Larry Brown is doing some better.
He's, as you know, he's in rehab for having that trach tube put in. Thank you. So he's in rehab for that. He
was sitting up this week. He recognized people. We're thankful
for that. He's such a dedicated and fine
fellow. We're thankful that he's doing
well. Remember the others who requested prayer also. Seek the
Lord's help for them. Those who ask for special prayer.
Loretta's doing better. They put a contact in that eye
that was bothering her and she's doing better with that. And Arlene
and Cynthia and Hannah are at the beach. On the way anyway, so I hope
they have a good time. Don't get no sand in their shoes. I'm not a beach person. I prefer
the mountains. Other than that, I can't think
of any announcements I didn't know about. Okay. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 10 in the Sovereign Grace Hymnals. Hymn number 10, I will arise
and go to Jesus. We'll sing all five verses and
then sing the chorus. ? Come ye sinners poor and needy
? ? Sick and wounded, sick and sore ? Jesus, ready stands to
save you ? Full of pity, love, and power ? Come, ye thirsty,
come and welcome Bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance. Every grace that brings us nigh. Come ye weary, heavy laden, Lost
and ruined by the fall, If you tarry till you're better, You
will never Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to fill your need of him. Sons, we are by God's election,
who in Jesus Christ believe thy eternal death. I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms In the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms after scripture reading and prayer
we'll sing hymn number 222 in your hymnals. If you have your
Bibles turn to Isaiah chapter 40 read verses 9 and 10. O Zion that bringeth good tidings, get
thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, which bringeth good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength lifted up. Be not afraid
to say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the
Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule
for him. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him. Let us pray. Our Father, we delight
to read such words that describe the greatness of your person,
of who you are, what you are able to do and what you've done.
We are thankful that this is such an apt description of your
person. of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this world and died
in the womb instead of sinners, secured their salvation, was
made to be their righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and
wisdom. Having accomplished their salvation
and their redemption, he is seated in glory at thy right hand, having
purged our sins. He's been given a name that is
above every name, the only name under heaven whereby we must
be saved. That name that would cause all
humanity and beasts to bend the knee and crown Him with many
crowns, singing unto Him that He is Lord over all to the glory
of the Father. Father, we ask today that you'd
be with us in the presence of your spirit to take those things
of Christ and reveal them unto us and cause us to worship you
in spirit and in truth. We pray for those who are sick,
those who are in recovery, those who are going through trials
and temptations. I know it's to every case. We ask, Lord,
for you to be merciful and kind and uplift and strengthen your
children We know that trials and tribulations are part and
parcel of the child of God's life. We know that all of them
are designed ultimately to bring us to the feet of Him who is
our only help. Help us now. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. Hymn number 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that
blood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying keep rejoicing. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Denying lamp, my precious blood
shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. If since thy faith I saw the
stream, thy flowing waters supply, has been my theme, and shall
be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die. has been my theme, and shall
be till I die. When this o'erlisping stammering
tongue lies silent in the grave, ? I'll sing thy power to save ?
I'll sing thy power to save ? I'll sing thy power to save ? Then
in a noblest weeping I'll sing thy heart to save. Steve Stan. Stan had a birthday
this week. He's well into his fifties now. Let's pray. Our Father, it is
in the name of Jesus Christ, the unspeakable gift that you've
given to your children, and with him freely given us all things.
We know it is you who make us different from another, and everything
we have, we have received. Let us, with thankful hearts,
return her to thee, that which you've given us. What's yours,
as all things, belong to you. Let us do so with joy. In Christ's
name, amen. You. I invite your attention back
to Isaiah the 40th chapter. As I was reading this and thinking
on it all week long, I decided to look at my study we did on
Wednesday nights on the book of Isaiah and I found on chapter
40 we spent about eight weeks. I'll try not to spend that long
this morning. It's one of the richest chapters in all of scripture.
where it declares who God is and what He's done, His power
and His greatness, the beauty of His holiness, the wonder of
His character. There's hardly anything in it
that's not discussed that has to do with sinners saved by grace. It begins with the Lord telling
His people or telling His prophet to speak to His people, people
who are at present time in captivity at Babylon, not happy people,
Struggling people, people under distress. He says, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. Speak to their heart. Tell them
their warfare is done. They're in the midst of captivity. Tell them their warfare is done.
That they've received double for all their sins and that their
iniquity is pardoned. What was their iniquity? We know
from the study of Isaiah and Jeremiah. that the iniquity of
these people was blatant, overt, idolatry. They had set up statues
of Baal and Ashtar in the temple of God. They were burning their
children in the fires of Gehenna or Himmnon. They were sacrificing
their children, and I thought about that. I wondered if they
were trying to, in their own crooked and sinful, depraved
mind, trying to emulate Abraham offing up Isaac. They were putting
their babies in the fiery hands of those furnished gods. And that was just an eye shot
from the temple. You could walk out the temple
door and see. You could see them worshiping
those idols. This was their iniquity. The
Lord said that's pardoned. that's pardon. You receive double
for all your sins. Take that in the light of the
gospel. That means our sins are forgiven and put away. And the
other thing we receive for our sins is we've been made the very
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Then he tells the prophet
to be a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. That picture is John the Baptist
coming for the Lord and preaching repentance and the kingdom of
God coming he said make straight the pathway
or the highway in the desert and he makes a wondrous statement
he says everything that's high and lofty is going to be brought
down everything that's low like a valley is going to be lifted
up and crooked things like us, are going to be made straight.
Going to be made straight. In rough places. Going to be
made plain. And by doing that, and by making
that take place, the glory of the Lord is going to be revealed.
And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. He tells the prophet what his
message is. He says, cry. The prophet says,
what shall I cry? And the Lord says, all flesh
is grass. That's what we are. We're grass. And all the goodness of the flesh
thereof is like a flower of the field. The grass withereth the
flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of God shall stand forever." That phrase is
used over and over again. It's used in reference to the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ when Peter said, We are born
again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed, even
the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. This is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Then he
tells the prophet to speak to Zion. And when you see the word
Zion in the Old Testament, it refers historically to Jerusalem
or to Israel, to Judah. But spiritually it refers to
the church. Oh Zion that bringeth good tidings. That's the gospel.
Verse 9, Get thee up to a high mountain. In other words, get
somewhere where you can be seen and heard. Oh, Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, there's the gospel. Lift up your voice with strength.
Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say unto the
cities of God, Y'all better straighten up and fly right. Better quit
that drinkin', smokin' and chewin' and messin' around folks who
do. You better quit goin' to them movie shows. Say unto Zion, say
unto the people, behold your God. This is it. This is what
we do. This is what you do when you
told folks about Jesus Christ and what he's done for you. You're
sayin', behold God. look at god and then he describes
god in this way behold the lord god will come for who came what
god came we know the lord jesus christ is the very embodiment
of the triune godhead and he came into this world the lord
god shall come with strong hand and his arm shall rule before
him. That's speaking of salvation over in Isaiah 52 verse 10. It says the Lord hath made bare
his holy arm and the eyes of all nations and all the ends
of the earth shall see the salvation of God. When you see him open
up his right hand or his right arm or it speaks of his mighty
arm, it's speaking of the salvation of the elect. and his arm shall
rule for him. So this salvation is according
to his power and his rule and his option and his prerogative
as to who gets it and who is saved. And his reward is with him. What
is his reward? Exceeding great reward is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's my reward. I don't need
nothing else. I don't need crowns. I don't
need a little cabin in the corner of glory. I don't need to walk
the streets of gold. I don't need to see the crystal
sea. Because all those things just
point to one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
His work is before Him. He's coming to do a work. And
if you read John 17, he says, I finished the work. Glorify
me with the glory I had with thee before the world began.
I finished the work of salvation. When Jesus Christ died 2,000
years ago, he didn't make anything possible. He didn't make anything
probable. He didn't secure an idea or a
philosophy. He did not make salvation an
obtainable thing. He saved his people. He redeemed
them by His blood out of every kindred, nation, tongue, and
people, and made them kings and priests unto His God. His work
is before Him. And the very first declaration
of His character is found in verse 11. He shall feed His flock. He's a shepherd, and he's got
a flock. Our Lord said in John 10, I lay
down my life for the sheep, other sheep I have which are not of
this flock, them also I must bring. There shall be one flock
and one shepherd, and that flock is all the elect of God from
every kindred nation, tongue, and people upon the face of the
earth, both Jew and Gentile alike. He shall feed his flock. This is what his shepherds do,
this is what his pastors do. When Simon Peter had been fishing
all night and hadn't caught anything, the Lord said, throw your nets
over yonder. He said, look, I'm a fisherman. I throw my nets
all over this pond. There ain't nothing going on.
He said, throw your nets over there. He said, well, I've done it,
but even at your word, I'll do it. So he threw the nets over
there and pulled in fishes like crazy. The Lord called out to
his men, y'all fellas hungry? Now you think about them. They
had quit the preaching business. Peter said, I'm going fishing.
That doesn't mean he's going to throw a hook in the water.
It means he's going back to what he did before. He quit. All the disciples are not what
they were because the Lord has been crucified. He said to Peter
as he sat down and fed the men, he said, Peter, do you love me?
yes Lord I love you he said feed my sheep a little while later the Lord
looked at Peter again and said Peter do you love me Peter said
yes Lord he said feed my lambs and a little bit later he looked
at Peter and said Peter do you love me Peter said well you know
everything you're the Lord you know I love you he said feed
my sheep This is what we do when we stand and preach the gospel
is what you do when you tell folks about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd and he shall gather
the lambs with his arms. That's pictured in Luke 15 when
he goes out searching for the one lost lamb leaving the 99
behind to find that lamb and carry him upon his shoulders
and bring him back. And the illusion there is to salvation for it
says there's joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner
that repented. Carry them in his bosom and shall
gently lead those that are with young. Mothers and children will
be taken care of, he said. This is how God represents himself
in this tender and kind-hearted way, pitying those who fear him. Then he describes the fact that
this salvation is so sure and so absolute that it cannot be
questioned because of who is going to perform it. Who is going
to do this salvation? Who is going to save his people? What backs up his ability to
do that? Verse 12 says, Who hath measured
the waters in the hollow of his hand? Recently scientists have
discovered that the whole earth is founded
on water. It's what says that in the Bible
in Psalm 24. He founded it upon the floods. But they're finding
that underneath this crust there's massive seas and massive lakes. There are rivers of fresh water
flowing into the ocean from hundreds and hundreds of miles deep in
the crust of the earth. Founded upon the waters. It says
God has measured all of that. in the palm of His hand. The
hollow of His hand. Now we know God doesn't have
any hands. He's Spirit. We know Jesus Christ has hands
and His hands are like our hands. This is a metaphorical language
to say that God is immense and great and that His breadth and
depth and width cannot be measured. That He holds the seas in His
hand, in the hollow of His hand. All the seas. You've been to
the ocean. I've flown across about every
ocean there is, from the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Indian,
and the Atlantic. Up north, down south, I've flown
over a lot of oceans. They're big. Like that old fella
that took that hippie out on the boat. That fella said, the
hippie looked at the ocean and said, man, this is huge. And
the guy said, yeah, but that's just the top of it. There's a
lot more to it down under. Now holler with his hand. How
great is God? How great is God? That's who's
going to do this salvation, you see, the one who's able to garner
the seas in the palm of His hand. Who has meted out the heaven
in a span, again, the metaphorical language of His hand. The universe. The better our telescopes get,
the farther we see, we see we ain't got there yet. You look
and it seems to be endless. Oh, there's an end to it. There's
a circle to it. It's exactly where it's supposed
to be. But our Lord said he put that whole thing. We're in the
cluster of stars that's in a constellation, a small superstructure of stars. Our constellation is like a dot
in the middle of that. You can imagine how big the Milky
Way is. Our dot is not even visible in
the big scheme. And it's one of the smaller superstructures
that have been found up there. There's six more that have been
identified that are 20, 30, 40 times as large with thousands
of more stars and suns and planets in them. We don't know how big
it is. We have no idea. The science
can't measure. So they say words like it's endless.
We don't know where the end of it is. Where is it? in the span
of His hand, from there to there. He's measured the stars, the
heavenly bodies, in the span of His hand. How great! Behold your God! Behold your
God! Who has comprehended the dust
the dust of the earth in a measure. We can't even comprehend the
dust bunnies under our bed. He's comprehended the dust of
the earth. The dust. You ever seen a sunbeam that
stirs up some dust in your house? You can't even count those that
float across that sunbeam. There's so many of them. They
just sparkle all over. The dust of the earth is understood and
comprehended by God. This is the God who, like a shepherd,
shall carry his lambs in his bosom. He's weighed the mountains
in scales. We live in the mountains. They're
big. I can't tell you how many times Debbie and I are driving
around, coming back from Silver or Asheville or somewhere, and
we'll see the mountains. And I've said, man, we live in
a beautiful place. What a glorious place we live
in. So beautiful. So wonderful. These mountains
are something. This range goes all the way up
to Maine. It's a big mountain range. He said he's measured
the mountains on some scale. The weight of them. The greatness
of them. He's put the hills in a balance.
Who has directed the spirit of the Lord? I know these modern
day charismatic preachers think they do. They think if they do
certain ways or do certain things, they can call down the Spirit
and make things happen by the Spirit. Who's directed the Spirit
of God? The Spirit of God is God. The
Sovereign, Almighty God, that's who the Spirit of God is. Who
has directed the Spirit? Only Himself. He's the one who
directs Himself. Who has taught the Lord anything?
Those who believe that God's election involves Him looking
down through time to see a person, whether or not a person will
believe or choose Him and then elects them, they believe that
person has counseled God. They believe that person taught
God something. They believe God's learned something He didn't know. Because He didn't know that person
was going to be saved until He looked down there and saw in
the future that he was, and then He elected him. That is not only
foolish, it's utterly stupid, but that's what people think. That's what people think. Who's
counseled God? Remember Micaiah the prophet?
Old Ahaz hated him and put him in jail, smacked him. He had
400 of his well-paid prophets and they told him everything
he wanted to hear. And he was going to decide he wanted to
go take Rameth Gilead and saddle up his horse and get in his chariot
and get on the army and get on his gear and go whooping Rameth
Gilead. And old Jehoshaphat, the king
of Judah, came by and said, well, you know, I know all these 400
prophets are saying you ought to go. They were saying, go,
king, go. You'll wipe them out. The victory's yours. Joseph said,
is there another prophet around here other than these 400? He
said, well, there's one, but I hate him because he never says
anything good about me. He said, well, let's just ask
him. And so they brought Micaiah in, and Micaiah made a joke of
it all. Talking about sarcasm 101. King said, shall I possess Raymond
Gilead? He said, no problem. Go ahead. I was listening up
in heaven, and there was a council going on, and people were talking,
and angels were talking, and they were saying, well, I think
we ought to do this. I think we ought to do that.
He said, here's what I heard. I heard if you go up to Raymond Gilead,
you're going to die in the battlefield, and the dogs going to lick your
blood. So go possess Raymond Gilead. Have at it, King. And
the king slapped his face and put him back in jail. And he went out on his chariot,
and he dressed Jehoshaphat in the king's gear, with the crown
and all the king's stuff, so the army would think Jehoshaphat
was the king, was they had. And they had on soldier's clothes
in his chariot. And it says, a soldier drew a
boat of In other words, they were just locking and loosening
their bows, is what they was doing. That's what they was doing,
like archers do. When there's a whole battlefield
out there, they'll put an arrow in and shoot. He drew a bow at a venture. Oh,
but that dart, that arrow, was a guided missile. And it went
through the air across all those soldiers, past all of them, and
went right into the breastplate. the way you feel they said the
king's been here to come back later says the dogs can make
the blood his chair that's nobody takes counsel he does as he pleases in heaven
and earth and all the deep places and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Who's taught him knowledge? He's
omniscient. He knows all things. Who has showed him the way of
understanding? He understands all things. He's
the author of understanding. And then he says, behold, the
nations are a drop of the bucket. I wonder what they thought about
this when they were thinking, this Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar
built the Shazam. They have us in captivity. We
can't do nothing. We're a captive nation. Our Lord
said the nations are a drop of the bucket. Well, this drop of the bucket's
got us in trouble. It's just a drop of the bucket to God.
Remember, He measured the sea. He weighs the mountains and the
hills. He's comprehended to dust the earth. No one has ever given
him counsel. He understands and knows all
things. This is the God, the one who is coming, coming, and
His work before Him is to be a shepherd for His sheep. The nations are a drop of the
bucket, not a drop in the bucket, a drop OF the bucket. A drop
in the bucket you can drink, you pay attention to, you're
going to drink that because it's in the bucket. the drop of the
bucket is when you pull the bucket out of the well and a drop drops
back into the well. That don't mean anything. It
means nothing. What are you saying? The nations
are nothing. Now I love this nation and I'm
troubled about what's going on. I'll be honest. I struggle with
it. I struggle because I say I believe
God's sovereignty but sometimes I wonder how much I do. This nation Today we mark the
memorial of those who died in the defense of this nation. It's
called Memorial Day. I had friends who died in Vietnam.
I had kinfolk who died in World War II. I had kinfolk who served
in Korea. I served during the Vietnam era.
I had buddies who died there. Henry Mahan Sudd died there. I had friends who died in battle
for this nation and I was proud to stand and raise my right hand
and say I would defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and
domestic so help me God I was proud to do that and I'm telling you this nation is a drop in the bucket. We're
new in history. We're new in history. Sands in
the balance. A small dust on the balance.
What does that mean? If it's just a little bit of
dust on a scale, you don't wipe it off, you don't bother wiping
it off, because it don't mean nothing. It's not going to affect the
end of anything. Very little thing Behold, he
taketh up the alms." It's a very little thing. He said, Lebanon, which is famous
for its cedar trees, which they used to make gods out of, and
they also used to burn the fire because it had a lot of good
sap in it. Lebanon's not fit to be burned. Lebanon, which
was famous for its trees, not fit to be burned. Nor the beasts
there sufficient for a burn offering. All those beasts, not sufficient.
all the nations before him are as nothing he's saying this to
his people to Zion to his people because they're the ones who
are in this world but not of this world they're the ones who
are going through trial and tribulation one after another throughout
their existence in this world this is their lot in life and
he's saying this Don't worry. This is nothing to me. Nothing
to me. They have counted Him as less
than nothing in vanity. All the nations. To whom will you liken God? To whom will you liken God? For
what likeness will you compare to Him? I'm sure this has some
reference to the idols that they were building and worshiping
at that time. But the fact is there's none
like God because there's just God. There is none else, none
like Him. What likeness will you compare
to Him? I remember people have done it. I remember back in the
70s they had God is like a cold Coca-Cola. Things go better with
Him. I actually saw one of those red
Coca-Cola signs that had that on it. Who's like God? Nobody. I'm not like Him. You're not like Him. His thoughts
are higher than our thoughts. His way is higher than our ways.
As high as the heavens is above the earth, so high are His thoughts
above our thoughts and His ways above our ways. We don't know
what God's thinking. We can't know what God's thinking.
We can't think like God. who shall be like him, this God,
that there's none like, not like the stone gods who cannot say, none like this God. He said,
the workman melteth the graven image of verse 19, the goldsmith
spreadeth it over in gold and casteth silver chains. And he's
so impoverished, So impoverished that he has no oblation to choose,
he chooses a tree. He don't have an offering, so
he chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeketh him a cutting
workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. He said,
haven't you known? Have you not heard? Have they
not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundation of the earth? God can't be made. Can't be invented. You can't make him and put him
on a stump. You can't make him and put him on a table. You can't
put him in an alcove. You can't put him in some altar
in your house. You can't do that. Because God's not like that.
Where is he? We have this earth, this blue
globe that we live on. And he says he sits on it. He
sits on the circle of the earth. That's going to give the flat
earth society some trouble there. sat upon the circle of the earth,
the circumference of the earth. And the inhabitants thereof are
like grasshoppers. There's a lot of them. I saw,
yesterday we saw a thing that said that the seven billion people
upon the face of the earth could actually all be fitted into a
16 square mile area. I said, no, that's what it said.
Put them shoulder to shoulder, back to back, 16 square mile.
Think about that. They're just grasshoppers. Grasshoppers. Stretches out the
heavens as a curtain. Like a curtain, like drapes.
Reminds me of our curtains, because our cat has scratched so many
holes in it, when the sun comes through it, it looks like a constellation.
In fact, I think I picked out Aries and Scorpio. stretches out the heavens like
a curtain. We look up there and it's like God hanging a drape
for us to look at. Spreading them out as a tent
to dwell in. It's above us, all around us. They bring up the
princes to nothing. Princes last for a while, they're
great, they're powerful. And then they're brought to nothing.
How? They're brought down to the grave.
Grave is the great equalizer. Kings and paupers lie side by
side. Rich men and poor men, there's no difference then. Smart
and stupid, there's no difference then. They're all the same. They're
all taking a dirt nap. They're all a carnival for worms. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. Those who think they have wisdom and power and earthly
wisdom and run things. He said they're empty. They're
empty. They shall not be planted. Now
he's planted his people. He said, I planted my people
with my whole heart in Jeremiah. I planted them and they'll not
be moved. He's planted his people in this earth. He says, they
shall not be planted, they shall not be sown, neither shall their
stalks take root in the earth, and he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stone. You've been watching the news lately, you've been
seeing a lot of whirlwinds. Debbie's a ersatz meteorologist. She loves
tornadoes, she loves weather. So I get weather reports a lot
from Debbie, and they're good, they're always good. She even
shows me pictures. You see what these whirlwinds
do? He said everything you look at
and see around you, the powerful, the strong, the princes, the
judges, everything, he said it's all going to be taken away like
a whirlwind. Do not put stock or grasp this world too tightly. you say don't make God break
your fingers to let it go. Because it's passing away. I
look out on this congregation. I look at myself in the mirror
daily when I comb my hair. And I think, it ain't long, buddy. You're gone, Jesse. Might as
well get things in order now. It ain't gonna be long. 77 years
old soon be 78. This world passes away. This world passes away. Young
people, younger people, think on eternal things. Don't set your mind on this earth
like a whirlwind. To whom will you liken me, God
said? or shall I be an equal? There's none equal with God,
save for God. The Lord Jesus Christ thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and was found as a man in the fashion a man endured at the
cross. But he was equal with God because he is God. Lift your eyes on him. This is
the instruction. Lift up your voice. Stand on
a high mountain. Say it loud enough for folks
to hear. Behold your God. This is the God who's the shepherd
of His sheep. This is the God who controls
rules and reigns and all things, everything, even to the dust
of the earth, to the stars of the sky, to the waves of the
oceans. He rules. Lift up your eyes on
high and behold who hath created all things that bringeth out their host
by number. He asked Abraham, Can you number
the stars? Abraham said, No. God had given
them names. He called them all by names. by the greatness of his might.
Every star has a name. I don't know what they are, but
God does. He's named them all. He's strong in power. Scripture
says power belongs to God. It doesn't belong to us. It belongs
to God. He said not one thing that he
has done failed. So there's a lot of failures
on the earth. That's what he's done. He's caused the failures
on earth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel? My way is hid from the Lord,
and my judgment is passed over my God. Why do you say it? Because
you're in captivity. God's not here. God's not helping
us. God's not helping us. It must
not be you. Why doesn't He see what's going
on? Oh, He does. He's caused what's going on.
He's caused what's going on. Why is Israel in captivity? Because
God said they would be. Why were they in captivity in
Egypt? Long before. Jacob was born and his twelve
sons turned into twelve tribes. The Lord said to Abraham, way
back in Genesis 15, after he had revealed the seed to him,
He said, I'm going to make you a great nation. you're going
into captivity 430 years you'll be treated like slaves in Harvard
and I'm going to deliver you by my powerful hand and he did
exactly that centuries before they went in he said they're
going to be there 430 years that's where they were and he worked
out all the means to make it happen and then delivered him
by his mighty hand hast thou not known that the
everlasting God the Lord there's the mention of Jehovah, the savior,
the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither
is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. Listen, you can't wear God out. I've heard people
say, well, I just feel like, you know, I pray so much just
to wear God out. You can't wear God out. He never
gets weary. He never gets weary. He never
sleeps. He never sleeps nor slumbers, says the Scripture. There is no searching of his
understanding. Canst thou by searching find out God? Think
it was T.T. Shields, the great evangelist
in Canada, said, Which sooner empty the ocean, the Atlantic
ocean, with a teaspoon, than find out God? Beyond searching. And yet that's
what we do, we open his book, we do search and search and search
and search. As thou not known. What does
he do? He does just the opposite of
what people think. He doesn't save good people, he saves bad
people. He doesn't cause them to be righteous,
he makes them righteous. Makes them righteousness. He
does all these things. He does all these things. What
does he do? Oh, there's that weak and puny
nobody. God says, I'll give him power.
He gives power to the faint. Power to the faint, the weak.
Can't do nothing. I wasn't putting my confidence
in him at all. I'll give him power. I'm giving
him power. And to them that have no might,
he increases strength. Yes, the opposite. We look to
strong people, confident people, great people. God says, I'll look to him as
a broken heart and contrite spirit and tremble at my word. Even the youth shall faint and
not be weary. The young men shall utterly fail.
And here's the key. but they that wait on the Lord, waiting on Jehovah. I know we
encourage each other to do that, don't we? When the troubles come,
we say, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. You know what? We
really don't need to say that, because we're going to do that.
Like it or not, we're going to wait on the Lord because He works
in His own time. He does things according to His
own pleasure. So just wait. When you wait on the Lord, those
that wait on the Lord, they will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings. Wings as eagles. I don't feel
like an eagle. Well, you don't, but if you're
a child of God, you see like an eagle. He can go see things totally
different than we do. We're horizontal lookers. We
look out at the forest and we see big trees. The eagle don't
see big trees. He sees the top of little green
things. Mike flies his airplane and gets up in the sky. He don't
see like we see. I'm down here looking at a highway.
There's a highway spread. I've got to cross and get the
mail. He looks at the highway and it looks like a ribbon. People look like Pismire's little
ants walking around. How are you mounted on eagles'
wings? You've got a whole new perspective.
You see things from God's view. You see things as a finished
thing, as a done thing. You see the world as it is. a
thing moved, manipulated, and ruled by God. You're like an
eagle flying way up yonder. You see the beginning and the
end. The beginning and the end. Wait
on the Lord. He'll renew your strength. You'll
mount up like eagles' wings. when you see things differently,
see things from a whole new perspective. They shall run. They shall run
and not be weary. They'll run in the things of
the Lord. I'm amazed sometimes during the
week I don't have enough energy to get off the couch to see this.
I don't even have a couch, it's my lounge chair. But you know when I have energy, I'm amazed. I'll tell you what
I'll do this afternoon. I'll use so much energy up here
that I'll pass out when I go over and sit down. I mean pass,
slap out. Have one of them hard naps where
you wake up and you think you got around to catch a school
bus. And it's Sunday and you're 77 years old. Something's wrong. Hard naps. You run. but in the things of God you'll
not be weary. I know this is so, I've seen it so many times.
I've seen 80, 90 year old people sit and hear the gospel and be
like children. Joy in their hearts and souls,
laughing with energy and strength. You couldn't be moved if you
wait on the Lord. May she walk this will be their
life. They will not pass out. They
will not faint. Why? Because of the Lord. He is who He is. He is able to
save to the uttermost. Didn't it come to God in Christ
by Him? Behold your God. This God this very same God died
in the room instead of his people. Now, his life, the altar of life,
his life, he cannot die. And yet, how could he die? Not as God, because he's everlasting,
he's eternal. How can he die? He has to become
a man. So he came down here and became
a man. So he could die. He made the Lord a low man for
the suffering of death. That's why He came. If I was God to become a man,
there's no other reason than to die. No other reason makes
sense at all. What are we going to do now?
Let's take the Lord's table. When we take the Lord's table,
we'll rehearse that fact. Jesus Christ came to this world
to guide the women, to save His people, and He actually died
to actually accomplish the salvation of His people, to actually redeem
all for whom He died. And what we're saying when we
take this table is, we're rehearsing the fact that He died. God, who came in the name of God Christ,
that sweet and glorious truth. that we could celebrate as an
ordinance of God. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, trusting wholly in his merit for our salvation. Those who trust nothing else
but him, who believe on him and trust in him, are welcome to
take this table. This is a table of sinners who
repent. This is a table of people who understand. 2,000 years ago,
in Galilee Street, I wrote Jesus Christ. Actually, whom did we
meet this week in Galilee Street? He died. He got it. And in that day, all the sin
did of his people came to an end. So much so that he
speaks of the blessed mountain. Not the sinners' fault. The whole world is at the fault. They would have never bowed,
wouldn't go to sleep, and they couldn't do it. And so the prince, he
agrees to it. You take this thing and you can
discern it, understand it, appreciate it, have an interest in it. That
is Jesus Christ's life in your spirit. Take this thing and say
what the rest of your God is. All in heaven, rest in the name
of Jesus Christ, amen. She might be pleased to grant
us the privilege to preach our minds and hearts upon him who
died in the name of Jesus. And be thankful that in this
simple ceremony, a few will be able to take this unleavened
bread and eat it. As an example, for what
Christ did when he gave his body to be built for the world. And
we can take this wine, this cup, and drink it, which is representative
of the new covenant that we've built. And we take this bread
and drink this wine, and we shall go to the birth of a new day. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. And if you do, you will rehearse
that day. Do it this way yourself. No push
and crush. Thank you very much. He said, thank you. This is my
body, Lord, I give it to you. All those who do this, give it
to me. He said, now you keep the cup. I requested it. He said, this cup is the new
testament of your coming, and I love it. As I always use this
phrase and think this line, I'm going to be sure to quote from
my book. And I'm going to do this in a different way. He
says that I could say it again instead of
this. God can wash away Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other drought I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus.