Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
66. I want to read the first two verses.
Isaiah 66 verse 1. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that you build unto me. And where is the place of my
rest? For all those things hath my
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Now this is the Word
of God. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. That ought to make everybody
perk up with attention and be eager to hear what is said here
because this is God speaking. More important than anything
you could ever hear from anybody on this earth. This is God speaking. This is God speaking. Thus saith
the Lord. Now have you ever wondered what
kind of man God regards? That's what I want to look at
tonight. What kind of man God regards? What kind of man God
regards? He declares that man, you and
I, we cannot build the place where God will dwell, where God
will take up abode, where God will rest, where God will regard. We can't build the place that
He'll regard. He says there in verse 1, the
heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the
house? that you will build me. Where's
the place of my rest? God does not dwell in any temple
that's made by man's hand. He doesn't dwell in any temple
made by a man's hand. God's everywhere. He said the
heaven is my throne. and the earth is my footstool."
God is everywhere. In 2 Chronicles 2 verse 5, Solomon
said, you know, he built the temple. He said, the house that
I build is great. They spared no expense. He said,
the house I build is great, for great is our God above all gods. And he said, but who is able
to build him a house? seeing that the heaven and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. Who am I then that I should
build Him a house save only to burn sacrifice before Him? Just
a place to assemble and worship Him. Right now we're looking
for a church building. And you know, it's just like
Solomon said here, our God is great above all gods. We ought to spare no expense
in having a nice place to meet and hear the gospel. It's a reflection
of what our heart is toward the God we worship. If you could
see that temple Solomon built, you would see what Solomon thought
about God. You would see that he wasn't
kidding when he said, our God is the great God. Because they
built a great temple. They built a great temple. But the thing is, what he said
was, but God can't be contained in a building. God doesn't dwell
in temples made with hands. The heavens can't contain Him
and the heavens of heaven can't contain Him. Who's going to build
a house for God? You know, when Stephen preached
this, and preach that same word because the Jews were worshipping
the temple. They were worshipping the altar.
They were worshipping their sacrifices and worshipping their works of
religion. That's what they were worshipping.
Not God. God wasn't even in their thoughts,
God said. He said, they approach unto me
but I'm not even in their heart. So Stephen stood up and by God's
grace he preached that and he said God can't, he doesn't dwell
in temples made with hands. You know what they did? They
killed him. Why? He was treading on their
idol. He was calling their idol nothing,
that temple. We don't want to worship buildings,
that's idolatry. That's idolatry. God can't be
contained in a building. God's everywhere. And then when
I say God's everywhere, understand this, I know men go from one
extreme to the other. Somebody else will say, see there,
God doesn't, He's not contained in a building. I can go out here
in nature on Sunday morning and worship God. Well, if God has
assembled His people out by a river, yes, you can assemble there with
them and hear the gospel preached, and if He gives you grace, you
can worship Him there. or if it's in a building, we'll assemble there. And if
He gives us grace, we'll worship Him there. But God's determined
He's going to save through the foolishness of preaching, and
He's going to have His people gather where He's established
His name, whether it be in a building or it be out in nature. But as
far as just going out and sitting on a deer stand at Sunday morning,
or in a duck line Sunday morning, or fishing Sunday morning and
say, well, I'm worshiping God, no, sir. That's not what we mean
when we say God's everywhere. We mean He simply can't be contained
in any building that a man makes whatsoever. He's God. He's God. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He's Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
not in temples made with hands. Besides that, God's the creator
of everything. Everything that is used to try
to build him something was already made by God. And it's already
been in existence. You and I really haven't ever
made anything. We're talking about creating
something. We haven't done that. He said there, Where's the house
that you build unto me, and where's the place of my rest? For all
those things hath my hand made, and all those things have been,
saith the Lord. Now, you apply this to a man. God made us. He made us. And you're not going to conceive
a sinner and make a sinner and create a dwelling place for God
to dwell in that sinner. You and I aren't going to do
it. I can't do it by my preaching. I can't preach and create a dwelling
place that God will come and dwell in in a sinner. That would
be the work of my hands. You see, if God's going to dwell
somewhere, He's going to have to make it. He's going to have
to create it. That's the only place God will
dwell. He builds His house through the
blood and the righteousness of Christ. And this whole house
is His new creation that He makes. This place where He dwells is
His creation. We've been studying here on the
new creation. The new heavens and the new earth.
And we've seen the Lord said, I create it. I make it. I create
it. God the Father chose the materials
that would be used. He chose the stones that would
be used to build this house. Christ the Son dug them out of
the earth and polished them, made them fit in His blood. And the Spirit of God comes and
quickens them and makes them alive. And you and I don't have a thing
to do with creating this house. We don't build it. We don't build
it. We have such a high priest who sat on the right hand of
the throne of the majesty in the heavens. A minister of the
sanctuary, of the true tabernacle, of the holy place, the sanctuary,
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, which the Lord
built, and not man. The Lord builds this house we're
talking about. Now let's hear what God says
here. The house that we're about to see where God dwells, it's
not a house that can be built by my hand or your hand. No sinner
can build this house. This is a house built by God.
Built by God. He builds this house by His grace. No man makes Him build it. No
man twists His arm into building it. forces him to do it. He does it for whom he will by
his grace. By his grace. So where does he
dwell? Where does God dwell? Look at
verse 2. But to this man will I look. To this man will I regard. This
is where I'll dwell. This is where I'll rest. This
is where I'll look. Even to him that is poor and
of a contrite spirit and trembleth. at my word." God says that He looks to the
man who is poor in spirit, who is contrite in spirit, and who
trembles at God's word. Do you want to know what that
means? I want to know what that means. I want to know where God
dwells. I want to know where God rests. I want to know who
He regards. Don't you? Well, let's see what
he said. First of all, God says, I look
to him that's poor in spirit. Now, this is not simply somebody
that's poor financially. This is somebody that is poor
in spirit. Poor in spirit, in heart. He's poor. To be poor in spirit,
that's the opposite of being rich in spirit. It's a direct
opposite of being rich in spirit. By nature, we're rich in spirit.
By nature, we're full in our spirit. We don't need anything.
We're full. We're full. By nature, we think that we are
worth something from God. We deserve something from God.
You just listen to men. When you speak to them and tell
them, you tell a sinner, God chose whom he will and passes
by whom he will, they're going to say, that's not fair. Here's
why they're saying it. Why would a man charge God with
unrighteousness? Men will say, we all ought to
have a chance. Well, why? Because man thinks
he's worth something. Man thinks he's worth something.
That's to be rich in spirit. Man thinks his will is worth
something to God. Man thinks that my will should
not be offended in any way. You don't like your will to be
offended. I don't like my will to be offended by nature. If
you don't get your way in something in your household or at your
job or out there on the street or whatever, you don't get your
way. You feel that rich spirit, don't you? You're touched by
that full spirit where you become stiff and hard and angry. That's not the spirit we're talking
about. That's the opposite of the spirit we're talking about.
It's way worse though when our will is offended and God offends
it. But the man that's rich thinks
his will's worth something. He thinks that his works are
worth something. We live in what has been a rich
nation. It's an indebted nation now.
But we're still living just like we always have. Like we're not
in debt. We're too big to fail. That's
a rich spirit. That's a rich spirit. To be poor
in spirit is to be afflicted, is to be humbled, is to be wretched,
is to be needy, is to be weak, is to be lowly because of my
sin. Because of my sin. Because I
see by God's grace, by Him coming and showing me and teaching me
what I am, I see something of the wretchedness that I am. Those who are poor in spirit
know that sin has left us with absolutely nothing to commend
us to God. I don't mean you've just been
bruised a little. I mean you don't have anything
to commend you to God. We're nothing but sin. This is
what it is to be poor in spirit. It's to have no righteousness
or holiness whatsoever. is to have no willingness even
to come to God. That cuts out all of us by nature. No willingness to come to God.
It's to know that this is what my sin is by nature. I don't
even have a willingness to come to God. By nature, I don't even
have faith or repentance and can't work it up. I'm sin. I
don't have one good thought or one good deed that's not mixed
with sin. It's not just to know this in
theory and know that, okay, now I know what you're preaching.
You're preaching the doctrine of depravity. Well, but I'm saying
you're depraved. Can you say that's me? I'm the depraved one. It's to
be so poor in spirit, you've got nothing, nothing to commend
you to God. When we can argue with God and
argue with the preacher and argue with the believers and argue
with mom and dad and argue and argue and defend and defend,
we're not yet poor in spirit. When you're poor in spirit, you
know, I don't even have a right to comment on what mother put
on the supper table. I'm just poor in spirit. I'm
just wretched and undone. God and only God can make that
man. God has to make that man. And
he says here, when he says it's in spirit, that means it's real. That means it's created by God's
grace. That means it's It's heavy in you. It's something that God's
put in you. A new spirit that wasn't there.
To be poor in spirit. To be humbled and brought down
in insignificance and in worthlessness before God. Now look what He
says. God says, to this man will I
look. To this man will I look, even
to him that is poor in spirit. God said, I'll look to that man.
I'll regard that man. Now Christ said this, He said,
I did not come to call righteous folks. I didn't come to call
righteous folks. I came to call sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance. I came
to call those poor in spirit, sinners. He said, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. Go preach it to them. The Lord
said, God told his son, go preach this word to them that I have
made poor in spirit. That's the only ones that's going
to listen. They're the only ones that's going to listen. It's
those he's made poor in spirit. God says, and I'll have regard
to that man that's poor in spirit. He's poor in spirit. When you
are flat on your face, on the ground, as low as you can possibly
go, what's the only thing you can do? You can't look any other direction
but up. We've got to be brought so low,
so low, that we can only look to God. That's the only place
we can look. When God has your undivided attention
so that you are looking to Him in your heart, you might not
even be able to lift your eyes to heaven outwardly, you're so
brought down. But in your heart, you're pleading,
Lord, look upon me. God said, that's the man I'll
look to. I'll look to that man. I almost preached from Psalm
25 tonight, and it starts out with, Lord, I'm ever looking
to You. I'm just ever looking to You.
And the next line is, Lord, turn and look to me and have mercy
on me. You see, just your looking won't
save you. God's got to turn and look to you. God says, this is
the man I'll look to. The man that's poor in spirit. That's the only one Christ came
to preach the gospel to. The gospel is the good news. It's the glad tidings. What does
He have for a man that's poor in spirit? Well, if you don't
have any Life... He's got the message of life.
If you... If you... All you do is transgress, He's
got a message of forgiveness for you. If grace is what you
need because you're so guilty, He's got a message of grace.
Mercy if you deserve nothing but God's wrath. Salvation if
you're nothing but a sinner. Has God's grace made you poor
in spirit? It's not enough to say, well
now, I have the knowledge of what you're preaching, preacher,
and I agree with you that that's the true doctrine. The Bible
says it. No, that's not what we're talking about. Has God
made you poor in spirit? God made you poor in spirit.
This is what Christ says. If that's the case, you've got
nothing to commend you to God. Listen to what Christ said. Blessed. Happy. Doesn't it sound, you
think, how could this be? I'm that character you just described. So poor that I have nothing to
commend me. I'm totally worthless to God. And Christ said, happy. Blessed
is the man who is poor in spirit. Because theirs is the kingdom
of God. The kingdom of God is theirs. They are rich. Oh, they're
rich. The whole kingdom of God is theirs.
Because they don't have anything but God. Until you don't have
anything but God, Christ won't be all. Now secondly, God says He looks
to the man of a contrite spirit. What is it to be of a contrite
spirit? It's the opposite of being proud. It's the opposite
of being arrogant. It's the opposite of thinking
in your heart that you can do anything needed to be saved. It's the opposite of choosing
the way you'll go and the sacrifices you'll make and the offerings
you'll make and the way you'll come to God. You know, you hear
people say, well, now that's the gospel to you. Here's what
the gospel is to me. There's only one gospel. God's
going to save on His terms and that's the only way He's going
to save. There's not a gospel to you, and a gospel to you,
and a gospel to you, and a gospel to you. There's just one gospel.
There's just one way. There's just one truth. There's
just one life. Just one. It's pride that makes
a man say, I'm going to come my way. I'm going to do it my
way. Scripture says, these six things
does the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him.
Here's the first thing, a proud look. A proud look. Aren't we proud? We're just proud. We're just so proud. God has
nothing for the proud-hearted sinner except for just condemnation. Look at verse 3 and verse 4.
Here's what God's got for the haughty, rich in spirit and the
proud in spirit. Verse 3. He that killeth an ox
is as if he slew a man. He that sacrificeeth a lamb,
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation,
as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense, as if
he blessed an idol. Yea, they've chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations." God says
this is the ways they've chosen, and they delight in these ways,
but God says they're delighting in their abominations. He's talking
about religion. He's talking about vain religion
that men think is so good and so appealing to God. He says it's vain abomination. Look at this. I also would choose
their delusions. I'll choose their delusions.
You ever wonder, have you thought about, you know, I know every
one of us has seen lately the things that have been happening
in the past 10 years. And especially in the past 3
or 4 or 5 years. And sometimes you just scratch your head and
you think, this world has gone insane. What is happening? God said, I will choose their
own delusions. And I'll send them strong delusions,
God said. Because they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. He said, I'll choose
their delusions. Look at this. And I'll bring
their fears upon them, that which they feared the worst. That's
what I'm going to bring on them. Because when I called, none did
answer. When I spake, they did not hear.
But they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which
I delighted not." Why? They were rich in spirit and
proud in heart. That's why. They didn't need
God. They didn't need to listen to God. Why when I started this
message and I said, thus saith the Lord, why didn't every single
eye in this place just drop and look up? What's he saying? Why was it like this? Because of proud, arrogant, rich
hearts. That's why. Don't need God. That's
why. To be of a contrite spirit is
to be smitten in the heart, is to be broken in the heart, is
to be totally lame in spirit. That's the word that's used here.
Let me tell you the word that's used here. Remember when David wanted to show mercy
to Saul's house for Jonathan's sake? And the king said, is there
not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet one son, but he's lame on his feet." You don't
want anything. He's not going to be any use
to you. He can't walk. He can't run. He can't fetch. He can't do a thing. He's lame. That's what the word is right
here in our text. To be a contrite of a contrite heart is to be
of a lame heart, a broke heart. So broke you can't do anything. Republican, remember him? He
couldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven. That's how lame he
was in his heart. He couldn't even lift his eyes
to heaven. He smote upon that lame heart,
that breast, the picture of that lame heart. He smote, smote,
smote because he'd been smitten. He'd been broken. That heart
was lame and he cried out and he said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. That's where we got to be broad.
God says to this man, well I look to him that's of a lame spirit. The first thing God does when
He saves a sinner is He's going to break the hard stony heart
and He's going to give you a heart of flesh that's just lame, that's
broken and contrite before Him. God broke David's heart after
He murdered Uriah. He had already had his heart
broke. But you know what we do, we get proud, things were going
good, he got a little rest from all his warring and his battles
he'd been fighting and things got a little comfortable for
him. He got full. He got rich in his heart. God's
not going to forsake His people, but God's not around when we're
like that. God's not going to let you have communion with Him
when there's pride and richness and all this in ourselves. When
we look into ourselves, we're not going to have communion with
Him. We're not going to have fellowship with Him. And he fell into sin. And God came to David, and he
broke his heart again. He made his heart lame again.
And then he called on God. And when he called on Him in
Psalm 51, he said, Lord, thou desirest not sacrifice. There's
nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. I'm
lame on my feet. I'm lame in my spirit. Else would
I give it. Thou delightest not burn offerings. Any kind of offering you think
of, anything you think of, you know, I'm going to be baptized. I'm going to join a church. I'm
going to start going to church on a regular basis. I'm going
to do this. If it's to try to gain some kind of favor with
God and make up for something, God won't have it. He's not even
interested in that. He has a sacrifice He's pleased
with. That's His Son. He said, you
don't even desire that, Lord. He said, a broken and a contrite
heart, oh God, that's the sacrifice. That's what you won't despise. Young people, what do you want
more than anything? I tell you what, when your mom
and dad are telling you, do this, do that, do the other thing,
and sometimes, don't you just want somebody to listen to you?
Just hear you? Just listen. Nobody listens to
me. I'm constantly told everything
to do, all the time, constantly. I just wish somebody would listen
to me. You see, God has the ability to take His children and set
us down and make us listen to Him. Make us listen to Him. That's what it is to have a lame
and contrite heart. Be brought down to where you
actually will listen to what God says and hear what God says. Has God broke your heart? Has
He made you contrite? If there's nothing in you to
save you, and you need Christ to do it all, I mean, you know
that you're just fully persuaded that's the case. That's when
a man's got a broken heart. The only way I rest in Christ
for all my righteousness is if I have absolutely none. You can't rest in Christ for
everything if you're bringing a little something to the table.
I can't rest in Him to be my sanctifier and my sanctification
if I'm going to contribute some holiness to this thing. He's
got to be all my holiness. He's got to be the one that made
me perfect by His one offering and has sanctified this new heart
by His presence. If I can deliver myself at all
and free myself just a little bit, if I can take that first
step, like Peter said, then He's not going to be my Redeemer.
He's not going to be the one that redeems me because He's
not dealing in half salvation. There's not even such a thing.
He's dealing in total salvation. So I have to be totally dependent
on Him to do everything or He's not all to me. That's why God
has to give us this contrite and this broken heart. The Lord's
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. He's near. And He saves
such as be of a contrite spirit. David knew that, didn't he? He
knew that. He had some communion with God
when he was on his face, mourning over his sin, and confessing
to God that he's no good, and all he's ever done is sin against
God. He had some communion with God at that point. Christ said, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, not only has He sent me to preach to the poor,
He sent me to heal the broken hearted, the contrite, the lame. Christ is the healer. Now thirdly,
God says this, He looks to the man who trembleth at My Word. Who trembleth at My Word. To
tremble at God's Word is not to take it lightly. Not to take
it lightly. It's not to make jokes about
it. It's not to have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward the Word of God. I'll tell you something else
it's not either. It's not this religion, this Quaker religion.
That's where they got this, you know, trembling. That's where
they got it from the Scripture. They hear the Word and they start
shaking. That's not trembling at His Word either. To tremble at God's Word is to
be full of the fear of God. is to know that this is God speaking. This is God's Word. It's to have
a reverence for His Scriptures and a reverence for the preaching
of His Gospel, knowing this is God's Word. I'm not going to
miss God's Word. What if tonight God had a Word
and you missed it? It's the heart that trembles
at His Word. I've got to hear God speak. I've
got to hear God speak. I need to know. Let me show you
an illustration. Turn to 2 Kings 22. The spirit with which we
regard God's Word is how we really regard God. The spirit with which we regard
God's words, how we really regard God. You'll see this. You'll
see somebody here in this passage that didn't regard Him, and you'll
see somebody that did. The illustration is King Josiah,
king of Judah. He regarded God's word. He trembled
at God's word. The rest of those in Judah, they
didn't. They didn't. Listen to this. Verse 11. It
came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of
the law. This is the scriptures, God's word. that he rent his
clothes. Now, let me make a point here.
A man could rent his clothes. He could rip his clothes off
outwardly and not be trembling inwardly. That's why I said that
about folks that could be trembling outside, literally trembling
outside, but they're not trembling in their hearts. But that outward
reading of his clothes, that was a picture of him trembling
in his heart, truly trembling in his heart over this word.
So he said to this in verse 13, Go ye, inquire of the Lord for
me, and for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words
of this book. We're talking about trembling
at God's Word. He said, go inquire of God about the words of this
book that is found. For great is the wrath of the
Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have
not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according
to all that which is written concerning us. And so they went
and got a word from the Lord. And they came back in verse 16.
Thus saith the Lord, And this is the word of the Lord. Behold,
I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof,
even all the words of this book, which the king of Judah hath
read, because they have forsaken me. They didn't tremble at my
word. They burn incense unto other
gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works
of their hands. Therefore, my wrath shall be
kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But, to
the King of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord."
How did the Lord know who sent them? How did the Lord know who
sent those men to Him? He's the one that made Josiah
tremble in the first place. He chose him and gave him to
Christ, and Christ was his surety, his Redeemer. He knew him. And
He said, now you go tell Him that sent you to Me. He said,
Thus shall you say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
as touching the words which thou hast heard, Because thine heart
was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when
thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants
thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and
has rent thy clothes and wept before me, I also have heard
thee, saith the Lord. The Lord is saying, because you
trembled, because you heard Me, I have heard you. I have heard
you. Look at this now. Behold, therefore,
I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into
thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil
which I will bring upon this place. You see, it's only when
God's given us a true fear of God so that we reverence God,
and we stand in awe of God, and we tremble at His Word, and we
reverence His Word, and we want to hear, and we are made to know
this message is life or death until God brings us there. We
won't tremble. We won't hear. We got to be made
to tremble at this Word, to fear Him and reverence Him. Listen
to what the Lord said. I want to read this from Luke
4 again. He said, The Spirit of the Lord is on me because
He has anointed me to preach the gospel. What is that? That
is the Word of God. He has anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal by preaching
the Word, to heal the brokenhearted, to heal the lame hearted by hearing
the Word preached. He sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives. and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
jubilee year of the Lord. He sent me to do this through
the Word. If I don't ever tremble, if I
don't have a reverence to hear what He's saying, then He's not
sent it to me, has He? You see, those to whom God sent
in this Word, He's going to give you a reference. He's going to
give you a fear. He's going to make you tremble
at His Word so that you hear Him speak. Otherwise, we won't
pay attention. Otherwise, we won't hear. Otherwise,
we'll just have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Because that's the
attitude we have against God. Take it or leave it. Take it
or leave it. healing, recovering of sight,
setting at liberty. That comes through Christ. That's
Him. He's the healer. He's the light
that gives you sight. He's the balm of Gilead that
heals you. He's the one that redeems His
people and sets us free. He's the one that gives you liberty
and makes you free from the law and free from the curse and free
from condemnation and free from the grave even. Free from death. He gives you true liberty. But
the way He's going to do it is through His Word. I want to be
made to tremble at that Word, don't you? I want to be made
to hear it. Because that's the only way I'm going to receive
this salvation. Well, those who don't tremble,
they're going to receive nothing from Christ because they believe
not the Word of the Gospel. They don't believe God. They
don't believe they need salvation. They're not going to receive
anything. Now, do you have a fear put in your heart by God? I'm
not talking about just a, well, I know I need to go to church.
You need Christ. You need God. You need a new
heart. You need to tremble at this Word. You need to be healed.
You need to be made righteous and holy and redeemed and given
liberty and brought into God's presence by God. That's what
you need. God made you tremble in awe at
God's Word. Felix trembled. Do you know that?
Remember that? Felix trembled. But that was a natural tremble.
He heard judgment and it scared him. That's all it was. But he
sent the preacher away. The scribes and the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, they trembled in anger. And what did they do? They stoned Stephen and crucified
our Lord. Some of you have experienced
that. They said, get out of here. And they did it, how? Calling
on the name of God. They did it in the name of God.
They did it saying they are doing it for God's glory. You are an
answer no man. No, I just love the law of God
so much I am not going to bring it down to man's level like you
do. I am going to declare Christ had to come and fulfill it. Because
God is righteous God. He won't save and just sweep
his justice under the rug. He is going to fulfill the law,
crossing every T and dotting every I. So I'm not going to
lower that standard at all. Not before conversion, not after
conversion. Christ is all. Christ is all. Well, but King Josiah, he did tremble. He trembled by grace. He trembled
in the heart. He trembled so that he really
wanted to hear God and know God. If God's grace has made you tremble,
then look at verse 5. Here's his word to you. Hear
the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His Word. Hear it
now. Your brethren that hated you,
that cast you out for My namesake, said they were doing it for My
glory. They said, let the Lord be glorified, but He shall appear
to your joy and they shall be ashamed. They shall be ashamed. is that God's grace would make
us poor. I mean really poor. Poor in spirit. Make us lame in spirit, contrite
in spirit. That He would make us to tremble
at His Word so that we might hear Christ speak in the Gospel
and hear that He really is all salvation. He's all salvation. He's beginning to end the salvation
God's provided for all His people. Because the reason I want that
for you, you know when God saves you, you don't want to just have
this message all to yourself. You want other sinners to hear
it and know it. You want to tell somebody else
about it and hope God will save them. And I want you to know
this. I want you to be made this because
this is the only kind of man that God will regard. The only kind of man. But He
said, He that has My Word, believes on Me. Christ said, My Father
now cometh. We'll dwell in Him. We'll abide
in Him. We'll regard Him. We'll look
after Him. We'll hedge Him about. We'll
keep Him. We'll preserve Him. We'll save Him. We'll save Him. Amen.