't
even know. We're heirs. Remember Galatians?
We're heirs, and we don't even know it until the time that's
appointed of the father. Dave, you were a prince, man,
back in the day. Didn't even know it. Isn't that
amazing? Brother Brian, in your testimony,
you're driving down the road. Right? Your wife and your daughter's
talking away, and Lord saves you like that. And then you find
out you're one of the hidden ones. Oh my! Isn't it wonderful? God's hidden ones are all those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what the
characteristics are of them? They were once dead in trespasses
and sins. They once walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in children of disobedience,
among whom also we had our conversations in times past, in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now,
praise God, it doesn't stop there. It says, but God, but God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us. That means
to be born again together with Christ. By grace he is saved,
and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1
to 6. Already seated in heavenly places. You know how that can
be? Because we're in Christ. The
head's already there. And like Henry used to say, where
the head is, the body's soon gonna follow. Right? Oh my, I'll tell ya. So here
in our text, we see that God's people are called the hidden
ones. I got four quick points. Why are we called the hidden
ones? Number one, because he's put us out of the reach of our
adversaries and concealed us in a place of safety. And you
know where that is? That's in Christ. God the Father has put
us in Christ. My oh my. We're protected by
our sovereign God. He protects us. He watches over us. He keeps
our foes from us. He keeps our adversaries at bay.
When they rise up against us, he's going to protect them. We've
seen that even in the church body. God protected them. Protected his people. My oh my. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble
he shall hide me, shall again, he shall hide me, in his pavilion,
in the secret of his tabernacle, shall he hide me? Because I'm
a hidden one, right? Oh my. Don't deserve to be a
hidden one. But that's God's choice, isn't it? He shall set
me upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies
round about me. Therefore, I offer to Tabernacle
sacrifices of joy. Right? Lips that used to curse
him, now praise his mighty name. I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto the Lord. Hallelujah. That's only by the
grace of God, right? Again, we're called the hidden
ones, number two, because he gives us quiet and peace even
in the midst of turmoil and sorrow. How do we know that? The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored
my soul. He leadeth me in the path of
righteousness for his name's sake. My, oh my. The more trials we endure, beloved,
the closer we get to the Lord. And He's the one who makes it
so, not us. He makes it so. As Sister Barbara
Kirkpatrick said, He's weaning us off this world, beloved, through
trials and tribulations. Another reason we're called the
Hidden Ones, because were not understood by the world. Now,
I can understand this on both sides. I did not understand believers
before the Lord saved me. Like Dave said earlier, I thought
they were just a bunch of holy rollers who thought they were
better than me. Little did I know that the ones
who truly were saved were saved sinners who did not think they
were better than me at all. That's the world's perception,
isn't it? And here we are, hell-deserving sinners saved by the grace and
mercy of God, and we just want to let other people know about
it. Mercy beggars, brethren. Amen. He who has been made to live
under God lives a quiet, incomprehensible life to the natural man. They
don't understand it. I've had people say to me, how
can you be so calm in the midst of everything going on in this
world? Because I know my God is sovereign. He's in control. I can put my head down at night,
whether there's a conflict over here or a conflict over there,
and whether I don't wake up that night, the next day, I can pillow
my head, knowing my God's in full control. Now, if anything
happens to me, He's going to take care of my family. He's
going to take care of you all here, right? And we can pillow our head and
have a good night's sleep, resting in the arms of the Everlasting
One. knowing that we're hidden in Christ. And we're weak by our own strength.
We know that. But who do we rest in? We rest
in the one who has all strength and all power, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We rest in him. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not. Beloved, now, now, right, right
this minute, beloved, right now, beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. Right now, we see through a glass
darkly, don't we? But then, face to face, just
like we see each other. Isn't that wonderful? And the
world doesn't understand that. But notice that there, that was
1 John 3, verses 1 and 2. Notice it says, the world knoweth
us not because it knew him not. Doesn't know him. Why are God's
people called the hidden ones? Well, because all of God's saints
are not yet revealed. He's still saving sheep, isn't
he? Oh, he's still saving sheep, beloved. He's got his sheep scattered
all over this world. He's still saving sheep by the
regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit through the gospel.
Man, those who were chosen in Christ in eternity, those who
God gave to Christ in eternity, those who Christ has redeemed
upon the cross by the shedding of his own precious blood, shall
have revealed to them the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're living
proof of that. The only reason we know God,
the only reason we're born again, the only reason why we cry Abba
Father is because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts
where we now cry Abba Father, we're born again. But the only
reason being because we're one of the hidden ones. And we're
redeemed by that precious blood of Christ at Calvary's Cross.
And the reason we're redeemed by that blood is because God
chose to send Christ before the foundation of the world. Now
why would people get mad about that? I don't understand that.
I even got mad about that when I was in religion. Now I look
back and go, why did I get mad at that? Why? It gives God all
the glory. See, that's the problem. That's
the problem right there, brother. That's the problem. That's the
problem. It strips man, it strips man's
will down to nothing. It wills it right down to nothing,
doesn't it? It puts man in the dust where we should be. And
it puts God high above us on his throne. And praise be to
God, beloved, the hidden one. Knows whom he chose. He knows
whom he has redeemed. He knows whom he has called and
whom he will call. He knows whom he has justified
and whom he will justify. He knows those who are in current
darkness that will be translated to the light. Oh my. With an everlasting love, nothing
is left up to the sinner. That's right. Isn't that wonderful? Nothing is left up to the sinner
for the salvation of their souls. No works of ours. The Lord Jesus
Christ has done it all. We just look to him and live
by God-given faith. And that's why scripture says
salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord. My. He knows what it costs to redeem
us. God the Father knows. He sent
his son to redeem us. He knows the cost. Oh my. And he also knows, he knows those
who are hidden from the world and hidden from us, but they're
not hidden from him. And he's going to send his message
to them. Right? He's either going to send a preacher
to them or he's going to send the message to them of the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will be born
again by the Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe. My
oh my. And think of this, he knows our
pain, he knows our sickness, he knows our thoughts, he knows
our trouble, he knows what's to come. We have no idea what
comes tomorrow. He already knows and he's already
made provision for it. My oh my, what a redeemer. What
a redeemer. Our dear brother Mark is suffering
with kidney stones right now. found out. Really going through
it. So keep them in your prayers. Really going through it. He wrote
a note in the group chat I met with him and he said, God's sovereign. I know that this, this come from
him. And I just pray he gives me grace and strength to get
through it. My oh my, beloved. Yeah, take away the stones, please.
Please. Oh, my oh my. And you know what
he's promised? He's promised his hidden ones.
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And that's a fact. That's right, brother. And by God given faith, we believe
it and we rest in that. We rest in that truth. Listen
to this in Hebrews. Lest therefore fear, lest the
promise being left of us entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, I have
sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
See, Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on the wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in
this place, if thou shalt enter into my rest, that being Christ,
right, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
And they to whom it was first preached entered not in because
of unbelief. Again, he limits a certain day,
saying to David, Today, after so long a time, is this today,
if thou will hear thy voice, harden not your hearts. Don't
harden your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. For there
remains the rest to the people of God. For he that has entered
into his rest He's also ceased from his own works. We've ceased from our works.
We've entered into the rest of Christ. And it says, as God did
from his. That's why I say nothing's left
up to the sinner for our salvation. And that's why we say hallelujah.
What a praise be to God. There's nothing left up. God's
already supplied it. It's already done. I'm preaching
a work, a salvation that's already accomplished. Why would anybody
think that they needed to add to perfection? You can't add
to perfection. Because if you try, it's not
grace. It's works. Oh, my. Yeah, he's perfect. Christ is perfect. He perfectly
finished the work. He did a perfect atonement for
our souls. He perfectly satisfied God's
justice. He perfectly extinguished the
wrath of God, oh hallelujah, against us. And he clothed us
in his perfect righteousness. And he perfectly paid in full
all that God demanded for our sins. What do we say? Hallelujah. Amen. It's finished. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?