Well, might we pray continually,
have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. His way is the
right way. His way is the best way. His way is the way I want. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth, even as it is in heaven. If you'll open your
Bibles with me to the 26th chapter of the Gospel of Isaiah, and
just keep your Bibles open on your lap, I want us to read these
21 verses together, and I'll make a few brief comments on
them as we go along. Isaiah 26, we'll begin at verse
one. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. This is a song Isaiah was inspired
of God to compose for us to sing in this gospel day. We have a
strong city, the church of God. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, open the gates
of Zion, that the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter
in. What a strange statement. That
the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in. He's telling
us that before God's elect are brought to Christ in faith, before
they ever come into God's church in the new birth by faith in
Christ Jesus. They are already his righteous
nation. They are already made perfect
in him who made us perfect by his redemptive work at Calvary.
Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed fixed. established on thee, because
he trusteth in thee. Isaiah was a faithful prophet.
He played a one-string banjo. He constantly harped on just
one thing, the Lord Jesus Christ and God's salvation in, with,
and by him, salvation by redemption and grace alone. The prophet
of God here once more points us to that day, that glorious
day, this blessed gospel day in which we now live. He used
this little phrase in that day 53 times. Isaiah uses those three words
together 53 times. speaking always using those words
of this gospel age in which we live. This gospel day is what
John calls the last time. This is the day for which God
made the world and when God gets done with his work in this gospel
day, he'll wrap everything up and make all things new by the
power of his omnipotence by Christ Jesus our Lord. In using those
words in that day, Isaiah particularly calls our attention to the mercies
of God that are ours in Christ, by his blood atonement, by his
righteousness, and by his grace. And he calls for us to relentlessly
give praise to God for those blessings, for his grace, for
his mercies upon us. and he pronounces peace to all
who are stayed upon him in faith. Now look at verse four. Here's
the message of this chapter. Trust ye in the Lord forever. Trust ye in the Lord forever. Some of you are now carrying
heavy burdens. I know that. Some of you, some
of our friends around the world are going through great trials.
And some of you who don't know those things today, no doubt
will be called to pass through deep waters of trouble and the
fiery furnace of affliction and the dark valley of bereavement
before very long. That's just fact. When such times
come, my heart genuinely aches for you. I try to pray for you. I try
to bear your burdens with you. I try to demonstrate my love
and care for you in every way I can. But I know that the best
thing I can do for you at such times The best thing I can do
for you as your pastor is to preach the gospel to you, to
point you to Christ, and to urge you to believe God. Trust ye
in the Lord forever. Your pastor can give you no better
counsel than the words of Isaiah, God's prophet, in this fourth
verse. Trust ye in the Lord forever. If you're yet without Christ
under the wrath of God, oh, may God be pleased to give you grace
to trust him, cause you to hear his word, give you life and faith
in Christ this very hour. But in those circumstances, I
know I can be of no greater service to your soul. I can be of no
greater service to the souls of men and women in this generation.
than to say to you, trust ye in the Lord forever. That's my
business, that's my work, that's the task to which God has called
me, the task to which God has sent me. Now watch this. The
prophet of God tells us why we can and should trust in the Lord
our God forever. This is the wisest And this is
the best, and this is the right thing for us to do. For in the
Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Trust Him at all times, in every
state, in every condition, in times of affliction, temptation,
and darkness, as well as times of happiness, peace, and light. He will support you in every
circumstance. And he will, in every circumstance,
at his own time, deliver you out of every trouble. He'll cause
all things to work together for your good. Trust ye in the Lord
forever. Trust him for everything. All
temporal blessings, all spiritual blessings, eternal life, eternal
bliss with Christ, for everything. These are all gifts of his grace. He holds them in his hands and
he is ready to give them to you at his own appointed time. For
in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Christ our Redeemer
is the Lord Jehovah, that one which is and which was and which
is to come. Our Savior is the self-existent,
eternal, immutable God. In Him is strength as well as
wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
In Him is strength for you and for me. Strength for everything
you need. Strength to bear you up under
the weight of temptation, trouble, affliction, and adversity. Strength
to withstand and to conquer every enemy. Strength to work His grace
in you. And strength by which you can
discharge every duty laid upon you. His strength is everlasting
strength. It's always in him and always
to be had from him. He is the eternal God who is
our refuge. His arms of power and might are
under you and his arms are long arms, everlasting arms of omnipotence
always under you, always his strength, not for his own benefit,
but his strength for you, his strength to give to you, his
strength by which he sustains you. These words could just as
well have been read or could just as well be read as they're
translated in the margin of your Bibles, in the Lord Jehovah is
the rock of ages. In the Lord Jehovah is the rock
of ages. Christ is the rock on which God's
church is built. The foundation rock laid in Zion,
the cornerstone on which God builds his church. He is the
rock on which every believer is built. He is the rock on which
we build by faith in him. That rock against which nothing
can prevail. that rock which stands forever,
that rock laid by our Father in everlasting mercy before ever
the world began. He has been the rock of his people
in ages past. He is the rock of his people
in this day, and he will be the rock of his people in ages to
come. He that trust in the Lord has
a mighty rock of refuge in this world. Jesus Christ Jehovah,
and he who is our rock, I repeat, is Jehovah. One with God the
Father, one with God the Spirit, is God the Son. We worship one
God in the Trinity of his sacred persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. here in Isaiah 26, we have a
song of praise to the triune God for all that he has done
for his elect, for his church, for his Israel. I remind you
again because we tend to forget things that we should remember,
things that are corrupted by the corrupt age in which we live.
In the Old Testament scriptures, whenever you read the words Israel,
Judah, Jacob, Jerusalem, wherever you read those words, understand
church, church, church, believer, believer, believer. The Old Testament
physical nation, the political nation, the civil nation of Israel
was but a picture and type of God's church, the Israel of God,
His elect, His Zion, His people, Jerusalem, which is above, which
is the mother of us all. This song that Isaiah tells us
was to be sung in this gospel day has its fulfillment in the
church of God today, in the lives of God's people today. Yes, everything
in the chapter can be and should be properly, historically, interpreted
and understood as being fulfilled in a physical, natural sense
in the nation of Israel when they were brought out of Babylonian
captivity, when God destroyed Babylon just like he brought
them out of Egypt as God destroyed the Egyptians. But the fulfillment
of these things spiritually, the purpose why this was written
spiritually is for God's church, for God's people. So that the
word spoken here written by divine inspiration are words to be sung
in this day in which Christ has made himself known as our Redeemer,
the Redeemer of his church and his people. This too was written
for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. Now in verses one through four,
the first part of this song, we have a declaration of security
and peace. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. What a word. God's
church. God's elect, every individual
believer, that means you and me. That means you and I who
trust the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a strong city, a city
against which the very gates of hell cannot prevail ever at
any time. strong city. God has appointed
for us walls that he calls salvation, walls surrounding the city. We
see cities sometimes with walls. We see houses, acreage with walls
built around it. Down in Mexico, the houses where
folks can afford it, they about all build a wall around the house
because they want to keep things secure. But the walls could be
easily penetrated. We have walls for our house,
salvation. And then it says bulwark. Bulwarks,
these are not just walls. Walls, the right storm will blow
them down. Walls, lots can cause them to
crumble. But the bulwark, floods don't
move them. We have bulwarks, walls of salvation,
and bulwarks of salvation appointed by our God for us. Open ye the
gates. Open the gates of Zion. Open
the doors of heaven. Open the doors of gates. That's
what we do in the preaching of the gospel. So that the righteous
nation, those made righteous by Christ Jesus, those who keep
the truth, and men and women who believe God, are a righteous
nation. They are people who keep the
truth. They enter in. And then the Lord
promises to every sinner who enters in to this great walled
city with billworks of salvation, thou will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Thou will keep him in steady,
perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on thee. How can that be said? How can
that be said? Which of you knows by experience
what that's talking about? Let me help you. The perfect
peace is the peace of faith. Perfect peace, faith, believing
God. There may be much turmoil about
your life and much turmoil in your heart and much pain, much
that causes you confusion, much that brings darkness, but peace
in believing. As we believe God, he keeps us
in peace. As we look to ourselves, as we
look to the stormy sea, As we look to the little ship in which
we're sailing through the sea, as we look to the clouds above,
as we look to the things around us, then we begin to sink, as
Peter did, walking across the water. But as we look to him,
believing him, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind
is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. He lays the whole weight of his
being on you. He trusteth in thee. Read on. Trust ye in the Lord forever.
Today, tomorrow, the next day, forever, in everything. For in
the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. It's safe and wise
to trust Him because He can carry the load. It's safe and wise
to trust Him because He's God omnipotent. It's safe and wise
to trust Him, this One who is everlasting strength. who died
to redeem us. So loved us that he gave himself
for us. Trust him in him as everlasting strength. Now look at verses
five through 11. The second part of the song is
an encouragement to this faith and confidence. For he bringeth
down them that dwell on high. The lofty city he layeth it low. layeth it low even to the ground,
he bringeth it even to the dust." Can you imagine, as Isaiah gives
this word of prophecy to the children of Israel in anticipation
of the Babylonian captivity, And then they go back and they
read Isaiah's words when they're in the midst of that 70 years
in Babylon, that mighty, mighty city, that city that had come
in and destroyed and sacked Jerusalem. Can you imagine they're saying,
Isaiah, you don't know what you're talking about. Isaiah, you missed
it. This mighty city, It can never
be crushed. It can never be brought to its
knees. It can never be bowed. It can never be broken. But the
Lord God promises, before ever Babylon took Israel into captivity,
before it ever happened. He said, he bringeth them down
that dwelleth on high. The lofty city, he layeth it
low. He layeth it low even to the
ground. He bringeth it even to the dust. Now hear me, children of God.
I don't care whether you're referring to Babylon, the false religion
of our age, Babylon, the world around us, Babylon, spiritual,
Babylon, political, Babylon, economic, it didn't matter. Whatever
the foe, I don't care whether you're talking about foes multiplied
and in league together against our souls, or you're talking
about just one here and one there. The Lord God, our Savior, will
bring our every foe down. He will bring them down. You
don't have to. You can't do it. I don't have
to. I can't do it. No need to try. He will bring them down. Now watch this. He will bring
them down even to the dust. Even to the dust. I grew up in a different age
than the boys are raised this day. Most of you men did. When
I was growing up, I knew some things that made me afraid. I
learned early, you don't show it. You just don't show it. I
don't care if your knees fall down underneath you, you just
don't show it. You just don't show it. But I had a lot of things
that made me afraid. But let me tell you something
I've never been afraid of. I've never even thought about
being afraid of it. Even driving through the middle of a sandstorm
in Texas, I've never been afraid of dust. Have you? I've never
seen anybody quiver because of dust. Now my wife gets upset
if it's around, but she's not afraid of it. I've never seen
anybody afraid of dust. God's word to you is. He will
bring your foes to be as meaningless to you as dust. There'll be no
more harm to you than dust. Read on, verse six. The foot
shall tread it down. Your foot, even the foot of the
poor and the steps of the needy. The God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your heels shortly. Verse seven. The way of the just
is uprightness. The way of the just is Christ
our way. The way of the just is the way
of faith. The way of the just is uprightness.
God Almighty takes us by the right hand of his righteousness
and leads us in the way of uprightness. Thou most upright. Lord God our Savior, most upright. Christ our way, most upright,
dost way. That word way means to observe,
watch over, consider, approve of. O thou most upright, you
watch over, you observe. you consider, you approve of
the path of the just. It's your path, your way. Yea, in the way of thy judgments,
providential judgments, God's judgments in the world. Oh Lord,
in the way of thy judgments have we waited for thee. The desire
of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. The
unbelieving, the wicked, the reprobate, the religious hypocrite,
the will-worship Arminian, sees God's judgments in the world
and denies that they're judgments. Understand this. Understand this,
children of God. Sickness is God's judgment. Sickness. It wouldn't come if it wasn't
the cause of sin. Death is God's judgment. It wouldn't come if
it wasn't the cause of sin. earthquakes, tornadoes, famine, wars, disease,
pestilence, strife. These are God's judgments in
the world. God walks his path in the whirlwind. The tornado makes a path of God's
judgment. The thunder sounds out God's
judgment. And men don't have sense enough
to pay attention to God speaking in judgment. Every calamity of
time is but a warning of judgment to come. But the believer, the
righteous nation, God's people, wait for you, Lord, in your judgments. Wait to hear your voice. Wait
to see what you are doing. The desire of our soul is to
thy holy name. and to the remembrance of thee.
Verse 9. With my soul have I desired thee
in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me
will I seek thee early in the night watches, in the midst of
judgments I desire you. I rise early in the morning to
seek you in the midst of your judgments. For when thy judgments
are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world, that is God's people
in this world, these who walk in the way of uprightness, these
who are the upright ones by God's hand, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness. Believers learn by God's hand. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. Now I've learned to keep your word. Believers learn by
God's judgments in the world, but not the unbeliever. Verse
10, let favor be showed to the wicked. He won't learn a thing
by it. He won't learn anything by it.
Yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will
he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
Men see judgment, and they get scared, make a profession of
faith. Men see something happen, and they get all shook up, and
the preacher talks them into making a decision for Jesus,
and they join the church, and then the sun shines again, and
they forget all about it. They won't learn righteousness.
They'll deal unjustly. They won't behold the majesty
of the Lord. Verse 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted
up, they will not see. But they shall see. And when
they see, they shall be ashamed for their envy, for their envy
at the people. When God gets done, he will make
all who oppose his people, as Cain did Abel, for envy. And that's the reason they will
be ashamed. The fire of thine enemies, the
very fire with which they oppose God's people, the fire of thine
enemies shall devour them. And then in the last part of
this chapter, verses 12 through 21, we have a celebration of
God's wonderful works. As we read these last verses
of this 26th chapter of Isaiah, I want us to remind ourselves
once more of God's great goodness to us. Oh Spirit of God, teach me to
remember your goodness with every breath. To remember
your goodness in the face of every difficulty. To remember
your goodness in the midst of all trouble. to remember your
goodness while I walk in your way in this world. His goodness
to us personally, individually, collectively, publicly, privately,
even conscious of his goodness to us secretly. I guess when you get older, you
think about things differently. I tend to think a lot about things
I don't know anything about. I think a lot about things I
don't know anything about. I'm not talking about fearing
things that might happen. I'm talking about things that
I know are so, but I don't know anything about them. Can you
imagine the secret things? of God's providence, by which
he has brought you where you are right now, in the arms of
his son. Rex, we know things we can see,
and I'm astonished at those, but the secret things, the things
we don't yet know, oh, think often of God's goodness. In verses
12 through 18, Isaiah speaks for us, about us, and we have
verified his words in the long experience of his grace. In verses
19 and 20, the church encourages herself with the promise of Christ.
And in verse 21, the church speaks again to the praise of God and
for the encouragement of faith. All right, let's look at it.
Verse 12. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us. Thou wilt ordain
peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. What a strange statement. We
know that God has ordained all things that come to pass in time.
But here he is talking about that which God will do in the
future. Thou wilt ordain peace for us,
so that with every step we take, As God orders our steps, the
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. As God orders our
steps, he orders peace for us. He orders peace for us. Whatever
trouble we may experience on this earth, we comfort ourselves
with this fact. God will ordain peace for us
in the end. peace such as we could not have
known had we not gone through the deep waters. Every creature,
every event, every experience, everything that comes to pass
in time, in the lives of God's saints, he makes to work for
our peace and heaven. will be more glorious, more joyful,
more blissful, more full of praise than it could otherwise have
been because of the affliction and tribulation and trouble by
which we enter into the kingdom of heaven. Even those things
that seem to be altogether against us, he will cause to work for
us for our everlasting peace. Not only that, but while we live
in this world, we are debtors to our God. Head over heel in
debt to God. Not only debtors because of his
grace in eternal works of mercy. His grace in providence. His grace in the accomplishment
of redemption. His grace in calling us to life
and faith in Christ. His grace in preserving us day
by day to this point. But every day, in all things,
continually amassing more debt. because continually living more
upon his grace. Thou hast wrought all our works
in us. Whatever good work we may do
is a work that God has wrought in us. All of what we call graces
of the Spirit are but fruit of the Spirit worked in us. It is
God who worketh in us, both to will and to do of his own good
pleasure. Only being acted upon do we act. Only being given grace do we
believe at any second, so that every grace that we exercise
is the fruit of God's work in us. Now, let's look at the remaining
part of this chapter. Verses 13 through 18 gives us
a review of our past. Oh Lord, our God, Other lords
beside thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not
live. They are deceased, they shall
not rise. Therefore hast thou visited and
destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. Thou hast increased
the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation. Thou art
glorified. Thou hast removed it far unto
all the ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited
thee. They poured out a prayer when
thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with child that
draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth
out in her pains, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We
have been with child. We've been in pain. We have,
as it were, brought forth wind. We have not brought any deliverance
in the earth, neither had the inhabitants of the world fallen. What is it that we've done? Nothing,
nothing. All our labor, all our travail,
all our striving, all our praying, all our pleading, all that we
have accomplished was just wind. Nothing. Imagine preachers having
the blasphemous audacity to ascribe anything to man who can bring
forth nothing but wind. Whenever we think about the history
of God's church or the history of our lives, let's bear it in
mind where we were when the Lord found us. We've had other lords
beside thee. They've had dominion over us.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life.
the gods of this world. We walked after the course of
this world, just like all other men, and God stepped in and turned us to himself, revealed
Christ in us, gave us faith in his darling son. Now being turned
from those things, By thee only will we make mention of thy name. We'll not mention those other
gods again. We won't talk about them anymore. Remember where you were when
God found you. Look to the rock from which you,
and the hole of the pit from which you've been digged. Mr. Spurgeon told about a young
pastor who went to visit one of the men in his congregation
shortly after he started pastoring a large church. This man invited
the pastor's family out for lunch on Sunday, and they went out
and had lunch together. And then they went out in the
garden, and the man had his children and grandchildren all there with
him and the children playing in the yard and all the stuff
around him. The pastor started to walk through
the house, maybe was showing him through the nice, nice place
he had, and went from one room to the other, and furniture from
this place and that, and finally, he opened the door, and the young
pastor was a little shocked. It was just a dirt floor, just
bare wooden walls, and cut out pictures and calendars hanging
on the wall, and crude, handmade furniture sitting in the room,
and the pastor said, what is this? And the old man said to
him, said, Pastor, this is my remembrance room. I come here
often and just sit for a while because I don't ever want to
forget where I came from. I don't ever want to forget where
God found me by his grace. I want to be reminded often.
When God found us, we were serving other lords. under the dominion
of the world, the flesh and the devil. Now taking up his name,
being baptized in his name, we rise from the watery grave and
pledge ourselves to walk with God in the newness of life. That ought to be our determination
continually. Remember this too, what God's
done for you by his grace. They were dead, verse 14. They
shall not live. These who were lords over us,
they are deceased. They shall not rise. Therefore
hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory
to perish. As he destroyed Israel's enemies
who held them bondage for so long, Pharaoh in Egypt and the
Babylonians, so he has destroyed ours. Satan has been judged. So that though he goes about
his roaring life seeking whom he may devour, he has no power
to devour, not even to injure God's elect. Our sins, our sins,
past, present, future, had been so thoroughly punished in the
sacrifice of our Savior, that the justice of God declares our
sins are gone and now our sins being crucified with Christ on
the tree are dead. We are dead to sin and dead to
the law because Christ has destroyed them. He destroyed them and they
shall never be remembered against us by our God. Verse 15, this
is his word. Thou hast increased the nation,
O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation.
You built your church. You add to the church daily such
as should be saved. Thou hast increased the nation.
Thou art glorified. Thou hast removed it far unto
the ends of the earth. He scattered his people among
all the nations of the earth. he builds his church gathering
his elect from the four corners of the earth where he scattered
them that he might gather them. As Israel multiplied exceedingly
while the Egyptians tormented them. So in this world God's
church continues to multiply by the hand of God working his
own will in the world and with his people. Ever remember The
object of God in this work, in all his work, for us, in us,
and with us, is the glory of his own great name. Thou art
glorified. It is the glory of God to save
his people. And it is the glory of his people
to glorify God. This is God's work. I know that
religious hucksters Do all kinds of things to build
churches. And pastors have their backs
up against the wall. Folks expect them to produce.
And the pastor gets the church going and has folks added to
the church. Well, he moves up the ladder
a little bit and gets another one in it, add more to it, and
gets another one, add more to it, and gets another one, add
more to it. And he gets a good reputation. He feels great. And
all of a sudden, it's just so much manure. That's all. That's all. Those things that
men do by which to swell numbers in a church, appealing to the
flesh, manipulating men's minds, playing games with men, entertaining
folks, does nothing to help, but is only damning to the souls
of men. God builds his church. It does
not depend on me. And it does not depend on you.
God builds his church. He still adds to his church daily
exactly such as should be said. And remember that though we're
often unfaithful to him, our God is always faithful to us. Verse 15. Thou hast increased
the nation, O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation.
Thou art glorified. Thou hast removed it far into
the ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble they have visited
thee. They poured out a prayer when
thy chastening was upon them. When trouble comes, when spiritual
trouble comes, when we find ourselves in circumstances where there's just nothing else we
can do, we turn to God. What can I do? I just have to
trust the Lord. I understand that language. The
fact is, we have to, because we can't do anything else. The
fact is, we get to, because God won't let us do anything else.
When the Lord visits His own and brings trouble, He does it
to turn us to Him. to turn us to Him, to turn us
to Him. Verse 17, like as a woman with
child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain, and
crieth out in her pain, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.
We've been like a woman in travail, we've been with child. We've
been in pain. We have, as it were, with all
our pain, brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance
in the earth. Nothing. We can't revive ourselves
when we know we need reviving. We can't overcome our enemies,
not the slightest of them. We're helpless until God helps. So we are wise to cry, turn me,
O God of my salvation, I shall return. Draw us, and we will
run after thee. Call us, and we will follow thee. Wilt thou not revive thy work? Indeed he will. The history of
God's church and the history of our souls is a history of
grace. pure, free, sovereign, unalterable,
irresistible, faithful grace. And then we have a promise from
our Savior. This is his promise, verse 19.
Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body, shall they
arise. It looks like somebody else is
speaking. You're exactly right. The Lord Jesus is speaking. He
says virtually the same thing in John chapter 5. Awake and
sing ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dues as the due of herbs
in the earth shall cast out the dead. He's talking about a resurrection. You and I who are born of God
had been raised from the dead spiritually in the new birth.
We were raised from the dead representatively when Christ
arose. Read the second chapter of Ephesians
and you'll see plainly that when he ascended on high, we ascended
with him. When he sat down in heaven, we
sat down with him. He is our representative and
we are one in Him and with Him. So that what He did, what He
experienced, what we accomplished, we did, we experienced, we accomplished
in Him. And then we come to the fullness
of time, the appointed time of love when He calls us by His
grace and sinners are raised up from the dead. This is called
the first resurrection. It's a spiritual resurrection.
And if you've got one of those Bibles that's been messed with,
one of the Schofield Bibles, they talk about three second
comings, and they talk about two resurrections. Well, there
is two resurrections, but not two bodily resurrections. The
first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection. Revelation chapter
20, verse six. It is being raised to life by
the power of God. Man by nature was created body,
soul, and spirit. When Adam sinned, he died. God
said, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. But he didn't die. He's still
walking around. But he died spiritually. Yes,
he died spiritually. And we died in him spiritually.
What does that mean? He was created body, soul, and
spirit. When he rebelled against God,
his spirit died, and man comes forth from the loins of Adam,
body and soul. Lives much as a brute in the
earth. until the Lord Jesus comes and
makes the dead whole, breathing his spirit into us, making us
partakers of the divine nature so that the heaven-born soul
is born again, body, soul, and spirit made alive in Christ Jesus,
raised from the dead. And then when he comes in his
glory, we shall have these bodies raised up in the likeness of
his glorious body. And then there's one more thing
here. Verse 21, verse 20. Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as
it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be passed.
Come, children of God. As the Lord Jesus brought Noah
into the ark, he takes us by the hand and brings us into the
ark. He says, come into thy chambers.
Shut your door behind you. Shut everything else out. Shut
everything out, except me and you. Shut everything else out. Hide yourself for a little moment
until the trouble's over. To the indignation be overpassed.
For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain. I'll come back to
this another time, but listen carefully. The Lord assures us
that our trouble, that is, this time of great tribulation, we
call life in this world. your trouble, whatever it is,
Paul calls it our light affliction, which is but for a moment. It
is just for a short time and it will soon be past. When Athanasius
was banished, exiled from Alexandria by Julian, his friends greatly
lamented his arrest and his exile, but he urged them all to be of
good cheer. This is what he said about it.
It is a little cloud that will soon be over. It is a little cloud that will
soon be over. Did you hear me, my brother?
Did you hear the Savior? This too is gonna pass. It is
a little cloud that shall soon be over. And in the end, our
God will reckon with his enemies and ours. He will punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will
disclose her blood and no more cover them. He will come out
of his place on the mercy seat and take his place on the judgment
seat. And when he does, he will punish all the inhabitants of
the earth. and make all creatures to see both the righteousness
of the righteous and the wickedness of the wicked, both the righteousness
of his elect, their rightness to life by Christ Jesus, and
the wickedness of the reprobate, their rightness to be damned
because of their unbelief and their wickedness. And he, showing
those things, will avenge his own elect. Our Redeemer knows
our oppressors and He keeps account of their malice. He will deal
with them in justice to the everlasting glory of His own great name and
the everlasting salvation of His chosen. The psalmist put
it this way, the oppression of the poor, for the oppression
of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise,
saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puffeth
against him. What a good word. From him that
puffeth against him. He stands outside the bulwarks
of salvation and puffeth against him. Nothing
else, nothing else. That's exactly how we will, if
we are wise, deal with all those who oppose us. Just ignore them. Just ignore them. Just ignore
them. I said to the folks down in Sylacauga
yesterday morning, they've been friends of mine for a long time,
like you have, and I said, I know you'll be surprised at this,
but some folks don't like your pastor. Some just don't like
me. And they got some things to say. What are you going to say about
that? Nothing. How are you going to deal with that? Nothing. What
are you going to do about that? Nothing. How are you going to
respond to that? I'm not. What are you going to do? I'm
prepared to wait for God to bring all things to light. And I'll
wait for that day when the Lord God will set us in safety from
him that puffeth against us. Let a man count us, Paul said,
as the ministers of Christ, as stewards of the mysteries of
God. I'm required to do one thing, I'm required to be faithful.
And I know nothing by myself, yet I'm not thereby justified,
but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore, I will judge
nothing before the time. And with me, it's a very small
thing that I should be judged by man's judgment, truly. Oh, Lord our God, thou wilt ordain
peace for us. Thou hast brought all our works
in us. Thou art glorified. I ask nothing more. I want nothing
more. The Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock. Let the God of my salvation be
exalted. Amen. Amen.