Morning church family, how is everyone doing today?
Doing well? That didn't sound very enthusiastic.
Happy Sabbath.
Amen. I'm glad to hear that.
It's such a wonderful blessing to be able to be here with y'all and preach.
One of my favorite things to do is preach and come and preach the word at a different church,
where I can meet and fellowship with many other believers.
Today's message is Isaiah 54,
the husband and his bride.
We didn't really get to get things set up here, but that's okay.
It's fine. Should be okay.
The whole entire purpose of this sermon today is to illustrate
God's redemptive love and who He is in terms of our relationship with Him.
So I just want to go ahead and bow our heads one more time for prayer and invite Him yet again.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for all that you do.
I thank you so much for using me as a co-laborer, as a humble vessel for you, Lord.
And I pray and ask that you would put your words inside of my mouth like Jeremiah, Lord,
as you did with the prophet Isaiah, Lord,
and that you would continue to be with the entirety of the congregation as we go through this message.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So I want to start today with giving every married man here a scenario.
I want you to picture your wife being attacked by a mountain lion.
Who here would go out of their way to save their wife?
I would say you would go out of your way or you'd be in big trouble, right?
So any man would go out of his way.
Naturally, any husband in his right mind would not hesitate to do something to save his wife.
He might exchange his life for his wife.
He might pick up a donkey's jawbone and kill the lion if he can, filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
You see, God in like manner, He has seen His people in distress in the past,
and He sees His people in distress in today's age.
I want to point you to a specific passage in Scripture, specifically in Hosea 2, 18 and 20.
If you got your Bibles, you can go there.
Hosea 2, 18 through 20.
And it reads,
I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground.
And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land.
I will make you to lie down in safety.
I will betroth you to me forever.
I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and mercy.
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.
You shall know the Lord.
See, the context here in this passage, it is in light of a spiritually adulterous Israel.
They were giving leeways to idols.
Today in the Sabbath school, we were talking about praise and worship.
And it can be so easy to forget the Lord when we give ourselves onto the flesh.
That position that they were in was in giving leeway to idols.
You know, Hosea takes on a wife that's a harlot in order to represent the position of God
and who he was, one as willing to accept us even when we have deeply betrayed him and
when we have forgotten him.
Also the Babylonian mentality and spirituality.
I mean look around us right now, all across the world.
We are living in Mystery Babylon the Great.
And you see the Babylonian mentality and it only continues to get worse and worse, progressively
worse.
But here we see the repeat, or better said the past of that.
And it continues to come around.
There's nothing new under the sun.
So that mentality was really the problem.
And I wanted to help to illuminate the importance of the bride submitting to God's will.
The specific passages from Isaiah 54 and 1 through 17, if everyone can go there, give
you some time to get there to Isaiah 54 1 through 17.
I just want to just read through this chapter so we can see the difference between a good
bride and a harlot.
And if you get there, can you give me a hearty amen?
Amen.
Okay, okay.
So let's read.
And it says, sing barren woman, you who never bore a child, burst into song, shout for joy
you who were never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate women than
of her who has a husband, says the Lord.
Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back, lengthen
your cords, strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left, your descendants will dispossess
nations and settle in their desolate cities.
Do not be afraid.
You will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace.
You will not be humiliated.
You will not be forgotten.
The shame that you will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach
of your widowhood.
For your maker is your husband.
The Lord Almighty is his name.
The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.
He is called the God of all the earth.
The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit,
a wife who was married young, only to be rejected, says your God.
For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you, says the Lord your Redeemer.
To me this is like the days of Noah when I swore that the waters of Noah would never
again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you
will not be shaken.
For my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with lapis lazuli.
I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls
of precious stones.
All your children will be taught by the Lord and great will be their peace.
What a wonderful thought, isn't it?
And righteousness you will be established.
Tyranny will be far from you.
You will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed.
It will not come near you.
If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing.
Whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
See, it is I who created the blacksmith, who fans the coals into flame and forgets the
weapon fit for its work.
God has created evil by giving us the choice.
He evidently has created evil.
Although he did not have the thought of a devil in mind, right, but he knew that Lucifer
from that choice.
So he created the possibility for evil.
No weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses
you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication for me,
declares the Lord.
See, we have a huge difference.
On one side in Hosea we have a harlot, so quick to be unfaithful to the Lord.
And then on the other side we have a faithful bride, adorned for her husband.
You see the difference is the faithfulness in the bride herself.
You know, God will give his people a grand reward.
In the first four verses there is a triumphant song of birth in relation to the wonderful
gospel being spread to all the earth and how the bride, she's prepared to do that work.
You know, the wonderful blessed hope.
And Isaiah 54, four through five, I want to emphasize these verses here.
Fear not, for you will not be ashamed.
Be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced.
For you will not forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood.
You will remember no more.
For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel
is your Redeemer.
I want to note some key words here.
He is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
These key words should be not afraid, ashamed, confounded, disgraced, Redeemer, and husband.
Two Hebrew words that I wish we had it up here, but we couldn't get it.
But it doesn't matter.
I won't bore you all the Greek and all the Hebrew, I promise.
But these are some very specific words are the words Tevoshy, which means to be ashamed,
v'yolik, which is husband.
And to be ashamed is in direct relation to the Babylonians.
During the time of Isaiah, there was a lot of prophecies that were geared towards the
things to come.
Later on, Cyrus he would come and liberate them from the Babylonian mentality.
But it was during that time that they also had this thought of captivity in mind.
And in specific references also related to the Egyptian exodus of God's people.
And v'yolik is in relation to God's covenant faithfulness.
You see a good husband, he cares for his wife.
He covers his wife.
He cares for her needs, he comforts her in her distress, he alleviates her, he leads
her, he spiritually nourishes her, and he endures with her.
That's the type of God that we serve, a God that is steadfast, a God that has long suffering.
You know that charity comes about from the Lord.
That is the essence of the bridegroom.
And verses seven through 10 expresses the compassion of the bridegroom and how by it
we are redeemed.
You know the Lord evidently he has had to take his loving hand away from his people
various times.
We see this cycle of falling away and backsliding and God having to send his prophets or his
judges to come and bring his people back into the fold.
However the Lord he doesn't hide his face forever.
He does come back.
For a short while he does step away but it's not forever.
The Lord he calls his people with compassion.
He's not the type of father that won't accept the prodigal son.
He'll slay the fatted calf.
You know and I'm sure that every parent in this room, every good parent in this room
can understand to call their children back in.
You know the father is such a tender parent and he has infinite pain.
Think about all the pain you've ever felt in this world.
Now think about that infinitely.
That is the scope for God's pain but it's also the scope for his love.
The Lord's mercy it endures.
His truth is everlasting.
His mercy endures to all generations as Psalm 105 says.
And his love it cannot be shaken.
You know verses 11 through 15 they also show the unfolding of his love.
And the prize that waits for the faithfulness of his servants.
It's an expressive prophecy of the new Jerusalem.
It is the dissipation of sin and tyranny all in one fell swoop.
You know you can see the beautiful parallels too in regards to Revelation 21 and 19 through
20 if you have your Bibles you can turn to Revelation 21 19 through 20.
And it reads and when you get there give me a hearty amen.
Everybody there amen amen okay awesome.
And it reads the foundation of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious
stone the first foundation was Jasper the second sapphire the third against the fourth
emerald the fifth onyx the sixth ruby the seventh teresalate the eighth barrel the ninth
topaz the tenth turquoise the eleventh jacinth and the twelfth emus the twelve gates were
twelve pearls and each made of a single pearl the great street of the city was gold as pure
as transparent glass.
You know isn't it amazing how books so far apart can have such striking detail at least
798 years had passed by between that.
It shows God's amazing miraculous intervention.
And not only is there such striking detail in this passage in Isaiah 54 but it's in the
entirety of the book of Isaiah it's steeped with the things to come.
You know the Lord is most certainly he's illustrating his grand authorship in the narrative of Scripture.
Now what an amazing thing that we get to be a part of that amen.
It's a wonderful thing to be co-laborers with him that we get to go out and meet people
and show them the love of Christ the love that has been bestowed upon us.
I know that when I first came into the church one of the things that grasped me the most
was when somebody came in with a smile and they invited me to their home.
That's the love of Christ and when we go and we give people Bible studies and we spend
time with them and we meet them where they're at.
That's the love of Christ.
Anybody can love their family member but it takes true love to be able to love a stranger
or even love your enemy.
On the other hand you know it's not coming without a cost.
It has cost the Lord so much.
It cost the Lord the life of his son that we may have such a wonderful blessing.
It's also vital to know that the prize is not for those who do not produce good fruit.
Although there might be some cases in which by faith some is saved just as the thief in
the cross evidently he produced fruit after his death.
As many people talk about his faith.
So one way or another he produced a fruit and one way or another if you have true faith
you shall produce fruit.
And also in Romans chapter 2 it talks about the written law in our hearts and how the
Gentiles, some Gentiles are saved because they're judged according to the written law
that's in their hearts.
So Revelation 22 and 12 can go there and read and when you get there give me a hearty amen.
Revelation 22 and 12 and behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man
according as his work shall be.
James 2 also in James 2 14 through 18.
What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and if one of you says
to them go in peace be warmed and be filled without giving them the things needed for
the body what good is that?
So also faith by itself if it does not have works it is dead.
But someone will say you have faith and I have works.
Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.
You see friends the direct result of faith is the production of fruit as it pertains
to Christ living his redemptive life through us.
Ephesians 2 8 through 10 it says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that
is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works lest any man should
boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.
You know it's so interesting how there's so many churches out there that they just
pass over that part made onto good works.
They go straight into we're saved by grace and faith and that's the only thing that
they see that's so important to read in context.
God is a God of entirety he's not just a part.
In Romans 8 3 through 4 says for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not
do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin
in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk
not according to the flesh but according to the spirit to worship and spirit in truth.
What is it that that that Jesus said to the Samaritan woman when they were at the well?
Does anybody everybody should know that who knows it can somebody tell me?
What did Jesus say to the Samaritan woman at the well?
Give me to drink right?
Said to give me to drink and and she said are you sure you want to take a drink from
me?
I'm basically a Gentile I'm a Samaritan.
Say if you know who it is that asked you for a drink he would give you living water.
Let me have some of that to drink so that I may have this living water.
It pertains back to the spirit a fountain made inside us a spring of everlasting life
made inside us to worship in spirit and truth is is is beyond anything that humans can comprehend.
That's why a majority of the world fails at realizing Jesus's message because they did
not understand the fact that they had to subject themselves onto truth and Jesus often spoke
in parables too and they could not see because it was revealed the mystery of the gospel
was revealed and ordained onto those who subject themselves onto Jesus.
Now it's so apparent that that we can never attain neither fruitful works of Christ without
faith nor can we receive the heavenly kingdom without having done what the father asked
us to do.
There will be many who on that day say Lord Lord Matthew 7 21 through 23 not everyone
who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of
my father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name drive out demons in your name
your name perform many miracles then I will say to them plainly I never knew you away
from me you evildoers.
Who here has ever watched a sermon from a mega church before one of those mega churches
that tell you to sow a three thousand dollar seed right now I am totally with tithing okay
but if you're making the principle of your ministry on money then are you serving the
God that we serve.
The tithe is to go and to bring the world the gospel for reproduction not so that you
can go and buy a three million dollar jet right and so that's the whole entire essence
of the work.
The essence of the work is surrender there's a wonderful song take my life and let it be
not a might what I withhold it's one of my favorite songs and it's a beautiful song and
so not everyone who says Lord Lord is going to be there.
You know we do not we do not do this for the works we do not we are not saved by our works
but it's because we have been saved that we will do his good pleasure.
We shall produce because of this.
This is the type of people that God finds acceptable are those who are willing to submit
themselves to his will and do his good will.
He does not find acceptable those who offer up works in vain those who who fast vainly
and those who who offer up idle words so that they can record be recognized.
Neither does the Lord regard vain prayers.
He knows our sincerity.
The wicked will say oh how shall how shall I be found.
No one has seen the things that I have done.
Everything is done in the dark but everything that is done in the dark will eventually come
to light at one point in another.
Who who who who throw up vain prayers the parable in which the Lord shows the dichotomy
between this is is the repentance sinner and and the self righteous Pharisee.
Everyone has heard of this one for sure and it's it's it's one that that is so prevalent
in today's age.
True repentance.
What is true repentance.
I know I'd rather be the repentance sinner than the self righteous Pharisee.
Rather than being a self righteous man that is covered with his own robes and and finds
all his tithes and and and increased to be sufficient and his salvation and his fasting
makes him greater somehow than than the repentance sinner.
Luke 18 9 through 14 we can read through it for a moment to see to to some who were confident
of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.
Jesus told this parable two men went up to the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the
other a tax collector.
Who was a tax collector the lowest of the low.
You are the enemy.
The Jews did not like you because you were serving Caesar right.
And the Pharisee stood by himself and prayed God I thank you that I am not like other people
robbers evildoers adulterers or even this tax collector.
Imagine that you just go to a prison haha I'm not like you.
Can you imagine that.
When just the other day you were doing something that probably that person was in there doing
the only way we could ever reach the sanctification process if if Jesus is living his life through
us if he takes his spirit away from us we might as well just be a robber because sin
is sin at the end of the day although maybe you shouldn't.
But you know what I mean right.
There's still ways to live this this life but it'll be a vain existence you know.
And the other man he what did he do.
The Pharisee told him at least I'm not like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all that I get.
But the tax collector stood at a dense distance and he would not even look up to heaven.
You wouldn't even look up but be at his breast.
I said God have mercy on me a sinner.
I tell you that this man rather than the other went home justified before God for all those
who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted is wanting
a people who will offer themselves up who will realize they have no strength that they
are frail because we are frail in the grand scheme of things we are frail human beings
but we have a strong God amen.
We have a strong God and he is wanting a people that will serve with gladness.
He wants true and genuine humility.
This requires the flushing of self.
I want to give you a little bit about my past.
I used to be pretty full of myself.
I was in the music industry.
I used to be a rapper and I would sing R&B and for a very long time I was I was immersed
in this culture.
I was I was immersed in in in this industry and and and rap in many cases is like boasting
of self.
It's like being a professional liar.
It really is and this type of culture pervaded my life and and my arrogance got me to a point
where where I would even get into physical trouble.
I physically got into trouble and because of that I experienced humbling in my life.
It wasn't until I decided to humble myself that I started to experience true change in
my life.
I had so many stumbling blocks and I needed to change my life for the better and I started
to experience God's love.
It gave me a desire to do his work as well.
You know there's a beautiful verse that coincides with this and you know that that moment for
me it changed the course and history of my life.
That was a pivotal point.
Jeremiah 29 11 through 13 says I for I know the thoughts I have for you say if the Lord
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.
My life was volatile.
I didn't know where I was going to end up.
I just knew I was going forward right and even when I was going forward sometimes I
was veering to the left to the right to every which way for you shall call on to me and
you shall pray on to me and I shall hearken on to you and you shall seek me and you shall
find me when you search for me with all your heart.
I needed to stop and search and that's when I found God.
You know surrender is the key to being able to know God.
Isaiah 58 9 through 11 says and then you will call and the Lord will answer you will cry
for help and he will say here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression with the pointing finger and malicious talk
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed
then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always.
He will satisfy your needs.
He will satisfy your needs and in sun scorched land he will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well watered garden like a spring whose waters never fail.
Who wants to be a spring that waters never fail.
I want to be a spring.
I want to be a well watered garden.
The workmanship that we are called to is to be tenders of the vineyard.
Called to water people who are spiritually famished.
The chain reaction you know the follows here is the Lord he waters us and then we are allowed
to water other people.
We have to be fed.
We have to be nourished in order to water others.
You know the problem with Israel was that they were unfaithful.
You know the Lord he takes care of his servants but in unfaithfulness he has no other choice
but to take away his hand.
They were backsliding and it was causing separation.
Isaiah 59 verse 2 says but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and
your sins have hid his face from you and that he will not hear you.
If we cannot speak to him he cannot instruct us.
If we will not subject ourselves onto his ways God cannot be in the presence of sin.
Because why there are so many false theologies out there.
You know there has to be a sanctification process in order for us to have a perfect
heaven.
And Matthew 28 16 through 20 says then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain
where Jesus had told them to go.
We saw him they worshiped him there but some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them and said all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me the
great commission.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and
of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.
We are called to be co-laborers with him and he will strengthen us every step of the way
every step of the way.
You know and it's a divine ordinance by heaven.
There's still so much work to be done that the only way it's going to get done if we
end up going out there and doing it.
If every person here evangelizes one person each year we'll be on a steady track to getting
more people into the church.
We need to be spiritually fed and continue to move forward in that way.
You know there's a wonderful quote by Mrs. White that really paints the picture of the
kind of dedication that is needed and this is in Gospel Workers and it reads, they were
weak they were by nature as weak and helpless as any of those now engaged in the work but
they put their whole trust in the Lord.
Wealth they had but it consisted of mind and soul culture and this everyone may have who
will make God first and last and best in everything.
They told long to learn the lessons given them in the school of Christ and they did
not toil in vain.
They bound themselves up with the mightiest of all powers and were ever longing for a
deeper, higher, broader comprehension of eternal realities that they might successfully present
the treasures of truth to a needy world.
Tensions of this character are needed now men who will consecrate themselves without
reserve to the work of representing the kingdom of God to a world lying in wickedness.
The world needs men of thought, men of principle, men who are constantly growing in an understanding
and discernment.
There is a great need of men who can use the press to the best advantage so that the truth
may be given wings to speed it to every nation and tongue and people.
Who here is grateful for Ellen White's ministry?
Amen right?
I am extremely grateful for what God gifted us with through Ellen White's ministry.
And we see a lot of these things starting to be fulfilled now right?
But her herself said we wouldn't even need her writings if we would all subject ourselves
to the spirit of the truth in worship in the word and fulfill the great commission.
But it's a great thing that we have had the luxury of having the prophetess.
There are so many tools that are accessible to us today.
And our churches and whether you be small or a grand church, if you use well the things
that God has given you, more things shall be added onto you.
So there's no force that can go against God's people.
There's no imperial power that can overcome his might.
There are no powers in high places that can stop the will of the father from being done.
He is ultimately in control.
The imperial fact throughout history is that God's people have been delivered by faithfulness.
Though to the world it may seem that the promise of the kingdom is ethereal or to God to be
too true, too good to be true.
It is more than real to those who have faith.
And I want to read to you from Corinthians 18 through 25.
You know, to the world what we do is foolishness, but unto God it is wisdom.
And if you get there, let me know and say an amen.
So it's 1 Corinthians 18 through 25.
When you get there, say amen.
Amen?
Amen.
Okay.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent,
I will frustrate.
Where is the wise person?
Where is the teacher of the law?
Where is the philosopher of this age?
He has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased
through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand signs and Greeks, they look for wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
But to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger
than human strength.
It is so much better to serve the Lord.
Amen?
Amen.
It is so much better to serve the Lord than to serve the vain philosophies of the world.
There are so many.
I've been through a variety of them and I can tell you that it all at the end of the
day is related to self rather than selflessness.
I want to leave you on that.
The problem with this world is in regard to self.
While the people of this world are constantly looking for gratification, the people of God
should find their gratification in Him, the Lord He knows our intimate wants and desires
and He is just to fulfill them.
One must understand the good pleasures and desires when one reaches spiritual maturity
and in relation, you know, one is not spiritually fed then he will not be able to feed another.
The whole essence of Isaiah 54, that reward to come is for those who are doing the gospel
work.
You know, there comes a time when one must partake in the meat, fortify themselves in
order to bring about the fruits of the gospel.
God's people are disciple makers.
They have been called to do this grand work.
And we come to realize that that work for Him is just as much for us as it is for the
people that we are serving.
A life of service has merit in Jesus Christ and that merit is the wonderful fulfilling
of the cross and the promise to come in Isaiah 54 spanning between 794 years to 796 years
until Revelation.
Let's bow our heads for prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you so much for this opportunity to be able to
preach here and be with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pray and ask that you would be with all of them, Lord, and that you will bring that
fire inside of them to evangelize, Lord, to bring people into the fold, Lord.
If everyone is just working on one person, one person each year, but we shall not limit
you, Lord.
You can use us in a variety of ways.
There are so many ways to bring about a testimony, so many ways to evangelize.
One testimony, friendship, evangelism, actual literal Bible studies, proclamation, however
it may be, Lord, that you may lead us and guide us, that you may flush us of self, that
you may fill us with your truth, Lord, for the great commission is what leads us to the
great hope, the blessed hope.
Revelation 14, to be part of the 144,000, Lord, that should be the striving in every
man and woman's hearts.
This is my prayer.
This is our prayer, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.