Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Isaiah 57. We just considered the great
loss that this world suffers when God removes, by mercy, compassion,
the righteous, And we consider the attitude of those that don't
know the Lord toward those that the Lord removed out of this
world. Now I want us to look at verses
3 to 15. In the first verses, the Lord's
got a word to those that despised the righteous. I was glad when
God took them out of the way, took them out of their life,
took them out of their faiths. Didn't want to deal with them
anymore. He says in verse 3, to those that despise the righteous,
but draw near hither. The Lord says, come, let me talk
to you, ye sons of the sorceress. You witchcraft workers, the seed
of the adulterer and the whore. Let me talk to you, you that
have spiritually prostituted yourself. You evil workers, against
whom ye sport yourself. Let me ask you this. You that
sport yourself and make fun of the righteous that I removed,
I want to talk to you. Against whom you make your wide
mouth, you draw out the tongue, you've got so much disrespect
to say. I'm just talking to you now as
your pastor that came here. Years and years and years after
Brother Scott was here, I've heard, I've heard what this world,
I mean what this city by and large, what the surrounding city
said about Brother Scott. I know, they open their mouth
wide and they draw out the tongue, talk about, you know. Are you
not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood? Enflaming
yourselves, just lusting after idols under every green tree,
slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rock.
You're just wild with passion of all of this falsehood that
you are so engaged with, with all your religious activities,
You know, verse 6, among the smooth stones of the stream is
thy portion. You know what he said right there?
He said, where you're standing is slippery rocks. I just, I'm
going to talk to you a little bit. Let me tell you where you're
standing. You're standing in some slippery places. Listen
to this. He said, they, they are thy lot. I've left you there. Even to
them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a
meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these,
in your rebellion, in all of your religious falsehoods?" Verse
7, "'Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither
wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.'" This is what the Lord is saying
here about spiritual adultery. and spiritual fornication. He's
being blatantly honest. I won't even go into it. I don't
need to. But spiritually, he said, this
is what you have adulterated yourself. And you've done it
upon a lofty and high mountain. You've set up thy bed. You've
just done it right out here. You're just so proud of it. You
make such a boast of your whoredoms. You pride yourself in this. And
behind the doors also in the post that thou have set up, thy
remembrance, everything secret in your heart is made out of
the same material. What you are in your heart, that's
what you do outwardly. For thou hast discovered thyself
to another than me. Made yourself bare. That's what
he said. You've just discovered yourself
and you've gone up and has enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant
with them. Thou lovest their bed where thou
sawest it. You love that spiritual prostitution. He said you're just a spiritual
whore is all you are. And thou wentest, verse 9, to
the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst
send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even
unto hell." You try to make yourself smell so good. I am so spiritual. I'm so faithful. I just love
the Lord. I gave myself to Him. I've been
faithful all these years. I give tithes of all I own. You
know, I'm this, that, and the other. He said, verse 10, Thou art wearied
in the greatness of Thy way. He said, Everything that you're
doing, you're just wearing yourself out. Yet saidst Thou not, there's
no hope. You're wearing yourself out and
you've never come to the point to where you've said, everything
I'm doing is fruitless. He said you don't ever say that.
No, what you say is, everything I'm doing is good and profitable. Thou hast found the life of thine
hand. What you're doing, you think
that you have established righteousness in your mind, in your heart,
by your works. Therefore, thou wast not grieved."
You talk to a believer and ask a believer what he thinks about
himself. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? But the Lord says,
concerning you, you spiritual adulterers, He said, you're not
grieved. And of whom hast thou been afraid
or feared that thou hast lied? and hast not remembered me, nor
laid it to thine heart." He said, who have you feared or reverenced? It's not me. Oh, outwardly men can appear
to be so good. God looks on the heart. Have
not I held my peace, even of old, and thou fearest me not? Listen to verse 12. He said,
let me tell you what's coming. Let me tell you what's coming.
I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall
not profit thee. The Lord is saying, I'm going
to tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to expose you. You may think you got everybody
else fooled, but you don't have me fooled. I'm going to expose
what you think you're resting in. And he said, I'll tell you
this, it's not going to go well for you that day. Look at verse
13, first part, when thou cryest, in that day when I expose it,
when is that going to be? Well, whenever the Lord exposes
it, maybe in the day of judgment, I'm sure, for sure it's going
to be there. He said, but when thou cryest,
let thy companies deliver thee. He said, when I expose what you
are, he said, why don't you let all of your works then answer
for you and see how profitable they are. Let everything that
you've ever rested in, let all your fellowships and all your
whoredoms, let those answer for you, let them deliver. He said,
but the wind shall carry them all away and vanity shall take
them. Now that's what God has to say
about those that despise the righteous when they perish. The
Lord said this is what's going to happen. This is what you are,
this is what I'm going to do, this is what you're going to
say, and then this is what's going to happen to everything
that you trusted in, not me. I'm going to be carried away. But now I want to look at this
latter part of verse 13 and then 14 and right into 15 for just
a few minutes. And I've entitled this message,
Removing the Stumbling Blocks. Latter part of 13 through 15.
Listen to this. But he that putteth his trust
in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain,
And she'll say, Castia, Castia, prepare the way, take up the
stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus saith
the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Now listen, out
of the mass of humanity, and you know this, God has a people. He's got a people and it's a
people that the Lord has everlastingly loved. It's a people that before
the foundation of the world God chose in Christ It's a people
that have been in particular, that have been particularly redeemed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He laid down His life
for the sheep. That's what the Lord said. And
these people have been regenerated by the grace of God. And they've
been taught something of their frailty and their need of a Savior. And they've been made willing
in the day of God's power to cast themselves upon the mercy
of God in the person of the Lord Jesus. These are they that have
no confidence in their flesh. They don't trust their faithfulness. They don't trust anything but
the Lord. They trust the Lord. Lord save
me or I perish. They trust Christ for life. And
they know that they are what they are by the grace of God. They know that. They that put
his trust, verse 13, in me, he is going to possess the land.
You know, whenever the nation of Israel was going through the
desert, they came out of Egypt and they went through the desert.
Where were they going? They were going to Canaan. Canaan is a
picture of heaven. Land of rest. Land of promise. It's a picture of our eternal
rest. They're going to possess the
land. He said, you're going to inherit my holy mountain, the
heavenly Jerusalem. Mount Zion. The glorious church. The Lord said, you're going to
have it. You're going to have it. How can I know that I have
any hope in having this? Here it is. I believe God. I
believe God. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. Now I want us to look for just a few minutes. What
are those that trust in Him, what are they going to say? I
know what the spiritual adulterers are going to say. I'm glad you've
gone. The Lord says, I'm going to deal
with you. But let me tell you what those
that trust in me are going to say. Here's what they're going
to say. Verse 14. Cast ye up. Cast ye up. Prepare the way. Take up the
stumbling block out of the way of my people. Now, when they
say, Cast ye up. Cast ye up. Here's what I looked
it up to find out what are they saying. Here's what it is. Make a turnpike. Make a highway. Look it up. Get you a strong
concordance. Look it up. What they're saying
is, I want you to make a highway, a turnpike, that by faith I can
travel. This is what God's people want.
You know, Isaiah 40, Comfort ye my people, saith the Lord.
Let me tell you what God says that God's people are saying,
especially in their heart. Cast ye up. Cast ye up. Prepare the way. Make me a highway
that by faith I can travel, one that has no blockages, no problems,
no hindrances. Tell me that everything has been
taken care of. for me to know and see God. You tell me, you take out the
stumbling block, take up the stumbling block out of the way
of my people. You know the thing that is so
perplexing to a believer is to read something in the Word of
God and you don't understand it. And it has to do with something
that may be, it has to do with your eternal security, or it
has to do with your walk, or it has to do with, it's just
something that you don't understand. And you just can't, you can't
get it out of your mind. You just, you start, you know,
I want to, what does that mean? What does that mean? I just,
you're thinking on it. You know, you know, tell me again. I want you to take, from the
Word of God, tell me how all of the stumbling blocks are gone.
Tell me about that clear turnpike. I can look down and it just goes
to a vanishing point. And I can just, by faith, travel
that road. Tell me about that freedom that
I have, that I can know for assurance that I've got a hope in Him and
there's nothing that's going to trip me up. I want you to
take the stumbling blocks out of the way. I know what the world
thinks. I know that the world thinks
that atonement, to be at one with, to be at one with the Lord,
is easily accomplished. I know what they're thinking.
All you have to do is just exercise your free will. Let me tell you
something, I know better than that. Now I know better than
that. Now you tell me, I want you to
tell me, based on what I know, something about my nature, something
about the holiness of God, the justice of God, tell me, I want
you to cast up the highway, cast up the turnpike, make it. Now
let me tell you something, in the Old Testament, This illusion
right here, in my mind, was to the six cities of refuge. There
were three cities on one side of the Jordan River and three
cities on the other side of the Jordan River. When the children
of Israel, when the lot was divided, part of them were on one side
of the Jordan and part of them were on the other side of the
Jordan. There were three cities on each side. And I read that
the historical accounts of the roads that led to the cities
of refuge. And the cities of refuge, you
know what it was. If there was someone who, unawares, they didn't
mean to, it was an accident, they killed somebody. What they
could do is they'd run to the city of refuge and once they
got to the city of refuge, they were safe until the case could
be heard You know, and all the evidence was presented and things
like this, and the Avenger of Blood couldn't get to them. They were safe in that city of
refuge. And so, you wanted to know, if something happened and
you killed somebody, you know, they were in an accident and
their cart ran over somebody and killed them. And, I mean,
it was an accident. But if the Avenger of Blood got
to you, he'd kill you. So you wanted to make it to the
city of refuge. Well, all of the roads that went
to the cities of refuge, the Israelites, the counties were
so diligent in following the Lord's command concerning these
cities of refuge that every intersection, anytime there was an intersection,
the magistrates of that community, once a year, they'd go out there
and they inspected Those roads and the intersections and there
was a post that was to be put there every time you came to
an intersection, the post had to say, City of Refuge, City
of Refuge, this way. They had to make sure, and if
there was any potholes or anything like that, it fixed them, it
fixed those roads. They wanted those roads to be
open so that there would be no hindrances to being able to get
to the city of refuge. In every place that there might
be a problem, the stumbling blocks had to be taken away. Now that sign, that post at the
intersection, not only is that a beautiful picture of the Spirit
of God who directs, but also it's a picture of God's preachers
and God's Word. And this is what it's saying,
the city of refuge. This way to the city of refuge.
This way. This is the way. This is the
way to Christ. Faithful preachers, they stand and they proclaim
Him who is the way, the truth, the light. This is the way. This
is the way. What men say concerning their
works, religion, men will say, baptism way. God's preachers
say, no, the city of refuge. It's Christ. It's not water.
It's Christ. It's not tongues. It's Christ. It's not that piece of carpet
right there. It's Christ. It's not this piece
of wood right here. It's not that little step down.
I just stepped down. That's not an altar. That's a
step. That's a piece of carpet. That's
a piece of wood under that thing. It's Christ, the city of refuge.
What are these stumbling blocks? That's what they're saying. Cast
ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way. Take up the stumbling block
out of the way of my people. I know this. If there's a stumbling
block to me getting to Him, and it's got to be removed, I can
tell you this, He's going to have to remove it. This is what
God's people want. You tell me how the Lord. has
removed the stumbling block. If He's going to have me in His
presence, you tell me how I'm going to be there. You tell me
how the Lord has removed that. I got three very short points. Let me tell you about the first
stumbling block that had to be removed. Now this stumbling block
was eternal. Now I was going to have a tough
time if I was going to have to remove this one, Frank, because
in reality I was there in Christ, but physically I wasn't even
born. Let me tell you about the first stumbling block concerning
a sinner having any hope. I had to be found in God's family. I had to be a member of God's
family. I had to be a son of the living
God. Now for a sinner to have any
hope, I needed one to stand for me and to answer for every demand
of God for righteousness. I needed for the Lord to choose
to show mercy and compassion to one such as I. Oh, blessed Spirit, reveal to
my heart that the stumbling block of God's
love toward me It's not there, that there's not a stumbling
block. And listen to this, Jeremiah 31, 3, "...Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee." Lord, the stumbling block of God loving me, is not there. That God loves me is not there. Not you that believe. He said,
I've always loved you. I've always loved you. Therefore,
with loving kindness, I drew you. I drew you because I loved
you. But Lord, About me being in your
family, how about that? Lord, bring back to my memory
that You predestinated me unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Yourself according to the good pleasure You will.
Lord, You're saying that before the foundation of the world,
and having chosen me in Christ and you put me in a surety that
was going to assure that I was going to make it. He was going
to keep me. And you put me there because
I was chosen and adopted by you before the foundation of the
world. That you adopted me into your family. Yeah. Yeah. So before the foundation of the
world, before I was ever born, before I was ever created physically,
I was looked upon in Your Son as Your child, as Your object
of mercy. And You, according to Your will
and purpose, You made me a son. Thank you. Thank you. The stumbling block of being
found in the family of God by God's Word is not there. Remove the stumbling block. It's
not there. Here's the second thing I know
about a stumbling block. Not only is there a stumbling
block in eternity that has been taken care of, there were some
stumbling blocks in time that had to be taken out. Some stumbling
blocks in time. And again, this can only be accomplished
by the precious Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you what the first
stumbling block in time that had to be taken care of was. There's a law that's going to
have to be honored. God's law is holy, and it's just,
and it's good. And here's the way it is. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.
There's nothing wrong with the law. The problem is me. I can't
keep it. Boy, now there's a stumbling
block there. If I can't get past that law, the soul that sinneth
is going to die. The wages of sin is death. Who
said that? God's law. God is just. How is that stumbling block going
to be taken out of the way? Galatians 3, 13-14, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. How
was that stumbling block taken out of the way? He hath made
Him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Here's a stumbling
block we've got to get past. We're going to have to get past
the law. And Christ removed the stumbling block by bearing the
stumbling block. answering to the stumbling block,
honoring the law, satisfying the law. He died being made sin
and suffered the penalty. And now by faith, the believer
says, now you make that highway real plain for me. Christ bore
my debt and the law has no claim on me. No, you're justified. You just have to believe. You're
justified before God. There's no stumbling block there.
You're a son of God, made so by adopting grace. Christ bore
your guilt. Answer the Lord. Well, I tell
you what, not only do I have to have my
debt paid, I need to be holy. I need to be holy. and I know what I am. I need
the righteousness of God. How am I going to have the righteousness
of God? I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels." Lord, you're saying that Christ
paid my debt. I don't owe anything to the law,
no. And not only am I without guilt, before God's law. I'm holy. I'm holy. I who look at myself and I see
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. You that
believe are robed in the righteousness of Christ. And God sees it. A believer says, now you make
that highway real plain for me. Cast ye up. Cast ye up. That
which is born of God sinneth not. Lord, I've got another stumbling
block here. I want to believe you because
the scripture says without faith it's impossible to please you.
It's given unto you to believe. Faith is given to God's people. And they believe God. They believe God by God-given
faith. Lord, I need a nature. Because I know in Adam, I'm not
going to come. I've got a stumbling block here.
This is me. This is me. What about that?
new nature. The Lord said a new heart also
will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you. I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you
Heart of flesh, I'll put My Spirit within you, and I'll cause you
to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do
them, and you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers.
You shall be My people. I will be your God. I will save
you from all your uncleanness." So I'm your son. The law has
no charge to me. I'm robed in your righteousness.
And I believe you by faith. And you've given me a new nature. And you're my God and I'm your
Son. Yeah. Lord, one other stumbling block
that I want to ask you about. You've told me what you've done
for me eternally. You chose me. Put me in Christ. Adopted me. In time, you came
into this world. Honored the law. Established
righteousness for me. And you clothed me with that
righteousness. You gave me faith to believe.
Gave me a new nature. Made me willing to bear your
power. Lord, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. When I die, what's going to happen then? The Scripture says in 1 Thessalonians,
just turn there with me in closing, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians
4, 15, under the inspiration of God's
Spirit, the Apostle Paul says, for this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one
another with these words. So, Lord, You who are able to
keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy, Lord, You're saying that in that day
when You come back, that you're going to descend with the trump
of God, and all that died in the faith are going to rise first
to meet you in the air, and that we which are alive on this earth
are going to be transported up in the air to be with you forever. You know, that's a wonderful
stumbling block to have taken out of the way. A believer says,
Lord, as you say it is, it is. Lord, I believe you. Bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.