Isaiah chapter 12, reading these
six verses, it almost reminds you of reading one of the Psalms.
A lot of what we read of in the Psalms about singing praise unto
His name, singing to the Lord and praise His name, we see that
all the way through the book of Psalms, don't we? I love the
study of those Psalms. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 2. Isaiah 12, verse 2. Isaiah 12,
verse 2. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust. God reveals himself
to you as God our Savior. That response of faith is, I
will trust. I will trust. No need to be afraid
if he's our Savior. No need to be afraid of our sin
or of judgment. God is our Savior. For the Lord
Jehovah That is God my Savior. He's my strength. He's my song. He's also become my salvation. Remember what David said in Psalm
27, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Every believer
can say, behold, God is my salvation. God is my salvation. That's the
title of the message. And I trust that all of us can
identify with that statement, with the message of scripture
and the message of the gospel, that salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. As I've said many times over
the years, salvation is in a person. Not in a profession, not in a
persuasion, not in a pool. Salvation is in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything in salvation.
And God's people can identify with what Isaiah says here. Behold,
God is my Savior. He's God my Savior. Think about
that. If God is my Savior, everything
is okay. That's why I said don't be afraid.
Be not afraid. And I hope all of us can say
that God is my salvation, like Simeon in the temple when he
picked up the babe, the Lord Jesus Christ, and said, Lord,
let me die in peace. I've seen thy salvation. Paul says in the book of Titus
at least four times, looking for that blessed hope and glorious
appearing of the great God, the great God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. He is a great God and he's our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all iniquity. You see, eternal life is to know
the only true God. Eternal life is not being religious.
Eternal life is not making a decision. Eternal life is to know the true
and living God as He's revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's purpose in salvation is
the eternal purpose. Everything God does in time,
He purposed and decreed from eternity. Everything God does
in the way of saving His people is based on His eternal purpose.
His eternal covenant. He never saves sinners by accident
or chance. He saves every sinner whom He
wisely saves on purpose. And His purpose is an eternal
purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world. He saves sinners by His purpose
and His grace. He has declared the end from
the beginning He is the Alpha, He is Omega, He is the First
and He is the Last. Hold your place there in Isaiah
12 and turn over here to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46, Isaiah 46 verse
9. Isaiah 46, 9, remember the former
things of old, for I am God, there is none else. I am God,
there is none like me. He declares the end from the
beginning. Now how can he do that? How can
he declare the end from the beginning? Well, because he's the first
and the last. And from ancient times are things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my
pleasure. God decreed the end from the
beginning. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. Everything God does and is doing
and will do is on purpose, and His purpose is an eternal purpose. We often say and use that phrase,
as the Scripture says, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord, we
know, in its planning. In its planning, the Lord Jesus
Christ stood as a Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. We're going to study that in Revelation 13, 8. Salvation
is of the Lord in its purchase. He purchased us with His own
blood. He bought us, redeemed us with His own blood. Salvation
is of the Lord in its performance. He performed all things for us.
Salvation is not something we perform. Salvation is not something
we do. We're sinners. We're guilty.
How can a guilty sinner do anything to accomplish salvation? Well,
he can't. Salvation of the Lord and His performance. You remember
Isaiah 57, or rather Psalm 57 too, where it says that He's
performed all things for us. That's good news. If you're a
sinner and lost, that's good news. Salvation of the Lord and
His performance. Salvation of the Lord and His
preservation. We're kept by the power of God.
Salvation of the Lord and His perfection. We are predestinated,
don't be afraid of that word, we are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been studying through
the Revelation these last, oh, three, four, five weeks, and
I've been reading and studying, preparing messages to bring to
you on Sunday morning. In chapter seven, don't turn,
I've got it written down here, but these are the words that
we find I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, kindred, people, tongues, stood before
the throne before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation! is of the Lord. Salvation to
our God which sits upon the throne and unto the Lamb, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, and power. Therefore, the covenant of His
grace is called an everlasting covenant, an everlasting covenant. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep to the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews 13 verse 20. The Redeemer, the Savior, and
surety of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, is an everlasting
Savior, an everlasting Redeemer. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The surety
and Redeemer of God's covenant people is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He's always been our surety. Eternally, He's been our Savior.
Before there was a sinner, there was a Savior. Before Adam fell,
the Lord Jesus Christ stood as the surety of the covenant. That
which He had purposed in eternity, He will bring to pass in time.
In due time, what happened? The Lord Jesus Christ was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but in due time,
in the fullness of God's time, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
that law. The Savior must come, and the
Savior must die. Remember our Lord said, I must
go to Jerusalem, I must lay down my life, I must be raised up
again? It's a must. It's a must. The Savior must come and must
die to fulfill all that God has promised. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord
of glory. The elect of God must hear the
gospel. They must be visited by divine
visitation just as Zacchaeus was. The Lord crossed his path
on purpose and said, Zacchaeus, come on down here. Salvation
has come to your house this day. The elect of God will be visited
by God Almighty with the preaching of the gospel, by divine visitation,
by an effectual call. In Romans 10, I jotted this down. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord now. That whosoever is a big word,
isn't it? That includes me. I'm a whosoever. Call upon the
name of the Lord. But how shall they call upon
him in whom they've not heard? in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him whom they've not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent?" And you know what their message is? Turn over here
to Isaiah 52. When Paul writes that in Romans
chapter 10, he quotes from over here in Isaiah 52 about those
who were sent of God, Isaiah 52 verse 7. Isaiah 52, 7. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace. There's the good news of the
gospel. Peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publish salvation. We declare salvation
to the Lord. That saith unto Zion, thy God
reigns. Thy God reigns. I was encouraged
the other day, on all this tornado damage that's gone on in western
Kentucky. On Fox News, I was watching this,
some of you may have seen this, but they had the Attorney General
from the state of Kentucky on Fox News and they were interviewing
him. And you know what he said? He
said, God is sovereign. Wowee! And the news person said,
you're right, God is sovereign. Have you ever noticed when you
see these insurance policies, homeowner's policy or business
policy, there's a clause in there about destruction, wind, earthquakes,
everything, they call it Acts of God. Even the insurance. and to recognize that God reigns,
God is sovereign. And I was encouraged when I heard
him say that. They've interviewed, I've watched
some of these other people that they've interviewed, and one
particular interview that they did with a pastor of a church
there in Mayfield, Kentucky, and he was trapped with his family
underneath his church building and I was listening and waiting
for him to say something about God is God and God is sovereign. He didn't say a word. Absolutely
silent. Sometimes it's not so much what
people say, but it's what they don't say. He could have spoke
up and said God is God, but he didn't. The words found in this
chapter 12 of Isaiah 12 describe unto us the day of visitation
when God visits his people with the gospel. Notice verse 1, and
in that day. In that day, that's the day that
God has determined, it's the time that God has determined
for calling and revealing the gospel unto his elect, divinely
visiting them by the power of God through the preaching of
the gospel and the mighty effect that it has upon him. when God
visits us with the gospel. Remember from our study in 1
Thessalonians chapter 1, where it talks about, we are bound
to give thanks, knowing brethren, your election is of God. How
do you know that? Because He called you by our
gospel, not with word only, but in power. Power of God, the Holy
Spirit. In that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, It's the day of salvation. It's the day of visitation. Thou
wilt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee. God never saves you by
His grace. You give Him all the glory and
honor. You won't thank yourself or pat yourself on the back.
You'll thank God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I will praise Thee, though Thou wast angry with me, Thine
anger is turned away, and you comforted me in that day." This
is the day of salvation has come unto God's people in God's due
time. Our Lord said to Zacchaeus, that
day. He said, this day. That's the
day right here he's talking about. This day of salvation comes to
your house. As we read there in Luke chapter
9. Now this phrase that Isaiah uses, in that day, is used over
40 times in the book of Isaiah. This is not talking about a 24-hour
day, but rather a time when God crosses our path with the gospel
and reveals Himself unto us. It's a day of Holy Spirit conviction,
when He convicts us of our sin and shows us that we are sinners,
shows us that we're lost without God, without hope, and without
Christ. It's the day of Holy Spirit conviction when He shows
us what we are before God. But thank God He doesn't leave
us there. He shows us the remedy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. A sinner will never lay hold
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His robe of righteousness. until
he's chilled by his nakedness. You see, God must strip us of
our self-righteous rags before he clothes us with those garments
of salvation. You can read about it. Turn to
Isaiah 61, 10. Isaiah 61, verse 10 talks about
those garments of salvation, and it's talking about the imputed
righteousness of Christ. Isaiah 6110, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, for my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bride groom decketh himself
with ornaments, as a bride adorneth herself with jewels, for as the
earth bringeth forth her bud, And as the garden causes the
things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God
will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before
all nations. He is called the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. He's
made unto us our righteousness. And in that day, when God visits
us in conviction and in revelation, and comfort, we will say, praise
ye the Lord. Thine anger is turned away because
God was in Christ reconciling us unto himself and he's comforted
us. He's given us comfort. Comfort. Comfort. What is that comfort?
Turn over here to Isaiah 40. How does He comfort His people?
He comforts us with the good news of the Gospel. The Holy
Spirit is called the Comforter. What does the Holy Spirit comfort
us with? The Gospel. The Gospel. Isaiah 40, look at
verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
crying to her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sin." Boy, that's comfort. He put away all our sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. That comforts a man who knows
himself to be a sinner and knows that he doesn't have any righteousness
of his own. It's a day of conviction and
it's a day of revelation. Thou shalt say, Oh Lord, I will
praise Thee. He gives us a heart, a new heart,
that we might praise the Lord. And He gives us a will, and a
mind, and a tongue to praise the Lord. I will praise Thee,
He says. I will praise Thee. Like Thomas said, my Lord and
my God, like Simeon said, Lord let me die now, I've seen Thy
salvation. Now, anger is turned away because
the anger of God's wrath was poured out upon my substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, now there's no condemnation to those who are in him, God
spent all of his wrath against my sin and my substitute. Now,
if he punished my substitute for my sin, and made satisfaction,
the Lord Jesus Christ did, to law and justice. He's not going
to turn around and punish me. That would make Him unjust. The Lord Jesus Christ put away
our sin and pleased God to bruise Him in our room and in our stead. Now look at verse 2. Behold,
God turned away His anger in Christ, reconciled us unto Himself. Behold, verse 2 now, God is,
God is, God is my salvation. God is everything
in my salvation. You remember from Colossians
chapter three, we read that verse that Christ is all and in all. In him was all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and we're complete in Christ. God is my
salvation. That comes only by revelation.
He's hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them undebaked. He must command the light to
shine in our dark heart that we might see the glory of God
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, God is my Savior. He's God my Savior. He's God
my righteousness. He's God my redemption. He's
God my salvation. Now, that comes our revelation,
and when that happens, the heart that's regenerated by the grace
of God says this, I'll trust. That's response of God-given
faith. Faith trusts the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. For
what part of salvation do you trust him? All of it. He accomplished
all of our salvation. I'll trust him. God is my salvation. I'm going to trust him. Trust
in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us. That's Psalm 62. For the Lord
Jehovah, He's my strength. What's the strength of our salvation?
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. What is
the strength of our salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ. What is
the song of our salvation? Remember Revelation 1 verse 6?
unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood.
He's redeemed us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue under heaven. He is my strength and my salvation. He's my song. We sing a new song
unto Him. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to redeem us unto God. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to redeem us unto God. Now, don't turn. Let me just
read this to you. He's my strength, my song, and
He's become my salvation. Psalm 98 verse 1 says, O sing
unto the Lord a new song. For He hath done marvelous things,
His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him to victory. Thanks
be unto God who has given us the victory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, anywhere you turn in
this book and read about God saving sinners, you know it's
by His grace, through the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord is my strength and my
song and He is all my salvation. Therefore, therefore, therefore,
Now my pastor used to say this all the time when he'd read that
word, therefore. Find out what it's there for
because it refers back to what has been said. God is my salvation. I'll trust him. I will not be
afraid. The Lord Jehovah is my strength,
my song, my salvation. Therefore, therefore what? Therefore with joy, shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. There is a well of
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. In that day of visitation,
we draw water out of the wells of salvation, and we do it with
joy, joy in our heart, joy in our heart. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice
in him. We draw on the well of his salvation,
and that well is deep. It never runs dry. I like that
verse in Proverbs 25 when it talks about, as cold waters to
a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Remember
over in Isaiah 55, we won't turn and read it, but I brought a
message from Isaiah 55 verse 1 a few months back. Behold, he said, ho, everyone
that is thirsty, come to the waters, come and buy and eat
wine, milk without money, without price. Boy, that's strange economics,
isn't it? By everything it's free. Salvation
is a free gift of God, justified freely by his grace. You know, water is often used
in scripture as a symbol of salvation. He told that woman at the well,
he said, if you drink of this water, You'll thirst again, but
if you drink of that water that I'll give thee, you'll never
thirst. But the water that I shall give
thee shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. You see, water is the gift of
God. Men cannot create water. That's
the creation of God. Water is a necessity. We must
have it. I'm so happy to see My son sent me
a picture from Southern California, and he has a big mountain range
as he looks east from where he lives there on the coast, but
those mountains were covered with snow. That's such a, people
don't understand, we get so much rain out here. Out there, it's
the snow on the mountains that's the survival. That's snow on
the mountains, and they're getting a lot of snow right now. Feet
and feet and feet full of snow. where Bridget and I were on vacation
in the central part of Idaho in what they call the Sawtooth
Mountains. They've got over two feet of
snow. And the high today was 11 degrees. That snow is going
to stay there and stay there. And then in the spring, it all
melts. A lot of it melts. and it runs
down the rivers into the reservoirs. And they hold that water there,
and that's where they get water for their crops all summer long. Without that snow, we're not
going to have any hay, no barley, no oats, no wheat. You see, water
is necessary for those things, but how much more is it necessary
for the water of life in the Lord Jesus Christ? Water meets
our need, doesn't it? And Christ meets our need. He's
the water of life. He's the bread of life. And we
know that water is abundant. It's everywhere. You ever notice
we never run out of water? How many times have the storms
come up out of the Gulf of Mexico, all that moisture comes up over
the Midwest, dumps Rain from all the way from Mississippi
all the way to Maine. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
You think the ocean at some point would start getting low. Water
runs all the way out here, runs into rivers and runs right back
in. And God brings it again. And it's a big cycle. We never
run out of water. Salvation is forever. He saves
us with an eternal Salvation and abundance. He's plenteous
in redemption. God has a great hydraulic pump. Pumps it out of the ocean. Brings
it over these hills of Kentucky. Waters everything. It runs into
the ground and right back into the ocean. Comes right back again.
Isn't that amazing? In that day you shall draw, therefore
shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. Verse four,
and in that day shall you say, praise the Lord. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that was in me. Bless his holy name. Praise
the Lord. Call upon his name. And then
declare his doing. Salvation is a declaration of
what God has done for us. Salvation is not a declaration
of what we must do for Him. It's a declaration of what God
has done for us. Declare His doings among the
people. Oh, and make mention His name. is exalted. His name is Wonderful, Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
We may look at that scripture in Isaiah 9, 6 here, maybe in
a week or two. Declare His doing among the people.
That's what we do when we preach the gospel. We declare what He
has done for us. We make mention that His name
is exalted. Know the name under heaven, given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Remember from Acts chapter
4, Peter said to that council that day. In Philippians chapter
2, we read that God has highly exalted him and given him a name
above every name. At that name, every knee is going
to bow. Every tongue is going to confess
what? He's Lord. He's Lord to the glory of God
the Father. Make mention, his name is exalted. His name is
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
Now verse 5, sing. Sing unto the Lord, for He done
excellent things. He done excellent things. Everything
our God does is excellent. Excellent. He doesn't have any
sub-par performance. Everything He does is perfect,
excellent, and eternal. He saves us with an everlasting
salvation. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us. Now sing unto Him, for He hath
done excellent, excellent things. This is known in all the earth. God has a people. all over this
earth, all over this world, and his people sing about the excellent
things that he has done, how he put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself, how he established perfect righteousness for us
by his obedience under the law and freely imputes that unto
us by his grace. You see, we declare his doings,
we make mention his name is exalted, or he, and then we sing unto
him about the excellent things that he hath done. Verse six,
cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion. We are Zion, there's
a picture of the church. God has called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light, and we are one with Him. We're in
union with Him. Cry out and shout, we are inhabitants
of God's Zion, of God's salvation. For great, great is the Holy
One of Israel. Now get a hold of this. You who
are inhabitants of Zion, that's every believer. That's every
believer. Great is the Holy One of Israel. He has saved us with so great
salvation. And He's in the midst of us.
He's in the midst of His people. You remember when we read Revelation
chapter 1, when it talked about those seven churches and the
Son of Man? He's in the midst of those seven
churches. Our Lord said, where two or three
are gathered in My name, That's where I am. Christ in you, that's
the hope and glory. He is with us. Christ in you
is the hope of glory. Cry out, sing, praise the Lord,
declare what he has done. He's done excellent things. He's
the Holy One of Israel. He's the only just God and Savior. That's what it says in Isaiah
45, isn't it? Now he says, look unto me. I'm the only just God
and Savior. Look unto me, all the ends of
the earth. I am God. Beside me, there is no other.
Now look. Look to Him. He's the Holy One
of Israel. He is God, my salvation. God, my Savior.