That song, you may have noticed,
was written by William Kalper. Many of you know William Kalper
suffered severely with depression for most of his, all of his adult
life at any rate. I heard a story in the past,
I've heard this story about William Kalper, about God moves in a
mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps
in the sea and rides upon the storm. The story went like this. Kalper was so depressed, He had
determined he was going to jump off a cliff and commit suicide.
And he called for a taxi or a carriage or to take him out to the cliff,
to jump off the cliff and commit suicide. And there came up a
horrible fog. The carriage got there. He got
in the carriage and the carriage wound all over the place, you
know. and stops and lets Calper out, and Calper thinks he's stumbling
towards the cliff to throw himself off the cliff and commit suicide. It was such a fog, the carriage
driver didn't know where he was going. You know where that carriage
driver dropped him off? At his front door. God moves
in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. Anyway, you get that
for free. All right, Isaiah 51. I get to my main point in a minute. It's about prayer. But I thought
a lot about this this week. You know, the unregenerate man
hears the gospel of God's free, sovereign, electing grace. And
he says, well, if I believe what you're preaching, I wouldn't
do anything. But what's the point? You know,
I wouldn't seek the Lord because only the elect are going to be
saved. It doesn't matter whether I seek him or not. If I'm one
of the elect, I'm going to be saved. You know, what you're saying
is true. If what you're saying is true, I wouldn't feel compelled
to seek Christ because God's only gonna reveal him to his
sheep anyway. There's no point in me seeking him unless I know
I'm one of his sheep. I wouldn't seek mercy from God
if I believed what you believe, because God's mercy is only for
his elect. And you know, that's the response
of the unregenerate heart. That's the response of a man
who has no spiritual life. The scripture is plain. Mercy's
for sinners. So the question for you, It's
not, are you one of the elect? The question for you is, are
you a sinner? Because mercy is for sinners.
Sinners are the ones who seek mercy, and scripture says sinners
are the ones who find mercy. Well, here's another objection
from the unregenerate man. He raises about the gospel of
God's free, sovereign, electing grace. He says, well, if I believe
what you believe, I wouldn't work for the cause of Christ
because It doesn't matter how I live. If I'm one of the elect,
I'm going to go to heaven no matter what, so it doesn't matter
what I do. Now again, that's the response of a man who doesn't
have any spiritual life. Believers work. They do. They're active. They work. They
give. They witness. They do whatever
they can for the church. They do whatever they can for
the cause of Christ. You just give them an opportunity
to tell them something needs to be done and watch them. They
just go to work. But now they're not by their
works trying to earn salvation. By their works not trying to
gain acceptance from God. They know this, they're saved
by Christ. They're saved by His work on their behalf. They do
these things because they have life. I breathe, not in order to live,
I breathe because I am alive. Believers work because God has
given them life. And they show their faith in
Christ. They show their faith in Christ
to men by their works of love and thanksgiving that they do
so willingly. Well, here's another objection
from the unregenerate man. He raises about the gospel of
God, free sovereign grace. They say, well, if God's gonna
accomplish his purpose, no matter what, God will accomplish his
purpose. That's what you fellas say. Well,
if that's true, then I'd never bother to pray. Why bother to
ask God to do anything if he already knows what he's going
to do anyway? He's just going to accomplish his will no matter
what. Now you listen to me. That's the response of a man
who has no spiritual life, no understanding of God. Believers
pray because God is sovereign. That's why we pray. And God answers
prayer because God's sovereign. He couldn't answer prayer if
he's not suffering. And that's what I want us to
learn from our text this evening. The title of the message is God
Answers Prayer. Now from chapter 40 of Isaiah
all the way up until now, probably I guess to the end of this book,
Isaiah has been preaching one long message. He hadn't had a
break. This is one long message. I want
to just remind you from Isaiah 40 up till now, what he's been
preaching to us. Isaiah began in Isaiah 40 preaching
to God's people comfort in Christ. He says, fear not. I'm your God,
I'll be with you. Fear not. There's none like me. I'm your God and there's none
like me. Only God is both just and justifier. And that's done through the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. You take comfort in your God.
There's no one who has the power the love, the forgiveness, the
compassion besides our God to save sinners like He does. There's
comfort in our God. Then Isaiah preached to us the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said the Savior's coming and
God's people aren't going to miss Him. God's going to send
a forerunner before Him so you be sure you don't miss Him. You'll
hear the forerunner's going to say, behold, the Lamb of God
was taken away the sin of the world. And God says, I'm going
to send Him to save you, my people. and make you righteous for my
name's sake, for the glory of my name. I blotted out in the
person of this savior I'm sending, I blotted out your transgressions
as a thick cloud, blotted out under his blood. I will, God
said, save my people. He will, this one who's coming,
he shall not fail. I'll save my people. None of
them can be lost. He said, Israel shall be saved
with an everlasting salvation. There's no chance of them perishing.
And he's told us, my people will be a tribe people. But now you
fear not. You'll be a tribe people, but
don't you fear. I'm your God. I'll help you. I'll strengthen
you. I'll comfort your heart and I
will deliver you. You're going to pass through
the waters, but when you pass through those rivers, the waters
won't overflow because I'll be with you. You'll pass through
the fire, but it won't kindle upon you, because I'll go with
you. And then the Holy Spirit through
Isaiah told us, now you seek the Lord. God's gonna save his
people. He'll comfort his people. They
have complete assurance in him. Now you seek the Lord. Don't
just sit there now. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord,
Isaiah said, and you'll find him. God said, I didn't say to
the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. If you seek Christ,
it won't be in vain. If you seek him, if you seek
him to be your savior, to be your righteousness, to be your
all, you'll find him. You seek Christ your righteousness. You'll find him, because he's
not hard to find. Remember up in verse five, Isaiah 51, we
saw this last week. My righteousness is near. My salvation is gone forth. God has sent his salvation forth
to be near his people. He sent righteousness near his
people. You seek him and you'll find
him. Now that's the gospel of God's
sovereign electing grace. And you know what hearing that
gospel does for God's people? It makes them worship him. And
it drives his people to pray, to pray to our Lord. You know,
I believe God and he says, I'm gonna bless my people. And you
know what? That makes me go to prayer, to
thank God in prayer for His blessing. I don't take His blessings for
granted. Now, I believe He's going to bless His people because
He said so, but we don't take them for granted. That makes
me go to Him in prayer and thank God for them. Knowing that God's
the one who blesses His people drives me to pray, to pray, Lord,
Would you bless me again? Would you continue to bless me?
You've been gracious to me today. I need your grace tomorrow. Would
you be gracious tomorrow? Look at Matthew chapter six.
This is the way our Lord taught us to pray. And our Lord taught his disciples
to pray. This is not the Lord's prayer. This is the disciples
prayer with the way he taught his disciples to pray. And the
first thing he taught us is that in prayer, we're to praise God
for who he is. Look at verse nine of Matthew
chapter six. After this manner, therefore,
pray he, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed, holy, and
reverend be thy name. We're to praise God in prayer
for who he is. Then our Lord taught us that
when we pray, we're to pray for God's will to be done. Verse
10, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven. Then our Lord taught us when
we pray, we're to ask that the Lord give us our daily provision,
both physical and spiritual. Give us this day our daily bread. And our Lord taught us when we
pray, we're to ask God to forgive us our sins. and forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. And when we pray, our Lord taught
us were to pray that the Lord would not deliver us into temptation. Verse 13, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now that's the way our
Lord taught his disciples to pray. Why? Why did the Lord teach us to
pray after this manner? because God softened. Look at
the rest of verse 13, lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil for, because thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen. See the Lord taught us
to pray this way because God has softened. Now turn back to
our text. As the church hears this message,
long message, Isaiah has been preaching to us. The church,
breaks out into prayer. And when they do, they give us
a pattern of prayer. Now first, it's a very simple
outline. When we pray, you know what we
ought to do? Ask God to do what he's already
promised he'll do. Verse nine of Isaiah 51. Awake,
awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, as in the ancient
days, in the generations of old. Now, what the church is saying
here is, Lord, come do what you said you'd do. When they say
put on strength, what that means is, Lord, appear in your strength. You said you have all strength.
You said there's none beside me. Now, Lord, appear in that
strength to us, your people. You know, one sure way to receive
what you pray for is to ask the Lord to do what he promised he'd
do. I mean, that's pretty simple, but isn't that a sure way to
receive what you pray for? Ask the Lord to do what he promised
to do. Ask the Lord, Lord, you promised to save your people
by the Lord Jesus Christ in him. Would you do it? When the church
here talks about the arm of the Lord, you know who that's referring
to. It's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over the page
of Isaiah 53. This is who he's talking to,
verse one. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? He goes on there to talk about,
for he shall grow up. This arm of the Lord is a person.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we pray, ask the Lord. Lord, you promised that you'd
save your people and your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
would you wash me in his blood? Lord, would you blot out my transgressions
in his blood? Lord, you said you bring your
righteousness near. Lord, would you make me righteous
in your son? Would you make me righteous in
Christ? Would you impute his righteousness to me? Lord, you've
taught me in this message that your prophet's been preaching.
You've taught me my only hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I'm begging for mercy in Christ. Would you show me mercy for Christ's
sake? He's my only hope. Would you
reveal your son to me and in me? You know what? God will grant that request because
he's already promised that's what he'll do for his people.
Then we can pray, Lord, you said there's none besides you in strength. I'm weak. I need your strength.
Would you promise to defeat every enemy by your strength, by the
might of your arm? Lord, would you use your power
to put my sin away? I got enemies, I reckon, but I'm
telling you the enemy I've got, me, my sin. Lord, would you use
your power to subdue Frank? Would you use your power to put
my sin away? Would you use the power that
only you have to remove the damning power of my sin against me? Lord,
would you do that? I'm begging you for mercy. You
know what? God will grant that request.
Because he's already promised to do that for his people. Then
we pray, Lord, you promised that you'd comfort your people. You
promised when I go through the rivers, the waters won't overflow
me. You promised when I go through those fires, the flame won't
kindle upon me. Now I'm in distress. The waters
look pretty, the rivers, that rushing river looks pretty daunting
to me. That fire looks like it hurts
to me. Would you comfort my heart in
this time of affliction? I promise you God will grant
that request because He already promised He'll do that for His
people. You see, the Lord is going to accomplish His eternal
purpose. Now you write that down. going
to accomplish His eternal purpose. But do you know what else is
true? His people are going to pray for it. Look in Ezekiel
chapter 36. The Lord going to accomplish His
eternal purpose and His people are going to pray for it. Now
in Ezekiel chapter 36, the Lord tells us everything He'll do
for His all the great blessings he's going to accomplish for
his people, and he's going to do it for his namesake, that
his name be glorified. Now look at verse 37. Thus saith
the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house
of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock." Now, this is what I'm going to do, God said. This
is what I'm going to do for my people. I'm going to save you.
I'm going to sanctify you. I'm going to do all that. I'm
going to give you a new heart. I'm going to put my spirit within
you. I'm going to save you from your uncleanness. I'm going to
wash you. This is what I'm going to do for my people and my people
are going to ask me to do it. I'm gonna give, when he says
here, I'm gonna give you a new heart, I'm gonna give you a heart
that desires what I'm gonna do for you, and you're gonna pray
for it, and then I'm gonna do it. That's reason enough for
me, and you, I believe I'm gonna pray, because God said I'm gonna,
you're gonna pray, I'm gonna make you pray for it, and then
I'm gonna do it. So when we pray, ask God to do
what he's already promised in his word to do. Second, when
we pray, Praise God for what He's already done for us. Look
at verse 9 back in our text. He says, Awake, awake, put on
strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days
and the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut
Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried
the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths
of the sea away for the ransom to pass over? Now the church
here, you know what they're doing? They're praising God for what
he's already done for Israel. When they speak here about Rahab
and the dragon, they're referring back to Egypt. You know, the
prophets never got very far away from this. Thanking God and reminding
the people how God brought his people out of Egypt. You know
why he brought his people out of Egypt? Because many years
before Abraham had any children, God promised him, you're gonna
have a seed. They're going to go down in Egypt and they're
going to be in bondage. But I'm going to bring them out. God
brought his people out of Egypt because he promised Abraham that
he would. And God brought his people out
of Egypt with such power, with such display of who he is. Everybody
everywhere that heard about this knew God Almighty did this. But back in Joshua chapter two. The citizens of Jericho understood
God did that. God brought his people out of
Egypt. Nobody else could have done it.
Not that way, they couldn't have. Joshua chapter two, verse eight.
This is when Rahab had hid the spies up on her roof. And before
they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof. And
she said unto the men, I know that the Lord has given you the
land and that your terror has fallen upon us and all the inhabitants
of the land faint because of you. For we've heard how the
Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came
out of Egypt. Who but God could have done that? We heard that.
And we heard what you did under the two kings of the Amorites
that were on the other side of Jordan. Sihon and Og, they were
giants and people of giants whom you utterly destroyed. And as
soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither
did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For
the Lord's your God, He is God in heaven above and in earth
beneath. Now you want to hear something
that'll shame you? If the heathen understood, that
God's all-powerful, that He's going to bless His people. They
knew that. They were afraid because they
knew Israel's coming to take our land and come and take our
city and take our house, and there's not one thing we can
do about it. God's going to bless His people, and we're in the
way. We're going to be destroyed. That's why they are full of fear.
They understood God's going to bless His people. Then why are we so full of fear?
Why? Are God's people, why don't we
rest more in his might, in his power, in his wisdom? Now, historically, Israel will
eventually pray that the Lord, you know, Isaiah is saying this,
remember, before Israel even goes into bondage in Babylon.
And Israel's gonna pray that the Lord deliver them from Babylon,
and he's gonna do it. They're gonna pray, Lord, you
delivered your people, Israel, in the past from Egypt, Now,
would you deliver us from Babylon? And the Lord's going to do it.
He'll deliver them because he promised that he would. Now,
that's what's going to happen historically. But we have to
remember this. All the stories that we read
about in the Old Testament, they're not stories that with the moral,
you know, like Aesop's fable, you better do this or, you know,
better live this way or do it or God's going to punish you.
These stories are given to us as pictures of Christ. They're
all pictures of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church,
God's church on earth, both in and now, when we pray, we praise
God and we thank God for his many mercies to his people. I
want you to think, each person here tonight, I want you to think
for a minute. You think about how God's blessed you. Just take
a minute and think about that. How God's blessed you. I mean,
my soul. We ought to be a thankful people.
Now we should be. Just think how God's blessed
you. And you take this congregation as a whole. How the Lord's blessed
this congregation over the years. My goodness. We're thankful. You know why we're thankful?
The Lord hadn't blessed us because we did everything right. The
Lord blessed us because He would. The Lord has blessed this congregation
because He's going to be merciful to His people. And He did it
for His glory. And we're thankful. Now our prayer,
we thank God, we praise Him for what He's done for us. And then
our prayer is this, Lord, You never change. You said, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Lord, since
you never change, would you bless us now like you blessed us in
the past? Would you? Sometimes I think, I hear the
stories, and I think, boy, I'd like to have been there when
Ralph came through preaching at Pollard. I'd like to have
been there when Henry first began his ministry and all the things
that happened. I'd like to have seen it. Well,
you know what? I like living right now too.
God hasn't changed. God's still in the business of
saving sinners. Lord, would you be merciful to
us? like you were in the past, you don't change. He's still
able. He still does those same things for his namesake. Lord,
in the past, you saved sinners through the preaching of your
word. Would you give us a faithful pastor? Would you give him some
understanding of the word that he can preach it to us? Would
you bless your word now like you did in the past? Every time
your pastor comes up in your mind through the day, I wish
you'd pray for him. More likely, he's looking at this thinking,
oh Lord, would you give me some insight? Lord, would you bless
your word now? Like he's able, isn't he? Lord,
you saved our fathers through the preaching of the gospel,
through the preaching of Christ. I thought today about some of
the men and women that I admired so much and just thought so much
of them. Many young people don't know. Lord, you saved our fathers.
Would you save our children today the same way you did them? Would
you? Would you save them by your power
and grace the same way you did in the past? Would you in the
same way reveal your son to them like you did to our fathers in
the past? See, our prayer, must include praise and thanksgiving.
Every prayer doesn't have to include petition, asking God,
and it usually does, but every prayer must include praise and
thanksgiving for who God is and what he's done for his people.
This prayer, just two verses, but it's powerful, isn't it?
Isn't that a powerful prayer in two verses? The disciples'
prayer the Lord taught them, it's a very short prayer, you
know, prayer, When you go to the Lord in prayer, prayer is
not preaching. Prayer doesn't have to be long.
Preaching probably ought not be that long either, as long
as we do sometimes. When you go to the Lord in prayer,
it's not a formal, ritualistic ceremony. Prayer is talking to
your Heavenly Father. That's what it is, just talking
to your Heavenly Father. Well, in that conversation, it's
a conversation. But now, you're gonna talk to
your father a certain way, aren't you? With respect and admiration. When you talk to him, it's only
right he be thanked and praised, isn't it? And it's only right
you ask him for what you need. Don't be afraid to ask God for
what you need. Who else are you gonna turn to?
It's a conversation with your father. Now, that's pretty simple.
Don't overcomplicate it. Just don't overcomplicate prayer.
I've seen great big old books written on how to pray. I wouldn't
read one if I was you, because it's overcomplicated. Prayer
is a conversation with your Father. Ask Him to do what He promised
to do. And thank Him and praise Him
for what He's already done. Now here's my third point. God's
going to answer that prayer. And God's answer to that prayer
is Christ. The answer to every question
is Christ. The answer to this prayer is
Christ. First, God hears his people. He hears them pray, and
he blesses them in Christ, our Redeemer. Look at verse 11. Therefore,
the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing
unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They
shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. Now you notice here it says that
everlasting joy shall be upon their head. It doesn't say they're
all going to come together and everlasting joy will be upon
all their heads, does it? It says head, singular. What's
that talking about? He's talking about Christ. Christ,
our head. Christ is the head of the church.
And as a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our head, earned perfect
salvation for his people through his obedience to the law. He
obeyed the law perfectly and he earned a righteousness for
his people as their head. With his blood, the Lord Jesus
Christ, our head, the head of the church, he bought salvation
for his people with his blood. Christ is the one who earned
all these blessings. Christ is the one who bought
all these blessings. And all those blessings belong
to us in Christ. Those blessings are ours through
union with Christ because he's the head and we're the body.
Whatever belongs to my head belongs to my body. These blessings are
ours through union with our head. And because of the salvation
that he accomplished, therefore, the prophet says, because the
Lord Jesus bought the salvation of his people, the redeemed will
come to Christ. that every one of them will come
to Him, and eventually, they're gonna be brought to glory. In
Christ, they're gonna obtain gladness and joy. They're gonna
have gladness and joy because their sin's forgiven in His blood.
They're gonna have gladness and joy because they're made righteous
in Christ. Without righteousness, no man
can stand before God, so when their sins are forgiven, they're
righteous, of course they're glad. Look back at Psalm 92. David says it's a good thing
to give thanks unto the Lord. That's what we're talking about
in prayer. It's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.
And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth
thy lovingkindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night.
Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery, upon the harp
of solemn sound, for thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy
work. And I will triumph in the works
of thy hands. Lord, you've made me glad through
thy work. And because of the work of Christ
in redemption, sorrow and mourning are going to flee away. Well,
of course they will. Christ has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows. He took them away. What causes
sorrow and mourning? Only one thing, sin. And Christ bore the sin of his
people away. He made sin and bore it away. So now, in Him, there's no cause
for sorrow and mourning. See, this is how God answers
our prayer, and He blesses us in Christ, our Redeemer. The
second way God's answer to prayer is Christ, is Christ is our comfort. Look at verse 12. Even I am He
that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die? And of the Son of Man, which
shall be made as grass. And forget us, the Lord thy Maker,
that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations
of the earth, and has feared continually every day because
of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor? Now remember, the
church asks that the power of the Lord be revealed. Lord, reveal
your power. And the Lord answers. And he
says, all right. I'm going to show you my power and I'm going
to do more than you asked. I'm going to show you my heart.
I'm going to reveal to you both my power and my love for my people. That ought to do away with all
of our fears. Really, it should, shouldn't
it? No believer should ever be fearful. What do we got to be
afraid of if God loves us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? And I tell you when we become
fearful, we all do. I'm the worst of the lot, we
become fearful. And you know when we become fearful?
When we forget who Christ is. When we forget who he is, we
forget about his character. We forget about his love for
his people. He loves his people. He's not
gonna harm them. He's not going to harm you. When
we become fearful, we forget about the wisdom of Christ. This thing seems crazy to me.
And we get afraid and we forget about the wisdom of Christ. He's
too wise to do anything wrong. We become fearful. We forget
about the character of our Savior. He's faithful. He's not going
to abandon you. He's faithful. And when we forget
it, that's when we become fearful. And we become fearful when we
forget about the almighty power of our Savior. Our Savior's the
creator. He stretched forth the heavens
like you open up the curtains in the morning or you close them
at night. That He just stretched forth the heavens like the heavens
that we can't even measure. He just stretched them forth
like curtains. That's His power. Look at verse 15. He says, I'm
the Lord thy God. I divided the sea. Those waves
roared, I divided the sea. The Lord of hosts is His name. His very character is to have
all power, to be the Almighty. And I tell you when we fear,
we fear men when we forget to fear God. But when we fear God,
we don't fear men. And when we do fear, and we do,
now we do, How does God comfort us in our fears? By showing us
Christ, by showing us the Savior. He reminds us of who He is. When
I'm reminded of God's eternal love for His people, Christ loved
His people so much He died for them. Oh, I'm comforted. It's not gonna
fail. When we're reminded of the power
of Christ, I'm comforted. This thing is not out of his
control. Nothing happens by accident.
It's under his power. And it's all right. Isn't it
all right? As painful as it may be for my
body, I know it's for good. And it's under his control. So
there's no accident. What comforts the believer is
seeing Christ. And that's God's answer to our
prayer. We need comfort. He shows us Christ. And the third
way God's answer to prayer is Christ. Is Christ is our freedom. Verse 14. The captive exile hasteneth
that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit,
nor that his bread should fail. Now Israel eventually is going
to go to bondage in Babylon and they're going to be miserable.
But you know they're not going to be there forever. God's going
to deliver them just like he promised that he would. But remember
this is a picture of salvation. God determined in eternity past
to save a people, didn't He? He chose them unto salvation.
But when they're born into this world, they're born in captivity
to sin. They're born in captivity to
the law. And I want to tell you, it's a hard taskmaster. They
long to be set free from that cruel, hard taskmaster. And when they cry to God, you
know what the answer is? When they cry for freedom, when
they cry for relief, you know what the answer is? God shows
them Christ, that they're free in Christ. Christ came as a man
and he did for his people what they could never do. He kept
the law for them. In Christ, I've kept the law. That's right. Every time Christ
obeyed, I obeyed. Every time Christ did, every
thou shalt, I did too. God's in him. And every time
he did not do, every thou shalt not, I didn't either because
I'm in him. And every believer is free from
the law. You're free from the law if you're
in Christ. The law has absolutely no relationship
to you if you're in Christ. Because the law says, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. You kept the law
in the person of your representative. So the law says, I got nothing
for you. I got no charge against you.
You satisfied me. Every believer also is free from
the penalty of the law. You know, the law doesn't want
to cast anybody into the pit that believes on Christ. The
law only wants to punish those who've broken the law. But if
you're in Christ, you haven't broken the law. The law says
you're innocent. So you're free from the penalty
of the law because Christ kept it for you. And then you're delivered
from going down into the pit because God found a ransom. And
when God went to find a ransom, brethren, he didn't have to look
too far. He looked to his son. That ransom is His own Son who
gave His life a ransom for many. If Christ paid the ransom for
you, you're free. You're free. If the Son will
make you free, you're free indeed. Now listen, this will comfort you in dark
days. Christ did not set you free to let you loose in the
wilderness and die. Christ did not set you free from
the law and from sin and from death and from Satan to leave
you all alone in this awful place to die in misery here. No, he
did not. If Christ died for you, he's
going to bring you to glory, the eternal joy with him. You're
not going to die of starvation because Christ is your bread.
He's the bread of life. You have union with Christ. So you have life. You have everything
that he is. I reckon everybody ate dinner
before you came here tonight. Well, that food you ate, your
body's already breaking it. It's in you. You chewed it up.
You swallowed it. It's in you. And your body's
already breaking it up and breaking it up into its nutrients and
sending those nutrients out to all the different cells in your
body. So you have union with You have life because you ate
a good meal. It keeps you alive, doesn't it?
It feeds your body. Well, the new man has life because
Christ is in him and he's in Christ. We draw our life and
our health from Christ. So you'll never die. Never. And
then quickly, here's the last way that God's answer to prayer
is Christ. Christ is the word of God and
he cannot fail. Verse 16. He says, and I put
my words in thy mouth, and I've covered thee in the shadow of
mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations
of the earth, and say unto Zion, thou art my people. Now, the
Lord Jesus came to this earth with the words of God in his
mouth, because he is the word of God. He is God's expression
of himself. And those words are words of
life to God's people. The words of Christ are words
of forgiveness of sin in him. Their life in Christ through
His death is your substitute. All the promises of God are in
Him, in Christ, yay and amen. They're all sure in Christ. Now
you take comfort from this book. I'm afraid most times when we
don't have comfort is because we spend too little time in this
book. You take comfort in reading this book. You take comfort in
the promises of God in this book. They can never fail because Christ
didn't fail. And if Christ has saved you,
your salvation cannot fail. One way or another, the body
is going to die, but your soul is secure in Him. When He says
here, I've covered thee with the shadow of My hand, that's
the Father speaking to the Son. That's how He hid the Lord Jesus
from Herod when He wanted to kill him, and how the Father
hid Him from all His enemies the many different times they
wanted to take Him and kill Him. They never could, could they?
until His hour had come. The Father took His hand away.
Those enemies could never touch our Lord until the Father allowed
it. And you who believe, you have union with Christ. You're
kept safe the exact same way, by the exact same hand. The Father
has you in His hand. You're in the hand of Christ,
who's in the hand of the Father. And our Savior said, no man's
able to pluck them out of my hand. No man. They're covered
and safe in Him. And the salvation of everyone
who's in Christ is secure. You know why? Because God promised
He's going to plant new heavens and a new earth. He's going to
populate them with a people made just like Christ. And He's going
to do it. Just as surely as He brought
Israel out of Babylon, He's going to populate heaven with a people
made just like His Son. And He's going to do it because
every Every believer is made perfect in Christ. And we look,
we expect to dwell in new heaven and new earth, wherein dwells
righteousness because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of
who he is and what he's done for his people. The prayer of
the church is answered in Christ by showing us Christ. God give
us the faith and the grace to look to him. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
your word and how we pray that you'd apply your word to our
hearts, that we'd see the promises of God made in power and grace
to your people, made to your people in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, give us a hunger and a thirst to pray, to desire the
promises that you've made to your people, promises of mercy,
grace, and life and peace and joy and end. And how we thank
you. We thank you for your many, many
blessings to your people. You blessed us beyond measure.
If you give us not one more earthly blessing, you blessed us more
than we could ever imagine. But Father, according to your
word, we do ask you, would you be merciful now as you have in
the past? Would you save our children?
like you saved our fathers, would you call out people in our town,
our community, our friends and acquaintances, as you have in
the past, for your glory. Father, we pray these things
for your glory, that you would be glorified in the salvation
of your people. Reveal your mighty arm to us,
we pray. It's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, for the glory of his name, we pray and we ask
these blessings.