Good evening, everyone. As you
remain sitting, let's turn to our softback hymnal, 134. I once
was a stranger to grace and to God. 134. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. No friend spoke in rapture of
Christ on the tree. Jehovah said, Can you? Was nothing to me. By tears from the daughters of
Zion that roamed, I wept when the waters went over his soul. Yet thought not that thy sins
had nailed to the tree. Jehovah said, can you? T'was nothing to me. When free grace awoke me by light
from on high. And legal fear shook me, I trembled
to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek. Jehovah said, can you? My Savior must be. My terrors all vanished before
the sweet name. My guilty fears banished. With boldness I came to drink
at the fountain. life-giving and free. Jehovah said, can you, is all
thanks to me. Jehovah said, can you, my treasure
and boast, Jehovah said, can you, I dare, can be lost? In thee I shall conquer, by flood
and by field, my capo, my anchor, my breastplate and shield. Thank you. I'd like to read Psalm 19. Psalm
19. To the chief musician, a psalm
of David, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Day unto day utter a speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone
out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run
a race. His going forth is from the end
of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statues of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can
understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not
have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Our heavenly and merciful Father,
we thank you, Father, for allowing us to gather again this evening.
What a great blessing it is, Lord. where you continue to watch
over this local assembly and the door can be opened time after
time. Father, we thank you for your
full and free and complete salvation. Father, we thank you for sending
your only begotten son to this world to suffer and die in the
place of your sheep. Father, we thank you for all
your blessings, your grace, and your mercy that you have given
unto us. And much of it, Lord, we take
for granted. And Father, will you especially
remember us this evening, where we assemble together again, Lord,
pour out your grace and mercy upon us, and especially be with
brother Eric again, Lord, as he stands here this evening.
Lord, will you give him liberty in speaking and open up the scriptures
for him, that he may deliver what you want us to hear. Continue,
Lord, to be with him and Michelle. Give them strength and health.
Continue to watch over them. We thank you for them, Lord.
And Lord, we also think of those that assemble with us, especially
Brother Scott, who is still in the hospital. Father, you have
given some encouragement with some healing, and will you continue
to watch over him? Oh Lord, will you lift him up
in his spirit that he may be encouraged and that he may once
again come here to worship with us. And we do miss him. Remember
sister Johnny also continue Lord to give her strength and encouragement
and comfort and hope, which only you can give father. Remember
our loved ones. You know all things perfectly
and nothing is impossible with you, Lord. Will you have mercy
on our children, on our loved ones, our parents, Lord, you
know all things. And if it would please you, Lord,
will you open our mouths that we may declare your goodness
and grace to sinners. Father, remember us in mercy
this evening for Jesus' sake alone, amen. Our second hymn will be 45 from
your softback, 45. Praise God for grace. electing grace, secured for me
in heaven a place chosen from all eternity, the Son of God
by blood, born ? The Spirit came in sovereign
power ? ? At the exact appointed hour ? ? Revealing Christ, creating
faith, my soul ? ? He quickened from his death ? Now I rejoice
in sovereign grace. My sovereign God shall have my
praise. Praise God for grace. Praise God for grace. Sovereign, eternal, safe in grace. thank you so much You were singing that hymn, My
Sovereign God Shall Have My Praise. It made me think of what you
shared with me this afternoon about Brother Art at the Jersey
Church had just said that we hear the preaching of the gospel
and the Lord's teaching us and comforting us, but when we sing
the hymns, it's our. It's our opportunity in a sense,
you know what I mean? Like we're praising our God for
His mercy and grace and His sovereign love. I love a sinner like me. Turn over to Isaiah 66. Isaiah
66. We'll be looking at just a few
verses, 17 through 19. And in verse 17, we see how the
Lord brings to our remembrance, brings to our understanding by
exposing the dead, carnal, fleshly works of man. And the truth is,
we know these works well. Maybe we don't always think of
them right away, but when we hear them, when we consider what
we did in religion and what we do in religion to comfort ourselves,
to give ourselves some relief from some sin that's troubling
us or some memory of a sin that troubles us, we see what we are
in this flesh, how weak we are. And the reality is, even though
the Lord exposes what man is, He has a gracious purpose for
His child. It's to make us to know what
is false and cannot save and just isn't so, isn't true for
the believer. And it has no power over us. We let it. We get buried under
it sometimes. but it really has no power, even
when we let it, even when our feelings betray us, it has no
power over us because we are the Lord's and nothing is greater
than the Lord. The Lord is all powerful, almighty,
he's sovereign and able, able to save us, able to deliver us,
able to fulfill his word of promise to us. And so remember that as
we look at these verses. This is all for a gracious purpose
to the Lord's people. It's to make us to look to Him,
to look away from self, and to look to our God and Savior. the glory of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so, the Lord in his word,
not just here, but all throughout his word, he's constantly exposing
to us the dead works of man, the busy works of man in religion. In religion, those things he
does to purify himself, to sanctify himself, to justify himself,
to make himself righteous. Even as we sang, Jehovah Sidkin,
the Lord, my, righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness. That's what we're being brought
to see. He's my righteousness, not my
works, not the things I do, but what he has done and accomplished
for me. So he's constantly exposing these
dead works And he's assuring us that they're all going to
come, though there's a variety of them, though they show and
appear in many different ways, they all have one end, one thing
in common, they're all going to end in destruction. God's
going to destroy them all, the workers of iniquity. And so while
man is busying himself with religious works to please God, to earn
favor with God, to make himself more savable to God, whatever
it is in his mind that he's doing and thinks will help him with
God, God tells us, I'm saving my people by grace. Man's going
to do what man's going to do. but I'm going to save my people
by grace. I'm gonna tell you the gospel.
I'm gonna preach to you the gospel. I'm going to deliver you from
dead works and trusting in those things that cannot save because
we all have our part in them in this flesh. We all do these
things in our flesh. And so our Lord tells us here
by the prophet Isaiah, he knows what the wicked are doing. I'd
be kidding you if I tried to tell you I don't ever think about
those nice big buildings and a church full of people. And they seem to be doing well.
They seem to be doing well. They seem to be profiting in
their religion. They seem to be profiting in
their religion. And the Lord says, I see them. I see what
they're doing. I'm not blind or ignorant of
what they're doing over there, but I'm telling you, their works
are vain. Their works are dead works. That's
not salvation. They're not laying up for themselves
a treasure in heaven by their own works of righteousness. And
so, for all the variety that man employs to separate himself
from another, the Lord says, in the end, it's all one. It's
all one. They're all going to be destroyed
in like manner. They're all coming to an end.
And then he outlines for us how it is his glory to save his people
by grace, to fill empty vessels, to comfort the heart of those
who are troubled, to heal the sick. to bless those who have
nothing, who have no one, to bless them, to be kind to them,
and to show them His love in Him who is the very glory of
God. So the first thing that we see
here when we look at verse 17 is that the Lord is marking for
us. He's marking out those works
that are dead works, those men who are appointed to destruction
who continue in this false way. And it reminds me of what Paul
said when he tells us, mark them. Mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned
and avoid them. Mark them. And so the Lord's
marking them. He's showing us what dead religion
looks like. Dead religion. So here it is,
verse 17. They that sanctify themselves. They sanctify themselves. They purify themselves. In the gardens, behind one tree,
in the midst, or one after another, one after another, eating swine's
flesh, partaking in hypocrisy. hypocrisy. And if that's not
clear, just because the pig, it has that cloven hoof of a
clean animal. It has that split hoof that clean
animals have, but inside, you don't know it, you don't see
it, but it's not chewing the cud. It's not chewing the cud.
That's why a pig is not a clean animal that the Jews were allowed
to eat. And so it has the appearance
of being clean, but inside, It's wicked. And that's a picture
of hypocrisy. It's what we are by nature. We
can make ourselves look good, whitewashed supplicars full of
dead men's bones. That's what's being said there.
They eat swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse. They're just partaking of wicked
things. Wicked things that do not please
God. They shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. And so, we see
here and just in our own experience that man has no problem being
religious. Man doesn't have a problem being
religious. And I can recall several conversations
as I was growing up and just beginning to seek the Lord on
my own as a young adult and going to different churches and meeting
different people. And I met a lot of people that
were excited because they were getting religion. They decided
that they needed some religion, or it would be good for the kids.
I have little kids now. I'm going to bring them to church
to give them some religion, to get them to grow up good and
right. People need religion. And men
were proud of that. Men are proud of that. And I
did things that I was proud of. and confident in, thinking this
was my life. This was sanctifying me. This
was putting me in a position to be blessed by God. And that's really what progressive
sanctification is. It's doing those things that
are outlined here as good things to do, and that by doing those
things, that by doing those things that they sanctify us, that they
will obtain a blessing of God for us. That's what progressive
sanctification is. If I do this, then God will bless
it. If I do this, then God will bless
me in this. If I do those things, I'm not going to be blessed.
And so men do things to obtain favor from God. They do those
things. That's just progressive sanctification. And so men will do those things
to prepare themselves to inherit the blessing, to receive the
blessing. And they purify themselves in the gardens, which likely
has a reference to water purifications. and just partaking in different
activities, in different things, one after another, to give themselves
some purification, to provide some purity for themselves, to
wash their hands of their filthy works, to try and remove the
stain of sin. And we see in religion, Normally,
we focus on and attack other religions. And so we see a variety
of things. In some religions, they dip themselves
and wash themselves in rivers. The Ganges River in India, it's
part of the Hindu religion. And that river, they dip them
in and it's something that sanctifies them. I think that word Ganges
even means goddess. And it's one of the most filthy,
polluted rivers that you could go into. It's not good for you
to be in there, but it's a good way to see how our works that
we think purify ourselves are actually polluting. ourselves
even further. They're just filthy works. They're
filthy works. But even in, I think it's just
Catholic churches, maybe it's some other Christian churches,
but don't they have a basin at the back there with holy water?
And all it is is tap water, but maybe they say a little blessing
over it, and then you can use it for sprinkling or washing
your hands and doing things like that. Or they encourage people
to go on treks and pilgrimages to holy sites where some miracle
is reported to have happened, or to some church or dome or
temple that's there. that's old or something like
that or on a hill or a mountain and you have this religious experience
as you climb up stairs and things like that and other people just
wear religious symbols. Whether it's a cross, or a Star
of David, or a moon, and whatever, and all kinds of different things,
and they wear it as though it's a good luck charm, or to virtue
signal that they're righteous, that they have this hope in this
thing, that what they're doing is their salvation. And some
just go to church. But the Lord's just saying, what
he's telling us is that all the works that we do, in this flesh,
all the things that man thinks are what makes him righteous
with God, which separates himself from the others by his doing,
by his sanctifying works and the things he does to purify
himself, he thinks this is going to obtain a blessing for him
with God, and he'll hop from one thing to another. that we're
going into the gardens. It's just one after another,
just hopping through the different steps and the different opportunities
to make themselves righteous. But regardless of how zealous
we are, regardless of what we think we're doing and how we
can point out the folly and faults of others, God says they're all
going to be consumed. They're all going to end in the
same judgment. They shall be consumed together,
saith the Lord. And so the Lord warns us. He shows us this. He tells us
this in his word that what man does, what man thinks is righteousness,
really is pollution. And God is saying, you're not.
By your works, progressive sanctification, this is what it is. By your works,
you are not going to reach out. and take the fruit from the tree
of life. You're not going to do it. God
is not pleased with your works. He's not moved by your works.
He's not blessing you because of your works God blesses us
for work, but it's not our work. It's the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ That's the one whom the Father sent to save us from our
sins to save us from death and destruction He says it this way
in Isaiah 50 verse 11 behold All ye that kindle a fire, that
compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of
your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall
ye have of mine hand, ye shall lay down in sorrow. And that's what man does, he
stokes the fire, he builds a fire, he stokes things to stir himself
up and to create light and warmth and heat in himself for God by
his religious works. And the Lord says, do it, do
it, but you're going to lie down in sorrow. You that trust those
things, you're going to lie down in sorrow. And so, no matter
how we dress it up in religion, no matter what label we slap
on it or what name we put to it, if it's not of the Spirit,
then it's of the flesh. And we're told in the Word that
the Spirit takes the things of Christ and shows them unto you. He shows you the things of Christ,
what Christ has done. That's the Spirit of God. Everything
else that turns you to what you're doing or not doing, what you
need to fix, what you need to improve on, that's the flesh. That's the flesh. And so the
flesh is so prevalent in us that the Lord even gave us a parable. A parable. Unto certain which
trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And that was the parable between
the Pharisee and the publican. And just looking on the surface
of the two, you would say the Pharisee is the good man. The Pharisee is the righteous
one. The Pharisee is laboring in religion. Surely he is pleasing God. Surely he has made himself more
savable. And yet the Lord tells us that
the one who went home justified by God was the publican. They
both went up into the temple to pray. And one trusted in himself,
was so confident that everything he was doing was salvation, but
that one who knew himself to be a sinner and had no confidence
in the flesh, but cried out, falling upon the grace and mercy
of God, asking God for forgiveness, that one went home justified. Justified by the Lord. And you compare that with some
who trusted in themselves to how Peter, the Apostle Peter,
describes, he uses holy women, holy women, and this is for us
all to hear, every one of us, man and woman to hear. He said,
holy women also who trusted in God, they didn't trust themselves,
they trusted in God, adorned themselves, how? Being in subjection
unto their own husbands. And what a picture, the wicked
trusts in his own works, in himself. Oh, that we would be in subjection
to our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would trust him.
That's how the gospel is adorned, trusting the one who promises
us to save us, to be merciful and gracious to us. So one trusts
themselves, the other trusts God. And we want to be among
those We want to be those who trust God. And we do so by the
grace of God. By the grace of God. And part
of that is Him showing us what death looks like. What death
looks like. Don't trust your works. Don't
have confidence in the flesh. Have confidence in me, He says.
In me. Trust the Lord. Look to my servant. Listen to me. That's what the
Lord's teaching us here. He even says in the next verse,
for I know their works and their thoughts. I know their works
and their thoughts. And in religion, we can strive
with one another, and we can debate with one another, and
we can argue over what's important and what's not important, and
whose interpretation is right and whose interpretation is wrong
or needs to be improved upon. We can argue all those things.
We can look at historical men of God and say, whether they're
saved or not. We get into these arguments and
the Lord says, you potsherds can argue and fight with one
another. You can argue. That's just broken clay pots.
You guys can argue and fight amongst yourselves, but don't
think that you can argue with God. Don't think you're going
to get one over on God. You can fool one another. I can
fool you. You can fool me. But we cannot
fool the true and living God. And that's what he's saying.
I know their works. I know their thoughts. He says
he even knows our heart. The Lord said in Luke 16, 15,
ye are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knoweth your
hearts. He knoweth your hearts, for that
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight
of God. Truly there is a way that seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
It just leads to death. And that's how easily deceived
we are, because by nature that's all we are. dead spiritually
dead corrupt vile sinners we're just walking around bones covered
in grave clothes is all we are in this flesh now let's look
at verse 18 now let's read it for I know their works and their
thoughts it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues
and they shall come and see my glory and so The Lord saying,
while man is doing what he's doing, while he's off building
his temples to reach up to the heavens, and he's doing his thing,
God says, I'm going to do my thing. I'm going to fulfill my
will and purpose to be gracious to a people. I'm going to call
a people in grace, and I'm going to show them salvation in spite
of themselves. in spite of themselves, I'm going
to show them the truth, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done. according to His mercy. And so the Lord's teaching
us, I've got vessels of mercy that I'm going to be gracious
to. I'm going to be compassionate to. I'm going to teach them through
the preaching of the Word. I'm going to declare to them
what I have done, the salvation I've provided in my Son, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to show them the finished
redemption work of Christ. And so in the scriptures we actually
see an example of what we're patterned off of. How the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit is what saves us through the preaching of the
word. And we see this in Acts chapter
2. Let's go over to Acts chapter 2. We have a gathering of all
nations and tongues brought by the providence of God who are
made to come and to see God's glory. Now, I'm not going to
read this whole chapter, but it starts off with the disciples
gathered together and praying. And the Lord fulfills his promise
to give them the Holy Spirit, who appears above their heads
as tongues of fire. And these men began to speak
in tongues, speak in other languages spoken by other people in the
world at that time. And that with their tongues and
other languages, they spoke the wonderful works of God. Verse
11, they were speaking the wonderful works of God. Now, who do you
suppose was there to hear this? were told in verse 9, it was
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,
and in Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, Phyrgia,
and Pamphylia, and Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene,
and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians. This is just as the Lord said,
I'm going to gather all nations in tongues. I'm going to bring
them together to see my glory. to behold my glory. And so here they are. And who
do you think they were made to see? Who is the glory of God? Who were they made to see? Well,
Peter stood up and he declares to them the death and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, telling them, he's a man approved of
God among you by miracles and wonders and signs. signs. That's what the Lord, that's
what Isaiah, the Lord told Isaiah in verse 19 when he said, I will
set a sign among them. I'm going to set a sign among
these people that they're going to know that this is of me. This
is of my doing. And Christ himself is that sign
whom God has set before our eyes and makes his people to see and
to know, to behold his glory, to believe God and the word of
God and the promises of God in Christ. that we would come and
worship God and believe God and follow God, not in our works,
not according to the law and our doing, but in Christ, in
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the righteousness of God, Jehovah
Sidkenu. He is the righteousness. He's
our righteousness. He's our hope. He's our glory. He's the glory of the Father. So we're not blessed. because
of something we've done, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus because of what he has
done, what he's obtained for us, eternal redemption, light,
life, salvation, giving us the spirit, a down payment, of what
He has given unto us freely in grace, apart from our works,
apart from our works. We didn't get ourselves saved.
We don't get ourselves unsaved. It's all the Lord's doing. It's
all the Lord's doing. You know, when Simeon, Simeon
was an elderly man, a Jew, and alive at the time when Christ,
the baby, and as a baby, when he was born and only eight days
old, Mary and Joseph brought him into the temple to be circumcised
and Simeon was there and Simeon came and took the child and said
behold this child is set this child is purposed for the fall
and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign a sign which shall
be spoken against a sign which shall be criticized a sign which
shall be rejected and denied One who would be crucified and
put away from among the people because they hated him, because
they don't love the Lord, they don't hear what the Spirit says. to the churches. And so he's
the sign of God. He's the sign that God promised
to put before the nations and tongues and all people to know
this is my glory. This is my salvation. Stop doing
your works to justify yourself. Stop doing your works to sanctify
yourself or to purify yourself. Look to my son. He'll teach you
all things. You'll not walk in darkness following
Christ. That's his promise to you. You'll
have the light of life. You'll hear the truth. You'll
know the true doctrine. You'll know the purpose and will
of God. in Christ, in Christ. And so, Jesus Christ is the glory
of our God. And your service and your works,
they're not your salvation. He's a man despised and hated,
spoken against. And the reason why he's so hated
and despised is because it means, if he's my righteousness, then
what am I doing in all these religious works? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? And it just
reveals what man is in his heart that that's all he was looking
for was was God to justify him for his works. He wanted God
to say, say, you're something boy, you're special. Harrison,
I'm going to give you extra blessings for what you did. But the truth
is, Christ is the glory of God. Christ is everything. He's the
one that we rejoice in. And it's not that we that believe
and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not that we don't do good
works, that we don't desire to honor our God, to understand
his word. We want to see fruits, but we
know that we don't produce them. We don't effect them. We don't
fertilize them. The Lord does it all. If we would
see grace in our hearts, if we would see love in our hearts
for one another, if we would be good and kind and gentle with
one another and be faithful unto our God, all we do is we pray
and we ask him, Lord, help me. Lord, bear these fruits of me.
And Lord, thank you for giving me a heart to even pray it. Because
I wouldn't even care, I wouldn't even pray it. I wouldn't even
think about it. I wouldn't even turn to you if
it weren't for you turning me to you. Turning my heart to you,
to seek you, to ask you. And so we don't do those things
to get a blessing. We do what we do because we love
the Lord. And we love his people. And we
want. to be kind and gentle and patient
with one another. We want to do those good works
and so we seek Him for it. We ask Him. We ask Him. It's all of Him. So believe Christ.
Come to the Father in the blood of Christ. Verse 19 I will set
a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them
unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lod. that draw the bow to Tubal and
Javin, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame,
neither have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among
the Gentiles." And so those who have escaped, those who are the
escaped, they have been blessed of God. God has done this. He's
brought them out. They didn't bring themselves
out because all we can do in the flesh are those sanctifying
of ourselves and purifying of ourselves that God says are all
going to be consumed, all going to be destroyed. And so, those
that escape are blessed of the Lord. You can see it in 2 Peter,
2 Peter 1. Just look at verse 3 and 4. where Peter says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's blessing God
because God has done this. He's praising God, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. It's all of the Lord. He does
that. He saves his people. He works
the salvation in his people. And so they're chosen, called,
and gathered of the nations who hear and believe the testimony
of Christ. And the Lord says, he promises,
I'm gonna send those that have escaped out of that dead religion
that cannot save. Those who practiced it crucified
my son. I'm going to deliver some of
my choosing. I'm going to gather them out,
and I'm going to send them out into the world to preach this
gospel, to spread this good news. And he used various means to
do that. Sometimes it was persecution from their countrymen. After
the stoning of Stephen, for example, There was a great persecution
of the believers at that time and they were scattered and went
about preaching the gospel. Sometimes it's persecution by
the government. It was Aquila and Priscilla that
were told that they had to leave Rome because they were Jews and
so they went and met Paul and gained new brethren through that
persecution and went about preaching the truth. Sometimes it's just
a desire to preach the gospel, to tell others. what they've
heard, such as the Lord worked in Paul and Barnabas when they
began to go out into the Greek nations. And so these vessels
of mercy were sent out to them that have not heard my fame. He says, neither have seen my
glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And so what the Lord's doing
is he sends out the gospel so that his people who are sitting
in darkness, practicing dead works that cannot save, that
they would hear, that they would see the glory of God in the face
of not their works, not what they're doing, but in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's what the Lord is showing
us. And so the Lord is determined, he's purposed to save his people,
to show them Christ. This word glory holds a significant
meaning in regards to the salvation of God's people. He says, they
shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. What does that
mean? We'll turn over to Exodus 33. Let's go to Exodus 33 and
we'll just look at two verses there. This is the Lord speaking
with Moses. And Moses is gonna lead the people
out of Egypt. And Moses asks in verse 18, he
says, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Show me thy glory. In verse 19, this is Exodus 33,
and he said, God said, I will make my goodness pass before
thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And so in showing Moses
the glory of God, we see that God chooses whom He will. And he makes them to see Christ. When every one of us are all
from families and nations and peoples and tongues that practice
dead works, self-sanctifying works, self-purifying works that
are all going to end in destruction, but now we've been delivered
from that, it's not because we did anything. but because God
was being gracious and merciful to whom He would. It's His glory,
and He shows us His glory because we see His glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We behold him, and we're made
to know and understand this is the glory of God. For he saith
unto Moses, Paul said, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. It's not of my will or my choosing,
it's not of my doing, my striving, my laboring, my spending, but
of God that showeth mercy. The difference is a new creature. It's not a matter of whether
you're circumcised or uncircumcised, whether you're in doing these
religious works or those religious works. It's, are you a new creature? Has God poured out his spirit
and made you alive in and by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Because he alone is salvation. He is the name of God's salvation. He is the one in whom we know
our God, who are brought to our God in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. In religion, we're laboring for
death. But Christ labored to deliver
you, His people, from that death. That you would know the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That you would see and know Him. That is, so all those who are
laboring for it, they received not what they sought for, just
like the Jews. Because they sought it not by faith. There weren't
new creatures. They're just religious people,
dead in trespasses and sins. But he says, I was made manifest
unto them that ask not after me. He chooses whom he will,
those who sat in darkness, those who had no life, no nothing to
give to God. So I ask, has God shown you Christ? Do you believe that Christ is
not only the very righteousness of God for sinners, is he your
righteousness? Is he your hope? Is he your salvation? Because he makes each one of
his people to know he loved me and gave himself for me. I had
nothing. I have nothing. All my works
are folly and full of sin and darkness. But Christ is everything. and He put away my sins, and
He paid my debts, and He delivered me from death and darkness, so
that now I know the mystery of God, that I cannot save myself,
but God did everything. He did everything. That is the
will and purpose of God. If He is your salvation, then
you see the glory of God. You see the sign whom God promised
right here to us through Isaiah, in saying, this is how I save
my people. I show them my glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray
you bless Christ to your hearts that he dwell in your hearts
by faith and you trust him and love him and walk by faith in
Christ and in him alone. Amen. Let's sing 113 from your softback. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Ransomed souls, your voices raise. Sing your great Redeemer's praise. Praise Him, God the great I Am. Praise the sin-atoning Lamb. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, sinners
saved by God's decree. Praise the Lamb of Calvary, praise
Him for His dying love. Praise the Lamb enthroned above. ? Worthy, worthy is the lamb
? ? Jesus, Savior, blessed lamb ? ? We would ever praise your
name ? ? You redeemed us with your blood ? ? Made us kings
and priests to God ? Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, Righteous,
just, faithful and true, Are the wonders that you do. Grace and glory in you shine,
Love and mercy all divine. Thank you. Let's close this in
prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
father for your grace. We thank you for your salvation,
your glory, your sign, which you have made us to see and to
believe, to follow the lamb, to be led out of darkness, out
of death, out of dead works, the hope of dead carnal men that
cannot save. Lord, thank you for delivering
us from the wrath to come. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.