Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 57. Isaiah chapter 57. Oftentimes people ask me, well,
what what do you believe, Wayne? And I often reply that I believe
in the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ. What does that
mean, though, they may ask, and I say, well, that means that
salvation is all of the Lord. That means from from its planning
to its execution. And to its finality, it's all
of God. It's all of him. All we are is
receivers of the grace and mercy of God. The grace and mercy of
God. And we'll read this whole chapter.
We'll be looking at verse 18, where we will see a clear declaration
of God's free and sovereign grace. Let's read verses 1 to 13 to
start. The righteous perishes and no
man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall
enter into peace. See, when we die, what do we
enter into? Peace, rest. Our loved ones gone before us,
they're in peace, perfect peace, perfect rest. Oh, my. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness. But draw near hither, you sons
of sorceresses, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against
whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom make you wide a
mouth and draw out a tongue? Are you not the children of transgression,
the seed of falsehood, inflaming yourselves with idols under every
green tree? slaying the children in the valleys
and under the clefts of the rocks. Among the smooth stones of the
stream is thy portion. They, they are thy lots. Even to them hast thou poured
a drink offering. Thou hast offered a meat offering.
Shall I receive comfort in these? Upon the lofty and high mountain
hast thou set thy bed. Even thinner, when is thou up
to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also in the
posts has now set up thy remembrance. For thou hast discovered thyself
to another than me. And art gone up, thou hast enlarged
thy bed and made a covenant with them. Thou lovest their bed where
thou sawest it. And thou wentest to the king
with ointment, and thou didst increase thy perfumes, and didst
send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even
unto hell. What a picture of natural man,
beloved. What a picture of natural man.
This is where we'd been if God left us in our sin. He hadn't
shown us mercy. Thou art wearied in the greatness
of thy way, yet, saidst thou not, there is no hope. Thou hast found the life of thine
hand. Therefore, thou wast not grieved. And of whom hast thou
being afraid or feared, that thou hast lied and hast not remembered
me, nor laid it to thy heart. Have not I held my peace, even
of old, and thou fearest me not? See, there's no fear of God right
now. And we see there's nothing new
under the sun, don't we? We always think this is the worst.
Oh, this is the worst now. There's no difference. Solomon
says there's nothing new under the sun. Oh, my. And this is God declaring this.
I will declare my righteousness and I works, for they shall not
profit thee. Look at that. God declares his
righteousness in the gospel, doesn't he? In the gospel is
revealed the righteousness of God. It's proclaimed and he says
here, thy works, they shall not profit. There's no profit in
man's works, beloved. No profit at all. We're seeing
that in our study in Galatians, aren't we? Oh, my. When I'll cry, let my companies
deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them away. Vanity shall
take them. But he that put his trust in
me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.
Now we see next comfort for God's people. Comfort for those who are contrite
in spirit, for those who are God's people. We're starting
verse 14 and we'll go to verse 21. And shall say, cast ye up,
cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out
of the way of my people. The stumbling block, man's works
can't be saved by your works. Men stumble over the freeness
and the simplicity of Christ. and the salvation that's in Christ,
they stumble over it. But here we have freedom in Christ.
Look at this, out of the way of my people, for thus saith
the Lord, thus saith, look who God is. Remember a couple of
weeks ago, we looked at that our Lord is over all and that
the earth is his footstool. Look what he calls himself here.
And remember, this is God speaking these words. My, oh my. Look at this. He says, For thus
says the High and Lofty One. That's who He is. He is so far
above us. His ways are not our ways. His
thoughts are not our thoughts. He's so far. He's the High and
Lofty One, beloved. And He's holy. And He's righteous. And he's truth. Oh, my. The one, look at this, that inhabits
eternity. He is not constrained by time. We are locked in time, beloved. God created time so that Christ
could come into this world to redeem us in time. Did you know? Isn't that wonderful? But God
himself is outside of the constraints of time. He inhabits eternity,
the scripture here says. He's the ancient of days. He's
the high and lofty one. He's not constrained like we
are. And he does whatever he pleases. His brother Norm bought
that, right? He'll have compassion on whom
he'll have compassion. And he'll have mercy on whom
he'll have mercy. Because he's the high and lofty one. He's
the sovereign one. He's God. Overall, the one true
living God. Remember, we looked at Thessalonians
a couple of weeks ago, and it says they were turned from idols
to serve the one true living God. That's who the high and
lofty one is. That's the one who inhabits eternity.
That's the one. He's not constrained. And he
has no advisors. He doesn't ask for any advice.
All right, he needs no support. He's God. He's God, he's the
high and lofty one, he's the one who inhabits eternity. Look
at this. Whose name is what? Holy. He's
the holy. What did what did the demons
say about Christ? They said, we know who thou art,
thou holy one of God. And they were in fear. They knew
who he was. The devils believed and trembled.
That's not saving faith. That's not believing savingly.
But they know who he is. And they tremble, beloved. We have proof of that all through
the Gospels, don't we? And I love that narrative. That's
when the gathering demonic. We know who thou art, thou holy
God. We know who you are. Don't send us into the deep.
Don't send us to the pit. Sent us into the swine. The Lord
said, so be it. They knew the power he wielded. He is the high and lofty one
in the flesh. He is the one who inhabits eternity
in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ. What he
says, here I dwell in the high and holy place. My, oh my. The heavens are his throne and
the earth is his footstool. I saw a picture showed up my
my screen there that Google Google Chrome there where you can cast
stuff and they put pictures up all the time on that. And I saw
this one yesterday. All these stars in this great
big Milky Way thing. And I looked at that and I thought
every one of those is a sun. And every one of those is planet
circling around them. And He has all those things in
place, all according to His will and power. And that's just a
little wee picture of the vast universe that is His throne. Our God is amazing. We really can't describe Him
but what He says to us in the Scriptures. And we won't go outside
of that, will we? Well, it says here, He's the
high and lofty One. He's the One that inhabits eternity. He's
holy, he dwells in a high and holy place. And look at this,
who else is with him? Well, with him also that is of
a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not
contend forever, neither will I always be wroth for the spirit
shall should fail before me in the souls which I have made for
the iniquity of his covetous was I wroth and smote him. I
hid me and was wroth and he went on forwardly in the way of his
heart. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. That's what God's done for us, beloved. He's seen our
ways and despite our sinfulness, he's healed us spiritually. Spiritually. All that we need is in Christ.
He's healed us spiritually. My, oh, my. I will leave him
also. Oh, now we walk in the path of
his righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my.
I love that song. I love that song. I once was
a wandering sheep. Oh, this looks like great grass
over here. Oh, man, there's a thicket. I can't get out. Right? Now he
leads us in straight paths. Isn't that wonderful? He says,
I'll lead you. What did Norm say? I'll see to
it. See how that ties in? I'll see
to it. That's what God says to us. You know, when my mom and
dad, when he was preaching, I remember my mom and dad saying all the
time, I'll take care of that. And you know what that meant? That meant I didn't have to worry
about it. That meant I could just go on It is a little tight
and do whatever I was going to do. It was all going to be taken
care of when I got home. It was all taken care of, whatever
it was. Isn't that wonderful? God says to us, I'm going to
take care of that. Oh, it's absolutely wonderful. Look at this. I will
lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. See, we fell in Adam, but all
we've been restored in Christ, haven't we? I create the fruit
of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far off. Look at
that. We were far off. We fell it out of. We were far
off, beloved. We couldn't even approach God.
And God in Christ says, peace, peace. Mercy. Grace, all the time, the Holy
Spirit lovingly drawing us to Christ, and as we saw this morning
in the Galatians study, he is sent on a mission. God sent the Holy Spirit into
our hearts, whereby we now cry out the Father, sent on a mission,
Lord, to regenerate us, that we might be born again in the
Holy Spirit of God. I create the fruit of his lips.
He creates the praise on our lips. See, we're a bunch of rebels
by heart, aren't we? And when we're born again, the
Holy Spirit, see, this is what happens. Praise you, the Lord, like brother
Joshua. Praise you, the Lord. Hallelujah.
For the great things that God has done for us. Look at this. And to him that
is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. Everything we lost in Adam is
even more restored in Christ and even more abundantly. Isn't that wonderful? We were
dead spiritually. We fell in Adam. Dead spiritually.
Now we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. My, oh my. It's wonderful. But the wicked
are like the troubled sea. I remember being like that. Do
you? I remember being like that before the Lord saved me. I remember
being in turmoil. Fear. When it cannot rest. And that's the thing, right?
There was no rest for us before we were saved. There was no peace
for us before we were saved. You know, someone would die in
our lives and we'd think, oh my. Then it becomes a reality,
right? You ever notice this? Then it
becomes a reality. This is before the Lord saved
me. Then it becomes a reality. And then about two weeks later,
you still remember the person, but that stunned reality of death
is just kind of... Because you just get back on
with your life. You ever notice that? I notice that. You love
them. You miss them. But that shock
of death, just slowly, my oh my, but it's still, that fear
of death is still in the back of the mind and you can't quite
quiet it, can you? But when you're born again, now
we still think, well, how's the Lord going to take me out, right?
You ever thought of that? We have no idea. You don't really
have to spend a whole lot of time thinking about it It's going
to happen. However, God's going to remember
our dear sister Denise. The Lord took her home with COVID.
Right. Our dear sister Catherine, the
Lord took her home with Parkinson's. Right. It's just it's just in
the effects of that. It's just the way he's going
to take us home is just the means that he's going to use. To glorify
us. But we don't fear that as believers. We don't. You told me, Sister,
Brother Wayne was ready to go home. He was ready to go home. See, but God's given that peace,
right? God gave him that joy. You know, given that strength. Brother Joel had strength, strength
by the grace of God to be ready for death. And he does
that for us. The sting of death, the scripture
says, is gone now. And note in verse 15, take note
of this declaration here in verse 15, a declaration by God himself. This is an incredible declaration.
For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose
name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place with him. Also, that is of a contrite and
humble spirit. See, we're not that by nature,
are we? No, we're not. By nature, we're
proud. We're not humble. And let's be honest, even as
believers, we still struggle with that, right? But God has changed us. Now we know what we are sinners
saved by the grace of God. Now we now we understand that
our sin is why Christ went to the cross to save us and that
our sin was against God and that we we couldn't pay for that sin,
but Christ paid for it all. So much so that, as I said in
Sunday school, So much so that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
has canceled all our sins. And that not one of our sins
can cancel his blood. It's a full, free salvation in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have to say this again,
I wish I didn't have to say this, but it doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, does it? No. We love the Savior. We love him. And note here what's
declared here, it's declared that he's the high and lofty
one, it's declared that he's God, it's declared that that
that he's holy, that he's the king of kings and the Lord of
Lords declared in this verse. For thus sayeth the high and
lofty one, the one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy,
I dwell in the high and holy place with him. that is of a
contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. When we hear the
gospel, beloved, we're revived, aren't we? Every time we hear
the gospel, we go in this world, we slug through this world for
a few days and then we hear the gospel and oh my, it just lifts
our hearts up. We're revived, aren't we? That's
by the Holy Spirit of God. That's not by anything we do.
Isn't that wonderful? And God, we see God's promise
to do that. He's promised to do that for His people, and He
does. We're living proof of that, aren't we? Oh my! And I ask you this, He who is
high and lofty, He who inhabits in eternity, is He able to save
His people from their sins? Can anyone hinder Him? If God
the Holy Spirit has drawn a man to Christ, can He say, I don't
want to come? Well, see, the world said, I
talked to my buddy about that, and he said, oh yeah, man can
resist him. I'll tell you what, if that person's
one of the lost sheep of God, you could tie him to every train
in this world and pull him the opposite direction, and God would
still draw him. And God would save him. Isn't
that wonderful? And God will keep them so that they'll never be lost. Does that comfort your soul?
It comforts my soul. I'll tell you what. I'll tell
you what. This salvation is so wondrous.
This free and sovereign grace of Christ, this mercy of God
that's free and all according to the free grace of God is absolutely
incredible. Well, he's able. And you know
what? Not only is he able to save, he's the only one able
to save. Right? We can't save ourselves. We can't
save anyone else. They can't save themselves. Someone
else can't save themselves. But I'll preach the one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, that can save all
who come to Him. By faith. By God-given faith. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. And I like what Rupert said, a team of wild horses couldn't
keep that person from coming to Christ. My oh my. And I ask you this too, if this
high and lofty one inhabits eternity, is out time of time and space,
can he take care of all our enemies? We get a little worked up sometimes
when people say stuff about us, don't we? Let's be honest. Somebody
said the wrong thing about somebody. Can our God take care of that
situation? Absolutely. Absolutely. I've learned that. You know, I got a hard head because
I got to keep listening to that and learning that lesson over
and over and over again. Oh, he just takes care of it all.
Huh? Light work. Amen. Light work.
Nothing for him. Nothing for him. So he's able
to save all who come to him. And the Spirit might say, come.
Come to Christ. Flee to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. There's no other hope, is there?
No other hope but Christ. And he's exalted in the praises
of his people, isn't he? We saw that in the psalm Brother
Chavis read us. Hallelujah to the Lord. Hallelujah
to Jehovah. Hallelujah to the High and Holy
One who inhabits eternity. Praise His mighty name. Right? Let everything I love thou, as
Travis was reading that, all of creation, beloved. My! Do you know, the Lord said,
the Lord said, if these don't cry out, being His people, even
these rocks would praise me. Oh, my! That's our God. That's our Savior, beloved. He's
the one here that's called the High and Lofty One that inhabits
earth, and He has mercy upon contrite spirits. Rebels made contrite. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I love
it. I'll tell you what. The more
I study about this wonder salvation we have in Christ, the more excited
I get. It's just incredible. It's absolutely incredible. It says here he's the holy one. What does that mean? He's pure.
He's holy. There's no fault in him. He's
perfect. He's the epitome of holiness. You know, the only reason the
holy angels are called the holy angels is because they were created
by God. The only reason the Bible is called the Holy Bible, because
it's God's word. You ever think of that? Isn't that amazing? Only because
it comes from God. My oh my, look at verse 18 of
Isaiah 57. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. What compassion, what compassion
the Lord will have on those who have a contrite and humble spirit.
And we're made that way by God, aren't we? And he says, and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners. I've seen his ways
and I'll heal him. I'll heal him. This ties in with
Proverbs 5.21, where the scripture says, For the ways of man are
before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings.
He ponders all our goings, beloved. Nothing escapes his eye. And yet he still has mercy on
us because of the blood of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? See, we
can leave here, beloved, and we can come in this building
rejoicing in this wonderous salvation. Rejoicing in this wonderful...
Are our sins forgiven? All of them. Oh, let us rejoice. Let us rejoice. Let us praise
the King. What's the reason our sins are
forgiven? All because of what Christ has done. All because
of His blood and righteousness. Oh, let us rejoice. This is wonderful. Do we have a hope of righteousness,
which is a hope of heaven? Yeah. All because of Christ,
all because of Him. Let us rejoice. Let's leave here
with just with joy in our hearts over this truth. This is truth.
This is truth. And this this will lift us up,
beloved. I know we all are cumbered about
with cares. I know that we all are. Every
one of us come in. We're cumbered about with cares,
cares and things going on. But let us for this time rejoice.
in this wondrous salvation. And let us carry it out the door,
too. I remember I was at a church one time, you know what it said?
When you walk out the door, it said, you are now entering the
mission field. You know that? That's all of
us. We walk out the door, we're now
entering the mission field. That's the world. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh, my. So, you know, I'm for
missionaries around the world, but this country needs missionaries,
too, don't it? That's why God's got us right
here. My, oh, my. Oh, it's wonderful. And then
it says in Proverbs 21, eight, the way of the man is forward
and strange, but as for the pure, his work is right. Well, how
can how can. How can one be called pure? How can God call us sinners pure,
brother? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Isn't it wonderful? And forward
there, when it says the way of man is forward, it means perverse.
See, that's how we are in our natural state. We're perverse,
beloved. We're perverse. We do things
contrary. Because we are contrary to God,
to God, because because our will is dead along with our nature,
our will is controlled by our nature. Right. We I admit we
have a will. You admit we have a will. Yeah.
Did you choose what you're going to eat today? Didn't catch God
by surprise, but you chose what you would eat your breakfast,
right? But when it comes to salvation,
none of us will choose it. Let's turn to Romans chapter
three. How do we know that? Let's turn to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three. How do we know that that's true?
My, oh, my. And keep in mind what what verse
18 said, I will I will have I have seen his ways and I will hear
him. Also, restore comforts unto him
and to his mourners. Now, keep this in mind. Look
at this. Look at this in Romans, chapter three, where we remember
the crooked and perverse way that we're crooked and perverse.
Look at this. Romans, chapter three, start in verse nine. And
we'll go all the way to verse 20. What then? Are we better
than they? Paul is writing to the church
in Rome and. He's talking to Jewish converts
there, and he says, Are we better than they? No, and no wise. For
we have before approved both Jews and Gentiles, that they
all understand. We're all, look at that, all
understand. Whether you're a Jew or Gentile, we're all understand.
As is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. None. No one, no one who is born other
than Christ, who is the seed of the woman, But no man or woman
on this earth is righteous by birth. None. Because we all fell in Adam.
Someone says that's not fair. Well, I still don't want fair. Fair is me going to hell. I don't
want that. Do you want that? No. I want grace. I want mercy.
I want all mercy I can get. Cover all my sin. Look at this. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek it after
God. See, by nature, we won't seek
God. We do not understand the things
of God. Look at this here, this talk
again with that forwardness in Proverbs chapter 8, I believe
it was, this forwardness, this perverseness. They are all gone
out of the way. They all become unprofitable. There is none that do it good.
No, not one. What a hopeless state. What a
hopeless state right there. That's natural man. That's that's
that's how we were born. That's how we were born. Praise God, we're born again,
we who believe. Oh, my. The throne is an open sepulcher,
it's a grave. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of the ass is under their lips. Whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. They are swift to
shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. In the way of peace have they
not known. No peace. Just unrest. I was sitting. I'll tell you
something. I was sitting in McDonald's yesterday. Went over there and
saw my buddies and then they left and I decided to move over
because we were going to have breakfast when Joshua woke up.
Joshua's home and so we, I decided to wait there and have another,
have another tea. And this man and lady came and
sat down. And I guess the guy had ordered
pancakes with sausages while they weren't there. Didn't get
what he wants. It was awful. Just awful. To his wife. And I'm sitting
there listening. And eventually, later on, about
ten minutes into the conversation, she said, why are you so full
of hate? And in my mind, I thought, that's
natural man. That was me. That was me. Isn't that incredible, beloved?
And they got up and she took off. They were arguing a little
bit more. She took off and took out the door while he didn't
want to get left behind. So he took off after her. But
I just felt so sorry for her. I guess she's trying to be kind
to him and trying to do nice things. And he's just being meaner
than a rattlesnake. But I thought that was me. That was me before the Lord saved
me. Like Dave said, that's natural man, that's us. Oh my. And it tells us right here, right? Just looking at this description,
that's us. The way of peace they have not
known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know
that what thing soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. Look at that. Is there anyone who's not guilty?
According to that text, that verse right there, there's none
who's not guilty. The whole world is guilty. The
whole world is guilty. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall be no flesh to be justified in God's in his
sight, in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
See, none of us can be justified by our works. We must be justified.
If we're going to be justified before God, we must be justified
through Christ. And I'm alone. There's no other
way. There is absolutely no other way. I'll tell you. None whatsoever. Can't be justified by our works.
Note the first point in verse 18 there. It says, I have seen
his ways and will heal him. Look at that. Who's going to
heal us? God's going to heal us. From what situation? Being dead spiritually, with
no hope. God's going to heal us. He has,
hasn't he? He's healed us, hasn't he? It's wonderful. I have seen
his ways and will heal him. Again, this is not healing of
the body, but this is healing of the soul. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 53. We see it there. Oh, a few chapters
back from Isaiah 57. Isaiah 53. Oh, this is wonderful. This is wonderful. What did Christ
do? He saved us from our sins. How? By taking our place before
God's wrath and justice. Oh, my, look at this. Isaiah
53, verse 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant
and as a root of dry ground. He hath no form nor commonness.
And when we see him, and when we shall see him, there's no
beauty that we should desire him. See Christ. Christ didn't
look like, well, Bill Hickok, when you see them pictures of
that fellow with the long flowing hair. Donnie and I call him Wild
Bill Hickok. There's no, there's no, that's
not how Christ looked. That's not how he looked. No.
It says here, there's no form nor commonness. He didn't stand
out. That means he didn't stand out. He just looked like an average
guy. My oh my. He is despised and
rejected of men. You know why he was despised
and rejected of men? For us. For us. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised
and we esteemed him not. Do you remember in our natural
state how we didn't think anything of him? To my shame, his name
was a byword. What mercy God's had upon me
and you. Isn't it amazing? Surely he hath
borne our grace. He did it, didn't he? He bore
our grace, didn't he? And carried our souls. Yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he
was wounded for whose sins? Not his. He's sinless, isn't
he? He's wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace. That which we deserved fell upon
Him, was upon Him. And with His stripes, we are
healed. Look at that. By His blood. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Look at verse 5, though. He was
wounded for our transgression. The sinless one was wounded on
Calvary's cross for our transgression. We sinned against God. And he
paid the price that God demanded for our souls. That's why we
have the hope of righteousness, right? That's why we have a hope
of heaven. That's why we have a hope we're
going to see him one day. He was bruised for our iniquities.
Oh, all those weapons and everything that happened to him. My, the
chastisement of our peace. See, the scripture says we have
peace with God now through Christ Jesus, our Lord, right? The only
way for you and I to have peace with God was for Christ to do
this, was for Christ to die in our room and place, because there's
no way we can have peace with God by anything we do. So Christ goes willingly to that
cross and is wounded for our transgression. And the chastisement
of our peace fell upon him. Why did he do it? Because he
loves us with an everlasting love. I don't think I'm ever going
to get over that, are you? Love with an everlasting love and
unchanging. God doesn't change. God dwells in eternity. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. So His love for me in
eternity is the same as it was when He was on the cross, and
is the same as it is today, and the same it will be everlasting.
And it's so for you too, if you're a believer. That makes you almost want to
shout, eh? Oh my! And look at this. And with his
stripes, we are healed. Remember, the Lord said in Isaiah
57, verse 18, I have seen his ways and I will heal him. And
we'll heal him. He's done that for us, hasn't
he? He's done that for us. Oh, sin's incurable. It's an
incurable thing. But it can be healed only by
the blood of Christ, can it? My. The last point I'd like us
to look at here is divine leadership. Divine leadership. See, this
church is God's church. And I'm not talking about the
building. It's his property. The whole earth is his, right?
But we are the church. We're called the Ekklesia. The
called out ones in the Greek. We're his church. We're his people. And you know, we have leadership.
That's far above any leadership in this world. See, we preachers
just under shepherds, right? We're just safe sinners called
to call to a position where we preach the gospel and love God's
people, serve God's people. Norm and I were talking about
that, how God's preachers are servants to the church. We don't
lord over the church. We're servants to the church.
But there's one who leads all of us. There's one who leads all of
us. Look at verse 18 again. I have seen his ways and will
heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him
and to his mourners. Think upon this, the Holy Spirit
of God leads us to Christ. He leads us to the one who is
the way, the truth and the life. God incarnate in the flesh, Christ
Jesus, our Lord, and in Christ, We find full, free forgiveness
of all our sins. Didn't cost us nothing, did it?
Cost the Lord. He gave his life for us. But
it's free. And when God gives this gift,
he's not going to take it back. For by grace he is saved through
faith, and not in other selves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. It's a gift from God, given to
his people. He don't take it back. He don't
take it back. This inheritance that we have
in Christ is eternal. This salvation is eternal. This
life we have in Christ is eternal, because He's the Eternal One.
He's the Eternal One, beloved. And He leads us. He leads us. We don't even know when He's
leading us. He's leading us all the time. He's watching over
us. Do you ever think of that? How God watches over every one
of us at the same time? He's got a bunch of brothers
and sisters in Papua New Guinea. He's got a bunch of brothers
and sisters in Africa. A bunch in China. bunch in Latin
America, a bunch in Canada and the U.S. And he's watching over
you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and
me all at the same time and all them at the same time. Oh, my. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. Nothing. And He's not just watching
over us. He's watching over us with love,
like a father watches over his child, or like a mother watches
over their child with love and adoration. That's when I'm mine. That's when I give my Son eternity. Keep my eye on Him. And He sees
us. I like what Norm brought up when
we were just talking. He doesn't see us in anger. Do you know
God never chastens us in anger? Do you know that? He never ever
does. Do you know He never looks at us in anger? It's all being
appeased in Christ. He looks at us with love. With
love. Unchanging, everlasting love. Now, some of us who have had
bad relationships with a family member, You might not totally
understand that, but don't ever compare the relationship you
had with someone who was a father or mother figure with God. They're incomparable. God is
so far above everyone. Some had really good moms and
dads, right? But some had a rough time. And so you don't ever compare
our God to a family member or a relative or someone that's
treated you wrong because there is no comparison at all. No. I think how much my mom loved
me. I went through a lot of surgeries as a kid, all kinds of stuff,
born disabled. She was right there the whole
time. So mad so that my dad got jealous of it. I didn't even
know it. But I look at her love for me
during that time, and it doesn't even compare to how much God
loves me. And she really loved me. All
my messing up, all my mistakes, all the things I did, she just
never, she just, right? Like they say, a mother's love,
right? My, oh my. Doesn't even compare
to how much God loves us, and He leads us to. He leads us. Beloved, where is He leading
us to? He's leading us home. He's watching over every step
we take. He's watching over everything
we do, and He's leading us home. And oh, when we get taken home,
be like that father, he saw my brother, my son, and he ran to
him, didn't he? Oh my! Oh, my God loves us, beloved. He loves his people with an everlasting
love, an unchanging love. My, oh, my. Look at Isaiah 42,
turn a couple of chapters over, Isaiah 42. Look at this. Look
at this. My, oh, my, look at this. Isaiah
42, verse 16, remember, we were dead in sins, right? Dead, blind,
blind to the things of God. Look at this. And I will, verse
16, and I will bring the blind by a way. Who's the way? Christ
is the way. I'll bring the blind by a way
that they knew not. We didn't even know nothing about
Christ before. We may have heard about him by
the preacher or in religion, but we didn't really know him.
Look at this. By a way that they knew not.
I, who's going to do this? God's going to do this. I will
lead them in paths that they have not known. Oh my, we're
walking in grace now, beloved. We're walking in paths we didn't
even know. My, I will make darkness lie
before them. And has he not done that? We
were groping around in the dark, dead and trespassers, and now
we live in the light of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the crooked things straight. We were crooked, beloved. We
were perverse. He has made us straight. Those things will I
do unto them. And look at this. Look at how
he ends us. Look at this. And not forsake them. Just hold on to that, beloved. He says here, I'll never forsake
you. Bring it home. Zane, God tells you, I'll never
forsake you. Isn't that incredible? So what's that mean? That means
He'll never forsake us. That means He'll never leave
us. Never. That means there'll be never
a time when we're without Him. Even when we feel by our sin
that we're way over here and He's way over there. Nope. He's
still right here. Isn't that wonderful? I'll never forsake you. I was listening to the scripture
the other day, but I know you from the womb. And I'll carry
you to the gray, hoary hairs. I'm paraphrasing it. And I'm
going to take you home. One more place to turn to. Revelation. Revelation, chapter 7. We're
closed with this. God leads us, beloved. He leads
us. He says, I won't forsake you.
I'll never forsake you. I'll bring the blind by the way
that they knew not. I'll lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do. God's
going to do this. And God's done that for his people.
We didn't do it. We didn't do it. God did it.
These things will I do unto them and not forsake them. Look at
this revelation. Here we go. Oh, my. Here we go. Revelation, chapter
seven, verses nine to 17. After this, I'll be held in a
great multitude. How many people going to be in
heaven? A great multitude. Wonder of wonders, we're going
to be there with them. Oh, praise God. That old song.
Praise God. He included me. I think his sister
Kathy sings that sometimes. What a beautiful song. Praise
God. He included me. Oh, look at this. We're in this
number, beloved. Look at this. After this I'll
be held in low great multitude, which no man can number. Man, that means what it says. That means that the elect of
God are a number that no man can number. That's what that
means. People say, well, it's a set number. Yeah, it's a set
number, but we can't count it. A number that no man can number. Of all nations, look at this,
I love this. Of all nations, in kindreds,
in people, in tongues, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Take note of something here.
There's no division among all these people. There's no talk
about... I've said this before. We're the human race. Man has
divided us. In God's eyes, He looks at us
and sees the human race. One people. But look at this. When we're
in heaven, we're one people of every tribe, kindred, tongue
and nation, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes. You know what that is?
That's the righteousness of Christ, beloved. Oh, my! Pure, spotless robes and palms
in their hands. I never had a palm in my hand.
I'm getting excited. I can't wait to wave it in adoration
to the Lord. Wouldn't that be wonderful? See, there's no restraint in
heaven for the joy. Dave, we're going to shout and
it'd be wonderful. Oh, my. It's going to be wonderful.
Now, look at this. Were they quiet and they cried
with a loud voice saying salvation to our God is all him. With sinners
upon the throne and unto the lamb and all the angels round
about the throne, how many that is, we don't have any idea. All
the angels around the throne. And about the elders and the
four beasts fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped
God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God
forever and ever. Amen. Remember, the angels that
are in heaven are the elect angels. They didn't fall. How did they
not fall by the grace of God, by the mercy of God? See, people have no problem with
God choosing angels. They have no problem with that.
No, a fellow I was talking to, he said he despises the Tula,
but he has no problem with God choosing Israel even. No problem
with God having angels that didn't fall. No problem that he chose
those angels. No problem at all. But when it
comes down to God choosing man, he says, I despise that. My,
oh my, that's a scary place to be, beloved. That's a scary place
to be, because look at here. These angels, they sit around
about the throne, the elders, the four beasts, and fell before
the throne saying, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever.
Amen. All these created beings falling
before the great one, falling before the holy, high and lofty
one. falling before the one who inhabits
eternity. And one of the elders answered
and saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white
robes? And whence came thee? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. John had no clue, right? And he said unto me, These are
they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Do you
know what the great tribulation is? This life. for the believer. You know, the
only tribulation you and I will ever face is this life. That's it. Norm preached a group
of messages on Revelation, they're on Sermonatio, if you get your
hands on them. And he brought that forth that this great tribulation
is this life. The only trial we're going to
face is right here. The only tribulation we're going
to face is right here. And we've been washed and made
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in the temple. And
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sunlight on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is
in the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them
unto living waters, living fountains of water. And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. That's our God. He's healed us. He leads us. And one day he's
going to deliver us from this great tribulation. We're going to be at home in
heaven forever. Beholding the Lord Jesus Christ,
just as we behold one another. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us rejoice, beloved, at the
wondrous things that God has done for us and in us, all through
the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of God the Holy Spirit,
all according to the will and purpose of God the Father. My, oh my, oh my. Brother Dan,
can you close us?