Well, if I don't write things
down, I forget them, especially when I'm getting ready to preach. And if I write them down, sometimes
I say them wrong, but Ruth called just a little while before service
tonight. Claus has pneumonia again, so you remember them in
prayer as well. Turn with me, if you will, to
the 25th chapter of Isaiah. I want to pick up tonight right
where I left off Sunday night. Isaiah 25. I have endeavored
as often as I thought I could do so without just repeating
myself to show you from the scriptures and show you as firmly and as
clearly as I possibly can that with regard to all true doctrine,
with regard to all true religion, with regard to all true experiences
of grace, Jesus Christ is all. He's everything. Christ is all. That's the title of my message.
I've tried to show you that Christ is all, in all the purpose and
decrees of God from eternity. You read the first chapter of
Ephesians and Paul makes it very clear that God's purpose, God's
decrees are all fixed upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has predestined us as his
sons at last to be conformed to the image of Christ, that
Christ might be the firstborn, the preeminent one among many
brethren. In this book, from Genesis 1
to the very last verse in Revelation 22, Christ is all. The whole message of the book
Jesus Christ and him crucified. The whole message of the book. This book is not intended just
to be a source of religious dogma. of moral teaching, of historic
facts, of prophecy. It is a book intended by God,
written by God, to show us who Jesus Christ is, to teach us
to trust him. Our Lord Jesus himself, walking
with the disciples on the Emmaus Road, opened their understanding
that they might understand the law and the Psalms and the prophets. How that those things written
in the law of Moses, and in the poetic books, and in the prophets,
in all the historic books of the Old Testament, spoke of him. They all spoke of him. Would to God I could get this
generation to understand it. This book is all about him. With
regard to the salvation of God's elect, certainly Christ is all. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Everything that God has to give
to sinners, everything God bestows upon sinners in mercy, love,
and grace, is in Christ, flows from Christ, and directs us to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the church of God, not
in most churches, not in most Baptist churches, but in the
church of God, Christ is all. He is the foundation on which
we're built. He is the unity of his church. He is the message
of his church. He is our hope. But tonight,
here in Isaiah 25, I want to show you the fact that Christ
is all in a slightly different way, maybe a little more personal
way. Here, the prophet of God, writing
by inspiration, teaches us that Christ is all to meet all our
needs while we walk through this world. Sooner or later, if we're
gods, we're going to learn that Christ is all. And when we do,
we will begin to learn that Christ is all. That allows you to think about
it a little bit. Sooner or later, we're going to learn, if we're
gods, that Christ is all. And when we do, we will begin
to learn that Christ is all. Here in Isaiah chapter 25, verse
one. Oh Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name, for thou
hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old our faithfulness
and truth. And then the prophet shows us
that the Lord Jesus is all to meet the needs of all his people
in this world. Skip down to verse four. For
thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy
in his distress, a refuge from the storm, A shadow from the
heat, when the blast of the terrible ones, the blast of the oppressors,
the blast of the adversaries, the blast of the enemies, the
blast of the foes, is as a storm against the wall. The Lord Jesus
Christ is a suitable, satisfying, all-sufficient Savior able to
meet all our needs while we walk through this world and all our
needs to eternity. That's what I want to talk about
in this message. Let me direct your attention
to four or five things. First, look back at verse one
again. I want you to understand the Lord Jesus Christ is my God. O Lord, thou art my God. When our minds are perplexed,
when our hearts are heavy, when our souls are troubled, we ought
always immediately to turn to God our Savior, cast our care
upon him, and rely on him. Everything else we do only brings
more trouble. We ought always immediately to
turn to Christ and cast our care on him and rely on him. In every
time of trouble, run my brother, run my sister to Christ, take
hold of him and tell him that you're doing so. Oh Lord, thou
art my God. Even in the smallest troubles,
We are overwhelmed if we don't flee to Him. Blessed, blessed
Savior, whatever trials, whatever troubles, whatever temptations
may disturb me, You are my God, the Lord Jehovah. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He is my God. Now by that, understand, He is
the Lord. He who is my Redeemer. He who is our Redeemer is the
absolute sovereign monarch of the universe. Oh, what a blessed
fact of Revelation. He is God over all. God over everybody and everything,
blessed forever. He is my God, the one I worship. Oh Lord, thou art my God, the
one I adore, the one I trust, the one I love. He is my Lord. Not only my Lord as a sovereign
despot who has the right and power to rule over me, but my
Lord to whom I willingly bow, willingly surrender the total
rule of my life and all things concerning it. O Lord, Thou art
my God." Isaiah had just heard of God's judgments and he records
them faithfully, judgments that had not yet come. but judgments
affecting the people of God, the church of God, the kingdom
of God, when God would bring his people into Babylon for 70
years, and his mind is overwhelmed with judgment of God. This is
the cry of a man whose heart was overwhelmed with grief and
trouble, overwhelmed with God's providence. This is not a doctrinal
statement. but the cry of a man greatly
distressed and troubled, the cry of a broken but believing
heart. Oh, Lord, thou art my God. I can't think of a much better
way to pray when your heart is so heavy you don't know how to
pray. Oh, Lord, thou art my God. Oh Lord, thou art my God. As I began to prepare this message
last week, I thought of many ways to approach this, but as
I was preparing it, I received Brother Bruce Cradtree's bulletin
for the 27th of January. Some of you have seen it. As
you know, his wife, Jo, is dying with brain cancer. She's not
expected to live much more than another year or so. Let me read
to you what Bruce said to us, his friends, in his bulletin. As I read it, I want you to understand,
this is exactly, this is exactly what Isaiah meant when he said,
oh Lord, thou art my God. This is a little bit lengthy.
I don't know that I've ever read anything this lengthy from the pulpit
before, other than scripture, but bear with me. Brother Crabtree
said, thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for all the manifestations
of the love of Christ in your hearts for Joe and me. Thank
you for all your prayers, visits, and cards, and phone calls. Thank
you, ladies, for the abundance of food you provided for us the
last few weeks. What a relief this has been.
Joe and I are leaving our present circumstances of her illness
in the hands of our Heavenly Father who cares for us. You
and I have heard it said many times that our God is too wise
to err and too good to be unkind. Joe and I are living in the faith
and the experience of that truth. We are not bitter because we're
blessed. As long as our God is reigning,
we will not complain. We're not afraid. The Lord is
our light and our salvation. We are of good courage because
we're waiting on our sovereign Lord. Our hearts are broken,
but not despairing. The Lord is the strength of our
hearts. I see no wrath in what Joe and I are suffering. all
comes from the hands of our loving Father. God is love. We have put our fingers of faith
into the prints of the nails of our blessed Savior. And we
see nothing in God to harm us. We have thrust our hands into
the hole of his side and we're trustful. We look behind us and
see the footprints of mercy. We look around us and believe
the angel of the Lord to be encamped there. We look ahead beyond our
present troubles and uncertainties and see a bright and certain
hope that will soon be realized, the hope of being with Christ,
which is far better. The hope of the resurrection
of these frail and vile bodies. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all people most miserable. No, our
hope is beyond this life when our covenant God will wipe away
all tears from our eyes. We're looking beyond death where
there's no more death. A time and place where there
is no more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. A time and place where
our creator and redeemer makes all things new. What a wise instrument
sickness is, brain cancer is. The shadow of death is when God
uses these things to teach us how can we trust in ourselves
while facing such devastating things. What is God teaching
us but that we dare not trust in ourselves but in God who raises
the dead. The Holy Spirit strips us down
to our very nakedness to teach us we must be clothed in the
garments of salvation. The robe of our Savior's own
righteousness, he proves to our consciences that we're guilty
before God to show us that salvation is of the Lord, that we're justified
freely by his grace. He brings us to the dust of nothingness
that we may find Jesus as our all in all. He weakens us only
to give us the strength of grace of Christ. And he sends these
messengers to whisper in our ears that our time is short,
only that our souls may answer, hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise for the help of his countenance. Oh, God, teach us. And it goes on. Joe and I are
not discouraged, for we are hopeful. We can face this and whatever
else God has ordained for us, not because our faith is strong,
but because our Lord is strong. Not because we've been so faithful,
God forgive us. We're unprofitable servants,
but our God is faithful. Not one promise will fail or
fall. We're hopeful because Jesus,
the son of God, who died for sinners' sake, is risen and is
at the right hand of God, where he is soon we shall be, to our
great delight and comfort. To the one eternal God, in the
trinity of the sacred persons, God the everlasting Father, God
the eternal Son, God the eternal Holy Spirit, Be praise, honor,
and glory forever, world without end. Amen, Bruce. Now listen, Sammy, that's precisely
what Isaiah means for us to understand when he says, oh Lord, thou art
my God. In the midst of trouble, run
quickly to Christ. Lay hold of him as your God and
tell him that you lay hold of him as your God. Second, he has
done wonderful. I spent a good time looking at
this. For thou has done wonderful things. Notice something most
of the commentators miss. Our translators put the word
things in italics for a reason. It's because they added the word
to the text to make it read more smoothly, though there is no
Hebrew correlation in the original text. The text, as Isaiah gives
it, reads like this, for thou hast done wonderful. Thou hast done wonderful. He uses the singular rather than
the plural. Now certainly we rejoice in the
knowledge of the wonderful things our God has done. Oh, God's wonderful elect in
love. His absolute sovereign eternal predestination. his great
work of redemption by the sacrifice of his son, his great work of
regeneration. He is preserving us. He has done
wonderful things. But here, Isaiah is inspired
of God as he addresses the Lord as his God and finds comfort
for himself and gives comfort to us. He addresses him and says,
thou hast done wonderful. His statement refers to all God's
wonderful works as one. He considers all the works of
God, past, present, and future, as his immediate work, as one
whole work. Oh, happy would we be if we could
grasp this. He uses the word wonderful not
to confine his view, but rather to enlarge it. He doesn't here
confine his view to the present appearance of things, or even
as they presently appear to us. Rather, he looks at everything
and looks to the end. Looks at everything. and looks
to the end, and, oh, God, you've done wonderful. You've done wonderful. You've done wonderful. We often
miss the beauty of an object when we start to dissect it. Susan, the last few years, has
spent a lot of time out here in the flower garden. And man,
when those things are in their full bloom, just about conference
time, that thing is beautiful. It's just beautiful. But if you
get down on your hands and knees and work around in the dirt close
to the flowers, I'll guarantee you Susan doesn't think it looks
near as pretty when she's down on her hands and knees scratching
around pulling weeds out of it. Because you just see a little
bit. You don't see the whole thing, but when you get back
a few feet, a few yards, 20 or 30 yards, and you get back about
where that sign is out in front of the building and look at it,
you say, wow, wow, what magnificence, what beauty. So it is with us
when we start to dissect God's works and look at this thing
or that. this thing or that. We look at
things as they appear to us. Oh God, teach me never, never,
never to look at one isolated thing you do, but rather to look
at everything as one thing. And that one thing is the salvation
of his people for the glory of his name. Now, what is it you're going
to complain about? What is it you're going to fret
about? Oh, Lord, thou art my God. Thou hast done wonderful
in everything. The Lord our God, our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, orders all things, performs all things,
and regulates all things. in the best manner possible,
to the most valuable end possible, for the glory of God and the
everlasting good of our souls. No wonder Paul spoke as he did
of these things. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. for who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, and
who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen. That's just the way it
ought to be. That's just the way I want it
to be. Amen. Let's go back to Isaiah again. His counsels, here's the third
thing, of old are faithfulness and truth. With God, nothing
is sudden. Nothing is surprising. Nothing
is unexpected. His works were done before the
world was. and are performed in time precisely
according to his purpose. Precise punctuality, precise
accuracy in all things is the way God works. All things were
ordained by him before the creation of the world. And those things
that are unexpected and surprising to us are unexpected and surprising
Because we don't know God's purpose. We don't know the secret things
that belong only to God. They are surprising and unexpected,
but they are precisely according to the purpose of our Heavenly
Father. They are the result of that regular
order. the decrees of God, the counsels
of our Father, by which he governs the universe, by which he precisely,
deliberately ordained everything that comes to pass in time before
ever time began. Because we don't know and can't
understand his secret decrees, Because our puny minds are so
time oriented, we must wait for our God to perform his purpose
and reveal his secrets and wait for him to give us understanding
hearts. He calls us friends and tells
us his secrets. He does it by his word and he
does it by his spirit and he's the only one who can do it. He does it by his word, he does
it by his spirit, and he's the only one who can do it. I don't know how to communicate
what I have tried to say to you as your pastor all these years. In the midst of trouble, in heartache,
pain, All those things that seem to turn your lives upside down. Those things that break your
hearts. Those things that just you don't
want anybody to know about and you wish you could never deal
with it. All those things. I want you to know I care. And when you weep, I weep. When
you hurt, I hurt. and I want you to feel free to
come to me anytime for anything, day or night. If you just need
a shoulder to cry on, I'll try my best to make the padding on
my shoulders comfortable. You're welcome and wanted, but
I can't help. I can't give you understanding.
I can't cause you to discern God's purpose in the things you
experience. I can't cause you to see God's
wisdom in those things. But he who is God our Savior
says, you're my friends. I'll tell you my secrets. And
he does it by his word. and by his spirit, as you experience
his grace in his providence. And when you get the other side
of it, I tell you on good authority,
the good authority of this book, you look back at it and say,
he has done all things well. Thank you, Lord. I wouldn't have
it any other way. I wouldn't have it any other
way. Not at all. His way is precisely according
to his purpose. The purpose of his mercy, love,
and grace toward you. Of this, you can be sure. Thy
counsels are faithful, faithfulness and truth. Your decrees by God
are faithfulness and truth. Everything that comes from our
God, everything decreed by him from eternity, everything declared
by him in his word is firm, unchangeable, faithful, and true, steadfast,
and sure. His name is faithful and true. God our Savior is faithful. His purpose is unalterable. His
promises are sure. It is our greatest wisdom and
our greatest strength and our greatest comfort to trust in
Him, to lay hold of Him. Oh Lord, Thou art my God. The Savior of whom we speak here
in Isaiah 25. said to us, let not your heart
be troubled. The word is, more literally,
stop letting your hearts be troubled. Stop letting your hearts be troubled. Stop it now. Stop it. Be quiet. You ever do that with your maintenance?
You pick them up, baby's heart just throbbing with fear because
of the thunder, the lightning. You pick them up and you snuggle
them up in your arms and say, shh, be quiet now, it's all right,
shh. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Stop letting your heart
be troubled. Believe me. Fourth, look at verse
four. God's people in this world, that's
you and me, are a needy people, poor, distressed, often in storms,
often oppressed with burning heat. For thou has been a strength
to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge
from the storm. a shadow from the heat, when
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Here God's saints are described as men and women who are poor,
needy, and distressed, a people who suffer the storm of trouble,
the heat of affliction, the blast of persecution, the storm of
adversity, All who live in this world must suffer. Man that is
born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. You can just
expect it. That's just the way it is. That's
just reality. Grow up and live with it. That's
just fact. If you live, you will suffer.
But in addition to those things, believers, men and women who
know Christ, who worship God, who trust the Lord Jesus, suffer
not only those things that are common to men in this world,
but many painful sorrows that only God's saints experience. I know in this day of health,
wealth, and prosperity preaching when everybody tells you God
wants you to be healthy, wealthy, wise, and rich, what I have to
say is not welcome news, but it will be if you understand
what God teaches you. Every saved sinner experiences the guilt and danger
of sin. Every saved sinner. If you've
never known guilt, you've never known grace. If you've never
known what it is to take sides with God against yourself and
your own damnation, you've never known God's saving grace. If
you've never known what it is to justify God in his exercise
of justice against you and against anybody else, you've never known
God's grace. Holy Spirit conviction causes
men and women to sense guilt. Guilt. Guilt before God. And there's
no terror and no torment in the world to compare with guilt before
God. And when the Spirit of God comes
and reveals Christ in you, he comforts by declaring to you
your guilt is gone. From sin, you're free. From condemnation,
free. You're justified by his blood. Every believer walking in this
body of flesh. He's engaged in a relentless,
bitter, painful warfare every day, all day. Even when we sleep and in our
dreams or nightmares, we might call them rather than dreams,
Every day, all day, flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh. To you, man, created in righteousness
and true holiness, Christ in you, the hope of glory, and the
old man, Adam, sin, corruption, unbelief, ungodliness of every
kind. in you and in me. Brother Lindsey
just read in the office a little bit ago the seventh chapter of
2 Samuel. David's prayer to God is the
Lord promised him the good that he would do for him and his house.
And David saying to the Lord, do as you've said. Oh Lord, who
am I? What is my house that you should
be so gracious to me? And Brother Rex commented just
before we came out here, isn't it amazing, astonishing that
just four more chapters over and David takes Bathsheba, the
wife of Uriah, and murders Uriah. the man after God's own heart. There's no explaining what goes
on inside you or inside me. And no explaining the behavior
of faithful men and women in this world. Faithful men and
women in their ungodliness. Except this warfare of flesh
and spirit. No excuse for it. No sir, no
excuse for it, but the reality of it, every believer knows and
acknowledges. And every believer suffers from
persecutions of an ungodly, God-hating, Christ-hating world. As Cain
persecuted his brother Abel, and Ishmael persecuted his brother
Isaac, Those who are born of the flesh always, always, did
you hear me? Always persecute those who are
born of the Spirit. They may do it with a smile on
their face, and underhanded, and craftily, but they are always
in opposition. Persecution doesn't just arise
from the world outside, it arises from your own flesh and blood,
and it arises from those who profess to be your brethren.
It's always prevalence. Persecution. comes constantly. And every believer suffers the
assaults of Satan. Temptations. And Satan finds
within us a monstrous traitor. Our flesh. that finds everything by which
he would destroy us delightful to our taste. Everything. Everything. The pleasure of sin,
the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of the world. Imagine there's not one of those
things with which you're not in complete league by nature.
And with those things, Satan would destroy us. And every believer
in this world must, from time to time, suffer
the great distress of God hiding his face. For there are times,
for reasons known only to him, that God, our Savior, hides his
face from us. and we can't see him, and we
can't hear him. Our Savior's bodily torments,
the cruel, barbaric, vicious, mean, physical torments that
men heaped upon him, tongue cannot describe, but he never expressed
anything concerning them. Isn't that amazing? But when
his heavenly father forsook him, he cried with anguish of heart,
we can't enter into. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And when God's people suffer
that apparent abandonment of God, when God hides his face
from us, when God won't speak and God won't let us speak, believers
have to deal with that as well. And in the midst of it all, Christ
is our refuge. Christ is all. He is our help. He is our help
in time of need. This again, we find plainly in
this fourth verse. And I'll send you home with this. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord,
our God, our Savior, He is all our help in every time of need. For thou hast been a strength
to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge
from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the
terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. I repeat to you what I said just
a few weeks ago, a little girl called recite the 23rd Psalm,
stood up and said, the Lord is my shepherd. He's all I want. And she's, teacher started to
correct her. And then she realized while she
didn't say verbally what the Psalm opens with, she said it
exactly right. The Lord is my shepherd. He is all I want. He bids me come to him and cast
my care upon him and promises me that I will find mercy and
grace to help in time of need as I do. Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. The Savior says, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me, my yoke is easy,
my burden is light. And I will give you rest. Rest unto your souls. Amen.