Isaiah 40 verses 12 through 18 Isaiah 40 verse 12 Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord, being his counselor, hath taught
him? with whom took he counsel, and
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and
showed to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the owls
as a very little thing, And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations
before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less
than nothing in vanity. To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness will you compare unto him? Let's pray. Lord, tonight as we look into
your word, we pray that you would teach, because no man can teach your greatness. No man can express the glory of your person. We
know, Lord, that you're able to reveal yourself. So as we
look at these words, we Pray that we might see you high and
lifted up. See you almighty to save. See you and you only. That there
is none like you. That we might worship you alone. Trust you alone. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. Now in this chapter, we have
to review a little bit because this is verses 12 through 18
are a continuation of the whole message of this chapter. God
has commanded in this chapter, and we see how unique it is in
this, that his sheep be comforted. Woe to everybody but the sheep
of God. Woe to everyone except God's
elect. Comfort to them. Comfort. And to that end, he's announced
the coming of our Lord. He said that the very glory of
the Lord will be revealed. We know who that is. Verses three
through five, the glory of the Lord will be revealed. He announced
that his way would be prepared by a forerunner, that he'll be
announced and introduced and his way prepared by the forerunner,
John the Baptist. And then the very glory of God
is going to come. And John said in 1.14 of John,
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory,
his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. We beheld that glory that Isaiah
prophesied of thousands of years before. God's glory was revealed
to us. It's by him that we receive of
the Lord's hand double for all of our sins, verse one. Only
the one who can glorify God and honor God, he prayed in John
17, glorify me that I might glorify you. And only he can render unto
the Lord double, plenty, sufficient, satisfactory, for all of the
sins of his people. And now God says to his spokesman
in verse 6, cry. Cry. Everybody that speaks for
God, all of his witnesses, all of his people to some degree
or another now. You're going to be a witness
to your children if you're not to anybody else or to a friend
or your wife or husband. He says cry. And that is because
The only way for his sheep to be comforted is to hear about
the glory of the Lord that's revealed. And the way that happens
is somebody got to cry. It's a cry, not just a statement
of facts, but a cry. Paul said, we beseech you, be
you reconciled to God. And those who cry for God, from
God, receive from him what to cry. Lord, what do you want me
to cry? That's what they say because
what business do we have crying anything else but what he says
and What we cry verses 6 through 8 to begin with Verses 6 through
8 now to begin with what we cry this is quit trusting your flesh
and listen to God All flesh is grass it's fleeting it's it's
transient It's weak It can't be trusted. It's not a refuge. But the word of the Lord now
is. It's eternal. It's powerful. God has exalted
it above all of His name. Perfectly trustworthy and reliable.
So you see that in verses 6-8. And now in verse 9 we get some
more clarification as to what we cry. What's to cry? Who is crying? Who is it now?
Maybe you think God's not talking to you when he says cry. Oh, Zion, that's the church. That's the church. All through
scripture, Zion is the church, the kingdom of God on this earth.
Who do we cry to? Well, he said, get up in the
mountaintop and cry and say it strong. Cry it with strength.
You see that there? In verses six through eight,
cry with strength. In other words, what he's saying
is get up in a mountain and cry with all your voice. In other
words, cry to everybody that'll hear. When he sent his disciples
out two by two, he said, everybody that'll listen to you, you tell
them what I told you. And all the world will preach
the gospel. But what are we crying? It says
it right there. Again, verses 6 through 8, that
whole, that's together saying, What we cry is good tidings,
good news, gospel. That's what gospel means. And
then he said in verse, let's see, in verse nine, I'll
keep saying verse six through eight, but that's it, we're in
verse nine now. Good tidings, good tidings, up in the mountaintop,
with all your strength of your voice, lift it up, and don't
be afraid. Why would we be afraid? Well,
because everybody hates what you're gonna be saying. Don't
be intimidated. We don't like confrontation,
do we, by nature? Not that kind, anyway. Not for
God. But there's going to be that.
There's going to be opposition. He said, don't be afraid. Don't
worry about that. I'll be with you. Be wary, but don't worry. Does that make sense? Be wise as serpents. Be aware. Be sober. Be vigilant. That's
wary. But don't worry. Trust Him. Be responsible and smart about
it. Wise as serpents. But don't be afraid of what man
can do. Don't be afraid to tell the truth
to anybody and everybody. Be jealous for his glory enough
that you can stand up to somebody that's blaspheming his name.
Now to the cities of Judah, that's who we cry to, to the cities
of Judah. Now we publicly and openly declare from the mountaintop,
he said. Didn't he say go ye into all
the world? But we know in God's purpose who we're really speaking
to is his people. We just don't know who for sure
they are, so we're talking to everybody. That's why it says
cry unto Judah. I don't know who or where his
sheep are, but he does. What he said to us is cry to
everybody and you'll you'll I'll see to it that the sheep Here
and he does And then here's what we cry The
very end of verse 9 behold Think about these three words. I should
have preached a message on just these three words behold We're
insisting that everybody take a look at something, somebody.
We insist. You're not just gonna go on,
not with us around. You're not just gonna go on about
your business. Not with us around. Behold. Look. Stop everything. Be still and
know who God is. Behold your God. Now that's important. He's not everybody's God in the
sense that everybody is his sheep, his people. But I don't care
who you are, there's a God in heaven that you're responsible
to. He's your God in that sense. So we could talk about that a
while, couldn't we? Your God. Behold the one that made you.
Behold the one whose righteous claims upon you are binding. Behold the one that you will
answer to one day. Behold your God. And behold your
God. We need to know who God is. We
need to know that we're not God. Most people don't have any idea
about that. They're pretty sure that they're God, even though
they wouldn't admit to that. They're pretty sure they're going
to just do whatever they want to and everything's going to
work out fine. Only God does what he wants to and everything
works out fine. not going to work out for you
like that. Behold your God. Behold the sovereign. Behold
the one who saves whom he will and damns whom he will. Whether
you like that or not, whether that fits in with your doctrine
or not, behold him. So as I said, we could talk about
that for a good while and it'd be time well spent. But look
at verse 12, where we'll start tonight is in verse 12. In verses 10 and 11 there, it's
more about that. Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand. He's not coming begging. He's
coming to do something. And he's able to do it. Strong
hand. And his arm shall rule for him.
That's Christ. His right hand, his right arm,
his power Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God and
behold his reward is with him and his work before we talked
about that doing his work I must be about my father's business
he sent his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem his work was
before and he knew what what he had to do he came to do it
with a strong hand And the Lord gave him authority. His arms
shall rule for him. Thou hast given me power over
all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given me. So as he's doing that, bringing
his reward with him and doing the work that the Father gave
him that's before him, he's got all authority to get it done.
He's got enough power to get it done too. So you see all that
in verse 10. He shall feed his flock. That's
what he's gonna do. He's the shepherd of the sheep.
He's gathering his sheep. I came to seek and to save that
which was lost. And he does. He finds us and
brings us and feeds us. We know what he feeds us because
we talked about it this morning. He is the shepherd and he is
our life, our sustenance, our all. He's the still waters and
he's the green pastures. Gather them with his arm. If
I be lifted up, I'll draw them to me. That's pictured here as
the shepherd finding a sheep and gathering it up in his arm,
bringing it close, taking care of it. He'll carry them in his
bosom. He'll gently lead those that are with young. And then
he starts a little bit different tone in verse 12. Listen to this.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? and
meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the
hills in a balance. You've got volume, you've got
distance, you've got weight. Remember Now that this has to
do, that's why I wanted to review quite a bit because all of this
has to do with the comfort of his sheep and the feeding of
his sheep. Does it comfort you to know how
mighty and great your God is? There's not a whole lot that
comforts me more than that. I like to hear how powerful is
the one who said, I've loved you with an everlasting love.
That's all fine and well. I don't mean to minimize that.
But love joined with power. That's what we're talking about. Love that can do something about
it. I may love you more than anything in the world and not
be able to help you. But what God wants to do for
you because he loves you, he's able to do it. Knowing who our God is what greater
comfort can there be than that knowing that he measured out
every drop of water that is on this earth He measured it out
every drop He knows exactly how much water there is On this earth
exactly because he made it and he put it here. He measured it
out in a cup You know, not in a cup, in the cup of his hand.
Look at the wording there, in the hollow of his hand. If you
make a cup with your hand, the hollow of your hand is that part
where if you scooped up some water, that's the hollow of your
hand right there, where that water is resting. People talk about well, we're
ruining the water, you know, we're wasting all the water and
we do we waste we pollute it We drink about seven or eight
billion gallons of it a day still got plenty Still got plenty of
water The one who made all of the water
that sustains this planet now think about this The one who made all of it and
manages every drop of it He makes his reign to fall on the just
and the unjust, but in certain places at certain times, he manages
every drop of it. I caught a few of them on my
windshield on the way here. God directed every last one of
them. The one that made all of it,
manages all of it, dispenses all of it, sustains all of it,
hung on a cross one day and said, I'm thirsty. And we shoved a
sponge full of vinegar in his face. We've been drinking his
water up to that point for 6,000 some odd years. And he says he measured out the
heavens with a span. You know what a span is? From
right there to right there. That's a span. I couldn't measure this earth
with my span, but God's span is bigger than mine. He measured
out the heavens with the span of his hand. I can't measure two two-by-fours
and cut them the same length. I can't get two two-by-fours
to be exactly the same. Can't do it. I've been doing,
I've been cutting them for a long time. They're gonna be off a
little bit every time. There's nothing off in his universe. And he did it with the span,
with the span of his hand. And in the hollow of his hand. He measured all of the water. And he comprehended the dust
of the earth in a measure He knows the volume of it and the
weight of the mountains and the hills and His balance. We can't begin. We could try.
We could come up with all kinds of statistics and try to comprehend
the magnitude of God, Almighty God. We're never even going to
come close. But we need to try, don't we? Why? Why even try to comprehend
the uncomprehensive be uncomprehendable because for one thing it's comforting
and that's what this is about comfort my people comfort my
people this one who measured all of
the water that there is in our world in the hollow of his hand
said I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish
And no man can pluck him out of my hand. Who hath directed the spirit
of the Lord, verse 13, or being his counselor, hath taught him.
The Lord said to Nicodemus in John 3,
you remember when the Lord, he came to the Lord by night, probably
because he didn't want anybody to know he's talking to this
despised Nazarene. He's a religious big shot. And Nicodemus comes to the Lord
by night and asks Him about who He is. In John 3.8 the Lord said,
the wind blows where it listeth or where it pleases. The wind
blows wherever it wants. And now here is the sound thereof
but can't not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. And so it is with everyone that's
born of the Spirit of God. That's what Isaiah said, who
have directed the Spirit of the Lord. The only way that a sinner can
live spiritually is by the power of God the Holy Spirit giving
him life. And he does that freely as it
pleases him, just like all the persons of the Godhead. The Father
chose whom he would. He said, I will love them freely. And his election, his choice,
is what does it look like? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe? No. Jacob
have I loved. That's what election looks like.
The love of God. Jacob have I loved. He chooses whom he will. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, I give life to whom I will. I can forgive
sins. Whoever sins I want to forgive,
I forgive them. I've got that authority, I've
got that power. I lay down my life for my sheep. He decides who he dies for. We
don't get to decide that because we think it's fair. And the Spirit he blows where
he pleases. Now it's all the same person,
the same God, and so all of the ones that they act upon are the
same people. The Father's will in choosing
is the Son's will in redeeming is the Spirit's will in regenerating.
But it's according to His will. He does that freely as it pleases
Him. That's what's being... Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord? And yet religion walks around
talking about getting people saved. Oh, so and so, we need
to get him saved. Who have directed the Spirit
of the Lord? Nobody. What does this have to do with
us? Well, is there somebody that you want to see saved? I think
I look at each of you tonight and I just reckon that everybody
in here has more than one person, your children, your grandchildren,
maybe a dear friend, maybe a brother or sister, somebody, more than
one, I'm sure. Nothing would be more wonderful
to you than to see God have mercy on them. And yet if you're like
me, you look at them and you watch them Pray for them, and
you think about them, and you observe them, and you talk to
them, and you see no interest whatsoever
in the things of God. Of course, young children, they're not interested in a whole
lot of anything yet, are they? Just doing what they want to
do right now. It's all about right now. There
is no tomorrow for them. You say, we're going to do, I'm
going to give you something wonderful tomorrow. That's just like you
said, I'm not ever going to give it to you. Isn't it? They don't,
there is no tomorrow to them. I want it now, daddy, I want
it now. But older people, no interest
and sometimes absolute anger and just contempt. absolute contempt. You talk to them maybe a little
bit about spiritual things and it's like you're speaking a foreign
language. Does it comfort you at all? We're
talking about comforting God's people still in these verses
tonight. Does it comfort you at all to know that all God has
to do is just turn the light on? Just turn the light on. Just
one time they have to hear God. One time. He just turns the light on. Everything changes. Old things
are passed away. Everything's new. I'm comforted by that. They don't
have to figure it out. It's not about that. What they
need is for God to reveal Himself to them. And He's able to do
that. In any given moment, He can do
that. We don't direct His Spirit. Aren't
you glad? He goes where He pleases. He gives life to sinners. And
the Prophet asked us, are you going to teach God something?
Think about that. The One who made you. Just that. Put aside for a moment the veracity
of God himself. Just think about the fact that
he made you, and you're going to teach him something? Theologians
hear the truth of how God saves sinners by free grace, chooses
whom he will, without any consideration of any work or qualification
in them, and they say, God can't do that, that wouldn't be fair.
You going to tell God how to save somebody? You're going to
teach God what's fair and what's not? Maybe God, you know, maybe
he doesn't realize, whoa, wait a minute, you're right, that's
not fair. You really think so? You're going to straighten out
God on what he can do and what he can't do? Yeah, that's what
they presume to do. That's exactly what they presume
to do. God teaches us and shows us plainly and patiently and
clearly and over and over in the Word of God in a thousand
pictures and types and stories and things we can understand. He teaches us that Christ is
coming, has come, did come, He came and He gave His soul an
offering for sin. He's teaching that with every
drop of animal blood ever shed in the Word of God. that Christ came in his own soul
was an offering for the sins of his people. And he teaches
very plainly and clearly and patiently that when he did, when
he died for his people, he redeemed them, he saved them. That that precious blood washes
us from our sins. It doesn't make anything possible You teach them of the effectual
redemption, the limited atonement, limited to whom God had ordained
to redeem, to save, His elect. And 99.99998% of this human race
will say, God can't do that. That's why Isaiah asked this
question, are you going to teach God? You gonna counsel him? You gonna correct him? The next verse asks this, when
did God ask you if it was okay for him to do that? Listen, with whom took he counsel?
And then you instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment
and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding. Who does God Almighty need to
consult? Who does he need to check with?
in order to make sure that he's doing things within the bounds
of fairness, to make sure that he doesn't offend anybody or
hurt anybody's feelings. You think he's going to check
with you? That's a pretty good question. And to his people,
what a comfort this is to his people. You think about that.
This world's religion will tell you that you need to do this
and do that and keep doing it and not stop and not start and
quit this and start that and they'll put burdens upon you
as Paul said that neither they nor any of their fathers nobody
in the history of man has ever been able to bear but they're
going to put them on your shoulders anyway. But God says shut out all that
and just listen to what I say. Listen to the counsel of God.
There's nobody else worth listening to. Listen to John 6. I want to read
you a passage from John chapter 6, verse 28. Then said they unto
him, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Now keep in mind what we're talking
about. Religion. They're talking about, you know, Here's what
you've got to do. You've got to do all these. You've
got to tithe. You've got to pray. You've got to read your Bible. You've got to...
on and on. And made up stuff. Count beads
and go talk to some profane idiot in a booth. Whatever. You've
got to do it. Work, work, work. Somebody asked
the Son of God, though, what do I need to do? And He said,
this is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent and they said therefore unto
him what signs showest thou then that we may see and believe you
what dost thou work and he said in verse 31 our father
they said continued to talk to him our fathers did eat manna
in the desert as it is written he gave them bread from heaven
to eat Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father gives more than
just that bread, the manna in the desert. He gives you that
true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. You can't
live by bread, but by the word of God you'll live. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am. He had said to them before this,
quit laboring for the bread which perisheth. They were following him, no doubt
a long ways, because he had Broken the loaves and the fishes and
fed 5,000 people. They said, boy, we get a free
meal out of this. And get to see a magic show all at the same
time. He said, stop. Stop. You need better bread than
that. And I am that bread that cometh
down from heaven. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. When a religious Bible expert
talks about man's free will and man's decisions and man's this
and man's that, do you realize that what they're saying is,
I know better than God. Now, they'll say, you know, they'll
acknowledge the word. They'll say, I know what God
said, but here's what he meant. Here's what he meant by that. What God is saying to us tonight
from his word in Isaiah. I never consulted with them when
I wrote my book. And they have nothing to say
now that's worth hearing. God is the Counselor. His name
shall be called the Mighty God. Emmanuel. His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor. the everlasting Father, the mighty
God, the Prince of Peace. God says to them and to us tonight,
anybody that adds anything to my word or takes anything away
from my word, I'll take away your part out
of the book of life. And I'll add to you all of the
plagues, all of the curses, that are written in this book. Revelation
22, 18, and 19. Anybody want to counsel God? Anybody want to say here's what
he meant by that? Think again. God never took counsel with anybody
else, and so whose counsel are we going to take? Does it comfort you to know that
no matter what nonsense is spouted by the talking heads of religion,
of man-centered free will religion, you can trust and rest in all
of the promises and counsels of God, which are yea and amen
in Christ. The simplicity, the all-inclusiveness
which is in Christ Jesus. Does he drown out for you all
of the noise, of the would-be shepherds who are nothing but
thieves trying to enter in another way. Aren't you glad God told somebody
to get up on the mountain and with the strength of your voice
tell the good news of the Savior of sinners. I bring you good
tidings of great joy. Unto you this day is born in
the city of David a Savior that actually saves. His name is Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's the Redeemer who actually
redeemed all of his people. He didn't die. The just for the
unjust that he might give you a chance. He died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. First Peter 318. He hath once
suffered for sins, once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. He either got it done or he didn't. Can we cry from the mountain? that Christ is the successful,
victorious, unfailing Redeemer of His sheep. And will that bring
you comfort? If you're a sheep, it will. I
believe it will. We don't teach Him the way of
judgment. He hath taught us the way of judgment, and here it
is. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He
that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent
him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Now
think about this. He just said, I quicken whom
I will, I give life to whom I will. How do you do that? Everybody
that hears my word will live. Well, who's that going to be?
All judgment. Listen to this. As the father
hath life in himself, so he hath given to the son to have life
in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment
also. The one who decides who gets
life and who don't. That's the judge. I quicken whom
I will. Because he is the son of man. But Chris, nobody believes that.
Nobody believes that. Of all the billions and billions
of people on this earth, there's not a handful that believes that
Christ just freely gives life to who he wants to give it to
without any consideration of what they do, what they've done,
who they are. Nobody believes that. Yeah, but
the thing about that is all the nations of the earth are just
a drop in the bucket to him. Who cares what they think? The nations, verse 15, are as
a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small
dust of the balance. Now you think about that. When
God transacts the business that he is transacting in this world,
he's going to receive what he planted a farm in order to receive. But the dust of the balance,
who gets that? When you go conduct a business
transaction, it's weighed out and it's bagged up and given
to you. Wait a minute, what about that dust? Nobody says that. But the thing is, all of the
nations of this earth are like that to God. We talked about this, I think,
this morning, and it seems to come up a lot in our studies,
but how can we not see this here? When the Lord told the Pharisees, He taught them contrary to their
teaching. He said to them, not that which
goeth into the mouth defileth a man. Quit saying that. Quit preaching your do this and
don't do that religion. It's not about that. Your problem
is not doing and not doing. Your problem is what you are.
And until people know what the problem is, they're not going
to look for the solution. The whole have no need of a physician.
As long as your problem is what you do and don't do, then I'm
going to start doing things and quit doing things. That's not
going to cut it though for God. exposed the error of what they
were saying. And his disciples said, don't
you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard that? You're
contradicting their do and don't do religion, their works religion,
their man-centered free will religion. And he said, every
plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. You see how this applies to our
text? Let them alone, they're blind
leaders of the blind. They're going to fall in the ditch. Stay out
of it. And look at verse 16 now. The
world thinks that because of all of their religious observances,
that they're going to say that when they're face to face with
him, he said. Many shall say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, look what we've done. Look at all the sacrifices
we've offered. Look at all the religious rituals
we've gone through. Look at the stained glass windows
and look at our crosses and look at our great cathedrals that
we've built. Look at all of our wonderful
work. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering. None of it, all of it together
is nothing. The blood of bulls and goats
can't take away sin, and neither can all of this religious activity
of our day. It's the same thing. That was
religion, you know, back then. But wait a minute, then why did
God institute the burning of sacrifices? If he wasn't going
to be satisfied with it, the law was a schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. That's why. Is it a big jump? Is it a big
stretch to think that God would institute that? Would show that
the blood of an innocent victim is the way to worship me? To
point to the fact that the blood of His precious, holy, only begotten
Son is the only way that a sinner can have communion with Him? Pretty clear, isn't it, once
the Lord turns the light on? God is satisfied with one thing. One thing only, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. A man takes the sacrifices that
God instituted in order to show how he saves sinners by the precious
blood of his son alone. And religious man makes the observance
of the outward ceremony itself to be a work that pleases God. No, it don't. God is not satisfied
with the burnt offering. That blood can never take away
with sin. He's satisfied only with the one pictured by that.
Abel had it. Abel understood, by the grace
of God, by faith he offered an excellent sacrifice unto God.
By faith. Faith just has one object. Has not God made this clear? Have you not known? He asks later
in this chapter. Have you not known? When the
Pharisees didn't know what God said, they erred because they
didn't understand the scriptures. He called them on it. Haven't
you read my book? Even that much of it? to think that God would be pleased
with the picture, with the religious observance. It's exactly the
same thing when God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and
put it on a pole. Why? The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus
that like that serpent was lifted up in the world, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Why a serpent? Because Christ
had to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh. In the likeness
of the problem. And lifted up between heaven
and earth. The Son of Man must be lifted up. He must be crucified. And sinners will look to Him
and live. And you know what they did? They ended up worshiping
the serpent of brass. It's the same thing with all
of the law. All of that law was a schoolmaster to point us to
Christ, to bring us to Christ, to reveal Christ to us. And we're
worshiping ourselves in the keeping of that law. It's just like that
serpent, we're worshiping a thing and not who. Hebrews 10, we gotta look at
it. And I'll be through, I'll just, I'll close with Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10.1 For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
not the thing itself, it's just a picture, it's a shadow, it's
a reflection, but it's not the thing itself. can never with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make
the comers thereunto perfect. And that's the end game. You've
got to be perfect before God. The blood of animals can't do
that. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? That's
just common sense, isn't it? If that blood can make you perfect,
offer it. I'm perfect. That's it. No. Why do we have to keep offering? Because God is saying, look to
Christ, look to Christ, look to Christ. Every time one is
offered, every time a throat is slit, every time an animal
is burned at the altar, look to Christ, look to Christ. Over
and over and over throughout all of the Old Testament, in
every picture, in every type, in every law, in every object
in His temple and tabernacle. because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. A remembrance. A remembrance. That's what God
is doing. That's why we have to keep doing
it, because he has to remind us of our sins and how they're put
away. For it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Don't you know
that? Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. Every animal in this
world is not enough. All of the blood of every living
creature in God's universe is not enough. That's what our verse
says in Isaiah. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, because this is true, Because the first covenant couldn't
accomplish that. What the law could not do. Because
of the weakness of your flesh. He cometh into the world, verse
5. You see that? That's exactly
what Paul said in Romans chapter 8 in the first couple of verses.
The law can't do it, so God sent His Son! When he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
not this stuff, but a body thou hast prepared me. Now you're
talking. Now God has blood. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in a body. Now God has blood that can be
shared. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then, when God is not pleased
and we're all going to hell, then somebody rescued us. He said, Lo, here I come. And in the volume of the book
it is written of me. The Old Testament saints weren't
ignorant of this. By faith they offered the sacrifices. But just
like now, thousands upon thousands upon thousands offered all the
sacrifices and did the religious rituals and trusted in their
doing of them without faith in Christ. That's why he says none
of that is sufficient. But the Lord Jesus Christ in
all of this book from cover to cover is written of him, I come
to do thy will. He takes no pleasure in anything
else, but he will be pleased now. Coming to do thy will above,
when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin, thou wouldst not neither hence pleasure therein which
are offered by the law? Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified. What is the will? I come to do
your will. What is that will? Got some people
that need to be made holy. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn. nor all the beasts of all the
forests of this world sufficient. But He is. He is. He came and did the will of God,
which was to sanctify us, to redeem us. And when He did it, He said,
it's done. When religious man has burned
every tree and every animal and all the religious equivalents
of that, which is all of the rituals that they do, the sinner's
prayers, the walkings of owls, the countings of beads, the confessionals,
and every religious activity you can name. When they've come
in droves by the thousands and raised their hands and sung sentimental
songs and prayed Eloquent prayers and put their leftovers in the
offering plates and when they've done that for 10,000 years God's
still going to require payment for sin and all of it together
will not have contributed one penny to the debt Do you see why our Lord said
this is the work of God that you believe on his son and The
work of God is done. What you need to do is quit working
and look to Him. The publican prayed, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. If you look up that word merciful,
it means be propitious to me at the mercy seat. Receive the
blood. that splashed on the mercy seat,
receive that blood as my sin offering and be appeased, be
satisfied. And the Lord said that man. He just cried for mercy. That
man went down to his house with no sin. One thing is needful. One thing is sufficient. Christ
is all. Isaiah, Hebrews, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, it doesn't matter where we look, does it? The Bible
says one thing a lot of times. And may God drive it home to
our hearts. The simplicity, the all-inclusiveness, which is in
Christ Jesus. Don't be removed from it. Let's
pray.