2 Samuel, chapter 23. We're going
to open the service with the hymn in the Saltback Temple,
a covenant ordered in all things and sure, number 47. And I'm
sure that when Don wrote the words to that hymn, he had this
verse of scripture in mind. God says, these are David's last
words. In chapter 23, verse 5, although
my house be not so with God. Your house isn't as it ought
to be and neither is mine. The tabernacle of your flesh,
your home, your children, we've just made a mess of everything.
Just like David, although my house be not so with God, yet
he made with me an everlasting covenant. God established the
covenant from before time began. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. He has
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. Everything necessary to satisfy
the demands of that covenant were fulfilled in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And David goes on to say, this
is all my salvation. all my salvation. This isn't
part of my salvation. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire, though he make it not to grow. When I look at
my life, I don't see any growth. I don't think I'm getting better.
As I grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I see more and more of my sin and more and more of my need
for Christ. So let's stand together. Tom's
going to come lead us in number 47, a covenant ordered in all
things and sure. God the Father and the Son and
the Spirit, three in one. In eternal ages past, made a
covenant sure and fast, God my Father chose His own in the person
of His Son. and ordained that I should be
one with Him eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
And retrieve me from the fall Christ in love so willingly as
my great surety. For my price he offered blood
to appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love. bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and he brings us to the Lamb. By His mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure,
for God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, Please
be seated. I do like that hymn. That's the gospel we just sang. And that's the gospel that I
hope the Lord will enable us to hear and to speak this morning. If you would like to bow with
me, we'll ask the Lord to bless his word to our hearts. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful for that covenant of grace that
was established according to thy sovereign purpose before
time ever began. that you would choose a people,
that you would ordain your son as that lamb that was slain before
the world ever began, and then came 2,000 years ago and fulfilled
everything necessary in thy divine plan to satisfy the requirements
of thy law and to satisfy your holy justice We ask that you
would cause him to be lifted up in our hearts, that we would
be drawn in faith to him, and that we would find our hope and
all our satisfaction in his glorious person and accomplished work. For we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. I want us to think this first
hour about the title that God has given of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Emmanuel. It's found in Isaiah chapter
seven, Isaiah chapter seven. Before we read this passage,
let me preface this by saying that God never proves his existence
to man. The scriptures do not make any
attempt to prove God's existence. They assume God's existence. The scripture makes it clear
in Romans 1 that God has put into the heart of every man the
knowledge of himself. And man, of course, has perverted
that knowledge. Turn with me there to Romans
1, if you will. Romans 1. Verse 19, because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it
unto them. The wrath of God comes upon the
unbelief of man because he rejects the revelation that God has made
of himself in the conscience of man. Man knows in his conscience
that there is a God. Man can look at the order of
creation and come to the only conclusion that there is a God. For the invisible things of him
from creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. All men stand before God without
excuse. Why? Because he's revealed his
character to them in both conscience and in creation. Now, the revelation
of conscience and creation is not sufficient for salvation.
And yet men have rejected that revelation when they deny God
his glory. Look at verse 21, because that
when they knew God, they knew God. Now I'm meeting more and
more people. I understand that our culture
is becoming more irreligious. And I'm meeting more and more
people who profess themselves to be atheists. I don't know. I don't know if a person who
claims to be an atheist really is. I wonder if they are sincere. Perhaps They've been able to
sear their conscience to the point to where they've convinced
themselves. One thing I do know for sure
about a person who claims to be an atheist, and that is that
one day they'll know that there is a God. One day that they will
know that there is a God. The other thing I know for sure
about a person who claims to be an atheist, and I met one
this week who had 154 IQ. 154, that's Einstein level IQ, claimed
to be an atheist. One thing I know for sure about
him, as intelligent as he is, he's a fool. He's a fool. The fool, why? Because God said,
the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. I want to make, let me finish
this now, because we're going to be looking at the Lord Jesus
Christ as Emmanuel, God with us. Because that when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were
darkened. They rejected the revelation
that God made of himself, both in conscience and in creation. And as a result of that, they
stood before God without excuse and their hearts became darkened,
professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. It doesn't
matter how much natural intelligence a person has. If they deny the
revelation that God has made of himself, they are a fool before
God. And change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man. In fact, what
man's done is he set himself up on the throne of God. He's
made himself to be God. and he's made science his God. Look what he goes on to say,
and made like incorruptible man into birds and four-footed beast
and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them
to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. Now, with that having been said,
saving faith is not believing in God. Saving faith is not believing
in God. Do not comfort yourself in thinking
that because you believe in God, therefore, you have hope of salvation. The truth is that most people,
the vast majority of people, and I might even argue all people,
even those who profess to be atheist, in their heart of hearts
know that there is a God. They know that there is a God.
James put it like this, you believe in God, you do well. The devils
believe also and tremble. The devils believe in God. Those
demons that were in that man of the Gadarenes, they cried
out and they fell before the Lord Jesus Christ and called
him the son of God. Have you come here to torment
us before our appointed time? The devils know that there's
a God. Saving faith doesn't have anything to do with believing
in the existence of God. That was put into your heart
when you came into this world. It's what we just read in Romans
chapter one. God has proved it to you. And so the scriptures never seek
to prove the existence of God. The scriptures assume the existence
of God. In the beginning, God. And if
you deny the revelation that God has made of himself, you
just prove yourself to be a fool and a liar. Now, If saving faith is not believing
in the existence of God, what is saving faith? It's believing
in Emmanuel. Believing in Emmanuel. God with
us. It's believing who He is. It's
believing what it is He came to do and what He accomplished. its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
as God, as God. Now, the Lord said that a wicked
and perverse generation seeketh after a sign, and that was said
to those Pharisees who said, show us a miracle and we'll be
convinced that the claims that you're making about yourself
are true. Show us a miracle, a manifestation, something we
can see with our physical eyes, something we can touch, something
we can smell. Show us a miracle and we'll believe. And the Lord said, no sign will
be given unto you. No sign will be given unto you
except the sign of Jonah. who spent three days and three
nights in the belly of the whale. The Lord was speaking of his
death on Calvary's cross and his resurrection as the evidence
of who he is. And that's the proof. And yet
the Lord oftentimes gives us signs. If there's a theme to
the two messages this morning, it is this idea of signs. Signs, it's spoken of as tokens
in the scriptures. These signs are not God's attempt
to prove his existence, but they are pointing to who he is and
what he's accomplished. And if we are able to read the
signs and able to hear what these signs say, then we'll find ourselves
at the right destination. The right destination is the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's not leading us to the way. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now we're not here to prove that.
We're not here to prove that any more than the scriptures
seek to prove it. We're here to declare it. And
we know, we know, that those who are of the truth, those who
are of the truth will hear his voice. The Lord Jesus Christ
told Pilate, he said, for this cause came I into the world and
for this reason was I born to bear witness unto the truth,
they that are of the truth. Remember Pilate said, what is
truth? He was a relativist, just like the people of today. Just
like every generation. What is truth? You know truth
can't be known for sure. There are no absolutes. It's
all up to circumstances and opinions and we're just kind of floating
our way through. What is truth? The Lord said,
I'm the truth. And they that are of the truth,
they hear my voice. They know who I am. And they
believe on me. Now, in Isaiah chapter seven,
we'll get to our text here, Isaiah, the prophet, goes to
the king of Judah, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom
have already been divided, and warns Judah that the northern
kingdom, Israel, has made an alliance with Syria, and they're
planning an invasion on Judah, on the southern kingdom. And
Isaiah tells the king of Judah to ask God for a sign. Ask God for a sign. How are we
going to not be destroyed in this invasion? How are we going
to stay alive? How are we going to succeed? Verse 10 of Isaiah chapter 7,
moreover, the Lord spake unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign
of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depths or
in the heights above. He's telling the king of Judah,
ask God to show you a sign that he's going to fight this battle
for you. That was the promise. God's going
to fight the battle. Judah's not going to be destroyed. Israel's attempts to invade Judah
and Syria's attempts to invade Judah are going to be thwarted
by God. The battle is not yours, it is
the Lord's. Can you see the spiritual application
of that? We're not talking about the historical
events that took place here in Old Testament Israel. We're talking
about spiritual truth. We're talking about the battle
that you and I have before God with our sin. We're talking about
the need that we have to be saved from the wrath that is to come. We're talking about our need
to know God and for him to fight that battle for us, for it's
too strong for us. We can't fight it. It's not of
him that willeth. It's not by your will. It's not
by your determination. It's not by your effort. It is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not
how hard you work or how hard you try, but it is of God that
showeth mercy. Here's our only hope. Our only
hope is that the Lord would fight the battle for us. And the Lord
told Isaiah in the previous chapter 6, he said, or in chapter 40,
actually, he said, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye
comfortably to them. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Their warfare is accomplished.
They've raised their fist in rebellion against me. and they've
died spiritually as a result of that. In the day in which
you sin, you shall surely die. Now, we need to be made alive.
How are we going to do it? How is a dead man going to raise
himself back to life? The Lord's going to have to do
it. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell them their
iniquity is purged. Tell them they've received of
the Lord a double blessing. Tell him that all of the guilt
of their sin has been placed on the sin-bearer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he hung on Calvary's cross, and that he suffered the
full wrath of God's judgment for their sin. Tell them that
the righteousness that he achieved in his obedience to the Father,
and he's the only one that ever did that. Only one that ever. I was talking to a Jewish lady
this week, and she was talking about the hypocrisy of religion.
She said, I've got a lot of Jewish friends and they talk about having
a kosher home. She said, but they don't really
follow the letter of the law. They may not eat pork in their
house, but they may go out to a restaurant and eat it. They talk about being kosher.
She was talking about that. I said, well, nobody can live
by the law. Nobody can satisfy the demands
of God's law. You're right. And she said that.
She said, you're right. Nobody can do it. I said, except
one. Except one. And she said, yes,
that's right. The only difference between you
and me is that you believe he's already come and I'm still waiting
on him. She knew what that woman of Samaria
knew. She knew that when Messiah comes,
when Messiah comes, he'll lead us into all truth. He'll satisfy
the demands of God's law. He'll satisfy all righteousness
on our behalf. She just didn't believe that
the one who has come is he. Jesus is the Christ, the son
of the living God. He's the Messiah. And he's called
here, Emmanuel. God with us. God with us. So the king says, I won't ask
God for a sign. I'm not gonna try God. Well,
in this case, God had told him to ask for a sign. And he said,
no, he said, I'm not gonna ask for a sign. I will not ask, verse
12, neither will I tempt the Lord. 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? Isaiah is saying to the king
of Judah, I told you what God said, and you are refuting my
words, but that's not what's important. What's important is
that you're refuting the word of God. God's gonna give you
a sign anyway. He's gonna give you a sign. Look,
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel, God with us. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter
one. Matthew chapter one. Verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. It was absolutely essential that
the God-man be conceived in a way in which the seed of Adam was
not in him. He's different from us. He's
holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate from sinners. Why? Because he was conceived
of the Holy Spirit. And he's the only one that was
ever done that way. No other person has ever been
done that way. Now again, there's no There's
no attempt on God's part to prove this. You say, well, that's not
possible. Let me just ask you this. If
God is God, and he's the creator and sustainer of all of life,
if he set in motion the rules and laws of physics as we know
them, do you not think that he's capable of changing them as he
desires to? Is he not capable of suspending
the laws of physics as we know them? Are we so bound to what
we can see and what we can put in a microscope and what we can
see through a telescope to make those things to be more powerful
than God? Is that where we are? I'm afraid
that's where a lot of people are. That's exactly where a lot
of people are. They've made science. They've
made the rules and laws of physics their God. And that's just amazing
to me. The more we learn about physics,
the more we realize we don't know. And the more we see that
there are things even that are observable that deny the laws
of physics. So God's just making a fool out
of man is what he's doing. So here he's performed a miracle. He's impregnated Mary with God. The son of God is in the womb
of this woman. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. Of course Joseph would only come
to one logical conclusion. She'd been with another man.
She was a spouse to him. That was just as binding as marriage. And he just came to the logical,
but he loved her. And he was a just man. He thought,
well, I'll just put her away without making a scene about
it. Lest she be more ashamed. And while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. Oh, here's what makes him different.
Here's what makes him holy. Here's what makes him sinless.
The only way he could satisfy the demands of God's justice
in bearing our sins in his body upon that tree is that he himself
was holy and undefiled. He himself had no sin. God made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel. Here's what
we must believe. Here's who we must believe if
we're going to be saved. It's not just the general revelation
of the existence of God. Everybody believes that. Everybody
believes that. But it's the special revelation
that God has made and can only be revealed through
the preaching of the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the Word of God. This is a mystery. This is not
to be understood by the natural man. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. They must be made known by God.
The Lord Jesus Christ must be, in a sense, birthed in us the
same way he was birthed in Mary. Same way, by the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. And here's the problem. You say, well, I believe more
than just in the existence of God. I believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And I believe that He loves everybody. And I believe that He died for
everybody. And I believe that He wants everybody to be saved. And I believe that He's doing
His best to get it done. but he runs up against an immovable
object when he's up against the will of man. I believe that man
has a free will and that God will not violate that free will.
If you believe that, if you believe that, then you have put yourself
on the throne of God. You have made your will more
powerful than God. If you don't believe that God's
not able to make you willing in the day of his power, if you
don't believe that what the Lord Jesus Christ came to do was to
accomplish the salvation of God's elect, and that he actually did
that, that's what Jesus means. Don't call him Jesus. Unless
you understand what His name means. His name means Jehovah
saves. Jehovah saves. It means salvation
is of the Lord. It means He's done it all. From
electing a people in the covenant of grace before the world began.
to satisfying the demands of God's holy law in his life of
obedience, to putting away our sin and satisfying divine justice
in his sacrificial death on Calvary's cross. Through his resurrection
and his ascension into glory, living now, interceding on behalf
of his people. and keeping them, causing them
to believe and keeping them faithful and coming to receive them unto
himself. Salvations of the Lord. It's
all of God. He's the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end and everything in between. And so I believe in God. Believing
in God is not going to save you. I believe in Jesus. Do you? Do you? Do you believe in the Jesus of
Scripture? The one that's been revealed
in the Word of God? Or do you believe in the one
that's been fabricated by the imagination and the idol factory
of men's fallen nature? Who do you believe? Here's salvation. Do I believe that Jesus is the
Christ? The Messiah. What did my Jewish friend tell
me this week? I know that when Messiah comes, he's the only
one that's going to be able to keep the law. He's the only one
that's going to be able to do it. I'm waiting on him. For he shall save his people. You see that? You see that? He's gonna do his best. He's
gonna put the offer out there. Oh, he's in heaven right now, just
wringing his hands, wishing that men would let him have his way.
No, that Jesus doesn't exist, except in your fallen imagination. That's the only place he exists.
The one who is. has accomplished the salvation
of his people. And everyone for whom he lived
and died will come to faith in him. They will. No question about
it. He's not going to fail. He's
not. For he shall save his people.
Save them from what? From their sins. From their sins, that's what
we must be saved from. You say, well, I'm doing my best. Your best isn't good enough.
You've got to be saved from your sins. Everything about you is
sinful. Well, I know I'm a sinner, but
I'm trying. No. Your trying is sinful. Everything about you is sinful. You've got to be saved from you.
I've got to be saved from me. We're sinners. A sinner is a person who can
do nothing but sin. And if God finds one infraction
of His holy law left on you, one, one that you might consider
to be just a minor thing, If he finds one speck of sin
left on you and left on me, our souls will be condemned to eternal
hell. You must be perfect. Perfect without sin? How is it going to be? How is it gonna be? You gotta
be found in him. You've got to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. You've got to be found in Christ. Not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Angel told Joseph, that child
in Mary's womb You're going to call him Jesus, for he shall
save his people. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. He's not like you. He's not like
me. He's without sin. Look what he
goes on to say, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete in Him. in him. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He's the one who has to stand
in our stead before God and make us acceptable before God. He's
the only one that can put away our sin. And he did it by the
sacrifice of himself once for all on Calvary's cross. He's
the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's God with
us. He's God's perfect man. And He's
man's perfect God. He's the God-man. He's different. Believe on Him. Believe on Him. holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners. Joseph, being raised from sleep,
did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto
him his wife, and knew her not till he had brought forth her
firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Don't strip the Lord Jesus Christ
of being God. Don't be guilty of honoring Him
with your lips, but having your heart far from Him. That's where
men are when they say, I believe in Jesus Christ. And then they go to define Him
as one who needs them to do something in order to make what he did
work for them. You got to perform a work. You
got to pray a prayer. You got to make a decision. You
got to do something. If you've got to do something,
then he's not God with us. He's not God. He's not God. If he's depending on you to do
something for his will to be accomplished, then he's not omnipotent. He's not sovereign. And you strip
him of his omnipotence and strip him of his sovereignty, and he
is not God with us. Where do we find him to be with us? Well, I hope right now, I hope
you're finding him to be with us right now. For he said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the
midst of them. He walks among the candlesticks. He said, I inhabit the praise
of my people. And when the gospel of his free
grace is preached, he's pleased to be birthed in the hearts of
his people by the power of the Holy Spirit. I in you and you
in me is what he said. Oh, Lord, would you abide with
me? Would you abide with me? Would
you give me the fruit of faith? He said, if you abide in me and
my word abide in you, you shall bear much fruit, for
without me you can do nothing. Oh Lord, I want the fruit of
faith. I want to know that you're with me. Wednesday night we looked
at the story of Manoah and his wife who were the parents of
Samson and the promise that God made to them and the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the angel of the Lord as it came.
and spoke to them there in Judges chapter 16, or 13, I think it
is, and Manoah said, he put it like this, he said, I pray thee
that thou wouldst allow us to detain thee. Oh, isn't that the
believer's heart? Oh, Lord, would you, would you,
I pray thee, Lord, would you be detained in me? And the Lord said, no, you're
not going to detain me. But, he said, the Lord will accept
a sacrifice. He'll accept a sacrifice. And
they made a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, and the fire of God
fell. And the Lord manifested his glory. He said, if I be lifted up, if
I be lifted up, I'll draw men to me. Through the preaching
of the gospel, through the worship of God's people, through fellowship,
This is how we have God with us. Let's take a break. Okay.