Good morning, everyone. Welcome to you. Glad you're here this morning. We have a couple of announcements to get to, but first, we have an early Christmas present this morning. Our beloved Chris and Lauren are back with us. What a joy. We have been praying for this day for quite some time, and the Lord is good. and he is to be praised. Well, if you are a member of Red Mills Baptist Church, we've got a quarterly members meeting after the service this morning. So please stay around for that. And also mark on your calendar the 24th, which of course is Christmas Eve. We'll be having our annual Christmas Eve service here as well, seven o'clock here in the sanctuary. So please make plans on joining us for that also. Second Corinthians chapter four verses five and six says this, for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Father, we are so grateful to be here today. We rejoice, Father, in all that you are doing in the lives of your people. And we are rejoicing, Father, today that you have come into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. that Jesus, Father, having come into this dark and fallen place, went to the cross in our place, that we might be reconciled to you. Father, you have shown light into the darkness, and we desire today to see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Show it to us, Father, even as you receive the worship of your people. These things we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together, shall we? The ancient story, now proclaim Messiah's birth. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. God his man is now residing, yonder shines the infant light. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King. Saints before the altar bending, watching long in hope. The Lord descending in His temple shall appear. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn. And the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains. in excelsis Deo. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Shepherds, why this Which is by your head. Come a-doin' on a bended knee Lord of heaven and earth, Mary Joseph, mend your ways. Mark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies When angelic hosts proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem Hark the herald angels sing ♪ By highest heaven of gold ♪ Christ the everlasting Lord ♪ Late in time behold him come ♪ Offspring of the virgin's womb ♪ Veiled in flesh the Godhead see Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Born Prince of Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His bosom. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to raise the sons of earth. Let's remain standing for the reading of the word of God. All right. Please pick up your Bibles and turn to Ezekiel 38. One second. Thank you. Well, it says 1 through 13, but I'm actually reading the entire chapter, 1 through 23, so brace yourselves for a little bit of a stand here. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, thus says the Lord God. Behold, I am against you, O Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and put with them, all of them, with shield and helmet. Gomer, with all its troops, Beth Togarmah from the remotest part of the north with all its troops, many peoples with you. Be prepared and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. After many days you will be summoned. In the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. But its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. You will go up, you will come like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops and many peoples with you. Thus says the Lord God, it will come about on that day that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan. And you will say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates to capture spoil. and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world. Sheba and Dedan are the merchants of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil? Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God, on that day when my people Israel are living securely, will you not know? You will come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north, you and the many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army, and you'll come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog. Thus says the Lord God, are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? It will come about on that day when God comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, that my fury will mount up in my anger. In my zeal and in my blazing wrath, I declare that on that day, there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake in my presence. The mountains also will be thrown down. The steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will call for a sword against him on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother, with pestilence and with blood, I will enter into judgment with him, and I will reign on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain with hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I will magnify myself, sanctify myself, and make myself known in the sight of many nations, and they will know that I am the Lord. Please be seated, and Merry Christmas. So. Praise the Lord for his amazing word. We've been reading through Ezekiel for a long time now, and this chapter we're reading today, chapter 38, is part of a series of chapters from 36 to 39, obviously, but that sort of makes a unit, which God's describing what he's going to do with his people. And our message today is pretty rough for a Christmas message. has to do with God's work of judgment against an army that he's raised up. We read in verses one through seven, one through nine, how God has actually brought forth an army. In chapter 36, we read about how God's people had been exiled, but God had compassion on them. And in spite of their behavior, in spite of the fact that their hearts had not changed, God said, for his name, he was gonna bring his people back to the land, that the desolate wasteland had been wiped out in judgment, as God had said would happen, because the people had turned against Him. They still hadn't turned back to Him, but God, to honor His great name, had brought His people back, or was in the process. This was Ezekiel preaching before it had happened. That God would bring His people back, and give them a new heart, and a new spirit, and reestablish them in the land. And then in 37, Joseph read, last week and the week before, about how God basically had the valley of dry bones. Israelites thought, how could this possibly happen? There's nothing left. There's nothing left to rebuild. But God says he has the power to rebuild everything. So he preached to the Valley of Dry Bones, and he brought his people back from the dead and restored them back to the land. And also in chapter 37, he combined Israel and Judah in a one nation. He prophesied this is what he was going to do for his people, to make the one people. So here we are in chapter 38. God has brought them back in the land and established them, but God has more to do. He's raising up an army to attack his own people, but yet he raises them up not to succeed, but to be destroyed, to honor his great name. He says prepare and go up, but he's going to bring all these things against this army, earthquake and pestilence and flood. We got to remember in God's plan of redemption, there's two parts to it. And all the things that God does, that we just sang in our song, are to bring glory to his great name. God is glorified in the redemption of his people. But God is a holy God, and he is to be feared. And as part of his plan of redemption, he always has judgment as well. In this case, he does all these things in the sight of the entire world. It says in verse, in verse, what is it? Excuse me, what verse is it where he talks about that? In verse 23, God says the following, God does not do these things in a corner. He brings it right out of the front, and he has these great movements of peoples in the world. Now, this prophesy we're reading today has really never been fulfilled. This is something that we're still looking for. This is where the people of God, the children of Israel, have been brought and established, and God's going to raise up armies against them. Now, it says in Isaiah that my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. We wouldn't do things the way God would do things. When God brought his people into Egypt, he brought them down to Egypt so that he could rescue them out of bondage. But he brought them into bondage. God does that so that all the nations would see his great power displayed against the people of Egypt. So this redemption is setting apart of God's people. He makes his children special. He establishes them and says, you know what? I will save you. And I will show myself holy among the nations by judging the others who don't follow me. So this is what we see here. God raises up an army for the purpose of judging them. And this will finally take place in final fulfillment in Revelation. Revelation 27 through 10 reads as follows. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And God's ways are not our ways. He is a God of love, but he's also a God of judgment and of justice. and he is a holy God. God works through his people to bring about his glory, and he also works through those who are not his people to bring about his glory. So we must think about where we are and where those around us are. We live in a land that's lost in darkness, and without our word, without the word of the Lord being passed through people like us, who have been called to carry his word, to his glory, this great judgment we see, it was going to fall on those around us. So this Christmas, remember, there's a little baby that God's brought to die for our sins. And there also is a nation in darkness that really needs the glory of the Lord, the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, his son. Let's pray. Father, we have heard your word today through the prophet Ezekiel. And we know, Lord God, that you make yourself known. So Father, we ask that even this day that you sanctify yourself, magnify yourself so that the people of earth will know that you indeed are Lord and that you are in control of everything. For your people, this is a great blessing to know that our God has a plan that has been established even before the foundations of the earth, that by his will, he may see this thing come true. and the salvation of his people, who will praise him and revere him until the end of time, Lord God. We know that you are good. We know that you are gracious, but yet, Lord God, you are full of justice. And may, Lord, that be known throughout the face of the earth as you punish the wicked. But we pray, Lord, even as we are here now, that we might effectively bring out the gospel so that they will know that you indeed are the Lord through the softening of their hearts, through the crying out for forgiveness, Lord, so that they might find, Lord, grace, that sweet word, Lord, that has captivated us all and that brought us to you. so that we might worship you in spirit and in truth. May the nations of this world come to know you as well. May the people of the nations of this world come out of darkness and be brought into the light of your marvelous son. Father, this is what we pray. so that you might get the greater glory and now salvation of men and women from all tongues, from all tribes, and from all nations. Father, be glorified in this, we pray. Amen. Continuing our reading through the book of Psalms, we'll be reading Psalms 31, the first 13 verses. Listen as David writes. In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be ashamed. In your righteousness, deliver me. Incline your ears to me. Rescue me quickly. Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress. For your name's sake, you will lead me and guide me. You will pull me out of the net which they have securely laid for me. for you are my strength. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have ransomed me, O Lord God of truth. I hate those who regard vain idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in your loving kindness, because you have seen my affliction, and you have known the troubles of my souls, and you have not given me over into the hand of the enemies. You have set my feet in a large place, Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am distress. My eyes is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years are sighing. My strength has failed because of my iniquity and my body was wasted away. Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors. and an object of dread to my acquaintances. Those who see me in the street flee from me. I'm forgotten as a dead man, out of my mind. I'm like a broken vessel where I've heard the slander of many. Terror is on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life. Father, What a great song that reminds us, number one, that you are our protector. You superintend our lives from beginning to end. And as the psalmist cries out, expecting you to answer him, we do also, Lord. Help us be our shield, be our strength. sustain us through the tribulations that we find upon the face of this earth. May we not grow weak and weary. Father, we are full of iniquity, but yet we know that you have come. In fact, in this season, we celebrate that you were given as a gift to us so that one day you would do what we could not do, which was keep the law of God. do what we could not do, which would be to go to the cross, sacrifice yourself because you were without sin. And in that great time, there was this great exchange where you took on our sins and you gave us your righteousness. This makes it all possible. As the psalmist writes, people scheme against him, but yet he cries to be delivered from his enemies And today, Lord, we know we've been delivered from our great enemy, death itself. And so together we cry out, Lord God, giving you praise and giving you thanks for all that you continually do. And until you're coming, Lord God, may we, the righteous of God, only made righteous by your sacrifice, may we continue to shine the light of your glory in this dark world so that others might also come to know you. Father, while there are those of us who are continually thinking about all the ways that you have protected us and that you continually keep us. Yet there are some of us who in our weakness, Lord, we experienced trials. May you, Lord God, hold these people, those who are experiencing physical pain, physical, Lord God, debilitation. Be with them, Lord. Remind them of the great promise of the new glorified bodies that we will have that will never succumb to sin, to sickness, to disease, and death. Lord, for those of us who are struggling, Lord, struggling by way of thoughts that haunt us, for those of us who struggle, Lord, with anxiety, cure us, Lord. Cure us, Lord, so that we might give you praise and glory for all that you do. Father, this is what we pray. We know that there is much more to come, and we can't wait to your second appearance. But until then, Father, may we stay on the straight and narrow road that you've designated for us, so that, Lord, we might live a life appealing to you. so that at the end of when we see you, you may reward us as good and faithful servants. Father, we never forget you and all that you've done and continue to do in our lives. Whether you come tomorrow or a thousand years for us, let us be faithful and commit ourselves to living righteously for you. This is what we pray in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. And I ask the ushers to come forward as we make ready for this portion of our worship service and giving thanks to God by giving fruitfully to him. Father, we do thank you that you are continually overseeing our lives. We pray that as a matter of faith, we put our trust in you and that everything that you have given to us, we sold back for the sake of the kingdom. storing our treasures not here on earth, but in heaven, where moth and rust and thieves do not break in to take hold of it. So Father, what we give you, we pray that you might expand the kingdom through every aspect of the ministries that support our missionaries, our pantry, and doing the good work of spreading the gospel. Father, be glorified. in the giving of your people who do it faithfully. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we are so blessed to be in a place where your word is proclaimed. We are so blessed to have Pastor Harrison to give his life to the study of the word that he might be a shepherd for your sheep in this place, Lord. And we are so grateful for him and the blessing that he and Joseph are to us all. And Lord, we ask you to bless this reading of your word as Pastor opens it up for us. May your spirit touch our hearts and open our minds. Give us ears to hear, Lord, hands and feet to obey as we take this word from this place into this dark world to glorify your name. Lord, may we focus our attention on you and submit to the authority of your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please open your Bibles to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 35. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 10 this morning. Isaiah 35, beginning with verse 1. The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Araba will rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come, but he will save you. Then the eye of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water in the haunt of jackals, its resting place. Grass becomes reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the highway of holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it. These will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk there. and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Father, this is a passage filled with the promise of joy. Help us, Father, to see the glory in it, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, in these weeks approaching Christmas, we're involved in a series of messages that I've entitled Christmas in Isaiah. Having just read the passage, and by the time we get to the end of the passage, you may be asking yourselves, where is Christmas? in this passage. It's not one of the traditional Christmas passages from Isaiah, of which there are many. I hope, by the conclusion of the message, to wrap it all up in a nice Christmas bow for you. One commentator on Isaiah wrote the following in regard to this passage this morning. No one can call Isaiah a prophet of doom. At the slightest provocation, he becomes a poet and a songster when he sees what God has in store for his people. Each time he is compelled to prophesy the judgment of God, he follows with a picture of God's redemptive purpose. As his oracles of punishment have deepened in severity, so his oracles of promise have soared to new heights. Therefore, after Isaiah's gory revelation of God's fury against the nations and Edom in chapter 34, we can expect poetry and song unmatched in his earlier prophecies of promise. Isaiah does not disappoint us. In his vision of the future transformation of Zion, all of his creative impulses are released in the text and tone of divine inspiration. Isaiah chapter 35 is a wonderful chapter which reminds all of God's people that no matter what we may be experiencing in our own lives, no matter what we may see going on in the world, everlasting joy is coming. And it's coming to those who are described in verse 10 of chapter 35 as the ransomed of the Lord. who shall see Zion. Isaiah is a marvelously contemporary book. Isaiah was ministering to people in his day who professed to have a relationship with God, but who were about to face impending judgment, discipline, banishment into exile. This passage that we're examining this morning, verses 1 through 10 of chapter 35, is a portion of a larger section of the book encompassing chapters 34 and 35. Chapter 35 is dealing with God's universal judgment for sin. It is a sobering reminder of God's holiness, Isaiah chapter 35 then provides the people of God with a wonderful hope. It is filled with joy. It speaks of those who have found a right relationship with God. God's people are called to be like Him in holiness and righteousness. And as God accomplishes that in His people, He also gives them many great and precious promises. The process of making God's people holy and righteous begins the moment that the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. We call that the act of sanctification. It is a process which is begun in the hearts and lives of people who have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ. But that justification is only the beginning. As we say, that sanctification is a process. God's purpose is to eradicate sin from our lives and restore us to that position we lost in the garden, to restore us to paradise. It's a process that culminates in what is called the beatific vision of God, that is, when we shall behold God face to face and live with Him for all eternity. in the light of his beauty and his glory and his grace. Just as we read from 2 Corinthians at the beginning of our service, you're going to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis put it this way. Imagine yourself as living in a house, or imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you understand what he is doing. He's getting the drains right, he's stopping the leaks in the roof, and so on. You knew that these jobs needed doing, and you're not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of. Throwing out a new wing here. putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he's building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself. So Isaiah is painting this marvelous picture of God's promises to his people who place their trust in him. That promise of turning you into a palace in which he himself will dwell. And the first promise he makes is that he will lead his people into a new world. You see that in verses one and two. The wilderness and the desert will be glad and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. The image behind these verses is the Exodus. God's people set out from Egypt, they journeyed to the promised land. Along the way, God ministers to them in marvelous ways, providing for all their needs. And it was also in that desert, that wilderness, that they saw the glory of God. All of this was a promise to the people of God and of this new world, which God would give to his people. And in this new world, nothing would hinder the full display of the glory of the Lord in the works of God. So Isaiah says in the second part of verse two, they will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. God's glory is His inherent worth. His majesty is His splendor displayed in His person and in His works. If you are one of the ransomed of the Lord, then you are one who is repenting of your sin and trusting in Jesus Christ. And if you are one of those, God's promise to you is a new world in which you will see his glory and his majesty in amazing and an astonishing and jaw-dropping ways. The people in the wilderness in that first exodus saw God's glory and we shall see it too. That is God's promise to us. So first God promises those whom he has ransomed a new world, but as they say on the info commercials, there's more. He also promises new life. You see that in verses three through seven. When God's people left Egypt, they did not see blossoming. They saw barrenness. But the blossoming came as they walked that path which God set before him. Now, the prophet Isaiah is encouraging the people of God to look to that God who promises a new life to the ones he has ransomed. Why do they need a new life? Well, the life that they're experiencing isn't so great. They need something else. They need something more. Their present life is a life of oppression. You see in verse three and four that the ransomed are under oppression. Encourage the exhausted. Strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come, but he will save you. So why do people need to be encouraged and strengthened? Why do they need to be told to take courage and fear not? Because they're being oppressed. God is telling them that he is going to come and take vengeance upon their enemies. The ransomed of the Lord live in a world that is opposed to God and to his people. And that was not only true in Isaiah's day. This is always true of God's people. We today live in a culture that is opposed to the things of God and the people of God. And so Isaiah says in verses three and four, encourage those who are exhausted, strengthen those who are feeble, say to those with an anxious heart, take courage, fear not. Isaiah encouraged the ransomed of the Lord to encourage the exhausted, that is, to commit to personal action. He encouraged the ransom of the Lord to strengthen the feeble, that is, to come alongside one another, to bear the burdens of the weak so that they might persevere as pilgrims until they reach the destination. And he encourages them to speak to those who have an anxious heart, that is, speak words of encouragement to one another. And notice what form that encouragement takes. Brothers and sisters, we are not to go to one another and say, suck it up. You can do it. No. We're told to tell one another the recompense of God will come. He will save you. Not that you are all you need, you have everything that you need inside yourself already. That's not the message that comes to the redeemed of God, to the ransomed of God. But rather, don't look to yourself. Look to the God who will rescue you, the God who has ransomed you. That's the ground of our encouragement. Behold your God. It is only as we point one another to God that we find encouragement when we're under oppression. In the dark days of discouragement, when the people of God lived in an utterly pagan culture, when they are afflicted by relationships and bodies and minds that have been corrupted by the fall, we are to remind one another of God's promise to Jacob in Genesis 46, I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will bring you up again. That's God's promise to his people. So while we live in this fallen world, we live in a constant condition of oppression that manifests itself in one way or another. But brothers and sisters, something different is coming. Something different is on the way. Transformation is coming. Here, Isaiah puts it in terms of the desert, the wilderness being transformed The eyes of the blind will be open, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. We'll come back to that. The lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy, for waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes. The world and our condition in it will be transformed. Isaiah puts it in these terms of a desert, a wilderness into which Israel came, being transformed into the land that was promised, a land flowing with milk and honey. It wasn't that when they got there. in the new world that God will usher in. He will demonstrate a transformation even in nature itself. This is a picture of nature itself transformed by the Lord at the time he ushers in a new world. So this new life will consist of a life transformed from oppression to paradise. But we look at the world around us, and perhaps we're not so sure. I know that God can accomplish this transformation, but I'm not sure I can endure and persevere until it comes. I wonder if that's how you feel sometimes. Lord, I understand what you've promised, and I know it will be glorious. But what did we say last week? It's hard. It's so hard. Lord, I don't know if I can make it. I am a Christian heading to the celestial city, but there are so many opponents, so many obstacles. It's so hard. And what does the Lord say in return? That last line of verse four, but he will save you. Left to yourself, you will not make it. but you are not left to yourself. You don't save yourself. God saves you. He will keep you going. He will cause you to persevere, and you will persevere because He will preserve you to the end. And how will He do that? Isaiah says He will renew you. This is where we come back to verse 5 and the first part of verse 6. The eyes of the blind will be opened. The ears of the deaf will be unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer. The tongue of the mute will shout for joy. God's work of salvation gives new life to his people. And this is how Isaiah describes that. Now don't miss what he's saying here. Notice the body parts that he mentions. Eyes and ears, limbs and tongue. He doesn't choose those things at random. They are intended to express the totality of a person. The eyes and ears are the receptors. They take in. The limbs, which now leap, and the tongue, which now shouts for joy, are the actors. They take action. Isaiah brings these things together as if to say there is no part of you which will not be renewed. When God ransoms someone, He ransoms the entire person. He does it completely. That is, there is a wonderful transformation that affects every faculty of the person so that each person is renewed for their journey to this new world. So first, God promises the ransomed a new world, and second, God promises the ransomed a new life, but there's more. God promises the ransomed a new way. A highway, in fact. Isaiah pointed to a number of truths about this new transportation project. This new highway is a raised causeway. Verse 8, a highway will be there, a roadway. Now, we don't think about this very much, but this road which God is building is a highway. and it's going to be there. In the midst of the wilderness that has just been described, there will be a high way that is a raised causeway. There is an image of that narrow road along which the people of God travel to this new world. This new highway, we find, is also exclusive it will be called the highway of holiness and the unclean will not travel on it. It's a narrow road upon which only those who have been set apart by God and for God will travel. Only the ransomed. It is a road designed for the children of God and upon which no unbeliever here described as unclean, will travel. One commentator said this, the Lord never reduces his standards to match the weaknesses of his people. He raises his people to the height of his standards. If this is the highway to holiness, how do we gain entrance to it? God has to make us holy. That is the work of sanctification, but that is also primarily the righteousness of Christ which is given to us. That's our toll onto this highway. Isaiah did not say how God raises people to the heights of this standard, but we know as we look at the rest of scripture, that it is because of the righteousness of Christ which is imputed to us and then the sanctifying work which God accomplishes in us by the indwelling spirit. Another characteristic of this highway is that it will be well marked. You ever be traveling down the road and Just wish there was a sign somewhere to give you the confidence that you're in the right place, going in the right direction. No problems like that with this highway. It will be for him who walks that way and fools will not wander on it. Read that word wander as go astray. Quite often the word fool in scripture refers to one who is morally deficient. But in this context, it carries the idea that the way of holiness is so clear that traveling upon it is not dependent upon human ability. Every person, even those who are not so bright, will not wander, they will not go astray off of this highway. All of those who are the recipients of God's grace, who are the ransomed, will see the signage clearly, and they will stay on the road. What else does Isaiah tell us about this highway? He tells us that it is a perfectly safe highway. It is a highway free from danger. No lion will be there, verse 9, nor will any vicious beast go up on it. These will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk there. Nothing and no one will be able to destroy what God has ransomed. And finally, this highway is a highway filled with joy. The ransomed of the Lord will return. and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads, they will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Amazing, astonishing, everlasting gladness and joy await those who have been ransomed when they complete their journey to Zion. Isaiah wanted the people of God to have great hope as they would experience this indescribable joy at the end of their journey to Zion. So, what have we seen? First, God promises the ransomed a new world. Second, He promises the ransomed a new life. And third, He promises the ransomed a new highway. After having analyzed the ransomed of the Lord as set forth here in Isaiah 35, we need to make sure that we are part of the ransomed. Because this only applies to the ransomed. It only applies to those who are in right relationship with God. If you're a Christian, then you are one of the ransomed. And you have this great expectation of joy when you come to the end of your earthly pilgrimage and meet the Lord face to face. You have a wonderful welcome awaiting you. Let me read you a portion of the concluding pages of the second part of Pilgrim's Progress. You do know there's a second part, don't you? Many of you are familiar with the first part in which Christian makes his way from the city of destruction to the celestial city. In part two, his wife Christiana, along with their children, follow him along that same journey. And at the end of part two, we read this, Christiana speaking. I see myself now at the end of my journey. My toilsome days are ended. I am going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns and that face that was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight and shall be with him in whose company I delight myself. I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot to. His name has been to me as a civet box, yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His voice to me has been most sweet, and his countenance I have more desired than they that have most desired the light of the sun. His word I did use to gather for my food and for antidotes against my faintings. He has held me, and I have kept me from mine iniquities. Yea, my steps hath he strengthened in his way. And here we are at the end of the message. And you may be thinking, I thought this was supposed to be about Christmas. And it is. You heard it in the words of Bunyan. I am going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns and that face that was spit upon for me. You see, the highway of which Isaiah has spoken is not a one-way street. The only reason you and I, as the ransomed of God, are able to travel that highway to the celestial city is because there was one who first traveled from the celestial city to us. The only reason we can leave this fallen world and arrive in glory is because there was first one who left glory to come into this fallen world. We are the ransomed ones. But how were we ransomed? What price was paid? God himself traveled that highway from glory to a manger in Bethlehem. He grew in favor with God and man. He encouraged the exhausted and he strengthened the feeble. He said to those with anxious hearts, fear not. He opened the eyes of the blind and he unstopped the ears of the deaf. He caused the lame to leap and the mute to shout for joy. It is Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, the Babe of Bethlehem, of whom Isaiah spoke. It is He who is the glory and the majesty of God which was seen. It is He who has saved. It is He who has redeemed. It is He who has paid our ransom. And it is He who bids us now come with joyful shouting into Zion, where we will find gladness and joy and wherever every sorrow and sighing will flee away. All of this is true because he traveled the highway first. Thank you, Father, for sending your son on that journey from glory to Bethlehem. Our lives, our eternity depend upon what He has done. He has come and He has ransomed us and we are grateful. Father, help us to trust in your great and precious promises that one day you will bring us into that celestial city. And we will rejoice to see the face of our Savior. Praise you, Father. We rejoice in this. In the name of our Savior, we pray. Amen. Let's stand together as we conclude our service this morning. In the bleak midwinter, frosty Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone. Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow on snow. In the bleak midwinter, Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain. Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign. A stable place of vice The Lord God Almighty Jesus Christ Angels and archangels May have gathered there But his mother only in her maiden bliss Worshipped the beloved with a kiss. What then can I give? more as I am if I were a shepherd I would bring the lamb if I were a wise man I would do my part Father, we ask that having paid the ransom, you would take our hearts and all that we are and use them, Father, for your glory as you see fit. Cause us, Father, to rejoice this Christmas season, that the one who came as a child, accomplished all that was necessary to purchase us, to be our ransom. We thank you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. God bless you, everyone. about what I did to actually go and exit. Okay folks if you don't have a if you don't have a budget report John Lampe is Searching you out So go ahead and raise a hand or something I Whoa, okay. As much as I hate to interrupt, Yeah, sure, we can do that. Either that or we could go back to the original Latin. That's a great idea, actually. Thank you for that. Okay, folks, if we can grab a seat. All right. If there are members out in the foyer, if you would come in, please. All right. All right. Very good. So look at this, Chris's first week back and he's serving already, he's taking care of the doors, everything is as it should be, praise God. All right, let's have a word of prayer and read a bit of the word and then we'll get to our reports. Ephesians chapter four begins this way. Therefore, I, a prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Father, we thank you that as there is one God, there is one body of Christ. You have knit us together, Father, by your Spirit, and we are united together, united first in Christ and then to one another. And we pray, Father, that this day would be a demonstration of that unity as you call us, Father, to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. We thank you even as we begin today with the many years of peace and unity that you have blessed us with. And it is indeed a great blessing, and we are thankful. Father, be with us now as we speak about the ministry of your church, that you might be glorified in it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, our treasurer, John Vaughn, is going to come and give us the financial report for the quarter. Unprepared. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our Lord as treasurer. I thank you for that. It's a great witness to see the daily finance going in and out of church, and God constantly provides for his people in abundance. I mean, we meet our bills, and we're actually growing a little bit, and it's just a blessing to be such a close part of that, to witness that. So we go to the first page. First quarter summary report for May 1st through July. Just go quickly through that. Our checking account started at $12,594. We started—is that better, everybody? All right. We started at $1294. We ended that quarter at $1479, so a little bit of growth in the checking account balance. The savings account, likewise, just kind of stayed flat, just the interest is accruing on that. Fellowship fund grew. About $500 if anybody has a need, wants to bring a need to the deacons of the church. We have plenty of money in the funds there that we'd like to disperse and help God's people. Capital Improvement Fund, it's about the same. We're into expenses, too many expenses for the first quarter. Second quarter, if anybody has any questions on the first quarter. Our balance started $14,795, ended at $16,556, continued a little bit of increase there. Our general account savings is accruing interest at the same rate. That was money that we keep just in the savings as we carry about $15,000 to $20,000 in the checking account to cover the quarterly expenses. So that's just money that's on hold that we have in excess there for $15,400 in the savings account. Philipship Fund, again, grew by a few hundred dollars. Capital Improvement Fund started at 22,417. We ended at A few big expenses this past quarter. We had to replace the well pump, I believe it was. And we also had to replace the water pressure tank. Both those expenses were over $3,000. And in addition, one other big expense was a new front door on the ramp. There's a new front door installed there. If you go to the third page, the itemized line items on the budget. For the most part, when I reviewed this, we look pretty even. Our expenses are matching what our year-to-date budget is. So if we go down to 100 line items, we're at year-to-date actual 16,230. Our budget is 16,882. The 200 payroll expenses, that's about right in line where it should be, right down to, through all our line items. We're just about in line. I did notice a little higher spending on the four, what was it? Curriculum for Sunday school. We started a new... Sunday school year. That will even out throughout the year. That was the only one thing I saw might suck up, but that's what I assumed it was going to be. 501. So our spending, year to date, 92,092. That's the last line, second number from the right on that page. Our year to date budget is 95,161. So our spending is pretty much in line with what we're budgeted. Our income, Our receipts have been, offerings have been well, and we just seem to be overall in good health. God is providing for us in abundance, and we thank him. Any questions? Okay, great. Praise God. Thank you, John, and thank you to our deacons. Of course, one thing that is quite a bit off is line 303, because heating oil is probably going to even out as we go along. But we're in good shape. Praise God for that. And God always provides. Amen. This is all done. This was last year. There are going to be a couple of other things because we would like to get monitors so that the people up on the platform can hear what's going on. Anything you want to give, we will gladly accept. But yes, everything we've got right now is done, and there will be a couple 1,500, 2,000 that are going to go to monitors at some point. But this is done as far as the big expenses on the sound system. Yes. Okay. Again, praise God, not only for his provision, but for those who serve. Our deacons and John, our treasurer, just doing a wonderful job as always, so thank you. Let me just run down an elder's report with you, let you know what is going on and what God has been doing. Our weekly ministries continue as usual. Joe has been teaching our adult discipleship class on heaven. That has been going very well, and I've heard from many how appreciative they are of that. We've got our children's discipleship class, as we mentioned earlier, up and running, and praise God for the teachers that he has raised up. Praise God for the children that he has raised up. We are grateful. So that is moving along and we're going to be looking at how we can expand that and improve as we do all of our ministries as we go along. Worship, we have completed our study in the Pastoral Epistles and the Messianic Psalms and now, of course, in this short series on Christmas in Isaiah. I hope that is proving profitable for you. Also, as we move into the new year, we'll begin our study in Romans. So just after the new year, that's where we're going to begin. If you want to start reading ahead in Paul's epistle to the Romans, this will, as far as I am aware, be the first time that I've preached a book of the Bible for the second time. But I'm looking forward to that. My plan is like every 15 years to go back to Romans. So we'll see if we get there again after this one. In our midweek Bible studies, we're coming to the end of our study in the Book of Acts on Tuesdays. Wednesday nights we have concluded our study in Ecclesiastes and are involved in a study of Paul's epistle to the Colossians, and then Thursday morning we are studying the Gospel of Mark. While all that is going on, we have, of course, other ministries that may not be weekly, but are ongoing. The women's ministry is continuing on in their study of the names of God. And Janet and I get together every now and then, and we talk through that, and that is just a joy for me to sit down with Janet and talk about those things. And in addition to that, of course, there are special things going on, like yesterday's ladies' tea, which was just a wonderful time. If you missed that, you missed a good day of fellowship together. Ethel did a great job teaching about the wonderful counselor. And we had a good time singing together as well. If you haven't been coming out to those events, ladies, please make it a point to. They're very well worth attending. Men's ministry, we have pretty much on a monthly basis, get together on Saturday mornings, the first Saturday of the, yeah. We get together on Saturday mornings on the first Sunday of, no wonder nobody's showing up. First Saturday of the month, and again, it's always a good time of fellowship and worship and teaching. We were involved in the men's retreat in, was it November? A little different on the scheduling this year, but Grace Baptist Church down in Woodhaven hosts a men's retreat every year. And some of us went down there this year once again, I think, I don't know how many years, three, four years that I've been preaching there at that retreat. And always a good time to get together with men from other fellowships of like faith and enjoy the weekend with them. We had a reformation service, of course, Grace and Truth comes up and joins us for that, for a service. dinner together, and I have had several from both of our churches tell me how that's one of the things they look forward to every year, and as do I. That's a really good time. We've been through a new members class, and we praise God for that. We have a few more interviews to conclude, and then soon after the new year, we'll be scheduling baptisms and the reception of new members. So at our next members meeting, there will be a few more of us, and praise God for that as well. A few things going on in outside ministry. I mentioned the men's retreat that I preached at. I'm now and then going to preach in other churches as well, which is always a joy. I've been asked to teach a preaching seminar sometime after the New Year as well, so we're working on those details also. End of January, Mitch Glazer is going to be here, and I think it's the last week, last Sunday of January, and we always enjoy having Mitch with us, so he'll be back then. And then all the usual things that are going on behind the scenes that nobody really sees. Ongoing counseling and discipleship. And one of the great things that is happening now that I'm thrilled about is that I'm not the only one doing these things. There are relationships that are kind of coming together organically of discipleship and people are asking others, will you disciple me? And those kinds of things are taking place within our fellowship. And that's just a glorious thing to see. There are some of our number who are taking it upon themselves to be trained in biblical counseling also. And that can only serve to be a blessing to the church at large. And so we praise God for all of those things. Of course, we also want to thank God for the people that he has raised up to assist in all kinds of different ministries, our hospitality ministry, our music ministry. Tess and Joanne are always a blessing, and God has raised up JP and David as well to join with me to provide music for God's people to sing to and just really encouraged with what God is doing in our fellowship and I trust that you are praying along with me for God to do more. We always want God to do more through us to reach this world and our communities and our families and to edify God's people and mature us as a church. So we are very grateful. And that's about all I've got. So one of the things, and I should mention this, because we come to these, and these quarterly meetings are generally simply informative. Every now and then there will be an issue that we have to deal with, but primarily it's to inform everyone how we're doing financially, what's going on in the ministry as we've just done. Our Constitution says that if someone has an issue they would like to raise, that it needs to be done ahead of time. The elders need to be spoken to and so forth. One of the reasons we've had peace and unity for so long is because we don't conduct our church as a free-for-all. there is a leadership structure within the church. And if you've got a question, if you've got something that you would like to talk about, your first step is to come to Joe and I, because we might be able to deal with that among the three of us. And if not, well, all right, then maybe we can bring in some more people. But God has blessed us tremendously, and I just want you to understand that, because it is not something that is typical of some churches, that they have had such a long period of peace and unity. And I think this is one of the reasons. And I wanted to say that because for some reason it came to my mind that somebody might be thinking, well, how come nobody else ever has anything much to say? And this is one of the reasons, because we're not just going to throw out issues in a public meeting that haven't been considered beforehand. If there is something, we want to be thoughtful about it. And I trust, I hope, that Joseph and I have, over the years, earned enough trust that you would be comfortable in doing that and knowing that whatever your concern might be, it's not just gonna be blown off. So, for what it's worth, That's why these meetings are fairly short. We also want to be efficient and be respectful of everybody's time and not just have things go on and on and on and on and resolve nothing. We do have a system in place, and it's right there in the Constitution, that is not to put anybody off. It is so that things are done decently and in order. So, if you have anything, if you have an idea for, you know, a ministry that the church should be involved in or the way something should be done, come and talk to us. Also, be aware, I'm probably going to say that's a great idea, why don't you do it? But feel free, okay? All right. Well, praise God. It's been a good morning, and God is to be honored and thanked. Yes, David. David's going to ignore what I just said now. Oh, okay, I thought it had been fixed. Okay, great, thank you. One of the things that God has done for us, and this comes out of our Reformation service actually, there is a good brother who actually lives closer to us, and I need to talk to him about this, who attends Grace and Truth. But he is really good with the sound, and he helped us out tremendously when he came up. And he came up after the Reformation service as well to help us out. So I think if we're still having trouble with that, then we have someone to call. So thank you, David. All right. Well, let's pray together. Father, thank you again for a wonderful morning, for good worship, Father. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Father, for the peace that you have brought to us. We are grateful. Continue to do good things amongst your people and through us, Father. We ask that you would use us to glorify your name and to bring the name of Christ, Father, to those who need to hear. In Jesus' name, we do ask it. Amen. God bless you, everybody.