Well we're looking at Isaiah
58 this morning, so we're getting towards the end. Isaiah 58, and
we'll be focusing particularly on verse 11 a little bit later. But the context, Stephen read
it to us earlier, the context of Isaiah 58 is the Day of Atonement. You might have heard of the Day
of Atonement in the Old Testament. All the stipulations for it are
back in the books of Moses. The Day of Atonement, the day
when at-one-ment is made between God and His people, that which
makes atonement, that which satisfies the justice of God, which is
offended because of the sin of his people. And that day was
to be kept sincerely by faith, looking to what Christ would
do. All of those animal sacrifices
in themselves didn't do anything. All they did was picture that
which the Lord Jesus Christ would do, by His death on the cross,
by His shed blood, by His bearing the sins of His own people in
His own body on that cursed tree, Him being made a curse for His
people, thereby taking away the curse of the law from His people.
It all looked to that. And people with true faith, in
those days, right from the beginning, because there were, as we've
been seeing in our study of Romans on Wednesday nights, we've been
seeing that there were always, even though the majority didn't
truly believe, there were always, there always was, a remnant according
to the election of grace, who believed the gospel of grace.
And they looked forward, as they went through what the Day of
Atonement stipulated they were to do, they were looking to Christ
by faith, as they kept their Sabbaths. You'll have noticed
in verses 13 and 14, God speaking about the Sabbath, he's not speaking
about a day to us now. It was a day then, but it was
symbolical of that rest from works of righteousness, because
Christ has accomplished all the works of righteousness for His
people. He has accomplished righteousness
for His people, the righteousness of God. He has made His people
the righteousness of God in Him. He has done it all, and the Sabbath
We keep the Sabbath every day by faith. We were thinking of
it a couple of weeks ago. We keep the Sabbath every day
by faith if we look to Jesus, believing Him. That's what it
is, to keep the Sabbath. Not just not to go shopping on
one day of the week. Not silly stipulations like that.
That's just the teaching of men. No, this is the truth of God,
to trust Christ, to look to Him. Now, The Day of Atonement, we
know it's about that because it talked about fasts. You heard
in the first few verses, is this the fast I have chosen? Is not
this the fast that I have chosen? The Day of Atonement had stipulations
about fasts, about separation from the world, about dedication
to the service of God, about keeping the Sabbath, And God
says here that amongst those that were his ancient people,
and the people of this day of Isaiah, 700 and odd years before
Christ came, were hypocrites. They were nothing other than
hypocrites, because they went through the outward motions of
keeping that feast in everything that it seemed to say on the
outside, yet inside, their hearts were far from God. God says early
on in Isaiah, this people, they seem to worship me with their
lips, they say the words, but he says their heart is far from
me. They have a pretense of being
God's true people. Look in verse 2. They seek me
daily, they delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness
and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me
the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching to
God. You see, it's all superficial, it's all on the surface, yet
in actual fact, it was full of hypocrisy, because the rest of
their works belied the fact that they didn't trust God, they didn't
bow to His justice and His truth, not at all. No. They had no true... What is it when we come to the
communion? We held communion last week, and it's discernment
of the Lord's body, of Christ's body. What is it to discern Christ's
body? It's by faith to look and to
see in his broken body and his shed blood the forgiveness of
our sins, the cleansing of our sins. That's what it is. That's
what it is to feed on the flesh and blood of Christ, to drink
his blood. That's what it is to discern
his body. There was no true discernment of the truth of salvation. They
had sacrifices for sin, animal sacrifices, but there was no
true sacrifice for sin. There was no true blood of redemption,
looking by faith to what Christ would shed on the cross. It's
his finished work there that accomplishes salvation. It is
his finished work there that is our Sabbath from our own works
of righteousness. And it's not just a Sunday thing.
It's not just a one-day-a-week thing. It's a life lived. What does it say in Hebrews chapter
12? Run the race looking unto Jesus. Live your life looking unto Jesus. What, you mean my life when I'm
at work? Yes, yes, all through the week. Walking, as it says
in Romans 8, in the Spirit. Those that walk according to
the Spirit and not according to the flesh. I'm talking about
heart faith. Do you have true heart faith,
which is given by God? And when He gives that true heart
faith, He gives that sight of the soul, that sight to see the
truth of God, that faith to grasp, you know, as Jacob wrestled with
the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. It's to grasp it, to
grasp what you see metaphorically, but in reality that's what your
soul clings to. To feed, to feed upon the blessings
of God's kingdom and to do it now and on into eternity. I'm talking about the truth of
salvation. I'm talking about that which
puts you in a good standing with God for eternity, that gives
peace to your soul, so that when you lie me down, as the Psalmist
says in Psalm 4, I will both lie me down in peace and sleep,
for thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. It's that,
the truth of salvation. The reality of the atonement
that Christ made in the redemption that is in his blood, the redemption,
the price paid, the price of release, the price of liberty,
the ransom price to free his people from the curse of the
law, that which he paid with his shed blood. It's the faith
that Paul, writing to Titus, calls the faith of God's elect. Yes, God has a people, a multitude
which no man can number. And you say, how do I know I'm
among them? There's only one way. You believe the truth. You
believe this gospel of grace. You rest in Him. Knowing, beloved,
your election of God, says Paul to the Thessalonians, because
they believed the truth, the faith of God's elect. And what
is that faith in? It's the faith of Christ, the
faithful work of Christ, that he accomplished when, obedient
to his heavenly Father as a man, God made man, went to the cross. despising the shame, set his
face as a flint to go, to accomplish the salvation of his people,
for his name was Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his
people from their sins. Are you Am I? Am I? I ask myself. Deceiving others,
and more importantly, deceiving yourself. You see, God tells
us here in this chapter that he hates falsehood. He hates
hypocritical religion. Jesus spoke about people, those
who've made a pretense, like the Pharisees. He said they're
whitewashed sepulchres. You know a sepulchre is a grave,
it's a tomb where you put dead bodies. He said they're whitewashed,
on the outside they gleam beautifully in the sunshine, you can see
them from miles away, gleaming with the whitewash on the outside.
But inside is the stench of death and rottenness and dead men's
bones. That's what Jesus said, you say,
oh you're using crude language, that's the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. about what it is to be a hypocrite. Whitewashed
on the outside, but rottenness inside. The Jews of Isaiah's
day were zealous in outward performance, as we've already seen in verse
2, but not, as Romans 10, 12 says of them, they have a zeal
for God, but not according to knowledge. What knowledge? The
knowledge of God, the righteousness of God. They haven't submitted
to the righteousness of God. They're pursuing their own righteousness
by what they do. They haven't submitted to the
righteousness of God. Isaiah, here, in this chapter,
he says this is the fast that God wants. Not the one where
you make yourself look poorly on the outside so people will
go, oh, isn't he a religious person? Isn't he doing the right
thing? No, he says this is the fast that I've chosen, in verse
6, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to
let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke. Compassion. Not constantly seeking your own
ends, irrespective of what it does to others. Isaiah speaks
of true faith that works. Is that not what James writes
about in his epistle? You say you have faith, show
me your faith by your works. Show me it by what you actually
do. You outwardly need to demonstrate
in demeanor, in attitude, in honesty, in selfless consideration
for others. That's what displays the work
of grace within. But rather than going on with
what might start to sound like a rant, with negatively denouncing
ungodliness in those who profess faith, I want you to see in verses
8 to 12, and especially verse 11, the Lord promises great blessing
on those with the true faith of God's elect which bears fruit. In verse 11, we see five promises
from God to his people. The Lord shall guide thee continually. He shall satisfy thy soul in
drought. He shall make fat thy bones.
You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose
waters fail not. And I've called this message,
The Happy Condition of Faith. God says, if you have this heart
faith from me, if you have this true heart faith that works,
you will be blessed with these five blessings. And that's what
I want to be our focus in the time we have available this morning. First of all, look at it in verse
11. This is what, are you a believer? This is what God promises to
you. This is what the God of heaven promises to you. The Lord
shall guide you continually. The Lord shall guide you continually. Who's he speaking to? little
insignificant you and me. That's who he's speaking to.
If you're a child of God by faith, if you believe and trust the
Lord Jesus Christ, if you're an object of His grace, for by
grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. If you're an object of His grace,
you know you are loved with an everlasting love by God. That's
what he says through Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. When did God start to love his
people? He never did start, because he
always did. There was never a time when God
did not love his people, from all eternity. This is God who
is the creator. And this is God... Do you want
to be guided by somebody who's having a good guess? Or do you
want to be guided by somebody who's omnipotent? Do you know
what omnipotent means? It means all-powerful. Is there
anything God cannot do? No. God is omnipotent. Well,
where is God? God is omnipresent. Is there
anywhere I can go where I am beyond His reach and His care
and His guidance? No. Is there anything He doesn't
know about my situation or the future? He is omniscient. He
knows all things. This is the promise of this God,
that he will guide his people continually. This is his promise,
continual guidance. What do I mean? is more or less always like a
maze. Do you know what a maze is? You
know, you go in these places, some big country houses have
them, and it's hedges planted in a way so that there's a network
of paths. I know there's one at Nedworth
House, isn't there? There's definitely one there. And there's one at
Hampton Court, which is a famous one. and people get hopelessly
lost in the middle of them, because you get in there and you just
don't know which way to turn, and you come, you think, ah,
this is the way out, dead end, oh, you try somewhere else, and
you've forgotten where you last turned, and you can get incredibly
confused, and you know, life can seem like that. God promises
to His people, I will guide you continually. How does He guide
us? You know, we get to a junction
in the way. Which way to go? Do I go that
way or do I go that way? You know, it happens all the
time, especially when you're young and setting out on your
careers and things like that. Junctions in the road. How does
God guide His people? Well, first of all, His truth. sets you on a solid foundation.
His Word, the teachings of His Word set you on a solid foundation. Those teachings of His Word,
they ground you on a solid rock which cannot be moved. You know
when Jesus spoke about the foolish man building his house on the
sand that is shifting, the storm comes and it shifts the sand
and the house falls down and great was the fall of it. But
the wise man built his house upon the rock. That's the one
who looks to the word of God, to the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word, there is no truth
in them. Luca reminded me on Wednesday night when we were
having our study of a verse. Do you remember this, Luca, reminding
me of this verse? It's here on the bulletin. I put it there.
Psalm 119, verse 105. And it says this, thy word God's word, the scriptures, is
a lamp unto my feet. Ever been out on a pitch dark
night? Of course you have, you take the dog for a walk at night
with your dad, don't you? Yes, and it's dark, you don't
know where to put your feet, do you? Well this says, your
word is like a lamp to my feet, to show me where to go. This
is how God guides his people, a light unto my path. This is
what he does, this is what he does, this is how God leads,
he leads through his word. He guides us away from error.
He guides us away from that which is fundamentally wrong, fundamentally
against His principles of truth. And I've found down the years,
Christine and I have found, time and time again in matters of
religion, He has led us away from fundamental error. He's
led us away from charismatic error. He's led us out of legalistic
error, which is not the gospel. They talk as if theirs is the
only true gospel, because they're such upholders of the law of
God. They don't realize that what they're preaching, whatever
it is, it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's led us out
of antinomian error, which is the error that goes to the other
extreme and says you can live how you want and it doesn't matter,
you can do what you want. His truth has guided us. Is this
in accordance with God's Word? Well, no, it isn't. Well, don't
go down that route then, because His Word guides us. It gives
us right principles of judgment in different situations. Psalm
25, verse 5, lead me in thy truth and teach me. This is what we
ask God to do. Lead me in thy truth, the truth
of His Word, for He will not lead you contrary to what His
Word teaches. Psalm 43 verse 3, thy light and
thy truth, let them lead me. This is what the psalmist is
asking for. God's truth will keep you from
many a wrong turn. And even, even when it seems
as though you're doing yourself harm, ah but if only I went there,
if only I did that, just think of the things that I could have,
just think of the money I could have, just think of the pleasures
that I could have, only if I did that, Remember what God says,
he that honoreth me, him will I honor. Put God first in your
decision making about what you do. Secondly, he guides us by
providence, the things that happen in this life, that force us,
as it were, to go in the way that He wants. What does He say
in Romans 8, 28? You know it, you know this so
well. He causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, who are called according to His purpose. Not
just some things, not just, oh, that was lucky, wasn't it? He
caused it, this. No, all things, all the time. He who rules over
all, He who has the heart of the King, in his hands. This is what Proverbs says. God
has the heart of the king. Do we live in uncertain political
times? Everywhere, everywhere. This
side of the Atlantic, the other side of the Atlantic, everywhere
there seems to be political turmoil. My friends, don't be afraid of
it. Don't fear the outcome. We've
got an election coming up in a few weeks in this country,
and the outcome of it could, to some of us, to many of us,
seem absolutely horrendous. Don't be concerned. Don't be
worried. Who is it that's got the ruler's
heart in his hands? It is God. And he may do evil
things, but don't worry, only as far as God will allow him.
And what's his ultimate purpose? To take his people, his blood-bought
people, to eternal glory, that his kingdom should come and should
triumph over the false kingdom of this world. No, our God looks
down from above on that maze. There's a garden down in southwest
Cornwall, near Helston, by the Helston River. It's a National
Trust garden, and that's got quite a complicated maze in it.
But the gardens are set in a deep valley, and on the path around
the gardens there's one point where you can stand on a platform
and you look down, right down on top of the maze, and you can
see lots of people, very, very confused down below. And it's
almost like You could shout down to them, no, no, don't turn that
way, go that way down there, and then right again, and you
could guide them. Well, I know it's a trivial little picture,
but this is God guiding his people. He sees all. When you don't know
which way to go, he does, and he will guide you, and ask him
to guide you. Lord, you have promised, you
have promised to your believing people, you will guide us continually. And as we walk by faith, thirdly,
as we walk by faith with God. Do you know Enoch, one of the
early characters in the scriptures? Enoch walked with God, it says. People make out that Enoch was
such a holy man, he was so much holier than the rest of us that
he deserved by his own holy efforts to be taken straight to heaven.
That's not what it teaches in the slightest. How was it that
Enoch walked with God? Answer, by faith. Because when
Hebrews 11 in verses 5 and 6 tells us about Enoch walking with God
by faith, by sight of the soul, spiritual sight, looking to that
which he couldn't see with physical eyes, but which by faith he saw
coming, the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse
him from his sin, from that which he'd inherited from Adam, along
with all of the progeny of Adam. He said, he walked with God by
faith and was taken. For without faith, it is impossible
to please God. It doesn't matter how good he
would be. It doesn't matter how obedient to the law of God he
might be. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. So through the ups and downs
of life, What a comfort it is to know that God guides his people.
Shall I give you this verse? Just think of this, just mull
this over. Do you know, this is such a good verse to chew
on. You know, in those moments in the night when you wake up
and you don't know what's going on, Jeremiah 29, verse 11. This is what God says to his
children. This is what God says, who rules
over all. He says, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and
not of evil, to give you an expected end. He has your good constantly
in his mind and in his purpose. This is the God that we believe,
and it's God who guides, Jehovah. Not an angel, not a minister,
not anybody else. It is God who says He will guide
us. He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus
said, I am the Good Shepherd. He leads His sheep. His sheep
follow Him because He leads. I will guide you. And it's not
just from time to time. It's continually. Continual guidance
then. Is that not a... what a blessing,
isn't it? Would you miss out on that? Thinking
of your life, would you deliberately, knowing that that's there, would
you deliberately miss out on that? God's promise of continual
guidance. Secondly, soul satisfaction. He says, I will satisfy thy soul
in drought. I will satisfy your soul in drought. Satisfy your soul. What makes
you happy? What gives you a buzz? What ticks
all the boxes? You know, It says again in Hebrews
11, talking about Moses, who was brought up as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter in the palace in Egypt, with all of the riches
and treasures of that great empire of the ancient world. And Moses
was able to enjoy anything he wanted. He could ask for it and
it would be his. He was brought up as a prince
in the palace. Everything was his. But it says
in Hebrews that because he saw the truth of Christ by faith. Because he looked to God, he
decided, he chose, deliberately, because of the faith that he
had, seeing Christ, to shun, to not go along with what he
calls the pleasures of sin for a season, because make no mistake,
Sin and this world gives pleasure for a while, but the world does
not satisfy. It gives fleeting highs and then
lowly emptiness. Does it not? Is that not the
experience? As the old hymn says, I tried
the broken cisterns, Lord, but ah, the water's failed. The broken
cisterns of this world, giving that water that your soul needs
for happiness and security. But the broken cisterns hold
no water. Even as I stooped to drink, they
mocked me as I wailed. No, fleeting highs, but then
great big emptiness. And you know, it gets only worse.
It really does. You ask anybody that's getting
on in years, the passage of time, it comes along so quickly. You
seem like the whole world, the world is your oyster as they
say, everything is there before you to be had and to be enjoyed
and to be made the most of. But oh how quickly time comes
and nibbles away and eats it away and we grow old. and one
crisis after another comes, and don't we all the time hear of
people in the prime of life being struck down by a terminal illness,
or an accident, or whatever else might come along. These things
happen. Doubts and fears regarding eternity
arise. It's all broken cisterns in this
world. They hold no long-term thirst-quenching
water. But the Christian, with true
heart-faith from God, is nourished in the soul. What feeds him?
What feeds him? What is it that satisfies the
soul? It's the knowledge of sins forgiven.
My sin, of the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not
in part but the whole, is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no
more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. The fact that from before the
beginning of time, you know, I can only recall things from
when I was probably about two, going on to three years old,
like most of the rest of you. I don't recall anything before
that. But, but, the Word of God assures me that from before the
beginning of time, I was put in union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that everything that He is,
and everything that happened to Him, and everything that He
is now, is mine. He is mine and I am his, says
his word. I have a solid hope of heaven.
I don't just hope, fingers crossed, that I'll get there. I have a
solid hope because it's based on an absolutely solid foundation. People like to talk about insurance
giving them peace of mind. Oh, you know, I don't need to
worry about the house having its roof blown off because I've
got insurance. It gives me peace of mind, will
I tell you. That's not truly peace of mind,
it's so fleeting. I'm talking about peace of mind
for eternity. That happiness of the soul, that
satisfied soul. That's what the scripture calls
joy. This is it, true joy. It's not all bubbling over all
the time, but deep down inside, deep, deep joy in the soul. And especially in drought. Notice
he doesn't say, I shall satisfy thy soul in plenty. He says,
I shall satisfy thy soul in drought. Think of the farmer. It's easy
to be satisfied when there's good rain and the crops grow
well and there's a big harvest. But what about drought? When
you look at the fields and they say, oh look, there's going to
be no harvest this time. In drought, God says, I will
satisfy your soul. material loss. In this life you
might suffer material loss. Which of us has any idea what
the current state of affairs in the world is going to bring?
We might suffer material loss. People did, not many years ago. In the lifetime of some, in the
lifetime of some, some living in Germany in the 1930s, And
I know we have a lady here this morning who lived in Germany
in the 1930s, but some living there went from being comfortably
rich to having nothing but poverty in a matter of days. They really
did. It happens. It still happens in the world.
Bereavement can come along. Bereavement of family and friends.
Oh, what will I do now without such and such a one? Or, I'm
in the peak of fitness and health, and then something comes completely,
as we say, out of the blue. Sickness. Or in other situations,
other societies, a loss of liberty. Those that get imprisoned. There
are states in this world who, if you believe the gospel of
grace, you will be locked up so that you don't pollute the
others around you. But I tell you, whatever these things do,
there is no loss of Christ. There is no loss of the assurance
that God's thoughts are for our good eternally. He satisfies
our soul in drought. Do you know that sometimes God
removes worldly light, that we might see the heavenly stars
more clearly. You look up now, outside. It
was a clear morning this morning, but you look up there, you can't
see any stars because it's too much light. But when the light
is removed, the light of the sun is removed, as dark as it
is, what do you see? On a clear night you see the
glory of all the stars that are there all of the time. And sometimes,
metaphorically, God removes worldly light that we might see heavenly
stars more clearly. He teaches us where our true
treasure rests, for the believer We lay up treasure in heaven,
where moth and rust, the moth and rust of this world, cannot
touch it, cannot corrupt it. Look at Habakkuk, I'll turn there
for you. At the end of Habakkuk, he says
this, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, the field
shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls. That sounds like
drought. That sounds like material deprivation on a grand scale.
But he says this, knowing who's in charge of it all, he says,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make
me to walk upon mine high places. That's the trust and faith of
the one whom God blesses with this soul satisfaction. Then,
thirdly, he says, I will make fat thy bones. You might think,
no thank you, I can do without that, I don't want to be made
fat, I want a nice, slim, lean figure. But this is metaphorical.
He's talking about spiritual health and happiness. Fat bones. Strong, healthy bones. Experiences
and teaching in the world make the flesh fat, not the bones. They make the flesh fat, which
leads to slovenliness, which leads to all sorts of health
problems. Spiritual poverty is what it
pictures. So beware of seeking emotional
and psychological good there, in the world, and what it offers.
You need fat bones, you need strong bones, symbolizing spiritual
health and strength. Because the bones are the pillars. What's the use of strong muscles
if you haven't got strong bones to go with it? You'll only break
them. It's strong bones, strong bones that provide stability
to the frame. This strength comes through spiritual
nourishment. Spiritual nourishment. It's getting
the precepts and promises of God's Word applied to your soul,
to feed your soul, to give you strength. This is what it means.
And it's not just a Sunday thing. It's not just a once a week thing.
You know, there are many professing Christians who are content. Do
you know what gruel is? If you read any Victorian novels,
any Dickensian novels, you'll know what gruel is. It's a very,
very poor standard of food. It's very, very unappetizing. It's horrible. It's not nice. It's not what you would want
to live on. And many professing Christians are content with a
little gruel on a Sunday and then they starve themselves.
They go to sleep for the rest of the week until the next time.
We need to use the means of grace. We need to use the preaching
of God's Word. We need to use the reading of
the Bible. This is my food, this is my soul
food. This is where I get the truth
of God that strengthens my bones. We need to pray for the light
of God to be shined upon it and give us more light in our hearts
as to his truth. To search the scriptures as the
noble Bereans did. To search the scriptures daily
to see whether the things preached are true. getting spiritual nourishment
into the bones of spiritual life. So you can happily say, what
did we sing just before? You can happily say this, the
terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do. Why?
Because I've got these truths in my soul. I know they're true.
Verse 3, my name from the palm of his hands, eternity will not
erase. How do you know? The Word of
God tells me and has told me. That's what I'm relying on. impressed
on his heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace, I to the
end shall endure. All of these things all speak
of the strength that we get in the inner man from the Word of
God teaching us. Then next, fourthly, you will
be like a watered garden. I love going to formal gardens,
some of my favorites. Great Dixter down in Sussex,
what a beautiful place. The borders, you've never seen
anything like it, absolutely magnificent. And do you know
what makes it like that? Constant cultivation by skilful
gardeners who prune who tie things up, who feed the plants, who
water the plants, who harvest the goods. All of those things,
God says, you, child of God, trusting in Him, will be like
a watered garden. You'll be like that because He
cares for you, with the care that a careful gardener gives
to his garden. What do we do with a garden?
Do you ever watch Gardener's World? You know, the programme
that's on from March till October. And what Monty Don, the presenter,
says so many times, he says, do all these things, do all these
things. But then he'll often stop towards the end of the programme
and he says, but above all, above all, make sure you enjoy it. Enjoy your garden. Enjoy it.
That's what it's for. Enjoy it. What is the chief end
of man according to the old catechism? The chief end of man is to know
God and to enjoy Him forever. And he says, I will make you
like a watered garden, like a cultivated garden, like a cared for garden. There are those who profess faith,
but they show very little evidence of flower or fruit, because there's
no water. This is a watered garden. Where
do we get the water? It's the same answer again, from
the Word of God, from reading it, from studying it, from listening
to it preached. We've got so much provision these
days, there's no excuse for missing out on it. fellowship with other
believers, fellowship with other believers, sharing what the Lord
has done for them. Do you know, continuing the analogy
of the gardener, hobbyists, gardeners, share their latest discoveries.
Have you ever seen gardeners on a set of allotments and They
love to share plants with one another. Oh, look at this one
that I've discovered. Would you like a cutting of it?
Have some of these seeds. They love to share new plants.
Well, so it should be between believers who, feeding on this
word and getting it inside them, have got testimonies to give
one to another. Look what the Lord has done for
me. That Gadarene demon-possessed man who met Jesus, and he's healed,
the demons are driven out, and he's there clothed and in his
right mind at the feet of Jesus. And he says, Lord, I pray you
that I might be able to come with you and be one of your disciples.
And you know, Jesus said, no, no, no, don't do that. Go home. and tell them, tell
them what the Lord has done for you. Be a watered garden and
share this together. And then finally, like a spring
of water whose waters fail not, an unfailing spring of water,
a spring that the word really means deceive, an unfailing one,
like whose waters fail not, whose waters don't deceive, whose waters
don't lie. Some profess true faith but disappoint. They promise water, but they
prove to be dry. They prove that there's no evidence
of grace, of godliness, true godliness. Not a pious show, but true godliness,
inner godliness, true spiritual beauty, of selflessness and honesty. True Christians refresh brethren
with water from the well within. What well am I talking about?
You know, when Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman, and he
asked her for a drink from the well of water that she was drawing
water from, and she said, why are you, a Jew, asking water
of me, a Samaritan woman? And he said, if you knew who
it was who was speaking to you, you would have asked him. for
the water that He gives. He was speaking about spiritual
water, that water of life, of eternal life. And Jesus says
in John 4.14, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life, a spring
of water whose waters fail not, a perpetual supply. Is this not
a happy condition to be in. Isn't it? The world's events,
the things that happen in life, don't alter it. Here we have
from God five promises, constant guidance, soul satisfaction in
drought, fat bones, strong bones, a watered garden, and a spring
of water that doesn't fail. Or do you prefer the world's
recipe for happiness? Because the world does have a
recipe for happiness. If you do, to you, God would
read the verse in the negative. I will not guide you at all. You're left to yourself. I will
give you no satisfaction when the things of this world dry
up and you don't have anything to feed upon like the prodigal
son when everything had run out. I'll not give you anything that
will put strength into your spirituality. You shall be like a garden that's
left to itself with no watering and no caring and no tending.
You shall be like a spring of water who constantly deceives
and fails and doesn't give that which it's meant to give. That's
what he would say. you shall not be divinely guided.
You'll be parched, without hope, when pleasures dry up. You'll
have no spiritual strength. Christ is coming quickly, he
says. In Revelation, he says, behold,
I come quickly. Who are you going to be like?
Jesus told the parable of 10 foolish virgins and 10 wise virgins
waiting for the marriage supper and the bridegroom to come. And
there's all the symbology of the East and these nighttime
weddings that they have. And the foolish virgins had no
oil for their lamps. Do you know what that is? That's
the spirit of God within, the truth of God within. Here it
is, we have it, how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid
for your faith in his excellent word. Well, we'll stop there.