The title of my message this evening is God's Word to Trembling Saints. Turn to Isaiah 66, verses 5 through 14, and you'll see why I've chosen this for the title of the message.

In the first part of this chapter, the Lord God denounced the hypocrites who are called by his name but refuse to bow to his word. And there are multitudes, there are multitudes. Many women who call themselves Christians, many women who call themselves by the name of God, but refuse to bow to the word of God. And I'm telling you, if such sit before me, if you call yourself by the name of Christ, call yourself Christian, call yourself a believer, dare presume that you know God, and you refuse to bow to the word of God, I'm telling you, you are deceived in your religion. Your religion is a delusion. Your religion is a refuge of lies, and the sooner it's destroyed, the better for you.

God speaks to those with a word of warning, threatening solemnly to forever destroy those who would not bow to his word. He said, I will choose their delusions, because when I call, they would not hearken unto me."

In our text this evening, he turns to speak a word of consolation to those who tremble at his word. He speaks a word of consolation to encourage those who truly know him, who reverence him, who believe him. And he assures us that though judgment must come, though he will certainly destroy the though he will certainly destroy those who choose not to obey his voice. He here speaks a word to encourage us and make us understand that when judgment comes, it'll never touch the believer. It'll never fall against the child of God.

As Noah and his family passed through the flood of God's wrath, safe in the ark, and the judgment of God never touched Noah and his family, so you and I who are in Christ shall pass safely through whatever judgment God brings upon the earth and whatever judgment God brings upon men now and in the last day as well, safe in the ark, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, and the judgment and wrath of God will not touch God's elect.

" In verse 2, the Lord promised graciously to look to, to look after, and to look out for, to tend to all who tremble at his word. And he gives now this word of encouragement, lest we should begin to despair in this world. As we go through this world and seek to serve God, as we go through this world and seek the glory of his name, seek to walk by faith, seek to serve the interest of his kingdom, there are many, many, many things to discourage. And some of us are easily discouraged. Some of us are easily cast down. Some of us are easily driven to despair. Unless we should do so, God now speaks this word of consolation and gives this message of comfort to all who tremble at his word.

To you who reverence God's word and reverence him, to you who walk with the fear of faith before him, this is God's word to you. Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word.

Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified. But he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Verse 6. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, A voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies. Before she prevailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man's eye. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day, or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord? Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb, saith thy God? Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. Rejoice at God's goodness, and yet mourn because of her circumstances, that you may suck, and be satisfied with the breast of her consolations, that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."

Verse 12, "'For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then shall you suck, you shall be born upon her sides and banded upon her knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. And ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this, your hearts shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies."

Now, the word of God is full of comfort. for believing hearts. I hope I do not need to remind you that the consolations, the comforts, the words of encouragement given here to Jerusalem and to Zion do not refer to the physical, natural descendants of Abraham. These words do not refer to the physical city of Jerusalem or to the physical nation referred to as Israel or Zion. These words do not in any way promote Zionism as a political idea or even a prophetic idea.

But rather, Zion and Jerusalem were created by God's providence and existed by God's providence throughout the ages of the Old Testament purely as a type and representation of the Church of the Living God. And Zion and Jerusalem, while in the Old Testament economy, under the Old Testament covenant given at Mount Sinai, God's work of grace and God's revelation dealt with and was given to the nation of Israel alone. Yet only God's elect in that nation were truly the Israel of God. And it was always his intention that his Zion, his church, his kingdom, his Jerusalem, should be made up of all nations, tendreds, tribes, and tongues.

And so the scripture speaks of God gathering the glory of the Gentiles, flowing in design. It's not talking about folks chartering boats and going over to Israel. That's not what it's all about. It's talking about Gentiles by being converted by God's grace, being brought into union with God's people who were called the Jews and called circumcision. Now we, who were called not His people and called the uncircumcision, we have been brought to be His people as the glory of God is revealed in the saving of the Gentiles.

Now having said that, as we study these four verses, I'm going to bypass any reference to the historical prophecy with regard to the return of Jews out of Babylon, because that's dumb. Clearly the prophecy has a reference to that and was given in that historical context. But it is written here for our learning and for our admonition. It is written here for our consolation, we who are God's Israel, we who are God's Zion.

And so read with me and learn these four things as we go through this passage of Scripture. First, the Scriptures here teach us that though God's saints are often persecuted in his name, there is a day of recompense coming. Notice in verse 5, the Lord speaks and says, Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. That simply is another way of putting you who believe his word. If a man ever comes to believe this book to be God's book, he will tremble at what's said here. This is not Don Fortner speaking to you, this is God Almighty talking to you. This is not the word of a religious denomination giving an opinion to you. This is God Almighty talking to you. Do you understand that? There's a difference between what I say about this word and what God reveals in this word.

Now, God's speaking to you to tremble at his word. Tremble to hear God speak! And know you're fully accountable to God for what he says. He speaks to us and says, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word.

Your brethren, falsely so-called. Your brethren naturally. Your brethren in a physical sense. Your brethren in a carnal sense. You remember how Paul said, I pray for my brethren, my kinsmen, after the flesh? Same thing here. Those who claim to be your brethren spiritually and those who are your brethren physically. They hated you. What? Hated you. hate you, despise you. They that cast you out for my name's sake, cast you out of the temple, cast you out of the church, cast you out into the streets, cast you out as the offscouring of the earth in the name of God. They said when they cast you out, let the Lord be glorified. This is God's work. We've done this in God's name.

You remember the Apostle Paul as Saul of Tarsus went with papers going to Damascus to imprison the saints of God, persecuting them in the name of God. In the name of God. But, but, their intention was to destroy you. Their intention was to cast you out. But he whose name they invoke, he shall appear to your joy. and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies."

Now this passage plainly teaches what our Lord teaches throughout the scriptures. Persecution has always been the lot of God's saints in this world, and more often than It comes from those who claim to be our brethren. And I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you something. Persecution comes in a lot of ways. But those who persecute men in the name of Christ, those who persecute men while they pretend to be believers, no matter how they persecute them, be it in their name and character, or be it in their body with the sword and imprisonment. Those who persecute God's saints do not know God. They are brethren in pretense only. In pretense only.

Now that'll tell you something about the gossiping tongue and the lying lip. Many women who spend their days on the telephone, or talking over the fence, or talking in the vestibule of the church building, or in the parking lot, they spend their days attacking the character, the name, the reputation, the intentions, the purposes of God's saints do not know God. They just don't. Now that goes for you and me. They just do not know God. Persecutors are from hell. Persecutors serve the cause of the devil, not the cause of Christ. You see it over and over in the scriptures.

More often than not, many women who believe God are persecuted by those who claim to be their brethren, and often by those who are physically closest to them. Cain hated Abel for one reason. because Abel was accepted of God, and King wasn't. Abel's conscience spoke peace to him on the basis of God's sacrifice. King's conscience tormented him because he refused God's sacrifice. And so he hated Abel. Abel didn't do anything. He didn't do a fragment of anything. All he did was worship God. That's all it is. But by worshiping God with blood at home, with a blood sacrifice, Abel was saying, by his worship to his brother Cain, you can't come to God that way. You can't come to God that way. And Cain said, I'll come to God as I please, and I'll kill you if you get in my way. And he did.

Ishmael, a child of flesh, despised and persecuted Isaac, the child of promise. Joseph, God's chosen, was despised and persecuted by his brethren, those whom the Lord God had ordained to bow down before Joseph's feet. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and the scripture says, they hated him without a cause. And his apostles, as he sent them forth into the world to preach the gospel, were persecuted and scattered here and there, everywhere, because men sought their blood.

Why? Because they were evil men? No. Because they somehow or other led society into an insurrection? Oh no. Because these men declared Christ's righteousness alone the basis of acceptance with God. They declared redemption by the blood of Christ alone. And these men were despised by the whole religious world who sought to stand before God on the merit of their works. And they were persecuted wherever they went.

Our Lord Jesus said, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. He said in John 16 too, they shall put you out of the synagogues, kick you out of the churches. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. In verse 33 he said, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. You're not going to get it in this world. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be in good cheer. I've overcome the world. I've overcome the world.

The persecution continues to this day. This past week, I was talking to a young preacher, a man pretending to be his brother, pretending to be his friend, managed to get him put out of the church so he could come back and take over. And now the fellow accuses him of being a hyper-Calvinist. And he was a vicious, sensitive young man. And I said to him, don't let it bother you. I promise it'll get worse. I promise it'll get worse. There won't be any letter. I promise there won't be any. And the fellow looked at me kind of, kind of odd like, and then he just smiled. He said, I understand. I understand.

You see, the fact is, you cannot walk with Christ and walk with the world. It's impossible. You cannot hold to the gospel of Christ and find friendship with those who despise the gospel of Christ. It can't be done. I don't mean to suggest You can't be on a job with fellas, or you can't be neighborly with fellas. By all means, live peaceably with all men as much as life within you. But understand this, as soon as the issue of righteousness and redemption and acceptance with God comes up, and you stand your ground, and you declare the truth of God, men and women will despise you, and when they begin to understand it, they will do everything they can to silence you. They'll do it.

Well, things aren't like that these days. You just hang on, you'll find out. You just attempt to proclaim the gospel of God's free grace to your neighbors, your family, your friends, you'll find out. The Lord God, however, shall appear for our joy, our defense, and he will repay our enemies. The apostle Paul said, if God be for us, Who can be against us? That's good enough. I have, for the last number of years, whenever somebody comes along and they say, so-and-so said this about your preaching, so-and-so said that about your doctrine, so-and-so said that, I say to them, there's a day coming when we'll find out. There's a day coming when we'll find out.

And I'll be honest with you. I don't claim by any stretch of the imagination to be a perfect man nor even an exemplary man. Danny Iams, I do seek to honor God. I do seek to honor God. And that means I walk before you. This congregation, this world, with clear conscience, and I fully expect total vindication from God Almighty in the day of judgment. Total vindication. Not for my merit. No, no, no, no. No, no. But because of private merit, the Lord God will vindicate His servants. And I tell you the same thing. If you're His, Bobby, and you seek His glory, you never need to vindicate yourself. You'll do it. You'll do it. I judge not my own self. Paul says, I commit myself to God. He'll vindicate me if I'm His. And if I'm not, you'll find that out too.

Then no need to justify yourself, no need to vindicate yourself. Just commit yourself to Him, for the day of recompense will come, and the Lord will make Himself known. This is what He tells us here. He will reveal Himself to us in a manifest demonstration of His favor, even as men persecute. He will appear for us in a providential way to intervene on our behalf. And one day's turn, He will appear for us in judgment. and in that day all our foes shall be confounded and put to shame.

Second, though it often appears that God's church and kingdom in this world is diminishing, it often appears that way. The Lord God, however, is building His church. He is and He shall both enlarge and established his kingdom in this world. You see, we often tremble because we see things with short-sighted vision. We often tremble because we view things only with the eye of flesh. We often tremble because we don't have the right perspective on things.

Listen to what he says in verse 7. Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man's child. That's a rare thing. That's a rare thing. Any woman here who has one or more children, she never had a birth pain before child came? That's a rare thing. That's unusual. He's speaking of an astonishing thing now. He says, who has heard such a thing? Where did you ever hear tell of that happening? It was rumored, only rumored, because the children of Israel down in Egypt said that, they gave rumor that the midwives couldn't get there in time because they gave birth so quickly. But that was only for their protection. Nobody had ever told such a thing. A woman having a child with no pain? A woman having a child with no travail? Now some have it easier than others, but nobody gets that one. No. They said, but there's, this thing's happening. So we've got to talk about something natural.

Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion prevailed." Now, underscore both. In verse 7 he says, before she prevailed. Then in verse 8 he says, as soon as Zion prevailed. Is there a contradiction? Well, that'll spark the interest a little bit. Let's see. As soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, God says, and not calls to bring forth, saith the Lord? Shall I call to bring forth, and shut the womb, saith thy God?" Now, we sometimes tremble for the ark of God, His church, His cause, the truth of God and the glory of God, but there's no reason to tremble. There's no reason to tremble, not for God's cause. God's cause is in good hands, it's in His hands. God's glory is not in any way at stake. God's glory is not in any way to be impugned. God's glory will not in any way be hindered. His purpose He will do. No need to tremble. No need to tremble.

And without question, these three verses are prophetic of the birth of God's holy nation, the Church, both by the resurrection of Christ where we're told in Ephesians 2, 5, and 6 that we were quickened together with him. So that when Christ was raised from the dead, God's holy nation was born in one day. No question at all, there's reference there. And there's also a reference here to the mighty outpouring of God the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as it was described in Joel 2, and then in Acts chapter 2. When Peter preached, the Holy Spirit came upon that place. The Lord Jesus was demonstrated to be the King, sitting upon His throne now, entered into His kingdom, and He pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.

And men began to hear the message of the gospel, and what they heard. Now listen carefully. What they heard was not this nonsense of this charismatic gibberish they call speaking in tongues. They didn't watch I can't imagine anybody thinking that such a thing was so, but they didn't watch the apostles wandering around on the ground, just making strange noises. That is utterly, utterly, utterly ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous to even think such a thing. These fellows were not nuts. These fellows were born of God's Spirit, and they walked with Christ.

But these men, if you count them up, read Acts chapter 2 again. 17 different languages described there. 17 different languages. And the folks sitting there in the congregation heard the apostles speak every man in his own language distinctly. Now that's something. That's something. The Holy Spirit came and caused the world, the gospel, to be preached in such a way, with such divine unction and power, that men who never learned a language spoke seventeen different languages like that. Like that. My soul, how come? Because the signal now that the kingdom door had been enlarged to include the Gentile nations in the gospel goes into all the world. So this is descriptive of the birth of God's church and kingdom as the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and the Spirit of God was poured out upon us.

But it is certainly descriptive of the spiritual birth of God's elect. It is a description of the spiritual salvation of all God's elect. And it tells us three things about it.

First, this salvation. this new birth, this regeneration, this thing that the scriptures call being born again, is a supernatural work of grace. We are compared in the scriptures to a mother, that is the Church of God is. And the Lord tells us in verses seven and eight that before we experience the pain of travail. Now this is a declaration that the birth of God's elect, this is a declaration that the salvation of God's elect that God's calling and regenerating grace is in no way dependent upon or determined by you and I. We do not control the operations of God Almighty before we ever thought about praying. Before we ever thought about praying, Lord of God. He says she brings forth. She brings forth.

And yet, secondly, in verse 8, we see that at the same time While the new birth is a supernatural work of grace, it is also an instrumental work of grace. As soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children. There's no contradiction here, just a statement of fact. A statement of fact that many folks simply can't grasp. God Almighty has deliberately written this book in such a way as to confuse and confound folks who won't bow to it. There's no contradiction here. The Lord God is declaring salvation to be totally the free and sovereign supernatural work of his almighty grace. And at the same time, a work that he accomplishes through the use of human instrumentality, the travail of his people.

As soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children. The instruments God uses in the saving of his elect are the prayers of his people.

I don't know how to talk much about prayer, but I know this. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Some of you have experienced this. Maybe many of you know much more about it than I do.

You ever try to pray for someone? You want to pray for them. You really want to pray for them. But you can't. I mean really, you can't. Everything you utter, as you bow your head, and try to pray, you know, is nothing but your own desire. You know where I'm going with that? You just can't pray.

You see, prayer is not saying words. Prayer is communicating heart to heart with God Almighty. Real prayer, real prayer is the response of the believer's heart to what God has put in him. It's exactly right.

You remember when the prophet came and told David over in 1 Samuel 7, I believe it is, He said, now I'm going to let you gather the material together. You can't build my house. I'm going to let you gather the material together, and I'm going to let you get it all together in your son. Your son is going to stand on your throne forever. And he wasn't talking about Solomon. He was talking about David's great son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And David said, God do exactly what you said, because you put it in your servant's heart to pray this prayer. And he laid hold of God. Real prayer. Praying according to God's will.

Lindsay Campbell, when you begin to pray, I mean, and you know you pray, you know you have, when you begin to pray, it's your heart responding to what God has revealed in you he can do. That's exactly right. Then you pray with confidence.

The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Now that means that there's no praying without divine grace. And yet, we're responsible to pray for one another. And responsible to pray for the birth of God's elect. Our Lord said, pray like this, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Pray for the establishing of God's kingdom. Pray for the saving of God's life. Don't ever neglect that. But seek grace from God to pray. You see the difference? Seek grace from God to pray. I don't know how to say this without appearing to point at myself. You forgive me and God forgive me if that's my intention. But preach it. Preach it. Something more than standing up and giving a lecture on religion. It's something more than standing up and communicating doctrine. It's something more than defending truth. Preaching is getting a message from God Almighty and bringing it with travail of soul to many women on the brink of eternity. It's travail. God says now, as soon as you travail, as soon as you travail, I'm beginning to see a little sign of hope. I hope it's not a delusion. I hear you men beginning to pray for the salvation of chosen sinners. I hear you beginning to call on God, praying for the success of the gospel, maybe, maybe this is of God, maybe. But I know this, when God is pleased to move in mighty way, in saving grace, in gathering his elect, he will cause there to be a travail of souls. and the travail of labor in the ministry. You'll bring it about.

But thirdly, the Lord here tells us that this supernatural work of grace, accomplished through the instrumentality of his people's praying and his servants preaching, is also an effectual work of grace. Look at what he said in verse 9. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? That is, shall I bring my chosen, my redeemed, as a baby being brought through the birth canal and then abort the thing? Just stop! Oh no! Who would ever imagine such a thing from God? Shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb, saith thy God? He said, do you think I'm going to fail in this? Do you imagine that there's any possibility that any of my children shall not be born into my kingdom and my church established? Oh, no. Oh, no. God will establish his work. He'll establish his kingdom. He'll build his church. Though we have many troubles and must endure many sorrows in this world of suffering, in this world of sin, the Lord God has given his children breasts of consolation, full of comforts, and he will comfort his people.

I sat down this week and looked up these passages of Scripture. I can't give them all to you, It's amazing as you read the scriptures to see how that God Almighty delights to assume the title Comforter. He delights to assume the title Comforter. He is called the Comforter of all them that are cast down. In fact, all three persons in the Holy Trinity are expressly called by this title. God the Father is called the God of all comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is called the Consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter whom the Father has sent in Christ's name. What's more, this book, we're told this book, the Bible, the Word of God, was specifically written for our consolation. Specifically so.

In the verses 10 through 13, the Lord God calls us to rejoice and be glad And the basis upon which he issues this call is the promise that he will comfort us. Read with me, verse 10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Read it this way. Rejoice ye with my church and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, O ye that mourn for her, that you may suck and be satisfied with the breast of her consolations, that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then shall you suck You shall be born upon her sides and be dangled upon her knees as one whom his mother comforteth. So will I comfort you. And you shall be comforted in my church in Jerusalem.

I cannot imagine a more vivid expression of God's tender love and care for us than the one that's given here. Try to grasp it if you can. Here the Lord God Almighty portrays himself as a mother. A mother with a baby sucking her breast, tethered in her arms, tethered on her side, dangled upon her knees. I couldn't help but think of this this morning. I saw Jenny sitting back there with Lexus, and as she walked in, they sat down, and Lexus bumped her head or something, just before service started, and she picked her up. Just like we've all done with our babies. That's exactly the picture given. Exactly the picture given.

It is here recorded to remind us of our Heavenly Fathers endearing fondness for us. You see one object of a mother's care for her child is not really the expression of love for the child, but to cultivate love in the child. And God Almighty deals with us with such tenderness, with such kindness, with such care, as to cultivate in our hearts love for Him.

This is certainly intended to express his tender care and attention to all of our needs. The apostle wrote to the Philippians and said, My God shall supply all your need according to his abundant glory, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God will supply all our need. It's certainly intended to portray his loving sympathy for us. in all our troubles.

I don't know how to differentiate between the two, but it's interesting that God should use here a mother's tenderness rather than a father's. Because a father's tenderness, while it is every bit as real and as tender as a mother's, it's shown in a considerably different way, and the mother seems to be more demonstrative in her tenderness. She seems to be more demonstrative in showing her affection and her sympathy and her care.

And so the Lord God says, says, I will take you and hold you in my arms and hold you on my side, nurse you in my breast and bend you on my knees. I'll bend you on my knees so that you understand I am tenderly sympathetic with you always.

Just a whimper. Just a whimper. And Mama grabbed the baby up in her hand. Just a whimpering. Mama grabs the baby and nurses her. Just a whimpering. And Mama runs to see what's wrong with the baby. That's God Almighty. All the tenderness of our Heavenly Father.

And it is intended to show us our Heavenly Father's forbearance with our perverseness. Few things. Few things. are as trying of patience as the perverseness of a son or daughter who has been the object of unceasing love and attention.

I want you children and young people to listen carefully to me for a minute. I refer to my own life and my own horrid evil Hopefully to help you. I speak personally because I don't want you to experience what I've experienced. Don't you go through what I've gone through. Every mother, every father, every adult in this building will bear me witness to what I'm saying. Take great care. Take great care that you do not despise and abuse the love of faithful parents. Take great care of your daughter. If you do, you'll live with the pain of it until you leave this house. I promise you.

It takes, oh, it takes a parent's love to endure what parents often have to endure with their children. Shelby and I have been so blessed with God. We've only had one child. Never spent five minutes in 26 years concerned about what she's doing, where she is. Never had a worry with her. Such a blessing, God's promise.

But I've watched friends, and I have foolishly made this statement. I am being foolish. I said, that's my son. Is that my daughter? No. The only person who makes that statement is the fellow whose son or daughter it is not. It takes a parent's love to endure what parents are forced to endure by reckless, perverse sons and daughters. But no parent ever endured anything close to the perverseness that our Heavenly Father has endured and constantly endures. Nope. The very best of God's saints fall seven times in a day. Every day. In many things, we offend all. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Let me mention just a few of these breaths of consolation we are bidden to suck by faith, that we may find satisfaction for our souls. Notice that we are encouraged here to milk the match, as a baby, as it nurses will. squeeze its mother's breast. That's exactly what God's saying to you. He says, milk out these breasts with faith. Milk out these breasts, squeeze out the consolation so that your soul may be satisfied with Jesus Christ and the consolation provided in Him.

The consolations, these breasts of consolation are the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior, the God-man both in his person and in his work of righteousness and in redemption for us. So whenever your soul is discouraged, whenever you're downcast and you want satisfaction for your soul, go to him and squeeze out consolation from him, the covenant of God's grace. Oh my soul, what blessed, blessed consolation there is here, so that the hand of faith may lay hold of the covenant in its stability and in its fullness and squeeze out consolation, would have said.

God the Holy Spirit, that unction which you have who are born of God, who teaches you all things, that unction which is the seal of your inheritance, that unction which preserves you into the heavenly kingdom, is full of consolation. He's called the Comforter.

The Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament and the New, Don't neglect Jesus. I was driving down the road the other day, Monday I guess it was, listening to the radio, trying to see if there's anything on I hadn't heard before. And some idiot was on the radio down in South Carolina. I forgot his name, but he's not important. He said, there's no gospel till you get past the resurrection. I thought, I must not have heard anybody. And he said it again, he said there's no gospel in the Old Testament, no gospel in the four gospels to get past the resurrection. Can't have any gospel until Christ is crucified and raised from the dead. I thought, were you fool? The scripture says he was crucified before the world was, and raised from the dead before the world was. And the Old Testament and the New Testament is both one book of God for the consolation of our souls. Speak to it that you grab and squeeze out the consolations that are found in it.

the blessed ordinances of the gospel. This morning we joined our newborn sister in the blessed ordinance of baptism. Oh, squeeze out for your soul the consolation of being present when it's observed. Renew your own commitment to Christ. Renew your own allegiance to him. Renew your own soul's attachment to him.

we're about to take this bread and wine once more. Take great care that you never let it become a mundane, meaningless ceremony and ritual. When you eat this bread, feed upon Jesus Christ. When you drink this wine, bathe and that fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's hands. See that you squeeze out the blessed consolations to be found in him.

And of course the ministry of the gospel, the ministry of comfort and edification is such that God has given to his church pastors and teachers to minister to them comfort and edification. And when you come to hear the word squeeze out the consolations to be found in it. Don't be content. Never be content. Never be content to sit in the pew and listen to this man or any other man talk to you and get nothing for your soul. Never be content. Come seeking a word from God. Come seeking the revelation of Christ. Come seeking to see Him, to hear Him, to worship Him, to be approved by Him, to be encouraged by Him. And I promise you, you'll get what you come for. You'll get what you come for.

One last thing. Though God's promises sometimes seem far, far off, they are sure. and they will be fulfilled for our eternal joy and his eternal praise. He says in verse 14, and when you see this, God will do it. God will do it. He will send you peace like a river. He will give you the consolations of And when it's done, you're going to see that he did it. When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, your bones shall flourish as an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants. Remember all this is what he says. When I get done, when I get done, You're going to see that my hand was toward you from everlasting in everything. And we don't. And his indignation toward his enemies. You're going to see. You're going to see. Everything I did, I did for your good and for their destruction. Everything I did. I did in grace to you, and in judgment to the unbelieving, and the hand of the Lord shall be saved."

If you're yet without Christ, without the blessed comfort of the gospel, I bid you come to Him, and find the comfort of grace in Him, to the satisfying of yourself.

Let me finish by saying a word or two to you who love Zion, to you who pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that is, of God's church. One characteristic of God's saints is that they prefer Jerusalem, they prefer the church of God above their chief joy. And the happiness, peace, and comfort God's saints in this world, the happiness, peace, and comfort of God's church in this world, greatly depends upon you and me. Can you imagine, Lindsay, what turmoil it caused in this little congregation, if you and I got involved with each other? That's enough to keep us united with each other. That's enough to keep us joined together heart to heart, heart to heart.

Well, the difference is they ain't worth the dust on your feet. They're not worth wiping off your feet, much less talking about it. God's glory, God's church, God's kingdom is at stake. Therefore, we're bidden to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit."

Next time somebody pulls you to one side, and they say, I don't like the way Brother Potts is doing stuff. I don't like the way Brother Hart's doing stuff. I don't like the way Brother Fortin is doing stuff. I ain't interested in hearing it. You ought not be interested in talking to me. You're not interested. Not interested. That's promote unity, harmony with one another, because more is at stake than your opinion and your feelings. The kingdom of God is at stake. The glory of His name right here in this community is at stake. The honor of the gospel is at stake. So let's honor our God, honor His kingdom, and honor His gospel. Amen.