May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 2, and we'll read the last verse,
and that's verse 22. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter
2, and reading verse 22. Cease ye from man whose breath
is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of. The prophet speaks here in this
chapter of those wrong things, those wrong ways of worship and
directs us to this important truth that we are to cease from
man. Of course that can represent
ourselves. We are to cease from our own
works, our own views, our own ideas, and to rely totally upon
that which the Lord supplies and the Lord gives. We are therefore
to cease from ourselves and cease from man and to be found looking
unto the Lord, indeed looking unto Jesus. And the prophet tells
us in this chapter, in the earlier verse he says, their land also
is full of idols. They worship the work of their
own hands. And sometimes we need to be reminded
of what idols can be. Doesn't necessarily mean something
which is a graven idol, perhaps made of stone and we bow down
to, but we may have idols in our own heart. Things that we
perhaps worship, and things that we often meditate on and think
about, but they are not really God-honouring. God is a holy
God, God is a jealous God, and God will not have opposition,
and yet so easily we do provide that opposition. And even in
such a statement like this, they worship the work of their own
hands. We need to realise that the Word
of God is so comprehensive in its statements, and there are
those things which we do, the things which we make, and we're
perhaps very proud of. We stand back and admire the
work of our own hands. And what we're really doing,
of course, is worshipping that. And it's not, therefore, bringing
glory to God. It's bringing glory to ourselves. And it's always good when we're
able to succeed in doing something naturally, that we're able to
acknowledge that the Lord gave us help to perform that, wisdom
to do it. We always need to recognise that
God has given us our natural understanding. God has given
us our ability to do things, our ability to think things.
It's not that which we have, it's that which God has given
to us. And if we have a right understanding
of such a truth, then you see, it will then elevate God, rather
than elevate ourselves. And especially as We may see
then by the Spirit of God our total inadequacy and our unworthiness
and our sinfulness in so many ways. And to then observe how
good and kind and gracious God is in not dealing with us as
our sins deserve, not dealing with us as we should be dealt
with because of the evil of our own hearts. evil which dwells
within. Well, Isaiah directs us then
to such thoughts like this and then speaks about the loftiness
of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of men shall
be made low. You know we can very easily fall
into the snare of thinking, well, I'm glad I'm not like that person,
I'm glad I don't do this, and I'm glad of that. And we have
to be very careful that we don't fall into the trap of then being
lofty in our own estimation of ourselves, and being proud of
our own abilities, and proud of the things that we say and
the things that we do. But the Word of God tells us,
the loftiness of man shall be bowed down. and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low." The Lord brings down his people in
spirit. He brings them down to a low
place and doesn't allow them to sit in a high place. And the Word of God here tells
us the reason for that. And the reason is clear, it's
important, and it's this, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day." How important it is that in our lives God is exalted,
and not ourselves. How we need much grace to recognise
the truth of these words, and not to fall under the snare of
exalting ourself. We like praise, don't we? We like people to say how good
that was or how wonderful it was. We have to be very careful
that we don't absorb those things upon ourselves, but that we always
acknowledge it is through the grace of God. As the Apostle
tells us, it is through the grace of God that we do this or do
that. It's not because we are naturally
favoured, as it were, because of our own acumen, because it's
God that gives us everything. All the things that you and I
have, and all the things that we possess, physically, naturally,
academically, God gives to us. And as perhaps we view the world
at large and we see many people who perhaps are not blessed with
abilities or things that we have, we should in our hearts be thankful
to God for all that he's given to us and all that he's favoured
us with. And the reaction should really
be then that we hold all these things with a light hand, realising
that God has lent them to us as it were. He's given us many
things to use wisely and rightly. and not to consume the things
of time on our lusts, but to be thankful for that which God
has provided us with. And so here we come to these
words, and of course the prophet is speaking not only day-to-day
things, but also the last days, the last days of time when all
the things of this earth will perish away and there won't stand
anyone in any good stead. Man may possess many goods and
wonderful fortresses and everything, but when the Lord comes in his
glory, all these things will disappear, they'll be burnt up,
and man will have nothing. We should always remember the
truth of that and therefore pray for grace to walk our lives in
accordance with the Word of God, and we should never forget the
great example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who of course possessed
all things, and yet came into this world with nothing, had
nothing, took nothing out. What a wonderful example we have,
and what did he do in his life? Did he spoil himself? Did he spend his time on himself?
No, he pleased not himself. He went about doing good. He
went about with that single desire to please his father in heaven. Well, that's the wonderful example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the apostle comes down
to these, sorry, the prophet comes down to these words at
the end of this chapter and says then, cease from man. ceased for man, and if it wasn't
necessary, it wouldn't be written. But clearly it is necessary,
and it's good for us to realize the great truths that it is,
because man is mortal. Man is passing through life. Man's life is so, so short. At the very longest, it's so,
so short. And we read again and again and
he died and she died and in that state they had nothing naturally. What a great blessing if when
it comes to our turn to die that we are blessed with the grace
of God so we can leave everything on this earth and then to go
and to be with Christ which is far better. Well it is good to
trust in the Lord and That's why the psalmist tells us it's
better to trust in the Lord. He tells us in the 118th Psalm,
it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
man. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in princes. Sometimes we may think,
well that's an important person and surely that person can help
me, surely that person can advise me. Well, sometimes the Lord
allows people to be used, but it's only through the Lord God. And so, therefore, let us not
trust in man. Let us cease from man, but let
us trust in the Lord. Because man fails. Man can fail. Man may not intend
to fail, but sometimes he does. The Lord will not fail us. And the psalmist goes on to tell
us, he says, Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall. Yes, the devil thrust sore at
us to endeavour to make us fall, to endeavour to make us rely
upon ourselves, to rely upon men. But the Lord helped me. What a blessing it is to know
we have a God who is a helper. The Lord is my strength and song
and has become my salvation. Well, may we be found then not
trusting in self, may we be found trusting in the Lord. Trusting
in the Lord and realising that our God is one who can do for
us far more and exceeding abundantly than we can ask or even think. Again in Psalm 60 we read, Wilt
not thou, O God, which hast cast us off, and thou, O God, which
didst not go out with our armies, give us help from trouble? For
vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly,
for here it is that shall tread down our enemies. There are enemies
that rise up. We may not be able to destroy
them, we may not be able to put them away, but you see God can
do that which you and I cannot do. And there are so many examples
in the Word of God, especially in the Old Testament. in those
many wars which Israel were called to fight, where the Lord appeared
for them in remarkable ways and gained the victory. And therefore
may we put our trust in the Lord, relying upon Him and not in ourselves
or in man, however able men may appear to be." And you know,
it's a very easy snare to fall into when we see someone who
we think is very able and very gracious perhaps, and we look
to those people, well, they are but men. God is God. And God can give you and give
me the right answer. And God can give us the right
direction. And therefore, what a wonderful
thing it is that we have the Word of God. You think of this
vast volume From Genesis to Revelation, full of direction, full of instruction,
full of guidance, full of help. We need not go, really, anywhere
else. We're encouraged, aren't we,
to search the Scriptures. Not go to this one or to that
one. Search the Scriptures. The Scriptures will give us all
that you and I need for direction in our natural life and also
direction in our spiritual life. And so we are indeed to not look
to ourselves, not look to frail man. How easily we can fall and
look to frail man. Men are just sinners of the earth.
Let's look beyond them. Let's look to our God. therefore
surely the reason we have here tonight, see she from men, what
are we to do? Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. See that's where we are to be
found, looking for help, looking for direction, looking for blessing. to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that then will put things
in a right perspective, would it not? And so may we indeed
cease from man and be blessed indeed. We're looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Again, he's referring to the
Psalms and that very beautiful Psalm, the 34th Psalm gives us
so much instruction. And the Psalmist tells us in
this psalm. He says, O magnify the Lord in
me and let us exalt his name together. And he gives a reason
for that. I sought the Lord. What was the
result? He heard me and delivered me
from all my fears. They looked unto him and were
lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried. This lowly man, this poor man
cried. Who did he cry to? The Lord. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Yes, the Lord
is able to save. Man is not. God is able. And God is willing. And in this
psalm, the psalmist goes on, he says, the angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Isn't that humbling to think
that there is angels of the Lord encamping round about us to support
us and to deliver us in every time of need. And so he goes
on to say, oh taste and see, the Lord is good. You see if
we're looking to man, we're looking to ourselves, we won't have the
glorious benefit of such a time of deliverance, a time of favour. No, but when we look to the Lord,
you see, he says, oh taste and see, the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. O fear the Lord, ye saints, for
there is no want to them that fear him." These surely are great
words of encouragement. David knew the blessing of them. He knew the difficulties in his
life, the difficulties naturally, the difficulties spiritually,
but he knew where to go in his time of need. He knew what it
was to seek after the Lord God and to receive gracious deliverances,
gracious answers, gracious direction and gracious blessing. So we
can thank God that we have testimony in the Word of God to be found
looking to the Lord, looking to our God. And of course we
have those glorious words in Isaiah also where the prophet
tells us, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth, for I am God and there is none else. Look unto me and
be ye saved. We are not to look to man, we
are not to look to the Pope or to look to Mohammed or anything
like that. We are to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto
me. And what do we see in the Lord
Jesus Christ? We see all that we need for our
salvation. Yes, cease for man. Look unto
the Lord. And blessed it is when the Spirit
of God comes and touches our heart and directs us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It turns us away from everything
else because there is a fullness in our Saviour. A fullness resides
in Jesus, our Head, which ever abides to answer our need. Whatever need we have naturally
and more especially in a spiritual way, the Lord will come, look
unto me and be saved. That's the great thing, isn't
it, in the lives of everyone, to be saved. Most people do not
realise the need they have. They go on aimlessly in this
sinful world. They do not realise they need
to be saved from the sins which possess them, the subtleties
of Satan, and they don't look to the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a favour if the Spirit of God, and it is the blessed work of
the Spirit of God, if that Spirit has directed us to look out of
ourselves, to not look to man, but to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ for our salvation, and to be gloriously blessed with
a spiritual view of the great satisfaction there was in the
death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That death atoned
for all the sins of his church. However vile, however sinful,
however wicked, however evil we may be, And perhaps we don't
yet fully realise how bad we are, but you know the Spirit
of God, when it works in the heart of the believer, it shows
the person their sin, and more sin, and more sin. So that sometimes we have to
cry out, can ever God dwell here in such a heart as mine? And that's why We have such glorious
words like this, to cease ye from man and to look unto the
Lord Jesus Christ and see the all-sufficiency of that great
and glorious sacrifice when he gave his life. Nothing less than
that would do. Nothing less than the sacrifice
of the life of the Son of God. That was the requirement, that
was the price to be paid to redeem the Church of God. How glorious
it is to realise that Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son
of the Father, that One who is eternal, was so willing to enter
into this sinful world to save the souls of all his people.
And so today, as we read this word, cease ye from man. But
the alternative is, and the blessing is, that we have a great and
glorious Saviour, who does save. Look unto me. You see, we won't
look with living faith and be let down. He won't turn us away. No, we are to come unto him. He says, doesn't he, come unto
me. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. And that means exactly
what it says. Because if we are under a burden
of sin, the burden that the Holy Spirit has put there, and it's
It drags us down and it casts us down. And we wonder whether
there's any hope at all for us. Well, what a favour it is then
to hear the words of the Lord Jesus when he says, to such people,
come unto me. Yes, not to man, come unto me. All ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Now that's a promise. There are
many promises in the Word of God. And it's very wonderful
they're there to encourage us as we press on in our little
life here below. And as we are perhaps found in
this situation, labouring, heavy laden because of the sins which
do so easily beset us. We're not to settle down and
say, well of course that's my besetting sin, and think you
can therefore excuse yourselves. Not at all. It's the opposite. As we find ourselves beset with
perhaps, it may be one particular kind of sin in your life. One
particular kind of sin in my life, which we are plagued with. Plagued with. Here we have a
gracious invitation and a glorious promise. Come unto me. And it is qualified, you see,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Because if we don't have
a need, we won't want to go to the Saviour. There won't be any
logic in saying, well, come to Jesus. Why? We would only desire
and want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ if we have a need. And that need will surely be
if we are labouring and are heavy laden. And the promise is, I
will give you rest. And to rest in Christ is a blessed
and a comfortable place. And therefore the Lord tells
us and instructs us in these words, blessed with this wonderful
favour, of answers to our prayers, answers to our cry, we're not
there just to sit down and fold our arms and think, well, this
is OK, this is wonderful. No. The Lord then gives us gracious
instruction that to such who are blessed in this way, they
are to take his yoke, take my yoke upon you. That means to
be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. That means to be a true follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean just to carry
on in our own little way, no. It's a word of gracious instruction. Take my yoke upon you and in
that path we will then learn. Learn of me. Initially we don't
know very much of the Saviour's love, of his grace and his favour. But as we are enabled by his
grace to take this yoke, be joined with the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he tells us, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. United to Christ, rest for our
souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And the Church of God, those
who are true followers of the Saviour, have proved the words
to be true. God's word is truth. Never forget
that. The Lord Jesus said in that 19th
chapter in John, the 17th verse, Thy word is truth. And you and
I can rely upon it and we can plead to our God, Thou hast said
The Lord cannot deny himself, he cannot deny his word and therefore
what a favour it is to be blessed with this wonderful favour. And
so look unto me and be you saved. What a gracious invitation is
it not? And how favoured it will be if
you and I are blessed with that faith to come to the Lord in
this way. And the little prophecy of Micah
gives us confidence in the Lord. Never shy away from the small
prophecies. They are full of gracious instruction,
full of wonderful words. And Micah tells us in the seventh
chapter, trust ye not in a friend. Put ye not confidence in a guide.
Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up
against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a
man's enemies are the men of his own house." And then the
Prophet says, therefore. What's he going to do? Therefore. What a perplexing situation. What's he to do? Therefore, I
will look unto the Lord. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. Then he tells us, I will wait
for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. It's a confidence,
is it not? And we can take hold of such
words. and plead them before our God. And the Lord says, here, rejoice
not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my
cause. and execute judgment for me,
he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness." the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, not only does Micah
but also Zechariah speaks to us in his little prophecy as
well. And in the twelfth chapter we're
told again some encouraging words which we should not really turn
against. He says, And it shall come to pass in
that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that
come against Jerusalem. And we can think the Lord will
destroy all those enemies that come against us. And I will pour
upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplications. That means the true spirit of
prayer. And they shall look upon me,
whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. This is really
a very clear direction the Lord brings his people into. and it's
a place of blessing when we are given that grace to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ and we see him suffering, we see him pierced,
those nails nailing him to the cross, the agonies that he endured
so that you and I might receive the blessings of grace, the blessing
of forgiveness, the blessing of eternal life. Well, when the
Lord comes and pours upon the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications, well how
wonderful it is when the Lord grants us that prayer to our
God that he will revealed himself to us as it is not unto the world. And what that means is revealing
himself as that one who gave his life as a sacrifice on our
behalf. That one who gave his life and
shed his most precious blood in order that our sins might
be washed away, taken away. It may be a great burden. If
you and I are looking to the Saviour, look to the cross, look
to the Lord Jesus Christ and see there that great and glorious
finished work, that finished work which was completed at Calvary
when the Lord uttered those glorious words, it is finished. Yes, the whole work that his
Father had given to him was complete. And so as we view the Saviour
at Calvary, Oh then, not to look to ourselves. Cease from man,
whose breath is in his nostrils. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's wonderful, isn't it,
to be able to read these prophecies in the Old Testament and to be
so encouraged by them. And of course, the apostle, when
he wrote to the Hebrews, wrote some Glorious truths with regards
to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and the wonderful
blessing of forgiveness and Which he tells us in the ninth chapter
the last verse so Or the previous verse and it is appointed unto
men once to die but after this the judgment Well, that's true
of every one of us. I So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. To be found in looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, not looking to man, look beyond man. You know sometimes people rely
on men They rely on preachers, they think, oh well, I'll go
and hear that man and I'll get a wonderful blessing that's looking
to man. We are to look to the Lord. The Lord can bless from what
we might think is perhaps the poorest preacher. There's no
such real statement, but nonetheless, the Lord uses whom he will. Let us not therefore make an
unrighteous judgement The Lord can bless. Cease for man. Look to the Lord. Look to the
Lord that He will grant and maybe the application of His glorious
Gospel to our souls, which may, as it were, set our hearts on
fire. A bit like we mentioned this
morning, those two on the Emmaus Road, when their heart burned
within them, when the Lord spoke about Himself and all the glorious
prophecies concerning Himself. Oh, it set their hearts on fire.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto
them which look for him, shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. And then also, of course, in
the 12th chapter of the Hebrews, having given that long list of
those who are blessed with that true and living faith to perform
wonderful deeds in the 11th chapter, he then comes and says, wherefore?
because of all that which has been written before. Wherefore,
seeing we also, you and me today, we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. There's many weights, aren't
there? Many weights of the world which
drag us down. Sometimes they may be so heavy
they almost stop us. Perhaps they do stop us. Compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sinless thus so easily beset us. And we're
not to stop there, no. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. That clearly indicates to us
that the race is not easy. That's why we need patience.
to run the race. There'll be much opposition,
but because of that, the Lord tells us what we should do. As
we run this race, we ought to be found looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, day by day,
hour by hour, looking unto Jesus, the author, the one who's begun
the work of grace, the one who's given us living faith, the author
and the finisher. What God has begun, he will complete. Remember, there are no failures
with Christ. No failures. He didn't fail in
his commission, and there are no failures in those in whose
hearts he gives this grace and blessing of living faith And
he says, therefore, let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Then he tells us about the Saviour
himself, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. And sometimes we need that grace
to look forward to the time when we shall be in that joyful realm
of glory. Who for the joy that was set
before him, you see that will give us strength and encouragement
to press on because of the joy that you and I will enter into
at the end of the road, the end of our life. Who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame,
the path of the Saviour, the path of the true followers of
the Saviour. Endure the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And he goes on, four, consider
Him. In every time of need, consider
the Saviour. Think of Him. When you have difficulties,
when you have hard times, when your heart perhaps is overwhelmed
Consider him. Consider the cost of your salvation
that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds, looking unto Jesus. Cease ye from man. Well, may we indeed be found
hearing gracious instruction like this, to cease from man,
but does not avoid is not an emptiness, we are to be found
looking unto Jesus. And blessed for that, we will
not be forsaken. We will have to press on with
patience through the journey of life, but looking forward
with gracious anticipation to that rest that remains for the
people of God, for the joy the Lord has prepared for suffering
saints that will make amends for all. Amen.