I want to read in Isaiah chapter
32. And I just want to read five verses.
Isaiah chapter 32 and verse 1. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes rule, they shall rule in judgment.
And a man shall be as an unhiding place from the wind, and a culvert
or a shelter from the tempest, and as rivers of water in a dry
place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the
eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them
that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash, the
hasty, shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers
shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more
called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." Now here
in verse 1, you'll notice in all of these verses that I read
to you that these are prophecies. These are predictions. A king
shall reign. And then verse two, a man shall
be as an anointed place. And every verse that I read to
you, you see there that it was a prediction. And these predictions,
these prophecies are concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. And they're concerning Him in
the gospel times. In the days when He set up His
kingdom after He came to this world and died. You remember
what was said of Him when He first began to preach there in
Mark chapter 1, the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand. And Jesus has a Kingdom. And it began when He came and
died and rose again. It's the Kingdom of God's dear
Son. Remember what the thief on the
cross said? Remember me when you come into
your kingdom? He was coming into his kingdom.
And a king has a kingdom. And in Colossians 1.13 it was
said that God hath delivered us from the power of darkness
and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. So this is a prophecy that a
king shall reign in righteousness. And it was a prophecy of the
coming Christ, the Messiah. that he would be the one that
would reign in righteousness. I was reading a commentary on
this just this week and it sort of amazed me that he was trying
to prove that this king prophesied of here in verse 1 was Hezekiah.
And he went into some details trying to prove that. But what
is said of this man could never be said of any man, any great
man or any good man. It may be said that men like
David had a righteous reign, but how could it be said of David
or Hezekiah or any other great man that he's a hiding place
from the wind, that he's a shelter from the tempest, or he's living
waters in a dry land? That could never be said of any
mere man. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. It
could be said of Him that He is a King and all of these other
things are attributed to Him. Now, if I told you tonight that
God was a king, or Jesus Christ in His deity was a king, in His
Godhead was a king, that would be no mystery to us, would it?
Because we know that the triune God has been a king forever. He saideth king forever. But
verse 1 is speaking of a king, and verse 2 says it's also a
man. This King who reigns in righteousness
is the man who is a hiding place in verse 2. And this man is reigning
as King. And so verse 1 is speaking of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in our humanity. Jesus Christ is King in our humanity. He has always been King in His
deity. but He is King in our humanity.
I want to offer you some proofs for that. And let me quote some
Scriptures to you to prove that to you. In Luke chapter 1 and
verse 31, remember when the angel appeared to Mary and said, Behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, and he shall be great. He shall be
called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Now he is speaking there of his
kingdom. He is speaking there of him being
on the throne in that kingdom and reigning in that kingdom.
Now that was prophesied of him to Mary before she ever conceived
him. And then in Matthew chapter 2,
when the wise men came after the birth of Christ, they said,
Where is he that is born King of the Jews? He is born a king. Now how could he be born a king?
Because he was born of David's lineage. David was the king,
the first king really that pleased God. The first king that God
chose for Israel was David. And this is the last king. He
was in David's lineage after David's flesh. And Christ in
the days of His flesh was referred to as a King. When He rode into
Jerusalem, this Scripture was fulfilled that said, Tell the
daughters of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is
meek and lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon the foal, the coat
of an ass. And you remember on the cross,
when Pilate commanded them to write that subscription and put
over the death the head of the Lord Jesus? This is Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. So He was born the King, He lived
the King, and when He died, He was dressed as King of the Jews. And in Acts chapter 2, when Peter
was preaching on the day of Pentecost, He tells us that God had raised
Christ from the dead and set Him on the throne of David. Now
here's how He does that in Acts chapter 2. You'll probably remember
this verse. Peter said, Therefore being a
prophet, David being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with him an oath that of the fruit of His loins, according
to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on His throne. He, seeing this beforehand, spake
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So God raised Christ
from the dead and set Him on the throne that was called the
throne of David. But as you study the Scriptures,
one thing you realize is that the reign of Christ And the kingdom
of Christ was far more reaching than the kingdom of David. David
reigned over a very small kingdom. And he had very limited power.
But when God raised the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son from the
dead, and enthroned Him as King, He had unlimited power over a
kingdom that would never pass away. We are told that God had
highly exalted Him with His right hand and by His right hand, and
listen to this, far above all principalities and powers and
might and every name that is named, not only in this world
but in that world that is to come, and that God loves the
Son and hath given all things unto His hands. And listen to
Psalms chapter 2. This is what God declared. He
said, Yet have I set my King, my King, upon my holy hill of
Zion. I will declare the decree the
Lord said unto me. Here's what the Father said to
the Son. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, ask
of me, and I'll give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron, and thou shalt dash them
in pieces like a potter's vessel." So here we've got Jesus Christ,
born in our humanity, living in our humanity, dying in our
humanity, raising in our glorified humanity, and God in our humanity
has exalted Him and enthroned Him at His right hand as King. Now isn't that wonderful? We
know that God is King, the everlasting God, but there is a man in heaven. in your humanity and in my humanity
and He rules and reigns over everything and everybody and
all places in our humanity. Now that's wonderful. A King
shall reign and this King is a man. Now I want you to look
at His Kingdom for just a minute and I want you to read this.
Old Isaiah chapter 32 and look over in Daniel. If you go to
Hezekiah Or Ezekiel, if you go to Ezekiel, Daniel will be the
very next book. Look in Daniel chapter 2 and
look in verse 31. This is amazing. This is a prophecy here concerning
the kingdom of God's dear Son. And His kingdom, He's reigning
over it in our humanity. But look what's said of His kingdom.
This is a wonderful prophecy and it's coming true even today.
And it will most assuredly be fulfilled in the end. Nebuchadnezzar,
this great king, he's reigning over most of the earth at this
time, and he was a great man. God had gave this man so much
authority and power. Who he would, he kept alive.
Who he would, he put to death. He was a great king. And he had
a dream, and he didn't remember the dream. And it troubled him
greatly, and he called in his wise men and said, I've had this
dream, and I want you to interpret it. They said, okay, tell us
the dream. He said, I don't remember it.
And if you don't tell me, I'm going to kill you. That's what
he said. They said, that just ain't fair. Just ain't fair.
You want us to interpret your dream, you don't even tell us
what your dream is. Well, he called Daniel in. And Daniel
said, I don't have any power. I don't have any wisdom to do
anything. But He said, My God will interpret your dream. So
here He is interpreting this great King's dream. And we find
it here in verse 31. And look at it. In verse 31 of
Daniel chapter 2. Thou, O King, Daniel said to
Nebuchadnezzar, saw and beheld a great image. This great image,
whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form
thereof was terrible. This image head was of fine gold,
his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
his legs of iron and his feet part of iron and part of clay. And thou sawest till a stone
was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet
that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was
the iron, the clay, the brass, and the silver, and the gold
broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing floor. And the wind carried them away,
that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This
is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before
the King. Thou, O King, art a King of kings. For the God of heaven hath given
thee a kingdom, and power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever
the children of men dwell, the beast of the field, and the fowls
of the earth, hath he given unto thy hand, and he hath made thee
ruler over them all. thou art this great head of gold. And after thee shall arise another
kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass,
which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom
shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and
subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall
it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet
and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided, but thou shalt be in it of the strength of the
iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were
part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly
strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron
mixed with mary clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed
of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, as iron doth
not mix with clay. Now look at this. And in the
days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou
sawest that the stone was kept out of the mountain without ends,
and that it break in pieces the iron, and the brass, and the
clay, and the silver, and the gold, The great God hath made
known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the
dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure." Now here we're
told of all these kingdoms of the world, and they're represented
as this giant-looking image that was fearful to look upon. But
this little stone that was cut out of the mountain, It began
to grow until it became a great mountain itself. And it subdued
and conquered and destroyed all of the kingdoms of this world.
And when it was finished, no kingdom was left but this one
kingdom. And that is the kingdom of God
and of His Christ. Now you and I love our country,
don't we? And most people live, at least in a free society, love
their country. And there's been a lot of kingdoms
robed, great kingdoms that have been put down. But I tell you,
brothers and sisters, before it's over with, including this
nation here, it's going to be crushed, it's going to be swept
away, and one kingdom will remain. And that's the kingdom of this
great King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of His kingdom and peace, there
shall be no end. It's going to increase. until
it is full of people, even all the elect of God. So God has
exalted His Son, exalted Him on the throne of heaven. High,
we are told, above all power, all flesh. He has power over
all flesh, all demons, all nature. Authority has been given Him
to judge every man and execute that judgment. And on the great
last day, We're told that Jesus Himself shall sit on the throne,
and before Him shall be gathered all nations. And He'll divide
them asunder as a shepherd, divide His sheep from the goats, and
He'll say to those on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
Father. And He'll say to those on His
left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed. Does He have the power
to do that? Does He have the authority to
do that? Yes, He does. Because God raised him from the
dead and said, Set here my son in your humanity and reign until
you have accomplished my will and my purpose. That's who this
verse 1 is talking about, isn't it? A king shall reign in righteousness
and that's Jesus. I love the name of Jesus, don't
you? I love to say it and you love to say Jesus is God. He's
God and we love to say He's man. Jesus in His humanity is the
King over this universe. And this has a competent advantage
for you and for me who have obtained mercy and grace. This great King
who is reigning in absolute power and righteousness is the Son
of God in our humanity. Our Redeemer is King in our humanity. You and I have a friend in glory
who is born of a woman. Now isn't that wonderful? We
have a friend in heaven. He used to live upon this earth
just like you and I did. He's in heaven. We have an elder
brother who is in glory in our humanity and he's the king. He's the king. He is the King
of that place. He is the King of this place.
He is the King of all places. And He is going to reign over
His enemy until He has made them His friends or He crushes them
under His feet. But you know something, brothers
and sisters, as you and I are gathered here tonight in this
world full of devils, and it seems like sin and death is reigning
on every hand, as we sit here tonight worshiping our God, There's
a man in heaven, a real man, and he's reigning. He holds our
movement. He holds our breath and our well-being
in His care. He is reigning absolutely in
our humanity. That's a wonderful thing to think
about. It's a wonderful thing to think about. You and I have
a Savior and He's meek and He's lowly. He's gentle and He's gracious. Don't let any imagine that He's
weak. When we say these things about Him, we do not imagine
that He is weak. He was crucified in weakness,
but He lives being possessed of all power in heaven and in
earth. Our song says, O worship the
King! all glorious above, and gratefully
singing of His power and His love. He is our shield. He is
our defender. He is the Ancient of Days, pavilion
and splendor, and girded with praise. He is the King. Oh, worship
the King! We worship Jesus of Nazareth,
and He is our King. Our King reigning in our humanity. That is a wonderful thought,
isn't it? A King shall reign. And that prophecy has come to
pass. Look back over at our text again in Isaiah chapter 32. And look here in verse 2. And a man shall be as an hiding
place from the wind, and a shelter, a cover from the tempest. These winds and tempests, you
often read about them. and the floods. You often read
about these things in the Scriptures and these are emblems of the
oppression of God's children. They're emblems of the afflictions
they endure and the heartaches and the troubles and the trials
that they go through in this lifetime. We must, through much
tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Through much tribulation. Do you ever wonder, dear child
of God, why you're having so much trouble? That's wind. That's the tempest. You're ordained
to trouble. I've never known a child of God
that don't have trouble. I wish I could find somebody
that the Lord saves. And He puts him on the bed of
ease, and just takes him right on to glory. But I've never found
such a power. Have you? We're like old brother
Scott Richardson used to say so often, a child of God, a believer
is going into trouble, or he's in the midst of trouble, or he's
coming out of trouble. But he's in trouble. Remember
when the Lord Jesus told us about the man who built his house on
the rock? Remember what He said happened
to that man? He said the rains descended,
didn't He? Rains coming down, beating upon
His head. And then from the bottom, floods
arose. And then the wind hitting Him
in the face. And He said it beat upon that
house. It beat! That's what these winds
do. That's what these tempests do.
They beat upon our souls, our hearts. They come against us.
Some of you have felt that, haven't you? Boy, you felt it in your
very soul when this tempest begins to blow and the floods want to
carry you away. A man shall be a hiding place
in those times. Boy, you ask Job. You ask poor
old Job. I tell you the wind, that tempest
almost blew him away, didn't it? Look what he, look at the
afflictions that come against him. Old Jacob. Bless his heart,
when he introduced himself to Pharaoh, he said, the days of
my pilgrimage has been few and evil. You look at him sometimes
and say, Jacob, you're complaining? I guess he had a right to because
he had a tough time, didn't he? These tempests, sometimes they
come against our soul and they beat up on our house. And sometimes
we think they're going to carry us away, don't we? soul trouble. And sometimes, have you ever
had so much trouble you started dreaming about your troubles?
Start having all kinds of dreams. They affect us physically sometimes. We get in such a state of mind
under these trials that they affect even our physical makeup,
our physical being. Listen, there's a hiding place. In the man Christ Jesus, there
is a hiding place. in Him from the storms, from
the troubles, from the oppression of this life. Let me give you
these five things concerning this. First of all, think of
this. And this so comforted me when I thought of this. Here
is the first thing that comforts and strengthens us in Jesus the
Hiding Place. Jesus has endeared these things
even more deeply than we have. He has already faced the tempest.
He's already walked through the flood, hasn't He? He stood against
the wind. You may be in a deep place sometime.
You may be in some deep waters. You may be walking through some
muddy places, some deep, long valleys. Start looking around
and see if you can't see His footprints. You know what makes
us afraid sometimes? We think we're on uncharted territory. Nobody's ever been here. This
place has been forsaken. No, Christ has been there. Our
Savior's been there already before us. He's an example that we should
follow His steps. Example of what? Example of suffering,
isn't He? And we follow His steps. He's
been there. That's comforting. My dad used to take me hunting.
Don't know why he did this. He'd take me hunting and put
me on the spot and go off and leave me. And it would scare
me to death, just a little guy standing up with a shotgun out
in the middle of nowhere. And you know what I started doing?
I started trying to find my dad. And you know how I did it? I
started trying to find his tracks. If I saw his tracks in a little
shallow place of mud or sand, oh, it thrilled my heart. I thought,
that's my dad. My father's been here. And the
next time you're in trouble, soul trouble, and these winds
are coming against you and these temperatures, start looking for
your Savior's track, because He's been there. He's been there
before. Secondly, this is competent,
in the time of these afflictions and oppressions, Christ's grace
is sufficient for us. That's sometimes why He lets
us come into these places, to try His grace. You remember when
Paul got that thorn in the flesh and it was ready to get him down?
And he went to the Lord Jesus and asked the Lord to remove
it. And what did the Lord tell him? My grace is sufficient for
you. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. We never know how weak we are
till sometime we face these trials and afflictions. And it's in
the midst of those that our Master whispers to us, My grace is sufficient. You'll find strength in Me. Look
here in the 25th chapter. Back over here to your left just
a little bit. Look in the 25th chapter. And
look in verse 4. Look at this. 25th chapter in
verse 4. And thou hast been a strength,
you are speaking here of the Lord, thou hast been a strength
to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge
from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the blast of the
terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. You find these passages
like this all the way through the book of Isaiah and so many
times in the Old Testament. He's a strength in the time of
trouble. And here's another thing that's
conferred in the third thing. He suffers sometimes these things
to come upon us that He may prove His love. He may prove His love. Christ is willing to expose His
people to all kinds of winds and all these blasts against
their heart to prove His love for them. Not to Him. He knows
it. But He's going to prove it to
you. He's going to prove it to me. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? And we got this doctrine, you
see, in our heads. And that's a wonderful thing.
But the only way to get it in our hearts is through great trials
and tribulations. I can have it in my head and
know that nothing can separate me from the love of my Savior. But I tell you when I get in
these afflictions, and I think surely, I'm going to be separated. Then I'm not. It proves it in
my heart. That's true. I won't be separated
from His love when these blasts of the terrible ones come against
my wall. And fourthly, He teaches us this
in these afflictions and these trials. When complete deliverance
comes at last from all these storms, it's going to make heaven
sweeter. It's going to make heaven sweeter.
He does things to us here, brothers and sisters, and He puts us through
these places to try us sore and to make our hearts heavy. That
when we get to heaven, it's going to be sweeter. It's going to
be sweeter. Our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, works for us. They work for us. A far more exceeding and eternal
Weight of glory. I tell you when a fellow don't
appreciate sleep is when he's not worked hard. He don't appreciate
rest because he's really not tired. But you know when a fellow
really appreciates rest is when he's worked hard all day and
then he can lay down on his bed and sleep how precious sleep
is. And you know what will make heaven so sweet? It was difficult
to get there. There's times when we thought
we weren't going to make it. Peter even said this, "...the righteous
shall scarcely be saved." Don't it appear that way in our own
eyes sometimes? Fifthly, think of this, someday
the Lord is going to rectify it all. He's going to rectify
it all. Look over here in the 35th chapter.
Look in Isaiah chapter 35 and look in verse 4 and 5. Someday
He's going to rectify it all. There's sufferings here. Yes,
there is. There's afflictions. These winds and these tempests blowing
against us. But someday He's going to make
it all right. Look here what He says in verse 4. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, Be strong. Be strong in Christ
and in His grace. Fear not. Behold, your God will
come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, He
will come and save you. He's coming. Our Lord is coming. And what's He going to do when
He comes? There's going to be vengeance He's going to take.
Vengeance on all your enemies and His enemies. Everybody and
everything that's harmed you and did you wrong, and tried
you sore, He's going to take vengeance on you. Everything
from your enemies among humanity to Satan. You ever been tried
by the devil? You ever had him to tempt you?
Boy, he can tempt you sore, can't he? Man, he can tempt you sore. I hope none of us ever falls
into the temptation of the devil. Because, buddy, he can tempt
you. He can turn you upside down. Look what he did to poor Job. Look what he did to Judas. He
put it in Judas' heart to betray the Son of God. I doubt Judas
would have ever did that if Satan hadn't put it in his heart. Look
what he did to Peter. He put it in Peter's heart to
deny the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. Peter said,
Lord, be it far from you, you're never going to suffer. And the
Lord Jesus looked at him and said, ìGet behind me, Satan.î
Who was it that tempted Peter to say that? Satan did. Ananias
and Sapphires, he filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Ghost.
He hates God and he hates us. And boy, he takes great delight
in trying to deceive us, trying to lead us off astray with every
wind of doctrine, false doctrine. But you know what God's going
to do when He comes again? You know what He's going to do?
He's going to take vengeance on him. He is! He's going to
take vengeance on him. I don't know exactly how this
is going to happen, but I know what the Apostle Paul said in
Romans 16 and 20. He was telling the brethren to
be patient, for he said, God will brew Satan under your feet
shortly. Now how is He going to do that?
I've thought of this and I've wondered if it's something like
this. I just wonder, now this is pure speculation, but I wonder
sometimes if every time the poor saint lays his head down in bed
and his spirit leaves his body, I wonder if God doesn't take
Satan and throw him down and says, here, walk on him. Here's
the one that's caused you so much trouble, tempted you so,
cause you to err from the way, walk on him and bruise him. I
don't know if that's the way it is or not. I know this much
though. God is going to put him under
the feet of every saint and they're going to trample on him and all
that's going to be left of that rascal is a bunch of bruises.
And you talk about humiliation. He's so proud, even in his fallen
state he's so proud. He was the anointed cherub that
covered. He was perfect in beauty from
the day that He was created. Can you imagine how humiliated
He's going to be when saints walk on Him and bruise His head? God is coming with a recompense
and He's going to reward His people. And He's going to make
the crooked things straight and the dark places plain. He's coming. What a day that will be when
our Savior comes again. And think of this. Think of this. This is something that's very
comforting. A man shall be for a hiding place. Think of this.
Jesus, our King, rules and regulates all our troubles. There's not
a wind that blows, but what He says when it's coming, how hard
it is, how long it lasts, and when it ceases. There won't be
any waves that comes against your ship. But He tells it when
it can come, how high it is, how long it's going to last,
and when it ceases. He walks on the waters, does
He not? He's the ruler of the seas. And
when He's pleased, He can speak peace and there'll be a great
calm. Now, brothers and sisters, that's
comforting to us. And that helps us not to be so
anxious when trials come. Because they're regulated by
our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe that will help us not
to complain so much about our Christ. Why is it raining today? Why is it so hot today? Why is
this happening at this time in my life? Well, who brings these
things? Who suffers them to come? Who
regulates them? You think they'd come if He didn't? A man shall be for a hide-in-place. This man, his person, his work,
his promises, his decrees, his power, he's a hide-in-place. Christ is a hide-in-place. Back
in our text in chapter 34 again, and I'll soon come to a close. Look in chapter 32 again. Look
at the last portion of verse 2. A man shall be for an hiding
place, as a hiding place from the wind and the shelter from
the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place." As rivers of
water in a dry place. Now these waters speak to that
life of joy and gladness that's in the Spirit of Christ that
dwells in us. The Spirit of Christ in us is
a spirit of joy and gladness. Listen to Psalm 46, verse 4.
There is a river. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God. The Holy Spirit is called
a river because He flows from the throne of God and He flows
into our hearts and He manifests life and grace and mercy and
hope and that strength that's in the Lord Jesus Christ our
King. Doesn't it give you joy when
the Holy Spirit begins to manifest your interest in Christ? When
He bears witness to you that you are a child of God? When
He opens your understanding and lets you see Christ is your hope,
Christ is your Don't that fill you with joy? Listen to what
the Lord Jesus said on this very subject. John 7. If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me and drink. What are you talking about? Drinking
of what? With the Spirit. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Rivers of living water. Now the
river represents that gladness and joy that's in the Holy Spirit
of Christ that dwells in us. Rivers, rivers express to us
the abundance of that joy and that gladness. It's not just
a river, but it's rivers. It's a well of living water springing
up into life everlasting. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. Boy, this is a dry world, ain't
it? It's a dry world, a sad world. You won't get anything to satisfy
your soul in this world. I assure you of that. All that's
in this world is just calculated to burden our souls. And the
more involved we get into it, the more burdened we are. Is
that not true? We want this, and we want that, and we think
that's going to make us happy. And what does it wind up doing?
Just being a burden to us. But I'll tell you something that
will make you glad. I'll tell you something that will fill
you with joy. The Spirit of Christ in your heart. That's the spirit
of gladness. There is a river, the stream
whereof shall make glad the city of God. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Come ye to the waters. And lastly,
in verse 2, he says this, And as a shadow of a great rock. A man shall be as a shadow of
a great rock in a weary land." Now what's that speaking of?
We're speaking of rest, isn't it? We used to play down home. We had a river run up for behind
my house and we'd go down there on hot days and we'd We'd get
so sweaty, and we'd go up the hill to one of the cliffs, one
of the caves. And boy, we'd sit down and rest
in that cool place. It could be 100 degrees outside,
but probably 80 under those cliffs. So shady because the rocks were
so huge. I saw a painting one time. I
don't know whose house it was in, but it was a painting on
the wall, and the name of the painting was Serenity. Serenity. And it was this huge cliff sitting
on the side of the ocean. And these waves were coming in
and dashing against that cliff. And the mist and the spread in
the air. And I thought, serenity. Where's
the calmness in this? Where's the restfulness in this?
So I started looking closer. And finally, in a little hole
in that rock, I spotted a little bird. And he was just resting
in there. had his eyes closed, rested.
I thought, that's serenity. That's serenity. In this world
of trouble, in the time when these tempests are coming against
us, the rain down from heaven coming against us, the floods
seem like they're going to wash us away, there's a place of quietness,
there's a place of rest and safety, and it's in a man. It is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, our King. Some of you have found that rest,
haven't you? Even in the time of your trouble,
boy, you run to Him. You run to Him. And you find
rest in Him. In Jesus I have found a sweet
rest, from sorrow, from toil, and from care. In Him I am happy
and blessed, for He all my burdens disbares. Oh, how happy am I
with my Savior, so nigh I have found sweet rest. Oh, Jesus, give rest. Sweet rest. And lastly, in verse 3 and verse
5, The eyes of them that see shall not be dimmed, and the
ears of them that hear shall hearken. And the heart also of
the rash shall understand knowledge, And the tongue of the stammerer
shall be ready to speak plainly. And the vow of that foolish person
shall be no more called liberal, nor the miser, the cheapskate
said to be bound to fall." And what do we see here? We see when
the Lord opens a man's eyes, it gives him some discernment.
This was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus came to this earth, wasn't
it? Physically it was. John's disciples came to him
and said, John wants to know if you're the Christ or not.
He said, go tell him what you've just seen and heard. The blind
have their eyes open. The deaf have their ears unstopped.
The lame walk, the lepers are cleaned, the dead are raised.
So that was fulfilled physically in our Lord's days in His flesh. But it's been fulfilled ever
since spiritually. There's some of you here that
were blind, and now you see. You were deaf, but now you hear. You had a heart that was so dull
and black and dead and ignorant, you couldn't understand. But
now you do, because He has come to you and gave you hearing. He's opened your eyes that you
could see, and He's opened your heart to understand. And then
when he does that, you begin to distinguish between right
and wrong, between the gospel and between lies. Verse 5 here,
the fool. This is amplified. It says, the fool, the unbeliever
and the ungodly shall no more be called noble. Well, whoever
called them that to start with, we probably did, didn't we? We
didn't have any more sense than that. neither crafty and greedy
of gain, said to be bountiful and princely." Before the Lord saved me, I did
not know anything about who a Christian was or was not. I could not understand
why there were Catholics and why there were Protestants. To
me, they were all the same. I did not understand that. I
did not have any spiritual sense. A fellow came to me one time
and asked me, Asked me what I thought about Catholics. I said, I know
they're alright. I don't know. I didn't have any
spiritual discernment. Old Martin Luther said every
time he used to pass a monk in a robe, he wanted to fall down
and worship him. He said, I didn't have any sense.
Until the Lord opens your eyes. Until He opens your ears and
you hear His voice. You see His glory. He gives you
a heart to understand. Then you say. Then you say. No. That man, he don't know the
Lord. The Pope don't know the Lord.
If he did, he'd take his dress off and put on a pair of pants.
If he did, he'd come down here and worship Christ with the rest
of us poor sinners. Would he not? He'd quit letting
men worship him. Would he not? How do we know
that? How can we be so bold in saying
that? Because He's opened our eyes. He's opened our ears. We've
heard His voice. He's given us understanding to
hear the Gospel and understand the Gospel. What a joy to have an interest
in the King of Heaven. Isn't it a joy? Can you think
of a greater joy than when the Holy Spirit lets you know that
you've got an interest in the King of Heaven? And what a blessing
it is when you know that the King of Heaven has an interest
in you. Oh, it's a joy to love the King
of Heaven. What a joy it is to think the King of Heaven loves
me. Oh, my soul. May the Lord bless His Word.
Mr. Baker, would you dismiss us?