Alright, our scripture will be
Isaiah 50 and verses 1 through 11. I've titled this, Taught by the Prophet. Taught by the Prophet. Now this
is Christ describing us and describing Himself. And He's teaching His
people how to follow Him in the way, in the manner in which He
followed the Father. This is what He's teaching us. This is Christ describing us,
and He's describing Himself, and He's teaching us to follow
Him as He followed the Father. Now, remember back in Isaiah
49, in verse 14, but Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me. The
Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. This
was while as yet she was surrounded by Babylon. Zion is the whole
congregation, the whole Jerusalem, the whole made up of the children
of the Jews. And they had been taken to Babylonian
captivity because they sinned against God and He turned them
over to Babylon. And He told them all that He
was going to do in sending forth the deliverer. And we saw Christ
all through Isaiah 49. and how Christ was going to come.
He's going to set His people free and deliver us and bring
us into glory with Him. Teach His people and save us.
But they said, Zion has said, the Lord hath forsaken me. And
what she was saying is, the Lord's to blame for me being in this
bondage. The Lord's to blame for me being
here. Now, we're going to begin here
with our first point. Since I've read this to you already,
I want you to just go with me verse by verse through this.
This is the first thing we see. Our separation from the Lord
is our own fault, not the Lord's fault. Verse 1, Thus saith the
Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I
have put away? The law said if a man divorced
his wife, he was required to give her a piece of paper, and
it was stating that he had officially divorced her, that he was leaving
her, and it was to state the reason why he was leaving her.
The Lord says, can you produce such a paper? Can you produce
that? Do you have something like that?
It's not I that am to blame for you being in bondage. for you
being put away. That's what he's saying to them.
And in verse 1 again he says, Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I've sold you? When a man was in debt, he got
in debt, he could sell, he hadn't paid his bills, he could sell
his children into servitude to his creditors to work off his
debt. To work off his debt. The Lord
God doesn't owe anybody anything. He doesn't have any creditors
And so why had his people come into this bondage then? He said,
I didn't give you a bill of divorce, but I haven't forsaken you. And
he said, and I haven't sold you into the hand of my creditors
because I couldn't pay my debts. There's no debts he owed, and
he's paid the debt of his people. So then why were they in this
bondage? Verse one, behold, for your iniquities
have you sold yourselves. And for your transgressions is
your mother put away. Do you see that? For your iniquities
have you sold yourselves. For your transgressions is your
mother put away. Folks will be walking directly
contrary to the revealed will of God, to what he's taught us
in his scriptures. walking directly contrary to
it. And when they become separated or they come into some sort of
bondage or some sort of trials and some being lonesome and cut
off, they'll say, God is sovereign. It's His will that I'm here where
I'm at now. And that's what Zion was saying.
We've been cut off by God. He's cut us off. He's forsaken
us. He's brought us into this. Well, God is sovereign. And God
had brought them to the place they were in. But the reason
they were where they were was not because of God. It was because
of their own sin. Because their sin. God doesn't
randomly forsake anybody. Never. He never does. Our sins separate us from God. Look at Isaiah 59. Look over
here at verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy that it
cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He
will not hear." God didn't forsake Adam. God didn't forsake Adam. Adam first forsook God, and then
He became separated because of His sin. And the whole human
race became separated because of His sin. Do you see that?
Do you see what I'm saying? Israel here, God hadn't forsaken
Israel. Israel, He sent them their, His
prophets. Here's Isaiah, sent to them to
preach the gospel to them. He sent prophet after prophet
to them. But they wouldn't hearken to the prophets He sent to them.
They turned away from Him to the works of their own hands.
They forsook God. And so then they ended up in
this bondage they were in, in Babylon. God turned them over
to this captivity in Babylon. In the days when our Lord Jesus
first came, God hadn't forsaken Israel. Israel first forsook
God, and therefore they were separated under slavery to Rome. It was their sins and not trusting
God that earned them the separation they were in. You know, when
I'm talking to my children, a lot of times, if they get into a
fuss about something, and I go to Will, and I say, Will, tell
me what the problem is. Nine times out of 10, the first
word out of his mouth is Emma. And then he'll tell me what happened.
And if I go to Emma and ask her what the problem is, nine times
out of 10, the first word out of her mouth is Will. And then
she'll tell me what Will did. So you see, where do we get that
from? Where did that come from? You know Genesis 3.11. It says,
the Lord said, Adam, who told thee thou was naked? And this
is what the Lord asked him, has thou, has thou eaten of the tree
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? He's
just talking to Adam about this. And he asked him, have you eaten
of the tree I commanded you not to eat? And the man said, first
words out of his mouth, the woman, the woman, and not only that,
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree. And I can almost picture him
sitting under his breath, and I did eat. God's grace makes His child stop
playing the blame game. God's grace makes His child stop
trying to blame God and blame others and blame everybody else
whenever God speaks in our hearts and He says, Behold, for your
iniquities have you sold yourself. For your transgression is your
mother put away. That's when we'll confess to
God that we've not obeyed Him. That's when we'll truly be brought
to confess to God our sins are our own. They're not somebody
else's. We get talking about depravity. We get talking about
we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And we kind
of get to act like there's safety in numbers. Well, we're just
all a bunch of sinners. Ain't nobody going to stand between
you and God on the Day of Judgment but you and God. It's going to
be between you and Him. We're going to have to either
have a substitute, an advocate stand in our room instead and
meet God for us or we're going to have to medium ourselves.
And when we medium ourselves, if we do, it's not going to be
blaming anybody else. It's going to be our sin that
separated us from God. Now here's the second thing we
see. Our not believing on Christ. Our own not believing on Christ.
Uniting with His people in the cause of the gospel. It's not
Christ's fault. It's our fault. It's our fault.
Verse 2, Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? I know that's
a question mark. I said those italicized words
are added. And I do believe that it should
just be wherefore, referring back to verse 1. Wherefore, when
I came, no man. When I called, there was none
to answer. God came to the world. God came
into the world. God the Son, Christ Jesus, the
Word came unto His own, and He called. He preached the Word. But John says He was in the world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. And
He came unto His own. Now listen to this, He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not. Now be careful, you
listen closely to this. They had his word. They had the
oracles of God. He came to Israel first. Peter stood up in Acts 3 and
he said, unto you first hath the gospel come. They had the
privilege of it coming to them first. And he said they had his
word. They had the word. They had the
word of God. This word of God described his
coming. This word of God described how
he would come. They had scriptures just like
this one we're reading right here today. They had the word
of God describing exactly what he would go about doing as he
came. And as he went about doing it, it was just like he was just
checking off the things that he was sent to do. He was doing
everything he was sent to do. They had the word of God that
said it. And they claimed to believe on Him. Did you realize
that? They claimed to believe on Him.
They really did. Before He came, they claimed
they believed Him. Didn't they? They claimed they
believed God. He's God, isn't He? Isn't He
God? They claimed they believed Him.
What happened? When He came and they saw Him,
they didn't know Him. When He came and He began to
call them, they heard Him preach the Gospel. They heard Him declare
the truth. They heard His apostles preach
the Gospel. They heard those He sent preach
the Gospel. None answered Him. They didn't come to Him. Why?
Why is it that men will read the Scriptures, they'll read
the writings of faithful men from the past, they'll claim
they believe, they'll claim they are waiting for the Lord to bring
the Gospel near to them? And they can tell you all the
letter of true doctrine. In the letter, they can tell
you exactly. They can tell you the gospel, plain as day. Why
is it then, when He does send the gospel, and it does come
near to them, why is it that they don't recognize it? Or they
question and question and question themselves right out of believing,
right out of listening, right out of hearing. Or when finally
they have the opportunity that they can join together and there's
nothing hindering them. It's close enough they can be
there. Why don't they answer that call? They won't unite themselves.
They're not willing to suffer for His namesake. They're not
willing to get themselves under any commitment whatsoever when
they have the opportunity to do so. Why is that? Why don't
they do that? Why didn't those to whom Christ
came, why didn't they do it? Why didn't they do it? They had
the Word. They searched the Scriptures.
They were religious. They claimed to believe Him.
But when He came, they didn't know Him. When He came, they
wouldn't hear Him. Why wouldn't they? You see back there that
word wherefore? It refers back to verse one.
You look back at verse one for your iniquities. You sold yourselves
for your transgression as your mother put away. Wherefore, when
I came, there was no man. And when I called, was there
none to answer. This is the condemnation. Light
is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light, neither comes to the light lest his deeds should
be reproved. This Word's the light. Christ
is the light. This Gospel's the light. He came
to declare the light. So men who had the oracles of
God, men who said they believed on Him, men who said they were
waiting on Him, They wanted to unite with Him when He came and
wanted to follow Him and wanted to worship Him and was waiting
on His deliverance. Why then didn't they join themselves
with Him when He came? Because their darkness and their
evil deeds was their religious darkness. It was their righteousnesses. They didn't join with Him because
they saved themselves without God. That's why. Everybody that rejected
the Lord Jesus Christ rejected him because they thought they
were saved and that they were saved another way. That's why. Another way from him, another
way other than what he preached and what he taught when he came.
Why did they need Christ? Why did they need his apostles?
Why did they need his preachers? They believed they were saved
some other way. Why would they need him? They
were coming to God another way, so why did they need Thee way?
And why did they need the means He ordained if they were saved
by some other means? Isn't that the problem? That's
the problem, isn't it? What causes men to separate?
What causes men to go away backwards? What causes men to turn away
when the Gospel has come? When Christ, the very Word of
God, came in human flesh, what caused men to reject Him? One
thing. They believed they were saved
some other way. Another way. But, here's the third thing.
Our sin and unbelief, it doesn't hinder Christ from regenerating
and from calling His own to faith in Him. It never has stopped
Him at all. It never hinders Him a bit. Look
at verse 2. Is my hand shortened at all that
it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Look over at Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Look at verse 3. What if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid. Yea, let it let God be true,
but every man a liar as it is written that thou mightest be
judgest in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged
He said is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem.
I or have I no power to deliver? Your sins have separated you.
Your transgressions have separated you. Therefore, wherefore, when
I came, there was nobody to answer. When I came to my own, called,
preached the gospel, nobody returned the call. Nobody cried out to
me for mercy. Nobody said, have mercy on me.
But does that mean that his hand is shortened, that he can't save?
Does that mean that he's been hindered in some way and unable
to save the people he was sent to save? Somebody might argue
from that verse there where he said this, what if some do not
believe? Does that make the faith of God
without effect? Is His faithfulness hindered in any way? And somebody
might say, oh yeah, if they're God's elect, He'll save them
whether they ever believe in this life or they don't. No. I'll tell you the truth. If they're
His, God will cross their path with the Gospel and quicken them
to newness of life and they shall believe. That's the truth. Look at Romans 8, 29. Look at
Romans 8.29. For whom He did forego, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
That's who we're talking about here. Look over at Romans chapter
9. If some don't believe, here's
why they don't believe. Look at verse 6. It's not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect. It's not as though
the word of God's non-effectual, for they're not all Israel which
are of Israel. He didn't come to save all Israel.
And the same is true of the Gentiles. Look over, since we've sinned,
look over at verse 15. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God to sheweth mercy.
That's why not everybody believes. He's not trying to save everybody.
God's not trying to save. If He was, everybody would believe.
They would. Do you know who we're talking
about here? Look back at our text. Do you know who we're talking
about here? We're talking about God. We're talking about God
our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. Unstoppable sovereign God is
who we're talking about. Look at verse 2. He said, Behold,
at my rebuke I drive up the sea. You know He made this whole earth
a sea one time? He spoke and made this whole
earth a sea one time. And when he got finished in his
judgment, you know what he did? He spoke a word and dried it
up. Dried the whole thing up. He brought Israel out of Egypt,
brought them right to the Red Sea. And he divided that Red
Sea, and they went across on dry ground, and then he drowned
Pharaoh and his army in that sea. Didn't look like he was
trying to save Pharaoh and his army, did it? He wasn't. But
he saved who he was trying to save, who he was sent to save. Verse 2 says, I'll make the rivers
of wilderness, their fish stinketh, because there's no water, and
dieth for thirst. He turned the Nile River in Egypt
and all the waters in Egypt, even the waters that were in
wooden containers and stone containers, He turned all their water into
blood in judgment because they wouldn't heed His gospel. That's
what He did. And then he brought his children
to the river Jordan, and he said, hold up the ark, that picture
of Christ. Hold that up. The priest, just
hold it up. And the people stand back, and
you just look at that ark. You just keep your eye on that
ark, he said. And as they did it, he dried
up the Jordan. And they went across on dry ground,
following that ark, right across on dry ground. That's a picture
of Christ. That's what He does. This is
who we're talking about. Look at verse 3. I clothe the
heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. In
Exodus 10.21, the Lord told Moses, He says, Stretch out thy hand
toward heaven. That was with that rod that we've
been looking at, that Moses had. He says, Stretch out your hand
toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of
Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. That's thick darkness. And it says, And Moses stretched
forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness
in all the land of Egypt for three days. They saw not one
another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings. This is who we're talking about.
Look at Isaiah 46.9. Isaiah 46.9. I'm so sick of listening
to little nobodies try to tell me how God saves and how everything
they know about God when it don't agree with who God is. It don't
even remotely resemble the God of this Bible and how He saved.
Look at who He is. Isaiah 46.9. He says, remember
the former things of old, for I'm God and there is none else.
I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. I'll do whatever pleases me.
Whatsoever thing has pleased me, that's what I'm going to
do, the Lord said. calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country."
He called him. Cyrus came in there and he saved
his people just like he said he would. He called Christ. Christ
came in from a far country and saved his people like he said
he would. He says, Yeah, I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass.
I've purposed it. I will also do it. That's who
we're talking about. That's who this one is. That's
exactly who he is. So here's the fourth thing. When
he calls his own, he shall call all his own. He will call because
the glory in bringing his redeemed to believe the gospel goes to
the prophet Christ Jesus. He's the prophet, and the glory
goes to Him for doing it. God has given Him that glory. Look at verse 4. This is Christ
speaking. He says, 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. That's spoken of Christ. Christ has the tongue of the
learned. to speak to the weary in season. Next is what He does to His people
who are weary when He speaks to them. He says, He wakeneth
morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as the learned. That's what happens. That's first
part is Christ speaking of it, and the second part is Isaiah
saying, this is what He's doing for me. He wakes me morning by
morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as to learn. That's what Christ does for His
people. Look over here, let me see here where it's at. Look
at chapter 28. Look at verse 19. He's talking about once he's
laid judgment to the line and he begins to sweep away the refuse
of lies, whenever that gospel begins to go forth, listen to
what he says. Isaiah 28, 19, from the time
that it goeth forth, it shall take you For morning by morning
shall it pass over, by day and by night, and it shall be a vexation
only to understand the report." And if you read in the margin,
it says, it shall be a vexation to make you to understand doctrine. Doctrine. When you understand
this gospel that it goes forth. It'll be a vexation. It's going
to come to you and it's going to make you to understand that
you haven't believed on Him. It's going to make us see we
haven't called on Him. But now, who gets the glory for doing
this? Why do you keep on saying that
God calls His people through the gospel, that Christ does
this? I say it to you because the ascension glory of our Redeemer,
the ascension glory given to Him, our Redeemer, is to be head
of His church. That's His glory. He's the head
of the church. He's king. Anybody going to deny
He's the king? He's the high priest who entered
into the holiest of holies and made atonement for His people,
perfecting forever His people. Well, He is also the prophet. That's what this scripture is
telling us. He's telling us this. He's the
prophet. He's the preacher. The shepherd
over all His under-shepherds. There's not a council of Presbyterians
somewhere that call bishops. He's the one who calls his people. Look over at, well, I'll just
read this to you, but you know this is from Isaiah. He said,
the Spirit of the Lord's upon me because He's anointing me
to preach the gospel to the poor. to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. This is the acceptable year of
the Lord. Did you know that? This is the day of grace, right
here. One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. This is the
day of grace. He said in Isaiah 49, in an acceptable
time, the Father said, Have I heard you? And He raised Him up and
gave Him for a covenant of the people to deliver the people.
That He might restore the desolate heritages. That He might say
to the prisoners, come out, show yourselves. To them that are
in darkness, show yourselves. This is Christ's glory to do
this. This is the day of grace. This
is the gospel age. Now, after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. He gave them this word. If you read in Jeremiah, it's
so clear that he's talking about how he gave this word to to Israel,
and gave them time to search these scriptures, and gave them
time to get all established, and gave them time to look into
it and everything, and they didn't cast themselves on Christ. They
could not make themselves believe the Word of God. They could not,
by searching, find out God. They just couldn't. They couldn't
do it. And it says, and that was all in God's wisdom that
He allowed that to happen. Because after that, in the wisdom
of God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Look at Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. I'm working on a message I intend
to preach on something dealing with this here very soon. And
I'm going to try to deal with it as as widely and as far as I can
deal with it and show you. But look here, Hebrews 1.1, God
who at sundry times and in diverse manners, different manners, spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke in
all different kinds of manners in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets. He even used the prophets then.
But He did speak in different ways to them. But He hath in
these last days... That's the day we're in. This
is the day of grace. This is now. This is the gospel
age. Since Christ has ascended to the throne. Since the day
of Pentecost. It's where it started. He says
in these last days He's spoken to us by His Son. By His Son. And He says here, whom he appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being
the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power." Everything's
by the word. He's the word. And he upholds
all things by the word. And when he by himself purged
our sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
He did. Now, we started out hearing from
Him. He came forth and He began saying,
now, the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, and the
fullness of time in these last days God spoke by His Son. His
Son came and His Son said, now, here's the Gospel. Look over
at Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2, 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? See,
he didn't only speak by Christ, then Christ ascended to the Father
and he preached by his apostles. He preached by them. He told
Paul was an apostle called directly by Christ. That's what it was
required to be an apostle. And he told Timothy, these things
that you've heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit
thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. And our Lord prayed this. He
said, I don't pray for these alone. He was talking about those
he was sending into the world. He said, I don't pray for them
alone. but I also pray for them which shall believe on me through
their word." Through them preaching the gospel. He said, I gave them
the word, you gave me to preach. And he said, and I pray for them
that they're going to preach too, that they would believe
the word too, that shall believe through their word. And he told
his ambassador, how is he going to give the word if he's not
here? How is he speaking if he's not here? He's God. He's God. This is the power that men in
our age are denying. He's God. He's working as real
from his throne in glory as he did when he walked this earth.
He's God. He told his apostles, he said,
when they drag you before the synagogues and they drag you
before prisons and they take you before kings and before rulers
for my sake, He said, you don't have to worry about what you're
going to speak when you go before Him. He said, just get that settled
in your heart. He said, I will give you a mouth of wisdom. I will. Which all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. Anytime you're brought
into those questions and questions and questions and questions.
How does He know how to give a word of wisdom like that? Well,
He is the word of wisdom. He is the word. He is the wisdom. But also, He had time and time
again men who believed they were saved another way coming up and
just question, question, question. They came up with the most outlandish
scenarios that would never even come to pass. You would be amazed
at some of the junk I have had men ask me about trying to prove
they were saved in some other way other than this gospel. But how does he know how to give
you, his preachers, a word to speak when they're confronted
with such questions and put on the spot like this and dragged
before kings and all that? Because he's done it. He's suffered
it. He's been through it. He knows. And he's able to do
it. There in glorified human nature,
all power, in glorified, he had all power in heaven and earth
as God the Son, but now in glorified human nature as the God-man,
all power in heaven and earth is given to him. This was the
very thing he said and the very assurance he gave to his apostles
when he said, now you go forth and you preach my word. You teach
them everything I've told you. And he said, and I, lo, I will
be with you always. That's right. He sends his apostles
and his pastors and teachers and he draws his people to hear. He does both of them. Look at
Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Look at verse 8. Wherefore he
said when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive You
remember what we saw and I said 49 last week shall the lawful
captive be delivered That's what I said 49 is talking about how
the lawful captive was delivered He delivered him by laying down
his life and when he led captivity captive after he did he gave
gifts unto men Look down at verse verse Verse 11 he gave some apostles
He gave some prophets. He gave some evangelists. He
gave some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ. Do we all come in the unity of
the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect manner,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that
we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about
with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking
the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body is fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according
to the effectual working and the measure of every part. He
makes the increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love." He's getting the glory. He does it all. He sends His
pastors, He draws His people, He quickens His own by the Holy
Spirit, through the Holy Spirit. He ministers to His people thereby
from the head because it pleased God to do so. Why? Why did it
please God to do so? If there is anybody here right
now that is offended that God saves through His gospel, and
that's the only way God saves is through the preaching of His
gospel, because they feel like they were saved some other way,
and it makes them upset that to hear this, that's why He did
it. That's exactly why He did it. To stain the pride of vain
men. That's exactly why He did it.
That's exactly why. Read 1 Corinthians 1. That's
exactly why he did it. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. I'm going to preach on this,
but I'm going to give you some homework between now and then. In the
New Testament, since the Lord ascended to the Father, because
this is his ascension and glory. You go through the New Testament,
find me one man, just one, that was saved any other way than
the preaching of the gospel. Find me one. Find me one. These are the days we're living
in, right? And these are the days since
Christ has ascended that we're living. This is the day of his
gospel, the day of grace right here. If we're going to find
out how he saved sinners in our day, we're going to have to look
at the book. I know men will say, well, I wasn't saved that
way. Well, we're going to have to take your experience. We're
going to have to lay it down here beside the book. We're going
to see what the book says. And if your experience don't
line up with the book, we're going to have to go with the book.
I know men are going to say, well, now there's going to be
a lot of folks, past old preachers, that said, I'll tell you, they
were saved other ways. We're going to have to take all
the old preachers. We're going to have to bring them right here to this
book. Everything they said, we're going to have to look at it,
and we're going to have to put them side by side. And whatever this book says,
if what they said don't line up with this book, we're going
to have to throw what they said away. Oh, there's going to be multitudes
now that you're leaving out of this thing. They're going to
be lost because they believe they were saved by a lie. They don't
believe they were saved by the truth, and they don't believe
they were saved by the gospel. We're going to take all the multitudes. We're going to have to bring
them right here to this book right here, lay them right beside this book.
And if the multitudes don't agree with God's Word, we're going
to have to discard the multitudes. That's offensive, isn't it? God
saves in His way, and He don't save any other way, and that's
the truth. That's the truth. Find me one
man. You say, I was saved by reading
the scriptures. So was the Ethiopian eunuch. God drew him. God gave
him a heart. God was using those scriptures.
He'd been up to Jerusalem. He'd gone back and he's reading
those scriptures. And God sent him a preacher. That's right. Come up with all
the outlandish scenarios you want to come up with. Here's
the facts. God don't save by accident. God saves on purpose. He orders the steps of his people.
He turns the king's heart with us wherever he will. He brings
his people under the sound of the gospel. He's crossed our
path. You say, well, I don't believe
that. I can't believe that. Well, maybe today you'll start
believing if you don't. Cross the path and I'm telling
you the truth. These men have gone and said,
let's look at Acts 3. Acts 3. Men have gone and said,
I want the truth. I want the truth. I want the truth. I don't
ever join myself with them because they don't say the truth. Go
on and on and on talking about, I want the truth. Finally get
somebody to tell you the truth and say, here's the Word of God.
This is what the Word of God said. And you say, well, I don't
believe that. Well, then you don't really want
the truth. Alright, Acts 3.18. Here's Peter.
He's standing up preaching. Watch what he said. Acts 3.18.
Now the Lord did this. Read what he read. Later you
go back and read what he preached on the day of Pentecost. He said,
this that you see and hear Christ has done this. He's poured this
out. He's doing this. And He said,
therefore, that all the house of Israel know assuredly, He's
Lord and He's Christ. He's the prophet, priest, and
king of His people. He's doing this. And He saved 3,000 that
day by it. Well, here He's going to save
5,000. But here's what happened, Peter stood up preaching, verse
18, he says, those things which God before had showed by the
mouth of all his prophets. Amazing how God uses these weak
based nobodies from nowhere, these people called prophets,
but he always did. He said, but he used, and he
showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer
and he is so fulfilled, everything that was written. Now he says,
repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted
out. Now watch this, when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord. Do you see that? He's talking
about while he's preaching. The time of refreshing, that
time of renewing, that time of regenerating comes from the presence
of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you. Christ preached before unto
them. They heard him. And he says,
And repent therefore, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which
before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things. If you look up
all things in the scripture, it's always talking about God's
people. He's talking about his elect. He's choosing the foolish
things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. He's
talking about his people, the foolish things. He has to be
in heaven to the restitution. We were robbed, we were spoiled,
and he's going to make full restitution by giving every one of his elect
the riches of the gospel. And so he's gonna remain in heaven
until he's the times of the restitution of all things. We just read it
in Ephesians 4, till we all come into the fullness of the stature
of Christ, till all his sheep be called in. And he says, which
God has spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world
began. He's told this, for Moses truly said unto the fathers,
a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren. That's who we're talking about, Christ the prophet. That's
who Christ is saying He is in our text. He's the prophet. You might be thinking, well,
now that prophet's already, he's already come and spoken the word
of the gospel and gone to glory now and is with the father. So,
how are these people going to hear the words of that prophet?
Peter's saying it. He's declaring the words of that
prophet right now. He's preaching it to them. And
that's how they're going to hear it. Yea, and all the prophets
from Samuel and those that follow after, as many have spoken, have
likewise foretold of these days. After those days, he said through
Jeremiah, I'll give you pastors after my own heart that'll feed
you with knowledge and understanding. And you'll no more say the Ark
of the Covenant, because the old covenant's done away with
absolutely completely. Everything about the law that
was given on Mount Sinai is gone. Read Hebrews 8, that which is
old waxes away, is ready to vanish. He made a new covenant. That
new covenant, he's the mediator of it. Christ is. And he's the
substance of it. Now look at this, watch now.
You're all the children of the prophets and of the covenant
which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first,
God hath raised up his son Jesus. Now he's talking about he's raised
him up from the dead. He raised him up from the dead
and sent him to bless you. How did he send Christ to bless
them when Christ already ascended to the Father? He's already gone.
He sent Peter. Peter's there lifting up his
voice together with the voice, with Christ's voice. That's what all his preachers
are doing when they're preaching. The voice of Christ Jesus is
preaching Him to turn every one of you from your iniquities,
from your inequities. And Christ called 5,000 that
day. Now back in our text, go back there in our text. Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50. He says, I'm running out of time here.
Let me just read this to you real quick. The Lord God given
me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak
a word in season to him that's weary. If you're weary from Satan's
assaults, he's able to teach you. He's been there. If you're
weary from slander and backbiting, he endured it. He's able to teach
you. If you're weary from the death of a loved one, he endured
it and he can teach you. If you're weary from being persecuted
by your own family, by your own loved ones, He endured that.
He can teach you. Weary from being betrayed by
a friend? He endured that. He can teach you. Weary of your
sin? He knows it. He bore our sins,
put them away. Weary as death approaches? He's
been there. He can teach you. See, He's got
the mouth to learn. He knows how to speak a word
in season to him that's weary because He's been touched with
the feelings of all our weariness. He knows it. Now look at this
next thing. Lastly, Now has He opened your
ear through this Word, through His Gospel? Has Christ shown
us, He's going to show us here next by example what He did when
the Lord God opened His ear, when He opened Christ's ear.
Let's hear Him and let's follow Him. Here's what He said. He's
using Himself now as the example of what He did when the Father
opened His ear. Verse 5, The Lord God hath opened
mine ear. Like that willing bondservant,
that's who Christ was. He came down to serve for His
people when the Father opened His ear. Now, will you come down?
Will you come down at His word? Will you come down from saying,
no, I saved another way? I guarantee it starts with I.
If anybody was saved another way, I bet it starts with I.
I, I, I, I. Come down from that and serve
for His people. That's what He did. Look at verse
5. And I was not rebellious, neither turned away my back.
He was faithful to His Father that called Him. Will you be
rebellious? Will you turn away your back?
Verse 6, He said, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and spitting. He was sent to bear the cross.
He was sent to suffer for God, to declare God just and the justifier.
And He was sent to bear the sin of His brethren, to bring all
of His elect to God. Now He calls us to take up our
cross and to follow Him. He calls us to suffer with Him,
and it will mean suffering. But will you suffer with Him?
Will you? That's what He's saying. When
He called me, I went to the cross. Now will you follow Him? Look
at verse 7. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He's
near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who's mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who's he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old
as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. He trusted the Father
to justify Him after He had borne the sins of His people, made
sin for His people and borne the wrath of God. He trusted
the Father to justify Him, to raise Him from the dead. And
three days later, the Father justified Him in the Spirit and
raised Him from the dead. And He knew. He said, when God
called me, the reason I went to the cross is because I was
not confounded. I knew He would raise me. I knew
He would justify me. Well, will you trust Him that
He's justified you? Will you trust that He's put
your sin away? That He'll protect you as you confess Him and bear
witness of His name in this earth? Some wouldn't. Some was afraid
they'd get kicked out of the synagogue if they did. Are you
afraid you'll get kicked out of your denomination if you do?
You will. You will. But you have to if
you're going to follow Him. Everything the Father did for
Christ as He trusted the Father while He bore the sins of His
people and satisfied justice, Christ is now doing for all those
who trust Him and glorify His name before men. That's exactly
right. That's what Paul said in Romans
8.31. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not with him? with Him, by Him, freely
give us all things. And the next word is, who's going
to lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies them. Who's going to condemn us? Christ
that died, that's risen, that makes intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nobody. We're more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. We're not going to
be ashamed. My face is set like a flint.
I'm as sure of this word as I'm standing here. I'll either stand
with you on the day of judgment and say, they believed, they
trusted this gospel. I'll stand against you on the
day of judgment and say I tried to tell them. One of the two.
That's so. But here's Christ's application.
Now go down here, here's what he speaks to two kinds of people
now that's going to hear this. There's always two kinds of people
to hear this word. Here's what he said, to those
whose ear he's opened by this gospel, this is what he said,
verse 10, who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth
the voice of his servant, that servant he sent to preach this
message, that walketh in darkness and has no light. You know who
that is that will say, that's me? That's a saved man. That's a saved man who will say,
I'm in darkness and I don't have any light. Let him, this is the
word, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his
God. Cast your care on him and don't
move an inch from him. Alright? To those who think they
have saved themselves some other way, this is what he says, verse
11. Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves
about with sparks. This is his word to you. Go on
and walk in the light of your fire. Go on and walk in it. And men will. Men are going to
do exactly what they want to do. The man God saves is going
to be made willing in the day of his power, and he'll be willing
to say, Lord, I can't see. And we don't ever stop saying.
We constantly say, Lord, give me light, give me light, give
me light. This man, he's confident. He don't need the gospel. He's
saved another way. And he says, go walk in the light of your
fire and the sparks that you've kindled. This shall you have
of mine hand. Who's judgment committed to?
Christ. He says, this you'll have of
my hand. You'll lie down in sorrow. Now everybody under the sound
of my voice falls into one of those two categories. Those who
say they see apart from Christ and his gospel going to go on
in the sparks they've kindled. That's what he came to that day. They said, we see. Are we blind
also? And he said, if you would say
you were blind, you would have no sin. But he said, now you
say you see, so your sin remains. It's called a hard heart. It's
called a stiff neck. It's called butting, butting,
butting, butting your way to hell. But, but, but, but. You realize when men stand there
that day and say, but didn't we do many wonderful works? Didn't
we cast out devils in your name? While they're saying that, the
Lord will say, depart from me ye that worketh. ETH, present
tense continual, continuing. You that right now are standing
here in what you're saying, working iniquity. Depart from me. We don't save ourselves at all. At all. At all. He does it. And it's His glory alone to do
it. And those who confess they're blind and in darkness, to whom
He's taught, they're going to hearken to the voice of His servant,
and they're going to trust Him, and they're going to stay on
their God. Now, here's what I'm going to say to you. Hearken. Trust in the name of the Lord,
and stay upon your God. And I pray that Christ the prophet
make it effectual now. Amen.