We're going to open the service
with the hymn on the back of the bulletin, so if you're still
standing, make sure you get a copy back there. The hymn on the back
of the bulletin. Let's all stand together. Good
morning. We gather, Lord, Thy name to
bless, Thy grace and glory to confess. We all are now assembled
here to thank Thee for this passing year. Another year of life is
gone. What loving kindness thou hast
shown. Each day was filled with mercies
new. Refreshing as the morning dew. And as we face another year,
trusting thy care we will not fear. We look to thee to guide
our way and lead us through each passing day. Lord, if this should my last
year be, when I thy awesome throne shall see, this sinner to thy
bosom take, receive my soul for Jesus' sake. Please be seated. We're going to be in 2 Samuel
chapter 18, the first hour this morning, 2 Samuel chapter 18.
And then if you'd like to mark that
place in your Bibles and turn to Psalm 39, I want to read a couple of verses
in Psalm 39 by way of introduction. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. Our merciful heavenly Father, we come before thy throne of
grace in the name of thy dear thanking you that we can come
with confidence that he has made us not only acceptable, but beloved
before thee. And we can lay before thee our
need and find grace to help. Lord, we have a need right now.
We have a need that you would send your spirit and power, that
you would enable us to speak and to hear. Lord, not the voice of a man,
but thy voice. Lord, that you would reveal to
us your glory in Christ and that you would attend your word with
the gift of faith that we might find our rest and our hope, our
joy and all our salvation in his glorious person and in his
accomplished work. Lord, thank you for your word.
Bless it. Now we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Psalm 39, there is something revealed here
in Psalm 39 that we don't believe much by experience. Nevertheless, we know that it's
true because God said it. Let me show you what I mean by
that. Verse five, behold, thou hast
made my days as a hand breath, and mine age is as nothing before
thee." Oh, how brief this life is. It is
a vapor, and it's good for us to be reminded of that. This is a special day in that
we're beginning a new calendar year, and we're just saying of
our Thanks to God for having provided his mercies in this
past year and looking to him to provide all that we need in
the year to come. And Lord, if this be my last
year, that you would receive me for Christ's sake. It's good for us. Men don't want,
the natural man doesn't want to think about the brevity of
life. But those who have their affections
set on things above, those whose hope is in the heavens, the thought
is not a fearful thought at all, it's a thought of hope and encouragement. So here we say, our days are
a hand's breath, my ages is nothing before thee, And here's what
we know is true. Verily, every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Every man, that's me and you. At his best state, the best thing
that we can do, the best thing that we can produce is empty. It is empty. It is without substance. That's the opposite of vanity. And I've titled this message
From Vanity to Substance. From Vanity to Substance. Now, the next verse It shows us why we don't really
believe this much. Look at verse six. Surely every
man walketh in a vain show. Oh, if we really believed that
we at our best state were altogether vanity, would we be walking in
such a vain show as we do? Now, our experience is quite
different from our faith, isn't it? What we believe and what we do
is often contrary one to the other. Our experience is that we think
far too highly of ourselves. That's evident in how easily
offended we are when someone disrespects us You know, we look at a group
photo, who's the first person you look at? See how you look. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Puffed up. The Lord calls it
vain glory. And the scriptures tie a vainglory with conflict. Strife and vainglory go together. Anytime there's strife among
men, is there not some vainglory going on? There's not somebody
who feels like they didn't get what they deserved or didn't
get treated like they should. Surely, every man walketh in
a vain show. And yet we believe, we do believe
that at our best state we are altogether vanity. We believe
that because God said it. And as Jeremiah said, we loathe
ourselves when the Lord shows us how contrary our actions are
to our faith. We loathe the way that we are. Lord, why am I thus? Why do I
act like this? And the Lord said, because there's
two nations in you. There's two manner of people
in you. You've got two natures. You've got an old man of the
flesh and you've got a new man in Christ. The only reason that you would
even know and believe that you were a worm, altogether vanity,
is if you had an eye toward Christ, seeing him as all your substance. All your substance before God
cannot be found in yourself. It can only be found in Christ. We're all worms in the same dung
pile. And how tempted we are to look
down and think, well, I'm closer to the top of this dung pile
than you are. One worm trying to get superiority over another
worm. In 2 Samuel, now that was my
introduction to this message because I want us to see in 2
Samuel such a testimony to our vanity, such a testimony to our
vanity. And in contrast, what hope that
we have in not being empty, but being filled, not being, without
anything but having the full substance of life in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been looking at the
life of Absalom for a few weeks now. And what a shameful manner
in which Absalom died in his rebellion against his father. And in verse 17 of 2 Samuel chapter
18, and they took Absalom. Joab has pierced his heart through
with three spears. 10 young men have come and pierced
him through with 10 more swords. And he's dead. They take him down from that
tree. And they cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid
a very great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled everyone
to his tent." He's been cast into a pit, covered
up with a pile of stone. In verse 18, now Absalom in his
lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, a monument. Absalom has spent his entire
life building for himself a structure that would be a testimony of
his life, a burial place. That's what this word pillar
means. The word pillar is found in the Bible over a hundred times,
but this word's only found four times. And it means a monument. It means a memorial structure. It means something that you look
to to recognize something else. So Absalom spends his whole life
building for himself a monument that would, after he died, be
a testimony to everyone of his great life. Kind of like those pyramids in
Egypt. These great ancient structures
giving testimony to the life of Pharaoh. And we see that being done all
over the world and yet Pharaoh had nothing on anyone
else. Men spend their entire lives laying up for themselves what
they think is treasures in heaven, building a monument for themselves, only to end up in a different
place than where that monument was. Absalom's in a hole in the woods
covered with a pile of stone. The monument that he built for
himself is empty. It's empty. Is this not a testimony of the
natural man? It's what every one of us will
do. Maybe we can't afford a great monument to mark our graves. Maybe we can barely afford just
a headstone. But all men left to themselves,
all men left to themselves will spend their entire lives building
for themselves a monument, only to end up in a different place. Absalom in his lifetime had taken
and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the Kingsdale. This
monument was in a, in a very plush valley that belonged to
the king. And he said, I have no son to keep my name in
remembrance. And he called the pillar after
his own name. And it is called unto this day,
Absalom's place. What a sad testimony. erecting a monument in the Kingsdale
only to end up under a pile of rocks in the woods. The Lord said on the day of judgment that many will stand before him
and say, but Lord, we have done many wonderful works in thy name. The most horrific, awful words
that a man can ever hear is for God to say, depart from me, you
workers of iniquity, I never knew you. What men spend their whole lives
in doing, in erecting a monument with their name on it, I've done this. I've done that. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six. See, but doesn't the Bible Speak
of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Aren't we supposed to do that? Matthew chapter six, look with
me at verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves
break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where
thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also." So the question that each of
us have to ask is, What is our treasure? What is our treasure? The Bible speaks of Christ being
the treasure that is put in an earthen vessel that the excellency
of the power might be of God and not of us. We have this treasure. in an
earthen vessel, the earthen vessel is vanity, the treasure is substance,
that the excellency of the power of the gospel might be of God
and not of us, that he would get all the glory. David said it like this in Psalm
115, he said, not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us, but unto thy name
be glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Lord, Absalom
made a monument to himself and ended up someplace other than
what he had hoped. What does it mean to lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven? Well, Paul put it like this in
the book of Colossians. He said, set not your affections
on things of the earth, but set your affections on things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. He's our treasure. He gets all the glory. Whatever he enables us to do
to his glory, he gets the glory for that. Lord, I'm but an unprofitable
servant. Well, I was hungry and you fed
me and I was naked and you clothed me and I was, I was a stranger,
you took me in. Lord, when did we do those things?
Isn't that what the, in the day of judgment, that's what the
believers are gonna say, when did we do those things? And that you did it unto the
least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. You see, only the believer is able by their union with Christ and
participation in the gospel, able to clothe the naked with
the righteousness of Christ. Only they are able to feed the
hungry. Only they are able to take the
stranger in. You see, men spend their whole
lives. Nothing wrong with a lot of the
social programs that men participate in, that's fine. But when that
becomes the treasure that you're laying up in heaven, That becomes
the hope of your salvation. That becomes something you've
done in your name. Isn't that what Absalom did? He did it in his own name. Now turn with me to Isaiah chapter
6. Isaiah chapter 6. Uzziah has died a shameful death. He
was king of Israel. He tried to make a sacrifice
without a priest. He was a king, but he wasn't
a priest. He tried to approach God without a substitute. He tried to present something
to God that would be acceptable to God on his own. He tried to build a monument
in his own name. We cannot come into the presence
of a holy God apart from the work of our substitute, our sin
bearer, our high priest. He's the only one that can offer
to God that which is pleasing to God. and that which satisfies
God's justice and actually saves sinners. Only Christ can do that. Isaiah, seeing the shameful way
in which the king died, feared that God had taken his hand off
of Israel. And that is the believer's greatest
fear. The only thing that God would
ever have to do for me and you, for us to end up in a different
place than what we built to follow after Absalom, to end up in the
woods in a pit covered with a pile of rocks rather than in the monument,
all he'd have to do is just leave us to ourselves. And we will
do exactly what Absalom did. We will build for ourselves a
monument in our name. That was Isaiah's fear. And so in verse one, the Lord
tells us, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw, and don't
miss that little word also, Isaiah saw the danger, he saw
the potential of judgment, he saw the fear of being left to
himself. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I also saw the Lord. Here's my hope. And he was high
and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. The king's train, if it fills
the temple, there's no room for anything else. If it's full, it's full. And above his throne stood the
seraphim, and each of them had six wings, and with two they
did fly. With two they covered their face
and with two they covered their feet. I'm not worthy to look
upon him. And certainly my feet of clay
have never walked in a place that can merit his favor or earn
my salvation. And they cried, holy, holy, holy.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the triune
Godhead, holy. He's other than I am. He's separate
from sinners. He's undefiled. How can I approach a holy God?
How can I have any hope in the vanity of my flesh? I'm like
Absalom. Every man at his very best state
is altogether vanity. And so Isaiah cried, woe is me.
I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. What am I going to do? The King has looked upon me. If I get what I deserve, I'm
gonna end up with Absalom in a pit in the woods covered with
a pile of rocks. What hope can I have? Then flew
one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand
from off the altar. Now all those altars, represent
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the fiery wrath of God's
justice fell on our sin bearer, on our substitute, on Calvary's
cross. And just like when that fire
fell on Mount Carmel, you remember when a prophet built the sacrifice
and poured the water on it and the fire fell? Let the God who
answereth by fire be God. And all the people agreed, yes,
the God who answers by fire, he'll be God. And the fiery wrath
of God's justice for the sins of God's people was quenched,
was put out at the cross. And now the Seraphim An angel,
a messenger, that's what the seraphims were. May God right
now by the messenger of his Holy Spirit and by the voice of Christ
take the hot coal from off the altar and touch our lips. He laid it upon my mouth, verse
seven, and said, lo, this has touched thy lips and thine iniquity
is taken away and thy sin is purged. No more sin. No more sin. And then the Lord tells Isaiah,
he said, you go and you preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. And most of the people that you
preach to are gonna have ears, but they will not hear. They
will have eyes, but they will not see. They'll pick up bits and pieces,
but they won't understand. And Isaiah said, oh Lord, how
long? How long do I have to do this? until the cities be wasted
without inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate." Isaiah,
as long as there's anyone to preach to, you just keep preaching
the gospel. And then there's this verse,
and this whole story has been for the purpose of bringing out
verse 13. Verse 12, and the Lord hath removed
men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land, but yet in it shall be a 10th and it shall return. This is God's elect. This is
the remnant. Though most won't believe, there
will be a remnant. There will be a few that will
believe the gospel and they shall return. and shall be eaten as
a teal tree, as an oak tree, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves,
so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Now the word
pillar in our text is not the same word pillar that's used
over a hundred times in the Bible. It's this word. Only use four times. Substance. What is the substance of my righteousness
before God? Is it a monument that I built
to myself? Is my name on it anywhere? Can vanity, can vanity present
anything to God? You see, vanity is the opposite
of substance, opposite of, if at my very best state I'm altogether
vanity, then what's that say about the rest of me? Who is my substance? From vanity to substance, you
see, We're not going to look to Christ
for our righteousness and for our salvation until we realize and be brought
by God's grace to believe that we have no substance in ourselves. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Lord, there's nothing I can do
And if I trust in any monument that I've built, I'll end up
like Absalom in a different place. You see, this is the believer's life. Having
nothing, yet possessing everything. empty in myself, yet full in
Christ. Nothing but sin, yet sinless. Someone might be thinking, well,
are we sinners or are we saints? Only sinners are saints and only
saints are sinners. Profane, yet holy, hell-deserving
yet heaven-bound, corrupt yet incorruptible, defiled yet undefiled,
dead yet alive, all my sin, all my fault, yet
in his sight unblameable and unreprovable. Who gets the glory? And who, who made me to differ? What do I have that I've not
received? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name be glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Amen.