Remember we looked at verse 1
last time I had planned to preach through probably half the chapter
and we got caught up in verse 1 and couldn't get any further.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus. As we pointed out then,
Cyrus was the king of Persia who defeated the Babylonians and brought the people of Israel
out of captivity. Clearly he pictures Christ in
that. That's why the Lord calls him here, my anointed, Cyrus,
the one who God raised up and anointed to save his people,
to bring them home, to deliver them from captivity, whose right
hand I have holden. We know that the Father held
him up and he did always those things that
pleased his father and his father loved him. glorified him in the
earth to subdue nations before him. He said, I'll give you the
heathen for thine inheritance. And he has. We'll loose the loins
of kings, because he is the king of kings.
He is the one who causes the kings of the earth to tremble
before him. To open before him the two leaved
gates, and those gates shall not be shut. A lot of speculation
about what those gates are. It could be, you could call it
anything. You could call it the gates of heaven, the gates of
whatever gates he wants to open, he opens. And when he does, nobody
can shut him. And he opened the very gates
of heaven to his people. I know that. Probably it's the
gates of Jerusalem that were swung open to receive the people
back home after Cyrus had liberated them, Cyrus and Darius. But then verse two, he said,
I'll go before you. And I'll make the crooked places
straight. That's a familiar, we've seen that. I will break
in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of
iron. And I want to notice something
here. Let's read on down just a little bit more like we did
a while ago and just get this in our minds. I'll give you the
treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places,
verse three, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which
call thee by thy name, and the God of Israel. It sounds like
he's talking to his people there. He begins by speaking to his
anointed, which is Christ, of course, and it begins to become
difficult to discern whether God is speaking to his people
or to his Son. We've run into that before in
the scriptures, haven't we? There's a real good reason for
that. It's because we're one with him. As he is, so are we. God loves us like he loves him.
He treats us like He treats Him. He sees us like He sees Him. Christ came as our representative,
our substitute, our last Adam. And I've never heard anybody
say it this way, but it's undeniable. Christ came as us. He represented
us. Yet without sin. He was me without
sin. He is us by representation. My righteousness is not like
His. It is His. He is my righteousness. He is my righteousness. And so
when God says to Christ in verse 1, I will subdue nations before
you, we experience that also. He said to His people, the Israelites,
I'll give people for thy life. Didn't He? He subdues nations
before us. Why do you think current events
are what they are? He manipulates economies and
entire societies for the good of his sheep. I will give nations for you and
people for your life. When he says the gates of Jerusalem
will be opened before you and not shut, that promise is echoed
unto the sheep. That's to his son, but it's his
son as us. It's a promise to his son as
our representative, as the last Adam as me and you if you know
him, if we know him. And we have that same promise
in 2 Peter 1 11, for so an entrant shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. The gates are swung open for
him and for me in him. When he says in verse 2, I will
go before you and make your way straight and easy. What he's
doing there is saying, I'm going to prepare the way for you. Christ himself was doing that
very thing for us. He went before us and prepared
the way. God did that for his son in the
person of John the Baptist. We've seen that before. He said,
make straight a highway for our God. Speaking to John the Baptist
and John came preaching the word and preaching repentance and
preaching the kingdom of God To prepare the hearts of his
people for the Son of God to come and preach that message
also But Christ was doing that for us to make our way straight
and easy listen to Hebrews 6 19 which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul both sure and steadfast Which entereth into that within
the veil? whether our forerunner is for
us entered. Even Jesus, made in high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Why did our forerunner enter
into that which was within the veil? In other words, the most
holy place, the veil covered, separated the holy place from
the most holy place or the holy of holies where the mercy seat
was. And only one person could enter in there. And he entered
in once a year, not without blood, the high priest alone. And our
high priest, our high priest, even after the order of Melchizedek,
what does that mean? No father, mother, no beginning
of days, no end of days. The eternal priest of God, of
his people. Why did he go in there as our
forerunner? So that we could go in there. He made straight
the way for us. So that we could enter back into
communion with God. into the presence of God, the
favor of God, the eternal love of God. John the Baptist went
before the Lord and he said in Isaiah 40 to be the one who will
make straight what is crooked. John did that, as I said, by
preaching Christ. He was the forerunner of Christ.
Christ is declared, as we just read, to be our forerunner. So
you see how it applies to both. Really, everything. That applies
to him, applies to me. We're joint heirs with Christ.
Everything that he inherits, every reward that he receives
for what he accomplished, we receive. And then he said, I
will break. I will break the bars. I will
break the iron, every barrier. Every barrier between us and
victory. Every barrier between us and
God. between us and eternal life and favor and communion with
God. Every barrier. He said, I will break. I will
break it. And think of it now. There are
some problems with us getting back to God. There are some strong
barriers. There's a reason why they're
called iron here. It's really just one problem
when you boil it all down, it's sin. But sin causes all kinds
of gates and barriers between us and God. Job said in Job 14, 4, who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. You can't get clean water from
a dirty fountain. You can't get anything from a
sinner, born of a sinner, except a sinner. Think about this one
now. You see why he had to become
me? In order to save me. He must be born of a woman made
under the law in order to be a true representative of his
people. But also, he must be a clean thing born out of an
unclean. He must be. Or he suffers the
same condemnation as we do. The soul that sinneth it shall
die. He must be sinless, spotless, the Lamb, the pure, holy, without
blemish, Lamb of God. He must be born of a woman, to
be behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merchant. The high priest had to be chosen
from among the people. He couldn't be a stranger. He
couldn't be an angel. Or any other creature. He had to be me. but he must
be holy in order to do what must be done. He's got to be me in
order to represent me, but he's got to be perfect in order to
accomplish what must be accomplished. How can this be? Job asked again
in Job 25.4, how then can man be justified with God? Or how
can he be clean that is born of a woman? How can he be not
a sinner who is born of a sinner? That gate of brass was broken
and sundered when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world.
That's a gate barring me from God. Your sins have separated
between you and your God. But that gate was broken down
when our Lord Jesus Christ was born. That's a sinless me being
born. That's a sinless man, a sinless
human being representing a bunch of other sinners, a bunch of
sinners, a bunch of other human beings. What about my sin as it affects
me? That's my sin considered with
regard to representation. But what about my sin? How am
I going to be just with God? Look at me. What about in my
experience? That seems an impossible barrier.
But again, that's a barrier that's broken before Christ. He shattered
it. As he lived every moment for
the glory of his father. And as he shed his precious blood
for my sin on Calvary. He broke that barrier before
him. And before me. That gates that
there's nothing but that's not barring me anymore. What I am,
by nature we are in captivity to the law of God. Guilty, sentenced
to eternal death and awaiting execution. There are bars of
iron holding us in. Think of it as the door of a
prison. We can't break free, but God
said I will break. I will set the prisoner free.
He did so by sending his son to preach liberty to the captives
and to accomplish it, to earn it, to pay for it. He said in Isaiah 61, 1, the
spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives in the
opening of the prison. To them that are bound, that's
what our text is talking about. Everything that keeps me from
God. The fact that none of us can
pay. How are we going to be? How are
you going to get a clean thing from an unclean? Who's going
to be our champion? Barrier broken. What about my
personal sin? Barrier broken. He who came and
lived for me, lived as me, died for me. Who's going to release me from
the penalty from the righteous claims of God's law that have
imprisoned me forever that I can't measure up to? Barrier broken. He came and paid
the debt and opened the prison house. It says in Luke chapter 4 that
as our Lord read this passage, he said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. He came and preached liberty
to the captives in the opening of the prison. To them that are bound. Here's
another barrier. Think about this one. How am
I ever going to live with God? I understand now that the Lord
Jesus Christ broke the barrier of our just inability to do anything
about our sin because he came and did something what the law
could not do and that it was weak through my flesh God sent his
own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin and condemned
sin in the flesh I can understand that the simple teaching of that
from the scripture he accomplished what we couldn't he was born as somebody that we could never
be that must be I must be holy before God And I can never be,
but he was as me. I understand that and I understand
how he dealt with my personal sin by being my righteousness,
by being my propitiation, my sin offering before God. And
I understand that he fulfilled every demand of God's law through
the prison door open wide. I'm Barabbas. I'm guilty, but
I'm walking because he died in my place. But what about this one now?
How am I ever going to live with God as I am? Think about this. Christ promised
it. He said, I'm going to come again.
I'm going to receive you unto myself where I am. That's where
you're going to be. And we know where that is. That's
in glory. That's in his father's house
where there are many mansions. That's in the very presence of
God. How can I do that? Think about it now. I understand
imputed righteousness. I understand atonement and substitution. But look at me. How can I go
to heaven tonight as I am? I'm not going as I am. That's
the answer to the question. He broke that barrier down too.
Listen to this now. He redeemed me in order to bring
this to pass. But flesh and blood can't inherit
the kingdom of God. We started with the dilemma,
you know, how can God be a man? How can He be clean? How can
a man be born clean without sin? And how can He come where I am?
Well, it's a problem the other way too. How can I go where He
is? You see, that's just as much of a dilemma. How can He come
down here? The Holy God, He can't have anything
to do with sinners. But in the person of Christ He
did. He took hold of Simon Peter's hand and said And pulled him out of his safety
He touched that leper nobody touches a leper God how's God
gonna touch a leper Well, there's a problem the other direction
too. How am I gonna go where he is? That's a problem. That's
a barrier How can man be just like God How can I be where He is? Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Turn here with
me, this is so beautiful. May God comfort us with these
words tonight. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This
is the breaking down of every barrier. You think about all
of them now. God, think about what God did when He became a
man. Think about what it takes for Him to open the door of my
prison. and to cause me, not only by
representation, but in experience. That's what we're talking about
now. To be worthy of the kingdom. Now look at 1550 of 1 Corinthians. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. God can't
dwell among sinners, and we can't dwell with God either. Those
are gates though that are broken in pieces by Christ. And this is another gate that
bars us from God. Flesh and blood cannot, cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. How am I going to get through
that one? Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold
though I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We're
not all gonna die in physically But we all should be changed In a moment in the twinkling
of an eye, it's not a process It's gonna happen all at once
In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for
the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible
and we shall be changed you see the Lord Jesus Christ he redeemed
my soul when he died on Calvary he redeemed this body too he
redeemed this body for this corruptible must put on incorruption and
this mortal must put on immortality verse 54 so when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Now
it's mysterious, but we know something about it. How is it
that we can just be changed? Did God just get an inkling,
you know, just a notion that just change us and make us? No.
Here's how it happened. Death is swallowed up in victory.
How does that happen? O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? But how can death not win? How can we not pay the wages
of sin? The sting of death is sin. And
the strength of sin is the law. It bears upon me. The strength
of it is I'm guilty. I broke the law. I sinned. And
I'm worthy of the punishment. But thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory over these things, sin, death, hell, Satan,
every enemy, and broke down this gate of iron that barred us from
God. And how did he do it? Through
our Lord Jesus Christ, same way every other barrier is broken
between us and God. By Christ and Him crucified. The veil of the temple was a
picture. We talked about that veil. It was a heavy veil. There's
some speculation about exactly what the dimensions of it were
and how exactly the way it was. But there was a heavy curtain
that hung between the holy place where the daily business of the
priest was conducted, where the golden candlestick and the altar
of incense and the table of showbread were. And that bread was kept
fresh and The candles, the oil kept in the candlesticks to stay
lit and that altar of incense was replenished and the daily
business of the priest included taking care of the things in
that holy place. But the most holy, the holy of holies, there
was a veil and only the high priest went in there once a year
on the day of atonement, the day of at-one-ment, the day that
God and man are united. The day that sinners have communion
with God. That's the day the blood is brought
in and splashed on the mercy seat. And so that veil, now that
was a picture of barred access. Nobody goes in there. Only the
high priest goes in there and he goes once a year. And that
was abolished. The old covenant was abolished.
So who's going in there? Who has access to God? When our
Lord Jesus Christ cried, it is finished, and gave up the ghost,
it says in the scripture that that veil was rent from top to
bottom. The gate, the barring of access
to the very presence of God, to the presence of His glory,
to the very mercy seat where His glory dwelled between the
cherubims, was ripped in two. And it wasn't ripped from bottom
to top. We don't have the ability or
the right to rend that veil. But when our Lord Jesus Christ
said, it is finished, and he gave up the ghost, that veil
was rent from the top to the bottom. And now, everybody that comes
by Jesus Christ can come into the very presence of God. He's made us kings and priests
unto our God because He's the King and He is the Great High
Priest and we're one with Him. Well, verse 3 in our text, And
I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches
of secret places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which
call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. Now think about this for a second.
What is the treasure? What is the secret that I the
Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel? When we find out the secret,
when we Obtain the treasure. What is that? We'll know who
God is. We're going to know who God is.
We're going to see God as he is. We're going to see him in
his gospel as he can be known in this flesh. As sovereign,
as high, as holy, as gracious. As the one who came and gave
himself for us, as merciful, the lover of the souls of his
people. We're gonna know him and then soon face to face. Christ is the heir of all things
by right and by merit. We are joint heirs with Jesus
Christ by grace and by adoption. Let me say that again. Christ is heir of everything.
Every blessing, every gift, he received gifts from men, didn't
he? As our forerunner, as our high
priest, as our substitute, as our everything. He inherited, he earned every
blessing of God as a man. By right and by merit, he is
heir of all things. And we are joint heirs with him.
We inherit everything he does by grace and by adoption. And Christ himself is the treasure.
Colossians chapter 2, listen to this. For I would that you
knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea
and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their
hearts might be comforted Being knit together in love. Now think
about what Paul is saying to this church. I want you to understand. I want you to know some things
so that you might be comforted in your heart. And that your
hearts might be knit together in love. And unto all the riches
of the full assurance of understanding. The riches. What's our verse
about? I'll give you the hidden riches. The hidden treasures
of darkness. The secret hidden treasures of
God. Paul said, I want that for you.
I want that for the church, for the church that he loved and
preached to, unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father,
and of Christ. In whom? When he mentions Christ,
he says, in whom are hid all the treasures? wisdom and knowledge. What is the treasure? He said
what it was in the verse that you may know me. This is life
eternal that they might know thee the only true God even Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. And in Christ are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The treasures are said to be
hid in him Not that he did anything in a corner. Not that he did
anything secretly. Paul said to Agrippa, this thing
wasn't done in a corner. This is not a secret. But it's
said to be hid because most are blind to the preciousness of
Christ. They don't realize that he's
the treasure. He's the treasure hid in a field. Hid in a field. The man who knew
about it now Matthew 13 44 is where that parable is if you
want to read it later. But there was one man who knew
about that treasure. You know what he did? He went
and bought that field. Because he had to have the treasure.
Everybody else they walked right past that field all day long
walking past. It was hidden to them, but not
to all. The Lord said I will give you
the hidden treasures. that you may know who I am. And that knowledge, when you
know Christ, you know God, you've seen Him, you've seen God the
Father. That thou mayest know, that thou mayest know. Let's
think about that for a second. Because we see all through the
Word of God that He is in the business, God is in the business
of making Himself known. That you may know, He does what
He does, that you may know. He has assembled us here tonight
that we may know Him that is true, that we may know the God
of Israel. Romans 9, 18, listen to this.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth. Why does he do that? We're fixing
to get to it. I'll just tell you right up front
and then we'll read it. To make himself known. To make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. And
to make known his justice and wrath and holiness on the vessels
of wrath. That's why he has mercy on whom
he will. And that's why he hardens whom he will. Listen to it. Thou
wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Everything happens according
to his will. Not mine, so how can he blame me? Nay, but, O
man, who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? Why would he do that? What if
God, willing to show his wrath, willing to show willing to make
known, willing to reveal. Now you may know, he said in our
text, to make his power known. What if he endured with much
long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction for
that purpose? To make known his wrath and power.
He endured with them for a little while and then destroyed them
as he did Pharaoh. Destroyed him openly and in an amazing way. And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Why does God
have mercy on whom he will have mercy? Because he wants somebody
to know Something about the riches of His glory. We're just beginning to see it,
aren't we? Because He had mercy on my soul. I see how He did. I see His Son shedding His precious
blood for my sin. And I begin to know something
of the riches of the glory. When He went to that cross, He
said, Father, glorify Thou me that I may glorify Thee. And
boy, when he went, that happeneded. And we see that. We see that
by faith. The riches of his glory. On the
vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. Even
us. Boy, isn't it wonderful to be
able to say that? Even me. Even me. He had mercy on even
me. Whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, and notice finally, notice there,
which call thee by thy name. We've been talking about that
all day, haven't we? We talked about, we sung a song,
my sheep know my voice, and I know them, and I call them, they love
me because I have made them my choice, and they follow my call. For my sheep know my voice. Why?
Because he chose us, redeemed us, called us with a holy calling
unto himself. And then our brother read from
John 10, of all things. What a coincidence. I know my
sheep and have known of mine. I call them by name. They know
me. That stranger's voice they will
not follow. They will not hear. And then
God said here, I called you by your name. I called you by your
name. It is the Lord who calls his
own by name. He makes himself known to them.
Those that he called. Now notice that again, is he
talking to Christ still or is he talking to us? Yes. He called
his son by name, didn't he? Thou shalt call his name Jesus. He named him. God named his son
Jesus for a reason. For he shall save. His name signifies
success. Success in the most wonderful
of endeavors. The salvation of wretched sinners
like you. He shall save. Therefore call him Jesus. Oh,
I love that name, don't you? And he calls us by our name. What does it mean that he calls
us by our name? What does that mean? Well, listen
to Isaiah 43.1. You remember this? I don't know
how long ago it was we looked at Isaiah 43. It could have been
two years ago. That was a couple of chapters
ago. It's taken some time, isn't it, to go through this. I was
thinking about this today. This coming, we moved here on
New Year's Day in 2004. So on New Year's Day, on December
the 31st of this year, it'll be 15 years we've been here. And we hit the ground running,
didn't we? We immediately began several studies, didn't we? Started
meeting, I believe, first on Wednesday nights in addition
to Sunday morning and then not, I think we were in this building
when we started meeting on Sunday nights. Now, we have three, we
have four separate studies. The Bible class, Sunday morning,
Sunday evening, Wednesday night. Four books of the Bible at all
times that we're going through, going through, going through.
And have been doing that for 15 years, for most of 15 years.
Three for a while, and then four. And you know something? We ain't
even scratched it, have we? That was what impressed me. We hadn't even looked into half
the Bible yet. And what we have looked into,
We haven't dug that deep halfway, we're just skimming across the
top. I don't think we're going to
finish it. I don't think we're going to
study everything in the Bible before we all die, do you? I
don't reckon we're going to get there. But you know what? If you've studied one, if you've
heard one gospel message, you've heard the Bible, haven't you? It's the same message over and
over and over and over again. I think it was Joe Terrell that
said, the Bible doesn't say a lot of things. It says one thing
a lot of times. That's the truth. Write that
down. What does it mean that he calls
us by our name? Isaiah 43 1 we just not too long
ago. I guess looked at this but now
thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed
thee O Israel fear not For I have redeemed thee I have called thee
by thy name Three words, what does it mean
that he calls us by our name? What does that mean? Let me start
over and think about the last three words of this verse. I
want you to remember that as we're walking out that door.
Remember that. Let me start over. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not. For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. You are mine. That's what it means. You're
mine. You're mine. Salvation. You know, we talk about God saves
sinners. That's the truth. God saves sinners. But you know
what? God saved certain sinners. And I hate to use a word that
religion overuses and uses in a wrong way, but let me just,
just because they do that, we're not going to let them ruin the
truth, are we? Salvation is personal. God didn't save a percentage.
He didn't say, I love some and hate some. He said, Jacob, and
I loved. Esau have I hated and it was
just that personal with regard to you one way or the other Jacob have I loved he loves each
one of his own as though they were the only one They're not
the only one But it wouldn't change his love a bit if they
were the only one you know where I get that from the Bible How
many sheep went astray? He loves each one as though they
were the only one. He left the ninety and nine.
And how many did he go save? One. That's why I say that. And that one was me. It was me. And if you're his, it was you. What a God and what grace, what
a hope, what comfort. Let's pray together.