Turn back to Isaiah chapter 61. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Here is a sinner saved by the grace of God, all of God to preach, who finds the Lord now to be
his joy? And he greatly, not lightly,
but greatly rejoices in the Lord. Here is a wonder of grace, a work of the Holy Spirit of
God. that a fallen son of Adam would
once again say, I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. Do you realize what it took and
what it takes to bring us to this point? It took Calvary. It took Christ
and Him crucified. It took Christ bearing our sins
and putting them away. It took Christ suffering at the
hands of justice, buried, risen, seated at the Father's right
hand. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration to
bring a sinful man, a sinful woman, to this place of greatly
rejoicing in the Lord. Finding in Him your real joy. Finding in Him your contentment,
your real happiness. That's a work of God's grace. One who at one time rejoiced
in iniquity and sin. now finds his pleasure and his
joy and his rejoicing in the Lord God of heaven and earth.
That's the work of God. That, my friend, is the work
of God. Believers are truly a work of grace. That's what a believer
is. It's a work of God's grace. Only
God can do such a thing. Only God can take a rebel, an
enemy, An out and out enemy. And make that enemy turn and
rejoice in the Lord. Only God can do that. Only He
can do that. Now, I want to give you some
things that every believer rejoices in the Lord over. I just want
to give you some. We definitely rejoice in His
sovereign grace and love that was set upon us before the world
began. We rejoice in the Lord for that.
We rejoice in the Lord for His incarnate Son, that God sent
His Son. He said over in verse 1, the
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And we know that Scripture
applies to Christ because in the temple, He read from it,
closed the book, sat down and said, this day is this Scripture
fulfilled in your ears. So we know it applies to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, He has sent me
from glory, from that realm of glory where there is nothing but perfection,
nothing but glory, nothing but righteousness and holiness and
peace and joy. He sent me. He became incarnate. The Son of God became incarnate
and came into this world to preach the gospel to us poor sinners. We rejoice in the fact that God
provided His Son to be our Savior. None better. That's all I could
write after that. None better. We have God in human
flesh incarnate. as our Savior, as our Redeemer. Not just any ordinary man, but
God's man. God in human flesh. And then
we rejoice in the Lord for the good tidings that He brought
from glory. Do you realize what He could
have brought? Do you realize the judgment He could
have brought? Do you realize the judgment He
could have pronounced? The disciples said, they got angry at some
people at one time, some men. They said, you want us to call
fire down out of heaven and burn these guys up? I didn't come to destroy men's
lives. I came to save them. He came to save. He brought a
glorious message to sinners like you and me. Worms. Worms. Now that's offensive to
a lot of people. But to worms, it's not. To worms,
it's not. Like He called that woman a dog.
She said, you're right. You got that right. Truth, Lord.
So she said, truth. Oh, what a glorious message He
brought to us. What a glorious message He's
preached to us. And what a glorious message He's given to us to preach
to others. Wow, what a message He brought
from glory. He was sent into this sinful world Can you even
begin to grasp, for a little bit, the world He came from? The glory that He had with the
Father before the world was, that He speaks of in John 17?
And He came into this cesspool of sin and iniquity? Can you
imagine that? But that's what happened. He
took upon Him bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and came
into this cesspool of sin and preached a glorious message,
a message of hope for sinners. And that's who it's for, it's
for sinners. It's not for good people. There's not any. There's
not any. He said there's not any. None
good, no, not one. He came and He preached His glad
tidings. He said to the meek, to the poor, to the poor. He said to the disciples of John
the Baptist, you go tell him the poor have the gospel, the
good news. Preach to them. Then we rejoice in the Lord for
binding up the brokenhearted. Go back over in that first verse.
He came to bind up the brokenhearted. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. The heart that is broken over
sin by the work of the Holy Spirit? The conviction of sin that breaks
the heart? He came to bind it up! I'll tell
you this, what He breaks, you'll bind up. If He breaks your heart,
if the Lord breaks your heart over sin, He'll bind it up. He will apply the balm of Gilead. He'll bind it up. Just like you
break an arm, you bind it up for the men. He binds up the
brokenhearted. That's what He was sent to do.
He wasn't sent to crush the heart, but to bind it up. To heal it. And then we rejoice in the Lord
greatly. We're proclaiming liberty to
the captive. Now you have to be a captive
to appreciate this. You have to know what it is to
be, and I'm not talking about literally in a jail, but I'm
talking about in soul captivity. You have to know what it is to
be in captivity to your sins, captivity under the influence
of Satan, under the influence of this world, in captivity to
it. And when God makes a man to understand
his captivity to the law, and then he sets us free, Through
His blood, through His righteousness, through His person, we are set
free. Whom the Son sets free, He is
free indeed. He proclaimed liberty to the
captive. The gospel is nothing but good
news to sinners. He has set the captive free. The law has no claims on us.
The law cannot condemn us. It is satisfied. Sin has no power
over us. Sin shall not reign over you.
It shall not have dominion over you. Men and Satan shall not
have dominion over you. You are the Lord's free man.
He sets you free. And then we rejoice in the Lord
greatly. Opening the prison house. Opening that prison house. Remember when Peter, was it Peter?
I think it was Peter. He was in the Philippian jailer. Yeah. He was in jail with chains
about his hands and he was in shackles about his feet. He was
chained up. And there was an earthquake and they just fell
off. Fell off. And he walked right out of that
place. It walked right out. The opening of the prison house
to them that are bound. You have to know what it is to
be in prison. You have to know what it is to be bound. You have
to know what it is to have your freedom taken completely away
from you. And when the Lord makes us to
know that, we greatly rejoice in Him for opening that prison
house and setting us free. Setting us free. Loose him and
let him go, for I have found a ransom. I have found the ransom. Where
did you find it? In himself. God found the ransom
in himself. Abraham said to his son, God
will provide himself a lamb. God will do that. And then I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord who has triumphed over all my
enemies." Our enemies are more than we can number. We don't
even have a clue how many enemies we truly have in this life. If
you're a child of God, He said, the world hates you. He said,
it hated me, it'll hate you. All the host of the fallen angels,
Satan and all that, He's your enemy. There's nothing more than
Satan would love than to bring you down and destroy you. But
Christ, our Lord, by His death, by His life, by His power, by
His blood, by His righteousness, has conquered our enemies. He's
conquered them. Listen to this in Ephesians 1. Christ is risen! and seated at
God's right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principalities
and powers, none equal. He does not have an equal. It's
not Satan's on this side and God's on this side and they're
trying to get you to make a decision before you die. No. He has no
equal. He's the monarch. He's the potentate. He's the ruler. Far above all principalities
and power, there is a man in glory right now who has the power
over everything that moves, everything that exists, every angel, every
man, every animal. Did you notice as we kept reading
through that psalm, he would speak about the blessings upon
his people and then he'd switch to nature. He'd switch to creation
and he'd come back to the blessings of Israel. Then he'd go back
to the God of creation. He has power over all. He doesn't have power in one
area and not in another. The Son of God sits enthroned
with all power and all authority in His hands. A gnat, I mean
a gnat cannot move against you without His authority. A wasp
cannot sting you without His authority. Did you notice over
there when I was reading that, he said he gives his breath and
the horror frost is everywhere. Frost is everywhere. Now the weatherman on TV, Channel
3 or 13 or whatever, the weatherman is going to apply that to Mother
Nature. That's God. We see the act and hand of God
every day. Now most of the human race just
ignores it and thinks it just happens. No. But the child of
God sees the handiwork of their Father every day. The flood He
sent through here, was it yesterday? That was His. By His knowledge, as we read
this morning, by His knowledge, He broke up the depth. He made a way for the water courses.
There's not an engineer born or ever shall be born who can
take the creation, a round ball, and make the water flow where
it should. The ocean is on top. He can make
the water flow up to the ocean up here. You know, we would look
at it and we'd get a pump. But God Almighty, by His power,
by the power of His Word, makes it flow in all directions. He
hath made a way for the water course." Oh, what wisdom. What
power. He said He's given power above
all principalities of power and might and dominion. He just names
it all. There's none above Him. There's
none that excels His power. None equal to Him. Not even close.
He says to a demon, come out of Him. He comes out. All things are put under His
feet. You know, the kings, the old
kings, they used to, when they would conquer somebody, they
would take their foot and put it on the neck of their enemy,
of the other king. It says here that all things
have been put under his feet. He's crushed them. Crushed by
him. He has overcome death. The believer
has nothing to fear. He's taken the sting out of death.
He's overcome hell. We don't have to fear that place. He's overcome the grave. We have
nothing to fear in Christ. All power is in His hands and
all things are put under His feet. I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord who said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. He said, when you pass through
the waters, I'll be watching for you. He didn't say that,
did he? I said that. When you pass through
the waters, I'll be with you. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you. That's right, when they went
through Jordan, it did not overflow them, did it? They went through
on dry ground after they got across and it came back together.
When you walk through the fire, and you will, fiery trials, he
said, fiery trials will come up on you. Thou shalt not be
burned. You'll not be marred, scarred
by these fiery trials that will come up on you. You'll not be
burned. You'll not be marred from it. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, thy Savior. And then I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord who commanded the light of the gospel to shine
into my heart to give the light of the glory of God in the face
of His Son, Jesus Christ." How is it you really understand the
gospel? How is it you could sit here
and understand how God can be a just God and a Savior? God revealed that to you. God
commanded the light. He commanded spiritual light,
spiritual understanding into your heart. And when you looked
into the face of Christ, you understood the gospel. You understood
how God could be a just God and save a wretch like you and a
wretch like me. And then I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord who always causes me to triumph in Christ. In Christ. Now listen. In Christ,
we never fail. We never fail. Knock me down. I'll get back
up. One of the writers in Scripture
said, Rejoice not over me, O mine enemies. And this can be applied
to Christ at the cross. For though I fall, yet shall
I rise again. Yet shall I rise again. Don't
rejoice over me. They rejoiced over Him at the
cross. They thought they finally got
Him. They thought they finally did
Him in. And He says here, don't rejoice over me, O my enemies,
for though I fall, yet shall I rise again. And then
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord who loved me and gave Himself
for me. As I said at the beginning of
this, do you realize what it took to bring you to this place?
To rejoice. to praise God, to thank Him,
to have an understanding of the Gospel. You realize what it took? It
took the death of the Son of God. And I'll greatly rejoice
in Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. He died that
we might live. The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God, literally, actually died. that we will not die. The believer will not die. Our
bodies, yes. But the very day that we shut
our eyes in this world, we open them in that one. All we're doing
is changing houses. We're getting rid of this one
for one that's glorified. One that's not going to crumble.
One that's not going to grow old. One that's not going to
hurt and ache and wrinkle up. A new body. A new body. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord who chose me before having done any good or evil. All of grace, isn't it? All of
grace. And then he says, My soul shall
be joyful in my God. My whole being is affected by
this work of grace. My whole being is affected by
it. I don't just give Him lip service.
That's not what we are doing tonight. We're not just giving
Him lip service. We are giving Him being service. For our whole being is involved
in this. When He says, My soul shall be joyful in my God, my
whole being is involved in this. And you notice He says, My God.
Not just a God, as among many. My God. There's only one. Only
one. And to think He's our God. to think He is our God. They
shall be my people and I will be their God. The God of heaven and earth,
the one I read about in Psalm 147, the God of creation, the
God of all that you see, is my God. It's my God. The God of salvation, the God
of redemption is my God. The God of providence, the one
who rules every day's events, is my God. Not a God, He's my
God. The God of election is my God.
The God that plants His foot upon the sea and rides upon the
storm is my God. He's my God. The God who speaks
with power and authority. The God who commanded light and
there was light. The God who commanded creation
and there was creation. The God who commands light and
life is my God. The God of all grace and the
God of all comfort is my God. And I'll greatly rejoice in Him. And it's my God who has clothed
me with the garments of salvation. He's the one who has clothed
me. I didn't buy one thread. I didn't
produce or come up with one thread of this garment. He provided
the whole thing. He has clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of His righteousness. And then I tell you this, that's
how we are. Righteous. Righteous in Him. He found me polluted in my blood,
lying on the ground helpless. Let me show you that over in
Ezekiel chapter 16. This is a picture of how God found us. He says in verse 1, Again the
word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, call Jerusalem
to know her abominations, her sinfulness, her wretchedness.
And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth
and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Thy father was an
Amorite, thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all." You neglected. Neglected. Not I pitied thee
to do any of these things to thee, to have compassion on thee,
but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of
thy person. in the day that thou wast born.
And when I passed by thee, oh, here's what he saw. When I passed
by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, that's what
he saw. But now listen. I said unto thee,
I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said
unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Live. He commanded life forevermore.
Now, in verse 8, Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee,
behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt
over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Then washed I thee with water.
Yea, I Throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broided
work, and shod thee with badger skin. I girded thee about with
fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead,
and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head."
That's what the Lord did for us. That's what the Lord did
for us. Oh, he says here, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation from
head to toe. I didn't provide any of it. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. His righteousness.
As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, And as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels." That's the way the Lord has adorned
us. Oh, I tell you, we have one to greatly rejoice in over what
the Lord has done for us. And as for this center and the
centers in this room, I believe I can speak on behalf of all
of us. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall
be joyful in my God." In my God. Alright. I know that wasn't very
long, but... You know, the other day, Frank read it. I never noticed
it before until it was going through Corinthians. Paul said,
I would rather speak five words I'll tell you what that stuck
with me. I thought, forget about making these long notes. Five
words. If God will give me five words
to say, if they'll come from the throne
of God, that's enough. That's enough. Okay, Mike.