Wouldn't hurt to sing that hymn
again. That's a good one, isn't it? Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also is become
my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall
you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings
among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing
unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known
in all the earth. Cry out and shout. thou inhabitant
of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. This chapter, the words which
I've just read, is a song. It's a song of praise. In chapter
11, if you look back to chapter 11, we see that there's a prophecy
given, a prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
verses one and two. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. was Jesse. Well, most of you
recognize, of course, that Jesse, the scripture here says, there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Jesse was
the father of David. And this verse is foretelling,
it is a prophecy, these two verses, a prophecy of the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who would be, we know, the son of David. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
son of David. But when he came, we see that
David's family, a great family, he was a king, a powerful family,
a wealthy family, but then when the Lord Jesus Christ comes into
this world, that family had been fallen, or was fallen rather,
to such a condition that it is referred to here as the savior,
the root, the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of the
roots. In other words, like a tree that
has fallen over and decayed and then a shoot, a stem comes up,
comes up of its own. And of course that's a type,
it's a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords, but when He came into this world, He was
not born in a palace. He was born in a stable. And
He would later in His life say, the foxes have holes, the birds
of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to
lay His head. We see that He came into this
world He who was rich for our sakes became poor, that we, through
his poverty, might be made rich, the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians. Again, if you look there in chapter
11, down to verse 10, in that day there shall be a root of
Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it
shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious."
The Lord Jesus Christ here is referred to as an ensign, as
a banner. You know, most armies have their
colors or their banners. I remember reading a book several
years ago entitled The Red Badge of Courage, The Red Badge of
Courage, and it was a story about a man who lived during the American
Revolution. And remember back in those days
how they fought. It seemed to be very dangerous. War is always dangerous. I understand
that. But, you know, they would have
that man carrying the banner, the ensign. He would be up in
front without any weapon, without any protection whatsoever. and
he would be leading the troops. And if he were to be killed and
fall in battle, then someone else was to run and pick up the
ensign, the banner, and hold it up. Why? Because the flocks
were together around that ensign. It was a point of location where
the troops had to gather, and they had to be able to see that
ensign. And that was the story, what this man was concerned,
if that happened to him in battle and the ensign was fallen to
the ground, would he have the courage? It would take some courage,
wouldn't it? And he questioned himself, would
I have the courage to take up that banner and hold it up? And he did. It happened in one
of the battles. He had the courage to do that
and did so. But the ensign here is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the one to whom the gathering
of the people should be. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob,
he prophesies over each one of his 12 children. And when he
came to his son Judah, remember, Judah is the tribe from which
David came, from which Jesse came, from which David came,
from which the Lord Jesus Christ came. And one of the things that
he said about Judah in this prophecy is, Shiloh, until Shiloh comes. Now, Shiloh means peace, peace. Until the peacemaker comes, or
rather when the peacemaker comes, to him shall the gathering of
the people be. Now, who is the peacemaker? That's
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who made peace.
He is our peace. No man has any peace with God
apart from Jesus Christ. He is our peace. And when we
know Him as our Lord, as our Savior, when we have faith in
Him, then we are justified by faith. We have peace with God.
In fact, the apostle Paul in Colossians tells us that he made
peace, the Lord Jesus. How did he make peace between
men and women who are enmity with God? How did he make peace? By the blood of his cross. That's
what the scripture says, right? By the blood of his cross. To
him shall the gathering of the people be. He's like an ensign
here. And notice what it says in the
verse, verse 10 of chapter 11. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, which shall stand
for an instant of the people, that is God's people, God's chosen
people, shall be gathered unto him. Remember he said, and I,
if I be lifted up shall gather all unto me. Now I know the translators
have inserted that word men. But you'll notice it's in italics. The Lord said, I shall gather
all unto me. That's in John's gospel, chapter
12. He doesn't gather all in the sense of every single man,
woman, boy, and girl, but he does gather all of his chosen
people. God, the Holy Spirit brings them
to him. And we look to him, but notice
in that verse, and his rest, His rest shall be glorious. And in the margin, it says, His
rest shall be glory. Glory! His rest shall be glorious. Remember in Matthew chapter 11,
when our Lord said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. To those who are weighted
down with the guilt of sin, the burden of sin, the Lord Jesus
says, come unto me, look unto me, believe in me, and I will
give you rest. His rest is glorious. Can you
say amen to that tonight? Have you come to rest in Christ? And can you say from your heart
tonight, praise God, his rest is glorious? His rest is glorious. Well, we're looking at the song
that follows, chapter 12. It begins, and in that day, that
day of course refers to the gospel days, the gospel times, the beginning
with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I like the way that
Matthew Henry divided this song into two divisions. and he used
two words. I want you to notice in verse
one, the word thou, and then in verse four, the word ye, thou
and thee, singular and plural. Thou, every particular believer
shall sing a song of praise for his interest. in that salvation. And ye, many in concert, shall
join in praising God for the common salvation. And he said,
Thanksgiving shall be closet work, thou. And by closet, of
course, he meant your private devotions. Our Lord said, when
you pray, enter into your closet. literally necessarily, although
that may be a good place to go to get along. But wherever you
have as a child of God to get along your private devotions,
thou, thou, thanksgiving shall be closet work and thanksgiving
shall be congregation work as we come together. Now let's notice
these two parts of the song. First, thanksgiving as a private
work, verses one through three. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Our praise, our praise is directed
always to the Lord. I will praise thee. Hold your
places here, but look back with me to Psalm 92 at a verse Psalm 92 and verse 4. This is a word of a child of
God, of a believer. Psalm 92 and verse 4. For thou,
Lord, has made me glad through thy work, thy work. The Lord has made us glad, those
of us who know him tonight as our savior. And how has he made
us glad? Through his work, not through
our work. If we're depending upon our works,
our works are never perfect. And we could never be glad if
we were, it would be a sign of self-righteousness. If we are
happy or glad or satisfied in our works, then it's a matter
of self-righteousness. No, as the psalmist said here,
for thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work, because
his work is perfect. We are glad, I'm glad tonight.
The Lord has made me glad through his work, through his perfect
work of obedience. establishing a righteousness
that God will accept, that God will charge to me, and then I'm
accepted with God, dressed in His righteousness. The Lord has
made me glad. You too? You too? Has the Lord made you glad? Through
His work, and not only His work of obedience, but His work of
suffering. His blood shedding on the cross,
Lord, it's made me glad through His work, through Him opening
up that fountain, that fountain that is filled with blood, and
that fountain that cleanses from all sin. He made me glad. He made me glad. And I know He
has you, too, if you're one of His children. this song begins. As I said,
our praise is directed unto the Lord. I will praise Thee. The
Lord Jesus, the Lord God Almighty, has said that He will not share
His glory with another. And the glory of salvation, it
all belongs to Him. Not most of it, Not 99.9% of
it, no, no. All of His salvation, all the
glory of that salvation belongs to Him. I will praise Thee, Thee,
O Lord. Now notice, second, our praise
acknowledges our guilt. Look at the song again. I will
praise Thee, though Thou wast angry with me. Did you know the
scripture declares that God is angry with the wicked every day?
Every day. It also declares that those of
us who have been saved by the grace of God, that we were children
of wrath, even as others. What does that mean? It means
that Though chosen of God, if we're saved, we were chosen of
God from before the foundation of the world. When we come into
this world, we are sinful beings and we are deserving of the wrath
of God. We're children of wrath, even
as others. Thou wast angry with me. We were worthy of God's wrath
because of our sins. And in God's saving work, there's
a time. Some know this time more than
others. I understand that. And I'm not
preaching experience. I don't want anyone to look to
an experience. I want every one of us to look
to Christ. Salvation's not in an experience. I don't care how great it was,
how earth-shaking it was, or anything like that. Salvation's
not in an experience. A lot of people have had all
kinds of experience who are in hell tonight. No, salvation is
in Christ. But yet I believe most all of
us who have experienced God's saving grace, we will remember
there was a time when we, at least in our consciousness, knew
that God was angry with us, or felt that God was angry with
us. And He should have been, right?
For what we are. Not just what we've done, but
what we are. Thou wast angry with me, the
psalmist says. A literal translation here would
be, oh Lord, I will praise thee, thou wast angry with me. And
the thought is, we praise God and thank God that He made us
to be conscious that we were deserving of His anger. You know, some people come into
this world, many people, and they go through this life, no
matter how long they live here. They live in all their lifetime
They are never made to feel and to know that they have sinned
against God. They're happy-go-lucky people.
As the psalmist said, there's no bands in their death. People
say, well, he died happy. That doesn't mean anything. He
might die happy and drop into hell. No. God's people, we're thankful
that He didn't leave us in our sins. He didn't leave us dead
in trespasses and sins. He made us somewhere along the
road. He made us to know, I'm guilty. I've sinned against God. I need
a Savior. And then we were told of the
Savior, the good news of the gospel. Notice our praise. includes this certainty of sins
forgiven. Look at the song again. I will
praise thee though thou wast angry with me. Not anymore. Not any longer. Not anger is turned away. Yes, we felt that because of
our sin that we deserve the anger of God, but through the atoning
blood of Jesus Christ, we realize our sins are gone. They're gone. And though he was angry with
us, no longer. That's no longer the case. Oh,
no. Now, I am comforted. Notice that. Thou comfortest
me. I am comforted through the knowledge
I'm accepted in Christ. I'm accepted in the beloved. As he is, so am I. You say, is it possible for a
person to know that their sins are forgiven? Absolutely. Look
with me in 1 John. 1 John chapter five. And verse 13, these things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may
know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Yes, thou wast angry with me
but thine anger is turned away and you comfort me. And then
notice the fourth thing back in our song, Isaiah 12. Our praise
includes our confidence. Our confidence. Here it is. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. Our praise includes our confidence. God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
My song, my salvation. As I looked at that verse of
scripture especially, I thought of those rhetorical questions
the Apostle Paul asked in Romans chapter eight. There's three
of them at least. The first one is, if God be for
us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now that's confidence, isn't
it? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. And number
three, who shall separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus, our Lord? No one, nothing. This part of the song for the
individual ends back in Isaiah 12. This part of the song for
the individual in his closet ends with, as John Gill said,
it ends either with an exhortation unto others or a prophecy that
they should do this. And what is it? With joy draw
water. out of the wells of salvation.
With joy, draw water out of the wells of salvation. You know,
water in the scripture is symbolic of several things. Of course,
number one, we know water is symbolic of life. Years ago, we visited NASA. One time we had some visitor
here and We went out to NASA, and I remember this, if nothing
else, about that experience. But they showed a movie, and
they referred to the Earth, the planet Earth, as the blue planet. The blue planet. Why? Because
there's water here. And that's one reason I believe
they're always trying to convince themselves and taxpayers that
they're going to find life out there on one of these other planets. And maybe they will, I don't
know. But they're looking for water and looking for the sign.
Maybe it was I, if there's ice, then there had to have been water
that's frozen, you know, water. Water is a sign of life or a
symbol of life. It's also a symbol of God, the
Holy Spirit. It's also a symbol of cleansing.
The Lord said, I will sprinkle water. upon the cleanse us. And it also is spoken of in the
word of God is that which cools and refreshes. Here's a man traveling
across the desert and he's he's about to be overcome, you know,
with dehydration and someone hands him a glass of cool water,
refreshing water. All of these are pictured by
water in the scripture. When you think of it as picturing
life, remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said to that woman
of Sychar? He met her there at the well,
and she was a Samaritan, and she couldn't get over the fact
that he, being a Jew, would even talk to her. But we know the
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. And everybody
knows she had such a bad reputation in the town, she had to come
out there at noontime to get water. Nobody else did. All the
other women came when it was cooler in the day. But she had
such a bad reputation. Remember the Lord told her this,
the water that I shall give unto thee shall be in thee, a well
of water springing up everlasting life, life. And then in John's,
turn with me to John 7. Water's also a type of, or a
picture of God the Holy Spirit. Of God the Holy Spirit in chapter
7 and verse 37. We read in the last day, that
great day of the feast. And secular history tells us
that on this day, they actually quoted this verse that we're
looking at here in Isaiah 12. And they would go to the pool
or the fountain of Siloam, and with a golden cup, they would
get a cup full of water and bring it back to the temple and pour
it out. on the altar there. That was
a ceremony. They invented it of their own.
But after that ceremony was over and it was time to go home, the
festival was over, Jesus answered in chapter seven in verse 37. It says, in the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any
man thirst, People say, I believe in whosoever will. I do too.
I do too. Anybody thirsty? No, I'm not thirsty. I'm happy. I'm happy with my life just the
way it is. I'm not thirsty. Well, I'm not
talking to you. Any man thirsty? If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now notice the next verse. But
this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. We know that he
was given, he was poured out on the day of Pentecost. But
water is a type of life, a type of the spirit. And this well with joy draw water
out of the wells of salvation. Now most of the wells today that
we have anything to do with are wells that have a pump on them,
or windmill or something like that, but no, When I was a kid,
I saw a lot of these wells here in Texas. When I lived in Mexico,
they had these wells, you know, they're around the circle and
they got that piece of wood across the top and that pulley, they
drop the bucket down in the well and get water. The bucket's empty,
it comes up with water, right? They pull it up with water. What
is the bucket? Faith. Faith, that's what we
see here. With faith, with joy, shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. When I began looking at this,
I thought wells, plural, wells. There's one mediator, that's
true. But there's three persons in
the Godhead. Let down your bucket into the
fountain of the Father with joy and see what the Word of God
teaches concerning His work in salvation. Let down the bucket,
your faith, into the fountain of the Son of God and see what
the Scriptures tell us about Him and His work. And don't forget
God the Holy Spirit. Because the Father planned salvation. Purpose salvation would be a
better word. The Son purchased salvation,
and God the Holy Spirit, he applies salvation. With joy, with joy. Now, I see my time is almost
gone, but I wanted to get to this second part. Thanksgiving
as a corporate work, as a congregation. And I want you to notice, I want
you to see this, that we have an outline of our service. Of our service here tonight,
our service Sunday morning, our service Sunday evening. Every
time we have a service here, a worship service, we see an
outline right here. There's four things that I see. The first thing we realize is,
and we sing, We sing, we recognize that the Holy One of Israel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is in our midst. Notice that in verse
six. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
thee. And we need to always train ourselves
and remind ourselves. We're not coming here to see
brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so and all of that. Yes,
we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love the fellowship.
We're coming here to meet God. The Lord Jesus Christ said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their
midst. We come together to worship as
a church knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is
in our midst. And number two, we call upon
his name. We pray, verse four. And in that
day, shall you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name. We
pray, pray for one another, the scripture says. We call upon
his name. Number three, we declare his
doings among the people. Declare, verse four, declare
his doings among the people. We're not here to brag on anyone
but him. That's it. We're not here to
brag upon the preacher. We're not here to brag upon so-and-so
or anyone else. We're here to brag on the Lord
Jesus Christ, upon Christ and him crucified, and we have God's
command, preach the word. We're not here to entertain anybody.
Not that I could. Not that I could. That's not
our purpose, is it? Our purpose here is to preach
the word. To come together recognizing
that he's here in our midst, Pray, call upon His name, and
know that He hears us. And know that we have that which
we ask when we ask according to His will. And I don't want
anything else that's not according to His will, do you? I really
don't. Thy will be done on earth, even
as it is in heaven. And the fourth thing, we sing
unto the Lord. We sing unto the Lord. Sing,
verse five, sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. What a beautiful song we have
here. Isaiah chapter 12. A song of
praise, a song of thanksgiving. And may we be found praising
the Lord and giving thanks unto him day by day. Let us sing a
hymn before we are dismissed.