Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to today's broadcast. My passage for today is found in Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah chapter 12. I wanna read all six verses, the whole chapter. Isaiah writes, wrote these words. And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee.

Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day, shall you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

What a... What a declaration, what a testimony by my brother Isaiah to the glory and honor of God in the salvation of sinners. That's right, I said sinners. Even though the word sinner's not found here, it's clearly in the text. The salvation of this thrice holy God of sinners. I said the salvation of a sinner. You see it? Think about it here. Let me give you two thoughts before I give you my other points this morning. God, think about it, God through Christ saves sinners. That's said even by Isaiah, look at it.

And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me. Why is he angry? God's angry because of our sin, because of our rebellion. because of our ungodliness, because of our corruption, also because of our self-righteousness, because of our self-will, because of our looking to ourselves rather than realizing we're nothing and we need to look to God alone. And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me. So that's the first thing I point out this morning.

God through Jesus Christ saves sinners. This is what Isaiah, this is how Isaiah even begins. In Isaiah chapter one, he says these words, and before I even read these words, somebody may say, well, this is talking about Israel. Isaiah is talking to these Israelites way back here. Yes, yes he is, but Paul was clear. The Jews are no better than the Gentiles. The Gentiles are no better than the Jews. We're all under sin. There's none righteous, no not one. Listen to what God said about it. Verse two of chapter one. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me. Now, yes, that applies to Israel and Isaiah's day. And it would have applied to Israel in the Apostle Paul's day. And I say this, sadly, it applies to the professed church in our day. Listen, the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. Do you see it?

But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. And I can say there, but the church, those who profess to be the church, the professing church today, the professing church does not know him. They do not consider him. Ah, sinful nation. a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They have gone away." Backward, you see it? But Jesus Christ was sent by God to save sinners, and we're all sinners. The scripture is quite clear, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But not everybody understands it in the sense of Isaiah chapter 12, verse one, now do they? Go up and ask most people, are you a sinner? And a lot of people will say, yeah, yes, I'm a sinner. But it's just something that we're all, we're all sinners. No, I have sinned. See, it's not just we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Isaiah's writing here that people will say, I have sinned. I have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Here's the second thought.

God through Christ saves sinners only. Do you hear what I said? He saves sinners only. Our Lord made that very clear. And Matthew recorded it for us in Matthew chapter nine. And just a couple verses here. Our Lord Jesus said these words. But when Jesus heard that, heard what? Now here's what he heard. Verse 12, it says, but when Jesus heard that, or you could say, when Jesus heard, what did he hear?

Well, look at verse 10 and 11. And it came to pass that Jesus sat at meat in the house, sat down to eat. Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. The bad folk, they said. The sinners and the publicans. But when you look, and when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? Now here it was. Here's what he said, but when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Look, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So I'm here to say, if you're listening to me this day, and you say, well, but I'm not a sinner. I'm a good person. I'm a decent person. Then Christ didn't come to even call you.

Now you can mark that down right now until God Almighty shows you what he says is to be shown to some in Isaiah chapter 12, and in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me. Have you ever seen, have you ever understood, have you ever felt the fact that God's angry with you? Do you see it? That's who it's about. Thou, with me, thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away. Thou comfortest me. So again, I say, God through Christ saves only sinners, only sinners.

Has God ever made you to know and to feel His anger toward you, toward your natural self, who you really are, what you really are? Or we may hide it good from other folk, but who we really are down inside. Has God ever shown me my corrupt heart? Has God ever shown me the corruption of my will and my way? Oh, I know in our day, everybody makes will, the human will, man's will, and even call it free. It may be the answer to almost everything, but your will and my will's not free. Our will is our problem. That's our problem.

There is a day for all whom God has smitten. That's what Isaiah's prophesying. There is a day for whom all God has smitten. Yes, all are sinners, but God hasn't smitten all to where they realize it. God hasn't smitten all to where they know it. Has God ever made you to know that, to feel that? Because there is a day for all who, when God has smitten, it will turn to a day of praise and a day of comfort. And yet I read because God's word is far better than what I'm trying to say about it.

And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song.

He's also, you see, become my salvation. Now, those that God saves, will save, has saved, and will continue to save. He's always been their salvation, but they didn't know it. They didn't understand it, they didn't comprehend it, but now they do. He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Do you see, it's not just one little teeny tiny well, it's the wells of salvation. And you know who that salvation is?

Jesus Christ the Lord. Look, and in that day, Shall ye say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare, not our doings, our doings are corrupt, our doings are sinful, our best deeds are altogether rottenness before God, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. So again, I say this, God through Christ saves sinners. And God through Christ saves only sinners, only sinners. Has God ever smitten you? Have you ever been smitten and afflicted of God where you begin to see who you are?

Now here's a question for me. Here's a question for you. And I bring it from my text for this morning, this chapter, Isaiah chapter 12. And it's my title and it's my subject for this morning. Here it is. is the Holy One of Israel. in my midst, you see it? Is the Holy One of Israel in my midst. And what it goes on to say, verse five and six, sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, you see it? In the midst of thee.

Now, let me give you just four thoughts for today's message. is the Holy One of Israel. Now that's Jesus Christ. That's Jesus Christ. We'll look at that in a moment. But is the Holy One of Israel in my midst? That's the question, isn't it? Is He in my midst? These people who have this smiting, these people who recognize that God was angry with them, but now His anger's turned away, and He comforts them. He's become their salvation. He's in their midst.

Now, when I say this, When Isaiah said this, look at it. For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. We know that God, from the testimony of this book, from the testimony of scripture, God is omnipresent. That means God is everywhere. Right, I mean, most of you hearing me, most of you listening to this message, you probably have heard that God is omnipresent or God is everywhere, but that's not what we're talking about here in chapter 12 of Isaiah. We're talking about that special sense, that special saving way in our text, that special way which says, thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away. and thou comfortest me.

Behold, God is my salvation. I no longer am threatened by his holiness. I thank him for it. I no longer am totally terrified because of my sin and corruption. I thank him for forgiveness and mercy and compassion. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid.

For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He's it. He doesn't just give me strength, though it's certainly true he gives his people strength, but he is, do you see it? He is our strength. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He is my song. He's what makes me happy. He's what makes me sing. He has become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall I draw water out of the wells of salvation. Why? Because the Holy One of Israel is in my midst. That's what I'm talking about. Is he in my midst? There's the second thought.

Has the Lord, and that is capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's what it puts here in verse one. And in that day shall thou say, O Lord, that is Yahweh, Yahweh, God Almighty. Has the Lord so smitten me? Has the Lord so smitten you? that you and I call upon Him and praise Him for His perfections. Do you see it? For His perfections, for His works, for what He has done, is doing, and shall do.

And we take our works and cast them off. Nothing, the old songwriter said, nothing in my hands I bring but simply to the cross of Christ I cling. And that's his sufferings, his sufferings for sinners. His dying is our substitute and our representative and our surety. Does as the Lord so smitten me and you that we cry out unto him and praise him for his perfections. And this is what the song of salvation is about.

It's not about what we've done for the Lord. If you're bragging, if your hope is in what you're doing for the Lord, then you're lost. You're not saved. Because listen to how Isaiah puts it, how that salvation takes place. And in that day, thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Thou wast angry with me. You see it? You got reason, your right to be angry with me. That anger, oh, what a difference here.

That anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become by salvation. Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall you say, praise the Lord.

And what do we say? Call upon his name. We don't pat one another on the back. We're not congratulating one another on how good we are. We're not good. There's none good, no not one. call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted, sing unto the Lord.

Now look at it, you see those words? For he, for he hath done excellent things. The only thing here in this text is, basically I can paraphrase it this way, how bad I am, and how right God is to be angry with me, but something's happened to cause God to turn that anger away. Do you see it? What's happened? Jesus Christ has suffered and bled for sinners. He's died for sinners. He died for believers. He died for the sheep. He died for the elect. He died for those who were predestinated to be conformed in his image. He died for them. And there's hope there. Is he in my midst? Not in some general way, but in this special saving way. Has he smitten me? Do I see that? Do I feel that? Can I taste that, so to speak, deep down inside me? Here's a third thought.

Does the message of God's scriptures, especially passages like this, especially passages like Isaiah chapter 12, verses one through six, does the message of God's scriptures declaring who he truly is and what he truly does, does that bring me comfort? Do you find comfort in someone preaching, here's what you need to do for Jesus? Or do you find comfort in here's what Jesus Christ did for sinners? Which one? That determines whether you're in chapter 12 or not. That determines whether or not you, it manifests whether or not you have ever experienced what Isaiah's talking about in chapter 12, verses one through six.

God's people don't brag about themselves. And when they do, they become ashamed. It's not long before they become ashamed. Why? Because they know God has the right to be angry with them. That God is so holy that he does not even, cannot even look upon sin. And that means he don't look upon me because I am sin.

He is so holy that those angels that fly around his throne, that Ezekiel, that Isaiah, I'm sorry, that Isaiah saw, cry out, holy, holy, holy. Constantly, that's what they cry out, holy, holy, holy. The Nepals, and holy, holy, holy. And those angels each have six wings. Do you know what they do with two of those wings? Even those angels, unfallen creatures, unfallen, they're not sinful. They're not corrupt like me. They're not sinful and ungodly like you, but they have to cover their faces with two of those wings. Why? Because he's the thrice holy God.

And yet we read, thou wast anger with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. The only place that's ever possible And only possible is in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, is he in my midst? Has he so smitten me? Does the message of God's scriptures, God's holy word, God's gospel declaring who he truly is and what he truly does bring me comfort? How could his anger ever turn away from me? from me, how could it ever turn away from you, one so vile and so wretched as we are, so bad that we're this way.

Here's the way the Apostle Paul put it to the people who God had saved, and he put it this way. This is what he said, Ephesians 2, and you, hath he quickened, who were dead, dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation, that is our way of life in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but listen, but God who is rich in mercy.

For his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, God did something for us in Christ. I'll paraphrase, yeah. God did something for us in Christ. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, for by grace are you saved. and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

That's why he says I'll sing, that's why Isaiah said these people. These people that know that God was angry with them, but his anger is now turned away and God is comforting them, they know that because of Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter one, Paul makes it clear as how this change has taken place. Not a change in God, but a change. Listen to what Paul wrote in Colossians chapter one, verse 20. and having made peace through the blood of his cross. He's talking about Jesus Christ there. You go back and read it sometime. Colossians chapter one.

And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath It's an accomplished work. Remember, Isaiah's talking about God's works, God's doings, what God's done. Not what you do for God, but what God's done for sinners. Look, being sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, how?

And it's the same sentence, two different verses, but same sentence, in the body of his flesh through death. to present you holy and unblamable and unapprovable in His sight if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled. You know what that lets me know? Two things. One, Christ only died for those that God would bring to believe. And those that God brings to believe will continue to believe. Grounded and settled in Christ Jesus the Lord.

So again, is He in my midst? Is the Holy One of Israel in my midst? Someone just... so vile and sinful and wretched as me. Yep, that's what he says right here. A people whom God was even angry with. You could say he's angry with because of his holiness. Yet now his anger's turned away and he comforts them, causes them to praise, causes them to sing, causes them to declare his mighty doings among the people. He's exalted.

Here's the last thing for today. Here's the fourth thing. Christ Jesus the Lord, is the Holy One of Israel. All throughout this scripture, when it talks about the Holy One of Israel, it is talking specifically about that Messiah, that Christ who was to come, and when he came, his name was to be called Jesus. Why? The angel told Joseph to call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people from their sins. So fourthly, Christ Jesus the Lord is the Holy One of Israel. Here's the question, is he, is Christ in my midst? Is Christ in my midst?

Let me just put it in the old vernacular, old mountain folk. Is he what floats your boat? Is he what rings your bell? Is he what gives joy to your soul? Is he what allows you to just, Just breathe before a thrice holy God. If it is, if he is, he's in your midst. He's in your midst. Listen to what Isaiah 41 says. Let me turn to the 41st chapter and listen to how Isaiah puts it there. Listen to Isaiah chapter 41 in just three verses. Fear not, think about it.

Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. Now yes, he's talking to the nation of Israel, but even according to Isaiah, the whole nation of Israel in his day were not all elected to salvation in Christ. They were not. They were an elect nation, but they weren't elected individually to salvation. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. God calls him what he is, a worm, a worm. And you know what that Hebrew word actually is? It's actually the word we would sometimes translate maggot. Yeah, maggot.

Fear not thou worm Jacob, ye and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. In other words, I'm going to give you something that gets the job done, you see. That's what he's talking about. Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them. and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

That's metaphorical language for God Almighty doing the work that is amazing, that is God Almighty's already done the work. You see, salvation's not about do. It can be summed up in one word, but it's not about you do, I do, it's about done, D-O-N-E. It's about who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.

Listen to Psalm 22, the 22nd Psalm. Here is why we can say, thou wast angry with me, but thy anger is turned away. Here it is, Psalm 22, verse one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Just that phrase. Now, I would implore you, I would beg you, go on to read Psalm 22. It's an actual psalm showing us the heart and mind of Jesus Christ as he suffered on that accursed tree for sinners.

And he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why is it that God being angry now is not angry any longer? Because he took out his anger on the Son. Do you see it? Does that give you joy? Does that make you want to sing? He poured out his anger and his wrath on the son rather than pouring it out on me, rather than pouring it out on you.

If he's ever smitten you, caused you to see who you are, caused you to run to Christ to believe on him, that's what it's all about. You see, if I, if you, or I can say when I, when you find comfort, That comfort only comes in Christ. That's what it means to have been smitten of God. It only comes in Christ and His effectual cross work.

He, that is Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, if you believe Him, if He's smitten you, if you knew He was angry now, but when you see Christ, when you hear of Him, when you hear of what He did for sinners, what He accomplished for sinners, does that give you peace?

Does that cause you to praise Him? If so, what can we say? He's in our midst. The Holy One, see, cry out and shout. Thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. If we trust Jesus Christ, he is in our midst. Praise be, all praise be to our Christ, our Messiah, our Redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth. Praise be to him and only to him, amen.