Well, I want to come back to
Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, and we've reached the fourth chapter
this morning, and I've entitled this message, Today's Religion,
False and True. We live in such a volatile and
uncertain world. I don't think anybody can disagree
with that. It is so volatile and uncertain. There's political tension all
around. The news has been full this week of the standoff between
the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation over the poisoning
of two ex-Russian citizens on the streets of Salisbury in England.
Huge, huge political tension. All around we see economic fragility. We see things are not comfortable,
things are not. There's an apparent veneer of
prosperity, but there's economic fragility all around. On the
one hand, there's a huge sense of social liberation. People
think, oh, things have never been better, it's never been
a better time to live because we are so free, we can do what
we want in so many different ways. Social liberation, but
yet So many of us know what perilous times we're living in, what uncertain
times, what times of danger and of strife. As Paul wrote to Timothy,
2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, in the last days perilous times
shall come. We're living in those days of
perilous times. Are you fearful? Are you uncertain? I'm talking to the youngest of
us right the way up to the oldest of us. Hear the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Hear his words. This is the God-man,
the man who came from heaven to save his people from their
sins, and he said this to his fearful disciples. He'd just
told them he was going to be going away, and they were fearful
as to what was going to happen. And he said to them, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also
in me. Why should that calm our fears? because of the stability that
there is in God. Our God is unchanging. He's the
same, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and
forever. He who is God does not change
like we change with whims and different moods that come along.
Why should we be comforted by the fact that God is there, God
is here with us? He's unchanging, but He's righteous
because everything that He does will be good and will be right.
Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? He is good, He
is righteous, He is holy, He is faithful. where we are fickle,
he is faithful to his promises. Believer, always rest on that
when viewing the volatility, the uncertainty that we see in
the world all around us. And of course, even in the realm
of religion. You see, Isaiah chapter 4 is
a 2,800-year-old word for today. It's only six verses, but it's
a message for us today. If we're fearful and doubtful
and uncertain in the things to do with our most holy faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, then read these verses together. Let's
read them now. And in that day seven women shall
take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and
wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take
away our reproach. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped
of Israel. And it shall come to pass that
he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, even every one that is written among the living
in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of
the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem
from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the
spirit of burning, And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place
of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud, and smoke by day, and
the shining of a flaming fire by night, for upon all the glory
shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle
for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of
refuge, and for a covet from storm and from rain. That You
may wonder how, but that describes today's religion, false and true. In the first verse, we see apostate
Christianity. You see, we are very small in
number in society today. we're very small physically gathered
here we know that we're very small just ones and twos of you
gathered out there watching with us now scattered strangers as
Peter wrote in his first epistle to those that he wrote to surrounded
by a lot of so-called Christian religion. There is, even in these
days, there is a lot of so-called Christian religion. Does that
perplex you? Does that perplex you? Why do
we stick to this lonely path if there's so much so-called
Christian religion out there. I mean, just think of the friends
that we could have. Just think of the social life that we could
have. If we packed up and we all went our separate ways, and
you out there, I'm sure you can find places that you could go
to, and you'd gather together with people, and you could have
meals together, and you could have good social time, and you
could talk about things, and, you know, why carry on this lonely
path? You see, we have many who we
once regarded as friends, and they consider us now friends
in what we thought was true Christianity. And they consider us now to be
religious masochists. What's a masochist? Well, somebody
that enjoys inflicting pain on himself or herself. They sort
of look at us and they think, why don't you just go and join
with some other people? If only you would change your
methods and then not be so isolationist. Just think of all the friends
you would have. And you've no need to keep punishing yourself
with this loneliness and this lonely path. Stop being religious
masochists. I tell you, You hear what they
say, but honestly, if God be for us, if God be for us, the
Word of God says, if God be for us, who can be against us? It doesn't matter how lonely
it feels, if God be for us, who can be against us? Look at it
in verse one, it says, in that day, in that day. In chapter
three and verse 26 at the end of it, if you remember last week,
Isaiah the prophet had talked about God's view of the sin of
society that was going on all around him and the judgment that
he was going to bring on that society and he did indeed bring
judgment in the form of the Babylonian captivity and Nebuchadnezzar
overrunning the people and taking them into captivity and there
was a great destruction in Jerusalem. And there was a great slaughter.
Her gate shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall
sit upon the ground. And seven women shall take hold
of one man." You see, in that society of 2,800 years ago, it
was a great shame, a great disgrace for a woman of a certain age
not to be married. It was, you know, she was regarded
as a pitiful creature in the eyes of fellow women. there was such a shortage of
men that seven women would take hold of one man saying, only
let us be called by thy name, let us take away our reproach,
take away that societal curse that's against us. That was literally
fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity when Nebuchadnezzar overran Jerusalem,
when it got the judgment and the punishment that God had promised
for its idolatry. It was literally fulfilled, but
this is what we need to see today. This is also a prophecy of our
day. If you turn back to chapter 2
and verse 2, and it shall come to pass in the last days. The days we are living in are
the last days. The days from when Christ came
to when he will come again. The second half of of created
history, if you like. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 18,
right at the start of the second period, when Christ had gone
back to glory, John wrote to those that he was writing to,
little children, it is the last time. And we are in that last
time now. We're in that day, in that day,
in this day, in the day in which we live. That's where we're living
now. Seven women shall take hold of
one man. What could that mean for us?
As I said, it was literally fulfilled then, but what can it mean for
us now? What are women a picture of in
the scriptures? Women are a picture of the church. the church. John himself, when
he was writing his epistles, you read them, elect lady. He's
not writing to one woman who he considers to be, he's writing
to the church, he's writing, that's what he called the church,
elect lady. In Revelation chapter 12 and
verse 1, John in the vision looked and saw a woman who represented
the true church of God. The woman from whom the Messiah
came has always represented the true Church of God. In Revelation
17, he looks at a woman who is adorned in gorgeous clothing
and jewels and bidet, riding on a great beast and upheld by
all the nations, and that woman he looks and he thinks, it's
a woman, it's the Church, it's Christendom, it's that which
calls itself the people of Christ. But then, The elder who's speaking to him
tells him and shows him the truth. That woman, although she looks
like the true Church of Christ superficially, with a glimpse
looks like that, in actual fact she's Babylon. She's a harlot. She's a whore named Babylon.
She's false. She's committed spiritual adultery. woman pictures the church. And
you see, what we see around us, they're seemingly all churches.
They call themselves churches. I put the radio on when I came
downstairs this morning, and there was the church service
going on from Northern Ireland. They call themselves a church.
They were naming the name of Christ. They were talking about
things to do with the gospel of Christ. They were talking
about getting ready for celebrating the death of Christ and the resurrection
of Christ. They were talking the things
of Christ, but in what they were saying was not one solitary word
of effectual gospel grace. Not one solitary word. They were
amongst those churches, like all around us, taking hold of
one man to be called by his name. And who is that one man? It's
Christ. They want the name of Christ.
But look, they will not eat his bread. We will eat our own bread. and wear our own apparel. They won't eat his bread and
wear his clothing. Theirs is a religion. Although
it calls itself Christian, theirs is a religion. which works its
own spiritual sustenance, its own spiritual nourishment, and
earns its own cloak of righteousness to wear. It's not the righteous
robe of Christ, of his righteousness, no. They just want to hide behind
a respected name. Is that not exactly what we see
in the Christianity of this world in our day? They won't have the
bread which came down from heaven. Turn to John 6. Turn over to
John chapter 6. Jesus said, he said, your fathers
ate manna in the wilderness. But he said in verse, where are
we? Verse 34. They said unto him, these disputing
Jews who really were following him around because he'd just
fed the 5,000 and they wanted another free meal. And they said
to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto
them, verse 35, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He's talking
about his elect that the Father gave him before the beginning
of time. They shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. So don't think that that's a
barrier to you. If you have a desire to come to Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins and acceptance with God, come to him, I will in no
wise cast you out. He says, for I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but to do the will of him that
sent me. And this is the will, this is
the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up at the last day. Then in verse 44, No man can
come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 60, Many therefore
of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an
hard saying, Who can hear it? And that's what the religion
that calls itself Christian all around us does. If you confront
them with what Jesus said, our Lord Jesus Christ, here in John
chapter 6, they'll say that's not the Jesus that we want. That's
not the Christ that we want. We want a Christ of our own imagining. We will not have this Christ.
We will not eat that bread. We will eat our own bread, as
he says in Isaiah chapter 4. We will eat our own bread. We
won't have the bread which came down from heaven, which is the
bread of sovereign grace and particular redemption, the bread
of electing God, who in grace elected a people out of all mankind
who would come, all sinners, all under the same condemnation,
but a people, a multitude which no man can number, he said, I
will put them in marriage union with my son, and he shall redeem
them from the curse of the law, that they shall be my people,
that they shall receive the adoption of sons. They won't have that
Jesus. Whatever they sound like they're
saying, listen to it, they won't have that Jesus. He said to them,
to the Jews in John 10, 26. He said, ye believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep. He didn't say, believe the gospel
and you will become my sheep. He didn't say that. He said,
the reason you don't believe is that you were not elected
of the Father before the beginning of time. Oh, what a shocking
doctrine. How on earth can anybody believe that? Oh, we will not
eat that bread. No, no, no, we're not having
that bread. No, we want the name to take away our reproach, but
we will not have that bread, I'm telling you. That bread is
true Christ. True Christ. The Christ of Scripture. There's only one true Christ.
There are lots of idols. with the name of Christ, but
there's only one who is true Christ. Jesus himself said, beware,
in the last days many will come saying here is Christ or there
is Christ. He said don't listen to them, don't go with them,
don't hear what they say. The Christ of scripture is the
Christ of sovereign grace and particular redemption. The Christ
who is the Lord our right, the Lord our righteousness, not our
own righteousness, but seven women, representing the church
in the day in which we live, choose their own bread of free
will and works and social activity, and of a puppet man whose name
they own, that they call Christ, but is not the Christ of Scripture.
and they wear a righteousness cloak of their own making, that
they think they can force God to accept, and they've got a
covenant together. And Isaiah 28, when we get to
it, whenever that will be, Isaiah 28 lays bare what that is. That's a refuge of lies. It's
a covenant with death, for it's a false gospel. All religion
is like that. Not just nominal Christianity,
what we might call Christendom. You see it all around us. Don't
be alarmed. Don't be alarmed when you see
their numbers, when you see their confederacy, and when you feel
a sort of a shiver of loneliness. Don't be alarmed. They're on
the Broadway that leads to destruction, because there is no salvation
in it. There is no effectual salvation in it. How do we identify
them in order to steer clear of them? Oh, shouldn't we put
out the hand of friendship and try to heal the wounds between... Oh, surely that's the gracious
Christian thing to do. Not if you read the Scriptures,
it isn't. The Scriptures tell us to steer clear of them. Mark
them and avoid them. How do we mark them? By trying
their spirits. 1 John 4, verse 1. Test the spirits. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. Test whether the Christ they preach is this Christ, of
this book, of this scripture. Everything that was said about
this Messiah coming to redeem the elect the Father gave him
before the beginning of time. If they don't preach that, they're
preaching another Christ. They're not true. Test their
message, like the noble Bereans, who searched the scriptures to
see whether what they were hearing was true. Is it biblical truth
concerning God? Concerning sin? Concerning justice? Concerning judgment to come?
Concerning Christ and salvation? And look at their methods, the
methods that they adopt in order to gather their numbers together. That gives them away as well.
Don't be troubled by their apparent success. In Psalm 73 you might
remember that the psalmist Who was he? It says a psalm of Asaph,
but it might be that David wrote it to give to Asaph, who was
the head of the music. But never mind. The one who wrote
it said this, that he was well nigh gone, his feet had almost
slipped. Why? Because he was envious at
the wicked, at the foolish. He was envious at those who disbelieved
God. He was envious at those who made
their way successfully in this world around. And he said, I've
been flogging myself to death, as it were, trying to be faithful
to God. And look what I've got for it. I've got nothing but
trouble, and look at them prospering away. And he said, I became really
bitter, and I was about to say it, and then I thought, I can't
say that, because I'll hurt the people of God. And do you know
what he did? He went into the sanctuary, it
says, in the temple. He went, what was the temple?
It was the picture of how man is made right with God. What's
the means by which man is made right with God? It's the gospel
of his grace in Christ. The temple pictured everything
that is in the gospel of grace. That's what the temple was for.
It was the blueprint, it was the pattern, it was the paper
drawing, if you like, of how God would save his people from
their sins in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he went in there,
and when he went in there, then he understood how God saves his
people from their sins, and the salvation that he had. and the
blessings of that salvation, and the end of those that don't
have that salvation. And the apparent prosperity of
those that he saw became nothing other than worthless trinkets
that were of no value. Then, he said, then knew I their
end. Then I knew how it was going
to end with them. No, don't be envious at the wicked. This is the word of the Lord,
unto Zerubbabel, says Zechariah 4, verse 6. This is what God
says to us, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. Don't look at apparent worldly
success, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So then, that's
apostate Christianity, all around us, in the world in which we
live. And that's why if you've seen it, then knew I their end,
then knew I the outcome of it, then I knew what was the true
salvation of God. And really, if there's only one
of you, It's worth continuing in it, isn't it? Because you
are of all men, most rich and most blessed. But let's look
at Christ and his true people in verse 2. In that day, the
day in which we live, shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful
and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent
and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. The branch
of the Lord, turn to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23 and verse 5. Jeremiah 23 verse 5. Behold,
the days come. What days? Gospel days. The days
in which we live. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. This is God speaking. That I
will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
David had been a mere flawed picture. but a very much revered
picture for the prosperity, the presence of God with his people
in those days. And this was a couple of hundred
years before Isaiah wrote this, before Jeremiah wrote this, I
will raise unto David a righteous branch. Who is that? This is
God saying, I will send my Christ. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will come of the lineage of David. He will be born in the city of
David. We read that in one of the other
prophecies. A righteous branch, and he will be king. Pilate said
to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, you've said
it. The king of the Jews. Jesus, the king of the Jews.
They said, the Jews said to Pilate, they said, take that down, don't
write that. Just say that he said, I am.
Pilate said, what I've written, I have written. This was the
king of the Jews. A king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. How does
he do that? Through the gospel that he accomplishes
in his coming and being made the sin of his people and bearing
its penalty in the earth and judgment and justice are established
and his people go free. His people go free without violating
the law of God, so God is a just God, and a saviour. In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. This is his
people, this is his church. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. We saw that
last week, you go on ten chapters, and his people, their name is
the Lord our righteousness. This is Christ, of divine origin,
And His human humiliation, look, the fruit of the earth, the Lord,
our Lord Jesus Christ, He will be beautiful and glorious. And
the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them
that are escaped of Israel. In His death on the cross, He
didn't stay dead, He rose from the dead, the fruit of the earth. He came forth out of the earth,
the fruit of the earth. The fruit of the earth shall
be excellent and comely. We are, says Romans 4.25, he
was delivered up for our transgressions and raised for our justification. Beautiful, excellent, comely,
in all that he came and did, the beautiful, glorious God-man-saviour,
the prophet, the priest, the king, the fruit of the earth,
in his manhood, in his death and in his resurrection, In contrast
to that which is false, God has a remnant that he keeps true
to his word, a remnant to whom Christ is precious. To you who
believe, said Peter, to you who believe, this one, this branch
of the Lord, is precious. He's beautiful and glorious.
His fruit in the earth is excellent and comely for them that are
escaped from that destruction of judgment that fell upon them
in those days. In the midst of these people,
his people, his true people, Christ must be lifted up. And
when he's lifted up, he said, I will draw all men to myself,
not all without exception, but of all types without distinction,
because they're all the objects of the election of grace. And
to them, to the true people of God, not to those who are false,
who will not eat his bread or wear his clothes, he is, as Colossians
3.11 says, he is all and in all. As Happy Jack said, I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. In these days, The true church
seeming to be so small, such scattered strangers, yet I believe
Christ has never been more clearly lifted up in preaching. You look
at the blessing that we have. I'm not saying that Free Grace
Radio is unique and there are literally no others, but what
I am saying is that there, there is such a resource in these days
that is accessible How many people have got access to the internet
of the billions that live on earth? I mean, it's numbered
in billions, isn't it? Numbered in billions! The accessibility
of the clearest gospel preaching, there's never, I wouldn't say
clearest, but there's never been clearer. There's never been clearer.
In these days, in these days, Christ is lifted up. and shown
to be glorious, despite what all these other seven women with
their one man eating their own bread and wearing their own apparel,
whatever they might do, the true Christ has never been more clearly
lifted up and preached among his true people than he is in
these days. The escaped of Israel are the
elect. according to the election of grace, Romans 11 verse 5,
a remnant according to the election of grace, which means that it
is entirely the work of God who has fed and clothed them. Unlike
nominal Christendom, where they clothe themselves, they eat their
own bread, no, God has clothed and fed his people, God's true
people, however insignificant they are to worldly religion,
They have, we have, the true Christ of God. As Paul said,
writing to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2 verse 16, he said, we have
the mind of Christ. With Him, if we have Christ,
if we have the mind of Christ, with Him, how shall God not give
us all things? It's His promise. All spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, heavenly treasures that fade
not away. Then in verse 3, Christ's true
people made holy, not wearing their own holiness, righteousness.
And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he
that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one
that is written among the living in Jerusalem, not wearing their
own apparel, not wearing their own clothing, but wearing that
which God has clothed them with in Christ. Made holy, made holy
by imputation. He made him who knew no sin to
be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Made by regeneration, by the
Holy Spirit coming, and those who were dead in trespasses and
sins, he made alive, he quickened, he made them alive. by imparted
demeanor, by putting his spirit, the desire for the things of
God, he puts inside his people. As Ezekiel wrote, Ezekiel 36,
27, I will put my spirit within you. This is what God says to
his people. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
Whose names are written, they're written among the living in Jerusalem.
Written where? The rest of the scripture tells
us. Written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation 13, 8. And
all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him. That's talking
about Satan's beast, Antichrist. They'll all worship, all of them,
whose names, the people whose names are not written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, but praise God, there is a multitude whose names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those whose names are
written there, by electing grace, shall be kept faithful to the
very end. They shall not commit spiritual
adultery with the religion of falsehood. In Revelation 17 and
verse 8, talking about that woman I was mentioning earlier, false
religion, whose names were written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world. And in Revelation 20 verse 15,
the great judgment at the end is pronounced, and whosoever
was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the
Lake of Fire." But do you see, the key is, names written in
the Lamb's Book of Life, written among the living in Jerusalem.
Are these sayings too hard for you? Remember John 6? This is
a hard saying. Who can bear it? And it says,
after that, many went away and walked no longer with him and
said, I think it's easier to go with the crowd. I don't like
this doctrine. This isn't the sort of religion that I thought
the Messiah of Israel was going to come and bring. I thought
he was bringing one to unify us all together. No, no, I'm
going away. And Jesus said to his disciples,
will you also go away? Will you? Will you? Peter says,
to whom shall we go? We've got nowhere else to go
because nobody else has the words of eternal life. In verse 4,
in this life Christ purges, cleans constantly his true church. When
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of
Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst
thereof by the spirit of judgment, Is it an easy time, then, for
God's true churches in this world, in the midst of all those false
Christendom all around? These Daughters of Zion, these
true churches in this world, is it an easy time? No, they're
defiled. We are defiled with the filth
of sin, with the filth of worldly affection. which entices us all
the time into the things of the world, with the filth of false
doctrine and a tendency to corruption. But God constantly purges us
out, and what's the means that he uses? Is it not faithful preaching
that I've mentioned already? Is that not the means that God
uses to purge out that falsehood, that filth, that defilement? In Ephesians 5.13 we read, all
things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. All
things that are to be condemned are made manifest by the light.
God shines his light by the preaching of his word. He says in Isaiah
28 verse 17, again in this book, he says, judgment also will I
lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet. There's a standard.
We don't have to guess. This word is the God's standard
and the preaching of this word is that which purifies the filth
out of the daughters of Zion. He gives his people the spirit
of judgment and burning. Look there at the end of verse
four. By the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, he
gives his people divine wisdom. For Christ is made unto us wisdom
from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
He gives us that spirit of justice, of the truth of God, the ability
to discern truth from error. He gives that to his people.
He does. All these lying signs and wonders,
says Paul, they shall be able to deceive even the elect, because
they'll be so convincing, if that were possible. But it isn't
possible, because the elect of God cannot be deceived, for he
keeps his people. He gives them the spirit of judgment,
and the spirit of burning, and a zeal for the kingdom of God.
But wouldn't it be easier, you might say, wouldn't it be easier
to go with the religious crowd? As I've already said, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and you alone. And so, God helping us, we remain
true. And then finally, Christ's true
churches are assured of protection. Look in verses 5 and 6, the Lord
will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon
her assemblies a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming fire by night. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense, and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and
a covet from the storm and from rain." Mount Zion. This is again
talking about the true assemblies of the churches of Christ. Assemblies. Zion and her assemblies, manifestations
of true gospel witness. As Paul writes in Hebrews 12,
he says, you're not come to Mount Sinai, you're not come to the
mount that burned, where the law was given, where there was
terror and fear, but you are come to Mount Zion. and to the
assembly of the people of God in heaven, and to a multitude
of angels, and to all of these glorious things, you'll come
there. This is Zion, and where Zion in this world meets, it's
the assemblies of true gospel witness. Here, Isaiah takes the
picture of Israel led out of Egypt. You know when they were
led out of Egypt, and they were in wilderness wanderings, and
it says, the presence of God was manifested with them by a
cloud, pillar of cloud by day, that they could see? A cloud
that showed that God is invisible, that we cannot just look upon
him. It was a cloud, but they knew he was there. And then at
night in the darkness, something they could see, a pillar of fire
by night. Cloud by day and fire by night. Today, the promise applies to
everyone and everywhere that his true people seek to worship
true God. It is here amongst us and with
you out there worshipping with us. It is where you're watching.
day and night, times of heat, times of storm, times of rain,
in other words, in every circumstance of life, with the result that
he provides a defense from Satan, and all that would drag his people
down to hell if they could, and also a tabernacle. The tabernacle
speaks of Christ. the manifestation of the presence
of God amongst his people. The presence of God manifested
to his people as we walk in this world. As I said earlier, if
God before us, and he clearly says he is, who can be against
us? The final hymn that we're going
to sing says this in verse 3, round each habitation hovering
See the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a covering, showing
that the Lord is near. Thus deriving from their banner,
light by night and shade by day, safe, they feed upon the manna,
the manna, the bread which came down from heaven, which he gives
them when they pray. With God before us, who can be
against us? Knowing this, what place is there
in our thinking for doubting God's promises? and envying that
which is patently false. No place whatsoever. If God be
for us, who can be against us? Amen.