Chapter 55 Spurgeon called Isaiah chapter
55 God's own gospel call and in reading this chapter tonight
in speaking from it I Believe we should forget the Prophet
Isaiah and only think of Jehovah It's God speaking I really have
no need to make any comments except to read this chapter because
God speaks to us. This is verily the Word of God. He says in verse one, oh, or
wait and listen. Attention. Here's good news. Here's glad tidings. Will you
wait? As Brother Barnard used to say, if you're not in too
big a hurry to go to hell, Would you listen? Oh, wait and listen. Everyone, here's good news. Everyone
that's thirsty, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty for cleansing?
David said, Lord, wash me. Wash me and I shall be clean.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be whiter than snow. Are you
thirsty for cleansing? Do you feel the grit and the
mire and the filth of sin? In your soul, in your mind, in
your imagination, in your heart, do you feel it? Do you long for
cleansing? Are you thirsty? Thirsty for
cleansing. Are you thirsty for knowledge?
Oh, that I may know God. Not knowledge for knowledge's
sake, but to know God. Oh, that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrected life. Not the traditions and customs
of religion. that I might know God. Are you
thirsty for knowledge? Are you thirsty for nourishment?
Feed me and I shall be fed. Our Lord said to the woman at
the well, you keep coming back to this well because your thirst
reoccurs. But if you drink of the water
that I give you, if you knew who it is that's speaking to
you and what I have to give you, the gift of God, you'd ask me
and I'd give you living water and you'd never thirst again.
Are you thirsty for that water? That soul nourishment, thou shalt
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Come
unto me, and I'll give you rest. My peace I give unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Are you thirsty,
thirsty, thirsty for that which the world cannot give? Well,
he says, listen, are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Well, you don't
need anything to pay with. He says, come to the waters,
the water of life. And come ye, buy and eat, yea,
buy wine and milk without money and without price. You don't
need anything to pay. They'd be people sitting here
who are thinking, well, I'm not a preacher, and I'm not a singer,
and I'm not a Sunday school teacher, and I'm a very bashful person,
I'm a very shy person, I don't have anything I can do, I'm very
insignificant, and I don't have anything to bring God. Well,
don't bring anything but you need. Don't bring anything but
your desire. Don't bring anything but your
appetite. Let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness
fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. Come by wine to make the heart
glad. Come by milk to nourish the soul,
and don't bring anything. come without money and without
price. You don't need any work, you
don't need any deeds, you just need an appetite. I just feel
like that preachers are misleading sinners today in preaching the
gospel, implying that God saves men to serve Him. God saves men
for the glory of His grace. God saves men for the glory of
His righteousness in His namesake, for the glory of His Son. And
we have that blessed illustration of the thief on the cross who
didn't walk, who didn't work, who didn't wash, and who didn't
do much witnessing, but he knew the Lord. So he says, ho, are
you thirsty for cleansing? Are you thirsty for knowledge?
Are you thirsty for nourishment? Are you thirsty for God? Come
on to the water. Welcome. and come without money,
and come without price, and come without works, and come without
need, come empty-handed, come naked and be clothed. Just come
on! Let not conscience make you linger. Let not fear make you
linger. Let not emptiness make you linger.
All the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. I'll
tell you this, actually, Those who are enabled of the Spirit
of God to in any way serve God, they use gifts that He gave them. God always sets aside the armor
of Saul and uses the sling of the shepherd for His glory. God chooses the foolish to confound
the wise. God chooses the things that are
not to bring to naught the things that are. God chooses the base.
God uses empty hands and empty vessels. He doesn't use partially
filled vessels and finishes filling them with his gifts or gifts
or these things. He uses empty vessels. I hear
preachers say all the time, come and give God your heart. And
there's a sense in which he said, my son, give me thine heart.
But not an old, double, divided, wicked, rebellious heart. God's
going to give you a new heart. God doesn't require you to present
or produce anything. He requires you to receive it.
So this scripture is so clear. Hold. Listen. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. You that are thirsty, you come
to the water, and you don't be reluctant about it. You come
without money, and you come without price, and you come without deeds,
and you come without works, and you come with empty hands. You
come on. And verse 2 says, why do you
spend what you have for that which is not bread? Why do you
give your time and your strength and your labor and your reading
to false religion? It's not bread. It's nothing
but chaff. It's nothing but entertainment.
It's nothing but foolishness. It does not nourish. It's only
hurtful and harmful. It hasn't helped you. It hasn't
given you what you need. Why do you waste your time? You're
ever learning and never coming to knowledge of the truth. You're
always striving and seeking and working and giving and doing
and all these things. Religion today is everything
in the world but what it ought to be. Everything in the world
but worship. We need to take every church member and preacher
and soul winner and lock them in a building. They're doing
too much. They need to stay in there till God does something
for them and then turns them loose as men with broken hearts
and contrite spirits and worshipful souls. Why do you waste your
time and spend your money for that which is not bread? It's
not bread. It has no nourishment and no
value. It's nothing but entertainment and foolishness. There's nothing
lasting about it. Doris and I always make this
comment. When we go on a trip, you go
on a trip and you snack. We took along peanuts and candy
and peanut butter and cracker and cheese and crackers and a
jug of grape juice or something, and we snack. At the end of the
day, I'm hungry, but I'm full. Have you ever been that way?
I say, I need some beans and taters and cornbread. I need
something solid and lasting. I'm full, but I'm not satisfied. And this religious generation
and church services, you go and you've sung songs, and you've
heard Scripture, and you've heard words, and all these things,
and you go away and say, I'm stuffed, but I'm not satisfied.
My head's spinning and reeling, and I've heard all these do's
and don'ts, and rules, and laws, and regulations, and what I ought
to do, and how I ought to be serving God, but my soul's not
satisfied. You ever been there? Well, God
says, why are you doing it? When there's real bread and there's
satisfying bread and nourishing bread, oh, if you're hungry,
he that eateth the bread of life will never hunger. He that drinketh
the water of life shall never thirst. Come to the table of
God's bread. Leave man's table. Your labor
for that which, look at it, why do you spend your money for that
which is not bread? And your labor for that which
satisfies. I went to hear the preaching,
he gave me a thousand things to do. I went to hear him and
he said a thousand times, he used words like Bible and God
and heaven and hell and death and judgment, he used words like
blood and cross, but I came away with nothing, empty, not satisfied,
I came away confused, I came away with no satisfaction at
all. Why do you continue to do it,
God said. Why do you continue to do it?
Hearken unto me. Hearken diligently. Sincerely. Why don't you quit listening
to the wrong voice and start listening to me, God said. Why
don't you hearken unto me? Why don't you eat that which
is good? Why don't you delight your soul
in fatness? This is God speaking now. This
is not a preacher. Isaiah's writing it, but God's
speaking. Wait a minute. Slow down. Listen
to me, God said, you thirsty? Come to the water. Leave the
cisterns, the broken cisterns, the hewn out cisterns that don't
satisfy that putrid, that putrid corrupted water. Come to the
clear flowing stream that comes from the side of Christ on Calvary's
Mount. Come to the water. Don't bring
anything. Don't bring anything. Don't bring
any promises and vows and decisions and works and deeds and, Lord,
you bless me, I'll give you ten percent. Don't you bring anything.
Lord, if you'll make my baby well, I'll serve you till I die.
You stay away. God's not driving any bargains
with sinners. Just come empty-handed. Just
come empty-handed. Come to the water. Don't bring
anything. You've spent too much money and
labor and time and effort now, laboring for that which is not
bread, that which you put in your mouth and fills you up but
doesn't satisfy you, it's time to listen to God. And the two
precepts set forth in verse 3, two precepts. Incline your ear. Incline your ear. God's speaking. God's always spoken. God's never
left himself without a witness. Satan's always spoken to, and
he's speaking today. Even as there were false prophets
among Israel, there shall be false preachers in your generation,
too, Peter said. They tickle the ear. They prophesy
things that are not true. They cry, peace, when there is
no peace. They come from sea and land to
make a proselyte to their religion. Quit listening to these false
voices and incline your ear. Incline your ear, God says, is
this asking too much? Is this asking too much of a
guilty sinner to ask him to shut his mouth and listen? Listen,
God says, listen! That's all, just listen. Faith
cometh by hearing, not by doing. Is it asking too much of perishing
rebels to command them to hush and listen? Listen, God says,
hear me! This is my son, listen to him! The law of God shuts every mouth,
and that's what must be done before a man's going to hear
God. A man can't hear God while he's doing all the talking. Let
every mouth be stopped, and all the world become guilty. Job
said, I put my hand over my mouth, it's about time. I've spoken
things too wonderful, things I don't understand, it's about
time. Put my hand on my mouth, I won't
speak again. Job said, it's about time. God
said, Job, you listen to me. You listen to me. Isn't that what's wrong, Charlie,
with us today? We're talking too much. We got
too much to say. We got our opinions and ideas
and our doctrines and all these things. We're just going on and
on and on and on and on. We're not listening. Listen,
God says, and crown your ear. Is that asking too much to a
man in slavery? You've been digging tunnels trying
to escape. You've been building ladders
trying to climb over the walls. You've been trying to dig out
through the wall. Now sit down and listen, and
I'll tell you how to get out of that mess you're in. Now sit
down. There's no way out by your effort.
There's no way out by your The CEO, there's no way out by your
cunning and craftiness. Sit down and listen, God said. Listen to me. Is that asking
too much? Is that asking too much? Listen
to me. I'm telling you this, if faith
cometh by hearing, I'm going to hear. If God says incline
your ear as best I can, I'm going to incline my ear. And he says
the second precept, and come to me, incline your ear and come
to me. I picture those people when our
Lord preached the Sermon on the Mount and His disciples came
up, He gathered His disciples unto Him and they sat around,
they encircled the Redeemer and they sat there and He said, blessed
are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed
are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
merciful, they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the meek, they shall
inherit theirs. Blessed are ye when men persecute
you and revile you and say all manner of evil. They sat there
and listened. And they heard him speak as one who speaks from
heaven, who speaks with authority, who speaks with power. And then
Mary, Martha was busy serving the Lord and Mary was listening
to him, John. She sat at his feet. And Martha
came through the door and said, I'm serving you, Lord. And she's
sitting there. And the Lord said, she's selected
the best place. You're cumbered about with so
much, Martha. Mary had chosen the good part.
We've been spinning our wheels for the last 100 years in this
country, trying to build up our religious enterprises and organizations
And we've built them, we've succeeded, but they have not been built
to the glory of God and I don't think God's built them at all.
Listen, incline your ear and come to me. Our Lord was passing
through Jericho and there was a blind man called Bartimaeus
sitting by the wayside and he heard the commotion. And he said,
what is it? What is it? And someone said,
Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried out, Jesus, thy
son of David. Lifting his sightless eyes in
the direction from which he heard the commotion, Jesus, thy son
of David, have mercy on me. And somebody said, be still.
Be still, Bartimaeus. He got no time for you. Jesus,
thy son of David, have mercy on me. And our Lord stood still,
and He said, bid him come to me. And they came to that man
Zacchaeus, and they said, he sendeth for thee. Boy, I tell
you, he'd been sitting there with that old dirty blanket over
him with that tin cup, holding it out, begging for a morsel
of bread or a piece of money, and he threw the cup one way
and the blanket the other. He cast aside his garment and
with his, in his darkness, he moved in the direction from which
he heard that voice, come unto me! And he came to the Lord Jesus. And there was a conversation
took place between the master and that needy, guilty, blind,
wretched, ragged, diseased beggar, what do you want me to do for
you? And he said, Lord, that I might see. Lord, that I might see. There
wasn't any soul winner who grabbed him by the throat trying to get
him to come to Jesus. There wasn't anybody trying to
get him by the hand and drag him down to church aisle. There
was a man in need and a sufficient Savior. And the power of God
brought the two together. And he heard the voice of Christ.
Here are two precepts. and come to me. Incline your
ear and come to me. Now here are two promises and
he says in verse three, will you listen? We're not going to
do it your way, we're going to do it my way. Will you listen
to me? You got time to listen to God.
You got time to hear His Word. You got time to lay aside your
literature. Lay aside your preconceived ideas
Conception of things if you got time to lay aside you what you
think well this way I think your thoughts are not my thoughts.
He said your ways are not my way Have you got time to listen
to him you got time once again to turn your ear toward God and
hear him speak and To come and sit at his feet and say with
Saul of Tarsus What will you have me do? What will you have
me do? But he said, if you will, if
you'll listen to me, if you'll tune your ear in my direction,
and you'll come to me, your soul will live. Oh, what a promise. Now, he doesn't say he'll heal
all your diseases. I don't know what we're going
to do if folks don't quit listening to these folks that are preaching
the health and wealth gospel. God wants you to be prosperous,
and God wants you to be healthy. And if you're not prosperous
and healthy, it's because you don't have any faith. They're
making merchandise out of us. They're lying on God. Some of
God's choicest people have been poor, so poor. The Apostle Paul
says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. And
we know how to abound, but we don't know much about this abasement,
do we? We're kind of unwilling to learn.
Paul said, I've been beaten three times with rods. I've been scourged. I've been shipwrecked. I've been
without. I've been in prison. I wonder
if he didn't have enough faith, Charlie. God brings to pass in
the lives of his people what he wills for their good and his
glory. Some of God's choicest servants
have died at an early age. David Brainerd, the greatest
missionary to the Mac Mac Brainerd you're the greatest missionary
to the Indians this country's ever listened to died. He's 29
years old with TB He'd ride that old horse through the snows of
the state of New York Leaving marks of blood along the way
where he where he would spit his lungs bleeding David Brainerd
one of the greatest Scottish preachers to ever live died.
He's 29 years old Augustus M. Toplady, who wrote
Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, finished
his life at 35. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was sick
for 30 years, sometimes would be kept out of his pulpit for
four and five months at a time, racked with pain down in Mentone,
France. And these little jack-legged
preachers with their 14-carat diamond rings and air-conditioned
Cadillacs and $250,000 houses sitting around telling folks,
God wants you to be healthy and wealthy. Now all blessings, now
let me say this carefully, all financial and physical prosperity
is not necessarily a blessing and ain't specially from God
either. God allowed Satan to God allowed Satan to try Job
with affliction. It may be he'll allow Satan to
try you the other way. It can be done. There are two
promises here. God says, incline your ear. Listen
to me. Listen to me. And two things,
I promise you two things. The road to glory may be a very
difficult road. We got a missionary down in Mexico,
Walter Groover, left this country 14, 15 years ago with four little
children, five little children, without enough support. For the
first two or three years, he had enough difficulty and trial
to break the spirit of any man. His wife nearly died. His children
were in the hospital. They did without food. They slept
on the ground in hammocks. They had nothing. There was ever
reason for him to sit down there and say, well, evidently God's
not in this. I'm not supposed to be here because He's sure
not blessing me. He couldn't speak the language well. Nobody
listened to him preach. But he stayed there. And even
after he'd been there for about Four or five years I went down.
They had no screens on the windows. They had no fans in the house.
They lived next door to a big chicken house. The road was unpaved
and the table was covered with dust where it'd blow in from
the cars. Huh? Reckon you ought to go home,
Walter. God's not blessing you. But I
tell you, brother, God blessed him. God tries his servants. If you hadn't been tried, how
do you know you got anything? Faith that hadn't even been tried
is like a ship that's never been to sea. That's right. Faith that's never been tried
is like a ship that's never been put in the water. But God's blessing
him now, but he's not through. Let me tell you this. Abraham's
greatest trial came when he was 114 years old. No, God doesn't promise us an
easy way, but he does promise us all we need. He says there,
listen to me, come to me, hear me, and your soul will live. Your soul will live. Your body
might not live four more years, I don't know, but your soul will
live. For me to live is Christ to die is gain. Your soul will
live. That's what I want. I want life,
life eternal. And he said, not only that, but
I'll make with you, I'll make an everlasting covenant with
you. If you'll listen to me, if you'll
come to me, your soul will live and I'll make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, a man after
my own heart. Now, my friends, there was an
old covenant which said, this do and live. It was a covenant
of works. We're talking about a covenant
of grace. It was a covenant for the worthy. We're talking about
one for the unworthy. It was a conditional covenant.
We're talking about an unconditioned. You don't bring anything. You
don't promise anything. Not a thing. It's all freely
given. God doesn't ask you to produce
a righteousness, receive one. God doesn't ask you to produce
a part and receive one. That old covenant was a covenant
that failed. It failed because men couldn't
keep its precepts and its perfect laws. That old covenant has nothing
but condemnation, judgment. But this covenant's everlasting.
And it's in this covenant that David found his confidence. David
was an old, old man, and he lay dying. His strength was gone. He was a worn out old man. And
as he lay there on the bed thinking of his days as a lad, of his
victories and his defeats, of his sins and his failures, and
I know he thought about Amnon and he thought about Absalom.
He relived those experiences. And he thought about Tamar, and
he thought about Bathsheba, and he thought about Uriah. And he
thought about Joab, and he thought about Abner. And he thought about
his whole household. And he thought about all the
rebels, and the frustrating experiences, and all the defeats. And then
he said these last words before he died. Although my house be
not so with God, Yet. Blessed yet. Although my house be not so with
God. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son,
would God I died for you. He died a rebel. He died a traitor. A traitor against love. A traitor
against God. Amnon, my son, what happened
to you? What on earth happened to you?
Would God I died for you. Joab, what happened to you? We
had everything, all the promises, the greatness of God. What happened?
Although my house be not so with God, yet, blessed yet, He hath made with me, according
to the good pleasure of His blessed will, according to His choice
and wisdom in eternity past, According to the surety ship
of my great Redeemer. He hath made with me Everlasting
covenant Not conditional Everlasting not
temporary Immutable He hath made with me he did it according to
the design of His own will and purpose. He did it for His own
glory. He fulfilled it in every jot
and tittle. He made it! With me. It's ordered in all things and
sure! And this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire. Although He make it not to grow. God says, if you'll hear me,
if you'll incline your ear, your soul will live, and I'll make
with you an everlasting covenant. Even the sure mercies of David,
the same covenant, the same blessings, the same mercies, the same benefits
that I gave to David. He never earned a one of them.
He never merited a one of them. If it had been left up to Him,
He'd have lost them all. He'd have forfeited His rights
like Esau did his birthright. But what the law could not do
because of the weakness of the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh in far sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. made with thee an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, ensured from God's side, from
the divine side, from the heavenly side. You know something? I didn't
fulfill one requirement of that covenant. Christ did it for me.
The human side was fulfilled by Christ. That's right. He came, even God sent His Son
He didn't make a covenant and say, now I'll promise this and
give that and supply this if you do that. No, sir. He knew
I couldn't make it. He knew I couldn't give it. He
knew I couldn't produce it. He even sent His Son, He made
the covenant, gave it to me, and then sent His Son down here
to fulfill every condition and every requirement and to satisfy
every law and to honor His divine justice. And then Christ went
back to heaven. And He's waiting on me. That's
right. He's waiting on those for whom
He worked out this blessed covenant. And there are many mercies of
this covenant. Let me give you briefly seven, and I'll close. Turn to Jeremiah 31. The sure
mercies of David. Here are seven sure mercies of
David. In Jeremiah 31, He talks about
this covenant in verse 33. In Jeremiah 31, 33, this shall be the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel. You say, that's for the Jew.
All Israel is not Israel, my friend. Israel, spiritual Israel, and
those who are the seed of Abraham are the seed of Abraham in Christ. Believers. So this is the covenant, I'll
put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts.
And I'll be their God and they'll be my people and they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, know the Lord, for they shall all, every one
of them know me from the least to the greatest. The first thing,
the first mercy of this blessed covenant is a knowledge of God. My friends, The unregenerate
do not know God. Every man has a God, every man
has a concept of God, every man has in his imagination what he
thinks God's like, but the natural man does not know God. Christ
said to those people in his day, even the religious, he said,
you don't know me and you don't know my Father. And in this covenant of grace,
he said, I'm going to I'm going to reveal myself to you. You're
going to know God. Philip said, show us the Father,
and Christ said, he that has seen me has seen the Father.
The Father is revealed in Christ. You come to know Christ, you
know God. He's revealed in Christ. Eternal life is to know the living
God. Not to know there is a God, not
to know about God, but actually to know Him. You find He's revealed
in His Word, He's revealed by Spirit, He's revealed in the
person of His Son. So this covenant of mercy, in
this covenant of grace, God says they're going to know me. And
look at verse 33 again. He says, I'll put my law in their
hearts. I'll write my law in their hearts.
Now, my friends, God's law on tablets of stone and on church
walls and church covenants and rules and regulations is not
going to do me any good. unto the law of God is written
on my heart." Now that's where it's got to be written. To be
able to say with David, I love thy law. It's not doing what
I resent and doing what I hate. His law is not grievous. His law is not a duty. His law
is not just a requirement. It's a joy. I love God's law. It's written on my heart. That's
what's got to be done in this covenant of grace. It's not forced
religion. It's not putting the thumbscrews
on a fella and saying, don't do this and don't do that or
you'll go to hell. Don't do this and don't do that
or you'll lose your baby. Don't do this or don't do that
or God will take your job away from you. Don't do this or don't
do that or God will punish you. Down with that type of reasoning.
God doesn't operate that way. Like saying to one of my children
or grandchildren, if you do this, I'll break your leg. That's ridiculous. God's law
is written on the heart, on the heart. We don't give and serve
and witness and walk in holiness out of fear of judgment and hell. I hope it's because we love Him
who loved us. The love of Christ constrained
me. God says, I'll give you, look
at verse 34, I'll give you a free pardon, I'll forgive your iniquity.
And your sins, I'll remember no more. You see that in verse
34? I'll remember your sins no more. I'll forgive you. All your
sins from birth to death, all your sins, I'll forgive. I'll
remember them no more. But Lord, He did this. I don't
remember that. I wish we could quit remembering
things, don't you? One of the best ways to forgive
one another is to blot out the memory of it. Some folks can
remember all the evil, all the bad, as long as they live, clear
back in the past. God says, I don't remember it.
I don't remember your sins anymore. But Lord, he said this. I don't
remember that. He thought this. I don't remember
that. Let me tell you something. Every believer here, listen,
the sure mercies of David, You remember your sins. I know you
do. I remember mine, but God doesn't. That's what it says
right here. I'll forgive their sins and remember
them no more. He never brings it up again.
Never again. In verse 38, he says, Jeremiah
32. Turn over to chapter 32, verse
38. Still talking about this covenant. And this is interesting right
here. He says in Jeremiah 32, 38, and they'll be my people
and I'll be their God. I'll be their God, and they'll
be my people." Now, my friend, claim what you will. Listen to
this. Claim what you will, but till
God claims you, you have no hope. Here He claims us. He said, they'll
be my people and I'll be their God. There's some folks at the
judgment that said, Lord, wait a minute, now, we did this and
we did that. I never knew you. But now, wait
a minute, we knew you. I never knew you. So we can claim all we want to,
but till God claims us. Some folks came to Abraham Lincoln
during the Civil War. You could get an access to the
President back then a whole lot easier than you can now. They
weren't nearly as cluttered up and confined and all. But some
people from a religious organization came to Lincoln And before they
left, they said, Mr. President, we sure hope God's
on our side. He said, I don't. And it shocked
them. They said, sir, what do you mean?
He said, I hope I'm on his side. Oh, boy, you can claim all you
want to about God's on my side and God did this and God, but
till God claims you, A whole lot of difference there. I hope
I'm on His side. God's right. All men are liars. God's truth. Not a question of
what I do and think and say, it's a question of what He said. And then He says in verse 39
of Jeremiah 32, And I'll give them one heart and one way that
they may fear Me forever. This is true godliness. True
godliness does not consist in creeds and laws and ceremonies
and deeds. True godliness consists in a
heart relationship with God. I know that. One heart. One heart, one way. Repentance is a heart work. Faith's
a heart work. Love is a heart work. Grace is
a heart work. Forgiveness is a heart work.
One heart and one way. God's will and God's way. Fear
of the Lord. What is fear of the Lord? It's
reverence. It's not slavish fear. It's not
always ducking when you're in the presence of God. It's an
awe and a reverence and an awareness of His glory and greatness and
power. Let me tell you something. When I was growing up as a small
boy, my dad was special to me. I thought a lot of my dad. And
I loved him and enjoyed being with him. But I'd have to say,
honestly, I feared my father. I loved him, John, but I feared
him. You mean you're scared of your daddy? Well, is that the
word? What other word are you going
to use? If I'd have been afraid in the
sense of a slavish fear, I'd have run away from home, or I'd
have hid behind the barn, or I'd have never come around him.
But I came around him, but I still had a respect. and a reverence
and an awe. Sarah called Abraham Lord. Why
did she do that? Respect, awe, an awareness. of His greatness, of His glory. You see what I'm saying? And
believers, believers are not scared if they do certain things
they'll go to hell. Their Father is good. Their Father
is merciful. But they fear the Lord. And by
the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. But it's out of reverence
for God and awe in His presence, awareness of His glory. True godliness is heart godliness.
Now look at verse 40. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them. Now here's continuance in grace.
He said, I will not turn away from them to do them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts
and they won't depart from me. I know that all through the years,
folks have been fussing and arguing, debating over what's called eternal
security. They've been quarreling, arguing,
fussing over once saved, always saved, once in grace, always
in grace. Let me tell you, you want to
solve that once and for all. The Lord doesn't promise preservation
and security for phony religionists and easy believers and folks
who walk aisles and pray at benches and get baptized and go through
all the motions of religion. But our Lord said, if you'll
wait a minute, and you're hungry and thirsty, you'll listen to
me, and you'll come to me. Your soul will be saved, and
I'll make a covenant with you. I'll enter into a union, a vital
union, a living union. I'll be your God, and you'll
be my people. I'll be your father, and you'll
be my son. And we'll be a family. And I'll never leave you, and
you'll never leave me. And that's it, Richard. I'll
never leave you, and you'll never leave me. That's preservation,
and that's perseverance. Now, there'll be a lot of folks
who'll leave, but they never were in the family. Never were. They never knew God. Oh, they
were interested in the inheritance, but not interested in the person.
They were interested in the benefits, but they were not interested
in the person. They were interested in heaven,
they were interested in streets of gold, they were interested
in beautiful crowns and rewards, but they never were interested
in Him. And they never had a living,
vital union with Him. I'll never turn away from them.
God had many reasons to turn away from Abraham, Jacob, David,
Even Moses, Peter, go on down the line. And he has many reasons
to turn away from you and me. I give him some every day, don't
you? Oh God, David said, who am I and what is my house that
you should show such mercies to me?