Truly Isaiah, to him, it says
in the book of Acts, to him give all the prophets witness. The
message given to Isaiah is a message concerning the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now Isaiah 29, Isaiah 29, and
our message will be taken from verse 17 down through verse 24. Let's read one more time verse
17. It is not, is it not, yet a very
little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into something, turned
from an unfruitful field into a fruitful field, And the fruitful
field shall be esteemed or counted as a forest, a forest, a mighty
forest. Now I'm entitling this message
for you today, when the gospel, when the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, when the gospel comes in power. That's what we read
just a moment ago from 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. When the gospel comes
in power, Paul writing to those believers saying, beloved, we
know your election of God. And here's how you know whether
I'm chosen and elect of God. For our gospel came not into
you in word only, Now, it did come that way, but not only. It came in power and in the Holy
Ghost, and it gave us much assurance. Assurance of what? Assurance
that the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation is everything. The gospel, when it comes in
power. Talking about the irresistible,
almighty, effectual power of God the Holy Spirit. And the
Holy Spirit, as God Almighty, and as the Lord Jesus Christ,
all the Blessed Trinity in all their blessed holy character,
we can all sum them up in their blessed character as Almighty. as holy, the almighty God. He's just not only mighty, as
I said in our Bible study earlier, we started a Bible study through
the book of Revelation this morning, chapter 1, but it says there
in verse 8, Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which is, which
was, and is to come, He is the Almighty God, the Almighty One. Now, when the gospel of Christ
comes to your heart in power, when the gospel of Christ comes
to your heart in saving power, God Almighty speaks to your heart. You hear not just the words of
the preacher, Although you do, oh, to be blessed to hear a word
from God, from His throne, through His word, through His servant,
by His Spirit, to your heart, you imagine the blessing That
would be when the gospel comes in power to the sinner's heart,
several things take place. When the gospel comes in power,
conviction of sin is wrought in the heart. We know that we
are sinners before God. When the gospel comes in power,
Christ is revealed unto our heart. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them unto us. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. When the gospel
comes in power to the heart of the sinner, life is given. We're quickened and raised from
the dead. You hath be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. When the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ comes in power, Not in word only, but in power. When the gospel of Christ comes
in power, believers are given and granted faith, faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ and repentance. Faith and repentance are granted
and given of God when the gospel comes in power. You see, he's
exalted to give repentance unto his children. When the gospel
comes in power, you won't hear just, oh, you know, it's another
sermon. Oh, when the gospel comes in power. May God be pleased
this day to send the gospel in power. When the gospel comes
in power, believers are comforted. Believers are encouraged. Believers
are humbled. Believers are edified in Christ
Jesus. And believers rejoice in Him. with unspeakable joy, full of
glory, when the gospel comes in power. Oh Lord, send your
gospel in power to the hearts of your people. My prayer for
us this morning is that God will do just that. That the word will
be heard not only in the spoken word, but it will be in the power
of God the Holy Spirit, and we'll be enabled of God to worship
Him in spirit and in truth. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him, oh, to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now let me remind
you of four indisputable facts before we consider these verses. There are some sinners among
the masses of humanity whom God has chosen to salvation from
eternity who must be saved. Paul talks about that several
places in the scripture where he said we're bound to give thanks
to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God has from
the beginning chosen you unto salvation. There are some sinners
chosen in that covenant of grace given to the Lord Jesus Christ
who must be saved. Not only that, secondly is this,
the Lord Jesus Christ has made complete and effectual atonement
for the sin of God's elect by the sacrifice of himself. He
did redeem his people with his blood. Thirdly, all the elect
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared once in the end of the
age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Thirdly, all the
elect of God, having been chosen by God, redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ, shall be called from death unto life by the quickening
and life-giving power of God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said
you must be born from above. Unless you're born from above,
you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Unless you're born again
by the Spirit of God, the power of God, through the Word of God,
you cannot see, you cannot understand the Gospel. And you cannot believe
the Gospel. We believe only according to
the working of His mighty power. The means that God has ordained
to call out His elect, to give them faith in Christ Jesus, to
give them life from above, the means that God has ordained to
achieve that, to call out His people, is the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right, if His own will
be he us with the word of truth, there is a necessity of the sinner
hearing the gospel in order that God would have mercy upon him. God has ordained it. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now here's my point. If you're
one of his chosen in that covenant of grace, redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Lord in time will cross your
path with the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and call
you to Himself in power. And you'll know it when He convicts
your heart and when He draws you to Himself. Thy people shall
be winning in the day of His power. When the gospel comes
to you, not in word only, but in power, He will draw you to
Himself. And you will willingly, gladly
embrace Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, as all in your salvation. And you will have the same testimony
as others in Scripture. It's God who saved me. It's God
who called me. I am what I am by the grace of
God alone. It's His grace that has made
us to differ. when God crosses your path with
the gospel in power and makes you a new creature in Christ
Jesus. Oh, what a glorious day of salvation. Now, we see that and he talks
about that in our scripture this morning. He describes those things
that happen to us when the gospel comes in power. From Isaiah 29. In that day, in that gospel day,
God will send that word in power. Now let's start with verse 17,
Isaiah 29. Is it not just a very, very little
while, and Lebanon shall be turned from a barren, dried, parched
land into a fruitful, abundant, bountiful, fruitful land, a fruitful
field. And the fruitful field shall
be esteemed as a counted as a forest. Now Lebanon here represents the
elect of God among the Gentile world. And the elect of God by
nature, the elect of God even chosen in Christ from eternity,
yet born in time in Adam all died. We're born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. By nature we are an unfruitful
field. You remember what Paul, as he
describes those in Ephesians chapter 2, without God? He said,
you remember that you were one time without Christ, without
God, without hope, out of the covenant, out of everything,
without God, without hope, ungodly children of wrath. even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ Jesus. Now this unfruitful field hath
been turned in, hath been turned into a very fruitful field. This unfruitful field has the
fruit of God. By the grace of God shall be
blessed of God through the preaching of the gospel and the calling
out of them from darkness into light. And that's what happens
in salvation. Translated out of the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of God's dear Son. And they shall be counted by
God Almighty. They shall be counted no longer
as Unfruitful, but they should be
called trees of righteousness. They shall be called the planting
of the Lord a mighty forest Turn over here to Isaiah 61 Isaiah
61 turn over there Isaiah 61 He says, the Spirit of the Lord,
Isaiah 61.1. The Spirit of the Lord, God,
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel unto
the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, the opening of
the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that
mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn, in Zion, to give them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness." There's that fruitful field. Trees of righteousness. The planting of the Lord, that
He might be glorified. You see that? The unfruitful
field now is a fruitful field, bearing fruit of the Spirit unto
His glory. Now in verse 18, down through
verse 24, seven things are revealed unto us when the gospel, when
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes in power. When the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes in power to the heart of
the sinner, in that day, notice that phrase there, in that day,
in that day, the day of God's power, the day of the gospel
when it comes in power, in that day shall the deaf hear the words
of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity
and out of darkness. Now here's the first thing. When
the gospel comes in power, the deaf shall hear the words of
the book. Not just in word only, but in
power. The deaf, you see that? They
shall hear the words of the book. God's book. God's word. They
shall hear because God has given them life to hear. Now all men
by nature, being dead in sin, have their spiritual senses turned
off. spiritual senses are dead. No
ears to hear, no eyes to see, no desire to hear, no appetite
for the Word of God. Deaf and dead to the Gospel of
Christ, to the Word of God. God must turn on the light. God
must give us hearing ears to hear Him. When it pleases God
to send the Gospel in power, when He gives us life in Christ,
you know what He does? He gives us an appetite and a
willingness and an eagerness and a swiftness to hear Him.
To hear Him speak in power. He gives us a desire to drink
of the water of life, to desire the sincere milk of the Word
that we might grow thereby. He gives us a love to hear Him,
a want to hear Him. No longer is the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ foolishness. Now it's the wisdom of God. It
is the power of God. Let me show you that over in
1 Corinthians chapter 1. When God gives us ears to hear
Him, That's when the gospel comes in power to the heart. And the
gospel becomes no longer just... Just a message. It's the Word
of Truth, the Word of God that God blesses to our heart. And
makes us to know all that Christ is and all that He has done for
us. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, look
at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. That's when the gospel comes
in power. The power of God. For it is written, I'll destroy
the wisdom of the wise, I'll bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom doesn't know
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but, look at verse 23,
we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block.
unto the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, God's elect among the Jews, God's elect among
the Gentiles, Christ, the power of God, and Christ crucified,
the wisdom of God. What is the gospel of Christ
to you? Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by? Is the gospel
of Christ foolishness, or is it the wisdom and power of God
unto your salvation? Oh may God give us ears to hear
him speak and to make us swift to hear him. Here's the second
thing he does. This is when the gospel comes
in power. He gives us ears to hear him. He gives us ears to
hear the words of the book. The book. God's truth. God's
word. The second thing we see here,
the eyes of the blind shall see. The eyes of the blind shall see
out of darkness. Our Lord said this, blessed are
your eyes saying to the disciples that you've been given ears to
hear him, and eyes to see. Blessed are your eyes, for they
see, and your ears, for they hear, they see. Now remember
the song of John Newton, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found was blind, But now I see, I see. All of us by nature are
dead in sin, lost in sin. All of us by nature are not only
deaf to the Word of God, but blind to the truth of God, to
the things of God. But in the day of God's power,
He causes light to shine. He causes light to shine in our
hearts. And He gives us the knowledge
of the glory of God that is seen and revealed in the person and
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls us out of darkness into
His marvelous light. He turns on the light switch.
by revelation of who Christ is to our heart. And He causes us
to see Him who is altogether lovely. Let me show you that
in Scripture. If you find 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. When God
turns on the light, we see Him. And He must command the light
to shine. I can't command it to shine,
you can't command it to shine. God must give us eyes to see
and he does so by revealing the light who is Christ. This is
2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. For God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, talking about the original creation,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the glory of His mercy,
the glory of His grace, the glory of His salvation. When He causes
us to see Him, gives us understanding and enlightens our eyes, He teaches
us at least three things. Three things He shows us. Let
me take the book of Isaiah and point them out to you. Back in
Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1. When He gives us ears to hear
Him, and when He gives us eyes to see Him, He teaches us at
least three things. Have you been taught these three
things? The first one is this, Isaiah 6 verse 1. In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up. We see Him how? High and lifted
up as the Almighty. And his train filled the temple,
and above it stood the seraphims, the winged creatures, each had
six wings. With two he did cover his face,
with two he did cover his feet, and with two he did fly. And
one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. When God gives us ears to hear
him, eyes to see him, the first lesson he teaches us that he
is almighty, high and lifted up, and that he is holy. Holy,
thrice holy. Holy, holy, holy. Now stay right
there in Isaiah chapter 6. Now when he gives us eyes to
see, the second lesson he teaches us is this. He teaches us who
we are. Look at Isaiah chapter 6 verse
5. Then I said, woe is me. I am
undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen, my eyes have seen
the King. So he had a revelation of this,
not only the holy character of God, but of his own sinful character. When he gives us eyes to see,
we see who we are. Dead in sin, corrupt, vile. wicked, ungodly, a transgressor
against God. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in God's sight. Here's the third lesson He teaches
us. When He gives us eyes to see, He teaches us He's holy.
He teaches us that we're sinners. What's the third lesson? He teaches
us that we need the Lord Jesus Christ to put away our sin and
to establish righteousness for us. That's what this book teaches.
You see, He's given us ears to hear the word of the book. Turn
to Isaiah 53. He teaches us the sufficiency
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving sovereign sacrifice
to put away our sin. Isaiah 53. Has the Lord taught
you this lesson? He is holy, we are sinful, and
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Look at verse four,
Isaiah 53. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrow. We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgression.
He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. with his stripes, dying for our
sin. Has God given you eyes to see
the Savior? I tell you, when the gospel comes
in power, you see His holy character, you see the sinfulness of sin,
and we see the suitableness of the Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed
Redeemer. Not only that, turn back to Isaiah
29. When the gospel comes in power,
it says in verse 19, the meek shall also increase
their joy." Their joy. Their joy in the Lord. They'll
have an increase of joy in the Lord. In the Lord. Don't forget
that part. Increase of joy in the Lord.
Who shall have this increase of joy? The meek. The meek, who
are the meek? Our Lord said, blessed are the
meek, they shall inherit the earth. Oh, I want to be a meek,
meek, I want to be one of these meek ones, don't you? When the
gospel comes in saving power, Here's what it does. It strips
us and it breaks us and it humbles us in His sight. He makes us
meek. We're not that way by nature.
We're full of pride. We're proud. We're arrogant,
self-righteous. When the gospel comes in power,
He strips us. He puts us in the dust and He
makes us to know that we're nothing before Him and that He's everything. He makes us meek. He humbles
us. He breaks us before Him. The
Lord is nigh them of a broken heart. Save us such as be of
a contrite spirit. Now, only God can make a sinner
meek. Only God can do this. It's the
work of God. For meekness is not an attribute
of the flesh, this old nature. It is yet full of sinful religious
pride. But it is the fruit of the new
and divine nature given in the new birth. For the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
When the Lord sends the gospel in power, it strips us and it
makes us meek before Him. And then you know what happened?
Our joy is increased. Our joy is increased. We have
joy in the Lord that grows and grows and grows. The more we
know of Him, the more we are made to joy in Him and His great
salvation and the forgiveness of our sin. The more we know
of Him, the more we grow in grace and the more we increase in joy
in the Lord. We have the joy, now think about
this, we have the joy of peace. We have the joy of peace, for
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. We joy in peace, don't we? The
peace He has made with God for us. We joy in Him, we have the
joy of peace, we have the joy of faith. Faith that looks to
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed thing it is. You
know, faith is called, there's not many things in the Word of
God that are called precious. But you know, one of them that
is called precious is faith. Oh, the joy of faith. Faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have the joy of peace, we have the joy of faith, we have
the joy of forgiveness, forgiveness of sin, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. We have the joy of forgiveness,
we have the joy of being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the meek
shall increase their joy in the Lord. Now here's the fourth thing. Read verse 19, the last part
of it. And the poor among men shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. The poor among men shall rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel. Now again our Lord said, Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. The psalmist
David said, I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Those who are made to know that
they are bankrupt sinners, spiritually impoverished, shall continually
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Paul described the true Israel
of God Those who are born of God, who have been operated on
by the Spirit of God, who worship God in spirit and in truth, who
rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who have no confidence
in the flesh. Not at all. For the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Holy One of Israel. Notice this. And the poor among
men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. You see, they
rejoice in this, that though the Lord Jesus Christ was rich,
yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. We rejoice in what the Lord Jesus
Christ has made us in Him. New creatures, new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He presents us before God, holy,
unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. We rejoice in His
righteousness freely given unto us. For God has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Poor among men, the poor are
made rich in Christ Jesus. And we rejoice in the richness
of His grace, the richness of His salvation. We rejoice in
Christ Jesus alone, and we have no confidence in the flesh. Now look at verse 22. Here's
the fifth thing. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
who redeemed Abraham, God chose Abraham who was an idolater.
God chose him. God called him. God redeemed
him by the blood of Christ who redeemed Abraham concerning the
house of Jacob. Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
neither shall his face now wax pale. Abraham and Jacob were
not ashamed of God. They were not ashamed of the
Lord Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul said, For
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day. He said, I'm not ashamed of Christ. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, my friend,
when the gospel comes in power, to your heart, You'll gladly
own it, bow to it, and you will not be ashamed, world without
end. Let me show you that in Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45, turn over there. We no longer wax pale, we wax
bold, because we're not ashamed to own our Lord, as He's not
ashamed to own us. Isaiah 45, look at verse... 15. Verily thou art a God that hideth
thyself, O God of Israel. He's not known by searching.
He's known by revelation. They shall be ashamed and confounded,
all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. They shall be ashamed. Look at
verse 17. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end. No longer ashamed. to own my Lord and my King. No longer ashamed to own God's
electing, saving grace. No longer ashamed to own God's
redeeming blood through Christ Jesus, how He bought us with
His own blood. Now we no longer wax pale. We wax bold before men. Confess Him gladly before men. By believers' baptism, and by
our daily walk in this ungodly world, and by assembling together
where the gospel of God's grace is preached, we're not ashamed
of the gospel. We're no longer wax pale. We
wax bold before God. That is, when the gospel comes
in power, Let me show you a scripture over here, one of my favorite.
Find 2nd Timothy. 2nd Timothy chapter 1. 2nd Timothy
chapter 1. Thinking about not being ashamed
of the gospel. 2nd Timothy chapter 1. When Paul
is sitting in prison, writing back to his young preacher friend,
he reminds him of these things. This is 2nd Timothy chapter 1.
Verse 6, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir
up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands. For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed. Don't be ashamed. the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the..." And there's this power of God.
When the gospel comes in power, the power of God, for it's God
who saved us. We're not ashamed of that, are
we? Salvations of the Lord. It's God who has called us. We're
not ashamed of His call. It's a holy calling, not by our
works. according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began.
But it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for
the which cause also I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for I know whom
I have believed, and persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day." Hold fast
the form of sound words. No longer ashamed to own our
blessed Lord and our blessed Savior. Now remember from our
study in the book of Mark, Our Lord said this, Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me and of my word, then this adulterous
and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his
holy angels. Are you ashamed of Him? I trust
you're not. I trust that you stand bold before
this ungodly world, proclaiming Christ as all your hope and all
your salvation. And when that happens, here's
the sixth thing. Look at verse 23, Isaiah 29.
When the gospel comes in power, Verse 23, When he seeth his children,
the work of my hand in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my
name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the
God of Israel. When the gospel comes in power,
they will sanctify my name. That is this. How do you sanctify
the name of the Lord? Nothing we can do that will sanctify
the name of the Lord. But here's what he's talking
about. When the gospel comes in power, we, by the power of
God in our heart, we set apart and regard God as everything
in salvation. We sanctify His name. That is,
we regard Him and esteem Him and reverence Him and worship
Him as the Holy One of Israel who is our Lord and who is our
Savior. We regard and reverence the Lord.
We highly esteem Him in all of His character. We sanctify the
Lord in His sovereign mercy. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. We sanctify the Lord in this.
We acknowledge and esteem all of His character in His sovereign
mercy, in His sovereign love. For He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. We esteem Him in all of His character,
not only as holy and sovereign in love and in mercy, but how
about sovereign power? Do you esteem and reverence His
sovereign power as the absolute Lord, who will have mercy on
whom He will have mercy, who will save whom He will, and condemn
whom He will according to His own purpose and grace? Do you
sanctify and regard Him as altogether holy in His holy character? That's what happens when God
sends the gospel in power to your heart. Here's the last thing,
verse 24. They also that erred in spirit
shall come to understanding." He brings us to a right understanding. A right understanding. You see,
by nature, we're all wrong. We don't understand God. By nature,
left to ourselves, our concept of God is totally wrong. In Isaiah
50, he said, you think that I'm such a one as yourself. Well,
He's not who we think He is. God is who He is. as he revealed
himself in this book. By nature we have erred in our
understanding. We think too highly of ourselves
and we think too low of God. When He comes in power through
the preaching of the gospel, He straightens out our understanding. He straightens it out. He gives
us a right understanding. We no longer are in error about
the way of salvation. Our understanding is no longer
in the dark about the way of grace. He gives us an understanding
of who He is. Now remember from 1 John chapter
5, Verse 21, one of my favorite scriptures. We know the Son of
God has come, and He's given us an understanding that we might
know Him that is true, and that we're in Him that is true, even
in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. He has enlightened our understanding. I want you to turn to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Now look
at this right here. Almost through, so be patient
for a moment. Ephesians chapter 1. He gives
us a right understanding. When the gospel comes in power
now, I'm not talking about just being religious. I'm not talking
about joining up the church. I'm talking about when the gospel
comes in power. When God reveals Himself and
does that work of grace in the heart. And when He makes us new
creatures, He gives us a right understanding. He enlightens
our understanding. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 16. He said, we cease not to give
thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding,
oh there it is, being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling. And what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints, and what is exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe, we do believe, how do we believe?
According to the working of His mighty power. And it's the same
mighty power, if you read on, what kind of power did it take
to raise the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ? took the almighty
power of God. That's the same power it takes
to raise a dead sinner, to enlighten his understanding, to give him
eyes to see, to give him ears to hear, that he might sanctify
the Lord in his heart, regard him as holy, and not be ashamed
of him. He gives us an understanding.
You see what he's saying here? And then the last thing is this.
The last part of verse 24 in Isaiah 29. The Lord also is pleased
to teach us. They that murmured... Oh, one
time we murmured against the way of sovereign grace. We said
things like, well, you know, that's not fair. God will have
mercy on whom He will. He'll harden whom He will. Well,
we murmured and our understanding was dead. We said, well, that's
not fair. I thought every man had a chance. But salvation is not by chance,
salvation is by grace. And he'll have mercy on whom
he will. You see, they that one time murmured against God, they
shall learn doctrine. The doctrine, what is the doctrine
of the Bible? Christ, Christ, and Christ. When the Lord is pleased to send
the gospel in power, He teaches us right knowledge of Him. The
doctrine of the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is both
teacher and lesson. And He teaches just one lesson.
In Him was all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ
we are complete. When it pleases God to reveal
Himself unto us, we no longer murmur and complain about the
way of sovereign grace. We say, it is so. It is true. We glory in it. God forbid we glory except in
the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him crucified. We no longer murmur
and complain about God being God, God being sovereign. We say, Amen. So be it. That's when the Gospel comes
in power to your heart. Has it come that way to you?
I trust that it has. And if not, I pray that it will.
Oh, my friend, may the Lord be pleased to send the gospel and
power into our heart, our mind, our soul, and our affection to
invade us. That's what salvation is. It's
an invasion. It's an invasion of the mighty
army of God where He conquers our hard, stubborn heart and
enthrones Himself in our heart. For Christ in you is a hope of
glory. And He causes us to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the more
we know of Him, His sovereign mercy, His sovereign grace, the
more we love Him and the more we see in Him as altogether lovely. Has the Gospel come that way
to you? I trust that it has.