Isaiah (Quality: Average)

[0:00] By the help of God, I would direct you to the 26th chapter of Isaiah, verses 3 and 4.

[0:30] There will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.

[0:44] Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

[0:55] Isaiah 26, verses 3 and 4. This was the scripture that came into our mind when we heard our dear brother express the peace of mind he was in, notwithstanding his poor sinking frame.

[1:21] And as it has abided with us, we thought that if we are able to say a few things, it might be a comfort and also profitable to us.

[1:35] In the third verse, there is a promise. There will keep him in perfect peace.

[1:47] Then there is the character to whom this promise is made, whose mind is stayed on thee.

[1:59] And then the ground of this promise, because he trusted in thee. And in the fourth verse, upon the strength of the promise in the third verse, there is an exhortation.

[2:20] Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

[2:30] Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. In the first place, as enabled, we will speak of the character, whose mind is stayed on thee.

[2:48] surrounding circumstances and conditions must be at the background of the exercises of this one whose mind is stayed upon guard and one thing is this that such a character is brought off from every other refuge and defense every other prop is removed and such a one is brought to self-despair to the end of all his resources and is shut up to that one that one refuge whose mind is stayed on thee a similar scripture is that in Samuel who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness leaning upon her beloved to lean upon the beloved is the same thing as to have the mind stayed upon Christ but every other prop every other foundation every other kind of help is removed and the Lord takes this method with his people and by these things not only do their souls live in the exercise of tried faith but it is by these things that they grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord

[5:07] Jesus Christ it is by these means that there is a taking root downward and a bearing fruit upward and it is these internal operations of the spirit and his teachings by which his people are well exercised you know that word in the close of the fifth chapter to the Hebrews as in it instruction and reproof too we were just speaking of these things exercising faith and exercising prayer and keeps the armour bright not rusty but oh I've looked at this and felt myself to be ashamed for when for when for the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and now become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat but strong meat belonging to them that are of full age and this is the thing even those who by reason of use the graces of the spirit need using and need exercise to keep them healthy and their swords need to be used in order to keep them bright and sharp but oh how dull we do

[7:00] God but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil whose mind is stayed on thee so that the mind is taken off from every other hell every other foundation is removed and the truth of what we sing is known and experienced except Christ all other ground is sinking sand that's that's good teaching if we are taught it all other ground except Christ the eternal rock is sinking ground and when we get there and abroad to conditions and circumstances that are overwhelming it will bring us into the secret of the 61st

[8:16] Psalm when my heart is overwhelmed within me lead me to the rock that is higher than I it just went up to that rock and I could but admire I think it was this morning what this rock and this refuge and this glorious one upon whom faith mine is stayed is described in the opening of the 18th Psalm you see what we're talking about now whose mind is stayed on thee well now you see what David thought of him and what this Lord was to him the

[9:18] Lord is my rock my fortress my deliverer my God my strength my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower now if you dissect that and look at what the condition of his soul was in to need the Lord to be all that to him it will show us what he was taken away from and this is in our measure we shall have to learn and it is a blessing to be taught to profit there's a teaching which is not to profit a mere system and formalities and traditions there's no profit in it the only profitable teaching is the teaching of the

[10:28] Holy Spirit in the heart which brings experience and that experience works two ways he must increase but I must decrease it will ever work that way and so it does here whose mind is stayed on thee or as it is expressed in the 57th psalm my heart is fixed oh Lord my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise now these things are written for our instruction that we may look into our own heart and experience and see how we stand according to the word of God we shall never stay our minds upon him all the time we got something in ourselves or in somebody else or in some circumstances to stay upon but he will remove every support to bring us to the text whose mind is stayed on thee we will try and look at a few things in

[11:58] God that faith sees to stay upon and to stay upon him you must know him and the first thing that faith stays upon is God himself and everything else is there to stay upon him because he is most high and he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high and if you dwell there you will abide under the shadow of the almighty and the shadow of the almighty is his divine protection and you are preserved and sheltered by his divine attributes and perfections face sees it in God such a sight can never be in any other so he has the preeminence in your heart and in your life whose mind is stayed upon

[13:13] God himself I have admired and stood in awe of the first word in the 46 psalm and the first word in the first chapter to the Hebrews nothing precedes that one word and I'm thankful there's a glory in it God is our refuge and strength God who has sundry times and divers manners in times past spake unto our fathers by the prophets act in these last days spoken unto us by his son commences abruptly God have you ever felt that have you ever felt everything else cut out whose mind is stayed upon

[14:20] God this is faith in him you will never stay you will never find refuge in an unknown God do we know him I put these questions because they're put to me and they want a lot of answering we need to be careful how we answer them and if you don't know how to answer them do what in his wisdom Ezekiel did he was asked can these dry bones live he referred the question back to the Lord oh Lord thou know God and when you're exercised as you read these characters and the exploits of their faith and look into your heart and wonder whether you can ever have such faith as that best thing to do is to take the question to the Lord to answer and so that is the first thing that faith that faith stays on is the being of the eternal

[15:45] God he's a terror to the wicked the wicked that wish he was not what he is to you can you join with what we sometimes see concerning his glory we would not wish him less I really have heard him would not wish him less and I would not wish to take the winds of the morning and fly to the most parts of the sea to get away from him no I would rather creep to his footstool with all my burdens and cast them upon the Lord according to our second hymn well the next thing that we would mention that faith is tied upon is upon his omnipotence it's impossible to be true as only one the devil is mighty but the

[17:20] Lord is almighty and what a comfort and strength it is for a poor weak sinner to stay his mind upon divine omnipotence but you be brought to weakness before you do it must be so the psalmist said thou hast weakened my strength in the way thou hast shortened my days people strong in themselves strong in their own esteem will never be thankful for omnipotence but what a comfort it is and it will help faith in prayer that you go to one who is omnipotent and therefore there's not a single enemy that can overcome you except by his permission and one comfort with respect to staying upon his omnipotence is this no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the

[19:02] Lord and their righteousness is of me said the Lord oh the blessedness of that man whose mind is stayed upon God another thing that you stay upon is his omnipresence and his omniscience to feel it is wonderful not just to see it written in the bible that's for it to come in world only is dead but you must have this wrought in your heart by the spirit it really brings in that case we have to so often come to because we are often with Jonah when Jonah was in the bottom of the sea the omnipresence and the omniscience of God was a comfort to him although he had not the comfort of his presence with him faith believes it it's a mighty power of faith that clings unto the

[20:17] Lord and stays upon him without the comfort of his sensible presence in darkness in desertion to cleave unto him to stay your mind upon him to trust in him where you cannot trace him whose mind is stayed upon thee another thing that faith does stays upon God is upon his infinite wisdom but he'll bring us to the end of our own he'll let us work it out sometimes we've got many devices and it's astonishing how we forget him we get into some set past place get up into a corner come to the very ends of the earth and then we try to manipulate our way out and the

[21:29] Lord will let us come right to the very end of all our devices and then we'll bring us to the 33rd chapter of Jeremiah call upon me and I will show you great and mighty things which ye know not you've tried all you do know I've given you time and space you've tried everything you do know and nothing works now I'll show you great and mighty things that you don't know whose mind is tied upon infinite wisdom all this will help you to pray if faith stays upon him it will bring you up out of the wilderness leaning upon your beloved whose mind is tied on thee and a poor guilty sinner is brought to stay upon his sin atoning blood there's no other way of escape but what a blessed way that is

[23:07] I believe that him has been made to me very important very attractive I coveted there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains you stay upon it you have nothing else nothing else will remove your guilt nothing else will bring calibrous peace into your soul there's no burden like the burden of guilt upon the conscience for myself

[24:07] I do feel that sin is the trouble of all troubles it is the weight of every trouble that things remain exactly as they are whatever circumstances you may be in if the Lord by his spirit you bring in the precious blood of Christ and cleanse your conscience from dead works every troubled loses weight whatever it was whose mind is stayed upon her calvary faith there surveys that wondrous cross sees there the great high priest offering himself without spot unto God whose mind is paid on thee on his righteousness he'll never stay upon his righteousness all your time you've got some of your own it comes to that upon every point to be made suitable for the

[25:26] Lord we must be brought to the end of ourselves when thou Lord dost rebuke a man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a man well this is a character and here is the promise they will keep such one in perfect peace and the perfection of the peace is derived from the Lord Jesus he is the rock his work is perfect his work is perfect not only because it is perfectly done but because it partakes of the perfection of the glorious person that brought him it is the perfections of

[26:34] Christ himself which go into his finished work that makes it perfect and the wonderful mystery and mercy is that as he's a substitute that perfection of the work of Christ is the perfection of his people you will see those two perfections in one of the epistles follow one another it says there the way of the Lord is perfect about three verses down it says he maketh my way perfect but they will keep him in perfect peace peace there is no perfect peace in this world there may be a comparative peace but it is dependent upon circumstances about this peace is not dependent upon circumstances this peace would live in a bedlam this peace would be a comfort in a prison this peace will disregard circumstances however desolating they might be in your pathway when he giveth quietness who can make trouble and

[28:36] Job said and he knew something about conflict when there is casting down then there shall say there shall be lifting up perfect peace perfect because it is Christ's peace it is a legacy that he left his disciples before he departed from them my peace I leave with you my peace as the peace of reconciliation that is the peace of a fulfilled and satisfied law that is the peace which he procured by his precious blood perfect you'll never find it here and the whole of what the Lord spoke in the sermon on the mount as well as those sacred discourses to his eleven disciples he said these things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace and that ye might have it more abundantly it really did me good

[30:02] I have felt a loving union to our dear friend in hospital now for thirty eight years and to see his faith hold as he did in his first operation I've seen him blessed in two and if it had pleased the Lord to take him home that would still remain a good it could be said of him and this peace is perpetuated it's eternal peace it would be said of him mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace there will keep him in perfect peace it's eternal peace everything that the

[31:06] Lord gives and all that he does and all that Christ pays upon in him is eternal all of it it's nothing to do with this world it belongs to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of grace in the heart perfection is in it all and his people are perfect in him and complete in him not only so this is a gospel peace we shall never have peace by the law of God the law of God thunders the law of God commands and the law of God demands about the gospel it has better news it bids us fly and gives us wings it gives what it demands the gospel does peace and then there is the peace of communion with the

[32:27] Lord and you will feel it sometimes when you come to the sanctuary according to that kind word of the Lord in the sixth chapter of Mark come ye yourselves apart a while for there was no rest or peace to him that went out or came in but come ye yourselves he doesn't say come ye apart a while but ye yourselves individually come away lay aside weights and the sin that doth so easily beset you and that when the sanctuary is made the sanctuary of God to you and the betel to your soul when you have that peace as he sends help from heaven and strengthens you out of

[33:34] Zion peace there there will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee so you see that this is an act of faith it shows the importance of faith a living faith and where that living faith is it will be tried and the trial of faith is when the Lord brings against it in his wisdom as he's a God of judgment and method he brings everything that is contrary and contradictory against faith I know we have sometimes spoken about the kite but it is such a real emblem of the trial of faith you'll never get a kite to rise if you run with it with the wind you must run against the wind and it is the opposition that causes it to rise and so it is with faith and the

[35:04] Lord tries it and in the trial of faith we are brought to trust in him and to be able to say from our experience my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness but we should know these things experimentally oh my dear friends do let us be careful not to rest on the bare letter of truth the letter is dead we need the holy ghost to put life into the word of god and to bring it into our hearts that it may dwell in our hearts richly in all wisdom there will keep him in perfect peace eternal peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee and then there's this exhortation trust thee in the

[36:34] Lord forever see the third verse is spoken in the third person they will keep him and therefore the prophet here by the spirit turns it from the third person and brings it to the second person trust ye in the Lord forever and that's just what we need that personal application you take that as we have it in the Ephesians it respects the same person the same trust ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fifty frame together groweth unto an holy temple in the

[37:40] Lord so far so good but listen trust ye in the Lord forever in whom ye also are building together an habitation of God through the spirit he brings it to personal application for it's not much use to look at those that are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets if we are not built there so he carries that point in whom ye also are building together for the habitation of God through the spirit trust ye in the Lord forever and this eternity of the

[38:43] Lord gives eternal purpose eternity to everything that his spirit does in your heart and your experience it's a blessed Lord if the Lord has done anything for you there's eternity in it every blessing is eternal it'll be perpetuated not only through life but through eternity and therefore this peace is eternal peace trust ye in the Lord forever and then he gives this blessed reason for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength oh that suits a poor weak sinner those who are brought to the end of their strength constantly life all power is given unto me in heaven and the earth said ye to the ministers and he says it today all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and preach we're so foolish we often act as though we wish that all power was given unto us but it isn't it's given unto me there's the fountain it makes room for faith makes room for prayer trust ye in the

[40:27] Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost is everlasting strength eternal strength under this strength is the strength of his grace invincible strength invincible grace my grace is sufficient for thee and see how he if I might so speak matches that mighty kingdom of grace against the kingdom of sin to the Romans sin sin the greatest power except for grace sin that inexpressible evil that fullness of all the days desolating fullness of death and corruption sin shall not have dominion over you for it are not under the law but under grace two ends of that blessed promise starts with sin ends with grace and grace shall reign for in the

[41:55] Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength he giveth strength to the faint and to them that have no might he gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength well may the Lord make these few verses of scripture my remarks are very feeble but all to be brought to it at last it did me good to see our dear friend and brother kept under those circumstances and while we were there he had an attack of bad hemorrhage dare he lay prostrate quiet resting in the Lord let stop it hit to be brasile thanaser он for to him damn

[43:11] Thank you.

[43:41] Thank you.