Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 63? I found this passage to be very
similar to the one we read from Psalm 85. And I want to read
our text, I want to read verses seven down to the end of the
chapter. And I've entitled the message for tonight. Personal
revival. And I dare say that every one
of us feels a need, just like the psalmist said, to be revived. Wilt thou not revive us again? And I want us to look at this
passage of scripture regarding personal revival. And let's read it together, beginning
in verse seven. 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 lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their Savior. 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. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he was turned to be
their enemy, and he fought against them. Then he remembered the
days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he that brought
them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where
is he that put his Holy Spirit within him, that led them by
the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the
water before them to make himself an everlasting name, that led
them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness that they should
not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit
of the Lord caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people
to make thyself a glorious name." Now a prayer begins, and this
prayer really does not end until the last of chapter 64. We'll
look at 64 next week, but he now begins this prayer. He says, Look down from heaven
and behold, from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory,
Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and
of thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained? Doubtless, thou art our Father. Though Abraham be ignorant of
us and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, O Lord, art our Father,
our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting.
O Lord, Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened
our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servant's sake.
The tribes of thine inheritance, the people of thy holiness have
possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden
down thy sanctuary. We are thine. Thou never bearest
rule over them. They were not called by thy name." Revival. Oh, that the Lord would
be pleased to bless us with that tonight. Now, from verse 15 down
to the end of Chapter 64, we have a prayer. Of Isaiah's. And he's speaking really is the
representative of every God's every one of God's people when
he prays this prayer. It's a prayer for personal revival. Look what he says in chapter
64, verse one, oh, that thou would win the heavens and that
thou would come down, that the mountains might flow down at
thy presence. And he goes on praying for the
presence of the Lord. Now, like the psalmist did, did
you notice in reading that psalm in Psalm 85, he says, you've
taken away all your wrath and all your anger, but why are you
mad at us? Why are you angry with us? Why are we facing this?
I mean, it almost sounds like he's contradicting himself. But
this sounds very similar in this passage of scripture. Now, let's
begin in verse 7 of Isaiah, chapter 63. And Isaiah begins with God's
grace. He says in verse 7, I will mention
the loving kindnesses of the Lord. Now, what is meant by the
loving-kindnesses of the Lord. He says, I will mention the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord. And he mentioned seven or eight
things as we go on reading in this passage of Scripture. But
what does Isaiah mean when he speaks of the loving-kindnesses
of the Lord? You know, I read this once, and I really like
it. Loving-kindness is the Old Testament word for grace. If
you want to understand God's grace, understand how He bestows
His loving-kindness. Now, hold your finger there and
turn to Psalm 51 for just a moment. Now, the setting of this song
is David's prayer of confession before the Lord, his repentance. He had been guilty. Now, you
think about this. Put yourself in this man's place. He had been
guilty of adultery, sexual sin. He had been guilty of premeditated
murder. He actually killed somebody. Now, that's what this man was
guilty of. He was guilty of great sexual
sin. And he brought much reproach
upon the Lord through his sexual sin. And he killed somebody. I mean, he murdered him. Well, I don't know what else
to say about it. I mean, this was a man after God's own heart,
yet he did these things. And you and I are capable of
the same thing, apart from the restraining grace of God. You
can just write that down. But David is confessing his sin
before the Lord. You remember, Nathan came to
him and exposed to him who he was, and he writes this. Psalm
of repentance, and he says in verse one of Psalm 51. Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to. How sorry I am. How I promise I'll never do it
again. How I was just put in a in extenuating
circumstances and couldn't help it. So you got to cut me some
slack. Anything like that? No, he doesn't say anything like
that. He says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness. According to the greatness of
your grace, there's not a reason in me that you bestow mercy on
me, but I'm asking you to do it for your loving kindness sake. for your great graces sake. Look what he goes on to say.
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, graciously granted to us. and
His great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath
bestowed upon them according to His mercies, and according
to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses." And now, in the next two verses,
He goes on to mention what those loving-kindnesses are. And the
first thing He says, for He said, verse 8, "...surely they are
My people." Now, here's the first act of loving-kindness. He takes
somebody like me and you, and He makes us His people. Now that is a statement regarding
the sovereign, discriminating grace of God. He takes somebody
like me and He says, He's mine. He's my people. And that said
of every child of God, they're mine. Now, if the Lord says you're
His people, are you His people? That's a special covenant relationship
he's speaking of. They are mine. They are my people. What he says next, for he said,
surely, surely they are my people, children that will not lie. Now, this is the description
of every child of God. He's a child that will not lie. They, by His grace, come before
Him in honesty. Now, this is what a child of
God does. He comes before God in honesty. And the only way that we can
really come into His presence in honesty is with a genuine
confession of my sin. That's the only way I can be
honest. The only way I can be honest before God is if I come
into His presence and say, I'm nothing but a lie. I'm nothing
but a liar. There's nothing to me. Now, when
I come into His presence like that, I'm coming with honesty. Any other way is dishonest. If
I come into His presence any other way than a genuine confession
of my sin, I mean, Confessing, agreeing with God concerning
who I am and what I am. If I don't do that, I'm not coming
with honesty. Now, he says concerning his people,
they're children who will not lie. They're not deceitful in
that sense. They come into God's presence confessing what they
are. And when I come into his presence right now, I confess
before him, I am sin. Now, if you see the Lord, you'll
make that confession regarding yourself. It depends on who you've
seen. If you've seen Him, you see that.
If you haven't seen Him, you don't. But this is the way God's
people come into His presence. They will not lie. They come
in honor. Wouldn't it be a blessing right
now if you and I would come into God's presence in honesty, confessing
what we really are before Him? I love that description of God's
people that David gives. We quote the first three-fourths
of this verse. Blessed is he whose sin is forgiven, whose
iniquity is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Quote that all the time. But
you know, there's another phrase in that statement. It says, in whose
spirit there is no guile, deceit, they come into God's presence
in honesty. Now, he said, surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their Savior.
Now, people who come into God's presence in honesty, you know
what they need? They need a Savior. I need somebody to save me. And
I'm so thankful for that first verse of this chapter. We looked
at that last week, how he's mighty to save. I need a Savior because
I can't save myself. Now, that's when you come into
God's presence, you come with honesty. You know, you need a
Savior. And he promises he's going to
be the Savior of those people who come into his presence honestly. There's never been anybody who
came into God's presence as a sinner that he turned away. It's never
happened. I've said this before, it bears
repeating. It's not your sin that keeps you from the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's your goodness. It's your righteousness. Your
sin will drive you to the Lord Jesus Christ. It always does. I'm thankful for the revelation
of my sin and that sin. So let's go on reading verse
9. I remember he's speaking of the grace of God. He says in
all their affliction. He was afflicted. What a Savior
he is in all their afflictions. He was afflicted. Now this is
hard to believe this. But you know when you're afflicted.
He's afflicted. When you groan and mourn and
sigh. He's touched. The scripture says
he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Cast all
your care upon him, for he careth for you. In all their affliction,
in all their trouble, in all their trials, he was afflicted. Now, how could that be true?
Well, let me give you two reasons. One, because if I'm a believer,
he loves me. If you love somebody, you care
about everything about that person. You take your children. If they're
afflicted, are you afflicted? If they're in trouble, are you
in trouble? It's just as much trouble to you as it is to them,
maybe more so in some respects. And in all their affliction,
oh, he's afflicted. That's true because he loves
his children. But it's especially true because of his union with
his children. Now, the union between Christ
and the believer is so much that whatever he does, I do. When
he died, I died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was too. That's union with Christ. But
this is also true. This union is so true that if
I'm afflicted, he's afflicted. If I'm troubled, he's troubled. And that's what a wonderful Savior
we have. I wish I could say that the way
it ought to be said. I can't do it. But there it is. In all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. And then it says next, and the
angel of his presence saved them. Now, Christ is the angel of God's
presence. And how the angel of his presence saves us, and I
think of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, his presence
before the Father, before the foundation of the world is my
surety. That's my salvation. His presence saved me. You know,
he agreed to be my surety. My salvation was accomplished
at that time. His presence saved me. His presence
saved me as He walked upon this earth and kept the law for me.
His presence saved me. His presence saved me on the
cross when He was dying as a sin-bearing substitute. His presence saved
me. His presence saved me as He ascended back to the Father
and represents me now as my great high priest and intercessor.
His presence saves me. I tell you what, His presence
in my life is what saves me. I cannot bear the thought of
not having His presence. Chastening is feeling like you
don't have His presence. That's what His chastening is.
When you're under His chastening hand, you feel alone. You feel
like you've been left to yourself. And I love that song, how tedious
and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet
prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
to me. The midsummer sun shines but dim, The fields strive in
vain to look gay, But when I am happy in him, December's as pleasant
as May. His name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than honey his voice, His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice. I would, were he always thus
nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear, No mortal as happy as
I, My summer would last all the year, content with beholding
His face. My all to His pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
His love, a palace, a toy would appear. But prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. His presence, His presence
is salvation. And I can say this, I hope it's from the depths of
my heart, I hope it is, hell would be heaven if he's there. The angel of his presence, save
them. And then we read, go on reading,
in his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. He paid for
all their sins, put them away, and He bared them. He lifted
them up and carried them. And that word carried, He bared
them and carried them all the days of old. That's the word
that's generally translated forgiven. He forgave them. Now isn't this
a great mercy, this description of our Lord's grace? He says,
I'll mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord. And what loving-kindnesses
they are. It's such a wonderful description
of His grace. So Isaiah begins by defining
the Lord's grace, and then he says in verse 10, but. But and what a horrible, but
this is. But they rebelled. Now here the sin of the believer
is put in its true darkness. But. They. Rebelled. How can we sin against such love? My dear friends, sin is worse
in a believer than it is in an unbeliever. It's worse. In spite of all this
grace that they had been shown, it says, but they rebelled and
vexed his Holy Spirit. Remember that scripture in Ephesians
where it says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're
sealed under the day of redemption. Grieve not the Spirit of God.
You know, you can only grieve somebody who loves you. You can
only grieve a person. God the Holy Spirit was vexed
by their sin and by their rebellion. They rebelled. Oh, sin in a... John said, these things write
I unto you, that you sin not. And everybody in this room ought
to make it their resolve to never sin again. And he sings right
unto you that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. They vexed
his Holy Spirit. Now, don't ever think that the
Lord is indifferent toward your sin. He's vexed. And we cannot
sin against him without consequences in this life. Look what it goes
on to say. But they rebelled and vexed his
Holy Spirit, and therefore he was turned to be their enemy.
And he fought against them. Now, this is talking about the
chasing hand of the Lord. This is talking about his children
here. They rebelled, they grieved, they vexed his Holy Spirit. So
he turned around and he fought against them. As far as they
could tell, he was against them. Now, this is talking about the
chasing of the Lord, because whom the Lord loveth, he chases
and he scourges every son that he receives. Now that's the Lord
dealing with his people. He fought against them. And I
tell you what, if I'm under the chasing hand of the Lord, it
seems like everything that I do, he's against. His hand is against
me. And that's what they found. It
was a difficult thing for them to deal with. But look at verse
11. He was fighting against them. Then he remembered. Doesn't say
anything about what they did. They didn't do anything to get
out of this. Then he remembered the days of old. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning. He remembered the days of old.
He remembered His grace. Thank God for His grace. There's
something He always remembers. He remembers the days of old. I love that scripture in 2 Timothy
where it says, If we believe not, He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. He remembers
the days of old. He remembers His grace. He remembers
all these things. Now, the sin of a believer is
a horrible thing, but it can't do away with the everlasting
covenant of grace. It can't do away with the power
of His blood. You see, there's no sin that's so bad that the
blood of Christ doesn't wash it away. And the blood of Christ
is always so powerful. When we're talking about the
blood of Christ, we're not talking about some doctrine that had We're
talking about the blood of the Son of God that's always fresh
and powerful to the Father. And that's why we can sin and
He can forgive us anyway. And I say that trembling. I would
never want to look for an excuse for sin. But the reason He continues
to forgive, He remembers the days of old. He remembers His
grace. He remembers what He did for us. Let's go on reading here.
Then He remembered the days of old. Moses and his people saying,
and this is God speaking, Where is he that brought them up out
of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? When our Lord,
now this is language given to accommodate our weakness. The
Lord is reminding himself of what he's done in the past. This
is why I'm going to continue to forgive him because look what
I did in the past. I brought them up out of the sea with the
shepherd of his flock. Where is he that put his Holy
Spirit within him? I gave them my spirit. Am I to
forget all that? Verse 12, that led them by the
right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water
before them to make an everlasting name. That's why he did it, to
glorify himself. That led them through the deep as a horse in
the wilderness that they should not stumble. As a beast goeth
down to the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest.
So didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name. Now, he is Reminding himself,
and this is like I said, this is language given to accommodate
our weakness. The Lord is reminding himself of what he's done in
the past. And what I've done in the past, I'm going to continue
to do. So in spite of their sinfulness, that yet they rebelled in light
of this great grace, yet they rebelled, yet look what he did
for them anyway. Now, in verse 15, this begins
this prayer now for personal revival. Isaiah says, look down from heaven
and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and thy glory, where is thy zeal and thy strength,
the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? Are
they restrained? When an unbeliever hears about
the salvation is altogether by grace, it scares him. And the reason it scares him
is because he thinks, well, that means I can sin all I want and
nothing's going to happen. I'll still be saved. That's the
way an unbeliever reacts when he hears the grace of God. It
scares him. I mean, such teaching as that, that'll lead people
to sin. That'll lead people to indifference and apathy. That'll
lead people to just think they can live any old way. It's not
going to do a believer that way. I mean, I can't help how a goat
is going to twist the truth. If a goat twists the truth, nothing
I can do about it. I'm preaching to the sheep anyway. I can't
help it if someone is going to twist that. But when an unbeliever
hears of the grace of God, it doesn't give him an encouragement
to sin. Now, Isaiah is speaking in trouble when he says this. He says, I believe everything
I said regarding your grace, but yet it seems as far as my
experience goes. That your mercies toward me are
over. As far as my experience goes, your vows of mercy and
your kindness and compassion, I don't feel anything. I don't
I don't feel like your favor for favorable toward me at all.
Now, I believe salvation by grace. I believe that with all my heart
and he he Declared that so clearly in these first few verses, they
said, as far as the way I feel. I don't feel like you have any
favor toward me. Would you look down? From your height. Where are these things, where
is your strength, where is your compassion? I know they're there,
but I don't see them. It appears that they're restrained.
I feel so alone. I feel so simple. I feel cut
off from your mercies. I'm in a pathetic condition and
I can't even begin to enter into this grace I'm talking about.
I believe it. I believe it. But as far as the way I feel,
I feel cut off. I feel isolated. I feel alone.
I feel like you've got no mercy toward me. It just seems gone. Now, David said that many times
himself. Is the mercy of the Lord clean
gone? Has he forgotten to be gracious? Will he be gracious
no more? That's how Isaiah felt at this time. He said, it seems
like you've just left me to myself and you're not merciful toward
me. And look what he says in verse 16, right after he makes
this. Statement of feeling like the
Lord is restrained from him and not being favorable toward him,
he says, doubtless. Now, our father. Now, a believer
knows how deceptive his feelings are, so he says, In spite of
the fact that I don't feel like you're my father, I know you
are doubtless, he says. Doubtless you are. Even when
we're in doubt, we can still say doubtless. And here's why. Let's go on reading verse 16.
Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of
us, and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, O Lord, art our father,
our Redeemer. And thy name is from everlasting. Now, even though nobody else
may view us as your children, Abraham doesn't know us. Israel
doesn't acknowledge us as being your children. We doubtless are,
and he gives two reasons why we know we are. Now, aren't you
interested in knowing how you can know that God is your father?
Don't you want to be able to say, I know he's my father? I
know he's my father. Now, how can I say, how can I
personally say I know he's my father? He's not everybody's
father. He's only father to his children. How can I know he's
my father? Well, he gives us a twofold answer.
First, he says, because you are our redeemer. You are our redeemer. Now, this is how I know he's
my father, my personal father, because he's my redeemer. He
redeemed me. He paid for my sin. Now, this
is going to take us to consider another question. How can I know
he redeemed me? How can I know for sure that
I'm somebody that he redeemed? Because listen to me, Jesus Christ,
the Lord on Calvary's tree, he didn't redeem everybody, did
he? He redeemed those he died for. He redeemed his people.
Now, how can I know if I'm one of the ones that he redeemed?
Turn with me to Romans 5 and I'll show you. This is so simple,
it's so glorious. I hope somebody in here believes
this. Hope I believe it. Romans chapter 5. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Now, how can I know that Christ
died for me? He gives two marks to somebody Christ died for.
Number one, they're without strength. And I can say this honestly to
you, I don't have any spiritual strength. Not in and of myself.
If the Lord leads me to myself, I have no strength. I'll drop
like a stone. I'm sure of it. I've got no strength.
And I also know this. I am in myself ungodly. Now, that's me. Do you know that
Scripture gives me every assurance, that being the case? Christ died
for me. He redeemed me. I know I'm somebody
that Christ died for. It's not because I figured out,
got up into heaven and saw my name in the Lamb's Book of Life.
The reason I know Christ died for me is I'm a sinner. And He
died for sinners. That's my comfort. That's my
assurance. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am the
chief. That's my confidence that he died for me. He redeemed me.
I know he did because I'm somebody he redeemed. I fit the character.
He died for the ungodly. And I have and you have full
assurance that he's your Redeemer. Now, Isaiah says, as far as the
way I feel, as far as my experience goes, I feel like I'm cut off.
I feel like I'm isolated. I feel like you're not going
to be merciful toward me anymore. But doubtless, Even in his unbelief,
he has faith. Doubtless, you are our Redeemer. Therefore, because of what he
says next, verse 16, doubtless our father, though Abraham be
ignorant of us and Israel acknowledges not thou, O Lord, our father,
our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting. Here's the next
reason he knows that the Lord is his father. He mentions because
his name is from everlasting. Now, what's that all about? Salvation. Everything salvation is. is for
the namesake of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he looks in favor toward me
or you, it's for Christ's sake. It's for his namesake, and only
for his namesake. And he says that name is an everlasting
name. In other words, the Lord doesn't
forget it. He always knows that salvation is for Christ's sake,
and he never views it any other way. Salvation for Christ's sake. Now, that's the believer's confidence
and hope. Now, I think this is interesting.
He's speaking seemingly in unbelief when he says, I don't see any
favor coming to me at all. He said, Dallas, you're our father.
I can't see it, by the way, from things I see, but I believe it.
You know what that's called? Faith. Faith. Can I tell by looking
at myself that God loves me? Can I see anything in my heart
that would make me think? I've got something I can trust
in. No. No. Looking within. Looking within.
I don't see that. But I believe I have it by faith.
That's what faith is. Faith rests in Christ. He says, Doubtless thou art our
Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge
us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, and thy
name is from everlasting. Now look what he says in verse
17. Oh, Lord. Why has thou made us to err from
thy ways? And hardened our heart. From
the fear. That's an interesting verse,
isn't it? It almost seems like he's blaming
the Lord for sin, doesn't it? Lord, why has thou made us to
err from thy ways? We've erred from your ways, but
you made us to do it. Why have you hardened our heart
from thy fear? Our hearts have hardened. We've had a hardened
attitude towards sin. It's because you've hardened
our hearts. Now, why have you done it? That's the language that Isaiah uses. Now, you know as well as I do
that Isaiah was not blaming the Lord for his sin. And you and
I can never blame the Lord for our sin. Well, God is sovereign.
He allowed it to happen. I know He is, but it's still
all your fault. Every bit of it. It's still all my fault.
I can't blame the Lord for my sin, and I know that's not what
Isaiah is doing. He's not blaming the Lord and looking for an excuse
for a sin and saying, well, it's the Lord's fault. If he would
have kept it from happening, it wouldn't have happened. That's
not what's happening at all. Let me tell you what Isaiah is
saying. Isaiah is saying, I know this
about myself. If you don't keep me from erring
from your ways, I will. And if you don't soften my heart,
My heart will be hard. And that's what Isaiah is doing,
he's acknowledging his own weakness and he says, oh, Lord, why hast
thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our heart from
thy fear? Return. For thy servant's sake. The tribes
of thine inheritance returned to me in mercy because I'm your
child by your grace returned to me in mercy, don't let my
heart be hard. That scares me to death. I mean, you have a
hard heart where you can't hear what the Word of God is saying,
where it's saying something, but your heart's too hard to
receive it. He says, if you don't soften my heart, it's going to
remain hard. If you don't cause me to not err from your ways,
I will err from your ways. And I know that about myself.
If He doesn't keep me, I'm going to go astray. David said in that
last verse of Psalm 119, I've gone astray like a lost sheep.
Seek thy servant. Find me out. Don't let me become
hard. He says. Return for thy servant's
sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Look what he says in verse 18,
the people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while
now. Isaiah is speaking from captivity. They had been dispossessed
out of the land of Israel and they were in the land of Babylon.
And he said, this land, you promised it, promised us we would just
had it for a short time. But now the heathen have it and
they possess it. We don't have it anymore. That's
the complaint he's given. But I see in this a picture of
the way the believer feels about his sin. My sin is my adversary. It's
my enemy. And he says, the people of our
holiness, this is what God's people are, the people of his
holiness. Christ is my holiness before God. And this is this
is the only way that we have any confidence to come in his
presence. I'm not presenting my own holiness. I'm I'm a people. I'm one of the people of his
holiness, which every child of God is. The people of our holiness
have possessed it. But a little while, and our adversaries
have trodden down thy sanctuary. He's talking about how when they've
been dispossessed from the land, the adversaries have come in
and trod down the sanctuary. And he says, we are thine. Thou
never barest rule over them, and they were not called by thy
name. We're thine, so have mercy on
us. This can't be said of our enemies.
You can't say regarding them, they're yours. But we are, so
have mercy on us for Christ's sake. That's what personal revival
is. That's personal revival. Lord,
as far as the way I feel, I'm cut off. But I believe the gospel. I believe your salvation for
Christ's sake. I believe your salvation by grace.
But as far as the way I feel, I don't see it. But I believe
it anyway. I'm so weak. I'll err from your
ways if you don't keep me from it. I'll leave your paths. My
heart will harden like a rock and I won't be able to hear anything.
So return to me. Return to me. Return in mercy. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to my will. Return to me for Christ's sake. Now that's the prayer of a believer.
Don't leave me to myself. Look what it says in verse one
of chapter 64, this is what we're going to pick up next week. Oh,
that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down,
that the mountains, the high places of pride might flow down
at thy presence. Lord, come down. When I was in grade school. We
used to sing a song that I always liked, I had no idea what it
meant. You all probably say it too. Come by yi, my Lord, come
by yi. Never knew what that meant. And
it really meant something to me when I found out what that
meant. Come by here, my Lord. Come by here. Come by here, my
Lord. Come by here. Pass me not, O
gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. while on
others thou wert calling, do not pass me by. So we're going
to pick up in chapter 64 next week. Let's pray together.