Turn with me to the book of Isaiah. We'll be taking our text, as
we said, from chapter 42. We want to work our way toward
that though. We'll begin by reading a few
verses in chapter 40 of Isaiah, verses 25 through 28. It's been attributed to a man
by the name of Sir Francis Bacon, this statement. He said that
old wood is best to burn, and that old books are the best ones
to read, and that old friends are the best ones to trust. Old
friends are best to trust. Old friends have proven themselves
trustworthy, haven't they? They've earned our confidence.
I think it was Don I read a statement that he made the other day in
one of his writings. There's so much I can't recollect
which it was in. But he said that old friends
come in when everybody else is going out. They stick with you. Old friends are best to trust. And how supremely that applies
to that one who sticketh closer than a brother. Now, I mentioned
earlier about Robbins and I visit the West Virginia. And having four brothers and
four sisters, we're a close family. We're a close family. My brothers
and I are close. But concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's said he sticks closer than any brother, any brother.
And he himself said, that same one who sticks closer than a
brother, said, greater love had no man than this, than that a
man lay down his life for his friends. And in response to the
answer of strangers to the Bride of Solomon song concerning her
beloved, who is he? You've asked us if we've seen
him. Describe him to us. And one of the things she said
was this, his mouth is most sweet. He is altogether lovely. If you have eyes to see, you
won't fail to recognize him because there's no imperfection in him.
He's absolutely perfect. He's altogether lovely. And this
is my beloved, she said. And this is my friend. This is
my friend. Isaiah, the word means, the Lord
shall save. That's what Isaiah means. It
also means the salvation of the Lord. The book of Isaiah has
been referred to as the fifth gospel, the gospel of Isaiah,
because he speaks as though he was with James and John and Peter,
Andrew, He seems as though he was there when our Lord was on
the earth, and he walked with them as the other disciples.
In reading this book, you may well ask yourselves, am I reading
a prophecy or a history? Is it things to come or things
that have already happened? Because he speaks so matter-of-factly,
as though they're done. The book speaks of those things
that concern the Son of God, that freedom, the sinner's freedom. And as has been well said, I
love the Lord's shells, don't you? I love his shells and wheels
so much more than man's maybes, or perhaps, or mightbes. Because man's maybes are exactly
that. Maybe it will be, but most likely
it won't be. Our intentions, our purposes,
our plans. As you are aware, I like to play
golf. Someone described golf as a walk
ruined, a good walk walk ruined by chasing a ball. But for a
good while now, until recently, I just wasn't able to play. But
I have been some in the last few weeks. And the other day,
I thought, I'm going to slip out. If it's not crowded, I'm
going to play nine holes by myself. Because I just feel like I've
got a good game in me today, John. I felt like that I would
probably shoot par. No. It didn't happen, not by a long
shot. Once or twice I said to myself,
why did you just stay on? You spent money to do this? Oh
yes, our plans, our purposes are seldom realized for very
many reasons. We're not able to perform what
we intend, but not so with God. Not so with God. Not with the
shells of God because every one of them must be realized. Must
be realized. That's the very first book of
the last verse, rather, the first verse of the last book of the
Bible. John, I will show you things
that must shortly, must shortly come to pass. And repeats the
same thing in chapter 4. Come up, John, and I will show
you things that must come to pass. And what he said to John
is true of the whole book of the Bible. The things concerning
Jesus Christ, he said himself, have an end. That is, they have
a purpose. They have a fulfillment. Yes,
God's shells we can trust in. Why wouldn't they be realized? Think about it. Why wouldn't
they be realized? Why wouldn't God fulfill all
of his purposes? What would prevent him? What
would stop him? What would be the cause of failure? A lack of wisdom? That's impossible. He's the old wise God. A lack
of power? That too is impossible. He's
the Lord God omnipotent that reigneth. Here in Isaiah chapter
45, I'm sorry, chapter 40, look at verse 25. To whom then will ye liken me?
This is God speaking. And shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
hosts by number? He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord? My judgment
is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, all capital letters,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. Now look in chapter 45 of this
same book, Isaiah 45, verses 5 through 8. Again, I am the
Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Now that being the case, and
that's just a sample, that's just a sample, of what God says
concerning Himself in His own Word. That being the case, that
is God being absolutely sovereign, omnipotent, God Almighty that
rules, in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. That God that has his way in the world, when in
the clouds are but the dust of his feet. That being the case,
God being who he is, there's bound to be some sweet consequences
to that, is there not? Isaiah chapter 55. Here's one,
verse 11. You know this verse very well.
Isaiah 55 and 11. God being who he is, then this
is bound to follow. So shall my word be that goeth
out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void. That is empty, fruitless, without
purpose. But it shall accomplish. Don't you like that word? It
shall accomplish. God doesn't attempt to do, he
does. He accomplishes whatever he intends
to accomplish. But it shall accomplish that
which I pleased, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it." And what's true of God's Word, God's written Word,
is true of the Word of God that was wrapped in flesh and dwelt
among us. It shall not return unto God
the Father void, but he shall accomplish all that the Lord
sent him to do. Chapter 51, verse 6. Lift up
your eyes to the heavens, and I've been praying that God would
enable us to do that today. Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment,
and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But, but,
but, my salvation, says God, shall be forever. My salvation
shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Yes, there are some sweet comforts
to be derived from the shells of that most trustworthy of all
friends, the one who is mighty to try. Mighty to offer. Mighty to attempt. Oh, no, no,
no, no. That one who is mighty to save. Mighty to save. I read this statement
the other day and failed to put down who said it, so I can't
give him credit. At least I won't take credit
for it myself. But the statement was this. Nothing
can fill the soul but God. Nothing in quite the soul but
God. Nothing can set aside the soul
but God, and nothing can secure the soul but God, and nothing
can save the soul but God. The Old Hymn says, tempted and
tried, I need a great Savior. Carlos? Nothing less will do. Tempted and tried, I need a great
Savior. And that is exactly the Savior
that Jesus Christ is. He's the great God and Savior.
When Thomas bowed down before him and cried, my Lord and my
God, Jesus Christ didn't correct him because Thomas was exactly
right. Isaiah chapter 42. Now, let's
read the first four verses together. And as we said, verse four, just
those first four words will be our text, primarily our thought
will be centered around that. But God Almighty says in verse
1, Behold, as the angel said unto John in Revelation 5, Behold
my servant, though he were God and thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, yet he became a servant. Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles, and I think it's Matthew chapter 12, our
Lord applied this very prophecy to himself. Verse 2, he shall
not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quince. He shall bring forth judgment
unto the truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. When we fail, we're discouraged.
Christ wasn't discouraged because he knew he wasn't going to fail.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the
earth and the owl shall wait for his law. He shall not fail. Failure, impossible. That's the
title of my message. Just a couple of reasons. First,
there are so many, but first, primarily and foremost, first
because of who is spoken of here. When God says, behold, stop,
look, ponder, behold this, my righteous servant. Who is he
that God speaks of? Who is this one that God Almighty
directs the attention of His people to? At the close of chapter
41, We're told of the utter failure of the hope of man in man, or
help from man. God himself, we're told, looked.
Look at verse 28 and 29 of chapter 41. God says, for I beheld and
there was no man, no man, even among them. Lord, who can be
saved? With men, all men, it's impossible. There was no man, even among
them, and there was no counselor. How can a man be just with God?
No man can answer that. No man can solve that. When I
asked of them, could answer a word. Behold, they are all vanity.
Their works are nothing. Their molten images are wind
and confusion. Now, with that dark backdrop,
does not the words of verse 1 of chapter 42 seem all the more
comforting. Behold my servant, when after
looking and looking long for help in man and failing to find it, you see
no man, no counselor then this precept has an emphatic force
about it, does it not? It's even more glorious against
that backdrop. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
my elect, in whom my soul delights. Oh, God found someone in whom
he finds satisfaction. There is someone that's worthy. There is someone that has enough
merit, enough efficacy, enough power, enough trustworthiness
that God Almighty can commit all of His elect into His hands
and say, I trust Him. I trust Him. Behold, my servant. When all other saviors fail,
look to the Savior whom God has set up. The darker all things
become, the more eagerly Look for His appearing whose coming
is as the morning without clouds. Without clouds. When the lower
lights of this world are burning dim, behold the light of the
glory of God Almighty in the face of Jesus Christ. John quit weeping and behold
Him. Lift up your feeble arms and
behold Him. Lift up your eyes to heaven and
behold him who sits upon the throne, John, he's worthy. These are the words of God himself
concerning his righteous servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers
and sisters in Christ, if we ever find out we're chosen, and
I've said this before, and you know it, You can't know your
elect, and that's not where you start anyway. Someone told, I
think it was William Huntington, I'm not sure. But he went to
a place to preach, and these were staunch, staunch Calvinists. He said, now, you be careful
when you preach here. We don't want you to preach to
nobody but God's elect. Now, we've heard tell that you
exhort sinners. I had a fellow tell me one time,
I was a young preacher, and I was preaching at his church, and
afterwards, I was sitting across the table from him, and he said,
Larry, you know, I heard a fellow preach, you know him, if I tell
you his name, you would know him, and he preached a great
sermon, but at the end of the message, he just ruined it. Louie,
he ruined the message. I said, how so? He told sinners
they must believe. And I said, what was wrong with
that? What was wrong with that? And he said, well, but they can't
believe. I said, they're still responsible
to do it. God still holds them responsible to do it whether
they can or not. And he said, well, that's just
that free willism still in you. I said, well, I doubt not that
there's still free willism in me, but that is still so. God
commands all men everywhere to repent. And they told this fella,
don't preach to anybody, don't exhort sinners to come to Christ,
only preach to God's elect. And he said, no problem, no problem,
I'll do that. Have you marked them with something
so I can tell who they are? You show me who God's elect are. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ,
we can never know we're chosen. We can never know we were one
of those blessed blessed multitudes that were committed into the
hands of the great shepherd of the sheep until we believed. This is what Paul told the Thessalonians.
I know your election of God. Really? Paul said, writing to
them, he said, I know your election of God. How did you know, Paul?
Because when we preached the word of God to you, you received
it as such. You believed and became followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we come to know that we were
elect, redeemed, it will be when we're called and given grace
now and glory hereafter. For all those we must look where
God himself looks and directs us to look. Behold my servant.
Behold him. That's where God looks for satisfaction. for the accomplishment of all
his purposes in the salvation of his people. If we don't look
there, if we're not looking to Christ, we're looking to the
wrong place. If we're looking to Calvinism,
we're looking to the wrong place. If we're looking to Baptist doctrine,
we're looking to the wrong place. If we're looking to the baptismal,
we're looking to the wrong place. Oh no! I must have Christ in
order to have life. He. He. That's our first point. He, verse 4, shall not fail. The Bible is a hymn book. We
just sang from our hymn book. We'll close with the last one
from the hymn book. Oh, but this book, this book
that you hold in your lap, This book, it's a hymn book too, H-I-M. It's all about Christ. The Word
of God is about God the Word that was made flesh for the saving
of all those that God put into His hands, that God entrusted
to Him and Christ, oh, I love this, Christ became responsible
for. If I'm saved, it'll be Christ
that does it. If I'm kept and preserved, it
will be Christ that does it. If I'm brought back to glory,
back to the Father, it will be Christ that does it. He is responsible
for the salvation of all His people. My soul. That's why He was given the name
Jesus. Call Him Jesus because He'll
try. No, no, no. Give Him Jesus. God's salvation. Give Him that
glorious name. Because He shall, oh John, He
shall save His people, all of His people, from all of their
sins. Behold Him, God's servant. If God accepts me, it will only
be because I'm in His beloved Son. And oh, what a glorious,
secure, comforting place to be. I've told you about as a child
living up that hollow, and being caught out after dark, and running
home knowing there was a werewolf on my trail, sniffing, going
to get me. Oh, and I got home. Go up to
the attic where my bedroom was, and Mom would tuck me in, and
she would throw up that old, remember those? Blankets that
had them little tassels on the end, and it had little balls
all the way around. Remember those? Boy, she'd toss
it up and down he'd come. And she'd tuck me in. Boy, I
missed that. Hint, hint. I missed that. Oh, I wasn't afraid
anymore. I wasn't scared anymore. I was
home. I was safe. I was secure. Nothing's going to hurt me. Nothing's
going to hurt me. And in Jesus Christ, my Lord,
I'm secure. I'm safe. I'll never be condemned. God will never cast me out. I'm
accepted. And to be loved. And to be loved,
the hymn writer said. And to be loved. Accepted am
I. Risen, ascended, and seated on
high. Saved from all sin through His
infinite grace. With the redeemed ones afforded
a place. And to be loved. How safe my
retreat. And to be loved, accounted complete.
Who can condemn Him? Who can condemn me? For in Him
I am free. Savior and Keeper forever is
He. And I especially like this. In
the Beloved, God's marvelous grace calls me to dwell in this
wonderful place. God sees my Savior, and then
He sees me. In the Beloved. Accepted. and free. Is it any wonder that
Paul said, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss,
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, in the beloved. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Oh, wrap
me up in that perfect robe of Christ's righteousness, and I
must be accepted by God. He would be unjust not to accept
me, and to be loved, and to be loved. Robin and I watched part
of a movie the other night. I thought about it when I was
preparing this message, and I did a little research to see if it
actually was true, but this This woman was raising sheep. And one lamb was born stillborn. And there was another young lamb
that didn't have a mother. So they skinned the dead lamb
and put a coat on the skin on the living lamb and brought her
into the mother whose lamb had died. And she sniffed that skin, thought
it was hers, thought it was her own. And I thought, I wonder
if that's really true. And it is. It is. They actually
do that. Oh, that's what it is. Listen,
be ye therefore followers of God's dear children. And walk
in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for
us, a sacrifice and offering to God for a sweet-smelling savor. And to be loved. A sweet-smelling
savor. In the Greek it means for an
odor of a sweet smell. That is, God is well pleased
with the offering on the ground of its sweetness, and so we are
reconciled to God. God sees my Savior, and then
He sees me in my Savior, and accepts me like He accepts my
Savior, loves me like He loves my Savior. Oh, my soul. Octavius Winslow wrote this. He said to know that while our
feelings fluctuate, and man don't they, don't they though? So quickly they can change. We
can go from the mountaintop to the valley in the blink of an
eye. While our feelings fluctuate and our frames vary, and our
experience ebbs and flows as the tide, yet our righteousness
varies not, changes not, and that we are not justified one
moment more really, more freely, more completely than at another."
Never, never. It's always the same. He said,
and that is a mercy that's unspeakably great. Second. Concerning Him, He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're told, He shall not fail. He shall not
fail. My soul. Again, let me say, I
like the sound of that, don't you? He shall not fail. Whenever I read, and I don't
read such things long, or hear someone, and I don't listen to
such talk long, Someone describing the Lord Jesus Christ who claims
to speak to God and declares that the Christ of God only made
my salvation possible and left the actual success of my salvation
to be determined by something I do, I know that they're not
talking about God's righteous servant. They're not talking
about him. When I hear someone say that
Jesus Christ died for people that end up in hell, I know they're
not talking about Him. Not the Christ of God, because
concerning Him, we read, He shall not fail. Bless His name. Jesus, the salvation of the Lord,
lived up to His name. He by Himself purged our sins. That's why He sat down. And He
obtained eternal redemption for us. Whenever I read in the Word
of God about the Lord Jesus Christ, everything he did was successful. You know, when I hear of someone,
whether it's an athlete or a businessman or whatever, or a woman, being successful in their area
of expertise, so to speak, An inventor, he invents something
successful, successful. I don't much care because I don't
have an interest in that. I'm not involved in it. It really
doesn't affect me, so it really doesn't matter. Listen, I'm interested
in this, aren't you? I'm interested in the success
of my Redeemer because Jesus Christ, in His life, in His death,
He represented me. He does now before the Father's
throne. He represents me. He appears
in the presence of God for us. He was my substitute when He
died. So I'm interested. Did He succeed? Was He successful? Did He do
what He came here to do? Whatever He has undertaken, He
will perform. because he's this one. He's this
one. For unto us a child is born,
and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful and Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform it. He'll get the job done. Does
God Almighty demand perfection? Yes, He does. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I come to do thy will, O my God. He said, I do
always those things that please the Father. And God himself said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Here ye him. Behold him. Does God Almighty
require satisfaction to every demand of his holy law? Christ
said, I have trod the winepress alone. Did he render satisfaction
to God's broken law? I have trod the winepress alone,
and of the people there was none with me." Concerning bringing
in an everlasting righteousness, are you interested in that? Do
you have an interest in that? Does that concern you? Putting
away sin, are you interested in that? Being reconciled to
God, do you have an interest in that? Hearing that day when
all men are ushered into the presence of a thrice holy God
instead of hearing depart from me I never knew you or hearing
enter into the joy prepared for you from the foundation of the
world? Are you interested in that? It's all determined by
and dependent upon this one who shall not fail. Listen, listen. He answered the question. It
is finished. He shall not fail. He did not
fail. Bless his name. Knowing that
all things were now accomplished that were written of him, he
cried, it is finished. In Genesis chapter 8, after Noah
left the ark, we read in verses 20 and 21 these words. And Noah
built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast
and of every clean fowl. and offered burnt offerings on
the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor. And the Lord said
in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for
man's sake. He smelled a sweet savor. The word there is somewhat different
than what we read from Ephesians chapter 5. The word there in
the Hebrew means a savor of rest. Rest. Rest. Paul said, and I'm sure was referring
to that passage, that Christ gave himself an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. I know I've told
you before, that little church I pastored for a few years, many
years ago in West Virginia, there was an old brother there in the
church We would have the Lord's Supper and I would call upon
him to pray. Waldo Arthur was his name. I
said, Brother Waldo, would you pray for us? And he would stand
and he'd say, Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thank you that he redeemed his
people by his own precious blood. Thank you for that sacrifice.
He said, you You feast on it, God, and we feast on it, and
both are satisfied. Both are satisfied. Yes, that
sweet savor, rest. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
say? Come unto me, and I will give you rest. Man, religion,
it's do, do, do, do all the time. I mean, these churches, that's
why they have programs every night for the young people, for
the old people, for the divorced people, for the married people,
for the widowed people. Got to keep them happy, got to
keep them occupied, got to keep that crowd coming back. Oh no,
Jesus, they never have rest. All the flutter and activity,
all the glitter. Christ said, but do you want
real rest? Do you want the rest of trusting
in that finished work of Christ? Do you want that sweet assurance
that Jesus Christ accomplished all that was necessary for the
salvation of His people? Do you want the sweet assurance
whispered in your soul as only He can? It is finished! Come unto Me. All ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will do what nobody else can. I will
do what your pastor can't do. I will do what no priest or preacher
can do. I will do what the Baptist or
the Catholic can't do. I will give you rest. Just fall into the arms of the
Son of God. and let Him kiss you with the
sweet kiss of His mouth and speak to your heart, all your sins
are forgiven you. Oh, my soul. That's rest. That's rest. When a sinner is
brought by the grace of God to cease from his own works and
to trust the only one who could finish that work of salvation,
how refreshing it is. How refreshing, Isaiah chapter
28 verse 12, to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith ye
may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing. Oh, how refreshing it is. And I can personally testify
to that. The Son of God, and every believer
can, the Son of God has not failed to do me good. David said in
closing his most famous of Psalms, surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And I can take those words to
beat my own. I speak from experience, and
I can tell you the Son of God has never failed. He's never
failed to meet my needs. He's never failed to protect
me. He's never failed to sustain my soul, or to comfort my heart,
or to deliver me from evil. He's never failed to be faithful
to this sinner. That's refreshing. That's refreshing. I can rest there. Yes, to sweep
the trust in Jesus, just from sin and self-decease, just from
Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace. Last of all, let's conclude the
message as the chapter begins. Behold my servant. Behold him. Our great comfort
is that the Lord Jesus Christ is always to be beheld because
he always lives and always intercedes on the behalf of his people.
We must not view him as someone that lived many, many years ago,
but one who is living today. True, he died in the heat of
battle, but he arose to secure the victory. We don't find our
hopes of salvation upon a dead savior. Our hopes rest on him
who said, I'm he that liveth. was dead, behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and death. In Mark chapter 6, we read these
words concerning the disciples on the stormy sea one night.
And the Lord sent them there. Concerning the Lord Jesus, he
saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto
them. Oh, those contrary winds. And about the fourth watch of
the night he cometh unto them, he comes to them, walking upon
the sea, and would have passed them by. But when they saw him
walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried
out. For they all saw him and were
troubled, and immediately he, he, talked with him. Oh, behold him. Child of God,
when the storms of life are raging, behold Him. And said unto them,
Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. The only one which
can enable us not to fear and to take courage is the Son of
God Himself, His presence. To believe in Him as always near,
always kind, always mighty to save is the true and only antidote
for fear and grief. And in proportion, as we recognize
his voice as that friend, saying, it is I, then we can comply with
the exhortation, take heart, cheer up, don't be afraid. In other words, Christ always
steers the vessel, whether he seems to be in the ship or not.
He never abandons ship. He's always at the helm. He's
the captain of our salvation. He's the captain of our salvation. So then he's responsible to bring
the ship safely into the harbor of eternal glory and there proclaim
as the mighty victor that he is, Father, I and the children
that thou has given me, I've lost none. I've lost none. You put them into my hands before
the world began, and now that the world is done, and we create
new heavens and a new earth, I bring them back to you. I've
kept them all. None's lost. Sickness may be
flawless, but the Lord will give grace. Poverty may happen, but
grace will too. Death must come, but grace will
light a candle in the darkest hour. Psalm 84, verse 11, the
Lord will give grace and glory. I like that little conjunction,
and. And glory in the verse. It's like a diamond rivet just
binding them together. And what God has joined together,
no man can put asunder. The Lord will never deny us all
glory, to whom he has already freely given grace. Glory is
nothing more than grace in full bloom, grace perfected. Oh, how soon, John Copeland,
you and I might be in glory. It may happen before the month
of March is out. The glory of that holy city,
the glory of heaven, of eternity, the glory of being with the Father,
and of Jesus Christ, the glory, as Bobby sang, of seeing his
face. Oh, my. What glory will that
be? Two golden links of one celestial
chain. He who has grace shall surely
glory gain. Oh, to be saved, behold him. If you long for God's forgiveness,
then behold the Lamb of God. Look not to anything in self,
any work that you've done, but come to Christ for everything.
Noah, come into the ark. Come, come, Lord Noah. Come into
the ark. Everything you need is here. Let me read you a story Mr. Spurgeon told. I found this in
one of the messages that he preached at the tabernacle many years
ago. But he told this story. A gentleman in our late civil
wars, when his quarters were beaten up by the enemy and was
taken prisoner and lost his life afterwards, it was only because
he stayed to put a band and to adjust his periwig. He would
escape like a person of quality or not at all. And he didn't. And he died the noble martyr
of ceremony. poor fool, and yet he is as bad
who waits till he is dressed in the rags of his own fancy
fitness before he will come to Jesus. He will die a martyr to
pride and self-righteousness. I'm so thankful that the God of all grace got
me lost, aren't you? Because until I was lost. I never saw my need of being
found. Until he in mercy stripped me,
I never sought and would have never found the
perfect robe of Christ's righteousness. Oh, you don't come to Christ
in faith, you come to Christ for faith, for repentance, in
everything necessary to the salvation of your soul. Christ said, if
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Come, poor,
weary, heavy laden sinner, come to Christ and he will give you
rest. Rest in the arms of the only
one who can speak peace to your heart because he himself is our
peace. Well of water, ever springing,
bread of life, So rich and free, untold wealth that never faileth,
my Redeemer is to me. Behold my servant, he shall not
fail. Amen. Amen. God bless you.