Despise not, you know the scripture
said, despise not the day of small things. In everything give
thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus. And we're thankful for the small
things as well as the large things. And we're thankful for all things
that the Lord has graciously and lovingly sent into our life. Now our study this evening from
Psalm 81 Psalm 81, and the title is taken from verse 16. Verse
16. And the title is Honey Out of
the Rock. You see that in verse 16? Honey,
honey, out of the rock. And this honey out of the rock
is satisfying, satisfying unto the Lord's people. Now, while
reading this psalm over, I was reminded of a sermon that someone
had gave me by a preacher of the past. And this has been 25
years ago that this sermon was given to me. The preacher's name
was William Romaine. I don't know if any of you've
heard of William Romaine. He was born in 1714, a little
bit before our time, and died in 1795. But the title of the
sermon was Honey Out of the Rock. It was a good sermon, blessed
sermon, a true sermon, magnified the Lord. His text was Psalm
81 verse 16, honey out of the rock. Now there's a lot I don't
remember about that sermon. As I said, it's been 25 years
ago. But I do remember that the preacher
Romaine compared the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it
says there in verse 16, to the finest of wheat. You think about
the finest that God has given unto his covenant people. God
so loved his own that he gave the finest, didn't he? He gave,
as one preacher said, his other self, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave the best, the best, the
finest of wheat, and then honey, honey out of the rock. What that
old preacher said way back in the 1700s about the Lord Jesus
Christ being the finest, about the Lord Jesus Christ being the
sweetest, Will we delight? We delight in Him, don't we?
Do you who believe? Oh, I tell you, He's precious.
He's altogether lovely. He's the sweet one, the finest
one that God has provided. Still true today, isn't it? His
people still feast upon Him. His people still enjoy the sweetness
of His person, the sweetness of His grace, His person and
His work. is the honey that we rejoice
in, that we read about, and the word of truth that's sweet unto
our soul. Now hold your place right there
and find Psalm 119. Psalm 119. You know Psalm 119, almost every
verse, there's 176 verses. Look at verse 103. But with the
exception of one or two verses, almost every verse in Psalm 119
has a reference to God's word. His word, look at verse 103,
Psalm 119. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Remember what Peter says? To
you who have tasted, the Lord is gracious. How sweet are thy
word unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. How sweet is his word. Through
thy precepts I get understanding. That's how we have understanding,
through God's precepts. Therefore I hate every false
way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
How sweet is thy word to the saints of God. It is the finest
of wheat for the Lord Jesus Christ is called the bread of life. Now let's go back for a moment
to verse one of Psalm 81, verse one and two. Sing aloud, sing
aloud unto God, the God of Jacob, the God of Jacob. He's our strength. Sing aloud unto God. He's God
our strength. He's God our salvation. He is God our righteousness. Sing aloud. Sing aloud. Make it known. As the apostle
Paul said, this thing wasn't done in a corner. Our Lord said,
what I tell you in secret, that preach upon the housetop, sing
aloud, publicly, let it be known on the radio, on the internet,
sing aloud. And the God, he's our strength,
he's our wisdom, he's our righteousness, he's our sanctification, he's
our redemption. Now, he said, not only sing about
it, but make a joyful noise. a distinctive noise, a joyful
noise, unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, a hymn, bring hither
a timbrel, instruments of praise, the pleasant heart with the strained
instrument and sing praises unto the Lord. Now believers Believers
do. They love to sing about God's
saving sovereign mercy. We love to sing of His praise. We love to sing of praises unto
Him rather. Believers love to sing with joy
in their heart as unto the Lord. I turn over here to Ephesians
chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 18 says, be not drunk with
wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking
to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual song, singing and
making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Oh, sing unto the
Lord. Give thanks always for all things
unto God, the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Making melody in your heart unto
the Lord. We are debtors unto the Lord. We're debtors unto His sovereign
mercy. We're debtors unto His sovereign
grace. Therefore, we love to sing of His mercy. We love to
sing of His grace. This is a new song of redemption
that we love to sing. Turn over here to Psalm 98. Look
at verse 1. Psalm 98 verse 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. What are the words of this new
song? The song of the redeemed, we read about in the revelation
where they sing the song of the redeemed unto him who loved us
and washed us from our sin in his own blood. Sing unto the
Lord a new song for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand
and His holy arm has gotten Him the victory. Thanks be to God
who's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We sing
unto the Lord. What are we saying about? Sing
aloud. He's God, our strength. He is the strength of our salvation. What makes salvation so? Is it
our strength? Is it something we bring and
add to the Lord Jesus Christ and make our salvation strong? No, He's all of our salvation. Christ is all and in all. In
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we are
complete in Him. He is the strength, the life,
the source, the purpose of our salvation. He accomplished it
all. Sing unto God our strength. God our strength. No other name
under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. He's
God our savior. He's God our righteousness. He's God our redemption. He's called in scripture, the
Lord, the Lord our God. Righteousness Jehovah said canoe.
He's the Lord our righteousness. He's made unto us wisdom righteousness
sanctification and redemption blessed is a man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness imputed righteousness without works saying
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Oh, sing aloud
unto God our strength. Unto God our savior. Unto God our salvation. And make a joyful noise. A joyful
noise. Unto the God of Jacob. We sing
about the God of Jacob. God who is God. He said, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Unto the Lord our God who saves
sinners. You know, he saves sinners like,
if he can save Jacob. Anything too hard for God? Anything
impossible with God? No, with Him, all things are
possible. If He can save that Jacob, maybe He can save this
Jacob, this rebel, this sinner. You know, the Scriptures teach
us this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save good folks. Oh, that's
not what it says. He came to save sinners. He came
to save Jacobs. He came to save rebels. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Came to save sinners. You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ didn't come to call the righteous. He
came to call sinners unto repentance, unto repentance. Repentance is
a gift of God. Repentance causes us to turn
from self unto him. Causes us to turn away from our
self-righteousness, self-glory, and turn unto him to see his
glory, his righteousness alone. He says in verse 2, take a psalm,
bring hither a timbrel, a pleasant harp, a psaltery with a stringed
instrument. Now, our singing should reflect
our preaching. We don't want to preach salvation
by grace and then sing songs that magnify the flesh, do we?
You see, our singing and our preaching ought to be in harmony
one with another. We sing about redemption in Christ
Jesus, and we preach about redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
there's a lot of folks that are opposed to musical instruments
in the worship service. Well, I'm not opposed to musical
instruments in the worship service. That music box has a lot of musical
instruments. And I like to listen to music. And I'm not opposed to using
musical instruments in the worship service. He said, bring hither
the timbrel and the harp and the psaltery. As long as we use
musical instruments in the worship service of God, as long as it's
presented in a manner that's honoring unto God, glorifying
unto God in the spirit of worship. I'm opposed to this idea of bringing
the gospel in song or trying to make the gospel sound like
this modern day rock and roll music. I'm opposed to that. I think
it's very, very ungodly. There's even some that try to
take the gospel, what they call so-called Christian music, and
make it sound like rap music or modern-day jive music. And they say, well, you know,
we're doing this to appeal to our young people. I tell you, that's the wrong
way to do it. That's the wrong way to do it. You can't appeal
to young people, and here's what they try to do by making the
music appealing to the flesh. That's the best thing. What can we do for our young
people? What can we do for our young people? I tell you what
we do for our young people. You know what we do for our young
people? That's exactly right. We preach the gospel unto them.
What do our young people need? They have enough fleshly entertainment,
don't they? When I was a little kid, Some
of you not as old as I am, but when I was a little kid, they
used to have these little transistor radios. We didn't have FM, we
didn't even have FM radio in those days. We just had little
teeny transistor radios with little, Dwight, you remember
these days. AM stations, that's all we had. And boy, if you had a little
transistor radio as a kid, you really had something. But I tell
you what, we don't try to make the gospel appealing or attractive
to our young people by doing these fleshly things. The best
thing we can do for our young people is preach the gospel. That's what they need to hear.
They need to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what he's talking about in the next verse. Blow up the trumpet.
Take the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed. on the
solemn feast day. Blow the gospel, gospel trumpet. At the time appointed, blow the
trumpet. Now under the law, certain feast
days were announced by blowing of the trumpet. On the day of
atonement, Leviticus 23, you can read about the blowing of
the trumpet. And on the day of jubilee, after 50 years, those
who had sold themselves into slavery to pay off their debt. At the end of 50 years there
was that day of jubilee when that trumpet was sounded, when
they were set at liberty who had indebted themselves. The
Lord has appointed the preaching of the gospel, the blowing of
the gospel trumpet to call out his elect. It pleased God through
the preaching of the gospel to call out His people. Let us never
try to improve on what the Lord has designed. He has designed
the blowing of the gospel trumpet to call out His people. We cannot
improve upon what God has ordained to call out His people. Not at
all. The simple, plain, deliberate,
calculated, truthful preaching of thus saith the Lord. That's all God's sheep want to
hear, is the gospel of Christ from the Word of God. We're commanded
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
You know when we're going to hear the gospel trumpet? Look
over here at Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27. Isaiah 27. Here's when we'll hear the gospel
trumpet. Isaiah 27, Luke verse 13, And
it shall come to pass in that day. Now that's a common phrase
all through Isaiah. In that day. the day of salvation,
the day of the Lord. The great trumpet shall be blown,
the gospel trumpet, and they shall come which were ready to
perish in the land of Assyria and the outcast in the land of
Egypt and shall worship the Lord. I tell you, when the gospel trumpet
is blown, those who are ready to perish, those who are poor
and needy, they will worship the Lord in His holy mount. Where is that? In Christ Jesus,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has appointed the preaching
of the gospel to call out His elect. And when the gospel trumpet
is sounded, the Lord plainly says, my sheep will hear my voice. He said, I know them and my sheep
will hear my voice and they will follow. They will line up, they
will follow the shepherd, the good shepherd, the chief shepherd,
the one who laid down his life for his covenant people. Look
at verse four in Psalm 81, this, for this was a statute for Israel. and the law of the God of Israel
to blow that trumpet at the appointed time, at the appointed feast
day. And those appointed times, the
Day of Atonement, all the Feast of Tabernacle and all those different
feast days, the Feast of Pentecost, all those feast days are a picture
of what? The Gospel of Christ. The Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was a statute for Israel.
Should we ignore it? No. This was a law of God of
the God of Jacob. Shall we ignore it? Absolutely
not. This was a binding precept upon
Israel under the law, and the preaching of the gospel is a
binding command of God to preach the gospel. No wonder the apostle
Paul said, I'm determined I'm determined not to know anything
among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And in another
place, find 2 Timothy chapter 4, when the Apostle Paul is about
to depart this life, down there he's sitting on death row, down
in Rome. He writes back to a young preacher,
Timothy, and tells him, Timothy, don't be ashamed of me or the
gospel. For it's the power of God unto salvation. Don't be
ashamed of it. And then he writes this last
chapter. These are Paul's last words on this earth that God
gave him by inspiration. And you know what he writes back
to Young Timothy, chapter 4, 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4, look
at verse 1. I charge thee before God. It's
a serious matter, preaching the gospel. I don't take it lightly. If any man does, woe unto him. I charge thee before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead
at the appearing of his kingdom. Preach the word. Preach Christ,
preach the word, be instant, all the time ready. Paul said,
for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to
you at Rome. Preach the word, be instant,
in season, out of season. When is it seasonable to preach
the gospel? At all times. You mean we should
preach the gospel at a funeral service? Oh, absolutely. We should
preach the gospel whenever God gives us an open door to do so. In season, out of season, the
gospel's always in season. Gospel preaching. Reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. We are to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. For this was a statute that God
had established, that God had ordained. Look at verse five.
This God, the Lord, ordained in Joseph for testimony, testimony
of God. When he went out through the
land of Egypt, when I heard language that I understood not. God has ordained, yea rather
preordained, The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know it's
called the testimony of God? The testimony of God? The testimony
of His marvelous character. His marvelous character. What
a character is our God? Turn back to Exodus 34. Our God's
quite a character, you know? Exodus 34. Verse five, he declares of himself,
Exodus 34. The Lord descended in a cloud
and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord
God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the
iniquity of thy fathers upon the children, upon the children's
children, under the third and fourth generation. God is forgiving,
merciful, long-suffering. Turn over here to Psalm 86. Look at verse 5, Psalm 86 verse
5, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, plenteous in
mercy unto all them that call upon him. Down at verse 15 of
Psalm 86, Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, gracious,
long-suffering, plenteous in mercy and in truth. This is a testimony of God that
He has ordained to be This is the established testimony of
Jacob that we read about in Psalm 78. You know, the gospel of God
concerning the Lord Jesus is often called a testimony. Let's
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Often called a testimony. God's testimony. This is 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, verse 1. He said, and I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
but declaring unto you the testimony of God, the testimony of God. For I determined, what is the
testimony of God? Not to know anything among you,
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the testimony of God,
for that is the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, find 2 Timothy again, chapter one this time. 2 Timothy chapter
one, verse seven. 2 Timothy chapter
one, verse seven. For God had not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel of God, according to the power of God, who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works. I guess this is my favorite verse
right here, verse nine. This is God's testimony, but
it's also mine. And that's what Paul is saying,
reminding Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
for it's his testimony that he saved us, called us. Notice he saved us and then he
called us. And he did it with a holy calling, not according
to our works. but according to his own purpose
and grace. Those two blessed words, purpose.
God never saves a sinner by accident. Purpose. It's no accident you
ran into the gospel. God's purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. There's another reference I've
got jotted down here. Revelation chapter one, verse
two, who bear record of the Word of
God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things,"
John said, "...by his servant John, who bear record of the
Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw." The Gospel of God is concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm interested about the testimony of God, aren't
you? Now, oftentimes in our day, This happens. In most religious
circles, they have a time for people to stand up and give their
personal testimony. You ever been in those meetings?
People have opportunity and the preacher says, now if anybody
has a testimony, maybe they want to stand up and brag on themselves
what they've done for God. Oftentimes, we see this happen. In the religion where I grew
up, out in the Rocky Mountains, grew up in heathen idolatry,
in a religion called Mormonism, each month we had a fast and
testimony meeting. And everybody was encouraged
to stand up, even the children, to stand up and give their personal
testimony. And usually three things were
always said. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph
Smith was a true prophet. And I know this is what we said
when we were young and ignorant and in idolatry and dead in sin,
didn't know any better. And that the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ or Mormonism is God's true church. I cut my teeth
on that junk. Is what being said in most of
these churches today in these testimony meetings any different? No, not at all. I think it's
a waste of time for people to stand up in a public meeting
and give their own personal testimony. I think it's a waste of time.
You know why? Here's why. We're to give out
the Lord's testimony, not ours. We're to give out the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, not our testimony. Let's give out
his testimony, the testimony of God. The testimony of God,
this he ordained for testimony in Jacob. Second part of that
verse, back in Psalm 81, God says he went out against the
religious idolatry in Egypt. You know, the land of Egypt was
a very religious place. They had 700 or 800 different
idols. God said when he went out among
them people, he heard language contrary to the way of grace,
contrary to the way of Christ, contrary to the way of God. This is what most of our churches
in our country are full of, language that's contrary to the way of
grace, contrary to the testimony of God, contrary to the way of
Christ alone. You remember that three or four-fold
theme of the Reformation? Christ alone, the word of God
alone, faith alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God, Alone. Alone. Let's give out his testimony. And let's discourage. I hope
we never practice this here. Stand up and give our personal
testimony. Let's stand up and give his testimony.
Christ died for sinners. Who he is and what he has done.
His accomplished salvation. which shall prosper in his hand,
as is pleasing unto the Lord. Now look at verse five, or rather
verse six, Psalm 81. God said, I removed his shoulder
from the burden. God reminds Israel again and
reminds us that salvation's of the Lord. God removed the burden. This is exactly what He has done
in Christ Jesus Christ. The burden of sin, the guilt
of sin, the judgment of sin. He's removed it. He's removed
sin from us. One time our sin separated us
from God. Now He has separated our sin
from us. And we're reconciled. How far
has He removed our sin from us? God said, I removed the burden.
He's removed the burden of our sin. How far has He removed this
burden? Let's see if we can find out.
Psalm 103, turn over there. Psalm 103, how far has He removed
this burden of sin? Has He just shoved it over into
the next county? Maybe He's gonna bring it back
up again. How far has He removed our sin
from us? Look at verse 10 of Psalm 103. He hath not dealt with us after
our sin, thank God, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our burden. As far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression
from. That's a fair piece, isn't it?
As far as the east is from the west, you know, that's infinite,
an infinite distance. God said their sin is so removed
that their sin and their transgression, he said, I remember no more.
He has removed our sin from us. He's delivered us from the bondage
of the law. being made a curse for us. He
redeemed us from the curse of the law. I don't know why anybody
would want to say, well, I want to live back under the law. You
want to live back under that curse? He set us free from the
curse of the law. He's delivered us from the bondage
of sin. He set us free. The Apostle Paul warned those
Galatians in chapter 5, Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has set us free. Do you remember what he said
next? And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. You see, he's removed the yoke
of bondage from us. He delivered us from the pots,
from the flesh pots, from trusting our flesh, trusting our own thoughts
and our own ways. He's delivered us. He's removed
the burden of sin. Now look at verse seven. Now, I wanna get down to verse 16
and I'm having trouble getting there. We're gonna have to shuffle
through these verses here in a hurry. God said I removed his
shoulder from the burden. His hands were delivered, delivered,
delivered. God said, verse seven, you called
upon me in trouble and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the
secret place of thunder and I proved your faith. I proved you. You
know when we'll call upon the Lord? When we're in trouble. Well, in the day of trouble,
God's people call upon Him and He will deliver them. He will answer them in the secret
place of thunder. Now, the only thing I can think
of when I think about a secret place of thunder, thunder is
power. The secret place where God deals
with sinners in power is where? Christ and Him crucified. The
secret place of thunder. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Verse 8 and 9, here's the testimony
we need to hear. Hear, O my people, and I will
testify unto thee. Now, I want to hear that, don't
you? Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee, O Israel.
if thou wilt not hearken unto me? There shall no strange God
be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange God." Here's
the testimony we need to hear. You remember when Peter was sent
to the house of Cornelius and God had done that work of preparing
grace in his heart. And when the preacher got there,
Cornelius, that Roman centurion, gathered all of his family, his
servants, and all of his household before Peter. And then he said
this, we are all here to hear what God has given you to tell
unto us. And that's God's people. Aren't
we here to hear a word from him? And God will bless his word,
it will not return in him void. Our preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is only repeating what God has already
said. Hear, O my people, and I will
testify. We simply repeat the testimony
of God concerning who he is, concerning who the Lord Jesus
Christ is, concerning the way of salvation in Christ Jesus,
concerning how he obtained redemption for us with his own blood. And
hearing his testimony will keep us from this, that's found in
verse nine. Hearing his testimony, believing
his testimony, receiving his word, receiving his truth, will
keep us from there being any strange God among us. We'll worship
no strange God. And then he reminds them, a strange
God, let me give you this. A strange God. I don't want anything
to do with a strange God. One who is not revealed in the
scripture. One who is not the true and living
God. A strange God is one who wants to and can't, who has tried
and failed. This indeed is a strange God
to those who know the living and true God. A God who wants
to and can't. A God who is frustrated by the
sinner's will. That's no God at all, is it?
That's a strange God to God's people. The God of Scripture
does according as He will. His will will be done in heaven
and earth, sea, and all deep places. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will, doesn't He? I tell you
what, hearing His testimony will keep us from any strange God. Now I've got two boys. I've got
three children. I've got two boys. They're grown
now. Grown up in body, not for 20
years. They're still growing but 20
years. But I've got two boys that grew up under the gospel
preaching. That's all they heard their whole
life. From the nursery, when they came out of the nursery.
in Bible studies from the time they were three and four and
five years old. Now, neither one of my boys, as far as I know,
have made a profession of faith. I know they haven't done that
because I would have heard about it. Neither one of my boys, as
far as I know, the Lord has not done that work of regenerating
grace in their heart. But because they constantly heard
the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, because they were taught
the testimony and word of God, they could spot a strange God
immediately. When they would hear others in
school or on the job say, God is this and God is that, they
knew and said, uh-uh, that's a strange God. We need to teach
our children. The way of truth and the way
of salvation. And they'll stay away from this
strange worship, this strange God. Verse 10, the Lord reminds
us, I am the Lord thy God which brought you up out of the land
of Egypt. God who has all power. He said, open your mouth wide
and I'll fill it. I'll fill it. God blesses his
people abundantly. Ask and he shall receive. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. But my people, sad story here. Verse 11 through verse 15 is
their recorded rebellion against God. But my people would not. Fleshly Israel, natural Israel,
but my people would not. Hearken to my voice. Israel would
none of me. They would not have nothing to
do with me. So I gave them up. to their own
lust, their heart's lust. I gave them up to walk in their
own councils. Oh, that Israel, my people, had
hearkened unto me, heard the testimony of God, and had walked
in my ways. I should have subdued their enemies
and turned my hand against their adversaries, and the haters of
the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their
time should have endured forever. Israel of old, we've often used
this, represents and typical of God's spiritual Israel, his
elect, his chosen. He passed by all the nations
and chose them. He cared for them in a special
way. Israel alone had the law of God, had the priesthood, had
the tabernacle, had those blood sacrifices. They had a way to
approach unto God in the mercy seat. God blessed them in an
unusual way above all people. And such is the true spiritual
Israel of God. They're blessed with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. But Israel in their
rebellion, national Israel, fleshly Israel in their rebellion, they
also picture something as well. They picture our own rebellious,
sinful, fleshly nature. Israel in their rebellion against
God wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. You know, God killed
the whole generation before he let them enter into the promised
land. There was none in those years of rebellion that entered
into the promised land. No male over the age of 20 years
old entered into the promised land but two, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and
Caleb and that's a picture of the Savior Joshua and the Caleb
I got a son named Caleb and his name means faithful dog Faithful
dog the Savior and the dog entered into the promised land. God killed
a whole generation of rebels Against him and the Savior and
the dog entered in. And that's a picture of God saving
mercy. I don't want, as what God says
here, I don't want this to happen to me. To be given up to my own
heart's lust, to walk in my own counsel, to walk in my own counsel
is to walk directly away from God. My own way, The Lord said if
they would have believed me, they could have entered in immediately,
the promised land. But they didn't believe God and
they didn't enter in. Now I want to close by looking
at verse 16 for a moment. The Lord said, I should have
fed them also with the finest of wheat and with honey out of
the rock. I would have satisfied them.
Those who were made willing to bow to the Lord and believe the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those blessed to hear the testimony
of God, to hear the word of truth, those blessed to believe the
gospel of God's grace are abundantly taken care of. For the Lord gives
them the finest of wheat. The Lord gives the finest. What
is the finest? The best. The Lord gives the
best. He gives not this, you know,
this wheat we have today that's processed and bleached. They
call it bleached. Don't they call it bleached wheat?
Wheat that's no longer brown. It's just bleached white. They've
taken all the nutrition out of it, all the goodness out of it.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not bleached out. It's
not a bleached out gospel. It's whole wheat. The real thing. It's the finest of wheat. The
Lord Jesus Christ is called the bread of life. He's the bread of life. He's
given us the finest of everything. He's given us the finest of everything. The finest of wheat we feed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the sincere milk of the
word. whereby we grow. And He gives
us, as it says here, honey, honey out of the rock that satisfies,
satisfies, satisfies. He gives us the honey of His
love. Here in His love, not that we love God, but He loved us
and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sin. He gives us the
honey of His grace. the honey of His grace, unmerited
favor of God, justified freely by His grace to the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us the honey of His
mercy. He will be merciful unto whom
He will. He delights to show mercy. He
gives us the honey of His love, the honey of His grace, the honey
of His mercy, the honey of His salvation out of the rock. Now, there's no honey, there's
no wheat apart from the rock. Understand that. Now who is the
rock? This rock here is a person. This
rock here is a rock of ages. This rock here is the one that
was smitten for our transgression and our iniquity. And of that
smitten rock flows the honey of his love, the honey of his
grace, the honey of forgiveness that satisfy. You see that word? That satisfies. Satisfied. Are believers satisfied with
the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, they are. They are satisfied. But I tell you what is more important
than that. You know what's more important
than us being satisfied? With the Lord Jesus Christ. What's
more important is that God Almighty is satisfied with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. Remember Isaiah 53? He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be, what's the word? Satisfied. Satisfied. Yes, we are satisfied with the
Lord Jesus Christ. But more importantly, God is
satisfied. He is well pleased for his righteousness
sake. He will magnify the law of God
and honor it for us.