Let's open our Bibles to the
Gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 63. Here are four words that describe
every child of God in this world. These four words, if you can
remember them, will give you my outline and the title of my
message. and they'll describe you if you
were gods. Afflicted, saved, redeemed, carried. Afflicted, saved, redeemed, carried. Isaiah 63 verse 9. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. and the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the
days of old. What a great description of God's
people What a great description of our blessed Savior, our Redeemer,
our dear carrier of our souls. This is the Savior I need. Let me remind you of the context
and the prominent things in the context of this passage of Scripture.
Chapter 62 closes with a promise of Christ coming into this world
to save his people from their sins. Look at verse 11, Isaiah
62, 11. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold,
thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is with him. and his work before him. Now, the very first thing that
strikes me is this. We are told plainly that God's
salvation is a person. The salvation of God's elect
is a person. Salvation is not a creed, but
a person. Salvation is not a doctrine,
but a person. Salvation is not a confession
of faith, but a person. Salvation is not a religious
ceremony, but a person. Our salvation is Jesus Christ
himself. I love that passage of scripture
in Luke 2, when Simeon, that old man who'd been waiting for
the consolation of Israel, saw the Lord Jesus as he was brought
into the temple to be circumcised, and he took him up in his arms
and said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. God's salvation is his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God, the revelation
of God, the light, the way, the truth. He is the life. He is
the resurrection. He is the consolation of Israel.
He is our Redeemer and our redemption. He is our Savior and our salvation. Salvation's a person. Get that
first. Then we're told that his reward
is with him. His reward is with him. But what
is the reward that he brings with him? Now, remember, this
is a prophecy of our Savior's coming to save his people. And
the scripture says, behold, his reward is with him. When he comes
into the world, comes forth from his mother's womb and says, lo,
I come to do thy will, oh my God, coming to save his people
from their sins. Behold, his reward is with him,
already with him. What's that reward? Look at verse
12. And they shall call them, who? His reward. They shall call them
the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be
called sought out, a city not forsaken. His reward is his people. His reward is his church and
his kingdom. The Father gave him his people
as the reward of his soul's travail as our Redeemer and Savior who
died for us at Calvary. But he comes with his people. How can that be? Because we are
forever one with Christ. Understand this, all how it will
help you through the difficulties of life. Our union with Christ
is an eternal union. We were one with him in the covenant
of grace before the world began. One with him when he died, the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. One with him when
he came into this world, walking on this earth as an obedient
representative man. One with him when he died at
Calvary, and we're one with him now. Our union with Christ has
never changed in the experience of time. We only come to experience
the blessedness of that union when we're brought into life
union with Christ by faith in him through the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit. But the union was always there.
How long has he stood as my representative before God? How long has he been
my surety? How long has he been my life? That long I've had life in him. We were with him when he came.
His reward is with him. His people are here called the
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. sought out a city not
forsaken. Thou shalt be called the redeemed
of the Lord. Thou shalt be called a holy people. Thou shalt be called sought out
a city not forsaken. This is the work that was before
him. He came here with this work before
him to make us a holy people. to make us a redeemed people,
purchased by His blood, delivered by His grace from all the consequences
of the fall, to make us a people sought out. He came here to seek
and save that which was lost. He came here to make us a people
ever preserved by His grace and preserved in union with Him,
a city not forsaken. Read on. Look at chapter 63,
verses one through five. Here our Lord Jesus is described
as one glorious in his apparel, glorious in his dress, in his
apparel as our great substitute. Glorious in his apparel. Stop
and think about that. Glorious in his apparel. did the best I could to dress
up best I know how on the day I got married, June 1st, 1969. I looked as good as I could and
then I got through playing the cue and they opened the door
and I looked back and saw Shelby standing back there and I thought,
wow. Now she was glorious in her apparel. Glorious in her apparel. You
think of glorious apparel, you think of apparel that makes one
stand out with a glory, a majesty, a beauty beyond any others. Let's read about his. Who is
this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Basra, this
that is glorious in his apparel, traveling through the world,
traveling through the ages of time, In the greatness of his
strength, I that speak in righteousness might you to save. Wherefore
art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine vat? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. None to help
me, none to assist me, none to aid me, none to care for me.
For I will tread them in mine anger." Tread who? These people. These whom he's
going to make the holy people. these who are the redeemed of
the Lord, these who are sought out by his grace. He's come to
tread them because he cannot and will not make us his people,
a holy people. He cannot redeem us except he
tread us beneath the feet of justice and wrath in his execution
of us by his righteousness in judgment. And so he comes, and
as our representative, and we in him, suffer the wrath of God
in our room instead. Read on. I'll tread them in mine
anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. Is this his glorious apparel?
Indeed it is. for the day of vengeance is in
my heart and the year of my redeem is come. The day of vengeance
and the year of God's redeemed is one day. The day when God
executes strict justice and the day when God bestows indescribable
mercy. The day when God in absolute
holiness punishes us for sin and the day when God delivers
us from sin. You understand that, Brandon?
Christ Jesus could not put away your sin without punishing you
to the full satisfaction of justice for your sin. And he did it in
himself. This is the year of his redeemed. Read on. And I looked, and there
was none to help. And I wondered that there was
none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury It upheld me. Where did he obtain
this glory, this strength, this might to save? It was at Calvary. For there he trod the winepress
of the fierceness of the wrath of God alone. There he stained his raiment
with our blood. There he satisfied all the furious
vengeance of God against us. And there when he cried, it is
finished, he brought in an everlasting righteousness and an everlasting
salvation by his own arm. Now, look at verse 7, Isaiah
63, 7. All this grace, all this great
salvation in and by our Lord Jesus is here traced to its fountain. I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all
that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according
to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. This portion of Isaiah's prophecy
refers to the achievements of our blessed Lord Jesus, the achievements
of our Savior upon the cursed tree, the mighty conquest of
the captain of our salvation over sin and death and hell,
and the consequent victory that he accomplishes in us by the
operations of his grace by his Holy Spirit through the gospel.
This he calls the year of my redeemed. This gospel age, the
year of the redeemed began with his first coming and continues
until the end of the age, the end of time, when he comes and
lifts his hands to heaven and says, behold, I make all things
new. Here is our mighty savior who
made an end of all our sins. brought in an everlasting righteousness.
And now, before the face of his father, he speaks in righteousness
for us. And by his Holy Spirit, reveals
to us the precious fact that he has obtained eternal redemption
for us by the sacrifice of himself. On the ground of his own obedience,
on the ground of his personal accomplishments as our mediator,
he speaks to the father for us. And on the ground of that same
obedience, his personal accomplishments for us, he speaks to us for the
Father and declares it is finished. He, our Savior, is mighty to
save. He saved us by the mighty operations
of grace in his sovereign purpose before the world began. I hope
you never blush to declare to men, salvation was done from
eternity. The works we're told in Hebrews
chapter six were finished from the foundation of the world.
God hath saved us and called us, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. How can that be done? Only by a surety, only by a substitute,
only by a mystical union that God himself has made between
his people and his son, our covenant surety. God accepted us in the
beloved, that lamb slain from the foundation of the world and
gave us all grace in Christ before the world began. Nothing in time. will ever alter what God did
in eternity. Nothing in time will ever alter
what God did in eternity. Not our fall in our father Adam,
not our going astray from our mother's womb speaking lies,
not the years of our rebellion and unbelief against God, not
the times of our horrible fall since he's called us by his grace,
not our temptations, not our failures, nothing in time can
add to or take from what God did for us in eternity. He saved
us and called us with a holy calling. Our Savior, mighty to
save, saved us in his substitutionary accomplishments at Calvary. when
he bare our sin in his own body on the tree. When the Lord Jesus
died upon the cursed tree, the just for the unjust, enduring
all the fury of his father's holy wrath as our substitute. When he had finished the work,
he cries, it is finished. And justice was satisfied. Sin
was put away. We were justified and accepted
because of what he did at Calvary. Now I know folks want to argue.
They say, well, If this was done from eternity, that means it
wasn't necessary in time. I actually had a fellow some
years back, he got to wanting to do yak a lot, and I paid no
attention to him, so I wrote some preachers, wrote Brother
Gene Harmon out in California, I was fixing to go out there
and preach, and he said, you know, Brother Fortner doesn't
believe the death of Christ at Calvary was necessary. He knew better, and she knew
better. He said, you must not have heard what he said, and
said a whole ton of things. What he was declaring is that
if you say that this was done from eternity, then you say the
work at Calvary wasn't necessary. Oh, no. Oh, no. That which was
done in eternity makes necessary what's done in time and guarantees
that it shall be done. So the work of Calvary was just
as necessary as that which was done in eternity. Not only did
he save us from eternity in eternity and save us in time at Calvary,
he saved us and called us with an holy calling by the mighty
operations of his grace by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven
when he opened heaven's doors and dropped his grace into our
hearts, giving us faith in Jesus Christ. We're saved by faith. And faith in Christ, now I'm not looking for something
to say, I just want you to hear me, is just as necessary as the
blood of Christ and the purpose of God. You get that? Faith in Christ is just as necessary
as the blood of Christ at Calvary and the purpose of God in eternity.
Well, faith is not meritorious. I'm glad you know that. I'm tickled
to death, you understand that, but it's necessary. God doesn't
save sinners apart from faith in Christ. That faith in Christ
is the gift of God. It's the mighty operation of
his grace. It is something God works in you, but it is just
as necessary as the blood of Christ shed at Calvary. You must
believe on the Son of God. You must believe on the Son of
God. Now hear this. He that believeth on the Son
of God shall have everlasting life. And that's not what the
book says. That's not what it says. That
is not what it says. He that believeth on the Son
of God, H-A-T-H, everlasting life. Your faith
in Christ is the result of God giving you life in Christ. Believe
on the Son of God. And your faith in Him is God's
evidence from heaven that He's given you life in His Son. Your
faith in Him is the evidence of the call. Your faith in Him
is the fruit of the Spirit. Your faith in Him is God's own
declaration to you that you're His. Believe on the Son of God
and eternal life is yours. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. It's not possible to believe
on the Son of God and not be saved. It's not possible for a sinner
to believe on the Son of God and not be saved. It's not possible. You mean to say, Pastor, if I trust Christ, I go home
tonight not guilty before God. I go home tonight with my soul,
my conscience, my heart, my life washed clean in the fountain
of Christ's precious blood. You mean if I believe on the
Son of God, all grace and glory is mine forever? If you believe,
Christ is yours. You have everlasting life. Oh, God help you then to believe
on the Son of God. This one who is our savior is
mighty to save. I wonder if there's anybody here
deep in the dungeon of despondency. Anyone crushed beneath the horrid
load of guilt and sin? Anyone harassed with doubt and
fear? Anyone tossed upon the billows
of a raging sea of trouble that you cannot seem to escape? Anyone
who cries like the patriarch of old, all these things are
against me. Anyone fallen like Peter? Anyone who must cry as you hear
the word of God preached and read to you, I sleep. Will you
hear me, my brother? Will you hear me, my sister?
This Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, He is mighty to save. Mighty to save. And He saves
all who on Him call. The Lord Jesus Christ is mighty
to save us from all our sins, all our sufferings, and all our
sorrows. all the evil that would grieve
us, and all the error that would deceive us, and all the raging
corruption that is within us. Someone described his salvation
like this. It is a salvation which God could
not mend, and devils cannot mar. This Savior, this salvation,
you see, doesn't depend on you. It doesn't depend on you at all,
ever, to any degree, at any point. His salvation is not bestowed
according to the measure of our faith, but according to the measure
of His grace. His salvation is not given by
the merit of our works, but by the merit of his blood. His salvation
is not sustained by the length of our faithfulness, but by the
length of his faithfulness. We are not saved by our goodness,
but by His great goodness. We're not kept by our power,
but by the power of God that's given us in Christ Jesus. You
understand this? Salvation doesn't depend on you. It doesn't depend on anything
in you. Salvation's His work, His gift,
His prerogative. I'm weak, and you're weak. I'm
sinful, and you're sinful. I can do nothing, and you can
do nothing. And how often, deathless, do
we find ourselves in difficulty wanting to believe God? You ever
been there? You ever been there? You want to believe God, and
you just can't. You just can't. So you pace the
floors and bite your nails and wring your hands and try to pray
and you want to believe God, and you just can't. And you sink
lower and lower in despondency and darkness, and you want to
believe God, and you just can't. And then the Lord God, by His
grace, gives you grace to believe. You see, if you believe God right
now, it's because he gives you grace to believe. If you have
the blessed joy of right now resting in Christ, it's because
he gives you the blessed rest of his grace. He says, my God
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. And this one who is mighty to
save declares to every sinner who trusts him, my grace is sufficient
for thee. Like you, I've got some friends
right now enduring some hard, hard trials. I left one this afternoon, I
said, if there's anything I can do, don't you hesitate to call
me. You know what that means, Claire? That means I'm sorry, but I know
there's nothing I can do. Nothing I can do. I can't take
away any pain. I can't take away any hurt. I
can't give any strength. I can't, I can't, Make them lay
on the pillow of God's goodness and grace. I'm utterly helpless. But His grace, the image out
of God, is sufficient for you, and He will prove it at His time. He will graciously come to you
at his time, and graciously make himself known to you at his time,
and graciously intervene at his time, and you'll find his time
to be the best time. Now look at the next thing, look
at verse eight. For he said, surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their savior. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Children that will not lie, they're not one here. They're not one
here. Not from the pulpit here to the
person sitting in the back. We lie all the time. We put on
a mask all the time. We don't dare let anybody know
what's really going on in us anytime. What's he talking about? Children that will not lie. He's
not referring to us in our Father Adam and referring to us in our
fallen state. He's referring to us in our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus, and referring to us, Dwayne, called by His
grace. His children won't lie. His children will tell the truth
about Him and about themselves. Turn to 1 John 1. Hold your hands
here in Isaiah. Turn to 1 John 1. Let me show
you. These children who will not lie
are those who bow before him confessing what sinners they
are. Owning the sovereignty of his grace that plucked them as
brands from the burning and gave them a place among his children.
Acknowledging the efficacy of his blood that has put away their
sin and the perfection of his righteousness that makes them
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now,
this is exactly what John tells us. Every heaven-born soul walks
in the light and will not lie before God. 1 John 1, verse 7. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Cleanseth, notice
that, present tense. Now wait a minute, he did that
at Calvary. He did that before the world was. Yeah, he did,
didn't he? And it does it as we walk before him, honestly
trusting him, confessing our sin, so that our consciences
constantly are cleansed by his blood, by the application of
his grace. Look at verse eight. If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, if we confess our sins, What's
that talking about? Confess our sins. Boy, I need
to come to the church and get before the church and the elders
and the pastor and tell them about the bad things I've done.
No, we don't need to hear that. I got enough of my own to deal
with. I don't need to hear it. What's it talking about? Confess
your sins. It's not talking about naming them and identifying them
and explaining them. That's not it. It's talking about
ripping your heart open before God. To confess your sin to a man,
that's easy. He's just a man like you. But
to rip your heart open before God, hide nothing before God,
if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
Now watch this, I'm fixing to do something. If I say I have not sinned, we
make him a liar and his word is not in us. What are you talking
about? Even the plowing of the wick
is an abomination to God. You can't do anything and it
not involve sin. And the believer understands
that. We recognize, acknowledge, and confess our sin continually
before God, looking to Christ alone, and in Christ Jesus the
Lord, we declare, with His holy garments on, I'm as holy as God's
own Son, as I confess my sin. Children that will not lie. Therefore,
Because he has declared, surely they are my people, children,
that will not lie. So he was their savior. Now, let's look at our text,
and I'll wrap this up with these four words. In all their affliction,
he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. And he bared them, and carried
them all the days of old. Afflicted. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. Now if you're taking notes or
if you don't mind writing it in the margin of your Bible or
under the letters, somehow underscore this when you read Isaiah 63
9, all. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. Nothing excepted. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. Take this in the widest possible
sense. In fact, I recommend that you
do that with everything you read in this book. Apply it just as
far, just as extensively, just as wide as you possibly can,
and you haven't come close to getting to the end. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. To understand this correctly,
we must know this sympathizer, this savior, this redeemer, this
carrier. He who is God, in undivided union
with the Father, became one of his tempted, tried children that
he might be afflicted in all our afflictions. He left the
heights of heaven's glory. I preached Sunday morning on
God's sovereignty out of Daniel chapter 4. One of our men met
me at the door after service and he said, The most astounding
thing I can grasp concerning God's sovereignty is that this
sovereign God stepped into humanity and bore my sin and died in my
stead at Calvary. He who is God over all, blessed
forever. He who is the infinite Jehovah
came here in human flesh that he might suffer that which we
suffer, that he might bear our infirmities, our diseases, our
sicknesses, our sins in his body as our substitute and thereby
be a merciful and faithful and sympathizing high priest touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. When I have a better apprehension
of difficulties, when I've gotten through the dark part of heavy
trials, I'm always thankful for the experience. And one part
of the reason is this. By those things that I experience,
I'm able to help you in your experience of those same things
with feeling, with passion, with some empathy. I can enter into
what you're going through when I've been there. There are many things you endure
that I can't go through. I can't enter into them. I don't
know what they are. I've never been there. But we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Oh, my heart ought to leap with
joy at that statement. This blessed Savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ, is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. There's no spiritual poverty
I can be brought into, but that my precious Christ has been there
before me. Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that you might be made rich. Do I know
and feel myself stripped of everything through the transgression of
Adam? Do I know by painful experience that I'm wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, and naked? Do I know what it is to be made
sin before the thrice holy Lord God? Do I know what it is to
be without God? To be utterly forsaken of God? To be justly cursed of God? My
Savior knows infinitely better than I. He was led in the spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Mark puts that
another way. He was driven of the spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. See him in dark
Gethsemane as he anticipates being made
sin for us. I mentioned in my message to
our folks last week at the conference The type given in Ezekiel 4,
Ezekiel laying on his side, bearing the iniquities of Israel and
Judah, and is given a small loaf of grain bread to eat. And God told him first to smear
it over with human waste. And Ezekiel called on God, he
said, all right, you can use cow's dung instead. And by those
things to defile himself. Brother Bruce Crabtree called
me the other day and he said, I've been thinking about that
all day long. He said, can you imagine how
Ezekiel must have gagged and choked and vomited as he ate
that piece of grain bread with cow's dung smeared on it? So
our savior was driven of the spirit. to be made sin for us
and to experience all the consequence of sin made his when he stood
as our substitute before God. But Brother Don, we're talking
about our afflictions. If Bob, he endured the greater,
he surely has endured the smaller. If he knows what it is for you
in the throes of Holy Spirit conviction to be stripped and
naked and poor and broken before God, guilty before God, and he's
touched with that, so he is touched with every trial and every heartache
and every trouble. He's able to succor them that
are tempted. I love that word. I love it.
Not a word we use much in our modern language. It's more than
help. More than help. To succor is
to help with feeling. It is to help with feeling. Our Lord Jesus, our mighty Redeemer, sits on
the throne of glory. And he stoops in loving kindness
and great goodness to help with feeling his tempest-tossed troubled
hurting people on this earth. Afflicted. The next word. And the angel of his presence
saved them. Saved. Saved by grace. Saved from sin. Saved from hell. Saved from death. All of that, yes. But saved in
the midst of affliction and trouble and heartache. Turn back to Daniel
chapter three for a moment. I'll let you in on a message
I'm working on. Daniel chapter three. I was turning the wrong
way. Daniel chapter three. This is a passage where Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar had made this image of himself,
and those fellows trying to destroy Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
persuaded Nebuchadnezzar to make a law, say, if anybody doesn't
bow down and worship at your image, then they'll be cast into
the burning fiery furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar said, whoopee,
that'd be a good idea. And so he made the ordinance,
made the law. And then it was reported to him that Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to his image. And Nebuchadnezzar
came to him, and he said, he said, now, you fellows, I'm going
to give you one more chance. Y'all bow down to this image and worship
it, or you're going to be thrown into the fiery furnace. And they
said, we don't have to have a vote on this. It's one thing we don't
have a business meeting about. We're not going to bow down and
worship your image. And Nebuchadnezzar throws them into the fiery furnace.
And the men who threw them in were consumed with the fire.
That's a hot furnace. But Nebuchadnezzar, after the
furnace has cooled off a little bit, looks over, he said, how
many folks did I throw in that furnace? I said, three, king.
He said, there's four down there. And one of them's the son of
God. I had no idea how he knew that.
That's what he said. And Nebuchadnezzar commanded
that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought up out of the furnace.
And the only thing they lost in the furnace, the only thing
they lost in the furnace were the cords that tied them. You got that? The only thing
that, they didn't even have the smell of fire on them. They didn't
smell like they'd been out in the smoking area anywhere. They
just smelled fresh as morning. And their enemies were cast into
the fire furnace. And they were promoted. And this
is what Nebuchadnezzar says concerning that. There is no other God that
can deliver after this sort. How's that? Our God came down
here in our flesh, and he walks through the fire
with us. He's the one who kindles the
fire, He's the one who puts us in the furnace, even if he uses
Nebuchadnezzar to do it. He's the one who puts us in the
furnace. He walks with us in the fire and he brings us out
of the fire and we lose nothing but only gain through the fire. Oh, child of God, hear me, hear
me, hear me. You will never suffer loss by
the trial God gives you. I could take a poll of these
older saints here. You look back on your time in
this world, and the heartaches, and the trials, the weeping,
the sighing, the crying, Not one of those things, not
one of those things that have caused my heart heaviness would
I ever have chosen ahead of time. Not one of them. I would, I've
been like your pastor, been through cancer. I wouldn't choose that.
No, believe me, I wouldn't choose that. I know what it is to be
on a sick bed for a while. I wouldn't choose that. I wouldn't
choose that. I know what it is to go through seizes when God
wouldn't speak to me and wouldn't let me speak to him. And I wouldn't
choose it. I wouldn't choose it. But looking
back, I wouldn't change a thing. Not one thing. Not one thing. And I don't even see yet what
God's done. Just a little bit. Just a little
bit. Oh, when we reach heaven's glory,
We shall spend eternity looking over the Alps of time and see
God's hand of providence and give him praise for the wonders
of his works. There is no God able to save
after this sort. Our God takes his afflicted ones
and is afflicted with them and saves them out of all their troubles. and redeems us. Redeemed by blood,
yes. Redeemed in the calling of his
grace, yes. And at last redeemed in resurrection
glory. These bodies shall be raised
up from the dead and we shall reign with Christ forever. And
then he says, he carried them. He carried them. Carried them
all their days of old. were I to attempt a single step
without him, without his strength, without the support of his arm, I would fall right now. But the Father sent him, and
he came willingly to redeem and save, to sympathize and carry
our poor, weak, needy souls, and carry us, he will, as a gentle
shepherd carries his lambs on his broad shoulders. Carry us,
he will, as a nursing mother carries her infant child on her
breast in times of danger and difficulty. Turn to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46. Through every danger and every
difficulty, he carries us until he lands us safe in glory with
him. Look at verse three, Isaiah 46. hearken unto me, O house of Israel,
O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel,
which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb, and even to your old age I am he, and even to whore
hairs will I carry you. I am made, I will bear, Even
I will carry and will deliver you. So come what may from earth.
Come what may from hell. Come what may from within. Come
what may from without. Our savior, our redeemer assures
us. I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee. And I proved it again and again
and again. Amen.