Alright brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter 35. Prophecy is misunderstood and
misused unless it's recognized that the history of Israel are
types and shadows wherein all the interventions of God foretell
the great intervention of God in Christ, in the person of Jesus
Christ. We've missed the point if we
miss Christ. We looked this morning in this
chapter. We noted how that when Israel
and Judah sinned against the Lord, by God's direct hand, they
fell into Babylonian captivity. They couldn't free themselves.
They couldn't bring themselves out of captivity. And that's
what happened in the garden. When Adam sinned, we went into
captivity with no way of freeing ourselves from that bondage. But when Israel was in captivity,
God had a people there. Isaiah began the letter by saying,
except God had reserved a remnant among us, we'd be like Sodom
and Gomorrah. But because he did have a remnant
among them, he didn't rain down fire and brimstone like he did
in Sodom and Gomorrah. He raised up a king and he brought
them out of bondage. And he said, as he promised,
there would be a highway. And they returned with rejoicing
design. That's what is spoken of directly in our text, but it
points to Christ. Let's read our text here, Isaiah
35a. And a highway shall be there,
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be
there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall
not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransomed
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads, and they shall obtain joy, and gladness,
and sorrow, and sighing, shall flee away." Christ is that highway. He is that highway, high and
lifted up, visible so that all can see. He was high and lifted
up in His conception. He is holy, for such a high priest
became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens. He was raised up like a mighty
highway is raised up above from the valleys and the plains. In the gospel that John preached,
and in the gospel we preach, he said, he was sent to declare,
behold your God. He's the highway. All flesh is
grass. And He came in the body of His
flesh. He did for His people what His
people couldn't do for themselves. And in that flesh, John was told
to say, Behold your God. He said, Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. Christ was lifted
up in the Gospel. He was lifted up when the Father
spoke from heaven and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye Him. Oh, why aren't we? Why aren't we concerned with
hearing Him? Why aren't we concerned with seeing Him? Why aren't we
concerned this day with pointing centers to Him? Why are we so
concerned with pointing centers to themselves? He was high lifted up on the
cross. He said, and if I be lifted up, I'll draw all unto Me. He
said, I must be lifted up. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but shall have
everlasting life. There's no life but in Christ. And there in that cross where
He's lifted up, we behold the glory of God. We behold God being
merciful and gracious. At the cross, on the cross, in
Christ is where you behold God being longsuffering. He didn't destroy the world because
of what Christ entered into suretyship to do from before the world began.
And He hasn't destroyed it yet because of what Christ has accomplished
on the cross in fulfilling that work. And He won't destroy it
until the very last one is brought into this highway. He won't. That's the long-suffering of
God. The heavens are held in store right now, all things,
by the Word of His power. And that's the Word of His everlasting
covenant between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. It's held in store by covenant Word. Long-suffering. You see Him there being abundant
in goodness and truth. Truth. You see mercy for thousands,
thousands. You see Him forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin right there on the cross. And you see
Him by no means clearing the guilty. No means clearing the
guilty. God won't clear the guilty. God will not sweep sin under
the rug. He's holy. and your sins got
to be dealt with. You got to die and I've got to
die. And either we're going to have
died in Adam and leave this world in Adam and suffer eternal condemnation
under the wrath of God ourselves and we'll never satisfy that
wrath. We will suffer it forever and ever and ever. Or we've died
in Christ and He bore that wrath that punishment that was due
to us on our behalf and God's holy and just to forgive us.
That's where we see it. He was raised up on high when
God the Father raised him from the dead. Which of the angels
did he say to, sit here at my right hand till I make thine
enemies thy footstool? God is satisfied. The Father
is satisfied with His Son. And He's only satisfied with
those who are satisfied with His Son. Those who are called by the Spirit
of God, lame and made to walk, blind and made to see, those
whose very bodies are just of dry, barren, desert land in whom
He creates a water of life springing up. Everything we just sang in
that song came right out of this chapter, you know that? That's right. Everyone that's been called by
Him has been made to behold this highway. And they've been called
into this highway. And they've been made to see
that God the Father made them the way of holiness when He put
them in Christ before the world began. Christ made them the way
of holiness when He purged them of all iniquity and in the body
of His flesh perfected them forever. And they were washed to be brought
into this union with God to behold this is how it is. He is all
righteousness and all sanctification. He's all my redemption. He bought
me and delivered me from captivity. And now His saints are in the
way. They're in this highway and they're
headed to heaven's Zion. They are Zion. They are Zion. And they've come to Mount Zion,
heavenly Zion, into the presence of holy God Having boldness to
enter by that new and living way which He's consecrated for
us, that is His flesh. Not our flesh, His flesh. And
we can enter because we've been washed with pure water. And we
can enter. We've had our conscience purged
and we can enter. Right now, nothing else to be
done. We can enter. We can enter. And if you step
to the left or to the right out of this way, you've gone back
and conformed to the world. You're trying to. And I'm talking about trying
to earn some kind of perfection in the flesh by works of this
flesh is awful, awful, awful sin against God. That's getting
completely out of Christ's way. Completely out of Him. So we're
traveling this way. Is there anybody here today that's
seen this glory? Have you seen this highway? You
know what happens when we see this highway? He said, the lofty
looks of men should be humbled And the haughtiness of men shall
be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
It's easy to tell if a man's seen this highway, and if he's
declaring this highway, and those that are following are on this
highway, listen to who they exalt. Just listen. You know, it doesn't
take long to hear it. Doesn't take long to hear it.
At that day shall a man look to his Maker. That's where we
look. His eyes shall have respect to
the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer, the Holy One. That's who we see.
And we enter this way. And we're on this way. And right
now we've got boldness and access through Him. And we're on the
way. We're on our way. And that's
where this way will end with Him. But don't you feel now,
believer, let me ask you this, you brethren sitting here, do
you feel like you often would turn out of this way? Do you
feel like that you are prone to turn from this way? Fearful that you would come out
of this way? Err in this way? This is what
I want you to see. This is our first point. Christ
is the way made plain by Christ Himself. Look at the second half
of verse 8. But it shall be for those the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. Christ
is the way made plain by Christ himself. The travelers in this
highway, they don't have any strength in themselves. All we
contributed to this whole equation was being carried away captive
into Babylon because of our rebellion against God who is the way. That's what we have to add to
this. That's all we can boast in in this. We've been called
out. We've been sought out. We're
a city not forsaken. We've been made the holy people
by God who's holy. And so we're travelers, and we're
sojourners in the world, and we've got no power in ourselves
to keep ourselves in the way. We can't glory in keeping ourselves
in the way. We're so prone to vanity, so
wholly set on vanity that it doesn't take but just Just a
little something that make our eyes light up and we're headed
right out of the way. But for God keeping us. But the
word here is, He Himself is by them in the way. That's what
the translation is. He Himself is in the way with
them. Traveling in the way with them.
Every believer has the privilege, the glorious good news of knowing
Christ is in the way. He is the way. We saw that in
our first hour. He is the way. And the way of
holiness are called into it. Into Him the way. But He's in
the way with us. He walks the way with us. And
He keeps us in this way. If He didn't, we'd perish. Look
over to Exodus 33. Exodus chapter 33. He said, I'm going to make a way
for you. in that day. And he was talking to them about
bringing them out of Babylon. And he said, there's going to
be a highway like it was when I brought you out of Egypt. Everything
in the history of Israel is showing us what God did in Christ. And look what, when they brought
them out of Egypt, and they walked through the wilderness, and they
were preparing to go forward, look at what Moses said, Exodus
33 verse 14. He said, My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest. That's what the Lord said
to Moses. And Moses said unto him, If thy
presence go not with me, with us, carry us not up hence. For
wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found
grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken. My presence will go with you.
And he led them by a pillar of fire by night and by a cloud
by day. And the glory upon them was the
very defense of them. You see, a Pharisee is a name
which properly means the separate ones. But a Pharisee separates
himself. Just ask Him. What's your hope? Well, I gave my heart to Jesus. I did Jesus a favor. I separated
myself by what I did. I separated myself by something
that I did for my little, impotent, helpless Jesus. Because He's
just like me. He's helpless and He's impotent
to do anything unless I let Him. That's not the Jesus of this
Bible. The Jesus of this Bible is God. Behold your God. Behold your God. Where were you
when He created the heavens and the earth? Where were you when
He spoke heaven and earth into existence? Where were you when
He said let there be light and there was light? Where were you
when He said let there be a firmament and the expanse of everything
was held up by His power? Where will you be if He says
let there not be a firmament? You know the only thing holding
our little nasty rear to this ground is God's power of His
firmament. He says let it go When He who
is the Lawgiver says, let gravity cease, you'll be cast out in
the outer darkness. So where were we and who are
we? But this Jesus separates His
people. This God, this Savior comes in
power and He separates His people Himself and He goes in the way
with them and keeps them separate, keeps them in Himself. We see
the grace and the kindness of our Savior when we consider how
He walked through this earth and what He did in this earth.
Look over at Matthew chapter 15. Remember the multitude? This was a multitude who didn't
even believe on Him, brethren. Now if He did this for a multitude
that didn't believe on Him, think of what He does for those that
He came and paid their debt. He said this, Jesus called his
disciples unto him and he said, I have compassion on the multitude
because they continue with me now three days and have nothing
to eat. And I will not send them away
fasting lest they faint in the way. And you know what he did? He fed them. He prepared a table
for them right there in their presence without any help from
anybody. And they ate and there was plenty
left over. You know what he's doing for
his people right now in the way? He's going to provide a table
for his people in the wilderness. He's going to do it in such a
way that we recognize he did this. That's right. What else
did he do? Look at Mark 10. Mark 10. Mark 10, verse 32. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem. That's where we're going. We're
in the way right now. In Christ's way. And called there
by His grace. Separated by His power. And we're
going there. We're headed to... We're marching
to Zion. We're headed to Jerusalem. Not
an earthly place. To Heaven's glory. That's where
we're headed. And as they were going that way,
look at what happened. Jesus went before them. They
were just following Him. That's what we're doing. And
they were amazed. And as they followed, they were
afraid. And He took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen unto Him. Does
He still do that? Does He still teach His people?
Does He still instruct us in the way and calm our fears and
calm our fearful hearts? Do you hear him speaking? This
is his word. This is his speaking. Do you
hear him speaking? This is what he does. He goes
in the way. And though we're foolish and
prone to err, we won't err in this way. We won't leave it. We won't forsake it. He's going
to keep us. Look at us. Remember Blind Bartimaeus? Look at Mark 10.52. There. We're right there. Mark 10.52. Let me tell you, they were going
along this whole multitude following him, and blind Bartimaeus heard
it. He just heard them going in the way. If you're sitting
here today and blind, need to seek Christ, you want to seek
Christ, do you hear? We're all going in the way right
now. We're all going past you in the way right now. Do you
hear us? Walking past you, following him in the way as we head to
Jerusalem? The blind barter made us heard,
and he said, Who is this? And they said, It's Jesus of
Nazareth. And he began to call on him, and they tried to stop
him. They tried to hush him, and he said he cried louder and
he cried louder. And Christ stopped. He stopped
for this cry of this man. He'll stop for the cry of his
people in the way. And he stopped for the cry of
this man. Verse 51, he said, What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And the blind man said unto him,
that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received
his sight. And did he take off another way?
And followed Jesus in the way. He got right behind him with
the rest of them and took off to Zion. Took off to Jerusalem. Oh, that's what he's doing. He's
calling others to join him. Does he still do this? Well he
went to the cross and he laid down his life on Calvary and
he went into a grave. Does he still do this? Look at
Luke 24. Luke 24. He came out of that
grave. He came out of that grave and
there was some walking along. And they were so, so doubting
and so fearful. And He said this, verse 19, Luke
24, 19, He said unto them, What things are you men talking about? And they said unto Him, Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed in word
before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified
Him. But we trusted that it had been
He which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished when
they were early at the sepulchre, and when they found not his body,
they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women
had said, but him they did not see. Then he said unto them,
This is him sitting there, O fools, and slow of heart to believe,
all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory? You see, though fools,
though doubting, though astonished and amazed and so prone to falter,
He comes to us in the way. And He says, and He comforts
us, and it says, verse 27, Beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them and all the Scriptures and things concerning
Himself. And they drew nigh unto the village
where they went, and He made us He made as though he would
have gone further, but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward the evening, and the day is far spent. And he
went in to tarry with them. And look down at verse 32. And
they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us
while he talked with us by the way? While he walked in the way
with us and talked with us, while he opened to us the Scriptures.
And they rose up the same hour and went to Jerusalem and began
to tell others, Guess what? He is alive. He is alive. He's still doing this today.
He's still doing this today. Do you remember what we saw back
in Isaiah 30? Look back there. Isaiah 30, verse
19. This is for His namesake. You
see, if one falters, if one turns out of the way for whom he died,
his Father's name is at stake. His Father's name is at stake.
This is why he'll do it. Verse 19, For the people shall
dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more. He will
be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he
shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more. But thou
and I shall see thy teachers, and thou and I shall hear a word
behind thee, saying, This is the way. Walk ye in it when you
turn to the right hand, or when you turn to the left. Do you
believe God? Then believe Him. Let's just
believe Him. This is what He's saying. Let's
just believe Him. You know, we'd be embarrassed and wouldn't honestly
come forth with a lot of our sin to others. We wouldn't say
it. We just wouldn't go around blatantly
telling others our sin. Be embarrassed to do it. Why
then will we just bend another's ear with all our murmuring and
complaining and worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow? And I'm talking to me. You can
ask Melinda. I'm talking to me. Why? Why? That's worse sin than ever. We don't seem to mind everybody
knowing that. Just murmuring, murmuring, murmuring. This is
what he says he'll do. I'll go with you in the way.
And though you're weak and helpless and powerless, I'll not let you
turn out of the way. I'll not let you go. I'll keep
you in this way. We believe God. Let's believe
Him. Let's just believe Him. Believe Him. He restoreth my
soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for His namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest
a table in the wilderness, right in front of all my enemies. This
is what he says. Well, here's the second thing
we see. He's the safe way. Look at verse
4. He said, say to them that are
of a fearful heart, be strong and fear not. Behold, your God
will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense, He'll
come and save you. But do you find yourself fearful? Do you find yourself fearful
of inward enemies? Fearful of snares of Satan? Fearful
of those who would accuse you? Fearful of temptations in this
world? Do you find yourself saying,
sometimes, I can't help but be fearful. I can't help but be
fearful. But the Lord says, still, fear
not. Fear not. Why? Here's why. Verse 9. No lion shall be there,
nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be
found there, but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there.
The devil is described as a roaring lion. going about seeking whom
he may devour. He's the accuser of the brethren.
Men, men, religious men are described as ravenous beasts, ravenous
beasts. Paul said in Galatians, be careful
that you not bite and devour one another. He's describing
that beastly characteristic of religion. Always wanting to We're
always wanting to bite somebody back into obedience. Snap them
back into obedience through the jaws of like a wolf. You know, religion at its height,
at its zenith in the world for all to see, did that to the Lord. Did that to the Lord. Turn with
me over to Psalm 22, verse 13. They disciplined this one. for coming and speaking like
he did, for communing with sinners. And this is why no ravenous beast
is going to hurt in all this mountain, brethren. Verse 13,
they gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring
lion. I'm poured out like water, and
all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it's melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Thou hast brought
me into the dust of death, for dogs have come past me. The assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me, they've pierced my hands and
my feet. Now, mind you, these are those who the Lord said,
except your righteousness exceed their righteousness, you can't
enter into the kingdom of God. These are those that were so
concerned about the holiness and concerned that men would
follow after holiness, that as soon as they got through doing
this to Him, they got Him down off the cross so they could observe
a holy day and not pollute the Sabbath. This is their discipline. This is what men do to you and
to me, brethren, when they try to discipline people by their
power and by their yoke. Just what they did to Christ
right here in the heart. It's death. It's death. Why won't they be allowed to
do it to the Lord's people? Because what Christ did and what
our gospel is, they can't stand to come to this mountain. They
can't stand to join with His people. How can two walk together
unless they be in agreement? And they won't stay in the mountain.
Why? Because we don't declare man,
we declare Christ. And man hates that. The ravening
beast, the dog, the circumcision that would cut and devour you
by their teeth. Hate that message. But here's
why they won't come up. I tell all my bones, they look
and stare upon me. They part my garments among them.
They cast lots among my vesture. But be not thou far from me,
O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul
from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me
from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns
of the unicorns. And here's this glorious song
that he puts in the lips of his people. I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him, fear him, all ye
the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid
his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. My
praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay
my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be
satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek him. Your heart shall live forever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord.
On all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee, for
the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the
nations." God satisfied God, and He heard his cry. And He
declared His glory, and He declared His justice, and He, this holy,
harmless, undefiled One, has made His people holy, harmless,
and undefiled. And He declares, He goes from
sorrow to singing, and He declares, this is the song that I'm going
to declare in the hearts of my people, and put on their lips,
and give them hearts to rejoice in, is that I'm the governor
and the king. I know the feeling of their infirmities.
I know what it's like when the ravenous beast comes upon them.
I know what it's like when they come past about with strong bulls
of Bashan. And I will sucker them in the
day of my power. You know, when the Lord came
to... Was it Ananias He came to? And
He told him to go to Saul of Tarsus, you know? He said, we've
heard of him. And we're afraid to go to Him. But when He went to Him, you
know what He found there? He found a lion turned into a
lamb. That's what He found there. A lion turned into a lamb. That's
what He does. He tames His people by the power
of His grace. And He gives us this heart. And
He keeps us in this way so that we can't be turned back by the
railings and the carrying on of men that would turn us to
the flesh and turn us away. Paul was fearful of this then
to the Corinthian brethren. He was fearful that, he said,
I'm so fearful that you're going to be beguiled, that you're going
to be contrite for looking to Christ only. Like as Eve was
beguiled in the garden from trusting God just by questioning. Just by questioning. Listen to this, brethren. These beasts may disturb us by
divine permission. Satan and the world and these
temptations and these trials, they may disturb us by God's
permission for a little while. But they disturb us for this
one reason. To teach us to resist steadfast in the faith. Well, Clay, tell me what that
means. To resist steadfast in the faith. What does that mean?
You ever see a little child that wanders out under the porch light
out of the back door from their father? If the father flips that
light off, you ever see them just run back as fast as they
can and hug up to their daddy? That's resisting steadfast in
the faith. running as fast as you can to
Christ and just jumping into His arms and holding on down. I used to go to customers' houses
in a job I had and I would sometimes pull up and they'd have big,
mean dogs. I mean big bulldogs or whatever,
you know, rottweilers. And some of them, they'd have
signs, Beware Dog, Beware Dog, Beware Dog. And you'd try to
get out, and it wasn't a joke. The dogs, they would get you.
But the owner would come out of there, and the owner would
say to you, stand right here close next to me, and we'll walk
to the door, and they won't touch you. And you walk right beside
that owner, and follow right along with him, and that dog
might sniff of you a little bit, but he wouldn't touch you. Just
walk right along beside you. The devil is God's devil. He
says, you walk by Me. You stay close to Me. And He
won't hurt you. He won't hurt you. And we'll
go through the way. We'll come. I'll bring you home
with Me. Christ is the happy way. He's
the happy way. This is why we're so happy. Look, verse 10. The ransomed
of the Lord shall return, and they'll come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads. in the Psalms, we find
the Song of Degrees. And these were the songs that
they would sing as they were going up to Zion, as they were
going up to earthly Zion, to the festivals to worship the
Lord. As they were headed to that place
where God's presence was, they would sing these songs along
the way. Listen to these. I'm going to read you a few of
these. First Song of Degrees, Psalm 120, verse 1. I love this. Listen. Here's the first one.
In my distress, I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me. How
about let's sing that next time we're fearful and we're on our
way right now, and we're going to where God's presence is, and
we have God walking with us, and He says He won't let us turn
out of the way, and He says, now here's a song for you to
sing. In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.
Look at Psalm 121, verse 1. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, for whence cometh my help? My help cometh from
the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He'll not suffer thy foot
to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. That's a good song to sing. Look at the third one,
Psalm 122, verse 1. I was glad when they said unto
me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand
within thy gates, O Jerusalem. I like this one, Psalm 125. They
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth
even forever. You see, He's given us beauty
for ashes. They used to put ashes on the
head. He said here, You're going to come with songs of everlasting
joy upon your head. He's given us beauty for ashes. He's given us the oil of joy
for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness.
And we're headed there to Zion. Let's march along and let's sing. We've got a lot to sing about,
don't we? Brother Scott Richardson used
to say, there hasn't been any bad news since I heard the good
news. I'm learning. Somebody asked
me, how are things going? I'm learning to say, I've got
way, way more to rejoice in than I do to complain about. Way more. Oh, a merry heart will carry
us along a long way. But you know, a heart that's
burdened with sorrow and just, it'll weight us down. We repeat
it so much, we believe it. You know, and it will weigh us
down. It will weigh us down. Well, here's the fourth thing,
and I'll be brief. Christ is the sure way that leads
to a sure end. It's a terrible thing to be on
a road and not know where the road's going. You know, just
to be lost and you don't have any idea where that road's going
to stop, where it's going to end up. Well, this one, we know
where it's going. Look here now, verse 10. I want
you to do something with me first. Look here. Verse 8. Let's go
back up here. Verse 5. Verse 5. The eyes of
the blind shall be opened. There's 1. The ears of the deaf
shall be unstopped. There's 2. Then shall the lame
walk and leap as a heart. There's 3. The tongue of the
dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams
of the desert. There's 4. And the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.
There's five. In the habitation of dragons,
where each slay, shall be grass, which we won't even count that
one. That was added by the translator. We won't count that one. And
highways shall be there. There's six. And a way. And it
shall be called the way of holiness. There's... I've lost count. Six
or seven. The unclean shall not pass over
it. There's another one. But it shall
be for those The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. There's another one. No lion
shall be there. There's another shall. Nor any
ravenous beast shall go up therein. Thereon. It shall not be found
there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransom of
the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. Now here's the last one. This
is where it's coming to. You see all those shalls? When
God who created the heaven and earth says He shall, That means
He shall, and you will, me and you will, we'll enjoy, we'll
just enjoy what He shall do. And here's the last one. They
shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away. We don't have a continuing city
right here. He gives us little tastes of this every so often.
You know, Paul said, I've been in the deep a day and a night.
You know, the Hebrews, the Jews, they counted a day as being the
evening to the next evening. It was an evening and a day.
We count it from the morning to the evening as being one day.
They counted the evening to the morning. And God gave it to them
that way. In the first chapter of Genesis,
we see the evening and the morning were the first day. There's a
good picture there. With God, when darkness comes,
light is going to follow. With us, we like to start out
in the light and we always end up in the dark. But this is another
good thing. When darkness comes, you know
what we do at the end of the day? You know what we do when
darkness comes? We rest. And you know what we usually
do when we are in the face of the deep? We rest. That's when we actually trust
Him. Because He sweetly forced us
to have nothing else but to trust Him. And you know what follows? Light. After that you suffered
a while, God of all comfort will establish, settle you, comfort
you. And brethren, we don't have a
permanent city here. But we're coming to one. He's
given us a little foretaste of it. A little foretaste of it.
A little foretaste of it. But we're coming to a city whose
builder and maker is God that will never end. And then, then
it will be always day. Always day. And he's gone there and that's
the assurance we'll go there. Have you seen him? Have you seen
this way? Have you seen the highway? I know I've got one more little
story for you. I was walking through a walking
through the woods at a friend's house one day, out by what's
called the Natchez Trace. It runs up through the south,
you know, and it ran right close to my friend's house. I didn't
know it ran there by itself. And I was out walking through
the woods one day, just these little dim trails and things
and, you know, and all of a sudden I came out of that forest and
opened my eyes and looked through there and there was this giant,
giant highway. and I walked out there onto the
highway and right where I walked out onto the highway if you remind
me I'll try to show you some pictures of it sometime it crossed
over highway 96 right there and people used to it's so high people
used to bungee jump off of it it's high it is high but on that
highway it's just a straight clip right across it because
you're on the highway when Christ brings you to himself, he'll
behold the highway. And those that are low will be
brought up, and those that are high will be brought down, and
that which is crooked will be made straight, and you will be
on the way. Have you seen that highway? Have
you seen Him? Join in with His people. Commit
to His work. Confess Him in baptism, and commit
to the furtherance of His holy name in this place, so that like
Like that blind man along the way, you'll be called out into
the way. And brethren, you and I who are
in the way, walking in this way, oh, let's lift up the hands that
hang down and make straight paths for our feet. Be strong and fear
not. This is our God, and this is
what He said to us. After everything He's done for
us, you think He's going to let us go now? No, a thousand times
no. They shall obtain joy, and gladness,
and sorrow, and sighing shall flee away. Amen.