again. Is that okay? Again, I
was struck by something Brother Donnie said in that message,
a time of love, and he said about that baby being in the wilderness
and God passing by, and it was a time of love, a time of love
for that baby. How many, are any into genealogy? Have you done any genealogy in
your families and stuff? Look back where you're from and
all that, yeah? Yeah, my mom did the same thing,
went all the way back to the 1700s. It's fascinating stuff,
it really is. It's fascinating, but I want
to look at that in a little different way today. Now most of us can remember back
to our grandparents at least, for where they came from or where
they were. And sometimes they told us where
their mom and dad were and where they came from. But I want us to think about
this. The fact that we're born where we're born is no accident. And the fact that we're brought
to the place where we hear the gospel is no accident. And the
fact that wherever your family came from, whatever their journey
was, was no accident. My family fled France, they were
Huguenots, and they fled France and went to Scotland, went to
England, went to Canada, and then I came down here, and now
here I am in Elmont. Isn't that amazing? That's all
by the providence of God that I'd be here today preaching the
gospel to you all and that I'd be your pastor, which is a great
honor. But I want us to think about
how God moved our family members, saved or unsaved, to the various
places that they went to for you to be in the exact place
where you heard the gospel. because the day that you heard
the gospel was the gospel day. It was the gospel day for you
and for me when we first heard the shepherd's voice in that
day, a day set and appointed by God for us to hear the gospel. But in order for us to be in
that place where he had purposed and planned for us to hear the
gospel, he moved our family members wherever they were. He even moved
us. Brother Tom, you've been on seven
different continents, but you were brought to this place to be here today, to be part
of this assembly. Isn't that amazing? And God purposed
and planned that you'd go to Korea. And your wife would be
there. He purposed and planned you to
marry her. It's absolutely stunning how intricate and how minute
God's sovereignty is. He is an absolute sovereign,
beloved. And nothing escapes his eyes. I used to like to play chess.
You know, you consider moving them pieces around. Put them
in a certain place strategically. God just moves pieces around
however it pleases him. And we may have sprung out of
people who the Lord, there was no one saved for generations.
And then we sprang out of somebody's loins. Our mother's wombs to be born
exactly where we were supposed to be. so that we'd hear the
gospel. Oh my, I'll tell you what. Let's
turn to Isaiah chapter 12. You know, God's appointed a time
for every one of his sheep to hear the shepherd's voice, to
hear it, to hear it. And we're seeing the scriptures
here, it says, in that day, that's the gospel day for God's people. That's the gospel day. Wherever
you were when you heard the gospel, God had moved your family members
around that you would be in that exact place to hear the shepherd's
voice. Now, when we start to think of our salvation in light
of that, it is absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. You know,
I remember hearing Brother Richard, he said he saw Irene. He says,
man, She was holding the Bible. She
said, I'm going to church. And what did he do? Well, he
went to church. Now he went to church to see
Irene, didn't he? But God saved his soul. Now he's
up in glory rejoicing with our dear sister. But you see how
he moves in mysterious ways, doesn't he? His wonders to perform. Look at this in Isaiah chapter
12, we read verses 1 to 6. And in that day thou shall say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Now there's a day when I didn't
praise the Lord. There was many days when I didn't
praise the Lord. But I'll tell you what, in that
day when I was born again by the Holy Spirit of God, I started
to praise Him. Did you? Sister, you said you
were raised where Scott Richardson was preaching. You heard, but
you didn't hear. But one day you heard, didn't
you? One day, Brother Travis, you heard the Shepherd's voice
in that same church. You heard the Shepherd's voice calling
you. It was all planned and purposed that you'd be there. Isn't that
amazing? Absolutely amazing. And now you
praise him, don't you? Both you guys praise him. It's
wonderful. Look at this. I will praise thee,
though thou was angry with me, thine angers turned away. See,
God's anger and his wrath has been appeased in Christ, hasn't
it, for the believer? Praise God. His justice is satisfied. His laws is complete in Christ. Look at this. for the Lord Jehovah
and now comforts us with his salvation. Look at this, the
next one. Behold, Elohim is my salvation. The strong and mighty
one is my salvation. I can't save myself, can you?
No, not one person in this world can save themselves. Elohim is my strength, my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid.
For the Lord Jehovah, Yahweh Jehovah is my strength and my
song. He also has become, what? My salvation. See, there was
a time when I thought I could save myself. by my supposed good
works. But I found out I didn't have
no good works before God. And that's true of all of us. You know, we have a habit of
saying, well, that person, that's a good fella. Well, they might
do some good things, right? But we're all a bunch of sinners.
We're all a bunch of sinners. There's none good, no, not one,
the scripture says. Now, we may be kind to one another,
and I think we should. There's nothing more contradictory
than someone who says they're saved and they're mean to people.
That's not the spirit of Christ. That's not. We have compassion
on people now when we never used to. We love the brethren now,
we love God, we love Christ, we love the gospel now. Now I
know in our flesh, I know, and we can get upset and we're usually,
I like what Donnie said, we're usually, it's the ones closest
to us that feel the wrath of our anger sometimes. But we're
not angry all the time, are we? And we usually turn around and
say, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I was like that. But look at this. This is a wondrous.
Jehovah is my strength. He's my song. I have a song of
praise now on my lips. Do you? Never had that before. He's my song. He's become my
salvation. He's my all in all. Christ saved
my soul. He gave himself for me. He saved
me from all my sins. Therefore with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. I'll tell you what,
the wells of salvation, they're so deep and so cool and so refreshing. Just drink out of the well of
justification. Oh, justification in Christ. Just drink, just drink
that cool water being justified by faith in Christ. Just drink
of that, the well of redemption. Oh, Christ's blood has redeemed
me from all my sin. Oh, that's such cool water to
my soul. Oh my, it's wonderful. And in that day, shall you say,
now it doesn't say in that day, if you choose to choose Jesus, You know, if you just make Him
Lord of your life, if you just decide, make a decision for Christ,
it doesn't say that, does it? That verse does not say that.
It does not say that. You see, God must make a work
in us. God must reveal Himself to us. It says, in that day,
shall ye. How shall we? By the power of
God, beloved. by the power of God, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us. By the power of God, in that
day shall you praise the Lord, praise Jehovah. The lips that
once cursed him now praises him. That's a miracle of grace, beloved.
That's a miracle. Call upon His name. Declare His
doings among the people. Make mention that His name is
exalted. Oh, He's the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. Christ is the only Savior of
sinners. You can't save yourself. Neither can I. I'm just a sinner
saved by the grace of God. I stand before you, man, a sinner. But I'm a saved sinner, praise
be to God, not by anything I've done, no, but all because of
Christ and His mercy and His grace. That's the only reason. Sing unto the Lord, for He hath
done excellent things. Has He not done excellent things?
He's all our wisdom, right? He's all our righteousness. He's
our sanctification. He's our redemption. He's our
justification. And he's now our mediator, sitting
at the right hand of God, interceding for you and I, beloved. He's
doing excellent things, isn't he? He keeps us in the way. If he didn't keep us in the way,
we'd be like this. This is how we'd be. We'd be
like this. We'd be like, I'm going in the way, and we'd be
gone. Right? But he keeps us in the
way. He keeps us in that straight
path, beloved. He keeps us. Praise God for preserving
grace. Sing unto the Lord, for ye have
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. And it's
proclaimed in all the earth, isn't it? And it says, cry out
and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion. And that's God's people. For great is who? The Holy One
of Israel. Remember those demons? They said,
we know who thou art, thou Holy One of God. And they trembled. that Legion of Demons that was
in that man. He's the Holy One. He's the Righteous
One. He's the Sinless One. And He's
the only Savior of sinners. And God's people say, He's my
Savior. I know that my Redeemer liveth. And I'm going to see
Him again one day. All because of His grace and His mercy. Nothing
that I've done. If I got what I deserve, I'd
be in hell forever. But God in his mercy saved me.
Saved me. And look at this, in the midst
of thee. Where two or three are gathered
together, there am I in the midst of them. He's with us, beloved.
He's in the midst of us. Isn't that wonderful? He's not
a far off God, like these people used to cry these rocks and stones.
It's a piece of rock, it can't do nothing. He's right beside us, beloved.
He's ever with us. He said this. And take this to
heart, God's people. Take this to heart, God's elect.
He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Never. That means never. In the Greek,
that word I'll never means never, not ever, no never. It's in the
triple negative. That's a promise, isn't it? That's
a promise from our God. So in every believer's life,
they've been brought to a place where they will hear the gospel.
And it's not up to them. See, religion says, oh, it's
up to you. God's done all he can do. That's a lie from the
pit of hell. If God's done everything he could do, you'd be saved.
God doesn't have to try to save his people. He saves his people
from their sins. See, he's not a weak God. He's
not like what Henry used to say, a penitent God. You know? He's not up there wringing his
hands going, oh, please choose me. Please. Please, little human,
choose me. He's not like that. He moves,
and he saves his people from their sins, and they rejoice. They magnify the name of the
Lord. Because we know if he hadn't
chosen us, we'd never choose him. Right? He said, I am the
vine, you are the branches. Without me, you can do Nothing. That includes saving ourselves.
Nothing. And he says, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Oh my. And God has an appointed
time for each one of his sheep to hear the shepherd's voice.
See verse one here, it speaks of that day. And in that day
thou shalt say, O Lord. See, before we were born again,
we didn't cry out, O Lord. unless we were caught doing something,
right? That was me. Oh, Lord, I'll never
do that again. Next Friday, I was doing the
same thing all over again, right? Oh, my. But God's people, when
they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, they cry out.
They cry out, oh, Lord, I'll praise Thee. Oh, my Savior, my
Redeemer. Save me, Lord, or I'm gonna perish.
What'd that old, what'd that old publican say? You know, that
old Pharisee, he's up there. Well, I thank God, I thank you,
I'm not like that fellow over there. I give this and I give
that. You know, big old religious man,
right? And here's that publican, he can't even raise his head
up to heaven. And he just cries out, God be merciful to me, a
sinner. And that publican went home justified. That Pharisee went to hell. He's
a religious man. Everybody said, well, if anybody's
going to heaven, surely it's this Pharisee over here. Nope.
Right to hell. If the Lord didn't save him,
he went right to hell. But that old sinner over there,
just like me, just like you who are God's people, he said, oh
God, please be merciful to me, the sinner. And God had mercy
on him, didn't he? You know, God will have mercy
on those who cry out to him. Have mercy. I've not seen him
turn a sinner away that comes to him yet. I'll tell you why. Some say, well, I'm such a sinful
man. You don't know my sin, by the
way. Well, I know you're self-righteous because you're saying that. Because God says in Christ, come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. I know how bad my sin was, and God forgave me of all
my sin. My, and every believer will tell
you the same thing here, right? Oh my. So our first point here
is, there's a gospel day for every believer. There's a day,
there's a day. There's a day when God will,
God will save his people. Turn if you would, to Luke chapter
nine. Luke chapter nine. There's a
day, beloved. There is a day. Look at Luke chapter 9 verses
9 and 10. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come
to thy house, forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham. Look
at that. This day. This day. See there is a day. There was
a day set, for the Son of Man has come to seek and save that
which was what? Lost. There's a sinner there. And this
is his gospel day. This is his time of love, like
Donnie was saying. This is the time of love for
him. My, oh, my. My oh my. Ezekiel says this,
therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from
the people. He gathers his elect from the
people. He saves whomever he wills, doesn't he? Whenever he
wills. I will even gather you from the
people and assemble you out of the countries. You all are from
the U.S. I'm from Canada. We're assembled
here from the countries. Annie and I are both Canadians.
We were brought by the Lord down here to fellowship with you all. It's wonderful. Where you have been scattered,
and I'll give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither,
and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof,
and the abominations thereof, and thence. I'll give them one
heart. Isn't that amazing? We now have
one heart together. What does our heart hunger and
thirst for now? Christ, whose righteousness. Scripture says
that we hunger and thirst after righteousness. Well, Christ is
our righteousness. That's Christ. That's speaking
about Christ. We hunger, we got a new heart
now that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for Christ.
He says, I'll give you a new heart. I'll give him one heart.
I'll put a new spirit within you. Oh my. You know, we're born
again by the same Spirit, aren't we? The Holy Spirit of God. Isn't
that amazing? God gives us a new heart that
hungers and thirsts after Him. And it's not a literal heart,
right? We still got our old thumper in here. But now we have a heart
of flesh, don't we? A heart that hungers for Christ.
He's talking spiritual things here, beloved. new spirit within you, and I'll
take the stony heart of their flesh." Oh, that little stony
heart we were born with, that didn't have any care for Christ
or the gospel or the Bible. And I'll take the stony heart
of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may
walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances, do them, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God. That's in Ezekiel
chapter 11, verses 17 to 20. But I love what he says here.
They shall be my people. Is there any doubt if God says
they shall be my people? Is there any doubt that they're
gonna be his people? There's no doubt. And I will be their
God. Is there any doubt then that
we're gonna worship him? No. See, we're made willing in the
day of God's power to flee to Christ. Because He gives us a
new heart, beloved. We have a new spirit. Do you
know we have the same Father now? God the Father. Isn't it amazing? Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. We have a new view of our sin now. Now we own our sin
when we before, before, well, that person made me do that. I have a friend that, He's always
saying, he's always saying, well, such and such caused me to do
that, or it's your fault. No, it's yours. Own your sin,
man. Right? That's what we do as God's
people now. We own our sin. I'm the one who
sinned. No one caused me to do that.
Do you see, we go right back, see, and this is a result of
the fall, right? Adam takes that fruit and says,
oh, Lord, it's the woman you gave me. It's her fault. And then Eve goes, well, Lord,
it's the snake. No, they did it of their own
volition, didn't they? Oh, my goodness. We are so wired
to be that way. And our sins make us deserving
of hell. We now see that. We didn't see
it before. I didn't see myself. I thought I was a good person.
I thought that God would put me in the scales and weigh me
and, well, weigh me as a result against an axe murderer. Well,
oh yeah, Wayne, you're great. No. No. No, Wayne, you're worse. Right? Oh, my. So we see ourselves now deserving
sin. We see ourselves guilty before God, just like the law
says. See, that's what the law of God does. It brings us to
a point where we see ourselves guilty before God. Turn, if you
would, to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. And on that
day, we flee to Christ. He's the only savior of sinners.
And may God be pleased, if you do not know Him, may He be pleased
that this will be your gospel day. Whether it be someone here
or someone out on the internet. Oh, that he'd show you your need
for Christ, just like he's done for we sinners who believe. And
that's all we are. We're just safe sinners. And
there's a day set and appointed by God for every believer to
hear the shepherd's voice. Look at this. Galatians 1, starting
in verse 11 and going to verse 17. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. God must reveal himself to us,
or we never ever will know him, or grope around in darkness unless
he reveals himself to us. For ye have heard of my conversation
in times past in the Jews' religion. That means his lifestyle. Conversation there means his
lifestyle. In times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond
measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. So here's
Paul writing to the Galatians. He said, I used to waste the
church of God. Waste in there in the Greek is
destroy. I went around destroying the church of God. That's what
he's telling them. He's telling them what happened
when the Lord saved him. He said, I persecuted the church
of God and wasted it. He sought to destroy the church
of the living God. And profited in a Jewish religion
above many mine equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my father. Now, profited there,
we right away think money. What that means is he was a maverick. He was a Mustang. what you call
a Mustang in the armed forces. Starts off as an illicit man,
becomes an officer. He was far above the other Jews. There had been Jews who'd been
studying, Pharisees who'd been studying for 20, 30 years. He
was far exceeding them. That's what that means. It doesn't
mean he's profiting in money. It means he was far exceeding
them in knowledge. Some think he may have been in
line to be the high priest, the next high priest, we will never
know. But he was exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
his fathers. Look at this, look at this. Here's
the gospel day, but when it pleased God. That's true of every one of us.
When it pleased God, beloved, there's a gospel day. But when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace, to what? To reveal his son in me. There's
his gospel day in that day. He went from one cursing God,
cursing Christ, right? Thinking he was a heretic to
one who praises God and preach Christ and him crucified. That's
a miracle of grace, look at this. But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. That's
what he does for every believer. To reveal a son to me that I
might preach him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood. See, he was riding on his horse
to go to Damascus to kill Christians, right? And to haul them out of
their homes. God didn't appear to him and
say, well Paul, If you choose me, I've done everything I could
for you. If you get off your horse and you come and choose
me, then I'm going to make you a special vessel. He was already
a chosen vessel. He was one of God's elect from
eternity. He was one who God the Father
chosen Christ from eternity. He didn't know it. He had no
clue. Did you know it? I had no clue. Before the Lord saved
me, I had no clue at all. And Christ was revealed to him.
He got knocked off his horse, didn't he? He got knocked off
his horse. And look at that. What happened?
To reveal something in me that I might preach him among the
heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood. He's born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Remember what he said, who art
thou Lord? His tune changed real fast, didn't it? Oh my. So when it's appointed of God,
every one of his lost sheep shall hear his voice. And that'll be
the gospel day. Now you might not be able to
remember that day. Some people can, some people
can't. But I'll ask you this, who are
you trusting in right now? Who's your all in all right now?
Are you trusting in anything you do to get you to heaven?
Because if you are, that's a false refuge. But if you're trusting
Christ and Him alone, Scripture says, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shall be saved. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it? What is one result of this wonderful
day? Look again back in Isaiah chapter one, or 12, I mean. In
that day, thou shall say, O Lord, I will praise thee. For thou
was angry with me, thine anger is turned away. What's one of
the things now? Now we have a new song in our
heart. We have a new song. Now we have a new master, beloved.
We have a new master. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh my, do you know the world cannot contain all the books
written? If all that was written about what he did on this earth,
the whole world couldn't even contain all of it. He's so wonderful. And you know, when we praise
him, oh, we praise him from our heart now, don't we? But you
know, one day we're gonna praise him. Look at Brother Newell right
now. He's praising God the way he wants to. He's praising God. He got no
sin now. Isn't that wonderful? He's up
there with all the saints of God. He's born again, blood-washed
saints of God. And he's saying, worthy is the
Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. So it's no wonder. No wonder
we have a new song in our hearts. God saved us. He saved us. And is it not true that we can't
even find the words to express how we feel? We feel like these
words aren't even, they don't even come close to how I feel
in my heart. Brother Donnie says that when
we were sitting there with Norm and him, he said, he said, oh,
if I could only preach how my heart feels. It's true. He's wondrous, beloved. He's
amazing. And then I'd like us to consider
now, who's our salvation? Our salvation's God. God is my
salvation. Is he yours? The Lord Jesus Christ,
God in the flesh. My oh my. He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. He's our Lord. My oh my. Look at verse one. Why is he
our salvation? Because he did it all. He says,
I will praise thee, though thou was angry with me. Thine anger
is turned away. Thou comforts me. Behold, God
is my salvation, verse two. He's my salvation from beginning
to end and everything in between. Is he yours? I'll tell you, there's no hope
outside of Christ. You put a pinprick of your works in, it's no longer
grace. Salvation is by the Lord, Scripture declares. Salvation
is of the Lord. All of it. So God is our salvation. God himself. Now, some may say, well, how
can I know that? How can I know that God's anger
is turned away from me? How can I know that I'm a saved
person? How can I know that? Well, are
you trusting Christ? Is he everything to you? Turn,
if you would, to 1 John, and then put your fingers in Romans
8. 1 John 5 and Romans 8. Can a man or woman be quite sure
that they're forgiven? Well, the Catholic Church says,
well, that's being awful presumptuous. Well, that's because they don't
speak anything but lies there. They give people a false sense
of security, and it's called a refuge of lies. I came out
of that. I know what it's like. But in
Christ, beloved, In Christ, Christ is God. He was no mere man. He's God incarnate in the flesh. He's the sinless one. He's the
perfect one. Look at this in 1 John 5. This
is absolutely wonderful. We can be sure of a pardon in
Christ. Look at this, 1 John 5, verse
11 to 13. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life. And this is life is where, where
is it? It's in his son. So God has given us a record
that eternal life is only in his son. He that hath the Son
hath life. Do you have the Son? Are you
born again by the Holy Spirit of God? Do you have the Son?
Have you cast yourself upon Him and said, Lord, Lord, I'm such
a sinner. He that hath the Son. Do you
have the Son? I have the Son. I have eternal life. Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? Not by
anything I've done. I didn't merit it, did you? No, we deserve hell, don't we?
But God, by His grace, saves His people from their sins. And
look at this. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. If you don't have
the Son, you don't have life. If you're trusting in your own
works, you don't have life. If you think you're good enough
to go to heaven by something you do or something you said
in your life, you don't have life. You may have physical life,
but you don't have eternal life. Look at this. He that hath the
Son hath life. These things have I written unto
you that believe. So these were written for us,
beloved. Right? John's writing to God's people.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that ye may know. That's Gnoska in the Greek. That's an intimate knowledge.
That ye may know. Now, do we doubt sometimes? Yeah.
Because of our sinfulness. Look at this. We can go back
here and go, I know that I have eternal life. Because He that hath the Son
hath life. I have the Son. By God's grace and mercy, I have
the Son. More importantly, He has me. He has me. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
Do you believe on the name of the Son of God? That ye may know
that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name
of the Son of God. Now turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 8, with that in our minds. Oh, we can know that we have
eternal life. Look at this. Now there are a lot of folks
in the church right now going through things. Oh my, I'll tell
you what, but let's look at this verse and just these verses and
marvel here. Romans chapter eight. Rejoice beloved, because these
sufferings, these sufferings that you're going through right
now are only temporary. They'll pass, they'll pass. Romans chapter 8 verses 14 to
18. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God. This is the same chapter that
Paul opens up in verse 1 and says there's therefore now no
condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the
Spirit but after the flesh. And condemnation there in the
Greek is judgment. No judgment. For ye have not
received the Spirit of bondage again to fear. Now we've been
going through that study in Galatians. We've learned we're free. We're
justified by Christ. We're not under the law anymore.
We're free, aren't we? It's wonderful. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now we cry out
to the King. He's our Father. The Spirit itself bear witness
with our spirit that we are, look at this, the children of
God. Isn't that wonderful? And if children, then heirs of
God, and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." All these things
we go through is just temporary. Just temporary. But oh, when
we get the glory, That's why we rejoice when a
brother or sisters go home to Christ. We cry, we shed tears, but we
rejoice that they're now in the presence of the Savior. Because
their sufferings have ended. Their sufferings have ended.
Beloved of God, are you faced with a trial right now? Are you
weighed down by a trial? Has it cast you down? Let us
be comforted with this. The trials which we now face,
the storms of life which we go through will cease. Will cease. And they cannot be compared to
the glory, the glory that will be revealed in us. So is there any reason
to wonder why the Christian rejoices in this life? that we rejoice
in our great God and Savior. Is there any reason to consider
or any reason to even doubt that? No. No, not at all. We have joy in our hearts now. And we can't find the words.
We can't find the words even to explain what a wonderful Savior
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So God's our salvation. Jehovah's
our salvation. Turn with me, if you would, to
Exodus. Chapter 15. You know, I have to remind myself when
a trial or situation comes up not to get anxious. Trust the
Lord. Just trust the Lord. Just trust Him. And I remind
myself, do you find yourself reminding yourself, God, you're
my salvation. You're my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? No. So when we do fear, because
we will, When we do doubt, let us remember that God's our salvation. He's our rock. He's our refuge. Look at this. Look at this in
Exodus 15. After the Lord had drowned the
great army of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Look at this, Exodus
15 verses 1 to 7. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this
song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my
song. He has become my salvation. He
is my God, and I will prepare for him in habitation, my father's
God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts
have he cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are
drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them.
They sank to the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become
glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine
excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou sendest forth thy wrath,
which consumed them as stubble. My. See, the God of the Bible,
he's no one to mess with. He's no one to mess with. That's
the God of the Bible there. He's not no weak God. He's strong
and mighty. And I'll tell you what, the Egyptians,
they had one of the strongest armies during that time. And
he destroyed them. He just had that sea just fall
upon them. And it says here, right? They
drowned in the Red Seas. His chosen captains, his chosen
men, men of great renown, gone just like that. And it says,
the depths have come, they sank to the bottom as a stone. His
people are saved by him parting the seas, and they walk through
that dry ground. And then the enemies of God come
rushing in, and they're consumed by the water. My. Christ is the strength of
spiritual Israel, isn't he? He's the strength of his church.
He's the author and the giver of strength to his people. He
strengthens us to do his will and to resist temptation. He
gives us strength to overcome every enemy. We can't do it on
our own, but he's everything for us. He's my strength and
my song. Is he yours? Behold, again, look
at verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 12. Behold, God is my salvation. God is my salvation. Christ is God. I will trust and
not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. For he's the salvation of all
those the Father gave him, isn't he? Do you know He's all my hope
for salvation? Is He yours? I see a bunch of nodding your
head. He's all our hope. We don't have
any hope outside of Christ, do we? None. None. He's all my hope for my eternal
soul. I rest my eternal soul on Christ,
in Christ alone. He's the only one who can save
sinners. I have no other hope. I have no other hope but Christ
for eternal life. I have no other refuge. I can't
find refuge in myself for the salvation of my soul, because
I can't save myself. I'm a sinner. And again, I'm
a safe sinner now, but I'm still a sinner. And he's all my refuge. You know, I fled to him for refuge.
Have you? Oh my. And I don't have any other redemption.
I can't offer anything to God to save myself. But he offered
himself up for me, and I wouldn't even bother. Isn't that amazing? And neither were you. It's amazing. We don't have any other sacrifice,
right? The Israelites had to bring sacrifice to the priests,
and then they'd offer it up to God. We don't have anything to
offer. There's nothing. We're just sinners from the top
of our head to the bottom of our feet. What do we have to
offer? But He's our sacrifice, beloved.
He offered Himself up to God in our room and place. Oh, it's
wonderful. We have no other salvation than
Christ. That's why we say, along with
the writer Isaiah, the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He's
become my salvation. And this wonderful salvation
comes to us in Christ. We do not seek it out because
the scripture says there's none that seek it after God. The only
time we seek Christ is when we're made willing in the day of God's
power. And praise God he does that. Because otherwise none
of us would be saved. But he makes us willing. And
I believe we're born again. I believe we're born again. Because
before we flee to Christ, because when we're born again, like Brother
Rupert said, a team of wild horses couldn't stop us from coming
to Christ. So he regenerates us. We're born again by his Holy
Spirit. And then we run right to him.
Made willing in the day of God's power. Oh, it's wonderful. We don't seek it out. Did the
lost sheep seek out the shepherd? We're the lost sheep. Who sought
out the lost sheep? The shepherd. Luke 15, the shepherd
went and sought out that lost sheep, didn't he? And he found
him. You know, God will find everyone. The Lord Jesus Christ
will find every one of his lost sheep. Did he not find us? He
found us, didn't he? And we were right where we were
supposed to be. Again, let's bring it right back home. We
were right where we were supposed to be by God's divine providence
to hear the shepherd call our name. He says, you're mine. You're mine. I bought you. I
purchased you at Calvary's cross. Thou art mine. My oh my. Turn if you would to
Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Oh my. He's all our salvation. He's all our salvation. He's
everything to us. He's everything to us. Luke chapter 9. Let's turn there
quick. Or, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 19.
I'm sorry, I got the wrong. Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Put my notes away, let's look
at this here. This is absolutely amazing. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. This was all according to God's
divine purpose. Do you know there was a sycamore
tree that grew in front of a seed, all according to the purpose
and will of God? Some people might have thought,
what's that sycamore tree for by the road there? Why is that
sycamore tree growing there? How come someone hasn't chopped
it down yet? And there'd be other people saying, I like that sycamore
tree. Well, that sycamore tree was there for a reason. All according
to God's divine purpose. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho. Now, think of this. Here he comes
into Jericho. There's all these people doing
their thing, right? In the markets and stuff. How
many people did he just pass by? He just passed them by. Didn't
say a word to them. Think of that. And behold, there
was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans,
and he was rich. Now, the publicans worked for
the Romans, and they collected taxes for the Romans. And he
was rich, because they usually, they would extort people and
take extra money for taxes. So they collected money for the
Romans, and they were hated amongst the Jews. And he sought to see
Jesus, who he was. He's like, I heard, this is Jesus,
who is he? But the scripture says he's a
short man. So he's probably trying to look,
couldn't see over all these people, he's looking around thinking,
I can't see him, I can't see him. And there was a great press of
people, it says. and could not for the press because
he was little stature. And so because of the crowd,
he couldn't see Christ. He just wanted to see him. That's
all he wanted to do was just see him. And he ran before and
climbed up a sycamore tree. What just happened to be there?
No, all planned and purposed by God to see him for he was
to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him. Here's Zacchaeus up in a tree.
You know what the Lord saw? There's one of my lost sheep.
He's up a tree. And he knew he was short. He
made him, didn't he? He knew he couldn't see, but
that tree was there for a reason, wasn't it? And I like what Donnie
said. Donnie Bell one time said he climbed up that tree, and
when he came down, he was skin and bark all the way down, trying
to come down so fast, which we'll see later on. But he climbed
the tree, and the Lord saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus,
make haste, and come down. For today I must abide at thy
house. As far as we know, he had never met Zacchaeus, right?
He knew his name, didn't he? As far as we know, the Lord never
met him. Because here's Zacchaeus, he says, well, I heard about
this guy, I just want to see him. He calls him by name, beloved. Do you know he calls every one
of his sheep by name? Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. For
today I must, look at that, I must abide at thy house. I must. And he made haste, which means
he hurried. He was skin and bark coming down there. And received him joyfully. Oh,
Zacchaeus received him joyfully. Never met him, but he received
him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured that he was going to be a guest with a man that's
a sinner. Oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful
he's gonna go and be with a sinner, because that's what I am. See,
so when I see this, I have such wonder and amazement. They grumbled, they murmured,
they were grumbling about this. He's going to be a guest with
a man that's a sinner. He's not going with those. He's
not sitting with the Pharisees. He's going with that publican,
that sinner. Well, praise God. That's good
news for sinners, isn't it? And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, behold Lord, he calls him Lord. Look at that,
he calls him Lord right away. The half of my goods, I give
to the poor, and if I have taken anything from him, from any man,
by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." This is a new
man here. He's been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, beloved. He's seen, I was doing wrong,
and I'm gonna give it all back, Lord. And Jesus said unto him, this
day, this day salvation is come to
this house for as much as he also is a son of abraham for
the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost
and as they heard these things he added and spake a parable
because he was nigh to jerusalem because they thought that the
kingdom of god should should immediately appear my oh my look
at that though That was Zacchaeus' gospel day, beloved. That was his day. Oh my. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't God so good to his people?
He saves us from all our sin by the shedding of his precious,
precious blood. All because he's loved us from
eternity. God's salvation is truly amazing.
His grace is truly amazing. We're nothing but hell-deserving
sinners. And yet He saves His people from
their sins. And you know why? We're going
to get to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Because of absolutely
nothing we've done. But all because of what Christ
Jesus the Lord did in our room and place. What a Savior! What a Redeemer! is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Brother Dan, can you close us
in prayer?