18 years old. We're going to open this morning
with hymn number 15. Talking to Robert, I don't know,
in the last week or so, he said, he told me how much he really
enjoys singing this hymn. Brethren, we have met to worship.
So I was thinking about him last night, and we're going to stand
and sing number 15 from our hardback timbrel. Let's all stand. Come on, let's go. Brethren, we have met to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray an holy manna
with me. Brethren, see poor sinners round
you, slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming, hell
is moving, can you bear to let them go? and our mothers and our children
sinking down. Brethren, pray and holy manna
will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help
us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling borders
who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the
Savior. Tell them that He will be found. Sisters, pray, and holy manna
will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners
till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home
to heaven. At his table we'll sit down. Christ will gird himself and
serve us with sweet manna all around. Please be seated. Good morning. Would you bow with
me for word of prayer, please? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
that you have put into our hearts a hunger for Christ. We pray
for those Lord that remain strangers to your grace that that you would
do for them. cause us, Lord, to be able to
ask, as we just sang, for the windows of heaven to be opened
and for the sweet man of your grace in the person and the work
of thy dear son to feed our souls with the hope of life. We ask, Lord, that you would
send your Holy Spirit in power to bless your word cause Christ
to be lifted up. We would find him to be our all
and find him to be in all. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. We're going to look at Isaiah
chapter 2 this morning, this first hour. If you'd like to
turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter two, a couple
of Wednesday nights ago, we began a study through the book of Isaiah
on Wednesday nights. And we're going to move that
over to Sunday morning today. So the 15th of May, we are planning
to have covered dish lunch here at church on May the 15th, Sunday,
so please put that on your calendars. And also, those of you that would
like to go with us to Sarasota tonight, Aaron Greenleaf and
Jamie are here from Lexington, and Aaron's going to be preaching
over there tonight and also here. So I know several of you have
mentioned wanting to go and support the church over there with your
presence. So we'll leave my house at 2
o'clock or talk to, I think Bert's driving the van and Adam, you
said you were driving, so you all can figure it out, figure
out who's going and who's driving and who you want to ride with.
All right? But if you can't, I think the van is leaving my
house at 2 o'clock. All right, you have your Bibles
open to Isaiah chapter 2, and I've titled this, The Word of
God to His Church, or The Word of God Concerning His Church. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is referred to in the Word of God in so many different
ways. She's called the Bride of Christ. She's called the Sister of the
Lord Jesus Christ. She's called the Friend of the
Lord Jesus Christ. She's referred to as God's Elect. She's referred to as Israel,
she's referred to as the sons of Jacob. Here in Isaiah chapter
2 there are at least five different descriptions of the church as
the Lord. Look at verse 1, the word that
Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. So here she's called Judah and
Jerusalem. As we continue on in this chapter,
the church is referred to as the mountain. She's referred
to as the house of God. She's referred to as Zion. And she's referred to in this
chapter as the house of Jacob. Now, being a part of the Lord's
Church, I'm very interested in knowing what He has to say concerning
His Church. And these words are of great
benefit great profit great encouragement as the Lord speaks affectionately
about his love for and his promises to his church notice the very
first word of Isaiah chapter 2 the word it's not a word you
know we might say well you know we have a word for you I've heard
people say, well, we have a word from God. The Lord here calls
it the word. How significant is that describing
the exclusivity of the word? It's not just a word, it's the
word. And the word is not just words
on a page. They are describing none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who in John chapter 1 is called
the Word. which was with God, and the word
which was God. He goes on to tell us, in him
was life, and the life was the light of men. Now in the natural
realm, we think of light being necessary for life. But in the
spiritual realm, life is necessary for light. The Lord has to give
light. He goes on in John chapter 1
to say that the light shined in the darkness and the darkness
comprehended it not. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, the one who is full of grace and the one who is full
of truth. And so We need the Lord to do
a work of grace, regenerating us, taking out the heart of stone
and put in a heart of flesh, giving us life in order for us
to see the light of who he is. And that's our hope. And that's
his promise here. The word, the word. that Isaiah
the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The word which he saw. Did you
get that? Not the word which he listened
to or the word which he heard, but the word which he saw. When
John received the revelation on the Isle of Patmos, and the
scripture says that the voice of God spoke and described the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, and John said, I saw, I turned to see the voice which
spake unto me. So this isn't just a matter of
hearing, it's a matter of seeing. It's a matter of seeing Him in
the light of His glory and in the light of His grace. Lord,
give us eyes to see. Give us eyes to see. Job said,
I had heard of Thee with the hearing of mine ear, but now
mine eyes have seen Thee, and I repent in dust and ashes. so when the Lord the Lord's making
some precious promises here in Isaiah chapter 2 for his church
and he says the word the word the word that Isaiah the prophet
saw concerning concerning concerning us concerning Judah Judah What
a glorious name for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
foreson of Jacob by Leah, And his name translated
means praised. And so when Leah gave birth to
Judah, she called him Judah for she praised the Lord and she
said, surely my husband now will love me for I've given him four
sons. And when he addresses his church,
he calls us Judah, praised of her husband. loved by her husband. These promises are from a loving
husband who provides everything that his wife needs. You remember
when Benjamin was was called on by Joseph to come down to
to Egypt and Reuben tried to convince Jacob to send Benjamin
and Jacob wasn't convinced that Reuben would provide properly
for Benjamin, but then Judah spoke up and Judah said, I will
be surety for him. And if I fail to bring him back,
you can count, charge it to my account. What a picture of Christ. The marriage between the Lord
Jesus Christ and his church is so real that the two have become
one flesh. And what's said of the church
is true of Christ. What's said of Christ is true
of his church. Here he calls us Judah. In Zechariah, Judah is called
his portion. In Hebrews chapter 8, the scripture
says, I will make a covenant with the house of Judah. In Hosea 1, he says, I will have
mercy on the house of Judah and will save them. I will save them. I will save them. I'm going to
be surety for them. I'm going to provide everything
necessary for their salvation. and not one of them is going
to be lost. I'm going to redeem them. I'm going to be their advocate
before God. I'm going to present myself before
the Father for all their righteousness. I will be for Judah their salvation. And then in Psalm 114 the scripture
says, Judah is my sanctuary. Judah is my sanctuary. I was
talking to a young man recently and he was telling me he was
listening to the messages online and that he had some questions
and he was being encouraged. And I encouraged him to come.
I said, you know, I'm glad you're listening. But that's no substitute
for actually being here. For there's something very supernatural,
something very special, something very spiritual that takes place
when two or three of God's people are gathered together and the
gospel is being preached. I've told you all before, I've
threatened many times in my own heart to pull the plug on the
internet. When I hear of somebody using
it as a substitute for being in services, I just want to stop
it. We're not going to. Because the
Lord is using it to introduce the gospel, but what I'm saying
is that it's not a substitute. to be in here. The Lord said,
I walk among the candlesticks. He manifests himself in a way
that can't be duplicated by a video or by an audio tape or CD or
anything else. And that's what he's saying.
Judah is my sanctuary. That's where my children are.
That's where I am. I inhabit the praise of my people. And he says, the word that God
gave to Isaiah, the son of Amos concerning Judah and look at
the next description he gives of his church and concerning
Jerusalem. That word literally translated
means teaching of peace, teaching of peace. This is the only place
where a man can learn how to have peace with God. It's the
only place. There's nowhere else in this
whole world other than where the gospel of God's grace, and
by the way, that word, When he said the word, he's speaking
of Christ. And in first Peter chapter one, it says, and this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So just
because a man's opening the Bible and reading from the Bible and
preaching from the Bible doesn't mean he's preaching the word
of God. If the gospel of God's free grace in the glorious person
and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is not being preached,
then the word of God's not being preached. That's just, that's
how simple it is. But where that is happening,
where Christ is being lifted up, where the gospel of His grace
is being preached, that's where men learn how it is that they,
being a sinner, can have peace with God. How can I have my sins
put away? How can I have a holy God pleased
with a sinner like me? Only by hearing the gospel, only
by seeing the glory of Christ, only by God giving us faith so
that we can rest our immortal souls on His finished work and
on His glorious person can we have peace with God. Men go about
trying to atone for their own sins. Men go about trying to
do good works. Men go about trying to exercise
the strength of their will. Participating in religious ceremony. Doing all sorts of things in
order to try to achieve peace with God. The Lord put it like
this. He said, My peace I give unto
you. Not as the world gives. The religious
world, the irreligious world, everybody's talking about peace.
Jerusalem. is where the teaching of peace,
the prince of peace is lifted up. And he said, if I be lifted
up, I will draw all men unto me. Oh Lord, give us grace to
lift up Christ and give us faith to look to him, to rest in him,
to rely upon him, to believe on him. to know that he is all
our salvation before God. I was showing Aaron a shower
at our house this morning, and I told him the story. You all
know Eugene and Natalie, and you've heard this story, some
of you have. I built this shower, and Eugene was at my house, and
I asked him to help me put the tile up. And Eugene had seen
my tile work in other places of my house, and he said to me
in his Russian accent, he said, well, brother, I'll be glad to
do that under one condition. I said, what's that? He said,
I get to do it all by myself. I said, well, you know, okay.
Well, after begging him to let me help, he convinced me that
he didn't need my help. And so I said, well, let me go
get my tools. He said, no, I can't use your
tools. And he got in his truck and drove
back to Charlotte and got his tools and came back to my house
and wouldn't let me put a hand to that tile job. And of course
it's perfect. But, you know, what a picture. The Lord's not going to... I'll
do it under one condition. I do it all by myself. You're
not going to put a hand to it. And I'm not even going to use
your tools. I'm gonna get all the glory. Now that wasn't Eugene's
motivation, although he wanted a job that looked good. So maybe
it was, I don't know, but that's the gospel. No contribution
whatsoever. That's the only way to have peace
with God. If our peace with God is based on anything we do, if
you're an honest person, you have to wonder whether you've
done it right. whether you've done enough. And
if you're really honest person, God's made you a sinner, you
know that whatever you put your hand to, you've defiled. You
need a salvation that's accomplished completely outside of yourself.
And the Lord calls us Judah and Jerusalem. This is the place
where men are taught how to have peace with God. There's a lot
of places that people call Jerusalem, but as the Lord describes in
the book of Galatians, most of them are like Hagar, Mount Sinai. The Jerusalem which is, the scripture
says in Galatians, is Babylon. It's a place of works. It's a
place where men are trying to achieve hope for their souls
by something that they do. And contrast that Jerusalem,
which is called Babylon, which is likened unto Hagar, which
is likened unto the child of bondage, which is likened unto
the law, to the New Jerusalem described in Revelation. And
where does that city come from? Where does that city come from?
the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven. If we're going
to understand how it is that we can have peace with God, if
this is going to be Jerusalem for us spiritually, if we're
going to be taught of God, it's going to have to come down from
heaven. That's what we just sang, isn't it? We were singing and
asking the Lord to come down Lord, speak to us. We can't do
this. I know I can't do it. I can't
speak effectually to your hearts and you can't listen and hear
effectually to your hearts. This is a spiritual work of grace
that God Almighty has to do. And that's our hope. So this
is the word the word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem look at verse 2 and it shall come to pass in
the last days in the last days people ask me all the time do
you think we're in the last days yep I know we are Been in them
for 2,000 years now, and every generation of believers has had
sufficient proof from the Word of God to expect the return of
the Lord Jesus Christ in their generation. And so do we. And if you're not expecting and
looking and hoping for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ right
now, you've missed something. Missed
something. This is the last days in which
we live. And the last 2,000 years are
described in the Word of God as the last days. Today may be the last day. Wouldn't
that be glorious? I don't know if I shared this
here or not, there was a time When Trish and I would fly together,
we would sit in the plane, and we'd, you know, before the plane
would take off, we'd hold hands and, you know, kind of, kind
of, you know, offer up a prayer asking for the Lord's safety
and the travel on that plane. And I was talking to Todd the
other day. He was flying back from California.
And he said, he said, ma'am, we were up about 30,000 feet,
and I thought, wouldn't it be great if this plane crashed? What a difference. What a difference. Wouldn't it be great? And it shall come to pass in
the last days. Could this be the last day? The
unbeliever doesn't believe. The unbeliever lives their lives
in complete oblivious to the reality of death. They just do. They live presuming that tomorrow
is going to come just like yesterday came. Believers live their lives in
hopeful expectation and anticipation of that last day. Now he's going to give us another
description of the church. The mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains. There's a lot
of religious meeting houses and club houses around that call
themselves the church of God. But he says the one that's preaching
the gospel, the one where the word is being lifted up. is a mountain above all the other
mountains and that's where I'm going to be this picture of the
mountains in the scriptures how many times the Lord manifest
his glory on a mountain he manifested his glory on Mount Sinai when
he gave when he gave Moses the law And he had to hide him in
a cleft of the rock in order to keep Moses from being consumed
in his very presence. And the Lord had to command all
the children of Israel not to touch that mountain. Anybody
touched it, they would die. And what a glorious mountain
that is, where the lawgiver described, manifest his glory by giving
the law. And then, of course, we go from
Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary, where the lawgiver, who himself
fulfilled all the requirements of the law and laid down his
life for those that have never been able to keep God's law.
making atonement for our sins. God being pleased with him because
he had been faithful, perfectly faithful to all the law of God.
He is the law, he is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. And he atoned for the sins of
the lawless ones. We have Mount Carmel where Elijah
call down fire from heaven and consume that sacrifice and destroyed
the prophets of bail describing the the perfection of God's glory
and the and the satisfaction that God Almighty has in the
atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice we have
the Mount of Transfiguration where the Lord moves back the
veil of his humanity for just long enough for the radiance
of his glory to blind Peter, James, and John and put them
on the dirt and cause them to see that the prophet Elijah and
the law Moses were given there to show that they both point
to Christ. And when they finally looked
up, there was none to be seen than the Lord Jesus Christ. all
these mountaintop experiences where the Lord is pleased to
manifest his glory. Mount Zion is called a mountain
of worship, which is another picture of the church. So he
says here that the church, my church, here's my word concerning
my church, Judah and Jerusalem, she's going to be like a mountain.
And the mountain is where the Lord is pleased to manifest His
glory. Now that's where I want to be.
I want to be where the Lord is pleased to show Himself. To show
my inability to keep the law and his perfection in the law.
To show his atoning work of grace on Calvary's cross. To show the
radiance of his deity in the mountain of transfiguration.
Mount Gilead is called the mountain of healing. the balm of Gilead. And this is a place where our
souls are healed before God as the blood of Christ washes away
our sins and the oil of the Spirit of God mends our wounds and we're
healed and made whole before God. This is the word that God
gave to the prophet Isaiah concerning his church. What a glorious place
he's describing. And it's right where you and
I are right now. It's not just any mountain. It's
not just any word. It's not just any Jerusalem.
It's the place where the Lord has promised to manifest His
glory. And notice that the mountain
shall be established. Established. A firm place of
establishment. This isn't a double-minded gospel. This isn't, well, you know, it's
grace, but then we leave men with works to perform or works
to measure their salvation by. No, this is a place where the
gospel is grounded. in the rock of ages the Lord
Jesus Christ who cannot be moved and he establishes us in Christ
he told Moses on Mount Sinai said you stand over here on this
I've got a place for you stand right there on that rock and
you won't be moved Won't be moved. And when God teaches you the
gospel, you've been taught by the Lord. He's gonna go on and
tell us we're not gonna get that far in this chapter. But you've
been taught by God. What God teaches a child of his,
no man can teach him out of. And that's what it is to be established.
The whole world turns against me. The whole world turns against
you. If God's taught you the truth,
you're established in that truth. You can't be moved. They shall
be all taught of God. What he teaches a man, no one
can unteach. This mountain is going to be
established in the top of all the other mountains and shall
be exalted above the hills. We have folks come, we've got
folks coming in Sarasota that, you know, they'll go to other
churches, they'll come listen to the gospel and rejoice in
what they're hearing, and then they'll go listen to somebody
else. And I don't challenge them on that, because I know that
once they hear the truth, they won't ever go back. They won't
ever go back. We've got a dear lady in Sarasota
who told me last Sunday, I don't think I can go, she goes every
Sunday, plays a piano for somebody, some free will church and comes
listen to us and rejoices in what she's hearing and goes back
over there. She told me this past Sunday,
I don't think I can do that anymore. So that's wonderful. That's wonderful,
Betty. I'm glad to hear it. All nations, all nations, From
every kindred and tongue and people and tribe and nation,
God has a people in every generation from all parts of the world.
What Judah, what assembly of God's people has more of a mix
of that than our assembly? People from all different walks
of life and all different experiences in this world and different languages
and different cultures, they'll all flow. Now, this word flow
means to be drawn to a light. That's what it literally means.
It means to be drawn to a light. And that's what he's saying.
When the light of the gospel shines in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Men from all nations and all tribes and all people
will be drawn to that light. Irresistibly drawn. They won't
say no. They won't say, well, you know,
I'll think about it. They won't say maybe. They are
irresistibly called and drawn. They've got no choice in the
matter. No choice. They've got no place else to
go. What a glorious, a glorious promise. And many people shall
come. Let's read this one more verse.
And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up
to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
and he will teach us his ways. He will teach us his ways. Now
that's what I want to know. This is the only place where
God's teaching his people his ways. where Christ is being lifted
up, the mountain that's above all other mountains, the true
Judah, the true Jerusalem. And he said, come, let us come
together. God will teach us. Do you need
to be taught of God? I do. I so want God to teach
me. I've learned enough from men
that I found out to be not true. God doesn't... How many things
have you learned over your life and you thought that they were
true and then you found out later they weren't? That will never
ever happen if God teaches you something. It just never happened. And the people say, come, let
us go together. God will teach us. He's promised
to speak there. We're not going to be taught
by the preacher. We're going to hear the Word of God and to
be taught by God. And He'll teach us His ways.
Now the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way. Not I'll show you
a way. Just like the Word, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father
but by me. Lord, reveal Yourself to me. cause me to be able to
see what Isaiah saw seeing the Word of God concerning concerning
Judah and Jerusalem let me close with this statement the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only thing that God is concerned with in this
whole world The nations, the nations are
a drop in the bucket. The nations, all the things that
the world is concerned with, the economy and the governments
and the wars and all the successes of man and the environment and
education, all the things, God's not concerned. He's concerned with one, and
the only thing that he does in those things is for the benefit
of his church. How do you know that? Because
when the last of God's elect are brought irresistibly to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's over. It's over. This whole ball of dirt's gone.
Because the church, the salvation of God's people in this world
is the only thing that our God is concerned with. Do you believe the word concerning
Judah, concerning Jerusalem? I want to be a part of that,
don't you? Lord have mercy upon my soul. All right, let's take
a break. Okay.