which is Hallelujah, What a Savior. Let's all stand together. Number
127. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned he stood, Sealed my pardon with his blood,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be, hallelujah,
what a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, It is
finished was his pride, Now in heaven exalted high, Hallelujah,
what a Savior! When he comes, our glorious King,
All his ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Please be seated. Right this minute, that is my
favorite hymn. at him it's got so much gospel
in it that's wonderful I love that him thank you it's good
to have Jared and Lauren with us somewhere where are they? hiding back there and Linda Farrell
with Sarah and Emma are here from Lexington and Emma's going
to Disney World this week so she's already been to Animal
Kingdom and Magic Kingdom and going to Going to Epcot tomorrow,
right Emma? We're happy for you. Let's open
our Bibles together to Psalm 20. Psalm 20. For our call to worship. What
a glorious Psalm this is. David speaking of Christ. This
is Psalm of David. The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. Here's the believer putting his
hope in the fact that the Father will hear the cries of the Son
from the cross. The name of the God of Jacob,
defend thee or set thee on a high place. Send thee help from the
sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy
offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. Grant thee, according to thine
own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy
salvation. In the name of our God, we will
set up our banner. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Here's our trust. Peter, be of good cheer, I've
prayed for thee. Father, I pray not for the world,
I pray for them which thou hast given me out of the world. And
we're saying, Lord, our hope is in the intercessory work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that God the Father would hear him and
grant us peace and salvation because of his work. Now know
I that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord. Let the King hear
us when we call. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, what a precious
promise you've given us in this Psalm. Knowing that you heard
every word that proceeded out of the mouth of thy dear son.
That when he said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit,
Lord, you. You took him. and you rewarded
him for his faithfulness. And in him we have our life and
our being. We asked Lord that you would
cause us now by your Holy Spirit to find Christ to be our all. We would look upon him and know
that that you were pleased with him. Being pleased with him,
you're pleased with all that you've placed in him. Lord, give us eyes to see. Give
us ears to hear. Give us hearts to believe. Minds
to understand. Your gracious work of salvation,
all accomplished in thy dear son. For it's in his name we
ask it. Amen. Let's stand together again. Hymn
number 352. Hymn 352. Let's all stand. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide. Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave, oh leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy way. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
Please be seated. Our text tonight will be found
in Isaiah chapter seven. Isaiah chapter 7. To introduce this message, I'd
like to read from Isaiah chapter 42. So if you'd like to turn
with me there as well, because these first four verses of Isaiah
chapter 42 are a summary of Isaiah chapter 7. And there's so much encouragement
to the child of God in knowing that we have a successful Savior. Our Lord is God. Whatever He
sets to do, He accomplishes. He cannot fail, He cannot fail,
and He's not discouraged. He came to save all Israel, and
all Israel will be saved. Not one of His sheep will be
lost. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against him. He's going to lead captivity
captive and he's going to get all the glory. He is a successful
Savior. How different that is from the
God of men's darkened imagination. A God who wants to save, a God
who's trying to save, a God who's doing his best to save. But unless
you cooperate, unless you do your part, his hands are tied. It's not what the scripture teaches. It's not what any of the scripture
teaches. Look at Isaiah chapter 42 verse 1. Behold my servant. God Almighty is speaking to you
and me, and He's saying, look to Christ. Look, behold Him,
how glorious He is, how powerful He is, how able He is to save. Why? Because I uphold Him. Every word that proceeded out
of His mouth, He said, the Father gave them to me. He said, I'm
not speaking my words, I'm speaking the words that God gave me. And
every work he performed was given to him to do by God. He said,
I uphold him. I hold him up. And I've anointed
him. I've sent him in the full power
of the Spirit of God, anointed with the oil of gladness above
his fellows. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. All the enemies that come against
Jerusalem, our God is going to be successful. He has been and
He's going to be. In whom my soul delighteth, God
the Father delights in the Son. He's pleased with Him. He's satisfied
with Him. Isaiah chapter 53. And His reward
is the spoils of the war that He won. And that's His church. That's His people. My soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles." All those lost sheep out there
in the Gentile world, he's going to satisfy the justice of God. He's going to bring forth judgment
so that God's law is fulfilled and God's justice is satisfied
and their sin is paid for once and for all. Here's God's glorious
promise. What a great Savior we have.
He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street. He's certainly not wringing his
hands in heaven. He's not running around trying
to get men to let him have his way. He doesn't have to manipulate. When he's ready to make one for
whom he died willing, he makes them willing in the day of his
power. He exercises the power of his grace upon them and they
come willingly. He shall not cry, nor lift up
his voice in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break. O sinners, a smoking flax. That's a, flax was used for a
wick in a candle, an oil lamp. And here we've got a picture
of an oil lamp that's just about out of oil and the flame has
disappeared and there's just a little ember there and it's
about to go out. And he says a smoking flax. Most
times when you see an oil lamp like that, you'd wet your fingers
and just go ahead and put it out. But he said, no, I won't
do that. I'm going to fill it back with
oil and I'm going to flame it with the breath of life and it's
going to come back. You ever feel like a smoking
flax? You feel like a bruised reed? That's what sin does to
us, doesn't it? And he says, a bruised reed shall
he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall
bring forth judgment unto truth. He is the truth. For this cause
was I born, and for this reason came I into the world, to bear
witness unto the truth. I am the truth. We have our loins gird with the belt of truth. Christ is our truth. And when He reveals Himself in
the truth of who He is and what He's accomplished, as a successful
savior, as a sovereign God, then judgment is brought forth unto
truth. He shall not fail at anything. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait
for his law. I'm so thankful that we serve
a God that is omnipotent, a God who is sovereign, a God who is
able to save, and a God who has saved. And our text is Isaiah
chapter 7, and I want you to notice verse 9, the latter part
of verse 9 says, if you will not believe, surely you shall
not be established. But I've got in the margin of
my Bible, and I look this up, this statement is really a question. And a better rendering of this
would be, do you not believe? Question mark. It is because
you're not established. Do you not believe? It's because
you're not established. Now the child of God will say,
Lord, establish me. Place my feet upon the rock and
give me faith to believe. I can't establish myself and
I can't drum up faith. You do not believe? It's because
you're not established. It's a word of encouragement
and hope to the child of God to cry for mercy. And it's a
word of judgment to those who would say, I don't believe that. Let's begin in verse 1 of Isaiah
chapter 7. I've got four points that I want
us to see from this passage of scripture. The first one is that
where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And if we go
to 2 Kings chapter 16 and 2 Chronicles chapter 28, you can read in those
two chapters the story of King Ahaz, king of Judah. 16 or 17 years
have passed between Isaiah chapter 6 and Isaiah chapter 7. King Uzziah has died. His son
reigned for 16 years. He's died and now Ahaz, King
Uzziah's grandson, is reigning over Judah. After the reign of
David and Solomon, Israel divided and the northern kingdom is referred
to as Israel and the southern kingdom is Judah the northern
kingdom was read was was was led by whoever could overthrow
the throne and So they were not the kings of Israel in the north
were not the descendants of David every king of Judah Every single
one of them throughout the rest of the Old Testament were a descendant
of David The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh
come. And so Judah is a picture of
the true church, Jerusalem is a picture of the gospel church,
and Israel is a picture of false religion. And the blessings of
God are placed on Judah and Israel, Judah, I'm sorry, in the south
because of the promise that God had made to David. Now, you see
the application of that, don't you? David's a type of Christ.
The promises of God are fulfilled in us because of our David's
sake. Ahaz was not a good king. He did not follow after the Lord,
as scripture says, as his father David did. As a matter of fact,
he was so wicked that he took his children and caused them
to pass through the fire. Now, some have understood that
as making a sacrifice to Baal with a child, with an infant,
a fiery sacrifice. Some have understood it as taking
your children and letting them, that was I guess some sort of
tradition where they would have fires in these pagan ceremonies
and they would walk through them showing their loyalty to that
pagan god. Either way, the scripture says
that Ahaz gave his children to walk through the fire. I mean,
how much more wicked could a man be? yet I stand before you shamefully
I did it in ignorance I didn't know the Lord's forgiven me and
I hope that he's that he's helped my children but I did the same
thing with them I caused my children to walk through the fire pretty much the whole time they
were at home I raised them under false gospel and and they made
sacrifice to a false god How much more wicked can a man be?
And yet, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. The promises
that God makes to Ahaz in Isaiah chapter 7 are made to him in
spite of the fact that he did not follow after the Lord. In
spite of the fact that he caused his children to walk through
the fire. though his sin abounded, God's
grace did much more abound. That's my hope. Look what happens
here. And it came to pass in the days
of Ahaz the son of Jothan, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah,
that Rezan the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Ramaliah,
king of Israel, went up towards Jerusalem to war against it,
but could not prevail against it. Aren't you glad? The enemies come against us and
God says they're not going to prevail. So here we have Syria
In alignment with Israel, the northern kingdom, and their waging
war against Judah, Ahaz being an unfaithful king, you'd think
that God would just take him out. But that's not what happens.
They could not prevail against Judah. Though Syria... Oh, and
by the way, you can read this in the in the Chronicles and
in the Kings about Ahaz, not only did he cause his children
to walk through the fire, but in fear of Syria, he made a pact
with the Assyrians and gave them the gold and silver out of the
temple in order for them to provide for him protection. So he gave
up on the gospel. and gave away the things, the
holy things of God in order to try to get the support of a pagan
nation to help him in his battles. Again, you'd think that God would
just wipe him out, but that's not what happened. Not what happened. Where his sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. How many times We have forsaken
the sacred things in order to make alignment with the things
of this world in our hearts. Is that not the wickedness of
our sin? And the Lord would be right and
just in destroying us. But for David's sake, for David's
sake, He doesn't do it. They could not prevail against
Jerusalem. And your sin can't prevail against
you. Not if you're a child of God. You may stumble and fall
a thousand times in a day. If you're a child of God, that
sin's not going to get the victory. Jerusalem's not going to fall.
It's not going to fall. God's people are not going to
be lost. I don't care. I don't care how much you forsake
the gospel in your heart, how much you make alignment, how
much you sacrifice your children to where sin abounds. Look what he says. And it was
told the house of David. So now the prophet Isaiah goes
to Ahaz, but God doesn't refer to Ahaz as Ahaz. He refers to him as the house
of David. It's the only reason that he
was spared was for Christ's sake. It's the only reason you and
I are spared. We've been forgiven for Christ's sake. And it was
told the house of David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim
and his heart was moved. Whose heart? Ahaz's heart. His heart. He was shaking in
his boots when the prophet came and said, Syria and Ephraim have
confederated against you and they're coming against you. And
his heart was moved and the heart of the people as the trees of
the woods are moved with the wind. Just shaking in the wind. What
are we going to do? You ever felt that? Did your
sin ever become so overwhelming to you that you're just shaking
in the wind? You just don't, Lord, is this sin going to get
the victory over me? Is there any hope? Is there any hope at all? Then
said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou
and Shir Joshua. thy son. So Isaiah now has an
infant son. And God tells Isaiah, take your
son with you. You can look up his name. It
means the remnant shall return. That's what Jehoshuah means. The remnant shall return. So
again, just like in Isaiah chapter 6, though they will have ears
and they will not hear, they will have eyes and they will
not see, that describes most of what we would call Christendom
in the world today. Most folks who call themselves
Christians, they have ears but they do not hear, they have eyes
but they do not see. They've heard about the virgin
birth. They've heard about the sinless
life. They've heard about the sacrificial
death. They've heard about the burial
and the resurrection and the ascension and the second coming
of Christ. And they believe all those things.
They have ears, but they do not hear. They have eyes, but they
do not see. Why? Because though they know
the acts of God, they don't know the ways of God. They don't know
why the Lord did all those things. They don't know that he's an
accomplished, successful Savior. Only God's elect believe that.
But, in it, there shall be a tenth. You remember? The teal tree and
the oak tree, there's going to be a remnant. So, Isaiah, keep
preaching, till the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and
the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. Just
keep preaching, because I've got some folks out there, they're
going to hear it, they're going to believe it. So that's what Isaiah's son's
name means. The remnant shall return. Again, God's given us hope to
know that I've got a people. I've got a people. I'm going
to save them. I've already accomplished their salvation. I'm going to
reveal their salvation in the new birth to each one of them.
And I'm going to enable them to see and to believe what it
is I've accomplished. The acts of God is not the gospel. what he's done. Israel knew God's
acts. They saw the dividing of the
Red Sea. They saw the manna come down
from heaven every day. They saw the ten plagues in Egypt.
They saw the mountain quake. They saw the water come forth
from the rock. They saw the acts of God, but Moses knew his ways. Moses knew what God was doing
and why he was doing it. That's where the gospel is. Not
in his acts, but in his ways. People see the historical events
and the acts of God, and they think, well, I believe that,
so therefore I'm a Christian. Eyes, but they do not see. Ears,
but they do not hear. And that describes the vast,
vast majority of people who call themselves Christians. The Lord
says to Isaiah, take your son with you. He represents the remnant. And they're going to return.
They're going to hear. Verse 3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah,
Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-Jashub, thy son, at
the end of the conduit of the upper pool and the highway of
the fuller's field. And say unto him, Take heed,
and be quiet. Fear not, neither be fainthearted,
for the two tales of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger
of reason with Syria, and of the son of Ramaliah. Because
Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaliah have taken evil counsel
against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex
it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king
in the midst of it, even the son of Tbil." And God says it's
not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Now,
any individual local assembly can fall. We need to be mindful
of that. The church is very fragile, and
a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump. And we need to
be on prayerful guard that God would keep His hand on us as
a church. and not depart from us, not leave
us to ourselves. Here he's talking about the spiritual
church. The church that we don't see.
All of God's elect. And the enemies say, we're going
to set up a king over that church and it's not going to be Christ,
it's going to be King Baal. And God says, no you're not.
Don't be afraid. It's not going to happen. One
thing I know for certain that every local assembly up till
now has fallen. I don't know of a local assembly
that's more than two or three generations old. So all the local
assemblies that ever were faithful to preach the gospel for the
last 2,000 years, they've all died. But God's always had a
people. And if this assembly falls, the
Lord, every one of his elect, they'll find some place to hear
the gospel. they're gonna do it. That's his promise. That's what he's saying. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. It cannot fail. Verse 7, Thus saith the Lord,
It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. It's not gonna
happen. I'm not gonna lose one of my
sheep. Satan, though you are engaged in a spiritual warfare,
he's not going to get the victory. He's lost your soul. The Lord's
recovered his people. Not one of them are going to
turn back and go back to Baal, go back to a false gospel. He's
going to see to it. He's going to keep us from falling
and present us faultless before his throne with great joy. What he started, he's going to
finish. The battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. Robert and I
were talking about this, that verse over there in 2 Corinthians
chapter 10 that we looked at Sunday, where the Lord said,
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God, the pulling down of strongholds and bringing into captivity every
imagination to the obedience of Christ. You know, if the Lord
gives us grace to set our affections on the obedience of Christ, that's
everything. That's our salvation. That's
our assurance. That's our justification before
God. That's our sanctification. That's the hope of our glorification.
That's our adoption. Everything is bound up in the
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. What else do we need? And if
he was successful in obeying God, will he not be successful
in bringing everyone for whom he obeyed the Father to their
expected end? I know the thoughts that I have
for you. Thoughts of good and not for
evil. To give you peace and to bring
you to an expected end. I'm gonna do it. Now here's the
enemies coming up against Jerusalem. and their forces were great and
Ahaz was sinful. Ahaz was ready to make an alignment
with Assyria and sold everything out of the temple of God and
made his children go through the fire in a worship of a false
god and yet in spite of all of that, God would not allow Jerusalem
to fall. And in spite of your sin and
my sin, He will not allow us to fall. He's not gonna lose
one. No man can take you out of my
hand. I find great hope and comfort. That's why he said, don't be
fainthearted. The two tales of this firebrand
that are coming up against you, they're going to fail. Now what
did we just read in Isaiah chapter 42? He shall not fail, nor be
discouraged. He's going to succeed. But every
attempt by his enemy against him and against his people is
doomed for failure. It cannot succeed. And your sin cannot succeed in
separating you from your God. You can't do it. Now some will hear a statement
like that and say, oh, you're giving folks license to sin.
The only thing that makes me not want to sin is to know that
my sin can't separate me from my God. To know that I can't
do anything to improve my position with God and I can't do anything
to take myself out of Christ. That's the only thing that causes
me to not want to sin. This isn't a license to sin.
This is the power of the gospel. Where grace abounds, where sin
abounds, grace does much more abound. That's Romans chapter
5. And then Romans chapter 6 starts out with, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue to sin that we might, you know, that we might
receive more grace? God forbid. God forbid. How come we who are dead in Christ
want to pursue that direction? And yet I say to you, child of
God, Your sin cannot succeed in taking you away from your
successful Savior. He's accomplished your salvation.
Oh, there'll be some chastisements, won't there? There'll be plenty
of that, and that's a good thing. It's not pleasant for the season,
but in the end, it leads to the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
What is the peaceable fruit of righteousness? It's looking to
Christ. It's resting in Christ. It's relying upon the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ for all our salvation. And that's
what the Lord's saying in this story, saying, Ahaz, oh, what
a shameful king he was. And yet he was the king of Judah.
And I've called him the house of David. And my scepter shall
not depart from him until Shiloh come. And when he comes, he's
gonna make all things right. And that's exactly what he's
done. Look what he says. Verse eight, for the head of
Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezan. And within
threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be
not a people. God, through Isaiah, is saying
to Ahaz, Ahaz, they're not going to succeed. I've already set
Ephraim's date of destruction, 65 years from now. Say, 65 years,
yep. But they're going to be destroyed,
and they're not going to succeed in destroying you. The head of
Etherium is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's
son. Do you not believe? Do you not
believe? Do you not believe? It's because
you're not established. Lord, I do believe. I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. I don't know where else to go.
I've got no place else to go. Where else are you going to go
other than Christ? What other hope is there to be saved? Lord, establish me. Set my feet
upon a rock. Hide me in the cleft of the rock.
Increase our faith. Cause us, Lord, to believe. And
might my sin cause me to see more and more of my need for
Christ? Where sin abounds. The law came
in order that sin might abound. That's what Romans chapter 5
says. And where sin abounds, the sin abound in your heart.
You've heard me say before, I'm not getting better, I'm getting
worse. And somebody said, well, you know, you need to say, well,
it seems like we're getting worse, because you don't want to give
people the impression that the more I grow in grace and the
knowledge of Christ, all I know to tell you is the more of my
sin I see. And the more sin abounds, the
more I see my need for grace. We're not suggesting that we're
going out and doing things. There's a lot of things we used
to do we don't do anymore and we ought not to do them. But
that's not the problem. The problem is this unbelief
that's in my old man that's always with me and always... And the
more I see of Christ, the more he exposes himself. And the more
I see my need for Christ. Verse 10, Moreover the Lord spake
again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign. Now I know that the Lord said,
A wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. No sign
will be given unto it except for the sign of Jonah. When the
Pharisees said, Prove it. Prove it. Pharisees were saying
to the Lord, prove that what you say is true. Well, here God is telling, and
I know that we've looked at this before. You hear people say,
well, I'm going to put out my fleece. I'm going to put out
a fleece like Gideon and ask God for a sign to prove to me
what he wants me to do in a certain situation. Don't do that. That fleece that was put out,
do you remember? What's his name? I just said
it. Gideon, thank you. Put out the fleece and said,
Lord, wet the fleece and don't let any of the ground around
the fleece be wet. And Gideon went out that morning
and he rang bowls of water out of the fleece and the ground
all around the fleece was dry. And Gideon said, Lord, forgive
me, but I need another sign. And he put the fleece back out
the next night. And he said, Lord, this time
make the fleece dry and all the ground around the fleece wet.
And Gideon went back out and so it was. Two things about that. Number one, that fleece was Christ.
And the water was the full anointing of the Spirit and power and Word
of God on the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish His work of redemption. And then the dry fleece was the
forsaking of God from the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross
and the anointing of the Spirit that came as a result of that
to everybody that's around Him. So Christ is the sign. And now
the Lord is saying to Ahaz, ask God for a son. Ask God for a
son. He's wanting him to ask for Christ. The Lord's giving him, just like
He says, you know, you have not because you ask not. Come, ask. The other thing to remember is
that in the Old Testament, God did speak through signs. He did speak through signs. We
have the full revelation of Christ now. Revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ is progressive all the way throughout the Old Testament.
I was thinking about this today and thought, you know, to Adam,
To Adam, the Lord revealed Christ to him by saying, he will be
the seed of the woman. That was it. That's a pretty
veiled revelation. He's going to be the seed of
the woman. And then to Abraham, the revelation became a little
narrower and clearer when God said to Abraham, the Messiah
is going to be of your household and of your family. And then
of Jacob, he tells him he's going to be of the tribe of Judah.
So it's becoming more and more narrow. And then to David, he
said he's going to be like you. He's going to be a prophet. He's
going to be a priest. He's going to be a king. And he's going
to reign over my people. And then to Isaiah, He tells
us that he's going to be born of a virgin. And to Micah, he
tells us he's going to be born in Bethlehem. And then to Daniel,
he gives us, you remember the prophecy of the 70 weeks? He
gives us exactly when the Lord Jesus Christ will be born. And
so as we move through the Old Testament, the revelation becomes
more progressive and more clear. Is that your experience? That's
my experience. You know, I feel like the Lord's
taught us so much more about the gospel now than what we used
to know, and He's revealed so much more of Christ to us, and
it makes me want to see more of Him, more of Jesus. Lord, just show us more. Keep growing us in Your grace,
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, show us more and
more of Christ. So the Lord sends the prophet
to Ahaz and says, ask God for a sign. Ask him to reveal Christ
to you. He's the, that word sign is a
word token. And all the tokens that God gave
throughout all the scriptures pointed to Christ. And so the
Lord saying, day has, I've made you a promise and I'm going to
confirm that promise with a sign, with a token. Verse 11, ask thee a sign of
the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depths or in the height
above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not. You see, that
almost sounds virtuous when he says, I will not tempt the Lord
our God, but that word tempt means prove. I'm not gonna ask
God for anything. I've got Assyria to help me.
I'm not gonna prove the promises of God. And you would think that God
would just destroy Ahaz right there on the spot, wouldn't you?
Why did he not? Matter of fact, look. And he
said, Hear ye now, O house of David. That's why he didn't destroy
him. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason he doesn't destroy you. That's the only reason he
doesn't destroy me. If you believe not, yet he is
faithful, for he cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself. I've made a covenant promise
with Christ. And I'm going to keep that promise.
I'm going to save my people. I'll correct them in their sin.
And if they're as wicked as Ahaz, if they're of the house of David,
there of the house of David. First Samuel chapter 12, you
don't have to turn there, I think it's around verse 21 or 22, after
the children of Israel asked for a king and God finally gave
them Saul, here's what the Lord said, for the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great name's sake because it hath pleased
the Lord to make you his people. Do you believe the gospel? Do
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for all your righteousness
before God? Do you believe that His shed
blood is the only hope you have of having your sin covered before
God? Do you rejoice in knowing that salvation is of the Lord
and that you are dependent upon Him for Him to keep you and that
your sin can't keep you away from Him? He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. For his namesake. He's doing
all this for Christ. He's forgiving you your sins
for Christ's sake. He cannot deny himself. He's
not going to deny himself. That's what this whole chapter
is about. The enemy is coming against Jerusalem, and the king
of Jerusalem has been unfaithful, and yet because he is of the
house of David, I'm going to keep my covenant promise with
him. I write unto you, little children,
John put it like this in first John chapter one, I write unto
you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his
names sake. God doesn't forgive us our sins
because, because of the depths of our sorrow. He doesn't forgive
us of our sin because of the sincerity of our repentance.
He doesn't forgive us of our sin because we have a view of
all our sin, and we brought that to Him, and now He's gonna reward
us with forgiveness. My little children, I write unto
you, for your sins are forgiven you for His namesake. David's house. Go back with me
to our text. Look at verse 13. And He said,
Hear ye now, O house of David. Is it a small thing for you to
weary men? But will you weary my God also?
Oh, Lord, I don't want to do that. Lord, cause me to believe. And in spite of Ahaz's unbelief,
look what the Lord says. Therefore, the Lord's going to
destroy you. I mean, that's what you would
expect the next verse to say. Ahaz, you won't ask me for it. I told you to ask me for a sign.
You say, I'm not going to ask. I'm not going to ask God for
anything. I've got Assyria to help me.
I'm going to cause my children to pass through the fire. I'm
going to sell out all the things from the temple. I'm going to
forsake God. And you would think God's saying,
you're going to weary me? I'll destroy you for that. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name God with us. God's perfect man, the God man,
he's going to be born sinless. God made him sin who knew no
sin. born of a woman, born under the
law, to redeem those who are cursed by the law. The law curses
everything there is about you and I. We're so much like Ahaz,
aren't we? In our hearts. And the Lord says,
you won't ask me, I'm gonna give you a sign. And here's the sign, a virgin's
gonna conceive. miraculous birth. She's going
to conceive a son. It's going to be the seed that
I promised Adam all the way back there in the early chapters of
Genesis. It's going to be the descendant
of Abraham. It's going to be in the lineage
of David. It's going to be of the tribe
of Judah. It's going to be in Bethlehem on a certain particular
year. And I'm going to fulfill my promise.
Why? Because I've made a covenant
to save a people and nothing can cause me to fail, even your
sin and your unbelief. I'll make you believe. I'm going
to send a son. His name is going to be Immanuel. God with us. And in Him, the
fullness of the Godhead will dwell. And the rest of that verse,
you know what it is? And you are complete in Him. There's the gospel. The fullness
of the Godhead dwells in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
and you are complete in him. Butter and honey shall he eat. Now fat, all throughout the Old
Testament, is a picture of Christ. When the sacrifices were made,
the fat was to be offered up on the fire as a symbol of Christ. The fatness of His sacrifice
was pleasing aroma to the Father. And what is butter? Butter's
the fat of the milk, isn't it? He's gonna, look what he says.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know how to refuse
the evil and choose good. And what is honey? John took
the scroll of God's word and ate it and it was sweet like
honey to his taste. Honey's the word of God. Christ
is the Word of God. Have I been with you so long
you don't know if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? I
and the Father are one. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. Nothing that's been
made was made without Him. He dwelt among us. Emmanuel, God with us. And we beheld His glory as the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
full of truth. He ate butter and honey. And He knew to do good and not
evil. Are you looking to Christ? for
all the hope of your salvation. God is. God is. And I know that God is
for me if He's given me faith to do what He's doing. Am I looking
to the same one that the Father's looking to for the hope of my
salvation? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we stand before
You, Lord, oh, if You don't save us for David's sake, Lord, we
have no other claim to make. We have no other plea, no other
offer other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that You would make
Him our life. For it's in his name we ask it,
amen. That's all. 125, let's stand
together. 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. For 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. Sid 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 lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Trish and I are going to take
a few days off next week. I'll be here Sunday. But Robert's
going to bring the message next Wednesday night. So you all remember
him and pray for him as he prepares to preach Christ next Wednesday
night here. Jennifer and Laura Grace are
going on a trip this week, if you think to pray for them. And
Tom and Cindy are going to be leaving tomorrow. for Sunday
for like three weeks or something. So anyway, all right.