Good evening, everyone. It's
good to be in the house of the Lord. Tonight we'll be in various scriptures
tonight. The name of the message is, I
will. I will. Our great God, our great King,
is the Great I Am. He is the One who appeared to
Moses and the burning bush. He is the One who appeared to
Abraham. He is the One who appeared to Joshua. He is the Great I
Am. He is the Sovereign Almighty
God. And He rules and He reigns in
heaven. We believe that. In what He says, when He says,
I will, there can be a sure rest in place for the believer. Sure
rest in place for us. It's the great I AM who we worship.
It's the great I AM who we adore. It's the great I AM who has all
power and all majesty. And it is the great I AM who
left the glories and splendors of heaven and became a man and died upon
Calvary's cross for sinners, for His people. We looked at
that this morning, didn't we? Oh, the condescension of Christ.
He died upon the cross for sins not His own. But He died upon that cross,
the great sinner's substitute. And what He set out to do, He
accomplished. There's nothing left. So we can be sure if the great
I Am says, I will, Remember, in Sunday school we
looked at how he's, that's the great I Am Too spoken of there,
far above all the principalities and powers. So if he says, I will, that's a nail in the sure place,
like Scripture says. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter
1. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God, the great I AM, becomes a man and dies upon the cross
for His people. In turn, if you would, to Isaiah
40. So put your finger in 1 Peter and Isaiah 40 as well. But we're
going to 1 Peter first. He is the perfect, spotless,
sinless Lamb of God without blemish. And He remained that, even as
He's dying upon the cross. Now, He has made sin for us. Our sins were laid upon Him.
But He's still that spotless, perfect Lamb of God. He never ceased to be God, did
He? Look at 1 Peter 1, 18-23. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ." God. The blood of God. The God-man mediator. But with
the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Remember this morning? They could
find no fault in Him. Remember? None. Because He's
the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. And we saw that too, didn't we,
this morning? That He died according to God's
decree, didn't He? Who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for You. That's the believer. That's God's
elect. He didn't die for everyone, did
He? But He died for every one of His people. Every one of His
elect. Who by Him do believe in God
that raised Him up from the dead. We looked at that as well, that
He was raised for our justification. and gave Him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in who? In God. There was a time when
we used to hope in ourselves. We don't hope in ourselves anymore,
do we? We hope in Christ. He's done
it all. We stay away with all our works.
We're bankrupt. We need Christ desperately. All our faith and our hope has
one object, and that's Christ. That's Christ. Seeing ye have
purified your souls and obeying the truth with the Spirit unto
unframed love of the brethren. There it is again. We need to
love the brethren, don't we? We need to. See that ye love
one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again,
oh, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, not of corruptible spirit,
but of an incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. So the great I am, the one who
became a man and died in the place of his people on Calvary's
cross is now seated right now, right this moment, he is now
seated at the right hand of the Father. God is satisfied with
his sacrifice. Right now, though, he's seated
right there as our advocate, as our mediator. In what great comfort the believer
can glean from this. Oh, what a great King. So now when He who is the Great I Am
says in Scripture, I will. I will. We can be absolutely
sure that it will come to pass. Look in Isaiah 40, verses 1-2. How are God's people comforted?
By the preaching of the Word, by the preaching of the Gospel.
Look at this. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Now, I personally can't give
you comfort, right? And you can't give me comfort.
But we can get comfort from this Word. We can get comfort from
this news. Oh, what a great Savior. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, which is the church, and cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is what? Pardoned. Pardoned. That brings this sinner great
comfort. Iniquity is pardoned. For she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Oh,
God's people are comforted by the Word of God. Comforted by
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Comforted by the preaching of
Christ and Him crucified. Oh, may we be comforted tonight.
And may God the Holy Spirit point us right to Christ. And may He
comfort our hearts and souls. May He comfort our hearts and
souls and bring peace. He must illuminate the Scripture.
He must teach us. Oh, we desire that, don't we?
We desire to grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of the
Gospel, to grow in Christ. and He can bring us comfort through
His Word. He can speak peace to the sinner.
Oh, and if you're here and you don't know Him, oh, we pray that
God would speak peace to you, that you'd look to Christ and
Him alone, and just rest and trust in Him, and that He would
give you the faith and the grace and the repentance to do that.
He must rod in the sinner a mighty work, and He's done it. And we
who believe, we know it's nothing we did, Nothing we did. We sang
that song, didn't we? Nothing we've done. Nothing at
all. It's all the work of God. Genesis
12, 2 says this, And I will make of thee a great nation. Turn
there if you would. Genesis 12, verse 2. And I will
make of thee a great nation. God's speaking to Abraham here. I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt
be a blessing. Now look at this. Now he's speaking
to Abraham, and we know that if we believe, we're Abraham's
children. And I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee. There's the first I will that
we're going to look at tonight. I will bless thee. Now, this
was told to the nation of Israel. But I want us to look at these
three words within this text, because the believer can find
great comfort here. Great comfort here. Great comfort. And it was told of the true Israel
of God about this. And that in Abraham, the true
Israel of God would be blessed. I will bless thee. And now in
our natural state, in our natural state, what do we deserve? Condemnation. That's where the dying thief
said, and we're getting what we deserve basically this morning.
We saw that too. He came to a realization of what
he deserved. So in our natural state, we deserve
condemnation. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
blessed His people in Christ. Now, false, works-based, money-grabbing
preachers of the Word of Faith will take these Scriptures here
and twist it. Twist it to tell people, just
give and your seed money will grow to be astronomical. And
they're just nothing but false preachers robbing people. I didn't
say rob believers. Robbing people. Robbing people. Deceived people are having their
pockets emptied by those guys. But let us look at these words
in light of Christ, the great I Am, who says, I will bless
you. I will bless you. Turn, if you
would, to Ephesians 1, verse 3. He will bless His people, and
beloved, He has blessed His people in Jesus Christ our Lord. Because
in Christ, the believer has all spiritual blessings. All of them. All of them. All the blessing,
he has. He has blessed the believer in Christ. God's elect have been
blessed with all spiritual blessings. Nothing lacking for the sinner
who flees to Christ. Nothing. Look at Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us. Well, he said back in Genesis,
Ah, blessed thee. He's blessed us, hasn't he? With
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. There it is. That's where all the believers'
blessings are. Outside of Christ, there's only
condemnation. But in Christ, there's life eternal,
justification, pardon, redemption. All in the list of spiritual
blessings goes on and on and on. The great doctrines of the
faith, they're all in Christ. They're all in Him. All in Him. In Christ, we have redemption. In Christ, we have sanctification.
In Christ, we have justification before God's holy law. In Christ,
the believer has salvation. In Christ, the believer has the
hope of eternal life. In Christ, the believer has freedom
from the penalty of sin, and he's free from the condemnation
of sin. Pardoned. The believer is pardoned
in Christ. I will bless thee, the great
I AM proclaims to his people. And he has in Jesus Christ our
Lord. And this brings God's people
great comfort. I will bless thee. And beloved
He is in Christ. Galatians 3.8 says this, In the
Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed. God will bless His people. Turn,
if you would, to Hosea 13.14. The next I will, we actually
look at two I wills here. So the first one was, I will
bless thee. And God has blessed his people in Christ. In Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Hosea chapter 13, verse 14. Look
at this. And remember, this is the great
I Am speaking. This is God. Hosea 13, verse 14. I will. What? I will ransom them from
the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death.
There's our two I wills. O death, I will be thy plague.
O grave, I will be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes. I will ransom them and I will redeem them. Two I wills of God. And how has
He ransomed us? How has He redeemed us? In Christ. In Christ. We looked at this
this morning, didn't we? The ransom price has been paid.
Paid. Redemption is what? Complete. Oh, what God promises will come
to pass. I will ransom them and I will
redeem them. A ransom has been found, a near
kinsman. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ, our great near kinsman, has redeemed His people. Redeemed His people. And our
text says, I will. And He did. I will. And He did at Calvary's cross.
He ransomed and redeemed His people from their sins. Turn,
if you would, to Luke 1. And I'll read 1 Timothy 2, verse
6, which says, Before I get there, remember
our text here says, I will ransom them and I will redeem them.
In 1 Timothy 2.6 it says, Who gave Himself a ransom for all
to be testified in due time. And then look at Luke 1.68-70.
Luke 1.68-70. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited
and what? Redeemed His people. redeemed his people, and hath
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have
been since the world began." So he's redeemed his people,
Luke 1.68, and then in 1 Timothy 2.6, he gave himself a ransom.
And remember what we looked at in Hosea? I'll ransom them and
I'll redeem them. Oh, this is good news. This is
such comfort for God's people. The great I Am says, I will.
And he's done it. He's done it. Do you see the folly of works-based
religion? He says, I will. It's not, well,
you do. It's I will. I will. Oh, what a mighty Savior we have.
The Lord Jesus Christ has made atonement for the sins of His
people by His death that He what? Might reconcile us to God. He's
the Peacemaker. I will ransom them and I will
redeem them. What comfort for God's people.
What comfort. We are ransomed. We who believe
God's elect are ransomed and redeemed. by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all his blood. Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah,
chapter 31. And the next point is, I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. So
he ransomed, the great I Am says, I will ransom them, and I will
redeem them. And he did it. God became a man. And then look at our next point.
Oh, look at this. Jeremiah 31.34. Jeremiah 31.34.
And put your finger in Colossians chapter 2 if you could. Jeremiah
31.34 and Colossians chapter 2. I will forgive their iniquity.
And I will remember their sin no more." Now, we often remember
our own sin, don't we? But God says, I'll remember no
more. Look at this, Jeremiah 31, 34. Why will He not remember our
sin no more? Because He ransomed and redeemed us, beloved. Oh, it's wonderful news for sinners.
Jeremiah 31, 34. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know Me. Verse 34. From the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will... What? I will... Here's the great
I Am again, right? I will forgive their iniquity.
Oh, this is wonderful. I will forgive their iniquity.
All of it. All of it. All of it. And I will remember
their sin no more. It's gone. Brother John and I
were talking about the scapegoat. And he carried that away. Never
to be seen again. I remember their sin no more. Remember how I said we say we
forgive sometimes? We say we forgive. But we sometimes
remember, don't we, to our shame? God is saying, here, I forgive,
and I don't remember. This is wonderful news for sinners.
Absolutely wonderful news. I will forgive their iniquity
and I will remember their sin no more. This is a complete,
full, absolute pardon. Absolute. God in Christ has forgiven all
the sins and all the iniquities of His people. Not just some
of them. Think of that. We often say,
well, boy, that person did that. If you hear of somebody falling
into sin, just remember this, there go
I but for the grace of God. There go I but for the grace
of God. It'll make it easy on folks,
and I'm not saying we're being easy on sin, I'm not saying that.
Not at all. We hate sin in ourselves more
than we hate it anywhere else. But all left to ourself what
we could do. It says here, I'll forgive their
iniquity and I'll remember their sin no more. This is the great
I Am saying. This is God saying this. No. God deliver us from being the
kind of people who for say we forgive, but don't really forgive. Oh, we are to be kind to one
another, aren't we? Tender-hearted. Forgiving one
another. Why? Even as God hath for Christ's
sake forgiven us. How much has he forgiven us?
I'll remember their sin no more. Oh, and as I said, you know,
I know myself. I can sit in a chair and just
think and I'm, oh boy, think, think, you know, come on, we're
all sinners, aren't we? But God says, I won't remember
your sin at all. Those who are resting and trusting
in Christ, what mercy, what joy this brings the believer. And as I said, we're thankful
that God does not forgive us like we forgive other people.
I'll remember their sin no more. I'll
forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sin no more. Turn
if you would to Colossians chapter 2. When God forgives a sinner,
In Christ that sinner is fully forgiven for all their sins,
fully pardoned by the precious blood of Christ. And it will make a sinner rejoice
when God gives them hearing ears and seeing eyes. Look at Colossians
2, verse 9-15. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
Him which is the head of all principality and power. In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, that's being born again, and putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in
baptism, wherein ye are risen with Him through the faith of
the operation of God who hath raised Him from the dead. being
dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh." Now remember
what we read in Jeremiah, right? I'll remember their sins no more.
Look at this marvelous verse. In Jew, being dead in your sins,
in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Remember what the great I Am
said? There it is. "...blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He entered into heaven,
exalted King." Triumphant. This triumph is like a Roman
triumph where the general would parade with his armies, but he
was at the head. He triumphed over His enemies. And we are forgiven in the Lord
Jesus Christ fully. Fully. And it's all for His name's
sake. I write unto you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven. You, for His name's sake. Christ. The next point I'd like to look
at is found in Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36. And He says, I will give you
an heart of flesh and I'll put My Spirit within you. Ezekiel
36, 26 and 27. Now, folks, always you hear in
religion, right? Just give your heart to Jesus,
don't you? Often hear that, right? God doesn't
want your heart. Not the old corrupt heart we
have. He gives us a new heart, beloved. A new heart. A new heart. Look at this. A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will
take away the stony heart. I will again. I will take away
the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart heart
of flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk
in My statutes and you shall keep My judgments and do them."
I'll give you a heart of flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh
and I will put My Spirit within you. Scripture plainly declares,
right? You must be born again. You must
be born again. Turn, if you would, to John 3.
Plainly declares you must be born again. And this is not a
thing that man can do. And religion tells you, well,
you make a decision and then you're born again. No. No. No. You flee to Christ because
you're born again. Because you're regenerated. Because
God has given you a new heart. And He put His Spirit within
us. Oh, religion tells you make a
decision and then you're born again, but this scripture here
before us destroys this deception. when Scripture says, I will put
my Spirit within you, and I'll give you a new heart, a heart
of flesh. God must put His Holy Spirit
within us. You must be born again, and it's
a mighty work of God, the Holy Spirit. Look at John 3. Starting
in verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except the man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, in your own time,
if you read a chapter over and see how compassionate he was
with the lady at the well. Now, with Nicodemus, he was blunt. Because Nicodemus was a man who
studied the Word of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time? into his mother's womb and be
born. Now, I used to read this and think, boy, he's being kind
of smart aleck in a sense, but Norm
Wells told me something one time. We were sitting there and he
said, Wayne Nicodemus gave a natural man's answer or question. He asked a natural man's question,
a man who had no understanding of spiritual things. He actually
asked what a natural man would ask. How can this be? How can
this be? Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee,
Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh. And whither it goeth, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit saves whomever
he wills. Draw on God's sheep. Nicodemus answered and said unto
them, How can these things be? Now look at the Lord's answer.
Nicodemus was a man who studied the Scriptures, right? He diligently
studied the Scriptures. Nicodemus answered, or Jesus
answered and said unto them, Art thou a master of Israel? And knowest not these things?
The blind leading the blind. He had no clue. No clue. And then look what the Lord says
here. In Gospel Preachers, We speak that we do know. Look at
this. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know
and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witnesses.
God's preachers are just… we're proclaiming what we know. What
God's shown us. What God's revealed to us. And
testify that we have seen. We've seen. We look into Christ. Oh my. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
32. We'll see our next point. Our next I will. Our next I will. Oh, great comfort these I wills
can bring God's people. I will guide thee. Psalm 32,
8. I will guide thee. And he also
says here, I will instruct thee. I will instruct thee, verse 8,
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go. I will guide thee with mine eye. His eye is on his people. A sheep
left to its own what? What'll happen to a sheep left
by itself? Start to wander off. Right? But the Lord guides us. He guides
us providentially. He guides us and directs us.
No matter what, if you're going through some stuff tonight, and
I know, I know all of us is going through some things in our lives,
and some things we don't want to tell anyone, or things that,
and God is guiding and directing you, that bring great comfort
to God's people. To know that He's guiding, He's
directing, He instructs His people. Oh, so a sheep left to itself
will wander off, but here we have a wonderful promise from
God. A wonderful promise from God that He will guide us and
He will instruct us. And in John 6, I'll read it here.
John 6, 16 verses 13 and 14 says, "'Hallebate when He, the Spirit
of truth, has come. He will guide you into all truth.'" For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you." John 16, verses
13 and 14. He will guide. It says the same
thing in John 16, 13. He will guide. The Holy Spirit
will guide us into all truth. All truth. You could tell if
a man's lying to you when he's preaching. It don't take long. He just start telling you what
you have to do. And God sheeps us away with that.
I don't want nothing to do with that. Tell me about Christ. Tell
me about my king. Tell me about the one who's done
everything. We want clover, don't we? We want clover. We want the
clover of the word of God. And God will guide his people
with counsel, and we shall be taught of God from this book. From this book. His book. The
Holy Spirit will teach us and guide us through the preaching
of His Word, through the reading of His Word. Oh. Turn over to Psalm 50, if
you would. Verse 15. Our next I will. So here guide thee, here instruct
thee. And look at this. It's found
in verse 15 of Psalm 50. And the next I will is I will
deliver thee. And see, I hope this brings great
comfort to us. Because these are, like I said,
these are nails in sure place. We can rest in these. We can
draw great comfort. It's like I say, the Bible's
like a well too, isn't it? We just draw from it, eh? Draw
water, strength. Oh my, it's wonderful. Psalm 50, verse 15. And call
upon Me in the day of trouble. Look at this. I will deliver
thee. I will deliver thee. And thou
what? Shalt glorify Me. Doesn't that happen when He delivers
us from things? What do we do? We give Him all
the praise, don't we? We glorify Him. Look, the Lord's
done it. He's done it for me again. He
done it for me again. So the psalmist here cries out
to God when trouble comes. Notice he doesn't seek a refuge
either in other men or works, but he seeks a refuge in the
only one, the only one who can deliver him, the only one who
can deliver him in the day of trouble. Other refuge have I
none, still support and comfort me. God will deliver his people. He will deliver his people. In
the midst of the times when it seems like things are coming
crashing down all around us, He delivers His people. He delivers
His people. And what's the result of this
deliverance? What's the result of when He delivers us? We glorify
Him, don't we? We glorify Him. Now think of
this. We had a mountain of sin, didn't we? Mountain of sin, and God has
delivered His people. Were we not in trouble? Did not
God's holy law demand justice for our sins? Did God's people call upon Him? Does He not deliver God's people
from all their sins? Well, their sins and iniquities
I remember no more. And what happens after that to
God's people? We glorify Him. We glorify our
great King. Oh, it's marvelous. We give God
all the glory. All of it. We had a debt that
we could never pay. We were bankrupt before God's
law and justice and Jesus Christ paid it all. Paid it all. The next point is in Joshua 1.5. And also put your finger in Psalm
46. Joshua 1.5. Oh, when God says, I will, it
shall come to pass, beloved. Joshua 1.5. There shall not any
man be able to stand before Thee all the days of Thy life. As I was with Moses, I will be
with thee. There's one. Then look, it just
continues. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. I will be with thee. I will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee. God is the believer's refuge.
Christ is the believer's refuge. He's our strength, isn't He?
And we rest in Him, and we trust in the fact that He will never
leave us, nor forsake us. Now, people in our lives may
have left us. Family may leave us over the
Gospel. Other loved ones may leave us.
Dear friends sometimes, even brethren sometimes. But let we who believe lean on
this precious truth. The Lord Jesus Christ will never
leave His people. Never. Never. Look at Psalm 46, 1 to 3. God is our refuge and strength.
A very present help in trouble. We're not alone. The believer's
not alone. Therefore, we'll Not we fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. And then in Hebrews, turn if
you would to Hebrews 13. Look at this. So He tells us in the
Old Testament, right? I'll not fail thee, nor forsake
thee, I'll be with thee, right? Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. And
oh, this brings the believer great comfort. Great comfort. I know I have us turning to a
lot of different places tonight, forgive me, but I'm desiring
to show us the precious truths as they're paralleled to in the
Old and New Testament. Look at Hebrews 13, verses 5
and 6. Let your conversation be without
covenants, and be content with such things as you have. For
He has said, I will never. Now the Greek word there for
never is, I've said this before, it's triple. Never, not ever,
never. It's triple. And remember what He said to
us in Joshua. I'll not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. For He has said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. The Lord is my helper. He's my
strength. Remember what we saw? God is
our refuge and strength. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. What comfort, what rest the believer
finds here when we're anxious, and we get anxious. I get anxious.
When we're sorrowful and we all get sorrowful over the loss of
a loved one, or when we're abandoned by family or friends over the
gospel, may we find great refuge and comfort right here. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. God will never leave nor forsake
His people. Our next point is found in Isaiah
41. Isaiah 41, verse 10. Isaiah 41, verse 10. Fear not, for I am with thee.
Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Oh, I need to be strengthened. Is it so with you, beloved? I
need strength, because I'm awful weak. And it says, yea, I will
help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand. of my righteousness. Remember we saw what the right
hand denotes this morning? Power. Power. Oh, here before us we have three
I wills of God in one glorious verse. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. I will uphold
thee. And note, note, before he said this, these I
wills, he says, I am thy God. I am the Sovereign God. The Almighty. The one in absolute control. And this is the very one who
became a man. He died upon Calvary's cross
for His people. Shed His own precious blood to
redeem His people from their sins. And look what it's told
in this marvelous verse. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee. See,
because He's far above all princes and principalities and powers,
when He says, I will, it shall come to pass. Because He has
all power. He has all majesty. He's God. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He's not like we think He is.
He's sovereign. He's almighty. See, in our natural
state, we don't have a clue who God is. But the God of the Bible is almighty. He's almighty. And when you think,
what love, what love when you think that he left, as I said
this morning, the glories of heaven and died upon the cross
for his people. What love, what love he has for
his people. I will strengthen thee, I will
help thee, I will uphold thee. In the right hand of my righteousness,
this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. This is speaking of Christ. He gives us strength. Turn, if
you would, to 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. Oh, when we're weak,
when we're weak, then Christ is strong, eh? Because we're
resting and reposing in Him. We have no strength and no ability
to come to Christ on our own, but we're made willing in the
day of His power. We're made willing. And God is in ever-present
help with His people. I will help you. I will help
you. Have you ever noticed that when
you're going through something or battling something, that you
hear a Gospel message And it'll just bring you great comfort
and great joy. And the preacher doesn't even
know. I can't tell you how many times
I've listened to messages from Sermon Audio and my heart has
been so comforted. The preacher didn't, he's preaching
Christ. Well, that's the Holy Spirit
comforting. comforting, strengthening His
people, upholding His people. The message empowered by the
Holy Spirit of God brings great comfort and great peace to the
believer's soul. Look at 2 Corinthians 12, verse
9. And He said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness,
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me." God is his strength. God is his comfort. The last point is this. It's
in Isaiah chapter 66, verse 13. Isaiah chapter 66, verse 13. So will I comfort you. So will
I comfort you. And put your finger in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. So will I comfort you. Our God
is called the God of all comfort. He's the God of all comfort. Isaiah 66, verse 13, As one whom
his mother comforted, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be
comforted in Jerusalem. is one whom his mother comforted.
So will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem."
So will I comfort you. In 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3
and 4, it says this, Blessed be God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. the Father of mercies and the
God of all comfort, the God of all comfort, beloved, who comforted
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3. We are reconciled to God through
the great peacemaker, through the Lord Jesus Christ, And this is comfort. This brings
comfort to sin sick sinners. Now, 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And
I'll just say these few points here. God comforts us in our
trials and our tribulations that we may be a comfort to others
going through the same thing. And think of this. Think of this.
There is absolutely no comfort outside of Christ. There's no
peace with God outside of Christ. But there's great comfort in
Christ for the believer. And we are to comfort one another
with this hope here before us. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4, verses
13 to 18. We are to comfort one another
with the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. This
is the blessed hope of the believer. The blessed hope for God's people.
Now, we don't know when this is, but God knows. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep,
for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God. Oh, and
the dead in Christ shall rise first than we which are alive. And remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And look at verse 18.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Let us rest and repose. Let us
rest and repose in the great I wills. the great I wills, may
they bring us comfort and peace as we sojourn through this world.
May God be glorified by the preaching of His word.