Well last week we looked at verse
10 of Isaiah 50. We saw that God's true people
are marked out from a world full of religious folk hordes of them, whatever they're
called, whatever type of thing it is they say they believe,
marked out from them by fear. Ooh, that sounds odd, doesn't
it? Fear? What do you mean? I mean the
fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of knowledge. What
is it to fear the Lord? It is to know who God is. It
is to know who He is. It is to know who we're dealing
with. It is to know that He is the
one who controls all things, in whose hands is our life, is
everything about us. And we come not with fear of
judgment, for we know in Christ, if we're believers, that that
has been taken away. Nevertheless, we come with that
reverence. of children, of the sons and
daughters of the living God, who reverence Him. For He is
God, our loving, heavenly Father, and we reverence Him. And not
only that, but we obey the voice of His servant. Who is the servant
of the Most High God? He's the suffering servant. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one by whom God is manifested, made
known to us. And if we're His sheep, What
do we do? We hear his voice. And who is
he? He's the Good Shepherd. We hear
the Good Shepherd's voice. Jesus said, my sheep hear my
voice. And what do they do? They follow
me. We obey his voice. And do you
know something? I heard a good point the other
day. It's not just that we obey when it all seems sensible to
us. We obey when we hear him say it, even when it doesn't
seem sensible to us. Why do we obey the gospel that
God has revealed? Mankind hates the gospel of God.
The gospel they love is that rubbish that isn't a gospel at
all, that you'll hear on the radio, the service this morning,
absolute nonsense. The only reason I listen to it
is because my jaw just keeps dropping as to how people seriously
can believe that that is the gospel of Scripture. There's
no gospel in it, there's no good news in it, because there's no
forgiveness of sins in it, for there's no redemption in it,
there's no atonement that's been made, nothing at all. The world
around and the religious world invents its own gospel. But we
hear the gospel of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that gospel is the gospel of sovereign grace and particular
redemption. It's that gospel which is truly
good news because in it, the Lord Jesus Christ has saved his
people from their sins. It's the gospel the world doesn't
like, the religious world doesn't like, because the religious world
likes the free will of man to be on the throne of salvation.
But it isn't. The God that we know and worship
and is revealed in this book by His Spirit is the God we worship. And we obey His voice. We obey His gospel. And often,
though we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, that glorious light shining in
where there was darkness, the people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Though we have that, Often we're
walking in mere twilight. It's comparative darkness. He
hath no light there. It's no brightness, no shining
light. It's like the twilight before
the sun rises. We're aware of the sun's light,
but without its brightness. Often we find ourselves knowing
the truth of God. Yes, I know this is true. I do. We find ourselves hearing the
Good Shepherd's voice and seeking to follow. Yes, I hear His voice.
I know His word is true. I know it's right. I know He
has only the best for me. But we're without the bright
light of the Kingdom of God. We're surrounded by this world.
You have to go to work in the world, you go to college in the
world, you go to school in the world, you do all that you need
to do in this world. And this world is under the sway
of the dragon. I'm using the language of Revelation,
Revelation 13, the dragon's sway. And this world around us embraces
the aspirations of the beast from the sea. Do you remember
that in Revelation 13, the beast from the sea? What is it? It's
worldwide political unity. It's that we can make a lovely
utopia where we all get on well together. Isn't that what the
world's politicians are trying to do all of the time? I'm not
saying that I'm against peace, but this is what they try to
do because Here's the flaw in what they try to do, there is
no place for the justice of God in it, is there? They all pray
for peace without the justice of God being satisfied. And what
will satisfy the justice of God? There is only one thing that
will satisfy the justice of God, and they will not have it, and
that's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of
Christ is the only thing. And this world is under the sway,
whether they admit it or not, it's true. They all embrace the
aspirations of this world. Look at all this stuff with the
environment and climate change. What's it all about? It's a worldwide
unity. Oh, let's all come together and
all stop driving our cars so that we can save the planet and
have this lovely utopia, this heaven on earth in which to live
forevermore. It ain't going to happen. It
isn't going to happen because of sin. They've swallowed the
message of the false prophet, the beast from the earth of Revelation
13, with all of his technological wonders and that message that
says we don't need God and we don't want anything to do with
God. You notice that that's the infernal trinity. The dragon,
the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth, the trinity.
Satan always tries to mimic what God does. God is a trinity, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Satan tries to do
the same. And that's what this world is,
and it's often so distracting to us as we walk in this twilight
of spiritual light. And so often God, for our good,
chastises his children. He makes it seem even darker
at times, as he did for Job. Job, who thought things were
so good and his children were all on his side and all worshipping
God and all doing their proper religious services, and in a
day God took it all away from him. God permitted Satan to take
it all away from him and put him through such darkness that
he wished he'd never been born. He may not do that to us to that
extent but he does chastise his children and why does he do it?
To wean us from the world. To stop us grasping and embracing
and loving and clutching at the world as if it's our only joy
and satisfaction. You see, we go through periods
where everything seems so good for a while, doesn't it? You
know, everything's going for us, it just seems so good, and
then, and then, it all goes out of shape. Everything seems so
good and then all of a sudden it all goes out of shape. We
have like this lovely little utopia of our life and all of
a sudden aspects of it start going seriously out of shape.
Do you ever experience that? I know you do. If you're a child
of God, you do. Does your life seem to have gone
pear-shaped at times, as they say? It seems too much for us
very often, doesn't it? We often think, I know this is
true, but look at this world around me, and look at all the
distractions I'm facing. I, even I, only am left. If you've thought that, you know
you're not the first to think it. There was a man called Elijah,
a long time ago, said, I, even I, only am left a prophet of
the Lord. There's none left, there's only
me. What will encourage us? Do you feel like that? It's so
hard to continue. Is God really going to do anything
with me? Or am I just going to carry on
turning the same old wheel, grinding the same old thing around? What
will encourage us? Well, a message from God himself.
In this chapter 51, we have six messages of encouragement to
persevere in belief. That's what we have. I often
like to preach on one or two verses, something like that,
because you can get powerful messages out of them, but this
week it just seemed to me, I just want to open up the entire chapter.
I'm not going to take any longer than usual, at least I don't
think I am, that's not my intention to. But I want to see these six
messages of encouragement to you if you're a believer this
morning. Look, look at this. Verses 1 to 3, first of all,
unlikely beginning. Are you tempted to doubt God?
Are you tempted to disbelieve God? Listen to this. Hearken
to me, says God, hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness,
ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence ye
are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bear you.
for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the
Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste
places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like
the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." Listen to God
speaking. God says, hearken to me. Children of God, people of God,
Listen to God speaking. look where he's brought you from,
look what was the beginnings of your faith if you like, I
know it's before Abraham but look where he says look unto
the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence
ye are digged what are you talking about here Isaiah, God through
Isaiah he explains it in the second verse he's talking about
Abraham and Sarah old lifeless rock Abraham the old lifeless,
what an unlikely source of life, an old dry rock, an old lifeless
rock, but that's where the people of God come from. And we all,
by faith, if we have faith, we are the children of Abraham,
by faith, because we have the same faith that God gave to him,
because it is all the gift of God and not what we do. And we
look back to Sarah that bear you, because the line that produced
the people of God came from Sarah. I know earlier it had come from
Noah. But here, look, God called them, they were idolaters. Abraham's
family were worshippers of false gods, like all men naturally
are. How do I know that? Joshua tells us in Joshua 24
verse 2. He tells us about Abraham's family
that on the other side of the river they served other gods. They were idolaters. Idolatry. Idolatry was the thing that drove
Israel into captivity. It was the thing that is the
context of this chapter. Israel was about to go into Babylonian
captivity. The Lord had prophesied it. It
was going to happen for their repeated idolatry. But God called
them. in sovereign grace. He didn't
call Abraham because he saw that Abraham rejected idolatry, he
called him out of idolatry. What is it that Paul says to
the Thessalonians? He says, when we came to you,
what manner of entry we had unto you. We were preaching to all
sorts of people, and all the people, like the ground around,
they were all receiving the Word, but some was falling on the wayside,
and the birds of the air were plucking it away as soon as it
fell. And some fell amongst stony ground and looked like it was
beginning to germinate, but it soon dried up when the sun came
up. And other fell on ground that looked okay, but the weeds
and the thorns and the thistles grew up, and the things of this
world choked it. And so they looked like they
were the true people of God for a while, but they were not. But
other fell on good ground. Paul says to the Thessalonians,
what manner of entry we had unto you. Why? Because the Holy Spirit
opened the hearts of those people. Remember Lydia at Philippi? When
Paul preached there, there were all sorts of people there, but
we read, and the Lord opened Lydia's heart. The Lord did it. She didn't decide because she
was a good person. Don't ever think that. That's
not what the Word of God teaches. The Lord opened her heart. What
manner of entry. And how, what did they do, those
Thessalonians? They turned to God. From where? Where they were with all men,
naturally, with their idols. with their idols. They turned
to God from idols because of the blessed sovereign grace of
God. And so likewise, out of Abraham
and Sarah, he made a nation. And not just a nation physically,
the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, but the nation of
Zion. Read the New Testament, as we have been doing in recent
weeks, applying this, that when we read of Israel in the Old
Testament, we have absolute warrant from God to take that, that that
is Zion, the church of the living God in the days in which we live.
All the promises to Israel are promises to Zion, the church
of the living God. Glorious things of thee are spoken.
Zion, city of our God. And he promises his people a
good end, doesn't he? The Lord shall comfort Zion.
He's got a people, He calls out a people, He preserves a people,
He leaves none of it to chance, it's all according to His sovereign
purposes, and He shall comfort His people. He shall comfort
everything that looks... Do you feel like you're in a
waste place and in a wilderness at the moment? God promises you
this. The God who cannot lie, the God
in whom are all the resources of the universe and more, promises
you Eden. What is Eden? The garden of the
Lord. before sin came. He promises you bliss and perfection,
joy and gladness to be found therein, thanksgiving and the
voice of melody. Do you know what God says? Through
the prophet Jeremiah, he says in chapter 29 verse 11, he says,
this is God speaking to his people, 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. God calls all who believe
to look to the grace that called them and keep following righteousness. You who follow righteousness,
you who follow after righteousness, as Paul encourages the Hebrews,
follow peace with all men, and holiness, righteousness, it's
the same essential word, and holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord. If you do not have the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not see the Lord in
glory. You shall not. This is very,
very clear. Without which no man shall see
the law. But where will you get it? Will
you strive to produce it yourself, to earn it yourself? No. By the
works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. No flesh shall
have the righteousness of God by the works of the law. How
do we have it? By Christ. For he made him who
knew no sin the innocent, perfect sacrifice, the substitute, the
Lamb of God, to be made the sin of His people, to step forward
and say, I will bear the responsibility for it all. And He bore it. And
I don't know how, I don't understand the mechanism, but I believe
the Word of God, that He took upon Him the sins of His people.
And in His own body on the cursed tree, He paid the penalty for
it, that His people might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Ye that seek the Lord, ye that
follow after righteousness, you that have the righteousness of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep seeking the Lord. He says,
seek and ye shall find. He says, knock and it shall be
opened. Doesn't he? He says this. He
says, seek and ye shall find. He promises that. Why would he
say it if it was not true? Okay, secondly, and I'm in danger
of running out of time, as you can tell already, but the second
point, the permanence of salvation. Look at verses four to six. My righteousness is near, my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people.
The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
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 in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever,
and my righteousness shall not be abolished. God has his people. God has his nation, my people,
my nation. He has his Zion, his Zion, city
of God, holy Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, to whom he has given
his law. What is his law? He's not talking
about the law of Moses, the do this and you shall live, but
fail to do it in every respect and you shall die. No, he's talking
about gospel precept. That's the law that he's talking
about here. This is his gospel of divine righteousness. The
righteousness of God is established only, only in the gospel of his
grace. It's not that the gospel denies
or contradicts the righteousness of God, it's only in the Gospel
that it's actually fulfilled and attained and achieved by
the righteousness of God that is in Christ, given to all of
his people. It's salvation from sin accomplished
by, we read of it here, God's arm. Mine arm shall they trust. The arm of God? I think that's
talking about Christ, don't you? How is it that God accomplishes
salvation? How is it that He does it? The
only way He could do it, God in spirit alone in heaven could
not accomplish salvation, or else He would have done. What
did He have to do in the person of His Son? God had to become
man. God had to take on Him flesh
and blood, that He might die the death that His own law demanded
for the sins of His people. And so he came in Christ. This
is the arm of God. And it's permanent. This is the
thing that's permanent. The heavens and the earth, look
at verse 6, they'll vanish away like smoke. Have you seen smoke?
And it's just gone in a moment when the wind blows. And the
earth, it shall wax old like a garment. That which is new,
the day you buy it, a couple of years later you're probably
throwing it in the rag bin to put in the recycling. No. Those things pass away, but the
salvation of God, my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness
shall not be abolished. You who are prone to doubt, like
me, when things seem like the day of small things and not much
happening, The salvation of God is the only thing that is truly
permanent. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, verse
18, he said, we look not at the things which are seen, look at
them all around us, look, solid thing, we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. We look with
the eye of faith at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen, that you can touch and feel, are temporal. They're only temporary. They're
not going to last. But the things of eternity, the
things that we see with the eye of faith and not with the physical
eye, the things which are not seen physically, They're the
things that are eternal. God's salvation is eternal. Making His people the righteousness
of God in Christ is eternal. It's unchangeable. It's not going
to be taken away from you. If you have been made the righteousness
of God in Christ, you are righteous in Christ for all eternity. Everything physical that you
see is temporary. Accomplished salvation is permanent. If it's yours, you can't lose
it. Is that not an encouragement
to trust our God in these days when you have moments, when you
have times, when you have periods, when it seems so as if the world
around is so buzzing and the things of God are so quiet. Then
the next thing, verses 7 and 8. This is the third one. Don't
fear men. Don't be afraid of other people.
Look at verse 7. Hearken unto me, ye that know
righteousness. That's people who are saved.
You know truly the righteousness of God. The people in whose heart
is my law, for God said, this is the covenant that I will make
with them in those days, not as the covenant that I made with
their fathers. That covenant of works in the law of Moses,
do this and live. And the only purpose of the law
of Moses was to show what sin is. It was to show the justice
of God in condemning sin, for showing it up for what it really
is. No, the law is our schoolmaster. to drive us to Christ, the people
in whose heart is my law, this gospel law, this law of gospel
preset. He says, fear ye not the reproach
of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings, for the 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. how easily we fall into the fear
of men. Don't we? Don't we? Yes, we do. Admit it. Yes, we do. I'm not
just talking about the fear of harm or danger. I'm not just
talking about the fear of getting mugged as you walk down a dark
street at night. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about the fear of being a social outcast wherever you
are. That fear, that's the fear of
man, of being a social outcast. You know what the Word of God
says about it? Proverbs 29 verse 25. The fear of man brings a
snare. It's something that will trap
you. The fear of man. But whoso putteth his trust in
the Lord shall be safe. Whoso putteth his trust in the
Lord shall be safe. I will not be afraid of what
man shall say to me. As for me and my house, said
Joshua, we will worship the Lord. We will bow before the God of
the universe. Do you know righteousness? He
says, you people that know righteousness, you people that are my people. He says, you that know righteousness,
verse seven, do you know righteousness? Is God's law in your heart? That
I will put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts.
I will be to them a God and they shall be my people. Is that law
and that righteousness in your heart then? people will reproach
and revile you for your faith. It's a fact. Don't be afraid
of their revilings or their reproach, says this verse, because people
around will pour scorn on you for that belief, because they're
under the sway of the kingdom of Antichrist. But what does
it say of them? How long are they going to be
there? It says that they will disappear like old, moth-eaten
garments. That's what's going to happen
to them. They seem so strong and threatening today, but God's
Word promises us they're going to disappear like old, moth-eaten
garments. Whereas God's salvation is eternal. Eternal. God has said, Hebrews
13, 5 and 6, He has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I
will not fear what man shall do to me. Is the situation seeming
threatening all around? Those around who don't believe
the truth of God, and they're by far the majority, with whom
we have to deal every day, with whom we have to seek, as the
Word of God tells us in the New Testament in another place, as
much as in you is, as far as is possible, without offending
the truth of God, seek to live at peace with all men. Don't
seek to be an aggressive, bolshie, stand-on-a-soapbox-and-let-everybody-know. No, don't do that. Try to live
at peace with all men. The only offence that you should
give is the offence that they're bound to take at the gospel of
God's grace. That's the only offence. If you
tell them truly what the gospel of God's grace is, they will
take offence at that, and that's fine. But don't give any other
offence. but be encouraged with this.
The Lord says he is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do to me. He said I will not leave you
nor forsake you. As you go through this life,
the God of the universe will not leave you nor forsake you.
Then the next point, this is number four, verses nine to eleven. Look at the record of what God
has done. You know, has he got form, as it were? Is there a
record of God doing right by the people of his choice? Verse
9. Awake, awake. Notice how many
times he says either awake or hearken. Awake, awake. Put on
strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days,
in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut
Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried
up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the
depths of the sea away for the ransom to pass over? Therefore,
The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing
unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They
shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall
flee away. Will God accomplish what He says?
He's made three promises to us already, hasn't He? Will He accomplish
it? Does he have a record of accomplishing
that which he said? Will he bring his redeemed people
to Zion? Will he bring you and me, sinner,
will he bring us when we die into his eternal kingdom to Zion,
to heaven, to be in his presence, to behold his face? to rejoice
with the myriads of his people, saved from the foundation of
the world, put in Christ then, and redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. Will he accomplish that which he has said? His word
says again and again, he shall not fail." Well, remember what
he's done in the past. What is it talking about? He
has cut Rahab. He's not talking about the woman
in Jericho with the cord of red. No, Rahab is a name for Egypt. Egypt. And the dragon is the
pharaoh of Egypt. And when he brought them out,
he dried up the sea so that they might cross, and the waters of
the great deep. And he made a way for the ransomed. Ransomed? Liberated. When you
pay a ransom, it's to free somebody, isn't it? If someone's in captivity
and they pay a ransom, the ransom is to free them. They'd been
freed. How had they been freed? By the
hand of the living God doing the wonders that he did in Egypt.
that He might show Pharaoh, for this cause I raised you up and
hardened your heart, that I might show who is God of all the earth. The ransomed to pass over, His
people that He ransomed out of their captivity in Egypt, that
He liberated with the price of their liberation. And they came
out of the land of Egypt. Remember what that price was
ultimately? It was the death of the firstborn, all the firstborn
in Egypt. all of the firstborn, absolutely
all, including the Israelites, but for the Israelites, a substitute
had died in the place of the firstborn. And that substitute
was a lamb, picturing the Lamb of God, who would come, behold
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Not the
sins of everybody in the world that ever lived, but the sins
of His people in this world. And so therefore, verse 11, the
redeemed of the Lord, The people that the Lord has redeemed, he
shall redeem his people. He shall pay the price necessary
to release them from their captivity. The price he paid was his precious
blood that satisfied the justice of God for the sins of his people.
And so the people of God are the redeemed of the Lord. And
note, they're already redeemed. There's a hint in this verse
of the truth of Scripture that the redeemed of the Lord are
not redeemed when they believe the gospel, the redeemed of the
Lord are redeemed from all eternity. They're justified from all eternity
in the land slain from the foundation of the world. And having been
redeemed, this people that is redeemed by the Lord, the redeemed
of the Lord, they shall return. It's not that they make themselves
the redeemed of the Lord by their belief, they are the redeemed
of the Lord by sovereign grace and by what He has done. And
therefore those that He has redeemed shall return. and come with singing
unto Zion. Every single one of them shall
come. Like the army of the dry bones that Ezekiel saw in 37,
Ezekiel 37 I think it is, they stood on their feet a great and
mighty army in their ranks. And what? Not one of them was
missing. They're the stones in the temple.
There's not one stone missing, all cut from the quarry. the
handiwork of God, and there's not one of those stones missing.
They shall all return, for they are the people of the living
God, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. This is his
record. God will accomplish what he has
said. He will bring his redeemed people
to Zion. Remember what he's done in the
past. It's not those whom God will
prove to have redeemed by their acceptance of him, but those
he has redeemed. He has redeemed them, and having
redeemed them, they shall come. Remember what Jesus said to the
Pharisees, you know, about their lack of belief. He said, he didn't
say, because you don't believe, therefore you're not my sheep.
He said, it's because you're not my sheep that you don't believe.
Do you get it? Do you get the difference? God
has his sheep, his sheep, and his sheep hear his voice and
believe him. Fourthly, no, fifthly, fifthly,
verses 12 to 16. creation. You want more proof?
This creation is the canvas. What's it for? It's the canvas
on which God paints grace. Verse 12, I, even I, this is
God speaking to his people, speaking to you and me if we're his believing
people. I, even I, am he that comforteth
you. Who art thou? If any of you know
the music Mendelssohn's Elijah, and I absolutely love Mendelssohn's
Elijah, I've sung it in a choir before now. I can't read these
words without the glorious music ringing in my ears. Who are you
that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of
the son of man which shall be made as grass? And forgettest
the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens,
and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared continually
every day because of the fury of the oppressor? as if he were
ready to destroy. Where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth,
that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit,
nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, that
divided the sea, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is
his name, and I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered
thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens,
and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou
art my people. Believer. Are you downcast? Are you sorrowful? Are you feeling
alone? Have things gone pear-shaped,
as we might say? Are you lacking purpose and direction? Are you like lost sheep out on
the hillside? God is the comforter of his people. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians
1, verses 3 and 4, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. God is the comforter of his people. God is the comforter. of His
people. What an assurance, what a blessedness
to know that God comforts His people. Who is it that comforts
His people? He that has made all things.
He that is the creator of all things. Why should you fear man
that shall die? The men that you fear, the men
that you look upon, not wanting to be out of social favour with
them, they're just going to die. Man that shall die and wither
like the grass, you know the grass seems at its height and
then in no time at all it's faded and it's gone over to seed and
it's died and it's become hay and it's burnt up. But the Lord
is the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things,
and the one who is the creator and sustainer of all things is
the comforter of his people. He's made the heavens and the
earth so that grace can be demonstrated to Zion. Is that not what it
says in verse 16? I've planted the heavens and
laid the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, thou art my
people. This creation, it says in Colossians
of Christ, that all things were made by him, and all things were
made for him. Why were all things made? It's
as it were the artist's canvas, and the artist is God, and the
picture that he paints is the picture of gracious salvation,
of redemption, because in that God is glorified. He gets all
the glory. He's given us that promise. He
knows the thoughts that he thinks towards his people. Thoughts
of goodness, thoughts of blessing, to give us a promised end, a
good end. That good end is eternity in
glory, in the presence of the living God. And oh, as this world
more and more, things get served up to the people of God. Pear-shaped
things come along in every form, whether it be health, whether
it be family relationships, whether it be financial troubles, whether
it be your career, whether it be things just starting out and
not looking as though they're going the way you want them to
go, whatever it might be. All sorts of things turn up,
but God comforts His people. His intentions towards His people
are nothing other than good. and they that trust the living
God. What does it say about those that honor God? God says this,
he that honors me, him I will honor. How do we honor God? By
fearing him, by obeying the voice of his servant, by walking where
he leads us, by hearing his voice and following his commandments.
Then finally, just in the few minutes left, the promise of
final deliverance in verses 17 to 23. Awake, awake, there it
is again. Stand up, O Jerusalem, which
has drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou
hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them
out. What's he talking about? It's the context of going into
captivity in Babylon for their idolatry. Jerusalem, which was
supposed to have been the people of God, the city of God, is going
to be destroyed because of the repeated idolatry of the people.
And there is none to guide her, verse 18. There are very few
preachers, very few prophets, very few bringing the true word
of God. You'll see that in verses 18 to 20. They all lie at the
head of the streets as a wild bull in a net. They're full of
fury of the Lord. Notice that first Lord is in
small letters, and then the second one is in small capital letters. I think that's saying, thus says
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is your God, truly, and thy God
that pleadeth the cause of his people. That's Christ. He intercedes,
he pleads the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling. What's the cup of trembling?
The cup of the just punishment for your sin. the cup of the
punishment of your sin from the justice of God. And he, our Lord
Jesus Christ, says, behold, I have taken it out of your hand. There
you are justly holding it, and it's yours to drink down when
the final judgment falls. But Christ says to his people,
I've taken it, and I've drunk it. Even the dregs of the cup
of my fury, there's not any of it left remaining. He's drained
it. Thou shalt no more drink it again.
but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee. He's
going to have his justice fulfilled on those which reject him and
which afflict his people, which have said to thy soul, bow down,
that we may go over, and thou hast laid thy body as the ground
and as the street to them that went over. So the context of
this is the impending Babylonian captivity for the sin of idolatry. And there's a famine of the Word
of God. There are so few preachers in the land, as today so few
preachers. We're in such a minority. And
satanic deception is rampant all around us in this world in
which we live, like never before. Because I do believe that we're
in Satan's little season, where he's released to deceive the
nations. You know, even 50 years ago,
in this land, the majority of people would say, even if they
didn't live like it, that they believed that there was a God
to whom they were accountable. But how many do today? So few,
because Satan's deception is so great. but God remains his
people's Lord and God. Verse 22, thus says the Lord
the Lord, thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people in Christ. He has drained that cup of the
wrath of God for them. Those who afflict and despise
God's people will feel his justice. This is God's encouragement to
us in these days to trust him. You know it's Not uncommon for
the people of God to feel it's not worth continuing. Look at
us here, just a few of us. Should we just call it a day?
Should we just give up? The Psalmist in Psalm 73, he was so tired
of trying to serve God in his generation and he looked around
and those that didn't bother were prospering. Read Psalm 73,
look what he's saying. He said, my feet had well nigh
slipped. I was just so envious of the wicked that don't bother.
They have such an easy life. And do you know what solved his
problem? He was going to say it, he was going to chuck it
all in, and then he thought, I'll offend against the people of
God if I say that. I'll cause offense to others.
And then what he did? He went into the temple, into
the sanctuary, into the inner part. He went there, in the inner
part. He went into the sanctuary. What
was it? It was symbolical. It was a picture of gospel grace. Grace, come into the sanctuary
of gospel truth. People of God, if you're tempted
to give up, come into the sanctuary of gospel truth and be assured
of how things will turn out. You know what Peter asked Jesus,
didn't he? He said, we've left all, we've
forsaken all and followed you. What shall we then have? We had
a message on this a few weeks ago. What shall we then have?
And Jesus said, well in this life, you will be more than compensated. You will. Don't fear anything. You'll be more than compensated
in this life. Don't try to plan it all out
for yourself. You'll be more than compensated in this life.
He that honors me, him will I honor. And then in the life to come,
Eternal glory, the bliss of eternal glory. Ask any old saint, old
believer, if they feel deprived for having trusted Christ. I've
read lots about the experience of God's people in the past.
I've never ever read of one true saint of God saying it was all
a complete and utter waste of time. All they ever say is, all
the way my Savior leads me. Oh, for the grace of God to believe
him and trust him and look to him. Amen.