Until I started to prepare this
message, I don't think I had ever taken time to go through
scripture and see how much instruction is given to us in the word of
God about singing God's praise. We have numerous examples of
songs given by various people in the scriptures, Moses' song,
Miriam's song in Exodus 15. The book of the Psalms is all
the hymn book of God's church in the Old Testament. Each of
those psalms, a song of praise to God. But we're given specific
instruction about singing. Let me share with you what the
scriptures say, just a little bit of it about singing. Just
listen. In the 149th Psalm, the psalmist
says, praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song
and his praise in the congregation of the saints. Now this is a
psalm teaching us to sing. Sing unto the Lord his praise
in the congregation of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that
made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Let them praise his name in the
dance. Let them sing praises unto him
with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. Let the high praises of God be
in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hands. One of
the most delightful, useful, soul-cheering aspects of public
worship is heartfelt songs of praise to God our Savior. Singing of psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs to God, but speaking to one another as we sing those
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The Apostle Paul teaches
us to walk in the Spirit. not to be drunk with wine, but
to be filled with the Spirit. And one key to that is speak
to yourselves in psalms, in hymns, and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Some folks have
objection to brief choruses that we sometimes sing, but the Spirit
of God teaches us to sing the psalms and sing hymns and to
sing spiritual songs to our God. In Colossians 3, the apostle
says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So the songs we sing should be
songs that teach and admonish us. In Psalm 9, sing praises
to the Lord which dwelleth in Zion. That is to say, declare
among the people his doings. In the Old Testament, singers
were appointed for the temple service of our God in worship,
to lead the way of God's people worshiping him. When Jehoshaphat
went out to battle, we read in 2 Chronicles 20, that he appointed
singers unto the Lord, that should praise the beauty of his holiness
as they went out before the army. These singers led the children
of Israel, the army of Israel into battle. As they did, they
sang, praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. What a way to go into battle.
Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. And in the
church of God, that which leads the way to. and scatters the
enemies of earthly care, making a way for the word of God in
the hearts and minds of his people is the singing of God's praise. Songs then, our song service
is very much an integral part to our worship of God. We certainly
delight in the blessing God's given this congregation over
the years. We've always had men and women
who were gifted to sing, as Ruth just did, and they sing songs
of praise to instruct us. This is not for entertainment.
This is to be opening the way to worship. I always ask that
the psalm be sung very soon, just prior to the message, because
this is the last thing I want before I stand to preach. I want
your hearts and minds focused on the praise and worship of
God as we declare his doings one to another. We delight in
the special music. But special music should never
be central to the worship of God. Congregational music can
never be supplanted by the special music that's provided. We don't
come here to be entertained. We come here to worship. And
we all are taught of God to lift our voices together in congregational
praise. Brother Lindsey carefully selects
the hymns that we sing here. They are hymns both doctrinally
accurate and honoring to God. Now that's essential. In this
place, we don't sing what we won't preach. We're just not
gonna do it. We're not gonna do it. If we
have, and we have many hymns in the hymn book, sadly, there's
not any really good ones that I could recommend, but the hymn
books, about all of them are filled with a good bit of trash.
And even among the hymns that we sing, I don't hesitate to
change the hymn to meet with the doctrine that's preached
from this pulpit. If a preacher ever is born of God and taught
of God, learns the gospel of God's grace, you can bank on
it. where that man preaches, these three things will radically
be altered. His message, his methods, and
his music. A man who believes the gospel
of God's grace, preaches free grace, and he sings free grace,
and he practices in all the methods of his work, free grace. We believe
salvation to be of the Lord. As we sing God's praises together,
Let us do so heartily unto the Lord. Let me read one of those
passages to you again in Colossians 3. Paul says in verse 16, let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching
and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And
whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. That pretty well sums up how
we are to sing unto our God as a congregation. You who are God's,
sing His praise. Join together with us as we worship
and praise God our Savior in the congregation. The special
music we will reserve for folks who are gifted for that. Some
years ago, and this may be of help in other places, hasn't
been yet, but I'll say it anyway. Some years ago, I was in rescue
and the lady who was playing the organ said to me, she said,
Brother Don, you have such a good voice, you ought to be up there
singing specials for us. And there happened to be standing
right beside me a gal who came to conferences just so she could
sing and she couldn't sing. She couldn't sing as well as
Lindsay and I put together do. She just flat couldn't sing.
But she thought she could and she'd come to conference and
get the pastor to let her sing. And I said to the lady, I said,
I ought to be singing. I said, I've forgotten her name
now. I said, honey, I travel a lot. and I go to a lot of places
and I have to endure listening to folks who think they can sing
and can't. I'm not gonna be one of them,
that's not gonna happen. But you who are in God's church,
join together, no matter what your qualities and abilities
are, you have this ability to sing praise to our God. And that opens the way for worship. That makes Mary the heart. That
gives joy to our souls. So let's open our Bibles tonight
again to Isaiah 26. The gospel of Isaiah chapter
26. And see what God the Holy Ghost
tells us to sing in this blessed gospel day. He tells us specifically
what to sing. We don't sing for entertainment. The songs aren't designed for
whoopee, feel good, hand clapping, foot stomping time to get folks
to gyrate and wave their hands and act like fools. We sing for
God's praise and we have a reason for singing what we do. Read
with me verses one through four as Isaiah instructs us about
Saul. In chapter 25, the prophet had
spoken of Christ's coming and the accomplishment of our redemption
and salvation by him. Here in chapter 26, he gives
us a song of joy, gratitude, and praise to God for that redemption
and that salvation Christ has accomplished for us and brought
in us by his grace. Verse one, in that day, in this
gospel day, shall this song be sung in the land of Judah, wherever
God's elect are found, wherever the children of Abraham are found,
wherever the sons and daughters of God are found. Sing this song,
we have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation which keepeth truth may enter in. Thou will keep him
in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he
trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Now that's an example
of what we ought to sing. An example of the kind of songs
saved sinners sing to the Lord our God. It is an experimental
song. We sing that which we know. It is a doctrinal, instructive
song. It declares salvation will God
appoint, giving us instruction in the gospel doctrine of God's
salvation. And a comforting song, it speaks
of peace. Oh, that makes for good singing. What you've experienced. what
you know by experience of God's grace, what God teaches by the
gospel of his grace, and the peace of God that flows from
it. And the song is full of challenge. Songs ought to challenge us.
The challenge is open ye the gates, trust ye in the Lord. And this song is a God-honoring,
Christ-exalting song. Everything in the song turns
our minds, our thoughts, our hearts, Out to God our Savior
who performs all things for us. Now notice, again, there's nothing
here of sentimentalism and emotionalism. The purpose of singing in the
congregation is not to work up a spasm of religion. The purpose
is to lift the hearts of sinners in the worship of God. Every
song ought to lift our hearts and move our minds and hearts
heavenward toward God who sits on his throne. I just told you
Bible's open here at Isaiah 26, as we look at these first four
verses together. In that day, that is in this
day of God's grace and salvation, in this gospel age in which we
live, In that day shall this song be sung. What a statement. In this age, so long as this
gospel age stands, this song shall be sung. That tells us
that throughout this age, there will be people to sing it. God
has his elect in this world. He has his witnesses and he will
not fail to have them. And these people have calls to
sing. As long as God is on his throne,
as long as salvation is ours, as long as grace flows from Jesus
Christ to sinners such as we are, oh my soul, we have reason
to sing, to sing the high praises of our God. And there will be
people who have a reason to sing and their hearts will be engaged
in the song. This song is to be sung in the
land of Judah, that is in the church of God, in Zion, the city
of God. That's not talking about this
local assembly or any particular local assembly. Now, when I say
this, I always must give a word of caution. I do not in any way
undervalue the public worship of God's saints in local churches. I value it far more highly than
any of those folks who call themselves Landmark and Baptist Bride and
so forth. They don't mind splitting the church and tearing it apart
to save their name and reputation. We value the church of God. This is the house of the living
God. It is our privilege to be part
of a gospel church and to worship God together as a family. This
is my family here. We value the church of God. But
having said that, the Zion, Judah, Jerusalem, the city of God, spoken
of in scripture, the heavenly Jerusalem. It's talking about
the church of God universal. It's talking about the whole
body of God's elect, the whole body of the saved, so that every
person born of God, every person redeemed by Christ, all who are
God's elect are a part of this church. In this church, God makes
himself known. In this church, there are righteous
people. In this church, there are folks
who continue in the way of faith, and at last, in glory, are gathered
with God's saints in the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn.
Judah, then, symbolically represents the church for whom the gospel
covenant was made. The church of God is the city
of God. The church of God, that's the
family of God. The church of God is the kingdom
of God. Now understand me, no one gets
saved by joining any church. Not a papist church or a Baptist
church. No one gets saved by joining a church. Salvation is
God's work alone. Men obtain that salvation by
God's gift of grace and God's gift of faith in Christ Jesus.
but there is no salvation apart from the church of the living
God. You've got to be born into this
family. You've got to be joined to this body. And in this song,
glorious things are spoken of the church and the people of
God. We have great reason to trust
the Lord our God, the church of God does. We have great reason
to give praise to Him always, the city of God does. We have
great reason always to lift our songs and our voices in song
and give praise to the high God of Israel, that is the family
of God does. Now let's look at verses one,
two, three, and four together, and I'll call your attention
to four things. First, in verse one, we're given a place of safety. In the second verse, he describes
a work of mercy. In verse three, we're given a
promise of grace. And then in verse four, an encouragement
for faith. All right, here's the first thing. Verse one describes a place of
safety. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and boards. Again now, this is talking
about the church of God, the kingdom of God, the city of God,
the family of God, a city which God has prepared and built upon
the rock Christ Jesus. It's a strong, strong bulwark. As the Lord prepared it, so he
defends it. As he built it, so he keeps it. The strength of this city, the
church of God, is found in many things. Obviously, our strength
is the presence of God. The presence of God. And what's
said here of the whole church of God is true of every individual
believer, every individual member of the church. The presence of
God is our strength. The Lord our God is a wall of
fire surrounding us. a wall of fire through which
no foe can cross. He is encamped around us all
the time. Our strength is the word of God. His word is described as a fire
to warm, a hammer to build, and a sword to protect. The saints
of God, the saints of God united to Christ and to one another
in him are themselves the strength of the church. Our unity of the
Spirit, that unity we have in the Spirit, is described as the
bond of peace, bound together as one, a strong, strong body,
the body of Christ is. Zechariah tells us the governors
of Judah shall say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem
shall be my strength in the Lord of host their God. The inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the inhabitants of Zion, these are the strength
that we find brought together in Christ Jesus the Lord. I remember
when I was just a young man, Mr. Spurgeon, I read, was asked
by someone, to what do you attribute your great success, your phenomenal
success as a preacher? And Spurgeon's very quick answer
was, my people pray for me. You see, our labor is not the
labor of one man. Our labor is the labor of a body,
a body of believers bound together in Christ Jesus the Lord, so
that that which I do, we do. That which is done by me going
and preaching or writing or whatever God gives opportunity for is
the work of the body of Christ Jesus the Lord. the saints of
God having been born into his church and kingdom are perfectly
safe and secure. Our song declares salvation will
God appoint for walls and bulwarks. What walls and bulwarks are to
a fortress, salvation is to God's church and his people. Our safety,
our security for time and eternity is God's salvation. The safety
and security of the believing soul is not in our will or our
works or even in our faith, but rather our safety, our security
is God's salvation. We believe in the security of
the believer. We believe in the certain perseverance
and preservation of all who are born of God, not because we find
something in men that is commendable and we can just rely on them,
but we believe in the certain preservation of all God's elect,
the certain perseverance of every heaven born soul, because we
believe in the perseverance of our God. and the certain preservation
of his grace. This work called salvation is
God's work. If any of it depends on you,
if any part of it depends on you, if any portion of it depends
on me, it's not safety and it's not security and it won't last. It won't last, but if it's God's
work, It was done before the world began. It's done forever
and nothing can be put to it and nothing taken from it. And
God does it this way so that everybody know he's God. He is
God who saves his people. Salvation is the work of God
the Father. Therefore every saved sinner
is eternally secure in Christ Jesus Hold your hands here in
Isaiah 26 and turn to this very very familiar portion of scripture
to this congregation Ephesians chapter 1 Most of you I'm sure
can quote the biggest portion of it, but let's let's turn and
look at it Almost 50 years ago, when I was
taking homiletics and pastoral theology, we had to write out
sermons, and I tried my best always to write out a sermon
that expressed my doctrine with clarity. It didn't make any fans,
but that's what I am sent to do. And I prepared a message
from this first chapter of Ephesians about God's free grace. And the
outline was, salvation was purposed by God the Father. And you have
it in verses three, four, five, and six. Salvation was purchased
by God the Son. And that's described for us in
verses seven through 12. And salvation is performed in
us by God the Holy Ghost, as described in verses 13 and 14.
Here in Ephesians one, The Spirit of God tells us about God the
Father in His work of salvation. The saints of God, those who
are born of God, are saved because God the Father purposed to save
them. That makes us eternally secure
in Christ. The cause of salvation is God's
distinguishing favor, God's electing love, which is unchangeable.
The foundation of salvation is God's purpose, God's will, which
cannot be altered. The source is election. The ground of salvation is the
covenant of God's grace, ordered in all things and sure. And the
security of it is the power of God himself. Look at verse three.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Children of God, we have reason
to sing praise to God. because God the Father before
the world was purpose to save us and made with us an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. And because salvation
is the work of Christ, the son of God, every believer is secure
in him. His blood is our bulwark against
the assaults of Satan. His righteousness is a wall to
enclose us. His mediation is our protection. He's described in Zechariah 9
in his mediation as Satan raises Moses up. The Lord Jesus Christ
intercedes and he protects his servant Joshua. His omnipotence,
that's our defense. He is able to save to the uttermost
all them that come to God by him. Look at verse seven in Ephesians,
chapter one. In whom, that is Christ the beloved,
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. The inheritance
is already ours, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,
that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace, the
glory of the grace of God the Father who purposed this thing,
who first trusted in Christ. Shall not we then sing the praise
of God the Son? We cannot be lost because his
blood cannot be shed in vain. We cannot be lost because his
grace cannot be defeated. We cannot be lost because his
mediation will never be despised by God. And we're saved by the
work of God the Holy Ghost. Look in verse 13. It's the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The new birth is the
spirit's work. Faith in Christ is the gift of
the spirit. Preservation in grace is by the
sealing of the spirit. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation. in whom also after that you believed
you were sealed. That is, having believed, you
had the seal of God, sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
God, the Holy Ghost, giving you faith, seals to you all the blessings
of grace, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. Now back here in Isaiah 26. This place of safety is the church
of God. Surrounded with walls and bulwarks
of God's salvation, God's grace. Now look at verse two. Here's
a work of mercy. We are to admonish one another
in song. And in this song, there's an
admonition given for us to perform a work. Open ye the gates. that the righteous nation which
keepeth truth may enter in. Now I know there is only one
door, one gate by which many women enter into the church and
kingdom of God. That door, that gate is the Lord
Jesus Christ. But here it's spoken of as though
there were many doors. Why? Why? Open ye the gates. You mean there's more than one
gate? No, no, no, no. It's one gate, but it's seen everywhere,
and it's open in every direction. Matter of fact, if you care to
read about this same city, this city prepared of God as a bride
adorned for her husband, In Revelation 21, you'll find that it's got
gates on the north, the south, the east, and the west. All those
gates had the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed upon
them because this city has gates thrown open to sinners, north,
south, east, and west, everywhere, thrown open freely, bidding sinners
come, enter in, enter in and be saved by Christ the door.
And those who enter in are described as the righteous nation. the righteous nation. Christ
opens the door and He bids sinners come in and all who come in by
this door shall go in and out and find pasture and they shall
be safe, have eternal life. But He bids sinners everywhere
come in and coming in by Him, sinners walk in the kingdom of
God as a righteous people, a righteous people. How can that be? He calls sinners to come in,
but He describes those who come in as a righteous nation, a righteous
people, righteous before they came in, righteous before they
entered in by Christ at the door, not in their experience, but
they come in because they have the right to come in, because
Christ has made them righteous. Made righteous by Him, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Made righteous by
Him who is that one called the Lord, our righteousness. Made
righteous by His obedience unto death. And made righteous now
by the gift of His Spirit, giving us to be partakers of the divine
nature. imparting to us that holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord, making us new creatures
in Christ, so that the sinner who comes out of his bondage
and misery, his pit of darkness, and all of his experience of
guilt and condemnation, immediately walks into Zion, in the blessed
joy of righteousness. And these people, these who are
the righteous nation, who enter in by Christ the door, believing
on Him, are men and women who keep truth. Keep truth. They cherish it. They hold to it. They will not
forsake it. They will not abandon it. They
persevere, believing God. They hold fast the word of the
gospel. They will not be turned by a
howling shepherd in some other way. They hear the shepherd's
voice and follow him. These things that I preached
to you, the gospel of God's free grace, what men call Calvinism. The five points of Calvinism,
total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints. These are matters
of gospel truth. And I will not be robbed of them.
And I will not give them up, not in Hare's bread. All my hope
is in the truth of God's free grace revealed in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Believers are chosen, redeemed
sinners. Men and women called by the irresistible,
effectual, omnipotent grace of God the Holy Ghost. They enter
into salvation and come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. That's what salvation is. That's
what faith is. It's coming to God. coming to
God, coming to God by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Most people
that we know who have religious stuff have spasms of religion. I remember Mary Bell years ago
We were at their house one time, and I forgot who else was there.
We were down there for a conference, and it's been a long, long time
ago. As you probably know, Brother Donny and Mary were, after they
got religious, they were Pentecostal nuts. I mean, just Pentecostal
nuts. Mary was talking about the record
collection they used to have, had a great record collection.
And Mary said, I asked her, I said, what happened to it? She said,
oh, in one of our spasms of religion, we broke them all. And most people
just have spasms of religion. Whenever things get a little
trouble at home, all my life growing up in our family, we
had spasms of religion. Every time I got in enough trouble
to scare everybody, we went to church. And that's about it.
That's about it. Spasms of religion. Most folks
have spasms of religion, and you can't count on them. You
can't lead on them. You can't depend on them. You
can't trust them. God's people keep truth. Lord, You have the words of eternal
life. Nobody else does. To whom shall
we go? We've got no one else to lead
on. Now look at verse three. Here our song declares a promise.
Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee, because he trusteth in thee. I won't spend much time
here. I think I had some liberty to
deal with this. in good measure the last time
I preached to you from this passage. Peace is God's gift, and it is
God's gift to faith. As we believe God, we have peace. Peace with God through the blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is peace Christ accomplished,
and peace we receive by faith. The peace promised here is called
Now let me help you with that word perfect. Don't let it throw
you. Isaiah is not telling us that
unless we have perfect peace, we do not have faith and are
lost. Certainly not. There is a vast,
vast difference between having perfect peace and having peace
perfectly. You got that? There's a vast,
vast difference between having perfect peace and having peace
perfectly. I didn't know this until just
recently. I hope you won't mind me using it, Gary, but Gary Baker's
wife, he woke up one day and she's laying in the bed and the
Lord had taken her. And God gives you peace. And
I've never discussed it with him, but I'll guarantee you it
ain't perfect. It's perfect peace, but you don't
possess it perfectly. Perfect peace, but not possessed
perfectly. The peace God gives us in Christ
is not perfectly manifest, perfectly felt, and perfectly enjoyed in
our souls while we live in this world, never. We often use those
words, I had perfect peace about this. I don't know who you're
trying to convince, you or me, but it just ain't so. We don't ever in this world experience
any of these things perfectly. The word perfect is exactly the
same word as the word peace in the original. In fact, the text
would be better read literally this way. Thou wilt keep him
in peace, peace. But why did the translators translate
it perfect peace? They did so wisely and rightly
because God here gives believing people the promise of true peace. The peace that God gives to faith
is real peace, true peace, substantial peace, peace that will sail your
boat through troubled waters, and calm you in the midst of
a storm. It's not an imaginary peace.
It's not a put-on peace. It's not a showy peace. It's
real peace. The word used by our translators,
perfect, carries the idea of completeness, abundance. Thou wilt keep him in true, abundant,
complete peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth
in thee. We have peace now. Thank God
for peace. Oh, thank God for peace with
God, for peace in his providence, for peace as we behold his workings,
Thank God for the blessed peace that comes by faith, the joy
and calmness of peace. But oh, what abundant, complete,
blessed peace he will give us in heavenly glory when the bride
is perfectly prepared for her husband as the city of God. It will be perfectly enjoyed. It will last forever. This is
what the prophet says back in chapter 9. Of the abundance of
his peace there shall be no end. In his days shall the righteous
flourish and the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. This peace is promised to those
whose minds are stayed upon Jehovah. Stayed upon the triune God. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed, finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. To be stayed on Christ is to
have your heart and mind fixed on Him, being fully persuaded
of your saving interest in Him. It is laying the whole weight
of your soul upon Him. To be stayed upon Christ is to
trust Him alone. Turn back to the 112th Psalm,
Psalm 112. Read this with me, verse five. A good man, that is a saved sinner,
showeth favor and lendeth. He will guide his affairs with
discretion. Surely he shall not be moved
forever. The righteous shall be in everlasting
remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings. His heart is fixed. What? His heart is fixed, trusting
in the Lord. His heart is established. He shall not be afraid. until
he see his desire upon his enemies. To be stayed upon Christ is to
lean everything on him. You can, you know. You can trust
his blood. You can trust his righteousness.
You can trust his wisdom. You can trust his goodness. You
can trust his faithfulness. You can trust his power. You
can trust his providence. Oh, God, give me grace ever to
cast my soul upon him who loved me and gave himself for me. This
is the promise of grace. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Now just for a minute, look at
verse four. Here our song gives us an encouragement for faith.
When you stand to lead us in the hymn, Lindsay, encourage
our faith. Encourage our faith with song.
Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength. Trust it, trust it, trust it.
Trust it, trust it, trust it. Oh, trust the triune Jehovah. Trust your heavenly father. Trust
your savior. Trust your divine comforter.
Trust him at all times, in every state, in every condition. That's
what faith does. In time of temptation, affliction
and darkness, faith looks out of self to Christ, trusting him. and he will deliver you in every
trial, support you in every temptation, cause all things to work together
for your good. And in your darkness, he makes
a way for the son of righteousness to arise again and shine in your
soul when you can do nothing else. We often say this, I've said
it, you've said it many, many times, Some trouble comes wreck,
say, well, all we can do is trust the Lord. That's a horrible statement.
That's a horrible statement. We get to trust Him. We get to
trust Him. We don't trust Him. Sadly, we
do trust Him. Oh God, forgive me, as a last
resort. Sadly, we attempt everything
for ourselves. But when he brings us to our
nothingness, all we can do and all we get to do is trust him. Trust ye in the Lord forever.
How come? In the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting
strength. I will love thee, O Lord, my
strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. Did you notice how many names,
how many nouns David uses, and just two verses to speak of the
Lord. He's my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my
God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of
my salvation, my high tower. And then he says, I will call
upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved
from my enemies. He is the rock of ages in whom
we trust. Our refuge, our strength, our
shield, our defender. And if you flee away and take
refuge in the rock of ages, peace, perfect peace is yours. as you are stayed upon Jehovah. Amen.