Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 11. Deuteronomy chapter 11. Now, in the Scripture, Egypt
is a picture of the world. A picture of the world. We who
are God's people, we've been taken out of Egypt But we're
still in this world, aren't we? We've been called out. We're
an ekklesia in the Greek, which means a called out assembly.
We're set apart by the Lord. We're set apart by the Lord.
We're called out. We're in the world, but we're
called out of the world, beloved. But we still live in this world,
don't we? Look at this in Deuteronomy chapter
11, verses 10 to 12. For the land whither thou goest
in to possess is not as the land of Egypt from whence she came
out, where thou sowest thy seed, and waters with thy foot is a
garden of herbs. Now when it says there, waters
with thy foot, it speaks of a spinning wheel that they used to use with
their feet in Egypt to bring water to the fields. Work. Toil. Work and toil. But the land whither ye go to
possess, it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water
of the rains of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God,
Jehovah Elohim, careth for, the eyes of the Lord thy God, again
Jehovah Elohim, are always upon it from beginning of the year
even on to the end of the year. So here we have before us a contrast
with the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan. The land of Egypt
is a land of toil. It's a land of toil. The land
of Canaan is a land of rest. A land where everything is provided,
beloved. Everything's provided. And again,
from studying the scripture, it's evident that Egypt is typical
of the world, of the condition the children of God are in while
they're in this world. And what does the world love?
Everything but Christ. Right? The world still hates
Christ, beloved. Now it'll tolerate religion,
won't it? He'll tolerate religion, but
it hates the teaching of God's free grace in Christ, where there's
nothing for man to do to gain merit and favor with God. What's the one thing that all
the religions of the world have in common? I'm talking Catholicism
all the way to whatever people worship in rocks and stuff. What's
the one thing they have in common? works. Something you've got to
do. Something you've got to do. So
by that we know that there's millions of people, billions
of people deceived, right? And we were there, weren't we? We weren't born into what we
believe because we're born dead in trespasses and sins. And our king said, what? You
must be born again. Spiritual rebirth. You have to
be born again. And in Egypt, the work is unceasing. Those Israelites, they were slaves
to the Egyptians. Their work was unceasing. They
worked day and night, beloved. Always working. Always laboring. Do you remember when we were
in the world? Dead in trespasses and sins?
I do. Oh my. And you know what? Trying to work my way to heaven
was the hardest labor I think I've ever done in my life. It was the hardest thing. And
religious people, pray for them. Pray for them. I'll tell you
what, they're miserable, beloved. They may plaster on their perfect
little smiles and stuff, but they are miserable. Because there's
always something they gotta do to please God. Aren't you, God? Aren't you thankful? I'm sure
thankful. I know you are too. Aren't you
thankful that God is pleased with us in Christ? That nothing we do, we don't
have to do anything to please God. Now, do we serve Him? Absolutely. Willingly, don't
we? Willingly. We love to serve our King. We love to serve in
the church. We love to support the church in any way we can. Right? But that doesn't gain
us merit and favor with God, does it? Not at all. God is pleased
with you and I, beloved, in Christ. and in Christ alone. Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, right? But according to
what? His mercy. He has saved us. His mercy. I'm looking at a bunch of people.
Me too. God's showing mercy to us, beloved.
He's showing us mercy, hasn't he? Why? Because it pleased him
to do so. He's just happy to do it. All
according to his grace and his mercy. I don't think I'm ever
going to get over that. It's absolutely amazing. So the
picture here of them coming out of Egypt is a picture of the
deliverance which every one of God's people enjoys when by faith
he strikes the blood of Jesus on the doorpost of his heart,
right? Oh, put that blood up there! When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. My, isn't that wonderful? It's
all because of what Christ's done. And it's only in Christ
that we cease from our labors. I remember having a good talk
with Joe. Joe Terrell, a good friend of mine, just a dear brother. I remember having a talk with
him one time. He said, Wayne, the hardest thing for us to do
as believers is just to rest in Christ. Isn't that not true? It's the hardest thing for us
to do. just to sit and rest. And I mean reposing. You guys
are reposing right now. That's what the old timers used
to call it. We just sit and we just rest. Not even sitting forward
like that, right? Just sitting back. Oh, you got
an easy chair? You know how you just sit back
in your easy chair? Dave calls it the sleep chair. He's right.
But you got those easy chairs you just sit back in? Oh, my. Just reposing. just reposing
in Christ. We need to rest sometimes, don't
we? We need to stop in this world, and we just need to rest in Christ.
I know I do. I'm preaching to myself. I know
I do. In the passage through the wilderness,
is typical of that state of hoping and fearing and doubting which
we usually experience between the period when we come out of
Egypt and then the full assurance of faith. So that walk through
the wilderness for them pictured us being drawn to Christ, right? Going through there, oh, seeing
all these things but not quite trusting the Lord. And then,
oh my goodness, our faith becomes sight, doesn't it? And who do
we look to? Christ and Him alone. God-given
faith, just looking to him, just trusting in him. Many here have
come out of Egypt, the Egypt of this world, haven't you? We're
still in this world, aren't we? But we've come out of the world,
haven't we? Oh, yeah, we have. Oh, my. Some lost sheep are still
wandering around in the wilderness. But praise be to God, he won't
lose one of his sheep. He's going to get them all. There
won't be one sheep that he died for that won't be bought in.
We don't know who they are, do we? So pray for your family members. Pray for your friends. We don't know who God's sheep
are. I told you when I was younger,
people probably would have wrote me off, said, nah, he's that
guy. Well, here I am now. I'm amazed
about it myself. Right? My, oh, my. God's good to us. He's so good
to us. And there may even be some in
here who have heard of Jesus, inquired about Him, read the
scriptures, looked at Him, but not totally rested upon Him. Flee to Christ. Just cast your
whole self upon Him. He's the only hope for sinners,
I'll tell you that. He's the only hope. Like old
Scott Richardson said, what do we do when God's working on somebody?
Just leave them alone. Right? Because when we get involved,
we mess it all up, don't we? Just let God do the drawing.
Let him do the work. They ask questions, just give
them scriptures. Oh, my. So let's consider this
text again today. Pray the Holy Spirit would illuminate
the scriptures here before us. that we might grow in the grace
and knowledge of our great and wondrous Savior, our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, for the land whither
thou goest in to possess it is not as of the land of Egypt,
from whence she came out. So it's not like Egypt at all. You know, in religion, there's
a lot of toil, isn't there? You know, when people tell you
you've got to do this and you've got to do that, It's like that
gathering demoniac. Remember that gathering demoniac?
They chained him up. Scripture says they chained him
up, and he just broke those chains. You know what those chains represent?
Religion trying to change him, trying to help him. All it did
was shackle him down. All it did was shackle him down,
until the Master came. And then after the Master cast
them demons out, he was sitting at the feet of Jesus, exactly
where we should be sitting, right? He was in his right mind, and he was clothed, because before
he was naked. That pictures him clothed in
the righteousness of Christ, in his right mind now, born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, and sitting and resting at the feet
of Christ. That man was in the most wondrous
spot, wasn't he? Most wondrous spot. Look at verse
10 of this, Deuteronomy chapter 11. It says, For the land where
thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt, from
whence ye come out, where thou sowest thy seed and waterest
it with thy foot. So we have a contrast here set
before us between the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan.
The land which the Israelites will possess And we know they're
going to possess it by God's grace, aren't they? By God's
grace and by God's mercy. God's going to go before them.
He's going to go before them. Why is He going to go before
them? Why do we know they're going to possess it? Because He's already decreed
it. He's already decreed it. For
the land whither thou goest in to possess it, you're going to
go in there. He's already told them, you're
going to go in there. You're going to go in there.
And note how these two lands become fruitful. One is by the
toil of man and his labors. Because the first part says,
it's not as the land of Egypt from whence you came out, where
thou sowest thy seed and waters it with thy foot, is a garden
of herbs. So it's toil and labor in Egypt. It's toil and labor. And the other though, the other
land, is a land which is fruitful. by God. Look what it says. But the land, whether ye go or
possess it, it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water
of the rain, a land which the Lord thy God careth for. For
the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from beginning
of the year unto the end of the year. One's a land of toil, and the other's a land where
God provides all. Oh, my. And the land of Egypt,
it's a land of toil. They must sow their seed, a land
which must be watered with thy foot, the scriptures declare.
And it says, to water with thy feet. It implies that the soil
was watered as a garden, in which small channels for irrigation
may be watered by foot. And they watered the lands of
Egypt with great pain and labor. And they did this partly by going
up and down and fetching water. from the Euphrates. And they
also did it by digging furrows with much labor. And they did
this by using a device for distributing water, which they controlled
with their feet. They had to keep this device
going, and it would bring water to the fields. Toil, constant toil. They also
carried water as a gardener when he sowed. his seed, or planted
his plants by carrying water, his pot from bed to bed. That
requires a lot of labor, doesn't it? Imagine these huge fields
in Egypt, and they've got all these slaves just carrying water,
dumping it there, going all the way back to the river in the
heat. Constant labor. Constant doing. Constantly. Oh my. You know what that pictures
to? Sometimes the heat of the sun
would harden and crack the land. So they would cut canals from
the Nile River with great labor, would carry water from the Nile
to water the crops. And again, both of those situations
required much labor. And it shows us how in religion,
we always have to labor. Always. Always labor. Always. In the world, we're always laboring.
Right? By the sweat of our brow. Always
laboring here. But I'll tell you what. When we get to heaven, there's
no more laboring, is there? And we'll be serving the Lord,
but it won't be labor to do that, will it? It won't be labor at all. And
the Egyptians, they said, who is the Lord that I should serve
him? I know him not. Remember Pharaoh said that to
Moses? Well, that's the language of
the enemies of God too. Egypt is a land where they look
down for their supply. They look the man for their supply
of water. They look the man in his labor
for supply. That's what they looked for.
They watered it with their foot. They got their harvest by their
own toil. Little did they know that they watered and they planted,
but it was God who gave the increase. Even though they were given homage
to all these false gods, it was still God that gave the increase. But they looked to themselves
for provision. I'll tell you what, is that not
a picture of us in our lost state? I used to think that it's all
about me was just when I was younger. Look out for number
one, they used to say. It ain't changed, has it? It's
still the same. Man is still selfish. Man still
looks out for themselves. Walking on top of other people.
No care. It's just sin, beloved. It's just sin. And the Egyptians,
depending upon themselves, just pictured us in our lost estate. That's what every man and woman
is trying to do when they try to justify themselves before
God by something they do. They're looking to themselves,
beloved. They're looking to their own labors. rather than look
into Christ. Again, as I said in Sunday School,
men and women were wired for works, beloved. We're wired to
do something. It's after the Lord saves us
that we realize we can't do nothing to save ourselves. And that's
why salvation is so incredible to us. The fact that the God
of the universe, the holy and righteous God of the universe
would have mercy on us. It's incredible. I ask you here, are you laden with
your works? Are you trying to work your way
to heaven? Are you trying to think that, well, maybe this
little thing that I do, that will lead to your doom. Salvation is by Christ alone.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Right? No other way but Christ. Let
us note here that the land of Israel, look at the contrast
here. So there's the land of labor, the land of work, which
will lead to one's doom, right? There's only one eternal rest
for our souls, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only
one rest, and that's Christ and him alone. He's the one in whom
the Father's well-pleased. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well-pleased. So if God the Father's well-pleased
with Christ, is He not well-pleased with everyone who's in Christ?
Well, hallelujah, yeah He is. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful, isn't it? So we come out of laboring for
our salvation, laboring for this, doing this, thinking we can gain
merit and favor by God by things we think or act or do, when salvation's
not in any of those things. Salvation's only in Christ and
him alone. Look at this land. Look at the
contrast of this land compared to the land of Egypt. So the
land of Egypt is a land where you have to toil. You got to
toil. Look at this, Deuteronomy 11,
verses 11 and 12. But the land where thee go to
possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water
of the rain of heaven. You know, we drink out of a fountain,
don't we? Oh, man, it's a fountain. A land which the Lord thy God
careth for, The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from
the beginning of the year, even until the end of the year. It's
a land of hills and valleys. It's a land watered by God, by
rivers and canals, just as Egypt was, but Egypt's very flat land.
This is a land of hills and mountains. A land where the land drinks
of the water of heaven. The water flows down from those
hills and mountains and irrigates. The land's refreshed, made fruitful,
not by the means of man, but by God. There's the difference. Not by
the means of man, but by God. And it's not by labor or toil
of man, but by the Lord himself that this land is made fruitful. God provides the water to this
land. Now, we know he provided the
water in the Nile. We know that. But in this land,
they don't have to dig canals. They don't have to use it. instruments
to bring the water. It just flows. It just flows. This land, again, is not watered
by man's labor or man's industry, but it comes from God's power
and his goodness. This is a picture of the grace
of God that works in us, beloved. You know, I don't know if many of you experience
religion. Some of you have been blessed
to grow up in a grace church, which is a real blessing, but
you still, the Lord had to save you, right? Still had to save
you. Because you were dead in trespasses, just like all of
us were. But I'll never forget when Vicki
and I were in religion, and then the Lord saved us out of religion,
in the peace that we had. We could not get over the peace.
That it wasn't according to anything we do. We have friends in Oregon.
Vicki had a girlfriend that she knew. This woman would go out
and drive, and I don't remember even what she did, but just to
become more joyful. You know, the joy that man, the
joy that man tries to make is very fleeting. It doesn't last
long, does it? because it's the fruit of the
flesh. You see, joy and peace and love, they're fruit of what?
The spirit. We can't make ourselves more
joyful, can we? But the Holy Spirit can. We can't
make ourselves more loving. Again, what Donnie said, the
enemy can't counterfeit the love that the brethren have for each
other, right? He can't counterfeit. That's
one thing he can't counterfeit. He can counterfeit a lot of things,
but he can't counterfeit that love, because that's the love
that comes from the Spirit. Love, peace, joy, tenderness. It all comes from the Holy Spirit
of God working in us, beloved. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's His work. Paul talked about him and him
working in us. You see, it's wonderful. It's his work in us. And when
people say, when people say, man, you're, you know, you ever
had people say, well, boy, you're easy to talk to, or you're easy
to, you know, you're tenderhearted towards people, or this and that.
Well, that's, you can't take credit for that. That's the spirit
working in you, beloved. And again, the peace that Vicki
and I had coming out of religion, It was like we didn't have to
labor anymore. Our salvation wasn't dependent upon us, it
was dependent upon Christ. And that peace, I'll tell you,
that floods your soul, doesn't it? Rest in Christ that way. Just rest in Him. Just trust
in Him. Keep looking to Him. Search the Scriptures for Him.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Our
hope, as Brother Jonathan prayed, our hope is in Christ and Him
alone. That's where our hope is. Turn, if you would, to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Who causes us to believe on Christ? Well, God the Holy Spirit gives
us faith, doesn't He? Who causes us to grow in grace
and the knowledge of the Lord? Well, it's the Holy Spirit of
God. You know, it's God who works in us to do His will. To do His will, this is wonderful.
Colossians chapter one, strengthened with all might, verse 11, look
at this. Strengthened with all might according to His glorious
power. Unto all patience, look at this,
and longsuffering with what? Joyfulness. That's the Spirit
working in us, beloved. That's Him working in us, giving
thanks unto the Father, look at this, which has made us meet,
that word meet there in the Greek means qualified, to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered
us from the kingdom, or from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have,
right now, right now we have this, right now, redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, right now, we have all
our sins forgiven, right now. Oh my. Now look in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 19. Look at this. You know, again, it's God working
on us, his will, and to do his good pleasure in us. In us. We can't make ourselves more
happy, but the Holy Spirit can fill us with joy. Joy of the Spirit, beloved. Look
at this, Ephesians 119, in what is the exceeding greatness of
his power, God's power to us word, who believe it according
to the working of his mighty power. He works in us. He works in us, beloved. And
the water of the land of Canaan is watered by the Lord himself.
It's refreshed by the Lord. Are we not refreshed by our King?
by the Holy Spirit teaching us the things of Christ? Are we
not made fruitful in Him and Him alone? We can't. That's another
thing, too. We can't make ourselves fruitful, can we? It's the fruit
of the what? Spirit. It's not the fruit of
my doings. Not the fruit of my labors. Not
the fruit of which I can manufacture. No, it's the fruit of the Spirit,
beloved. It's wondrous. Absolutely wondrous. Hebrews 4, 9, and 10 says this,
there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. You know
where there's a rest for the people of God? There's a rest for our
labors. You know where that is? In Christ.
In Christ and him alone. It goes on to say, for he that
entereth into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works
as God did from his. Hebrews 4, verses 9 and 10. Ceased from our labors. ceased
from trying to save ourselves, ceased from trying to muster
up the fruit of the Spirit by our own works. Turn, if you would,
to John 15. John 15. And this picture is
set so clearly. I love how the Holy Spirit sets
these truths so clearly before us as we saw in the Sunday School
of how a man cannot be justified by the works of the law, but
can only be justified in Christ. I love how this is so clearly
brought forth for us, beloved. And look at this in John chapter
15. Here we see, here we see how
united God's people are to Christ. This is wondrous. And remember,
he ever watches and cares for us. Remember the land? The land
in Deuteronomy 11 and 12, it says, the land which the Lord
thy God careth for, the eyes of the Lord thy God are always
upon it. Oh my. Now look at this. John
15 verses 1 to 5. I am the true vine, and my father
is the husbandman. He's the gardener. He watches
over. He trims. Right? He watches over and provides
for his people. Look at this. Every branch in
me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. In every branch
that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken you. Look at this. Abide in me and
I in you. A branch cannot bear fruit of
itself. Look at that. You mean so you
mean all those people in religion are trying to muster up joy and
peace and love and in grace They can't do it by themselves. Well.
That's what that scripture says done it You can't do it on your own Why
do we have joy? The Holy Spirit's working in
us. Why do we love Christ? The Holy Spirit's working in
us. Why do we love the brother? The Holy Spirit's working in
us. Why do we love the gospel? The Holy Spirit's working in
us. See, he gets all the glory, beloved. He gets it all. It's all him. It's all of him. And it's absolutely wondrous.
A branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it what? Abide
in the vine, except it be in Christ. Those apple trees we
got out here, they only flower because those nutrients come
up through that trunk, which is a vine, comes up through that
trunk, spreads through those branches, and they all blossom
out. Look at that. We have it right
before us all the time, don't we? And we can't, it says here, can't
bear fruit, except to abide in the vine. No more can ye, except
ye abide in me. Now I love this next verse, because
this just shows us, you remember how I mentioned in Sunday school
our self-nothingness? You know, and we take that as
believers, right? We, we, man, somebody, somebody said that
to us before, we say, let's fight in words, right? But now we say,
yeah, I'm nothing without Christ. I'm absolutely nothing without
him. Look at this. I love this verse. John 15, 5,
I am the vine, and ye are the branches. He that abideth in
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me you can do what? Nothing. See, you know what this does? This hits the pride of man, doesn't
it? Tom, what you said a long time
ago to me, right? Nothing to the table. That's it right there.
And that offends people. In our preaching, we don't seek
out to offend anyone at all. But the offense of the gospel
is that salvation's in Christ and him alone. That there's absolutely
nothing we can do to save ourselves. That's the offense of the gospel.
So let us marvel at the greatness. Let us then marvel at the greatness
of his power. He's regenerated us by his power. We're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. He did that for us. We're given
faith to believe on Christ. He did that for us. He's raised for our justification.
He did that. He died for our sins on Calvary's
cross. Christ did that for us. He gave
himself for us. Why? Because we're his bride. We're precious in his eyes. Precious
in his eyes. And let us marvel that right
now he sees at the right hand of the Father, right now. It's
all done. Let's read verses, verse 12 now. Again, this is a verse that's
packed with truth. Deuteronomy 11, verse 12. A land which the Lord thy God
careth for, the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it. from
the beginning of the year, even on to the end of the year. So
we see Jehovah Elohim, Jehovah Elohim. Elohim is the mighty
one. Strong one. Yeah, I'll tell you
what, there's no one mightier than Jehovah. Lord, there is
Jehovah, which means the self-existent one. He needs no one and nothing
at all. Right? We don't add anything
to God. He's the self-existent one. And look at this verse in contrast
to the land of Egypt. The land of Egypt was a land
of toil, labor. And this is a land that God cares
for. This is a land that God's eyes are upon. His eyes are upon this land.
Now, he sees all the land of the world, doesn't he? But his eye is ever upon this
land from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.
And God cares for this land in a very special and particular
manner. And what a picture of his care
over the church of God. He watches over us in a particular
manner, doesn't he? Scripture says this in Psalm
132.13, it says, for the Lord hath chosen Zion. Zion, in the
Old Testament, is the church. He hath desired it for his habitation,
for his habitation, Christ in us, the hope of glory. My, oh,
my. And he's chose Zion to set his
king. His king is in Zion. It's a figurative
and spiritual sense. Zion is his church, whom he's
chosen to give great privileges through the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. And is he not always watching
over his church? Do you ever think of that? Do you ever ponder that? I was pondering
that this week in my study. Here I am, animated dust. And when you zoom out, you can't
even see me. When you zoom out, I can't even see you either.
You ever look at those space things where they zoom out? And
the Earth just vanishes in the galaxies and everything. I was thinking about this. I had
a little piece of animated dust, and he's watching me. And every one of you who believe,
he did the same for you this week. He's doing the same right
now, and he'll do it until. And then when he takes you home
to glory, you'll be looking at you. He watches over us, beloved.
Nothing escapes his eye. He sees every tear we drop, even
though no one else sees it. He sees every heartache we feel,
even though no one else sees it. He sees everything in us, good
and bad, doesn't he? But see, God looks at us now
in Christ, doesn't he? He's always looked at us with
favor, beloved, even though we didn't know it. You know those quiet times when
you're just thinking within yourself and thinking about who you are? He's
watching over you then. If you have doubts, sorrows in
your heart that no one else even knows about, he's watching over you then. He's right there beside you.
He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He loves us
more than anyone else in this world. He's always watching over us. He's always watching over His
church. There's nowhere that His providential
care can't reach either in our lives. Nowhere. So we think, Lord, I'll just
handle this on my own. No, we won't. Without me, we
can do what? Without him, we can do what?
Nothing, sister. Nothing. Well, I got this, Lord. No, we don't. No, we don't. Just give it all
to him. Cast your cares, the scripture
says, cast your cares upon him. Why? Because he cares for you.
He cares for us, beloved. The God of the universe, God
cares for us. Remember, we're his friends.
We saw that a few weeks ago. We're his friends. We're his friends. A land which the Lord thy God
cares for. God cares for his people and
he provides for us, doesn't he? Everything we need physically
and more so spiritually. In Christ the sinner finds all
their spiritual needs I need a ransom to pay for my
sins, do you? Well, Christ's my ransom. I need payment for my sins because
I'm bankrupt. Christ paid for all my sins,
every single one of them. I need a perfect righteousness,
and my righteousness is like filthy rags in the eyes of the
Lord. Because everything I do is tainted with sin. God clothes
us in the perfect righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is imputed
to me. With the law of God condemns
me. We saw that in Sunday school. By the works of the law can no
flesh be justified. I'm justified in Christ by faith. I now have peace with God. I
was at war, enmity in my mind with God! My wicked works! Now, in Christ, I have peace.
Peace with God. Oh, but the justice of God and
His rightful claim upon every single one of us. It says, the
soul that sins it must die. Christ dies in my room and place,
satisfying the law and justice of God. turning the wrath of
God away from me. It falls upon Him, and He extinguishes
it for me. What a Savior. And then to think
that His eyes are ever upon us, ever watching over us, always upon us. Do you know God's
eyes were always directed to His people, even when we were
dead in sins? His eyes were still upon us,
eyes of love, mercy, and grace. And this land is wholly dependent
upon God, isn't it? For watering, for an increase
of the crops. Are we not wholly dependent upon
God? Are we not wholly dependent upon our Savior? Are we nothing
without him? Are not his words true? Of course
they are. And he says, without me, you
can do nothing. There's nothing in us that is good naturally in the
eyes of the Lord. And you know, there's nothing
that you and I don't go through, whether it be sorrow or trial
or temptation or times of health or happiness. that our Lord's
eyes are not upon us. You ever got to the point sometime
where you feel like, Lord, have you turned your eyes from me? You know, he's looking upon you
with love. I've never left you, my child. Thou art mine. Isn't that wonderful? We're His,
beloved. Turn, if you would, to Psalm,
Psalm 33. In the times of the valley and
in the times of the mountaintop, our great God, our Savior, is
ever watching over us, ever with us. Psalm 133. I'm sorry, I said 133. Psalm
33. Psalm 33. Got too excited there. Psalm 33, verses 18 to 22. Look at this. Do you fear God? And I don't mean the slave's
fear, I mean that reverent's fear. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction,
right? Do you fear God with that knowledge
of who He is? Look at this. Look at this. Isn't
this wonderful? Behold. Take note, behold, the eye of
the Lord, the eye of Jehovah, the eye of the self-existent
one is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. We're vessels that hope in the
mercy of God, aren't we? We're vessels of mercy, the scripture
says, we hope in his mercy. Look at this, to deliver their
soul from death and to keep them alive in famine, Our soul waiteth
for the Lord, for He is what? Our help and our shield. For
our hearts shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His
holy name. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us according as we hope in Thee. Turn one more Psalm over to Psalm
34, and look at these words here. Verses 15 to 19. The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous. How can we be made righteous
in Christ? And his ears are open unto their
cry. Oh, beloved, don't ever think
he doesn't hear your prayers. The scriptures here, and the
scriptures are true, aren't they? It declares his ears are open
unto our cry. It could be cry of sorrow. It
could be a cry of joy. It could be a trial or a time
of no one else knows what we're going through. And we're crying out to him.
He hears us. Don't ever think the Lord doesn't
hear his people. He hears us. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from
the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth. We're told
that a second time here. And what does he do? And deliver
them out of all their troubles. We look back, has he not delivered
us, beloved, time and time and time and time and time again?
Always, always. The Lord, we just say Jehovah,
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save us such
as be of a contrite spirit. He didn't come to save the righteous,
the self-righteous, did he? He came to save sinners. Remember
then, publicans? That man eateth with publicans
and sinners. Praise be to God. Hallelujah! I love that. Because I'm a sinner. And I'm just a sinner saved by
grace, telling other sinners where to find bread. That's all
I do. Oh my. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous. Look at that. Our dear sister
here today, she told me a long time ago that the Lord uses this
world to wean us. and make us homesick for heaven.
There's so much truth in that, isn't there? We're being weaned
from the world right now, beloved. And now we're homesick, aren't
we? We want to go home, don't we? But we're waiting. We're
waiting for when the Lord takes us home. Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but look at this, praise be God, but Jehovah
delivereth them out of them all. There has never been an affliction
where the Lord hadn't delivered us from. Now sometimes, if you go through
an affliction of health, He might deliver you by taking you home. Right? Or He might deliver you
by having you go through it. But He'll deliver you. He's ever with you. He'll never
leave you nor forsake you. So today we've looked at two
pictures, one a land of toil, and want to land a rest. Land
a rest? My, what a rest we have in Christ,
beloved. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 11. What a rest we have in Christ. Matthew chapter 11. We have such
a rest in Him. I'll tell you why. And again,
the hardest thing for us to do is just rest in Christ. Just rest in him. Remember, his eye is always upon
us. Remember, the one who spoke these words has his eye upon
us. He's redeemed us with his precious
blood. Look at this. Matthew 11. Verses 25 to 29. At that time,
Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Beloved, we're
like babes. We're like babes. Even so, Father,
for it seemed good in thy sight All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. See, we can't know the Father
unless the Son reveals him to us. Remember, we looked at that
verse about three weeks back, four weeks back? Cannot know
him unless he reveals himself to us. Now, here we go. Come
unto me. Who's to come unto him? All ye
that labor and are heavy laden. Are you heavy laden, trying to
work your way to heaven, gain merit and favor with God by something
you do? Come unto me, he says. This is
the words of the master. This isn't the words of the preacher.
This is the words of the master, the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate
in the flesh. He says, come unto me. All ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest. That's the first rest. Then he
says, take my yoke upon you. You know they used to yoke up
cattle? Keep them together? Used to yoke
them up? Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. The first rest is rest from our
labors. Rest from our doings. The second rest is rest for our
souls. Isn't that beautiful? Rest for our souls. For my yoke is easy. It's not
a burden. They used to call those animals
beasts of burden, didn't they? But the Lord says, for my yoke
is easy. And my burden is lights. Lights. No more labors. None at all. Just a perfect