I have a message this evening
that I am very anxious to preach. It's a message of comfort in
our Savior. Here on a Wednesday night, you've
come out of the world. It's been tough. It's tough.
You made some effort to be here this evening, and I pray that
our Lord will give us comfort of heart. in seeing our Savior. In the previous verses of Isaiah
49 we looked at a couple of Wednesdays ago, we saw a prophecy of God's
Messiah. So we'll know who He is and what
He'll accomplish when He comes. Now in these verses that we'll
begin looking at this evening, we see that the believer, everyone
Christ came to save, is eternally secure in Christ. We're secure
because of who Christ is and what He has accomplished as our
Savior. So appropriately enough, I've
entitled the message, Eternal Security in Christ. As you read
these verses, as I read them to open the service, I'm sure
you notice that these, the Father here speaking to the Son, these
are promises of the Father to Christ the Messiah. But they're
also promises to everyone who's in Christ. We have union with
Christ our head. Any promise made to the head
applies to the body. These are promises to God's people
in Christ. And I pray that our Lord will
enable us to lay hold of these promises. And if he does, we'll
leave here with comfort in our souls this evening. Now, the
first promise I want to look at is at the end of verse seven.
I didn't deal with that a couple of Wednesdays ago because I knew
I was planning on dealing with it this evening. At the end of
verse 7, he talks about the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose
thee. This is the promise of God's
election. Now it's the Father speaking
to the Son. Christ is God's first elect.
The Father chose the Son to be the Savior of the people. The
Father chose the Son to be the mediator of the covenant of grace.
Look back a few pages at Isaiah chapter 42. This is something
we look at often, we looked at these verses in some detail a
few weeks ago. In Isaiah 42 verse 1, behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect. See that's Christ, his
mine elect. He's the first elect and we're
electing him. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighted. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry
nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flask shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. Till he have set judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. Now the Savior
that God chose will not fail. He will save his people from
their sins. Christ, the Savior, did not come
to this earth to try to save anyone. He came to save God's
elect. He came to save all those the
Father gave Him in the covenant of grace. Christ's death on the
cross did not make salvation possible. Brethren, it accomplished
salvation. It accomplished the salvation
of God's elect. Now that's good doctrine. And
that's good preaching. Because that is the truth. It
glorifies God in salvation. But now let's apply that to the
hearts of God's people and find comfort. Our salvation is sure
because of the Savior who God chose to do the saving. That's
why our salvation is secure. The salvation that Christ accomplished
can never be lost because he accomplished it in perfection.
And all of God's people, they're the elect. They're elect in Christ
for Christ's sake. And the Father, is never going
to change his mind. The Father chose a people. He's
never going to unchoose them. He chose a people to make his. He brought them to himself. He's
never going to cast them away. Never. God didn't choose a people
because there's any good in them. And then he sees, oh, they're
so bad, I'm going to cast them away. No. God chose a sinful
people. They're totally bad. Everything
about them is bad. Nothing about them is like Christ.
But the Father chose them to make them like His Son. The Father
chose a people in Christ. Christ never changes. He's God. He never changes. So He'll never
give the Father reason to change His mind. He'll never give the
Father reason to cast away the people that He chose. God's elect
are secure in the Savior that God chose, the promise of election. Second, the father promised to
hear the Savior that he chose in sin. Verse eight, thus saith
the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee. Now look at
Hebrews chapter five. And we know that the father always
heard the son. But this is talking about a specific
time in a specific day. It's talking about Christ as
He cried there in the garden, Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
Thy will be done. At that time, the Father heard
the Son. He heard the Savior. Hebrews
5 verse 7. Who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers and supplication, with strong
crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard. in that he feared. He was heard
for his piety. The Father heard Christ because
Christ is perfect. And that perfect righteousness
of Christ is the believer's righteousness. It's His righteousness imputed
to us. We're perfect in Him. So this
is our comfort. The Father heard our head. He heard our Savior. And the
Father will always hear the cries of His people. Always. You cried to him, he'll hear.
He's promised he would. Our Lord says, if you ask anything
in my name, my father will give it. He'll hear it. You cried
to him, he'll hear. The father always hears his son. He heard our savior as he cried
to him. The father always hears the son,
the mediator of his people. He ever liveth to make intercession
for his people. And he's always making intercession
and he's always heard because he always has perfect blood to
plead. Look over at a few pages there, one page at Hebrews 7
verse 25. This is our comfort. This makes
our eternal salvation secure because our mediator is heard.
Hebrews 7 verse 25. Wherefore he's able also to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him. seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. The father always hears
the prayer, the cry of the son, the mediator. And the father
hears the prayer of Christ, our high priest. Remember there in
John 17, our Lord's praying. He said, father, I will, that
those whom thou has given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. That's the high priestly prayer.
You know the Father heard him and the Father will grant that
request. But now how? In these sinful bodies, how is
it that what's going to happen that we can be with Christ where
He is and behold His glory? Well, first it's through faith,
isn't it? Through faith given in the new birth. And then it'll
be by the resurrection of these bodies and perfect bodies. If
you look back at John chapter 11, you'll see that. is through faith and through
the resurrection of these bodies. In John chapter 11, verse 41,
this is, you know the story here, after Lazarus has died, he's
been laying there four days, his body stinks, and Lord said,
take the stone away. In verse 41, then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid, and Jesus
lifted up his eyes. and said, Father, I thank Thee
that Thou hast heard me. See, he was heard. And I knew,
I know this, you always hear me. But because of the people
which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast
sent me. See, there's God-given faith
that they may believe that Thou hast sent me. And in verse 43,
when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead came forth.
found hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a linen napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Now one day, the same thing's
gonna happen to us. Our bodies are gonna be in the
grave, and that last trumpet's gonna sound, and Christ is gonna
call forth his people. But unlike Lazarus, when we come
forth, we're gonna come forth and never die again, in perfect
flesh, in a perfect body, to be forever with our Lord. Now
when did you believe on Christ? I said this comes to us through
faith. When did you believe on Christ?
The very moment He called you in power, you believed. Well
when will these bodies arise from the grave in perfect flesh? At the very moment He calls in
power. By the same power, these bodies
will arise and will be with Him forever because the Father heard
the prayer of Christ our High Priest. Here's the third promise. Father has promised to help Christ
our Savior. If you're still in John, hold
your finger there. We're going to come back to Luke in just
a minute. But look here at verse 8. The
Father has promised to help Christ our Savior. He says, and in a
day of salvation have I helped thee. Now look at Luke chapter
22. Again, this is speaking of a
specific day when the Father helped Christ our Savior. In Luke 22, verse 41, it's the
day of salvation. And when he was withdrawn from
them about a stone's cast, he kneeled down and prayed, saying,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he
prayed more earnestly, And his sweat was, as it were, great
drops of blood falling down to the ground. It sure makes it
seem like he'd have died right there. His body just couldn't
have stood it. His physical body would have
died if that angel had not appeared and helped him. But now, what's
going on here? Why did the angel appear to help
him? Well, we know as the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus needed no help, did He? God, He doesn't need
any help. He has all power. But the Son
of Man needed help. The Son of Man needed strength
to go to the cross and suffer being made sin for His people.
The Son of Man needed to be strengthened so He could go and be made to
sacrifice for our sin. And the Father helped Christ.
He strengthened Him so that He did accomplish the salvation
of God's elect in this day of salvation. Now here's our comfort. This promise is made to Christ
and it's made to everyone in Him. Do you need help? I mean, do
you just need help? God has promised to help His
people. When you need help, He's promised,
my grace is sufficient for thee. When you need help, our Heavenly
Father has promised that at any time you can come before His
very throne and find grace to help in time of need. Our Father
always hears His people and He always helps His people because
of the salvation that our Savior accomplished for us. Fourthly,
the Father has promised to preserve the Savior. Look back in chapter
49 of Isaiah, verse 8. He says, and I will preserve
thee. Now the father protected the
child, Jesus, from Herod. Remember Herod wanted to kill
all the babies because he wanted to be sure from two years old
and younger because he wanted to kill this one who was born
king of the Jews. But the father protected that
child, didn't he? He told Joseph, you take him
down to Egypt. He's protected there. The Father protected the
Lord from all those mobs. How many times do we read it?
Something He said made those mobs so angry they just wanted
to kill Him. They're going to strangle Him. They're going to
stone Him. They're going to throw Him off the cliff. And He just passed
right through their midst. They couldn't touch Him. They
couldn't see Him. What happened there? The Father protected Him,
preserved Him, didn't He? Until His hour was come. And
when His hour was come, The Father protected our Savior from being
overcome by the evil and the enemies that met Him at the cross.
And when they laid that body in the grave, the Father protected,
preserved our Savior. He saw no corruption and the
Father raised Him from the grave. Because the sin that was charged
to Him is gone. Now that's good preaching. That's good preaching.
But you want some comfort now. Let's have some comfort. Let's
apply this. Every child of God is preserved the exact same way,
by the exact same promise. There's no reason for us not
to be preserved. None. Because our sin's gone. Christ put it away. Wainer's
nothing to corrupt us. Sin's gone. I was reading this
and I thought about fruit preservers. jellies and jams and so forth.
I don't know how that works at all. I saw mom do it some when
I was growing up. I know you go pick the strawberries
and you clean them and you put them in. She does whatever. She'd
mash them up and put stuff in there and boil them and put them
in a jar and seal it. I don't know how all that works.
I mean, I just don't have any idea how that works. I don't
have to. I don't have to understand how
that works to enjoy spreading it on a biscuit. I just don't
have to understand it, but I enjoy it. I don't understand how all I
see of me is sin. When I look at me, that's all
I see. Yet I believe that I'm without
sin in Christ. I believe it because God said
it. I don't understand how the Holy Son of God could be made
sin for me and how I can be made holy. But by God's grace, I believe
it. I don't have to understand it,
but I believe it. And I sure do enjoy the results
of it. I enjoy feeding on that gospel
of God's grace. And no believer is ever going
to be corrupted. No believer will ever suffer
eternal death because we're preserved. were made without sin in Christ. And brethren, no matter how bad
it looks down here, no matter how dark the day and how fierce
the storm, you will appear with Christ in glory, preserved by
His grace. Preserved because Christ has
taken your sin away. There's no reason for you not
to be preserved. The Father promised to give Christ
as the covenant. Look here at verse 8. He says,
and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the
people. Now Christ our Savior came as the mediator of the covenant.
And when we say he's the mediator of the covenant, this is what
I mean. God said, I chose a people to save and give them to you
to save. Christ said, I agree, I'll save them. He's the mediator
of the covenant. He came to do everything that
was required. to save those people that God
chose. And He did it. He ratified the covenant in His
blood. He's the mediator of the covenant.
And Christ our Savior is also the messenger of the covenant.
The only way we know anything about God's covenant of grace
is by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we know this is
how God saved sinners is Christ came and told us. By seeing Him,
we see. Now I see, this is how God can
save sinners. Still be holy, still be just,
yet be merciful and gracious to somebody like me. Now I see,
I see Christ. He's the messenger of the covenant.
But more than that, Christ our Savior came as the covenant personified. I tell you this often, salvation's
a person. And God's covenant is a person
too. That's what he says here. I will give thee for a covenant
of the people. Salvation is a person. God's
covenant is a person. And it's the same person. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way a sinner will
ever be saved is to see Christ. It's not to see doctrine. It's
not to understand doctrine. It's not to believe doctrine.
It's to believe Christ because he is salvation. The only way
we'll ever see God's salvation is to see Christ by faith. It's
not to see a plan of salvation. Salvation is not a plan. Salvation
is a purpose. It's not to say, yeah, I can
see this plan. No, it's to see that person who
is salvation, who is the covenant. Now, here's our comfort. We already
saw this person, this one that God chose to be the Savior. He
can't fail, can he? He can't. then this covenant
of God's grace is sure because the mediator of it cannot fail. Now we know God will never break
his promise. That's what a covenant is. God's covenant is a promise.
And because of God's character, he's holy, he's righteous, he's
just. Because of his character, he'll never break his promise.
So the promise of grace in Christ is secure because of the character
of God. But you know, there's no reason
for God to break His promise. Christ our Savior already pleased
His Father perfectly and made us accepted in Him. We're not
accepted because of anything we've done. You know, we tend
to worry. While we're in this sinful flesh,
we worry. If I was God, I'd cast me away.
Thank God God's not like me. We're not accepted because of
anything we've done. were accepted in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ because of what he's done for us. Gee,
nothing can be more secure than that. Nothing can be more secure
than being in Christ. He's the covenant. Now read the
rest of verse eight here. I've given to give thee for a
covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit
the desolate heritages. You know why the Father just
doesn't destroy this whole world in one great big ball of fire?
for the elect's sake. Some of God's elect haven't been
brought to faith in Christ yet. Some of them are not even born
yet. Well, their parents are wicked and vile. You know why
God doesn't destroy them? That baby's got to be born. That
baby's got to be born. God's not going to destroy them
because His elect must be brought to repentance and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this whole entire earth is
preserved for you who believe. Preserved for you. Preserved
for those who have yet to be born that God chose. The whole
earth is preserved for that reason. Because Christ is gonna have
everyone he died for. It's impossible for God's elect
to die without faith in Christ. It's impossible. Because Christ
already died for him. And he preserves his whole world
for the elect's sake. Here's the sixth promise. The
father has promised Christ to be freedom for his people. Verse
nine, that thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth to them
that are in darkness, show yourselves. I look back over here at Isaiah
chapter 61. Christ was sent for this purpose,
to set the prisoner free, to set his people free. This is
the text our Lord chose for his first public message, Isaiah
61, verse one. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound. Christ came to give freedom to
his people. Now, this freedom is not a prisoner
break, you know, like we're tunneling out, you know. We just came from
Mexico and this El Chapo, apparently he's an escape artist, you know.
He's tunneled out of all these different prisons. Well, they
got him in this prison now. You know what they're doing?
They're moving him every four hours so the guy can't tunnel
out, you know. This freedom is not tunneling
out and escaping the long arm of the law. This freedom is given
to God's elect in justice. You know, if you could tunnel
out, you'd all the time be looking over your shoulder afraid you're
going to be recaptured. God's people don't have to worry about
that because they're set free in justice. Christ was taken
prisoner for them as their substitute. And he paid the price that justice
demands. He put their sin away and they
go free in justice. Now that freedom's secure, a
whole lot more secure than escaping, isn't it? God's elect are born
in captivity to sin. If you don't think you're in
captivity to sin, just try not to sin. You'll see you're captive
to it. Christ came to set his people
free from sin by being made sin for them. God's elect are born
in captivity to the curse of the law. Christ set his people
free from that curse by being made a curse for them. God's
elect are born under the dominion of the law. We're just such a
dominion of the law. But Christ sets his people free
from that awful, horrible dominion, from that horrible schoolmaster
by keeping the law for us. So we're not under law, we're
under grace. We're born under the fear of
death and the dominion of death. I mean, just try not having this
body die. It's gonna die unless Christ
returns first, but Christ set his people free from death. He
took the sting of death away by dying in their place. God's
elect are born captives to Satan, but Christ set his people free
from Satan by crushing his head at Calvary. Just don't get all
bent out of shape about Satan now. Everybody says, oh, Satan
did this and Satan did that. It's so horrible. Don't go looking
for him. He'll sift us like wheat, just
like he did Peter. But you don't have to worry about
him. He's on God's chain. He crushed his head. He crushed
his power at Calvary, and you're free. And Christ has set his
people free, and he's openly showed the world, my children
are free. He set his people free and brings
them into the glorious liberty of the children of God. I'm telling
you, if it's the Son who's made you free, you're free indeed,
free eternally, never again to be in bondage. Then seventh,
the Father promised Christ to be the shepherd of his people.
First, middle here, verse nine. They shall feed in the ways and
their pastors shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger
nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For
he that hath had mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them. Now we know that Christ
our Savior is the Good Shepherd. That's what he said, I'm the
Good Shepherd. And his sheep will never die, because the Good
Shepherd gave his life for the sheep. Now what comfort to have
Christ as our Shepherd. I mean, this one who has all
power, who knows everything, who never makes a mistake, who's
loving and kind and can heal the sheep and protect the sheep
and give life to the sheep. What comfort to be in the presence
of our shepherd. God's sheep never hunger because
Christ leads them in the green pastures of His Word. The Holy
Spirit will take the Word and He will reveal Christ to the
hearts of the people. Now this is a comfort. It's a
comfort to those who preach. It's a comfort to those who listen.
I don't have to be smart enough to understand the Word of God
in order to be saved. I'm not. The Spirit will lead and He will
reveal Christ to us. I don't have to be the most eloquent
speaker who ever was in order for you to understand God's Word
and be saved. It's not my commentary on the
Word that will save you. It's God's Word. And the Spirit
will take those things of the Word and He'll reveal Christ
to you and show you Christ. Because He's leading us in the
green pastures of His Word. God's sheep never hunger and
they never thirst for righteousness. Because Christ our Shepherd is
the water of life. He leads us to drink those cool,
still waters. God's sheep never have to worry
about getting lost. We never have to worry about
getting off the way and perishing because Christ our shepherd leads
us in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Now, why? Why don't God's sheep
have to worry about all these things? Looks like all this world,
all you gotta do is worry about it. Why don't you have to worry? Mercy. Says here, for he that
hath mercy on them shall lead them. God has had mercy on his
people in Christ and that mercy, the riches of his mercy can never
fail. What's more comforting than that?
Mercy in Christ. Then the father has promised
that the way will never be so difficult that we can't make
it to Christ. Look at verse 11. And he says,
I'll make all my mountains away, and my highways should be exalted.
Behold, these shall come from far, and lo, these from the north
and from the west, and these from the land of Sinai. Now there
is a great mountain. Remember here the historical
situation. Israel is in bondage of Babylon,
or they would be in bondage of Babylon. There's a great mountain
that lay between Babylon and Israel. And the people wonder,
Even if we are set free, how are we going to get across that
mountain? How are we going to get back to Israel? Well, God promised
to make a way. And sure enough, when He spoke
and He called them, they came out and were able to go through
that mountain. Because when God purposes to do something, nothing
can stop it. When God purposes to bring His
people to Christ, nothing will stop them from getting to Christ.
And in Christ, Every mountain and every obstacle that would
prevent our salvation has been removed by our Savior. We have
a mountain of sin. How are we ever going to cross
that mountain? Christ took it away under His blood. We're under
the dominion of that mountain of the law. Mount Sinai that
everybody's afraid of, doesn't want to touch, doesn't want to
hear God speak from Mount Sinai. The mountain of God's law has
been satisfied. Mount Sinai has been flattened.
by Christ our representative. What about the mountain of our
nature? The mountain of the nature of Adam that we're born with?
That nature refuses to come to Christ. It refuses to hear. It
refuses to bow. I'll tell you how it's overcome. God's going to give a new nature
and a new birth that will overrule, that will come to Christ, that
will bow to Him, that will look to Him. Now here's our comfort. Christ has removed for his people
every obstacle. Now you come to Christ. What's your excuse for not coming? There's no legitimate ones. Every
obstacle has been removed. Now you come to Christ and the
way isn't so hard that some poor sinner can't make it. He's made
it easy. He's made it plain and simple.
The way isn't so confusing. The gospel is not so confusing
that you're too stupid to come. No, you just come to Christ. The way is plain and easy. You
can't miss Christ if you're looking for Him. Every obstacle has been
removed. Now come and be accepted in Him. Now that's God's salvation. And
we can celebrate that, can't we? We can celebrate that Savior.
That's what he says here in verse 13. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful,
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the
Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. The redeemed love the saying
of God's mercy to us. What comfort to find in God's
mercy. Salvation is by mercy, just pure
grace, pure mercy, without works. You know what that means? You don't have to be good enough
to earn it. Because Christ is good enough.
He's already earned it. And to a sinner, that's comforting. You don't have to be good enough
to earn salvation. All you gotta do is be sinful
enough. All you gotta do is be bad enough. Because Christ only
saves sinners. Salvation by grace comforts even
the chief of sinners, doesn't it? Now I have one more bit of
comfort here for us. You'd think in untold mercy and grace, God
sent his son to die for his people. He recorded in his word, And
He sent a preacher to us to tell us about it, to preach the gospel
to us. His Spirit came and gave us life, gave us a heart to believe
and look to Christ. The sight of that Savior is overwhelming. You'd think that's the end of
my problems. You'd think once I've seen Him,
my faith will never waver. It's just going to be a steel
rod That's not the way it is, is it? Come on, is it? It's not. We want some comfort. Not even our unbelief and not
even our weak faith. Now there's never an excuse for
weak faith, but that's what we've got. Not even our weak faith
can cause us to lose our salvation. Look at verse 14. But Zion said,
the Lord had forsaken me. And my Lord hath forgotten me.
Now verse 13 said, the Lord hath comforted his people and he's
promised he will have mercy upon his afflicted. And in our weak
faith, in our unbelief, we say, well, I'm not comforted.
This is awful, I'm not comforted. It sure doesn't feel like God's
kept his promise to me. You know, what's going on here?
It feels like God cast me off. Oh, it's so shameful. So shameful. But we say that and we feel that
way. But you know, our trials and our anxiety only make a way
for God to display his love and his care for his people. Look
at what God promises in verse 15. Can a woman forget her second
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee. Now, you know, the strongest
human love we can think of is the love of a mother for her
child. Would you agree with that? You know, this child grew in
her body, came forth from her body. She went through the battle
of the shadow of death, you know, put this child out in the world.
That nursing baby is fed from the mother's body. And we think
of a mother's love as just unending, don't we? You know, a child is
bad, and what do we say about that child? That's a child only
a mother could love. We just assume, or how bad the
kid is, his mother loves him. Because a mother's love is the
strongest love we know. But you know this to be true.
A mother's love can fail. It's very rare, but we've seen
instances of it. A mother will kill her own child.
Something's wrong with her. Kills her own child. She gets
on drugs and all she cares about is those drugs, that next fix.
All she cares about is herself and she just forgets about them
babies. She don't take care of them. A mother has a nature of
Adam. She's selfish and she just wants to do for herself and won't
do for those babies. A mother's love can fail. But
our Heavenly Father don't ever mistake human love for divine
love. Our heavenly father will never
forget his children. He'll never forget his mercy
to them. He'll never forget his promises to them. Now, you might
ask, how can you just be so sure about that? Because his darling
son already died for him. Look at verse 16. Behold, he
says, I've graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls
are continually before me. You'd think a nursing mother
could never forget that baby. Wouldn't you think that? I mean,
eventually her body's going to remind her, it's time for this
baby to eat. But sometimes she still forgets, doesn't she? She's
got a sinful nature. Sometimes she'll forget or she'll
ignore or whatever. But our Savior will never forget
his people. Just like that mother's body
is going to remind her, it's time for this baby to eat. The
scars on the body of our Savior are constant reminders of His
people. Those scars that are graven in
His hands are constant reminders how He suffered and died for
His people. They're constant reminders how
He loves His people. And the Father will never forsake
those people. Never will He forsake anyone
for whom Christ died. At Calvary, when He received
those scars, He was made a... The blood that came from those
scars in his hands, his feet and his side and his head, those
scars, blood poured from those scars, from those wounds and
put away the sin of God's elect. The father will never forget
that sacrifice ever. Hence, he'll never forget you.
He'll never cast you off if Christ died for you. And because of
that sacrifice of Christ, now you can bank on this, just write
it down. All of God's elect are gonna
be brought to Christ, verse 17. Thy children shall make haste,
thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth
of thee. Now these children, Zion's children,
Zion is the church, they're children of the church. They're children
who are born by God's grace through the preaching of the gospel. Now, it might take some time.
I mean, to us, it seems like it's an awful slow process, doesn't
it? You preach, and you preach, and you preach, and you preach,
and you think, oh, is anybody hearing? And then when God calls,
they come to Christ quickly. Every one of God's children are
like Zach is. They make haste and come down,
because the Lord must abide at your house. And that's our comfort. Back in the study this evening,
Eric prayed for our children. Here's our comfort. There's not
one chance any of God's children for whom Christ died will perish.
Not one. There's not a chance that any
of God's children will refuse to come to Christ. They'll all
come. Not one will be lost. Not one. That's how sure salvation
in Christ is. And anytime the day is dark,
and the storm is severe, and you feel cast off, you think,
is there any comfort left for me? Well, don't look at yourself
now. If you want comfort, you look
to the Savior. Look to Him. Just a sight of
Him in His glory will always comfort God's children. Now you
look to Him. That's comfort for our heart.
And He will have to take that with us. Let's bow in prayer. Father, how we thank You for
these great and precious promises in Your Word. Promises made to
Christ our Redeemer. Promises that are sure because
His work is sure. His work is perfect. His righteousness
and His obedience is perfect. His blood is pure and sinless. It washes us from all of our
sin. Father, we're thankful. And I
pray that You'd apply Your Word to the hearts of Your people.
That You'd cause Your Word to comfort our hearts, strengthen
us, and establish us in our Lord Jesus Christ. And cause us, Father,
to always and to only look to Christ, to look away from self,
to look away from sin, to look away from our troubles and look
to Christ. He is all. He's all we need. He's the comfort of our heart,
the Savior of our souls. To Him be the glory and the praise
and the honor we pray.