Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2270
“I will open rivers in high places, and a fountain in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” Isaiah 41:18.
YOU notice that in this verse, the Lord twice says, “I will,” and in that respect this verse is in harmony with the rest of the chapter. Will the children, when they are at home, find out how many times in this chapter God says, “I will,” or “You shall,” which is to much the same effect?
How greatly I prize a portion of Scripture which is filled with God’s shalls and wills! Everything He says is precious, but His, “I wills,” are peculiarly precious. There are the, “I wills,” of the Psalms, a long list of them—and the, “I wills,” of Christ, a good company. When we come to the, “I wills,” of God, then we get among the precious things, the deep things, the things which minister comfort and strength to the people of God!
We sometimes say, “I will,” but it is in a feeble fashion compared with the way in which God says it. People say, “‘Must’ is for the king, and so, “I will,” is for the King of kings! It is His prerogative to will. It is His sovereign right to say, “I will.” When we get a chapter like the one that we have been reading, which is full of the, “I wills,” of God, it is worth while to pause for a few moments and just think of what Jehovah’s, “I will,” must mean.
It is an, “I will,” uttered with deliberation. James said, “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” We say, “I will,” in a hurry—and then we take time to repent of it. We are under excitement, persuasion, or compulsion and we say, “I will,” and we are very sorry afterwards and, perhaps, we are so unfaithful as not to keep our word. But God never speaks under compulsion—He is almighty. God never speaks in a hurry. He has infinite leisure. God never speaks under excitement or persuasion—that were not like a God. His purpose is of old and His decree is from everlasting. And the, “I will,” which is the mouth of the decree is a word that is spoken with wisdom and prudence. Now, when a man speaks a thing prudently and wisely, you believe that he will carry it out if he can. You may have much more confidence with regard to what the Lord says, for He has not spoken without due deliberation and, therefore, whenever God says, “I will,” you may be sure that He will perform it.
Next, when God says, “I will,” His resolution is supported by Omnipotence. You say, “I will,” but you cannot do what you have promised. Your will is good enough, but you fail because of lack of the means. You say, “I will, yes, I will,” but afterwards you have to meekly say, “I pray you, take this will for the deed, for I find that I have overshot the mark. I have promised what I am unable to perform.” Now, that can never happen with God. Has He said and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard for the Lord, especially anything He promised to perform? Come, then, dear Friends, if God is Omnipotent, and we know that He is, when He says, “I will,” we dare not doubt it, for eternal power goes forth with the Word of His wisdom and it must, yes, it shall be done! Whatever doubts we might have had, if it were not God’s, “I will,” vanish when we come to remember that all things are possible with Him!
Furthermore, when God says, “I will,” we should remember that it is sealed with Immutability. We change, we are always changing. Made of dust and ashes, we are made of material that continues to change. Therefore, we say, today, “I will,” and we mean it. But tomorrow we wish that we had never said, “I will,” and the next day we say, “I will not.” Ah, me, the suicides that have come through resting on the word of a man who was false and proved a traitor to his friend! But God never changes—He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The thing that has gone out of His mouth shall never be reversed. When He once says, “I will,” depend on it, He still says, “I will”—and till Heaven and earth shall pass
away, it will still be, “I will.” He is too perfect to change—and being perfect, He cannot change! A changeable being either changes from a worse to a better, in which case he was not perfect before. Or else he changes from a better to a worse, in which case he will not be perfect afterwards. But God, being always perfect, is always the same, never withdrawing His Word, or altering His purpose! Will you not, therefore, believe the unfailing word of an unchanging God? Can you not hang upon it? And when He says, “I will,” depend on it that it shall be even so?
Once more, when God says, “I will,” it will be carried out in faithfulness. He has fulfilled His threats. He never idly utters words of terror without intending to carry them out. And when it comes to promises, rest sure that God never flatters the ear and then deceives the man. If He did not mean to do it, He would not say, “I will.” Eternal faithfulness performs what eternal wisdom declares! Shall God lie? Is He a man as you are? Will He deceive? Will He falsely promise and then run from His Word? That is far from Him—and let it be far from us, thus, to blaspheme His name by such a thought! Come, then, child of God, you who know Him, if He has said, “I will help you,” He will help you! If He says, “I will strengthen you,” He will strengthen you! Believe God without a trace of doubt and, “be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the Lord.”
Now, all this is meant to introduce my text with its two glorious, “I wills.” Let us try and get something out of them. The Lord says, “I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”
I. I propose to apply the text as a sort of general promise to many things and, first, to apply it to THE TRIALS OF