Good morning. Turn with me, if
you would, to Isaiah chapter 43. In preaching, I rarely speak
of my own experience or things having reference to myself. And
the reason I do that is preaching is not about my experience or
my words. It's about the Lord's word and
it's about Christ and I'm hesitant to do that. But as I said last
Sunday, there are times that the Lord brings circumstances
into your life in his good providence. that he purposes to teach you
something. And I'm speaking about his people.
And that's particularly so with those men who are called into
the ministry of the gospel. And there are times that the
Lord brings events into our lives which change everything. From that point on, you have,
in some respects, a very different view of some things and sometimes
many things. And I think most of you know
that our daughter Claire had a very terrible fall last year. And that was one of those circumstances
that the Lord brought into our lives. And as I said last Sunday
evening, we see Even in that, the Lord's abundant grace and
goodness to us as his people, to Claire as well as his daughter. And I'm thankful too for this privilege
of again speaking to you. And I want to continue in that
passage that we began. And one of the reasons I'm particularly
thankful for this time this morning is that You know, as time goes
on, you tend to forget all that the Lord has done for you. You
do. It's so sad. It shows that remaining
sin in our hearts. And I want to bring something
to you today in the Lord's grace of what he taught me, what he
taught Robin during this time and trust that the Lord will
use it for good for you, his people. Well, let's look at this
passage and in this passage we find a remarkable prophetic word
of God to comfort his people Israel. But as we read this,
remember above all this is given to comfort the true Israel. the
true children of God, the children of promise, who are sons of God
by faith in Jesus Christ. And we see in this passage, they're
given the hope of a glorious future. So let's read these first
four verses, these glorious, magnificent verses. You know,
I say that, I think, about every passage I preach on. But it's
true, isn't it? All the word of God is good.
And let's read here this good word of God. But now, thus says
the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel,
fear not. I have redeemed you. I have called
you by your name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
you. When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you, for
I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in my
sight, you have been honored and I have loved you. Therefore,
I will give men for you and people for your life." Now, we can't
help but see these verses are full and overflowing with glorious
gospel promises, aren't they? circumstances with our daughter
Claire, the Lord brought us into a season of deep distress. But also, as I've said, he brought
us into a season two of rich and bounteous blessing. And the
Lord used this, he used much of his word, as I I'll say again,
you know, during this time as I opened the word of God, it
seemed that it didn't matter where I opened, but the Lord
in his mercy and in his grace spoke, spoke to my heart, to
Robin's heart. And it was, there's nothing to compare. There's
just nothing to compare. And This was one of those passages
that the Lord used so wonderfully to speak to us and to comfort
our hearts. Well, I trust that today that
the Lord would use me and enable me to preach something of what
we find here in this precious word. Let me give you the five
points I have from this chapter. And as I mentioned, I brought
the Last Sunday evening, I brought the first of a series of messages
that the Lord had given me for the folk up there in the Dalles
in Oregon, where Norm Wells is pastor. And I preached that first
message Sunday evening. And David, after words said,
it was his desire that I preach the
other two messages. Well, we didn't think it would
be so soon. I'm not going to preach the other
two messages, but we'll continue on in this passage by God's grace. But let me give you these five
points again so you'll know where we've come, where we're going
to be today, and where we may be going. But here is the first
point. pass through the waters. As the
Lord's people, this is a truth of God's word. It's so unlike
what we hear in all the false preaching today. But the Lord's
people will pass through the waters. It doesn't say if you
pass through the waters. It says when you pass through
the waters. That's the first point. And then
the second point is that we have this great promise. Yes, it doesn't
sound so, uplifting, doesn't it? That we'll pass through the
waters and through the fire. But here we have this great promise
and this is all that matters. I will be with you. It doesn't
matter the circumstances of our lives, whether they're good or
whether they're bad. Here's the promise. I will be
with you. And then thirdly, the reason
given for this promise. Look there in verse three, the
reason given for the promise. Who makes this promise and what
does he say? I am the Lord, your God, the
Holy One of Israel, your Savior. It gets better, doesn't it? It
gets better. Look at verse, the fourth point,
the foundation of this promise. We find, well, in verse one,
but throughout the passage, what has this savior accomplished
for his people? I have redeemed you. There's the foundation, isn't
it? And it's a sure foundation. It's a certain foundation. It's
not dependent upon anything that you or I might do, or can do,
or will do. And look. It's not even dependent
upon something that God has yet to do, is it? He's already done
it. It's accomplished. I have redeemed
you. What a foundation of hope for
his people. And then five, we won't look
at this, but the certain fulfillment of this promise. Jump down to
verse 11. Who is it? Who is it that speaks, and how
certain is his word? I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no Savior. Verse 13, Indeed, before the
day was, I am he, and there is no one who can deliver out of
my hand. I work, and who will reverse
it? There is a certainty of the fulfillment
of every promise, not only this one, but every promise that God
gives to his people, Israel. These people are given a remarkable
privilege. They are redeemed by God, called
to be his people, and they're given these particular promises
that even in the night of affliction, the Lord will be with them. He'll
be with them. surrounding them with walls and
bulwarks, surrounding them with walls of salvation. All the powers
of grace and of providence work together on behalf of the Lord's
people in all circumstances and at all times. Why are we given such promises? How is it that we receive such
privilege? Well, the answer is given right
there that we just read because we have a Savior. We have a Savior. For I am the Lord your God, the
Holy One of Israel, your Savior. That's the only reason why. This
is the only thing that matters in life or in death. The Lord is my savior. He's the only thing that matters.
Out of the depths of suffering and anguish, the prophet Jeremiah
called to mind the covenant mercies of God. You remember Sunday night,
we looked briefly at this. Here he was and he looked at
the desolation of the city of Jerusalem. He looked at this
destruction that had been poured out upon the people of Israel
and he wept. He wept rivers of water for the
daughters of Jerusalem. And out of this suffering and
anguish, he remembered the Holy One of Israel, his Savior. He remembered the Savior and
this is what he said, the Lord is my portion. He's all we need. The Lord is my portion, says
my soul. Therefore, I hope in him. And we need this hope, don't
we? Why? Because we're born dying. We're born dying. And dying,
we will die. We have no strength, no wisdom,
and no ability to change that outcome. We are helpless, and
in ourselves, we have no hope. In men, we have no hope. In nothing,
we have hope. You know, there came a time with
Claire, and let me say, What a wonder it is that she's here
with us today. You know, I can't find the words
to express the gratefulness we have to the Lord for his mercies,
his mercies. But there came a time with Claire,
after all the surgeries, the intervention radiology procedures,
countless CT scans, MRIs, the massive doses of drugs, the lab
tests, all the best technology that's available in the medical
field today as she was there in that level one trauma unit
in Denver Hospital. The respiratory technicians,
everything, all of these doctors streaming in and out. And we
received a call from the director of the ICU who happened to be
on the floor at that time, and he was asking consent to turn
Claire over, put her in a prone position, because they weren't
able to maintain her vitals on the respirator as she was. And
this would help to increase that flow of oxygen to her lung. And
the reason he had to ask for our consent is her life was so
fragile that There was a good possibility when they turned
her over that she would have cardiac arrest. And they wanted
direction for resuscitation if that were to happen. And I hope
you never, never get a call like that. You have to tell a doctor. If your daughter died, essentially,
what they should try and do and how long they should try and
resuscitate her. Claire had been put into a state
of medical paralysis and And in the days following that,
she just lay in bed week after week with the ventilator hissing
and clicking as it cycled air into her lungs. And the machines
beeped, countless machines, beeped and pumped drugs and nutrition
into her body. And they came and went. Everything
was being done to just maintain her life. As the ventilator settings
increased, there was nothing more they could do. This is why
I'm speaking to you of this. There came a point where they'd
exhausted everything that they could do. Everything within their
realm to save Claire. Robin and I would just alternate
because they allowed only one of us into the hospital each
day. And we would alternate sitting
helplessly beside Claire's bed in the ICU. Everything. Everything that men trust in
proved to be utterly impotent in the only way that mattered.
The ICU director put it this way. He said, it's like she's climbing
Mount Everest. We'll just have to wait to see
if she's able to survive. And he didn't think so. And I
thought about the massive injuries Claire has suffered, the equally
massive surgeries, the overwhelming infections, the double pneumonia
in her lungs, and then shortly after that, the acute respiratory
syndrome, which is so common with pancreatic traumas. I looked
at my little girl lying there in the bed, and I knew she was
never going to climb a speed bump, let alone Mount Everest. She needed a savior. Oh, she
needed a savior who could do for her all that man could not
do, and all that she could not do for herself. You know, the
ICU director was right in this sense. We were waiting. We were
waiting. And we'd been waiting from the
beginning. But we were waiting to see not what man could do,
but what God would do. Our trust wasn't in the doctors
or the medical equipment or anything that was being done. We looked
to God. We know he's the only savior. We waited to see what the will
of the Lord was for Claire. Now we know that the Lord reveals to us not
only in his word, but also in his providence that in this physical
reality, we have an analogy of the spiritual reality. Only the
spiritual reality is much worse, much worse. We are born dead,
spiritually dead. We have no eyes to see, no ears
to hear, no heart to beat, no breath to breathe. We're not
on a spiritual ventilator. We're dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. The Word of God tells us in Romans
3, so powerfully and repetitively, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none who
understand. There is none who seek after
God. See how forcefully the truth
of God is impressing upon us the state of our deadness and
hopelessness in sin. There is none who seek after
God. They are all gone out of their
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none who
does good. No, not one. No, not one. In Psalm 36, we read some truly
great verses. Don't turn there, but listen.
Here in Psalm 36, we read, Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to
the clouds. Your righteousness is like the
great mountains. What a glorious picture that
is of this glorious righteousness of God and what we need to climb
the Everest of the perfect righteousness of the Lord of glory. To live,
we need to attain to the righteousness and holiness of the Holy One
of Israel. Have you ever seen a man without
sin? Have you ever seen a dead man
climbing? We need a Savior, don't we? We
need a Savior. We need a Savior full of glorious
righteousness and beautiful in his holiness. We need a Savior
who can fully satisfy the righteous justice of God. We need a Savior
who can make us righteous in his sight. We need a Savior who is full
of bounteous grace. A Savior full of plentiful mercy,
a Savior full of love, a Savior who himself will bear us up in
his arms and carry us to the high peak of his holy hill in
Zion. We need a Savior who has the
strength to do all that. One who is infinite and eternal
in his being, full of wisdom, full of power, who does as he
wills in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. We need a Savior who gives life to the dead. Is there a Savior? What is his
name? Where can he be found? Well,
here we read, I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior. your Savior. Listen to the words
of David in Psalm 20, don't turn there. Now I know the Lord saves
his anointed. He will answer him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. Look, Here in Isaiah 43, it makes
reference to this great event in the nation of Israel. Man
will always trust in the chariots and horses of his own wisdom,
his own strength, his own ability, and his own accomplishments.
We always will. This is especially true today.
But man can't do it, can he? In your heart, you know that.
You can go to church. You can straighten out your life.
You can make a decision to give your life to Jesus or whatever
nonsense is being preached today. You can be baptized. You can
do all of these things. You can come to a sovereign grace
church and dedicate yourself to that church every week. But none of this can make you
righteous before God. None of it. Salvation is not
a decision. Salvation is not by your own
hand. David says, now I know the Lord
saves his anointed. He will answer from his holy
hill with the saving strength of his right hand. It's the strength and the power
of the Lord that saves. The fact that the chariots of
men and horses of men will never prevail and never is illustrated
to us in that remarkable event in the history of Israel, in
the crossing of the Red Sea and the deliverance of the children
of Israel out of that nation, Egypt. And this event is referenced
right there. Look down to verse, in this chapter,
look down there in verse 16. Thus says the Lord, who makes
a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, who brings
forth the horse and the chariot, the army and the power. They
shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are
extinguished. They are quenched like a wick. Now, you know, the children of
Israel had been brought up out of Egypt by the strong arm of
the Lord. Before them was this insurmountable
obstacle of this great sea. Behind them was the mighty and
powerful Egyptian army with all the formidable weapons of war. The chariot and the horse, the
army and the power. Think of the terrifying sight
this would have been to the people of Israel. The sound and the
fury, the thunder of the hooves, the clash of the weapons, the
roar of the soldiers. and the children of Israel were
nothing, were nothing, a rabble of slaves, poor and ignorant,
weak and helpless. They had no chariots, no horses,
no weapons, no army, nothing, nothing. Who is it who brings forth the
horse and the chariot? See what it says here? Who brings
forth the horse and the chariot? The army and the power. The Lord
himself does. Why does the Lord do it? Is it
to destroy his chosen people? It sure looked that way to them,
didn't it? They said to Moses, because there are no graves in
Egypt, have you taken us away to die in this wilderness? Why does the Lord bring forth
the chariot and the horse? Why at times does he bring great
adversity and affliction into the lives of his people? He does it to show us that he
is the Lord, our God, our Savior, the Holy One of Israel, who makes
a way in the sea. and a path through the mighty
waters. The towering walls of water to
the nation people of Israel were walls of salvation, weren't they?
Here they were walls of death to the enemy, but they were walls
of salvation to his people. He makes a way. He makes a way
through the waters, doesn't he? He will deliver his people. He
brings forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power
for one purpose. He brings forth the enemy to
destroy them. What do we read here? They shall
lie down together. They shall not rise. They are
extinguished. They are quenched like a wick
by that mighty hand of our Savior. And that's always true, isn't
it? Always true. I don't know if we'll be able
to fully grasp all that Christ has done for us, ever. Ken spoke
this morning of the glorious things done by Christ. Even in
glory, I don't know if we'll be able to fully comprehend all
the things that he's done for us. But we do know that one of
the most important accomplishments of the Lord is that he's redeemed
his people. This is why we find such an emphasis
in this portion and in all the scriptures and in the gospel
of this redemption accomplished by Christ. He's our Savior because above
all he's redeemed his people. Turn for a moment to Psalm 130. Keep your place here, but turn
back to Psalm 130. And this is one of
the best known Psalms of David. It resonates in the heart of
every believer because as you and I read it, this is our own
experience, isn't it? It is our experience when the
light of God's grace shone into our hearts and we see our sin and the pollution
of our souls and we see the righteous judgment of God and our souls
like David cry out from the depths. And two, we see his grace and
his overflowing mercy in his son. And it's our experience too in
the course of the life of this world when we face the interminable
night of suffering and anguish of soul. When we feel like Jeremiah
where he cried, my strength and my hope have perished from the
Lord. Look at these words. Out of the
depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you,
O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Not me, not you, not anyone here. There is none righteous, no,
not one. O Lord, if you should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee that you may be feared. And what do we do then? Wait,
wait upon the Lord. I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits, and in his word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more
than those who watch for the morning, yes, more than those
who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The hope of David and the hope
of every believer is found upon the Lord our Savior. because
he's redeemed his people Israel. He's redeemed us from all of
our iniquities. And with him, what sort of redemption
is this? With him is an abundant redemption. Fear not, fear not, for I have
redeemed you. This is what we read in these
verses in Isaiah chapter 43. Turn back there. Fear not, for
I have redeemed you. For this is the foundation of
all these promises that we've been speaking of. But now, look, look again, verse
one. But now, thus says the Lord,
who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name,
you are mine. Here were the children of Israel,
this sorry people. A pitiful people,
a miserable people, a pathetic people, a sinful people. Why were they precious in his
sight? There was nothing desirable about them. You know, we read
in Deuteronomy of this very thing. The Lord speaks to it, doesn't
he? In Deuteronomy, the Lord himself says, you are a holy
people to the Lord. Why? Why are they a holy people? For the Lord your God has chosen
you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all
the peoples on the face of the earth. Now listen, the Lord did
not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any other people. No, no. Or richer or any other
reason. No, no. For you were the least
of all peoples. And that's you and I, isn't it?
The least of all peoples. but because the Lord loves you. And because he would keep the
oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. There was nothing lovely
in the children of Israel to evoke the love of Jehovah God,
nothing. He said His love upon them without
a cause, graciously, no reason, without a cause. And because
He loved them, He brought them out with a mighty hand and redeemed
their lives from the house of bondage in Egypt. And we know,
don't we, that this is typical of the true spiritual Israel. There's nothing lovely in you
and me. You know, The minute we begin to think that, just
start reading the word of God and set your mind straight. There's
nothing lovely in you or I. We're miserable slaves of sin
and truly the least of all peoples. We're poor and we're ignorant
and we're foolish. But God, in his grace, has chosen
ones like you and me to be a people to himself, a special treasure,
wonder of wonders, isn't it? A special treasure above all
the peoples and the face of the earth. In verse four, we read, Since
you were precious in my sight, you have been honored, and I
have loved you. Therefore, I will give men for
you and people for your life." Here is this mighty nation of
Egypt, full of riches, unimaginable riches at that period of time,
full of wealth, full of knowledge and power, and with this great
armies and strength. The Lord says, I gave Egypt for
your ransom and Ethiopian seabed in your place. The Lord is describing
to his people, Israel, that he would give all the world as it
were. All the riches, all the wealth, all the armies, all the
power, the glory of nations as a ransom for his people. But he gave something so much
more precious for you and me, didn't he? He did not give men
for you and people for your life. He gave himself. He gave his
heart. He gave the son of his love. I have redeemed you. The ransom
price was the blood of God. We've been redeemed. with a ransom
more precious than the riches and glory of 10,000 nations and
10,000 worlds. We've been redeemed with the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The father gave his beloved his
only begotten son for your life and for my life. Fear not, I
have redeemed you. What inexpressible peace and
hope comes through the knowledge of the redemption accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed by his
blood. The blood has been spilled. The
ransom price has been paid. This is an irrevocable redemption. Think of that. Never to be taken away. An irrevocable
redemption. You know, the faith and hope
of this world is ephemeral, isn't it? It's like a wisp of mist in the
burning rays of the morning sun. You know, we see it. You know,
here's this mist and the sun comes up and the rays of sun
hit it and it just dissipates. and disappears. That's the faith
and hope that is found in the world. But the faith and hope
of the believer is real and it's substantive. It's built on the
son of the Lord of glory. In this redemption, the Lord's
redemption is a real and a true redemption. And it accomplished
a real and true justification, didn't it? We've been justified
by his blood. And all the law, all the law
is satisfied fully, perfectly, and completely. How well we know
those verses in Romans 5 where we read, therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Through whom also we have access
by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Think of that. What's pictured
here, faith is spoken of here, is this access, the gate in which
we enter into the grace of God. He opens the door and we enter
in. Where do we enter into? Well, we enter into his grace.
We stand in his grace. That's what we're told here.
We stand in his grace, we stand in the citadel of the king, and
we're surrounded on all sides by walls of redemption. Turn for a moment back to Isaiah
26. Isaiah 26. As I said earlier, here's Another set of magnificent verses. Look, read here. In that day,
this song will be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong
city, and yes, we do, don't we? A strong city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. We have a strong city, and listen,
God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. Open the
gates that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter
in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
you because he trusts in you. Look, think of that. Think of that. We stand in his
grace, surrounded by walls of salvation. Look around you. Look
behind you, the forgiveness of sins. Your sins blotted out like
a thick cloud. Look within. There is no condemnation. now to those who are in Jesus
Christ. Look ahead, there it is, the
inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you. How can we not rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God? For so long, for so long, we
didn't know whether our daughter Claire would live or die. She'd
suffered these massive internal injuries that I was speaking
about, undergone marathon surgeries, and infections were raging in
her abdomen. As you know, she'd succumbed
to double pneumonia, and then this acute respiratory distress
syndrome, which is devastating. life-threatening. And she suffered
total respiratory failure. And the only thing keeping her
alive was the respirator. And she was put into this state
of paralysis. And even laying there on the
bed, paralyzed, her heart rate didn't go below 140. Day after day, week after week,
and often was spiking up to 180. her body struggled to survive. At one point, there were nine
drains coming out of her abdomen, drains from near her pancreas,
near her liver, near her lungs, every effort being expended just
to keep her alive. It seemed that her life was just
draining away. But we did know that Claire would
be delivered. Yes, we did. Claire would be
delivered whether it was by life or by death. One of the greatest blessings
for Robin and me during this time was to come to know that
to be with Christ is far better. It's far better. For the Lord's people, to die
is not loss. Yes, it would have been an unimaginable
loss for us. It would have, you know that.
But for her, to die would have been no loss. She's a daughter
of the king. She's a daughter of Jerusalem.
For her to be with Christ would be so much better, wouldn't it?
To die is gain. And that was the day we truly
entrusted our daughter into the arms of the Lord. And there can't
be any better place, can there? She was always there. It's just
we had to be brought to this place to know that. And that was the day we first
prayed, oh Father, if it's your will, Please take our daughter
to be with you. And that was the day we knew
something of perfect peace. The Lord is so good. He's so
gracious. God gave his only begotten son
for her life. How could he not freely with
him give her all things? When we come to a knowledge of
this, we rest in God. We rest in his will for us, whatever
that may be, whether it's joy or whether it's sorrow. We know that whatever God does
is good and right. and that he is full of loving
kindness and tender mercies and that his ways are better than
our ways. We have a true hope, don't we? We have a true hope and we lie
down in his will for us. We rest in his providence and we're at peace. That's the
place where his people find peace, isn't it? And then we say, like
Jeremiah, the Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will
trust in him. What a rich blessing when the
Lord brings you to that place where you know that Christ is
all that matters. He is the portion of our soul. Let's conclude with the words
of our Redeemer in Psalm 16. So turn there to Psalm 16 and
we'll close up. Here in this Psalm, as you know,
this is a Psalm of the Messiah. These are the words of Christ. They're his words, but there
are words too, because he acted in our place and as our substitute. We're in him. This is not some
picture that is given. We're truly in Christ. His people are in Christ. We're
in him through this mystical union of Christ and the church. And when he cried out that cry
of utter aloneness on the cross of Calvary, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? That was the church in him. That was us crying out. These were our words. And these
words here in Psalm 16 are the words of Christ too in the midst
of unimaginable suffering and anguish. A suffering and anguish
for us. And there are words too. There
are words too. Look there in verse one. Oh Lord. Verse five, verse five. Oh Lord, you are the portion
of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lions
have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. Think of that for a minute. Here
is Christ, in the midst of this agony, which the world has never
seen or will ever see again, for eternity, in the midst of
this agony, for us, for his people, for sinners, for his people like
you and I. And does he have remorse? Second
thoughts, is he regretting this? What does he say? Think of this.
How does he look upon us as his inheritance? He says, the lines
have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me. And isn't that where, isn't he
all we need? As we look upon the face of our
Savior and our Redeemer, our Lord, look upon the face of Christ. He's always before us. Because
the Lord continues, because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and
my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope,
for you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow
your Holy One to see corruption. You have shown me the path of
life." And he's shown us, hasn't he? He's shown us the path of
life. And in your presence is fullness
of joy. At your right hand are pleasures
forevermore. Amen.