Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86335/the-way-of-holiness/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Isaiah 35. [0:12] It talks about a way that we can travel, a journey that we can take. And rejoice even with joy and singing. [0:32] The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it. The excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord. And the excellency of our God. [0:45] Strengthen ye the weak hands. And confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of fearful heart. Be strong. Fear not. [0:56] Behold your God will come. With vengeance even God. With a recompense. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. [1:07] And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an heart. And the tongue of the dumb sink. For in the wilderness shall waters break out. [1:20] And streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool. And the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of dragons where it's lay. [1:32] Shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there. And a way. And it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. [1:45] But it shall be for those. The wayfaring men. Though fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there. Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. [1:57] It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come. To Zion with singing. With songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. [2:10] They shall obtain joy and gladness. And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Amen. Praise the Lord. The way of holiness. Our text tells us of this way. [2:24] This way to live. This way to walk. This way to be. And there's some themes here that we can take heart in through this chapter. Some themes that stood out to me as signposts if you like. [2:37] On this journey. On this way. On this travelling that we make in life called the way of holiness. And it's evidenced by the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. [2:50] And we can join the travellers on this journey. Along this highway. We can join their company. But it's a select company. [3:02] It's a select company. You know we sing a song in our book. When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. And of course when we say. When we use the word all. We're talking about the saved. [3:14] The all will get to heaven. And we will be rejoicing again. In glory. We that love the Lord that are saved. But it's not a given that everyone will be there. [3:27] Only those who are saved can be a part of this company. Because it's the company of the redeemed. The redeemed. [3:39] Or the ransomed. We sing both words in this chapter. The company is the company of the ransomed. The company of the redeemed. What does that mean? Redeemed. [3:49] It means we've been bought with a price. It means that we were. As the picture is. Of slaves in a slave market. Enslaved by sin. [4:00] In bondage. In captivity. And we were released. Redeemed. Spared. By God's grace. He bid his blood for us. [4:10] He paid the ultimate price for us. The wages of sin is death. And he paid those wages for us. By dying in our stead. [4:21] On Calvary's hill. Taking your sin. Taking my sin there. And paying for it in full. But we must be redeemed. We must cry out for him to save us. [4:33] For him to be our saviour. And the company of the saved. Is the company talked about here. On this journey. The company that preaches. That teaches. [4:44] That lives. That stands by the word of God. The Bible. That believes it. And makes it live. In their lives. And has salvation. [4:55] By his grace. And mercy. And his favour. And we need some water. On that journey. Amen. We need some streams. Of living water. But we'll get to those. [5:05] Someone this morning. Was saying to me. You need to jump in the river. And I know what she meant by that. It's a popular. Popular. [5:16] Statement. That some people use. But. But the Bible says. Not to jump in the river. But the river. It's the streams of living water. Flow out of us. We don't jump in the river. The river's in us. [5:27] The river is flowing out of us. The streams of living water. Of the living water. Of God's spirit. Flow out of us. And we know. Some use this. Phrase. [5:37] Jump in the river. But it's really not. Not in here. In the Bible. It's the way of holiness. The way of holiness. Who's on this way? Those who. Name the name of Christ. [5:49] It tells us in 2 Timothy 2.19. They will depart. From iniquity. Now. One of my favourite books. Really beside the Bible. [6:00] I would say. Is my most favourite book. Beside the Bible. You could say. People have heard this before. Pilgrim's Progress. Is jam packed. With Bible verses. With Bible truth. [6:11] And with pictures. I love pictures. You know. I should have been an artist. But. The pictures that are painted in this book. The beautiful pictures. Of fleeing the city of destruction. [6:24] Fleeing that city. And. And. And. Traversing that journey. To the. Heavenly. Heavenly city. And. Friends. [6:35] As much you could. I'd encourage you to take a read of that book. book. And. Just feed on the. The scriptural truth. In that book. And. It's a picture of this way of holiness. You could say. [6:46] They depart from iniquity. And. They find Christ. They turn to Christ. They. Turn from sin. To the saviour. And. That's what Pilgrim did. In Pilgrim's Progress. And. [6:57] He was ready to meet his God. As the Bible says. Prepare. To meet thy God. The. The pilgrims. The travellers on this journey. They're ready. To meet their maker. To. Meet their saviour. [7:09] And. Some of the things that strike me on this journey. I've put as three themes. That strike me. The features of these travellers. And. Of this highway. And. [7:19] We'd like others to join us too. When I say it's a select company. It doesn't mean. Well. We're in. And you're out. And we. You know. We don't care about those that aren't on this journey. [7:30] We want to welcome. And. And beckon. And invite. And constrain others to come. To come and join us on this journey. That we. We're not wanting to keep it to ourselves. We're wanting to communicate the gospel. [7:42] To anyone who's got ears to hear. That they might trust him. You know. It's not. That we. We're wanting to be a select company. In that. We don't care about the lost. Certainly not. [7:53] We must care for the lost. We must reach out. To anyone. That we can. Reach out to. And our desire is to see the lost ones join us. To turn to the saviour. To join us on this way. [8:04] And it's interesting. Right through the word. That we are the way. The Christians are. In Acts. They're called the people of the way. We found the way. The way. [8:14] The truth. And the life. And it's. It's the greatest way. The. The only way. The one way. In Jesus Christ. And one of these things. Is strength in weakness. [8:25] One of the things that stood out. To me. Of the people. On this journey. Are that they have strength. In weakness. Strength in weakness. We see that. For example. In verse three. [8:37] It tells us. Of weak hands. Of feeble knees. And verse four. Of the fearful in heart. I know someone. With the. With the feeble knees. But. Thank God. [8:48] That whatever your condition. If you've got weak hands. If you've got feeble knees. If you've got a feeble mind. If you're fearful in heart. Whatever your state. Whatever you're standing. There's a place for you. [8:59] On this highway. If you're but heeding. Because the strength in weakness. And it's when we are weak. That he becomes strong. It's when we realize how sinful. And utterly undeserving we are. [9:10] Of his way. That we can. Start to even. Open our hearts to receive it. And it says. Strengthen the weak hands. And confirm the feeble knees. [9:21] And Christianity. Is for the weak. It's for the weak. It's for the sinful. It's for the unworthy. As Christ says. It didn't come. To call the righteous. [9:32] But sinners. To repentance. Who was it who hurt him? Who was it who came to him? The prostitutes. The vile. The wicked. The corrupt. [9:45] The tax collectors. And who were those who rejected him? Who were those who did not heed? Who were those who blocked their ears? The righteous. Those who had it all together. As the world recounted. [9:56] But the strength in weakness. The strength for the weak. And I thank God. You know. I was blessed. By some lovely people. Who were thinking of us this week. Of different cars that were sent. And it's sometimes those that. [10:08] People might discount. And yet I was blessed by those. Those lovely saints. That might not be thought much of by others. That bless my soul. [10:19] It's the weak. It's the feeble. It's the inadequate. That God uses. And blesses. And fills. With himself. And the faith. It's for the weak. [10:31] It's when we realise our inadequacy. When we realise our sinfulness. When we realise the deceitfulness of sin. That we cry out. In our agony. In our pit. In our slime. [10:43] Of mud. Of that miry clay. Of sin. And we cry out. And reach out. And realise his strength. And. The message. [10:55] Is strong. The gospel is strong. It's powerful. As Paul said. For I'm not ashamed. Of the gospel of Christ. For it is. The power of God. Unto salvation. [11:06] To everyone. That believeth. To the Jew first. And also to the Greek. It is. The power of God. I'm not ashamed of it. The power of God. In our weakness. [11:17] We can receive. That powerful word. From God. And the Christian life. Is both. A resisting force. And. A yielding force. As we talked about lately. Will we conform to his will. [11:30] Or conform to this world. The choices are. Are distinct. And opposite. And our burning desire. Is to be like him. Not like the world. Not like. [11:41] The enemy's toys. And trinkets. That would dazzle. And distract. And steer us away from him. But our burning desire. Is to come to him. To be like him. And there's much encouraging. [11:52] Verses in this chapter. It talks about. Fear not. He will come. And save you. If you're fearful. If you're weak. If you're. Feeble. [12:06] He can come. And save you. And thank God. There is strength. In weakness. When we come. To the end of ourselves. He is there. [12:17] When we come. In hunger. In inadequacy. In emptiness. He can fill us. He can take us. Beyond ourselves. And faith can be that mighty. [12:28] Dynamic. Impact. On our hearts. As we let God. Have his way. As he let. As we let God. Energize us. With his divine energy. And empower us. [12:39] And God's people. Through history. These were the weak. They were the weak. They were the inadequate. They were the scorn. And the mocked. As the world would reckon it. [12:50] The way of holiness. It leads strength. In weakness. I was reading of late. Of some old time. Gospel preachers. And I wondered. Would we be. In their number. If we were transported. [13:01] Back in time. To the 1700s. When the old gospel preachers. Would stand out. In the marketplaces. And in the fields. And in the streets. [13:12] In the lanes. In the city places. The churches wouldn't have them. They were non-conformists. They were not authorized. They were not credentialed. [13:23] They were not. Part of the establishment. Of the time. Of the day. And they had to set their faces. Like Flint. As we read. For example. A man called John Furze. [13:33] In the 1700s. Listen to this. And put yourself. In their number. As soon as I began to preach. A man came straight forward. And presented a gun. [13:44] At my face. Swearing. That he would blow my brains out. If I spake another word. However. I continued speaking. And he continued swearing. [13:56] Sometimes putting the muzzle. To my mouth. Sometimes the gun. Against my ear. While we were singing. The last hymn. He got behind me. Fired the gun. [14:07] And burnt off part of my hair. Strength in weakness. God uses the weak. God uses the inadequate. God uses the frail. If you're feeling inadequate. [14:18] That's the place to start. The place where he can start with you. There is strength in weakness. Another account. Of another contemporary of John Wesley. A man called John Nelson. [14:28] He coolly described the open air work. Rundlemore is nothing compared to this. John Nelson. Another contemporary of John Wesley. He says. But when I was in the middle of my discourse. One at the outside of the congregation. [14:41] Threw a stone. Which cut me on the head. However that made the people give greater attention. Especially when they saw the blood. Running down my face. [14:51] So all was quiet till I had done. And was singing a hymn. He was almost glad. Because it made the people pay attention. You know I don't know what we had to do. To get people to pay attention. [15:03] To the word of God. But you know what a blessing. There is strength in weakness. These were those that were scorned. And mocked. And derided. In their day. Strength can come in your weakness brother. [15:15] Strength can come in your weakness sister. If you'll just yield to his holy empowerment. Yield to that intense power. Of the power of God's spirit. The power of his word. [15:26] The life changing message of the gospel. Can give us boldness. In all of our inadequacy. And make us stand. By the way. The 17th of December. [15:37] There's street witnessing in Runglemore. At 7 o'clock. If you're free. Why don't you go. Why don't you go. Even just to be part of the crowd. Be one of the hecklers. That helps draw others to come. [15:48] You know. Be a part of it. Be a part of it. Brother. Sister. Be encouraged. We need to be about. The open. Public. Testimony. [15:59] Of the gospel. And we know. There's different ones there. With different views. And ideas. Not all of them we'd stand. Shoulder to shoulder with. But their message. The message of the gospel. [16:11] Is one that needs to be declared. And thank God. It still can be. In the city of churches. So called. Of Adelaide. A second theme on this highway. [16:22] Is streams in the desert. Streams in the desert. We see this. Right through. Isaiah 35. Some of the features of this. Desert. It says. [16:34] In the wilderness. Waters shall break out. This highway of holiness. Is one. That is in the desert. Place. But the streams come there. [16:46] The water comes there. The wilderness. The solitary place. The parts. The thirsty. The waters come. And of course we know. As much as there's different. [16:58] Analogies. The spirit of God. Is spoken of. As being. Streams of living water. Coming out of our belly. As it were. And also. [17:09] The word of God. Can be. Described as. A washing. Of water. By the word. And so. Think of these streams. That we could see. [17:20] Pictured here. The word of God. The spirit of God. The streams in the desert. And think of it. Brother. Sister. The immeasurable power. Of the Holy Spirit. The immeasurable power. [17:32] Of the spirit. That brooded. On the faces. Of the waters. And life was created. The power. Of the spirit of God. That empowered. The men and women of God. [17:42] Through the pages of scripture. That same power. That same spirit. That raised up Christ. From the dead. In that resurrection. Glory. That same spirit. Can dwell within you. [17:54] The immeasurable power. Of the Holy Spirit. Of God. And what happens. When the spirit comes. What happens. When the word comes. That desert place. That solitary place. [18:05] That wilderness place. It says. It shall become a pool. It shall blossom abundantly. It shall be springs. Of water. It shall feel grass. With reeds and rushes. [18:17] Even in this desolate world. Even in this dry. And dusty. And dead. Old nation. Of Australia. This rotten. And godless society. That we live in. [18:28] The living streams. Can come. The living streams. Can come. The glory. The excellency. Of God. Can come. And visit us. And we can believe God. [18:38] For a revival. In our own heart. Even if it be. Just in your heart. It's revival. Isn't it? When the spirit of God. Truly does his work. When the people of God. [18:49] Truly quake. At his word. At his presence. And search their hearts. And confess their sins. And get excited. About evangelizing. The world. We need that. [18:59] Kind of revival. It's not about jumping. In a river. And having a hullabaloo. And a razzmatanz. It's about the spirit. Of the living God. It's about the word. [19:10] Of God. Breaking up. Men's hearts. As the fallow ground. Is broken up. As hearts. Are repenting. In true faith. And. God truly moves. [19:22] That. Kind of revival. That's what we're talking about. A truly. Heaven sent. Revival. Not a man worked up. Revival. A heaven sent. Revival. A revival. That comes by prayer. [19:33] A revival. That comes by seeking his face. As someone wrote to me lately. If we meet the conditions. We shall have it. If we meet the conditions. Of God's word. [19:44] Brother Forbes wrote to me. If we meet the conditions. We shall have it. Revival. But it's got to be God's conditions. Doesn't it? It's got to be God's conditions. [19:54] Not our own way of thinking. Not our own methodology. And that's what someone was telling me earlier. In fact two people. Were telling me before the service started. Not the business side. Of a marketing kind of Christianity. [20:06] That's a man made machine. But the spirit of God. Truly at work. Truly moving. Truly ministering. And that spirit of God. Can jump start us. [20:17] Out of our deadness. Out of our shallowness. Out of our coldness. Even those dry bones in the valley. Can bring. He can bring back to life again. He can jump start. [20:28] The church of God. God. Again. Not by some shallow methodology. Or manufactured method. Of men. But the word of God. [20:39] And the spirit of God. As we return to it. Because the book. Will do the job. The book. That's what we need. I know my brother was sharing this morning. We need to be a people of one book. This is the book that will do the job. [20:51] Not some church growth. Kind of book. As much as there might be. Elements of truth. And even such things. But the book. Shall do the job. Not by man's methodology. [21:02] But God's methodology. And what was that? Elijah. He repaired the altar of the Lord. That was broken down. What did he do? He went back to the altar. That altar that had broken down. [21:14] That altar that was covered in dust. And ruined. And forgotten. Forsaken. Covered in cobwebs. Perhaps. You can imagine. The altar that was broken down. [21:24] He went about repairing the altar of the Lord. That was broken down. And then God moved. God moved. Restoration can happen. As I touched on this morning. [21:36] Revivals in the word of God. Five occasions it was man. Seeking God. And returning to obedience to the word of God. That's when he can move. God wants to move in your heart. [21:48] He wants to move in my heart. In our lives to restore. And break through that lack of concern. That apathy. That carelessness. [22:00] That callouses us. Doesn't it? When you think about it. Brother and sister. In the western world. What is there for us to be worried about. In terms of persecution. [22:11] Even if we go preaching in Rundle Mall. What's the worst they can do to us? Brothers and sisters. We've got nothing to really stop us. We should be unstoppable. We should be all out. [22:24] Pull out all the stops. And stop our apathy. Stop our lack of concern. Stop those things that are hindering us. Those things that are obstructing us. From doing what God has commanded us to do. [22:38] And streams in the desert can happen again. Ye are the temple of the living God. It says. 2 Corinthians 6.16 Get a hold of that. What does that mean? [22:48] You are a container. That the Holy Spirit resides in. He dwells in it. It's his dwelling place. Not in temples made by hands of man. But the Spirit of God dwells in those vessels of clay. [23:02] In that vessel that is your body. He resides in it. The streams in the desert. But we need to stir up ourselves. Friends. God wants us to. In Isaiah 64.7 it says. [23:15] The prophet cried. There is none that calleth upon thy name. There is none that calleth upon thy name. That stireth up himself to take hold of thee. [23:27] For there hast hid thy face from us. And hast consumed us because of our iniquities. Isaiah 64.7 There is none that stireth up himself. [23:38] God forbid that that will be true for you. For me. For us. For this church. For our churches. That there is none that stireth up himself. To take hold of God. [23:50] The water speaks to us of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Bible. The washing of water. By the word. It's by the word that the young man can cleanse his way. Psalm 119. [24:01] Verse 9. We know the world will pollute us. The polluting streams are all around us. But the living water. The streams in the desert. You know it's better than Puritap. [24:12] It's better than SA water can give you. This water is crystal clear and perfect. It's better than reverse osmosis. This is water from the living water. [24:24] Of the streams of living water. You know. I'm being somewhat flippant here. But nothing can be purer than this water. And what can a young man defile his, cleanse his way with? [24:35] By the washing of the water. By taking him to the word of God. And it must get into the heart. And into the soul. To invade every area of our life. And streams can come. [24:46] In the desert. If you're feeling dry. If you're feeling desolate. If you're feeling like there's a famine in the land. Get the word. Get the spirit. Stir up. Strength in weakness. [24:58] Streams in the desert. Thirdly. Another thing that stands out. Is singing in sorrow. Singing in sorrow. We see the singing here. The lame shall walk. [25:10] The tongue of the dumb shall sing. The ears unstopped. The eyes opened. Singing in sorrow. Those who are singing. Are those who are. [25:24] Who have been in the desert place. The ones who are singing. Are those who are fearful. The ones who are singing. Are those who are in that. [25:35] Parched place. The ones who are singing. No there's no lion there. No ravenous beast there. The ones who are singing. [25:46] Are redeemed. The ones who are singing. Are ransomed. The travelers on this highway. No wonder they've got reason to sing. If you're saved. [25:56] You've got a song. Amen. If you're saved. He's got a melody in your heart. Making melody. In your heart. To the king of kings. And the lord of lords. No wonder. [26:07] There is singing. On this highway of holiness. Because the redeemed are there. The ransomed are there. Why? Because they have everlasting joy. On their heads. Sorrow and sighing. [26:19] Shall flee away. We've all had times of sorrow. Sighing. Sighing. Sighing. Sighing. Perhaps some. Even here and now. You've got sorrow. [26:29] And sighing. Things aren't. As much as you'd like them to be. For whatever reason. But there can be singing in your sorrow. There can be singing in the darkness. [26:41] There can be singing at midnight. There can be singing. Because there's a song in your heart. And we see in these travels. The triumph. The victory. Of God's people. [26:51] In an evil age. Sighing. And sorrow. Shall flee away. The parched ground. Shall become a pool. The desolate. Shall be made fruitful. And for the believer. [27:03] Though there be sighs. And sorrows. For a season. There is a singing. Sighs. And sorrows. Perhaps scars too. [27:14] Perhaps scars. You might have some scars. Wounds. Hurts. We all have. Sad things happen to God's people too. Of hurts. [27:26] Wounded hearts. Mr. Valiant for truth. One of the characters in Pilgrim's Progress. He got to the river. He jumped in the river. [27:37] To get to the other side. You know. To get to. To cross that final river. The river as it were. Of death. Of passing from life. Earthly life. Into. Into the beyond. [27:48] As he crossed that river. That threshold. Into glory. And he says. As he crossed that river. I carry my scars with me. As a testimony. To my Lord. That I loved him. [27:59] You know. As a Christian. We sometimes have scars. We can have scars. Wounds. Hurts. But even those scars. Can be. For his glory. Amen. Even those hurting times. [28:10] Even those sad. Occasions. And. Times. That might still. Make us. Shed a tear. As we look back. And. Think of how it hurt. [28:22] But even those scars. We can have joy. We can have singing. In our sorrow. Singing. Despite our sighing. Despite our scars. Sometimes. Sometimes it may be. [28:32] The Lord allowing such things. As chastising. As he helps. His wandering children. To draw closer to him. To turn from our coldness. And our worldliness. To return to the book. [28:43] To be doers of it. And busy with the Father's will. And work. And friends. Be urged today. I pray. We all can be urged. To read our Bible. More faithfully. And think. [28:55] As we think of that sighing. And sorrow. That shall flee away. Think of the Lord's sorrow for you. The sorrow over your sin. As he. Looked at the city. And he wept over it. [29:06] As he cast his eyes over the city. His heart was broken. The heart breaking agony. As he saw the Christless ones. As he saw the agony. Of. The sin. [29:17] Of the rejection. Of. The lostness. Yet for us. The joy. That we can know. Can be full. We can know that joy. And that joy. [29:28] Can be full. And friends. Just to close. The way of holiness. It's a way. It's a walk. It's a journey. It's a life. And the Lord commands us. To this way. To this way. [29:39] The way of holiness. As I say. It's not a way that is doubting. And miserable. And self condemning. It's the beauty of holiness. It's a glorious place. It's an excellent place. [29:50] It's a joyful place. There is. There is. A wonderful joy. In that. Delighting. To do thy will. As David said. In Psalm 14. [30:01] I delight. To do thy will. Oh my God. And as Christ himself said. My meat. My food. That which I feed upon. My meat. He says. [30:11] Is to do the will. Of him that sent me. And to finish his work. And as we're told. That we are created. For his pleasure. We are created. For his pleasure. [30:22] There's a purpose. For your life. And it's to give him pleasure. It's for him. To be. Enjoying. Your life. Answer him. Now friends. Are you prepared. To meet him. [30:33] Have you even started. To walk this way yet. It's the way that starts. When you're redeemed. When you're redeemed. When there's a. Purchase made. When there's a price. [30:43] Paid. When. You receive. His work. For you. When you trust him. When you say. I surrender. When you say. I'm inadequate. I'm weak. [30:54] His strength comes. His life comes. When you say. I'm parched. And dead. And desolate. Those streams of living water come. And friends. That singing can come. [31:06] The joy. Of knowing him. Are you amongst the redeemed. Are you amongst the ransomed. Are you amongst the rejoicing. You can be tonight. [31:17] Not by any virtue. Of your own. As you come simply. In trust. In faith. In your weakness. To trust his strength. In your sinfulness. [31:30] To trust his grace. In your. Sighing and sorrow. To receive his joy. Let us pray. I love to tell the story. [31:45] Of haunting things above. Of Jesus and his glory. Of Jesus and his love. [31:58] To desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde desde