John chapter 17 the Lord is praying
for his church and he says to the father thou
hast given me power over all flesh to give eternal life to
as many as Thou hast given me. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." Paul, towards the end of his
life, he said, My only passion is to know Him. He said, I have
not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me. But this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I press
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ
Jesus, that I might know him. The power of his resurrection,
what was accomplished in the resurrection of Christ, he was
offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our justification,
the resurrection of Christ, the hope of our salvation, the evidence
of our salvation. He was offered up that I might
know Him, the power of His reign, and the fellowship of His suffering.
You mean when Christ died on Calvary's cross, everyone that
He died for died with Him? Yep. Yep. That's what Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me.
The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave Himself for me. Might He be pleased to
open the eyes of our understanding reveal himself to us in all his
authority as we saw in the first hour. If he does, we'll find
ourselves kissing the sun, bowing to him, won't we? All right. Tom is going to come lead us
in the hymn on the back of your bulletin, so let's stand together,
please. We'll repeat the last line in
each verse. ? Christ is coming, let creation
? From her groans and travails cease ? Let the glorious proclamation
? Hope restore and faith increase ? Christ is coming, Christ is
coming ? Come thou blessed Prince of Peace ? Come thou blessed
Prince of Peace ? Earth can now but tell the story ? ? Of thy
bitter cross and pain ? ? She shall yet behold thy glory ?
? When thou comest back to reign ? ? Christ is coming ? Christ
is coming. Let each heart repeat the strain. Let each heart repeat the strain. Long thine exiles have men pining,
Far from rest and home and thee, But in heavenly bastures shining,
They their loving Lord shall see. ? Christ is coming, Christ
is coming ? ? Haste the joyous jubilee ? ? Haste the joyous
jubilee ? ? With that blessed hope before us ? ? Let no harp
remain unheard ? Let the mighty Advent chorus onward roll from
tongue to tongue. Christ is coming. Christ is coming. Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come. ? Come Lord Jesus, quickly come
? Please be seated. Good morning. Genesis chapter
three. Genesis chapter 3, beginning
in verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, yea, hath God said you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And a woman said unto the serpent,
we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch
it lest you die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, You shall not surely die, because God doth know that in
a day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both
were opened. And they knew that they were
naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
aprons. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walk in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. Wherefore, by one man, sin entered
into the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. Such a short account for all
of the wars, all of the death, all of the bad things that have
happened. Two things to remember. Number one, no sin, no salvation. Number two, Nothing happens without
the power of God behind it. We are the body of Christ, and
when a member of the body suffers, we all suffer, or we should. Jennifer Myers is first of all
a sister in the Lord. She's part of us. She's near
and dear to every one of us here. We're just selfish enough to
want her to be healed because to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. But she's a wife. She's the other
half of John Myers. She's a mother. Laura Grace is
her daughter. She herself is a daughter. Reagan,
Tricia. And we would all be devastated. If anything happens to her, so
we'll go before the Lord in prayer for Jennifer this morning. Like
I said, we're all just selfish enough to want to keep her here. Father, we. Come before you this
morning father, not even knowing. How to pray for what we ought. But we'd ask father that. You
show mercy on those that love her. It should heal her body father.
You raise her from a bed of affliction and bring her back amongst us.
We're thankful father. That even though sin entered
into the world. That there was a remedy for that
sin. That you had before time ever
began. Chosen out those farther that
you would love and protect and watch over and bring home to
glory. Thank you father. Or being a
god of love. We ask these things, Father,
in Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 28 from your gospel hymns spiral
hymn book, number 28. God has mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will, he hardens still. To whom he will, he gives
his grace. And when he will, he hides his
face. Let none despise God's sovereign
throne. He does what he will with his
own. It is his right to save or kill
according to his sovereign will. Yes, God saves some and others
live. ? The fruit of their own ways
? ? In the eternal ages past ? ? God made his choice and it
stands fast ? ? Aware that I'm a guilty man ? ? And that I'm
in God's sovereign hand ? ? Prostrate I fall before his throne ? a
wretched, helpless, guilty one. Lord, if you will, you can, I
say, take all my guilt and sin away. A guilty sinner at your
throne, I beg for mercy through your son. Now trusting Jesus
Christ, God's son, I know that I'm his chosen one. And God's eternal sovereign choice
makes this poor sinner's heart rejoice. Please be seated. Adam Sherrod
is gonna bring some special music now. ? Darkness staying ? ? That's the
old man's nature ? Long the distance that he felt Far removed from hope and heaven
Into deep despair he ran out But there was a fountain open
And the blood of God's own Son. Purify the soul and reach it. Deeper stain has gone. Praise the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon His throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper. Stain has gone, conscious of
the deep pollution. Sinners wander in the night,
though they hear The shepherd calling, they still fear to face
the light. This the blessed consolation
that can melt the heart of stone. That sweet balm of Gilead reaches Deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the blood still reaches. Deeper than the stain has gone. When with holy choirs we're standing, In the presence of the King And our souls are lost in wonder While the white rope choirs sing
Then we'll praise the name of Jesus with a mill Begins round
the throne. Brings him forth the power that
reaches. Deeper stain has gone. Praise the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the flood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. Deeper than the stain has gone. Thank you, Adam. I love that
hymn. And the blood still reaches deeper
than the stain is gone. Are you stained with sin? The
blood of Christ cleanses us of all our sin. Will you open your
Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 58, please? Isaiah chapter 58. I've titled this message When
the Soul is satisfied. When the soul is satisfied, the
heart is at rest. This whole chapter tells us about
God satisfying the souls of His people. Now, in the next hour,
if it hasn't already started, we're all going to start being
a little dissatisfied in our need for food. And that's not what we're talking
about. Lots of things we might not be satisfied with in this
life, but hear the Lord speaking of satisfying our souls, giving
our hearts rest in Christ, giving us true hope of our salvation. Notice in verse 11, and the Lord
shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul, yes, even
in drought. When there's no place else to
go, when there's no other hope, the Lord will satisfy your soul
in drought and make fat thy bones and thou shalt be like a watered
garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. Does this not remind you of John
chapter four when our Lord was talking to that woman at the
well in Sychar and he said to her, give me to drink. And he said, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink,
you would ask of him and he would give you living water. Living
water. You wouldn't have to come back
to this well for your water. She said, Lord, give me that
water. Give me that water. I pray the Lord this morning
will satisfy our souls with the water of life, that we'll drink
freely and fully from the fountain of His grace. Now in order for
us to understand this verse that we just read, I need to go back
to the beginning of chapter 58. I know that we looked at the
first seven verses last Sunday, but just by way of putting this
in its context, let's read them together. Cry aloud, spare not,
lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions
in the house of Jacob, their sins. This is where it has to
start, isn't it? The woman at the well, the Lord
said to her, go get your husband. Lord, I don't have a husband.
And the Lord said, you've spoke the truth. You've had five husbands
and the man you're living with is not your husband. And she was convicted, wasn't
she? I perceive that thou art a prophet.
And when she did go back to Sychar, she said, come meet a man who
told me everything I ever did. He knows everything about every
one of us, doesn't he? He knows our thoughts before
we think them. He knows our words before we
speak them. He has all authority and all power. And yet he also
knows that everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did on behalf
of his people are credited to their account. And so when he
says, when she said, Come meet a man that told me everything
I ever did. Everything I ever did was perfect righteousness
in the obedient life of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's looking to
him for me. Notice what he says, yet they
seek me daily and delight to show my ways as a nation that
did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God.
They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight
in approaching to God. They're very religious. They're
very religious. And when you tell them about
their sins, they say, but Lord. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. Look at verse 3. Wherefore have
we fasted, say thee, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we
afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold,
in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and you exact all your
labors. You're looking to what you're
doing as the hope of your salvation. He said, this is not the fast
that I called you to. Behold, you fast for strife and
debate and smite with a fist of wickedness. You shall not
fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high.
That's not the means by which I'm going to hear you. That's
not the means by which I'm going to satisfy your soul. Your works aren't going to earn
you favor with God. Verse 5, is it such a fast that
I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his
soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and spread sackcloth
and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this the fast
and acceptable day of the Lord? You think if you just If you're
pious enough, religious enough, sacrificial enough, that that's
going to get my ear, that I'm going to hear you based on your
sincerity? Is that what you're thinking?
Yeah, that's what most people think, isn't it? But this is the fast that I have
chosen, verse 6, to loose the bands of wickedness. to undo
the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free that you
may break every yoke." You break every yoke. We're going to get
to that in just a moment when we get down to our text. Is it not
to deal thy bread to the hungry? When were the eyes of those disciples
on the road to Emmaus in Luke Chapter 24 opened? When were
they opened? In the breaking of bread, weren't
they? We're breaking the bread of life right now in hopes that
God will open what no man can shut, that He'll open the eyes
of our understanding, that He'll open our hearts, that He'll open
the windows of heaven and pour blessings of fresh manna to our
souls and feed us on the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself who said, I am the bread. My body is meat indeed. The deal, the bread to the hungry.
Are you hungry? Are you hungry? So how hungry
do I have to be? Hungry enough to not be able
to get satisfied to anywhere else. You've, you've tried feeding
on the, on the carry on of your dead flesh and it's made you
sick. And you need some fresh food
from heaven. You need your soul satisfied. Lord, I'm hungry. I can't find
any food anywhere else. And thou shalt bring the poor
that are cast out of thy house. How poor do you have to be? Lord, I don't have anything.
I can't do anything. I can't bring anything to you.
to purchase from you what I need, you're going to have to give
me. You're going to have to give me. Why do you labor for that
which satisfies not? Isn't that what the prophet said?
Come without money, without price. Buy milk. Buy honey. When thou seekest, when thou
seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself
from thine own flesh." Lord, I'm naked. I need to, we
just, Robert just read from Genesis chapter 3 about how Adam and
Eve tried to cover their nakedness and hide their shame from God
by sewing together fig leaves. Men are, we're still doing that.
Still doing that. Trying to cover our nakedness
with that God had to slay a lamb, a lamb without spot, without
blemish, shed precious blood and take the fleece of that lamb
to cover our nakedness, didn't he? So here's the fast. The fast
is the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fast is to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The fast is to forsake your works
and trust Him alone for your salvation. That's the fast. There's something in every one
of us that wants to go back, go back to our works, go back
to the law, go back to our flesh. Then, now here's our text. Then
shall thy light break forth as the morning. What is light here?
the ability to see. It's not any more complicated
than that. You can't see when it's dark. And when the sun comes
up in the morning, all of a sudden, I see. Have you ever gone somewhere
that you knew the landscape was a lot different than what it
perceived to be when you got there? We went up to North Carolina
last week, or two weeks ago, and got there at 11 o'clock at
night, all the way up in the mountains, and couldn't tell
anything about it. And first thing in the morning,
that sun came up, oh, it was just so beautiful. It didn't
look anything like that when we got there at 11 o'clock at
night, but in the next morning it did. So, you know, here's he said,
you see, you see what you did? That's what the Lord said to
Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, you can't see the kingdom of
God, except you be born again. You've got to be born of the
spirit. You're blind. You're born blind. Isn't that
what Nicodemus, Barnabas, Barnabas, what would you have me to do
for you? Oh Lord, that I might see. I need you to take the scales
from off my eyes. I can't see who I am. I can't
understand my need for salvation. I can't see who you are. I can't
see how it is that God would save me. Lord, I've got to see
Christ. And the Lord's saying here that
the light shall break forth as the morning. What is the means
by which the Lord turns the lights on? What is the means by which
the Son of Righteousness rises in the morning and floods the
light of the gospel in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
hearts? What is the means? It's what we're doing right now.
What we're doing right now. We're opening His word. We're
breaking the word of life. We're preaching the gospel. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God. Of
His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. And if they
speak not according to the law and to the testimony, it is because
there is no light in them. Not that they have a little light,
See, this gospel we preach, and I don't know how to make this
any more clear than I know most of you know this, this isn't
a matter of emphasis. This isn't a matter of tweaking
our doctrine or having a higher view of the gospel. This gospel
we preach is the one and only gospel of God's free grace whereby
sinners can be saved. And any message of salvation
that's in denial of what we're preaching is another gospel. It is another gospel. And it
cannot save. Paul makes that clear in Galatians,
doesn't he? He said, I'm surprised that you
would go to another gospel, which is not another gospel. He said,
for there's but one gospel. one message of salvation, one
savior, one God, one father of us all, one baptism, one Lord,
one church. There's one. Christ is not divided. He's not divided. We're not interested
in debating with men of different theological views. I'm interested
in hearing the gospel. And everywhere I go where God's
gospel is being preached, same message. You listen to other
preachers, don't you? They're preaching the same thing,
aren't they? People come here and they say, well, you know,
he just says the same thing. Yep. Yep. And they say that as an indictment,
but it's a badge of honor, isn't it? We just preach Christ and
Him crucified. That's what Paul said. I profess
to know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified. They then, then shall thy light
break forth as the morning. The light of the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ to know him. The prophet Jeremiah said,
let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. men love to glory
in their knowledge, don't they? Knowledge puffs up. Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his
might. Men like to glory in their influence
and in their power over people, don't they? Let not that happen.
And let not the rich man glory in his riches. People, that's
a big, they judge one another, don't they, by what they've got. Let him that gloryeth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth that I am the Lord."
That I am the Lord. The light of the gospel must
come through the preaching of the gospel of God's grace from
God's word to our hearts for the morning sun to come. Notice what else he says in verse
8. then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy
health shall spring forth speedily." You never hear of the Lord healing
someone or read of the Lord healing someone where they're partially
healed, do you? And I know that there is a perverted
view of that in religion today where men pretend to be faith
healers but these healings, these physical healings that take place
in the scriptures are types and pictures. We've prayed this morning
for God to heal our daughter and I know that if she's healed
it'll be him that does it. But the healing that every one
of us need Whoever the Lord heals is going to get sick again. They're
going to eventually die. We come into this world as lepers
in need of healing and Isaiah chapter 53 says that He bore
our iniquities and by His stripes we are healed. That's the That's the healing
that we need. By His stripes we are healed.
When the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life on Calvary's cross,
He took away all the sins of all His people and satisfied
God's holy justice once and for all. By His stripes we are healed. It's done. It's finished. It's
finished. When the woman with the issue
of blood, she thought, well, the scripture says that she had
spent everything she had on physicians. And that's what the Lord allows
some of his children to go through lots of different religious experiences
in order to try to heal their sickness, their issue of blood.
Don't you think that's appropriate? She had an issue of blood. That's
our issue. You see, we inherited this sin
nature from our father Adam. We were born with it. It's in
the blood. It's in the blood. The reason why the Lord Jesus
Christ had to be born of a virgin is because he could not have
any of the blood of Adam coursing through his veins. That blood
had to be sonless blood. It had to be perfect blood. And
God said, when I see his blood, I'll pass by you. not your blood,
not your sacrifice, not your suffering, but when I see the
blood of that spotless lamb, then I'll pass by thee." And
that woman with the issue of blood, when she touched the hem
of his garment, she felt in her body that her disease had been
cured. And the Lord said, who touched
me? And the disciples said, Lord, everybody's touching you. What
do you mean who touched you? No, no, virtue has gone out of me.
And he looked upon the woman and she told him all the truth.
She told him all the truth. And the Lord said, thy faith
has made thee whole. When that leper came to the Lord
and said, Lord, I know that you can heal me if thou wilt. Now what do we hear from the
opinions of men, from the religions of the world? What do we hear?
Just the opposite. God wills to heal you, but he
can't unless you bring your part. Oh no, Lord, I know you can heal
me if you will. Lord, would you have mercy upon
my soul? You have the ability to heal me all by yourself. Your
health shall spring forth speedily. See, when the light of the gospel
shines in our hearts in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, all
our sins have been put away. He said, I've buried them in
the depths of the sea. I've separated them from you
as far as the east is from the west, and I remember them. No
more. No more. They're gone. They're
gone. There's a place for my soul to
be satisfied. Satisfied in the light of the
gospel. Satisfied in the knowledge of knowing that my sins have
been put away. Look at the rest of verse 8.
And thy righteousness shall go before thee. There's only one hope that we're
going to find acceptance with God. And that is if our righteous
advocate go before us and present himself on our behalf. And that's
what he said he was going to do. He said, you believe in God,
believe also in me. For in my Father's house are
many mouths. I go and prepare a place for you. I go and prepare
a place for you. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
returned to glory, he took with him the names of those for whom
he lived and died, and he ever lives to intercede on behalf
of this church right now we have Hebrews 414 a high priest who
has passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us therefore
hold fast to our profession let us hold fast to our profession
for we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but was in all ways, as we are, tempted yet
without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
with confidence to the throne of grace that we might find mercy
and help in our time of need. There's a place where your soul
can rest. knowing that we have an advocate
with the Father. My little children, I write these
things unto you that you send not, but if any man sin, we have
an advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. My word will not
return unto me void. When the Lord Jesus Christ returned
back to glory, he didn't go back empty-handed. He didn't, did
he? No, he took with him his church
and he ever lives now making intercession for us. There's
a place your righteousness goes before you. So the question is,
what is my righteousness that I'm looking to to recommend me
to God? Is this something I've done? Or is the Lord Jesus Christ my
righteousness? God said our righteousness is
as filthy rags. Look at the last part of verse
8, the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Now you remember what happened
when the children of Israel were fleeing Egypt and they got to
the Red Sea and the Egyptians were coming behind them And the
scripture says that the glory of God came down as a cloud and went between the Israelites and
the Egyptians. So that the Egyptians were not
able to see the Israelites. They couldn't pursue someone
they couldn't see. The only thing the Egyptians
could see was this glorious cloud that God had sent that separated
them from the Israelites. The glory of the Lord shall be
thy reward. Now, who is it that's pursuing
us relentlessly? It's the Egyptians. Egypt is
a picture of the law. It's a picture of the law. The
taskmasters of Egypt cracking their whip, telling us that if
you'll do this or if you'll do that, you can be saved by your
obedience to the law. And man goes about trying to
establish his own righteousness being ignorant of the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And what do we need the law to
do? We need the law to look to the glory of the Lord as our
rear ward. That's the protector from behind. So that the law can't see us. The law sees the glory of God,
and the law is satisfied. The law looks to Christ for all
our righteousness, and the law's mouth is silenced, and the law
no longer has any sight of our sin. The law requires perfect obedience. It will not settle for less.
The Lord Jesus Christ made the law honorable. And God made him
sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So here he says, you want rest
for your soul, you want to satisfy your soul, even in drought, then
there must be knowledge. Verse eight, the light must break
forth. You must have healing. forgiveness. Righteousness has
to go before you and the glory of the Lord has to protect you
from behind. That city of refuge is that the Lord
provided for the children of Israel was to protect them from
the avenger of blood. Who was the avenger of blood?
The law. The law. And when someone was guilty of
manslaughter, they had to get one of those cities of refuge
and stay in the city, and the law couldn't touch him in there,
could it? The glory of the Lord shall be thy rear ward, your
protector from behind. Look at verse 9. Then shalt thou
call, and the Lord shall answer, and thou shalt cry, and he shall
say, Here am I, and thou shalt take away from the midst of thee,
the yoke, the yoke. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter
26. Look at verse 13. I am the Lord your God, which
brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should
not be there bondmen, for I have broken the bands of your yoke
and made you to go upright." That's why the Lord said, learn
of me, all ye that are burdened and heavy laden, learn Take my
yoke, my yoke is easy, my burden is light." He said, I've broken the yoke. Turn with me to Acts chapter
15. Now in the early days of the church, the disciples
were still somewhat confused as to whether or not Gentiles
could be saved. And you remember the Lord sent
Peter in Acts chapter 10 to Cornelius' house and Peter was given a vision
from God and these unclean animals came down in a sheet and Peter
looked upon them, and God said, take and eat. And the Lord said,
oh, no, Lord, I'm not eating. I've never eaten any unclean
animal. I'm not going to do it now. And what did God say? Don't
call that which I have made clean, unclean. And the Lord sent him
to Cornelius' house. And Cornelius was the first Gentile
convert. And now Peter's back in Jerusalem
debating with some lawmongers that were calling themselves
believers in the church. that we're still holding to the
law as to whether or not Gentiles could be saved without being
circumcised. Circumcision is a picture of
keeping the law. This is the yoke. This is Egypt. Look what he says in verse Verse 10, now therefore why tempt
ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? What was the yoke? They got to follow the law of
Moses. They got to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.
That's what he said. Verse 11, but we believe. I love the way
the Holy Spirit wrote this. I love the way Peter said it.
He didn't say we believe that they're going to be saved the
same way we were saved. He's talking about Gentiles.
He says, but we believe through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved even as they are. We're going to be saved
the same way they were saved. How were they saved? By the grace
of God. Not by keeping the law of Moses.
That's not the fast. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. So Paul
and Silas join in with Peter and confess that God had saved
Gentiles the same way he saved us and we're gonna be saved the
same way they're saved without the law. Without the law. The law never saved anybody.
We love God's law. God's law is holy, it's just,
and it's good. But the law of God has never
made a man holy. It's never justified anybody,
and it's never added an ounce of goodness to anybody's life. The law is not capable of doing
that. Through the weakness of the flesh,
Christ bore the demands of the law. So Peter said, why are we going
to put a yoke on them? All right, go back with me to
our text. Isaiah 58, how am I going to
have my soul satisfied in drought? Well, I'm going to have to have
the light of the gospel shine in my heart. I'm going to have
to have righteousness go before me. I'm going to have to have
the glory of the Lord as my rear ward so that the law looks at
his glory, not at me. And I'm going to have to be healed
of my sin. And verse 9, the Lord's going
to have to call me. And thou shalt call, I'll call
him when he calls me, and the Lord shall answer, and thou shalt
cry. And he said, here I am. I take
away the midst of thee, the yoke. Don't put men under the law. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Don't use the law to measure
yourself by. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
for all your hope of salvation. For the cause of your salvation
and the evidence of your salvation, we look to Christ. Look at the last part of verse
9, and the putting forth of the finger. Now in Isaiah 65 verse
5 it says that the self-righteous were saying, come not near unto
me for I am holier than thou. Now that's what the putting forth
of the finger is. It's looking down your self-righteous nose
and pointing out other men's sins. and believing yourself
to be better than they are. And it's practiced in religion
all the time. The sins of the world are pointed
to, don't be like those folks out there. Withdraw the pointing of, we
do, we teach our children about that, don't we? A very simple,
childish, or childlike, I should say, illustration. Be careful
now when you point your finger at somebody because you've got
three pointing back at yourself. That's so true. And the Lord
said, you withdraw that finger. Don't you point at them. Lord,
I'm in need of grace more than anybody. I'm the chief of all
sinners. What right do I have to point
my finger at anyone else? The Lord said in Isaiah 65 that
this is a smoke in my nose. The Pharisees did it. The Puritans
did it. The fundamentalists did it. Everybody's
pointing at everybody else's sin, comparing themselves to
one another. You say, well, there's some evil
things that are being practiced in the world. Yeah, there are.
There are. Now let me ask you a question. What's worse, people who are
just doing what comes natural to them or people who are sinning
in their hearts against grace, against love, against the Lord Jesus Christ,
against the light of the gospel? You see, to whom much is given,
much is required, isn't it? Lord, I'm the one that needs
your mercy. I'm the one that needs your grace. I am the chief
of all sinners. What a blessing it is to be around
God's people who believe that. And they're not pretentious or
self-righteous. They're not competing with one
another to see who's better. This is when my soul is satisfied
in drought. Look at the last phrase of verse
9, and speaking vanity. Now James said that no man can
tame the tongue for it is unruly, full of deadly poison. For the
same tongue blesses God and curses man. Can a fountain, James asked,
bring forth sweet water and bitter? Can it? No. And yet men do it all the
time. They bless God, and they say
things like, God loves everybody, and then they'll turn around
and say, most of the folks that God loves, he's going to send
to hell. Or they will say, Christ died
for everybody, but not everybody he died for is going to be saved.
Or they'll say things like, God's sovereign, He's omnipotent, He's
all powerful, until He comes up against man's free will, and
then His hands are tied and He can't do anything. Speaking vanities. They'll say Jesus is Lord, but
He can't be your Lord unless you let Him. speaking vanities, speaking lies
from the same tongue, sweet water and bitter, praise and cursing. No man can tame that tongue.
The people who talk like that, they don't see anything wrong
with it. But when God tames your tongue, you quit talking that
way, don't you? You don't talk that way. You speak the truth. My children, The scripture says,
do not lie. They don't lie about who I am.
They don't lie. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
12. We've looked at this verse on several occasions, but Matthew chapter 12. What do the self-righteous do?
They go about inspecting one another's fruit, don't they?
They go about inspecting their own fruit. And religious organizations
are just full of self-righteous fruit inspectors, aren't they?
Well, here's the measure by which God measures our fruit. Look
what he says. Verse 33, either make a tree
good and the fruit good or else make a tree corrupt and the fruit
corrupt. For the tree is known by its fruit. O generation of
vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out
of the good treasure in his heart bringeth forth good things, and
an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But
I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, and
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by
thy words thy shall be justified. and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned." The fruit that God uses to measure His people by
is the fruit of their lips. What say ye of Christ? What do
you say about Him? The Lord said it's not what goes
into a man that defiles him, it's what comes out of a man
that defiles him. So this Come back with me to Isaiah 58
quickly please. Verse 9, Then shalt thou call,
and the Lord will answer, and thou shalt cry, and he shall
say, Here I am. Take away the mitts of the yoke,
quit putting forth the finger, and quit speaking vanities. And
if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted
soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness
be as the noonday and the Lord shall guide thee continually
and satisfy thy soul in drought and make thy bones fat. There, This, we know that this
book is about Christ. These are they which testify
of me. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. And that's so gloriously true. This is a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And yet, in every place where
he's revealed, he is set in contrast against a works gospel. a freewill
works gospel. And that's what we see in Isaiah
58. Once again, once again, you thought that you were going to
be justified by what you did. You thought that that was the
fast that I called for you, but that's not the fast. You want
your soul satisfied in drought? It's only going to be satisfied
in what I've accomplished on behalf of my people. I'm the
only one that can do it. And when you see this, you're
gonna cry. You're gonna call out. And when
you do, I'm gonna hear. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would put it into our hearts now to cry, to
call out to you for grace, and to believe the fast that you
have ordained. For we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Number 30, let's stand together,
number 30. In the gospel hymn spiral hymn
book, number 30. ? Glory, glory, I'm forgiven ?
All my sins are washed away ? Christ, by his great blood atonement
? All my sin has put away Sin imputed to my Savior when He
died upon the tree. As a substitute for sinners,
God will not impute to me. ? Glory, glory, I'm accepted ?
Robed in Christ's own righteousness ? I'm a child and heir of heaven
? Saved by God's almighty grace ? Christ's obedience to the Father
is imputed now to me. In God's sight I'm pure and holy. He declares me so to be. ? Glory, glory, I'll not perish
? In Christ's hands I am secure ? He who saved me sure will keep
me ? By God's grace I shall endure ? This is not a vain presumption
I just take him at his word. Christ has sworn they shall not
perish who believe on me their Lord. th th Thank you.