in the same manner that men will
take a piece of wood and carve an image and bow down to it,
so men will take God's Word concerning Christ Jesus the Lord and carve
it into that which is pleasing in their estimation. And they'll
worship the work of their own hand. calling themselves believers,
calling themselves Christians all the while. That's exactly
what was taking place in Isaiah's day. When reading the prophets,
we make a very fatal mistake if we entertain the folly that
religious folks are somehow better in our day because the word Jesus
is on our lips. And because we live in a time
where we have the advantage of seeing things after Christ has
come. Unless the Lord teaches us in
power through the Holy Spirit, all the advantages that we have
in our day won't do us any good whatsoever. Unless He gives us
a heart to believe Him, and know Him, and trust Him. And there's
no place where we ought to see that more clearly than when we
look at Israel to whom Isaiah was sent to preach. These were
people who the Lord told them what he was going to do before
it ever happened. And then he brought it to pass
exactly like you tell them it was going to happen. And then
he would remind them, I told you it was going to happen before
it happened. Just like Israel in Egypt. He told them he was
going to put them in bondage in Egypt. He did it. He raised
up a deliverer. He brought them out. He gave
them the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness to behold Christ
the Lamb, to behold Christ our High Priest. He gave them judges
in Israel to behold that God Almighty is alone the judge of
the whole earth. That does right. He gave them
prophet after prophet after prophet declaring to them that we can
have no wisdom apart from God giving us wisdom and teaching
us. And the fact of the matter is
that the more pious they became and the more religious they became,
the more idolatrous they became, the worse they became. And eventually,
as we begin here in Isaiah chapter 2, what had happened is that
the twelve tribes that God had delivered out of Egypt into Canaan
as a unified tribe, twelve tribes that He separated, they had turned
against one another now. And all of the ones that were
left, Judah and and and a little few folks in the tribe of Benjamin,
but the other ten tribes were against them they couldn't get
along with each other and so in Judah and in its capital city
Jerusalem you had all this worship going on and and it looked like
it was true worship everything that was happening and But God
called it an abomination. God said, I'm tired of it. Amos said, you like to come. He said, offer up your offering
with your leaven, because you love to do that. Sing my song,
because you love to do that. But he said, I won't hear you.
I just won't hear you. And he turned Israel over. Turned
all the tribes over. Hardened their hearts. so that
they were taken captive by nations around them and carried off scattered
amongst all the nations until they were scattered into nothing.
Into nothing. Absolutely. And the Lord God
did all these things, these same things, these advantages they
had, He's done them for us in our day. He's done them for us
in our day and more. Yet sinners today will not cease
from the work of our own hand and trust Christ alone unless
God intervenes in power and arrests us. The title of the message
this morning is, The Lord's House Established. Now, you can imagine
if you were in the shoes of the remnant here, the few folks here
in this day that truly believe God, that truly trust Him. You
can imagine what it would be like to be in their shoes and
to hear God's prophet come and preach and say, God's going to
destroy the whole mess. He's going to just scatter the
whole bunch until this whole nation is not even recognizable
anymore. You can imagine how just, I mean,
They're just down. Well, how are we going to be
saved? Well, the same message that Isaiah preached in his days,
the same message I'm sent to preach today, and God's message
we're sent to preach today, it's the same message. We're in the
same situation, the same shape, and are dependent upon the same
hope that Israel was dependent upon. Now, let's see that. Let's
look here. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 1. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 1.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem. Now, this is not the physical
tribe Judah. This is the Lord's elect people
called Judah. And this is not the physical
city Jerusalem. This is the Lord's church. It's
Judah and Jerusalem who we're talking about here. Let me show
you something here. Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
23. Jeremiah chapter 23. Hold your
place there. Isaiah chapter 2. We read this last time, but I
want to read this again. I want to read a little further
because I'm making a point here. I want you to see this. He said
there in Jeremiah 23 in verse 1, Woe be unto the pastors that
destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. That's what was
happening in Isaiah's day. Sayeth the Lord. Therefore thus
saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed
my people. You have scattered my flock,
driven them away, and have not visited them, and preached the
truth to them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. And I will gather the
remnant of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven
them, and will bring them again to their folds. And they shall
be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over
them, which shall feed them, And they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch. And a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely." Still
talking about his elect people, but he said, I'm going to do
this, and I'm going to do this through my son. He's going to
be the king that's going to reign in righteousness. Now let's read
on here. And Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name
whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which
brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. That's
what they said about that physical nation Israel. But the Lord liveth
which brought up and which led the seed, the children of the
house of Israel, the seed of the house of Israel out of the
north country and from all countries whither I had driven them. And
they shall dwell in their own land. Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9 and verse 6. Here we find out about this seed
he's talking about. Paul told the Romans, it's not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect. Even though
they were scattered and some didn't believe, they heard the
gospel and they went away into nothing. It's not as though the
word of God has taken an effect for they are not all Israel which
are of that physical nation Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh. It's not going to be said he
brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt because
those are children of the flesh. That's physical Israel. And that's
not who he's talking about. He said, they're not the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted by God for
the sake. That's true issue. That's who
Judah and Jerusalem is that we're talking about here. So we need
to establish that first and foremost so we know who's being addressed
here. This is the Lord's people. This is the remnant, God's chosen
elect people. There's a remnant in that physical
nation Israel. But not that whole physical nation
Israel. He's not talking to them. He's not talking to that whole
tribe of Judah. He's not talking to everybody
in the city of Jerusalem. He's addressing this. He's going
to call out a select, elect people. And this is what he said. This
is how he's going to do it. They couldn't do it. They had all
these false shepherds and all this going on. So now he's giving
them some hope. And he's telling them, here's how it's going to
happen. This is how it's going to happen. Verse 2, And it shall come to
pass in the last days that the mountain of the LORD'S house
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
Don't let any religious imposter fool you with some mysterious
words about the last days. The last days began when Christ,
the Lord Our Righteousness, He said in that day, the Lord Our
Righteousness, when He came and lived and laid down His life
and rose again and took His throne in glory at God's right hand.
That's when these last days began and he's raining and he's doing
everything we're going to see in this text right here And he's
not going to stop until he's finished gathering in all his
house And all in a tool and during that whole process that he's
doing that it's the last day It's the last day now the key
to this verse verse 2 is I believe it's found here in this word
established It says it says here the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains That word established
means prepared fixed ordered firmly secured in place framed
and erected Established. Immovable. Can't be moved. It's
established. Now to understand what this means, first and foremost,
the mountain of the Lord's house is His church. It's His church,
the kingdom of God made up of a chosen, elect people. And He
says, I'm going to build this house. I'm going to build this
house. It's going to be established. That word established there is
the same word we find used in Romans chapter 3, verse 31. In
Romans chapter 3, the whole chapter is telling us we can't obey the
law. And the law speaks to everybody that's yet under the law. And
everybody that don't know Christ, hadn't been called to see Him,
they're under the guilt of that law as far as their concern and
their experience of grace. They don't know what Christ has
done. And they're under that law. And
Christ justified His people. He laid down His life for His
people and He answered to the law's justice in order that God
would be just in justifying them. And we come around to the end
of that chapter and Paul asks the question then. He says, well,
then do we make void the law through faith? And the answer
is, God forbid. Yea, we established the law through
faith. That word established right there
means the law is completely prepared, fixed, ordered, firmly secured
in place. It's firmly satisfied completely. Well, how in the world do we
do that? One way. Believe Christ. Trust Christ. Because He did it. He did it.
So when we begin to see here first of all that this house
is going to be established This house is going to be established
in righteousness and true holiness because Christ is going to be
established legally. It's going to be justly established
legally. It's a city of truth. It's a
holy mountain. That's what Zechariah said. The
Lord said, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy. I was
jealous for her with great fury. Thus said the Lord, I am returned
unto Zion. He's talking about his people.
And I'll dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall
be called a city of truth. The mountain of the Lord of hosts
the holy mountain. That's what it's going to be
called Now, in the shape you saw this people in right here,
when we went through Isaiah 1, and the Lord said, I'm going
to use Me and My adversaries. I'm going to destroy the wicked. I'm going to destroy every one
of them. And I'm going to turn Myself upon My people. I'm going
to purge away their draws. And I'm going to take away all
their self-righteous sin. And I'm going to bring them to
behold Me. He has to do it. He has to do it. And He says,
first of all, He's going to do it by what his son's going to
do in establishing the church, justifying them, making them
complete, making atonement for them. Now, this thing is called
the Lord's house established in the top of the mountains because
it's in heaven, it's in Christ, for it's in Christ that atonement's
been made. That's where he's seated. When he rose, he's in
heaven. The top above all the mountains, there's where he's
at, Mount Zion. in Jerusalem. And it's called
a mountain because it's founded on Christ the Rock. He's the
foundation. That's our only foundation is
Christ, period. And in regard to His finished
work of redemption right now, His house is exalted above the
hills. The hills speak particularly
of false religion and every false way that exalts self. You see
Mount Zion. Mount Zion It wasn't a city,
it wasn't a mountain as we would think of mountains. In fact,
most of the places around it were taller than it. And so it
wasn't looked upon by anybody around there with the natural
eyes being all that great a mountain. Well, the Lord calls His church
that He establishes Mount Zion. And just in the same manner that
they looked at that physical Mount Zion and thought, that's
no big deal. This world's religion, natural
man, this world period, views Christ's church as contemptible. It's just like that lowly Mount
Zion. But the building and the house
and the places of worship and the multitudes that man's hand
brings in. Oh boy, that's impressive. Now
that's a mountain. The Lord said, I'm going to exalt
my house above those lowly hills. Those are lowly hills, and my
house is going to be exalted above those. Let me show you. The Lord received no glory from
the Word preached in the high and lofty places in Isaiah's
day, in the groves and all those places. He didn't build those
places. He didn't send their pastors.
He didn't command their sacrifices. And everything that they promoted
was a lie against God. And so He wasn't going to be
honored and glorified there. He just wasn't. But he says here
that all those hills, self-righteous, self-justifying, self-sanctifying
men of all falsehood, period, that esteem themselves as mountains,
are going to be brought low. And he says, my house is going
to be established. It's going to be exalted above the hills. Now let me show you some Scripture
on that. Jeremiah 51, verse 25. When they were dispersed into
Babylon, when the national Israel went into Babylon, you couldn't
tell an Israelite from a Babylonian. They adopted their gods. They
married their children. They married their wives. You
couldn't tell one from the other. If they didn't do something physically,
outwardly, to make themselves appear different, you'd have
never known the difference. Same with religious folks in our day.
You can't tell who God's people are. You can't tell who His true
Israel is by outward appearance. You can't do it. Look here what
he says about Babylon. They went into Babylon. This
is what he said about them. Jeremiah 51 verse 25. Behold,
I'm against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which
destroyeth all the earth. And I'll stretch out my hand
upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and I'll make
thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee
a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundation, but thou shalt
be desolate forever, saith the Lord. Look with me over at Micah,
Micah chapter 3. In Micah chapter 3, in verse
9, the Lord says, Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house
of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel that abhor judgment
and pervert all equity. That's what a false gospel does.
That's exactly what a false gospel does. It abhors judgment and
perverts equity. He says, They build up Zion with
blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. the heads thereof judge for reward,
and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof
divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord,
and they say, Is not the Lord among us? Oh, we've been blessed. The Lord's good to us. None evil
can come upon us. But he says, Therefore shall
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places
of the forest. In other words, he's saying,
I'm going to level your high places, and they're just going
to have grass growing over them like a desolate like a plain
on a mountain. And he says, But in the last
days, look at chapter 4 verse 1, But in the last days it shall
come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be
exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. Now
look at Zechariah chapter 4. Zerubbabel was the one who was
the governor who would build the second temple when they came
out of captivity. He's a type of Christ. And listen
to what the Lord said unto Zerubbabel. Now listen to this. He says in
verse 6, He said, Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This
is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might,
nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who
art thou, O great mountain? Who are you? Before Zerubbabel,
thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone
thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover,
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house, His hands shall also finish
it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me
unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? For
they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel with those seven eyes. And they're the eyes of the Lord
which run to and fro through the whole earth. He said, my
son is going to establish this house in justice. He's going
to atone for my people, reconcile my people to me, going to declare
me just in justifying my people, and thereby my house is going
to be exalted above these lowly hills where they're trying to
come to me in self-righteousness and unrighteousness and ungodliness. The Lord said, I won't have it.
That's not holiness. That's not righteousness. And
now these eyes going to and fro in the earth, and how He said
this is the Lord's eyes running to and fro, here's the second
thing He's going to do in exalting His house. This brings us to
the second thing. In His church, His visible church
in this earth, above every other dominion and institution, religious
or otherwise, He's going to exalt His place of worship. And I don't
mean by that that he's going to exalt the church in some manner
to where folks are going to behold the church and they're going
to all of a sudden, everybody in the whole world is going to
start saying, well, let's all go there. Let's go, oh, this is
the church and it's going to be some great revival. That's
not going to happen. That's not going to happen. But
what is going to happen is, is he's going to destroy every earthly
institution, every earthly dominion, every false religion in this
world, and he's going to destroy it this way. He's going to call
his people out from them, out of their midst. If there's any
of his people amongst them, he's going to bring them out and bring
them into his church. And thereby, he's going to destroy
the whole mess of them, every one of them. When he's done drawing
every one of them in, he's going to Leave the rest of them to
themselves. They can have it. Because don't
none of us want it. They can have it. What they've
been fighting and bickering over all their lives, they can just have
it. I want Christ. That's all I want. Look here,
verse 2. Back there. Isaiah chapter 2,
verse 2. And all nations shall flow unto
it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God
of Jacob. And he'll teach us of his ways,
and we'll walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Now, Christ
the King's risen. And he's seated at God's right
hand, and right now he's fitly framing together, establishing
every local assembly that he's established, that he's built
up. He's done it. He's done it. And it says here
that He's going to draw all nations. They're going to flow unto it.
That don't mean everybody. That means what Eric read back
in the men's meeting this morning in Revelation. People out of
every tribe and kindred and nation and tongue under heaven. He's
got to elect people scattered throughout the earth. And they're
going to all flow to this. They're going to come into His.
He's going to save them is what He's saying. I'm going to bring
them to see Me and trust Me by faith. And it says here, many
shall say, let's go up to the Lord's house. Not all of them,
many of them. Many of them. It's a great number.
And here's why. Here's why. Since the day He
walked this earth, Christ has been, and right now is, gathering
the remnant of his flock out of all the countries where he's
driven them, and he's bringing them again to their folds, just
like what Jeremiah said would take place. That's what he's
doing. The fold, you're in a fold right here, right now. This is
a fold. That's what it is, because it's a green pasture. You can
lay down and come in and out and find rest and pasture, and
it's a fold. That's what it is. And he said,
I'm going to gather them into my fold. And that's what he means
here in verse 3. Many people shall go and say,
Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob. Let's go where we can hear the
gospel praise. Let's go where we can hear a word from God.
And it's Christ who teaches His people in this place. He also
said through Jeremiah, He said, I'm going to set up shepherds
over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
That's what we see here in verse 3. It says, And this many people
shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us
of His ways. and we will walk in his path
for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. It's in the local assemblies.
It's Christ who teaches His people His ways. That's what He said
in Ephesians 3-4 when He said He led captivity captive and
He gave gifts unto men. He gave 12 apostles in the beginning. He gave some prophets. He gave
pastors, teachers, evangelists for the edifying of the church,
the calling out of His people. He did that. He did that. And
then it says, look over at Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. If you know Christ the King,
then you know it's Christ who sends his messengers with the
truth concerning his judgment and his righteousness, and thereby
it's Christ himself who teaches his people and who establishes
his people. This house is going to be established,
he said. It's going to be established, and He's going to be the one
to establish. Just as surely as He justified His people and
made them righteous before God, and makes them holy before God,
He's going to be the one that's going to call them out in truth
and in righteousness. Just as surely as He did when
He called those twelve apostles when He walked this earth. He's
going to use pastors and teachers to do it, but He's going to raise
them, send them, and teach through them His Word and make it effectual
in the hearts of the people that hear it. Because in that manner,
in that manner alone, He gets every bit of the glory, and we
don't get any. Now look here, Isaiah 54, 11. Does this fit
you? Fit a description of you? O thou
afflicted, tossed with tempests and not comforted, This is what
he says to the church, Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
the borders of pleasant stones, and all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. And great shall be the peace
of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not
come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. And whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, that bringeth forth
an instrument for his work. I have created the waster to
destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and
every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. This is your heritage, this is your inheritance, by
God the Father, the Lord." And he said, your righteousness is
of me. He said, many are going to come by my power, and they
will come to a place that I've established, and they will come
to a place where I've lifted up somebody to declare the truth
concerning me, and they're going to say, let's go up there and
learn about His ways. Not let's go up there and see
what we can learn what we ought to be doing. Let's go up there
and see what he says he's done. Let's learn about his way of
establishing his law. Let's go learn about his way
of declaring God just and justifier of all who believe. Let's go
learn about his way of making his people holy by himself and
in himself. Let's go learn of how He creates
life in His people, empowered and true. His way of preserving
His people. Let's go find out about His ways.
How He's going to raise His people anew. Let's find out about Him.
That's what He told us back there when Isaiah was preaching. He
said, I'm going to ease me and my adversaries. do it, and I'm
going to raise up your judges and your counselors as at the
first, and afterwards you're going to be called a city of
righteousness, a faithful city, because I'm going to do this
in righteousness and in judgment. I'm not going to do this some
crooked way, some back alley way. I'm going to do this the
right way. That's how God does everything.
Now look here. Be sure you get this and why
He saves through the truth of His gospel right here in Isaiah
2, verse 3. Look there at the end. And He'll
teach us of His ways and we'll walk in His ways. Why? That word
for me, because. Because out of Zion shall go
forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It's
going to go forth from wherever He's... a place like this that
He's planted, but it's going forth out of heavenly Zion. It's
going forth from Him to you. You heard the old people say
that's what you want, a preacher that gets a message from God's
heart to his heart to your heart. That's what you want. That's
how God's going to save His people. Listen to Psalm 110. This is
what He said when He sent it on high. The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy
footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of
Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. What's his rod? It's the gospel. Where's it come from? Out of
Zion? Out of his presence? From him?
To his people he's gonna do it. He's gonna rule. We've not come
when you come in here and listen to me I've been thinking about
this a while When we come in here let's be on time and let's
don't be up and down and in and out and not all this stuff because
This is what the scripture says about this place now listen now
you didn't come into the firehouse in Rocky Hill, New Jersey Scripture
says, you came unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than
that of Abel. It's just that real. We come
into this place to worship God. We're coming before God Almighty,
the judge of heaven and earth. We're coming into the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if he's pleased to meet with
us, which he said he is, he'll dwell in the midst of us. If
two or three of us are gathered here in his name, he'll be here.
And he said that I'll send forth my law, my word out of Zion,
and I'll make my people willing. So when we come into this place,
we come in here to worship God. We come in here to hear a word
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. We didn't come
in here to hear a man preach. We didn't come in here to hear
one another and things each of us say. We came in here to hear
God Almighty, our Savior, speak to us. That's serious business. When
Paul said, Seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God, that gives more meaning
to that. I mean, that's where he is, and
he's ruling out of Zion. He's ruling in his church and
drawing his people unto him. That's who we come to seek. That's
who we come to seek. Let's see here. He says he's
going to exalt it over everything. Over everything. You young people,
you can go out into this world, you can join every fraternal
organization, every who's who society, whatever you want to.
Christ Church is the highest exalted company and troop that
there is in this world. Because He's made it so. By virtue
of Him and us being in Him, It's exalted above every, every, the
White House is a house of cards compared to this house right
here. I'm serious as I can be about that. There's no place
you can join, no membership you can get into, no elite club you
can get into that's any higher than Christchurch. Period. Because
of him who built it and established it. Let's go back to this text. Let
me finish up here. Now we're going to come to the
sure and successful result of our Lord's work in and through
His church. Look back here at this text. Isaiah chapter 2. Let's read through here a minute.
I want you to notice something. Verse 2 there. It shall come
to pass. The mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established and shall be exalted above the hills. All
nations shall flow unto it. Look at verse 3, "...and many
people shall go and say, he will teach us of his way, and we will
walk in his path." Verse 4, "...he shall judge among the nation,
and he shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more." That sounds like this thing pretty certain, don't it?
He said, I shall do this, and it shall come to pass. This speaks
of the effectual victorious work of Christ in His people. Through
His gospel, He's judging the nation. He's judging His people
amongst the nations. He's doing what's right and equitable
and righteous for them. He's doing what's right for His
people among the nations. And He's rebuking many. There
may be somebody that hears me preach this Word right here,
and they may be rebuked by what I'm saying, because what I'm
saying is not giving us any ability. It's not leaving anything in
our hands. He's doing it from start to finish. And if the Gospel
is preached, it's going to rebuke His people. He's going to bring
them low before He gives them faith to behold Him and trust
Him. He's going to rebuke them. He's going to bring them down.
And He said that He shall do that. And here's the result when
he makes his people willing. They cease from warring and they're
made to be peacemakers. He says they'll beat their swords
into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Neither shall
they learn war anymore. We're told in Scripture that
hell will be full of weeping and gnashing of teeth. We looked
at Romans 3 this morning about bitter cursing and what we are
by nature and all because that's all we are. That's what we are.
By nature what we are is swords and spears and wars and death. That's what we are. And that's
all we like by nature. But he says, when I get done
with my people, they're going to take the sword and they're
going to beat it into a hoe. They're going to take their spear,
and they're going to beat it into a pruning hook. A plowshare
is a hoe. Have you ever watched an old
timer that really knows what he's doing in a garden? He'll
take a hoe, and he'll take that hoe, and he'll pull the ground
back, and he'll drop the seed in there, and he'll put dirt
back over it with that hoe, and he'll tamp it down with that
hoe. And when that little plant starts sprouting up out of there
and it's just so fragile and so likely to be damaged and harmed,
he'll take that hoe and he'll rake up a little more dirt around
it, keep it protected. If it needs some more sun or
more dirt, he'll tamp the dirt down around it. When it gets
up to where it's growing up pretty good and the heat of the summer
comes, over in the heat of the summer, he'll take him some extra
dirt and he'll rake up more on there so that those roots are
covered up with more dirt. It's nice and cool under there
and they don't get all burnt up by the heat of the sun and
that hot, hot dirt. And then when they grow up a
tomato plant, it'll grow up, and then in between the branches,
it'll have a little sucker that'll come out of there. And they'll
grow real big. They'll look like they're really a part of the
tomato plant, but they won't bear any fruit whatsoever, not
any. And he'll go out there, and he'll take his little pruning
hook, and he'll go out there, and he'll very carefully take
that sucker off of there, because all it's doing is taking up all
the good. that's being given through the
roots of that, through the vine of that plant. It's just a sucker.
That's all it is. He'll take that away. It's no
good. That's what the Lord does through
the gospel, and that's what He makes His people. He turns us
in from instruments of war to instruments of gardening, for
gardening, to husbandry, to care for His people, to be careful
with them, and to be nourishing and edifying to one another.
You know, a spear and a sword make a mighty poor gardening
tool, wouldn't it? It could draw forth some blood.
It could kill somebody. But it won't do much good in
bringing forth fruit and gardening and caring for people, will it?
The Lord's Church is not an oppressive place. It's not a place where
we try to wound and bruise and oppress one another. It's a place
where you can come and be edified and be filled and be cared for. That's what the Lord's Church
is. And he said, and I'll do that. And he said, and they won't learn
war anymore. Well, That's one of these days the Lord's going
to build His church so much in this earth, and everything's
just going to be peace and harmony right here on this earth. That's
not what He's talking about. This morning, all over this country,
there's folks gathering together in churches. And they're sat
down, and their preacher got up, and the whole message, he
gave a little lip service to Christ, and in the rest of the
message, he'd been telling them how to horse up their chariot,
and how to put the harness on that big, mighty stallion, and
how to sharpen up and get the battle bow ready, and how to
get their sword all glistening and shining, and how to go out
into battle, and how to get what you want in life. Establish your
own righteousness and earn your own holiness, make yourself holy,
and run with the fastest horse and the fastest chariot, and
get the best reward, get the most spoils from all your efforts
and everything you've done. Learning war. Just learning war. God said, when I get through
with my people, they're going to behold that I'm all their
righteousness. I'm all their holiness. And that
battle bow's going to be broken. And that chariot's going to be
cast aside. And all their mighty horses they
put all their trust in are going to be done away with. And they're
not going to study learning war anymore. They're not going to
come into my house wanting to know How can I go out and battle
against God Almighty to try to establish my own righteousness
and make myself accepted in Him? They're going to come peaceful,
sit down, and they're going to listen and hear what He's done,
what I've done. And I'm going to tell them. My
servant, comfort ye my people and tell them their warfare is
accomplished. And just lay down all their weapons
of war. They don't have to learn war
anymore. It's done. You can't get any more complete
than you are. Just trust me, the Lord said. Let me prove that
to you. Look over at Hosea chapter 2. And then I'll be done. Hosea
chapter 2, verse 18. All right, let's let's go on
back up here we got to read this whole thing Verse 14 he's talking
about the church. What are you gonna do for therefore
behold? I will allure her And I'll bring her into the wilderness
and I'll speak comfortably unto her And I'll give her her vineyards
from the ants in the valley of acre for a door of hope and she
shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the day
when she came up out of the land of Egypt She's been redeemed.
She's got a lot to sing about. And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, my husband, and
shalt call me no more Beli, which is my Lord. Call me husband.
He said, for I'll take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth.
They shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day
will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field.
There's going to be a peace with the fowls of heaven, with the
creeping things of the ground, And I'll break the bow and the
sword and the battle out of the earth and I'll make them to lie
down safely. And I will betroth thee unto
me forever. Yeah, I'll betroth thee unto me in righteousness
and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies. I will
even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. And thou shalt
know the Lord. You shall know the Lord. That's
what he's talking about. They're not going to learn anymore.
They're not going to look to their own hands. They're all
works. You can go home tonight. You can read Psalm 46 verse 9. That's a good one to read on
it. And, uh, and, uh, roll right there. What's in the, in the,
if you've got a King James Bible, Psalm 46, 9, Hosea 2, 18, Zechariah
9, 10. I looked them all up and that's
exactly what he's talking about. They're not going to learn war.
They're not going to run with the chariot and the power of their
own strength anymore. They're going to just lie down
safely and be at peace. Be at peace. Well, what's the
result? What's the result of all this?
How did Isaiah make his grand application on this subject when
he got finished telling it to them? Verse 5. O house of Jacob, are you the ones he's talking
to here? O house of Jacob, come ye. Let us walk in the light
of the Lord. He's given us a light in a dark
place. And He's lit up our path so we
know now how to walk in Him. And He says, so now come, let's
just walk in Him. Let's just trust Him. That's
what we'll do. By His grace, we'll just trust
Him. We won't practice war anymore. picture of Bethel Baptist Church
on the front of their bulletin where Brother Rupert Reichenbach
is pastoring. And I like it because it says,
a lighthouse in a dark place. It's a picture of their building
that says, a lighthouse in a dark place. And that's what the Lord's
Church is. It's a beacon on a high hill.
And He's drawing His people into it, saving them through His Word,
through His pastors, through His power, through His grace.
And He's doing it in righteousness and in judgment. And there won't
be a one loss. And when He's done, the fulfillment,
the full, complete fulfillment of this will be when He's made
a new heavens and a new earth where He dwells righteousness.
And then we'll be at peace forevermore with Him.