Well, I was moving along pretty
well toward bringing the message I had spoken to you of Sunday
on the foundation and the building and the materials from 1 Corinthians
3. Then Brother Darthen stopped
by last night and he got me thinking in another direction. I believe
it was of God. I haven't heard the messages
yet but I think Brother Darwin preached to you last week one
of the messages he brought out of Revelation chapter 7. In that
chapter, John describes the Lord Jesus as the angel of the covenant
having the seal of the living God. And you know what the seal
is. The seal of the living God is
God the Holy Spirit. by whom all God's elect are sealed
with his grace in the experience of grace in time. And the seventh
chapter of Revelation, John tells us that this angel having the
seal of God says to all creation, to the four angels in the four
corners of the earth who were set from the beginning to destroy
the earth. The Lord Jesus says to them,
hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And then
he speaks of the salvation of all God's elect. Numbering them
as the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel the
hundred and forty and four thousand now that Specific number is given
because it represents twelve thousand from each of the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel Representing the totality of
God's elect now understand this understand this so very very
very important Everything God did with the nation of Israel
He did with that nation specifically to be typical of that which he
does in reality for his elect, the Israel of God in this gospel
age and throughout the ages. In the Old Testament, everything
was given to a specific nation, a chosen people. Everything was
done for that specific nation, specifically for the nation of
Israel. God gave the laws to Israel and
no one else. The laws given at Mount Sinai
were never given to anyone else. No one else was ever expected
to obey them or keep them. The sacrifices required in the
Old Testament were given to none but Israel. No one else was allowed
to keep them. No one else could come and participate
in that except they'd be proselytes to that nation. That's because
everything in that nation was typical of God's special grace
for his elect in this world. You'll never understand anything
about the nation of Israel historically until you understand they exist
only for the purpose of being an illustration of God's special
grace for his covenant people, the Israel of God. And so Revelation
7 is this declaration. All Israel shall be saved. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace who must and shall be saved. I am fully persuaded that one
of the great joys and wonders of heaven, whatever the bliss
and glory of heaven shall be, One of the great joys and wonders
of eternity when we know even as we are known is to look back
over the ages of time and behold how God has secretly, sovereignly
manipulated and arranged all the affairs of the universe for
the saving of his people. Just what little dab I see fills
me with wonder continually. And this is a fact revealed clearly
in Revelation 7, but it is revealed throughout the scriptures and
illustrated for us again and again and again throughout the
Word of God. With those things in mind, I
want you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 65. Do you, as I sometimes wonder,
why doesn't God destroy this world? If you think things are obnoxious
to you, imagine how they must be to Him. Why doesn't God destroy
this world? A world full of vile, base, corrupt,
wicked men and women. spewing from their evil hearts
corruption upon one another. Why doesn't God destroy this
world? Why would he who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah leave this
world standing or leave this nation standing? Why would he
who destroyed the world in Noah's day leave the world standing
today? Well, here in Isaiah 65 and verse
8, we have at least one answer given. Thus saith the Lord, as
the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy
it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's
sake. that I may not destroy them all.
Now, I see why it is that sinners are preserved in life, even in
their most vile behavior, blaspheming God's name. Even as Adam's race
heaps upon itself wrath continually, there is one standing by looking
upon this world and looking upon the fallen race of Adam in this
world, who sees in this withered cluster, this withered vine called
humanity, he sees a blessing. that which he calls a blessing,
for he has made it a blessing. And he says a blessing is in
this withered, ugly, useless vine, so destroy it not. And that one who is watching
over all is none other than Christ our Redeemer, the angel of the
covenant. Here the Lord God gives a word
of comfort and assurance to his people in this generation. and in every generation, lest
we should be overwhelmed and distressed, lest our hearts should
be too much taken up with the evil around us and the evil we
see being performed day by day. The Lord God speaks here not
only about judgment, as he speaks of in this chapter, following
this chapter and in the preceding chapter, But he speaks of his
certain mercy and the sure salvation of his elect. Right in the middle
of this chapter, he makes this statement in verses 8, 9, and
10. Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will
I do for my servant's sake, that I may not destroy them all. And
I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an
inheritor of my mountains. And mine elect shall inherit
it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon shall be a
fold of flocks, and the Valley of Acre a place for the herds
to lie down in. for my people that have sought
me. Why does God tarry, as they say
in judgment? Why does the promise of his coming
seem to delay? Well, there's no tarrying and
there's no delay. Our God is doing everything exactly
according to purpose and he preserves this world exactly as he will
because a blessing is in it, a remnant who must and shall
be saved by his grace. Now, let's look at these three
verses together and we'll spend the bulk of our time on verse
eight. Number one, the blessing spoken of here, of course, refers
to God's people. And the blessing of God is often
found in that which appears to all human reason and human understanding
utterly useless. We have here a picture of a gardener.
He's been tending the vineyard and there's one vine out there
that's got no leaves on it. just a withered, dried vine in
the vineyard. And he's come out with a saw
and is about to cut it down. And as he is just about to cut
the vine down, the one who owns the vineyard passes by and he
sees just a little bit of green budding out down in the middle
of that thing. And he said, wait, don't cut
that thing down yet. A blessing is in it. A blessing
is in it. And that's our Redeemer watching
over this earth, saying to all creation, hurt not the earth,
neither the sea nor the trees until we have sealed the servants
of our God in their forage. The vine looked worthless. It
appeared to be needlessly occupying space, ugly, dried up. and would have been cut down
quickly had it been left to the opinion of a man. Nothing in
the field is uglier than a withered, useless vine. We have just a
small few grape vines in the backyard. In the wintertime,
they are ugly. I don't care what you do with
them. You can cut them back. You can put them back to the
ground. They're still ugly. The only way you can make them
look any better is to dig them up. But when they're full of grapes,
it's another story. And this gardener looks at the
vine and he says, it's worthless. It hasn't born fruit this year.
It didn't bear fruit last year. It won't bear fruit next year.
Let's cut it down. And the Lord God says, no, you
need to sit right where it is. A blessing is in it. The Holy
Spirit. Doesn't leave us to guess about
these things, forcing us to draw a parallel for ourselves, but
rather he gives us the parallel. So will I do for my servants'
sake. Now notice the language. It's
in the plural and it's on purpose. That I may not destroy them all. Like it or not, you are God's
servant. Like it or not, you do serve
God's will exactly as He intends. That's true of you and of me,
of yours and of mine. That's true of angels and of
demons, of the righteous and the wicked. Every creature serves
God Almighty exactly as He has intended from old eternity. You will serve him willingly
or unwillingly, but serve him you will. Even the reprobate
serve him. Serve his will and his purpose
according to the arrangement of his own sovereign decree and
his own sovereign providence just as do his elect. The Lord
hath made all things for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. We sometimes get the idea, and
I don't know why we do, we folks who believe God sits on his throne. We somehow get the notion in
our minds that things are out of control. We get the notion
in our minds that somehow God's let the reins out of his hands
and he's letting things slip away. That is never the case. Satan is God's vessel. He is God's trained house cat,
just as well as any house cat trained by any man. He does nothing
except according to God's will, and he will serve God's purpose,
and it will be demonstrated clearly when it's done. And as it is
true of him, so it is of all creatures. He says, these things
I will do for my servant's sake, because I don't intend to destroy
all of them. You read this chapter, you'll
find out that multitudes are marked for destruction. But bless
God, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace, who
must and shall be saved. God's elect in this world are
the blessing hidden among the nations of the world for which
he preserves them. Turn, if you will, to 2 Peter
chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. This is the meaning of this text.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God Almighty
is not longsuffering to all men. It is not His will, His purpose,
or His intent in any way to save all men. If that were the case,
all would be saved, or else God is as useless as you and me.
No, no. He is longsuffering to usward,
to His elect, not willing that any of His elect should perish,
but that all should come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth.
We know that because the Apostle tells us that the longsuffering
of our God is salvation. The only reason why God doesn't
destroy the world right now is the fact that there is an elect
people in this world who must be saved. When the Lord commanded
Adam in the garden not to eat of the tree in the garden, and
he said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Reckon
why he didn't die. But Brother Don, he died spiritually.
Yeah, but he's still walking around. Why didn't he die? Why didn't God destroy the race?
Because in Adam's loins was a people who must be saved by God's grace. And God preserved Adam in the
fall because he preserved his people in the fall. And he will
continue doing so until he saved the last of his own. Once Noah,
the blessing, was safely in the ark, God destroyed the rest of
the world. Once Lot, the blessing, was delivered
to Zohar, God destroyed Sodom. Joshua and Caleb, the blessings,
entered into the land of promise, though all who came out of Egypt
perished in the wilderness. And the rest of the world exists
for the benefit of God's people and their salvation. Turn to
Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. David said, the Lord performeth
all things for me. I've quoted that to you now for
28 years. And I think maybe I might be
beginning to learn it. The Lord performeth all things
for me. Darwin Pruitt, God Almighty,
performs everything just for you. Did you get that? Just for you. Just for you. For you who are
his. Let's see if that's not true.
Isaiah 43. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. That ought to be enough to take
away any fear. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. Now watch this. I gave Egypt
for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. I sacrificed those nations for
you, for you. Ethiopia, Seba, Egypt,
the mightiest, the richest, the most populous nations on the
earth, I sacrifice them for you. How come? Since thou was precious
in my sight, thou has been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore,
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. What's it
take to do you good? A man? Well, I'll sacrifice him. A city? I'll sacrifice Sodom
for you. A nation? I'll sacrifice Egypt
for you. Because I love you. I love you. You're precious to me. And that
makes you honorable. Fear not. For I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. Here in Isaiah 65 verse 8, the
reference is clearly to this present gospel day in which we
are privileged to live and serve our God. It's a prophecy. of
the fact that there would be few among the Jews in our Lord's
day and today who would be called by the grace of God and brought
to saving life union with Christ Jesus the Lord. Indeed, among
the nations of the earth, God's elect have always been few. Few
among many. Few are chosen. Few are chosen. They're always, always the few
among many. Certainly, this is a declaration
as well, that wherever the blessing of God's grace is found in the
heart of a man, that blessing can't be destroyed. Despise not
the day of small things. Like new wine and grape, Grace
is a new thing in the heart of a man. Like new wine in the grape,
grace is delightful both to God who gives it and to the believing
sinner who profits by it. Like the new wine in the cluster
must be pressed out, so grace must be tried and pressed, and
God knows just how to do it. But the grace of God, once bestowed,
The grace of God once wrought in the center, the grace of God
once planted in you cannot be destroyed for the gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. I know the wise men said that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Frequently, the object
of grace, the blessing, that which God has hidden in
the earth is found in that which we consider worthless. They shall be mine in that day,
God said, when I make up my jewels. I was reading this week about
a preacher in England many years ago. And one day he was going
to preach As any preacher can testify to experiencing, and
on his way to the service, he said, Lord, I just can't. I can't
stand up and preach today. Because my heart is hard and
cold as stone. And as he walked on, the scriptures
came to him. Of these stones shall I raise
up children unto Abraham. And so it is. God often fetches
the blessing out of that which men look at and consider to be
utterly worthless. Would you mind turning one more
time to 1 Corinthians chapter 1? In the parable, our Lord compares
his church to a treasure hidden in a field. And a man buys the field that
he may get the treasure. And as a man, the Lord Jesus
bought this world. He bought the right to rule this
world. And God, the father, has put
in his hands dominion over all flesh, power over all flesh to
give eternal life to as many as he's given him. And he disposes
of this world as he will for the sake of the treasure. He
preserves and keeps the treasure, the special object of his love.
He says here, verse 26, writing by the apostle Paul, you see
your calling, brethren. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. A few. Once in a while you'll find a
man like Paul or Solomon or David or Abraham, but not many. But rather God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which
are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not
to bring the naught, things that are. Why on this earth Does God Almighty choose to use
such things as Gene Rutledge and Don Fortner? Why? That no
flesh should glory in his presence. That's why. That's why. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. If God uses a man for anything
He'll fix it, that that man has no reason to boast or to glory. You'll see to it. You'll see
to it. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. I read in this book of a woman
who was a sinner, out of whom the Lord cast seven
devils, who came, slipped into the Pharisee's
house, and knelt at his feet. And she had an alabaster box,
spiked and precious. And as she stood. listened behind
the master as he sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, were
not told what he was talking about, but she heard him. And
she was waiting for just the right time to do something just
for him. And she took that precious spacknard
she had been saving all her life and broke it and anointed him
for his burial. and washed his feet with her
tears and kissed them and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
And of that woman alone, the master said, she's done a good
work. Of that woman alone. He didn't
say it concerning Peter, James, or John. He said it concerning
that woman who was a sinner. I read in this book of a prodigal. who portrays all God's elect
and the prodigal never came to himself until he was utterly
emptied of himself. He never sought his father's
house until he was made to know he had to have bread from his
father's house. He never came to acknowledge
what he was until he was made to know by bitter experience
what he was. And thus, when he comes to his
father's house, the father runs and falls on his neck and embraces
him and kisses him. John Newton. Born to a woman who believed
God, her husband didn't. When he was just a small boy,
she'd sit him on her lap and pray for him and read to him. And she died when he was just
a young boy. Newton became a sailor just as
a boy. And after a while, made his living
trading slaves out of Africa. He was himself captured and made
slave to an African queen. When he was a man, I think about
40 years old, he came back to England and God was pleased to use him. Preserved him. Preserved him
through many dangers. Many dangers by which others
before him had been killed. Many dangers by which others
with him were killed, but not healed. Why? Because he was the
object of God's grace. I look at my own life, my own
family. Brother Georgela, every time I get a chance to,
I talk to him a little bit about Germany. Our family is German descent,
so I'm told, both sides of the family. And I've told you this before.
I've looked a little bit, not much. I'm not too much interested
in family history, family tree. I know the family for four generations. And I can't find anything in
any history book about anybody the name of Fortner or Harrelson,
either one. who ever served any noble purpose
in this world. Nobody. Nowhere. Not a one. My older sister, very
gracious, kind, serving lady. Until her, nobody. And certainly
not her younger brother. And yet God Almighty preserves
two family lines from a stock of barbarians from Germany throughout
all the wars and the strife in the history of those horrible,
horrible days through which Germany has passed so many times through
the ages. Preserves them, keeps them alive
because God Almighty set his heart on me from eternity. Now, if that doesn't ring your
bell, your clacker's broke. That's just goodness and mercy
following me all the days of my life. And children of God,
the same is true of you. That's it. These chosen ones
scattered throughout the earth are people concerning whom God
says, destroy them not. God the Father says, destroy
them not, I've chosen them. God the Son says, destroy them
not, I've redeemed them. God the Holy Spirit says, destroy
them not, for I must call them. Now, look at verse nine. Certainly everything here may
be spoken of concerning Christ, our Redeemer, and they certainly
must be applied to every one of his redeemed, because we are
one with him. I will bring forth a seed out
of Judah. We who believe are God's chosen
seed in Christ Jesus, brought forth out of Jacob and Judah,
for we're one with Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. and
a cluster of new wine is in us. All the blessings and benefits
of grace, all the fruit of grace by God the Holy Spirit. And out
of Judah, God says, I will bring forth an inheritor of my mountains. Certainly that too speaks of
Christ. And yet God's elect are heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. And all things are yours
for your Christ and Christ is God's. So we being brought forth
out of out of these scattered peoples of the world shall inherit
the mountains of God's grace and mercy, all the bliss and
happiness and fullness of heaven's glory. And mine elect shall inherit
it. Christ being his chief elect,
we were chosen in him. And God says, mine elect shall
inherit it. That is, my servants shall dwell
there. Now look at verse 10. And Sharon
shall be a fold of flocks. and the Valley of Acre, a place
for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought
me. Sharon, I take to be allegorical,
representing the word of God, the ordinances of the gospel,
the green pastures in which Christ's sheep are made to lie down. The
Valley of Acre, that was a place where Achan was stoned because
of his sin. This valley of Acre the Lord
promises shall be given to his people for a door of hope in
Hosea chapter 2. In other words, here in this
land of destruction, in this land of death, In this land of
corruption and sin, God Almighty sets before chosen sinners a
door of hope in Christ Jesus. And this Valley of Acre was also
the very first spot of ground upon which the children of Israel
set their feet when they crossed the River Jordan into the land
of promise. It was the pledge, the foretaste
of the whole thing. Joshua says, come on, boys, we're
going to take this land. And when he walked across the
Jordan and planted their feet in Canaan's land, they planted
their feet in the valley of Acre and said, the land is ours. Children
of God, You who have been called by his grace to life and faith
in Christ Jesus, the Lord. All that God has in his glory. And given to his son in his glory
is yours in his son and you shall possess it. Now, let me show
you. Who these people are? whom God
calls a blessing. Back up to verse 1. I'm sought of them that ask not
for me. I'm found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not
called by my name, a heathen people. I spread out my hands
all the day unto a rebellious people. A people which walketh in a way
that was not good. What way? After their own thoughts. Verse 3. A people that provoketh
me continually to my face. that sacrificeth in gardens,
and burneth incense upon altars of brick, a people who continually
live in contempt to me, and idolatry, which remain among the graves,
like that Gadarene, and lodge in the monuments, and eat swine's
flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels. They
bring corruption and expect me to receive it, which say, these
people, Don Fortner, you. These abominable, blaspheming,
idolatrous, rebel people, these people who continually walk in
opposition to me, they say, stand by thyself, come not near me
for I'm holier than thou. Oh, if there's anything I can't
stand, it's self-righteous folks, except me. That's exactly where we are.
I remember when your pastor started meeting down on Limestone, when
Todd left here and started meeting over there, he said, I thought
we'd get over there amongst all the winos and the drunks and
the dopeheads and wouldn't have to deal with self-righteousness,
but it's just as bad there as anywhere else. Just as bad as
anywhere else. How come? Because we all think
we're holy. We all think we're good, may
not be quite as good as some folks, but sure, not as bad as
others. Don't come near me. I don't want you to corrupt me.
Behold is written before me. I will not keep silence, but
will recompense even recompense into their bosom. Your iniquities
and the iniquities of your fathers together, sayeth the Lord. which
have burned incense upon mountains and blaspheme me upon the hills. Therefore, will I measure their
former work into their bosom. Thus saith the Lord. Wait a minute now. A blessing is in it. Not yet. Not yet. for there's yet a people
loved of God and chosen of God and redeemed of God who must
and shall be called by my grace and so the Lord exercises long-suffering
for their sake and he will do so until the last of his own
is brought into the fold and made to rest with him in the
valley of Acre. Amen.