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     1. Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 91:2,5; John 15:7   (2:45)
     2. Waiting on God   (19:13)
     3. Jesus Never Fails   (3:29)

Isaiah 40:30-31.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: ³¹But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

[Extra material found on a reel to reel copy of this sermon: “They that wait upon the Lord…”  Who are they?  Do you know who they are?  It must be somebody in this world.  And how can you tell who it is that waits upon the Lord?  Why, they “mount up with wings as eagles.”  They don’t stay down in the dumps.  They’re not like a stick in the mud.]

They’re not defeated.  They’re not disgruntled.  They’re not in the flesh.  Now, who in the world was the choir singing about?  I’m really interested.  Who?  Do you think that they were singing about anybody in this meeting?  “They that wait upon the Lord…”  Now, who are “they”?  Let’s see if the Bible says anything about… oh, yes.  It also talks about those who don’t wait upon the Lord.  And, you know, it is marvelous how the Bible gives us clear answers to these questions.  Who is it?  My God, My God.  God does something for people who wait upon Him.  And He does something very wonderful for them.  “They that wait upon the Lord…” 

Of course, you know where that’s found—that text, that great chapter that begins with these words: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.”  Do you know which it is?  Isaiah 40.  Isaiah is called a miniature Bible.  How many books are there in the Bible?  Come on.  Right.  Das ist schön von dir Hänschen.  Sixty-six books.  And Isaiah has sixty-six chapters.  And of course, the Bible is divided into two sections.  The Old Testament has thirty-nine chapters and speaks of the law, and speaks of the backsliding of God’s people.  And the New Testament has twenty-seven chapters and speaks of the glorious revelation of the Son of God and the power of His resurrection.  And that’s why Isaiah is called a miniature Bible, because it seems to have the same division.  The first thirty-nine chapters speak about the backsliding of Israel.  And the other twenty-seven chapters speak of the glory of the coming of Jesus Christ.

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Oh, John the Baptist: “What shall I preach?  What shall I…”  Oh, nobody wants to hear that; nobody wants to hear that!  Even though “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that: hell-fire”!  They don’t want to hear that.  And yet, Brooklyn is full of cemeteries, full of graves, full of tombstones—so full you can’t escape this glorious truth that “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.”  But people don’t want to know the truth!

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“Thy word is truth.”  Oh, how I need the truth in view of eternity.  Where will you spend eternity?  You’re on an express train, and you’re going there just as fast as this express-train time can carry you.  And as sure as we’re here tonight, in a little while, we’ll “stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things we’ve done in this body.”

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“By Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth: visible…”  And if the visible world is so very tremendously marvelously created, what will the invisible world be like—which is eternal?  “That which is seen is temporal, but that which is not seen is eternal.”

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“They that wait upon the Lord” will find that this great God who “calls them all by names by the greatness of His power,” He calls you by name.  “His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth,” looking for hearts that look for Him—that want Him.  Tell me, is there a more worthy occupation for any human being than to come to God, really to meet God by faith in prayer—hallelujah!—and to open my heart in faith and wait upon my God, and know that “He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength”?

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“They that wait upon the Lord,” they’re bound to be different.  They have to be different.  Jesus Christ says, “I don’t pray for the world.  I pray for those whom Thou hast given me.”  Here is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost expending their power.  My God, it’s too wonderful for words!  It’s (…)  It’s too wonderful for thoughts!  The Holy Ghost must quicken my understanding and give me light by the power of “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”

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“The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of the God, should shine unto them.”  Now there’s the difference.  On one hand, God stooping to those that faint.  Isn’t it wonderful?  That’s me.  Oh, to feel your nothingness, to feel your utter helplessness!  My God, how healthy it is to faint, to be weary, to be without strength!  Paul says, “I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me.”  Because, when I feel my infirmity, and I feel my faintness, I have a place to come to:  I come to the Fountain of Living Water and that fountain is nobody else but God Almighty.  “God, Thou are my God.”  Listen, is He your God?  Is He your God?  What in the world have you got?  “Well, I got a little Ford, I got a little Ford machine, I got a little house, I got a wife, I got a child, I’ve got something else.”  And what else have you got?  What have you got, if you haven’t got God?

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Oh, beloved!  “They that wait upon the Lord…”  The great tragedy today among people of God is that they don’t believe God.  Waiting upon the Lord is no fun.  I know.  I’ve experienced it.  It’s a hard job, because it strips you of your self-esteem, and it strips you of all your own activity, and makes you realize how nothing you are.  But, oh, when that glory of God descends, and when God reacts!  “He giveth power to the faint.”

But what happens to those that don’t wait upon the Lord?  Well, you know.  You know what happens: “They shall utterly fall; they shall faint.”  Oh, you feel very strong, like Peter did when he said, “I’ll go into prison and into death with You,” but, my goodness, when darkness came upon him, and the trial came, and the test came!  Beloved, God wants all of us up there.  He says, “Thou, therefore, my son, be strong.”  You can’t be strong any other way.  You can be strong in the flesh, and that flesh will be eaten by worms after a while.  But you can “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”  You can.  God will give you strength…  He has not forgotten those whom He has created.  And He’s not given up His job to have sons that are like Himself: “man in our likeness.”  God’s never given up the job.  And here’s our opportunity—mine and yours, thank God!—to renew our strength.

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Preachers who know a better way.  “This roadmap showed us exactly how to find the best road, but there was a preacher there, and he knew better!  That’s what’s the matter.”    (from 6:53)

Das ist schön von dir Hänschen. — “That’s nice of you, Hansie.”  (Hänschen is the petit form of Hans.)

Psalm 73:25.  Wenn ich nur dich habe, so frage ich nichts nach Himmel und Erde.

In the King James Version, Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”  Martin Luther’s German says, literally, “If I only have You, I ask nothing of heaven and earth.”  The meaning here is, “When I possess Jesus, I do not care about heaven nor about earth.  All things in heaven and earth will be best for me, just the way He ordained them.”  

Aber ich habe dich.  Was will ich mehr? — “But I do have You.  What more could I want?”  This phrase is from the old German hymn, Ich Habe Dich.

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