Turning to Isaiah 55 this morning,
Isaiah chapter 55. We've got to chapter 55. of a very
long book, it's got as many chapters as the Bible has books, 66. 66
chapters in Isaiah, 66 books in the Bible. And if you go way
back to when we started this, Isaiah chapter 1 is God's charge
sheet the accusations he makes of sin against Israel. The nominal
people of God were the people of Israel, the Jews in the land
of Israel, Palestine in the Middle East, in the days of the Old
Testament, and in the days when Isaiah was writing, about 750
to 800 years before Christ came, I presume, I think it was, something
like that, give or take, He says in chapter 1, these are the things
that I've got against you. Basically, blatant sin, blatant
corruption, trying to hide behind a veil of religious hypocrisy. Don't you find that in this world
today, there is so much hypocrisy? I just find it so incredible. the way in which the politically
correct brigade is constantly bringing holier-than-thou accusations
against all sorts of other people and yet hiding the fact that
they themselves fundamentally are no different. We're a society
of judgmental accusers, one to another, against a very dodgy
standard, certainly not the standard of the Word of God, in fact more
often than not the very opposite of the standard of the Word of
God. And how how judgmental people have become. And these people,
they were practicing blatant sin and they were hiding it all
behind a veil of religious hypocrisy. But in that same chapter, as
so often, the gospel, the good news is announced. The good news
because the justice of God must condemn all sin. And yet the
gospel proclaims forgiveness of sins, cleansing from sin,
justification from sin. In verse 18 of the first chapter
of Isaiah, God says to his people, he says to people like us, come
now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, though it stands out so blatantly obviously, they
shall be white as snow. They shall be white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The redness,
the guilt, the anger against them will be taken away. And
you go through all the rest of the chapters, all the rest of
those sermons that Isaiah preached and committed to paper under
the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, and we get to Isaiah
53 as we did three weeks ago, and you see there how it is that
God is able to be just and justifier. How God is able not in any way
to violate His strict justice against sin, for He cannot overlook
sin, He must punish sin, and yet justify those who are sinners. And it shows us how, through
the doing and the dying of a perfect substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb, The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
we read in Revelation 13 and verse 48, sorry, Revelation 13,
I can't remember the verse, 8, Revelation 13, 8, that's it.
The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, there we see in
Isaiah 53 how it is that He, for the sins of His people, for
the transgressions of His people, He bore the penalty of the law
of God that was due to them, and thereby the justice of God
is satisfied. Acceptance with God Peace with
God, justification before a strict, just God, is accomplished entirely
in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done. And how do
we know it, and how do we experience it? It's by faith, which is why
the Scriptures say, by faith are you saved. Not the faith
that you do, it's not a thing that you do that God counts for
righteousness, but looking to that is how you apprehend what
Christ faithfully, in His mission to this earth, accomplished in
His death on the cross and His resurrection. He was lifted up,
says Romans 4.25, for our transgressions. That's how the transgressions
of His people were paid for. And the vindication of it, the
proof of it, the guarantee of it is that God raised him from
the dead. And so we have hope. We have
an eternal hope. Those who claim to be Christians
and say they don't believe in the resurrection, they're not
Christians. You cannot possibly be. We believe in the resurrection
because it is the guarantee of our salvation. Without it, there
is no salvation. If Christ is not raised, then
we're still in our sins, as Paul says. No. Then we saw in Isaiah
54, the fruit of that gospel grace, that accomplishment, bestowed
upon Zion, his church. And we saw last week several
promises to the church of God. who reside in the good of all
that Christ accomplished. And now we come to Isaiah 55. And in case you were to think
that Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 54 is all just for Zion, is all
just for the believers of God, the elect of God, and I'm not
part of it so it's not for me. Here, in chapter 55, it's as
if we have the gospel preached, the good news of salvation preached
straight from the mouth of God himself. Yes, I know the whole
scripture is the gospel of God. The whole of it speaks of Christ.
All of it is there for a purpose of revealing to the people of
God the salvation he has accomplished. But in no more shining example
than here in Isaiah 55 do we have it that it is the voice
the mouth of God himself, speaking the gospel to his people, calling
to his people. And the first point is that we
have a call to thirsty, hungry people. Ho, everyone that thirsts. Pay attention. Everyone that
thirsts, come ye to the waters. And he that has no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Come, yea, come, buy wine and
milk without money and without price. Here is a call to come. Here's good news. It's a call
to thirsty, hungry people. Now that's the point. It's only
for people who need this good news. The call to come and eat
and drink is only to those who are hungry and thirsty. It's
not to everybody without exception. It's not a call to everyone without
exception. It's a call to those who are
hungry and thirsty. And the hunger and thirst spoken
of here is not the hunger and thirst of what your body needs,
your stomach needs, your mouth needs to moisten it. It's not
that hunger and thirst that's spoken of. The hunger and thirst
spoken of, the bread, the milk and the wine held out for those
who are hungry and thirsty, is spiritual. This is spiritual
hunger and thirst. And the food and the drink set
forth for the hungry to take freely is spiritual. It's spiritual food, it's spiritual
drink. It's a hunger and thirst for
the things of God. for the things of God. You who
are hungry, everyone that thirsts for the things of God, for eternal
things, are thirsting for divine righteousness. Why might you
thirst for divine righteousness? Because if I know anything of
who God is, and how holy He is. And I know what His Word says,
that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Follow holiness,
pursue it. Without it, no man shall see
the Lord. Oh, I need it, but I'm all sin. I know I'm nothing but sin. I
need righteousness, I need holiness, without which I shall not see
the Lord. Well, come and get it, is what this verse is saying.
The Lord God is saying to you who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
come, it's here, it's here freely. These are things that satisfy
the immortal soul of a person. You know your body will die,
mine will die. People are dying all of the time.
But you have a soul that will never die. You have an immortal
soul. And these are things that will
satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst of that immortal soul.
We're talking about righteousness for acceptance with God in eternity. If God is to accept you in eternity,
you must be righteous. But this is not your own righteousness,
for that is never enough. For all our righteousnesses,
Isaiah will tell us later in chapter 64, are as filthy rags
in his sight. No, this is the righteousness
of God, which is made over to the account of those who thirst
for it. In the Sermon on the Mount, which
so many people say, we don't want the rest of Scripture, but
we're quite happy with the Sermon on the Mount, it says this, in
the Beatitudes, the Blesseds, in the early verses, in Matthew
5 verse 6, blessed are they, blessed of God, favoured of God,
given the particular favour of God, are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. You'd say well hunger and thirst
is not a good thing is it? Surely they're blessed. that
are not hungry and thirsty. No, blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness. Why? For they shall be filled. In their constant hungering and
thirsting, they are constantly filled. How are they filled?
With the righteousness made over to them from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the righteousness of God in Him. This is peace of conscience.
Our sins would condemn us and our conscience would tell us
that we're guilty before a holy God. But this water, this wine,
this milk, this honey, all of these things, all of these wonderful
things, they're peace of conscience before God. These are assurance
of justification. When I think about death, you
know, you think, well, I'm a long way from death. You might not
be. I might not be. You never know. None of us ever
know. But this is assurance of justification. It is well with
my soul, says the hymn. How do you know it's well with
my soul? Because I look at these things and I feast on this wine
and this milk and these waters, all of these wonderful things,
these soul-satisfying things, which are the doing and dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the place of His people. He himself
said in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, he said, come unto me. Who? Everybody without exception?
No, no. Who is he talking to? Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. Come unto me and you will find
rest for your souls. In him For those who are burdened
and heavy-laden, what are they burdened and heavy-laden with?
They're burdened and heavy-laden with sin and with guilt before
a holy God, which they know will drag them down to hell. Burdened
with that, if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you find that
burden lifted. Being yoked with the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a heavy yoke. You know, I'm talking about the
yoke that holds two oxen together as they're pulling the plough
through the field, and they need to be evenly matched, and the
yoke upon them. If it's a heavy burden, it's
hard to pull, and it weighs you down, but our Lord Jesus Christ
says to his people, if you're yoked with me, my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light, because the heavy laden burden of sin
that is upon you, he will lift it, he has lifted it by the redemption
that he has accomplished. He is the one who calls out in
the Gospels in John chapter 7 and verse 37, in that last day, in
the great day of the feast in Jerusalem, Jesus stood and cried
saying, if any man thirst, if any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He himself said it in Revelation
22. He says it again as the risen
Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Revelation 22 verse
17, And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth
say, Come. and let him that is athirst come. Do you know this is about four
verses before the end of the Bible, but here it is again. He that is athirst, come, and
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Whosoever will. Are you willing? We read in the Scriptures that
God makes His people, His elect people, He makes them willing
when they're not willing by nature. He makes them willing in the
day of His power. This is what God does for His
people. God makes His people willing.
The water, the wine, the milk, the bread, These are the treasure
in heaven that our Lord Jesus Christ again in the Sermon on
the Mount speaks of in Matthew chapter 6 and in verse 19 he
says this to people, it's similar to the words that we were singing
in the first hymn, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
earth, don't try to lay up treasures upon earth, where neither moth,
sorry, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal. For where your treasure is, is
yours in heaven, or is it on the things of this earth? There
will your heart be also. And I tell you, where your heart
is now is where it will be for eternity. Why do I tell you that?
Because that's exactly what the Word of God says in Revelation.
Towards the end, in the day of judgment, as you are now, that's
how you will be. Forever. Where your heart is,
that's where your, that's where your treasure is, that's where
your heart is. And where your heart is now, that's where it
will be for eternity. The tree, when it's chopped down,
to use another scriptural picture, it lies there. It's a great big
heavy thing. It's not easily moved. It just lies there. And
that's what you will do for eternity. That's what the Word of God warns.
So these things are treasure in heaven. But the world spends
its resources on worthless baubles. Look at verse 2 in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 2. Wherefore,
why? Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? You're using up resources for
that which isn't going to satisfy, and your labour for that which
satisfies not. Even in the realm of spiritual
things, so many in religion are spending their resources on that
which will not satisfy spiritually. And they're working for that
which will not satisfy. He says, hearken diligently unto
me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. You see, these are worthless
baubles, ever seeking the next thrilling adventure, full of
the world's things, and never satisfied by its next honeycomb. It says in Proverbs, the book
of Proverbs, chapter 27 and verse 7, it says, The full soul loatheth
an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. You know that feeling, don't
you? There's your favorite food set
before you. What might it be? It might be
a scrumptious chocolate cake, probably if you're one of the
ladies, a scrumptious chocolate cake. Or it might be a lovely
steak, if you're a red blood eating man. And there it is set
before you, but you've just had a great big meal. Dear, you're
absolutely full. And when you're absolutely full,
even your favourite food, whatever it is, you just couldn't possibly
eat any more. It makes you feel sick, the thought
of it. You can't do it. But if you're
genuinely hungry, if you're genuinely hungry, even a dry bit of bread
and a cup of cold water is a delight. is a delight. If you read the
accounts of people that have suffered great hunger, I remember
reading the account of the pair of guys that had the mountaineering
accident on the top of the Andes about 20 years ago, and one of
them thought the other one was dead, and so he cut a rope and
went off down the mountain. as safely as he could. And anyway,
the one that fell down this huge great chasm managed after a few
days to crawl out and crawl miles, 10 miles or so, back to the base
camp. And in the crawling, with bones
shattered and virtually no strength and dying of hunger and absolutely
dying of thirst, recounts the time when he comes to the first
muddy puddle, because before that it had all been ice, and
virtually impossible for him to get to. And he comes to a
muddy puddle, and he slurped that filthy, dirty, muddy water
as if it was just absolutely glorious, wonderful stuff. Every
bit of thing is sweet. Even a dry piece of bread, a
cup of cold water, delights one who is genuinely hungry and thirsty. The things of the world don't
satisfy. They might give some satisfaction
now to the flesh, but they don't satisfy for eternity their broken
systems. They can hold no true water,
but this spiritual water, spiritual wine, milk, and bread. By implication,
these are eternally satisfying. It's good. Your soul is satisfied
with it to the brim. How is it satisfied with it to
the brim? Answer, verse three. Incline
your ear and come unto me. Herein your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. This is the reason why there
is substance to this. this spiritual nutrition, is
because of the everlasting covenant. And how is that covenant made
with you and me if we're believers? It's by faith that it's made
with us. It's not, I'll keep my side of
the bargain and God will keep his. No, not at all. But by faith
we enter into the good of it. We've all heard of promises being
made, but there's no substance underpinning them. you know,
commercial promises are made all the time in advertising and
there's an advertising standards agency that checks it to make
sure that false promises are not being made and then they
bring prosecutions and fines against those that do such things. You know, many a time you know
that you've been duped by believing something that wasn't strictly
true in a commercial relationship. In other relationships, personal
relationships, you know, what is it that, you know, there is
so much cohabiting in these days, and there is so much uncertainty
associated with it. And I'm not just saying that
from a Christian point of view, you are social workers, it's
absolutely true. That's why marriage is so important,
because there's something underpinning the promise that one makes to
another. It's the fact that you've done it in the face of lots of
other people. It's a public declaration of
commitment one to another. That's just a little aside. But
what's the basis for trust in God concerning His promise of
spiritual satisfaction? God has promised His people spiritual
satisfaction, spiritual nourishment, that it's there in abundance,
just come, it's free, come buy it without money and without
price. It's come take of the waters of life freely, says Revelation
22. This covenant is the covenant
promises of God to save his people from their sins by accomplishing
redemption. Redemption in Christ. Christ
would come and stand in the place of his people and by what he
would do in his death in their place he would satisfy the offended
justice of God and therefore He would accomplish salvation,
and these promises of God are throughout the scripture. They're
mediated to his people through various writers, but in large
measure through David. King David, the shepherd boy,
the sweet psalmist of Israel. In the Psalms, you read the Psalms,
look for example at Psalm 89, we won't turn to it now, but
look there, about the covenant promises of God in the salvation
that he's accomplished in great David's greater son. Great David
is David the shepherd boy, the sweet psalmist of Israel. Great
David's greatest son is the one who was born in the city of David
in the days of Herod the king, the Lord Jesus Christ. God himself
come to be the substitute for his people. He is the seed that
was promised in the fall in the garden of Eden, the seed of the
woman who would come to make the offense that had been committed
to the law and justice of God, to make it good, to make it right. And the parties to this covenant,
and we read all about it in places in the book of Jeremiah, and
it's quoted in the New Testament, in Hebrews chapter 8, this covenant
that I will make with you, this is not the covenant of works,
the covenant of law, do this and live, fail to do this and
you shall surely die. No, it's not that covenant of
works, but it's the covenant of grace. It's the covenant between
the persons of the Godhead. God the Father, in love, in just
pure love, for God is love, chose a people, a multitude, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world, for nothing other than
sovereign grace, not because he saw anything good in them.
God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is but one God, but three
persons in that one God, the Triunity, the Trinity of the
Godhead. God the Son, God in the person
of His Son committed to come, to become man and to be the substitute
for His people, to stand in their place, to satisfy everything
that the offended Lord demanded of those people He would come
and do. And where it demanded that they
die for the soul that sins, it shall die, He stepped forth and
He went to the cross and He set His face as flint to go to the
cross as the substitute of His people. And the Holy Spirit committed
that for every one of them, that in the justice of God, were justified
by what Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary, the Holy
Spirit would come at the appointed time, a different time for each
and every one, and bring each one saved by Christ to see it,
to believe it, to rest on it, to rejoice in it, to experience
the good of this salvation. Look with me at Acts chapter
13 and verse 30, which is Paul preaching at Antioch. And he's
preaching that Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son, as they
thought, the son of Mary, that this Jesus is the promised Christ
of God, of the Old Testament. And preaching about it, and you
would have to read the whole sermon, but we'll pick it up
at verse 30. God raised Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, from the
dead. And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him
from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people.
And we declare unto you, glad tidings, how that the promise
which was made unto the fathers, what promise? The promise to
the seed, the promise made to Abraham, of your seed, a multitude
that no man can number, who will be saved and qualified for heaven.
The promise which was made to the fathers, God has fulfilled
that promise. He's fulfilled it to their children,
in that He has raised up Jesus again. He has proven that what
Jesus did in the salvation of His people is accomplished. When
Christ said it is finished, the work of redemption was finished,
the justice was satisfied, the scales were balanced by what
He did. He's raised him up again, as
it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my son, this
day I have begotten thee. And then in verse 34, and as
concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more
to return to corruption, that's the corruption of death, the
decay of death, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure
mercies of David. The sure mercies of, Paul preached
that there. The sure mercies of David, and
here it is. In Isaiah 55 verse 3, even the
sure mercies of David. This is the covenant promise
concerning the salvation that Christ would come and accomplish
and has come and accomplished for his people. The resurrection
is the guarantee that the salvation Blessings promised to David and
to others in the Old Testament are the possession of all his
people. And his people are not restricted
to the Jews. Look at verse 5. You shall call
a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not thee shall
run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy
One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. People in the world outside
of the Jews are called exactly as those who were the historical
people of God. Whoever you are with a thirst
for peace with God, whoever you are who is given a sense of the
glory and holiness of God and that you need to know Him before
you die, whoever you are with this thirst, you are not excluded. You are not excluded. This is
what this chapter is saying, and it's from the very mouth
of God. So what should we do now? You say, well I thought
this was just, you go on about the elect so much, and I thought
all of this was just for the elect, and so it is. But I don't
know whether or not you are amongst the elect. And the only thing
that will ever tell me that you are, is that you profess that
you believe the Gospel of Grace. You don't just profess it, you
actually live it. It's part of you. It's fundamental
to you. It's your greatest treasure.
It's what your life is built upon. So what should you do if
you seek this Peace with God, this righteousness of God that
you must have. Verse 6. Seek the Lord now. Seek ye the Lord, all ye people.
Call on him while he is near. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. You see, the clear implication
is there that the time is coming when it will not be possible
to find the Lord. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found, because a time is coming when you will not be able to
find him. Either it will be the day of
your death, that will draw a line under the time when you may call
upon the name of the Lord. It may be in the final judgment,
but it will be too late. All of that will be too late.
So this is what Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians
6 and verse 2 concerning salvation. and when it is that you should
seek the salvation that God has set forth in His Word. Behold,
now is the accepted time. When are you talking about, preacher?
I'm talking about now is the accepted time. Behold, now is
the day of salvation. Do it now. Here's a long word,
procrastination. You know what it is? It's putting
it off. Putting it off till tomorrow, what you can do today. Do it
now, don't procrastinate. Proverbs 8 and verse 17. We have
the Lord Jesus Christ in the embodiment of wisdom, the wisdom
of God. For in him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. He is made unto us from God wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He says there,
those that seek me early shall find me. Ah, but I'm not amongst
them. Seek me early. Those that seek
me early shall find me. But please be warned, beware
of delay. Can I take you back to Proverbs
chapter one? Proverbs chapter one and verse
24. Very serious words, these. I'm
gonna read down to verse 28. Just follow with me. This is
God speaking. He says, because I have called
and ye refused. I have stretched out mine hand,
and no man regarded." You didn't pay me any attention at all.
"'But ye have set at naught all my counsel.'" You've regarded
the wisdom of God and the counsel of God as not worth bothering
with, and would have none of my reproof. You paid no attention
to me telling you the situation you're in. God says, I will also
laugh at your calamity, because when that day comes you will
be in a state of calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
We read in the day of judgment that men and women are running
to hide themselves and pleading with the mountains to fall on
them and hide them from the face of the one who is the judge of
all the earth. There will be calamity, there
will be fear. When your fear cometh as desolation,
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, listen,
then they'll say, oh really? Oh gosh, we should have done
it. Oh, we shouldn't have put it off, should we? Then shall
they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me
early, but they shall not find me. In Proverbs 8, 17, remember,
he says, those that seek me early shall find me. But if you continue
to refuse, God says, even if you seek me then, you shall not
find me. Why? Because today is the day
of salvation. Who is it for? It's for His people. How old? You are never too young
to come to Christ believing. Never too young. And as long
as you have breath in your body, you are not too old. Think of
the thief on the cross. I know he didn't die of old age,
he died of crucifixion, but nevertheless, he never had any time to exercise
his hands and feet in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, did
he? And yet, our Lord Jesus Christ said to him, truly, truly, I
say to you, this day you shall be with me in paradise. But you
know, it must be with repentance, as verse 7 tells us. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy. It must
be with a desire towards the righteousness that God loves,
and away from the sin that God hates. Both faith and repentance,
it must be with those. And these are not things that
you do of yourself, they are gifts from God. They are gifts
from God. Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, you
are saved by grace through faith and that, not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God. In Acts 11, 18, we read of God
also to the Gentiles has granted repentance. It's a gift. He's
granted repentance unto life. God must reveal these truths
to you, but don't try to blame God for your not believing. Don't try to blame God, because
why else would it be here in the Scripture? Ho, everyone that
thirsts. Whosoever will, let him come
and take of the waters of life freely. It's all of free grace,
and only of free grace, and only of the free grace of God. And
as we sing in the hymn, and we're going to sing it in our final
hymn, and of free grace, why not for me? That's the question
you should ask. Ask yourself that. And if free
grace, why not for me? You say, well, I don't understand
all of these things. Well, no, you don't. And God
tells us that in verses 8 to 11. He says, my thoughts are
not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. As the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours.
Don't try to fathom God. You will never understand God. but what God has decreed He will
accomplish. Just as He sends rain on this
creation, and snow from heaven, and it doesn't go back there,
but it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it, it accomplishes
the purpose of watering the ground and causing it to bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the
eater, in exactly the same way, the word which He has sent by
His Holy Spirit, through inspired men down the ages, captured for
us in this book, gloriously preserved, despite what all of history tried
to do against it. So shall his word be that goes
forth out of his mouth. It shall not return to him void,
empty. It shall accomplish what he pleases. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto he sends it. What's the thing whereto he sends
it? The salvation and the calling of his people. Trust the God
who accomplishes His purpose. God speaks with purpose to awaken
the spiritually dead, to convict of sin, to instruct in righteousness,
and where we find true righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
give repentance and faith in Christ. to generate spiritual
life in the soul of the dead sinner. And the result is joy
and rejoicing. In a metaphorical poem in verses
12 and 13, as we sang in the second verse of that little chorus
before, for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with
peace. The mountains and hills shall break forth before you
into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, instead
of the briar the myrtle tree, that's a lovely fruit tree, and
it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off. Rejoicing and prospering in this
evil world, in this world of confusion, of turmoil, of strife,
of hatred, I don't think we've ever seen anything quite like
it, have we? What we're seeing in politics in our day in this
country. And yet, for the one resting in the salvation that
Christ has accomplished, rejoicing and prospering in the good of
accomplished salvation. Will you seek him if you have
not already? Will you enter into the blessings
of salvation that Christ has accomplished? Well if you will,
do it today, for today is the day of salvation. Amen.