Isaiah chapter 27, and I want
to look at these first five verses in this passage. Isaiah 27 and
verse 1. The Lord with his sword, and
great and strong sword, shall punish Leviathan, the piercing
serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he shall
slay the dragon that is in the sea. And that day saying ye unto
her a vineyard of red wine. I, the Lord, do keep it, I will
water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night
and day. Fury is not in me. Who would
set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through
them. I would burn them together. Or
let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me,
and he shall make peace with me. The Lord, as we see here in verse
1, will deal with his enemies, whether they are his enemies
directly or his enemies indirectly. I mean, as they trouble his church
and persecute his church. Look over here with me in 2 Thessalonians. Hold Isaiah 27 and look here
in 2 Thessalonians. The Lord will punish the enemies of his people. Look
here at what he says in 2 Thessalonians 1. Look here in verse 4. We ourselves glory
in you, in the churches of God for your patience and your faith
in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,
which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God,
that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which
you also suffer. Sin, it is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. But
to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flame
and fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power." Men, this world is the enemy
of the Lord's church. Always has been and always will
be. If they hated me, they'll hate
you. But the Lord said, rest with
me. You that are trouble, rest with
me. I'll avenge you of your adversary. Now, to me, when I hear the Lord's
threatening, against the enemies of his church. That tells me
that the church needs to be very, very careful that she suffers
for righteousness sake, that she suffers for Christ's sake,
for her conscience towards the word of God's sake, and not out
of pride or self-promotion. The professing church today,
and I fear this, the professing church, I say, has lost her moral authority
with this world. The world looks upon the church
today and they say, who are you to tell us anything? Who are
you to teach us anything? You're just like us. You've stooped
to believing like we believe. You've stooped to acting like
we act and you think like we think. You do what we do. You
go where we go. You're just like us. Who are
you to tell us anything? And the church is despised. I
hear, brothers and sisters, the professing church today is despised
by this world, but for the most part, for the wrong reasons.
They despise the church because of her unfaithfulness to what
she professes. She denied the faith for the
most part, denied the Lord, denied the Lord in practice, And she
has no moral authority with this world. And I'm just saying this
evening, if the Lord here in this passage has threatened to
punish those who persecute his people, then let the church take
heed that she's really suffering for righteousness' sake, for
Christ's sake. I guess if there was ever a day
when when repentance was needed and necessary, it was in our
day. It's in our day. To the Professing
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But over and above this, no matter,
no matter how backslidden the professing church may be, no
matter how cold she is, no matter how indifferent she is, there
are still those congregations, there are still those individual
believers, who truly suffer at the hands of this world. This
world hates them for righteousness' sake. They hate them for Christ's
sake. But the world needs to take heed,
because every evil thought towards the Lord's people, every hateful
word that's spoken towards the Lord's people, they're going
to give account of that in the Day of Judgment. Ain't that what
Peter said? Peter said, the Lord hath called you. There was a
time when you parted, excess of right, lived unruly and rebellious. The Lord called you. And your
friends that He called you out of, they look upon you. And they
count it strange. They count you strange. That
you don't run with them anymore to the same excess of right.
And some of them, Peter said, they speak evil of you. They
look down on you. They're mad at you. But He said
they're going to give account to Him. That stands ready. He
stands ready to judge the living and the dead. And that's what
we see here in this passage. But one of the things we see
here in our passage in Isaiah 27-1, the Lord tells us here,
for the most part, who's behind this persecution. Now look here.
Look here who He says He's going to punish. And we know who this
is. In that day the Lord with his
strong and great, with his sore and great and strong sword will
punish Leviathan, that piercing serpent, that fleeing serpent,
that crooked serpent. He attacks him, then he flees.
You get him cornered up with God's Word and he flees. He's
a crooked, conniving serpent. And the Lord said, I'm going
to punish him. And that dragon, That tells us who's behind the
persecution of the Lord's people. Satan is behind it all. A fallen world would not be so
quick to persecute the Church for righteousness sake, especially
as severely as she has in the past, if Satan wasn't behind
it. Some men have said, and it's probably true, it's speculation,
but it could very well be true, that Judas thought of betraying
the Lord. That was in his heart to do it.
But it's really doubtful if he could have went through with
it or not if Satan hadn't entered his heart. And Cain, though he hated his
brother Abel, may never have risen up in a rage and slew him
as he did if he hadn't been of that wicked one. Satan is behind
the persecution that's involved against the Lord's people. He
always has been from the very beginning, and always will be.
A fallen humanity no doubt hates the light, and it loves the darkness,
but a degree of its enthusiasm for evil comes from the devil. Its ability to develop doctrines
And its energy to promote those lies, that comes from the devil. There's some lies going on today,
and has been for centuries, that men could not come up with on
their own. They have to be promoted and revealed by the devil himself. I had two Mormons came to my
house one day and they were talking to me about Mormonism and all
the great works that Joseph Smith had done. And one of them made
the statement, he said, do you earnestly believe that Joseph
Smith could have wrote this large volume of the Book of Mormon
as quickly as he did if some outside power hadn't influenced
him to do it? I said, you know, I think you're
right. I don't think he could have done it. I don't think he
had the ability to do it. I said, the question you need
to answer, which power was it that was influencing them to
do this? The devil is behind this. Peter Paul said, the Lord Jesus
has his apostles, and so does the devil. The Lord has his apostles that
preach the truth. The devil has his deceitful workers
transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. And
no great marvel. No marvel. Satan is transformed
into an angel of light. Don't count it a strange thing
that his ministers be transformed. Who transforms them? He does. He does. Satan has developed and promoted
his Christ dishonoring heresy. He's warred against the poor
Church of Christ. He's brought divisions and diversions
and heartaches and turned friend against friend. But we're told
here in this passage that the Lord has this sword, and great
and strong sword, and He's going to punish Satan. And I tell you,
brothers and sisters, He's not only going to bring him under
His own feet, but Paul said He's going to bring him under your
feet shortly. He's going to put him under your foot. He's done
you a lot of harm. And Paul said, God's going to
punish you right underneath your feet. The church is going to
trample on him some day. Look here in verse 2 of our text.
The church here is said to be a vineyard. And in spite of Satan's
rage, look what will be said of her in that day. In that day
sang ye unto her, sang ye unto the church, the body of Christ,
A vineyard of red wine. A fruitful vineyard. The planet
of the Lord. Oh, the Lord, the Church. You
read a little bit of history and you'll find out the Church has had some revivals. I think
some true revivals, too. I was just reading last week
where in the days of Whitefield and Edwards and those men, There
was one year that they estimated 100,000 men were saved. And it wasn't like we have them
today now. I mean, they had, there was some
evidence. You know, we say in our day,
when somebody professes Christ, we say, well, give it some time.
Let's wait and see. Well, they waited to see. And
years and years later, Those folks that were awakened and
saved in those days of revival, boy, they stayed. They didn't
quit after four, five, or ten years. They believed the gospel
until they died. There has been periods in the
history of the church where she bore great fruit. Other times,
you could hardly tell the church from the world. But there's coming
a day, he says here, in that day when God will reveal how
fruitful his church has been. And they'll sing in that day.
She's a fruitful vineyard. She's a fruitful vineyard. A
vineyard of red wine shall they sing unto her. All the elect
have been called in by her preaching, every last one of them. God has been glorified in her,
Christ has been honored by her, His purpose has been accomplished
concerning her, and the devil and the rage of this world has
been overcome by her faith. And they'll sing to her in that
day, a vineyard of red wine, a fruitful vineyard has she been. Sometimes we don't see much fruit,
do we? We don't. Sometimes we don't see much fruit.
But there's different kinds of fruits, brothers and sisters.
We've got to always remember that. There's times during those
great revivals where they just looked up at the tree and it
was loaded with fruit. You could just pick it everywhere. Buckets full of it. But there's other times when
cleaning is necessary. You know, if a man loves his
vineyard and he wants to get all the grapes off the vine,
he doesn't just go in there and pick it and leave the one over
here and the one over here. No, he goes back when those are
ripe to pick them also. And here may be one out there
on the uttermost box. And here may be one you have
to get a ladder to get up there and get it off. Just one. But that's fruit, ain't it? That's
fruit. The Lord's going to have all
His elect gathered in. Whether He gets them in big clusters
all at one time, or He sends Philip down at the desert just
to get one of them. He's going to get them. It seems
like you and I are living in a day where we're just finding
one here, don't we? And find one way over here. But
you know that's necessary. That's essential, ain't it? How
much is one of God's elect worth? He's worth more in this world.
He cost the precious Savior His blood. And we ought to rejoice,
brothers and sisters, if just one, if we find just one, rejoice. It takes just as much power to
save one person as it does 3,000. And it manifests the power of
God in saving one man just as much as it does 3,000 souls.
It's fruit-bearing, whether it's one or 3,000. There's different kinds of fruit.
There's fruit that can be seen of others. Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. That's a fruit. But you know
there's a fruit that can't be seen. That's spiritual fruit. The fruits of the Spirit that
began there in the heart. of love, and joy, and peace,
and goodness, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and meekness,
and temperance, and faithfulness. There's a lot of fruits that
never leave the heart. You never see them manifested.
Maybe they're more manifested when you're in your closet, or
in a great trial of affliction. It's a beautiful fruit. The Church
has borne fruit And often she knows nothing about it, or she
forgets about it. And she often weeps. She weeps
and weeps over her barrenness. But in that day, when the secrets
of the heart are made manifest, and the hidden things are revealed,
and all things are seen clearly in that day, they'll sing to
her a vineyard of red wine. a fruitful vineyard, a joyful
vineyard of red wine. See, God sees things different
than we see. He looks upon the heart where
you and I can often see. Why would this be sung to her?
Why is the church so fruitful? Well, let me give you a couple
of reasons. Look here in the very next verse. Look here in
verse 3. Chapter 27, verse 3. Here's why they will send to
her a vineyard of red wine in that day. Verse 3, I, the Lord,
do keep it. I will water it every morning,
every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. That's why she bears fruit, and
this is why her fruit's not destroyed. and waste it. I, the Lord, do
keep it, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." This
vineyard is kept of God. You are kept by the power of
God. Except the Lord keep the city.
The watchman waketh but in vain. The Lord keeps His vineyard.
I wish you and I could be awakened realize the dangers that is around
us. I mean the continued danger that
we're in day after day. I think if we could, we'd be
more awakened to take heed to the means that God has given
us. We'd pray more earnestly. We'd read more carefully. Oh,
we'd never miss a time, would we, to worship with the Lord's
people. If we just could see the dangers that we're exposed
to, most of them we have no idea. But the Lord keeps us still,
doesn't He? What if the Lord didn't keep
us from sinning? He would reign over us, and we
would die. What if the Lord didn't keep
us from the temptations of the devil to the point where finally
they destroyed us? What if the Lord didn't keep
us from the poison of false teaching? What would it do to us? It would
ruin us. What if the Lord didn't give
us a heart for the simplicity that's in Jesus Christ? We'd
be lifted up with pride and arrogance and we'd destroy ourselves. Through
many dangers, through many dangers. Through many toils and cares
I have already come. How did you get through them,
Mr. Newton? Thy grace hath brought me safe this far, and grace will
lead me home." That's what we ascribe our being kept to Him.
He keeps us. He keeps us. He uses means most
of the time, and sometimes He just keeps us. Oh, the vineyard of the Lord
would have no fruit at all. If the Lord suffered the wall
to be broken down, and the foxes to run loose, and He allowed
the boar and the woods to waste it, but precious promise, precious
promise, I will keep it night and day, night and day, every
day. We sleep and we slumber, but
He does, He does, He keeps it. And notice something else here,
the reason he gives for the church burning fruit. It's found also
here in that verse. Look at this, here's another
reason. Why will it be said of the church in that day, a vineyard
of red wine? I the Lord do keep it, I will
water it every moment. That's why she brings forth fruit.
He waters it. He waters it. Now look with me
over here in John chapter 15. Look in the book of John, chapter
15. The Lord complained to the Jews there in the Old Testament
that he had brought this vine out of Egypt, and he had planted
it. It was a noble vine. He had planted
it there in the land of Canaan, and he said it had become a degenerate
plant. It become a strange binding to
him. You remember when the Lord Jesus
told about that parable, the heir came looking for the fruit
of the vineyard and they wouldn't give it to him. And they said,
here's the heir, let us kill him, we keep the fruit for ourselves.
Well, it was the fruit of a degenerate vine anyway. That's what it was. They continued not in my covenant,
and I regarded them not. That vine was destroyed, wasn't
it? Finally destroyed. And all the ceremonies was fulfilled
and taken away, and look at her over there now. Degenerate vine. But look what the Lord Jesus
says here in John chapter 15. And look here in verse 1. I am
the true life. We've got another life now. I'm
the true life. And my Father is the husband. Ever branch in me, or at least
they profess to be in me, that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purges it, he prunes it, he cleans it, that it may
bring forth more fruit. You are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing." Why will it be said of the church in that
day, she's a vineyard of red wine, she's a fruitful vineyard.
You know why? She abode in this vine. She was
in this vine. And I tell you, brothers and
sisters, if you're vitally linked to Christ, you just spontaneously
bring forth fruit. There's all these graces in Him. And when you're abiding in Him,
you suck all of this grace and all this strength, all this mercy
from Him, and this life from Him, and you just spontaneously
bring forth fruit. The scripture says, we beheld
his glory, he's full of grace and truth, and being John's son,
turns right around and says, all that fullness have all we
received, and grace for grace. Abide in me, he said, thirst
worth, you bear fruit. If the church is concerned about
bearing fruit, then let her take heed that she abide in Christ. First and foremost and always,
our fruit comes from this very story, and no place else. Abiding
in Him is to abide with a branch. I'll tell you one thing I've
learned in my own experience, and I hope you have too. I think
some of you have. It's when I just look to Christ. I'm just looking to Christ. It's
when I'm just coming to Christ. Just coming to Christ. It's just
when my mind is set on Him. That's when I see that I bring forth fruit. When
I put on the Lord Jesus Christ is when I automatically lay off
the old man. It almost is spontaneous, without
any effort, or at least any effort. Just abiding in Christ, and abiding
in Him, being joined to Him, this fruitful vine, the fruit
disclosed spontaneous. That's what I found out for myself.
Abide in me, and he that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit. By looking to Jesus, Like Him
thou shalt be. That sounds simple, doesn't it? By looking to Jesus. By just
looking to Him alone. Like Him thou shalt be. Brother
Larry told us a couple of weeks ago. That's what we're wanting. To be just like Him. How are
you going to begin to be just like Him in this life? Just look
to Him. By looking to Jesus like Him,
I shall be. I have a little grandbaby that
we brought to church with us today. She is so petite, she
is so tiny. She is 17 months old and can't
hardly say anything, just barely can walk. And I notice when I
pick her up. Somebody noticed her back there
today. I pick her up and hold her right here in front of my
face, and I start singing to her. And boy, she just stares
at me. And she looks at me, just a little,
petite, tiny thing. But she can look. She can look
to me, and she knows me, she sees me. It's easy to look. A baby can do it. Looking to
Jesus, first and foremost and always. That's so simple, brothers
and sisters. But if you want to be like Him,
that's all you've got to do. Look to Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. There is an endless and continuous
supply of grace and health and mercy in Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't have to grow cold. We
don't have to backslide. We don't have to live doubtful.
He said here in this text, I will water it every moment. See the grace that's in Jesus
Christ. See the abundant source that
He is of everything that we need? We may live our lives in the
full assurance of joy and of unbroken communion with our Heavenly
Father. That communion never has to be
broken. Because in Jesus Christ is complete
and total and continual access into the presence of our Father
in Heaven. And he will never have this communion
broken. So he said between us and himself,
his dear and blessed son, and has filled him with everything
you and I need to live our daily lives in absolute communion with
himself. Now that's the supply that's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am divine. Just abide in me. Just abide in me. I'll water it every moment. We
can walk in humble unity with God's church without division
or hard feelings. And we can maintain the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of truth. How can we do that? By
simply abiding in Christ. Abiding in Jesus Christ. I'm
telling you, you do that first and foremost and you'll just
see everything else begins to take its place. That's what I've
experienced in my own life. When I've tried to turn from
Him and look away from Him and get everything else fixed up
and work on everything else, that's when I get myself in a
mess. And then fruit burning not only becomes difficult, it
becomes impossible. You see, fruit burning is spontaneous.
It comes with little or no effort by just abiding in the vine.
It's no effort for a vine to grow, is it, if it's hooked up
to the right sower? It sucks all of its sap from
the vine, and the branch just grows. It just grows. Abide in Christ. Look unto Him
always. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. That's what it means to
abide in Christ. whose mind is stayed on thee. Set your affections upon things
of thine, where Christ saith upon the right hand of God."
That's the way it means, what it means to abide in Christ.
I was reading a sermon the other day, well it's been a few days
ago. Dear man, Alexander McLaren, I like him, he's a fine, fine,
I'll never be the preacher or charl of God that he is, he was. Lived in Spurgeon's day. But
he preached the message I was reading on, Hebrews chapter 12. He said, Let us lay aside every
weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, looking unto
Jesus. And page after page, dear brother
McLaren told what weights was, and what sin was, and we had
to lay it aside, page after page. This is a weight, lay it aside.
This is a sin, lay it aside. And finally, almost as a footnote,
he got to the very last page, and a little portion of the page
said, oh yes, looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. I tell you,
you won't be assigned a weight, except you do it looking unto
Jesus. You won't last out of sin except
looking unto you. Brothers and sisters, that's
the way we grow. That's the way we bear fruit. Looking unto Jesus. Abiding in Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look back over at my text now.
Look at the next verse. Look here in verse 4. I, the Lord, will keep it. I'll
water it every morning, every moment. Keep it night and day
lest any hurt it. And then he says here in verse
4, fury is not in me. Now here's what God says. Fury
is not in me. Now this, I'm not for much about
qualifying things, but there's some things like this, you know,
you have to qualify. You've got to stop and say, wait
a minute now. Now, there is fury in him, too, and we read about
it, don't we? Let me quote you some scriptures here. Job 20,
verse 23, God will cast the fury of his wrath upon the wicked. Upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. Psalm
116. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen
that know thee not. And upon the families of those
that call not upon your name, Jeremiah 10.25. And Paul said
concerning the Jews, the wrath of God has come upon them to
the utmost. And we just read over there in
2 Thessalonians, didn't we? He's going to punish them with
everlasting destruction. So there is fury. There is fury
in the Lord. Then what sense does he mean
here when he says there's no fury in thee? Well, there's no
fury in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There's no fury
in Him. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. There's no sin in Him. There's
no sins against God in Him. So if there's no sins against
God in him, there can't be any fury of God in him. The fury
of God is upon sin. And Jesus Christ took sin, and
therefore he took the fury of God. But when he put sin away,
he put the fury of God away. Listen to this verse in Lamentations
1 and 12. Here's what he said, I think,
when he hung upon the cross. He said, Is it nothing to you
that passeth by? Behold, and see, if there is
any sorrow likened to my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger." That's fury being poured out. But who was it poured out upon?
The Lord Jesus. God smote him. He complained
that all the waves and the billows of God's wrath had gone over
him. But listen to this verse now. Listen to this. Thus saith the Lord thy God that
pleadeth the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thy
hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury,
and thou shalt no more drink it in." There's no fury in me,
he said. When Jesus Christ took the fury
of God and bore it himself, now you look to Jesus Christ, there's
no fury of God there. There's nothing there but righteousness
and peace and life eternal and God's favor and God's grace.
There's no fury there. And I tell you this much, there's
no fury to those who are in Christ. You're in Christ, you're standing
where the fire has already been. There's no fury of God there.
There's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Why? Because they're in
Christ. who bore their fury for you.
And ain't that wonderful? There's no fury there. There's
no fury there. You can face death, you can face
the judgment, you can face eternity, you can face the curse of the
law, because there's no fury in God for you. It's just not
there. It's gone. I have no idea, and
I've tried to study on the judgment, the day of the judgment. And
I'm convinced of these two things about the day of the judgment.
There will be a judgment. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. We'll have to stand. The second
thing I'm convinced about, that's all I know of that. I don't know
anything else about it. But I do know this. I do know
this. That there won't be a single
child of God there that day that God's fury is poured out upon.
God won't look at one of His single children that's in His
Son and be angry with Him on that day. He will not do it.
He will not do it. There's no fury in Me. And those
who are in God's Son, there's no fury for them either, now
or forever. Look what He continues to say
here, though, in verse 4. Look here in verse 4. There is
no fury in me. Who would set the brawlers and
the thorns against me in the battle? Sometimes men, especially
the enemies of the Lord, are hypocrites, are often referred
to as thorns and brawlers. Who would set the thorns and
brawlers? Who would set my enemies, if you will, in battle against
me? I would go through them. I would burn them up together.
And what the Lord is saying here, he's saying, it's awful easy
for me to destroy my enemies. It's not difficult for me to
do it at all. I can do it with ease. Those
Pharisees and scribes, they said, come and let us bind together
and cast their courts from us. Let us cast the Son of God out
and kill Him. We can do that. We can do that. Cast their bans from us. And
he that said unto them, laughed at them. He laughed at them. He wasn't disturbed at all. He
said, I could go through you fellows. You would be no more
to me than the crackling of thorns under a pot. Destroying you would
be just like fuel for the fire of God's wrath. It's no trouble
at all for God to destroy his enemies. But look what he says now here
in verse 5. Instead of me doing this to you, he says, instead
of you doing this and me doing this to you, destroying you so
easy, rather do this. And here he speaks to his enemy.
This is amazing. This is amazing. Let him take
hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he
shall make peace with me. Look here what he says to his
enemy. He's not intimidated by his enemies. He doesn't look
upon his enemies as a threat. But he looks upon them with sympathy. Ain't this amazing? He says,
I could go through you fellas with ease and destroy you all. But he says, instead of you fellas
setting yourselves against me, rather do this. Take hold of
my strength and make peace with me. What's he saying? Come to God by Jesus Christ. Come to me by my Son on the terms
of the gospel, and you won't find any fury in me either."
Now, ain't that amazing? Ain't that what he said? Jesus
Christ made peace with God, so the Father says here, come and
take hold of my Son. Take hold of His blood, and you'll
find there's no fury in me, but you'll find peace. You'll find
peace. In Christ, God is able to save,
He's able to forgive, He's able to justify, He's able to receive
the most wicked, and cleanse them, and forgive them, and to
make them new, and to give them His peace. He can do all of this
through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the power of God to salvation. And you says to these fellows,
you're going to set yourself against me? You going to contend
with the Creator? You going to fight with me? Well,
you know this. I won't have any difficulty in
destroying you. But let me ask you this. Do you want me to destroy
you? Or do you want peace with me? Then come and take hold of my
peace. And make peace with me. Take
hold of my Son. Kiss the Son. Ain't that what
he said? lest his anger." You know there's no fury for a person,
I don't care who he is, that comes to God on God's terms of
the gospel. I say this because there's people
sometimes, when they have a little bit of awakening in their conscience,
they get afraid, they begin to see something of their awful
state, they're afraid to come to God. They're afraid to approach
unto the Lord. They're afraid to. That's why
they start cleaning their life up and getting their act together,
you know. They're afraid to come just as they are. But what does
the Lord say? Take hold of my strength. Take
hold of my son. Come to me just like you are,
but take hold of him. Him that's made peace through
the blood of His cross. Don't be afraid to approach.
You won't find fury in me. It's only when you will come
that you won't find me an angry God. Now look with me in two
or three passages. Look over here in Isaiah, right
on in Isaiah to the right. Look here in Isaiah chapter 55. I like this passage, one of our
favorite passages. Look here in verse 6. Remember
here now who he's talking about, who he's talking to. He's talking
here to his enemies, to the wicked. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
nigh. Who? Let the wicked. Let the wicked. We talked about
the other night, if you want to make somebody mad at you on
our day, call them a wicked person. Say, you're wicked. You're wicked. But what does the Lord tell them
to do? Look here, call upon me. I'm afraid to. Why are you afraid
to? I'm afraid you're going to destroy me. I'm afraid your wrath
is going to be turned. But there ain't no fury in me. But I'm
wicked, Lord. I'm wicked. Well, here's what
you do then. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous men his thoughts, and let him return unto Jehovah,
the everlasting God, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon. Ain't that mercy? Ain't that
grace? Right in the face of their wickedness and their iniquity.
He says, you'll not find me if you're in me. Old Martin Luther, he was so
afflicted with his sins, and he had such a wrong idea of God
and Christ. He finally just broke down one
day. Have you ever seen that movie, Luther? They told the truth about what
he did. He finally just broke down and one of the priests said,
Martin, what do you want? What do you want? He said, I
want a God I can love. I want a God I can love. I don't
want to be looking at a God who's angry with me and just ready
to punish me at any minute. I want a God I can love. And
you know what that fellow told him? Bind yourself to Christ.
Bind yourself to Christ. There you will see God's love.
In Christ there is no more fury. God is not angry with those who
come to His Son. I don't care how wicked you be.
There's no fury in you. Turn to Him. Don't be afraid
to turn to Him. My thoughts aren't your thoughts,
neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. As the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Look at another passage.
Look over here in Ezekiel chapter 33, just right on to your right.
Ezekiel chapter 33. Free will is often accused, accusing
us of not having a gospel that we can preach to lost people. You know what they're accused
of. You fellas are looking at people with axes and holes on
them. They've got a hole on them. The last one they left, you can
preach to them. You've got an axe on them, you can't preach
to them. We've got a gospel we can preach to the most wicked
man you can find. and tell them with the sincerity
of our hearts and the promise of God. I don't care who you
are or what you are or what you've done. You turn to God. And you
come to Him on His terms through the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
will not find any fury in God. And when He says these things,
brothers and sisters, He is as sincere and honest as He can
be. He doesn't speak out of both
sides of His mouth. He's sincere about this. When he says to the
wicked, there's no fear in me, if you'll come on my turn. He's
honest when he says that. Look at what he says in Ezekiel
chapter 33, look in verse 10. Therefore, O thou Son of man,
speak unto the house of Israel. Thus ye speak, saith, if our
transgressions and our sins be upon us. And we pine away at
them, how shall we then live? We can't live. We'll die. Say
unto them then, say to them, give them a message for me. As
I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. And live. Look over here in another passage.
I like this passage. Look over in Luke, just on to
your right. Look over in Luke chapter 13, in verse 34. Look here in verse 34. Now here's the incarnate God. And look here, what he says in
Luke chapter 13, verse 34. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which
killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto thee.
How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not." Does
that mean God could not gather them? Why, of course it doesn't
mean that. He's a sovereign God, and we
saw this morning when he said, Let there be light, there was
light. But I'll tell you what he does. He sends this sincere
and honest word out to the most wicked people in this world.
He says, I will if you will. I will if you will. And I would
all along. But it's you that won't. It's
you that won't. Look over here, I want you to
write just a little bit more. Chapter 19. I love these passages,
not only for my own heart, but in my ministry I found it, in
talking to lost people. Sometimes you can find the most
weakened man in this world, and you know what will wind up touching
that fellow more than anything? Telling these scriptures like
that. You know, you tell him some of this hard stuff, man,
you're going to hell. You're going to hell. That don't
bother him much. He's hardened anyway. You start reasoning with
him about the goodness of the Lord. How the Lord sympathizes. And how he's good and ready to
forgive. It has a tendency to melt the
hard heart. Look at what the Lord Jesus said
in Luke chapter 19. Look here in verses 41 and verse
42. Now this is amazing to me. Here the Lord Jesus stands, looking
out over the city of Jerusalem, the incarnate God. He'd come
here and found them turning the house of the Lord into a den
of thieves, trading and gambling there in the temple. And in verse
41, He came near and He beheld the city, and He wept over it. Two times. Here in these Gospels
we're told about Jesus' wept at Lazarus' tomb and here when
he beheld Jerusalem. And he wept, and he said, If
thou hast known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things
which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine
eye. And he wept. I tell you, I tell
you, I know there's fury in God. I know that. But boy, I like
that sympathizing aspect of him too, don't you? When he looks
upon his creatures and has sympathy for them and says, why are you
going to die? Don't die. There's no need to
die. Come to me on my term and live. May God bless his word.