I woke up this morning with a question and with a prayer. It's an old song we used to sing
and I woke up singing it this morning. The question is, is
your life a channel of blessing? Is the love of God flowing through
you? Are you telling others of the
Savior? Are you willing His service to
do? And my prayer is, Lord, make
me a blessing. Make me a blessing. Make me a
blessing to someone today. And that's my prayer. I hope
I can be a blessing to someone today. And I open this message
with I have five questions and I want you to listen carefully
and then we're going to read some scripture. I have five questions
for you. What does it mean to you to know
that every sin of your past, your present, your future is
totally forgiven? That every sin is blotted out? to be remembered no more. That every sin of your mind, of your heart, of your tongue,
of your hands, of your soul, that every secret sin and every
open sin and every blot on the record book of God is totally
forgiven. No charge. No charge. Well, that's the promise of God
to every believer. That's the promise of Almighty
God to everyone in this congregation who loves Christ Jesus. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Paul wrote in the book of Hebrews,
This is the covenant. This is the covenant of God,
saith the Lord. I will put my law in their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and their
iniquities I'll remember no more. That's a blessing, isn't it?
Second question. What does it mean to you to know
that the eternal, holy, righteous God of heaven and earth is totally
reconciled to you. To know there's no wrath, there's
no judgment, there's no enmity, there's not even a frown on the
face of God in your direction. That you are totally accepted
in the beloved in His love, in His grace, in His perfect peace. To know that there's nothing
between your soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may
be seen. There's nothing preventing the
least of His favor. The Lord Jesus is yours, so there's
nothing between. That's what the Word said. Paul
wrote, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. My third question. What does it mean to you to have
a new heart? A new nature. A new spirit. Which really does love God. Which
really does love God and love others. A new nature which is
inclined toward God. And the old nature which is inclined
toward self. This is a new nature that's inclined
toward God. A new nature that loves the Word
of God. which loves the things of God,
which loves the people of God, and finds no greater delight
than being where you are right now, in His presence, worshiping
Him. I was glad, really glad, when
they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I delight to do thy will, O God. Thy law, David said, is in my
heart." And this new nature, a new spirit, a new heart, Paul
wrote about in 2 Corinthians. He says, therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away,
and behold, all things in Christ are made new. The fourth question. What does
it mean to you to know this? That every success and every
failure, and we have both, every joy and every sorrow, and we
have both, every good day and every bad day, and we have both. Every one of these things is
ordained of God, purposed by God, and ordered by your Heavenly
Father for His glory and your good. He said the steps of a righteous
man are ordered by the Lord. Everything, all things which
come to pass in my life and your life And in the life of your
family is ordained of God by His divine will. And we know
that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are the call according to His purpose. That's just not
a creed. That's just not theology. That's
truth. That's God's Word. The fifth
question. What does it mean to you to know
assuredly, confidently, that growing old and dying would be
the best and most wonderful thing that ever happened to you? Let
me ask that again. What does it mean to you to know
assuredly and confidently that growing old and dying would be
the best, the very best and wonderful thing that could happen to you
right now? So in it, Paul. Isn't that what all the apostles
and prophets taught us? Abraham looked for a city whose
builder and maker is God. That's what he looked for. David
said, although it be not so with my house, God hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, this
is all my confidence, this is all my hope, this is all, everything
is sure and precious and pure and golden and wonderful to me. Paul said, for to me is to live
is Christ. For me to live is Christ. And
for me to die is gain. Honestly, he said, I'm in a straight
betwixt the two. Having a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. I like being here with
you, but I like better being with him. Well, what's the proof of this?
These five questions. These are things we believe.
These are things we know. These are things that God has
taught us assuredly. What's the proof of this? What's
the proof of this? Paul proved it. He said, I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded he's able to keep that. He is able to keep that
which I've committed to him against that day. Well, let's look to
the scripture. In Luke chapter 4, verse 14.
Now, let's read this scripture here. Luke chapter 4, verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit unto Galilee And they went out of fame of
him throughout all the region round about. And he taught in
their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Pius,
he came to Pius, he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.
And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because... Oh, here's the proof of all these
things I've been talking about. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. He has sent
me to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed the book. And he
gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of
them of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on
him. And he began to say, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. This day are all these promises
that I've been talking about fulfilled in your ears. This
day, oh this day, all the personal work of our glorious Messiah
is fulfilled. This day is the day of salvation. This day is the accepted day. This day, if you can believe,
all things are possible to you. So then, I want us to turn to
another scripture in the book of Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61. If you believe, all things are
possible to them who believe. If you believe in Christ, in
the Messiah, love Him, rest in Him, all these promises are yours. And what I want us to do is turn
to Isaiah 61. Just like our Lord did 2,000
years ago. He came into the synagogue, and
they gave Him the book of Isaiah, and He stood up to read. This
very passage of Scripture, 2000 years ago. The Lord stood before
the people to read this right here. And I stand before you
to read this right here and see if we can't believe Him and find
rest in Him and confidence in Him that these promises are ours. Alright, let's look at it. Here
it is. Isaiah 61, verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, our Lord said 2,000 years ago. Because, number one,
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings, the gospel,
unto the poor, unto the meek. Who are the meek? Who are the
poor? Well, there are folks who are
poor in spirit. There are folks who are sensible
of their sins. before God. There are folks who
can say with Isaiah, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell among a people of unclean lips. The poor in spirit are
those who stand naked before God. Neither is there any creature
that's not manifest in His sight. All things are naked and open
before Him with whom we have to do. That's us. And our Lord
came Our Lord came, the Spirit of God was upon Him. He came
to preach the gospel to folks like you and me, the poor. Just as I am without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me. Just as I am poor, wretched,
blind, yet all I need in thee divine. Just as I am in waiting
not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee whose blood can
cleanse each spot, and with God I come." That's the first proof. He came to preach good news,
the gospel to the poor. Read on. Then he said, He has
sent me to heal. He has sent me to bind up, to
heal the brokenhearted. You know what the scripture says?
The Lord is down to them that are of a broken heart. The Lord
save it such as be of a contrite spirit. The sacrifices of God
are broken heart. A broken contrite spirit, oh
God, you will not despise. So what do you do with a broken
heart? Well, what do you do with a broken
heart? You use the other one. What do
you do with a broken leg? Get a crutch. What do you do
with a broken heart? Get a transplant. Got to have
a new one. That's right. What do you do
with a broken arm? Use the other one. Always got
one to fall back on. What do you do with a broken
leg? Limp. But when you got a broken heart,
there's only one thing it can do, and that is give you a new
heart. a new nature. That's what Ezekiel
said. Thus said the Lord, I'll gather
you from the people, I'll gather you from the countries where
you've been scattered, and I'll give you a new heart, and I'll
give you a new spirit, and I'll take that old stony heart out,
and I'll give you a heart of flesh that you may walk in my
statutes, and you'll be my people, and I'll be your God. That's
the proof of it. He came to preach the gospel
to the poor. He came to heal, to give a transplant,
a new heart. A new heart. All right? What's this then? And he has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and to set free
those who are You know, our Lord said, if the Son shall make you
free, you'll be free indeed. And some of those old Pharisees
said, we're not in bondage. We've never been in bondage to
any man. And our Lord said, He that is
a servant of sin is in bondage to sin. So He came to set us
free. He came to set us free from the
captivity of Satan. held captive by Him, by His will. He came to set us free, as captives
of the law of God. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. Jesus has died and there's remission. Cursed for the law, bruised for
the fall, He's redeemed us once for all. I came, He said, to
bind up the brokenhearted and to set the captives free. Then he said in the fourth word
here, and the opening of prison to them that are bound and to proclaim. Watch this now.
Verse 2, Isaiah 61. I came to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord. What is acceptable year of the
Lord? Well, back in the Old Testament, it was called the year of Jubilee. The acceptable year of the Lord
is the year of Jubilee. Every 50th year, on the Day of
Atonement, a Jubilee was sounded for Israel. And on that day,
every slave was set free. Everyone. And all property that
had been stolen or bought or given away was redeemed and restored
to its rightful owner. And on that 50th year, on the
day of Jubilee, all debts were forgiven totally. Oh, nothing, nobody. And a year
of rest was proclaimed. That's the year of Jubilee. Christ
said, I've come. I've come to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord. And that's what it is to us.
Christ Jesus came to set us free. He came to set us free from sin
and Satan. To pay all of our debts. To restore
our inheritance that we lost in Adam. and to enter into His
rest. And it's not a year, it's eternally. The rest of Christ Jesus. Completely
forgiven. Here's the proof of it. He said
here in verse 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and
the day of vengeance. The day of vengeance of our God. Vengeance. Notice he didn't say
he came to explain these days. To explain the day of vengeance
of our God. I can't explain the vengeance
of God. The ways of God are mysterious
to me. I believe them. I can't explain
them. Christ didn't come to explain these things to us. He came to
proclaim it. To proclaim the dear of acceptance
and salvation and to proclaim the vengeance of God. Now God Almighty will, shall
and must punish sin. Scripture says, shall not the
judge of the earth do right? He's got to. He's got to. God has to have vengeance. God
has to deal with sin. Must. He must. We know him that
has said, vengeance belongs to me. I will recompense, saith
the Lord. Don't you get vengeance. He said,
vengeance is mine. And God has to have vengeance.
And the day of vengeance, here it is. He proclaimed the day
of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn. Now watch this. The day of vengeance of our God
is twofold. That day He laid on Christ all
of our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. The day of God's
vengeance against all sin of His people was laid on Christ. And secondly, twofold, the day
of vengeance, John 3.36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life, but he that believeth not shall not see life, the wrath
of God. I can't explain it, I just proclaim
it. That's what our Lord said, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of salvation,
and to proclaim the day of God's vengeance. against sin and against
all evil, He'll put it away. But for His people, He said,
they have comfort. To comfort all that mourn over
sin. He's our comfort. He said, I'll
send you another comforter. He'll abide with you forever.
Comfort. Alright, watch this. Verse 3. To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion. That's us. Blessed are they that
mourn, they shall be forgiven and shall be blessed. Shall be
given righteousness. Mourn in Zion. To appoint unto
them that mourn for their sin. To give them beauty for ashes. To give them beauty for ashes.
What does ashes mean in the scripture? Ashes. Well, the word ashes means
this to sinners. The fire's gone out. If you see
a bunch of ashes, there's nothing left to burn. The fire's gone
out. The light's gone. Warmth is gone. It's cold, dead ashes. And that's what we are in Adam.
But he come to give us beauty for ashes. What does ashes mean? Ashes means
repentance, sorrowful sin. All the Old Testament preachers
said, I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Ashes means in the scripture,
you got to die. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,
got to go. But I've come to give them beauty. Beauty, that's right. Beauty. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, and behold the beauty. Not to ashes. Sorrow, repentance,
and death. Behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple. I'm going to give them beauty. Isn't that good? I'm glad. Beauty for my ashes. I'm about
back to ashes pretty soon. He's going to give me beauty. And then he says here, I give
them the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness. Oh my, David wrote about that. He said, Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou knowest my
head with awe. My cup runneth over it. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I'm going to dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. That's proof. And then watch
this. I'm going to close. Listen to
this. Oh, what a joy. There it is, all these promises
of God are fulfilled in Him who came to fulfill them. He says
here, I'm going to give them morning Zion, give them beauty
for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness, that they might be called, what's this? Trees
of righteousness. Trees of righteousness. Trees
of righteousness. The planting of the Lord, that
God may be glorified. Well, what's this mean? Trees
of righteousness. But all trees are planted by
somebody. Somebody planted them. These
are called the planting of the Lord. Every tree that my Heavenly
Father has not planted will be rooted up. That's who we are. Trees of righteousness planted
by God. And these trees are planted by
the rivers of living water. If you don't have a healthy tree,
you don't have to have water. And our roots are in the living
water. And then the trees bring forth
fruit in their season. bring forth fruit in their season.
And then these trees, the book of Psalms says, never wither. They never wither. Eternal, everlasting. Trees of righteousness which
God Almighty hath planted. And He says here, watch this,
then all this, all these questions I've asked, are answered here
by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And He tells me why. That God be glorified. Not that I be glorified, but
that God be glorified. If we're going to be saved, we're
going to be saved to the glory of God. These blessings will be ours
to the glory of God. not for a ward of ourselves,
but for the glory of God. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we rejoice
that our Lord Jesus Christ has been anointed to bring us the
gospel, to preach unto us the gospel of your grace, We thank
you, Lord, that He's healed our broken hearts and set us free
from the captivity of sin and Satan, and opened our blind eyes,
and we do rejoice. We rejoice this day in the day
of salvation, and we rejoice in the day of vengeance of our
God. that we may be trees of righteousness
and make us a blessing to others. Every day make us a blessing
and bring forth some fruit for the glory of our Lord and the
praise of his wonderful name. Bless the pastor while he's away. Cheryl, give them mercy on their
journey and a blessing in his preaching. We thank you for this
congregation that you brought together in your name for your
glory in this place. Continue your mercies and blessings
upon us according to your will. In Christ Jesus our Lord we pray. Amen. Brother Chris is going to lead
us in hymn number 442.