Isaiah chapter 24. The title
of the message this evening is, Glorify the Lord Where You Are. Wherever it is that you are by
the time we finish this, looking at this chapter, I hope wherever
it is you are, you glorify the Lord. I don't think I'm telling anybody
here anything new, but it bears repeating. The Scriptures. teach the universal condemnation
of sin. Universal condemnation of sin.
But the scriptures never teach universal atonement by our Lord
Jesus Christ. The scriptures plainly teach
universal condemnation. Wherefore, if by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men. Universally, death passed upon
all men for that all have sinned, all men sinned in Adam. Universal
ruin in Adam is plainly taught in Scripture. But universal salvation
in Christ, never. But the redemption of God's elect,
His elect people through the sacrifice of Christ is taught
on every page, all the way through Scripture. And those people who
are redeemed, they come from all over the planet. They come
from every tribe, every language, every culture, every generation,
every age, every walk of life. You know why that is? They have
all these differences in their flesh, yet they're redeemed.
You know why that is? Because nothing about their flesh
contributes anything to their salvation. It's all of the Lord. They're all the same in Adam.
They're ruined, fallen flesh in Adam. And by God's grace,
they're all the same in Christ. They're all redeemed and holy
and righteous. They're washed from every sin
in the blood of Christ. So those redeemed, wherever it
is that they come from and wherever it is that they are, will glorify
God. Now Isaiah's message here in
chapter 24, it seems like Isaiah's begun a new message. He's had
a burden for all these different areas and cities and countries.
And now he seems to begin a new message. And his message in Isaiah
chapter 24 is the universal condemnation of the world because of sin and
the salvation of God's elect. Let's look at it in verse 1.
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Now we know there is a day of judgment coming to this world.
But this world's already under the curse of sin. And you know,
to the believer, this world's already empty. It's empty of
anything that you truly want. And you see the world as upside
down. The believer sees the world as
empty of anything that's righteous, anything of any lasting value,
anything good. To the believer, this world is
an empty wasteland. Now, we're in it. We've got to
pass through it. But to the believer, we understand this world is an
empty wasteland. It's empty because the world
is without hope and without God because man has rebelled against
God. In his rebellion, he's left God. And the believer sees the
world has everything upside down and backwards. Man has put himself
on top and God on the bottom. Upside down. Man has salvation
depending on the decision of man, not upon the grace of God. It's upside down. Man in his
religion is begging men to accept Jesus instead of begging God
for mercy. It's upside down. And God's going
to come in judgment of this. Now, how wicked is this? What
man's done? Turning everything upside down.
How wicked is it? It's a perversion. It's a perversion
of who God is. They give men a perverted view
of Christ. And God's going to judge that
severely. The word upside down here means
perverted the face of. Man in turning everything upside
down has perverted the face of judgment. He's perverted God's
justice. He's perverted salvation in Christ. He's perverted grace. They speak
of grace. The way they speak of grace is
upside down. Something you got to earn. That's not grace. And
they will be scattered. That's the word that uses here.
God's going to scatter them. But here we are in this world.
Believers are already scattered all over the earth. Just like
the Jews, they were those believing Jews were scattered out of Jerusalem. They were scattered into the
whole world because the Jews who stayed in that Jewish religion,
they persecuted And that persecution, they intended to crush this new
religion. But instead, you know what it
did? It spread the gospel all over the world. These believers,
everywhere they went, fleeing this persecution, preached the
gospel everywhere they went. And people believed everywhere
they went. And believers today are no different.
We're scattered out of man's religious centers and, you know,
the popular places for this reason. were scattered out into the world
to preach the gospel, to tell people about Christ. Now man
has everything upside down. But when God comes in judgment,
He's going to turn everything back right side up. God's going
to scatter the unbelievers away from Him in condemnation. He's
going to turn everything right side up. He's going to make new
heavens and new earth where there will dwell righteousness and
no sin. And then He's going to gather
Himself to His people there. Now, we know that's going to
happen, but here we are in the midst of this wasteland. And
we know there's no difference in any son of Adam. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what Isaiah
says in verse 2. And it shall be as with the people,
so with the priest. As with the servant, so with
his master. As with the maid, so with her
mistress. As with the buyer, so with the seller. As with the
lender, so with the borrower. as with the taker of usury, so
with the giver of usury to him." There's no difference. No earthly
distinction that we make in this flesh makes any difference. All men deserve God's wrath by
nature, and that applies to both the clergy and the laity, the
rulers and the servants, the buyer and the seller, the borrower
and the lender. There's no difference. They all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every person
is guilty, and all the world is under a curse because of our
sin. And when God comes, he's going to destroy the whole earth,
universal condemnation for sin. Verse 3, that's what he says.
Because of all this, the land shall be utterly emptied and
utterly spoiled. For the Lord has spoken this
word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away. The world languisheth
and fadeth away. The haughty people of the earth
do languish. One day this earth is going to
be destroyed. But you know, even now, we've
seen this, it's under the curse. We know that because just look
at the world we live in. Change and decay and death are
seen all throughout the world because the whole world, not
just human beings, but the world, the earth, animal life, plant
life, it's all under the curse. Verse 5. The earth also is defiled
under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Now the whole earth is defiled under the curse because all men
have sinned. All men have transgressed or
broken God's law. You and I can't even go a second,
not even one second, without sinning because our thought is
sin, our nature is Every breath we draw is sin. That's our nature. But here's the real damning statement
in this verse. We have broken the everlasting
covenant. Now that everlasting covenant
is God's covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. Not only have we
transgressed God's law, but we've broken God's everlasting covenant
of grace. He says here we've changed the
ordinance. That word changed means to pass
over. Men go to hell because they passed
over God's covenant of grace. Men pass over God's grace in
Christ Jesus. And I tell you why they do it.
You know this as well as I do. You have the same nature I do.
Man's nature trusts in his own righteousness. He thinks his
righteousness is so good He passes over Christ. He sees no need
for Christ, so he passes over Him. He sees no need for the
sacrifice of Christ. He doesn't see himself as totally
defiled and depraved with sin, so he passes over the sacrifice
of Christ. He thinks his righteousness is
good enough, so he passes over the righteousness of Christ. You know it's not our sin that
sends us to hell. It's not our sin that sends us
to hell. God forgives sin. Christ came
to save sinners. It is our righteousness. Our
righteousness is what sends us to hell because it is our righteousness
that makes us pass over God's eternal covenant of grace and
salvation in Christ. So verse 6, Therefore hath the
curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned And few
men left. The curse has devoured the earth.
What's the curse? It's death. God told Adam, Adam,
in the day you eat, you got run of this whole garden, except
this one tree, don't eat the fruit of it. And the day you
eat of it, thou shalt surely die. Sure enough, the moment
Adam took that fruit, he died. He died spiritually and you and
I died in him. And this whole earth came under
the curse at that time. Everything on this earth is either
dead or dying because of the curse. And one day, when God
comes in judgment, eternal death will come to everyone outside
of Christ. Universally, outside of Christ,
they will then be under the eternal curse. Now, because everything
in this world is dying, there is nothing left in this world
They can give any true, lasting comfort or joy to anyone. Look
at verse 7. The new wine mourneth. The vine
languishes. All the merry-hearted do sigh.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth. The noise of them that rejoice
endeth. The joy of the heart ceaseth.
They shall not drink wine with a song. Strong drinks shall be
bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken
down. Every house is shut up that no man may come in. There's
a crying for wine in the streets. All joy is darkened. The mirth
of the land is gone. Now here he speaks of wine. Wine
is supposed to make the heart of man glad. But the earth, it's
under the curse. Everything's dead and dying.
The earth is under the curse. It's going to quit bringing forth
the fruit of the vine. There'll be no more wine to make
the heart of man happy. Music and dancing. It can make
us happy for a while, but the music always stops. It always
stops. And all we're left with is a
city of confusion. This world is a city of confusion. It's just being tore down. And
what he's saying here is this. The sorrow over judgment of sin
is so great that nothing in this earth can give us any comfort. It's too great. There's no comfort
to be found in anything coming from this cursed earth. Now,
men have a sense of their need. Men have some understanding of
this city of confusion that they live in. But by nature, they
don't know where to turn. They don't know where the remedy
is. Look down at verse 16. From the uttermost part of the
earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I
said, my leanness, my leanness, bow unto me. The treacherous
dealers have dealt treacherously. Yea, the treacherous dealers
have dealt very treacherously. Now, this is a lost sinner. He's
seeking something he knows he doesn't have. He hears these
songs of the righteous, but he knows he doesn't have it. Now,
he doesn't know he's dead in sins. He thinks he's lean. You know, he thinks he's thin. He's got something. I saw this
special last night on TV about his name, Ernie Zamperini, the
runner who spent time in a prisoner of war camp in Japan. He got
down, he said, to 65 pounds in that thing. He said, I looked
at my body and I thought it was just a skeleton breathing. Leanness. You think he'll be dead any moment. But there's life. Somehow life
was preserved in that skeleton. The man lived at 92 years old.
And that's what this sinner thinks. He says, I'm leanness. He doesn't
know he's dead in sins. He thinks there's something good
in him. But he's just lean. And he needs something to help
him sustain life. That's the way he thinks. He
knows something's missing. He needs something to be added
is what he thinks. So he seeks it in religion. Because
everybody knows. Somebody in religion ought to
know, right? They ought to know what to tell me, where to find
what I'm missing. But when he goes to religion,
he doesn't find an honest person. He finds treacherous dealers.
These treacherous dealers are false prophets. Now, false prophets
are not simply mistaken in their take on Scripture. They're not
just slightly off-beam in their teaching. They're dealing treacherously. They're dealing dishonestly with
people. They are dealing treacherously
with the souls of people who are seeking salvation, who come
seeking something they know they're missing. When these deceivers
tell people, you keep the law and God will be pleased with
you. You give and God will be pleased with you. You do this
and don't do that and God will be pleased with you. They are
dealing treacherously with lost souls. That's not salvation.
This word treacherously, it means deceitfully. But it also means
faithlessly. Faithlessly. When men preach
salvation by works, they're dealing with you faithlessly. They're
not preaching to you salvation through faith in Christ. When
they preach to you works, they preach a faithless salvation.
They're dealing treacherously with your soul. And that kind
of preaching sends men and women to hell, sends them to the pit.
Verse 17. fear, and the pit and the snare
are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come
to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall
into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit
shall be taken in the snare. There is no escape, for the windows
from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth
do shake." There is no escaping this pit, this condemnation for
sin. Well, men think, I've got to
build a refuge. Okay, judgment's coming, I better build a refuge. But trying to build anything
of any eternal significance or value on this earth is a lost
cause. Because when we try to build
on this earth, we're building in the shifting sands of the
earth. But verse 19, he said the foundations of the earth
do shake. The earth is utterly broken down. The earth is clean
dissolved. The earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard. and shall be
removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be
heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again." The earth
moves and shakes like a drunken man trying to walk a straight
line. He can't do it. And trying to build, I'm no engineer,
but trying to build on something that's constantly moving is a
recipe for disaster. It's not going to work. Anything
built on that, God says it's going to fall and it will never
be rebuilt. That's our works. Man's worse. You know why it will fall and
never be rebuilt? Because when we try to build
on this earth, we're building with the cursed things of this
earth. And that won't work any better than Cain. When he first
brought the cursed fruit of the ground to worship God with it,
it didn't work. And it won't work with you and
me either. Now, right now, God's putting up with all this right
now. He's delaying His anger for a time right now. And he's
delaying, he's holding off his anger until all of his elect
are brought to Christ. But now my friends, this is not
going to last forever. One day God's going to wrap this
thing up. There is a day of judgment and condemnation coming. Look
at verse 21. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones
that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in
the pit. and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many
days shall they be visited." This is horrible, eternal condemnation. God's going to throw rebels into
the pit. And they'll be there forever.
Horrible, eternal condemnation. And you know even that, even
sending sinners to hell is going to be done to the glory of God. Look at verse 23. Then the moon
shall be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts
shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem before his ancients
gloriously. This is going to happen and Christ
is going to reign gloriously. Now that's the universal condemnation
of sin. But you'll notice we skipped
a few verses. We're going to go back to those beginning in
verse 13. In the midst of this cursed There are some people
who have true reason to rejoice. Right now, those unbelievers,
they're just whistling through the graveyard. They're dancing
through the graveyard. They don't have real true reason to rejoice.
But there are people, God's people, who have true reason to rejoice. Now, there's a judgment day coming.
It'll be a day of weeping to some. But you know, that day's
going to be a day of joy to others. I can't wait. I look forward
to it every day. It will be a day of joy to those
who are found in Christ. It will be a day of eternal death
and condemnation, damnation to some. It will be a day of eternal
joy and life for others. What's the difference? What's
the difference between weeping and joy, death and life? The
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the difference. The difference
is being put in Christ by the Father's electing love. The difference
is Christ suffering and dying for our sins, shedding His blood
to pay our sin debt. The difference is the Holy Spirit
coming and giving life and faith in Christ in the new birth. Those
people have reason to rejoice in the midst of this cursed world,
wherever they are. They have reason to rejoice.
Look at verse 13. When thus it shall be in the
midst of the land among the people, There shall be as the shaking
of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes, when the vintage
is done. Now, we looked at these gleaning grapes a few weeks ago,
the shaking of the olive tree. This represents consulate. Now,
in this day, the harvesters would come, and they'd shake those
olive trees, and the olives would fall down, and they'd scoop them
up. Maybe there'd be a few, you know, right there, and they'd
reach and pick them. But there are some at the very top of the
tree, just a few, you know. And it's just not worth spending
the time to climb up there and get them. They won't shake down.
They're just too high up there. It's not worth it. That's God's elect. They're not
worth it to anybody but God. Everybody except for God would
have passed them by. But God chose them. God loved
them. God gave them to His Son to redeem. Christ shed his blood to put
their sin away, and the Holy Spirit went and fetched them.
I don't care that they're at the top of the tree. He went
and fetched them. David fetched Mephibosheth. There's
Zacchaeus up the tree. He's one of those gleaming olives.
Our Lord said, Zacchaeus, you come down. You come down. You're one of mine. He came and
fetched him. And those people They have real
reason to sing wherever it is that they are in this world.
Look at verse 14. They shall lift up their voice.
They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord. They shall cry aloud
from the sea. Wherefore, glorify ye the Lord
in the fires and the valleys, even the name of the Lord God
of Israel in the isles of the sea. Now, you'll notice the song
of the elect. It's not what we've done, is
it? The psalm of the elect is not our faith. It's not our repentance. The psalm of the elect is not
our doctrine. The psalm of the redeemed doesn't have anything
to do with us other than the Lord redeemed us. The psalm of
the redeemed is the majesty of the Lord. They sing the majesty. That word majesty is excellency. They sing the excellency of the
Lord. They sing the excellency of the
love of God for sinners. They sing the excellency of the
righteousness of Christ. There's none like it, none to
be compared to it. They sing the excellency of the
blood of Christ. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. They sing the excellency of the
power of Christ to save His people and to preserve them and keep
them, to present them faultless before the Father with exceeding
joy. And they say the excellency of the presence of Christ, His
presence, His excellent presence, makes even this cursed world
to be pleasant for a time. Monday afternoon, Brother Earl
Henderson's funeral, we heard how Christ saves to the uttermost. Now I want you to look at that,
Hebrews chapter 7. Saved to the uttermost. This is important because we
just saw universal condemnation outside of Christ, but Christ
saves to the uttermost. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That word uttermost,
it means perfectly. completely, perfectly saved,
completely saved. Now if Christ has saved us to
the uttermost, perfectly saved, completely saved from all of
our sin, then we're saved completely from all the judgment of God
against our sin. One old writer, I read this one
time years ago, I think it was Matthew Henry. It may not have
been, but he'll take the credit for it. He said the plaster,
the bandage, is as wide as the wound. However wide that wound
is, however deep that wound is in Adam, Christ completely covers
it and completely heals that wound. Back in our text, we saw
this universal condemnation. God's elect sin, the excellency,
the majesty of our Lord, because this condemnation is what I deserve.
Christ my Savior has delivered me from it. We read in verse
1 how sin has made the earth empty. And that's what I am of
myself. I'm empty. I'm void. Void of
anything good. Void of anything righteous. Void
of anything that deserves God's mercy whatsoever. But in His
mercy, Christ has come and given me His fullness. Colossians 2.9
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're
complete in Him. Full, complete in Him. Empty
in myself, but complete in Him. We read in verse 1 how the world
is turned upside down by Adam's sin. Christ comes and He makes
everything right. He makes everything right for
His people and He makes everything right in His people. Christ has
made His people upright in heart. Not by taking that old heart
and turning it right side up. By giving them a new one. A new,
right heart. Then we read in verse 1 how men
are scattered from God in Adam. When Adam was thrust out of the
garden, we are scattered from God. How far have we left? How far have we gone? Six thousand
years scattered from God. Not far enough, Christ can't
come get you. Christ came to gather His people to God. Psalm
106 verse 47 says this, Save us, O Lord our God, and gather
us from among the heathen. We're just like the heathen.
We're in the midst of them. Would you come in mercy and gather
us from among the heathen so we can give thanks to your holy
name and triumph in thy praise. And that's the song the elect
are singing here in Isaiah 24, because this is exactly what
scripture says the Savior is going to do. He's going to gather
us from among the even. Ephesians 1 verse 10, that in
dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him. Oh, we've been scattered by Adam's
sin. But Christ has gathered every one of his people to himself.
In verse 2, we read there's no difference. Between all these
different sorts of people, there's no difference. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We're all guilty in Adam. We're all dead in Adam. But Christ
came and he makes all of his people just like him. He makes them righteous and living
in him. By the first Adam came sin and
death. By the second Adam came righteousness
and life. Verse 3, we read how the earth
mourns because of sin. But in Christ we have joy. Your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. I have spoken these things in
the world. Our Lord says that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. Verse 4, we read how the earth
fades away. And it does. It is constantly
fading away. Christ came to establish His
kingdom and His kingdom shall never fade away. And there in
His kingdom is people that never grow old, that never grow tired,
that never grow sick, that never mourn with tears. He'll wipe
all tears away. This inheritance, this kingdom
is incorruptible. Peter said in 1 Peter 1 verse
4, we have an inheritance, incorruptible undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God."
In verse 4 we read how the earth is defiled with sin, because
all of us have transgressed God's law. We have not kept God's law
for one second of our lives. But Christ came, the God-man,
and as a man, as a representative of His people, He kept God's
law perfectly. in every jot and every tittle,
and He has imputed that righteousness to His people. And Christ took
the sin of His people away, being made sin for them so that they
cannot be defiled by sin anymore. He took their sin away and gave
them His righteousness. Then in verse 5, we read how
we've broken the everlasting covenant. By nature, we have
passed over that everlasting covenant, haven't we? Christ
came to fix that. Hebrews 10 verse 9, Christ came
to take away the first, that He may establish the second.
So that none of His people are going to pass over this covenant.
Because God told Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31 verse 33, He said,
Jeremiah, we're not dealing with this old covenant anymore. This
covenant is written on tables of stone, we're not dealing with
that anymore. I'm going to have a new covenant. I'm going to
write it on the hearts of my people. I'm going to write it
on the heart, the new heart that I give my people. If they can't
pass over it, it's in them. They won't pass over it anymore.
Verse 6, we read how that curse, the curse of sin has filled the
earth. Paul said in Galatians 3 verse
13 that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. The Lord Jesus Christ our Savior
has completely removed that curse for his people. John said in
Revelation 22, verse 3, that in that new heaven and new earth,
there shall be no more curse, because Christ bore it away at
Calvary. Then in verse 7, we read about
those who have been made merry-hearted in this world. The things of
this world make them merry for a while, but the music always
quits. The wine always runs dry. And
they end up sighing. Look in Isaiah chapter 35. Christ
has removed this from His people. He removed the sin of His people.
So no more tears. No more heartache. And no more
sighing. I would be afraid to count how
many times I sigh in the day. I'd hate to think it. Sunday. And I sighed and said, what's
wrong? There's something about the message. It should have done
this better. It should have done that better. Even in something
glorious, it turns into something we sigh about. One day, that's
going to be gone. Isaiah 35, verse 10. And the
ransom to the Lord shall return. And come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. And they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Christ has
removed that from His people. In verse 10 we read about this
city of confusion being broken down. Adam's sin has caused this
world to be a place of confusion. Men are so confused. We don't
know God. We don't know ourselves. Instead
of understanding we're dead in sins, we think we're lean. We
think there's some goodness in us. We don't know ourselves. We don't know how to be saved
because we don't know who the Savior is. We're confused. Men
are so confused. They always choose the wrong
way. The way man by nature chooses is always the way of death. There's
a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. Why do we choose the way of death, not life? We're
confused. We're confused. But Christ came
and He removed all that confusion for His people. Faith in Christ
gives understanding. I'm not confused about how God
saves sinners. Not at all. I not only understand
how God saves sinners. I understand this. The only way
God could save me is through the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's clear as a bell. We're
not confused about that. So all of my trust is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in faith, we worship Him
in spirit and in truth. Not confused. Because He showed
us who He is. He's revealed Himself to our
hearts. In verse 16, we read about the world being full of
false religion. I don't know if the world is
worse today ever been in the history of the world? I don't
know. But I do know the earth is full of false religion. For
Christ came and He delivered His people from false religion
by revealing Himself to them. There are masses of people in
false religion. And it grieves me. Does that
grieve you? I mean, that just grieves me. They're going to
hell just in buckets and baskets full of people. Is there any
hope? Oh, yeah. Yes, there is. They
don't have power to keep them there if they're one of God's
elect. He'll find them and deliver them from that false religion. When Christ is revealed to us,
we're going to turn to God from our idols and serve the true
and living God. We won't be in that false religion
anymore if Christ has died for us and set his affection upon
us. In verse 17 and 18, we read about the pit, hell, where men
will spend eternity without Christ. And that's a sobering thought.
Sobering. That's eternal, without end.
And it's more sobering, not just that, but that's what I deserve. That's what we all deserve. That
Christ came to deliver His people from the pit. Job said in Job
33, verse 24, And in grace, God said, deliver them from going
down to the pit. I found a ransom. Christ is the
ransom for the souls of God's elect. How did God find him? Because God provided him. That's
how I found him. He provided the ransom for our
souls. Verse 19 and 20, we read about
how unstable the world is. Everything that's built on the
shifting sand of this earth is going to crash down. But the
Father sent Christ, His Son, and laid Him to be the eternal
chief cornerstone of His temple. And His temple is His people.
Our Lord said in Matthew 7 that He talked about the house on
the sand and it fell. The house on the rock, it didn't
fall. The house that fell not, why didn't it fall? Our Lord
said it fell not because it was founded upon the rock. And that's
all of God's people founded upon the rock. Christ Jesus, the chief
cornerstone. That's why David said in Psalm
62, verse 6, He only is my rock and my salvation. And because
He's my rock and my salvation, I shall not be moved. This earth
is moved, but if our feet are planted on the rock, Christ Jesus
will never be moved. Then verse 21. We read about
how the Lord will punish all the high ones. Those who are
high in their own imagination, they think they don't need Christ.
They don't need Him to deliver me. So He's going to come and
destroy them. He's going to punish them. And
that's what every one of us deserve. We're all too big for bridges.
We all think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. But Christ
came to deliver His people from that punishment. He brings them low. They're not
high anymore. He brings them low so they beg
for mercy. And then He delivers them from
their punishment by bearing their punishment for them. He bore
the punishment for all of our sin. So there's none left to
God's elect. In verse 22, we read about the
prisoners being shut up in the prison. Look in Isaiah 61. That's what we all deserve. But
Christ came. for those prisoners. He came
to set those prisoners free. This was the text our Lord selected
for His first public recorded message, Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. Christ set those prisoners
free by allowing himself to be taken prisoner for them and satisfying
justice as their substitute. And they're free. The keeper
of the prison is not looking for them anymore. They're free
in Christ. In verse 23, we read that the
Lord is doing all of this so He will reign in glory. He will reign in glory over those
who are sent to everlasting condemnation. That will be done to the praise
of the glory of the Lamb who sits on the throne. And those
who are brought into glory to be in His presence eternally,
that will be done to the praise of the glory of the Lamb who
sits on the throne. Now, if you're one of those gleaning
olives, you see yourself as too far gone
to be worth it. It's just not worth anything,
much less God's Son, then you sing. Then you sing because those
are the people that Christ came to save wherever you are. If you're on the sea or you're
across the sea, sing. If you're in a time of fire and
a trial, if you're in the valley or you're on the mountaintop,
sing. Sing for the majesty of the Lord. Sing the glory of His name. God's people will be cast to
the uttermost parts of the earth. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
to save them to the uttermost. To the praise of His matchless
name. That's why we sing. To the praise
of His matchless name. Alright. Well, I hope the Lord
will bless that. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we humbly bow before you. How we thank you for your electing
love. How we thank you that in this defiled world, this world
full of the curse of sin, because we've transgressed your laws,
we've broken your eternal covenant of grace, this world is full
of sin and condemnation. For your glory, You have reserved
to yourself a remnant, those gleaning graves. You purposed
to have them. You chose them. You put those
people in your Son. And your precious Son came and
redeemed those people from all of their sin through the sacrifice
of Himself, His broken body and His shed blood offered before
the Father as payment for all of their sin. And you send your
spirit to gather them to yourself, to give life, to give a heart
that's right, upright, sees Christ, has faith in Him, loves Him,
clings to Him, relies upon Him. But none of this is left to chance.
It's according to your eternal purpose that shall not fail.
So that your son sits in glory on the throne. Father, we're
thankful. Help us to sing His praise. Help
us to sing the majesty, the excellency of our Savior, both right now
as we continue to go through our life, wherever it is that
we would be scattered upon this earth, on the seas, over the
seas, in the time of trouble and trial, in the time of fire,
on the mountaintop. Father, cause us to sing the
majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is worthy of all of our praise.
It's in his precious name we give thanks.