Do you have any idea how utterly
insane it is for you to fight against God? My prayer is that by the end
of this message, you will see how utterly vain it is and that
you might surrender all to Him. I know that if he shines the
light of Christ into your heart, you'll do that. You have no other
choice. Throughout the Bible, we read
of the oppression of the Lord's people. We read of them being
in bondage, being in slavery under the yoke and heavy burden
of Satan and his servants. Scripture speaks of the power
of the devil. the power of Satan, who hath
blinded the minds of them that believe not." Adam became the
prey of Satan in the garden. And when Adam sinned as the first
representative, having broken the law of God, the elect of
God judicially became Satan's lawful captives. Having been
conceived in Adam's sin nature, When we were born, the God of
this world blinded our minds and kept us in bondage. The devil's
power over God's elect had to be broken and the serpent's head
has to be broken in us for us to be brought into the liberty
of the sons of God. In Isaiah 49, 24, shall the prey
be taken from the mighty? or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children, and I will
feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh. And they shall
be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine, and all flesh
shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. The Pharisees accused the Lord
one day of casting out devils by Beelzebub. And he said, if
I with my finger cast out devils through the Spirit, then you
know the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God has
come. And he said, how can one enter into a strong man's house
and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man? Then
he will spoil his house. In our text, we've been going
through, in this passage, we've been going through Isaiah chapter
8. We're down at the end now where verse 20, the Lord said
to the law and to the testimony, according to his word and to
the testimony, the gospel that taught of God in the hearts of
his people, if they speak not according to this word, it's
because there is no light in them. The God of this world hath
blinded their minds, lest the glorious light of Christ should
shine unto them. And he says, And they shall pass
through it hardly bestead, and hungry, famine and hard-pressed. And when they shall be hungry,
they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God,
and look upward. And they shall look unto the
earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish,
and they shall be driven to darkness. But then he says, nevertheless,
the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when
at 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 and Galilee of the nations. And
he calls this a light affliction. And if you want to look at your
marginal reference at your leisure and look it up and read it, It
was not by any means, by our standards, a light affliction,
but by God's standards, it was a light affliction compared to
this judgment that he's pronouncing upon Israel. But in the midst
of this judgment, he gives hope for great joy, and he says, 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. Thou hast multiplied the nation. cast off Israel and opened up
the door to all nations. Because He has a people out of
every nation, kindred, tongue under heaven. Thou hast multiplied
the nation and not increased the joy. Not increased the joy
that those who don't have any light have. The joy that the
Pharisees and the scribes joined in, which was the flesh. But
He revealed the sinfulness of the flesh. and didn't increase
that joy at all. But in doing so and revealing
Christ, it says, He increased joy, another kind of joy. They
joy before Thee according to the joy and harvest, and as men
rejoice when they divide the spoil. For Thou hast broken the
yoke of His burden and the staff of His shoulder, the rod of His
oppressor, as in the day of Midian, the battle of Gideon. For every
battle of the warrior was with confused noise and garments rolled
in blood, but this one shall be with burning and fuel of fire."
You see those fires that come through California, and it took
years and years to build those homes, and it takes but an instant
for this fire to come through and to demolish everything that
was built. He says, this one's coming through,
and it's going to tear down everything that's been in years in the making.
And here's how he's going to do it. He says, For unto us a
child is born, and unto us a son is given. 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 his government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this. Now we behold the infinite wisdom
and power of God when we see at Calvary's cross that he declares
himself just and the justifier of his people and simultaneously
while he did that he broke the yoke, bound the strong man, destroyed
the oppressor who had his people kept in bondage at the same time. But we even see a little bit
more of his infinite wisdom and power in the fact that all along
when Satan and his enemies thought they were gaining the victory
by crucifying him, Our Lord was actually hastening Satan and
his enemies to their own destruction. Back in Isaiah 8.13, we read
the word that the Lord instructed Isaiah, sanctify the Lord of
hosts Himself. Let Him be your fear, let Him
be your dread, and He shall be for sanctuary. But for a stone
of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of
Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be
snared and be taken. The Lord of hosts himself, Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, declares that he shall not be a sanctuary
for all men without exception. Listen to this. But for a stone
which some shall stumble over, and for a rock which shall offend
many. Now get this word right here.
For a djinn, that's a trap, a trap. And for a snare, the word there
is bait, bait. He'll be bait like you take a,
you build a bird trap. And you put bait in the middle
of it. And a bird comes hopping along there and sure he's going
to seize that prey in the middle of that trap, that bait. And
when he does, he's caught in the trap himself. That's the
picture. And he says, and many among them
shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. The immediate context speaks
of the inhabitants of Israel, that nation Israel. We can read
that in Romans 11 verse 7. The scripture says, What then?
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, not the
natural sons of Abraham. But the election hath obtained
it, that remnant in Israel, God's true Israel, his elect hath obtained
it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
saith, Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling
block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see, and bow down their back all the way. The Lord
God formed the nation Israel, that nation Israel, to teach
His spiritual Israel, which is scattered among all the nations
of the world, that God alone must and shall save His people
from their sins. That one nation was given every
advantage that a sinner can be given, naturally speaking. And
the Lord said this back in Isaiah 5.3, Now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah, Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard."
He's calling that nation his vineyard. And he said, Judge
between me and my vineyard. And he said, What could have
been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore,
when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it
forth wild grapes. He said, I looked for judgment,
but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Under Satan's
power, they rejected God and yoked their fellow Israelites
using both God's word and every worldly means that they could
possibly use. And all that was going on in
that nation of Israel was oppression and crying out to God for help,
and yet they called it righteousness. The ten and a half tribes had
split off and they had made a confederacy with a strange foreign heathen
nation, Syria, to go up against their fellow countrymen, Judah.
And Judah had made a confederacy with Assyria to go up against
their fellow countrymen in Israel. And the Lord says, therefore
I turn you over to judicial reprobation, blindness. Let your table be
a snare and a trap to you from here on out. You can behold it
right now if you turn on Fox News and see what's going on,
you'll see the very thing that's happening in the world right
now in the Middle East. And the clear teaching though,
the spiritual teaching is this, Without Christ crushing Satan's
head and raising his children to newness of spiritual life,
no man, no sinner, Jew or Gentile, can or will believe on the Lord. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, their foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. Christ not only had
to crush the serpent's head for us at Calvary, He has to crush
the serpent's head within us. Read Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
Read the last verse of it. Come and crush the serpent's
head within us. That's what we have to have happen.
That's why Christ came into the world. Look over at 1 John chapter
3 and verse 8. 1 John chapter 3. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. And whosoever is born of God
does not commit sin, for his seed, Christ the seed, remaineth
in him. He's born anew, he's raised to
newness of life. and he cannot sin because he's
born of God. In this, the children of God
are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. This is what Paul the Apostle meant when he said, I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I. It's not me
that's bringing forth any righteousness, but it's Christ that liveth in
me. The life I now live. I live by the faithfulness of
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. That's the light in me. That's
the life in me. That's the seed within me. That's
the one who bound the strong man and entered in and spoiled
his goods. And in infinite wisdom and power
the Lord of hosts used the devil and those who hated him as the
instruments of their own destruction. As Christ simultaneously crushed
the serpent's head and delivered his people. Now that's wisdom
and that's power. Let's see it. Let's go back a
moment here in Isaiah and let's look at the names of Isaiah's
two sons. In Isaiah chapter 7 and verse
3, the Lord of hosts gave Isaiah a son named Sherjazim and his
name means the remnant shall return. Then in Isaiah chapter
8 and verse 1, the Lord gave Isaiah a son, and his name is
Meir Shalhazbaz. Meir Shalhazbaz. And it means,
in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey. And these
were signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts in so
much as their names, the meaning of their names, pointed to exactly
what Christ Jesus the Lord would do when He came to this earth.
And as if to spell it out to us that that's what He meant,
in the middle of these two scriptures, the Lord says in Isaiah 7.14,
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
In Christ Jesus, God is with His people. And God came to us
and took upon Him flesh and gave Himself a ransom for many. And
by His work, God's elect remnant shall return. And likewise, in
making speed to the spoil, He hasteneth to pray." Now what
does that mean? What does that mean? In making
speed to the spoil, He hasteneth to pray. Our text here tells
us that 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. Well, first of all, the spoils. You know what the
spoil is? The spoil is the trophy that's
taken by the army who has won the victory. When they enter
into a nation and they take the spoils, that's the trophies of
their victory. They take them back and they're
theirs. The children given to the Son of God by God the Father
in eternity are the spoils. They're His. They're rightfully
His. He made great speed to take the
children promised for His inheritance. But then the prey, who's the
prey? Well, the prey is Satan. The prey is Satan and his children
who had taken the spoils, who had lawfully taken them captive. But when Christ came, they were
the prey. And Christ the Lord, making speed
to save those children God had given Him by God, He hastened
Satan and his children to their own destruction. Christ is said
to be the bait. He's the trap whereby the enemies
of God shall be snared and taken. It began right here in Isaiah
chapter 8. In verses 3 and 4 here, What the Lord is telling here
is, He says, before the child shall have knowledge to cry,
my father, my mother, before this mayor shall be able to say,
mama and daddy. He said, the riches of Damascus
and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king
of Assyria. He began this work right here.
And he says, though, in verse 8, that he shall also pass through
Judah. He's saying that the king of
Assyria is going to come in and he's going to destroy, he's going
to take the spoils from Israel and from Samaria and from Syria. But he says, then when he gets
through doing that, he's going to come here and pass through
Judah as well. But Judah was the one who made
the confederacy with the king of Assyria. You mean after he's
taken the spoils from Israel? In Samaria, he's going to turn
on Jerusalem and come to Judah? That's what the Lord said. The
reason is because King Ahaz thought he had saved himself by pledging
allegiance to the enemy of God. And by doing so, he in reality
destroyed himself. And that's what we're being taught
here. Attempt to save yourself by the work of your hand, by
your religious service, by your moral reform, by using the law
of Mount Sinai to attempt to justify or sanctify yourself,
and you shall be destroyed by your own hand. You're pledging
allegiance to the enemy of God, Satan himself. the very self-serving,
self-righteous, self-sustaining imagination in you if that's
what you think. If that's how you think you can
come to God. That's the sin which Satan used to trick Eve into
turning from God to self. Now be sure you understand this.
As God says that the king of Assyria is going to come in and
do this, the king of Assyria was under the power of the devil. He comes in and he commits murder. He kills and slaughters all these
people because he thinks when he sees Israel all the king of
Assyria thinks is this is God's people and I hate their God and
I hate them. And he comes in to kill them.
That's the serpent's desire is to destroy God and destroy his
people. That was his desire in the garden.
So he's under his power but God has both him and the king of
Assyria under his power. The Lord of hosts means God rules
everything. This does not make God the author
of sin. The king of Assyria did the evil. He did the devil's bidding. Satan
is the author of sin. Yet, if anything happens out
of God's control, then God ceases to be God. The Lord hath made
all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of
evil. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and
his kingdom ruleth over all. Our God's in the heaven. He hath
done whatsoever he hath pleased. But behold this wisdom and power
by taking down the hedge around the nation Israel. and allowing
the devil to devour them through the king of Assyria. This was
all part of God's counsel to destroy the power of the devil
and deliver his children through Christ Jesus, his son. Turn with
me to Isaiah 10.5. What God says here of the king
of Assyria is true of the devil himself. If God will give us
wisdom to hear it, we're going to see the great glory of God
in his wisdom and power to make the devil his own fool and his
own destroyer. Watch this. Isaiah 10 5. O Assyrian,
this is God speaking, the Lord of hosts speaking, O Assyrian,
the rod of mine anger. And the staff in their hand,
in the hand of the Assyrian, is mine indignation, the Lord
said. I will send him against a hypocritical
nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a
charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread
them down like the mire of the streets. You see, when he allowed
the, you know, he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour. And at this point, the Lord of
hosts said, all right, you may devour Israel. And when he said
that, that old wicked serpent thinks, I'm going to devour God's
people. I'm devouring God's people. But
it wasn't God's people he gave him permission to devour. It
was the ones that the Lord said, I'm wiping them off the face
of the map because they don't trust me. And he said, have them. Well, so he goes in and he begins
to devour them. But now watch this, verse 7.
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so, but
it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few.
This is what the Syrian's heart is. This is what Satan's heart
was. I'm going to destroy a bunch of nations besides this one.
When I'm done with Israel, I'm going to Judah. If I can do this
in Israel, just think what I can do in Judah, in Jerusalem. For
he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Look at verse
11. Shall I not, as I have done unto
Samaria, unto Israel and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and
her idols? Verse 13, For he saith, By the
strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am
prudent. I have removed the bounds of
the people, and have robbed their treasures. I have put down the
inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand hath found as a nest
the riches of the people, as one gathereth eggs that are left.
What does that sound like? That sounds like bait, doesn't
it? That sounds like bait in a trap. One reaching in there
to that nest and getting those eggs out. Let's keep reading.
He says, have I gathered all there? There was none that moved
the wing, or opened the mouth, or peaked. And verse 15, the
Lord says this, shall the axe boast itself against him that
heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up? Or as if the staff should lift
itself as if it were no wood? He's saying you would have no
power whatsoever. if I hadn't given you permission
to do what you're doing. Now, He delivered these enemies
into the hand of the Assyrian, who was the servant of Satan
himself. But Satan's thinking in his pride that he's overcome
the Lord's elect. So in his blind rage and sin,
he's determined to exalt himself and do even more. But all this
is part of the Lord's determinate counsel. Watch this now. Verse
12, Isaiah 10, 12. Wherefore this what the Lord
said it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed
hath finished his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem
I Will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria
and the glory of his high looks The Lord says he's going to use
the devil's ignorance to accomplish his work on Mount Zion, and then
he's going to destroy him What work was that? What work was
that? It's the work of redemption by
Christ Jesus, the bait, the trap. Listen, the Lord sent forth his
son and beholding Christ before him, Satan and his seed went
about as soon as he was born, hastening to try to kill him,
try to put him to death. because he thought he could.
He had already had his way in Samaria. Through all these hundreds
of years, it appeared to him that he had broken into Israel
and totally destroyed the nation. Why couldn't he destroy God's
own son? That's what he's thinking. And the old serpent and his servants
thought the prey was God's people and his son, but his thoughts
were thoughts of pride, of accomplishment by his own hand. Are these your
thoughts? If they are, you'll be destroyed
just like this one. The truth is the devil was to
pray. He was to pray of the Lord. He
hastened after the bait till Christ allowed himself to be
put on the cross. And there was the trap. The trap
whereby the power of the devil and his accusers was snared and
taken. Completely taken. And they did
it by their own hands. their own hand, they wanted to
be saved by their own hand, and they attempted to usurp authority
over God by their own hand, and by their own hand, they died. They died. Listen to scripture.
For of a truth, Acts 4.27, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou
hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. How long before? Go to Genesis 3. Genesis 3.14. The Lord God clearly told Satan
way back in the garden that this is how he was going to be destroyed.
This was how he was going to be destroyed. your children your offspring
and Hersey Christ the Lord And it shall bruise thy head and
thou shall bruise his heel Do you see something of the blindness
of sin that even after being told this he had no idea? He was taking the bait and being
trapped when he bruised Christ's heel on the cross. I And those
who had the Word of God, who had the Oracles of God, who all
their days had read about how God would bring this to pass.
Scriptures like Isaiah 8.14 when he said, many shall be trapped
by this and shall be snared and taken. And yet they fulfilled
the Scriptures in condemning. Do you see the blindness of sin
from which we have to be saved? That's a beguiling trickster
who keeps us in this darkness, but not when Christ comes. Now
listen, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ declared when he
was going to the cross. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all unto me. On the cross, the serpent and
his seed bruised the heel of our Lord, but in the process,
the Lord Jesus Christ crushed the serpent's head. The devil's
only power was sin. The only power he had is sin. He used God's law to accuse God's
people of their sin. And he even was the best, he's
the best free will preacher there ever is. He said, now, if you
want to put that sin away, go to the law of God. Nothing pleases
Him more than to see sinners use God's word and God's law
unlawfully. Go to that law and by your obedience
to that law, put away your sin. You know better than to be acting
this way. And so we went there. We went to the law. But the law
doesn't reveal, doesn't put away sin. That law given in the garden
wasn't a rule of life. I told you this Thursday night,
Adam had life. God told him what to do and he
did it because he's the ruler. But that one law was given to
show when sin entered in. When you've transgressed, you've
broken my law. The law doesn't save, it just
reveals sin. But he said, now go to that and
you can have life. So we went to it. And then we
discovered, I just feel like I'm more sin and more sin. I'm
not fulfilling it. And he said, Or one of the two,
he either said, oh, look how good a job you've done. And we
thought, boy, in our self-righteousness, we've really fulfilled it. And
then we fall into sin and he yokes us again with that law
and he says, now go back to that law and put away your sin. And
we never could do it. And we knew we couldn't do it.
And we were just in this cycle of bondage and fearing death
all our life. And that was his power. That
was his power. Sounds like a lot of preachers
I know. Sounds like a whole lot of preachers I know. That was
his only power. But turn to Hebrews 2 verse 14
with me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. He came as a perfect man, perfectly
faithful, perfectly righteous, And He fulfilled the law of God
in perfection. Not to be righteous, but because
He is righteous. His fulfillment of the law manifests
what He is. Righteous through and through.
And He went to the cross and He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And when He justified His people before the law of God and put
away their sin. When the law said, He's dead
and I'm satisfied. The wages of sin is death and
death has been paid when Christ went into the grave and when
all his people went into the grave with him. And when that
happened and he rose again, he took away the devil's only power. He took away his only power.
He don't have sin anymore. He set the captives free. Our
Lord Jesus Christ came and he led captivity captive. He took the captives as his own
spoil, as his own prey. There's a two-fold meaning in
And in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth to pray." You know,
the Apostle Paul, he was the spoil and the prey of Christ.
He was Saul of Tarsus. Because there was Christ's people,
and he hated them, he was hastening as fast as he could down the
road to Damascus, right into the trap of God's sovereign grace,
where he arrested him, and he took him lawful captive to himself. And he became his. And then he
used him to bring that gospel to many more. You read those
stories of the fellows that would come to hear George Whitefield
preach. And they'd come with rocks and
everything to throw at him. And as he sat there and preached,
they were hastening to the prey. They were coming to the bait
to wound him and to do anything they could with those rocks against
him. And God wounded their heart and took them. And they just
dropped the rocks out of their hands. Dropped them where they
sat. Well, Christ bound the strong man at Calvary. And then through
the Holy Spirit, He enters in. Look at John 16. John 16, turn
with me. He enters in and He convinces
us that our judgment has been fully accomplished by Him at
Calvary. Look here. John 16, 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. This is Christ.
Go where? Go to the cross. That's where
He's headed. It's expedient that I go there that I might crush
His head. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto
you. But if I depart, I'll send him unto you." Now, when he's
come, what's the Comforter going to convince us of? He will reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. of righteousness because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. God is satisfied. He's
raised him from the dead, seated at God's right hand. And of judgment
because the prince of this world is judged. He got no more dominion
over you anymore. He's cast out. His power over
you is gone. You can tell him and his preacher
to get lost. You don't have anything else
to do with them. You're set free. You're in liberty. Now, go back
to Isaiah 10. Let me finish out that chapter
and I'm going to show you this. Just read it out to you. Isaiah
10, verse 16. Therefore shall the Lord, the
Lord of hosts, send among His fat ones... This is the king
of Assyria, Satan and his messenger. "...send among His fat ones leanness,
and under His glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning
of a fire. How did He say He was going to
do this? Like a flame of fire. And the light of Israel shall
be for a fire. You know who the light of Israel
is? Read on. And His Holy One for a flame. And it shall burn and devour
His thorns and His briars in one day. What took Him a whole
century after century to build, it took Christ one day to burn
it all up. to do away with every bit of it. And he says, And he
shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,
both soul and body, and they shall be as when a standard-bearer
fainteth. And the rest of the trees of
his forest shall be few that a child may write them. And whom
is this all whom our Lord shall draw unto him? He said, If I
be risen, I'll be lifted up. I'll draw all men unto me. Who
are the all? And it shall come to pass in
that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped
of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that
smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
in truth. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people
Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall
return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts shall
make a consumption, even determined in the midst of all the land.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts. Now, he said, now
that I've shown you this, now that you see what I'm going to
do here in this land, in my land, all my people that dwellest in
Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. Don't be afraid of him. He shall
smite thee with a rod, and he shall lift up his staff against
thee after the manner of Egypt for yet a very little while.
And the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according
to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. You know what
happened there at the rock of Oreb? They brought the heads
of the enemies. That means they were dead. That's
what he's saying. And his rod was upon the sea,
so shall he lift up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall
come to pass that day that his burden shall be taken from off
thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall
be destroyed because of the anointing. Now, he did it at Calvary. And
when he comes to each of his elect in sovereign power and
grace, he does it in spirit and in truth, in the heart. When
he creates us anew in the heart, he breaks that yoke, takes that
yoke of bondage off. And what did Paul say about it?
He's told the Galatians, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with that yoke of bondage. Don't go back into that cycle
of pining. Don't go back into that deceivableness. That's why
Isaiah says here in Isaiah 8-12, say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom this people shall say a confederacy. This is what
he said to those in Judah, that picture of the Lord's true people. Don't go after them. make alliances
that these other folks is making. Neither fear you their fear,
nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself. Let Him be
your fear. Let Him be your dread. And He
shall be for sanctuary. Is God sanctified in your heart?
Do you see Him high and lifted up? And when I was preparing
this and I began to see the infinite wisdom of God, to send forth
his son and use his son as the very bait and the very trap on
Calvary's cross to destroy his enemies. I thought, my heart
just overflowed. I was just, I began to see him
so high and lifted up that I thought, I don't fear what any man can
do to me. Why would I ever fear a man?
Why would we ever fear This old sinful flesh that plagues us
and would have us turn to that law. He says, I'll keep you.
He says, I won't let you return to that. I'll tell you what,
if a sanctuary that is a stone of stumbling, a sanctuary that
is a rock of offense to our enemies, a sanctuary that is a bait and
a trap to all those that would try to get to you, that's a good
sanctuary to be in. That means that nobody gonna
get to you. Nobody, none of your enemies, and you're safe and
secure. Are you fighting against God and against His people? If
you are, I hope you see here that all you're doing is aiding
in the salvation of His people and of His being glorified. That's
it. That's it. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder shalt thou restrain. Only that
which is going to praise Him will He allow to come forth.
And every bit of the rest, He'll restrain it. Now, we're going
to take this bread and this wine, and we're going to remember Christ
Jesus. And I hope that we do so, remembering how He has made
us more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And as we
do so, think about the infinite wisdom and power which He displayed
in making you who rejoice in Him a spoil of his victory, a
trophy of his grace. What wisdom and what power. We
serve a mighty God. That's why I said they'll rejoice
like they do when the crops come in. When the harvests come in,
they'll rejoice like that because he broke the yoke, took the yoke
off their neck.