Let's look back now to Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah 53. Now this morning we looked at
the second part of verse 11, and we looked at, by His knowledge,
and we looked at that as the knowledge that Christ Himself
possesses. Now today, in this hour, we're
going to see By His knowledge, by that knowledge Christ possesses
in Himself, Christ brings His people to the knowledge of Him. He gives us, He makes us to know
Him. He makes us to know Him. And
He, doing so through His knowledge, by His knowledge, He gives us
faith and through faith we receive that justification that Christ
accomplished for us in particular. And so, thus God says, by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall
bear their iniquities. He only brings this gospel to
and reveals himself in those for whom he bore their iniquities. They must be told this good news
and so he'll bring this good news to them. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their
iniquities. All that Christ justifies, all
who he shall bring this good news to are sinners. We're all sinners and we all
need justification before God. In all congregations this is
the case, and it's probably the case here, that there are some
who have never, they don't know Christ. They think they do, perhaps,
but really what they're trusting in is 20 years ago, they got
a real good feeling and walked down an aisle and gave their
hand to a preacher, and that's what they're looking to. Every
time they start getting fearful of their salvation, they look
to that. They look back to that. There
are some who are trusting in their wisdom, in their knowledge,
in their searching. Many people know the doctrine
of grace. Many people know a system of
doctrine that is true. Any man can learn a system of
doctrine. System of doctrine is not salvation. But men will
trust in their teaching, in their wisdom, in their learning, in
their seeking because they sought that system out. They found that
system out. And then you'll have folks who
are trusting in their works, trusting in their righteousness,
trying to come to God by something they've done. What I pray, I
earnestly seek, when I'm preparing and when I get ready to stand
up and when I'm standing here now before you, I earnestly ask
God that He will come by His grace, that Christ will come
by His knowledge, by the knowledge He possesses, by the skill that
only He has, and that He will make you to know Him. And by His knowledge, by making
you to know Him, knowing you in that way that just can't hardly
be explained. Intimate knowing. It's a knowing.
A knowing. Entering in and making you one
with Him. And that through faith, giving you faith, that He might
today, in the court of your conscience, justify you. Really make you
know Him. Really make you know Him and
rest only in Him. That's my prayer. The righteousness
of faith. Let's look at Romans 10, just
a moment. The righteousness of faith does
not demand that you do anything. Now that's very opposite to the
righteousness of the law. The righteousness of the law
demands you do everything. Now look here in Romans 10, verse
4. It says, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And He's
only the end of the law for righteousness to those that believe. You find
many that profess to believe Him, but they haven't ceased
from their works. They're still trying to come
to God by their law obedience. He's only the end of the law
to those who really believe Him. And he says, look here at verse
5, For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. Here's the
righteousness of the law. The man which doeth those things. That means that it does them
all. In thought, word and deed, without one slip up, without
one fault, in his holy soul and in his righteous doings, that
man shall live. They're not a man on this earth
that sinned, that has not sinned. They're not a man that's just.
They're not a man that's fulfilled the law. You can't do it, brethren.
But now watch this. Verse 6. But the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Look at verse 8. What
saith it? The word is nigh thee. There's
not something to be reached. There's not something to be grasped.
There's not something that's got to be achieved and found out
for you. Christ has accomplished it. He
brings it near, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in
thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. I'm preaching faith to you. I'm
preaching the righteousness that comes through faith, the justification
that comes through faith. Now watch this. That if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him up from the dead.
That is, that he's fully satisfied the law, fulfilled the law, satisfied
God, put away your sin, made you perfectly right. This is
what it means by God raised him. God's satisfied with him. And
if you believe that God's satisfied with you and him, he says, thou
shalt be saved. Now watch this. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness. You see, we believe Christ. We believe unto Christ. We trust
in Christ. And Christ is our righteousness.
So we believe unto righteousness. We believe Him. And we're made
righteous through Him. Now watch. And with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Isn't that so much better than
all that law keeping? You believe in your heart that
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law and He's all your
righteousness. And you confess Him with your
mouth. Now, look at this, verse 11. For the Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. You will. You confess
Him. They won't be ashamed. But, for
there's no difference. This is how all should be. There's
no difference between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And no question
about this. God says this plainly. But there's
a problem. There's a problem. Alright, look
at verse 14. Here's the problem. People don't
go this far. They don't go here and they don't
tell you what this means. They stop at that last verse we read
and they preach. Now, they preach your will. The
problem is none are willing. That's the problem. None are
willing. Whosoever will, call on him, they'll be saved. The
problem is none's willing. God, they'll be willing in the
day of thy power, God said to Christ. They'll be willing in
the day of thy power. He gets the glory. Now look here,
here's the problem, verse 14. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? You see, God only saves, He only
justifies through faith in Christ. Alright, then look at the next
thing. And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not
heard? God only saves those who know Him. You can't believe on
Christ unless you know Christ. You've got to know Him before
you can believe on Him. There's a knowing that takes place before
there's a believing on Him. And now there's another problem.
How shall they hear without a preacher? The knowledge is not a mere doctrinal
understanding of Christ. A man can give that to himself. That's not the knowledge we're
talking about here. Not at all. This is God knowing a sinner
intimately and making you one with him like a husband knows
his wife. This is something God is pleased
to do only through the foolishness of preaching. That's why the
Holy Spirit says here, how shall they hear without a preacher? Well, that exalts the preacher.
Oh no, there's another problem. Keep reading. Verse 15. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? You see, the preacher can't do
this work. The preacher can't make a congregation for himself.
The preacher can't go and preach for himself, by himself. The
preacher can't make that word effectually in anybody's heart
by himself. He can't run on his own unless
Christ has sent him. And he can't make the gospel
affectionate in their heart when he gets there unless Christ has
sent him. I need Christ to send me today. Today, I need Him. He sent me over seven years ago. But I need Him to send me today
and speak into your heart. And this only happens through
the gospel. Now watch this. As it is written, he's quoting
Scripture now. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Paul's given that verse to support
what he just said. So what he's quoting from Scripture
must support what he just said. That this is how Christ is going
to make you to know the knowledge of Him. He's going to make you
to know Him. Remember Paul said, now that you know God, or rather
are known of God, He's got to know you first before you're
going to know Him. And He's been pleased to do this through preaching.
Now watch. So this verse He quotes here,
as it is written, it's got to support what He just said. Let's
go see if it does. Isaiah 52, verses 6 and 7. Does this give you the very meaning
that I just gave you? Does this say that this is how
you're going to know Christ? Through preaching? Does this
say how we're going to know it? Look here. Isaiah 52 verse 6,
Therefore, this is Christ speaking, Therefore my people shall know
my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that does speak. Behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. In our text, Paul was
talking about the preachers, and so when he quoted this, he
said, How beautiful are the feet of them. Here, Christ is talking
about himself, and he says, How beautiful are the feet of him.
And in the next verse, he says, Thy watchman, plural, Thy watchman,
his preachers, shall lift up the voice. They're going to lift
up their voice. Together, or with the voice together
shall they sing. Christ said my sheep hear my
voice. He said in that day they're going
to know my name. In that day you're going to know
I am speaking. Because if I just lift up my
voice it won't do any good. But if I'm lifting up my voice
together with the voice, with Christ the voice, Christ said
in that day you're going to know it's me that's speaking. You're
going to know it's me that's speaking. So Paul, that's why
Paul said, how are they going to call on Him unless they believe
Him? How are they going to believe Him unless they know Him? They've
got to hear Him. And how are they going to hear
Him unless they have a preacher? And how is a preacher going to
preach unless Christ sends Him? And how are they going to hear
Him unless He comes in that Word and makes them know it? That's
how their feet are beautiful. That's when you'll fall down.
and say, thank you for preaching the gospel to me. This is wonderful. If I speak today and all you
hear is me and God doesn't speak to you, you're going to leave
here mad. You're going to leave here mad because what I'm going
to say is going to knock your refuge down and you're going
to say, that's just Clay's interpretation. But if Christ speaks, you'll
bow and say, that's the prettiest feet I've ever seen in my life.
That's so. That's so. And then look back
at Romans 10, 17. He says, So then faith cometh
by hearing, hearing, hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
You know, hearing is the only thing that requires you to do
nothing. Hearing requires you to do nothing. And hearing is
the only thing that you have to do something not to do it.
That's right. Faith comes by hearing. It's
the one act whereby a sinner is for once in his life doing
nothing. He's doing nothing. God's doing
the work. And that's how you're going to
be saved if you're saved. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God, by Him speaking to you. Have you heard Him? Have you heard Him? I'm not asking
you have you learned a system of doctrine. I'm not asking if
you joined a church, made a decision, jumped in a baptismal pool. I'm
asking you do you know Him? Do you know Him? Or rather, has
He known you? Has He come in His power and
known you? And made you a new creature?
God says, by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many. By the knowledge of Him, He's going to bring His people
to see He's their all. He's justified them. He's their
righteousness. This knowing is Christ being
formed in you. Because Christ is our righteousness.
And I'm not created anew in holiness and righteousness until Christ
is formed in me. That's why Paul said to the Galatians,
he said, I thought God had worked a work of grace here. He said,
and now you're turning back to the law, you're listening to
these law mongers that's coming in here and telling you, yeah,
it's okay to believe Christ, but you've got to do something
now. You've got to try to obey the law yourself. And Paul said,
are you deceived? Have you been bewitched? And
he said, and I labor, I travail till Christ be formed in you
again. I labor. Why would he call Christ
being formed in you travailing like a woman having a child?
He said, I'm praying that you'll be begotten. I'm praying that
a birth will take place and you'll be born by Christ being formed
in you. Now our text here, tells us that
Christ shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
He'll see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Let me
read you something that Robert Hawker wrote. He said, Christ's travailing
pains for his people are until he is formed in the heart. Christ's
travailing pains are until he is formed in the heart. And to
give us the assurance that this shall be accomplished. The promise
of a seed to serve Christ is beautifully introduced. Remember
He said a seed shall serve Him, He'll prolong days. And it's
declared to be so great and so finished that Jesus shall Himself
be satisfied and see of the travail of His soul in this, in the multitude
of sinners converted to the doctrine of the cross. Or by the doctrine
of the cross. Converted to Him by His knowledge. on understanding that He gives
in the heart. Christ is going to be, you're
going to be begotten of Him. And this work is necessary. Job
said there are things that are easily discovered by man. He
said there's a vein for silver, there's a place for gold, He
said, iron's taken out of the earth, brass is molten out of
the stone. He says, as for the earth, out
of it comes bread, under it's burned up as were fire. And he
describes the work of men. They go out and they're able
to work as miners and break up those rocks and mine all of that
and get all those jewels down and get all those jewels by their
seeking them in the, he calls it the dark places of the earth
and they seek them and they get those jewels and they whittle
on them and they hedge them about and they get all the, they find
them and they get them to where they're jewels. He said men can
do that. Men can do that. The stones of it are the place
of sapphires. And he says, and it's the dust
is of gold. And men seek it and find it and
refine it and bring out those jewels. But then he asked this
question, but where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place
of understanding? How is a man going to get wisdom?
How is a man going to get understanding? Can he mine it just like he can
jewels of the earth? No, he can't do that. He can
get jewels of the earth, but no sinner by his skill and labor
can answer this question, much less have the spirit of knowledge
of it, much less accomplish it. This is the question. Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No, not one. How are you going to bring a
clean new man out of your old dirty man? It can't happen. What
is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman
that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. The heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more vulnerable and filthy is man which drinks
iniquity like water? How then can a man be justified
with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, even the moon, it shines not before God. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that's a worm
in the son of man which is a worm. That's in Job, brother. That's
the Word of God. The answer is with man it's impossible. With man it's impossible. But
many shall be justified one way. Where shall wisdom be found?
Where is the place of understanding? God says, by His knowledge. By
Christ doing, that's how. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. For those that are going to know
Him are those that He's borne their iniquity. Christ is the
only way God can be just and the justifier. He's the only
way God can remain just and the many for whom He died be made
clean, made righteousness of God. This is the hidden wisdom
which God ordained before the world and to our glory. It's
hidden in darkness deeper than the earth's darkness. And no
sinner can find out because he's in so much darkness. Where shall
wisdom be found? Where can understanding be had?
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ, all of them. Now, through Solomon, he's the
wise man. He pictured Christ who is the
wisdom and knowledge of God. This is what he said. This is
Christ speaking to you and me. He says, bow down your ear. Don't
you love that? We have a haughty ear. We have
a haughty ear. We think we've been saved by
our doing, by our seeking, by our searching. He says, your
ear needs to come down. bow down your ear. And he says,
and hear the words of thee wise, and apply thine heart unto my
knowledge. That's what he said. He says,
this is life eternal, that they might know thee. He's speaking
to his Father. They might know the Father, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. How's that
going to happen? It's by Christ giving us the
knowledge of Him, teaching us who He is, what He's done, what
He's accomplished, and giving us faith to believe on Him. And
that's going to happen by Christ coming to where we are and Christ
entering in through the Holy Spirit as the Word is being preached. And when His presence enters
in, He sanctifies the whole place. He sanctifies the whole place.
And that's when He makes you to know what He's done for you,
that He's justified you and made you righteous. Now, I showed
you this in Isaiah 42 verse 1. Let's look at it again. I've
got to hurry. Isaiah 42 verse 1. He said there, when He's speaking
of Christ, I want to show you this again. He said, I put my
Spirit upon Him, He shall bring forth judgment. We're talking
about justification here. He said He's going to bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles. That's who me and you are. Now,
He's going to bring it to all of them. No, to many though,
to the elect. And He says, and the isles shall
wait for His law. His law is His word. That's His
gospel. That's what I'm doing now. What
does that mean? It means that Christ is going
to bring forth justice to God's elect by what He has done for
us. That's the first thing. That's
what we saw in the first hour. By His knowledge, He was made
sin. By His knowledge, He bore our
iniquities. By His knowledge, He was numbered with the transgressors.
By His knowledge, He bore our strife. By His knowledge, He
satisfied justice. By His blood, He justified His
people. He's going to do that. He shall
do that. And then we're going to wait for Him to bring His
Word to us and to justify us by applying it in our hearts. Now, Matthew 11, 27. Can I back
that up? Listen to this. Matthew 11, 27. He said here, Matthew 11, 27,
All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knows
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. How are you going to know the
Son and the Father then? He to whomsoever the Son will
reveal Him. Christ has to reveal Himself.
So first of all, each lost sheep shall know Christ. They're going
to all know Him. They're going to be known of
Him because Christ knows them that are His. By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify me. You see, we've got to still
look at the knowledge that's in Himself before we get to Him
giving us knowledge. Because it's His knowledge that's
going to bring us to know Him. The foundation of God stands
sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. He knows His people. He said,
I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known of mine.
And that's the order. He knows us first and then we
know Him. By that act of Him knowing us.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them. He does it through the
gospel. My sheep hear my voice. He said, in that day that I send
forth my preacher, you're going to know it's me that's speaking.
You're going to hear my voice. And He said, and I'm going to
know them And the result's going to be, they're going to follow
Me. They're going to believe Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they'll never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. He sat at the table one day,
and there was a whole bunch of disciples. And they all looked
faithful. They'd all served Him. They'd
all done things very faithfully. There was one there who served
even more than the others. He had to take care of the treasury. Judas, he served more than others. He was doing things that others
weren't doing. And yet Christ said this, I know
whom I have chosen. He said, I speak not of you all,
I know whom I have chosen. We can put on our garb, and we
can come to church, and we can do all the hoops, and jump through
all the hoops, say all the right words, say amen at the right
time, and shake our head no at the right time, and our head
yes at the right time. But Christ knows who are His.
He knows the heart. Now that's good for a believer,
because I don't know my heart, and I don't know if I'm His or
not. I'm glad He knows if I'm His. But you know, that makes
every believer truly say, is it me? That could be me. Is it me that's going to betray
you? You know, the only one there that didn't say that was the
betrayer. The only one who didn't think
that can't possibly be me was the betrayer. By His knowledge,
Christ knows where each one is. He knows where they are. Remember
one day He said, other sheep I have which are not of this
foal. He knew that. He knew that He had other sheep
that weren't in Israel. And He said, And them I must
bring also. And there will be one foal and
one shepherd. Another time He was praying to the Father and
He said, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on Me through their word. He knew there was going
to be some other sheep that believed on Him through His word. He knew
them. And he knew where they were. By Christ's knowledge,
he's able to send them a preacher because he came to do the will
of God. And the will of the Father is to please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. In fact, Christ Jesus,
I want you to hear this. Christ ministering the everlasting
covenant to his lost sheep through the means of preaching is as
much a part of the way that Christ is the mediator of the new covenant
as his work on the cross. That just made a lot of people
mad. That statement just made a lot of people mad. But it's
true. It's true. He's going to get
the glory. He said His pastors are going
to feed you with what? Knowledge and understanding. Who did He say in His words is
going to send Him? The same that He sent is the
one that us sent and He gave gifts to men. He sends them.
He gets the glory. And He gives the increase. He
fills all in all. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. That, here's the reason. Here's
why God deposits this glorious gospel into earthen clay pots
like us. and sends us forth preaching
the gospel. Here's why. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. That it won't be of the clay
pot and it won't be of you clay pots who are listening. And it
won't be of a clay pot who went out and tried to find God out
on his own. It's going to come by the excellency
of the power of God. That's why God saves through
clay pots preaching. That's why. Now listen to this. Now thanks be unto God, Paul
said. He said, I got nobody else to
thank. He causes us to triumph in Christ, making manifest the
savor of His knowledge by us in every place. God does it. God does it. In everything you
are enriched by Him. In all utterance and in all knowledge.
In all knowledge. Now it's Christ who teaches knowledge
when the gospel is preached to us. Christ said, The Lord God
hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? Are you
burdened down? Are you unsure of your salvation? Christ
brings us here to hear His gospel and He speaks His word into our
heart in a seasonable time, because He knows how to speak. That glory
is His as the resurrected mediator, the resurrected redeemer of His
people. And He shall accomplish this
work. God said to Christ that thou
mayest say to the prisoners, go forth, and to them that are
imprisoned, show yourselves. They shall feed in the waves
and their pasture shall be in all our places. Why? Because
God gave him the glory of being the shepherd. That's why. He
gave him the glory of being the shepherd. That's why. So He's
going to say to you that are in the prison of your sin and
depravity, that are in the darkness of your cell of prison and depravity,
He's going to be the one who gets the glory of saying, Come
forth! Show yourself! And only then
will you come to the light that your deeds may be manifest, that
you didn't do any of them, that He did all of them. Now let's
see some examples. Turn to Acts 8. What time did
we get started? I have no idea. I did not look
at the clock. Acts 8. Here is an Ethiopian eunuch.
He has gone up to Jerusalem. This man is going to find out
who the Lord is. So he does what everybody would
think. This man is going to find out
God. So he makes this long trip and
he goes to Jerusalem on the day of the feast, Passover. He goes
up there and he spends the whole week seeking God, searching God,
trying to find out God by himself. And God never revealed Himself
to him. Never did. And He didn't let
those false preachers reveal anything to Him. Because we're
begotten with the Word of Truth. Because His church is the ground
and pillar of the truth. He's going to say with the truth.
That's why. So here He is. He's on the backside of nowhere,
on a desert road, the old road that nobody ever went down anymore. Acts 8.26, And the angel of the
Lord, Christ himself, spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go
toward the south, and to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is a desert. And he arose and went. Behold,
a man of Ethiopia was there. Verse 28, He was returning from
Jerusalem, and he was sitting in his chariot, and he was reading
Isaiah the prophet. He was reading the same chapter
we're studying. And he had the Scriptures, you see. He was reading
the Word of God, but Christ still sent him a preacher, because
Christ does the Father's will, not his own. And it pleased God
to save through the foolishness of preaching. And then the Spirit
said unto Philip, verse 29, the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near
and join thyself to this chariot. You see, Philip's just a puppet.
He's a puppet. God's working him, God's moving
him, telling him what to do. Is he doing that today? He's
not doing it as audibly as he's doing today, right here, you
know, speaking like he did here, but he's showing us here exactly
how he's doing it today. Yes, he's doing it this way today.
And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet
Isaiah, and he said unto him, Understandest thou what thou
readest? And he said, the eunuch said, now don't forget this is
the inspired word of God. God the Holy Spirit records these
next words. It's what the man said, how can
I except some man should guide me? You know what the man just
did without knowing it? He just gave the glory to Christ.
Because Christ is the God-man that's going to guide his people. He said, I'll pray the Father,
He'll send the Spirit, He'll guide you in all truth. That's
his resurrection glory. And he's sending this preacher
to him now to preach the gospel, and through the gospel, Christ
is going to guide this man. Guide this man through his spirit
into truth. And he desired Philip that he
would come up and sit with him. Verse 34. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said... Look at verse 34. The eunuch
answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Of himself or some other man? And then Philip opened his
mouth, and he began at the same scripture, and he preached unto
him Jesus. See, he used the scripture. He's
going to use the Word of God, and he's going to use a clay
pot. And it's going to be the preaching of Jesus Christ. And
as they went on their way, they came into certain water, and
the eunuch said, See, here's water. What does hinder me to
be baptized? Philip said, If you believe with
all your heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He believed in his heart
and he confessed Christ with his mouth. He said, I believe
him. Why? Christ revealed himself. Christ
made himself known in this man's heart. And so Philip baptized
him. And then you know what happened?
Christ sent Philip to another lost sheep. Look at verse 39.
And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the
Lord caught away Philip. Sent him somewhere else. He had
another sheep for it. What about the Philippian jailer?
Here you got a man, he's in prison. I'm so... I've heard all my life,
you know, about this man on a deserted island. Oh, if there's a man
on a deserted island and he don't ever hear the gospel, as long
as he's elect, he'll be saved. As long as Christ died for him,
he'll be saved. Well, here's a Philippian jailer. He's in
jail. He's not in jail himself. He's working in the jail. He's
the jailer. And you know what God did? Christ,
in His wisdom, can He get a preacher to His people? Christ, in His
wisdom, used the rebellion of men who hated the gospel. They're
going to get Christ. They're going to show Christ
that they won't bow to Him. And so they throw Paul in prison,
right where Christ would have him to be. And at midnight he
sent an earthquake and opened the door for Philip to preach
the gospel to that jailer. And Christ gave him a heart to
believe and he gave many in his house a heart to believe because
Christ knew where they were. And it's by his knowledge that
they're going to be justified and call on him. What about in
Corinth? Look at Acts 18 and verse 9. And as I'm showing you this,
you think, is this giving the glory to Christ? Well, don't
you want Christ to have the glory? I do. Now look here. In Corinth,
the apostle Paul was thinking of leaving. Who's going to leave?
Acts 18, 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall sit on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city. I've got people in this
city. And he continued there a year
and six months teaching the Word of God among them. Why? They had the Scriptures. Why
did Paul have to be there? Because he was going to bow down
their ear. That's why. He was going to make
them come down in the dust and know it's his voice and know
it's his glory and his power. What about Lydia? Look back at
Acts 16, verse 6. Paul It says here, I'm not going
to read the whole thing, but look at there, he says they were
going to go to these other places, and he says, we were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Forbidden. He stopped them. He wouldn't
let them go there. And then in verse 10, he says, it says, no, look at verse 7. It says,
after they were going to go to Bithynia, and it says, but the
Spirit suffered them not. He wouldn't let them go there.
And then look at verse 10. They saw a vision, and it says,
and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to
go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us for to preach the gospel unto them. And he did. That's where
the Lord would have them to go. Prevent him to go two places
and said, here's where you're going. Does Christ know His sheep? Does He know the time that He
sent that they're going to be called out? Yeah, He does. By
His knowledge, we're going to be justified. Now watch this,
verse 14. And a certain woman, a certain
woman, an elect child, named Lydia, a seller of purple of
the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God. That word there, worshipped
God, means she went through, she had a form of religion. She
gathered there and said prayers and read Scripture and acted
like she was worshipping God. But look here, she heard us. She heard us preach. Whose heart
the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. She believed God. He knew her and she believed
him. My favorite one is this. Look at, well I'll just give
you this. My favorite one is this. Paul was arrested again
and he was carried to Rome. And Christ used the Roman guard. He used a threat. An assassination
attempt to make the Romans take their own Roman guard, foot the
bill, carry Paul on their shoulders all the way to Rome. And get
him there and put him in a hired house where Paul could preach
the gospel to anybody that wanted to come. Caesar did this. And they got
this man in prison now. Now Christ can't do his work
now. Paul wrote the Philippians from
jail and he said this, All the saints salute you, chiefly they
that are of Caesar's household. Christ called out some of Caesar's
own children because they were his sheep. He sent Paul there
for that reason. God doesn't lie in the Scriptures.
Over and over, God tells us that this is the means by which he
shall save in this gospel age. And to show us clearly, the only
people called out and saved in the New Testament in these last
days since Christ has arisen were called out this way. All
in the Scripture, that's the only way you see them called
out. He sent a preacher to them and preached the gospel. Because
the gospel in its means and in its message is offensive. Why do you think we don't have
ball games? And why do you... church ball
league? And why don't you... Why do you think we're not resorting
to all these tactics that men use? Why do you think we stand
here and preach the gospel of Christ? Why do you think when
men come up and say, well, what do you have to offer for the
children? Nothing. We got the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If Christ is not enough, then
we got nothing for you. We got the same thing for everybody.
The preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we do that? Why
do we bear watching men walk away and leave? Why did Paul
bear stripes on his back? Why did Paul bear being thrown
in prison? Why did Paul bear being shipwrecked
in the deep? Why did Paul bear men hating
him and rejecting him and scourging him? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
bear men spitting in his face and plucking out his beard and
splashing his back? Because he said, the Father sent
me to preach the Word. And I came to do my Father's
will. I don't speak my Word. I speak
His Word. And that's how God said. And
I'm following my Master. And that's how He's going to
say, or He ain't doing it. Period. Let's get some more personal
here. We've got time. By His knowledge,
we're created anew by the Holy Spirit. Christ reveals Himself
in our hearts. and we believe by Him. 1 Peter
1. Look there. 1 Peter 1. This tells
us why Christ was raised from the dead. One of the reasons.
It's not all the reasons, but this is one of the reasons. 1 Peter 1, verse 21. It says, Who? By Him. Let me read
verse 20. He verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. For you. For you. Now look at
the next. Who by Him do believe in God. You see how they believe? By
Him. By Him that raised Him up from the dead. God that raised
Him up from the dead and gave Him the glory. Why? That your
faith and hope might be in God. How's Him being raised from the
dead mean that my faith and hope are going to be in God? Look
down at verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. What is this incorruptible seed?
The Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all
flesh is grass. All the glory of man is like
the flower of the grass. It's going to wither and the
flower is going to fall away. But the word of the Lord endures
forever. Those born of God's holy word. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. And then he goes on to say, verse
2, I mean, chapter 2, verse 1, Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile... You know what guile does? Guile
doubts God's Word. God puts up objections. Guile
says, no, no, no, but, but, but. Lay aside all malice and all
guile and hypocrisies, hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings. And all of this is directed at
God, directed at Christ. Lay aside all of that directed
at Christ, and as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
Word. Feed on this gospel, and he's
saying, that you may grow thereby. if you really have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, if you really have been born of this
world. Now how did He make us born again by this gospel? Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, God, that's Christ, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, that's Christ, the Word was in
the beginning, the Word was with God, the Word spoke the Word
and created all things, all things were created by Him. He said,
He shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ revealed
God's glory in His own face to us in our hearts. And when He's
created us anew by His knowledge, the Old Testament tells us, He
said, in that day I'm going to pour out the spirit of grace
and supplications. I'm going to pour out the spirit
of grace in your heart and the spirit of supplication. I'm going
to make you to pray. I'm going to make you to really
pray. And they shall look then upon me whom they've pierced.
And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only
son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that's in bitterness
for his firstborn. When Christ does this work, you
know what happens? For the first time, you see how rotten you
really are. And for the first time you see
how beautiful and how wonderful He really is. And you begin to
mourn your sin with bitterness. And you begin to mourn for Him
as one that longs after his only firstborn son. And you had those
objections before. Every time this gospel would
be preached to you, you'd object and you'd hang on to your false
refuge and you'd cling to that which you had done, which you
could take glory in. Now, when He speaks this Word,
you know what the power of His Word does? It casts down your
imaginations. That's all it was. And every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. against His knowledge saving
you rather than your knowledge saving you. And He brings you
into captivity and every thought into captivity to the obedience
of Christ. This is what He does by His knowledge.
And for the first time you really begin to pray. You really begin
to pray. Paul prayed for the first time.
Paul had to be called directly by Christ. He was an apostle.
He had to be taught directly. He's the only one in the New
Testament you'll find that way. But Christ even sent Paul, a
preacher, he sure did, to tell him the good news. For the first time you'll pray,
and in that day there should be a fountain open for sin and
for uncleanness. That fountain is the blood of
Christ. Christ speaks, not audibly, He speaks through this Word,
through His Gospel. But He speaks, and you'll know,
He said, in that day you'll know it's I. And He speaks into the
heart, into the conscience, and He declares to us personally
in our hearts. My Father chose you, and I've
been your surety from the foundation of the world. And I bore your iniquities. I had all your sin imputed to
me. And I bore God's bruising for
you. And I bore the chastisement that you deserve. And I died
the death that you should have died. And now, instead of saying, depart
from me, you worker of iniquity, He says, bring forth the best
robe and put it on him. my righteousness, everlasting
life. And for the first time in your
heart, you really bow. And in accord of your conscience,
the Holy Spirit completely, thoroughly purges your conscience from dead
works. You know what's the greatest
feeling in the world? to not be saying I was saved contrary
to the Word of God, to not be looking at my will when God says
you're not going to be saved by your will, to not be trusting
my works when God says salvation is not of your works, to not
be trusting in my wisdom and my knowledge and my seeking when
God says to me He pleased God to save through the foolishness
of preaching, by His knowledge, by His power, by His grace. When
I have thoroughly brought to bow and all the objections are
taken away. And I'm in line with God. I'm
in line with Him. I'm bowing to Him. I trust Him.
And I can say, Lord, amen to everything you say. That's salvation. That's salvation. That's peace
with God. And that's when we've received
the free justification from Christ our righteousness. Purged from
dead works to serve the true and living God. You find yourself
extended and accepted of God, not for anything we've done,
not for anything we can be, not for anything we shall be, but
entirely, wholly through the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And we're happy for the first
time. Scripture says, blessed, happy is he whose transgression
is forgiven. whose sin is covered. Blessed,
happy is the man unto whom the Lord appeareth, not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile." No more objections,
no more hypocrisy, no more doubting God and saying, but, but, but. Paul said, yea, doubtless, I
count everything lost. All those things he trusted in,
I count it all lost. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of
Christ Jesus, righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know Him, Him, Him, Him, that I may know Him. Do you know Him
in the power of this work? Do you know Him in the power
of coming with the Gospel and saving you? Do you know Him in
this power? that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection,
this power He has through His resurrection, and the fellowship
of His sufferings. I'm not going to know what it's
like to have to stand with the Gospel and be stripped and wounded
and bleeding for the sake of the Gospel unless I truly believe
this is how God saves sinners. Until I believe that, I'll resort
to another tactic. and be made conformable unto
His death. He was conformed to God. Whatever
God was willing to do, that's what He was willing to do. And
this is not a one-time experience. It goes on and on and on. Here
in this Word, this is how we grow in grace and in peace. Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through
the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Paul said, it pleased God. He
called you, He saved you. It pleased God to save you through
the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
He called you by our gospel. And as that old man dies day
by day, look at Colossians 3. I got one more scripture, Colossians
3. I know I'm going long. I don't even know when we started.
Colossians 3. You know how we grow? The Scripture
tells us the old man dies daily. And you can see that, can't you?
You can see the old man getting wrinkled up and dying and decaying.
But it tells us our new man, our inward man, is renewed day
by day. How are we renewed day by day?
Colossians 3.10. It says there, you have put on
the new man. He's already been created. He's
already been born of God. You've already believed God. You've already put on the new
man. And he says, which is renewed in knowledge. That's how he's
renewed. Day by day in knowledge after
the image of him that originally created him. What's this justification? What does this mean? Let me give
you this. I'm done. An old writer said, you've heard
all the definitions of justification. He said, let me give you one.
Christ puts all our sins away and prepares for us a place in
glory. He removes all charges against
us who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. That's
number two. Number three, Christ ascends.
He takes possession of heaven for us as our forerunner. That's
justification. Number four, Christ appears before
God with a suitable sacrifice and an acceptable offering for
us. That's justification. He opens the way personally for
us to come into the holiness. That's justification. He presents
us in Himself faultless without sin. Number seven, Christ transacts
all business between us and God. Number eight, He ever lives to
make intercession, not just to pray, but to be there in presence,
in His presence before God, for us. That's justification. And He'll return for us and then
raise our bodies. That's justification. Oh, that
don't suit the theological slicers and dicers. But that's justification,
beginning and end. That's what it is. Sinner, what
can you possibly accomplish by refusing to believe God? What
can you accomplish? What eternal good can you possibly
gain for your soul by not repenting from your sin and bowing to the
Lord Jesus Christ? You're guilty of iniquities.
You need to be justified before God. And God says, only Christ
shall, by His knowledge, Justify many, for He has borne their
iniquity. Are you ashamed of Christ? If
you're not, why then don't you go perish then? Why perish if
you're not ashamed of it? He says for me to tell you this,
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from
his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die? I'm not preaching to hear myself
think, talk. I'm preaching because I earnestly
want to see God save somebody. I want to see him born, birth
to you again. I want to see Christ creating
you a new man. I want to see Christ formed in
you. I want to see Christ grant you repentance and faith. If
He does, you're not going to be able to resist the word of
faith and the confession with your mouth. You will confess
Him. You will believe Him in your heart. You'll follow Him
in believer's baptism. And I can tell you this, if He
draws you this way, you'll be saved. You shall be saved. Because
God my Father promises, by His knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
He's speaking in the future tense. We could say it like this. He
shall call them to see their justification, and He shall do
it by His knowledge, because He's my righteous servant, and
because He's borne their iniquities and put them all away, that's
the guarantee that He'll do it. He shall. Amen.