In Isaiah, towards the end of
the 8th chapter there, in verses 19 and 20, Isaiah delivers the
prophecy of God's wrath and judgment against apostate Israel. And he foretells of false prophets
who would come speaking with a double mind. teaching sinners
to seek God, but at the same time, instructing them to look
to their dead sinful flesh and to false prophets. The Lord says,
if they don't speak according to His Word, there is no light
in them. And then in verses 21 and 22,
He foretells of the result. Famine, rebellion, blasphemy
throughout the land. looking upward and cursing God
and looking to the earth where they behold only trouble and
darkness, dimness, darkness of anguish. And the Lord says, and
they shall be driven to darkness. And then in Isaiah 9.1, we read,
nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation. when at the first he lightly
afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and
afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the
sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations. The people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell
in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined. Now, in those days when the Lord
moved enemy nations to afflict Zebulun and Naphtali, In Galilee
of the Gentiles, we read this in 2 Chronicles 15.3, For a long
season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching
priest, and without law. And then it said in verse 5,
And in those times there was no peace to him that went out,
nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all
the inhabitants of the country. Nevertheless, the Lord promises
that the dimness that's coming shall not be such as during that
affliction. For in the dark days to come,
the Lord that forms the light and creates darkness promises
a great blessing upon his elect throughout all the nations of
the earth." Now this is the prophecy of the great blessing brought
by Christ through the truth of the gospel. That's exactly what
Matthew tells us that this prophecy in Isaiah declares. Look over
there with me, Matthew chapter 4. We saw last time how that Christ,
in making speed to the spoils to save his people, he hastened
Satan and his army to go after the bait. which he was, and to
be trapped on the cross, which was the snare. And by that, by
his personal work, he broke the yoke. He bound the strong man.
But that work's got to be done in those that he redeemed at
Calvary. And that's what we're dealing
with here. Matthew 4.12. Now when Jesus had heard that John
was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth,
he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast,
in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtalem, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtalem, by the way of the sea, beyond
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness
saw great light, and to them which sat in the region in shadow
of death light is sprung up. Now listen, from that time, Jesus
began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Matthew shows us a little bit
here of what the power of Christ works effectually in those in
whom he teaches the truth. He makes them leave everything
and follow him. Look, chapter 4, verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew
his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers
and he saith unto them follow me and I'll make you fishers
of men and they straightway right then left that which had Prior
to this been their life. They left it and that which they
thought was their life, they left it. And they followed him. And going on from thence, he
saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And he called them. And immediately
they left the ship and their father and followed him. This
is what he does through the preaching of the Gospel. teaches in the
heart. This is what happens when he
does it. And then we see something of his power and spirit and truth
in what he does when he testifies of this gospel in our heart there
in verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom. healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease
among the people. That's what He does through this
gospel. He heals. He makes His people completely
whole. And then Christ continues to
teach His disciples to us here today from Heaven's Mount Zion. And we see that typified here
in Matthew 5.1. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the
mountain And when he was set, his disciples came unto him,
and he opened his mouth and taught them." Now, our text in Isaiah
declares that's what Christ did here in Matthew. And it's just
as much a reality in our day and our time right now where
we are. as it was when He walked this earth in person and taught
and wrought those results and those to whom He taught. Just
as much a reality right now. Now, the title of the message
this morning is, The Lord Shall Perform This. If you'll look
there at the last sentence in verse 7, The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this. Now let's see what He will perform.
First of all, through the Word of the Gospel, Christ the Light
comes to those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 9-2, the people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the
land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Here we have the Gospel in a
verse. We walked in darkness in the shadow of death. When
you walk in darkness, you can't see. But it says here, those
that walked in darkness have seen. Christ, the great light of our
salvation, revealed himself in us. All men, without exception,
by nature, walk in darkness. The Jews didn't know Christ.
The Scriptures declare Christ throughout their Scriptures that
they have. Throughout the law and the prophets,
they all set him forth. All the history is the history
of him. Everything recorded throughout
the book is of Christ. Everything God has done since
the dawn of creation has been to glorify his son. And they
had this. They had all these advantages.
They knew the scriptures and they knew the power of God in
the same way men learn doctrine. In the same way men can argue
theological arguments. and regurgitate the word of truth.
It's truth that they say, and they can say it, and they have
it memorized, and they know it backwards and forwards, and can
argue it, yet have never experienced the power of God which causes
sinners to know Christ. There's a difference in heaven
and hell in knowing the Scriptures and the doctrine. in the manner
that the Jews knew it, and in knowing Christ of the doctrine
and of the Scriptures. And when the Lord came to them,
He answered and said unto them, You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,
nor the power of God." They didn't know the Scriptures. They didn't
know the power of God. Nicodemus is an illustration.
We see that in John 3. John 3. Here's a case in point. John
3.1. There was a man of the Pharisees,
just like he knew these scriptures inside and out. Had them on his
garments. Could quote them to you. But
he didn't know the scriptures. He didn't know the power of God.
His name was Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews. He
was a master in Israel. He was a teacher, a leader of
the people, religion and religion. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, and when Lord says, verily, verily, listen, He says, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? He's not only religious,
but he's a smart aleck. And Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel? and knowest not these things?
Again, verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen. And ye receive not our witness.
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall
ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And every Gentile is
just like Nicodemus. We walk in the same darkness.
Men do not know Christ the light by coming to the five points
of Calvinism any more than they know the darkness of their hearts
by memorizing the Ten Commandments. Just don't have it. The light
is not obtained because you were raised by believing parents or
grandparents. The light does not come because
you sat in church all your life and was a good student of the
word. It don't come because of that.
This light comes in power by the divine revelation that God
is. The power. The power. The power of God. which triumphantly
broke the yoke of sin and of death and of hell, which held
his people in captivity. That power by which he broke
that yoke on Calvary's tree is the same power it will take for
him to exercise in those he redeemed, in their hearts, before they
will ever behold him, rather than just a dead doctrine. And He does this, He victoriously
brings each one to forsake every vain confidence and to put all
their hope in the Lord our righteousness. The work our Lord performed on
the cross and the work He performs in the heart of His people are
so vitally necessary that unless He performs this work in power
in the heart, we will never trust Christ who hung upon the cross
at Calvary. Never. Never. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not, but as many as received
him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God. To them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And this light that he creates is the opposite of the death
and darkness that we are by nature. opposite of it. He said, for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. You were sometimes darkness,
but now are you light in the Lord. He said, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We went to bed last night. We
had a nice, good fire going in the fireplace. I got up kind
of early this morning and went in and began to kind of sift
around in the coals and the ashes. and there was still some embers
in there, still warm, and I began to sift around in there a little
bit, and I put a few pieces of wood up there on the hearth,
and I began to take the blower and just blow on those coals
a little bit, and that flame kind of sparked up, and the flame
took the wood, and it went back to burning again. We don't have
that. We don't have anything remotely
resembling that. There's not a spark or an ember
that just needs to be fanned a little bit. We need life and
we don't have it. Just like the dry bones that
Ezekiel prophesied to were nothing but dust. Nothing. He has to
give life. Well, secondly, this is how God
multiplies His holy nation. Look at verse 3, Isaiah 9, 3.
Thou hast multiplied the nation. and not increase the joy. This
work of God multiplied God's holy nation. The Lord purged
the nation of Israel, that physical nation, and there was a great
casting off of those who were rebellious and hard-hearted.
So much so that it appeared as if the Lord was decreasing the
nation of Israel. But that could never be. That
could never be. Instead, it was the day when
the Lord opened the door to His elect Gentiles and actually increased
His holy nation. If you look at Isaiah 26.15,
it says there, Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast
increased the nation. Thou art glorified. Thou hast
removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. In Zechariah we
read, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord, and many
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be
my people. And I will dwell in the midst
of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent
me unto thee. Likewise every time that Christ
works this work of power and truth in the heart of one of
his elect He multiplies his holy nation every name of God's elect
every Person every name of God's elect were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life Which was slain before the foundation of the
world his that book was written And there's no no new names added
to that book and no names taken from that book. That's not what
I'm talking about All God's elect were blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he had
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. But because he
predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ unto
himself, he works all things to bring the gospel to those
elect. And through that gospel, when
he gives them spiritual life and brings them to faith in Christ,
That's one more chosen, redeemed saint closer to having every
name that's in that book called into the kingdom. And he increases
his holy nation every time. That's what Peter said. You are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In Colossians, Paul said, We
give thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, fit,
perfect, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.
But notice something here. When the Lord multiplies his
nation, he does not increase the joy. does not increase the
joy. In the affliction that was pronounced
here that Isaiah is delivering, in the affliction when it came
to pass, the righteous judgment of God was upon Israel. And he
revealed to his elect that their physical nation, Israel, was
completely turned over to spiritual blindness and hardness of heart. And it was a time of much sorrow
for the descendants of Abraham, for the sons of Abraham. Paul
said, I have great sorrow for my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. Yet it was a time when God bestowed his greatest blessing
of grace upon his elect. It was a time when Christ first
appeared, and it was the beginning of the gospel age that we live
in today. And he revealed to the Gentile
brethren that they had a whole host of brethren among the Jew
brethren, that they had a whole host of brethren among the Gentiles
that they didn't even know they had. Spiritually, that's what
the Lord does whenever he works his power and grace in a sinner.
He doesn't increase the joy at first, but he causes great sorrow,
great sorrow. He makes those things in which
we place great confidence to appear to us as what they are,
great darkness. Before He covers us in the spotless
robe of righteousness, He strips us of our self-made fig leaves. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. But it had to be. It had to be
in order for Christ to turn him to Himself that he might be married
to another. He had to behold that he's dead
to that law. He found no life there. The self-attained
wisdom that we walked in, it has to be made utter darkness
to us. Like Paul. Remember we saw he
was on the road to Damascus? And he could see, and he thought
he knew what religion looked like. He thought he knew what
worshiping God looked like. He saw it going on with the priest
in their robes. He saw it going on in the zeal
of people that he associated with. He saw it all around him.
He knew what religion looked like. He knew what it looked
like to go to the temple three times a day and pray. But God
had to blind him. of his physical sight, that He
might give him spiritual sight. He had to blind him from what
religion looked like, that he might be able to behold Christ
alone. And that's when the Lord said
for the first time, He prays. He's praying now. He's praying
now. Well, thirdly though, when He
does this, Christ gives us great joy. He gives us great joy. Look there in Isaiah 9, verse
3. They joy before thee according
to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide
the spoil. When we have Christ the light
given to us. I don't want to get into a theological
splitting of hairs and when each aspect of grace takes place.
I honestly can't tell you when it does. But I know this, I know
that Christ the light is so absolutely beautiful in the eyes of a needy,
desperate, destitute sinner. One he's made that way. That
his becoming light to us is the granting of repentance and the
gift of faith. Because when we behold Him, we
cannot do anything else but let everything else go and trust
Him. When the light shines, the darkness
ceases. Christ the light is indescribably
better than the lie that we once called sweet, so much so that
we joyfully renounce the darkness that we wrestled and struggled
and strived to convince ourselves was really light. It marks the
beginning of our gospel age for the newborn believer. We walk
from that day forward, not under the yoke of sin and of the oppressor,
no longer laboring to twist the pure doctrine of God so we can
hold on to some religious experience, but when He removes the tormenting
fear of death by revealing Himself, we happily drop everything and
we take His hand forevermore. When I was living in Arkansas
in the summer, in August, or well, in time to plant even,
in the spring, it's hot already. Hot, hot. And you go out there
and you plow and you're breaking up the ground and you're doing
all that work and you're sweating. And it's just, it's hot. Just hot. And it's hard work.
A lot of work. But then when that harvest comes
in, You go down there to grandma's
table, and she's got corn fixed about three different ways, purple
hull peas, and cornbread, and tomatoes right off the vine,
and cucumbers, and okra cooked about three different ways, and
potatoes, and oh man, it's just a feast spread out there. And
you sit underneath that cool air conditioner, and you just
can't get a plate big enough to pass it all around and get
some of it. And that's a joyful time. That's
a joy. That's what he said here. He
said, He said, they joy as they do according to the joy in harvest.
The sorrow is the planting time, when He's breaking up the ground,
when He's baking the soil good to receive the seed. That's the
sorrowful time. But this harvest time, when the
fruit comes forth of faith and repentance and we behold Him,
that's the joyful time. It's a sorrowful time when You
take your loved one to the airport and you have to watch them fly
off to go to war. And the battle's raging and you're
worried about them, but when they come home, that's the great
joy. He says, when they divide the
spoils of victory. A joy, great joy then. Well, fourthly, when Christ declares
himself in truth and in spirit, in the heart that He sets free
in perfect liberty. He makes us to know that we are
free indeed. Free indeed. Look, verse 4, This
is why they joy, for thou hast broken the yoke of his burden,
and the staff of his shoulder, and the rod of his oppressor,
as in the day of Midian. When Christ applies the gospel,
he breaks the yoke of liars and their lies, and he frees the
believer from the dominion of sin. Listen to this. By one man's offense, death reigns. The king reigns. One who has
sovereign control. By one man's disobedience, death
reigned. Sin hath reigned unto death. But listen to the gospel of the
broken yoke. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign. Take dominion through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Because we know this,
that our old man is crucified with Him. That the body of death,
the sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve
sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. When's the last time you saw
somebody in the graveyard sinning? They're free from it. Are you that dead? If you're
in Christ, you're that dead. The body of sin is dead. You're
dead. And he says, if we be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath
no more dominion over Him. He can't die. Can He die? Well then you can't die. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Now
he died unto sin and he lives unto God. Where is he right now?
He's with God. Where is he right now? He's at
the right hand of the Father. Where is he right now? He's alive.
The God-man, Christ Jesus our Lord is alive and living unto
God. Now where are you? If you're
in Him, your body of sin is dead, and you are alive, living with
Him, in Him, by Him, through Him, just as sure as He's alive
and will die no more. That's how grace reigns when
He freezes from the dominion of sin. He says, Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed under sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Reckon it to be so. Then he freezes from the bondage
of Satan. He said, no man can enter into
a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first binds
the strong man, then he'll spoil his house. He's not saying now
that he just partially binds him. He ties one side of his
hand and his foot together, but he leaves the other side free.
He said he binds him. And then he enters in, and he
spoils his goods. And then he freezes from the
fear of death. He says he did this that he might
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. And then he freezes from the
curse and dominion of the law. Look at Romans chapter 7. Romans 7, verse 1. Know ye not,
brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the
law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. He gives
an illustration. The woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's
free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she
be married to another man. What he's saying is, if Christ
hadn't done what he had done, and you tried to serve him, you'd
be guilty. Because you're still under the
law. But because Christ has done what
he's done, You're free from the law now, and you can follow him. That means when somebody calls
you an antinomian, they got no leverage. They got no charge.
They got no ground for saying that. Who can lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died, that's
risen again. And he says, Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
ye should be married to another, even to him who's raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when
we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now
we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held, we should serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness
of the letter, That means we walk in the Spirit. We worship
God in the Spirit. We serve God in the Spirit. We're
not without law to God. What do we see? Thirst in us?
But we're under the dominion of Christ, under the law of Christ.
That easy yoke. That yoke gets easy and light
to bear. For I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. You got that? Got that? And then he freezes
from the love of this world. Look at 1 John 4, verse 3. Boy, when you talk about the
love of this world, that encompasses just about everything. Just about
everything. But listen to what John says
it is. 1 John 4, verse 3. Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And it's not confessing that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh to say you historically believe
he came or to preach that he's come. It's to believe that he
came and that He accomplished the work given Him to do for
a particular people given Him to do it for, and that He effectually
purged them of their sin and wrought particular redemption
for them, and that when He raised, they were raised. And He accomplished
fully, purged their sin and perfected them forever. And He says, if man doesn't declare
that he's come in the flesh, He's not of God. And this is
that spirit of Antichrist, wherever you have heard that it should
come, and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that
is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world,
and therefore they speak, speak they of the world. And the world
heareth them. What is it they're speaking?
They're speaking of a Christ who is anti-Christ. They call Him Christ and they
call Him Jesus, but He didn't accomplish a thing. Did not accomplish
one thing, and He is anti-Christ, the one that's being preached.
And they speak this message, oh, and those that are of the
world hear it and love it. We are of God. He that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us." Now, if you want to determine what I'm telling to
you is the truth, he says, hereby know we the spirit of truth and
the spirit of error. Just preach Christ. Just speak of Christ and His
full, perfect redemption, and you'll find out if there's another
Jesus that's being spoken about. I try to show you Thursday night.
Much of the tribulation that we suffer in this world is due
to the world's rejection of the God we believe. But He's overcome
this world. He's overcome it. And greater
is He that's in you than he that's in the world. And He prayed to
the Father and said, The world hath hated them because I gave
them Thy Word. And He said, Thy Word is truth.
And He said, Keep them from the evil through Thy Word, through
Thy truth. What is that? It's Him. It's the gospel of Him. Alright? Then, fifthly, the victory is
won forever through the truth of the gospel of Christ. Now,
verse 5, Isaiah 9, verse 5. Every battle of the warrior. Let me read this to you. Let
me read verse 4. For thou hast broken the yoke
of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, and the rod
of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian, when the whole war, the whole
battle of the warrior was with confused noise, and garments
rolled in blood. But this shall be with burning
and fuel of fire. Every battle of the warrior It
means that man's gospel results in many ongoing battles with
no end of victory in sight. It's a continuous battle. The
gospel of the world is a confused noise, like an army on a battlefield
clashing with one another. It's garments rolled in blood,
fighting, and fighting with a sword, and wounding, and wrestling continually. But this gospel, he said, but
this victory shall be with burning and fuel of fire. Look back up
to verse 4. As in the days of Midian. Do
you remember how Gideon won the victory over the Midianites?
Look with me over there. Judges 7. Judges 7. Judges 7
and verse 16. It's an altogether opposite way
of fighting. Altogether. The way this war
is won. Judges 7 verse 16. And he divided
the 300 men into three companies and he put a trumpet in every
man's hand with empty pitchers. lamps within the pictures And
he said unto them Look on me And do likewise Do as I do and
behold when I come to the outside of the camp It shall be that
as I do so shall ye do When I blow with a trumpet and all that are
with me Then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of the camp
and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon So Gideon and the
hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the
camp in the beginning of the middle watch And they had but
newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets and they broke
the pictures that were in their hands and And the three companies
blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in
their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow
with them. And they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp and
all the hosts ran and cried and fled. The pitchers with the lamp
inside are typical of God's messengers. The pictures didn't do the work. They were broken. They were empty
vessels filled with light, is what they were. The lamp is the
light. That's why Paul said, we have
this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. And then God's messengers simply
do this. They look to Christ. I love you dearly. I love you
dearly. But I cannot find anything to
give me comfort that I'm going to be all right in New Jersey,
that I'm going to be able to be safe and secure and be fine
here. Because I know what I am by nature. But I can find all
the security for this work, and all the assurance I need for
this work, and all the sufficiency for this work, by simply looking
to Christ. I constantly am secure and confident
when I look to Him. Confident. And they preach the
gospel just as Christ did, what we saw in Matthew 4. He just
came and preached this word. And we preach what Christ did
and is doing. That's what I'm trying to preach
to you here now. This is what Christ has done and is doing. Right here. And they blow the
trumpet of truth holding forth the lamp. Christ the light. Crying
the sword of the Lord. Crying Christ Jesus the Lord
of glory. That's what they cry. This is
what the Lord said to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. He says, this won't
be like that, those never-ending battles of false prophets, but
this one shall be with burning and a fuel of fire. In one day,
Christ wins the victory in the heart of sinners, and he burns
up all their vain hopes like a raging fire. Disintegrates
them, burns them up. Through the truth, Christ effectually
frees his children from the lie. Sets them free. John said, I've
not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar
but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist
that denieth the Father and the Son. Peter said, we've not followed
cunningly devised fables when we may know unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. We do speak that which we know
and which we've seen. Scripture says, how shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Peter
said that a man is born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. The truth is in Jesus. And ye shall know the truth,
he said, and the truth shall make you free. None of those
words sound like possibilities. None of those statements sound
like possibilities dependent upon a man. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts shall perform this. It's a hard, soul-wearing bondage
for a religious man or woman to try to find rest in a lie. It's hard not to believe the
truth. It's hard labor not to believe
the gospel. I've heard a lot of amazing,
astounding perversions of the pure doctrine of Christ and what
appears to be nothing more than religious men and women trying
to say they believe Christ and they think that the free will
Armenian God is a lie, that it's untrue, and yet try to reconcile
somehow that they were saved by that lie instead of by this
God they claim to believe. The Lord says, He feedeth on
ashes. A deceived heart hath turned
him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not
a lie in my right hand? And yet Christ's work of grace
is so sovereign and powerful and victorious in the heart that
when He makes us to behold Him, the Lord says, You shall defile
also the covering of your graven images of silver, and your ornaments
of molten images of gold. And thou shalt cast them away
as a minstrel's cloth, and thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence."
It's an empty hand. It's an empty hand. Before, he
couldn't let go of the line. He kept holding on to it. But
the Lord says, when I come in power and grace, you'll look
at what you've been holding and you'll say, filthy rags and you'll drop it. But when he empties a hand, he
always fills a hand, and he said it shall come to pass They that war against thee shall
be as nothing and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I
will help thee. It's a scary, scary time. A scary, frightful time. When
God strips us and reveals the lie in our right hand. And forces
us to open our hand and drop it. And we behold that we've
been in a camp with folks who are still hanging on to that
lie, and who will use that lie to kill us, and sooner slay us,
and tell us, I've got a law that the Son of God might die, rather
than to open that hand and say it's a truth. And therefore,
the Lord says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I'll take you.
I'll take you. Don't fear anybody, what anybody
can do to you. Brethren, the lie was begun by
the father of lies in the garden. And everybody that speaks lies
are doing his bidding. But the God of all truth delivers
us from the rulers of lies and from the great lie, and He does
it in sovereign, irresistible grace through the truth. Look at Isaiah 14. This is what the Lord of Hosts
promises. for all those He's everlastingly
loved, that He will do. Listen. Isaiah 14, 3. It shall
come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the
hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. that thou shalt take up this
proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor
ceased? The golden city is ceased. The Lord hath broken the staff
of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers. That's what it
is to be freed. That's what it is to be freed
by Him. And this is how he does it. We'll get into these names
next time, but back in our text. This is why this is certain and
sure. This is why it's not left in
the hands of men. This is why I keep telling you,
don't reason on this thing from men up. Reason from what God
says down. He says, unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the
government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall
be called Wonderful. Counselor the mighty God the
everlasting father the prince of peace of the increase of government
and peace There should be no in Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom Now listen how he does this to order it And to establish it with judgment
and with justice. It's judgment and justice, the
truth of what was manifest on the cross, and it's also done
in the heart by Him. And it's done in truth, in judgment
and justice. From henceforth, even forever,
the zeal. You know what that word zeal
means? Jealousy. It means jealousy. The word means
jealousy for my namesake. That means he won't share his
glory with another. That means he won't share his
glory with some lying deceiver. And he says, the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. The whole work of salvation.
which the triune God performs is sure and it's certain and
it's the comfort of the believer because it's performed by the
Lord alone and the whole work, the whole work on the cross and
in the heart is performed in truth. He came to save us from lies,
not to use a lie to save us. He came to save us from lies.
His name is truth. His name is truth. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Now, either God is a liar and
men are true, or God is true and men are liars. I pray the
Lord of hosts will perform this in the hearts of you who hear
me now, right now. I pray for that. Hey, if you'll
come lead us in some song.