Sometimes when you read this
book, you find portions that are a little disagreeable to
the flesh. And you just swallow them down
quickly. And then sometimes you find a
statement, a word or a phrase that's just so sweet, so delectable. so delightful that you want to
roll it around in your mouth and get every bit that you can
possibly get from it. Well, some months ago I found
such a statement from our God, and I've been rolling it with
a sweet piece of candy for months, and I want to share with you
what God's taught me. You'll find it in Isaiah 27,
verse 4. Now, here is a remarkable blessed
statement that falls directly from the lips of God Almighty,
the God of glory, the holy and righteous God, the judge of all
the earth, who must do right. God who will by no means clear
the guilty. This is what he says, fury is
not in me. Fury is not in me. God says regarding somebody, somebody, fury is not in me. There are some people in this
world to whom God Almighty declares Fury is not in me. Not there. Not now. Not then. Not tomorrow. Fury is not in me. How can that
possibly be? Is not God's fury a manifestation
of one of his essential attributes, his justice? Is not his fury
an essential part of his holy being? Do we not read repeatedly
in this book of God showing his fury against the ungodly and
against sin? Indeed we do. We read it earlier
back here in Isaiah 26. The Lord calls for his people
to come shut the doors about them and hide themselves until
the indignation is overpassed. He tells us in verse 21 of chapter
26, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the world, the inhabitants of the earth, all the nations
and people of the earth. God Almighty comes to punish
them. We're told in chapter 27, verse
1, that the Lord will destroy Leviathan, that is, he will destroy
Satan, the old serpent, the enemy of our souls. He did so when
he died at Calvary. He said, now is the God of this
world cast out. And he took the serpent, bound
him in the chain of his omnipotence, and cast him out to deceive the
nations no more. He does so when he comes in his
grace to save a sinner. He binds the strong man, cast
him out of your heart, and sets up his own rule in you. And blessed
be God one day soon, when he gets done with that crooked serpent. He will destroy the very slime
of the serpent from his creation, and Satan will prove to have
done no harm in his kingdom. Look at the book of Nahum. Later
on here in Isaiah 27, the Lord speaks of the destruction of
Babylon. He'll destroy the nations. He'll destroy Satan. He'll destroy
all Babylon, all false religion. And then in the prophet Nahum,
Nahum describes the fury of God like this. Look at verse 6. It
is so terrible, so great. Verse 5 I mean. Nahum chapter
1 verse 5. The mountains quake at him, and
the hills melt. The earth is burned at his presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell
therein, who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide
in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. Yes, there is fury in
God. I know this is contrary to the
opinions of religious people everywhere, even conservative
religious people. God Almighty is going to punish
your sin. For you who are without Christ,
there is no word from God that ought to give you any measure
of comfort whatsoever while you breathe as a rebel against him.
Not one word. The only thing promised to the
rebel and unbeliever is the fury of God's holy wrath forever.
In hell, God's fury will burn against you forever. The sword
of God's justice is upon you. The wrath of God is upon you. If you're outside Christ, you
have reason to tremble and quake because God is angry with the
wicked every day. He is furious against ungodliness
and sin. And yet, he said right here, With regard
to some people in this world, fury is not in me. I want to be found among them,
don't you? I pray you will be found among
them. How are we to understand these
words? How are we to interpret this comment, this statement,
this word of grace? As always, we must interpret
the statement itself in the context in which it's found. So I want
you to hold your Bibles open here at Isaiah 27, and let me
show you what God's teaching is. In this 27th chapter of Isaiah's
prophecy, the Lord God declares these two things. Now listen
carefully. He tells us that he will utterly
destroy all his enemies. He will utterly destroy all who
oppose him, no exceptions. He will destroy them forever
in his wrath in hell. Second, he assures us that the
nations of this world are under the sentence of His holy wrath
and judgment. Wrath and judgment being continually
and relentlessly executed throughout all the ages of time. You want
to know what's going on in our world? God is executing His wrath,
little by little, upon the world around us. God is pouring out
His fury upon the nations around us. He is causing His wrath to
be treasured up against the day of wrath and ungodliness for
the judgment of men forever. That's what's going on. That's
what's going on in the political world. That's what's going on
in the academic world. That's what's going on in the
religious world. God Almighty is pouring out His wrath. He
is continually exercising his wrath upon the nations of the
world all the time. All the time. And in doing so,
he declares, and so all Israel shall be saved. Read the 11th
chapter of Romans. God sent blindness to Israel.
Hardness to Israel. He cut off that physical nation.
Withdrew the light from them and caused the light they once
had to be darkness about them. So that as they carry with them
the word of God, the Old Testament scriptures, and all the revelation
of God given in His law that was light to them at one time.
It's just darkness to them now. The very same Bible you read.
The very same word you read. It's light to you, but it's darkness
to them. Because God sent wrath upon them.
that he might send the gospel to the four corners of the earth,
and gather out his elect out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue, and thereby save all Israel. Not the physical
seed. No, no, no. I wish we could learn
to put out of our minds the preconceived notions that we have all been
conditioned to have, that somehow you interpret what God's doing
with what's going on over in Palestine, over in Israel, over
in Jerusalem, in the Middle Eastern countries. Oh, what's happening? I remember back in the Persian
Gulf War under our former President Bush, Back in January of 1991,
I think it was, I read an editorial column by Cal Thomas, a conservative
religious fellow who used to be associated with Jerry Falwell.
And he had some good things to say. Don't pay any attention
to what he said about religious stuff, but he had some good things
to say with regard to politics. And he made this statement. Now, he left himself some wiggle
room, just in case he was mistaken. He said, you know, this might
not be it. It looks like this is it. Armageddon has begun. And boy, prophecy books rolled
off the presses. I mean, they rolled off faster
than the Iraqis with towels on their heads scattered across
the desert. Everywhere, folks was, oh, this is it! This is
the end! This is the end! Armageddon's
begun! The Lord's going to be here!
Well, got over that. I wonder how many Preachers have
got prophecy tapes and books stored in attics somewhere looking
for something to do with them. And then we had Y2K. Oh, you
remember how terrified everybody was? News media talking about
it. Is this going to be the end of the world? Had seminars so
they could sell you some tapes and sell you some books to pay
for the ones that messed up on the last time. Straighten up
the loopholes. This is it. January 1st, 2000. Or somewhere close by. It's going
to be the end. Well, that didn't happen. Now we're back in war
with Iraq. And I promise you we're going
to be there a while. I promise you we are. I'm not condemning
it. I'm telling you that's the way
it's going to be. That's the way it's going to be. This is the end. Look what's
happening in Israel. Every time some towel-head dictator
sneezes, Every time something happens in Israel, some decisions
made, this is it. God Almighty is not, is not,
is not directing the affairs of this world according to politics
in the Middle East. He just isn't. He just isn't.
God's concern is for another nation. And it's not the United
States of America. No more the United States of
America than Iraq. No, sir. No, sir. God's concern
is for a holy nation called the Israel of God. And everything
he does is for the salvation of that nation, even in the exercise
of judgment as he destroys the world. And so all Israel shall
be saved. He declares in verse 6 of our
text back in Isaiah 27, Israel shall blossom and bud and fill
the face of the whole world with fruit. This is talking about
God's elect. God's spiritual Israel, Jerusalem
which is above. In other words, the Lord is here
declaring in absolute unmistakable terms that there is no reason
for us ever There is no reason for us ever to be concerned about
the welfare of God's church, about the accomplishment of God's
purpose, about the security of God's kingdom, about the salvation
of God's elect. All is well in Zion all the time. All is well in Zion all the time. Never an exception. No matter
how things appear to be on the surface, and all we can see is
the surface. No matter what we read in our
newspapers, no matter what we experience in providence, no
matter how bad things look to our eyes, all is well in Zion,
all the time. How I wish God would teach us
this. He says, say ye to the righteous,
it shall be well with him. It shall be well with him. When? All the time. All the time. Now,
how can this be? The reason is stated in our text.
The Lord declares there is no fury in him. Fury is not in me. Great fury against our enemies,
but with regard to his church, his people, those who are in
Christ, chosen, loved, redeemed in Christ, he has never had any
fury and never can. Fury is not in me. Sometimes
he appears to be angry. Sometimes he hides his face.
Sometimes we see frowning face, but when he does,
it is only that he may gather out of his vineyard the briars
and thorns and thistles and tares that cumber the ground, because
he cares for his church. Fury is not in me. You remember
the parable our Lord gave in Matthew 13 about the tares and
the wheat? Spot a ground and it goes out
and sows sweet in the ground. And the blade comes up and the
servants come back. They're going out to the field
one morning and they said, Master, didn't you sow good seed? Yeah. Yeah.
Bought it in the southern states. Best they had. Well, there's
tares everywhere. They're everywhere. You want
us to go yank them up? No, an enemy did that. Satan came and sowed the tares. And you leave them alone, because
you ain't got enough sense to tell which is which. You leave
them alone. Let both grow together until
the harvest. You see, the purging of God's
kingdom, the sifting of the precious from the vile, the separating
the wheat and the tares is altogether God's work. No man, no group
of men has the ability to do it, and no man, no group of men
has the right to do it. So much for church discipline
committees. Let both grow together until the harvest. I recall when
I was a 19-year-old boy sitting on Brother Harry Graham's hearth
in his family room. If Harry was still living, he'd
be in his 80s now. His wife's still living. She's about 83
or 84. Dear friends, Sheldon and I spent all the time we could
with him. I learned so much. Sitting on his heart, we were
discussing that parable in Matthew 13. He said, Don, you know how
to tell tares from wheat? I said, no, Harry, I was raised
in the city. I wouldn't know wheat from tares if you put them
in front of me. He said, nobody can tell the difference until
harvest time. At harvest time, the tares stand
tall. And the wheat bows its head.
Our Lord said, let them both go together to the harvest. You
leave them alone. You leave them alone. And in
the time of harvest, the time of harvest is right now. Right
now. In this day of His grace, as
the gospel of His grace is preached in all the world, I will say
to the reapers, Gospel preachers, gather ye together first the
tares and bind them in bundles. I wonder why God sent you here
today. To hear this word. I assure you,
it was either to do your soul good, are to bind you in a bundle
for the burning. One of the two. Bind up the tares
to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. How is it
that there is no fury in God for his elect? We understand
his fury against the ungodly. We understand his fury against
his enemies. We understand his fury against
the reprobate who keep heaping upon themselves more and more
wrath. But how is it that there is no fury in God to his people?
How can God Almighty look upon men on the earth and say concerning
such things as we are, such vile, reprobate things by nature, such
vile, corrupt things by nature, such children of wrath, hating
God by nature? How can God Almighty look down
from heaven and say concerning things like us, fury is not in
me? I'll give you the answer. God's
fury spent itself for somebody in his darling son. Spent itself. Spent itself. What do you mean,
Preacher? I mean it exhausted itself so
that there's none left. When you spend all your money
and rich in your wallet, there's nothing else left. It's spent. And God Almighty, on that day
when He made His darling son to be sin for us, cried, Awake,
O sword, against one that is my fellow. Smite and slay the
shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. And when God caused
His sword to awake against His son, He poured out on him all his
holy wrath and buried the sword of his justice in the heart of
his son. The hymn writer put it this way,
with one tremendous draft of love he drank damnation dry. awake against one that is my
fellow smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered and
I will turn my hands upon the little ones and I will bring
the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver
is refined and will try them as gold is tried and they shall
call on my name and I will hear them I will say this is my people
and they shall say the Lord he is my God God Almighty declares that there is no fury
in him. Because for somebody, there's
no possibility of fury being in him. Did you hear me? Ron Wood, there's
no possibility of fury being in God toward the sinner for
whom Christ suffered the wrath of God. No fury in me. No fury in me. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Do you remember
back in Leviticus? Scripture speaks of a peace offering
in Leviticus 6. And it speaks of an offering that Moses and
Aaron made in the tabernacle in Leviticus 9. And it tells
us when the sacrifice was offered upon the altar of God. The fire
of God fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. And the people
fell on their faces and worshipped God. That was a picture of what
took place at Calvary when our Lord Jesus Christ died in our
room instead. On this big difference. When
the fire of God's holy wrath fell on this sacrifice. and consumed him in his holy
wrath. This sacrifice, the God-man,
our mediator and surety, is of such infinite worth to satisfy
all the fury of God's holy wrath and justice that he sucked up all the fire and consumed
it. Fury is not in me, God says. Fury is not in me. Well now,
what does that mean to you and me? Let me show you five things
in this chapter. Verses 2 and 3 first. Because there's no fury in God
toward us. His church, that's not just folks
sitting here today. Or folks sitting in other assemblies
like this around the world today. That's not just the folks who
today believe on Christ, but rather all God's elect in Christ
Jesus. That's his church and kingdom.
Because there's no fury in God toward us, his church and kingdom
in this world is a vineyard of red wine under his constant protection
and care. Not only does he burn up the
briars and thorns that come to the ground, He tenderly cares
for his vineyard. Look at verse 2. In that day,
seeing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine, I, the
Lord, do keep it. I will water it every moment. Isn't that good? Every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. When God's judgments fall, there's no reason for you and
me to be afraid. When God is judging our enemies
and punishing them, He's protecting and preserving and saving His
elect. God always protects His own. is his vineyard. Now it's referred
to as that numerous times in the scriptures. There's a parable
in Matthew 20 where our Lord refers to his church as a vineyard.
In John 15 our Lord speaks of himself as the vine and us the
branches. His church is referred to again
as a vineyard. It's here called a vineyard of red wine. Symbolic
of the choicest, best fruit of the vine. Wine that gladdens
the heart and makes merry the downcast. A vineyard is a spot
that's separated from all the rest of the man's property. The
man has a large, large estate, and he has a vineyard. You won't
have any trouble spotting it. He's got that vineyard separated
from everything else. That's his choice. That's his
delight. That's what's special to him.
And God's church, his elect, is in his purpose sanctified
and separated from all the rest of the world. You mean preacher that God's
elect is special to him? Yeah, you got it. That's what
I mean. You mean everything else out
here exists for his venue? That's what I mean. It's separated
from the rest of his property. The vineyard is the property
of just one person. It's his vineyard. And God's
people are his. His jewels. The apple of his
eye. His property. The vineyard is
fixed in and protected. And the vineyard has numerous
plants. All of them tenderly cared for
by the husbandman. A vineyard is valuable as it
is pleasant. The fruit of this vineyard is
all red. It arises from and is washed
in the precious blood of Christ. And as the fruit of the vineyard
gives its juices only when the fruit is squeezed. You and I bring forth fruit to God's praise,
only as in his tender hands he squeezes the grapes. We're his
vineyard. This vineyard, the church of
God, is under his constant care. He says, I will keep it. And he that keepeth Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps. He declares that he will water
it all the time by the ministry of the word, by the sweet influence
of his spirit through the word, by the gospel of his grace. He
gently waters it like dew from heaven. Moses said, my doctrine
fell as dew from heaven. It's the sweet, gentle, tender
dew constantly falling. by which God waters his vineyard
continually. Now, sometimes the vineyard needs
a flood, and the floods impress us. And we write books about
the floods. This revival, that revival, oh,
oh, then we have another flood. That which is vital is the constant
dew of heathen. The constant dew. And God continually,
with gentle, gentle goodness and grace, waters his vineyard
with his word. Now, look at verse 5. Because there's no fury in God,
he calls for sinners. Sinners. You who are his enemies. You who live with both your fists
shoved in God's face. He calls for sinners to be reconciled to him. Now listen to me and listen carefully.
God Almighty could not call for you, He could not call for me
to be reconciled to Him if there was any fury left in Him. No sir, no sir. God Almighty
must have his justice satisfied. Fully satisfied. If the sins
of his people put away. Utterly, totally put away. Or
he cannot call you to himself. He cannot embrace you. It can't
be done. But here he calls for sinners.
To trust his son. To believe on his son. To be
reconciled to him by his son. Look at verse 5. Or let him take
hold of my strength. that he may make peace with me,
and he shall make peace with me. Now, let's read verses four
and five together. You'll notice the word or at
the beginning of verse five. That connects it with what we
just read in verse four. And the word or, as I said in
the reading earlier, real would be better translated rather.
The Lord says in verse four, fury is not in me. Who would
set briars and thorns against me in battle? You're fighting
with me? With a bramble bush? You're setting briars and thorns
against me? Against God Almighty? I'd go
through them. I'd burn them together. Rather,
put up your pop gun and quit fighting God. Quit fighting God. It's a losing battle. Quit fighting
God. Rather, Let Him take hold of my strength. You know who
that is, don't you? Christ is our strength. Salvation
is the strength of the Lord. Take hold of my strength that
He may make peace with me and He shall make peace with me.
Our Lord is saying this, to you and I who are worthless, Bramble
bushes fit to be burned and sure to be burned forever by nature.
If you set yourselves against him, you're going to perish. If you set yourselves against
him, you're going to perish. But there's another option. You
don't have to die. He is God willing to save. He
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he delights
in mercy. So he says, rather than fight
against me and find my fury forever, take hold of my strength. Lay
hold of my darling son, that he may make peace with me. The sinner who had been fighting
God all his life is now called by God to make peace with Him?
Yeah! Oh, you can't say that! I guess
I can. Our Lord said, Thy faith hath
saved thee, didn't He? What's He talking about? You
take hold of His strength, Christ Jesus the Lord, and you have
peace with God. Take hold of his strength that
he, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is his strength, may make peace
with him by his blood atonement, by his intercession, by his almighty
grace. And he shall make peace with
man. This fifth verse is really a
summary of the gospel with which God continually waters his vineyard. There is a quarrel between God
and man. God himself undertook to settle
the quarrel on behalf of chosen sinners, sending his son into
the world. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world of his elect unto him, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. And God promises peace to all who lay hold of Christ,
to all who believe on the Son of God. As though God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. Oh, how I tremble for your soul at the prospect of you refusing
to be reconciled to God. His fury will consume you forever
in hell like briars and stubble and worthless tares. Rather, lay hold of his strength. Be reconciled to God. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and God Almighty declares Peace is
yours forever. Now here's another thing. Look
at verse 6. Because there is no fury in God,
the salvation of His elect is a matter of absolute certainty.
He shall cause them that come. Yes, He will cause them to come.
And He shall cause them that come. of Jacob to take root,
Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world
with fruit. Now listen to me. I'm telling
you what this book teaches. There are just two groups of
people in this world. Just two. Just two. Doesn't matter whether
your face is black or white or red, doesn't matter whether you're
rich or poor, educated or uneducated, doesn't matter whether you come
from north, south, east or west, just two groups of people in
this world. Two groups. And usually some of both groups
are found in about every family. Esau's. Esau's against whom God is forever
furious. and Jacob's. Jacob's, toward
whom there is no fury in God. Are you Jacob? All who are of Jacob are loved
of God with everlasting love, chosen by him from eternity,
redeemed by his son's precious blood at Calvary. And they shall
come to him by faith in Christ. They will come to him when the
God-man meets them as he did Jacob out under the sky one night
and wrestled with him. This is how God saves sinners. If God has named you as Jacob,
If he has loved you with everlasting love, if you were redeemed with
that blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
the time's going to come when God's going to get you in a wrestling
match. Jacob didn't wrestle with the
Lord. Oh, let's wrestle with God. You're not going to pee
in God's name. That ain't going to happen. But the angel of the
Lord wrestled with Jacob. And I used to do some wrestling.
I'm not pretty good. and your object in wrestling
a fella is to pin him down to get him under your control and
to hold him to subdue him well the time of love comes when the
son of God lays hold of Jacob and wrestles him down and when he does Jacob lays hold of him. Because now for the first time
in his life, Jacob finds out who he is. What's your name? Jacob. Scoundrel, tricky, shifting,
useless, conniving Jacob. Not anymore, it's not. Now it's
a prince with God. One who has power with God. Son
of God! Israel! And you'll discover when
he wrestles with you, his love toward you from everlast. We were in Madisonville the other
day. I saw a sign on a bank. Man, I wouldn't do business with
them if I had one penny and they were paying $10 a second on the
penny. God loves you and we do too. Lying thieves. Lying thieves. I don't care if it's the bank
or a preacher. Who said it? You've got no reason to ever suspect
that God loves you until he wrestles you to the ground and reveals
his love in you by his saving grace in Christ Jesus. There's
no other way to know his love. He spoke peace to Jacob. And
you know what? From that day on, Jacob was a
man who lived in peace. He had peace, because He was
laid hold of, that He might lay hold of him, acknowledging who
He is. Here the Lord promises that all
who come to Him, He will cause to take root and flourish. Israel shall blossom and bud
and fill the face of the world with fruit. He calls you to be
rooted and grounded in Christ. in the love of Christ that passes
knowledge. He'll cause you to blossom and bud and bring forth
fruit. This is just about beyond grasping,
but Bobby, He'll cause the whole world to be better off because
of you. The whole world. The whole world. Because of His grace in you. Then in verse 9, because there's
no fury in God toward his elect, their iniquity shall be purged
and their sin shall be taken away. By this therefore shall
the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to
take away his sin. Now I looked at that and I thought,
what on earth is he talking about? This is all the fruit to take
away his sin. Now, certainly he is not telling
us here that by us laying hold of him, our sins are atoned for
and our sins are taken away. No, he is not telling us that.
But experimentally, that's exactly what happens. We come to know
the expiation accomplished at Calvary. We come to know the
sin atoning work of Christ. We come to know that Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law. We come to know that
our iniquity is taken away as we lay hold of Him. He speaks
to us like He did to Isaiah of old. Thy iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is pardoned. But still, what does he mean? This is all the fruit to take
away his sin. Just back up. Just start reading.
Go back up to verse 8, verse 7, verse 6, verse 5, verse 4,
verse 3, verse 2, verse 1. Back up to chapter 26. And you
read about the whole work of God's providence. Oh my soul, if right now where
you sit, God Almighty will cause you to
lay hold of His Son. If right now where you sit, you
believe on the Son of God. All that has ever transpired
in the history of God's universe, We brought to pass that right
now you may find in Christ forgiveness of all sin. We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Now, one more
thing, verses 12 and 13. The Lord says, because there
is no fury in him. All the children of Israel, all
God's elect shall be gathered from the four corners of the
earth. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. It shall come to pass in that
day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river
unto the stream of Egypt. He's encompassing the whole borders
of the land of Canaan. Portrayal of the whole world
God's given to his people. He freight these to the river
of Egypt. And he says he's gonna beat off.
Beat off. Beat off. That's the quickest
way you can get fruit off a tree. You beat it off. And now they
have machines that shake walnuts and pecans off a tree. You beat
it off. This is what God's doing through
all the world in His providence. This is what He's doing. He's
beating the trees of this world to gather His fruit. And ye shall
be gathered, not in mass revivals, not in citywide crusades, not
in amphitheaters and football stadiums, not because the preacher
is such a Brilliant storyteller. One by one, oh Israel, one by
one. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the great trumpet, the jubilee trumpet, the gospel
trumpet shall be blown. And they shall come. Have you heard the blast of the
trumpet today? They shall come, who? They that
were ready to perish in the land of Assyria. I remember well when first I
heard God speak to my soul. When first I heard Him speak
to my soul. I came in, I came in church one spring morning,
just like you did. I came in and sat down just about
where Oscar is sitting now. Big crowd of people there. And I came in ready to perish. God had so fixed me that I gave
up all hope of ever improving myself. under the wrath of God, terrified
by His fury. And I heard the sweet jubilee
of grace sounded in the gospel. Redemption accomplished. Justice
satisfied. Sin put away. And I came. The outcast of Egypt Not just
the outcast of the church, the outcast of Egypt. That's the
outcast of the outcast. They'll come. Those who are ready
to perish. Those who are outcast. And when
they come, they will worship the Lord in the holy mount at
Jerusalem. Whosoever shall call, that's
what it is to worship Him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How come? Because God says, fury
is not in me. Fury is not in me. Let me tell you a story and I'll
send you home. I promise not to preach so long tonight. I
might be lying, but I'll try not to. We got our grandchildren visiting
with us. There was a little boy visiting
his grandparents on their farm one day. And the granddaddy gave
him a slingshot. You boys have all been there.
Take it out in the woods and play with a slingshot. And he
did. He went out in the woods, shot
at everything he saw, and couldn't hit a tree right in front of
it. Couldn't hit a thing. He just got exasperated and started
home frustrated. As he was walking in that evening,
that afternoon, he saw his grandmother's pet duck. And he said, bam! Hit that duck right in the head
and dropped it dead where it was. He was horrified. He looked all around, grabbed
the duck up, stuck him in a wood pile, piled wood up on top of
him, hid him, thought he'd be all right. He turned around and
looked, and there was his sister Sally. Well, after lunch that day, grandmother
said, Sally, let's wash dishes. And Sally said, Grandma, Johnny
told me he wanted help with the kitchen today. Didn't you, Johnny? Remember the duck? And so Johnny
washed dishes. Later on, his granddaddy said,
we want to take the children fishing. And grandmother said,
I'm sorry, Sally needs to help me with supper. And Sally smiled. And she said, Grandma, Johnny
said he'd like to help you with supper today. Didn't he, Johnny?
Remember the duck? And went on for a few days. Finally,
Johnny had all he could take doing both his chores and his
sister's chores. He went to his grandmother in the kitchen and
said, Grandma, I need to talk to you. He said, I killed your duck the
other day. Hit it in the woodpile. She knelt down, picked him up
on his lap, sat her down there and said, son, I know. You see, I was standing at the
window and saw the whole thing. But I love you. And though you
didn't know and I didn't say anything to you, I forgave you.
I'm not angry with you. I was just wondering how long
you were going to let Sally torment you with what you've done. I don't know what it is that
you've done. I don't know what it is that you are. But whatever
it is, I want you to know something. God Almighty was standing at
the window. And he was watching the whole
thing. If now you can lay hold on his strength, God Almighty declares, there's no fury in me. It's all
forgiven. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Everything's all right. And it'll
never be fixed, so it's not all right.