Like you, I struggle with a lot
of things, spiritual matters. And I can think of nothing that
causes me more trouble, more concern, more grief with myself
than unbelief. Nothing. I find it harder to believe God
than anything else I can speak of. Just to believe God. And yet I know that the one thing
that distinguishes God's people from all other people is faith. God-given, God-wrought, God-sustained
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want this evening to encourage
you and to encourage myself to believe God. The title of my
message is Five Encouragements for Faith. Five Encouragements
for Faith. You'll find my text in the 26th
chapter of the Gospel of Isaiah. All who are born of God believe
God. Four times in the book of God
we read these words, the just shall live by faith. All who are justified by the
grace of God live by faith in God our Savior. And yet we all
struggle with unbelief constantly. I'm compelled as I bow before
the throne of grace to confess with that man described in the
gospel, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And yet I do believe God. Is
that the case with you? All men are aware of God's existence. Everybody believes in God, everybody
does. But few people believe God. There's something in every man,
something in every woman, we call it a God consciousness,
Romans chapter one, verses 18 through 20, declare it to be
so, that forces all men to know and in the depths of their beings,
in the depths of their hearts, in the depths of their minds,
all men know and acknowledge God's being. All men do. There's no such thing as an atheist.
A lot of folks scream and holler, no God, no God, no God, no God. But all they're doing is hollering
at themselves, trying to shut up their own consciences, for
they know they're lying to themselves. Man by nature is aware that God
is. But believing in God and believing
God are two different things. All religious people have a fear
of God. Most people are a little religious
and have some fear of God. We just, I don't remember what
day it is or when it happens, but if I watch the news in the
morning, I'm traveling, I always can tell when Ash Wednesday has
come. Of course, folks put some dirt on their faces and think
it's gonna do them some good. And that's because they have
a fear of God. They're afraid of God. Afraid
to meet God in judgment. Afraid of God's holiness. Afraid
of God's law. Afraid of God's power. Afraid
of God's purity. Afraid of God's requirements.
Men have a fear of God in the sense that they're afraid of
God. And men practice religion and are governed by religion,
motivated by religion, even in very details of life many times. Governed by religious laws and
regulations because they're afraid of God. But being afraid of God
is not believing God. All men are aware of God's existence.
All religious people have a fear of God. But the believer, the
Christian, the heaven born soul, the child of God is a man, a
woman who believes God. He believes God. There's a vast,
vast difference between knowing that God is or even fearing God
and believing him, trusting him. The believer is a man, a woman,
who walks with God in this world by faith. The scriptures call
our attention to two men in particular about whom this phrase is used. They walked with God. We read about a man by the name
of Enoch in the fifth chapter of Genesis who walked with God. In Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9, there's
another man called Noah who walked with God. None of us can imagine
the troubles and the difficulties, the trials, the tribulations
Enoch had to face. But for 365 years while he walked
on this earth, from the day that Enoch met God, from the day that
God revealed himself to Enoch, from the day that Enoch was born
of God, that man walked with God on this earth by faith. What a statement. He walked with
God. He walked with God. None of us
can imagine the difficulties, the troubles, the persecutions,
the trials, the slanderous accusations, the taunting jeers that Noah
had to endure, trials he had to face from the world, his own
flesh, the devil, and his own family. But this we are told,
astonishing as it may appear, for the better part of 950 years, Noah walked with God. That astonishes me. For the better
part of 950 years, this man Noah walked with God by faith. Now here in Isaiah 26, The prophet
of God gives us a song of praise, instruction, and exhortation.
In verse four, we read this exhortation. He says, trust ye in the Lord
forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Having
admonished us to trust in the Lord forever, our song gives
us several encouragements to faith in verses five through
11. I want us to look at these five encouragements to faith.
Just told you Bible's open here at Isaiah 26. In this portion
of Scripture, we're taught that the best way to honor God, the
best way you and I can honor God is to believe Him. Nothing so honors God as faith
in Him. And God honors nothing like he
honors faith. Nothing honors God like faith.
And God honors nothing as he honors faith. And at the same
time, nothing is so comforting to God's people in this world
as faith in him. We find comfort believing God. We find peace believing God. We find encouragement believing
God. Nothing is so comforting to our
souls as faith, God-given, God-wrought faith. When the Lord God by his
prophet says, trust ye in the Lord forever, the one he calls
for us to trust is the Lord. That's interesting statement.
It's very instructive. Trust ye in that one who is the
Lord. There's only one. There is only
one who is the Lord. He who is Jehovah. He is the Lord. He alone is God. He alone is sovereign. He alone has power. Our God,
Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, is not one God among
many. He is the God of gods, the God
of all that men pretend to be gods. Call God by what name you
will. He is no God at all. He is God
alone who is Jehovah. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He's the supreme sovereign. He's
the master of all, the controller of all. The Lord Jesus Christ,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, He is Jehovah,
our Savior, the eternal, self-existent, immutable God. Beside Him, there
is none other. The triune Jehovah is in Christ. He is known in Christ. He is
revealed in Christ. Only in Christ. God cannot be
known. And God will not make himself
known in any way to anyone except by the God-man, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, in whom resides all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I haven't yet begun to understand
that vast, vast, vast statement. The apostle tells us by the spirit
of inspiration that in that man who is seated in glory, Jesus
Christ, our Savior, in him resides permanently, resides forever,
resides completely all the fullness of the triune God in his body. So that that man seated in glory
who died as our substitute, he and he alone is God. You don't know God the Father,
or God the Son, or God the Spirit, but by Christ the Divine Mediator. God reveals himself to, he speaks
to men by, he's spoken to men through, only Jesus Christ in
whom resides all the fullness of God. So Isaiah is here saying,
trust in the Lord Jehovah, the God who is Christ. Trust him forever. Trust him
forever. In the scriptures, every time
you read in the Old Testament scriptures of God appearing to
a man, of God making himself known to a man, of God speaking
to a man, understand that every revelation of God in the Old
Testament Scriptures, when God came down here in human form
and spoke to a man, was a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus Christ,
the God-man who would come in time. In him is everlasting strength. The strength by which we live,
the strength by which we believe, the strength by which we serve
God is Christ. God is my strength. The Lord
is my strength. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
our righteousness and all our strength. He is strength and
he gives strength. He gives strength continually.
He gives us strength as we need it and he gives us all the strength
we need. to believe him, to worship him,
to serve him, strength in time of temptation, strength in time
of trial, strength to perform our duties, strength to bear
affliction, to bear trouble. He gives us strength. He says,
my grace is sufficient for thee. Those words, everlasting strength. If you have a marginal translation,
I'll repeat what I told you a few weeks ago. Look at that carefully. might be read, in him is the
rock of ages. The Lord Jehovah is Jesus Christ,
God our Savior, he's the rock of ages. The rock in whom we
take refuge. The rock upon whom we build,
the rock upon whom the Lord God builds his church. He is the
rock that followed Israel through the wilderness. The rock smitten
by the rod of God's justice and wrath from which flows out the
water of life to thirsty sinners. He is the strength who is our
rock. The strength by whom we live
and serve God, this is the Lord our Savior. God was in the rock
and God is in the rock. And you find God only in the
rock of refuge, Christ the Lord. That one in whom God was in him,
reconciling the world of his elect to himself. Truly and joyfully,
we sing with Moses in defiance of all the imaginary voodoo gods
of men. And most men, the gods are just
voodoo gods. They're just, you may as well
get chicken's feet and worship God with them. They're just voodoo
gods, just imaginary gods, had no strength, no power. And with
Moses, we joyfully sing in defiance of the imaginary gods of men.
Their rock is not as our rock. I don't know why so many get
upset with me, folks who claim to believe the gospel of God's
grace. You shouldn't say that about other people's religion
and God. Moses said this is what they
say. Their rock is not as our rock. That's what they say. You tell them about God. I don't
care where you go. You go tell somebody who God
is, what God accomplished, how God saves sinners, and they'll
say, I don't worship a God like that. That's exactly what I'm
saying. Their rock is not as our rock. They don't have any
idea who God is. Such a God as our God, the rock
of ages, our Savior, He and he alone is worthy of implicit faith
and confidence. He is worthy of implicit faith
and confidence. Unquestioning faith, implicit
faith, absolute confidence. He's worthy of such confidence
that nothing causes us unease or discomfort or shakiness. Oh, God teach me so to trust
you. Now here are five reasons why
we should so trust him. I don't expect, I don't expect ever to arrive at
that kind of faith while I live in this world, but I should. I don't expect ever to believe
God like he ought to be believed, but he's worthy of such faith.
And I'm calling on you and calling on myself as God here in his
word calls on us to believe him. How come? Why should we so trust
him? How can you trust God implicitly
for everything, with everything at all times? Look at verses
five and six. The prophet says, trust ye in
the Lord forever. And here's the first reason,
because he will cause us to triumph. He will cause us to triumph over
all our enemies, cause us to triumph over all our foes, within
and without. As God brought down the mighty
cities of Babylon, and Nineveh in judgment for the benefit of
his people. So he will bring down mystical
Babylon and give his church and kingdom success at last. Verse
five, for he bringeth down them that dwell on high. The lofty
city, he layeth it low. He layeth it low even to the
ground. He bringeth it even to the dust.
The foot shall tread it down. Now watch this. Even the feet
of the poor and the steps of the needy. My poor needy people. Those so greatly afflicted, those
tossed here and there, those abused of all men, those off
scouring of the earth, their feet shall tread upon the lofty
and the mighty. He will make the humble, who
trust him to triumph over all their proud enemies. The Lord
lifteth up the meek, he casteth down the wicked to the ground. It matters not whether you speak
of the Amalekites within or the Amalekites without. It matters
not whether you speak of the raging devils in your own nature
or the devils that surround you. It matters not whether you speak
of the ungodly, vile, base, wicked of the world or the ungodly,
vile, base, religionist of the world. All who oppose God and
oppose your soul, you who are gods shall walk on their necks
in triumph at last. Not even sin or Satan shall rob
you of anything. Not even sin or Satan shall rob
you of anything. I just don't see how you can
say that, Brother Don. It doesn't look that way to me.
I ask you, is God able to subdue all things? Is God able to tear
down the mighty and the lofty? Is God able to destroy the great
cities? He's done it in the past. Countless
times he's done it in the past. We read in the scriptures about
a man by the name of Pharaoh who commanded the greatest army
of the greatest kingdom in the world. And God drowned him and
his army in the Red Sea. We're reading the scriptures
about a mighty land on the other side of Jordan called Jericho. And Jericho was surrounded with
mighty wall. But the Lord God opened the Jordan
River and caused his people to walk through the Jordan River.
A far greater thing happened there, as far as man's eye is
concerned, going through the Jordan River than crossing the
Red Sea. God divided the Jordan River. He said, now wait a minute, wait
a minute. You gather up some stones out of here and set up
a monument to me right in the middle of this thing. And then
Israel marched around Jericho And on the seventh day blew the
trumpet of God, and the walls of Jericho fell flat to the ground. Understand, children of God,
nothing is hard for God. Nothing presents God with a difficulty. Nothing is a barrier to God.
Nothing is a hindrance to God, but only an instrument by which
he does good for his own. You read the history of the early
church. The persecutions, oh, how the
persecutions arose right after Pentecost. Those thousands were
scattered through the earth because of persecution and trouble. But
everywhere they went, everywhere they went, they went here and
there, scattered. Oh, what a terrible thing's happening!
The church is being scattered! Everywhere they went, they carried
the gospel, and God called out His elect, and God raised up
a church. Everywhere they went, everywhere
they went. And so it has been for these more than 2000 years
now, since our Lord arose from the grave. Our Savior still sets
Lord in heaven. And he still causes the mighty
to bow before him. And in the end, he will cause
Babylon and all the kings of the earth and all the nations
of the earth to bring all the treasures of the earth. All the treasures of the earth.
Doug and I were talking last night, Shep and I, yesterday
afternoon about God's providence and oh, what a wonder it will
be to look back over the Alps of time and see those things
we can't see now. how God has sovereignly manipulated
every thought of every man, every deed of every beast, every word
of every human being, every event of time in all the universe like
puppets on a string. Well, you make us just puppets.
Well, that might not be kind of puppets. Just puppets. Just puppets. Doing God's bidding
all the time. We can't see it. We see it a
little here and there. A little here and there. God
puts this in our way. You run into it and say, well,
God did that. And act like you're surprised.
Just act surprised. God rules everything well. And soon, these feet will walk
on all opposition to God and to me. Did you hear me? Soon, these feet, yours and mine,
will stand on the necks of all who oppose God and oppose us,
his people. Second, look at verse seven.
Trust ye in the Lord forever. Trust him because he weighs the
path of the just. It looks like that would have
read, he weighs the paths of the just. But that's not the
way it reads. Trust the Lord forever because
he weighs the path, singular, of the just. The way of the just
is uprightness. Thou most upright dost weigh
the path of the just. God looks upon the way of his
people in this world with care and delight. He weighs out our path. He makes the measure of our path. He directs our path. The way
of the just is uprightness. The way of the just is the way
God appointed for us. It is the way of salvation and
life by Christ Jesus the Lord who is the way. He who is our
God made for us a way to heaven. It's a way of righteousness,
a way of holiness, a way of truth. And that way is the way of the
sacrifice of his darling son. So that God, by the sacrifice
of his son, is a just God and a savior. And the way of the
believer as he walks in this world is the way of uprightness. The way of every believer is
uprightness. The word uprightness might be
better translated evenness. Either way, it's referring to
the integrity, the honesty, the truthfulness, the sincerity of
the believer's life. God's people are not cunning,
crafty, devious, deceitful people. I did not say God's people do
not do such horrid things. They do. But God's people are
not devious, cunning, crafty, deceitful, dishonest people. God's people are people like
Nicodemus, in whom our Savior said, is no guile. All of God's
people. God's people are like Isaiah
describes them, people who are called children that will not
lie. That obviously is not talking
about the old man, Adam, that's in us. But that new man in Christ
Jesus, that new man created in righteousness and true holiness,
Christ in you, that new man is a sincere, honest, guileless
creature. And that new man is the man who
walks with God. And walking with God, walking
uprightly. Obviously, when the prophet speaks
here and says, thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just,
he's addressing the Lord God, our savior, and telling us that
with the upright, God shows himself upright. We're told in Psalm
1, the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Certainly that means the Lord
knows the way we take, but it means more than that. The Lord
orders the way of the righteous. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. The steps of a good man. Who on earth is that? One made
good in Christ by God's grace. His steps are ordered by the
Lord before he knew anything about God's goodness. God ordained
the time and place of his birth and every step of his life through
this world. Ordered by the Lord. Every step
ordered by the Lord, every step. And the Lord protects the righteous
in his way. It is written, he shall give
his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. And this way that God has ordered
for us, God approves of. He approves of the righteous
and approves of their way. And he is the end of this way. We who are gods might well sing,
I must needs go home by the way of the cross. The way of the
cross leads home. I shall ne'er get sight of the
gates of light if the way of the cross I miss. But home we're
going. and home is to be absent from
the body and present with the Lord. These are the things God's
done for us. He orders our way. He weighs
our way. He protects us in our way. He
is our way and he's the end of our way. God, the most upright,
our great, great God. Turn over to Jeremiah 31. We've
got to read this to you. I just got to read it to you.
He levels and smooths the path of the just. Oh, how delightful
this is. Jeremiah 31 verse six. There shall be a day that the
watchman upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry, arise ye and let us
go to Zion. Let us go up to Zion unto the
Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord, Sing
with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the
nations, Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people,
the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from
the north country, and gather them from the coast of the earth,
and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and
her that travaileth with child together, a great company shall
return thither. They shall come with weeping
and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk
by the rivers of waters in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble. I am a father to Israel, and
Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
he that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a
shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob,
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. Therefore, as surely as the Lord redeemed him, They shall
come and sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together
to the goodness of the Lord. Look at the end of verse 12.
They shall not sorrow anymore at all. All right, back here
in Isaiah 26. Trust ye in the Lord forever. Here's the third reason. because
he will give us the desire of our souls. Look at verse eight. Yea, in the way of thy judgments,
O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to
thy name and to the remembrance of thee. The desire of our soul. There sits Gary Baker and Sam
Wall and Jimmy Bowman. You ladies, you're the man, God's
people. And here the prophet speaks of
us as one person with one desire. The desire of our soul. My desire, your desire. What
is it that we want? What's the desire of our soul? What is it that moves us, that
motivates us, that keeps us going? What's the desire? The singular desire, singular
of our soul, singular. It looks to me like whatever
the desire of one is, must be the desire of all. And the desire
of all is precisely the same. What is that? The disciples asked
our Lord to teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples
to pray. And he taught us to pray like this. Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. The desire of our soul is the
glory of our God. And the glory of our God is wrapped
up with the salvation of his elect. the performing of his
will. And this is what we desire. No matter how it may conflict
with our temporal interest, no matter how it may conflict with
temporal pleasure, no matter how it may conflict with what
we think is best in our own foolishness, our desire, our desire, is the glory of God in the saving of his people performing
his will father glorify thy name that's
what I want that's what I want father glorify
thy name hear me now my father I lay all things gladly at your
disposal for the glory of your name, for the saving of your
people, for the performing of your will. We wait upon the Lord
in his house to hear the instruction, the judgment of his word by which
our lives are governed. Here we wait and we're instructed
and we're reproved and we're corrected. We find direction. We learn God's will. We are comforted. We're motivated
and we're inspired as we wait here for God to give out his
judgments by his word. And we wait for God to make himself
known in the midst of providential judgment. Now I use that word
judgment, I'm certain it's used here in Isaiah 26, eight, not
to speak particularly of punitive judgments. God's people have
nothing to fear by way of punishment from God, but we see God's judgments
in the earth. When God brings judgment upon
the nation, while others question him and curse him, we wait for
him. When God brings providential
judgment upon us, afflictions, sorrows, trials, heartache, troubles
we can't explain or understand, we wait at his throne of grace
for help and for him to speak and make himself known. You see,
God's acts are his judgments. God's judgments are his deeds
in the earth. and all of them are performed
by Him for us. So let us wait in the way of
His judgments. Wait for God to show Himself
glorious. Wait for God to make Himself
known. Wait for God to speak to us in
His judgments. Nothing inspires Our faith for
the present and for the future, like the remembrance of God's
grace in the past. How good he's been. You who are my brothers and sisters,
you who have some experience in this thing called life, Some
experience with weeping and pain and sorrow. Tell me, have you
ever known God to be anything but good or to act in any way
but good to you? Ever? Ever? Ever? Oh no, pastor, no. Why expect
him to behave otherwise tomorrow? We trust him and wait in the
way of his judgments. Our great joy is the assurance
that our God will honor his name in all things. He led his people
by the hand to make himself an everlasting name, and he leads
his people today to make himself a glorious name. Number four,
trust ye in the Lord forever. because he will save his people. As our concern is for the honor
of God's name, so our concern is for the saving of his elect.
The two things are synonymous. God's honor and the salvation
of his elect are synonymous. God's name is honored by the
saving of his people. Look at verse nine. With my soul
have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me
will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn thy righteousness. In the night of spiritual darkness,
we wait upon our God. And these who learn righteousness,
who I call here the inhabitants of the world, these are God's
elect among the fallen sons of Adam. They learn God's righteousness
by his works of grace and providence in the world, making his word
effectual to them. Now understand me carefully.
Understand what I'm saying. Read the 107th Psalm again. and observe the wondrous works
of our God. God saves his people by everything
he does. What does it take to save God's
elect? Everything that is, has been,
or shall be. No, God does not save people
by providence alone, but God works in providence. to prepare
men and women to hear his word, when he causes his word to come
to them in the power of his spirit. The Lord provoditially lays a
man low. He brings him into the troubled
water. and is tossed to and fro, and
he reels to and fro as a drunken man, and at last he cries unto
the Lord, and the Lord hears him. This is what God's doing
in the earth. He is making himself a glorious
name in the saving of his people and the righteous. God's chosen, God's elect, Christ
redeemed, In the earth, they will learn righteousness by all
that he does. But read on, verses 10 and 11,
and learn this fifth thing. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
because only the wicked, only the reprobate, refuse to trust
him. Let favor be showed to the wicked,
yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will
he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
God takes a man, a woman, a family, and sets them right next door
to a place where the gospel's preached. God raises up a boy,
a girl, several in the house, right here in the house of God,
hearing the word. They won't hear. They won't listen. Have no interest. Stop their
ears. Shut their eyes. God, get out
of my way! and they go to hell pushing God
out of the way because they will not believe. Lord, when thy hand
is lifted up, they will not see. God sends a tornado and wipes
out the whole family next door. God sends a fire and destroys
the whole family right down the road. God sends a flood and sweeps
through town, destroys the whole community. Look up, pay no attention. You who have been on farms at
all, I used to help fellows slaughter cattle and hogs. When I could
do so, come time to butcher them, we'd go out in the field and
my uncle and I, when I was just a boy, we'd go to the hog pen
and he'd get ready to slaughter a hog and shoot it right there. I would shoot one hog right in
the middle of a dozen more. Shoot right between the eyes.
It dropped dead and those other hogs would hear the sound and
look up, maybe smell a little blood, stand there for about
a half a second and go right back to grubbing around in the
mud. That's just about how much attention people pay. Get a little
bit of love, a little excitement, make a little emotion, and you
go right back to business. Lord, when thy hand is lifted
up, they will not see. Say, but preacher, we believe
in predestination. Nobody can believe God except
God-given faith. I know that, but you can if you
want to. And you're responsible to. And
if you don't see, it's because you won't see. If you don't believe,
it's because you won't believe. They will not see, but soon they
shall. They shall see and be ashamed
for their envy at the people. The rich man in hell lifts up
his eyes and he envies Lazarus. Now watch this last word. Yea,
the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. I've looked at that for a good
while the last few weeks, and suddenly I heard the word of
God right here. Folks debate about the fire in
hell. Whatever it is, you haven't come
close to imagining it yet. But whatever the fire of hell
is for a man's soul, whatever the torments of the
damned in hell are, whatever it is, it is your own fire. the fire of your own making that
will torment you forever. Oh, thank God for faith. Lord God, will you, as our mother
prayed earlier, give faith to our sons and daughters? Will
you use us Proclaim life in Christ Jesus and by your word give faith
to sinners in this generation. Trust you in the Lord forever. He's the Rock of Ages. It's perfectly
safe, always, in all things, to trust Him. And it's the wisest
and best thing you can do. Amen.