Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for
the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things we also speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again,
thankful this evening for a time to come together to fellowship,
to hear your precious gospel. Father, we ask that you give
Eric the words that you would have us to hear tonight. Father,
we ask that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see
and hearts to hear this message as well. Father, we ask that
you watch over and care for us in Christ's name. All right, take your bottles
and turn to Isaiah 2. Isaiah chapter 2, and we'll pick
up in verse 5. And I'm gonna try and make it
to the end of this chapter tonight, so there's a lot to cover. Our
title is Man's Trust Exposed. Man's Trust Exposed. And what
we'll see this evening is that Christ is the light of salvation. He's the one who saves sinners,
and God has provided him to be the light, to show us the way
to God and that Christ himself is one who put away our sins
and he'll reveal our wickedness, he'll reveal our deadness to
us, he'll show us that the things that we trust in and hope in
won't save us. They're not going to do us any
good before a holy and a righteous God who is angry with us because
of our sins that we've committed and trespassed against Him. So
we'll see how Christ is the light of men and we'll see how how
he delivers us from the filth of our idolatry and the sin that
man looks to those things that he trusts in to save him or to
give him security or peace in this world. And then if we have
time, we'll conclude with seeing the overthrow or the destruction
of those things and that the one who shall be exalted is the
Lord our God. He's the one that shall remain
standing in that day. All right, our divisions will
be Christ the light, and then the darkness of man, and then
the wisdom of God made plain. So Christ the light. Our text
begins in verse five, verse five. O house of Jacob, come ye and
let us walk in the light of the Lord. Now we saw last time how
that God or how that Christ established his house, right? And Christ
is the one. He established the house of God
and for his people. And he did this when he was crucified,
when he bore the sins of his people and he willingly laid
down his life for them he put away our sins and he reconciled
us to God and he created a people who love and worship God. They
are now the house of the living God where God dwells and abides
with them all because of what Christ did. He said in John 2,
destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. Which he spake of the temple
of his body. So in his death Christ accomplished
more than any man ever accomplished in his life, and he accomplished
more than every man ever accomplished throughout history put together.
Christ accomplished more because he himself, by his life, by his
death and his resurrection, he established the whole house of
God. He destroyed the works of the
devil and he brought in everlasting righteousness for the people.
He declared God just and the justifier of them which believe
on him through Christ. And the Lord now directs his
prophet to address the house of Jacob, and he says there in
verse 5, O house of Jacob, which would be that house of Israel
when our Lord came in the flesh, right, who didn't receive him
but rejected the Lord when he came in the flesh initially.
And now they're saying, look, consider what you're doing. This
is the one whom the Lord has sent, and you're rejecting him.
But the same holds true for us today, because there's countless,
numerous people that are lost in idolatry and in darkness.
And there's many people that are religious, even going by
the name Christian, who yet worship and serve their idols and those
things that they trust in, rather than looking to the Lord and
trusting in Christ and what he's done. a person, when the Lord
deals with them, he's going to shake their foundations. He's
going to bring them to see that the things which they're trusting
in and at peace with and have comfort in, they're not the things
that reconcile us to God. They're not the things that bring
us true security and peace. Things may go well for a time,
but there's coming a day when all that will be shaken and destroyed. That which is of man and of the
flesh and of the earth shall be shaken and destroyed. That
which is of Christ, which He made when He established the
house of God, that which He created, that shall stand the shaking
of God's terror and what God does, His righteousness and His
holiness. Those things shall remain. Everything
we make is going to perish. Everything He made is going to
stand for all eternity and forever. So he's going to show us our
dead works. He's going to show us the vanity
of our religion that maybe we grew up with or that we're looking
to now. And the scriptures call it repentance
because the Lord's going to work in his people a change in their
heart. He's going to give them a new
heart and a new mind that's washed and cleansed in the word of God,
that's made holy and sanctified to us by the power of Christ,
by his blood, so that we we have a change of mind as to how God
saves sinners. Naturally, we have an understanding
of how we think God saves sinners by certain things that we do,
and certain things that we refrain from doing, or certain things
that we tell other people to do or not to do. We think that's
where our salvation is, but that's not where our salvation is at
all. It's in Christ and Christ alone. And so the Spirit has
to teach us that, as you read in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 there
that it's the mind of the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ in us
must be given to us and teach us otherwise we won't know the
things of God. We won't have a repentance or
a change of heart and we must be given life and faith to believe
that which God has revealed to us in his son, what his son accomplished,
that Christ is all, Christ is sufficient for me, I don't need
to add to the work that Christ has done, and he makes us rest
in him so that we cease from our labors in trying to please
God and work a righteousness for ourselves and we rest right
there in what Christ himself has done for his people. And
that's what he means when he says in verse 5, O house of Jacob,
Come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Christ himself
is the light of God. Turn over to John 1. John 1 and
just stay there and John, I'll give you a few verses while we're
there. John 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. So Christ
is the Word of God, whereby the heavens and the earth were created,
and all that in them is Christ himself. is that word which spoke
them into existence. He is the power and the wisdom
of God. In him was life, verse 4, meaning
he gave life unto all living things, and the life was the
light of men, so that we only know Christ I really know God
by Christ revealing Him to us. So the Father reveals the Son
in that He sent the Son into the world to save His people.
And when the Son came, He reveals the fullness of the Godhead.
He reveals the Father to us. We see now and know that God
is holy and just, yet He's also compassionate and merciful and
good to those who love Him because He loved them first. And He's
given them a heart for this. and the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not." So that we're all, by
nature, we're all dead to the things of God. We don't know
the things of God. We don't understand the things
of God. We don't know how to worship Him or approach unto
Him and to make ourselves worthy of being in his presence. We
don't have any idea. We don't understand these things
and so the things that we do actually anger God because we're
trusting in ourselves and our own works. So the thing is that
all men and women come forth in a state of nature, which means
that they're dead to the things of God. And so when I'm preaching,
or if any man preaches the gospel, and we declare the truth of God
to them, they take it lightly. It's a light thing to them. An actual man, it's just a light
thing. It's not that important to them. They don't really think
about it, and they don't really care to think about it. Even
if you tell them that God's going to judge the earth, it's just
a light thing. It's just really not that important.
It's not that meaningful. Now, if he stays and listens
for some reason, if he's not given life and light and liberty
from the bondage of his darkness, then eventually he may hear something
that offends him. And once he gets offended, now
he becomes an overt despiser of the truth. And he'll despise
the gospel, he'll despise the man who's preaching that gospel,
and he'll despise the God who sent that man to preach the gospel
and all those that believe it and agree with that man because
now you've offended him. Once he hears, wait a minute,
salvation is something that I need and it's not something I can
do for myself. And so now he gets offended and angry if he's
not given life. Everyone else, though, who is
given life, they'll hear it, and they may become offended,
but they're going to see, yeah, but that's my hope, and that's
my peace. Lord, have mercy on me. I shouldn't be offended and
angered over these things. So the Lord will teach his people. But it's like that parable of
the king who threw a marriage feast for his son, and the word
went out to bid all those saying, come, come to the marriage feast,
right? The truth that God saves his
people doesn't shut anybody out. It's just men have no desire
or no love for Christ. They have no, they don't feel
their need of him. They don't see the importance
of it. And so it says there in that parable, I'm sorry, it says
there in that parable, but they made light of it and went their
ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise, right? Just
not that important. Who needs that? But those that
stuck around a remnant, it says a remnant, They stayed and they
heard it and they became offended. They took his servants and treated
them spitefully and slew them. So the majority of people, it's
just a light thing until they hear something that offends them
and then they become active despisers of the truth and want nothing
to do with it at all. So it becomes an offense to them. But turn to John 3, 16. John 3, 16. Nonetheless, we go
forth and we preach this good news because this is the way
that God saves sinners, which is, God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. for God sent his son into
the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. So that's why Christ came, so
that all those God provided the salvation, he made provision,
he provided the propitiation for the sins of his people to
put them away and to establish that peace and that rest for
his people forever. And all those who come before
God on that final day, when they die or the Lord comes and brings
them before his throne, anyone not covered in the blood of Christ
shall be found naked and they shall be shame. The same way
we would be, well more so, then the only thing I can think of
now is to suddenly find yourself naked before many people. That's how it would be in that
day, but worse because it's a fearful end for those people that are
found naked and have no covering for their shame. So verse 18,
but he that believeth on him But he that believeth on him
is not condemned, right, because he hears the good news, he's
given life and faith to believe it. But he that believeth not
is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Because that's the only salvation
that God has provided for the people. This one way in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So the wicked are going to reveal
who the wicked are by their hatred and rejection of the truth. they'll
reveal who they are because they won't receive it, they won't
hear it, they don't believe that Christ is salvation, that they
are sinners, that there's a God for them to stand before and
answer to, and or that Christ is the only way that God has
provided to save his people. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, Christ, but men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. And our Lord said in John 8,
12, since you're there, you might as well look at it, but in John
8, 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." So Christ
will give light and life to his people that they would be brought
out of darkness. Really, we are in darkness by
nature. And Satan is a foe that we can't
defeat or overcome. We're not going to break ourselves
loose out of the bondage of sin and death. Christ and Christ
alone is the only one who destroyed the works of the devil and delivers
his people out from that bondage and from that death. So just
know that We all shall stand before the throne of Christ,
and those without the blood of Christ will have to answer and
pay for their own sins. But Christ alone is the salvation
that God has provided to save his people. All right now, the
darkness of man. Back there in Isaiah 2, 6. Therefore,
thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they
be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the
Philistines, and they please themselves and the children of
strangers." So here we see that God is forsaking those who refuse
him and have turned themselves to these lies and open themselves
up to more and more lies and wickedness and that which isn't
true and that which cannot save. And again, they're condemned
already, so they just love these things, and they bring in these
things. But we're to take heed, too, and notice what they're
turning to, lest we ourselves should find ourselves turning
to these things and putting our hope and confidence in the things
that the House of Jacob turned to and put their confidence in
as well. And the Lord had to send a prophet
to speak to them. And except the Lord had left
a remnant, they all would have become as Sodom and Gomorrah.
And that's how it is for us too. Unless the Lord has a remnant
whom he reveals himself to, we'll be just like these people. We
should never think so highly of ourselves to think that now
we've arrived and I'm never going back there. by the grace of God
you'll never go back there because left to ourselves and our nature
we are prone to wander and we are prone to go right back to
these same things as these people were doing. So it says, they
be replenished from the east and are soothsayers like the
Philistines. So they were listening to those
religions of their neighbors all about them and they began
to like what they were hearing. They thought, that's pretty interesting.
I never heard it put that way before. You know, you make a
good point. And they started opening themselves
up to that and subjecting their hearts and their minds to what
they were saying. And they were in attack and affront
on Christ, whom God had revealed to them even in the Old Testament,
in the pictures, the types, the sacrifices, the ordinances. They
saw, those who were true believers saw Christ in those things and
were looking unto what they pictured, which is Christ. in the same
way that we now know that it's Christ and we look to him. But
just as they, you know, they began to hear those things and
it says they please themselves and the children of strangers
so that they allow their daughters to marry their sons, they have
their sons marry their daughters and vice versa. And it always,
what did Paul say there? Be not deceived, bad company
corrupts good character. I forget, it's been a while since
I saw, but yeah, like we don't, you know, the light doesn't,
unless God's in it, the darkness just seems to eat and corrode
away that which we hold true and precious and dear. And when
you're out there in that world listening to that junk, it's
an attack. It's just a direct attack, an
assault on the things that we hold most precious and dear.
You wouldn't sit in a place where the gospel is being falsely preached.
You wouldn't go there. And yet we open ourselves up
to many things, especially online or just listening to people.
give place to those things. I love how Paul said it when
the gospel was under attack in his day. He said in Galatians
2.5, he said, we gave them no place. We didn't subject ourselves
to what they were saying, not even for an hour. Let me just
get it there. because I think it's relevant
to what we expose ourselves to today. He said, to whom we gave
place by subjection, know not for an hour that the truth of
the gospel might continue with you. And we must thank the Lord
because he, I mean, we read the letters of Paul and are most
blessed by how clearly he laid out the gospel for us and that
salvation is by Christ and Christ alone, that it's not by the works
of this flesh. And so God protected us, and
he gave Paul that spirit to just resist that lie that they were
coming in, because they came in spying out our liberty in
Christ, and they wanted to bring us back into subjection. And
he said, but of these who seem to be somewhat, whosoever they
were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person.
For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. added nothing to me." Brethren,
we have everything necessary for our salvation revealed to
us in Christ, and we can rest right there that God knows everything
that's going on around us. He's in control of all things
providentially and you don't need to go outside of the Bible
and hunt down these other things that we think are important to
know and to protect ourselves and to provide for ourselves.
thinking that therein is our salvation and our security and
our protection. Everything we need is right in
the scriptures. Because what you'll find is as
you open yourselves up to these things, and especially conspiracy
theories and what they call the conspiratorium, it is a rabbit
hole. You're going down, it's a bottomless
pit. And maybe one day we'll look
at that Revelation 9 that bottomless pit that Satan himself opens
up and it just like a furnace and smoke that just you inhale
and it just comes forth like a locust and just corrupts and
destroys that which Christ has created. Now Christ created it,
it can't be destroyed, but you're opening yourself up to wounds
and attacks of all sorts that do you no good. So just remember
like what Paul said, they added nothing to me. They didn't give
me one thing that God himself hasn't given to me, which was
needful for my salvation. So you can rest right there in
Christ. And think about this, What did
Satan say? What did the serpent say? He
said, Thou shalt not surely die. If you listen to this and look
at this and keep pursuing this and going down this path, even
though you know that they're quoting people from from things
that are disgusting and vile, people who have had visions and
prophesied, and things that you know are not true. I'm talking,
I should go deeper and deeper in it. But he said, you won't
surely die, for God doth know that in the day you eat of it,
your eyes shall be enlightened, and you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. So we think we've got to pursue
all these things and know all these things, and they end up
working corruption and deceit and they harm us. They don't
help us. They haven't added one thing
to us that's needful for our salvation and our comfort. And
actually it makes us uncomfortable and it destabilizes us and it
makes us fear and quake instead of resting that God has provided
everything in Christ. And there's nothing we can do
that's going to outwit or outsmart what God himself can't do a million
times better for his people. He will provide. Just trust him. And our Lord said, Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. So trust him. Because they didn't trust him.
They refused and they just kept on going deeper and deeper into
what their neighbors were saying, those Eastern religions, and
those things, and don't think that those neighbors that were
surrounding Israel don't exist today. They're right back. I've
seen it with my own eyes, to my own shame, I've heard it,
and I thought, that's nuts. That's actually, that's the same
stuff that the Lord told the Israelites, don't listen. Don't
subject yourself to what they're saying because it's going to
just keep attacking, attacking, attacking, attacking that which
he has created and established for us in Christ himself. So then he goes on to say in
verse seven, their land also is full of silver and gold. There
is there, neither is there any end of their treasures. And what
it's saying is that, you know, well, you know, Paul warned us
that we shouldn't put our confidence in money. Now men do because
it is, you feel secure and when you don't have you know, that
income that maybe you think that you should have, you're always
pursuing it, you're always thinking, I gotta reach that next thing,
and just that pursuit, you're opening yourself up to risk,
because you're willing to risk hearing the gospel, or you're
willing to risk doing those things that are really for your peace
and your eternal security, all so that you might have a little
nest egg here in this life, as if God wouldn't provide for you
and take care of you. And Paul told Timothy, the love
of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness." Alright, and so man often feels you know,
secured by the treasures and the wealth that he has, and he's
even willing to forsake Christ, that he might have more of that,
and more of that peace and that comfort. And yet, you know people
that are wealthy, all they are is fearful, because they're doing
everything they can to protect that wealth. So all their thoughts
and their minds are spent ensuring that their wealth is protected
and okay to an inordinate amount of concern. And the Lord said
unto his disciples, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. So we need to just
have our priorities straight. I mean, pray. The Lord knows
that you have need of the things that you have need of and pray.
And just ask him to teach you so that your priorities are straight
and that the Lord helps you and enables you so that you don't
fall prey to that allure of riches and whatnot. Because I've seen
it with my own eyes where people have even said, but I'll be able
to do so much more for the church. I just need to do this job, even
though I won't be hearing the gospel. But after six months,
I'll be able to give to the church. And then you never saw him again.
And that was it. you know, and they just left. They just became
consumed by it. Our Lord said, Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will
be added unto you. You might not be drinking champagne
and eating cherry bonbons, but he's going to provide all things
necessary for you to survive and to be at peace and not worry
about those things. So he said, take therefore no
thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. All right, then in the second
half of that verse, he says, their land is also full of horses,
neither is there any end of their chariots, right? So that seems
to be speaking of their military strength, whether they're attacking,
because to have, in those days, to have an army of horses and
horsemen was a fearsome thing. I mean, they just came and mowed
right over your lines and just knocked your men over, and it
was very hard to withstand them. and also for your defense, you
know, because people would think twice about attacking you if
you had many horses and chariots. But the Lord told Israel that
their king shall not multiply horses to himself. He said, don't
be like these other nations around you and multiply horses to yourself
because you're going to put your trust and confidence in those
things. And he told Joshua in Deuteronomy
20 verse 1, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies,
and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou,
be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. So that relating it
to us now, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10 verses 3 through 5, he said,
for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ." So that's another
reason why we don't want to just keep opening and subjecting ourselves
to things that are attacking. our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
because it's just, it's a carnal, I mean it's a spiritual warfare
and the enemy, you know, especially as we're looking to see the Lord
establish his light here in this dark place that you can be sure
that there's a constant barrage and attack to trip us up and
to bring this thing to nothing, lest the gospel should shine
forth and those people in the town here and around and our
families and people that we care about and tell this, what the
Lord's doing here, tell them about this, that Satan certainly
doesn't want that light to go forth and shine unto them and
then to see Christ and for Christ to become their hope and their
consolation and their joy and rejoicing that they might know
Him forever and ever and be delivered from that house of darkness and
into the kingdom of our Savior Jesus Christ. So this is, we're
in a spiritual warfare. So just remember that. It ain't
about horses now and horsemen and chariots, but it's a spiritual
warfare. And so be vigilant, be aware,
be wise unto these things. All right, verse 8, Isaiah 2,
8. Their land also is full of idols.
They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own
fingers have made. So they left off seeking the
Lord and trusting him and looking to the Christ that those things
that they were doing pictured and spoke of and being comforted
by Christ. And they set their heart on the
things of this world, becoming covetous and thus idolaters. Paul made that connection that
to be covetous, to be envious and desirous of things that you
don't have and say, I'd really, really like to have that. That's
idolatry because you're worshiping it. You're worshipping it. You
want it so bad that you're pursuing that thing and it becomes a worship
of it. You think that's your peace and
that's your joy and your happiness is having that thing so that
it becomes idolatry. And he said in Colossians 3,
5, and 6, mortified therefore your members which are upon the
earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness which is idolatry. So he showed that covetousness
is idolatry. For which thing's sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience? And perhaps
that's why wealthy people are wealthy, so that they can have
those things. They don't have to covet them, they just get them.
But then their wealth becomes their idol, even though they're
maybe not. worshipping other things. They're worshipping their
wealth and their ability to get that wealth and things like that.
So they're looking to that and it just makes you think, you
know, the word to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart,
mind, soul, and strength. And when you consider how our
hearts go out after other things, things that are passing away
in this world, and we desire them so much and want those things
so much, That's how we should desire the Lord and desire his
presence and want to walk with him and to know him and to serve
him joyfully. It shows you just how lacking
we are in our service and love to God because we know how diligent
we can be about other things and how not so diligent we can
be when it comes to the Lord and our flesh as we are the spirits
willing, but the flesh is so weak. And then another thing
to remember when it comes to your works is Exodus 20 verse
25 where it says, and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,
he didn't have a problem with making an altar of stone to the
Lord, but he said, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. And
because now you're you know, chiseling out that stone and
you're the one making it all beautiful and righteous and think
God's going to accept this. Boy, look at that beautiful work
I did there and now you're looking at what you've done and not to
the God that you made that altar for to worship Him and to serve
Him. So there's nothing wrong. We should desire good works. We do want to serve one another
and serve the Lord. Paul told Titus to encourage
the brethren unto good works. They should want to do good works
and give alms and take care of people and serve But we know
that that's not what saves us. That's not our justification
or sanctification. Those things shouldn't give us
peace, but rather God himself. We should do those things joyfully
out of the heart of thanksgiving. So don't think that doing a good
work is bad, because we should do good works. It's just we don't
put any confidence in those good works. and we don't try to go
above and beyond what God has done, like you see where they
take the preaching of the gospel and set that aside and take the
offense out of the gospel to make it more palatable, or they
have Christmas cantatas to sing and put on plays, to entertain
people rather than preach the gospel which God himself said
that he'll save his people through the foolishness of preaching.
That's how he saves his people. And yet man wants to beautify
the work of God and make it more acceptable to common man and
more entertaining to get him in because he thinks that by
the numbers that he has and those people that made a prophet walk
the aisle and made a profession of Christ and got baptized. That's
what he's looking to for his metrics. He's just looking for
those things and that's a form of taking a tool to the stone
to make it more beautiful because you think that that's what God's
going to be pleased with and it's just an empty vain work
that is no profit. So Christ is only pleased with
the work of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to him
trusting Christ And Christ will bear fruit in us. He'll bear
those good works in us with which we just serve our Lord and we
serve our brethren and we rejoice in what He's done. But because
of the darkness which filled their hearts, we read in verse
9, And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself,
therefore forgive them not." So the whole society was corrupt
in their evil works, and they were idolaters because they trusted
in those works, and they worshipped the works of their own filthy
hands. And the thing is that man today is no different because
he's still trusting in his religion, he's still trusting in how much
he's dropping in the plate, or he's trusting in you know, how
much he reads his Bible, or prays, and again, those are all good,
profitable things, and we should have a heart to serve our Lord,
and to seek Him, and put some time aside each day to seek our
Lord, and be with Him. It's definitely a profitable
thing, but that's not our hope. That's not where we draw our
confidence from. We draw our confidence from the
Lord Jesus Christ, and rest knowing that He did the work. So, we
need the Lord to do a work in us, to soften these hard hearts
of ours, because they're desperately wicked, and we look to the Lord
to forgive us of our sin and comfort us. And in James 4, James 4 verses 5 and 6, he says,
do you think that the scripture saith in vain that the spirit
that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? And what he's saying is,
yeah, our natural spirit, that which is natural in us, it lusteth
to envy. It lusteth to the things of this
world. It's true. We have that heart
and that nature in us, and none of us It's so perfect that we
don't have that evil nature and that type of sin in us. But, he says in verse 6, He giveth
more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble. The grace of our God revealed
to us in Christ is sufficient to save us and to put away that
sin. None of us is perfect where we can say we'll never covet
again and never do that again. The Lord's grace is sufficient
to cover that sin and He's able to turn our hearts more and more
towards Him so that we don't set our hearts on those things.
Those things, He's able to take that, you know, lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and subdue
it and to subdue that love of the world in us so that we love
the Father and we love the Son and we love Him more than these
things and as we grow in Him, He'll show us how they are weak
and flimsy and passing away, and when He comes, He'll shake
and dissolve them, and I'm wrapping it up because it's late and I'm
not going to get to the third point, but the Lord is, when He comes, He knows how to
shake those things and bring them to nothing, and the flesh
trembles at the thought of that but he always works it for our
good so that we are made to draw near to Christ and to hug up
on him and to draw closer to him in his arms of protection
and comfort and so that we see that all those things let them
fall, let them crumble, let them pass away. If I have Christ,
I have everything. And he'll give us that heart
and that desire to trust him in that day. We may not feel
that we have that grace today, and that's okay. It keeps us
seeking him. But in that day, He'll give us
the grace to accept whatever trials and afflictions may come
when things around us start to shake and crumble and fall from
how we know it today. As it says, what can wash away
my sin? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. All right, I'm gonna stop it
there, because I know it's late, and then we'll put together another
message with the rest of that chapter, chapter two there. We'll see the shaking of those
things, the shaking of those things. All right, let's pray.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you Father, that you've provided
your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we see the folly of man,
we see the things that man trusts in there, in chapter 2 there,
Lord, we see that. And Father, we ask that your
grace would cover our sin and that you would deliver us from
the trust and the love of these things of the world and the things
that man covets and desires and seeks, Lord, deliver us from
those things. Don't let us be deceived and
fooled into setting our hearts and our desires and our minds
on these things here, Lord, but set our hearts and our minds
with Christ in heaven where Christ dwells, where He is seated and
enthroned, Lord, and let us remember that. that our life is hid with
Christ, Lord. We pray that you would be merciful
to us, forgive us of our sin, cleanse us, Lord, and keep us
near you, keep us looking to you, and Lord, put your word
in our heart that we, it would take root and that your seed
would grow in us, Lord, and that we would be nothing but yours,
nothing but our saviors, Lord, and love you and love our brethren
and serve one another. Lord, we pray for this in the
name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I thought I could do it. I thought
I could get to that one, but... I thought I could get to it all,
but I wasn't able to. Our closing hymn will be number
27. 27. Hmm. I sing the mighty power of God
that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas
abroad and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day, The moon shines full at His command,
And all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord,
That filled the earth with food. He formed the creatures with
His Word, And then pronounced them good. Lord, how Thy wonders
are displayed Where'er I turn my eye If I survey the ground
I tread Or gaze upon the sky There's not a plant or flower
below But makes Thy glories known And clouds arise and tempests
blow By order from Thy throne. While all that borrows life from
Thee Is ever in Thy care, And everywhere that man can be Thou,
God, art present there. Thank you.