Well, I want you to look with
me this morning at Isaiah chapter 25 and the first five verses,
though especially the first verse itself. And the title of the
message is The Confession of True Faith. This last Tuesday,
Tuesday just gone, we finished over three months of work on
the house. And it was, and it has been ever
since, an amazing feeling of being unburdened of being liberated,
of free to enjoy the results of it. It's like arriving at
a summit after a hard climb. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever climbed up a mountain or a steep hill or something
like that? And there's a tremendous feeling when you get to the top
and it starts to go from being steep to being level. There's
that tremendous feeling of having achieved it. Well, in a similar
sort of way, when you read Isaiah, There are 12 chapters from 13
to 24 that are very, very full of judgment on the nations. The
burden of Moab, the burden of Babylon, it's all about the judgments
that are coming upon these nations, the just judgments, and it's
interspersed with little pinnacles of gospel grace here and there,
but on the whole, it's 12 chapters of judgment, and it feels like
it can, to flesh, feel like a hard climb. Isaiah 25, is a summit
of praise to God. We've reached the top of that
section of judgment. You see, whenever you read the
judgments of God, don't get bogged down in them, don't get depressed,
because remember, the purpose of God is to save a multitude
out of that judgment. He's saving a multitude out of
that judgment, and thereby he, God, gets all the glory. for
that salvation. If and when we see that, if and
when we experience it, it's unlike anything else that you might
experience in life. I've said before about people
going on about their bucket list of things that they must do.
I tell you, Bucket lists and everything that you might put
in them are all utterly meaningless, utterly futile, utterly self-centered,
self-indulgent, without the experience of knowing the living God. That's
a fact. It's absolutely true. If you
don't have the experience of knowing the living God, everything
that everybody might ever aspire to do in their bucket list will
prove to be meaningless, futile, self-centered, self-indulgence. No, you need to know God. You
need to know Him. Let's look at these first five
verses of Isaiah 25, and I want to bring out three things. First
of all, the experience of faith. Secondly, the response of faith,
which is praise to our God. And thirdly, the rationale, the
reason, the reason for praise. We don't just praise because
it's the thing that we do and we don't think about it. We praise
because there's good reason for praise. So the first point, the
experience of faith. In verse one, O Lord, thou art
my God. I will exalt Thee, I will praise
Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels
of old are faithfulness and truth. Lord, Thou art my God. The experience
of faith. I'm not talking about the experience
of religion. There are many people in the
world who are religious, and flesh naturally admires when
it sees the devotion of others to whatever sort of religion
it might be. I don't know if any of you have watched that
BBC series, The Marigold Hotel, based on the movie, but in it
a set of late 60s, 70-somethings, about eight of them I think,
go off to India for four weeks and they stay in a place and
they learn to live in India. And you notice that they're all
filled with pride, not pride, they're filled with admiration
for the people and their superstitious religion of idolatry. You know,
the way, the way that they see people worshipping a river, oh
look at that, oh look at that, oh isn't that good to see the
devotion of those people, just look how they do this, look,
look what they do, oh look, look, look how they worship, you know,
and revere the cattle, and oh isn't, isn't it a wonderful thing?
You see, they have this completely irrational respect for other
people's irrational faith. They themselves don't want to
get involved with it, but they admire the experience of religion
that's come back home. In this country, there's lots
of Christianity around, despite the state of the churches, there's
lots of Christianity still. And many people are intellectually
stimulated by doctrine. That's their experience of religion.
They love their doctrine. They love being precise on their
doctrine. They love getting to the state
where they can put others right who are wrong with their doctrine.
They love being intellectually stimulated just by doctrine for
doctrine's sake. They have their traditions, they
have the place that they've always gone to, and nowhere else is
quite like it. That's alright for them, that's
okay, but they revere those things. They revere those things which
are just purely physical in the flesh. They revere their liturgy,
it's grown up over time, it's the way they do things, it's
the way they say things. And we know of places where if
you don't say it in exactly the way that they've got used to
saying it, then you're just not worth listening to. They love
their rituals. This is their experience of religion.
It's not the experience of true faith. Others have great charismatic
excesses in their religion. They love to wave their arms
in the air. They love to dance in the aisles. They love to have
their bands and their drums and their guitars and so on and so
forth. But that's not the experience of true faith. I'm talking about
the experience of true faith, which says, O Lord, thou art
my God. You are my God. This is true
faith, which willingly, spontaneously, doesn't need anything to prod
it, it spontaneously confesses, O Lord, thou art my God. Think of Peter's confession,
the Apostle Peter, Simon Peter, in Matthew 16. Jesus had the
disciples around him, the twelve. And he said to them, who do men
say that I am? What are you hearing on the streets?
Who do they say that I am? And some of the disciples said,
well, some people are saying that you're Isaiah that's come
again. And others are saying that you're
Jeremiah. And some are saying that you're
John the Baptist. They're saying all sorts of things.
And Jesus said to them, but who do you say that I am? Who do
you, disciples? You've been with me. Who do you
say that I am? And this is Peter's confession,
Matthew 16, verses 16 and 17. He said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. This man that had asked them
the question, you are God clothed in human flesh. You are the God
who has made us and upholds all things and who gives us our life.
You are that God. He's speaking to a man clothed
in flesh and blood like you and me. And he says, you are God.
You are the promised Christ of the Old Testament. You are the
one the scriptures have promised will come to save his people
from their sins. You are the Redeemer, God in
human flesh, come to satisfy the justice of God on behalf
of his people. That's what Peter confessed.
Where did he get it from? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Blessed are you, Peter.
I don't know if he hadn't yet called him Peter. Blessed are
you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it
to you. You didn't get it from a school.
It wasn't that somebody else taught it to you. No. You see,
I know. I'm flesh and blood preaching
to you. But my prayer is that it won't be just the words of
a man that speak to you, but that God, by His Spirit, will
speak to you in your innermost soul. No, flesh and blood has
not revealed it to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Oh,
that God, by His Spirit, might come and speak to you, that you
might confess Christ, that you might see Christ for who He is. And seeing Christ for who He
is, cry out, O Lord, thou art my God. Oh Lord. Thomas, do you
remember Thomas the disciple? Doubting Thomas he's known as.
Thomas was with them for the three years and more of the ministry
of Jesus. He participated, he experienced,
he went where they went, he did what they did, he saw the miracles,
he was all around them. All that all the others saw,
but not until Christ, the risen Christ, had shown him his hands
and his feet, having accomplished all that he went to the cross
to do, and Thomas saw it, and then, in that moment, in his
heart, Christ was truly revealed to him. What did Thomas say?
My Lord and my God. At that very moment, my Lord
and my God, that was his confession. This is it, when you see Christ,
when you see Christ who is the manifestation of God, the revelation
of God to the believing heart, then you confess, O Lord, thou
art my God. Lord Jesus Christ, you are my
God. He is the Word of God. He is
the Word of God who was made flesh to reveal what no natural
man can see. He is the Word of God. In verses
8 and 9, look, I can show you, although this is the Old Testament
and 700 years plus before Christ was actually born in Bethlehem,
I can say that Isaiah is talking When he says, oh Lord, thou art
my God, he's talking about Jehovah Jesus. He's talking about the
Messiah who would come. Because look in verse eight,
he will swallow up death in victory. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54. Death is swallowed up in victory.
Why is death swallowed up in victory? Because Christ has died
and has risen again. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces. Revelation 7, 17. The Son of
God, the risen glorified Son of God wipes away the tears from
his people's faces as he takes them into heaven. And the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off all the earth. Is that
not what Christ did in his saving grace? For the Lord hath spoken
it and it shall be said in that day, lo, look, look, this is
our God. Say unto the cities of Judah,
it says in Isaiah 40, looking forward to the time of Christ,
say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. What were they
looking at? Jesus of Nazareth. What were
they seeing? What were they bidden to see? Behold your God. Lo, this is
our God. We have waited for him. Simeon,
the old man, waited at the temple. He was a very old man, but God
had told him he would not die until he had seen the Lord's
salvation. And in Luke 2.30, he said, now,
Lord, you can take me. For I have seen, my eyes have
seen God's salvation. You see, God's salvation is not
a doctrine. God's salvation is not just some
principles of divine truth. God's salvation is a person.
And that old man Simeon held that person. that infant Christ
in his arms. And he said, mine eyes have seen,
he held, he cradled the salvation of God, the one whose name was
Jesus. Why Jesus? Joshua, Joshua, Joshua,
saviour, saviour, the one who takes the people of God into
the promised land, the promised land of eternity. Matthew 121,
call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Jesus, saviour. Oh, when you've
seen him, when you've seen him as eternal God. You know, God
who shined light in the beginning out of darkness has shined in
our hearts in these days to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. Where do you see it? Where do
you? Oh, in nature? No, no, no. Yes, it's there,
but no, you won't see the glory of God there. You see aspects
of it. Where do you see it? In the face of Jesus Christ. That's it. in the face of Jesus,
you must see him. And then with Thomas, you'll
say, oh Lord, thou art my God, my Lord and my God. This is what
true faith confesses from the heart, that Jesus is God, that
he is my creator. This is what true faith confesses.
I don't listen to what this fallen world with its ignorance says.
I don't listen to what they say about us being the product of
randomness and pointless changes and a great big soup of bits
and pieces that put themselves together to make people and animals
and things. I don't listen to that, because
I know in my heart, by faith I understand that God has created
all things. That the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one who has made me. That He is my God. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He's speaking of Christ. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. He is the brightness of his father's
glory. He is the express image of his
person. Philip said, I know I've told
you this before, but we need to keep being reminded. Philip
said in that upper room on the night before Christ was crucified,
he said to Jesus, Lord, show us the father and that will show
us the true essence of God. And that will suffice. And you
know what Jesus said back to him, Philip, have I been so long
with you three years and more, and you have not known me. He
who has seen me has seen the father because in him, says Paul,
the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. If you looked upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, you were looking upon the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, the one who was the image of the invisible God. The promised
child unto us, said Isaiah in 9 verse 6, unto us a child is
born. A child, a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder. He's ruler of all.
He's king of kings and lord of lords. The government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, listen, this
child, this son that was promised, this one who God said would come
to save, this one who will have the government on his shoulder,
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor. the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of his kingdom there
shall be no end. This is God in flesh come to
redeem his elect from the curse of the law. For cursed is everyone
that does not continue in all things written in the book of
the law to do them. But Christ has redeemed, purchased
us back, paid the release price from the curse of the law. How
did he do it? By being made a curse for us. That's the blessing of
the gospel of grace. And it's revealed to the eye
of faith. And when it's revealed to the
eye of faith, you see in the Lord Jesus Christ wisdom from
God and righteousness. I must have righteousness to
be right with God. You see it in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And sanctification. Oh, you must be sanctified from
the corruption of this world. And it's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are sanctified, His people are sanctified in Him. And redemption,
that purchase price for redemption from the curse of the law. Have
you seen it? Have you seen it? Let me ask
you a question. Have you seen this? So that from your heart,
truly, without being forced, without being told that this
is what we do and this is the way you do it. No, from your
heart within, you say, Oh Lord, Thou art my God. You are my God. This is my God. In Mark 10, And
verse 51, Jesus met a blind man, a man who hadn't seen from birth. And Jesus said to this blind
man, what will you, what do you want that I should do to you?
And the blind man said to him, Lord, that I might receive my
sight. Please, if you can make me see,
make me see. And Jesus made him see. We're
all by nature in the flesh, spiritually blind. Jesus says, to you who
are spiritually blind, what will you that I should do to you?
And those that are spiritually blind should heed the lesson
and cry out, Lord, that we might receive our spiritual sight,
that we might receive faith to see and believe these things.
Because seeing and believing, worship is not burdensome. The
commandments of God in the gospel of his grace are not grievous,
they're a delight. to the soul that's seen and been
saved and know, know the truth of salvation being effectually
applied, worship isn't a burdensome thing, it's a delight. It isn't
just a thing for Sunday morning, it's an all the time thing. I
know we have moments when the flesh has the superiority, but
overall, for the child of God, the spirit and the flesh warring
together, The Spirit has the dominance, and we live in the
light of the knowledge of God, and we worship Him. It comes
naturally from the heart. It comes naturally there. It's
a delight to us to gather together. We have found down the years,
whenever there have been times when we have not been able to
worship God, I'm not just mean on a Sunday morning, but whenever
there have been times like that, oh, the hunger, the soul hunger,
the hunger in the soul of the very core of you, that you need
to worship the living God, because you know that living God, you
know what he has done. So then, second point, praise,
which is the response of faith. Look in verse one, O Lord, thou
art my God. That's the confession of true
faith. O Lord, thou art my God, I will
exalt thee, I will praise thy name. The response of faith is
praise. Do you know when we see something
that is awesome, it produces a gasp of wonder, doesn't it?
I mean, you must have seen things that have made you gasp with
wonder. You've been to some scene. I'll give you, the thing is that
my family will testify to the truth of this. But the first
time we ever went to Switzerland, I remember having been used to
the Lake District mountains that are between like 2,500 and low
3,000 of feet, and some of the Scottish mountains, and they're
magnificent, they're absolutely beautiful. But when you first
go to the Alps, and you see mountains towering above you at 13,000,
14,000, 15,000 feet, and you find that you have to crick your
neck right back to look up to the top of them. You're driving
along a road and you go, what's that up in the sky? And it's
the top of a 14,000 foot mountain towering above the valley. And
my family will testify that the first time we went, I couldn't
stop crying out. Wow, look at that. Look at that. Seeing something awesome produces
a gasp of wonder. It might be a scene like that.
It might be an artwork. It might be. You've seen the
crowds around the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris. Look at
that, wonderful. The roof of the Sistine Chapel
painted by Michelangelo. Oh, look at, oh, have you seen
that? Some magnificent building. Oh,
it produces a gasp of wonder. What is the gasp of wonder in
response to the scene that divinely given faith sees? The answer?
It's praise. I will exalt thee. I will praise
thy name. This comes from the Spirit, this
comes from the Spirit of God, the life of God in the soul of
man. Flesh exalts itself, always flesh
exalts itself. And religion, that flesh so much
likes to follow, exalts and idolizes the desires of the flesh. If
you analyze it, what the vast majority of religion does is
things that the flesh likes to see done and have happen. All
of the stuff going on at the moment in Ireland with the Pope's
visit is just all the external rituals of just outwardly imposed
religion. It's symbols, it's rituals, it's
traditions. But true faith exalts God alone
as he is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah 9,
hear these words here. This is God talking about what
he desires. from the likes of you and me.
Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich
man glory in his riches, because that's what flesh does, doesn't
it? But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, saith the Lord." Ah, that's what to glory in. That's
what to revel in. Not the things of your flesh,
not the experiences of your flesh, but in knowing, knowing. And who can understand, who can
comprehend God? But I tell you, those who are
saved understand, they comprehend that about God, which the natural
man does not, cannot understand. You see, we glory, glory not
in anything to do with the flesh. Paul says to the Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 1 29, that no flesh should glory in his sight. We
don't want to glory in our flesh. We want no confidence in the
flesh, as Paul says to the Philippians. These are the true people of
God. who worship God in the Spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. So how do we exalt God? How do we praise His name? Firstly, we confess Him as the
creating, sustaining source of everything. Is that your experience? Do you do that? I look around
and I just constantly I feel this is the handiwork of God
all around us. What was that hymn? We haven't
sung it for a long, long time. But there's something that those
who know Christ see in creation around us that Christless eyes
have never seen. Earth around is softer green,
sky above is brighter blue, or something like that, the words
go. There's something that Christless eyes have never seen. We see
our God, our Lord Jesus Christ. as the creating, sustaining source
of everything. That's what it is to exalt God. Do you? Do I? We exalt him as
our creator and sustainer. We willingly, secondly, we willingly
bow to his absolute sovereignty over everything. Now you see,
there are many people who would agree with me on the first point.
Yes, they'll say, but not this far. They won't bow to His sovereignty,
His absolute sovereignty. That He it is who wills who shall
be saved. He it is, He alone. God alone
is the one who is the source of all things and He is the one
who is absolutely sovereign over everything. Absolutely sovereign. He will, do you know, the devil
is not God's rival. The devil is God's devil. And
he's on a chain of God's making, of a length determined by God.
And he does that which God bids and permits for the purpose of
God's eternal purposes. That's the truth of God. Thirdly,
thirdly, to exalt God, we ascribe the whole of our salvation. If we're saved, we ascribe the
whole of our salvation to God alone. We don't claim any credit
for any of it. We don't say, I have decided
to follow Jesus, whereas others haven't. Therefore, that's the
reason why I am saved. No, we don't say that. It wasn't
in me. I'm as dead to the things of
God as anybody else. No, it's God alone. It's God
alone who planned salvation in election. He planned it. He purposed
it. He chose a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. in the person of his son came
to purchase that redemption, that God might be just, that
he might not bend any of his rules, that he might be perfectly
just and yet be able, because of what Christ came and did,
to purchase the redemption of his people. What did we have
to do with it? We who are saved? Absolutely
nothing. It is all of grace, not of works,
lest any man should boast. In the performance of it, he
alone is the one who accomplished it all. He regenerated each one
who is saved. He calls them out of darkness
into his marvelous light. It isn't that they get some great
insight that others don't get. No, God calls. God regenerates. God it is who gives life. And
it's God who keeps his people. Once they've believed, he keeps
them believing. through ups and downs, but he
keeps them believing. They persevere to the end. He preserves them. And he finally
perfects that salvation in eternal glory when he takes his people
to be with him. This worship, this praise, I
will exalt thee, I will praise thee, it's not just a Sunday
service worship. It's a manner of life. It's a
daily trust. It's walking in the light of
God's Spirit. Walking in that light, it's as
Peter calls it, Peter says, casting all your care upon him for he
careth for you. It's living your life, casting
all your care on the one who is sovereign over all things. It's living in the knowledge
that this sovereign God who has loved his people from before
all eternity and saved them in Christ, that this God causes
all things to work together for good to those who love God, who
are the called, according to his purpose. And as a result,
we willingly submit to his will. Oh, there are times when he takes
his people through things that cause them severe anguish and
heartache, but it's all for their eternal good. Think of Job. He
was taken through things which even that man Job said, I curse
the day that I was born. Oh, that this man child had never
been born because things were so bad for him. But he learned
through it all that it was all the purpose of God to bring him
to a better place. And so it is with everything
that God does for his people. I will praise thy name, it says.
O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt thee. I will praise thy
name. What is it to praise the name of God? It's to praise the
perfections of his being. To be thankful for all the glorious
things he's done in saving his people from their sins. Praise
this worship, it's a manner of life, it's a heart thing, it's
a demeanor of life. I know the flesh rises up in
struggles, and at times in its innermost being it curses God
for the way things are. But unlike the irrational worship
of idolaters, The response of true faith is perfectly rational. And that brings us to our third
point. It's what Paul calls in Romans
12 verse 1 when he's telling people to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said it's your reasonable
service. It's not unreasonable. It's not
irrational. It's not without reason. It's
your reasonable service. There's the experience of faith,
there's the response of faith, which is praise, but it isn't
just praise for its own sake, it's praise because it's got
good reason, the rationale for praise. Verse one, I will praise
thy name for thou hast done wonderful things. We praise him because
he's done wonderful things. His counsels of old are faithfulness
and truth. What's that talking about? What
are His counsels of old that are faithfulness and truth? Surely
that's the glorious plan of salvation from sin. That's the purposes
of God. Why did God create this universe,
this earth on which we live? Why did God create all of this?
Why did He do that? Why did God ordain the fall? God didn't sin, God never sinned,
but God ordained all of this. Why did God ordain all these
things? because he would get all the glory for the salvation
of the people of his choice. He is the one who is over all.
Eternal election and even its corollary, reprobation. We have
to say, all will have to say, he has done all things well. God is just. Let God be true
and every man a liar. He has done all things well.
His counsels of old that are faithfulness and truth, His covenant
of grace. In the covenant of grace, the
three persons of the one Godhead, the triunity, God the Father
chose a people in Christ, Christ the Son covenanted to come and
stand as surety. a substitute for those people
so that he might satisfy the justice of God by blood redemption
from sin. All of this and the effectual
regeneration that the Holy Spirit brings to those people. All of
this is the eternal counsels of God from old, their faithfulness
and truth. This is what caused Paul so often
to praise and thank God for the people, the Christians, the Gentile
believers all around the Mediterranean where he visited. He praised
God again and again, gave thanks to God for them. And the pinnacle
of that, as I so often quote to you, is 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through
sanctification of the Spirit, the setting apart by the Spirit,
and belief of the truth. That's your experience. You believe
the truth, and thereby you apprehend, my Lord and my God. You are my
God. Whereunto he called you by our
gospel. As the gospel is preached, that's
how the Holy Spirit calls people, to belief of the truth, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is his
faithfulness and truth. God has done exactly what he
said he would do at exactly the right time. He's never failed.
When the fullness of the time had come, says Galatians 4 verse
4, when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his
son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who are
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. If he hadn't come, we would never
have received that adoption of sons. So what better reason is
there for praise? Why else is God worthy of people's
praise? Look at verses two and three.
For thou hast made of a city an heap, of a defense city a
ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be
built. Therefore shall the strong people
glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations
shall fear. What's that all about? It's about
God's providential dealings. His destruction of Babylon, effectively,
of all that is the world and false religion. But the thing
is, you might say, well, that's an odd thing to be happy about.
The destruction of those things, the judgment of those things,
the condemnation of those things is essential to his salvation
of Zion. His destruction of Babylon is
essential to his salvation of Zion. And the strong people,
who are those? They're people who believe him,
made strong by grace, by redeeming grace they're made strong. They're
put in a position of strength in the councils of God, in the
presence of God, they're made strong. The city of terrible
nations, the church called out of this world and taught the
fear of the Lord. The terrible nations shall fear
thee. Who are those that fear God truly? It's a blessed thing
to, it's not, you know, yes, fear of condemnation, the gospel
drives away, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom and the beginning of knowledge. He's all his saved people need
in this world. They're poor in spirit. Look
at verse four, for thou has been a strength to the poor. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. He's been a strength to them,
a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm,
a refuge. Isaiah 41 verse 10 says, fear
thou not for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy
God, I will strengthen thee. God is the strength of his people. And Isaiah 31, sorry, Isaiah
32, one and two, I'll just turn over a couple of pages. and read
it to you, 32, one and two. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a man shall
be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. Is that not what that's talking
about? A refuge from the storm, the shadow from the heat, when
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm? It's Christ. is
everything that his people need as they go through this world.
All this is what God in Christ is to his people in this world.
Salvation from sin and from just condemnation. That's why, that's
why, that's the rationale, that's the reason that they gladly,
they willingly praise him. It isn't a burden, it's not a
burdensome thing to praise him, it's a delight to praise him.
And verse five, thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as
the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a
cloud, the branch of the terrible one shall be brought low. Protection
from all those who hate God's truth and who hate God's people. Isaiah 26, three and four, thou
will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.
Despite all of the attacks that come from all around, because
he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Let's say you're a
believer, a young believer, and you're hearing these words and
you're thinking, it's so difficult to maintain that. I go to school,
I'm taught in my lessons all the time that I'm the product
of slime and of random things. I'm not the product of God. I'm
taught all of those things. This is what God says to you
in his word, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind
is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in
the Lord for ever. For in the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting
strength. There we see it. O Lord, thou
art my God. The experience of faith, what
we experience of knowing God, the praise that comes from that
faith, seeing who Christ is and what he's done, and the rationale,
the reasons for it. Do you have the experience of
true faith, of that divine enlightenment from God? Have you had a heart-moving
sight of the gracious work of God to save your immortal soul? Have you seen it, what he's done
in coming from glory, laying aside his glory, to take on flesh
that he might die in the place of sinners like you? If you have,
to worship God is not burdensome, it's a delight. It's not just
a Sunday thing, but a way of life. But if you haven't seen
it, you need to call on him while he may be found. You need to
come to Christ while he bids you to come before it's too late
to discover the delights of peace with your creator and your judge.
Jesus said to that blind man, what would you want me to do
for you? That I might receive my sight, oh Lord. If I have
not this sight, Lord, be pleased to give me that sight of the
Lord Jesus Christ in all of his saving power.