Isaiah 54. We're going to be looking at
Isaiah 54, John 20, Daniel 6, and Ruth 1. So if you're taking
notes or you've got a bunch of fingers, just stick them into
those passages. Let's look at Isaiah 54, verses
1-8. Sing, O barren, thou that didst
not bear. Break forth into singing, and
cry aloud, that thou didst not travail with child for more than
the children of the desolate For more are the children of
the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the
Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth
the curtains of thy inhabitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on
the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear
not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, thou
shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth
when thou wast refused, saith the Lord. For a small moment
have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. And in a little wrath I hid my
face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." Now there
is the central theme which Nathan, in that last hymn, blew it. It
gave it away. It's even me. Lord, do something
with me, for me, for Your great mercy's sake. There's a central
theme in all these verses, which I'm going to read, but we're
going to look at them individually. And it's going to challenge.
I want it to challenge us. In the Gospel, when the Gospels
preach, it challenges the new man. It challenges the flesh,
to mortify the deeds of the flesh, and to be renewed in the Spirit.
But that theme, what is that theme? Well, in this verse, these
verses, specifically verse 5 and verse 8, Thy and my, Thy and
my, for Thy Maker, Your Maker, is Your husband. The Lord of
hosts is His name, Thy Redeemer. thy Redeemer, your Redeemer,
my Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth. And in verse 8, I will have mercy on thee, saith the
Lord, thy Redeemer. Now, in these verses here, there's
a lot of things spoken. It's lovely talk of fearing not. Verse 4, not being ashamed or
confounded of a maker, a husband. It speaks of the God of the whole
earth. But it doesn't do us any real
lasting good if we cannot say from a regenerated, born-anew
heart, He's my Maker. He's my Redeemer. He's my Husband,
thy Redeemer. Here's the challenge. Can we
with certainty, everyone who's listening, Can we with certainty
exclaim that this immutable, this holy, harmless, undefiled
One, Maker, Husband, the Lord of hosts is His name, based upon
God's word of promise to me and to us, can we say that He is
my, He is our Redeemer? Can we say that? May it be so
with everyone in this room this morning. Before we leave this
assembly, even me, may God have mercy on me for His great namesake. He is my Savior. He is our Savior. He's my brother. He's my friend. John chapter
20. John 20, verse 28-31. Let's go
back up. Verse 24, but Thomas, one of
the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So that's the setting. So now
he's with them. Verse 26, And after eight days
again his disciples were within, and Thomas was with them. Then
came Jesus, the door being shut, and stood in the midst and said,
Peace be unto you. Then Christ specifically addresses
Thomas. Now they're all there, but his focus is on Thomas. He says to Thomas, Reach thither
thy finger, behold my hands, and reach thither thy hand, and
thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, be not faithless,
but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. Specifically, our Lord addresses
the one who was absent. I'm not saying he was an unbeliever.
I'm just stating the facts that we know in the Scripture. He
was absent. The Scripture says he, Thomas,
was not with them. That's what the text plainly,
clearly states. He wasn't gathered together the
first time with his brethren. We may say he was providentially
hindered. I know we throw those terms around.
We can't make it or something happens. We were providentially
hindered. He missed the blessing. He missed
the first blessing. But if he's the Lord's sheep,
He's going to get the blessing. He just didn't get it eight days
prior. For whatever reason, he wasn't
there. He wasn't there. But the Savior always reaches
the heart and touches the soul. For He says, look at what He
says, tells him to put His finger in His hands, and His hand is
thrusted to the side, and He says, be not faithless, but believing. He's a believer. He's one of
the disciples. He's a believer. We still have the flesh, don't
we? It's a lot like Bruce made a comment in Bible class. The
world glitters. We're like little kids. It glitters
and we run after it. And we don't think about what
we're doing. We look like, oh, I forgot the brethren. That's what we do. And this is what Thomas did.
Whatever he did, Christ says, don't be faithless. So he was
walking in the flesh. And I know we have bills to pay,
taxes to pay, we have jobs to tend, and that's what we do. We understand that. But if you
leave it to this world, You leave it to this world, sports, or
anything like that. They play on Wednesdays, they
play on Sundays. So, if you're going to do that,
be prepared to be faithless. Be in the flesh. You're going
to do stuff, it's going to take over, but the Lord says, the
first day of the week, the saints gather together. So whatever was going on with
Thomas, Christ just gets right to the point. Don't be not faithless
but believing. But he was a disciple. He was
just perhaps a wandering sheep. Whatever the situation is, the
cure for our current unbelief is always faith. Faith in Christ,
faith by Christ, the faith of Christ. We must see this as unbelief
robs us of present joy and rich peace found only in the Redeemer
and in His words in the book. What's Thomas' response? But I had to bury somebody. I had a marriage to go to. I had some property that I bought.
Isn't this what the Scripture says when we come into the marriage
feast? And they reject it. Well, I've
got this to do, I've got this to do. The Lord gets to the heart of
the matter. And He says, don't be faithless, but believing.
And then Thomas says, Believingly, my Lord and my God. And my God, enough said. It's as though Christ
says, now, Thomas, walk in faith and walk with Me, your specific,
your personal, your loving kinsman. I am that I am. It's almost as
though He said, it was quoted in Amos 3.3, two can't walk together
except they be agreed. It's like Bruce made a comment
about Tommy Robbins. And basically, the pastor we've
had for the last 35 years in our conferences. They come in
and they preach the Gospel. They preach it better than me.
I don't have any question about that. But as Spurgeon's dad says,
my son can preach. He may preach it better, but
he can't preach a better Gospel. No. There's only one Gospel. Every person we have in here,
we're united in fellowship. It's just beautiful. Or when
we go to a conference, we gather with the brethren. We're walking
together because we agree. Do I agree with what this book
says about us, about ourselves? Not the person sitting next to
you, not mom and dad, no, about yourself. You're born in sin. We will not have Christ to reign
over us. We do not love Him. We do not
worship Him. We love ourselves. We worship ourselves. That's
what He says. We can't save ourselves. We tried. We tried. We're like that woman
with the issue of blood. She spends everything she had
and grew worse until she touched the hem of She, personally, specifically,
intimately, my Lord and my God. Daniel chapter 6. Daniel chapter 6. And you're
familiar with all these places. I could have picked a bunch more,
but I thought, well, let's just stick with four. Daniel chapter 6, verses 10-23.
Daniel chapter 6. that these Daniel's cohorts were
trying to get him caught, and they knew that they would catch
him if it had to do with his God. That's the only way they
could trip Daniel up. Daniel 6, verse 10. Wherefore,
now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed that said
you couldn't bow and worship and do anything other than the
God of Nebuchadnezzar, When he knew this was signed, he went
into his house, his windows being opened and chambered towards
Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed
and gave thanks before his God as he did before." So whatever
the laws of this land are, and it's easy for me to say right
now, whatever the laws of this land are, whatever they become,
we're going to gather together. We're going to gather together.
That's what God's people do. Now, some of them, they may put
a sign of a fish and then meet secretly, but we're going to
gather together. So Daniel did this before. Now,
these men who were trying to catch him, they assembled and
found Daniel praying, making supplication before his God.
Then they came near to the king and they said, didn't you sign
a decree that every man shall seek a petition of any god or
man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast
into the den of lions." He said, yeah, I did that. And they said,
well, Daniel's doing it. Well, the king was grieved that he
had been tricked. He saw what was going on. But
meads and persons can't be altered. So in verse 18, we'll skip down
to verse 18, then, the king went into this palace and passed the
night fasting. Neither were instruments of music
brought him before him, and the sleep went from him. Then the
king rose early the next morning, and went in haste to the den
of lions. And when he came to the den,
he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king spake
and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is
thy God, whom thou service continually, able to deliver thee from the
lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever
my God." Not your God. My God has sent His angel and
has shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me for as
much as before Him, God, Ennesi, was found in me, and also before
thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then the king was exceeding
glad for Him." My God. The king couldn't say that. Those
men who cornered Daniel, couldn't say
that, as opposed, my God, as opposed to your God. In the Egyptians,
in the Israelites, he says in Exodus very specifically, the
Lord put a separation between you and them. Those who believe in the grace
of God, in God, in his gospel, the Lord's put a difference between
them, us, and those who believe in works. Merit-based salvation. The God who chose us before time,
sent His Son in time, and called quick and sealed us unto Himself
in our time of salvation. This my God, the God of all who
believe, who is sovereign over every creature, every bug, every
atom, who can and does still deliver His babes from the arms
of sin, Satan, and this dying world of woe. My God. Can we say that this morning,
my God? But look at what he says, for as much as before my God,
innocency was found. For as much as we have the innocency
of the blood of the Lamb upon us and shed for us. That's the
innocence he's talking about, not us. When God says I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. My God, thy God, thy Redeemer. Justice is satisfied. The wrath
cannot be meted out twice. O our God, my God, my Redeemer,
thank You for free, matchless, pardoning grace which is never
left up to us. Lastly, Ruth chapter 1. This is beautiful. Ruth chapter
1. Ruth chapter 1. I'll find it
here. There we go. Ruth chapter 1,
verses 8-18. You know the story. Naomi's husband's
died. She's got two daughters. She's like, I've got nothing
in this land. I'm going to go back to my father's.
Ruth chapter 1. And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
Go return each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with
you, and you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord
grant you that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of
her husband.' Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their
voice and they cried. And they said unto her, Surely
we will return with thee to thy people. And Naomi said, no, turn
again, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are there yet
any more sons in my womb that may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go
your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say
I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should
also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they were grown?
Would you stay for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters,
for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord
is gone out against me." And they lifted up their voice and
wept again. And Oprah kissed her mother-in-law,
but Ruth claved unto her. So you've got two women. You've
got two daughters. One of them said, that sounds
reasonable, kissed her, showed compassion, and went back to
her people. But Ruth, Ruth, Ruth, Jacob, Esau. Ruth said, Behold, thy sister-in-law,
Naomi said, has gone back unto her people and unto her gods.
Return, go after your sister-in-law. And Ruth said, entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people shall be My people. Thy God, My God." Oh, to see somebody enabled by
the Holy Spirit to not let go until God blesses them. Like
Jacob, I'm not going to leave. I know it's tough. We don't know
what we're going to face. The gospel's in a minority. The
gospel's not popular. The gospel's hated. But that's
okay. Because as Matt just read in
Psalms, God is for me. God is for his people. Can you
say that? Can I say that? I've been standing
up here a long time, preaching for... It doesn't matter. My
concern is that while I'm preaching to others, I may be a castaway.
So I look at this and prepare this and I've got my, my, well
I've got crossed out us, us, us, because I don't want it to
sound selfish, but is this God the God, my God? Is he my maker? Is he my husband? Is he my redeemer? Your God, my God, where you die,
I will die and I will be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more
also, if ought but death part thee in me." When Naomi saw that
she was steadfastly minded, that's what the gospel does. It's not
popular. It's not popular. It's not going
to get you a lot of money. But it's going to get you something
far more worthy. It's going to get you that thing
that Mary had, that one thing needful. Christ and Him crucified. When she was steadfastly minded
to go with her, then she left speaking. God's people follow
Christ regardless of the cost. Ruth, do we have any Ruth's here
this morning? My God, my God, even me, Peter
says, to whom shall we go? To whom shall I go? You have
the words of eternal life. Years and years ago, Melinda
and I were looking for other churches. Not that we were looking
to leave this church, but we were looking for places to preach
the same thing. We thought we found a place up
in St. Louis. Here's years ago. We didn't even have care. We
went up there and it was meeting in the guy's home. And he was
very intellectual. Very intellectual. He knew church
history like the back of his hand. And he knew Greek and Hebrew.
He was very scholarly. And we were going up there several
months, and then he says, well, he announced to the people, he
says, we're going to go down to Texas. We're leaving. We're moving. And everybody was
upset. And so we were spending lunch
with them after everybody left. And I said, well, why are you
going? He says, well, I said, what are you going to do? He
said, I'm going to go down. I'm going to be the principal at
a Baptist seminary. I'm like, well, they don't preach
the gospel. He goes, I know that. He goes,
I've been under that stuff before. I can be under it again. I thought
as much as I admired the guy and as smart as he was, that
was probably one of the stupidest things I'd ever heard. And we
drove home. We're like, nope, I couldn't.
Once having tasted of the richness, the freeness, the fullness of
the gospel. That's what he says in Paul,
in Galatians. Paul says in Galatians, how can
you who began in the Spirit, you're going to be made perfect
in the law. You can't do it. Why are you doing it? He says,
I'm in doubt of you. And the whole illustration, the
pearl of great price, that's what he's talking about. He sold
everything. Lock, stock, and barrel sold
everything. to hang on to that pearl, which
is Christ, His gospel, and it's the same thing with children.
As for me in my house, said Joshua, as for me in my house, we're
going to say, look, I'm going to bring my kids and my children,
as long as they're under my responsibility, under the gospel of the grace
of God, because that will save them. And I would love to have
my children, I would love to have my parents, I would love
to have my friends, my neighbors say, my God, my God. Yes, Christ, you Christ, is our
Lord, my God, our Redeemer, my Redeemer. He's life to us. He's
peace to us. He's hope for us. He's love to
us. He's righteousness in us. He's
grace unto us. Why, without Christ, the world
would be a living, actual, bona fide hell. It would be miserable. Separation from Christ. I shudder
just to think of it. I pray Christ, and Christ alone,
is our personal, specific, unique, intimate God and Redeemer this
day. Today, if you'll hear His voice,
if you'll hear His voice, hard not your hearts, come to Him. He has never cast out anyone
who's cried for mercy. Why? Because he's put that cry
for mercy in there. May God be honored and glorified. Nathan, would you close us?