For the Lord spake thus to me
with a strong hand. We need no hand but our own to
turn from the Lord to ourselves. But no other hand but the Lord
of hosts can turn us from ourselves to Him. As sinful as I am, how thankful
I am that the Lord of heaven and earth would condescend to
speak to me But I'm even more thankful that
He not only speaks to me, but He keeps His hand on me. Verse 11, For the Lord spake
thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should
not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy
to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. sanctify the Lord of hosts himself,
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he
shall be for a 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." Isaiah was commanded by the Lord,
and the Lord said in verse 12, Say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither fear
ye their fear, nor be afraid. King Ahaz, along with the majority
in Judah, were terrified by two enemy kings who had come up to
war against them. And as a result of this awful
fear that they had, concerning these two kings. They made an
alliance with the king of Assyria. And the Lord instructed Isaiah
and he instructed his elect remnant in Judah to make no such agreements
with those whom the unbelievers made a covenant. The Lord says,
neither fear their fear, nor be afraid. What did they fear? What did the inhabitants of Judah
and King Ahaz really fear? Really three things. They feared
what man would do to them. They feared that man would take
the things they valued most. And they feared man would kill
them. So they thought long and hard
about it. What would be the best plan to protect themselves against
sinful men? And the best they could come
up with was to trust a sinful man. Their king put the idea
in their minds, in the minds of the children of Judah. And
because it seemed like this is what everybody else in Judah
thought would be best, one by one, they all agreed this would
probably be the best thing. Have you ever become afraid when
you consider your sin. You fear what you have done to
yourself because of your sin. You tremble as you realize that
you yourself are the reason you are robbed of spiritual possessions. You're fearful of death because
of your sin. because of your thoughts and
your words and your deeds. So in your fear, you think long
and hard on how to save yourself. And the best you've come up with
so far is to trust the One who got you in the shape you were
in. Your King put this idea into
your heart. And because the rest of the world
puts their trust in man, you think, well, that's the way. It's my prayer that the King
of heaven and earth would speak to you this morning who have
done that and yet do that. And that he would speak to you
this morning with a strong hand. that He would enter into your
heart through His gospel and by His Spirit take dominion and
instruct you with these words. Say ye not a confederacy to all
them whom this people shall say a confederacy, neither fear ye
their fear, nor be afraid. Listen to the word, verse 13.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and
let Him be your dread. This word fear and dread means
reverence and confidence. When we fear man, when we look
to man, whether it's ourselves or others, we exalt man to be
the governor and Lord over the earth. We sanctify man. We separate
man as being higher than God, more powerful than our God. The
chief reason that we look anywhere but to the Lord of hosts, is
because we fail to behold him as he is. To sanctify the Lord
is to recognize, to be resolved to the fact, and to remember
that the Lord is the almighty God over all. He is indeed the Lord of hosts. The heavenly host and the host
on earth. He's the Lord over the whole
universe. Let me read Revelation 15.4.
You're welcome to turn there, but let me read this to you slowly,
and I want you to think about what this says. Revelation 15.4
says, Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For thou only art holy. The Lord is essentially holy. He's God. And the Lord is the fountain
of all holiness to His people because He's the only mediator
between God and men. God is holy in His very essence. His ways and all His works are
perfect. His holiness is the luster, the
glory, the harmony of every work He performs. His holy angels
cover their faces before Him and their song is holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. The psalmist wrote this, Psalm
86, 8. Among the gods there is none
like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there any works like
unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great and doest
wondrous things. Thou art God. alone. You think on this for a moment.
That which is unholy is imperfect. That which is unholy is imperfect. All sin, every unholy angel and
every unholy man became unholy the same way, by turning away
from the thrice holy God. The first murderer committed
murder in the garden when our first representative, Adam, spiritually
and physically killed the whole human race by doing one thing,
turning away from God Almighty. Scripture says, by one man's
offense, death reigned by one. For as by one man's disobedience
many, all whom he represented, were made sinners. And therefore,
the first physical murder that was ever committed on this earth
was committed by Cain who killed his own brother. And you know
why he killed him? He killed his own brother because
he hated He hated the fact that Abel confessed man's absolute,
total inability to come to God the Father in any other way than
in the blood of his dear son. That's why he killed him. because
he hated the God Abel served, and he hated the gospel Abel
confessed, and he hated what the blood of that lamb typified. Man receives the credit for every
unholy thought and deed ever committed throughout all time. Man receives the glory for every
unholy thought and deed ever committed throughout all time. Why then would we exalt ourselves? Why then would we fear man? Why then do we exalt man by fearing
what man can do to us? But that's exactly what we do
when we attempt to save ourselves by our own doing. In our depraved minds, we think
it's wisdom. And we think it's glorifying
to God to ascribe some part of salvation to man. The reality is, by doing so,
we manifest our own spiritual ignorance of who God is and what
God requires of those whom he receives to himself. Look at
Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. This is he that stretcheth out
the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent
to dwell in. that bringeth the princes to
nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted.
Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stubble. To whom, then, will ye liken
me, or who shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these things. Look up into the heavens. He bringeth out their host by
number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, saying, my way is hid from the Lord, and
my judgment's passed over from my God? Why would we say that? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There's
no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew strength. They shall
mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. Look over at Romans 5. Verse
17. I want you to get a hold of this. Romans 5, 17. Let's read this together. For
if by one man's offense, man is the sole reason that there
is sin in this world. For if by one man's offense,
death reigns, Death took over dominion by one. Much more, they
which receive abundance of grace and the gift. Grace is free and
the gift of righteousness is free. And they that would receive
it in abundance shall reign in life by one. That one's Jesus
Christ. Look at verse 19. For as by one
man's disobedience many, every one represented by him, were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one, by the same principle
of representation, many, all who are represented by Christ,
should be made righteous. The law entered, not to try to
find life in it, the law entered that the fence might abound.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The
gospel which came to Ahaz by Isaiah was, believe the Lord
of hosts, trust in the covenant which God has made in Emmanuel,
through whom grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Trust Him. Instead, the confederacy
which King Ahaz made and the children in Judah made was with
death. You know why it was with death?
Because it was an agreement, a confederacy made with dead
men. It was a confederacy made with
dead men. And if we try to make any kind
of agreement confederacy within ourselves, that's what we've
done. We've made a confederacy with
death because that's what we are in our flesh. The body's
dead because of sin. Look at Isaiah 30 and verse 1. Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that taketh counsel, but not of me, that cover with
a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth.
Isaiah 30 verse 1, verse 2. They walk to go down into Egypt
and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the
strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in
the shadow of Egypt shall be your confusion." Have you ever
had one clear thought to be able to really understand God? You
who have not fled to Christ. Have you ever
had really any kind of understanding of who God is and how God saved? Then how is it that you think
that by trusting yourself, you can have anything but shame and
confusion? They said, look at verse 15 there
in Isaiah 30. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, Listen now, this is God speaking. This
is the covenant Lord God, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of heaven
and the Lord of earth, of everything that is. Listen to this now.
This is what He says in returning, repenting, turning from our way
and our covenant with man and rest, resting in Him. This is how you should be saved.
in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." And
you would not. But you said, no, for we will
flee upon horses. Therefore shall you flee. And
you said, we'll ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that
pursue you be swift. If we put our trust in man, we'll
never be any more strong than man. We'll never be any more
secure than sinful man will never be any more swift than sinful
man. And we'll be brought down with
all like a tree with all its branches broken off. Now look
back with me. Therefore the Lord of hosts must
speak with a strong hand. And He speaks in the heart of
His children and He says this, Say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither fear
ye their fear, nor be afraid. Separate the Lord of hosts. Behold
Him as He is. Let Him be your fear. Let Him
be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary.
Do you know what a sanctuary is? Do you know what a sanctuary
is? A sanctuary is a refuge. It's a place of safety. When
the Lord delivered the children of Israel into Canaan, He appointed
cities of refuge. Look, let's read this. Numbers
35.15. And we'll come back and apply
this to King Ahaz and to ourselves. Numbers 35.15. The Lord said,
these six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel
and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them. Now
here's the reason. That everyone that killeth any
person unawares may flee thither. Now look down at verse 24. Then
the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger
of blood according to these judgments." And he had just given some judgments
there. The revenger of blood is the
one who has been offended, is going to revenge, take a vengeance.
He says, then, the congregation shall judge between the slayer
and the revenger of blood according to these judgments. And the congregation
shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of
blood. And the congregation shall restore him to the city of his
refuge. whether he was fled, and he shall
abide in it until the death of the high priest which was anointed
with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any
time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whether
he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him without the
borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill
the slayer, He shall not be guilty of blood, because the one who
was the slayer should have remained in the city of his refuge until
the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
King Ahaz was a religious man, but he was an idolater. He worshiped
the God which he thought was the true and living God. But
his God was the creation of his own mind. His God was one who
accepted him based on a reformation of character performed by him.
And this is the sum of all forms of idolatry. It's will worship. It's the worship of man. By his
worship of a false God, Ahaz was guilty of murdering God in
his heart. He was the slayer of the man,
Christ Jesus. And he led the children of Judah
into idolatry and was guilty of murdering his neighbor as
well. But the Lord of hosts is the
revenger of blood. He's the revenger of blood. He
said, vengeance is mine. He says, I'll repay. And He brought
the enemy kings upon Ahaz, making known to King Ahaz and the children
of Judah that they're guilty before the law of God. If God's
going to save you, He's going to make you hear the law of God
pronounced to you, you're guilty. You're guilty. The Lord sent
forth Isaiah with the gospel to declare to Ahaz that the only
city of refuge, the only sanctuary for him, for Ahaz and the children
of Judah is in Emmanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Ahaz wouldn't
flee to the city of refuge. He would not flee to the city
of refuge and therefore the revenger of blood justly pronounced death
upon Ahaz, the slayer. And yet the Lord of Hosts spoke
with a strong hand to Isaiah and to the remnant in Judah,
saying, Say not a confederacy to all them whom this people
shall say a confederacy. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself.
Let Him be your fear. Let Him be your dread. And He
shall be for a sanctuary you to whom He's spoken with a strong
hand. You've beheld that you're the
slayer of the man, Christ Jesus. But beholding Him by grace through
faith, you behold Him high and lifted up. And like Isaiah, you
sanctify Him in your hearts. You see that the only stronghold,
the only sanctuary, the only city of refuge is Christ, our
Emmanuel. You reverence Him as being your
only hope. You flee to Him. And He promises
you sanctuary. And all who remain in Christ,
our city of refuge, remain there because we're persuaded that
our high priest has made atonement for us by his death. He's reconciled
us to God. The manslayer had to stay in
that city until the high priest died. And then he could return
to his possession, to the land of his possession. Our high priest
has entered into the holiest of holies with His own blood
and made atonement for us. And in Him, we're able to return
to the land of our possession. All things are yours, He said.
He's the city of refuge. This is what Isaiah said in Isaiah
54, 14. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not
come near thee. Isaiah 54, verse 15. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth
forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster
to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,
and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. He
says in Isaiah 51, 12, the Lord said, I, even I am he that comforteth
you. Who art thou? That thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which
shall be made as grass. And forget us, the Lord thy maker,
that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations
of the earth, and has feared continually every day because
of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy.
Where is the fury of the oppressor? The Lord said. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower and the righteous runneth into it and is safe. A sanctuary
is also a place set apart by God where those who trust him
worship him. Throughout the whole world during
the days of Israel, there was but one such place. One such
place where they could enter in and God would meet with them
and they could worship God. And if you saw that place, you
would look at that place and on the outside, there was nothing
about it that would make you want to desire it. But inside
it was full of fine gold and fine linen and tapestries, beautiful
to behold. Inside that place where you could
worship was the ark and God's broken law was in that ark In
that place where you could worship was the mercy seat Where God
said I'll meet with my people from over the mercy seat With
the through the blood of a lamb, I'll meet with them there this
place is typical of of where we worship, our sanctuary, where
we must flee, and that is to Christ our Lord. Do you really
want to worship God? There are folks all over this
world today who are attempting to worship God without entering
into Christ the sanctuary. There is no way to worship God
any other way. There is no way to come into
His presence any other way. Physical sanctuary it's gone
now. It's gone now. There's no holy
place found anywhere on this earth, but we have an altar We
have a holy place. We have a holy habitation a sanctuary
wherein we worship God Listen to turn with me exodus 15 verse
11 Who is like unto Thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchest
out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them up. Thou in Thy
mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. Thou
hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation. The people shall hear and be
afraid. Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestinia.
Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed, the mighty men of
Moab. Trembling shall take hold upon
them. All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear
and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm,
they shall be as steel as a stone, till thy people pass over, O
Lord, till the people pass over which thou hast purposed. Thou
shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine
inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee
to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have
established. The Lord shall reign forever
and ever. Everything about that sanctuary was made after the
pattern God gave. Christ Jesus came forth made
of a woman, made under the law. A body has to have prepared me.
And he walked in accordance with God's will. He walked Honored
and magnified his law. He bore the wrath of God's law,
and he honored and magnified the whole whole law of God and
precept and penalty and God says this is the place I've created
to dwell in this is the place and in him I've created a people
I've created a holy heavenly mountain for my people to dwell
in Christ, our sanctuary, is our refuge. He's our sanctuary
in whom we worship God and He's the sanctuary in whom we dwell. In whom we dwell. He's been our
dwelling place since God the Father chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world. This will be a great encouragement
to you to sanctify Him, to behold Him as He is and to enter into
this sanctuary. Listen to this now. This is what
Moses said, Psalm 90 verse 1, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling
place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever Thou hast formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Thou turnest man
to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. He's been our dwelling place
through faith since we as believers were made a new creation. The
believer in Christ are one. He dwells in us and we dwell
in Him. Now listen to this. Hereby know
we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He hath given us
of His Spirit. Now that's oneness. That's oneness. That's the oneness that He is
with His people. We dwell in Him and He dwells in us. John
said, at that day, the Lord said, you shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you. That's a spiritual union. We
dwell in Him as our sanctuary. Now watch this now. If you can
grab hold to this, believers, listen to me. You will find a
great blessing and a great comfort right here if you grab hold to
this. Now listen. It appeared that Isaiah and the remnant that
were there who trusted the Lord, it appeared that they dwelt in
the flesh. It appeared that they dwelt in
that physical Zion. But they didn't dwell in the
flesh. The Scripture says, Romans 8 and 9 says, You are not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now listen now. To the natural
eye, look at Isaiah 10 with me. To the natural eye, it appeared
that Isaiah dwelt in that physical Zion. But that's not the Zion
in which Isaiah and the children of Judah dwelt. That's not the
Zion they dwelt in. To the natural eye, you who believe
appear to dwell here amongst the Assyrians of this world.
You may feel the pain in your flesh, but we don't dwell here. It's not our dwelling place. Now, get this, and the Spirit
of God, if you get this, because the Spirit of God dwells in you,
and Christ in you, and you in Christ. Christ, our sanctuary,
is our dwelling place. Now listen to this scripture,
Isaiah 1024. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, listen now, be not afraid of
the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod
and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manor 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. And his rod was upon the sea,
so shall he lift it up after the manor of Egypt. And it shall
come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away
from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the
yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. You who dwell
in Zion, Believer listen to this now Christ is our Sanctuary he's
our dwelling place where we dwell right now Much in much more reality
much more present reality Then you're dwelling in that body
right there Scott That body is gonna die But this dwelling place
in which you dwell won't ever it won't this union won't ever
cease dwelling in him Our God's using the Assyrians
of this world to destroy the Ahazes and the Pekahs and the
sons of Remaliah, and then He'll destroy the Assyrians. But O
thou that dwellest in Zion, He says, be not afraid. As you behold
it going on all around, don't you be afraid. You don't dwell
in this earthly tabernacle. You don't dwell in this earthly
country. You don't dwell in this earthly
Zion. You dwell in Mount Zion. You dwell in Christ Jesus the
Lord. You've come unto Mount Zion.
You've come unto the General Assembly, to just men made perfect. You've come unto Christ the Mediator. That's in whom we dwell. That's
why he says Don't turn to these people. Don't make a confederacy
with the flesh. Don't look back to the flesh.
Sanctify me. You remember when they were crossing
the Jordan and he said, take that ark. Those priests go out
there and they put their feet in the edge of that Jordan and
just hold up that ark. And he said, now you get back
a space. You get back a space so that you could do what? So
you could look up and see that ark. So you can sanctify that
ark and behold it as separate and being the reason why he's
going to hold out the rod like he did at the waters at the Red
Sea and clear the sea. And you'll walk through, dry
shot. Why? Because He's put His people in
Christ's sanctuary. He's put us there before the
world began. And you know the very faithfulness
of this God is this, that even in the midst of all of this confusion
in Judah with King Ahaz, this One who is our sanctuary, who
commands us Flee to Him. Sanctify Him in your heart. Behold Him as He is and let Him
be your fear and your dread and He shall be your sanctuary. This
one who said those words came to where Isaiah was and spoke
to Isaiah with a strong hand. So that Isaiah is going to sanctify
Him and behold Him as He is. and behold Him, and flee to Him,
and enter into that sanctuary, and rest in that sanctuary, and
never look anywhere but that sanctuary. Now, here's a solemn
word of warning. Look at Isaiah 8.14. And he shall
be for a 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." Look over at 1 Peter 2, verse 6. 1 Peter 2, verse
6. In 1 Peter 2, verse 6. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
he's precious. This is the sanctuary. But unto
them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Now
you hold your place right there. And I want you to look at Romans
chapter 9 with me. Romans chapter 9. Why is Christ
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense? Why did the Lord
say that some would stumble over this one? When we've beheld Him
as the sanctuary, we've beheld Him as He is here this morning
in His Word, why would anybody stumble at Him? Why on earth would a man be destroyed
and be snared by this Word? It's called disobedience. Why
would somebody... What is this disobedience? What
is that? Look at Romans 9 verse 30. What
shall we say then? that the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, which didn't have God's oracles, didn't
have God's word, didn't have the law of God, didn't have the
ceremony, didn't have the... God had nothing to do with them
at all. They have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which
followed after the Law of Righteousness, they had the Word of God. They
had the Oracles of God. They had the Law of God. And they followed after it. But
they didn't attain. Why? Here's this disobedience. They have not attained to the
Law of Righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought
it not by faith. They didn't believe Emmanuel.
They didn't sanctify Him. They didn't behold Him as He
is. As the place wherein we are safe
for all eternity. And we worship God. And we dwell. But they sought it by the works
of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. It is written behold I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed I look at verse chapter 10 verse 1 Paul
says brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge and For they, being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." In 1 Corinthians
1.22, Paul said the Jews require a sign. Some power Some work,
some evidence worked out in their flesh. You remember Immanuel
wasn't enough of a sign for Ahaz. Ahaz wanted to see something
done now. I see something. You've got to
convince me. Show me with my eyes. And the
Greeks seek after wisdom, peace through philosophy, through self-help,
through this world's wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called
by God, to the Jew and to the Greek, Christ is both the power
of God and the wisdom of God. We don't need any other sign
but the power of God. We behold Him now. and he's the wisdom of God. Well, back there in 1 Peter 2.9,
you who trust Him apart from any works of righteousness which
you've done, you who have entered into this sanctuary, you who
have fled to Him for refuge, what's the difference between
you and these ones that stumbled over Him? Who made the difference? Look at 1 Peter 2.9. But ye are
a chosen generation. a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, that
you should glorify him. That you should sing of Him.
That you should preach of Him. That you should witness of Him.
That you should speak of Him. Not of this covenant of man,
but of Him. You were not a people in time
past, but are now the people of God. You had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. I'll close here. Last night I
was in bed. talking with Emma Grace about
Christ. And I asked her a question. I said, Emma, which is more comfortable
for you, listening to what your teachers in school teach you,
or sitting here with your father, listening to me teach you about
Christ? Which one's more comfortable?
And she was honest with me. She said, I'm a whole lot more
comfortable listening to my teachers teach me in school. What would
make a child more comfortable with a stranger in a strange
setting than sitting with their own father in their own bed,
in their own home? The same thing that keeps you
from fleeing to this sanctuary. The same exact thing that keeps
you from coming to the only refuge that a sinner has. The same thing
that keeps you looking to your own self, making your confederacy
with man, and saying, this seems like a better way. Some of you here today are still
attempting to make a confederacy like the world makes. You have refused the waters of
Shiloah that go softly, choosing rather the bitter bondage and
warfare of this world. You have chosen yourself and the wisdom that
this world has used to bewitch you. Yet after your fits of religion,
all you have ever accomplished is a temporary soothing of your
conscience. Be honest. Is that not so? As much as you've tried to comfort
yourself in your many wonderful works, you're still terrified
at the thought of meeting God face to face. Would you allow somebody to come
into your presence boasting, some imposter, boasting and glorying,
stealing the very glory that belongs to your son alone? Would you allow that? And many of you who believe are
suffering in the midst of some heavy trials, You're pulled this
way and that way, looking this way and that way, and longing
for the Lord to direct you. I pray God will speak to us today
with a strong hand and instruct us in righteousness that he would
separate us from whatever it is that's keeping us from Christ
our sanctuary. He's the only refuge of eternal
safety. He is the only sanctuary in whom
we can worship God in spirit and in truth. And this is the sanctuary in
whom we're vitally joined, dwelling in Him and He in us. When He makes us to behold Him,
the believer finds that we're comfortable nowhere else. We're more comfortable communing
with the thrice holy God. More comfortable praying upon
our pillow. More at peace. more at ease praying
with Him than we are even with our closest relatives when He
reveals in us this wonder, this blessing, this gift of being
in Christ our sanctuary. Most of you I have one desire
for all of you. Some of you are friends. Some of you are brethren. And
my chief desire for you is that God would make us to know the
love of Christ which passeth knowledge. That we might be filled
with the fullness of God. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself."
Stop looking anywhere else. Stop fearing anything else. Stop
exalting everything else. Stop putting any confidence anywhere
else. And he said, I'll be a sanctuary
for you. I'll be a sanctuary for you,
he said. I pray the Lord to direct your
hearts. I liked how Paul said this. May the Lord direct your
hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for
Christ. Stay in the city of refuge.