Turn back to Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51. God, in this chapter, is continuing
to give comfort to His people. God is always giving comfort
to His people. You'll notice back in chapter
50, verse 10, He said, Who is among you that
feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness and hath no light? He's not talking about
walking in gospel darkness as far as how God saved sinners,
how God saved me, how God saved you, how God can be a just God
and a Savior. Walking in, and I believe he's
speaking here about that providential darkness that things come upon
us that we don't quite understand. And we walk through and we just,
things happen you say, I don't understand. And you're walking
in some kind of, you know, it's a form of darkness. And he says,
let that person, let that person trust, trust in the name of the
Lord. And I experienced something of
this. You know, I was reading this today and I thought, I experienced
something of this in business. I've been in business this year,
13 years, this month. This month, 13 years. And about
10 years ago, the Lord brought a man, brought Paul Thacker into
the business. And we went on a building spree.
We were going to do what the business needed to do in order
to be a business, in order to make money, make a living out
of it. And after we built the building and bought the equipment
and we did all of that, the Lord took Paul home. And the customers,
the two customers I had that was going to take care of that
equipment, totally disappeared, never even developed. They didn't
even give us the first thing. And the next thing I knew, I
was sitting out there by myself, thinking, Lord, why? What's going
on here? It came so easy, and it went
so quickly. And yet, you know, I was sitting
there, and I think, when I look at this verse, it's like a child
of light. The child of light are those who believe God. And
I was sitting there in darkness as to why this happened. I couldn't
understand. But I learned this. I learned
this over these years that have gone by. Let him trust in the
name of the Lord. That's all I need to do. Just
continue to follow that. You just continue to follow and
trust in him who does all things well. And I think in this chapter 51
is a continuation of comfort that he's given to this people
who walk in in darkness. They are going to go into captivity.
And I know there's going to be those among the Israelites here
that believe God. There's an elect among the elect
here that is speaking to them. And they're going to go into
this captivity. And they're going to be sitting there going, where's
the Lord? And he said, if you just trust
me as you walk. And notice here, he says, notice
this verse. Who is among you that fears the
Lord, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walketh in
darkness? You don't stop. If there's anything
I learned out of this whole experience, you do not stop. You don't quit. You don't stop and you just keep
walking. You trust Him. You trust Him. As Paul said to me once, he said,
I dig this way. If the Lord stops it, then I'll
turn and I'll dig this way. If He stops it, then I'll turn
and dig this way. And I've learned to do that. I've learned to just
keep digging this way and this way. And eventually you'll come
out on the same path He's predestined to you all along. And that's
what He's giving comfort here. And even though the church has
her enemies, she can expect the Lord to help her. You can expect
the Lord's help. It won't fail. You can expect
it. His blessings will be upon her even though she cannot always
detect it. She will not always be cast out,
but God shall help her, as the scripture says in that Bible.
Now, he says this in verse 1, hearken to me. We should always
be ready to listen to God. Children should always be ready
to listen to their father, shouldn't they? Always. Only a fool would
stop his ears when wisdom speaks. And God says, listen to me, hearken
to me. And notice to whom he's speaking
here. Ye that follow after righteousness. This is a mark of God's people.
They truly follow after righteousness. They follow after the Lord, their
righteousness. And they follow after a life
of righteousness. They walk godly in this present
evil world. They walk that way. Their life
walk is after righteousness. That's what the Lord says. You
that follow after. That's the tenor of their life.
They walk and they follow after Christ, who's their righteousness,
and they follow after a life of righteousness. And ye that seek the Lord. Here's
another description. This people who follow after
righteousness also continually seek the Lord. They continually,
not just once a while, not just on Sundays, not just on Wednesdays,
this is an all-day, everyday thing. They continually seek
the Lord. They follow after Him. Now, how
do they do this? How do they do, you that seek
the Lord, how do we do this? Well, first of all, we do it
in His Word. We seek the Lord in His Word.
Apart from this book, you cannot know the Lord Jesus Christ. You
can't do it. He's revealed in the pages of
this book. And then we seek Him among His people right here,
where two or three are gathered together in my name. There am
I. Now, listen to this. There am
I in the midst of them. Do you believe He's here tonight? If more people really believed
that, they'd be here, wouldn't they? This room would be packed
if they really believed it. And then we seek Him in prayer.
We call upon Him. We don't just say words, just
like you pray. We're not just saying words.
We truly seek the Lord in prayer. O thou that hearest prayer. Our
God hears prayer. He hears our prayer. He is our life. The man who does
not seek the Lord need not expect any comfort from him. You need
not expect any comfort if you never seek the God of all comfort
and the God of all grace. And he says this, Look unto the
rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence
ye are digged. Now, we know that we have been chiseled off the
rock of humanity. We know that God set some apart
from Adam's race to make his sons and daughters through the
Lord Jesus Christ, in, by, and through him. We know that. And
we know that he dug us from the pit of corruption and made us
vessels of mercy. He just took us off of that and
made us vessels of mercy. But the rock he says here for
them to look to here is Abraham. And I think the whole of the
pit here he's speaking of is Sarah's dead womb. You know,
Sarah was 90 years old when this happened, when she had Isaac,
and she was, this speaks of the deadness of Sarah's womb. And
God says, you look to Abraham, you look at him, you look what
an example he was, an example of faith. He said, look unto
Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you, for I called
him alone. Guy got away from that crap. Took him out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Got him out of that idolatry. Called him out of there. And
I blessed him. And look what come out of him.
And God blessed him. And increased him. Why should
God, or why would God tell us to look to Abraham? Well, I think,
first of all, because he's an example of faith. You look at
all that Abraham went through. God told him to go kill his own
son. What did he do? What God told
him to do. You don't hear of any arguments,
do you? You don't hear of any? He did what God said for him
to do. Let's go back over here to Romans 4. Romans chapter 4. Here's why he's telling them
to look to Abraham. In verse 16, Therefore it is
a faith that it might be by grace, to the end a promise might be
sure to all to see, not to that only which is of the law, but
to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the
father of us all, as it is written, I have made thee a father of
many nations before him whom ye believe, even God, who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."
Abraham, now listen, who against hope? He was ninety-nine years
old. God said, you're going to have
a son. Ninety-nine years old. Sarah was ninety. Think about
that. Who against hope believed in
hope? He believed God, that's what he did, he believed God,
that he might become the father of many nations according to
that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. He didn't
say, Lord, my body, I'm too old. My body's dead. My body is past
bearing or giving seed. He didn't say that at all, did
he? And this is why he's telling them, look, Abraham believed
God. Even in the darkest times, Abraham
believed God. Even when it seemed to be an
impossibility, and it was with men, but not with God. It's never impossible with God. No matter how hopeless the situation
looks, or how black and bleak it looks, I know this. I know
this. With God, all things are possible.
It's possible. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He had two people here, not just one, yet two people who were
old and past that age. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. He didn't say that's not possible. No, he believed God. He believed
that God was going to do just as He promised. He believed that. He was strong in faith, he says,
giving glory to God and being fully persuaded. That's what
Paul said. Paul used that word, didn't he?
I am persuaded that He's what? Able. But keep that which I permitted. I'm persuaded. And Abraham was
fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also
to perform. It didn't matter what the situation
looked like. It didn't matter. God's able to do it. God's able
to perform all that he's promised. And therefore, it was imputed
to him for righteousness. That's why he said, look at Abraham.
Look back there at Abraham. Look at that rock from which
you were used. There's a hole in the pit unto
Sarah, he says here, that bare you. Sarah also believed God. I know that Sarah laughed. Abraham
laughed also, if you read back over to Genesis 17. But they
believed God. And Sarah believed God. Abraham
did not believe God for Sarah. Sarah believed God also. And
Abraham believed God. She believed God herself, even
while her body was now dead. As I said, with God all things
are possible. We should never stagger. Boy,
I do agree. We should never stagger. through
unbelief at the promises of God, no matter how bad it looks. Scripture
says the just shall live by faith, and that's through every aspect
of life. That's whether you're down here in a valley or on the
mountaintop, we live by faith. Then it says here in verse three,
for the Lord shall comfort Zion. This is where he's headed. He's
going to tell them he's going to comfort his people. He will
comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, and he
will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the
garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
there in thanksgiving, and the voice of melody shall be heard
in her." That's right. The church may be small in number
on this earth, and sometimes her light seems to just flicker. It looks like it's just a little
flicker there. But be assured of this. God has given us this
comfort. God will bless her. God's church,
the bride of Christ, will always be blessed, even though she may
not always be able to detect it, but He will bless her. God
the Father made a covenant with His Son concerning her, and He'll not break that covenant.
God is not a covenant breaker. God's not. He'll bless her. And
he'll bless her for Christ's sake, he'll bless her. That one
man, Christ Jesus, whom God called alone and blessed him, just like
Abraham, he called Abraham alone. Well, Christ is that, he's also
a man whom God called alone and blessed him. And all his seed
is in him, all that promised seed. And he spoke to Abraham
about it, which really belongs to Christ. They shall be blessed. Oh, they'll be blessed in here.
The church may look a little desolate now and then, but just
wait. You just wait. Her end will be
joy and gladness. Our end is joy and gladness. And Thanksgiving will be found
in her walls. You just wait. Wait till the
end of it and you'll see. And he says again here in verse
four, hearken unto me, my people. and give ear unto me, O my nation."
You notice here, he says, my people. I'm talking to my people. I'm not talking to just any people. I'm talking to my people. I'm
talking to my nation. That's who I'm talking to. The
blessing belongs to them that are his. Those that are in Christ,
those who are born of God, that's the ones he's talking to. Those
are the ones that are going to be blessed in him. And he says
this, For a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment
to rest for a light of the people." Here's the law. He's talking
about the law of liberty, the gospel, the gospel. He said, a law shall proceed
from me. The gospel proceeded from the
Lord Jesus Christ when he came into this world. He preached
the gospel. He set the captive free. He proclaimed liberty to
the Catholic. He came and preached the gospel
to us. That's what he did. And he said
here, and it shall rest, or it will remain, that's what he's
saying, it shall rest for a light of the people, it will remain
as long as the church is in this world, the gospel will remain
a light for her and a rest for her. It shall rest for a light,
he said, of the people. The gospel is the light. in which
we see life. It directs our steps. You want
to know which way to go? You ever want to know what to
do? Continually sit under the gospel
and it'll direct you. I find that there is just a general
direction that the gospel gives us as we continually sit under
it. It'll direct you. That's the reason, you know,
I've always, I've said, When people ask me about raising kids,
I say, just keep them under the gospel. It'll direct you and them, and
it'll direct you on how to raise them. It'll direct our worship. Our worship will be worship.
It'll be worship. It won't be foolishness. It'll
be worship. We look for no other light than what we have in the
gospel. What God's given us in the gospel,
we look for nothing else. He says in verse 5, My righteousness
is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arm shall judge
the people, the isle shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall
they trust. Christ has brought it to us.
He said, My righteousness is near. I'll tell you what, when
Christ comes, His righteousness is near. He is the righteousness
of God, by which God saves sinners. He brought it to us. Christ has
come and brought salvation with Him. His arms are open to sinners,
and He'll judge those that despise Him. But His arms are open to
welcome and embrace sinners. And the Gentiles, He says here,
the Isles, the Gentiles, that's who they are, the Gentiles shall
wait or look to him." We'll look to him who is our righteousness
and strength. And they shall trust in the arm
of the Lord. He said, trust in the arm. That
arm of the Lord is Christ. Whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
That arm of salvation, that arm of strength, that arm of the
Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we trust in the arm of the
Lord, Christ himself. Now it says here in verse 6,
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath.
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth
shall wax old like a garment. And they that dwell therein shall
die like man. But my salvation shall be forever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished." These things here
that you see, he says, are going to perish. Don't set your heart
upon things that are burning. You wouldn't not set your heart
upon a trash can on fire, would you? He said, don't. These things are burning up.
These things, he said, are going to perish. But my salvation,
the salvation that God has provided for us in Christ, shall be forever. It shall, he says, shall be forever. There will be no end to God's
salvation. There'll not come a time when
it'll break or fail. It'll never fail, not at all. Nothing will break His secure
hold of His people, nothing. His covenant with them in Christ
will never be disannulled, never. And my righteousness shall not
be abolished. No one will find a flaw in His
righteousness. And it shall not fail, listen,
it shall not fail to justify all those that are here. It will
not fail. It will not be abolished. Now, he says in verse seven,
I'm just going to go to verse eight. Harken unto me, ye that
know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law, who
have been born of God. I put my law in your heart. Fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their revilings. He says, listen to
me, you that know righteousness. You know the One who is your
righteousness. You know Him. You know Him by
imputation and you know Him by impartation, in whose heart is
my law. Don't be afraid of man that shall
die. What does it matter if someone
casts aspersions upon me and says, you're crazy, you're off
on the deep. What does that matter? What does
that matter? He said, don't be afraid of their
reviling. They cannot do anything. They
can't do anything without your heavenly Father. He said, listen,
I'll show you something about these men. I'll show you something
about these men who do this. A moth shall eat them up. A moth shall eat them up like
a garment. And the worm shall eat them like
wool. But my righteousness shall be
forever. And my salvation from generation
to generation is not going to stop it. You notice here how
such little things eat up those who act so big. He said the moth. It may take it a little while.
You know how long it might take a moth to eat up this coat? It
may take it a while, but it will eat it up. It will do it. These are the judgments of God.
The moth and the worm. They may eat away slowly. The
judgments of God may be a little slow at times, but they're sure. We saw some of that this past
week. They are sure. They will happen. God will in
time destroy all those who hate the gospel, who hate Christ,
who hate his people. Now, here's what he's saying.
Trust him. Trust him. who is righteous in
all His ways and holy in all His works. Trust Him. Trust Him. As you walk in darkness sometimes,
you don't know what's going on, trust Him. His salvation of His
elect shall be from generation to generation. I know we look
at these generations and we think, boy, this is the worst time we've
ever lived in. Well, God's been saving this time just like He
did in generations gone by. God can save your children just
like He saved you. He can do that. His salvation,
His elect, shall be from generation to generation. And He will always
have a people, God will always have a people in every generation,
everyone. So trust Him. Trust Him who never
fails. Trust Him who never fails.