Isaiah chapter 8 is where we'll
be this morning. No sinner is as blind as the
man whose eyes are so full of himself that he can't perceive
the greatness of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. And that's really
the problem with all sinners by nature. Our eyes are so full
of ourselves that we can't behold the greatness of Christ Jesus,
the Son of God. In Isaiah 6, 9, the Lord told
Isaiah, Go tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. And then when the Lord came
and He walked this earth, He told us what that means exactly. He came to that blind man and
He healed him. And after that blind man was
kicked out of the synagogue, He came to him and He said, For
judgment I am coming to the world, that they which see not might
see, and they which see might be made blind. And the Pharisees
standing there said, Are we blind also? And He said, If you were
blind, you should have no sin. But you say, We see. Seeing, you don't see. Saying that you hear, you don't
hear. Saying that you see, you don't
see. And he said, your sin remains. Seeing, saying I see, you don't
see. Saying I hear, you don't hear. Confessing our need of spiritual
sight before God, is confessing our sin before God. And confessing
our sin before God is confessing our need of spiritual sight before
God. From the very first hour that
the believer cries out to God until the last, the believer
constantly confesses his sin and constantly begs for God to
give us a fresh sight of our Redeemer. Do you cry out for
God to give you sight still, even after you believe? If you
confess your sin, you do. That's what we're doing is coming
to God. You can't confess your sin without confessing to the
Lord. I need everything you've given me. I need it all over
again today, just like I needed it yesterday. I need it this
hour, just like I needed it the last hour. David said, Consider
and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. In Psalm 119.18, the psalmist
wrote, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth.
Hide not thy commandments from me. In verse 82, he said, Mine eyes
fell for thy words, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? For I am
become like a bottle in the smoke. Light came to King Ahaz when
God sent Isaiah to him with the word of promise. Light came to
him. The gospel of Christ came to
him. And through the gospel, the Lord spake unto Ahaz, and
he said, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in
the height above or the depth below. But Ahaz refused. Why did Ahaz refuse? Why would we refuse? Why would
a sinner refuse to ask God? Now bear in mind that when he
said, ask thee a sign, it's not the same as when the Lord said,
an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. What he was saying
was what the Lord said there after he said that. No sign shall
be given but the sign of the prophet Jonah. As he was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the earth. And Isaiah
was sent forth here and he preached the Word to King Ahaz. And he
said here, he was saying, just ask God for wisdom. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him for
assurance. Ask Him to show you how this
Word is so. And he said, this is how it's so. And he said
the same thing the Lord said. A virgin shall conceive. Bring
forth a child. Call his name Immanuel. Well,
in Isaiah chapter 8, in verse 5, the Lord tells us why he refused. Why Judah, the people of Judah
refused. And why the people of Israel
refused. And why sinners in our day refused.
Isaiah 8 5 the Lord spake also unto me again saying for as much
as this people Refuseth the waters of Shiloh that go softly and
rejoice in reason and remilia son now therefore behold the
Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river strong and
many and even the king of Assyria in all his glory. And he shall
come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, and
he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over.
He shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his
wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel." The
title of the message this morning is The Waters of Shiloah. The
waters of Shiloah, or of Siloam, same word, typify Christ Jesus
the Lord and Savior of God's chosen people. Sinful man rejects
Christ because the sinful man, the carnal heart, does not perceive
Christ is God of the whole world. Able to save to the uttermost.
But instead, the sinner considers himself greater. He rejoices
in man. Well, let's see that. The waters
of Siloam. That word Siloam, Siloah, means
sent. These waters came up out of a
rock at the base of Mount Zion. And we learned from Nehemiah
that the wall of the pool of Siloam was by the king's garden.
You have a little trickling spring that came up from a rock at the
base of Mount Zion by the king's garden. This pool was the same
pool which the Lord commanded that blind man to go wash in. He said unto him, go wash in
the pool of Siloam. And we're told in parentheses,
which is by interpretation, sent. That's what it means, sent. And
he went his way therefore, and he washed in that pool. And he
came away seeing. So we see a type of Christ in
the waters of Shiloah because we read, Jesus said unto them,
if God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded
forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent
me. I must work the works of him
that sent me, he said. While it's day, the night cometh
when no man can work. Our text says these are the waters
of Shiloah that go softly. the waters of Shiloah, it was
a small current of water, which it moved softly and slowly. It
wasn't a rapid, flowing, mighty river like the other rivers in
the land. That wasn't what this water was
like at all. And this also typifies our Redeemer
because He came forth the living water, the living water. which came from Mount Zion. Behold,
I lay in... He came from Mount Zion. There
shall come out of Zion the deliverer and turn away ungodliness from
Jacob, from God's chosen people. He came like that little rivulet
of water called Shaloh that came softly out of a rock out of the
base of Mount Zion. He came softly. He was a tender
plant, Isaiah said, a root out of a dry ground. There was no
form, no comeliness about Him. When the people saw Him, there
was nothing that would cause anybody to rejoice in Him. They
were looking for somebody that would come like a mighty rushing
river. and that would come in and that
would free them from political oppression and it would free
them from earthly tyrants and earthly kings and it would set
up a kingly earthly dominion and earthly kingdom so that they
could have their way and do what they wanted to do in the earth
and fulfill the lust of their heart to no end. That's basically
what folks want now when they talk about heaven. It's the same
thing. But this one came riding on a
lowly ass's coat. They were expecting God to come
down. And He did. But He was born of
a virgin. He was formed in the womb of
a virgin by the Holy Ghost. And He came forth of poor parrots
in a manger And there was nothing about this one that when you
would see him, you would think, boy, this is our Messiah. Somebody
did. Somebody saw him one day and
nailed him up and looked at him and said, now I've seen thy salvation,
Lord. This was a man that ought to
show us something about how the Spirit of God can cause us to
behold him as he is. He beheld this babe that he could
hold in his arms, but he beheld him as he is. He beheld the God
of salvation. He beheld the God-man. He beheld
God in human flesh and he said, I behold thy salvation. Not a
baby. I behold salvation right here. And so this one came forth like
that and he wasn't what the people expected. King Ahaz was a man
who, he was being come up against by this King Pekah from Syria
and by Remeliah's son, the king of Israel. God called them the
two tales of smoking firebrands. And King Ahaz wanted this smoke
to be extinguished right now by his God. But this one that
came forth, God said the bruised reed, he won't break. And the
smoking flax, he won't quench it. He just came forth softly,
preaching the word, declaring to the people, God has come in
human flesh. Emmanuel has come into your presence.
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And the people
said, he makes himself to be God. Him being a man makes himself
to be God. and they rejected him because
he didn't appear to the carnal eye to be that grand, conquering
king that the flesh wants to have, that the flesh is looking
for. The text says here, for as much as this people refuseth
the waters of Shiloah that go softly. Most think that it was
from the pool of Siloam that Isaiah was sent to preach to
King Ahaz. Look over there in Isaiah 7,
verse 3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah,
Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Sherjazob thy son, at the
end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
field. Most folks say this was either
the conduit of the upper pool was the conduit of the pool of
Siloah or that he went to the pool of Siloah. And thus, when
the scripture say, when the Lord said you refuse the pool of Siloah,
He's saying, you refuse Christ, you refuse the gospel, you refuse
my messenger I sent to you. Because when Isaiah came, Isaiah
came declaring the gospel. And this is what he came declaring,
Isaiah 7.14. He said, therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and
honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose
the good. Through the gospel of Christ,
through God's messenger, Ahaz was brought, quite literally,
just like sinners are today, to the fountain of youth. That's
where he was brought to. But it wasn't the fountain he
was looking for. It wasn't the fountain that he
wanted. It wasn't the fountain that he
thought would be impressive enough. Scripture tells us, look at Isaiah
44. Isaiah uses this metaphor quite
often. moved to use this by the Spirit
of God. Isaiah 44. Yet now hear, O Jacob,
my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith the
Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will
help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jessarun,
whom I have chosen, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring
up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. That's exactly
what Isaiah told Ahaz. Ahas don't be worried about these
two these these two smoking firebrands. They're about to be extinguished
Emmanuel is coming. God is with us. He's chosen a
people a remnant out of this nation He's chosen a remnant
out of this world of people that he loved from before the foundation
of the world He's gonna he's gonna water them But it's not
gonna be with the river. You're looking for a look at
Isaiah 11 The Lord compares man's strength and man's salvation
and all that men put their hope in to the salty Egyptian sea. And yet He compares His salvation
to a well of crisp, clean water. Listen to this, Isaiah 11, 15.
And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.
And with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river
and shall smite it in the seven streams and make men go over
dry shod." He's going to save people even from themselves,
even from the salty religion of man's own making. And he said,
I'm going to make it like it was in the day. Let me read it
here. And there shall be a highway
for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria,
like it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the
land of Egypt. And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will
praise thee. Thou wast angry with me. Thine
anger has been turned away, and you comfort me. Behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Therefore, with joy, shall you
draw water out of the wells of salvation. Look at Isaiah 58. The Lord compares
his witnesses to that of a watered garden, which he shall never
fail to water. Isaiah 58, 9. Then shalt thou call, and the
Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shalt
say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst
of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking
vanity, and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy
the afflicted soul, I can't think of a better way to describe,
to compare the preaching of man and the law and the preaching
of the gospel. The putting forth of the finger
and speaking vanity and the gospel is drawing out thy soul to the
hungry and satisfying the afflicted soul. That's the difference in
the two. Then shall thy light rise in
obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day. And the Lord
shall guide thee continuously, and satisfy thy soul in drought,
and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered
garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places,
and thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations. And thou
shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of
paths to dwell in. And what did the Lord say when
He stood up the last day, the day of the feast? Jesus stood
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink. And out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. Speaking of the Holy Ghost that
the believer has. What you have this morning is
what Ahaz had when he stood there at the Pool of Shaloh and heard
Isaiah preach. We have the benefit of reading
it and hearing the Lord say, Isaiah said, this is what the
Lord said, and of reading what the Lord said. But quite literally,
Ahaz had what we have here today. Ahaz had a man come before him,
just Isaiah, just a man is all he had. But that man came preaching
Christ Jesus, the son of God, is all your salvation. He came
telling Ahaz, Ahaz, if you don't believe him, you won't be established. You can forget it. You can forget
trying to establish yourself by any kind of conniving that
you've done. You can't be established any
other way than by trusting this one. The Lord said that He chose base
things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen,
and things that are nothing to bring to nothing things that
are. You know who, what He's talking
about first and foremost right there? His preachers. His preachers. Ahaz looked at Isaiah that day
and he thought, Is this the best that the Lord
has to send to me? This one right here? Surely he
got somebody better that he could bring preaching his word than
this man Isaiah. But the Lord said, I'm going
to use folks like this that have no flesh or glory in my presence. Paul said, look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And at 2 Corinthians 4.1, Paul
said, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our
gospel be hid, It's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. when Scripture says that Ahaz
and the people of Judah and Isaiah and Israel, when they despised
the waters of Shaloi that go softly, they despised God's messenger,
they despised God's gospel, and they despised God's Son. That's
what Ahaz did. Peter was on the Mount of Transfiguration. And he saw, he beheld the Lord
Jesus Christ transfigured there. And he heard a voice speak from
heaven and said, Behold, this is my Son, hear ye Him. And Peter
said, in the second epistle, he said, And we have a more sure
word of prophecy also. the Word of God. We have God's
Word. What Peter is saying is this
Word right here from God, the Gospel of Christ Jesus, is as
sure as if you saw Christ transfigured on the mount and heard God speak
audibly with a voice and say, this is my beloved Son, hear
Him. That's why when Isaiah came forth and said, believe God,
He has promised that this thing won't come to pass, But believe
Him, Ahaz, because if you're not trusting Him alone, there's
nothing you can do. There's nothing you're going
to be able to do to stop these two kings. God's purpose is going
to be fulfilled. Because His Son is going to come
forth. The scepter is not going to depart from Judah until Shiloh
comes. And He's coming. He's coming,
Ahaz. That's what Isaiah was sent forth
to preach. And you know one of the first
places, one of the first things that somebody who rejects Christ,
one of the first things they base it on is what? Well, you
don't even know if that word is true or not. That's where
they try to start out. You don't even know if it's been
translated so many times. Well, if you just look into it
a little bit, just look into it a little bit, you'll find
out that the God it speaks of is so sovereign, He can hold
the hands of the translators just like He moved the prophets
of old to write His Word. He can preserve His Word, but
God's promised salvation in Christ Jesus wasn't mighty enough for
King Ahaz. It was just a man saying a word. And Ahaz said, that's not enough
for me. I've got to have something else. That's not enough for me.
Well, Christ is not mighty enough to the blind eyes of sinners
in our day. What do sinners do? What did
Ahaz do? Look at Isaiah chapter 8. Here's what Ahaz did. He rejoiced in reason and Remeliah's
son. Now that's long and short of
that is to say this. He rejoiced in man. He rejoiced
in man. If you walk out of here today
not trusting Christ Jesus the Lord alone, you're rejoicing
in man. Rejoicing in your own strength,
your own power, your own wisdom, saying, I just don't buy that. I don't buy what God's declared
in His Word. And look what He did. Look at
2 Kings chapter 16. This speaks volumes about religion,
about our own carnal way of thinking. 2 Kings 16.7. So Ahaz sent messengers
to the king of Assyria. Forgive me for not trying to
pronounce that name. saying, I'm thy servant and thy son.
Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and
out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against
me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the
house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house,
and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And the
king of Assyria hearkened unto him, for the king of Assyria
went up against Damascus and took it, and carried the people
of it captive to Kirk, and slew Rezan. Ahaz did what religious
men and women do, who reject Christ the Lord. He used the
things of God unlawfully and thought that he had obtained
salvation because of what he had done. He attempted to rob
God, to rob God's house of its glory and thought he obtained
salvation thereby. Jeremiah 2.13 says this, My people
have committed two evils. This is what anybody who attempts
to come to God outside of Christ, these are the two evils. They
have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And they hewed
them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Now try
coming to God in his law, and you use his law unlawfully. Try coming to God because you
have professed Christ and you think that after you've professed
Him, you're made perfect by your obedience to the law and you've
used God's law unlawfully. Do you think that Christ is not
enough? That's what we say if we try
to come to God. after our conversion by making
ourselves perfect in this flesh by some kind of obedience that
we've performed. We're saying Christ is not enough to be my
holiness and my acceptance with God. We are taking the unsearchable
gold and silver out of God's house. Christ Jesus, the unsearchable
riches, the gift of God, and we're using it unlawfully and
saying, I'm going to make a covenant with myself. Just like Ahaz took
the gold and the silver out of the Lord's house and the treasure
out of the king's house and took it to the king of Assyria and
said, here, I'm making my covenant with you. Because he thought
king of Assyria was more powerful than God. And most men in the
carnal state think we're more powerful than God. Listen now,
turn to Galatians 2.16 with me. Galatians 2.16. Paul said, knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith,
the fidelity, the faithfulness, and by the gift of faith in Christ
Jesus. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Look at verse 19. For I through
the law am dead to the law. dead to it. That I might live
unto God. My father used to leave me a
set of instructions. He'd leave me a set of chores
to do around the house. And just about every time he'd
leave me a set of chores to do, he'd leave me more than enough.
Enough that I couldn't get them done. Enough so that I would
be working, doing them all the time and wouldn't be bothering
my mother. But when he came home, and that list wasn't done, and
he went to work in doing it, I didn't look at that list anymore.
You know it? I walked with him, doing those
chores, and listened to him say, go there, go there, do this,
do that. Because he's there, and he had dominion then. When
he wasn't there, I was looking at that set of commandments,
trying to go, how can I do all this? How am I going to get all
this done before my father comes? But when my father came, I started
listening to him. When Christ takes dominion in
the heart, we quit going to Mount Sinai. We've got the lawgiver. We're following Him. We're listening
to Him. We're heeding His instruction.
And that's what Paul says, I through the law am dead to the law that
I might live unto God. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Now listen now, I don't frustrate
the grace of God. I'm not refusing the waters of
Shiloah anymore. Because if righteousness come
by the law, Christ is dead in vain. Now read on. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you? Don't you know that rebellion
is as the sin of witchcraft? Don't you know that rebellion
against God is idolatry? Who hath bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I
learn of you. Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law? Did you do something to cause
God to pour out the Holy Spirit into your heart? Did you work
and work and work and work and by your work then God poured
out his spirit in your heart? This is a rhetorical question.
The answer is here. You didn't get it that way. He
said you got it by the hearing of faith. You heard and you beheld
the glory of Christ. God caused you to put your hand
over your mouth and say I abhor myself I heard about you before
but hearing I didn't hear now I see mine eyes have beheld your
glory and I abhor myself Now Paul asked is are you so foolish
having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? Or I'll tell you what now That
lays low the man who says, do not let anybody tell you that
you are not under the law, believer. You know what Paul said about
that man? He said, let him be accursed. He said, if I or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that
has been preached, let him be accursed. He's trodden underfoot
the precious blood of Christ Jesus the Lord and said the waters
of Shiloah just aren't enough. He's rejoicing in Remeliah and
in Pekah and he's saying we got to do something to bring ourselves
to God and he's counting the blood of Christ a vain thing.
He's counting the death of Christ vanity. That's all they were
saying in the Church of Galatia. All they were saying in the Church
of Galatia was, oh, by all means believe on Christ Jesus. By all
means profess faith in Him. By all means come to Christ and
make your peace with God. But now, you're still under the
law. You still have an obligation
to keep this law. How are you going to be perfect
if you don't keep it? How are you going to come before
God in the perfection of holiness if you don't keep this law? I'm
going to come in Christ, the perfection of holiness. Paul said that glorying in your
flesh, that glorying in your flesh. But let me get on. I want
you to see this now. Look with me here. This is what
happens. This is what happened in the
garden. The Lord says, The people refused the waters of Shaloi
that go softly because they admired and gloried in men and earthly
kings like Rezan and Remeliah's son. That's what scriptures mean.
It says the carnal mind hates God. The carnal mind hates God. It's because when we sinned in
the garden, when the prince of this world said, in the day you
eat of that tree, you'll become as gods, knowing good and evil.
When Adam ate in that garden, our judgment, our spiritual understanding
went upside down. And God went from being on his
throne, and we went to being on that throne, and considering
ourselves to be kings. in rejoicing in our works, and
in our doing, and in everything we are. And this is what has
to happen. This is what has got to happen.
Look with me at John 3, verse 19. John 3, verse 19. No, no,
no. John 16. I'm sorry. John 16, verse 7. This is the law, the enmity against
God, the carnal minds, enmity against God. It's not subject
to the law of God and it can't be. The flesh can't please God. We have to be born of the Spirit
and here's why, here's why. The Lord said, John 16, 7, Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. They're
going to preach the gospel. And he says, for if I go not
away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment
of sin, because they believe not on me. That is where our
sin lies. That's it. I don't care if a
man's telling you, oh, believe on Christ, but you've got to
keep the law. What did Paul say? If it's of grace, it's no more
works. If it's of works, it's no more
grace. You know what he's saying? If it's a mixture of the two,
it's neither one. Either you've got to come in
all of grace or you've got to come all by yourself doing the
works yourself. Mix the two and you've got neither.
You've got neither grace nor works. So, of sin, because they
believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father. I
have come and satisfied justice. The righteousness of God is manifest
without the law, witnessed by the law and the prophets. Christ
Jesus the Lord on the cross, declaring God just and the justifier
of him that believe, and of judgment. I've got to send forth the comforter
so he comes into the hearts of ignorant, out of the way, backward,
self-exalting, self-righteous sinners and restores judgment
unto them so that they can behold he's God. I'm a worm. Everybody
knows there's a judgment Everybody knows they're gonna come in a
judgment you ask anybody and they'll say that if that's not
the judgment spoken of here the judgment Spoken of here is our
right understanding. That's what we get from the Spirit
of God to see God as he is And until we have it light coming
light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light. I Ahaz loved his darkness. He loved his idea.
He loved his covenant that he was making with Assyria. Because
if he came to God, and if he trusted God, the first thing
he's going to have to confess is, I can't do anything. I can't save myself. I need you,
Lord. And he said, I don't I don't,
I can do it. I rejoice in my own strength.
I rejoice in, I don't think the Lord's strong enough to save
me from Pekah and Remeliah's son, but I think I am. I think
I can take the vessels from the Lord's house and unlawfully use
them and go down here and make a covenant, and I'll save myself.
Well, let's see what happened. Isaiah 8-7, Now therefore behold,
You wanted a river? You wanted a mighty river? You
wanted a strong, mighty river? Okay, you got it. Now therefore,
behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river,
strong and many, even the king of Assyria in all his glory. The very one we put our trust
in, the very one we make our covenant with, the very one that
we put our hope in. God said, I'll use that very
one to be your downfall. We've come to God trusting in
ourselves. You know who we're going to find out failed us? Ourselves. And he said, they'll
go over all his banks. Come up over all his channels,
go over all his banks. You just picture a river flooding,
you know, out of its banks. We'll see this little creek down
here behind the firehouse do that here in a few months. He
shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over.
He shall reach even to the neck and stretching out of his wings
and he shall feel the breadth. Now get this though now, it's
still his land. It's still the one Isaiah came
preaching, Emmanuel, it's still his land. He just said, I'm just
going to destroy you off of it because you're not fit to pollute
my land. You're not fit to be on my land.
I'm going to remove you from it. When God brings those into
judgment who will not trust his son, he's going to bring them
into judgment and he's going to say, you're not fit to be
in my land. You're not fit to be in my kingdom.
You're not fit to be in my presence. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. Isaiah 28.15
says, Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death,
and with hell are we at agreement. You need to look at that. Isaiah
28.15. Because ye have said, We have
made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us, for we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves. Now that's not what folks say.
That's what the Lord says about it. The Lord says that's what
you might as well be saying. We made lies our refuge. Falsehood
we hid ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Christ Jesus,
the Son of God, Emmanuel. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and he is the line. Christ Jesus, the Lord is the
line. And the plummet, the righteousness to the plummet. He's the plumb
line. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the water shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant
with death shall be disannulled. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass through. Then
you shall be trodden down by it. Well, I'm gonna leave you
with this. If the grace of God's able to
save in spite of the sinner's rebellion, then why did God not
pour out his grace upon Ahaz? If God's able to do all this
that He did to Judah and to Israel and to Ahaz, why didn't God pour
His grace out on him then? Couldn't He have made Ahaz believe?
Sure He could. Sure He could. But, because he
passed by Ahaz, God shows you and I who believe, who have been
saved by His grace, just how precious and distinguishing His
grace really is. Ahas, like all others who die
in their sins, perish because they willingly refuse Christ
Jesus the Lord and rejoice in man. That's it. Paul said, you'll
say to me then, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted
his will? And Paul said, the question we
need to be asking is, who am I? And who is he? Who am I? And who is God? That's the question
we need to be asking. Not, why does He find fault with
me? But, who is God? And who am I? That's the question
we need to be asking. Can He not do with His own what
He will? Can Him make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor?
But when He does it, we behold just how precious His grace is. And His people behold that that
the person who does not believe, he's condemned already. The Lord
said, I didn't come to condemn the world. They're condemned
already who don't believe. But His name shall be Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. And they're made willingly to
believe Him. And they behold that grace is unmerited. And
He does it just like He did with Isaiah, sending them to a man
like Ahaz. And all he does is preach the
gospel. And to some, they walk away just like Ahaz did, saying,
I'll refuse that. I believe that man is more glorious
than that. But some walk away saying, I
need you. I need you, Lord. I behold that
there is no glory in me. There is nothing worthy to be
glorified in me. the fountain of living waters.
And you know what happened when the Lord came to that blind man
and we saw last time when he told him all and he brought him
into that synagogue and the people said, we know that God heard
Moses, as for this Christ, we don't know who he is, we don't
know where he came from. What did that blind man say?
This is a marvelous thing. This is amazing. You don't know
from whence He is. And He has given me sight. He has revealed Himself in me.
And you don't have any idea who He is. That's what grace beholds. Grace
beholds a man like Ahaz and says, Lord, that's me. I would have
refused, refused, refused, but thanks be to God, He made me
willing. He made you willing to bow to
Him. And out of your belly comes living
waters. Eternal life. You got the fountain
of youth. Eternal life. Christ Jesus the
Lord. Well, I pray that you will cast
yourself on His mercy. And ask Him. Ask Him in the height
above. That's where he's seated. Ask
him. I won't refuse the waters of Shiloh
just because they go softly, because there's nothing in them
that appeal to the carnal eye, to your flesh.