It's so good to see you, and
I thank the Lord for allowing all of us to be here together. I thank God for what I heard
last night, Gabe, Chris, and I pray the Lord be pleased to
bless us today. I need to hear. I need some comfort. I pray the Lord open our ears,
give us some understanding. I'd like to look at Isaiah chapter
12. Isaiah 12. You know, the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ rejoices to hear the glorious truth of God's mercy and compassion
to sinners. You know, when we hear of mercy,
what that means is we're guilty. We're guilty. He rejoices to
hear again and again that His mercy was not based upon man's
will, but upon God's will. He rejoices to behold in the
scriptures that God's will and purpose to show mercy was not
only according to his will, but his timing when it pleased God. He rejoices especially to know
that the Lord who has mercy upon sinners has been pleased to have
mercy upon himself. God's gonna save his people. Oh, he can relate to that thief
on the cross. Lord, near and dear unto your kingdom,
would you remember me? Have mercy upon me. He's like
old blind Barnabas, heard the Lord passing by, Jesus, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me." Oh, and he rejoices to hear the
precious promises of Almighty God concerning the joy that his
people have and shall have Now, just for a few minutes, I want
to look at this precious passage of Scripture, Isaiah chapter
12. I want to say that this is not
only a confession, a confession of myself, but I'm convinced
this is a confession of every believer that's sitting here
today. all listed here what the lord
has to say i say a twelve one in in that day you know it's not that a believer
looks somebody be telling you know i i remember when the lord
saved me it was you know july the seventh you know nineteen
whatever two thousand water back to thirty an afternoon no a believer
said i I can tell you when I remember when the Lord was pleased to
speak to my heart. What day was it? I don't know.
I don't know. But there was a time in that
day. I know that there was a time
when we go from darkness to light. I don't know when it was, Frank.
In that day, in that day of regenerating grace. And in that day, thou
shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortest me. In that day, Oh, Jehovah, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital T, you who are the covenant God, you who were pleased to set your
affection on me, not because of anything you saw. I know you
looked. The Lord looked to see if there were any You know there
were none good, not one. But Lord, because it pleased
you to choose me in Christ, because Lord Jesus, you as my
surety and redeemer, Lord my God, you redeemed me. and Holy Spirit you called me
out of darkness, and sealed me, and taught me, and lead me. In
that day, thou shalt save. I love the surety of God's Word. Here's what he said, you're gonna
save this. You're going to save. Lord, I
will praise thee. I'm gonna thank you, you who
know him. Aren't we thankful? Not as we
should be, not as we will be, but we're
thankful. I will praise thee, I'll thank
you, confess you. I will praise thee though thou
wast angry with me. and angers turned away to comfort
me. I'm going to say of you that
which you've said of yourself. Isaiah 45, 5 is what he said. I am the Lord and there's none
else, there's no God beside me. Every believer says there is
no God but Him. I will praise you because you're
the only one worthy of praise and thanksgiving. And though
thou wast angry, that is displeased with me. The one deserving of
wrath, thine anger, I looked that up, thine anger, I want
to make sure I knew it, your rapid breathing is turned away Every believer knows this. Through
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 324, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. But though He chastens us now, I know this,
His anger Just turned away. And he comforts me. He comforts
me. I was sitting just a few moments
ago and thinking back. I've told a few of you last night.
Oh, I just rejoice in the preciousness of those things that we heard. Especially, Chris, that nursery
rhyme, I come to you in weakness. It doesn't matter how long the
Lord's been pleased to allow a man to preach. When you step behind this pulpit,
Donny, you know this, you realize something. You realize something
of yourself. Weak. But listen to this, precious. When I'm weak, that I'm strong,
not in me, but in Him. Thou comfortest me. I got three of my kids sitting
here this morning. And I think about every time
that I had to correct them. Growing up, that was often. Often. One in particular. And Never, I think he'll all
tell you this is so, never did I have to spank him. It just
broke my heart. I think, you know, why? I'd spank him, but then I'd take
him and put him on my knee, hold him, kiss him, tell him I loved
him. I love you. I love you. I had
to do that. Why? Because I love you. I love
you. I can't let you go like that. I don't know how to correct you,
but hold them and comfort them. Comfort to them, comfort to me.
Hold me. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine angers turned away, and thou comfortest me. Oh, I think
how often this passage of Scripture comes back to my mind. I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Lord,
thank you. Thank you. In that day, thou
shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast angry
with me, thine angers turned away, and thou comfortest me. And also you're going to say,
behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He's also become
my salvation. Behold. Listen to what the Spirit's saying.
He said you're gonna say this you're gonna say it I Think again
about the surety of God's promise Not I wish you'd say it not.
I hope you say it you shall say behold God is my salvation God
is my deliverance and God is my victory. Turn over to Isaiah
25. Isaiah 25.8. Isaiah 25.8. He will swallow
up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from all faces, and the rebuke of His people shall He
take away from off the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it."
And His Word is not going to return unto Him void. It's going
to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. Behold, God
is my salvation. God is my Savior. And of His
people, He is their Savior according to God's everlasting covenant
of grace, promised in God's Word, sent in time. The Lord came into
this world, revealed as the author and finisher of our faith. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust. My confidence is gonna be in
Him. Now this is according to His
will, His purpose. This is what you're gonna say.
Faithful is He that calleth you who will do it. It is God that
worketh in you to will and do it. His good purpose. I think
to myself, I don't have any ability to do this. For me to say I'm
of myself, I will, I'll never, Lord, thank you. Thank you for
your confidence, your trust, your power. I will trust and
not be afraid. What's the confidence that a
believer has when he takes his last breath? That he'll be with the Lord.
The Lord promised his people. His spirits assured it. Many of you have lost loved ones
in your life. Last April, my mom had moved
from central Louisiana up to West Virginia. She was in a little
assisted living facility, and I was I was there with her. The doctor had told me that it
was probably going to be her last day. So I was there, sat
there with her all day. And she was struggling to breathe
a little bit, but there was a moment when her breathing changed. I mean, it was as obvious as
anything can be. Her breathing changed. And the
aide that was with me told me, said, you may want to come sit
with her. And I watched her just breathe
a little bit more slowly. She'd take a breath and blow
it out. And it got slower and slower
than that last time. And I thought to myself, based
upon her confession, trust in Christ, she's with the Lord. Based on God's Word, God was her salvation. She trusted
and left this world trusting, not afraid. I will trust and
not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He is my strength. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. That's the song of their heart. He promised eternal life. He promised, I'm not going to
perish. What else do you have? I don't
have anything. That's my song. Turn with me to Revelation 5,
Revelation chapter 5, verse 9. Revelation 5, verse 9 and 10. When the lamb had taken the book
out of the hand of him on the throne, the scriptures say concerning
the saints, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was
slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue, people, and nation has made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. That's a
new song, new every day, a new song that The world doesn't know
anything about it. It's new to God's people. It's fresh. Every time, the Lord's
pleased to bring Himself in the preaching of the gospel, fellowship
with God's people. There's a song that they sing
in the heart, a song that you can't teach somebody. God's got
to teach them. But that, I know it's a song of praise
and adoration. God is my salvation, I'll trust,
I'll not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song. And he has also become my salvation. What does that
mean? He exists as my salvation. He's accomplished my salvation. He's become my salvation. He's
the author of it, the finisher of it. Therefore, verse 3, with joy
shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. Because his
anger's turned away, the older I get, I appreciate
Todd having me. I think about the first time
that I was here. It was a long time ago. And I
think to myself, I'm so thankful that the Lord would give me the
privilege and honor to still want to be here, to come be with
God's people. But I think to myself, every
time that we come together, we think on Him, the joy that we
have drawing the water, drawing forth by faith of Him who is
the water of life out of the wells of salvation. To hear it, it's just fresh. His anger's turned away, He's
accomplished my salvation with joy. We draw, John 7, turn to
John 7, you know this passage. John chapter 7, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me. and drink, he that believeth
on me." That was a good illustration. I was thinking about that illustration
gave a lady that's found with child. You know, we all see her
and we believe in her. Yeah, she's with child. That
child lives on her. He that believeth on me, he that
trusts me, cast himself upon me. As the scripture saith, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Therefore with
joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day, verse four and
five, shall you say, praise the Lord. call upon His name, declare
His doings among the people, make mention that His name is
exalted, sing unto the Lord, for He hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Only a believer praises and thanks
the Lord. A part from his regenerating
grace, new heart, removing a heart of stone and giving him a heart
of flesh, a new spirit, a new attitude, a new heart that loves
him, longs for him, calls upon him. You know who we thank? Outside of the grace of God,
I thank me. I've been able to accomplish,
I've been able to hang in there, I've been able to do. Oh, but
in that day, shall you say, thank you. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Call on his
name. Someone say, well, I called on
the Lord. Let me tell you what a believer's doing right now.
You call on him right now. i came to the lord this is what
a believer is doing he that cometh unto me i've told different ones you
know i breathed yesterday i breathed yesterday i got up this morning
i was breathing yesterday i mean yesterday i breathed in this
morning but you know what I thank the Lord that he just
gave me a breath. He that cometh, right now, he
that cometh and cometh and cometh, he that cometh, I will in no
wise cast out. A believer is saying, Lord, draw
me, draw me. Lord, please don't leave me.
Lord, give me a heart to come again and again and again. In that day, shall you say, praise
the Lord, call on His name, declare His doings among the people. Make mention that His name is
exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for He's
done excellent things. Oh, I think of the excellent
things that he's done for his people. But if you don't mind,
I thank God for what he's done for me again. I just told you,
this is gonna be like a personal word of testimony. But I know
this, this is the word of testimony of every one of God's people.
He's done some excellent things. What's he done, Marvin? He was
pleased to look on me and his son and not leave me to myself. When he went to the cross, by
the grace of God, I believe this, I believe that when he went to
Calvary, just like the priest, the Old Testament had those stones
on his breastplate, two stones, had the names written, tribes
of Israel, Let me tell you what's comforting to me. That when he
went to the cross, he had Marvin Steinecker on his heart. That he thought on me. I must say, will you really believe
that he thought and knew everyone that he was dying for? I absolutely
believe that. Why would you believe that? Because
he's God. And he's not a man. I can't think
of but one thing at a time. But he's God. You sing unto the Lord for he's
done excellent things and he's known in all the earth. By everybody? No. But all that know him know
him. He's known of them. And they
all believe the same thing. They believe just exactly what
every believer believes. You truly believe that He's everlastingly
stood as your surety? I sure do. Do you believe that He ever liveth
to make intercession for His people? Yes, I do. And I'm so thankful. You believe that when He shed
that blood, that He shed it for you, and now when Almighty God
sees the blood. Not because of what I've done,
not because of what I am in myself. When I see the blood, I'm going
to pass over you. Now that's a comfort to me. That's
comfort. Do you really believe that He's
prepared a place? I go to prepare a place for you
that where I am, there you may be also. You believe that? Yes,
I do. Yes, I do. You believe He's coming back?
Yes, I do. You believe when He separates
sheep and the goat, you'll be found in Him? By God's grace,
I do. Verse 6, cry out and shout, thou
inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in
the midst of thee. Cry out, cry out and shout, you
that know Him, you that know him by grace and
mercy thou inhabitant of zion what are you shouting about?
what are you crying out about? I'm going to cry and shout out
about him for great is the holy one of israel in the midst of
thee I told you a few minutes ago
I'm so glad I can be here with you sharing these precious moments
with you you know who i'm thankful to hear where two or three are gathered
together in my name there am i i'd just stop for a minute
and think the lord's here the lord's here you believe that yes i do Yes,
I do. And so I'm going to shout that
out. I'm going to cry out. Those that have been made to
be the partakers of the grace of God, you shout out, He's great. He's marvelous. Oh, what a song
that's been given. What a confession. A song of
praise and honor unto Him. His anger's been turned away
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is our salvation. Not our will, not our choice,
not our baptism. God is our salvation. And God's
people are not ashamed of that. Not ashamed of the gospel, not
ashamed of this truth. Not a shame. This message that
honors Him, this is the power of God unto salvation. And I pray that God be pleased
to bless it. I pray He bless it to me. I pray
He bless it to you. For His glory and our eternal
good. Amen.