I so much appreciate those who have such talents and are willing to use them for the glory of God, and I'm thankful for the Spirit of God that leads them in singing the song that they choose. That's one of my favorites. Blessed Redeemer. And oh, how I can identify with that part of that song that says, I was blind and unheeding, and He was dying for me. In our unregenerate, natural state, We were just as blind spiritually as Barimaeus was physically. Just as dead spiritually as Lazarus was physically. And it took the power of God to raise us from that state of spiritual deadness, open our blind eyes, and revealed Jesus Christ as our blessed Redeemer.

Judy played in her prelude music that song, He Touched Me. Also one of my favorites. And that's what God does, like that leper that said, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. He said, I will, and reached right out and touched that leper and healed him.

And that's what He does with all of His chosen blood-bought children. He touches us with a personal touch and heals us from that awful, awful, sinful disease. Washes us clean in His blood. creates new life in us, brings us into a living union with Himself. And we adore Him and give Him all the praise and all the glory for His sovereign grace and sovereign mercy He bestows upon us through the finished work of Christ our Savior. What a wonderful God.

Once again, we welcome you and I encourage you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 11. We're going through the book of Isaiah. in a verse-by-verse study, and we're in the 11th chapter. And while you're turning there, I want to read an article that's in this morning's bulletin, also written by Pastor Don Fortner. It's on the inside back cover. Taking his thoughts from Isaiah 9, 6, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

Pastor Fortner said, someone once said, God could not suffer and man could not satisfy. But the God-man both suffered and satisfied. That points out the necessity of our Lord's incarnation. Our Savior, the one who redeemed us from sin and death and hell, had to be both God and man in one glorious person. He must be a man capable of suffering and death, Yet he must also be God of infinite merit and value. Here the prophet Isaiah, by divine inspiration, describes the real humanity and perfect deity of the Lord Jesus Christ hundreds of years before he came into this world. Unto us a child is born. Hard as it is for us to imagine, the Son of God, our Savior, became a real man.

He did not simply assume a human form. He assumed our nature. He assumed a real human body, mind, and soul. He is as much man as though he were not God. It is true he had no sin. He was born the son of the Virgin without an earthly father, the woman seed by the immaculate conception of the Holy Spirit. But he was a man, touched with the feeling of our affirmatives, subject to all the sinless passions, emotions, pains, and feelings of humanity. He was tempted in all points as a man.

And though He had no sin of His own, He was even made to be sin for us. Because the Son of God came to redeem us, He took not on Him the nature of angels, but took on Him the seed of Abraham. He assumed the nature of His elect, that He might die in our place to satisfy the justice of God for us. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.

Mary is not the mother of God. The Son of God was not born of the virgin. He was given through the virgin's womb. But even when he was in Mary's womb, he was Mary's God. Though our Lord became one of us, He never ceased to be God. He is as much God as though He were not man.

He is the Son of God given, the gift of the Father's love to redeem and save His people. God the Father gave His Son in the covenant of grace before the world began to be our surety. He gave His Son in the incarnation. God gave His Son into the hands of justice to die as our substitute upon the cursed tree. He gives His Son in regeneration to every believer. And God will give His Son in heaven's glory to be the everlasting portion and joy of His elect. That was worded so well, I just wanted to read that. in your hearing as an introduction to this morning's message. Now God has sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts. The Spirit of Christ dwells in the heart of every believer.

This is the miracle of the new birth. This is something that God performs. Man has no part in that. He has no part, no more of a part in our spiritual birth than we had in our physical birth. This is God moving as He pleases, upon whom He pleases, when He pleases, to enlighten the minds of His elect to the things concerning Christ, to give us eternal life, to bring us into that living union with Christ our Savior, that He will receive all the praise and all the glory. And that's why we're here, to worship Him, to give Him the praise and glory for who He is, and for what He has done. Jesus Christ, who is the sovereign Lord over this whole universe, has everything in His sovereign hands. Everything that happens, happens because of His eternal purpose, and by His eternal decrees, by His power. bringing to pass that which he purposed before a star ever twinkled in the sky. Folks, listen. Nothing happens apart from the permissive will of Jesus Christ, our Savior. He works all things after the counsel of his own will.

And this man who suffered and bled and died there at Calvary 2,000 years ago, the God-man, is our blessed Redeemer who dwells in the hearts of his people, giving us this understanding. So as we walk through this life, filled with heartaches and sorrows, a life that has many painful trials, the Lamb of God who sacrificed His life for us is with us every step of the way.

That old sinful nature that plagues every believer and will continue to do so until we're delivered from the body of this death. That old nature can rear its ugly head in a moment's notice. But we have been made partakers of the divine nature. This is part of the miracle of the new birth. This is Christ in us. God has sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts. We are partakers of His nature. We are in living union with the true and living God. And this is what God uses, His Spirit dwelling in us. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

His Spirit enables us to suppress the old nature. It'll never get any better. But at least by God's grace and His Spirit working in us, we can keep it down. We're to put on the new man daily. We're to put down the old man. Put it off. Put him off. Put him out of our mind. Help. God, help us. We need help. Do you need help? I need help. I need His grace because I'm aware of my weaknesses in the flesh.

And so our subject this morning goes along with what we looked at last Sunday. We titled last Sunday's message, Be Not Afraid. And we covered some verses here in Isaiah 11. I want to repeat some of them, starting at verse 6 of Isaiah 11. And we covered down through verse 9, except for the last part of verse 9, but I want to read down through verse 10.

We read, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. And the calf and the young lion and the fat mane together and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed. Their young ones shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp. And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cucarachis' din.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an instant of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.

Now, I am not going to repeat what we looked at last week, but I do encourage you, if you didn't hear that message, get a copy of it. Ask our tape director, Brother Bill Silva, and he'll get you a copy. We have a high-speed copier. We'll make you a copy right away.

But I do want to make mention of the fact that all of those scriptures that we just read that have to do with the lion and the kid lying down together, the wolf and the bear and all. That has to do, the wolf and the bear and the old roaring lion that goes about like, the old devil that goes about like a roaring lion, he's still around. But that old nature is what's described in these symbols and the new nature living together. This is us walking through this life, aware of our sinful imperfections, aware of the fact that we sin daily, but also aware of the fact that we're not to be afraid. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only with us every step of the way, He dwells in our hearts.

So I've titled this message this morning, The Knowledge of the Lord. The last part of verse nine says, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters of the sea. Now some believe the last part of verse nine has reference to a future day when there will be more sovereign grace churches where the truth is being preached than false churches where lies are being told. I hope so. I would like to believe that, but it doesn't seem like that's what our text is teaching. If we keep in context with the first part of verse 9, I believe the knowledge of the Lord has reference to God's elect from every kindred and tongue and people and nation who were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior.

When our Lord Jesus died for His chosen people at Calvary 2,000 years ago, He tore down that middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Greek, making one new man, so making peace. That enmity, that animosity, that hatred that was in the hearts of the Jews for the Gentiles, and the Gentiles for the Jews, and both in their unregenerate state with enmity in their hearts toward God. He has taken care of that. He has given us a new heart filled with love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. He's given us a love for each other.

It does not matter what the color of our skin might be. Does not matter what position we hold in life, whether it's prominent or whether it isn't. Does it matter if we're well-educated or if we're illiterate? Doesn't matter. What matters is that we're in Christ.

And what matters is what He has done for us, is doing for us, and will yet do for us. And this wonderful relationship with God enables us not only to lie down in peace when we go to bed at night, even though we're aware that we still have that old sinful nature. We can lie down in peace because the Spirit of Christ dwells within us, and we can be at peace with each other because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us. And as much as possible, we can be at peace with those in the world who do not know Christ because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells in us.

So, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified was first preached to the Jews at Jerusalem, and then went out to the Gentile nations, the apostle Paul being the apostle to the Gentiles, and the other apostles as well. And from that time, the word had just gone out to every one of God's elect in different parts of the world. The whole world is full of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is a remnant in different parts of the world, every corner of the world. God has his people who are meeting on a regular basis, worshiping God, singing praises to the Lord Jesus, who delight in the gospel of his glorious grace and his sovereign mercy. So when we experience the miracle of the new birth, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that Jesus Christ is the God-man, the article that we just read by Pastor Don Fortner.

And the root of Jesse that we read about in verse 10, the root of Jesse is Jesus Christ. Jesse was David's earthly father. and Jesus Christ was of the tribe of David. Scripture says in Galatians, actually in Romans chapter one, first of all, says that Jesus Christ was made of the seed of David, Jesse's son, according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power. Then in Galatians four verses four and five, we read, in that day, When the fullness of the time was come, in that day is our text for this morning, but Galatians 4, 4 and 5 says, When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

That just confirms what we're talking about here in our text in Isaiah chapter 11. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, shall stand for an instant to the people. To that instant, to Christ, shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious. So Lord willing, we'll take a closer look at verse 10 next Sunday, and along with some other scriptures as well. There's just too much Too much of God's glorious truth is contained in these verses to cover in a lifetime of sermons, let alone in one sermon this morning. So I want to ask you to turn, if you will, over to John chapter 12. Our subject this morning is the knowledge of the Lord.

I had a conversation with a brother, Brad Ward, following last Sunday's morning worship service, and we talked about how many hyper-Calvinists are afraid to invite people to come to Christ. That's just wrong. Years ago, almost 30 years ago, we were not even in our new building here yet. We were still meeting over in the other building.

I had a visit from a preacher in the Primitive Baptist religion, and they do hold to the gospel of God's sovereign electing grace. But he told me, that man told me, he said, even if you're not one of God's, no, he didn't work that. He said, if you are one of God's elect, you could wake up in glory not ever hearing the gospel, not ever believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, I don't believe a word of that. He said, you keep studying God's Word and you'll see that's what the scriptures teach.

Well, it's been, like I said, almost 30 years ago and I've been studying God's Word all along and I don't see that in the scriptures yet. I know there's a lot I don't know. I said this just last Friday night. The more I study, the more I realize how much I don't know.

But this one thing I do know, our Lord Jesus said, He said in John 3.36, actually it wasn't him speaking, but it's recorded in God's Word by the Apostle John.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So we're doing a grave injustice to our hearers if we give them any kind of a reason to believe that they can wake up in glory without believing the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel, and we encourage people to come to Christ, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we do not use these sinful, fleshly tactics of men who call themselves preachers, who are encouraging people to make a decision for Jesus, to come to the front of the of the church to shake the preacher's hand, repeat some words after the preacher, and give them some kind of confidence that they're saved because of something they have done. Listen, Jesus Christ is our altar. And right where you are, as the gospel is being preached, you can call out to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy. He will never turn a deaf ear to the sincere cry of a sinner who sees they're in need of Christ and cries out for mercy.

But it's by faith. It's not by doing something. It's by believing something. And faith is not blind faith. It's based upon what the Word of God says. Matter of fact, I draw your attention to the Scripture that's on the front of this morning's bulletin. Taken from Romans chapter 10. Verses 10-15, we read, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Now folks, the gospel must be preached. We must tell people who Jesus Christ is.

He's God Almighty. He's Jehovah. He has always been God Almighty. There are three divine persons that make up one glorious God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is as much God as the Father or the Holy Spirit.

But He has not always been a man. He became a man. Our Creator became a man to redeem us with His precious blood. And so we must hear who He is. We must hear what He has done. He didn't try to save anybody. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, it says in the first chapter of Matthew, for He shall save His people from their sins. He saved His people 2,000 years ago when He laid down His life for us.

2 Timothy 1.9 says that Jesus Christ saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

We just didn't know anything about this until the Holy Spirit came and enlightened us. That's the miracle of the new birth. Like I said, faith is not blind faith. It's based upon what the Word of God says. And like Abraham, all of God's enlightened children believe God. We don't. There's no way that we can understand all of that which is contained in God's Word. But I'll guarantee you, all of God's children who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit believe every word of Holy Scripture. We read this, you don't have to turn there.

I want to show you something in John chapter 12, but let me quote this scripture. Revelation 22 verses 16 and 17 says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, which we just read in Isaiah chapter 11. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star, and the spirit and the bride say come. and let him that is a thirst come.

And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now folks, I believe in whosoever will. But I also believe these words from our Lord Jesus. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.

So our divine teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, who enlightens our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching of his gospel, teaches us these truths, and as He teaches us these truths, our hearts just swell with praise to Him for His sovereign grace and His sovereign mercy.

This is the difference between those who are enlightened by the Holy Spirit and those who are just plain church. Those who are plain church, those who are religious unregenerate people, have to have something that they have done to recommend them to God, to gain favor with God. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

So God's people, we put that down. We are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and in truth and have no confidence in the flesh. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We abhor any doctrine that puts man in a driver's seat, that puts man as doing something to earn favor with God.

We say by grace are we saved through faith and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So true saving faith comes from God. That's God's gift to his people. And God's preachers do encourage our hearers to come to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But we do not encourage anyone to come to Christ at the expense of the gospel of God's grace, at the expense of the honor that belongs to our wonderful God. The Apostle Paul wrote these words inspired by the Holy Spirit.

In 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 21, he said, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him, God the Father, hath made His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

So Paul, as an ambassador, as one who represented God himself, and all of God's preachers do, encouraged people to be reconciled to God, but in the same sentence where he encouraged them to be reconciled to God, he laid down some glorious gospel truths. They have to go together. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as the power of God. this world while he was walking amongst sinners, our great majestic God, the Lord Jesus Christ in a human body, told some unbelieving Jews, I and my Father are one, making himself equal with God.

And they didn't misunderstand what he said. They took up stones to stone him, and he said, which good work do you stone me for? I've done many good works, which good work do you stone me for? And they said, not for good works, but because thou being a man makest thyself equal with God.

And the same problem is amongst religious people today, most professing Christians. They will utter the words that Jesus Christ is God, but when it comes to Him being the absolute sovereign God over all of His creation. When it comes to Him being the very sovereign God who must reveal Himself to us, they balk. Oh, we believe He's God, but that's going too far. How can you take that subject too far?

Now, what our Lord did while He was here on this earth, every miracle He performed that pertain to physical healing points to the miracle that he performs in the lives of his elect when he heals us spiritually. Now we know, we know the story of Lazarus, how our Lord Jesus stood at his grave and commanded him to come forth.

Lazarus come forth. Lazarus was dead. He had nothing to do with that life that was restored to him by the power of Jesus Christ. And he's a picture, Lazarus is a picture of all who are raised from the state of spiritual deadness. Here in the 12th chapter of John, in verses 9 through 11, we read some things that are interesting.

Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he, that is our Lord Jesus, was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death. They wanted to kill the Christ of God. They wanted to kill Jesus. But they also consulted together that they might put Lazarus also to death.

Why is that? Look at verse 11. Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. By reason of his testimony. Now I ask you this. Do you believe Lazarus when he was giving his testimony? of our Lord Jesus raising Him from that state of physical deadness, was talking about His decision for Jesus, or His free will, or what He contributed?

No. He knew he was dead. And every enlightened child of God, when we're brought from a state of spiritual deadness into eternal life with Christ our Savior, we know that we were dead. Spiritually. We know that. Because we have passed from death unto life. That life wasn't there before. Now go back to John chapter 4. I just have a few of these I want to share with you. And please bear with me.

This is so very important. And let me share a testimony that I experienced early in my walk with the Lord. The Lord had saved me under the preaching of his gospel. And that's, he saves everybody under the preaching of his gospel that are saved. But I have a brother by the name of Corky who had a religious experience under Armenian free will doctrine. And oh, how he tried to convince me that what I believed was wrong.

My wife and his wife would just shudder when we got together. because it wasn't very pretty. And my brother and a friend of his that was also in that church that he was going to was talking to their pastor about what I was being taught. And the pastor assured them that what my pastor was teaching was false. And so they said, my brother and this man who was with him, they said, well, we'll just go over and straighten that preacher out. And their pastor said, oh, I wouldn't do that. If it were you, he'll just tie you up with scripture. That's interesting. If I'm going to be tied up, that's how I want to be tied up. Well, there's a bright side to that. that testimony.

The Lord enlightened my brother. He now believes the true gospel of God's amazing grace. The other man is still in a free will church and that's between him and the Lord. Just a few weeks ago, three I think, I was at my first pastor's wife's funeral and he preached that funeral. My brother Corky was aiming in the gospel. It just thrills me.

He loves that truth. All of God's people love the truths of God. And our testimony should harmonize with the testimonies of these people that I'm sharing with you from Holy Scripture. We know the story of the woman at the well. How our Lord came to her.

She never would have come to Him. And this is true of all of us. In our unregenerate state, we don't want Christ. We don't want anything to do with Christ. We love what we're in, even if it's darkness. We love that darkness. We won't come to the light. So Christ comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

But it came to this woman at the well, revealed to her that she was a sinner. I mean, told her everything that she had done. And boy, she just perceived that he was a prophet. Well, I guess he is more than a prophet. He's that prophet that Moses spoke of. But what I want to draw your attention to is in verses 39 through 42, of John chapter four, it says, and many of the Samaritans, that woman was a Samaritan, that's half Jew and half Gentile, and the Jews hated him, and they hated the Jews, but many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, on Christ, for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did.

Yeah, I take it. When the Lord saved me, I just knew my wife had met with a preacher and told him things about me that he didn't need to know, because he was preaching right here. But this is God, the Holy Spirit, revealing to me that He knew everything about me, and everything I'd ever done as sinful, every sin that I committed. I didn't remember all that, but it revealed to me that God knows every sin I ever committed, past, present, and future. The joy of it is that Our Lord has forgiven us for all of our sins, past, present, and future.

This should be our testimony before others. Verse 40 says, So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, that is, when they came unto the Lord Jesus Christ, they besought Him that He would tarry with them, and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, For we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. And so, this is what we do as God's enlightened children. We testify of God's absolute sovereign power and knowing all things. And how He revealed this to us and how He brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light. But folks, listen. It's not going to do those we talk to any good unless they hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking personally to their hearts.

And our Lord Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

And so, we have to hear His voice. He didn't say, I hope my sheep will hear my voice. Or, if they will just do something to give me permission they'll hear my voice. No. He said, my sheep hear my voice. And He speaks personally to everyone for whom He suffered and bled and died.

Can I take you over to Matthew chapter 8 now please? One more example. of the knowledge of the Lord, I'll bring this to a close. I could share many of the testimonies of Holy Scripture. I think of the blind man that was born blind that our Lord healed, and the proud religious leaders of that day examined him.

They knew that he was born blind. But they didn't want Jesus Christ to receive the praise, so they were telling him, well, give God the glory. This man is a sinner. And he said, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. But I know this one thing. Once I was blind, but now I see.

Later, the Lord came to him and revealed himself as the true and living God, his sovereign Lord. But he was desynagogued. That's probably not a word. But he was kicked out of the church. because he wouldn't back down to those religious hypocrites. He told them, this man, Jesus healed me, gave me sight. And this is our testimony. This is our testimony of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He opened our spiritually blind eyes that we might see God's glory by faith in the face of the one who loved us and gave himself for us.

Now remember last week's message? Be not afraid. We have no reason to be afraid. No reason to be afraid of anything. Our God is with us every step of the way, and He is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Jesus Christ, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for us. So we're not to be afraid, and our rest in Christ is glorious. And I want to read this scripture in Matthew chapter 8, starting at verse 23. down through verse 27.

And when he was entered into a ship, our Lord Jesus entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves, but he, our Lord Jesus, was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? Now folks, many of the Lord's disciples were in the same boat together. They all experienced the same raging storm. But the Lord Jesus was in the boat with them. And all of God's enlightened children are in the same boat, so to speak.

All of us go through Many painful trials. There is no temptation that is taking you such as is common to man. But such as is common to man. In other words, this, what we're experiencing is not unique. All of the Old Testament saints who died in faith went through trials and testings. I think of Job.

He really went through a painful testing. And you know, the interesting thing is that God allowed Satan to do that. He allowed Satan to take away all of his possessions, kill his children. Allowed Satan to cover Job with boils. I don't think we give enough thought to that. His whole body covered with boils and no way that he could get comfortable without excruciating pain going through his whole body. Yet, even though Satan is the one that God used as an instrument to do that to Job, Job said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. He acknowledged God's hand in what had taken place. I don't know if you're aware of this, and I hope you are, but if you're not, let me tell you. Grab a hold of it. This is good. The devil is God's devil. He's in the hands of Jesus Christ. He cannot do anything but what Jesus Christ allows him to do. The devil had to get permission from God to afflict Job. And they had to get those evil spirits that were in that demoniac man that we read about in Mark 5, had to get permission from Jesus Christ to go into a herd of pigs. He's in control. Jesus Christ is in control.

So we're all in this boat together. We're going through this life with trials and testings and painful things that we experience. Sorrow grips our heart. We have fearful doubts and misgivings. This little old vessel of clay is weak, frail. We bounce around on the storms of life It caused us to get our eye off of Jesus Christ and look to the storm rather than the one who brought the storm. When those men in that boat that we just read about were involved in that storm that was raging, it was Jesus Christ Himself who purposed that. And when He stood up in the boat after rebuking them, saying, O ye of little faith, He proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he has control over everything when he said, peace, be still. And even the winds and the sea obeyed his voice. So I encourage you.

We still have the old nature. We still are involved in dealing with others who have the old nature. And religious people are the meanest people in the world. They don't have the divine nature. have never experienced the miracle of the new birth and they just believe they're right and they'll persecute God's enlightened children just like, oh, my mind, it's there, it'll come out here in just a minute.

Ishmael persecuted Isaac, I told you there. And we just go through some terrible time, but folks, the Lord's in this little frail vessel. He's with us. And He will allow the storm to rage as long as He is pleased to do so. And at His time, His appointed time, He will speak peace, be still, and He'll calm that storm. But while we're going through this storm, God helped us to have a true testimony of His sovereign power in our lives. Those men in the boat with our Lord Jesus were God's ordained apostles. They were going to be lodged out to preach the gospel of God's amazing grace.

They learned a valuable lesson. They learned that Jesus Christ is in control of everything. That's why Paul and Silas could sing while they were thrown into the deepest part of that prison there at Philippi, with blood still oozing from their backs. Praises to God at midnight. They knew they were right where God had ordained them to be, going through just exactly what God had purposed for them to go through. And through that, God had his elect that heard the gospel from Paul and Silas who were thrown into that prison.

They were gloriously saved, that Philippian jailer and members of his household. So we need to keep this in mind. Our Lord is on his sovereign throne of power. He rules over this whole universe and everything in it. He's too wise to make a mistake. And he loves us too much to allow anything to happen to us except that which He has predetermined, that which is for His glory and for our good.

Romans 8.28 holds true in every situation, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.

So, brethren, our sovereign Redeemer dwells in every vessel of clay he has enlightened with the knowledge of himself as our Lord and our Savior. The knowledge of the Lord is the title of this message. As babes in Christ, we know some things, like the blind man, We know that once we were blind and now we see. Like Lazarus, we know that we were dead, but now we have life. Like the woman at the well, we know that we're sinners, that God has saved us, redeemed us, and has forgiven us for all of our sins. But as we mature in the faith, as we mature in the faith, growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, this wonderful truth concerning God's absolute sovereignty in the person of the God-man should thrill our hearts, to where we will trust Him.

Lean back into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ in every situation and give a testimony that will glorify Him. It's easy to say praise the Lord when there's no waves, when there's no bumps in the road, when we have a little account in the bank and our health is good and we're at peace with different people. But when a trial comes and we lose some of the things of this world that we possess, our job, or even if we lose a loved one, or if a loved one is right on the threshold of death, If our mother or our father or our children or our siblings who are in Christ live next door to us or thousands of miles away from us, the knowledge of the Lord is in their hearts as well as in ours. Trust the Lord. Bow down to Him saying, Father, I know. This is according to your purpose.

Through Christ Jesus, my Lord, give me grace to endure this for your glory, to be a testimony that others around me will see that my love for the Lord Jesus Christ does not cause me to be in despair when things are going wrong, but that I'll be a testimony for the glory of the one who loved me and gave himself for me who's in control of the whole situation.

God help us to realize that one of these days we will see our Savior face to face. And what we don't know in this life, we'll know then because we'll know as we're known. So we're going to sing that as Brother John comes and leads us in our closing song, Face to Face with Christ our Savior. And I encourage you to give some thought to this wonderful truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is our sovereign Lord who redeemed us with His own precious blood. One day we'll be with Him forever. Brother John Green.