Okay, returning to Isaiah chapter
four. Isaiah chapter four. We're gonna
be looking at the entire chapter, verses one through six. And what
we see here in the fourth chapter is a break really from the judgment
that the Lord has been declaring to the house of Judah. And what
we see here is that the sinful daughter of Zion is brought low
and she's broken and she seeks a salvation. but it's an insufficient
salvation. And she talks about what she's
going to do and how she's working out a deal with one to save her,
but the Lord says, no, that's not going to be your salvation.
I'm going to provide a salvation full and free and complete for
you. And that's what our title is.
It's complete salvation, complete salvation, And we'll have three
divisions. First, we'll see this insufficient
salvation that she's looking for. And then we'll see the salvation
that's provided for us in Christ. And then briefly at the end,
we'll see a provision of perseverance, a provision of perseverance.
All right, let's read that first verse. And in that day, Isaiah
4.1, in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man saying,
we will eat our own bread. and wear our own apparel, only
let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day, the text says, that
day there is spoken of the day of salvation, which when a soul
becomes troubled and burdened by their own sin and they come
under a sense of the darkness and the guilt that they are under
before a holy and a righteous God in that day, and it may seem
like an insignificant day or not so great of a day because
the flesh will be troubled and we'll be pricked in our heart
and come under that condemnation and wonder What am I going to
do? Because God is angry with me.
I know it. I know that God is angry with
me because of my sin. It's a day that may seem small,
but who's despised the day of small things? That's the day
of salvation that God has provided when we shall come to know our
need that is only provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. In that
day, seven women shall take hold of one man. And that number seven
is a complete number, seven meaning perfection, it's a complete number.
And it speaks to all the church, the church universal, and they're
all gonna come to one man, to one man who can provide salvation
for them. Only when she first comes, she's
still under this sense of darkness and a sense of trembling and
trouble, and doesn't know the right word. She doesn't know
what salvation is. She just knows that she's burdened
with her guilt, that she's under the condemnation of God because
of her sin and the things that she's done. So it says there,
in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man saying,
we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel. Only let
us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. Now that has
a reference to the Old Testament law. It has a reference to the
law that Moses gave to the people because they were hard of heart
and they would put away their wives and take another wife.
So he gave them a law to protect the women so that they wouldn't
just be left out there to die and not fend for themselves.
It wasn't like today where Women can go get a job and provide
for themselves fairly easily. Back then, if you didn't have
a husband, you were in a great deal of trouble because you couldn't
provide for yourself. In Exodus 21, 10, it says, speaking
of the husband, if he take him another wife, her food, this
is the first wife, her food and her raiment and her duty of marriage
shall he not diminish. He was to continue to provide
that food for her. So these women are coming and
saying, look, we know that you're going to have a lot of women,
and you're not going to be able to provide for them. We'll provide
for our own selves. We'll provide our own raiment,
our own clothes, and we'll provide our own food. And just let us
be called by thy name. so that you can take away our
reproach. And it's really, it's an attempt,
you see this with man when they come under a sense of their guilt
because of their sin and they think to themselves, well Lord,
they start making deals with the Lord. I'll do this if you
do something for me. If you let me be called by your
name, I'll do something. I'll do my best, I'll try my
hardest. I'll try to do what you say to
do in your law. I'll try to do what's right.
And I'll go to church, I'll read my Bible, I'll say my prayers,
only have mercy on me, Lord. Just take away my sin if I do
these things. And that's not salvation. That's
an insufficient salvation. What we're doing is we're attempting
to save ourselves. And rather than keeping the law,
really what we're trying to do is we think we're keeping the
law, but in reality what we're doing is we're breaking the law.
And we're making a mockery of God's holiness and his righteousness,
because the robe that we weave for ourselves isn't going to
be a robe of righteousness. It's going to be spun with a
spider's web. It's just a deadly, venomous,
poisonous web that we're weaving for ourselves, thinking that
it's going to do some good for us. And that food that we will
eat is going to be rotten and stinking food that's not going
to be nourishment for us. Rather than the bread of heaven,
it's going to be that which is of the flesh and is already corrupt
and useless to us. So the sinner will be troubled
and they may look to the law or they may look to other places,
but they're not going to find refuge. It's like Lazarus, right? When he came forth from the tomb,
he came forth having all these grave clothes and wrapped around
his dead body and he had a napkin about his face, which is like
that veil, that thick veil of darkness that we all have by
nature over our hearts so that we don't see the end of the law.
We don't see or understand what God is saying in his word and
what true holiness and true righteousness is. And that God himself is holy
and will not accept the holiness that man works up himself and
tries to bring to God. Because even when we've done
all that we're supposed to do, we're still unprofitable servants
and we haven't done anything yet that pleases the Lord. So
we've got to be stripped down and taught under the gospel that
our works don't amount to a righteousness for ourselves. That the things
that we've done, God's not pleased with those things and He's not
looking to us to do those things. Those works of righteousness
to make ourselves just with God. We're not to sin but we're not
to think that we've done anything profitable to God by that so
that God owes us now a salvation and owes us forgiveness. That's
what the Pharisees were doing when they were keeping the law
to try and work their righteousness for themselves so that they indebted,
they thought they were indebting God to them by them doing their
part that God would owe them salvation and that's not what
God reveals in his word. We're to be righteous and holy
as God is righteous and holy and we're still unprofitable.
We haven't done anything to earn a favor with God by the things
that we do. We've only done that which was
our duty to do in the first place. So in Lazarus, where it said
that, it says, and he that was dead came forth, bound hand and
foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with
a napkin, and Jesus saith unto them, loose him and let him go,
which is a command to to the churches, to the preachers, to
preach the faithful gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He
is all the sinner's salvation, that He has accomplished and
provided full, free salvation in Himself, that there's nothing
you need to do, because there's nothing that you can do, sinner.
So when He brings you under that condemnation, there will be many
churches that line up to say, oh, we'll help you on your way,
and they'll bring you under the law or they'll bring you under
some concept or idea that you've saved yourself by your decision
and that, you know, it's in programs or it's in community service
or it's in doing good or giving more money to the church. They
try and convince you of all these things so that you can soothe
your own conscience. But if you're the Lord's, he's
not going to leave you there. He's going to bring you out of
those false churches and out of those those condemning Gospels,
which are no Gospel at all, because they're just of works. And so
he delivers us from that, and so he brings you under the sound
of the Gospel to where they're preaching the Gospel, and that's
where the unwrapping of those grave clothes happens. That's
where all that deadness of flesh is stripped away from us, that's
where the veil that's covering our face and our heart so that
we don't understand what God is saying, that's where that's
all taken away and we're loosed and set free. Because all we
know at first is that we've offended a holy and a righteous God, but
we don't know or understand how God is, how we please God, or
how we make reconciliation for ourselves with God. We don't
understand those things, so he's going to teach us those things.
He's going to bring us out of it. Think of the prodigal son,
who, you know, he was broken in God's mercy by grace. And when he was broken in his
rebellion, when he was finally broken, he came to himself, it
says. He finally realized that what
I'm doing is not working. The religion that I'm in, the
things that I'm doing aren't helping me. They're not providing
any satisfaction to my soul. And if you turn to Luke 15, we'll
see that. Luke 15, and we'll start in verse
11. Verse 11, Christ said, A certain
man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided
unto them his living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Now the Lord sends an influence of grace. It troubles the flesh,
but it's good for his soul. It's exactly what he needed.
And when he had spent all, verse 14, there arose a mighty famine
in that land, and he began to be in one. So now he first turns
to the world. He turns to ways that are insufficient
to help him and to provide a satisfaction for him. Verse 15, and he went
and joined himself to a citizen of that country, And he sent
him into his fields to feed swine, and he would fain have filled
his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. So it's a trouble to the flesh,
but it proves to be a mercy to his soul, because in verse 17
it says, and when he came to himself, it hit him. He suddenly
realized, what have I been doing? There's a God in heaven that
can save my soul, that, that, that, has provided a salvation. So he came to himself and he
said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to
my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And that's really about as far
as man's carnal religion can take you, right? Just work off
for the rest of your life your debt. Just try and work off your
debt for the rest of your life as a slave and you'll never arise
or amount to anything more than just being a slave because that's
really all that this world's religions do. It's just working
and working and working and working harder and yet getting nowhere
with all your works and all your labors. But the Lord has some
better thing for his children. So he goes to his dad and he
says everything that we just read that he was going to say
in verse 22. But the father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring
on his hand and shoes on his feet. Right? Preach the gospel
of Christ's righteousness to the people. And that's how we
receive that robe, that best robe of his righteousness. And bring hither the fatted calf
and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was
dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and
they began to be merry." So we're never going to, no matter where
we turn to, no matter how troubled we are, when we're turning to
this world and we're looking to this world's religions or
some satisfaction in this world to give us some peace and some
rest, if you're the Lord's, you're not going to find any rest or
peace or satisfaction in these things. The only place that we'll
find any satisfaction is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God will make
sure of that. It says in Hosea 2 verses 16
through 20, And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that
thou shalt call me Ishi, which is my husband, and shalt call
me no more Bailey, which is a false god, meaning my lord. You're
not going to call me by a false god anymore. For I will take
away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall
no more be remembered by their name." Right? We're going to
cease giving praise and glory to things like luck and karma
and things that this world uses to speak of what's going on.
We're going to give our glory and praise to Christ and to what
God has done through His Son, Jesus Christ. And in verse 18,
in that day, will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the
field and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things
of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the
battle out of the earth and will make them to lie down safely
so that Christ our husband He comes to us as a husband and
provides for us. And he defends us and provides
for us, destroying and breaking the works of darkness, which
once ruled over our hearts. And he gives us light and life
and liberty in himself, so that we now have peace with God in
Christ himself. Verse 19, and I will betroth
thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness,
and thou shalt know the Lord." So we may have thought, you know,
when we're troubled because of our sin and we're distraught
and afraid that we've offended a holy God, we may think to work
out some deals and we may think to go down some path where we're
seeking the Lord in righteousness. were in religion for years and
years and years, and you look back and you can see how the
Lord brought all of you through that path to where you look back
on it in shame, but you also recognize, but it showed me the
grace of God. It showed me that I'm nothing
without Him and how precious the Lord Jesus Christ is, because
now you see what true salvation and true righteousness and true
grace and mercy is, and it's in Christ that he's provided
everything for you. Just think back to your days
in the wicked churches that you stepped foot in and heard those
doctrines that could not help you and brought you no relief
and no comfort in those things that you once heard. But now
you hear what Christ has done, that it's full and free and complete,
and you marvel at His grace and mercy that He's provided. It
says in Isaiah 54, verses 5 through 10, Isaiah 54, verse 5, For thy
maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In
a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For
the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, sayeth the Lord that hath mercy on thee. All right now, let's look at
verse two to see our salvation provided in Christ. Verse two,
Isaiah 4-2. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped
of Israel." So the Lord's not going to leave his children to
be destroyed. He's not going to allow them
to be overcome by the works of darkness in them, by the lies
and the foolishness in this world. He's going to deliver them out
of that and he's going to He's pleased to reveal to us the salvation
that he's provided in Christ. As it says in 2 Thessalonians
2 13, but we are bound always to give thanks unto God for you
brethren. Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. It pleases God to bring
his children to a belief of the truth so that he will reveal
to us that Christ is all our salvation. You know, when you
look at many of the churches out there and you think, well
surely, surely God's pleased with that. I mean, they say the
name Jesus and they speak of him to a degree. They say some
things that are true and they open up the Bible and they read
from the Bible and you think well maybe there's something
there that God will just accept in that partial salvation where
they've done some part and God's done his part but it doesn't
say that in the word it says that it pleases God to bring
us to a knowledge of the truth so that you may initially come
to the truth thinking that you sought the Lord but the Lord's
going to show you and teach you that he's the one who called
you and that he drew you and brought you out of all that wickedness
and darkness. And you'll give glory and praise
to his name and you'll worship him for his salvation, not what
you did. Even if you said that, He's going
to bring you out of that, so that you won't stay in that deadness
and that falseness, and He's going to teach you the truth
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you may not know when you
were saved, you may not know when you came to a knowledge
of the truth, but all you'll know is that God did it all,
that He did it all in His Son, Jesus Christ, and He didn't leave
me there in those works of darkness. All I know is that there I was,
but I'm not there anymore and I'm not going back there anymore
because it wasn't the truth." And that's what he does. He brings
his children out of it. It says, Here now, O Joshua,
the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee,
for they are men wondered at, for behold, I will bring forth
my servant the branch so that man isn't going to be able to
save himself. He's full of iniquity and he's
under the power of sin and death so he can't even break himself
free of the wickedness that he's under and the sin that is just
throughout his heart and his mind and his soul and his thoughts
and all the things that he does In the flesh, he can't free himself. But the Lord says, look, I'm
bringing forth the salvation. I'm bringing forth the branch,
the man who is the branch. And the Lord had determined already
how he would save his people from the beginning. As it says
in Hebrews 4.3, the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. So it's not by the works of man. It's not going
to come forth from our sinful, corrupt heart with our wicked
works of darkness. It's all provided in Christ by
the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. God already made provision of
how His people would be saved. It never was a question. It never
rested on us. It never remained with us. And it says in 1 Peter 1.20,
who verily, speaking of Christ, was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
so that it never was a possibility that man would be, after he sinned
against God in the garden, he was driven from that garden so
that he could not reach forth with his own hand by his works
and take of the tree of life. God drove him out of the garden
and then destroyed it so that man will never find that tree
of life which is Christ. Christ is the tree of life and
so that man by his own works shall never find out Christ.
God must reveal him to us. He must give us a new birth because
it's not going to be that we're going to find him by the works
and the knowledge and the wisdom of this flesh. It's always going
to fall short. It's always that If seven is
the number of completion and perfection, then you understand
why the number of man is six, because it always falls short
of the perfection and holiness of God. So that's why the number
of man is six, or 666, as it says in Revelation. So it's always
by Christ. And before the Lord came, God
sent his prophets to reveal to us who the Son is, what he would
do and what he would accomplish so that when he came we would
know that this is indeed the very Christ. In Zechariah 6,
verses 12 and 13, it speaks of the branch as well. And in Zechariah
6, 12, it says, And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the
Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the branch,
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord. All right, so the branch shall
build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne,
and the council of peace shall be between them both. So we were
foretold by the prophets in many different prophecies, I'm just
looking at one here, that he would build the temple. That
this man, this branch would build the temple. And in John 2 verses
19 through 21, Christ tells them exactly that he is the Christ.
He's the branch. When he says to them, destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He's
telling them I'm the branch spoken of by the prophets before of
old to declare to you that the branch will build the temple.
I'm telling you destroy this temple, and I will raise it up
in three days." But did they hear him? Nope, they rejected
him. They said, forty and six years
was his temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three
days? But he spake of the temple of his body. Right? So they mocked
him even for this saying when he was on the cross, and they
even lied about it, saying that he said, that he'll destroy this
temple and raise it up in three days. And he never said, I'll
do it. He said, you do it and I'll raise it up. You destroy
this temple, which they did. They did the very thing. They
hung him on a tree and they tried to destroy it. And in the process
of it, in the wisdom and the strength of God, which is stronger
than man and man's wisdom and his folly, God raised up the
temple by bringing salvation in. for the people in the weakness
of God there when he was crucified on the tree. For behold, Jeremiah
said, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. So that Christ himself, the branch,
is called the Lord our Righteousness. And we know that he comes forth
from David and that's exactly what happened. There was attacks
that went out and we saw Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem
because they were of the house of Judah, of the lineage of David. and that Christ came through
the lineage of David through his son, Nathan. And we see that
in the scriptures. And then Jeremiah, when he built
the temple, in Jeremiah 33, verses 15 and 16, it says, In those
days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness."
So she's looking for a husband, and the Lord provides her his
name, the Lord our righteousness, so that we are made the very
righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he
accomplished for us there on the tree. All right, now in verse
three, back in our text, Isaiah 4.3, It says, and it shall come to
pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in
Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone that is written
among the living in Jerusalem. So that Christ opens up the city
of God, the city whose builder and maker is God himself. And
he opens up the gates and brings in the people. He brings in all
the children that God had given him. Of all that the Father giveth
me, he said, they shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out." Because God himself gave him
power over all flesh to execute his will, to perform the righteous
work that needed to be done to execute judgment and righteousness
in the earth. When he went about doing good,
though all the wicked see, though all the world was opposed to
him and rejected him and turned him over to the Gentiles, yet
He worked all perfect righteousness for His people that they might
have the righteousness which God requires to stand before
Him. And thereby, He makes us a new
creature. He doesn't use this old flesh.
This flesh is just an earthen vessel. It's just a pot that's
holding that which is precious, created of the Lord, that He
has created within us, that new man. As Paul said, if any man
be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creature. Old things have passed
away, behold, all things have become new, and they're new in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Or listen to 1 Peter 2, 4-7,
being now made alive, because it wasn't by this flesh, but
by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does this, he
gives us a knowledge and an understanding not in the flesh, but in the
new man by the Spirit of Christ in us. He gives us life and light
to these things that we know and understand these things that
he's done. And Peter says, to whom coming as unto a living
stone, that's Christ. He's living alive. He's not a
dead letter religion that has no life and no spirit. He's a
living stone disallowed or rejected indeed of men but chosen of God
and precious. Ye also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall
not be confounded." So that because Christ now is our righteousness,
we're not looking to our works, we do good works in the name
of Christ, not to receive a justification, not to be justified by God, not
even to be sanctified by God or to sanctify ourselves or to
be seen as ones who are sanctifying ourselves, but we do good works
because we rejoice in what he's done for us and what he's teaching
us. and how he's destroying the works
of darkness in us and giving us a desire to serve him and
to know him and to serve our brethren so that he's doing all
that work. And so those are those spiritual
sacrifices in which we lift up thanks and praise to God for
what he's provided for us in his son, Jesus Christ. Those
are those good works. And he says, unto you, therefore,
which believe, Christ is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner." So that when, in that day, when we are
raised from the grave, when we stand before the Lord in that
day of judgment, and we come before, they're going to see
Christ, the one that they rejected and refused, sitting there on
the throne, on the right hand of the throne of God, and He's
going to judge them. And we're going to rejoice in
that day because we're coming in the very righteousness which
he has wrought for us, which he's worked for us and given
to us by his works of righteousness. So we won't be ashamed, we won't
be confounded, but those who refused him, they'll be ashamed
and they'll be confounded when they realize that all their works
of righteousness are filthy rags in the sight and aren't acceptable
to him. we won't be confounded or ashamed
in that day. Now Isaiah 4.4 says, when the
Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion
and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof
by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. So
that when Christ came to us, we were in the filth and the
pollution of our own blood. We were like a child cast out
into the gutter that nobody wanted. but Christ came by and had compassion
upon us, and he cleaned us up by his righteousness, right?
He purged us with clean water and with his blood, and we were
plunged in the fountain of his blood, wherein we are made righteousness,
the righteousness that God receives. So in that dark day, though,
Christ became surety for us. It wasn't just that God winked
and pretended he didn't see the things that we do, but Christ
became surety for us, meaning that he agreed, that he would
bear the burden of our debt, that he would bear our sin in
his own body, and that he would pay the price, that God would
see the sin on him, the sin in him, for God made him to be sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So he poured out his wrath upon
him, And we being in Christ, the wrath of God was poured out
upon us, and yet he bore that wrath and put away the sin forever,
so that now God, when he looks on us, doesn't see us as sinners
and wicked creatures, but rather as righteous and holy as he is,
and he accepts us in his son Jesus Christ because he paid
the debt in full. And there's nothing more for
you and I to do. We can't earn or work any part
of that righteousness. It's all of Christ. And so we
rest in him. We rest in what he has done and
trust that it's sufficient. There's nothing more I need to
do. You don't gotta whip another thousand bucks out of your pocket
and throw it in the pot hoping that somehow God's gonna be pleased
with that and show you mercy and kindness. you can rest in
what Christ has done. There's nothing more to be done.
Whatever we do now is just done in that thankful spirit that
he gives us, that rejoices in what he's done. And so he's not
going to leave us to our enemies. He's going to establish us in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to bring us to those
churches that he sets up, that he establishes in Jerusalem. In Jeremiah it says that I will
give you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding. so that He gives them a spirit
of judgment and a spirit of burning so that they're glad and rejoicing
and bold to proclaim what God has done in His Son, Jesus Christ. Because that's the offense, is
that to say to you that there's nothing more for you to do is
an offense to the flesh because the flesh says, wait a minute,
there's got to be something that I can do. You can't tell me that
there's nothing to be done. And they're refusing to hear
it, they're rejecting the salvation that God has provided, and they're
saying, surely there's something I can do. And now they're magnifying
themselves that they are more righteous than God, that they
don't need the righteousness that God provided, because they
themselves can make themselves righteous and acceptable. in
his sight, but he sends pastors to proclaim that gospel, to declare
that Christ is all, that he is sufficient, that you can't save
yourself by your own works and by your own doing. And those
that are of the flesh will hear it and be angry and go away angry
and maybe even say wicked things about that pastor and about those
people that go there. but they won't care because they're
glad and they're rejoicing and they're happy in what God has
done through his son. They're happy to have been plunged
in the fountain that God has provided in his son, Jesus Christ. It says in Psalm 29 too, give
unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, worship the Lord in
the beauty of holiness. And the apostles, they were happy
and they rejoiced and were were excited to bear witness of what
God had revealed to them concerning salvation through the Son, Jesus
Christ. As John wrote in his first letter,
1 John 1, starting in verse 1, he said, That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon with our hands, have handled
of the word of life, and have handled, and our hands have handled
of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we've seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you, that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you
also may have fellowship with us. Truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." And he said, these
things we write unto you that your joy may be full. That's
why we speak and declare these things that sinner, you are troubled
and afraid, there's nothing more for you to do. He's provided
all the salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. Look to the Son. Come to the Son, Jesus Christ,
and rest in Him. Seek forgiveness and mercy in
the salvation that He's provided for sinners in His Son, Jesus
Christ. And he'll wipe away all the false
things he said in Isaiah. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place. So that he destroys and breaks
down all those places where we try to hide and all those that
flesh, those Arminian thoughts that we go back to thinking that
there's something we must do to save ourselves, that we can
do to save ourselves, because that heart is in us and we think,
when we see the wickedness we do, we think, maybe I better
read my Bible a little more today and get back and write with God. And you should read your Bible.
But beg God for forgiveness just for even having that thought
because we know that that's not what saves us, but Christ. And
so seek Christ and read his word and pray because you love him
and because he has forgiven you. He's already washed you clean
and made you white and acceptable with God. So in joy and in gladness
and in peace, read the word. But don't read the word to make
yourselves righteous and to establish a peace between you and God because
that's coming to him in a wrong spirit. And he'll teach us that
in the gospel. He'll teach us that. Don't look
to those things anymore. Look to me. Just trust me and
trust what I've said that I've done because he's faithful and
true and just and right in all his ways. All right, now I'm
going to wrap it up fairly quickly, but he says in Isaiah 4 verses
5 and 6, And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of
Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and
the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all the glory
shall be a defense, and there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow
in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and
for a cover from storm and from rain. So our God has provided
everything that we need for salvation in his son Jesus Christ. The
works are finished from the beginning. There's nothing more for us to
do. And so He's provided everything,
and that's what He's saying here is that He'll protect you and
lead you and guide you the rest of the days of your life. Just
keep looking to Him who is your provision and your salvation.
And I can't say it any better than what Paul said in Romans
8. If you turn there, I'll just read the verses, but in Romans
8, Starting in verse 31, we'll read down to the end of the chapter.
He says, What shall we say then to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him freely
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it's written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long,
we're counted as sheep for the slaughter, No, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. He's saying
it doesn't matter how we die in this life. Whatever God wills
and is pleased to give us, it doesn't matter. We're more than
conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor
things present nor things to come nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus." So we have his word that he shall
protect us and keep us and bring us to that final day in perfect
righteousness, in perfect obedience looking to him because he is
our obedience and he is our righteousness and our holiness to stand before
God. You know, you might think, well, we don't have that pillar
of cloud by day, and we don't have that pillar of fire by night
to protect us, but we have something better than that. We have the
very word of Jesus Christ himself, who promised to us, saying, he
said, go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, right,
to love one another, But then he said, and lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world. So he's given us his
word that he's with us to the end of the world. So you can
trust him and rest in him that he shall continue to strip these
grave clothes off of us and strip away that darkness and that veil
of nature from us and destroying the works in us, the works of
darkness in us and the works of the flesh. He does this for
us in love and in mercy and draws us to himself in peace and in
assurance of what he's done. And I pray the Lord will bless
it to your hearts. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for the complete salvation that you've
provided in your Son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, help us to hear the
word, to not look to the works of our own flesh, to not look
back to the to the lust of the flesh or the things which we
once did and find any comfort or solace in those things. But
Lord, we thank you that there was a day which you troubled
our flesh and caused us to know that we're nothing apart from
you and that we are under the condemnation and wrath of God
except we be in Christ. And we thank you, Lord, that
you didn't leave us under a false gospel, under a false hope trusting
in ourselves, but that you provided everything, a complete salvation
in your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
bless this word to our hearts, and not let it be taken away
or crowded out or destroyed in any way, but Lord, that it would
grow, take root in our hearts and grow up and bear fruit, some
30, some 60, some 100 fold. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior, amen.