All right, brethren, let's turn to Isaiah 56. Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Our God and our Father, we pray that Christ would be our teacher this morning, that you would make your presence known through your spirit. Bless us in our hearts to really hear and believe the word. Thank you, Lord, for every blessing. Thank you for bringing us here today. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

Isaiah 56. We'll read and then I'll comment a little as we go. Verse nine, our Lord has been declaring how he will gather all his people, the outcasts of Israel, and bring us to his holy mountain, heavenly Zion, save us through the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus.

Now he says in verse nine, all ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. The beasts of the field are false preachers, that's who he's speaking of, and they are preachers of the devil. We see in verse nine, when we get there, or right here, Our sovereign God rules them. He's giving them permission to do what they do.

Now notice, the beasts of the field come to devour the beasts in the forest. He says, verse nine, all ye beasts of the field come to devour all ye beasts in the forest. The beasts of the field are the false preachers and the beasts in the forest are folks who profess to believe the gospel, but like Adam was hiding in the trees, they're hiding amongst those that are trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. And what the difference is, they give themselves the glory for being planted. Those the Lord plants glory only in the Lord. That's why he saves how he saved. He said that clearly.

But here's why these preachers devour their followers. Now, they're preachers of the devil. In one place, it calls them being in the synagogue of Satan. Verse 10, his watchmen are blind. The devil's watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow shall be as today, and much more abundant.

The picture here is when they would build a city, They built a wall around the city. And they had watchtowers in the wall. And that's where the watchman was. And they had guard dogs. And the watchman and the dogs, they were to sound the alarm any time the enemy was approaching the wall. And that's a picture of our Lord Jesus being the chief watchman and his preachers being underwatchmen, under him. The Lord Jesus is the wall around his church. He's the wall and he's the watchman.

Isaiah 26, one says, in that day, this song shall be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation will appoint walls and boards. Salvation, Christ is our salvation. He will appoint walls and boards and he's that wall. He's our refuge, our fortress. We run into him and we're saved. He's the chief watchman. He is the shepherd and bishop of our souls. He is the chief shepherd and his preacher that he sends is his watchman. And it's the Lord giving warning through his preacher, through the preaching of the gospel, that he saves his people and continues to save his people. The warning is that we need righteousness. We need holiness, but we can't provide it. We have to be found in Christ. We need the Lord Jesus. And anything that would turn us from Christ to ourselves, turn us from trusting him to trusting in man, fearing man, we sound the warning. And this is what we do every time we preach the gospel. Every time the Lord's preacher preaches the gospel, we don't have to necessarily say the words Beware, this is a warning. We preach the gospel and the Lord makes it clear that he is our fortress, he is our salvation, he is our way and none other.

Now we're gonna see some characteristics here of the false preacher and we're gonna contrast those with Christ the true watchman and the watchman that he sends, the true watchman.

So first of all, False watchmen have no spiritual discernment. No spiritual discernment. He says in verse 10, his watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant. All false preachers are spiritually blind. How do you know? Compare what they say to what God's word says. Check them, check me, check all preachers by what this word says. Isaiah said, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, is because they have no life in them, no light, blind.

Now, I've touched on this on a Thursday night recently, but I wanna go and look at it, and I want you to see it. Matthew 23, look up that chapter, Matthew 23, and also look up Micah 6, and I'll give you time. Matthew 23 and Micah 6.

Now here we're given, our Lord is speaking, and he's declaring what the Pharisees were doing. Matthew 23, this is what blind watchmen do. They major on the minor, and they minor on the major.

Look here, Matthew 23, 23. He says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites. This is who the Lord always addresses when he speaks of the hypocrite. Somebody who claims they can keep the law, when in truth no man can. But here's what they do. You pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you have to have done. You ought to have paid the lesser. and not to leave the other undone. You blind guides would strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

This is using the law unlawfully. This is what blind guides do. They're using the law unlawfully. They teach that sinners must pay what the law demands. That's represented in them paying, saying, teaching to pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin. That's lesser.

So they teach, you must give the law what it demands. But they preach only the outward obedience. Remember Christ addressed that in his sermon on the mount. That's the lesser, that's paying the lesser, the outward. Every sinner has to pay what the law demands. The law demands justice, the law demands death to everyone that disobeys it. and we have to pay what the law demands.

But the false preachers are teaching that a sinner can give the law what it demands. That's why the Lord said, you must have a righteousness that's greater than the Pharisees. You gotta have Christ. But they teach, they teach to pay mint, anise, and cumin, representing the lesser things in the law. Preach that sins in the letter, in the outward, in the act. They teach the lie that righteousness is in tithing and keeping a Sabbath day, keeping the 10 commandments in outward obedience. But they omit the weightier matters, the weightier matters. When the Lord spoke of judgment and mercy and faith, he's referencing Micah 6. Now let's go to Micah 6 and let's see. Hold your place in Matthew, but let's go to Micah 6 and see what it says. Micah 6, let's begin in verse 6.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Now that's what our Lord's speaking about when he said the Pharisees teach that to pay tithe and mint and cumin. You're trying to give the law what it demands by your works, but you're looking at the lesser things. He says, he has showed the old man what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee? Now, each of these is to do so with thy God, to do justly with thy God. What does that mean? That means that by Lord's grace, we come before God, come before our Lord Jesus, confessing we are guilty. We say what David said in Psalm 51, Lord, against thee and thee only have I sinned, that you might be clear when you judge. I'm guilty. To do justly with God is to confess we've never kept the law. We broke it in Adam, we've broken it in ourself, we've never broken it. Do justly with God and own that the Lord Jesus is the only one who satisfied the justice of God and he is the one we must have. We're coming to God confessing we must be found in Christ our righteousness. This is what the Pharisee, the blind watchman, omit.

And he said, and to love mercy with thy God. We come before God confessing that we have to be saved by God's mercy alone. God withholding from us what we justly deserve. God graciously giving us what we don't deserve. Again, in Psalm 51, David said, Lord, have mercy on me. The publican had his face in the dust saying, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Love mercy with thy God. And then lastly, to walk humbly with our God. From the day he calls you, you come brokenhearted, contrite, because he's created a new heart in you. You come bowed down at his feet, and from that day forward, you walk humbly with our God. You walk by faith, not by sight. You walk with no other confidence but the Lord Jesus. Now, that's what our Lord speaking about when he addressed the Pharisees, and he said, this you ought to have done. These lesser, you gotta give the law the lesser. It's gotta be fulfilled outwardly. You have to give it. But not to leave the other undone. To not preach Christ alone satisfied judgment. To not preach that Christ alone is the one in whom God will give mercy. He does it only through God-given faith, that you have to be given a new heart and given faith by God that we don't contribute anything. This is what's being omitted. Declaring that our flesh is grass does not contribute. That salvations of the Lord, this is what's being omitted by blind preachers.

And the Lord said in Matthew 23 and verse 24, you blind guides, that's what we're seeing in our text, they're blind. You blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Blind watchmen strain to make men obedient to the lesser, to the outward. They're straining to make men obedient. They're majoring on minor things. And while they're doing it, they're swallowing a camel. Swallowing a camel.

So to anybody that's hearing this, that has never believed on Christ, do justly with God. Come to Him confessing you're the guilty sinner. You need Christ. Love mercy with God. If He gives you a new heart, you will love. Don't we, brethren? We love mercy with God. And walk humbly with Him. Come bow down and continue that way. And that makes you do these things too brethren.

The things that blind religion is preaching, trying to get folks to deal justly and to be merciful to men and be faithful. These things they're trying to get folks to do. The only way that that's accomplished is preaching the gospel of Christ and it's only when When the Lord makes you see that this is what Christ has done for us, that's what makes you committed to him that judges righteously. Commit the cause of your brother to him. That's what makes you be merciful to brethren. That's what makes you be faithful to brethren by continuing to point them to Christ and declare he's our only hope. But they omit this.

Remember whenever the Lord preached that a man needs a new heart, The heart's wicked. And Peter came and he said, the Pharisees were offended when they heard this. And our Lord said to them, they're blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall in the ditch. And that's so with blind preachers leading blind men. The only one that'll follow a blind preacher is another blind sinner. The Lord, when he gives you spiritual understanding, he said, They hear my voice and they follow me, and a stranger they won't follow. You have discernment.

Now Christ is that true watchman. And he sends his preacher preaching his word. We can't preach except the Lord gives the word. And it can't be heard and made effectually in the heart of another sinner unless Christ do it. He's the teacher. He said in Ezekiel 37, I mean, Ezekiel 3.17, he said, son of man, speaking of Christ, and those that Christ makes preachers, son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning for me. We have to hear the word from the Lord's mouth. Where you gonna hear that? Right here, right here in this book. The Lord making a word just speak loudly to you, and showing you this is what you to preach. And then he does it in the hearts of his people. Hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me.

Now, secondly, back in our text, Isaiah 56. They're blind, they're ignorant, and therefore they don't sound the alarm. He says, they're all dumb dog, mute, dumb dogs. They cannot bark, cannot preach the gospel. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. They may be lazy, but it's certain they love to sleep in false religion. They're asleep in their false religion. I've heard people ask, why won't my preacher preach the gospel you preach? Why doesn't my preacher preach this? Well, God says they can't, they cannot. They're blind, they cannot. They're mute, they cannot bark. They're sleeping in false religion, loving to slumber. You've read in the scripture where he calls false preachers filthy dreamers, preaching things that are so obscenely against the Lord and against his glory, creating vain doctrines of men and traditions of men and teaching those things, filthy dreams. Lying down, that also includes this. Let me see here, Isaiah 57 verse three, look here.

This includes the bed of spiritual adultery, spiritual fornication. They prostitute themselves to whoever pays the highest and commit these spiritual adultery against the Lord Jesus by this false message. That's how God describes it.

These are some pretty obscene verses right here describing false preachers. Listen to this in verse three. He says, draw near, Isaiah 57, three, but draw near hither ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, inflaming yourselves? with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks. Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. They are thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured a drink offering. Thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these? Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice, behind the doors also, and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance, for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me. And art gone up, thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them, and thou lovest their bed where thou sawest it.

You get that? This is included in this lying down, is this bed of spiritual fornication. Not trusting Christ our husband alone, not preaching him alone, but prostituting themselves to false gods and to men who pay the highest wage. That's what we have to flee from, brethren.

If you hear a preacher exalting the sinner, flee from that, flee from it. Men try to have this notion that, well, if I stay around and I keep going to this congregation that's preaching lies, I can help my friends there. No, they will harm you, but you won't help them. If you want to bear record and bear testimony that you believe the Lord, the best way a man can do that is to depart out of that and unite with the Lord's people. That's what the Lord told him when he sent him into Canaan. Listen to their doctrine. Don't join with them. They're gonna corrupt you. They'll corrupt you.

But Christ is the truth. Here's the contrast. Christ is the truth. We preach a person, the Lord Jesus himself, the way, the truth, and the life. He is the truth, and those he sends are going to preach Christ according to this word. We're just gonna go verse by verse, phrase by phrase, and we're looking for the key of knowledge. We're looking for Christ Jesus. We're trying to preach that he alone is life. He alone is righteousness. He alone is holiness. He alone is redemption. He alone is our salvation.

Christ's watchman sound the alarm by preaching Christ. You know, you've heard the saying, you want to expose darkness, preach light. You want to expose the crooked, preach the straight. We expose the law by preaching Christ, declaring Christ. I've set thee, let me see here, Isaiah 62, verse six. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he establish, till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

The Lord's people, the Lord's preachers are a praying people. You know why? Because we depend on Christ for everything. You begin praying to the Lord who wrote these scriptures to give you the message. Then you pray to the Lord to give you the liberty to preach the message, the boldness. Then you pray to the Lord to bless it in the hearts of his people. Then you pray to the Lord to give you grace to wait on him to work. And when he does, you pray to him and give him thanks. And you start over next week doing the same thing.

Our trumpet is salvation is of the Lord, saved because God chose a people freely by grace, because Christ came and laid down his life for the sheep, for his people, and that he accomplished our justification, that he's the successful prophet who sends the gospel, the successful watchman who comes through the preaching of the word and calls out his people and keeps his people and will never lose one. We preach him. We preach him.

Here's a watchman. Listen to what he says. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's a faithful watchman declaring, beware of these dumb dogs, beware of these legal preachers. We pray to Christ till he established, till he settled judgment. He did it at the cross and he's doing it in the hearts of his people. Christ speaks effectually. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. That's what the Lord's true preachers,

All right, thirdly, back in our text, the false watchman is covetous. He's doing what he does for financial gain. Verse 11, yea, they are greedy dogs, Isaiah 56, 11. They are greedy dogs which can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, everyone for his gain from his quarter. The number one thing that the false preacher is greedy for is the glory that belongs to God. That's the number one thing. As Paul said in Galatians, they want to compel sinners to do the lesser so that when they stand before God one day, they can glory in what they compelled sinners to do. That's going to be part of what a false preacher gives to God, expecting God to receive him. is he compelled sinners to obey.

Brethren, my prayer, and I ask you to pray for me, is to keep me from wanting any glory from God, trying to steal any glory from God. I have a certain nature that wants glory. I want to be praised. I need to be kept from that every single day. and preach Christ to him alone, that he get all the glory, all the glory. We're not preaching man's will, we're preaching God's will. We're not saved by man's will, we're saved by the will of God. We're not saved by our works of righteousness, but by Christ's finished work of righteousness. His finished redemption that he accomplished.

And also false preachers preach for money. They preach for money. That's why they will not preach the gospel. They wouldn't have the crowds if they preached the gospel. Psalm 12 verse 8 says, the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. Well, that's just talking about really vile men. That's talking about every man. When you put the work into the sinner's hand, folks will gather all around to hear that message. They seek salvation by their works. They're greedy for God's glory and for money, and therefore, they can never have enough. A person who's trying to come to God by his works never has enough good works. He's always guilty in his mind. He never has enough good works. He's always trying to do more. Like Adam first covered himself with fig leaf, then he hid in a tree, never enough. And when men are after money, they never have enough. You never get satisfied. Christ makes you be satisfied with him. When you have Christ, you have all. When you have Christ, you have all that God requires.

But what did he say? He said, blessed are them whom God has chosen, who he's drawn, made to draw. And he said, you'll be satisfied with the goodness of his house, with Christ Jesus. God is satisfied with him, and he makes his people satisfied with him. And we know that concerning our needs in this earth, the Lord will provide everything we need. He'll provide everything we need. Hebrews 13.5, let's go there just a moment. Hebrews 13.5, this is what we pray for one another right here, that the Lord would work this in each of our hearts. Hebrews 13.5, let your conversation your conduct, be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

Brethren, that's the spirit, that's the heart the Lord creates in his preacher, and in his people. How do you know it's true? Well, God provided his son and he laid down his life for his people. And he made his people justified, righteous. And God who gave his son will provide whatever else we need. Christ who laid down his life and shed his own blood for his people and justified us, will provide whatever we need in this life. That's what he will give. If he takes something away from us, we needed it. If he gives you what you need, you needed it. He gives you and he takes from you what you need. And that's what our Savior does. We don't have to covet anything that we don't have because our Lord is providing. He told Abraham, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward, now and forever.

So lastly, lastly, false watchmen are drunk and they keep the people drunk on the wine of Babylon's fornication. Verse 12, come ye, say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant. The false preacher, I thought about how would a false preacher preach this passage? He'd preach on the evils of getting drunk, the evils of being intoxicated. Well, don't be intoxicated, don't get drunk. But in that very message, He is taking the bottle of free will works religion and giving the people 100 proof free will works religion and getting them drunk on their own works by just preaching on the lesser. That's the wine of Babylon's fornication, putting it in your hand.

The Lord Christ Jesus, He gives the gospel, and it's compared to wine. It makes your heart glad, because you see, it's all finished. He did it all. And he's gonna keep you sober-minded, looking only to the Lord Jesus, following him, walking after him. Christ, through his watchman, he continually says, seek you the Lord while he may be found. That's the message. Come to Christ while he may be found. That's the message for you that haven't come to Christ, that's the message for you that have. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Come to him, draw near to him while he's near. There's no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved, not any. And we have Christ our righteousness, we have all. If we have him, we have all.

And I pray, Lord, make me faithful to preach him, and he make you faithful to believe on him, and that he keep us looking nowhere but to our Lord. This is the blessing. What a great, tremendous blessing the Lord's given us, to know him, to know him, to believe him, to be where he's given the gospel and keeps feeding his people. What a blessing. Let us never, never depart. Let's go to him, brethren. Our great God and our Savior, how great you are and how gracious, how richly you have blessed your people. Lord, you've blessed us freely. Everything you've given is in your son. And we're so grateful to you, Lord, that you've given us eyes to see You gave us hearts to believe, and you made us satisfied with our Lord Jesus.

Lord, don't let us look anywhere but to him. Keep us looking only to our Savior. Make us faithful, Lord. Make us walk humbly with you. Make us always love judgment that you've accomplished, and make us deal justly with each other. Lord, make us Love your mercy and make us be merciful to each other. Lord, keep us humble at your feet, trusting you alone. This is our need, Lord. Whatever you provide, we're so thankful for the temporal blessings, we're thankful for temporal provision, thankful for the health of our bodies. But Lord, even if we have none of those things, if we have Christ, we have our one need, And we're grateful to you for giving your only begotten son. It's in his name we pray, Lord. Amen.