Why did you start putting this
on that side? I forget. I was worried it was
going to get spilled into all the cords. Which is something I'm sticking
with right now. th th th th Yeah, and you have your thing? Yeah, let's see. Okay. Okay. We'll get started in a minute,
but for those of you at home, we're gonna sing hymn number
50, which is Fairest Lord Jesus, and then we'll sing 110, Alas,
and Did My Savior Bleed, and then we'll close with 334, Be
Thou My Vision. So Fairest Lord Jesus, Alas,
and Did My Savior Bleed, and then Be Thou My Vision. All right. All right, brethren, so let's begin.
If you're able to stand, we'll stand and sing hymn number 50,
Fairest Lord Jesus. Fairest Lord Jesus, Thou of God
and man the Son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's
glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, Fairer
still the woodlands robed in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer
still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry holes. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the
nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, praise,
adoration, now and forevermore be thine. All right. I don't know why I
was thinking that. I started off wrong, but OK.
So let's go to 110, Alas, and did my Savior bleed. Alas, and did my Savior bleed.
This doesn't have the chorus, if that's the one you're familiar
with. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done? He groaned upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. Well might the sun in darkness
hide And shut his glories in When Christ the Mighty Maker
died, for man the creature sinned. But drops of grief can ne'er
repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do. May be seated. All right. So we'll be closing with Be Thou
My Vision. All right, I'm gonna read partly
from our text and then a bit into next week's text, next week
Lord willing. And it's gonna be in Isaiah 44.
Isaiah 44. Our text is going to be verses
6 through 9, but I'm going to read down through verse 20. 9 through 20, the Lord speaks
of the idolatry of man, the idolatry of all men, not just those who
carve wooden figures or hammer out or chisel out stone and hammer
around silver and gold, but all of us by nature are idolaters. And so the Lord, in verses six
through eight, declares himself. And then we go into to see how
that is set against the idolatry of man. All right, so let's begin
in verse six, Isaiah 44, six. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first,
and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. And who,
as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for me,
since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are
coming and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not,
neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know
not any. They that make a graven image
are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses,
they see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath
formed a god, or molten a graven image, that is profitable for
nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall
be ashamed. And the workmen, they are of
men, let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up,
yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The
smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms,
yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth. He drinketh no water,
and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out
his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes,
and he marketh it out with a compass. and maketh it after the figure
of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain
in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and
taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself
among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain
doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to
burn, for he will take thereof, and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth
it, and baketh bread. Yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth
it. He maketh it a graven image,
and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the
fire, with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and
is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself, and
saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the residue
thereof he maketh a God, even his graven image. He falleth
down unto it, and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and
saith, Deliver me, for thou art my God. they have not known nor
understood, for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see,
and their hearts that they cannot understand. and none considereth
in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to
say, I have burned part of it in the fire. Yea, also I have
baked bread upon the coals thereof. I have roasted flesh and eaten
it, and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall
I fall down to the stock of a tree, or to the wood that comes of
a tree? He feedeth on ashes, Deceived
heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor
say is there not a lie in my right hand Let's pray Our gracious
Lord Father we thank you for your display of almighty sovereign
grace That you reveal in the hearts of your people to give
us an understanding and a knowledge of you, to be turned from the
idols of our hearts and the images that we create in our mind, that
we may see and behold the servant of our God, to see your Christ,
your salvation, whom you've provided for your people, your ancient
people, whom you loved and whom you foreknew and chose in eternity
past, and gave us to Christ, committed us to his care, and
that he should come and provide all things for us, and that he
should accomplish our salvation fully, completely, and that in
him we are now secure. Lord, we thank you for your grace
and your power, which not only delivered us from darkness, but
keeps us keeps us resting in Christ and ever looking to him.
Lord, we thank you for your great grace and mercy in the salvation
you provided in your son. And we thank you, Lord, each
one that you've called out of darkness, that we may know you
and worship you and serve you in spirit and in truth. Lord,
we pray that you be with us this evening. Lord, that we not meet
in vain, but that we would indeed be filled with your spirit, that
I would be enabled to boldly preach your word, your gospel,
and that you would bless your people to hear it, Lord, that
we may receive the word of our God and rejoice in your salvation. Lord, we pray for those that
could not be with us this evening. We pray that you bless them and
and protect them and keep your people. Help us to hear, Lord.
It's such a distraction from home. Lord, we ask that you would
indeed bring peace and calm in the house and that your people
would hear of the glories of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray for those who are sick,
for those who are wounded, and Lord, those who have need of
healing. that you would touch them, and
you would heal their bodies, that you would heal the broken
heart, that you would heal the burdened mind that is full of
anxiety and stress. And Lord, that you would calm
us, putting our eyes upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
that we would be made to remember that everything is provided in
Him, and that that which we experience and go through now is according
to your will and purpose for us in Jesus Christ, and that
we would be made thankful, and that we would lift up voice of
thanksgiving with a thankful heart. We ask this in the name
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, brethren. So our text tonight is Isaiah
44, verses six through nine, Isaiah 44, six through nine. And we're approaching a passage
here in Isaiah 44 where the Lord outlines for us what idolatry
looks like and how that it's in the heart, in the hands of
man where he forms his idol gods and trusts in the works that
he has made for himself. And I'll read verse nine to start,
Isaiah 44, nine. It says, they that make a graven
image are all of them vanity and their delectable things or
their desirable things shall not profit. And they are their
own witnesses. They see not nor know that they
may be ashamed. All right, so they don't even
understand so that they don't feel ashamed for the things that
they're trusting in, that it's a lie. It's not the truth. They
think, they trust that this is their God and that he will save
them and that that God will speak well for them in the end time,
in the end day, when they stand before God to be judged, but
he won't. They'll be ashamed then when
they know the truth, but they don't see or acknowledge it now.
Now, what I want you to see here out of this tonight, because
that's as far as we'll really go in that portion of the passage,
is that idol making is not something that they did in times of old. It's not just something that
is carved out or whittled with the hand. But men and women to
this day are idol makers. We idolize and worship false
gods all the time. And so it's not merely wood and
stone or iron or silver and gold, but rather it's a projection
of what is in the imagination of man. And you notice that that
word imagination, right? They imagine who God is. And
so they project out what's in their imagination, creating an
image. They're making an image of what
is in their mind, of what they think is God. And it's really
nothing more than the corrupt, sinful nature of man on display. And it's just bringing out what's
in the heart and in the mind of man and bringing it out on
display that this is what he thinks of God. So prior to exposing
this folly of man's idolatry, what the Lord does here in verses
six through nine is he reveals who he is. He just doesn't talk
about the idolatry of man, but he's making known to his people
who he is. He's providing a definition. He's revealing who he is. And
certain points he's making known so that when we see the imagination
of our own God, and we see the idols of our own heart and mind,
we realize that's not God. And that's not the true and living
God. The God of my heart isn't the
God to be worshipped. But He, the Sovereign, True and
Living God, He is to be worshipped. And so He declares Himself in
this text to be Sovereign over all creation. That He is the
Sovereign in the salvation of His people. And that He sovereignly
chose, elected a people for Himself. He gave them to His Son as His
Bride. whom he for whom he lay down
his life for her salvation and we see him effectually calling
his people in grace so that he he provides salvation according
as it pleases him and that doesn't align up with the idols of man's
heart. All right, and so what the Lord
does here is he gives us a measure of God so that when man puts
forth their idols and when man says this, here's the Christ,
go after him, follow him, he's your salvation, we know that's
not the true and living God. That's not God who revealed himself
to his people in the scriptures. And so our Lord, thankfully,
we praise him for his grace because he's the one that saved us out
of that darkness. We by nature are no different
from the idol makers. because that's what we did. And
we condemn others while we have an idol in our own right hand.
And we charge others with the same thing that we're guilty
of until the Lord delivers us from that and delivers us continually
as often as we need to be delivered from it. So I've titled this,
Sovereign God vs. Man's Idolatry. And our focus
will primarily be on the Lord as he reveals himself here in
the scripture. So in wisdom, he gives us his
word so that we may know the true and living God. And he declares
who he is so that all men are without an excuse for their idolatry. All are without excuse because
the Lord has declared who He is. He's given us His Word. Now, in grace, what He does is
He makes His people to have an understanding. His ancient people,
those whom He foreknew, those whom He loved and determined
to save, by the death of his son, Jesus Christ. And he does
this sovereignly, not because of any works that we do, not
because of anything in us that would charm God or cause him
to think kindly about us. It's not for our works, but it's
for Christ's sake so that we declare and confess and know
that it's all of his grace and he receives all the praise and
glory for our salvation. And so in grace, he sends his
Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of his objects of grace. We that
are His people, we that believe, are objects of His grace. We
believe because He's made us to believe. He's given us light
and life in the face of Jesus Christ so that in Him we behold
the true and living God. In Him we have confidence and
trust. In Him. And we lose that confidence
and trust in our own flesh, knowing that these works account for
nothing. before our holy living God. And
so he turns us away from the dead and trespasses and sins,
idols that man creates. All right, so before we begin,
though, let me just show you this before we get into our text
in 1st John chapter 5. It's the very end of his epistle,
1st John chapter 5. And we'll see this work of God
in the plain scripture here, verse 19 through 21. This is
an outline of what we see here in verses 6 through 9 of our
text. All right, so 1 John 5, 19, and
we know that we are of God. and the whole world lieth in
wickedness. That's what we were all part
of when the Lord delivered us from the world that lies in wickedness,
as having part in our inheritance within. And we know that the
Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know Him that is true, apart from the false idols of
man, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. And he closes the letter with,
little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. All right, so he's exhorting
us to hear the word which the spirit saith unto the churches. All right, and that word is graciously
confirmed to us by the Spirit of grace. He's showing us that
we've been given an understanding that this world knows nothing
of, and it's to turn us from the folly and the idols and the
foolishness of man. Now, back in our text, here's
the example of His Word which is given to us, which reveals,
by the Spirit, reveals this understanding in our heart and shows who the
true and living God is versus the idols of man. All right,
so Isaiah 44, verse six. Thus saith the Lord, the King
of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. So the first thing that the Lord
reveals to us is that he has a people. He's the King of Israel. And we know that he's speaking
of spiritual Israel all right the Israel of God and so he's
the king of Saints and what the Lord reveals to his people is
that he's not Subservient to them. He's not bowing to the
will of man But rather his children are made Subservient to him we
bow to him because he's purposed it so to be that's how it is
and he works that in our hearts so that we're made willing to
by the Spirit of His Grace, and He gathers His saints together
into one body, into the Body of Jesus Christ. Amen. men and
women present now and present way back at the beginning of
the earth. All the saints of God were saved
in one person, in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were all saved by
one, by his death and sacrifice, by his blood, our sins are atoned
for. and were made righteous in Him.
All the saints prior to Christ's coming were looking unto the
coming of the Messiah. And we that are alive now look
back to see what He's accomplished. And we all rejoice in the salvation
that our God has provided. And we see him gathering together
his people in this city of salvation. We're gathered into the body
of Christ, not in one location physically here on the earth,
but rather, he says in his word that salvation will God appoint
for walls and bulwarks. And that's Isaiah 26 one. So
that wherever you are, It doesn't matter if we're scattered to
the four corners of the earth. It doesn't matter where we are
on the earth. The Lord has gathered his people
in behind the walls of salvation, behind the bulwarks or the the
fortress, the protection, the defenses of salvation. Now we read of this spiritual
Israel that his Redeemer is the Lord of hosts. And whenever we
see that word redeemed or redeemed or speaking of the Redeemer,
it's speaking of our God's purchase of his people. And the Lord gives
us many various types throughout the scriptures of how he has
redeemed his people, delivering them out of the hand, out of
the destruction of the enemy. He redeemed his people out of
Egypt. He redeemed his people out of
Babylon. And then we see the fulfillment
of what those types and pictures were pointing to when he sent
his son, Jesus Christ, redeemed his people by purchasing them
with his own blood, right? Recall the church of God, which
he had purchased with his own blood, Acts 20, 28. So that's
what we mean by redemption. We've been purchased. We've been
bought with blood, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over in Galatians 4, verses 5
and 6, The Spirit tells us that Christ our Savior was sent to
redeem them that were under the law because we could never work
a righteousness for ourselves under the law. No flesh can save
themselves or make themselves righteous or accepted with God
by the works of the law, because the law was given to reveal sin
in us. It was to make sin known to us,
lest we should continue in darkness and blindness, thinking that
we were pleasing God all the while. just heaping up wrath
to ourselves. So he came to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. So that redemption has brought
us into the family of God. And because you're sons, God
had sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying,
Abba, Father. So that We now see how it is
that we have an understanding of these things and a knowledge
of these things, why we confess God, why we have faith. It's
all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us
because of the blood-bought purchase of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
when he redeemed us, delivering us from sin and death and condemnation
and the wrath of God. and brought us into the family
of God. And we have the spirit whereby these things are made
known to us. We're made alive unto God and
become fruitful by his spirit, right? Bearing fruits of righteousness,
such as joy in him and peace in him, resting in him, faith
in him. Those are all fruits of the spirit,
love to him. Especially as we think of his
grace and mercy toward unworthy sinners, such as us. All right. And so we had this through the
death of our Savior who made atonement for us, putting away
our sins, making us righteous and accepted before by our God. And so we're citizens of that
strong city, that one body. And John tells us in 113 that
we were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. so that we see God is sovereign.
He's the one that gave us life. He's the one that brings us forth
and birthed us into the family of God by Jesus Christ. All right,
now our Lord says there in verse six, He continues, I am the first,
in Isaiah 44, I am the first and I am the last, and beside
me there is no God. So that the Lord's telling us,
he's making known to us that he's the first mover in the hearts
of his people. We don't do something that provokes
God to do something for us. God is the first mover and he's
really, he's the only mover. He's the one that brings forth
all the fruit of his people. And so before we have any understanding
of God, before we know how to worship him, before we ever worship
him, He first gives us life by the Spirit. We must be born of
God first. We must be born again to even
see the Kingdom of God. How are we going to believe on
Him who was sent if we can't even see Him or know Him? And
we see Him and know Him by faith revealed in us by the Spirit
of God when He gives us a new birth. Now the idolater, as opposed
to the child of God, the idolater looks to his free will, doesn't
he, in salvation? He talks of and speaks of his
own free will, how that God has made him such a person to have
this free will somehow to be able to make a decision, a good
choice or a bad choice, a decision for Jesus Christ, to believe
on him. God has done nothing more but
made a possibility in the mind of the idolater and the one who
trusts in his works. Because he thinks that, well,
if man doesn't do anything, If man doesn't do something, then
God is bound. His hands are tied, and that
one will be eternally lost unless he comes to his senses and realizes
that he really should just believe on Jesus. That's idolatry. That's exalting
man's will over God and what the Lord reveals in his word
and reveals to you who have his spirit, who know it can't be
by my will. I'm a sinner. I continued in
that falsehood, in those lies, until the Lord, in grace and
power, broke in upon my sealed up, veiled heart and delivered
me out of the prison of death and darkness and blindness that
all this world lieth in in its wickedness. All right? And so
the Lord instead makes known that he's the first and the last. Now, what does that mean that
he's the first and the last? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ says
in Revelation 22 verse 13, He said, I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last. And when he says
Alpha and Omega, it's really a beautiful picture. He's saying
that I'm the first letter and the last letter of the heavenly
language whereby we know and speak of the true and living
God. He's the whole alphabet of God. And so when we speak of Christ
and declare him, and rejoice in Him, we're speaking the language
of heaven. We're rejoicing in the very one
whom God sent for us to rejoice in, by whom we know who the true
and living God is. And so He's the whole counsel
of God. That's why we speak of Him the
way we do and continue to speak of Him and don't direct you to
the works of man and the works of the flesh. We direct your
hearts and your attention and your minds and your spirit once
again to the Lord Jesus Christ and He's provided according to
His riches. He's given us all things and
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. All right, now, he says, blessed
are they that do his commandments, or rather that they that do his
commandments because they are blessed of him. This is there
in Revelation. So after he says on Alpha and
Omega, he says, blessed are they that do his commandments And
that means that we that do those commandments are blessed of him,
that's why we do his commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life, which is Christ, and may enter in through the
gates into the city. Well, what are his commandments?
Because the idolater tells us, oh, he's telling you to go back
to the law of Moses, and you've got to do the law of Moses to
have right to the tree of life. Now, you that have the spirit
that speaks and glorifies Jesus Christ know that he's not directing
you back to Mount Sinai. He's directing you to Christ.
And Christ said, It's recorded for us by John in 1 John 3, 23
and 24. He says, and this is his commandment,
the first one, that we should believe on the name of the son
of God, of his son, Jesus Christ, and here's the second, love one
another as he hath given us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments,
see, because it's two of them, there's the commandments, He
that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him. We have right
to the tree of life, and he in him. Christ dwelling in us, and
hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he
hath given us. That spirit which he's told us
testifies, speaks of Christ. He's our hope. Grace is in grace
if we're turned back to the law now to keep the law to have access
to that tree of life, whether we're speaking of justification
or sanctification. But as soon as you say, oh, Christ,
he justified us, and maybe some say he sanctified us, but as
soon as they take their eye off Christ and look right back to
the law of Moses, they cease to trust him for their justification
and sanctification because you're gonna see the sin because the
law reveals sin in you. It makes us to know what we are
outside of Christ, what we are in this flesh, right? But that's
not our hope and confidence. Our hope and our confidence is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when your eyes upon him,
You will love him and you'll love your brethren and he'll
teach you and chasing you and turn you away from The works
of this flesh and things of death and he set your heart and mind
upon him again and again He's he's everything. He's our whole
our whole provision. All right, so I say this that
we don't be like the idolater, because the idolater is the one
who tells you, now Christ did his part, he's done everything,
now it's up to you. You've got to make this confirmed
by now going back to the law. And the very fact that you turn
back to the law, just like the Galatians, there's cause for
fear for that one who takes their eye off of Christ. And because
it's you that endures looking to Christ, that's the enduring
to the end, looking to Christ and trusting him alone. Alright? So our Lord is the one who saves
us from first to last, and he fills us with the spirit, and
by the spirit he says, love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law. So why would we look to
the law and try to do those things? Show love to our brethren by
the law. The spirit teaches you not to
do those things that are in the law, that says don't do this
and don't do that, right? The Spirit teaches us don't do
that because how is that loving your neighbor, whoever they are,
whether they're a believer or not? How is doing any of those
things, stealing from them and lying to them and committing
adultery against them and things of that nature, how is any of
that loving your neighbor? It's not. And so the spirit doesn't
lead us in that way, but we don't get that. We don't go in paths
of righteousness by the law. It's the spirit who teaches us
and reveals Christ in us. All right, now he continues in
verse seven. Verse seven, Isaiah 44, seven. And who is I shall
call and shall declare it and set it in order for me. Since
I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. So the Lord is the
only one, the only God that declares what shall be and then He brings
it to pass because it's His will and He does whatsoever pleases
Him. He's omniscient because He's
the one who's determined the end from the beginning and we
see his mercy and grace in this in throughout the scriptures
right and when he revealed his salvation in the garden as he
revealed himself to to as he spoke to Abraham right and then
brought everything he said to Abraham He brought it to pass
and what he said to Joseph and Moses and Samuel regarding David
and speaking, you know, gave to the prophets concerning Christ.
But what I want to come to in this, at least in this verse,
is that where it speaks of the ancient people, right? He said,
we see his choice of electing a people, right? He appointed
the ancient people. So who are the ancient people?
Who are the ancient people? Well, that word could be translated,
the people of eternity. The people of eternity. And who
can rightly be called the people of eternity? And who is he speaking
of there? Well, if you look there in Ephesians
chapter one, verses four and five, he tells us in Ephesians one,
four and five, I'll just read verse 4, that
it's according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Alright, so he's chosen us in
him before the foundation of the world. then in 2nd Timothy
1 9 who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began and so
The Lord chose out of people, He chose us in Christ before
He ever established the world, which means before we ever did
any good or any evil. Even before Adam fell, God already
purposed a people, already determined a people, chose a people in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we, it's not that we
were created before in eternity, we're creatures created in time,
but We were represented in Christ all the way back then in eternity. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And now, therefore, our names
are written in the Lamb's book of life. They're already there
before we were ever born. And so God's saying to us that
we were on his heart in eternity. He brought forth this world and
the heavens that we see for us, to reveal Himself to us, to create
a people for His Son. It's to glorify Him. It's to
glorify Him and that we should praise Him and honor Him and
rejoice in what He's done for us. He says in Psalm 89, 29,
His seed also will I make to endure forever and His throne
as the days of heaven. And so, brethren, we shall never
bear the wrath of God, because the Lamb of God bore it for us
there upon the cross. And so we may experience various
afflictions, various sorrows and sufferings, and it comes
to try or to prove what God has worked in us. It's to prove to
us that our God is God and that we're His people. He's making
known to us what He's done and accomplished in us by His Son,
Jesus Christ. And so we shall endure forever,
not only now to the end, but through all eternity, we endure
and live in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now, because we're
His ancient people whom He's purchased with His precious blood,
He says in verse eight, Isaiah 44, verse eight, Fear ye not,
neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea,
there is no God. I know not any. And so our Lord
is encouraging all to whom he's revealed this faith to know that
the works of man, what you see and what man trusts in, right? Not just those people that carved
out stumps or made idols of stone and iron and things. It's not
just that, but all the idolatry of man, the hope that man has
in a false god, he's saying, don't go after them. There's
not many ways to heaven. There's not many roads to God,
right? Jesus Christ isn't just one among
many. He is the only way to the father. No man comes to the father except
by the son whom he sent, right? And so our Lord has delivered
us from that. And we see that. We see how our
God has delivered us from that dead letter religion. We once
held on to those idols. We formed those idols in our
own hearts and in our own imaginations. And we spoke foolishly, right?
things that came out of my mouth, you know, make Jesus Christ Lord
of your life. We don't make Jesus Christ Lord. He is the Lord and he rules in
the hearts of his people and he does that sovereignly and
in grace. All right, I said things like
let God save you. Let God save you. How, what is
that? We don't let God save us. If
it comes down to us, then we're basically our own saviors. And
God's just waiting upon our will. And as a servant, he's coming
to do what we've asked him to do. And then we saw tonight,
even the others where they said, you've got to keep. the Law of
Moses for your sanctification now. You've been saved to keep
the Law of Moses for your sanctification so that you can grow in your
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Well, no, we grow in grace and
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When religion speaks of the Law
for your sanctification, it's because their Jesus isn't sufficient
enough to turn the heart, to keep us, to teach us, to deliver
us from death and darkness, and to deliver us from sin and evil. Is Christ able or isn't he able?
Are we to have confidence in the flesh or aren't we to have
confidence in the flesh? The Lord reveals in his word
by the spirit that we're to have no confidence in the flesh. The
people of God have no confidence in the flesh, Philippians 3,
3. And so we look to Christ, our confidence is him. And when
he reveals sin in our heart, we cry out, Abba, Father. We cry out, Lord, save me. Have
mercy upon me. For your son's sake, deliver
me from the love of this sin. Save me. We cry out to him and
look to him alone. And so that idol god can do nothing
except the will of man allow him to do it. And maybe once
in a while the will of man allows God to receive a little credit
for something, but it's all. Their God is vanity. You can
count all them up and all their idols up, and if you get to zero,
you've gone too high because it's vanity. It's less than zero,
less than vanity. And so man doesn't save himself. It's not by our decision to follow
God. Jesus. We're given faith. He reveals faith in the hearts
of his people and delivers them out of darkness. And faith is
revealed in the heart whereby we believe. In the flesh, we
didn't believe. We didn't trust God. We didn't
hear his word. And then he gave faith and we
believe him and trust him and can't live any other way. Then
we'll see more of this, but the idol worshiper makes a God that
is delectable or desirable. And what he's saying is that
man by nature hates sovereign God. He's terrified of the God
that said, Jacob I love, but Esau I hate. He doesn't want
to hear that, and so he fights and wars against that truth and
exalts the idol of man's free will, all the while ignoring
what God has revealed in his word. and showing that he is sovereign
God and that we're saved in him alone. And so he works hard upon
his idols because he's thinking that the idol God that he created
is going to have mercy on him and reward him for his hard work.
But the Lord tells us in Romans 9, verses 15 and 16, When he
said to Moses, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion upon 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. So you that believe, that have
no hope and confidence in your free will, which is a lie. It's
bound by your sin. You that see what we were in
religion, and that God has delivered us from that in grace and mercy,
rejoice in him. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give him thanks for his mercies
and grace to you and his son. And don't fear the threats and
the hatred of those that cleave to their idols. Our Lord said
to us in Luke 12, 32, fear not, little flock, For it is your
father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And so, little
children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. All right, brethren. Let's close
in prayer, and then we'll close in a hymn. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your great mercy, your sovereign power,
which overrules the will of our hearts. And Lord, that you've
delivered us out of darkness and that you teach us and lead
us and guide us. Lord, help us to ever look to
the Lord Jesus Christ and not be turned away to darkness and
not look to the law of Moses and to trust our works and what
we're doing. but let us continue to trust
Christ and Christ alone. Lord, we know that you are able,
by your grace and power, to keep us, to teach us, to chasten us,
and to lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. And that
righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep us ever looking
to him. Help us, Lord, teach us these things. and open our
hand to let go of the idols that we hold on to in the flesh. Let
us look to Christ alone. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren, I think
it's 3.34. Let's stand and close with, Be
Thou My Vision, 3.34. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought by day or
by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my
true word, I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord Thou my
great Father, I Thy true son Thou in me dwelling, and I with
Thee one Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise, Thou mine
inheritance now and always. Thou and Thou only, first in
my heart. High King of Heaven, my treasure
Thou art. High King of Heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own heart, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of
all.