Well, it's good to be back. I
had a good time in Kingsport. And thank you, brethren, for
allowing me to go out there. It was really nice. And I just
think it's really great that we can establish that fellowship
there because they seem to have a real interest in what the Lord
is doing here. and they think about you, brethren,
and they pray for you, and they really do care about what's going
on here. And I don't even know if everyone
realizes it, but I believe they contribute an amount to us each
month that goes towards the work that's here. And they've committed
to that through the end of this year, at least, and they'll pray
about possibly extending that, but that's just a real encouraging
thing that they would do that and have a real, it took an interest
in what the Lord is doing here so remember them as well in prayer
and they have a dear pastor there and I count him a friend and
it was very good to meet him and it's good for me to have
friends that are also pastors so it was really, I appreciate
you you let me do that and I appreciate Joe for taking that message this
Sunday and I pray the Lord blessed it and made it profitable to
his people here. Alright, we're going to be in
Isaiah chapter 3 and our text will be Isaiah 3 verses 10 through
12. Isaiah 3 verses 10 through 12. And we're going to continue going
through this word that was given to Isaiah against the wicked
of the house of Jacob. And we saw last week how that
natural man looks to the law or to some idolatrous thing,
religion, for example, for his bread and his clothing. He's
looking to these natural things that are in the earth, the products
of the flesh, products of the earth, and even the law, to correct
or to fix the ruin of man. Christ was given by the Lord.
God, our Father, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world,
the seed of woman, to put away the sin of His people. He provided
Christ to deliver us and free us from the bondage of sin and
to destroy the works of the evil one. So it's not man looking
to what he can do to fix it. because man can't fix it. It's
looking to what God has provided, to whom God has provided His
Son, Jesus Christ. That's why Christ came into the
world, to save His people from their sins. And our title this
evening is, The Fruitful Path. And we'll just have two breaks,
Fruit Produced, and then Christ the Path. Alright, so let's look
at verses 10 and 11. To those who look to Christ by
faith to save them, to deliver them from their sin, it says
in verse 10, say to the righteous that it shall be well with him,
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. But to those
who look to the law, either in part or in full, to make themselves
righteous before holy God, he says in verse 11, woe unto the
wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands
shall be given him. So there's two kinds of sinners.
You've probably heard this. There's two kinds of sinners
in this world. There's one that's looking to
his or her works to produce or to make themselves righteous
and acceptable before holy God. And then there's those, well,
they believe, they think that in that day of judgment, their
works are going to stand up and speak well for them. That's one
kind of sinner who's looking to what they do so that they
can have that stand for them. And then there's the sinner that
knows that they're a sinner and has no hope in any of their works,
but trusts that Christ and Christ alone will stand up and speak
well for them in that day. And those who look to Christ
have nothing to worry about because God sent him for that very purpose. And he receives all who come
to the Son, all who come to him through the Son. And so we're
to ask him to consider, which one are we? What are we hoping
in? Are we hoping in Christ, in Christ alone? Or are we still
looking to our works and the things that we've done? And the
Lord teaches us, he shows us how we're idolaters, he shows
us where we're trusting in these things, but he breaks those things
and he delivers us out of those things more and more and more
so that we trust in those things less and less until all there
is is Christ. Because we know, he's shown us,
he's shown us in our heart, but we see what sinners we are and
the need of him to continue to teach us and to keep us and to
draw us to himself always. You know, those that are even,
you know, even those that aren't very religious, that think lightly
of Christ and don't really trust in these things, even in that
day when they stand before the Lord and see the Ancient of Days
sitting on his throne, you can believe, you can bet, they're
going to be searching and looking back for something they've done.
They're gonna look for something that they've done to feel good
about standing before God. If they even have time for that,
I don't know, but even the wicked who aren't religious and have
done nothing as far as they're concerned with God and their
thoughts will look at something that they've done, because that's
what man does. He looks to and trusts in his own works. Now
in Isaiah 64, 6, we know that the child of God is taught by
the Lord in this life. He's taught the truth of this
verse, Isaiah 64, 6, but the wicked is going to be taught
instantly the truth of this verse when they stand before God, which
says, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Now turn over to Romans 7.5,
Romans 7.5. You know, all our works become,
when we see the Lord, all our works become filthy in our own
sight as they are filthy in God's sight. We're shown that, and
we see how the Lord teaches us that very truth so that we don't
trust in those things. They fade, they fall away, and
we, you know, by the grace of God and His Spirit teaching us,
He withers our flesh. When the Spirit blows upon this
flesh, it withers, and dies and becomes what it really is in
the sight of God, becomes to us what it is in the sight of
God, just something that is just a heavy hunk of sin that is not
profitable in the things of the Lord. So, Romans 7-5. We read,
when we were in the flesh, this is Paul, and he's writing to
believers, when we were in the flesh, when we remained in that
state, when we were in that state, just as all men and women are,
the motions of sins which were by the law, when we were being
stirred up by the law, looking to the law, and it was stirring
up that flesh, and it was provoking that enmity against God, because
that's what we all are by nature, When we see what the law is,
it provokes us. When it shuts us up, it provokes
that enmity that we have against God. As long as God is submitting
to us and begging us and seeking us to comply with him, there's
no enmity. We don't have a problem with
that God because we're God. We're on equal footing. When
he ate that fruit, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
he wanted to be like God. So as long as he's like God and
God's dealing with him, that God of his imagination is dealing
with him as an equal, man's fine. But as soon as he hears that
God is God and that man is in the dust, that's when there's
enmity and that's when he gets angry and he's offended because
God is holy and God alone is the Lord and not man. He finds
out that he's weak and unable to do anything that pleases God
and is true and lasting. But Paul says, the motions of
sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. So that when we're in our flesh,
and even now when we do a work in the flesh, all it does is
bring forth that fruit which is rotten and stinking and worthless. God isn't pleased with the works
of this flesh. It's so easy. The flesh begets
flesh, and the spirit begets spirit. That which is of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is of the spirit is spirit. It
really is that simple. There's nothing complex about
it, so that what we do in the flesh, looking to and trusting
in our works, because we're always doing something, you know, walking
around in this flesh, that's not what I mean. When we're looking
to our flesh, when we're looking to the law to sanctify ourselves,
for example, and to make ourselves more holy, that's looking to
the flesh. Why wouldn't we look to Christ
for all the things that we need? But we're taking that work into
our own hands because we're not trusting in Christ and we're
thinking maybe there is something more that I need to do and we
go back to that law to make ourselves more holy rather than going to
his word and looking for Christ and seeing how Christ accomplished
these things and rejoicing in Christ and confessing our sin
to him and confessing our weakness and saying, Lord, help me. Help
me. Draw me near to you. Create in
my heart a love for you. grow the knowledge that I have
of you, Lord, that I may serve you and love you more. But you're
looking to Christ, you're not looking to the law and saying,
if I study this eight hours a day, I'm going to get more holy. That's
a work of the flesh. That's distrusting in the flesh.
And to that person, you know, that person who's trusting in
their works and all it is is dead, stinking flesh, which attracts
flies and it's just rotten, it's not good, the Lord isn't pleased
with that. Isaiah says in 311, woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. But stay there in Romans 7, Romans
7, 6, but now we are delivered from the law that being dead,
wherein we were held, That bondage that we run, Dirk, because of
the weakness and the infirmity of the flesh, which can't produce
anything that God will accept to pay down our sin debt, that
bondage that we were in, wherein we were held that we should serve
in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
So that speaks there of that new birth, that work that Christ
works in us, that heavenly birth from above, wherein the spirit
now is alive, that regenerating work that Christ and Christ alone
does in a sinner so that there's a heart for him, there's a love
for him, there's a breathing for him and a groaning and a
sighing for his work and his presence in us. and that hunger
and thirst for that righteousness that He alone produces. Because
we see the love in this flesh. We see the love of this world.
We see all this desire and this attraction to things that are
unprofitable and things that hurt us and things that don't
reconcile and line up with our confession of Christ. But keep
looking to Christ. He's the one that's going to
keep strengthening you and building you up and drawing you to Himself.
Keep on looking at Christ and don't look back to something
in your flesh and trusting in that. Keep trusting in Christ.
That's why he's giving you that spirit and that hunger and that
discernment and that love for him. Because you know he's shown
you, thankfully he's shown you, and it's been painful in the
flesh, but he's shown you this flesh isn't able to do that which
is spiritual and that which is profitable and that which lasts
and helps you on your walk to him. Wherefore, verse 4, go back
to Romans 7, 4, wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ. So that we, in Christ,
when he bore us up in his body and took to himself our sins
in his own body by taking us and holding us in himself, he
went to that cross, having fulfilled all righteousness, having done
everything necessary to please the Father and to demonstrate
His completely fulfilling all the law and the prophets and
everything, He went up there to the cross, bearing His people
in Himself, and He laid down His life as a sacrifice for us
so that God slew Him rather than slaying us. And He spilled His
blood so that our blood wouldn't have to be spilled eternally
to never be able to pay off that debt that we that we earned,
that we grew in our sin, in our flesh, that Christ paid it in
full, so that his blood redeems us, he purchased us by his own
blood, and his debt reconciles us, justifies us, and reconciles
us to the Lord God, so that when the angels, that's why when the
angels were speaking to those shepherds in the field, they
said, glory to God, peace on earth, good will toward men. They're declaring that the Savior
is here. He's come in the flesh. That
one that was promised to do that which we can't do for ourselves,
he's here. Peace. There's peace now between
God and men because of what Christ came to accomplish and then did
accomplish it. And so he did all that for his
people. And we died in him, continuing
in Romans 7.4. that we should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. So that now, brethren, by that
Holy Spirit dwelling in us and living in us, we bring forth
fruit now. not by some things that we're
doing, but by the miracle, the power, the authority of Christ
our Savior. He gives everything that's needed
and necessary. Must we believe on Christ? Yes,
and He gives it to us to believe on Him. Must we have faith in
Christ? Yes, and He gives us that faith, and that hope, and
that trust, and that love for Him. He works all those precious
things in us, because that's what He accomplished when He
arose from the grave and led captivity captive and gave gifts
unto men. He earned all that in righteousness
and the authority and power given him to give it to you, his brethren
and his bride whom he loves. He did all that for us that we
might now bring forth true, lasting fruit unto God. And all we do
is say, Lord, bless your name. You're the one who's so wonderful
and holy and righteous. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
Thank you, God, for that unspeakable gift. And so Isaiah says, say
ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall
eat of the fruit of their doings. That's all put to our account.
That righteousness is imputed to us, and those fruitful works
are imputed to us all thanks to what Christ did. How selfless
and wonderful and holy and righteous and amazing is Christ our Savior. That's the love that he has for
you, brethren, who have nothing to give to him, who are bankrupt
and poor sinners. That's the love and the grace
that he has shown to his people. and kindness and love and drawing
us. All right. Well, that's where
we see in Ephesians 2, 9 and 10 that it's not of works lest
any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. Isn't it amazing like what he
does? He does all that for his people. And it's just, it's wonderful. All right, now back in our text,
in Isaiah 3, let's quickly just read verse 4, and then we'll
read verse 12. Verse 4 says, and I will give
children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
And then in Isaiah 3, 12, the first habit says, as for my people,
children are their oppressors, which can be translated exactors,
and women rule over them. What he's showing is that children
and women ought not to be leading the people of God. But don't
get hung up on that term necessarily of children and women. What it's
teaching is these are people who are completely unqualified
to be teaching the people of God and leading the people of
God. They have no business doing that. Now there shouldn't be women
and children teaching you and leading you spiritually from
the pulpit like that. It can also be a man, just because
a man is a man doesn't qualify him to be a leader and a teacher
of the people of God and that he could be trusted to declare
Christ and speak of our holiness and that which is our true righteousness,
which is Jesus Christ. So, you know, turn over to 1
Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2. And Paul says this in 1 Timothy
2, verse 12. He says, but I suffer not a woman
to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. So Isaiah
is showing here by calling them children and women as being the
leaders, he's saying these are people that are deceived. These
are people that don't know the truth and ought not to be teaching
you. These are people that have no
qualifications to do that. So whoever these teachers were,
they weren't declaring Christ. They weren't pointing people
to the Christ that should come. And instead, they were giving
the people lies and falsehood. And that, brethren, is for the
wicked. That's a judgment for the wicked,
because that's the reward of their hands, which shall be given
to them. That's the reward. So the wicked are going to have
that. You look out there on the various church corners, and you
see these different churches, and you know the nonsense that
they're teaching them. That's what the reward of the
wicked is. That's what they're getting.
It's just more and more blindness, more and more darkness, more
and more deception is going out to them. And then the second
half that we read there in verse 12, Isaiah 3, 12, Oh my people,
they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of
thy paths. And so we know the path. Thanks be to God, we know the
path. The path is Christ. We're to be declaring that salvation
is by the Lord Jesus Christ. But we know what this world does.
These teachers are pointing people back to the law. They're pointing
people back to their works. They're pointing people back
to this world and investing in their communities and world.
We should help people in our neighborhood, but they make everything
about the works and just creating a community and about things
of that nature. They point people to things that
are only in this life. so that there's no real thought
of eternal things but only this life and what's going on in this
life and other false hopes and lies so that in their speech
and what they're saying it's just they're attempting to destroy
the hope that a sinner has in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
looking to blind people to Christ and keep them away from Christ
so that they don't look to Him and to see what he accomplished
there on the cross for his people and that he's a successful Savior
and did not fail. So the wicked we read in 2 Thessalonians
2 verses 10 and 11 says, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
and them that perish because they receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
So that In the flesh, when we're left to the flesh, we're never
going to see Christ, and we're never going to hope in Him. We're going to look to our flesh,
we're going to be confused, and just remain there in that mist
of confusion. But they're given persuasive
teachers, teachers that seem like they're telling them the
truth, and seem to be doing a good job, and yet all they're doing
is just keeping them blind to the things of the salvation that
God has provided in His Son, Jesus Christ. So together they're
just going to fall, it's the blind leading the blind, and
they're just going to fall into a pit. But to the righteous,
and you see how the language changes in 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13, it changes and Paul says, we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you. So that which was absent in the
first ones, the wicked ones, is God left them to themselves.
And then because they continued on in their wickedness and their
deception, God just adds the deception even more strongly
to them. But to the righteous, we give
thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. And it's
Christ that makes us beloved of God. Not us. It's not anything
we've done to recommend ourselves or to make God look at us and
say, wow, they are something. I'm going to pour out my love
on them. It's Christ. And then that savor of Christ
in us that produces that fruit, God is pleased with that. And
it's all the work of Christ. And we just give Him all the
thanks and the praise. He does work good fruits in us,
but it's Him doing it. And we just thank Him and the
Lord's pleased with us and we stand amazed that He continues
to give us the Gospel and help us to hear it and not to look
and trust in ourselves. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore,
brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have
been taught, whether by word or by epistle. And since we've
been 2,000 years, approximately since our Lord was crucified
and raised from the dead, He's not saying keep trusting in the
traditions that men keep coming up with in their creeds and their
confessions. Don't look to those things that came out in between,
but rather let us look to the writings of the Old Testament
and what the Apostles wrote in the Gospels and what the Apostles
wrote in the letters here. Let's look to these things because
that's where their traditions and their words were captured
for us to see what God has said in His words. Because a lot of
people look to traditions that were written in the 1600s or
1500s or 1700s, that's not what he's saying. He's saying, look
to what God revealed through his son to these prophets and
these apostles of our Lord. Look to them because God's preserved
what we need to know right here in his word. So God faithfully,
the Lord faithfully warns against false teachers in the Old Testament. Turn over to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18, and go to verse 9. He says, when thou art coming
to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not
learn to do after the abominations of those nations. Verse 12, for
all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord,
and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them
out from before thee. And for years, I'd say for a
few decades it's been coming in, but you see how these Eastern
religions and just these influences are coming in stronger and stronger
and stronger. I don't know why necessarily,
but you see these Western countries just opening up and being more
and more influenced by some of these things that were all around
Israel when the Lord said, don't listen to them. Don't look at
those things and don't listen to those people. But he says,
thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. That's Christ. That's how we're made perfect
with the Lord our God. It's with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to Him and His work. Stay upon the Lord Jesus Christ. For, verse 14, these nations
which thou shalt possess harkened unto observers of times and unto
diviners, but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered
thee so to do." So that our God has delivered us, faithfully
delivered us out of those things. And I say this stuff because
for a time I looked at some things I had no business looking at,
you know, on the internet, there's such an abundance of nonsense
and things and you see it where it's just, at the root of it,
it's just things that are not for us. They're for the wicked.
All it is, is the mist of confusion and deception and they're weaving
in all kinds of doctrines of devils and demons and that's
for them. We don't need, they were the
ones that were observing times and listening to diviners. What
business do we have listening to that stuff? It's not going
to be of any profit to us. So put that stuff away. Don't look at it because it's
there for the wicked. It's there to deceive them and
keep them stressed and anxious and always looking at that stuff.
That's all it produces. It doesn't give you any peace.
It just produces anxiety and stress and gets you all worked
up about that stuff. That's why I just have a heart
to say that. And you can see it. The longer
you're in it, the more you see this weaving in of Eastern weird
stuff. So it's not profitable to us. But Christ, He is profitable. Christ is a sure help. And He is health and nourishment
and comfort and peace to His people. You stay upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and whatever happens, you have Christ. who will provide
and be all things to us, everything necessary that we need, Christ
shall arise for his people. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He arose for us in the most critical
and most needful thing we ever had in our lives. He delivered
us from the bondage of sin and death. He purchased us from that
wrath to come that this world is coming under. He purchased
us out of that. so that we have life and hope
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and in our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Deuteronomy 8.15. I
think you're still there. Deuteronomy 8.15, this is what
the Lord provided. He says, the Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me, Moses said, unto him ye shall hearken. And then in verse 18, the Lord
speaks saying, I will raise them up a prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee Moses, and will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken
unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require
it of him. And that's what the testimony
that John the Baptist gave us at the end of John chapter 3.
He spoke of these things when he said in John 3.32, speaking
of Christ, and what Christ hath seen and heard, that he testify,
and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony
hath said to his seal that God is true. Verse 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. So that in his hand Christ
has the issues of life. And that's what we need. He is
our very life. And he gives us eternal life
in himself. so that everything that we need,
all things that are necessary, He provides it and He gives us,
He feeds us and keeps us and holds us and draws us to Himself
in a sweet way through this gospel. And he that, verse 36, 336, he
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. And that's what he said. I will
require it of him. I'll require it. If he rejects
my words that have come through my Son, whom I've sent specifically
to reveal the truth and the light of men is revealed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, those who don't hear him, the wrath of God abides
on them. That's what he's saying, I'll require it of them. So this judgment of this world,
or the judgment of this world is that the wicked are going
to be led astray by false teachers, by foolish leaders, by people
that will just bring them into trouble. over and over and over
again so that there's no political solution and the religions of
this world don't do us any good and there's no peace here and
there's not going to be peace here in this world's ways and
the things that the world does so that children are their oppressors
and women rule over them and We, brethren, who look to Christ
and trust in him and rest in him, we're not to be swept away
with those things. We're not to be caught up in
all the things that they're fearing and afraid of. I just can't see
Paul getting worked up by who the ruler happened to be in Rome
at that time. He just trusted that He was there,
the Lord put him there, and we're just going to preach the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we're going to serve and help the brethren
to see Christ and to see him more clearly and to be blessed
in the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve one another. while we're
here, till the Lord is pleased to come and take us home to himself. That should be our focus. So
our God has sent his Son into the world to deliver us out of
the darkness and the condemnation and the wrath that's coming upon
this world. He was sent to establish our
path in Christ, because Christ is the path and the way of his
people. So we ought to just seek Him
and trust that He's given us everything. Turn over to Deuteronomy
13. Deuteronomy 13 verses 3 and 4. And he says again, Thou shalt
not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether
ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and
keep His commandments, that is, keep His word through His Son,
Jesus Christ, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him and cleave
unto Him, so that our Lord is gracious, and He gives us His
Spirit to hear that word and to see that commandment and that
word and that law as speaking of the law of Christ. It speaks
of our salvation by Christ, and He warms our hearts that which
are made cold and stony and hard by this world, but he warms our
hearts, softens our hearts, and shows us our need of Christ,
and now he is a gracious and willing Savior, willing to receive
all who come to him. because they have no other hope
and have no other trust. He alone has the words of eternal
life. He speaks the words which the
Father gave him to speak and he speaks them into our heart
and we hear his words and we rejoice in what he himself has
done so. I had a little more, but I realize
it's late. I would just encourage you to
read Revelation 2 and go to verse 18 through 29. That's the letter
to the angel of the church of Thyatira. And you see there where
it speaks of Jezebel and the wickedness that she spoke of
and how she was leading the people astray. I could read it to you. It's not that long, but let me
just read it to you. I'll give you just a couple comments
and read it again. But it says in Revelation 2.18, And unto
the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the
Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and
his feet are like the fine brass. I know thy works in charity,
and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and
the last to be more than the first." So he's saying, you've
grown, you've grown and you've become stable and you're useful
there in the ministry of Christ. And then verse 20, notwithstanding,
I have a few things against thee. He's not saying I'm condemning
you and throwing you into hell, but he's warning them, he's telling
them, he's reminding them that it's a chastening word to show
them their need of Christ more and more, to not be high and
puffed up in their own minds, but to see their need of Christ.
And he says, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess. That's
going back to Ahab's wife. You get that picture. And she's
teaching, and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols. She's weaving in teachings from
the pulpit, teachings to lead the people astray so they're
not looking to Christ alone and growing in Christ. They're hearing
other things, looking back to the law, looking back to things
that they ought not to look to and things that are not profitable
because they're of the flesh. And so you can see how we even
see it in our day where she's a promoter of fleshly things,
the decision of man, the choice of man, putting the salvation
of man in his hands. That's adultery. That's not worshiping
Christ. That's worshiping man and puffing
up man to think that there's something he can do to save himself. In verse 21, and I gave her space
to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold,
I will cast her into a bed And them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
So you can see the mercy of the Lord in saying, I'm giving them
time to hear this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they keep
on pushing and pushing in works of the flesh. And if they continue
on with it, it's going to seem like good to them, but they're
going to find themselves in a bed of adultery. not necessarily
literally, but spiritually, where they've left the Lord. And now
they're going to be in great tribulation because of what their
hope is, but the Lord gives them space to repent. And so he says,
and I'll kill her children with death, and all the churches shall
know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will
give unto every one of you according to your So, stay upon Christ,
because that's where, in Christ, He's the one who produces those
fruitful, profitable works that are pleasing and acceptable to
God our Father. He produces those things. We
don't need the tricks and the things that this world tries
to do, and look to, to try and create greatness. We look to
Christ to create greatness in Him. But I would encourage you
to read it again when you get home. He says, keep my works
unto the end. Those works are the works of
Christ. You hang on to what Christ has
done and how He has made you acceptable to the Father. And
you shall stand in that day and you shall have a happy and wonderful
day of judgment when Christ shall arise for you and you come in
His robe of righteousness because you're keeping His works. Keep them unto the end, brethren.
I pray the Lord will bless your hearts with that, to see Christ
and just to rejoice in Christ our Savior. Let's close in prayer
and then, Brother Joe, you'll close us in the hymn. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you for the work that you've done. Lord, that
you are the path and that you are our very works. We thank
you for your spirit. Lord, we Thank you for delivering
us out of death and darkness and corruption and trusting in
the works of our flesh. Lord, please have mercy upon
us, upon this generation here, upon our children that are growing
up, Lord, that you would have mercy upon them, that this work
would continue in the work of Christ. Lord, that we would see
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that he would be all to us,
and that we would rest in him. Lord, let the wicked be judged
by the things that are coming upon them, Lord, but let us not
be swept up and taken away with those things, but let us rest
and be anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let He be an anchor of
our soul. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.