In Judah, that's where we are right now,
is God known. If we're going to know God, this
is the place where he's pleased to make himself known. That's
why I'm here. I hope that's why you're here. His name is great in Israel. His name is a byword in the world. Even religious people speak his
name in vain. But among his people, his name
is great. The Lord Jesus Christ. our Savior. We've come here to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our hope and prayer is
that God will send His Spirit and open to our hearts the truth
of His Word. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom's going to come lead us. 186, number 186. Jeff wanted me to mention briefly
somebody's car alarm is going off in the parking lot. You can
take a peek maybe and make sure it's not yours. All right, number
186. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With His own blood He bought
her, And for her life He died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth, her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith,
one birth, one holy name. she blesses, partakes one holy
food, and to one hope she presses with every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, She waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blessed. and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, And mystic sweet communion with those whose
rest is one. O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with Thee. Please be seated. Good morning. For a scripture
reading, could we turn to the Book of Luke, chapter 18? Book of Luke. A very, very familiar
passage. We're going to read beginning
at verse 9. Luke 18, verse 9. And He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves,
that they were righteous and despised others. That's a good
word, certain, because it's sure, because God said so. Just like
it's certain that you're either loved in Jacob or hated in Esau.
It's certain that you're either a sheep or a goat, you're a lech
or a reprobate, It's certain. Two men went up
into the temple to pray. The one, a Pharisee. We know
that a Pharisee represents all the man-centered, man-made free
will religions of the world. And the other, a Republican,
a tax collector among his brethren who collected taxes and profited. And he was most hated and despised. Represents a sinner. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. That's
the description of every one of us here outside of Christ. That's how we came into this
world. Setting ourselves up on the throne like God, praying
to ourselves. And take note at the end of that,
even as this publican, there is such a hatred for sinners,
isn't there not? Most especially from the religious.
Do you know why that is? It's because of who we testify
about. Who we testify about. We testify about him. Did not
the Pharisees make fun and jive him when he was sitting and fellowshipping
with sinners in the house? Look at him. Oh, but we're so
attracted to him, are we not? I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. Verse 13, and the publican standing
afar off, don't lose sight of that, standing afar off, the
Lord put that there. One, because a sinner is so ashamed
with guilt and the weight of his sin that he wants to cry
out. He doesn't want to draw any attention
to himself. He wants to find a closet off to the side and
cry out, Oh Lord. And I think this is significant.
I think the Lord put that there because he wants to make an absolute
clear distinction. Sinner, self-righteous. There's no middle ground. The
one in the middle ground is the Lord Jesus Christ who made the
difference. He is the sword. And look what this sinner did.
This is the marks of a sinner. If you're a sinner here this
morning, you know something about this. He would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven. A sinner knows something about
the glory of God. He knows that he cannot look
unto God in of himself. And he knows that he's absolutely
sovereign and he holds in his hand the destiny of our souls. That's why he would not look
up. And he smote, and here's the other one, he smote upon
his breast. He said, Lord, here's the problem.
I'm the problem. Unto thee and thee only have
I sinned in thy sight, that thou may speakest, might be justified,
and thou speakest, and thou would be clear and be judged. I'm not
pointing my finger anywhere else. My circumstance, I'm the problem. I need a new heart. I've got
a corrupt heart. And this is what he says. God,
be merciful to me, the sinner, the sinner. And what did the
Lord Jesus Christ say? I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified. And only sinners are justified. If you're a sinner here this
morning, this is the best news ever. What the Lord is saying
to you and I, if you're justified, you have no sin. You've never
sinned. How can that be? I'm sinning
right now, standing here. It's because the Lord Jesus Christ
is telling us sinners, I know your blood is tainted. I know.
that you have death running through your veins, but my blood is pure. My blood is spotless. I come
to the Father in order to shed my blood for you, in order for
your sins to be put away. I was delivered up for your offenses
and I was raised again for your justification. I know you can't,
Senator, I know you can't believe and have believed any of God's
law at any time. You have no faith. But I've come
to satisfy all the laws of God's demand, all of it. And in order to secure his justice,
he plunged sword of justice into my heart and died for you. So
now he's no longer angry at you. Justified by his blood, justified
by his faith. And one day very soon, I'm gonna take my last breath.
No question about it. And in that day, when my soul
is in front of a holy God, when he sees me, this is all my hope.
I hope he sees his son's blood, his son's faithfulness, his son's
righteousness, his son's love. And if he sees that, he'll say,
justified. Justified and that's my hope. I pray that the Lord would enable
us When we leave this place That he would make us to be the sinner
Let's pray Oh Lord our God Have mercy upon
me according to thy loving kindness and according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies I Lord, wash me throughly of my
iniquity and cleanse me of my sin. For Lord, only you have
that absolute right and power to do so. And I'm totally dependent
upon your mercy and grace, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, I ask that you would again to the preaching of your gospel.
Make me to see what this center did. to you on the cross. Thank you, Lord, for dying and
shedding your blood for sinners. Pray now to bless our pastor,
our brother, bless the gospel. Pray that you would be exalted
and lifted up once again, for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number eight from your gospel hymns, hymn
book, hymn number eight. O Lord, our hearts and souls
aspire to lift up from this earthly mire. O may we think of heavenly
things, and know the joy thy presence brings. Lord, let us see the Savior's
face, and let us taste of Thy sweet grace. May open ears Thy glories hear,
and may we smell Thy fragrance near. Be pleased to open heaven's
door, And on our heads thy blessings pour, All wretched, poor, and
needy we. Where can we go if not to thee? O may this day be blessed the
most That Jesus Christ becomes the host To feed our souls with
living bread And with our souls in joy to wed Please be seated. I'd like to sing the hymn that's
on the back of your bulletin, so please follow along with me.
It's a simple tune, and if you'd catch on, sing it with me. Nothing either great or small,
nothing sinner, no. Jesus did it, did it all, long,
long ago. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, everything was fully done, hearken to his
cry. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? Weary, working, burdened one,
wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done
long, long ago. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? Only in Christ's work, you see,
can you truly rest. Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? Cast your deadly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, gloriously
complete. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? That's all I need. It's finished. Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah chapter 28. I stand before you this morning
as a dying sinner in need of a Savior. And I speak to you
as I know you are dying sinners, and I hope that you're in need
of a Savior. Because that's why we're here.
We're here to hear what the Lord has done. in the glorious person
and through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gate. Notice with me the last words
of verse 6 in Isaiah chapter 28. This is the title of the
message. Turn the battle to the gate. Are you in a battle? Do you have
an enemy that's too strong for you? The Lord tells us, turn the battle
to the gate. The battle's not yours. It's
God's. And he always, always, always
gets the victory. Now I know that each of us, in
God's good providence, and I emphasize that, it's His good providence,
have battles that we struggle in the circumstances of our lives,
and they all differ. And I would say to you in those
battles, the battle's not yours, it's God's. Turn the battle to
the gate. But when it comes to the battles
that we fight in this life, they're always changing, aren't they?
And I can assure you that whatever struggle you have right now,
in time, will change. And you'll probably go through
a period of peace where there'll be no conflict, and then the
Lord will stir up another battle. But in Ephesians chapter 6, we
read, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities. Now that word principalities
means the principal one. Who is our number one enemy? Who is our first arch enemy? Who is the one that deceived
us? Who is the one that caused us to lose our fellowship with
God? It was Satan. So we're not talking
about the battle that we fight in terms of the circumstances
of our lives. We're talking about a battle
that goes far beyond that. For the Lord says the battle
is not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. The battle that you and I fight
never goes away. It's the battle of sin. And that's
the one that you need bought for you. You can't fight it,
can you? Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. Turn the battle to the gate. Turn the battle to the gate. Turn the battle to the gate. How many battles we try fighting? How many problems we try fixing? And things get worse, don't they? God is speaking right now. He's
speaking to my heart and I hope He's speaking to yours. And here's
what He says, turn the battle to the gate. Now Judah was attacked during
the reign of King Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was one of the best
kings Judah ever had. Faithful, believed God, and the
Lord in his providence raised up the enemies of Israel, Ammon
and Moab, to join forces and to attack Judah. And look what it says in verse
three of 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and Jehoshaphat feared and
set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout
all Judah, and Judah gathered themselves together to ask help
of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah, they came to seek the Lord. Now, if the Lord's made
you to be a sinner, You know, you've got a problem you can't
fix. And it's never going away. You're
in need of a savior. And the only hope that we have
is that the Lord would cause us to seek him. I look at verse
six, and here's what they said in their prayer. Oh, Lord, God
of our fathers are not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou
over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is
there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
thee?" They prayed to the God who was sovereign, the God who
was omnipotent, the God who was immutable. And there they placed
their hope. They turned the battle to the
gate. Art not thou our God? Art thou not our God? Have you
not committed yourself to us, to your church, to your bride,
to your children? Art thou not our God, who didst
drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel,
and gave it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? Now Abraham is called the father
of the faithful. And so just like Abraham, we
stand before God as a friend. The Lord said, I call you no
longer my servants, but I call you my friend. For a servant
doesn't know what his master's doing, but a friend, a friend,
he knows what his master's doing. not ashamed to call you my brethren. Why? Because he that sanctifyeth,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and they that are sanctified
are all as one. So Jehoshaphat is calling on
the God who's sovereign and reminding the people of their union with
Christ. And they dwelt therein and have
built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name's sake. We have
a place set apart where we can meet with God. If when evil cometh
upon us as the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we
stand before this house, and in thy presence, and in thy name
is this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou
wilt help, and hear, and help. Lord, you promised that if we
got in trouble, if we would point to the sanctuary. Now, everything
about that sanctuary, Jehoshaphat's talking about the temple that
was built in Jerusalem, but it was a picture of Christ. Everything
about it represented the Lord Jesus Christ. So this promise
is for you and it's for me right now. You in a battle? A battle with sin? A battle you
can't win? The Lord says, turn the battle
to the gate. Turn the battle to Christ and
I will help you. Verse 11, verse 12. Oh our God, wilt thou not, wilt
thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what
to do. But our eyes are upon thee. Lord,
we're against, we're standing up against an enemy that's stronger
than us. The principalities and powers, wickedness in high places,
that's Satan. You can't fight Satan. He's stronger
than you. You've got a battle that you
can't fight, and you don't even know what to do. You're lost
for even knowing where to start, aren't you? Lord, I don't even
know where to start. I don't know what to do. I've
got a sin problem I can't fix. I've got the avenger of blood.
I've got the law of God that's pursuing me. Lord, if it catches
me and finds me guilty, what am I going to do? All I can do
is turn the battle to the gate. And all Judah stood before the
Lord with their little ones and with their wives and with their
children. Oh, bring your family. Bring your husband, bring your
wife, bring your children. Come, stand before the Lord. God raised up a prophet in verse
14. And the prophet said in verse
15, hearken ye all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and thou King Jehoshaphat, for thus saith the Lord unto you,
Let me ask you, do you believe this is the word of God? Do you
believe that it's just as relevant right this very minute in your
life as it was in Jehoshaphat's circumstances? This is the living word of God.
God speaking, right now God speaking. Oh Lord, speak to me and say
to me, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's. It's not your battle. It's not
your fight. It's God's. You try to fight
it, you're gonna lose. And so what did the Lord tell
him? He said, stand still, wait on God, trust him. And the Lord
turned the Moabites against the Ammonites, and the enemies fought
against each other. Read the rest of the chapter
when you get time. At the end of the day, not one of God's
enemies survived. Not a single one. There wasn't
anybody that ran from the battle and hid in the woods. Every single
one of them died. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save sinners. And he satisfied every jot and
tittle of God's law. The battle's not yours. You're
not going to keep the law of God. You're not going to satisfy
one part of God's law. It's the Lord's. And sin? That's your problem, isn't it?
That's my problem. Sin. What'd the Lord come to
do? Put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself once and for all and not one sin, not one sin is left
on the account of those he came to save. Turn the battle to the gate. Look to Christ. The battle's
not yours. It's not yours. It's God's. And He's never lost a single
battle. Never. Never lost a single child. Not one. Go back with me to Isaiah
chapter 28. Verse five, in that day. That's today. It's right now. In that day. This is God's promise. This is
God speaking. Oh Lord, give us faith to believe
you. Do you believe God? Do you believe
God? If God's given you faith, you
say, yes, yes, Lord, help thou mine unbelief. But Lord, I do
believe you. Increase our faith. Cause us,
Lord, to rely wholly on thy word. In that day, today is the day
of salvation. Now is the accepted time. No
one has ever been blessed of God tomorrow. Ever. No one's ever got a blessing
from God tomorrow. Matter of fact, nothing's ever
happened tomorrow. It's impossible. And yet, isn't
that the way our deceived hearts sometimes think? Well, I'm gonna
get things right with God tomorrow. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're waiting for tomorrow.
Tomorrow's never gonna come. It never gets here. Tomorrow there's gonna be a tomorrow.
And that day there's gonna be a tomorrow. Now is the accepted
time in that day. Right this very minute. Oh God,
give me faith to turn the battle to the gate. To look to the Lord
Jesus Christ and to believe that the battle is not mine, it's
God's. You wrestle not with flesh and
blood, The flesh is flesh. And the scripture
says the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth. Oh, how much flesh we exercise
trying to fix everything. Here's what God's saying, brothers
and sisters. Here's what God's saying, my
friend. Turn the battle to the gate. Look to Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy burdened, and learn of me and take my yoke upon you,
for my burden is light, My burden is light. My yoke is easy. I will give you rest for your
soul. This is the promise of God. And
yet we act like fools. No, God, I'll fix this. I can
handle this. I got it. I'll take care of it.
No, you don't. No, you don't. You don't got
it. You can't take care of it. You're
poor and needy and weak. Now notice, notice in our text, notice in verse 6, And for a
spirit of judgment to him that sitted upon judgment, and for
strength to them that turned the battle to the gate. When
we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.
Not when we had a little bit of strength, when we didn't have
any strength. You see, in order to know the
power of God, you've got to have no power. You've got to be powerless. I know the world says, you know,
you do your part and God will do the rest. You know, how do
they say it? Something along those lines.
You do your best and God will take up the slack, whatever.
No. Oh, God helps those who help
themselves. That's it. You heard that before, hadn't
you? That is just the opposite of what God says. That is just
the opposite of what God says. But isn't that the way the world
is? Isn't that the way Satan is? To pervert the word of God
and twist it around and make it... God doesn't help those
who help themselves. God helps those who can't help
themselves. Those who have no strength. Those who have no ability. Those who have no wisdom. Those
who have no righteousness. Those who can't do anything.
Lord, I don't know anything. I can't do anything. I can't
help myself. What am I to do? Lord, we've got no place else
to go. Thou alone has the words of eternal life. And we know and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We've got
no place else to go. Lord, I can't fix it. The battle's not yours. It's
God's. That man in his pride, God resists
the proud and he gives grace to the humble. To the humble. Lord, I can't do anything. All
I can do is humble myself before you. Cry out for your mercy and
your grace. Passage you read, Bert. What did that publican say? Would
not so much as even look up to heaven, but smote himself upon
the breast and said, Oh God, have mercy upon me. I'm the sinner. I'm the problem. Quit playing
the bang game. It goes all the way back to the
garden. We're real good at it. We're real good at it. We've
been practicing it ever since Adam spoke to God back there
in the garden. Where art thou, Adam? Lord, I was naked and I was afraid.
How'd you know you were naked? Well, the woman that you gave
me, Adam was blaming God. Every time we shift the blame
to anyone else, ultimately we're blaming God. We're pointing our
finger at God and saying, God, it's your fault. When you turn the battle towards
the gate, you accept in full responsibility for all your problems.
God, I'm the sinner. I'm the one in need of mercy.
I'm the one who has no strength in that day, this day, today,
right now. Look at verse 5. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people. I am the Lord and they shall
be my people and I shall be their God. I will give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. When God says shall, you can
rest your immortal soul on the shalls of God. God's not saying,
well, you know, I might, you're good enough, you do your part,
you work hard enough, give a little bit more. God says, I'm gonna
do it. And faith, faith is resting everything
on the shalls of God. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts. Now pause there for just a minute
because somebody needs to hear this. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one we worship in spirit and in truth, the Son
of God, the one who's seated at the right hand of God and
rules and reigns all of his creation without any threats, He is your Lord right now, whether
you want him to be or not. He reigns sovereign over your
life right this very minute. You don't make him Lord. God's
already done that. How foolish it is to say no to
God. The fool has said in his heart,
no, God, I'm going to do it my way. I'll fight this battle. I can conquer this enemy. I can
work this out. I can make like work for me.
I don't need God. Faith bows in submission and
in gratitude. And in rejoicing that the Lord
Jesus Christ is my Lord. Oh, he's Lord. You can fight
him if you want. You're gonna lose. You will lose. Mark it down. You're gonna lose in the, you
know that by experience, don't you? You know that every time
you've tried to fix something without God. You've messed it
up, hadn't you? It's just gotten worse. You try to fix your sin
problem without Christ. Oh, it's an eternal loss. It's the loss of your soul. The
battle's not yours, it's God's. In that day, in that day, Shall
the Lord of hosts that means he's Lord over the living and
the dead the saved and the unsaved That means that he reigns sovereign
over the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth
That means that he hath done whatsoever. He wills he always
gets his way our God doesn't have a plan Our God's not dependent
on anything Our God doesn't mutate based on something that you do
or don't do. He doesn't change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He is the Lord. All right, don't
you love thinking about that? He's God. The God of man is a
mutable God. He's a God that can be controlled. He's a God that can be made to
do something. Well, if I'll just, if I'll just
let him have his way. Somebody told me recently that,
that, you know, God, God needed them here a little bit longer. He wasn't going to take them.
He wasn't going to let them die yet because he still needed them. God's never needed anything from
you and me. When it comes to our relationship
with God, we don't do anything but take. You're not giving God anything.
You're just takers. You've heard me say before there's
givers and takers in this world and that's true in terms of man's
relationship with man. But believers and their relationship
with God are nothing but takers. That's all they are. I've got
nothing to give. What am I going to give? All
I can do is take. The beauty of it is that if you're
a taker in your relationship with God, you'll be a giver in
your relationship with people. Because you'll have something
to give. Because you will have gotten something from God. And
people who are takers in terms of their human relationships
have never gotten anything from God. Don't be afraid to be a taker
when it comes to your relationship with God. That's what He's here
to do. He's here to give. To give. And He just keeps giving. In that day shall the Lord of
Hosts be for a crown of glory. A crown of glory. Revelation
chapter 19 verse 12 says his eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns. Many crowns. He wears the crown
of deity. All the fullness of the Godhead
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ bodily. Everything you and I
will ever know about God, we'll discover it. in Christ. Show
us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Isn't that what the disciples
said? Oh, Philip, have I been with you so long that you don't
know that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, for I
and the Father are one? He wears the crown of deity.
He wears the crown of righteousness. David said, I will make mention
of thy righteousness even of thine only. He wears the crown
of righteousness. Our righteousnesses are crowns.
Men go about boasting in their righteousness, trying to establish
their own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness
of God. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He
wears the crown of righteousness and His righteousness is our
glory. His deity is our glory. He is crowned with many crowns.
His redemption, Ephesians chapter one, verse 14 says that we've
been given as an inheritance the Holy Spirit until the redemption
of the purchased possession unto His glory. And so the redemptive
work of the Lord Jesus, He wears the crown for that. You can't
be redeemed You know, the older I get, the more convinced I am
of how man, by nature, lives his whole life trying to atone
for his own sins. He does. And the things we do to try to
atone for the sins that we've committed. And then man in his pride will
wear a crown when he thinks he's done something. to atone for
his own sins and he'll take pride in what he's accomplished and
what he's done for someone else and he'll want everybody to know
about it. Unto them he is our crown of
atonement. He is our crown of redemption. He is our crown of salvation. In God is my salvation and my
glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge. Salvation is of
the Lord. Let him that glory glorieth in
the Lord. Look at our text. In that day,
Here's the day. Say, how do I know if I've turned
the battle to the gate? Here's what I'm asking you, right
now, not tomorrow, not next week, right now, is the Lord Jesus
Christ bowed to, willingly bowed to, rejoiced in as your Lord? He is your Lord. The second thing I would ask
is, is He your crown of glory? His resurrection, He's called
the firstborn among many brethren. His sonship, God sent His only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him all
your holiness. Revelation 19 has got many crowns,
many crowns. He's all your righteousness.
He's your crown of righteousness. He's your holiness. By virtue of your union with
Christ, you are as holy before God as is the Son. But He's the source of your holiness,
not yourself. He's the one Isaiah saw. Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled
with His glory. The battle's not yours. It's
God's. You can't fight it. It's the
Lord's. And you know what He'll do? He'll
turn the enemy against themselves. Read that whole story over there
in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. It's a beautiful story. He's the crown of your hope in
providence. You believe, you know, you know
that however difficult the circumstances are that God's ordained for you
to suffer in this world, that he is working all things together
for good, for them who love him, those that are called according
to his purpose. And you have peace with God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he gives you the peace of
God to rest in him. Turn the battle to the gate. Crown him with many crowns, the
lamb upon the throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of him
who died for thee, and hail him as thy matchless king throughout
eternity. Oh, what a glorious Savior we
have. God's crowned him. Is he crowned
in your heart? A diadem of beauty. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Now here's the Lord's description
of everyone outside of Christ. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
for you are like a whited sepulcher, which indeed appear beautiful
on the outside, but are full of dead man's bones and corruption. Men go about trying to clean
themselves up. Oh, they're trying to impress
one another trying to impress themselves try to get God says
you you appear beautiful on the outside But on the inside you're
full of dead men's bones. I Need to have I Need to have
these bones made alive Ezekiel 37 the valley of dry bones what
the Lord say son of man can these bones live Lord thou knowest
you're gonna have to make them live You're gonna have to make
them live and they did The gospel was preached to them and bone
came to bone and a great army raised up Look at verse 5 and unto the
residue of His people I love that word It's the same word
translated in other places, elect. But the idea here is just exactly
what you think of when you think of residue. That's the scum left
on the inside of a cup after you've finished whatever. It
gets washed down the drain. It's the worthless scum. And
the Lord says, this is for the residue. You say, well, that's
not me. I'm not residue. Well, the gospel's
not for you. The Gospel is for the residue.
It's for the remnant. It's for the poor and the needy.
It's for those who have no strength. It's for those who need a Savior. And notice in verse 6. We move
quickly. And for a spirit of judgment
to him that sitteth in judgment. Now who is it that sits in judgment?
It's God that sits in judgment. I know what the world says, you
know, don't judge don't judge You better make righteous judgments
You better judge between that which is holy and that which
is profane you better judge between that which is true and that which
is not You better you better try the spirits to see whether
they be of God otherwise you'll be risking your soul on something
that's not true and And here the scripture says that the Lord
Jesus Christ is a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment.
God Almighty is sitting in judgment. And He is requiring absolute
perfection. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the plumb line. He's the judgment by which all
things are measured. How do you stand up to Him? You
see, we go through life comparing ourselves to one another, don't
we? We go through life comparing ourselves to ourselves. We've
got the wrong standard. Someone said, well, you know,
our men by nature are good or our men by nature are bad. Well,
it depends on your standard. If you're going to compare yourself
to people, then most people are relatively good. Most people,
you know, they do their best to be moral and there's very
few, relatively speaking, bad criminals in the world that you've
got to watch out for. People can try to kill you or
hurt you if you compare man to man. That's not God's standard of
judgment. That's what this verse is saying. He is the spirit of
judgment to him that sitteth in judgment. God is judging everything
by Christ. He's the standard. He's the plumb
line. God says you measure up to him
or you fail. Now how are you going to fight
that battle? And that's why the Lord says,
Those that are without strength to measure up to the standard
of judgment, they turn the battle to the gate. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
gate. He's the gate into the sheepfold. He's the gate into
heaven. When John sees that new Jerusalem coming down from heaven,
it has 12 gates, all of one pearl, and those gates are Christ. They're
Christ. Turn the battle to the gate. The battle's not yours. Open to me the gates of righteousness,
and I will go in unto them, and I will praise the Lord, this
gate of the Lord, unto which the righteous shall enter. Lord,
open the gate for me. Open the gate for me. Run to
the gate. Be like that. You remember in
Acts where Peter and John were going into the temple and they
were going through the gate called Beautiful. And there was a cripple
there begging for alms. And what did Peter say? Silver
and gold have we none, but such as we have, in the name of Jesus
Christ, stand and walk. And he leaped upon his feet.
There we are, we just crippled at the gate called beautiful,
and God sends the gospel, and he says, stand. Leap for joy. The battle's been won. It's not
yours. It's God's. We wrestle not with flesh and
blood, with principalities and powers, for though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly, they're mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds and bringing into captivity every
imagination to the obedience of Christ. Look to the one who
satisfied the demands of God's law. Look for the one who fulfilled
all of God's justice. Look for the one who was successful
in defeating your enemy. Turn the battle to the gate. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for Your Word. Oh, how we pray that You would
attend these words with the power of Your Spirit and give us faith,
Lord, to believe You. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Brother Tom. Let's stand together. Number 125. StSq3 3.30 (-0.99") I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power
and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I whereby
thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my life
shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Okay. Mhm.