If you have your Bibles, please
turn with me to the 14th chapter of Isaiah. I'm going to read
verses 1 through 3. The title of my message tonight
is Mercy on Jacob. Mercy on Jacob. For the Lord will have mercy
on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their
own land, and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they
shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take
them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel
shall possess them in the land of the Lord. For servants and
handmaids, they shall take them captives, whose captives they
were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall
come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage
wherein thou wast made to serve. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless
you and thank you for the great grace, for great sinners, for
the mercy and mercies we see every day. We know what we are,
Father, and we thank you for your grace. Father, as we look at this passage
tonight, help us to rejoice in the things that are set before
us. Rejoice in that blessed salvation, finished and full and free and
forever. Rejoice in the person and work
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to worship
you in spirit and in truth. For those of our company, this
congregation, Friends outside this congregation who are sick
and going through troubles and trials, we pray for them, Father. We pray that your mercy and grace
will warm and comfort their hearts and give them solace. We know
that this world passes away and we with it. And if we live long
enough, troubles and trials and sicknesses and weariness will
come our way. Father, we know that we have
only one place to turn to find true help, and that's in the
arms of our Savior. We thank You that He has said,
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, and you shall
find rest unto your soul. My burden is easy, and my burden
is light. Father, we thank You that you
have made us by your grace your children and we belong to the
family of God. We can say with our brother John,
behold what manner of love is this that we should be called
the sons of God. Help us tonight to see clearly
the glory of your grace and your mercy. It's in Christ's name
we pray. Amen. Now, the 14th chapter of Isaiah
in verse 1 begins with an explanatory statement. The first phrase explains
the ruin of Babylon, which is so obviously declared in chapter
13, and also that the reason for the captivity of Israel for
that time, the enslavement of Israel, was because the Lord
would have mercy on them. You'd think, well, that seems
odd, Don't think that you can think like God does. God has
his own thoughts. From the beginning, when Israel
was formed, children of Abraham and the sons and daughters, sons
of Jacob, forming those 12 tribes, the promises made to Abraham
that his seed would be great, but it would go in captivity
in Egypt for 430 years and be delivered by the power of God.
And we know that the warnings to Israel brought them into The
Lord told them he was going to bring them in captivity of Babylon.
He would use the Medes and the Persians, the Babylonians, to
captivate them and enslave them, and then would bring them out,
and then would bring them out. The enslavement of Israel was
because the Lord would have mercy on them. That was the design.
The cruelty of their captivity was to reveal their depravity
and utter need of a Savior and to bring them to a place where
they once again feel the need of mercy. All that happened was
in reality from start to finish Jehovah the Lord showing mercy
to his people. That's what the word for means
when we begin this chapter. Remember what we looked at last
time in chapter 13. The word for means because and
relates to the terror vented against Babylon in the previous
chapter. that nation that God had actually
employed to chastise his people and all the incidents of that
time and of that terror was because God will show mercy on Jacob. We saw last week that the darkness
and terror that the Lord talked about was visible, obvious. It
had to be compared to the terror that was hidden in darkness when
our Lord Jesus Christ was made to be sin for us. And as hard
as the things were set forth in this 13th chapter, we must
realize that being visible, it was palatable and understandable
and even acceptable and tolerable to human beings. But when God
dealt with Jesus Christ for your sins, so great and so terrible
and so horrible was that wrath poured out that nobody was privileged
to see it. say for God Himself and the Lord
Jesus Christ. All these incidents happen to
show mercy to Jacob in this passage of Scripture. Our Lord says He will show mercy
to Jacob. He will. And note that He spake
of His people as Jacob. That's how He referred to them,
Jacob, and then called them collectively Israel, but he said, Jacob, I
will have mercy on Jacob. By the time this was spoken,
Jacob was long hence in the presence of the Lord. But Jacob is symbolic,
is symbolic and tells us some very important things about where
the mercy of God is going to be. The Lord said, Jacob have
I loved. So the first thing that tells
us that everything that occurred to Jacob and it's talking about
the captivity and the terror and the horror of enslavement
and captivity, was born of the love of God. Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated. Secondly, it reminds us that
mercy is for a particular kind of person. Mercy is for sinners
and for no one else. Jacob is the epitome of what
humanity ought not to be. All we have to do is read of
his life And we know that he would not be an example for society
to look up to. He would not be what men and
women would call a role model under any circumstances. He was
a heel catcher. He was, from the beginning, proved
his unworthiness throughout his life for anything. And yet God
chose him above the firstborn Esau. Why? Because he loved him. I love thee with an everlasting
love. therefore with loving kindness
I have drawn thee." It was Jacob whom God chose to be a recipient
of mercy and he is the representative of all those that God has elected
unto salvation. Thirdly, there never would be
an instant that Jacob would not have the mercy of the Lord. He
was always merciful to him. Even in the throes of despondency,
even while suffering the cruelty of captivity, the glory of God
was tied up in the delivery and salvation of Jacob. God's love was tied up there.
In this text he declares that he will show mercy to Jacob. He will show mercy to Jacob. Now that means something because
God has used that language before in declaring who he is and declaring
what his glory is. He's used the exact same language.
He says, I will show mercy unto Jacob. If you go back with me
to a very familiar portion of scripture in Exodus chapter 33,
when Moses has asked the Lord to show him his glory. To show
him his glory. And as you know, Moses had seen
some things like none of us have ever seen. Seen a cloud follow
a people by day and guide a people. He's seen a fiery pillar block
the course of an army. He's seen the fiery pillar guide
the people by night. He's seen a huge army drown in
the Red Sea. He's seen the people walk across
an under-divided sea on dry land. He's seen the ten plagues. He's
seen that night when the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
came through Egypt and killed every firstborn in the house
of Egypt, either the actual son or the substitute, the Lamb's blood
on the doorpost and the lentils. He's seen some mighty things.
Moses, God spoke to him face to face. Moses was there on the
mount when it terribly shook and God wrote with his finger
the Ten Commandments on the tables of stone. Moses has seen God
open up the earth and swallow some 3,000 members of Israel's
tribe when they raised up a golden calf. He's seen some things. You say, well, boy, that's glorious.
That's not God's glory. God's glory is tied up in one
thing. One thing. And he says that in Exodus chapter
33. Verse 18, Moses said, I beseech
you, I beg you Lord, show me thy glory. And he said, I will
make all my goodness pass before you. That's the first point.
God said this is my glory. Everything I do is good. And you're going to see that.
Everything I do is good. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before you. That is the proclamation of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Capital L-O-R-D all the way across. That's Jehovah Savior. I will
proclaim the name of the Lord. The first gospel preacher was
God Almighty as he spoke of his Son beginning in the garden.
I will be gracious. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. This is my glory now. This is my glory. And I will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Mercy and grace are God's
prerogative. He shows them on whom He will.
But He shows them. He said, I'm going to be gracious.
We can be thankful for that. I'm going to be merciful. But
He's going to do it to whomever He will. But this is the thing.
He will. God said, this is my glory. Somebody is going to receive
mercy. Somebody is going to have grace
stowed upon them. Somebody. All my elect are. So
when he said he will have mercy on Jacob, Jacob is going to have
mercy. Because God's glory is tied up
in there. It is his glory and he will not
share it. He will yet choose Israel, he said. Every day and
every night he will yet choose Israel. That's the glory of the
Lord. That's the glory of the Lord.
The sure and complete salvation of the elect will come to pass.
We can be rest assured of that. Or God would forfeit His glory.
God would forfeit His glory. One man asked an old preacher
one time, what if you get to heaven and God doesn't accept
you after you've believed on Him all these years? What if
you find out you're not really saved? The old preacher said,
well, God would lose more than I would. I'd lose my soul, but
He'd lose His glory. He'd lose His glory. If one for
whom Jesus Christ died ends up separated from God. What he said
in Exodus 33 is not true. My glory is tied up in this. Mercy and grace are addressed
in Scripture. They never have been nor will they ever be presented
in terms of anything other than a sure thing. A sure thing. We do not preach a gospel in
a vain hope that someone might hear. We know someone will hear.
Someone will hear the Lord will show mercy to Jacob and Jacob
will be informed of that mercy That mercy has been shown and
grace has been bestowed by the gospel of his salvation. That's
how you find out about We don't feel mercy. We don't feel grace
We believe mercy and we believe grace because God has said that
he will save his people from their sins The Lord has given
him faith giving them faith to believe it In verse 2 it says
the Lord will set them in their own land. Or in verse 1 it says
the Lord will set them in their own land. This will be brought
about fully and completely realized under the new covenant when they
will all be brought to Zion to the assembly of the saints. We
have not come to mount the mount that burns with fire as Paul
wrote in Hebrews chapter 12. the children of God have come
from someplace else in Hebrews chapter 12 beginning with verse
22 it says but ye are come to Mount Zion and unto the city
of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable
company of angels we don't think about angels much a lot of people
think about them they think when people die they become angels
they don't they become Saints who have passed from this place
to the next or lost men who passed from this place to their next
God that says his angels he is assigned to all his people If
he would open our eyes and we could actually see how surrounded
and how safe we really are we'd be overwhelmed You remember the
story of Elijah and his servant Elijah's servant said all that
old that whole armies out there We're done for Elijah says, more
of us than there are of them. There's just two of them in that
tent. More of us than there are of them. He said, I don't know
what you're talking about. He said, the Lord opened his
eyes. And when he did, he saw that they were completely surrounded
by the angels of God. Angels are watching over us all
the time. And it says here, we are come to that company of angels. We've come to the general assembly
of the church of the firstborn, which is Jesus Christ. the names
that are written in heaven in the book of life and to God the
judge of all who would always do right and to the spirits of
just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the New
Testament and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel. That's where we've come. That's
Zion. That's the holy city of our God. It's the one who God
says in this very same book, for Zion's sake I will not be
silent. I will not be silent. For Zion's
sake he will move when moving is necessary. Where will they
reside? They will reside in Emmanuel's
land, the promised land, the land of promise for the child
of God. They will be brought to the church
of the living God, the habitation of God in the earth, as he says
in Hebrews. And it says also, they shall
dwell safely and at peace and none shall make them afraid.
And strangers will be joined with them. That's what it says.
Strangers will be joined with them. Strangers will be family. They will be brethren and they
will be beloved. What are strangers? Well, the
people we don't know, they're strangers. People who speak a
different tongue than ours, they're strangers. People of a different
kindred tongue and nation and tribe, they're strangers. That's
going to be joined to the people of God. For our Lord came into
this world to save some out of every kindred, nation, tribe,
tongue, and people. And though they be strangers
to us now, we'll find them to be brothers and sisters and most
beloved when we finally meet them. I've met some of them in
different places who didn't speak the same language I spake or
spoke in such a heavy accent that I couldn't understand them.
But I'll count them brothers and sisters and rejoice in their
company. You see, the Church of God, the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is a wonder of diversity. It's a wonder of diversity. Where though every possible societal,
economic, cultural, and racial ethnos exists, they reside in
the harmony brought about by grace. All have their sinnerhood
and their salvation in common. They're all the same no matter
where they're from or what tribe they are or what nation they
are. And they all reside in a common
affection set on things above and not on things of the earth.
We look at the world, it's crazy and it's chaotic. Seems to be
in utter ruin. Believers, however, have a safe
haven where everyone is the same. Well, everyone is the same. One
of the delights is coming when we come together to hear the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all here for the same reason.
We all have the same Father. We share the same understanding. The things that are common to
one are common to all. Oh, we may differ in intellect.
We may differ in education. We may differ in race. But that
doesn't matter. For here we have a singular thing.
One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One mind. One heart. One soul. We can sing
and hear the good news and rejoice that our sins are forgiven. We
are unconditionally accepted, warts and all. We are God's people. I'm going to bring them to their
land, he said. I'm going to bring strangers
with them. In the church of the living God,
diversity melds into singularity. There, nothing is required but
to be thankful. and to praise God for what He's
done for you, to love and to repose and to finish salvation
wrought for them. It says here they cleave to the
house of Jacob. They cleave to it. It means something
to them. I remember back in years ago
in religion, I hated to go to church, but I felt if I didn't,
God was going to kill me. I really felt that. Somehow I
was going to end up having some real bad trouble if I didn't
go to church. I was taught that pretty much.
from the time I was just a child. And I'll tell you this, my happiest
times here on earth, and they become more happy as I get older,
the sweetest times here on this earth are when I can be with
my brothers and sisters in Christ and rejoice in the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we have that. We have
that. And that's important. Verse 2
says this, and the people shall take them. That is, God's people
shall take them and bring them to their place. And the house
of Israel shall possess them, that is those that held them
captive in the land of the Lord. And they shall possess them for
servants and handmaids. And they shall take them captive,
whose captives they were. And they shall rule over their
oppressors. Now those who enslaved them here
are said to become their captives and their servants. Now this
was and is a common practice in the East even to this day.
But we know that the church has no such custom. The church has
no such custom. So how is it this principle to
be applied to the world today, as the church is in the world?
Do believers take their enemies hostage and enslave them? No.
Believers never have, and that's important to understand. There's
a lot of things going on in the name of Christianity, just as
there's a lot of things going on in the name of Islam today.
A lot of things have gone on in the name of Christianity that
had nothing to do with Christianity. Nothing whatsoever. It is common
for a body of government to undergird its policy with the name of God
in order to gain the favor of the people or to feel that God
is on their side. It's common. Everybody does that. You know that in the political
climate that's going on right now, come election time in two
months, you're going to hear the name of God more than you
ever heard it before. And then after the election,
you won't hear it much anymore until the next election in 2016,
and it'll be all over the place. And much of what is done in the
name of Christianity has nothing to do with Christianity. When
it was Constantine that carried that flag with the cross on it,
said didn't this sign we conquer? They said that was a great Christian
thing. It turned the world to Christianity. No it doesn't.
It turned the world to governmental religion. That's what it did
in the name of Christ. And they went in and took those
people who were Muslims and stuck a sword at their throats and
said you become a Christian or I'll kill you. And so they became
a Christian, just like they're doing right now over in the Middle
East with ISIS and all, they're putting a sword at the throat
of those who named the name of Christ and say you become a Muslim
or I'll kill you. Now those things aren't, either
one of those things, both of those things are just religion
using or government using a religion. The Church, the true Church of
God has never, never done that and never will. It never will. Believers don't take their enemies
hostage and enslave them. They pray for them and tell them
the truth and pray God will save them. They love their enemies. They don't hate them. The only
persons they hate are those who stand and name the name of Christ
but destroy and despise the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. David
said, I hate them that hate thee and I hate them with a perfect
hatred. a perfect hatred. If people hate you, it's better
than you deserve. I'm telling you, it's better
than you deserve. But if they hate your God, that's
a different story. That's a different story. Though
such things have been done in the name of Christ in the past,
such things deny the gospel and mock the principle and the fact
that the gospel, when it's embedded in the heart of the believer,
that believer desires freedom for all who hear him. He desires
to set men free. He does not make them servants
and handmaids. He does not make them servants
and handmaids. He desires to set them free. Christianity in
truth is in no case about possession of this world at the cost of
another or possession of this world altogether. It's already
ours. God says it's yours and you are
Christ and Christ is God. So we're not looking, but we're
not interested in borders and claims and putting up no trespassing
signs. This world and its boundaries
is not the home of the believer. He is not interested in lands
or wealth or things that will soon pass away because he sees
them. Fade, fade, each earthly joy,
Jesus is mine. All that my soul is trying leaves
but a dismal void. Jesus alone satisfied. What is our eternal abode? We
have an eternal abode. We just read it. We've come to
the New Jerusalem, to Zion, to the city of the Living God. The
city who Abraham looked for and we do too, to some degree. The
city whose builder and maker is God. And that's our eternal
abode. And while on here on earth, And he has no interest in taking
men captive, but rather he has interest in that which sets men
free. I would love, you know, to set
men free, turn people loose. I'd like to be like the Lord
said about Lazarus. when he called him out of the
grave in his grave clothes and there he was still wrapped in
his grave clothes floating out right in front of everybody.
He said, turn him loose, cut him loose, cut him loose. That's what the gospel teaches.
The gospel teaches about freedom, about freedom. In this very book
in Isaiah chapter 58, if you want to turn over there, we find
these words. And they are spoken in opposition
to religion, religion that would bind, religion that would control,
religion that would put men in change and in bondage. Our Lord
says, that's not a fast or a sacrifice that I have ordered, I've ordered
another kind. The fast that I've ordered is
completely different. In Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 6, or 58,
excuse me, verse 6 says, verse 5 says, excuse me, verse 6, is
not this the fast that I have chosen, God said? to loose the
bands of wickedness. This is the way I do it. To undo
the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and to
break every yoke. That's what the gospel does.
That's what the gospel does. Is it not to deal thy bread to
the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out into
thy house When thou seest the naked, thou covereth him, and
thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then shall thy light
break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth
speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the
glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call,
and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall
say, Here I am. If thou take away the midst of thee, the yoke,
the putting forth of the finger, and the speaking vanity, If thou
draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then shall thy light arise in obscurity, and thy darkness shall
be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee
continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat
thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered
garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places,
and they shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and they
shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of
the paths to dwell in. That's what the gospel does.
However, we have this passage here that says we're going to
take men's servants and handmaids to be servants. We'll take captive
those that held us captive. that held us captive. And in
what sense is that true? Is there a sense in which the
words of verse 2 apply to the church, the house of Jacob? The
fact that the church is in the world to begin with and that
the world is still functioning is evidence that the church is
the security of the world's existence. That's just a fact. Why isn't
this world imploded on itself? People about everybody you talk
to think it's going to. And they have a reason. Everybody
has a reason. I've never seen so many people bucked up over so many things.
I mean, their hair is raised up and they're mad about this,
and they say everything is the end of the world. Everything
is. One group says it's climate change, that's going to end the
world. Another says it's fracking, that's going to end the world.
The liberals say it's the republicans, and the republicans say it's
the liberals, that's going to end the world. Everything is going
to end the world. This world will stay just exactly
as it is. It will still spin on its orbit,
on its axis. It will still go around the sun
in one year until the last of God's elect is brought into the
fold. The last one. God has put this
world and all flesh therein in the hands of the mediator. He
has given Christ authority over all flesh. that he might give
eternal life to as many as God has given him. This is eternal
life that they might know God, even Jesus Christ, whom he has
sent. So this world is safe. In fact, everyone in it is immortal
until God is done with them. This world is immortal until
God is done with it. And it is the presence of the
church in this world that holds this world together. And when
the last of the elect are brought to Christ, when the last captive
is freed, the world will be destroyed. So in one sense, the world is
the servant and the handmaid of the church. That being said,
the world serves the church even though it may not have any idea
that it does. And we know that's a fact. We
know that's a fact. It's hard to understand. But
we don't view providence as the big picture. We view our life
in circumstance. What happened today? What happened
ten minutes ago? That's how that affects our life and that's how
we see it because we're creatures of time. But this matter of providence
is very big. The machinations of God's providence
are huge and wondrous and complex and all the details are fine
and almost infinite in detail so we can't even begin to understand
it. But we know this. And the church can say this gladly,
as we look out at the world and all the things that are taking
place, we know all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. Everything
works that way. Why? Because the church is in
this world. So the church is, or the world is the servant and
the handmaid of the church. And those who oppose the church
are in their opposition serving for the good of the church also.
Turn with them to a few passages of scripture in Isaiah chapter
54. Our Lord says this in verse 17, No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord. and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. In Revelation 5, the description
that he gives of those whom he has redeemed by his blood, the
song that they sing concerning this, makes this truth very clear. It says, and they sang a new
song in verse 9 in Revelation 5, thou art worthy to take the
book, to open the seals thereof, for thou hast slain and redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation and thou hast made us unto our God kings and
priests and we shall reign on the earth we shall reign on the
earth Joseph's brothers hated him And he probably played them a
little bit on it, but he was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to them one day in the
coat of many pieces or many colors that his father had made for
them. And he said to them, you know, boys, I had a dream last
night, and I dreamed that there were 12 sheaves out here, and
every one of them bowed down to one sheave. And, of course,
he was wearing the coat. I believe he said there was twelve
sons and they all bowed down to one son and they just hated
him and despised him and so they killed the beast, tore that pretty
coat off his back, poured blood on it, sold him to a bunch of
people headed for Egypt, went back to his daddy and said your
son's dead. A lion jumped on him and killed him. A lion jumped
on him. Then he went to Egypt and there
He was cast into prison because he refused to have sex with Potiphar's
wife. She tried to get him to lay with
her and he ran off. She kept his coat in her hand.
She grabbed him by the coat and he let her have it. Just run
out of there and they put him in jail because Potiphar's wife
lied on him. And then Pharaoh had a dream
about seven years of famine and seven years was plenty. Didn't
understand what it meant. And so he says, anybody can interpret
dreams around here. And he talked to his sayers and soothsayers and they
couldn't get in there. Somebody said, well, there's
a fellow down in the prison. He's named Joseph and he seems to
have an insight on these things. Maybe you ought to call up and
ask him. So Joseph came up. Pharaoh talked to him and he
told him, he said, well, that dream means that you could have
seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. So the
thing for you to do is to, for those seven years of plenty,
store all the corn and grain you can in these great grain
elevators. Because then there ain't going
to be nothing going on. Nothing's going to grow here.
But for those seven years, when you put this up, you'll be able
to feed your people for the seven years of famine. And Pharaoh
anointed him and made him second in charge of all that great economic
deal. And the seven years of famine
came into being and all of a sudden Jacob The boys were starving to death in Canaan. They said, we've got to go to
Egypt, because we've heard they've got corn down there. So they
went down there, and Joseph disguised himself and wouldn't tell them
who they were. Finally, he revealed himself to them, and they all
began to fear and weep. He said, don't cry, boys. In
Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, here's what he said to them. As for you, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass as
it is this day, to save much people alive. You thought it
was evil, but God meant it for good. Is the world the servant
of the church? Most assuredly. Is the world
the handmaid of the church? Most assuredly. Did the world
hold us captive at one time? But we held captive now, those
who held us captive. Then finally back in our text
in verse 3, it said, It shall come to pass in the day that
the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy
fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. This is the result of that mercy
shown to Jacob, and it's the promise of peace, tranquility,
First, the Lord gives them rest from their sorrow. Their sorrow
is the sorrow of bondage. And deliverance has settled that
once and for all. Also, this rest is the rest that
is born of a finished work on Calvary. The believer rests because
there is nothing to do. Their salvation has been finished.
And they can rest in that blessed estate. Zephaniah says it this
way, they shall feed and lie down and none shall make them
afraid. This is the rest guaranteed in the gospel called the rest
wherein we'll find sweet rest. Religion relies on being busy
and multitasking and working and laboring and prove yourself
that you are indeed a child of God by the evidence that you
show forth by your labors. Not the child of God. Not the
child of God. The gospel says rest. Rest, lie down in covenant calm. Sedate, repose. And the Bible
never says worry about this, does it? The Bible never says
be afraid of this, does it? Does it? The Bible never says
loose sleep because you're concerned about this or that. Does it? What does the Bible say? Don't
worry. Be not anxious over much. How
many times did our Lord say to his disciples? How many times
so far we read in this book concerning that remnant according to the
election of grace that the Lord said, Fear not. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Why? Because the world
is serving you. All that's happening is for you.
is for you. You see, all has been accomplished
in the matter of your salvation. There is nothing left to do.
Rest and enjoy the manifold benefits and all the spiritual blessings
afforded you by the works of Jesus Christ. Learn and relearn
and relearn again. Be downright redundant in your
thinking about what has been freely given to you in Jesus
Christ. You have been made free. Free. from the hard bondage of
sin and self and Satan. And just as it said in chapter
3, say unto the righteous, it shall be well with thee.