I want to begin by thanking Brother
Randy for filling in for me last week. That was a burden off of
me. And I appreciate you doing that, dear brother. Thank you
so much. And I know you folks enjoyed it. It was a blessing
to you. I have five texts of Scripture
this morning I want to look at. So let's look at the first one
over in Isaiah chapter 27. in verse 13. And let's think
upon this single word this morning, and that is ready. The single
word ready. And I have five texts this morning
that I want us to turn to that has this word in it. The first one, let's look here
in Isaiah 27 and verse 13. And this shall come to pass in
that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, And they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the
outcast in the land of Egypt. And they shall worship the Lord
in the holy mount of Jerusalem. Our first one I want us to consider
this morning is somewhat solemn. Ready to perish. Ready to perish. I think it should go without
saying this morning, brothers and sisters, and I'm sure it
does. that when it comes to spiritual things and eternal things, if
you and I are left to ourselves to understand these things, then
we're surely at a loss. Because when it comes to understanding
spiritual things and eternal things, we really don't know
anything, do we? We know about temporal things
and carnal things, but you and I know nothing. infallibly about
eternal matters and spiritual matters. We have only one infallible
source of truth concerning these things, and that is God. That is what the Lord has told
us in His Word. God is the Spirit. He is that
holy, eternal Spirit, and He knows everything, and He has
left us in His Word everything we need to know to know Him,
to be saved, and to worship Him, and to serve Him. If you've been
brought to this conviction, then you'll confess this, that there
really is no other way than what this Bible teaches us. And doesn't
it just suit your case when you read it? It answers all your
questions about who God is, about who you are, and about life and
in the world and the life to come. It makes perfect sense
to your conscience, doesn't it, when you read the Word of God.
Doesn't this Word here I read to you in verse 13, ready to
perish, describe every man by nature? Every man that's outside
Jesus Christ, in His natural unregenerate state. This bears
witness to your conscience so loud and clear. That's the truth. That person is ready to perish. You that believe the Bible, ready
to perish, rings a solemn note in your conscience. It grips
your heart. It gets your attention ready
to perish. ready to perish. I'm not saying
everybody knows it. Some don't know it. And I'm not
saying everybody would admit it. Some people, when it comes
to being ready to perish, they're like this ostrich, they tell
us, that sticks his head in the sand and thinks because he can't
see the danger around him, there is no danger. And I know that
there are times when people suppress this down in their hearts. They
don't want to confront this and face this. But the fact is this,
isn't it? And we know that it's the truth
because God tells us in His Word that men outside Jesus Christ
are ready to perish. Ready to be lost eternally. Ready to be sentenced to an endless
misery. You say, Bruce, where do you
get that? In the Bible. These shall go away into everlasting
punishment. Look here in Isaiah chapter 26.
He speaks of this in verse 20 and verse 21. He gives us just
a little hint of what it means to perish. He says in chapter
26 and verse 20, Come my people, Enter thou into thy chambers,
and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for
a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed." What is this
indignation? Verse 21, The Lord cometh out
of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth shall disclose her
blood and shall no more cover her slain." The Lord is coming
to punish the inhabitants of this world for their iniquity. And what kind of punishment is
that? Everlasting punishment. What does it mean to be ready
to perish? It means you're ready to be punished
everlastingly. I'd never believe that, would
you, if I didn't find it in the Scriptures. That is so contrary
to my nature. I could never believe such a
thing. I told somebody just the other day, it must be, it can
only be that God hates sin. It can only be that sin must
be exceedingly sinful that God has threatened to punish it with
an everlasting destruction. To punish the earth, that verse
says. And that punishment will be everlasting. And what our text says here,
it could begin at any moment. Ready, ready to perish. Every person who is dead in sins
is at this very moment ready to perish. In other words, there's
nothing else that needs to be done on their part. They are
ready to perish at this very instant. It's not as if they
are lacking in anything to cause their eternal perishing. It's
not as though God is waiting for them to fill up their cup. It's full already. They are ready
to perish. It's not anything in them or
they need to do to hasten it. It's only the hand of God that
stays it from happening immediately because they're ready. Ready
to perish. This word ready means prepared. It means fitted. furnished with
what is necessary. Sin prepares and it fits the
soul for destruction. Sin pleads against the soul before
the bar of God. Sin invites justice to take vengeance. It compels God to whip His sword
and bend His bow. And you know there is a passage
of Scriptures that says that. But here's what it says. If the
wicked turn not, he will whit his sword, he hath bent his bow,
and made it ready. There used to be when they, and
some of you if you know anything about archery, you don't keep
your bow strained all the time. They used to unstrain their bow.
If you don't, it would make it weak. And they used to use these
huge bows and they would get their feet in it and pull it
around and bend it back and string it. That means they were ready
to use it. And that's what he says here
when he threatens the wicked if he turn not. And then he says,
he hath bent his bow. He's already cocked it. And he
has made ready his arrow. If you woke up during the night
out of a deep sleep and you looked out of your bed and there stood
a man with his bow cocked and an arrow in it and pointed right
at your chest, could you go back to sleep? You could not, could
you? You could not. You would be alarmed. You would be thinking any time
he is going to let go of his arrow and I am going to feel
the sting of that pain in my chest. That's how ready the wicked
are to perish. God has bent His bow. He's loaded it and He's pulled
it back and He's aimed it at them. And He is ready to let
it go. There's no doubt our text is
true when we remember that multitudes have already perished. Look at
the multitudes, brothers and sisters, that have already perished
before us. It's not like it's anything strange. Go back to Noah's day and there
was very few, just a handful in Noah's day that knew that
everybody was going to perish, but just a few. And you know
something? They suppressed that. They hid
it down in their hearts. They stuck their head in the
sands. And they knew not until the flood came and took them
all away. They were busy trading. They
were busy marrying. They were giving in marriage.
They had jobs. They had family. They were going
about their daily business. And all along they were ready
to perish. And perish they did. with a flood. But the point is this, whether
men believe it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, in
the busy lifestyle that they maintain outside the Lord Jesus
Christ, they are ready to perish. And God knows all about our state.
We don't know, but He knows. He knows how quickly this change
can come. But the point is, every man outside
of Christ is ready. There's nothing else that needs
to be done. He's ready. Ready to perish. Isn't that a solemn, solemn truth? And it's happening all around
us, isn't it? Young and old are perishing. Remember that rich
man in Luke 12? His crops came in. And he said,
man, we've had abundance of crops this year. What are we going
to do? And he begins to sit down at his desk and he plots and
plans what he's going to do with all of his crops. And he said,
I've got to tear down these barns. I'm going to build greater barns
and I'm going to store all my goods in there. And man, I am
going to have a heyday. I am going to say to myself,
you've got many years. Many years. Yeah, many years. What about days? You don't even
have days. You don't even have hardly any
hours. Oh, I'm going to take it easy, he said then. I'm going
to take it easy and relax and enjoy the pleasures of this world
for many years. And what did God say to him?
God that knows the next moment. God that knows men's state and
condition. God said, you fool, this night
shall your soul be required of you. In other words, you're ready
to perish. You don't know it, but you're
ready to perish. And perish he did. Perish he
did. Ready to perish. I remember when
I was lost, and this often come to me, the thought often come
to me, And it, I tell you, it tormented me. I would suppress
it. And the thought was, you're going
to perish. The first verse of Scripture I ever memorized in
the Bible, in the little Bible school, was John 3, 16. God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish. And boy, I tell you, that stuck
in my mind, should not perish. I'm going to perish. I got baptized
in water and the thought kept coming to me, you're going to
perish. I started trying to do better, you're going to perish.
You're going to perish. And I tell you that was a weight
upon my conscience until I found rest and salvation in Jesus Christ. And you know I'm thankful for
that. I'm thankful that He made me know that and see that and
confront that, that that was my state ready to perish. And there's a correlation here,
I think, in our text. We won't deal with it today,
but there in our text in verse 13 of chapter 27. They shall
come which were ready to perish. See the correlation there? You
are ready to perish. So what did they do? They came. They came. There's a correlation
there, isn't there? Our need. What is my need? I'm a perishing individual and
I'm ready to perish. And therefore, I'm coming. I'm
coming to the Lord to be saved. That's our first text. Look over
to your left at our second text. Psalms chapter 86. Psalms chapter
86. And I think this will go right
along with our text. I think it just naturally fits
right in here. Look in Psalms chapter 86 and
begin in verse 3. Look at verse 3. Psalms 86. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto Thee daily. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant,
for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Now look at this. For Thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call
upon Thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attain unto the voice of my supplication. In the day of
my trouble I will call upon Thee, for Thou wilt answer me." I love
that, don't you? He is good and ready, ready to
forgive. What good news that is for poor,
perishing sinners. He is ready to forgive. And I tell you, sometimes those
who find themselves in a perishing condition, they might need a
little bit encouraging to come to the Lord. And this right here
will encourage a man to come to the Lord when he finds himself
in a perishing state. The Lord is good and ready to
forgive. There's another passage of Scripture
that says He's ready to pardon. Isn't that wonderful? He's ready
to pardon. And another one was, He was ready
to save me. Ready. Hezekiah was sick. You remember when Hezekiah was
a sick man. And the Bible says he was sick
unto death. He thought, boy, I may not get over this. And
then the prophet came to him. The Lord sent a prophet and He
said, set your house in order because you're going to die and
not live. And man, I'm telling you, you
can just feel the despair that came over that man's mind. He
likened it to being in a pit of corruption, didn't he? And
he said, my peace has turned into bitterness within me. He
almost despaired. And here's what he did. He turned
his face to the wall and he prayed. He began to seek the Lord. You
know anybody I know some people like this. I know a few young
people like this that they see something, they know something
of their perishing state. But they live right on the edge
of despair all the time. When they look in their future,
all that's there is darkness. They don't see any light at the
end of their tunnel. I know some folks like that.
I know a man like that and I know a lady like that and both of
them live in misery because they say there is just no hope. There
is no hope for me. You know there are people that
said that in Jeremiah's day. They said there is no hope. No. Well, why? Why in the world wouldn't
you think there would be some hope for you? They said we have
sinned and we have loved strangers and after them we will go. There
is no hope for us. You know there's people like
that. And the devil has convinced them that there's no hope for
you. There's no hope for you. The
Lord won't even have mercy upon you. You've gone too far. You're
ready to perish. And they just despair. And here's
what this man felt in himself. He felt this despair sweep over
his mind. And yet, he turned his face to
the wall and he sought the Lord for mercy. And there in Isaiah
38, read it sometime if you'd like to. And here's what he said.
He made this statement. Lord, Thou hast in love to my
soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. And then he made
this wonderful statement. The Lord was ready to save me. Isn't that amazing? He said,
at first I despaired. All I saw was this awful darkness.
But yet, in spite of that, I sought the Lord for mercy and great
love He delivered me from the pit of corruption. And then,
he said, I found out that He was ready all along to save me. That's encouraging, isn't it?
That's encouraging. Ready to forgive me. Ready to
pardon me for all my sins. Remember the definition for ready?
Prepared, fitted, furnished. furnished with what is necessary,
disposed in a manner suited to the purpose, something ready
at hand with no need for any delay. He's ready to forgive. He's ready to save. There is
nothing more needed in order for God to forgive us. Everything
that God required for our pardon and our salvation has already
been provided for in Jesus Christ the Lord. Ready! You remember that man that made
a marriage for his son? And he sent his servant out to
call them that were bidden? And remember what he said? Come,
for my dinner is prepared. And all things are ready. You know what keeps some sinners
from coming to the Lord, coming to Him properly to be saved by
Him? They just don't understand that everything's ready. Everything's
been removed. Oh, I've got to do this and I've
got to bring that. No! It's ready! He's ready to
save! He's ready to forgive! He's ready
to pardon all our sins! And upon coming to Him, I'm telling
you, you'll find out that to be so. And sometimes it happens
so quickly, it amazes us, doesn't it? There was a poor leper that
came to Lord Jesus one day and he was full of leprosy. And he
said, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. Now, how long
do you reckon is this going to take? He had no idea. All he said was,
ìLord, I know this. If you will, you can make me
clean.î And the Lord said, ìI will. Be thou clean.î And immediately
he was clean. Now thatís quick, isnít it? You
know why? Because he was ready. The Lord
was ready to make him clean. And I'm telling you, He's ready
to save and He's ready to pardon and forgive all of those who
come to God by Him. There's nothing else lacking.
Everything is prepared. Justice says, Come. Justice says,
Come. Justice says, Come. Mercy says,
Come. The blood of Christ says, Come.
The very heart of God says, Come. Why? things are ready. Ready. How many have felt themselves
ready to perish and have come to the Savior and found Him ready
to save? Multitudes. And you know I hope
multitudes are still going to find that out. I hope. That's my prayer. Third text,
look over in Titus chapter 3. Right quickly, Titus chapter
3. And look in verse 1. I think this is probably the
most natural third step that we can imagine. In Titus chapter
3, here is another ready. In chapter 3 and verse 1 of Titus. Put them in mind, those believers,
they are on the Isle of Crete. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready,
to be ready to every good work. Ready to every good work. There was a dear young man and
brother called me just the other night and he had been hearing
one or two preachers preach. He was a little bit, I don't
think he was confused, but he wanted to know my opinion on
this. And the question he asked me was this, can a believer live
in such a way that it pleases God? And he asked that question
because one preacher said, we can't do anything to please God.
Well, I know, brothers and sisters, we can't do anything to please
God when we're lost. We can't do anything to please
God to justify us. We're justified by faith in Christ
alone. But when we're justified, everything
changes, doesn't it? We're new creatures. We're sons
of God. And then, then we can please
God. Leave that there and go over
to 1 Thessalonians and look at this. 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Look at this. I think when the Lord saves us,
it's just so natural, just natural for us to live for Him, and do
what pleases Him, and seek out the things that please Him in
our daily life, and not only do it, but to increase Him. Do
more and more as we grow in grace and knowledge. And look what
he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and look at verse 1. Furthermore
then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,
that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk and
to please God, so you would abound more and more. to walk and to please God. We
can please God. You know what? When we live by
faith and when we do what we do out of a principle of love
and for God's glory, you know that pleases God. I know there's
sin mixed with everything we do. Brother Wayne taught us that
this morning. But you know something? He's
able to separate the vile from the good. There is good in what
we do too when we do it in faith for His glory. And we see the
sin in it and we repent of it. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. But the Lord accepts the good
and He forgives the bad. And we've got a mediator between
us and the Father. And He sits there on the right
hand of God. And all that we do for His glory,
He washes it and He presents it to the Father. And the Father
is well pleased with it. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
I'm ready to preach the Gospel. What is it that pleases God?
He loves it when He hears the Gospel. Angels love it when they
hear the Gospel. I called Randy a few weeks ago
and I said, Randy, will you fill in for me? Will you preach for
me that Sunday morning? He's a little bit hesitant. But
then basically he said, I'm ready. And he was ready, wasn't he?
You folks told me he was ready. Ready. The Apostle said in another
place, he warned the rich not to be high-minded, or trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God that gives us all
things to enjoy. And he says this, that they be
rich in good works, ready to distribute, ready to give, ready
to share and communicate. Ready to go, ready to stay, ready
my place to fill, ready for service, lowly or great, ready to do Thy
will. Ready! Oh, who is it, brothers
and sisters, that should attempt by God's grace to please God
more than you and more than me? Look what He's done for us. We
don't work to be saved. We don't work to stay saved.
But I tell you, we work out of gratitude for Him who loved us
and gave Himself for us and called us and saved us when we were
ready to perish. I don't see how anybody could
be saved and not seek to please the Lord, do you? But I think
we need to be ready to do every good work. One might say, Bruce, that sounds
a lot like works. It is works. It is works. That's what I'm saying. It is
works. But not to be saved and not to stay saved. If a man is
working to be justified and accepted in God's sight, then he may not
realize it, but he's still in a perishing state. But I tell
you, if a man says he knows the Lord and believes His grace,
And he's not living to please his Lord. He's probably deceived
too. He's probably deceived too. He's
done everything for us. Therefore, with gratitude and
love for Him, oh, we should seek to do everything for Him and
for His glory. We should be like that old Gadarene.
The Lord cast those 2,000 devils out of her and said, go tell
people. What great things the Lord has
done for you. Go tell them. And you think that
pleased the Lord when He did it? Why, it did. It did. He went
and told everybody what great things God had done for Him and
had compassion on Him. Brothers and sisters, can we
do any less? Can we do any less? Should we
do any less? Two more passages. Look over
in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy, the very last chapter.
Chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. As we know, Paul was in prison
in Rome when he wrote this letter. And look here what he says. Verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure
is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I
have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord
shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all them
also, that love is appeared. Isn't this amazing? I am now
ready to be offered. Isn't this amazing from where
we started from? Where do we start? I'm ready
to perish. And now, I'm ready to be offered. I'm ready to go
be with the Lord. Brothers and sisters, you can't
improve on the Lord's salvation, can you? You just can't do it.
He takes poor old sinners that are ready to perish. And He brings
them to Himself and forgives them. And they just work for
His glory. And then it comes down to the
end of their life. And what do they say? I'm ready. I love the Amplified, what the
Amplified says in this. If you have an Amplified version,
it would be profitable to read it. Here's what it said. I am
already about to be sacrificed. My life is about to be poured
out as a drink offering. And some version says it's being
poured out. The time of my spirit's release
from the body is at hand and I will go free. Isn't that amazing? Free from what? That bondage
that you were talking about this morning. Who will deliver me
from this body of death? Right here He says, I'm about
to be delivered. I'm about to go free. And He said, I'm ready. I'm ready. Oh, brothers and sisters,
I hope that the Lord... Somebody was talking to somebody
just this week, and they said just about everybody in this
church is going through trials and afflictions. Afflictions
themselves are afflictions in the family, and that's so, isn't
it? But you know what my hope is? The Lord will wean us from
this world. We'll just sick of it. Just get
sick of it. Our eyes are turned from the
pleasures and the temporal advantages and set on glory and say, I'm
ready. I'm tired. I'm tired of this
world. I'm tired of the body of sin.
I'm ready to go be with the Lord. I was telling somebody just the
other day about Brother Fortner. I was with him last fall sometime
at a place, and there were some steps that went up to the worship,
and he couldn't hardly get up those steps. He had to take both
hands and pull himself up those steps. And there was a time when
I said, Don, why don't you slow down a little bit? Won't you
stay around home a little?" But I become half ashamed of myself
after even mentioning that. How are you going to blame a
guy who has poured himself out for the glory of Christ and the
good of his church? He just got back from, I guess
he's back from up in Alaska. My goodness. That would worry
me out. I'd be bed-fast for a week when
I got back. He's pouring Himself out, but
you talk to Him, and this world has nothing for Him. He's here
for one reason, and that's for the glory of Jesus Christ and
the good of His people. I'm ready. I'm ready. I hope
that's what the Lord does with us. We're ready. We're ready. One more passage. Look over in
Job chapter 17. And look in verse 1, and we'll
close with this. I'll basically just read it.
Job chapter 17 and verse 1. Poor old Job was in this great
trial. We've read about that, haven't
we? And here's what he said in Job chapter 17 and verse 1. My breath is corrupt. My days
are extinct. The graves are ready for me. The graves are ready for me. Ready. We often make statements like
this, that you see someone pulling up at the gas pumps in the hearst,
and they're putting fuel in the hearst, and that's the very fuel.
that will haul me to the grave site. You'll see some man that's
got his backhoe on his trailer and he pulls up to the gas pumps
and he fills the backhoe up and that's the very gas that will
dig my grave. The grave is ready for me. And the question is, am I ready?
Am I ready for the grave? The Lord bless His Word.