All right, back to Isaiah chapter 30. You remember last, was it Wednesday night? Last Wednesday night we began to look at this, and we saw how this represents those in religion, those that are lost in religion, or those that are lost in the gutter of sin. Both. I kind of discovered something while I was reading this. And we'll see that, perhaps, as we go along. Look at verse 9. Let's go back and just look for a moment, see if this is not the case with you. Verse 8. Go, write it before them in a table, note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of God, won't listen to God's Word. Now, that was me. That was me. Not in religion, but in the gutter of sin. Now some of you were in religion. And you may have heard. The truth. At some point or just at least parts of it. And you would not hear it. That anybody here you wouldn't. I won't hear that. Read on. which say to the seers, See not, verse 10, to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy to see." Paul wrote to young Timothy and said they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. People generally go to hear what they want to hear. And the flesh does not want to hear itself abased. The flesh doesn't want to hear sovereign grace, because sovereign grace offends man's worth, or he thinks he's worth something. And the Scripture says we're nothing. Sovereign grace is that God just up and decided. to save somebody, not because they were worth saving, but because he decided to. Sovereign grace offends man's wisdom. Man thinks he knows something about God, and sovereign grace brings you to the point where you realize you don't know anything. You've got to become a little child. It offends man's dignity, sovereign grace. Most folks just don't want to be called worms. That's all there is to it. Just don't want to be called worms. So they said, Paul said, they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and Isaiah said it long before that. This has been written in a book for a long time. People say prophesy smooth things. The only way Man or woman is going to hear the truth as God brings him and sits him down and says, now hear this. And he's not going to receive it unless God gives him a heart, breaks his heart. Read on. Verse 15, go down to there. It says, Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall you be saved. In turning from your idols, 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9 says that some people turned from their idols to serve the true and living God. Turning from idols to serve God. In returning and rest, or returning like the prodigal. That was me, the prodigal son who returned. The father saw him a great way off. foresaw him a great way off, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him, and said, Bring the best robe, kill the fatted calf, put the ring on his finger. My son which was dead is alive." That was me returning like the prodigal. And rest, in returning and rest shall ye be saved. There is toil in sin, there is toil in religion. The only place you're going to find rest is in Christ. Rest from your works? In Christ. Or rest from sin? In Christ. The only place. Read on. and in confidence shall be your strength." Quietness and confidence. We looked at last week how that means to sit and quietly hear the gospel, and confidence will set in. You'll find your confidence in Christ if you sit and listen to the gospel. Most people are too busy jumping up and shouting for Jesus, so they're not going to hear it. They said no, verse 16, no. You said no, we'll flee upon horses. Therefore shall you flee. We'll ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. Now, this can go two ways. This is what I just, I believe I just discovered in reading this, that some in religion don't, they read the same thing we do. Don't they? People in religion read the same Bible we do. The scriptures that say we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Scriptures that say if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain. Scriptures like that, strong scriptures, serious scriptures. Righteousness come by the law. For us doing anything, Christ didn't need to die. That's serious, isn't it? They read the same thing. And he says, come unto me and rest. Don't work. Not by works of righteousness which we have done. By grace do you say, through faith, that not of yourself, not of works, lest any man should bow. It's not of works. It's resting, trusting in Christ. Salvation doesn't have anything to do with our work. Not one bit. It has everything to do with Christ's work. Now they read the same thing we read, don't they? People read the same thing we read. And this is what I got from that, that some people just say, no, I'd rather work my way to heaven. Don't they? No. He says, sit. Do nothing. They say, no, I want to do something. I want to do something. No, we'll flee. Therefore you shall flee, he says. You are going to flee when the pestilence comes, when the trials come. It's not going to hold you up, your profession. You're going to run. Look at this, it says, We will ride upon the swift, therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. It's like those Sons of Siva, remember, devil-bashers. That's what these fellows are today. And the devil just hadn't got a hold of them yet. And they'd be running naked in the street. They will someday. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one. One devil, that is, at the rebuke of five shall ye flee. Now, in my case, though, and in the case of some, in the case of God's people, The one that pursues, the swift one that pursues, is God's redeeming angel, as Jacob would say. God's Holy Spirit. And I was running. He says, therefore we'll ride. And I literally, when school was out and I got of age, I hitched a ride out of town, away from the gospel. I'm leaving. See you on 9th and Road, Jack. Mom, Dad, see you later." But he that pursued me was swift. He ran me down, ran me over. My mind says that you'll be like a beacon on the top of the mountain as an infant on a hill. I got, I reached the point where I was all alone. all along. He set me, the scripture says, the Lord set me as a mark for His arrow. And His arrows are sharp. Read on, verse 18. Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you. Therefore will He be exalted. He'll be exalted. In His appointed time, God's sheep will hear His voice. They'll hear the gospel. And what he does to them is he makes them lie down. Back there in verse seven, their strength is to sit still. He makes them lie down in green pastures. He makes them sit still. You remember when the disciples said, they don't have anything to eat? You remember what our Lord said? He said, make them all sit down. And I'm going to feed them. Sit down. And Joe, like I said, that's the reason nobody's being fed, nobody's hearing the gospel anymore. They're too jumpin' and shoutin', too busy, aren't they? But you sit right there, Joe. I'm going to feed you. That's what you do when you eat, don't you? Sit down. You've got to digest it. You've got to take it in. One bite at a time, don't you? You don't eat on the run. That's indicative of this day, isn't it? Well, he says, the Lord waits to be gracious. To what purpose? Why is God gracious to anybody? Why? Look at that second line there. Therefore will he be exalted that he might have mercy on you. that he might be exalted, three times it says in Ephesians 1, to the praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of the glory of his grace. He predestinated you, called you to the praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of the glory of his sovereign mercy and grace. God's going to have mercy on whom he will. But he will have mercy to the praise of the glory of his mercy. God himself. Read on. The Lord is a God of judgment. He's a God of judgment. Now, you remember, this is one of the things that the Holy Spirit convinces. One of these three things. Remember our Lord talked about that? Remember that? He said these three things the Holy Spirit convinces us. Sin, we looked at that, didn't we? Righteousness, we talked about the Holy One of Israel resting in Him. Quiet confidence in the Lord our Righteousness. The only thing that will give you quiet confidence is righteousness imputed. Let me illustrate that. But Todd Nybert was in the hospital and thinking almost certain that he was dying. And they thought he was dying. His brain was swelling. Hodgkin's disease, they didn't really know at the time what it was. And he thought he was going to die. And he said his sin bothered him. He thought about how he hadn't done enough for the Lord, how he hadn't lived a devoted, consecrated life like he would like to. But he said, you know the thing that gave him peace, that just quietened down his soul immediately when he thought about it? was this right here, "'Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.'" Righteousness imputed in sins, not imputed. That's what he said gave him peace. And he said it just settled his, he said, I can go to be with God because I trust Christ. That'll give you quiet comfort. Quiet comfort. God's a God of judgment. God of judgment. Blessed are all they, look at verse 18, that wait on him, that wait for him. Blessed are all they that wait for him." What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Well, the word, I looked up the word, it means to, once again, it means to sit quietly. It means to be still. Like I said, all these things. Sitting still is so contrary to 1997. Lest it be to watch television. Quietness. There aren't very many quiet people left. Sitting still. Quietness. Waiting. Waiting. You mean I can't have it now? Waiting. Any of you have some of you have computers. I remember when I first got my first computer when I came here nearly 10 years ago and you know I'd turn it on and I'd go fix a cup of coffee or something John. About five minutes late ten minutes later I'd come back and it'd be on. And then I entered the program I wanted to use, and I'd go do something else. And come back. It only took about five minutes. And I thought it was fair. Now that I've got, you know, zillions, gigazigabytes. You don't know what that is, do you, Joe? I got them. You don't have any gigabytes? I do, but now I got a zillion of them. Punch that button, it about beats me to the button. And it comes right on. Well, something happens that, you know, it just doesn't do it right away. What's going on here? 30 seconds elapsed. What about you, John? Are you that way? What's wrong with this thing? Wait? Are you kidding? Wait on anything? I don't want to wait. That's one of the things the Lord has to teach us. This is what James deals with quite a bit in the book of James, doesn't it? Talking about trials and so forth, bring patience, waiting. What it means to wait on the Lord means to be silent, submit to, and quietly sit and wait for him to work. He's going to. Someone said the hands of God's providence move slow. But they move. If you looked inside a big bin at clock over in England, and if you looked at the hour hand, you would never see that thing move. But it's moving. And so are the hands of God's providence. And you think, you say you're going through troubles or something, you say this is never going to end. This too shall pass. It'll pass. It'll pass. Wait. Wait on the Lord. You're like a private waiting on his orders. You ever have to wait on your orders, Brother Henry? And you thought that Sergeant or Lieutenant or whatever was just having a good time like he's standing there waiting. But you know he's got us at ease though. Our captain's got us at ease. There's a difference between standing at attention and standing at ease, isn't there? Standing at attention, boy, you're so miserable. That's religion. miserable. The Lord would enter in his service, he says, at ease. But wait. I've got orders coming. At ease. You're still in line, but you're at ease. Wait. Wait. It's calm, quiet resignation to God's will and all things. God's will and all things. Wait. Wait on the Lord. It also means to wait on the Lord return to look for. Me trust him and look to him it means to look for weight on. We don't we don't sleep as do others but we're watching waiting on the last what this is all. You have to go to a watch. A watch where they sit around a dead body. Now what they call it a wake wake. Why they call it that. Everybody wants to go to sleep. It's a wake. Well, we wait on our Lord. He's not dead. He's living. Look at verse 19. Verse 19. The people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. All this is after we hear the gospel and after the Lord causes us to sit quietly and get confidence in Christ, hold the beginning of our confidence. The Lord is gracious unto us and shows mercy unto us through the gospel. He causes us to begin to wait on him, to look for him. The people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. This is our dwelling place. The church, Christ's body. And he says here, read on, Weep no more. Oh, we weep, but not over our... Sad state before God, though, because He's turned our tears into joy. Sin's forgiven. Sin's forgiven. Look at verse 19. He'll be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will answer thee. The Lord causes His people to begin to cry unto Him, and He answers them, and He relieves their suffering over sin. That's the thing that God's people come to him for. That's what God, that's how God deals with his people. They don't get sick or have a deathbed experience and then get, and then accept Jesus. It doesn't go like that. See, this whole thing's about sin. When the Holy Spirit comes, he'll convince of sin. And that's what he convinces us of. Sin. Sin. But they cry. Look at verse 20. Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. Trials. Trials are sent by God. Trials to wean us from this world. trials to cause us to loathe this place and want to leave it. If we didn't have them, we wouldn't want to live forever, would we? Read on. Trials, the bread of the water of affliction, the bread of adversity. Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Over in Ephesians 4, it talks about Christ giving some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry that would be built up and so forth under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And what these teachers do is teach the truth. They teach the truth. They say, well, first they preach Christ. They teach Christ, who is the truth. And they say trials are going to come. They say, since you are God's children, therefore God's going to send trials. He tells them the truth. Not like these hirelings who say, now that you're God's children, he doesn't ever want you to be sick. Right? And then when they get sick, they think, what's wrong? Huh? No, the teachers tell the truth. That since you are God's children, therefore he's going to send you the bread of adversity. You're going to have some bitterness. You're going to have to... a bitter pill to swallow. And the water of affliction. It's not going to be a bed of roses. It's going to be, in this world you shall have tribulation. Tribulation. And that's what the teachers will tell. It says they won't be moved into a corner anymore. That made me think of those pool pits they used to have for preachers. If this was an old Presbyterian church or whatever, it'd be a pool pit. They called them a pigeon box or something. They'd walk up the stairs. I'd be stuck way up in the corner there over the side. And then you'd have all this shenanigans going, all these altars and crosses and, you know, all this, that and the other. And the preacher would be over in the corner. That's what made me think of that. They won't be stuck in the corner anymore. They'll be right down front where you'll see them eye to eye. Because this ain't no show of religion. He's not just some figurehead trying to teach something, the Word of God. I just heard this from my pastor. Pastors and teachers and elders teach you the truth. They teach you the Word of God. But trials, trials are the only thing that's going to cause you to experience the Word of God. That's what Spurgeon, or was it Newton, or somebody said, that they've been my greatest teachers. My afflictions have been my greatest teachers, because by these things, David said it a long time ago, it's good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. See, we can learn about the Lord being near, a very present help in time of trouble. We can learn that in our head. But it won't reach your heart until you get in trouble. And then you call on Him. And then He's present. So trials are the best teachers. They'll cause you to experience the truth. Preacher or teacher can tell you the truth. Only a child can teach it, experience it. Experience is the only teacher, really. The only teacher. All right, read on. Let's hurry. Verse 21. He says, Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way. Walk in it. Do you remember back over there in verse 9? This is a rebellious children. Children will not hear the law of the Lord. But the Lord waits to be gracious. And he has mercy. And he says, now, now listen to me. And they hear. They hear. He gives them ears to hear. And they hear the word. And he says, and this is the word. Here's the word. First word he says to them is what? This is the way, walk in it." Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life. The Holy Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit who is who this word is, this voice is, who leads and guides and directs and keeps us from turning out of the way. It says here, when you turn to the right hand and turn to the left, the Holy Spirit says, no, this is the way. How does he do it, Sam? How does he say this to us? by the word. That's how the Holy Spirit speaks. Not signs and visions and so forth, by the word. That's how. Look at what happens when you hear the gospel, when Christ becomes your religion. Look what you do to your old religion. Look at verse 22. It says, of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images. Thou shalt cast them away as a minstrel's cloth. Thou shalt say unto them, Get out of here." That's what you say about your old religion. That's the first thing I look for in people who have been religious and then come and hear the gospel. If I ever hear them say, That was all wrong. My profession was false. I was worshiping another God. It wasn't the sovereign God. The Jesus I believed in was not the sovereign Christ of Scripture. The gospel I heard was not the gospel. The baptism I—the confession I made, I confessed the wrong Christ. That's what I wait for. That's when I know somebody's hurt. And they've heard something they cast away and say, get that. I want that. Paul said, forgetting those things, put your mind. Isaiah 64, 6 says our righteousness is the same thing as this right here. Filthy right. It's the same word that's used right there in verse 22. Filthy right. Something to be thrown away. And you remember Blind Bartimaeus? There's a perfect picture. Old Blind Bartimaeus, when he was sitting by the wayside in his rags. Blind in rags, a beggar. And when Christ came and called him, what's the first thing he did, Walt? cast away that garment. He had an old security blanket that he wrapped himself up in. About the only thing he owned. Took great pride in it, I guess. He's blind, Roberta. That thing was probably in tatters. Probably the backside out of it. But he's proud of it. If you're blind, you will be proud of your robe of righteousness, won't you? But, buddy, if Christ ever calls you and opens your eyes to see him, you'll get rid of that past religion as fast as you can. Get that away from me. And from that day forward, you won't want any part of any of that sort of thing. Get that out of me, out of here. That's a stench in my mouth. Throw it away. Get thee hence. Then shall he give rain for thy seed, or to thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground with hope." Rain, that's the Holy Spirit, the water of his word. Sow the seed of the word, and bread of the increase of the earth. That's Christ the bread of life, the staff of life, the Word of God. And you would have thought that it was going to be our last meal on this earth. The way we're about to cook. She had 104 horses. Well, almost. It seemed that way, didn't it? Cooked just like my grandmother used to. My grandmother used to cook enough to feed a hundred people. A big bowl of taters this big. Have some taters. Have some more. Plenteous. What did you eat tonight? Leftovers? I thought so. Well, there's lots of this leftover too. We'll never eat it in one sitting. Come back Sunday. And we'll have some more taters. Meat and bread and so forth. Those biscuits, oh my. They were good, but they don't compare to this bread. And that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. Large pastures. I always admire these great big vast pastures. Every time we drive down somewhere, I mean, I see these huge pastures as far as the eye can see and I think, boy, I'd love to turn Molly out in that. But the word of God is large, and he has put us in large pastures. Read on. The oxen, likewise, and young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, savory provender, which have been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. Good, fresh food. You know, there's nothing that gives me more pleasure than feeding those farm animals of mine. I love it. I never get tired of that. I love it. and clean their stalls out and put fresh sawdust in there for them, just as deep as I can get it, and then get them fresh alfalfa hay, and I sprinkle it with water to make it real moist so it won't be dusting. And then I dig in that bag of sweet fever, all that molasses in there, and pour it in there, put fresh water, clean their buckets out and put fresh water. I treat the horses right. And they hadn't earned a dime. But I'd put that fresh water in there and open those stalls. And you think they'd dilly-dally around? Huh? They know I love to feed them and they love to eat. And they come running. Come like dogs when I call them. Run in those stalls. And it just gives me delight to feed them. Gives me a good feeling. I take care of them. The only thing I know of that I enjoy more He's feeding you this. Especially if somebody's hungry. And you don't have to call them. They come running. Show up early every now and then. Well, nearly every time. Barley and Molly are just kind of hanging around the stall, you know. Don't put them in until a little later. And they kind of hang around. Just kind of, maybe bring a little lettuce in early tonight. I like that. I like that. And that's what the Lord does for his people that come hungry. Good, fresh food. Same food. I've been feeding them the same thing ever since I had them. Same kind of food. But it's fresh. And they never get tired of it. Verse 25. There shall be upon every high mountain, upon every high hill. See, we'll be exalted. We come to Christ, we'll sit in heavenly places. And there'll be rivers and streams of water. rivers and streams. There's a fountain. We're exalted, sitting with Christ. Look at this, though. He says, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. He's talking about the pride of man. What day is that, the day of the great slaughter? Well, it's been going on for some time now. The day of the Lord has been going on for some time now. and the lofty looks of man shall be brought down." They're falling like flies. Falling like flies, but God's people are not falling. They're ascending. Read on. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun as the light of the sun shall be sevenfold. as the light of seven days, and the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." This is a day of darkness. He says there, "...the moon shall be as the light of the sun." Now, in this time of darkness, we have great light, don't we? The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. We are blessed people indeed because this world, my, my, my. If you don't think you're getting fat things here, go someplace else and try to feed on the husks. It won't suffice, will it? Fat thing, wine on the leaf, darkness, day of darkness, great light, great light, seven times the light. And the healer of the breach, the healer of the breach, Christ is the one who broke, who healed that breach or satisfied the broken law for us. and the healer of our wounds, that incurable wound, Christ cured. All right, let's stand and be dismissed. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word. It is fresh Provender indeed. It provides us with all things needful. It is Christ, the bread of life, and we're satisfied with Christ. We want nothing else. He's all and in all. So keep us coming back for more of the same food. Satisfy us with this bread again, we pray. Make us hungry. Make us hungry for the gospel. In Christ's name we've met together. Bring us together again in his name. Amen.