Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 33. The title of the message is Stability
for a Troubled Heart. I took the title from verse six.
Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times. My
prayer is that this evening, by God's mercy and grace, all
of us will see our own sin is what's caused the instability
of our hearts, of our sinful souls, and that the only stability
for the sinful soul is the Lord Jesus Christ. And my other prayer
is that God's people will leave here tonight comforted in Christ
our Savior. Our world seems very unstable
to us, and it can be frightening. I don't know if the world is
more unstable now than it's ever been. It just seems to me like
the world's unstable as water. The economy is held up by a straw,
the political world. If I didn't know that God was
in control, I'd wonder how in this world is this thing working? I mean, I just have no idea.
And maybe it's always been this way. We just got communication. We can find out in an instant
how unstable everything is. But the believer's stability,
this, I mean, there's, you know, whether this is the most unstable
time of the world's history, I don't know, but it's unstable.
But the believer's stability in all the situations that we
are in in this world is Christ. And that's a strong, stable foundation. That's what I hope we can leave
here with this evening. Now we begin back in verse one.
The prophet writes, woe to thee that spoilest and thou wast not
spoiled. And dealest treacherously, and
they dealt not treacherously with thee. When thou shalt cease
to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled. And when thou shalt make an end
to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
Now let me tell you what this verse means historically. You
know, as we've been going through this study, you know this, that
Israel's afraid because Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, He conquered
all the area of the world at that time. And he's coming to
conquer Israel, too. And they're very afraid. Israel
tried to head off problems. What they did is they made a
treaty with Sennachrab. They paid him a large amount
of tribute. They had to gather the gold from
everywhere in the country to send him enough tribute to where
he'd say, all right, I'll leave you alone. And Sennachrab spoiled
Israel. Without his army ever having
to come in and fight or take anything, they just handed it
all over to him. He spoiled those who didn't do
anything to make themselves his enemy. But Israel figured at
least we kept the peace, you know, at least we kept the kingdom.
But Sennacherib dealt treacherously with Israel. After he got all
their gold, he said, you know what? I want the kingdom anyway. We made a treaty, but I'm going
to break the treaty. I'm coming to take the kingdom. He dealt
treacherously with Israel, even though Israel dealt honestly
with him. And the Lord's promise to Sennacherib is you're not
going to prosper dealing treacherously with my people. I'm going to
put an end to you going around spoiling all these nations. And
when you quit spoiling, when I put an end to that, somebody
else is going to spoil you. And you're going to be forced
to quit dealing treacherously with people. And when that happens,
somebody's going to come deal treacherously with you. That's
the prophecy. And here's what happened. One
night, the angel of the Lord, Snagrab came up and he got near
Jerusalem. But before he could fire a shot
on that city, the angel of the Lord went out one night and he
destroyed, he killed all Snagrab's army while they slept. Anybody
who was spared, who remained, they all ran back to Assyria.
Israel came out, and they spoiled the Assyrians. They just took
everything. You know, everybody just ran
off in fear, or they were laying there dead, and Israel spoiled
everything. They got all the riches, and
they never fired a shot. They didn't do anything to conquer
their enemy. God just gave it to them. And
Sennachrab, his army's dead. He's got to quit spoiling, and
he runs back to Assyria. And when he got there, His very
own sons dealt treacherously with him. While he was praying
to his idol one day, his sons came up behind their father and
killed him. His own sons did. Matthew Henry said about that,
that the Lord often deals with men in their own coin. And what
he meant by that is, often, the way we treat others, somebody's
gonna come treat us that way. It could be we deal honestly
and kindly with people and they deal the same with us. Oftentimes
you deal treacherously, dishonestly and cruelly with people. Somebody's
going to deal with you that way. Now I know it's not always the
case, but you do see that happen often and it is what happened
to snack crap. Now that's the historical prophecy,
what happened here in this verse. But now we know God's word is
not written to give us an historical account. God's word is written
to reveal Christ. So how does this reveal Christ?
How does this reveal the saving power of Christ for his people?
Well, our enemy, the enemy of our soul, is our very own sin. And sin deals treacherously with
men. Sin promises peace, but it gives
us war. Sin promises us life, but gives
us death. Sin promises riches, but gives
us poverty. It takes everything away from
us, deals treacherously. Sin promises righteousness. Oh,
keep the law, you'll have righteousness. But it gives us iniquity. Sin
promises us joy and pleasure and gives us sorrow. And sin
is what will ultimately destroy these bodies. Unless the Lord
returns first, sin is going to destroy all the flesh in this
room. And it'll send our soul to hell
apart from Christ. And when that happens, our agreement
with sin is going to be disannulled. Well, is there any hope? Just
like what Mike just sang, is there anybody who can help us?
Is there any hope of deliverance from sin? Is there any hope of
the deliverance from the curse of sin and death by sin? Now,
sin's not just at the door. You know, Sennachrab, he got
to the door. He never fired a shot into Jerusalem.
He never came in, but he was at the door. For us, sin's more
than at the door. Sin's already in the heart because
we've got Adam's nature. Really, our situation is worse
than what Israel's was. Is there any hope? Yes, there's
hope. There is hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's hope in the grace of
God that's found in Christ. Look at verse two. Oh Lord, be
gracious unto us. We've waited for thee. Be thou
their arm every morning. Our salvation also in the time
of trouble. Now, this is the believer's prayer.
This verse would be a good verse for us to commit to memory and
say as a prayer every day. This is a good prayer for the
troubled heart, a good prayer for times of instability. This
is life. This is stability for our life,
not just for our soul and salvation from sin. This is also stability
for our life that we live in these troubled times. This prayer
shows us the right plea. It begins with a plea for grace.
Oh Lord, be gracious to us. If you think about it, the sinner's
only plea is grace. That's the only plea we got.
We can't plead our works of righteousness, we don't have any. All our works
are works of sin and iniquity and rebellion. We can't plead
our works. We can't plead our merit, because
we hadn't earned anything. The only thing we've earned from
God's is wrath, and we don't want that. Better not plead our
merit. We can't plead our family heritage. We can't make a plea,
well, our family tree looks pretty good, because the tree's rotten.
The tree's rotten from the root up. Adam's the root of the tree.
It's bad, and everything grew out of him's bad. Only please
grace. Grace for the guilty is the only
plea we got. But I'm telling you, what a good
plea. Grace is a good plea. And God's grace for the guilty
gives us stability in our times. God's grace gives stability in
the heart, gives us stability from our sin, and gives us stability
of mind as we live our lives in this world. Look at Job chapter
33. Sin. is our great enemy. Sin is what's
killing us and sending us to our eternal grave. And our only
plea when we're faced with that is God's grace. Job 33 verse
19. He's chastened also with pain
upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain,
so that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat. His
flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones
that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show unto
man his uprightness, then he's gracious unto him. And he said,
delivering from going down to the pit, I found a ransom. Where did that ransom, that word
ransom is an atonement. Where did the atonement come
from? Provided by God's grace in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our plea is God's grace. He has provided an atonement
for sin in the blood of his son. And that grace is a good plea.
Paul told the Romans in Romans 6 verse 14, sin shall not have
dominion over you for you're not under the law. but you're
under God's grace. The way we're delivered from
our sin and the condemnation of the law is in God's grace. Now, would you have stability
of heart in our times? During this time of your life
here on earth, would you have stability of heart? Then make
a plea for God's grace. Hebrews 13 verse nine says, it's
a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with
the form and ceremony of religion, but with grace. Grace is what
gives our heart stability in our times. So this prayer begins
with the right plea, a plea for grace. Second, this plea, this
prayer shows us the object of faith is Christ. We have waited
for thee. Now salvation is found only in
Christ. He's the only one who can help. Then wait for him. Don't look
for another option. Don't look for another helper.
He's the only one who can save your sinful soul. Then wait for
him. This word wait, it means to long
for him. Don't just wait for him. Maybe
he'll show up. Maybe he won't. No, long for Christ. Long for Christ alone. Say with David, he only is my
salvation. If you long for Christ that way,
you'll seek him. And the Savior said, if you seek
Him that way, you'll find Him. Look at Psalm 27. Psalm 27. While you're turning, I'll quote
Lamentations 3, verse 25. Long for the Lord, wait for Him.
Because Jeremiah said, the Lord is good unto them that wait for
Him. The Lord's good to the soul that
seeketh Him. Now wait for Him, seek Him. Psalm
27, verse 14. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. He shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. Christ is the object of our faith. He's the only one who can save.
Now wait for him. Wait on him. Third, this prayer
claims no strength for the flesh. It claims no stability in our
flesh, our only strength. Our only stability is Christ.
He's our only plea. Be thou their arm every morning. Now this is why I said this would
be a good prayer for us at the beginning of every day. Lord,
be my arm. Be my strength in everything
I do today. That's a good prayer. If you
think about it, you go out to face your world. Whatever it
is you're going out to do, What can you handle by yourself?
Not one thing. I mean, not one thing can we
handle by ourselves. Without Him, we can do nothing. Now that's true physically. As
we go through this life that's so uncertain, this tumultuous
world, we can't handle one thing by ourselves. This is a good
prayer. Lord, I can't do anything without
you. You be my strength. You be my arm. But how true this
is spiritually. Without Him, we can do nothing. Without Him, we can't believe. Without Him, we can't come to
God. Without Him, we can't pray. Without
Christ, we cannot be righteous. God requires perfect righteousness. Without Him, we can't be righteous.
Without Christ, there's no salvation. Without Christ, there's no acceptance
with God. then please, O Christ, be thou
my arm, be my strength, be the arm of my salvation. If we have
Christ, even though these troubled, tumultuous times seem so unstable,
if we have Christ, we have stability in our times. Without Christ,
we can do nothing. But what did Paul write in Philippians
4.13? I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
If you'd have stability, don't look to what you can do for yourself.
Look to Christ. Claim Christ as your own. Claim
Him as the arm of your salvation. Fourth, this prayer shows us
sure salvation. It's sure salvation because who
the Savior is. Be our salvation also in the
time of trouble. Now, as we go through this life,
you're gonna have many days of trouble, many days. Job said
man is born of woman is a few days. And what are those few
days? Full of trouble, not just every
once in a while, they're full of trouble. And I'll tell you
our biggest day of trouble, the day of trouble. I hope y'all
know how much I love you. I mean, I love you. You know
what I pray for you? For you who don't know the Lord,
you know what I pray for you? I pray for a day of serious trouble,
serious trouble. Our biggest day of trouble is
when God shows us who we are, when God shows us our sin, when
he shows us our sin nature, not just what I do, but what I am. What a day of trouble when God
shows us what we are in Adam and we realize we're in trouble.
Men and brethren, what are we gonna do? I'm telling you, that's
a day of trouble. It's heart trouble. It's soul
trouble that shakes you to your very core. There's no trouble
like it. Frank, don't pray that for me. Oh yes, that's my prayer
for you. Because I tell you, that day
of trouble, is a day of great mercy. Look at Psalm 37. If God ever puts you in trouble
like that, he's gonna give you a day of mercy. Psalm 37, verse
38. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together. The end of the wicked Yeah, shall
be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them because they trust in him. I'll tell
you what, we'll only trust in Christ when he shows us we're
in trouble. And when we're in trouble, when he shows us we're
in trouble, he'll save us. In all the saints, will testify
that's my experience. They called on the Lord in the
day of trouble. And in that day, he saved me. We'll let David
speak for all of us. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. The righteous
cry and the Lord hears him and delivered him out of all his
troubles. In the day of my trouble, I will
call upon me, for thou wilt answer me. I know you will because you
promised that you would. In that day of trouble, when
God shows us what we are, we'll cry to him and he will save us. That's a sure salvation. And in the day of trial, man's
days are few and full of trouble. In those days of trouble in this
world, You know, we have the exact same deliverer. The same
one who delivered us from our sin is the one who's going to
deliver us from the snare of the fowler. The same one. The
same place we hide to hide from God's wrath against our sin is
the same place we hide in the day of trouble and trial. It's
in Christ. Psalm 9 verse 9 says the Lord
also will be a refuge to the oppressed, a refuge in the time
of trouble. Christ is our salvation. That
gives us stability. Christ is our stability, both
for our soul and as we go through this troubled world here below.
Fifth, in verse three, back in our text, this prayer shows us
the sure end of our enemies. At the noise of the tumult, the
people fled. At the lifting up of thyself,
the nations were scattered. Now about everybody thinks that
this tumult Isaiah is referring to here is the tumult that was
raised up in the camp of the Assyrians when the angel, and
that angel is Christ, when he went out through that camp destroying
that Assyrian army, killing thousands of people, there was a tumult
raised in that camp. Those people who died, they didn't
die quietly. There's screams and yells and tumult was raised,
screams of fear and terror for those who had not yet fallen,
but would. Great tumult raised up in that
camp when the Lord lifted up himself against his enemies.
And in due time, the same thing is going to happen to our enemies.
Now, we may not live to see it like Israel did in that day,
but the same thing is going to happen to every one of our enemies. When the enemies of God, when
they flourish for a time, don't think the world's tilted off
its axis. When the enemies of God, when your enemies, when
they flourish for a time, don't think the world's become unstable.
Their destruction is sure. Look back a few pages at Isaiah
chapter 14. The destruction of every enemy
of God is sure. Isaiah 14 verse 20. Thou shalt not be joined with
them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain
thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never
be renowned. Prepare slaughter for his children,
for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess
the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I
will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts. and cut off
from Babylon the name and the remnant and the son and the nephew,
saith the Lord." They're going to be destroyed because I'm going
to rise up against them. It'll happen one day. You can
just bank on it. But now, whatever happens to
my enemies here on this earth, you know, the Lord's going to
take care of them one way or another. But I tell you what
I'm chiefly interested in, chiefly, the enemy of my sin. I can't
do anything with that. How's God going to deliver me
from that enemy? Well look back at Genesis chapter
49. Christ our Savior has already risen up against that enemy of
sin and he's made a sure end of it. In Genesis chapter 49, this is
when Jacob is blessing his sons before he dies and He gives this
blessed promise of the Savior. Genesis 49 verse 9, Judah is
a lion's welt. From the prey, my son, thou art
gone up. He stooped down, he couched,
and that word is reclined. He reclined as a lion. You see
those lions out there on the prairie. They're relaxed. I mean, that lion's not worried
about anything. He's the king. Nobody in that
savanna can give him any trouble, any grief whatsoever. He's reclined,
he's relaxed. That's this lion, he's stooped
down and reclined. As a lion, as an old lion, who
shall rouse him up? Now that old lion laying, he's
reclined, he's at ease. When he gets roused up, something's
gonna happen. He's going to go after the prey.
I mean, because wherever he goes, he's in charge. Now, you know,
this is a prophecy of the Savior. What's going to make the lion
of the tribe of Judah rise up? He will rise up. He already has
to save his people from their sins. This is the rest of the
prophecy. Look at verse 10. The scepter
shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet
until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be, binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's
colt unto the choice vine. That speaking of when our Savior
came to Jerusalem to be crucified, he washed his garments in wine,
and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be
red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Christ our Savior
came, the Lion, he rose up against sin, and in his crucifixion,
He defeated sin forever, washed his people white as snow, a sure
salvation. This is the sure end of our enemies
in Christ. Sixth, in verse four of our text,
this prayer shows us not only the sure end of our enemies,
but the sure victory of God's elect. And your spoil should
be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar, as the running
to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. Now the picture
here is how that little caterpillar and the little locust, they come
and they enjoy the spoils. They enjoy the spoils of a dead
animal that they did not kill, that they couldn't kill. That
animal died some other way, but the caterpillar and the locust
come and devour that carcass. They feast upon it, even though
they didn't kill it. They had nothing to do with it,
but yet they feasted. Well, that's what happened in
Israel when Sennacherib's army came up. That army was defeated. They were all killed, but Israel
didn't contribute anything to that. That was all the Lord's
doing. But I'm telling you, they sure
went out and spoiled the enemy, just like little caterpillars
and locusts going out there. They just spoiled the whole place,
even though they never had anything to do with winning the victory.
And that exact same way is how God's elect enjoy the victory
over sin. We didn't do one thing to defeat
sin. Not one thing. Not only did we not have the
ability to defeat our sin, by nature we don't have the desire
to quit sinning or defeat our sin. We can't set ourselves free
from sin and by nature we don't want to. By nature we love sin,
it's what we love to do. But our Lord Jesus Christ came
and he won the victory over sin. That old lion roused himself
up and he won the victory over the sin of his people and God's
elect are saved without them firing one shot. We don't contribute
one thing to the salvation of our souls. We don't contribute
anything to putting away even the first sin. But God's elect
sure do enjoy all the spoils of salvation, don't they? We
enjoy all those spoils because Christ gave them to us freely.
We enjoy the spoil of righteousness. We enjoy the forgiveness of sin.
We enjoy eternal life, peace with God, acceptance with God,
sonship, because Christ won the victory. He got all the spoils,
made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Well, what did
Christ do with all that spoil? He won all the spoil through
his sacrifice. What did he do with it? Isaiah
53 verse 12 says he gave it to his people. He should divide
the spoil with the strong. He's going to divide the spoil
with those who He made strong, who He made stable in Him. We
enjoy all the spoils because Christ gave them to us freely.
The sure victory of God's elect. Seventh, this prayer shows us
in verse five, who gets all the glory for all these things. The
Lord is exalted for He dwelleth on high. He hath filled Zion
with judgment and righteousness. I'll tell you the reason God
does everything is for His glory. Everything God does, He does
for His glory and the glory of His Son. When we see weird things
happen in this world, we think, what is that for? It's for the
glory of God's Son. In some way, somehow, this is
working together for God's glory. That's true in every situation
we ever face. We find ourselves in a time of
trouble and trial. Why'd this happen? It's for God's
glory. In some way, he's working that
together for his glory. And the day comes and God provides
deliverance from the trials over. Why did that happen? For God's
glory. We learned something, didn't
we? We learned the Lord's able. We learned he's willing to deliver
us. And he has increased our faith
in him. We thank him and praise him for it. And the reason that
God saves His people from their sin, Adam plunged his race into
death and destruction. Why did God save anybody out
of that fallen race? For the glory of His Son. Isaiah
said He's filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. Now Zion is
God's church. It's all of God's elect. He filled
His church. He filled His people with judgment.
when he took their sin and he charged it to his son. He put
it on his son and he dealt with his son, our substitute, in absolute
justice. He filled Christ, our substitute,
with judgment until all the sin of all of God's elect was put
away forever. And then God filled his people
with righteousness. He fills his people with the
righteousness of Christ. Now I'm telling you, that's glorious.
If you look in Ezekiel chapter 36, I'll show you why God did
that. He did it for His glory. In Ezekiel
chapter 36, verse 21, He's talking here about Israel. They'd gone
off after idols and were carried off captive into these other
nations as punishment for their idolatry. But God didn't leave
them there forever, verse 21. But I had pity for mine holy
name. He didn't have pity for their
name, he had pity for his name, which the house of Israel had
profaned among the heathen whether they went. Therefore, saying
to the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not
this for your sakes. I'm not delivering you and sparing
you and bringing you back to Israel for your sakes, O house
of Israel. but for mine holy name's sake, which you have profaned
among the heathen, whether you win. And I will sanctify my great
name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned
in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you from before their eyes." Everything God does, he does
for the sake of his name, for the glory of his name. And that
picture was fulfilled. when our Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross. Why did the Father send His Son
to the cross? To be a sacrifice for sin. Why
did He give His Son into the hands of men to be treated in
such a horrible, shameful way? Why did He have His Son hang
naked on a tree for all men to see His suffering, dying agony?
He sent His Son to the cross for His glory. For His glory. The only way God's people could
be saved is through the death of His Son. God's greatest glory
is the salvation of His people through the death of His Son.
When the Savior talked about His death, how did He refer to
His death? John 12, 33 told His disciples,
the hour has come that the Son of Man should be crucified. It's
not way sad. The hour has come that the Son
of Man should be glorified. And in John 13, 31, he said,
now is the son of man glorified and God's glorified in him. This
was done for God's glory, that sinners would be shown mercy
through the death of God's son is God's greatest glory. Now
that gives stability in our time. That gives God's elect stability
because God shall not fail. He's not going to fail in any
of His purpose and He certainly is not going to fail in giving
glory to His Son through the salvation of His people. God's
Son didn't die in vain. If He died for you, you shall
be saved. How much more stability do you
want than that? And then last, in verse 6, back
in our text, Isaiah 33, the sum of it all is this. Christ is
the stability to the troubled heart. And wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure.
The prophet says wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy
times. He can only be referring there to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is wisdom. So Christ is the stability of
the troubled heart. Our Savior said eternal life
is knowing God. We know God by His revelation,
the revelation of His grace and the new birth. Knowing God is
stability. If we know God, we have stability. The Savior said eternal life
is knowing God. Well, if something is eternal,
how much more stable can it be? Eternal life is knowing God. And Christ is the strength of
our salvation. Christ is our salvation. And
He's the one with the strength. He's the one with the strength
to put the sin of His people away. Nobody else can do that. He's the one with the strength,
the ability to make His people righteous. Nobody else can do
that. He's the one with the strength to give His people life through
the new birth. And He's the only one with the
strength to sustain His people all the way through this troubled,
tumultuous world, all the way to glory. That's stability in
our times. And then He says the fear of
the Lord is a treasure. Now everybody doesn't fear. And
that word fear is reverence or worship. Everybody doesn't fear,
reverence the Lord. But I tell you, if you fear the
Lord, God's given you a great treasure. Your bank account may
be empty, but you've got a great treasure if you fear the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is what? The beginning of wisdom. The
beginning of salvation. If you fear the Lord, you've
got Christ. And my friend, if you've got
Christ, you've got it all. Now please listen to me. That's
not just words. That's a treasure, a boundless
treasure. That's stability for the troubled
heart. Christ is stability for the troubled heart. And this
stability has to do with God's righteousness, God's love, and
God's mercy. Look over, I want you to look
at three scriptures in the Psalms. First, Psalm 40. Psalm 40. This stability has
to do with God's righteousness, God's love, and God's mercy. In Psalm 40, verse 9, this is
the Savior speaking. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. That word
translated faithfulness, I have declared thy faithfulness, is
the exact same word translated stability in our text. Stability
has to do with thy righteousness, thy salvation, and thy loving
kindness. Stability has to do with God's
righteousness. imputed his people and his loving
kindness toward his people. Now look over in Psalm 89. Here's
another time this word stability is used. Psalm 89 verse 32. Then why visit their transgression
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes? This is a time
of trouble and trial, isn't it? Nevertheless, my loving kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. That word faithfulness is the
same word translated stability in our text. Our stability is
found in God's loving kindness. His loving kindness toward his
people will not fail. And one more scripture, Psalm
98. Psalm 98, verse three. Now look at verse 2, "...the
Lord hath made known his salvation, his righteousness hath he openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of the Lord." That word truth
there, he hath remembered his mercy and his truth, is the same
word translated stability in our text. Stability for the troubled
heart has to do with God's mercy to his people. The believer's
heart is stable. Sure, it won't fail. It won't
fall away because of God's righteousness, because of God's loving kindness
and his mercy toward his people. That's a message for our times.
Christ is the message for our times. Maybe the world is worse
than it's ever been. I don't know. Maybe it's just
we've got better communication, like I said earlier, and we see
it more, more quickly, more readily. But this is a message for our
times. In these times of such great sin, Christ is the Savior. In these times of religious ignorance,
Christ is our wisdom. In these times of great spiritual
wickedness, Christ is our righteousness. In these times of absolute unholiness,
all through this world, Christ is our sanctification. In these
times where the whole world, us included, are lost in sin,
Christ is our redemption. In these times where we've lost
everything to sin, Christ is our kinsman redeemer. In these
times when our country has lost its way, and in these times when
each of us individually have lost our way, Christ is the Good
Shepherd who goes out and seeks and finds his sheep and brings
them home so that when they're counted, not one's missing. They're
all there. In these times when religious
deadness reigns in our world, Christ is our resurrection. In
these times when it seems like there's no hope for the future,
we wonder, we worry, what are our children going to do? What
are our grandchildren going to do? Recently told me, she's about
my age, she said, I hope my children just don't have children. I'd
love to have grandchildren, but I almost hope they don't. What in this
world are they going to do? In these times where that's our
worry, Christ is our hope. Christ is our stability. In these
times of war, Christ is our peace. In this turbulent day in which
we live, Christ is our stability. Christ is our rock. Christ is
our foundation. He's our stability. Let's rest
on him. Let's bow in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for your word. What a miracle that your word,
which was written thousands and thousands of years ago, is a
word for our day, a word for the troubled, turbulent times
of our day. How we're thankful for this truth
that never changes. Christ is our stability. Whatever
the day, whatever the hour, whatever the moment, Christ is our stability. How thankful we are for a savior
that provides sure, certain salvation. He's put away all of our sin. He's made his people, filled
his people with righteousness. so that we're accepted before
thee, that we can come before thee and call the God of heaven
and earth our father. We're thankful. Father, I pray
that you bless your word. Bless this message that's been
preached to your glory. Cause it to bring glory to your
name and to bless each heart that in each heart we would behold
something of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. and find stability
for our troubled heart in these troubled days. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks.