I like to whistle. I spent a
lot of time on the road by myself over the years, and I don't hum,
but I whistle. But I can't whistle, not very
pleasantly. And sometimes I forget the shovel
is in the vehicle with me, and she's trying to sleep, and I'm
over there whistling just a little bit at least with my breath,
and it's annoying. And she will nicely indicate
it'd be nice if I quit whistling. But when God whistles, that's
my subject this morning, when God whistles, it means he always
comes in and asks the title of the message. And he looked at
that a little peculiar this morning. I promise you, you'll see it
clearly. Zechariah chapter 10. There is a question raised in
the 11th chapter of Romans, which perplexes a lot of people, causes
a lot of debate. Hath God cast away his people? Really, the question shouldn't
confuse anyone, because the Holy Spirit tells us plainly, God
hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew. And in the
rest of that 11th chapter of Romans, the Spirit of God explains
clearly that while God has forever cast away as a nation the physical
seed of Abraham, he has forever cast away that nation as a reprobate
people in blindness and darkness and in judgment as a nation. He did so that he might send
the gospel into all the world and save his holy nation, the
true Israel, the true seed of Abraham, so that he might gather
his elect out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And
the 11th chapter of Romans ends with this statement, And so all
Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come
out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the
gospel, they, Abraham's physical seed, are enemies for your sakes. But as touching the election,
Abraham's spiritual seed, the Israel of God, they are beloved
for the Father's sakes. For the gifts and callings of
God are without repentance." Zechariah 10. Let me show you
the passage from which Paul is quoting in Romans chapter 11.
Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. Has God forgotten
His people? Has God forgotten His covenant?
We sometimes tend to think maybe the Lord God is not going to
save anyone. Everybody who's going to be saved
has been saved. It doesn't look like that God's
doing anything. God hasn't forgotten His people. God hasn't forgotten to be gracious. God hasn't forgotten His covenant. Romans 11, like so many other
passages of Holy Scripture, emphatically declared God will save His chosen. God is saving His chosen. Now the passage forequoted in
the latter part of Romans 11 is Isaiah 59 verse 20. And the
Redeemer shall come to Zion. and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is
my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon
thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed-seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth
and forever." for every chosen sinner, for every sinner redeemed
by the blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary, for every sinner
to whom God will be gracious, there is a set time appointed
when Christ the Redeemer shall return to Zion. And when the
Deliverer, the Redeemer comes, He comes in omnipotent saving
grace, and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Not he
shall try, not he shall make his best effort, not he shall
hope with your cooperation, but rather he shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. That is one of the many, many
ways God describes the salvation of his elect. But what's involved
in the accomplishment of Christ coming to sinners in the experience
of his saving grace and turning away ungodliness from Jacob. That's the theme in Zechariah
chapter 10. This 10th chapter of Zechariah
is a chapter full of gospel promises, gospel assurances. It really
is the continuation of the message Zechariah began in chapter 9.
You remember in chapter 9, Zechariah speaks clearly about the coming
of Jesus Christ, our great Lord and Redeemer, in the accomplishment
of redemption by his death at Calvary and by the power of his
spirit and the operations of his grace by his spirit. In Zechariah's
sermon here, beginning in chapter 10, he tells us how it is that
God brings this salvation to his own. And the first thing
we're told in verse one is this, grace forms a prayer in the hearts
of men. You remember when David prayed
for God's blessings on his house and the establishing of his kingdom?
He did so after God had revealed to him that he was going to establish
his house and his kingdom and his throne forever. God had sworn
it to him, and David said, Therefore hath thy servant found it in
his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. If ever you pray,
I didn't say say your prayers. We do that all the time. We do
that all the time. We practice continually vain
repetition. But if ever you pray, If ever
I pray, it will be because God puts a prayer in you. I promise you. I promise you.
Never is that more true than in the beginning of a sinner's
experience of God's grace. Somehow, by the secret operations
of his spirit in the soul, The Lord God calls as the center
to whom he will be gracious to pray for grace. Look at verse
one. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain.
So the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers
of rain to every one grass in the field. How is it that God
creates the prayer in the hearts of his own? Certainly, we are
commanded to preach the gospel to men and command them, calling
on them to seek the Lord and seek His grace. But it takes
more than me commanding you to pray, for you to pray. It takes
more than me calling on you to ask of the Lord His grace, for
you to ask the Lord for His grace. Oh, but when God accompanies
the Word with the power of His Spirit. He causes the sinner
to reel to and fro as a drunken man, brings you to your wits
end. He creates prayer in the heart. And when He creates the prayer,
He answers the prayer. In the previous chapter, Zachariah
proclaimed the great goodness of God, assuring us that He will
bring great harvest from the earth. Here he tells us to pray
for the rain, the latter rain. That is the rain that's needed
just as plants are beginning to fill in the field, their fruit
is getting ripe. This is when the rain is needed. Pray now for the latter rain
that produces the harvest. It's clear both the harvest of
chapter 9 and the rain in chapter 10 refer to spiritual things. this message and I read everything
I could read that I thought might possibly contribute something.
I don't read trash, I just try to read good stuff. But even
among fellows who normally are pretty good, they They look at
things like this and they try to give it some kind of a carnal,
millennial interpretation. What a horrible thing. This is
not talking about physical rain. If you compare it through the
scriptures, it becomes obvious that it's not talking about physical
rain. It's not talking about a physical harvest. He's not
talking to us about corn in the field and hay in the barn. He's
talking about grace that brings grace in the heart and salvation
to the soul. Like the wind, Rain is figuratively
used in the Word of God, particularly in the Old Testament, to represent
the gracious influences of God the Holy Spirit. Turn to Hosea
chapter 6 for a moment. Hold your hands here in Zechariah.
Hosea chapter 6. The rain speaks of the gracious
influence of God the Holy Spirit on the hearts of chosen sinners.
The fruitfulness of the earth That's brought forth by the reign
of heaven. The speaks of God's grace worked
in us. giving us the fruit of His grace,
faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. It is that the rain of heaven
that prepares the heart as good ground to receive the seeds sown
by the Savior and causes it to bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold,
some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. Look here in Hosea chapter 6.
I want you to see clearly this is how the language of Scripture
speaks. Verse 1. Come, and let us return unto
the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us. In the third day he will raise
us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know. If we follow old to know the
Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall
come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to
the earth. Brother Darwin said to me coming
down the road the other day as we were driving back to Fairmont
last Sunday afternoon, he said, I am fully convinced, I don't
know how I can show it, but I'm fully convinced that everything
in God's creation was made to show us something about God's
grace. He's exactly right. He's exactly
right. Turn to Joel chapter 2, verse
23. Here we'll see this former and
latter reign mentioned again. Verse 23, Joel 2. Be glad then,
you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he
hath given you the former reign moderately. He didn't send a
flood, he sent the former rain moderately. And he will cause
to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter
rain in the first month. The first month being the month
which marked the beginning of days for the children of Israel.
The Jewish calendar given in the Old Testament was given to
teach that which is spiritual. This former rain, the beginning
of days, it's that which comes upon us in the beginning of life
by the Spirit of God. The scriptures speak of the former
rain and of the latter rain. The former rain, that's the rain
we're getting right now on the earth. Last week, shoving our
planets and peas and potatoes and strawberries, hoping it would
rain. We were hoping it wouldn't be
freezing rain, but we were hoping it would rain. former rain in
the spring. And the latter rain comes toward
the end of summer as the plants are beginning to fill with their
grain, the grain is beginning to fill in the plant so that
the plants are ripening up. He says he speaks here of the
former rain and of the latter rain. But did you notice in Hosea,
Hosea speaks of the latter rain and the former rain coming. Why
is that? The latter reign speaks of the
harvest time, the bringing forth of fruit. The former reign speaks
of that which is needed when the seed is sown in the ground. The former reign is spoken of
first because we don't know, we can't know, none of us can,
what is taking place in our hearts when we begin to experience what
the scriptures describe as conviction. We can't know it. We can't understand
it until it buds forth with faith in Jesus Christ. I'm terribly
reluctant to even begin to try to think about when first God
began to deal with my soul. Whether it's legal conviction,
spiritual conviction, fear of hell, whatever it was, I began
to be ripped apart from the inside out. And I had no idea what was
going on. I had no idea what was going
on. Troubled. Passed down. Fearful. Confused. Driven to utter despair. Didn't
have any idea. I couldn't begin to explain it
until Christ revealed himself in me and caused me to believe. Then I understood. he was bringing
me down. The farmer has no way of knowing
whether the seed he's planted in the ground is germinated and
brings forth life in another plant until that plant begins
to break the ground and he sees that little green sprout popping
up out of the ground. And we have no way of knowing
what's going on inside us with the former reign when God brings
conviction to the soul and brings us to the end of ourselves and
brings us to our wit's end until He causes the bud of faith to
spring up. And then we understand. Isaiah
35 gives a very, very clear picture of this. We won't turn there
and read it now, but just for the sake of time, I urge you
to read it while the message is still on your heart. It pictures
how the Lord God showers his people with grace and causes
them to blossom as a rose. Our hearts are as a wilderness,
as a desert. Yet He gives streams in these
deserts and causes the water to gush in our souls as living
waters of life by His Spirit and causes life to come forth
where there was nothing but death. Back here in our text, Zechariah
10.1. Sinners are commanded to seek the latter rain. Seek for
God to give you the grace of His Spirit. and peace to your soul. Seek
of God that He may speak to you the righteousness of His own
Son, Jesus Christ the Lord." Well, how dare we command dead
sinners to pray? Well, you know, I wouldn't, but
God did. Command them. You see, God has
promised to give the latter rain, and give it He shall. Yet He
requires the needy soul to seek His grace. Turn to Hosea chapter
10. Hold your hands in Zechariah
10. Turn to Hosea 10. Do you remember when God made
His covenant promises in Ezekiel 36? He said, I'm going to do
this. I'm going to give them a new
life. I'm going to give them a new heart. I'm going to give them a new
way. I'm going to put my spirit in them. That's my covenant.
That's my promises. I will and they shall. And then
he concludes that covenant, the revelation of that covenant with
these words, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel to do it for them. Well, if God's going to do it,
why should I pray for it? Because he said so. That's why. Command them to pray to the Lord
that he will send the rain, the latter rain. What is this? Hosea
chapter 10 verse 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness,
reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time
to seek the Lord till he come and reign what? Righteousness upon you. Reign upon you the very righteousness
of His Son, declaring you in your soul righteous before God,
giving life and peace to you. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. All right, back in our text.
Here's the second thing grace does. Not only does grace require
and teach you to seek God's grace. The grace of God creates a need
you can't resist. Look here. Look here. Look here. See that? You know
who'll take it? I mean who'll take it. I'm not
talking about Could I have a little drink of that water? I wanted
to say to Sylvester, if you had a clear throat, you can drink
that. That'd be all right. But who's going to take it? I'm talking
about there's some water. You see it. Take it. Everybody
who's thirsty will take it. Everybody. Boy, that looks like
good water. Looks like cool water. Looks
like you'd quench your thirst. Nah, I don't want any. I've got
my own well. If you're thirsty, you won't
ask permission to get it. If you're thirsty, you won't
ask if it was for you. If you're thirsty, you won't
ask if it was drawn for you. If you're thirsty and you see
the water, you take it. And God Almighty knows how to
make sinners thirsty. Look at verse 2. He tells us
that we have been deceived by false gods and false shepherds
and false religion that has given us false peace. He creates in
his own a complete dissatisfaction with the religion of nature.
For the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen a
lie and have told false dreams they comfort in vain. Therefore,
they went their way as a flock. They were troubled because there
was no shepherd. That's a very accurate description
of Israel's history. Their spiritual life was a life
of idolatry. It was their idolatry that brought
them into Babylonian captivity to begin with. They had been
reduced to seeking divine light by diviners. Now, let me put
that in modern language. Rather than reading the Bible
every day, they'd read their horoscope in the local paper
every day. You remember Pharaoh had his
magicians, his diviners. Voodoo, witch doctors. That's
right. Palm readers. No, I don't believe
that, but I'm just curious. No, no. I don't pay attention
to that, but I think I'll take a peek in here. They sought divine
light from Ouija boards and such nonsense. That's not my description
of false prophets. That's God's description. Because
their diviners told them their false dreams, the children of
Israel bowed to and worshipped idols. The Hebrew word for idols
here. Very distinct word. It doesn't
mean idols as we would generally think about, you know, a big
statue of Buddha or a statue of Mary. It doesn't talk about
just images, but rather it refers primarily to household idols. You see, every man by nature
gets some idea of what he thinks God is. And he carves himself
an idol, not necessarily with a pocket knife and a piece of
wood, but he goes into the deep, dark forest of his old, depraved
mind and creates a god for himself. And if that's not sufficient
for everything, he'll go get another one. Household idols,
gods made in fashion after the image of man's vain imagination. We wouldn't do that. Everybody
does. It is an ever-increasing, terrible
evil of human nature and of the nature of all men. This is what
the wise man said, and he said it twice in the same words. There
is a way which seemeth right unto a man. One way. Just one
way. The whole world The whole world,
that includes you who yet believe not Christ, and the heathen in
New Guinea who run around with bones in their noses and eat
one another, all alike have the same religion. All. Doesn't matter
whether Baptist or Buddhist, Papist or Presbyterian, all have
the same religion. A way that seems right to a man. What's that? Well, you know.
You know if you do good, it's got to count for something. And
you measure yourself with this thought, and you say, well, I'm
not as bad as he. And you set standards by which you live,
and you try to live by those standards to the best you can,
and it'll all work out all right in the end. Away. Away. Join the church. Get baptized. Come down to the front of the
church, bow down to some silly altar or mourner's bench, and
repeat the sinner's prayer as you're told to repeat the sinner's
prayer. Start to keep the law, read your Bible, tithe, go to
church, go to serve as a missionary for two years somewhere. There
is a way that seems right to a man. It's the way of free will
works religion, and it's all the same everywhere. Do you know
why? in the local ministerial society,
listen if they dare. Right here in Danville, Kentucky. Do you know why Pathists and
Presbyterians and Baptists and Methodists and all manner of
religious fools can get together in the ministerial society and
serve the Lord? Do you know why? Because they
all believe exactly the same thing. They just wear different
costumes and play different games. They believe exactly the same
thing. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul
getting together with a local rabbi and marching against devotion?
What foolishness. What foolishness. There is a
way. Not many ways, just one. And
that way is the way of religion that says, I am my own Savior. I am God. And God is nothing. a way that seems right unto a
man. And the end thereof, now listen,
are the ways of death. You can go to hell in the Baptist
church or the Catholic church or no church. The ways of death. All men have been deluded and
gladly delude themselves with idolatry. keeping to themselves
false shepherds, prophets of deceit, who constantly feed them
with the poison of free will works religion. God loves you
and He wants to save you. God loves you and He wants to
save you. If you know, I suppose if there's
any book about missions in the Bible, it'd be the book of Acts.
Wouldn't you guess? Wouldn't you guess? Do you know
how many times the love of God is mentioned in the book of Acts?
Not a what? Not a what? The message of this
book is not God loves you. You do your sons and daughters
and yourself a disservice to teach them that God loves them
if they don't believe on Christ. Outside Christ, God is a consuming
fire. Nowhere in this book are we commanded
to tell unbelieving, reprobate sinners God loves them. If God
loves me and He's God, everything's all right, He ain't gonna let
me go to hell. That's just not so. They said Christ died for
you. He shed His blood for you. But
it'll all be vain unless you let Him save you. The most important
work God ever did will be vain because you don't do something. A Savior whose work you can thwart
ain't worth shit. And that's what I think of the
God and the Jesus of this age. The Holy Spirit's calling you.
Will you submit to his call? Oh, you let go and let God. Let
go and let God. Let God do something. When folks come to church, they
check their brains at the door. of what use is any God that you
can let or not let do anything, while you may as well worship
or grab its foot. In fact, that's exactly what being worshiped.
We know salvation is by grace, but it just stands for reason.
You've got to do something. Yes, the dividers have seen a
lie and told a false dream, and they told you you were saved
by accepting their false dream. But their comfort you have found
now vain. God's shown you that it was nothing.
Free will preachers, the shepherds you follow, are false shepherds. They've used you and abused you
for themselves and left you straying scale as sheep without a shepherd.
And God's anger is kindled against them. My anger was kindled against
the shepherds, and I punished the goats, for the Lord of hosts
hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them
as his goodly horse in the battle." God condemns the religious leaders
who selfishly use his people for themselves, and he destroys
those goats who follow them. But he will not leave his sheep
without a shepherd. He has sent and will send his
own son to be our faithful and true shepherd. Christ, the great
and good shepherd of the sheep, will visit his flock and gather
his elect as a shepherd gathers his sheep in the field. Not only
that, but the Lord God will overturn and destroy the false shepherds.
He will overturn and destroy free will, works, religion of
Babylon, and he will use His is real. His flock of sheep. Who could ever imagine? Who could
ever imagine this? He will use his flock of sheep
as his goodly horse. Who ever heard the tale of a
mighty conqueror riding forth to conquer, sitting on a lamb? I just read it to you. Look at
it. He will use his sheep as his goodly horse in the battle,
his war horse, upon which he rides over all who oppose him. Look at verse four. Here's the
third thing. God teaches us to pray. He creates a need causing us
to pray. And he points us by his grace
to the Savior. Here he tells us that his saving
grace is sure, describing our Lord Jesus Christ as that one
who came forth out of Zion to save Zion. Out of him came forth
the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out
of him every oppressor. Perhaps the words out of him
refer back to Judah. Our Lord is the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. But reading more carefully, I think it must intend, the Spirit
of God must intend for us to understand that He's referring
back here to the Lord of Hosts. Out of Him came forth the corner. Out of Him came forth the navel. Out of Him came forth the battle
bow. Out of Him came forth every oppressor. Christ is the corner. He's the
cornerstone and the foundation stone in his house. Christ is
the cornerstone. The stone which the builders
have refused to become the head of the corner Therefore, thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone,
a pride stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. He who is built on this foundation
stone, this cheap cornerstone, is held in stability and firmness,
built on Christ Jesus. Christ is the nail. Out of him
came forth the nail. I love the language of Scripture,
not a nail, the nail. A nail in a sure place, Isaiah
describes him, Isaiah 22, 23, and 24. Christ is that nail fixed
in a sure place. Now the word nail, as it's used
in the Scriptures, refers to one of two things. It refers
to those those tent pegs, those tent nails, that were used in
the tabernacle, or used to hold the tabernacle in place when
it was pitched in the wilderness. Somebody, a preacher one time,
I was preaching on Christ being subject to Scripture down in
Australia, and a fellow who thought he was real smart, he said, so
Brother Don, what do the tent pegs refer to? They refer to a nail in a sure
place. But the other way the word nail
is used, it refers to a nail fixed on the center pole of a
tent of a man's dwelling, or a nail that was driven into the
wall of a man's house. In our day, we hang anything
that looks like a valuable piece of art, or even pretty, we hang
it on our wall. And we hang it there, I know
we like to say it's for ourselves, but if nobody ever saw the wall
except you, I'll guarantee you wouldn't bother to hang it up
there. No, you hang it up there for other folks to see. So that
when they come in, they'll look at it and say, wow, wow, did
you see that? Isn't that pretty? In ancient
times, men would hang their valuables on a nail, family jewels. gold cups, silver, so that anybody
who came into their house would see that nail fixed in a conspicuous
place and they would admire the beauty of the man's riches. Really, that wasn't the reason
either. That wasn't the reason either.
The reason to hang them there so they'll admire you. And they'll say, wow, look at
him. Christ is the nail. on which God Almighty has hung
everything. A nail fixed in a sure place. Nobody's going to move it. As
He is the builder of the temple, He bears the glory of the temple.
As He is our salvation, He bears the glory of salvation. As He
is our surety, He bears the glory of surety. As He is our redeemer,
He bears the glory of redemption. As He is God, He bears all the
glory of God. God Almighty hung everything
on His sword, a nail in a sure place. Tell you something else,
every believing sinner does the same thing. We hang our souls,
Larry Brown, on Him. We hang our hope on Him. We hang
our righteousness on Him. We hang our redemption on Him. We hang everything on Him who
is our Savior. And the Lord Jesus is the battle
bow. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but spiritual. Christ is the battle bow by whom
we prevail. Read the 19th chapter of Revelation
and see how the battle bow rides forth conquering and to conquer.
He says you shall not need to fight in this battle. What do
you do? This is how we fight in this
battle. This is how we fight in this battle. Folks all the
time want you, oh, we need to fight. We need to fight for the
Lord. Let me tell you how you fight in this battle. Set yourselves,
stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you. For the
Lord will be with you. And the last line of this fourth
verse tells us something else came out of our God. Out of him
came, do you see it? Every oppressor. What? Every oppressor. Does that mean Judas? Every oppressor. Does that mean Antichrist? Every
oppressor. Does that mean those wicked men
who crucified the Lord of Glory? Every oppressor. Does that mean
Satan and the demons of hell? Every oppressor. Those things didn't just pop
into being, they are God's creatures. Ordered and ruled absolutely
by our God for the good of his people. That's just as sweet as any promise
in the passage. Every oppressor. What does all
that mean? In heaven above, God has his
way, and in the earth below, both men and demons he will sway
to do his will, I know. In glorious, sovereign majesty,
our God performs his will, his purpose from eternity. He must
and will fulfill. That's the difference between
God and your little rabbit foot, God. That's the difference between
God Almighty and the household idols being carved out of their
brains for themselves. Here's the fourth thing. Grace
restores. And they shall be as mighty men
which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in
the battle. They shall fight because the
Lord is with them, and the riders on the horses shall be confounded.
And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the
house of Joseph, and I will bring them again into the place to
the place, and I will have, for I have mercy upon them. Not I
will have, I have mercy on them. He had mercy on them from eternity,
had mercy on them long before they knew it. And they shall
be as though I had not cast them off. He says, I will restore
that which I take not away, because he has mercy on them, because
I am the Lord their God. Look at the next thing. Grace
not only restores everything, grace gathers. I will hiss for
them. I told you kind of a message
when God whistles. That's the word right here. Whistle. He uses the same word again in
Isaiah chapter 5, speaking of the same thing. It means, I will
whistle for them, and when I do, I will gather them. For I have
redeemed them. and they shall increase, and
I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember me in
the far countries, and they shall live with their children and
turn again, and I will bring them again also out of the land
of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria, and I will bring
them into the land of Gilead in Lebanon, and a place shall
not be found for them, a multitude, you can't imagine. And he shall
pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in
the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up, and the
pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt
shall depart away." The Lord God describes the sweet call
of His grace as whistling. Whistling like a shepherd goes
out in the air. into the fold now. We've been
out here all day grazing. Whistle. His whistles. And the
sheep know the sound of his whistle. And they just, time to go home.
We're going to go in and lay down now. And with the ease of the most
delightful whistle the world has ever known, God our Savior
calls his sheep home. And here they come. And he makes
it as though they had never been away. How come? For I have redeemed
them. I have redeemed them. Every sinner
redeemed by the blood of Christ shall be called by his irresistible
grace. But will it last? Will they continue
to walk with him or will they go straying again? Will they
go a-whoring after other gods or will they follow and worship
him alone? Well, if it depends on the sheep. They won't last
long. But bless God it doesn't depend
on the sheep. Look at verse 12. And I will
strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk. They shall
walk up every hill of difficulty. They shall walk up to the house
of God. And they shall walk down. Walk down into the valley of
trouble. Walk down into the valley of
darkness. All the while walking. Walking as men held in peace. And they shall do it in his name,
trusting him. And at last, walk right down
into the grave, walking, trusting him. How can this be? I told you many
times about my friend, Brother Jim Jensick, out in Tempe, Arizona. I've never met him. He used to
be a professional golfer. Lost his arm. Now he makes, the
last I heard from him, he's making A little real high-dollar golf
clubs I've got in Alabama. But every time I hear from him,
every time I hear from him, this is how he signs his letter. In
his grip. That's where we are. In the grip
of his omnipotent grace. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. It was grace that taught my soul
to pray and made my eyes o'erflow. It was grace that kept me to
this day and will not let me go. Oh, may God make His grace yours. Oh, pour upon you the light of
rain and cause you to live. Amen.