Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. so so you All right, good evening. It's
good to be with you all in spirit and to have this time to seek
our God and worship his name. and to hear a word from the Lord.
And that's a blessed thing, a blessed thing. And I'm sure each of us,
now that we're not able to gather together in person the way we
were able previously, now going through this, we certainly have
a much greater appreciation for the Lord's work in putting together
His sheep and that we come together as a body to worship our God
and to hear from Him. So we pray that soon we would
be able, allowed by the governments, to meet together and we'll seek
the Lord's will regarding that matter as well. I want to begin
reading our text tonight, which is found in Isaiah 30. Isaiah
30, and we'll be finishing the chapter looking at verses 27
through 33. Isaiah 30, verses 27 through 33. Behold, the name
of the Lord cometh from far. The name of the Lord cometh from
far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy. His lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue as a devouring fire, and his breath as an overflowing
stream shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations
with the sieve of vanity, and there shall be a bridle in the
jaws of the people, causing them to err. Ye shall have a song,
as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness of heart
as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of
the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause
His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down
of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame
of a devouring fire with scattering in tempest and hailstones. For
through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten
down, which smote with the rod. And in every place where the
grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him,
it shall be with tabrets and harps, and in battles of shaking
will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old,
or hell is ordained of old. Yea, for the king it is prepared,
he hath made it deep, and large. The pile thereof is fire and
much wood. The breath of the Lord, like
a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
Father, we thank you for the work and the power of your salvation,
for your glory, Lord, that you would remember a people,
a poor and afflicted people, a people strict and humbled, according to the will and the
purpose and the work of our God, who is able to control the hearts
of kings and to work his will in the earth, even as he works
it perfectly in heaven. Lord, what is man that thou art
mindful of him and dost take thought of him? Lord, we pray
that you would consider us now. Lord, that you would attend this
gathering in spirit, Lord, that you would unite our hearts together
in one mind, in one spirit, in one Lord, one faith, one body,
one holy love, and one blessed faith that is found in your Son,
Jesus Christ. Lord, we're so thankful for your
mercy and your grace that you should cause us in this
day of grace to hear the voice of our God. Let it not be till the end when
The wicked shall hear your glorious voice, but Lord, that you've
caused us to hear the glory of your voice, even now. The call
in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, that you opened our ears,
softened our hard hearts, lifted the veil from our blindness,
and caused us to see and to hear our God. to see our need of Him
and the sufficiency and perfection of Christ our Savior. Lord, we
ask that you would bless this hour, that you would bless your
people and bless your gospel to go forth and to do its perfect
work according to your will. We pray for our brethren throughout
this country and throughout the world that are meeting during
the week, each week, each Sunday, Lord, and many having to meet
as we are now. Lord, we pray that you would
bless the services, that you would stir our hearts, cause
us, Lord, to consider our God, to consider our calling, to consider
your word and your gospel. And Lord, that you would light
up the areas where this word is sounding forth, that you would
bless the word mightily, Lord, and that it would reach the hearts
of your people. And you might even take this
seemingly unorthodox and unnatural way, Lord, that we are having
to meet now, Lord, that you would bless it and cause it to reach
out to many others that would otherwise not hear the gospel.
And that you would make it effectual in the hearts of your people,
Lord, that you would cause a great calling and a great awakening
in your chosen, redeemed, elect people, gathering them together,
that when this storm is passed, you would have gathered in more
sheep, more children to yourself, that you would fill the churches
the true churches where the gospel of Christ is preached and where
His name is exalted. Lord, we ask this, even of this
humble, small assembly here in Missouri, that you would bless
our neighborhoods, that you would bless our cities, cause the message
of our God to be heard in the streets and in the homes, and
wheresoever your sheep are found, or that they would hear the word
and be gathered in, call your people, Lord, help us. Help us,
for we have not the strength or the answers or the intelligence
or the wisdom in ourselves, but Lord, we know that you know all
things and do all things well, and that you provide mightily
for your people. and that you will be sought of
your people for these things. Lord, please bless this hour
now. Bless your people and help me,
Lord, to preach the word in spirit and in truth. That your name,
the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be blessed
and glorified now in the hearts of his people. It's in Christ's
name that we pray. Amen. All right, brethren. So, Isaiah
30, verses 27 through 33. Now, the shame of man is witnessed
in what he hopes in, where his faith lies, what he's trusting
in. And the shame of man is in carnal,
fleshly things. That's what man trusts in, things
that are that are weak, things that are hollow, things that
are vanity, things that are easily shaken and come apart. Things
that shall not last in the day of judgment. They won't stand
in that day. They won't bear up under the
fiery wrath of God. Those things are not lasting.
But that's the shame of man. That's what he trusts in. We
see man's inclination. His natural inclination is to
listen to his own thoughts and to come up with his own schemes
and ideas of salvation. He's looking for a covering,
something to protect himself, and so he's inventing his own
ways by his own thoughts and imaginations rather than turning
to the living God who created him. And so we see man sooner
turning to a weak, defeated enemy, Egypt, rather than turning to
the God who defeated Egypt and delivered them from slavery and
bondage and darkness when they were under the rule and reign
of Egypt. But they're turning back there
now to Egypt and trusting that we see back in Isaiah 30 verse
2 he said these go down into Egypt and have not asked at my
mouth right and that's a theme in this chapter the words of
the Lord the blessing of God's Word and he's saying you're going
to to men. This is going to be your shame.
You're not seeking my mouth. You're not seeking my words concerning
this matter. And that's because man doesn't
want to hear what the Lord says. He doesn't want to hear what
the Lord says because he hates God. And he doesn't believe God
and he doesn't trust God. He doesn't want to hear from
God because he thinks that the words of God are foolishness. He doesn't have the Spirit of
God, so they're foolishness unto him. And yet, the Lord, by his
prophet, we see the faithfulness of God by his prophet, he consistently
makes clear this message to the people. He's telling them over
and over again throughout this chapter and throughout the book
of Isaiah, it's a calling to hear the word of the Lord, that
we're to hear his word. We know something of this, right? When you have an idea, when you
have a business plan or something that you want to do, go someplace
or say something to somebody, you think of those acquaintances
or friends that you have that you know are likely to oppose
you. And so you think, well, I think
this person's wise, and they have intelligence, and they probably
would have a good insight into this matter. But if you think
they're going to say something that is opposed to what you really
want to do, you're not very likely to ask them or seek their advice.
You stay away from them. Or as soon as you speak to them,
you immediately are reminded, oh, yeah, that's why I don't
talk to you. But we should hear. We should
hear that at times. There's times when there is wisdom
and much counsel. And certainly here, there's no
wisdom in these men. They don't even want to hear
from the Lord. And that's the counsel that we
are to hear. And so man is always rushing
to save himself. He's hasty in saving himself
and doing what he wills to do. Man is going to do what he wants
to do. We see that in ourselves, in
our sinful flesh, in the lust of our flesh. We're gonna find
a way and a reason to do the things that we want to do and
justify them so that we can do them and feel good about going
forward and doing them, even if we're faced with guilt and
condemnation. afterward. But the Lord tells
us, again, the faithfulness of the Lord in sending his prophet
and declaring his word, says in verse 7, that their strength
is to sit still. That's our strength, to sit still
and to seek the Lord. But they wouldn't listen to him,
they wouldn't hear the prophet, they wouldn't hear what the Lord
says, and so the Lord tells the prophet, write it down. Put it
on a table, put it in a book, And I want you to remind them,
I want everyone to see that, verse nine, that this is a rebellious
people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of
the Lord. And these people went so far
as to ask to be lied to. Tell us smooth sayings. We want
a God that is just for us and is just patting us on the back
and telling us, good job, you did the best you could, really
good job there in what you're doing and doing your will and
your way. But the Lord isn't like that,
not the true living God. He's faithful to declare the
truth to us. And so in verse 12, Isaiah 30
verse 12, wherefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because
ye despise the word. All right, he's telling them
again, you despise my word, you're not hearing or listening to my
word. And so God said he's going to
destroy the people. And he tells them again in verse
15, for thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning
and rest shall ye be saved. in quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength, and ye would not." And so these people
began to speak their plan, and God said, they said, well, we're
going to ride on out of here on swift horses. And so the Lord
counters every move. He says, well, then those that
pursue you, they'll be on swift horses as well. Whatever you
do, the Lord's gonna counter it so that you're brought to
nothing in yourselves. For the Lord, oh, and therefore
he says that the Lord will wait. All right, again, this is the
faithfulness of a God. The Lord will wait, verse 18,
that he may be gracious unto you. and therefore will He be
exalted that He may have mercy upon you." And so, the Lord showed
Himself abundantly gracious to these people. And that's what
He's done for each of us who hope in Him and trust in Him.
He's been gracious to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's humbled
us and brought us to nothing in religion, nothing in ourselves,
counted us here, counted us there, cut off this way, cut off that
way, so that we would be shut up to the living God, to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to His salvation. All of our life, as believers,
is just going through a pathway that is getting narrower and
narrower and more narrow, and it's just stripping away and
cutting away the flesh till we're brought face to face with none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's with the one with
whom we have to do. He's our God. He's our Lord. He's our lawgiver. He is the
judge of the living and the dead. For the Lord is a God of judgment.
Blessed are all they that wait for Him." And God put away. He judged us in Christ. When
He judged Christ, we were judged in Him. And our sin was put away. We're not just forgiven and forgotten
about our sins. Our sins, every one of them,
was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. With his wounds,
with his stripes, we are healed. We're forgiven because Christ
himself bore our sorrows and bore our pain and our suffering
and the judgment that we deserve, the hell we deserve, Christ bore
it on our behalf. And so, our God is gracious,
gracious to his people, and he's doing this. He's speaking his
word to call out his people. is people that are hard of hearing,
slow to believe, slow to hear, slow to learn, weak in the faith, right? And the way the Lord spoke to
the disciples, that's how we are. We're the same way. There's
nothing great about us or any better about us than them. We're
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
all that God has declared to us concerning our salvation,
concerning Christ, concerning this life, and concerning this
world and what's happening before our eyes. And so, this people
though, as a body, this people refuse to hear his word. But the Lord is so gracious to
us in Christ, right? That was us. We had our time
where we refused to hear his word. And then even now, we are
hard of hearing. But these people who refuse to
hear His Word, we see in verse 19, the graciousness of our God.
who even though they wouldn't hear his word, now that they
have been brought to nothing and humbled before him, that
he may be gracious to them, he says, verse 19, that he will
be very gracious unto thee. At the voice of thy cry, when
he shall hear it, he will answer thee. Isn't that gracious? That we who refuse to hear his
voice, refuse to hear his word, he now says to us, I'll hear
your cry. I'll hear you, when you call
out to me, I'll hear you and I will help you. All right, and
so he tells us, and we know this is in Christ, that we shall go
in the way, the way of righteousness, being led by the voice of God,
the word of God, the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
21, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is
the way, walk ye in it. Christ is the way. Walk ye in
the way which is Jesus Christ. He himself is the way. He himself
is the truth. He himself is the life. He's
not pointing us to the way. He himself is the very way wherein
we walk. He's the Lord who leads us in
paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Because he leads
us in himself. He teaches us and reveals himself
to the heart and Christ is exalted and lifted up in the heart of
his people. And so this salvation, is brought
to the people. It's done in spite of us by the
living God for his people. And he abundantly blesses us
in Christ, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, Ephesians 1, 3. But now in this passage here,
as we come to the close of this chapter, the Lord is revealing
to us, he's gonna complete the work of salvation. in the destruction
of his enemies and our enemies. We're no longer part of that
body of those enemies. We've been delivered from that,
and we're in the body of Christ, and we stand in Christ, represented
in him. no longer with Adam's body and
that corrupt seed. We're delivered from that. And
Christ is going to destroy all those who refuse to hear his
word. He's going to deal with the wicked
ones and those that he used to trouble his children and to chasten
his children and use them as a rod to chasten the children
with the rod. He's going to trouble them now.
He's going to destroy them and bring them to nothing. That work
which he did in using them to strip his people of self and
confidence in the flesh, the Lord will now destroy those enemies. And so that his people, His people
will hear his voice, they're gonna see his work, and will
rejoice and triumph in witnessing the work of our God in destroying
our enemies. Now our title is Hearing God's
Glorious Voice. Hearing God's Glorious Voice.
And we've seen in this chapter that all peoples hear his voice. Some refuse to hear, they refuse
it, they will not listen, but then there's a people, a remnant,
that do hear it, and they're brought to hear the Lord, they're
taught to hear the Lord, they're given ears to hear the Lord,
and they rejoice in his salvation. All right, so let's begin here. The salvation of our God includes
the judgment of the enemies of God's righteous people. Now,
historically, we see this throughout history. We see it in various
types, whether it's Egypt, whether it's the Philistines, whether
it's Babylon or Syria or Samaria. These various pictures here are
all types pointing to spiritual Babylon. The Lord sums up all
our enemies as spiritual Babylon, that whore, the church, the false
church, The whore of Babylon is that enemy and all its members
and workings, it's all being cast off and destroyed. And this
will be done when the Lord Jesus Christ returns from heaven to
redeem, to claim that which he's purchased with his own blood,
his precious bride, his people. Now our text begins in verse
27 with the word, behold, Behold, and it's to grab our
attention. It's to cause us to stop and
to listen, to hear, what is this? What is this word that I'm hearing
now? The Lord says, behold, the name
of the Lord cometh from far. The name of the Lord cometh from
far. Now, from far is to indicate
to us that it's not of this place. It's not of the earth. This isn't
the voice of a man. This is the voice of God from
heaven. And then the name of the Lord. He says, behold, the name of
the Lord cometh. Now, it does mean the Lord himself
is coming, but he says, the name of the Lord cometh, and is to
signify to us that this one who comes has all power and all authority
given to him to execute, to implement the will of God his Father in
the earth. He has the authority to do what
he says he's going to do, and he's going to do it, right? When we preach, We preach in
the name of Jesus Christ. We preach in his name as ambassadors
for Christ. We preach the gospel of Christ. When we pray, what do we pray? We pray in the name of Jesus
Christ because that's our authority. We don't preach in our name.
We don't serve in our name. We don't pray in our name. We have no authority, no right
to do or say the things that we say in and of ourselves, but
in the name of Christ, speaking as his ambassador, praying in
his name, that his will be done, well then we do say and do these
things in the authority of Christ, because we're not doing our own
will. We're not speaking our own words. We're not praying
our own, that our will be done, but rather his will be done.
Anything you ask of my name, that's according to my will,
shall be done. It'll be done, that which is
according to his will. So, the word here now is first
to you that despise the word of God. He's saying, listen,
behold, behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far. He's telling
us that God is coming. to implement his will. He's going
to wrap everything up when he returns. He's going to destroy
his enemies just as he said he's going to do. And he's given us
many examples throughout history of just how he's done it. And
there's going to be a final time when he does it once and for
all. So behold, the name of the Lord
cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof
is heavy. This one is Christ who comes,
and he comes with authority, and he's angry with the wicked.
He's angry with the wicked, and he comes with a burden that is
heavy. But it's not a heavy burden to
him. This is a burden that's going
to be heavy for the wicked who receive it. It's going to be
heavy for them. Our Lord knows this burden, brethren,
because he bore that burden for us, who have no hope in themselves,
who have no confidence, who have no righteousness of themselves. We have nothing to give to God,
but in Christ we are righteous because he has borne that heavy
burden, that wrath of Almighty God, the fiery indignation and
just wrath of God, which was due to us for our sins, Christ
bore it. Not just for one person, not
just for a family of people, not for a nation, but for the
whole of his people. The whole of his people, the
whole entire body of Christ, he bore their sin, bore all the
holy wrath of God for that people. So this burden is the fierce
wrath of God that's to come upon the wicked. Because God is just,
and every sin must be paid for, every debt paid to the full.
And so they're going to have to bear this burden in themselves. Christ bore it in our stead as
our substitute, the Lamb of God. these shall bear it of themselves."
He says, his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as
a devouring fire. And what the picture there is
that he's going to pronounce the just punishment for all his
enemies. He's the judge and he's going
to pronounce judgment upon his enemies. And this is the gospel. This is part of the gospel, that
the enemies are destroyed. We know this. The evil one is
destroyed. Death is destroyed. Sin is destroyed. The powers and chains of darkness
are destroyed for his people. We're delivered. And all the
enemies, all those that hated the true and living God and would
not hear his word and but refused him, they too shall be destroyed. Paul, when speaking to the Athenians,
knowing that for some of these, this would be the only time they
heard the gospel, declares to them Christ, declares to them
the resurrection and the judgment. And he says that, he said to
the men in Acts 17, 30 and 31, he said, the time of this ignorance. When God left the nations to
themselves in idolatry and darkness, rather than judging them, he
left them to themselves. He winked at this time of ignorance,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. to be turned and to
hear, hear this word of his gospel, of his salvation. Be turned from
your dead, filthy, polluted, idolatrous works and be turned
to the salvation, the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Be turned to him, look to him
for your righteousness and your deliverance. Stop looking to
the works of your hands and look to the salvation I've provided
in my son. Why? Because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given us assurance
in that he hath raised him from the dead. So Christ is the judge
appointed by God to judge all the wicked, to judge all men,
the quick or living and the dead, And we know this because he's
raised him from the dead. He's made it known to us. He's
revealed it to us. He's revealed it to us in the
resurrection. So of that day, we're given a view into that
day. Turn over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, and then put a
marker here, because we'll come back to another passage in Revelation
a little later. Revelation 19, and go to verse
12, and so this is a view into that, and we can find, we're
not gonna look at every passage, but in our text, we see these
pictures all traced out for us in the New Testament. It says,
verse 12 there, that his eyes were as a flame of fire, and
on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew, No man knew, think about what we've heard, no man
knew but he himself, remember that the name of the Lord cometh
and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name
is called the Word of God. I don't know about you, but when
I read that his name is the Word of God, it reminded me And how
in this passage here in Isaiah 30, what is it that the people
are despising? The Word of God. The Word of
God. They're not listening to the
Word of God. And so it is with Christ, the
Lamb of God. So perfect, so precious, so righteous,
so wonderful. And yet He's despised and rejected
of men. Because He is the Word of God. And we see it. We see them despising
His person. They despise His Word. They don't
want to hear the salvation of God. That's what man is. That's
what we are. That's what we've been saved
from. It's not because we're better than anyone else. It's
not because we made ourselves a little better than someone
else or more righteous to hear it. No. We're of that foul, loathsome,
sinful, wretched bunch of people. Fallen man. and God have mercy
and grace upon us to save us from that death and deliver us
from despising the word of God. So then he says here in verse
14, and the armies which were in heaven followed him, Christ,
upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should
smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of
Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh
a name written. King of kings and Lord of lords. So we see here the authority
of Christ to judge the nations. Now back in our text, make sure
you put a marker in Revelation, but back in our text, Isaiah
30 verse 28. We read in his breath, as an
overflowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck. All
right, now this is Assyria, and historically he's speaking to
Assyria that would reach to the neck of Judah. Now God's gonna
reach to his neck. He's going to reach to the midst
of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity and
there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them
to err. Now this sift or the sieve of
vanity What do you use a sieve for? It's to separate the wheat
from the chaff, to separate. But this is a sieve of vanity
and what he's showing us is that when all the sifting is done
of the nations of the earth, will there be any fruit? Is there
going to be anything good or anything of value, any wheat?
Nope, it'll be a sieve, a sifting of vanity. All man shall be found
to be worthless, having nothing of value to him, nothing to give
to the Lord, nothing to offer up for his salvation or forgiveness
or a lighter sentence. He has nothing. And so nothing
will be left over of them when they are sifted of the Lord. And then the bridle in the jaws
of the people is comparable to the description the Lord gives
us of us having naturally a veil over the heart, that blindness
of heart so that we don't hear. We can read the very word of
God, right? We can read these words which
God inspired to be written that we might know him. and find that
left to ourselves, in atoms, nature, and flesh, and ability,
and talents, and skills, we cannot find out the true and living
God. All right? Though He's revealed Himself
right here in the Word, and that it all speaks of Christ, and
reveals the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, and we can't
read it. We can't see it. We can't get
anything out of the Word. And so, these, left to themselves,
refuse the salvation of God, and they love, rather, their
vain life, they love their dead works, they love their foolish
games, and all these things are just causing them to err and
stumble and go further and further into darkness, so that God's
will, for them, shall be fulfilled in them. He says he's putting
a bridle in their, a hook in their mouth, a bridle in their
mouth, in their jaws, that they err, that they go astray and
err and just go off into destruction that he's purposed for them.
Jude called them, in Jude 13, called them raging waves of the
sea, foaming out of their own shame, wandering stars to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. All right,
so they'll be brought to destruction. And I say these things, right?
I'm declaring these truths, which God has revealed to us in his
word, that this is the end of the wicked. This is what's to
become of them. And what does carnal wicked man
do? Eh, eh, you know, oh well. They don't care. They don't care
because they can't hear it. It's just foolishness to them. So that's the word that they'll
hear. They'll hear this word. It'll
be brought to them in that day when it's too late and there's
nothing to be done. And they'll be destroyed when
Christ comes. Now to you that do believe, to
you that believe, listen. He tells us what he shall do
when he comes. Now we read in 2 Thessalonians,
1, 10, and 12, that when he comes, he shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. They believe, because our testimony
among you was believed in that day. In the day of his second
coming, we that believed will be found to be the objects of
God's grace. And then we won't be ashamed.
Whatever shame they try to make us feel for believing and trusting
the living God now, and forsaking the passing momentary pleasures
of this life that we might know and have the riches of God in
Jesus Christ, we'll be found to know that, Lord, everything
you said and more is so true. is so true and we shall rejoice
and be glad in him in that day. He'll be glorified in his saints. We're going to know and see everything
that he said with great clarity. We're going to understand and
see the power of our God in that day. And so we were made to hear
his voice, his glorious voice, in the day of salvation, that
when he returns, we'll hear his glorious voice destroying our
enemies, and not destroying us, because we've already been dealt
with in Christ. And it says, verse 12, there
in 2 Thessalonians, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the name, right? That the name of the Lord cometh
from far, right? that the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." See how precious
that is and how he tells us that the name of the Lord is coming.
Christ is coming, all right? And so in our text there, verse
29, though we're afflicted and tried and chastened it and some
of it by wicked men and women, the Lord's going to deal with
them justly. And to you and me, he says in
verse 29, ye shall have a song as in the night when the holy
solemnity is kept and gladness of heart is when one goeth with
a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty one
of Israel. and the Lord shall cause his
glorious voice to be heard. We heard when John the Baptist
came, preparing the hearts of the people, we heard. The Lord
caused us to hear the word and to hear the gospel, to hear the
glorious good news of our Savior and what he's done for us, for
his people. And so we follow him to Mount
Zion, we follow him and we've heard his glorious voice. Now
the picture here is that in the Old Testament we see that whenever
the enemies were destroyed the people broke out into singing. We won't look at them all, but
Moses, when the people with Moses went over the Red Sea, and they
turned and saw the Egyptian army coming, and the Lord clapped
the sea back on the army and destroyed them entirely, every
single one of them, and their dead bodies and horses washed
up on the sea. Well, they broke out into singing. They sang the song of Moses triumphing
over their enemies, the horse and the rider thrown into the
sea, right? And then Israel, right? They sing a song, looking
forward to the day when Babylon was destroyed, they sang a song
recorded in Psalm 137 about their children being dashed upon the
rocks as our children were dashed upon the rocks by our enemies,
all right? And so we sing the victory that we have in Christ. And our song is the song of redemption,
right? The song of redemption. We've
heard his glorious voice, the gospel of our salvation. Now turn back to Revelation 15. We'll see this looking at Revelation
15, and we'll pick up in verse 2. He says, and I saw, as it were,
a sea of glass. And just meditate on that for
a moment, a sea of glass. whether that's the, well, the
seas, the water, a picture of waters, right? And the waters
are a picture of many peoples in Revelation. It tells us that
often, and these people are calm. They're not a raging, choppy
sea. They're not waves. They're not
casting up mire and foaming and troubled. It's a calm, right? Even the wrath of God, if it's
the wrath of God, it's calm. There's peace. And we're standing
there, as it were, a sea of glass. upon the sea of glass, which
has been made calm, still, peaceful. There's no wrath for us, right? As it were, a sea of glass, and
these are mingled with fire, right? Because the judgment of
God has been satisfied toward us in Christ his son. So that
these are them that had gotten the victory over the beast and
over his image. and over his mark and over the
number of his name." See, the enemy being destroyed. They stand
on the sea of glass having the harps of God, musical instruments,
and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, right? The
horse and the rider is thrown into the sea. And the song of
the Lamb saying, great and marvelous are thy works. Lord God Almighty,
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. who shall not
fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name. For thou only art holy,
for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy
judgments are made manifest." Alright, and so we hear the voice
of the Lord, and we'll hear his voice when he comes to destroy
our enemies. and our enemies, the wicked,
shall hear his voice as well." Verse 30, and the Lord shall
cause his, this is in Isaiah 30, shall cause his glorious
voice to be heard and shall show the lighting down of his arm
with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring
fire with scattering and tempest and hailstones. All right, all
words used to show the utter destruction that the Lord is
bringing upon them. These are used to describe the
destruction of spiritual Babylon, which you can read at the end
of Revelation 16. But the Lord himself says, he
shall fight against our enemies. Look at verses 31 and 32. for through the voice of the
Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down with smoke with a rod."
The Lord even earlier in Isaiah referred to Assyria as a rod
in his hand, right? That he used to chasten the people,
now he's gonna beat that rod down for exalting itself and
bringing evil upon the people of God. And in every place where
the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon
him, it shall be with tabrets and harps." Meaning we're gonna
break out into singing in joy. And in battles of shaking, will
he fight with it. And the shaking here, it destroys. It pictures how the Lord destroys
and shows that which is worthless and vanity and shall not profit
us. If you look over in Hebrews 12,
we see this. Hebrews 12, this is how the Lord,
in the end, He's shaking everything, right? When Christ came, He shook
the earth. He showed that the religion and
the hope of man is easily shaken and destroyed and shown to be
a sham, a falsehood, a lie, a joke, it cannot save. But now the Lord
says he's gonna shake everything when he returns. He's gonna wrap
up the work. Verse 25, Hebrews 12, 25. So he tells us now, see that
ye refuse not him that speaketh. Listen to the word of the Lord.
For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven. whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the
earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signify
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is
a consuming fire." And so the Lord's telling us this shaking
here is going to be his destruction of all that defiles, all that
pollutes, all the enemies of God's people. them which destroy
the earth God's going to shake and destroy them in battles of
shaking will he fight with it and then we read in the last
verse Isaiah 30 33 for Tophet is ordained of old that's a word
of for hell for Gehenna It's ordained of old, yea for the
king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile
thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a
stream of brimstone doth kindle it. So it pictures hell and it
comes from Gehenna or Gehinnom, which is the valley of Hinnom.
It's where Israel and its idolatry was sacrificing babies to Molech. It's a foul, polluted place.
It's where the wicked were buried and where criminals were burned
and buried themselves. And so that place was ordained
of old for the wicked, but for the righteous, we have one. This is our hope, brethren. We
have one that is ordained for us, ordained for our salvation. and all you who hear the voice
of the Lord who cannot save yourselves and find that you're an enemy
that shall never stand and be able to stand before the shaking
and the pure righteous eye of God who sees all things and knows
all things and shall utterly destroy all sin and wipe it out. Any sin that's not been put away
in Christ shall be dealt with in that person. And 1 Peter 1,
20 through 25, tells us of our ordained salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Hear the voice of God, hear the
word of God, hear the salvation that God has provided for his
people in his son, Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1, 20, who verily was
foreordained. before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you, you who by
him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave
him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing
ye have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the
Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, See that ye love
one another with a pure heart." Now he's gonna define what it
is to obey the truth through the Spirit. He says in verse
23, being born again. Every one of us that are his
children must be born again. This is not a work that we can
do for ourselves. Previous to being born again
of the Spirit of Christ, We can't hear the Word of God. We refuse
the Word of God. We despise the Word of God, even
despising God Himself. But to those whom He gives life,
to those whom He gives His spiritual seed, He gives life, making them
born again. If you're his child, you'll hear
his word and believe his word and give God all the glory, the
thanks and the praise for it, because we can't do it of ourselves. We're defiled, wicked, fallen
sinners in Adam, unable to raise ourselves up from death and darkness
and bondage and pollution to make ourselves born again. It's
a spiritual work, a work which God alone does for his people. But those who hear the word that
tremble before God and cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness
in His salvation, in His Son, Jesus Christ, they shall find
forgiveness. God shall hear their crying that
day and answer them. He'll answer them when they cry.
though we despise his voice previously, when he gives us life and we
cry out to him, he'll hear us and forgive us and wash away
all our filthy sins, being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. There's not a single
one of us that can do any better than the other. And the grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. And if you go to
where this comes from in Isaiah 40, he tells us because the Spirit
of God blows upon it. He withers it with the breath
of God. But the word of the Lord, it
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel, Jesus Christ is preached unto you. All right, so remember,
this word is Christ, hear him. Don't despise the salvation of
God. Don't despise Christ. Behold,
the name of the Lord cometh from afar. He's the one with whom
we have to do. hear Christ, look to Him, beg
Him for mercy, forgiveness, and grace. And if you do, give God
the thanks and the glory for it, because that's His work in
the sinner. And He'll settle you and make
you calm as a sea of glass before the true and living God. Only
Christ can do that, because Christ establishes the peace between
God and man, in that He died for His people. in their place
bearing their sin in his body and he died their death to make
them righteous and forgiven with God and to have life with him.
So soon his glorious voice shall be heard again in the earth when
he returns the second time to reclaim and redeem his people
and to judge the enemies of his people." and this time he'll
be glorified in the saints and his enemies will be destroyed.
So I pray the Lord will bless that word to your heart and cause
you to hear the word of God. Amen. All right, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, help your
people, Lord. Pray that you would take these
feeble words of clay and make them effectual in the hearts
of your people. Lord, shake those things that
need to be shaken to show us what foolishness we are and what
foolish hopes we have in ourselves. That we would not depend or trust
in those things, but show us Christ Jesus. Let us see him
and hear his word. And Lord, let us hear and see
Him, not with despising, but with faith, hope, and love given
to us, worked in us by the Spirit. Lord, we pray that you would
bless your people now. Oh, that you would call out sinners
from darkness and bondage and cause them to come to Christ,
believing Him, to call upon Him, looking to Him alone for salvation. Lord, this is your Word. your
work which you must do for the sinner. Please have mercy upon
your people. We pray this in Christ's name,
Amen.