Scripture reading this evening
will be from 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, starting at verse
9. God is faithful, by whom you
were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. For it hath been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you, or were you baptized into the name of Paul? I thank
God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any
should say that I had baptized in my own name. And I baptized
also the house of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath God not Hath not God made the foolish the wisdom
of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of
God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren,
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And the base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh
should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Lord, we thank you for bringing
us together on this weekday night. We ask for your blessing on our
service. We ask that you give us your
Spirit, that you'd increase our faith and love for the brethren
and those that are outside. We pray for Brother Eric as he
brings this message. Lord, help him to lift up Christ,
that you might draw all men to yourself. We ask this in Jesus'
name. Amen. I'd be turning to Isaiah chapter
2. Isaiah chapter 2. And our text is going to be from
verses 1 through 4. 1 through 4. The word that Isaiah the son
of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem And it shall come
to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. he shall judge
among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning-hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Now,
all men made religion believes that salvation is based on something
that he does. All men made religion believes
that his salvation is based on something that he does. The men and the people, the women
of this world, they think that their religion is sufficient.
They think that it's sufficient, otherwise they wouldn't continue
in it. Even in the Jews in Isaiah's day, they
wouldn't have been any different than what we see about us today. And they would think that what
they were doing was sufficient and pleasing to God, and they
were very zealous so that they went so far as to even begin
to incorporate all the religions that surrounded them and the
nations that surrounded them. They incorporated those things
into their worship. And Isaiah 2, 6, it's not in
our text tonight, but verse 6 says, 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 they're bringing
in these ideas and these concepts from the east and from the nations
around them, like the worship of Baal and the worship of Molech
and other false gods. And, you know, like the Jews
that had to have the prophets sent to the Lord to come and
speak to them and to tell them, declare to them what they were
doing that was so wicked and vile in the sight of God, we
ought never to think that we've escaped what the corruption is
that they fell into themselves. We shouldn't think that just
because the name Jesus is on our lips that somehow that excludes
us from falling into idolatry and worship of a false god. Because
we see it in the so-called Christian churches all around us. They
speak of Christ and yet they look to the works of their own
They look, they make even the gifts and the work of God into
a work that they must do. And so they turn through subtlety
and they change the meaning of words so that now it becomes
a work that the sinner can and must do to save himself. So we don't want to fall into
that trap thinking that somehow we've escaped because now we've
come at a time after Christ. The idolatry in their day is
just as prevalent in our day. all around us, even if it goes
by another name. However, we do see that a lot
of these odd mystic-type religions are starting to make a rise in
the minds and the thoughts of our children and in the minds
and thoughts of people so that, you know, who knows what the
purpose or intent of that is and how far it'll go and make
its way into our society. I don't know. But Christ said,
there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall
show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect. So tonight, we want to look at
our Savior and how he has established his kingdom, how Christ establishes
the house. And that's our title, Christ
Establishes the House. And we'll see, you know, vain
man, dead in corner religion, He may think that he's helping
God, that the works that he's doing and what he's contributing
is helping to build up the house of God and the kingdom of God,
but Christ alone is the one who established the house. He alone
established his kingdom. He alone continues to establish
it and draw in his people to the worship of him and to the
knowledge of him. It's Christ and Christ alone. We'll have three divisions. Christ
establishes his kingdom, then we'll see how Christ calls his
people to his kingdom, and then we'll see that Christ bears fruit
in his people. It's pretty standard type what
we traditionally look at because that's what we preach and what
we declare is seeing how Christ does the work of salvation lest
that subtle wicked thought enter our hearts which by nature are
Arminian. They want to do a work and we
want to think about how we're contributing to our salvation.
So unless we should think those thoughts, we preach Christ and
declare what he has accomplished for his people. All right, so
Isaiah 2 verses 1 and 2, the word that Isaiah the son of Amos
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it." So the last
days, they began when Christ our Savior entered into this
world in the flesh, and they continue on to our day until
the Lord is pleased to return. Habakkuk said, for the vision
is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak
and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. And the people
of God who heard the prophet speak They waited. They looked
for that coming Messiah. It was promised back in the garden
to Eve. And they waited. And when you
look at the scriptures, you can see how the women were excited
when a male child was born because they wondered, could this be
the promised Messiah? Those who believed the truth,
they wondered and hoped, is my son the one that God has promised?
Eve thought it was so. with Seth, I believe, so that,
or maybe with Cain, I forget which one it was, but she even
thought that God has given me a son, like this is it, this
is the one that should come and crush the serpent's head. But
they waited to the coming of Christ, and they saw it, that
his day came. And now we can look back with
joy and see that God fulfilled his word. Christ came just as
he promised in his word, and so we know, and though he tarry,
we wait until he returns again, because he's promised it to be
so. But turn to Hebrews 1, 1 and 2. I just want us to see these
last days are speaking of Christ, when he came, and then Christ,
when he'll come again. Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2, God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he hath made the world. So we see that, that's
just one verse of several that shows that Christ, when Christ
came, those were the last days. Hebrews 9.26 says, but now, in
the middle of that verse, 9.26, but now once in the end of the
world hath Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. So Those were the last days,
the end of the world, when Christ came. And Paul speaks of another
time that should come in 1 Timothy 4, verses 1. Well, 1, we'll just
look at that one. Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times shall some depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. So Paul
and the apostles, they recognize that there is yet a day that
the end times extend to. Even Peter, when you look at
2 Peter 3, I'm not going to go into it now, but how they spoke
of the latter days, the end times, and how people will mock. It'll
get to the point where people are thinking, when is he coming?
When is the promise of his coming? It's been so long. And yet he
says, they're willfully ignorant that the world was destroyed
by a flood, and they're forgetting that willfully. And yet we're
declaring to you that God's going to destroy the earth by fire
in that day. It's going to come just as he
said. And they look at all these accounts of the flood in all
these different societies from way back and they think that
that is proof that either it was a small scale in various
places or that it's just the story. And yet it actually says
the very opposite, that they all came from one family, from
Noah, and they spread out across the earth, all remembering that
story, that God destroyed the earth with a flood. All right,
but in Isaiah 2, verse 2, He says, and it shall come to pass
in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it. So that word
established means to make secure, right? And that's what Christ
has done for his church. He's made secure our salvation. It's to prepare. It's to make
ready. It's to make firm. And that's
exactly what Christ has done. He's established the faith. He's accomplished our salvation
in Him so that we have a sure hope in looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's something that Christ had
to do for his people because we can't save ourselves. Salvation
is of the Lord, Jonah said. It's of the Lord. It's a work
that God does for his people through the Son, Jesus Christ. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 1.
2 Corinthians 1. In verse 20 through 22. Here we read, for all the promises
of God in Christ are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of
God by us. Now he which established us with
you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also sealed
us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. So this
is a work that God does. through Christ for the people.
It's all the work that he himself does. Our Lord, at the beginning
of his ministry, came and he said in Mark 1 15, the time is
fulfilled. We're in the last days and the
kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, God couldn't just wink at
sin. He didn't just elect us and say,
well, I'm going to save these out of the people, but the law
had to be fulfilled. God is a holy and a just God
and he's not just going to excuse sin and he's not just going to
pretend that he doesn't see that we're sinners and bring us in.
The law had to be fulfilled and sin had to be put away and the
punishment delivered justly for the sins committed by the people.
So all men fell in sin, we all fell in Adam and when we did
we became enemies of the true and living God. know God. We don't want to know the true
and living God. We don't worship God according
to truth. We might worship a God, but we don't worship him according
to truth, nor by his spirit. And so if you look in Romans
3, 19, Romans 3, 19, Now we know that what things
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." So it's important, brethren, one
of the things that the Spirit of Christ teaches his people
is that we are ruined by the fall, that we're not going to
be saved by our works. It's a work that he does perfectly,
sufficiently, fully, all by himself. for our benefit and for our joy. So we are ruined by the fall.
We don't have a desire or an ability to worship and serve
him or to seek him out because we're dead in trespasses and
sins. So any religion or any form of religion or any doctrine
as part of what could be considered part of the religion that we
hold to, anything that points us back to the flesh, back to
our works or our deeds for justification or for improving upon what God
has done or sustaining what the Lord has done, such as sanctification,
anything like that, that's not what the Spirit is teaching us.
The Spirit doesn't turn us back to the works of our flesh. It's
a vain, dead-letter religion. But the law must be established. Listen to what Christ said in
Matthew 5, 17, and 18. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. So back there in Romans
3, in Romans 3.21, Christ would come forth for his people, so
that we read in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. So that Christ would have to
perfectly satisfy the law and all that the prophets spoke concerning
him. He would have to fulfill all the scriptures to verify
that He is indeed the Christ that should come to do this work
of salvation for His people. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith, verse 22, of Jesus Christ, that is, the
faithfulness which Christ showed, what He did in performing this
work of salvation, His faithfulness, that's what saves us. Unto all
and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So that
brethren, the Lord isn't looking to us for any part of our salvation,
but he even gives us that faith. And so that faith isn't what
saves us, but faith is that means whereby we understand and come
to know how God has saved us, that it's by Christ. So faith
is important because it's how our salvation is communicated
to us and made known to us so that we enter in to what God
has done for us through the Son, Jesus Christ. That's what faith
is doing. That's the importance of faith
because he works that belief. He works that hope in us to rest
in Christ, to run to Christ, to flee to him. He works all
that in us. so that when we hear it and he
convinces us of the truth of what Christ has done, that Christ
is sufficient to do this work, he convinces us of it in the
spirit that we hear it and believe because he's made us alive to
these things where we were once dead in trespasses and sins,
looking to our own works, just dead in those things, but now
he's made us alive to see, all right, this isn't something I
do, this is something that he has done for me in putting away
my sin, So being justified freely, verse 24, by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And that word redemption
signifies to us that we were purchased by Christ. He redeemed
us. We are delivered from the wrath
to come, from the curse that is coming upon men because they've
broken the law and sinned against God. Christ redeemed us out of
that destruction. He paid the price to God so that
God's wrath is fully satisfied. Those sins have been paid for
and put away, forgotten of God forever because the work is done. So that's what it means to be
redeemed. We're ruined by the fall and
we are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That
word propitiation, meaning that Christ is the means of our forgiveness. He's the one that God has set
forth and said, look to him. all who are saved, all who will
come and stand before me and will be accepted of me, will
come in my Son, Jesus Christ. Look to him, that's who I've
provided to save my people, to put away their sins. To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, and verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believe
it, in Jesus. So that as I started off looking
at that, saying that God's not winking at our sin. God is just
and holy. He did nothing nothing that broke
the law, he did nothing that offended his character, nothing
that anybody could say, that's not just what you did, Lord.
No, it is just, because God put away the sin of his people. He has justified us in his Son,
Jesus Christ, so he is justified to forgive us and to receive
us in his Son, Jesus Christ. And we see this in the scripture
beautifully laid out for us in Isaiah 53, And it's why some
call Isaiah the fifth gospel, because it's so clear, we see
what God has accomplished for us in the Son, Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 53, we'll look at just three verses that say, verses
four through six, surely Christ hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. So Christ was made sin for his
people that his people might go free. As 2 Corinthians 5.21
says, he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So that we're
made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ and God has justified
us and declared us righteous because of that work that Jesus
has done. And now there's no more enmity
between us and God. We who come to Him in Christ,
there's no more enmity. Christ has made peace. He's established
peace for us with the Father so that we can go boldly before
the Father and pray in the name of Christ. We can pray to Him
and look to him and trust that he hears us because there's peace
now. There's peace. He receives us
willingly in his son. And we're healed from the curse
of the law and we shall be raised from the dead unto our inheritance,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ in that final day. Our Lord said
in John 14, two and three, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you." He's establishing the
place for us, our inheritance, there in the heavens with Him
for all eternity. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. So He did that. He prepared that
place for us when He went to the cross, bearing our sin, and
put it away forever. He put our sin away forever so
that now we have peace with God and we have a place prepared
for us in heaven with him. As Isaiah said in 2-2, it shall
come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of the mountains and
shall be exalted above the hills. So while man-made religion is
out there doing all their things in religion and trying to make
themselves right with God and trying to do things that put
away their sin and make them acceptable to God and try to
elevate their status before God, whatever deity that it is that
they're falling down and worshiping, they're doing all these things,
but Christ's refuge, His mountain, His house, is established above
all those other mountains where they fail and come short and
will not satisfy. In that great and final day,
Christ's hope, His mountain is established. All who come to
God through Christ shall never be ashamed. All those who come
some other way shall be ashamed in that day because they're going
to come up empty. They're going to come up naked. They're going
to come up short. They're not going to reach unto
the throne of God and be satisfied and that God will be satisfied
in them. In Acts 4.12 we hear it, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." We
must be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's established the
kingdom, he's established the way into the kingdom, and that
way is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, now second,
Christ calls his people to his kingdom. There at the end of
verse two, Isaiah 2.2, it says, and all nations shall flow unto
it. So first our Savior would break
down that middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile.
He had to break that down. He said in John 10.16, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd, so that the Jews weren't saved under the law.
They're not saved by the law, they're saved by grace, just
as the Gentiles are saved by grace. It's by one sacrifice. Look over in Ephesians 2, 14,
and we'll see this. Ephesians 2, 14 through verse
16. Paul writes, for he is our peace,
who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace. Ephesians
2.16, and that he might reconcile both unto God and one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. So that we're all saved,
through Christ. Revelation 7, 9 through 10 gives
us this picture showing what Christ accomplished in his death
and in his burial and in his resurrection. Revelation 7, 9
through 10, after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which
no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues
stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb." So the Lord, he calls his people, and they're
flowing to his mountain, they're flowing to him. And you think
about it, he's there on a mountain, like the picture is a mountain,
and we're flowing to it. And you can just see how it's
against our very nature, right? Nature, things flow down, but
Christ draws us up and we flow up to his mountain so that it's
against this nature that God has overruled our hearts and
conquered our hearts and calls us to himself and draws us up
to himself. All right, Isaiah 2.3. And many
people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out
of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. So brethren, we now have this
ministry, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.1, seeing then we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. We have
this ministry of reconciliation. And it says it there in 2 Corinthians
5.18, 2 Corinthians 5.18 through 20, and it's the verse that we
have there on the front of our bulletin, 518, it says, all things
are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and hath
not imputed their trespasses unto them and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God to beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. So that this ministry
of reconciliation God has promised that He's coming to destroy this
world. Because we have sinned against
God, because we have offended His holiness, His holy character,
and done what has pleased us, listened to the voice of Satan,
and went and did that which we wanted to do, calling what we
call good to be good, even though it's darkness, and what is darkness,
we're calling it good, and what's good, we're calling it darkness,
and we're just switching everything up. And God said, I'm going to
destroy this world. but he's provided that means
of forgiveness. He's provided salvation in his
son so that those who flee to him, who look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, they won't be destroyed in that day when God destroys
this world. He said a short work will the
Lord perform in the earth, a short work, and he's coming again But
He didn't just wipe us out and annihilate us, He's provided
the means of salvation. He's provided reconciliation
for the people in His Son, Jesus Christ. That's why we declare
what Christ has done, because that's our ministry. That's what
we're called to do, to declare, look to the Son. Stop your works
of wickedness and unrighteousness. Stop trying to please God by
your works and angering Him by the things that you're doing
and the deeds that you're doing. and look to the sun. There's
our peace, there's our refuge, there's our hope in what Christ
has done. 1 John 2 says, And Christ is
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. So we can go out and declare
what Christ has done for us to all who will listen, because
God is calling some from every tongue, tribe, and nation. We
don't know who they are, And it's usually the ones that we
think we'll never believe, we'll never hear and we'll never come. So we have no power in us. The
power is all of God. As Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellency may be of God and not of us.
That's why we're weak and we're foolish. We're ignorant and things
aren't all going our way and we're poor, weak bunch because
the power is of God and not of us. And Christ, oh and then he
will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths so
that we understand and know that Christ is the way of salvation. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. John 14, 6. So the scriptures
declare to us that Christ must give us spiritual life. We're
dead in trespasses and sins so that if we're going to get to
that point, those who have heard the truth are declaring to those
who haven't heard the truth and saying, come, let's go up to
the house of the Lord. God has saved his people in the
sun. Let's go up and he'll teach us.
And the way he teaches us is that many will hear that, but
it won't do anything for them until he gives them life. So
he creates life in the soul of a dead sinner. He creates that
new man in them. He puts his seed in them so that
they are washed in his word, they're regenerated by his spirit,
they're given a new heart to hear and to believe what he said
in his word, how he saves his people. That's why it says in
John 3, 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God, because it's a spiritual kingdom, and it's
a spiritual work that God does in the hearts of his people.
And then Nicodemus says, well, how can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be
born? And as ridiculous as it sounds, that's exactly what people
are saying when they're looking to the carnal, natural works
of their own hands. All they can think of is that
this must be something that I do naturally in the flesh to make
myself born again so that I can hear what God is finally saying. And the Lord said, I say unto
thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. And that water is not water baptism. That's not what he's saying.
That's the spiritual work that God must do in a sinner in washing
us with the blood of Christ and giving us life by the spirit.
And there's many verses that we could look at that. We don't
have time, but like Ezekiel 36, I think it is 20, 30. 3625 speaks about how to sprinkle
you with clean water. And James talks about that word
that saves us, and Peter speaks of that, and we'll see how that
word must be, we must be made alive to hear and to receive
that word, and it washes us and cleanses us because the Lord
is teaching us the truth so that that cloud and mist of darkness
and death that descends upon all men comes upon us and the
Lord delivers us from that, so that we're delivered out of the
kingdom of this darkness to hear and to believe and to stay upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Savior, he said, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. So that if there's something
that we must do in the flesh, you know what it's going to produce?
Flesh. It's not going to produce that
which is spiritual. And Christ said that the Father
seeketh those that will worship him in spirit and in truth. That's
who the Father is looking for, and He's going to do that work.
He's going to find His people and give them that spiritual
light and wash them with the Word of Truths that will know
the truth. So if it's something that we've
got to do in the flesh, it's going to be flesh. But it's a
spiritual work that He does in the heart. So that the product
that comes from this flesh won't be of our flesh because we're
not looking to it for salvation. It's just bearing fruit and service
unto our God. Alright, and out of Zion shall
go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. So
that law is the doctrine of Christ who is our salvation. Isaiah
42.4 said, He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have
set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his
law. That's Christ the Messiah. That's
the doctrine of Christ. That's the truth of how God saves
and cleanses his people is the Lord Jesus Christ. and the nations
are waiting for it. That is when God makes us to
know what we are in our flesh, to know our need of salvation
by something that we can't do ourselves. That salvation was
accomplished for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ alone
saves his people without man having provided any motivating
factor in God's mind. If anything, we've provided God
with demotivating factors of why he shouldn't save us. But
in spite of us, in spite of all the wickedness we've done, God
set his love on a people. And we're happy to declare what
Christ has done for his people, knowing that he's going lift
up his people out of the depths of the darkness of our own hearts,
our sin, and our wickedness, and he puts us in Christ, washing
us and giving us life in the Son, so that we rejoice in what
he's done. Our Savior said, Enter ye in
at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat. That's all the world's religions
pushing in to that way. And not just religion, but even
just the humanism and all the other things that man hopes in
and believes in and trusts in. That's a broad way that they're
all going. And Christ said, but straight
is the gate. It's uncomfortable to the flesh. It scrapes against the flesh,
it withers the flesh, it whittles it down, straight as the gape,
and narrow as the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. So that, hear the words which
Christ is saying, hear what he's saying, that salvation is in
him. Ephesians 5.26, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. See, that's that. that water,
that's that truth that Christ applies to us when he washes
us, causing us to hear his word and his life-giving word, not
in the spirit, not the letter of the word, but the spirit of
the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So that's the word of the Lord
which comes out of Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right,
very quickly, Christ bears fruit in his people. In Isaiah 2, 4,
it says, he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke
many people. Now, we're going to be corrected
by the Lord. The Lord's going to teach us,
right? But it's better to be corrected
in the day of grace by the Lord than to be corrected when you
stand before his throne in that day of judgment. and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war anymore." So the Lord's people will lay
down their weapons of warfare They'll lay down their hope in
the law and the works and that which they've done, which they've
taken and slain other people and cut them down to justify
themselves and to make themselves look better. Instead, they turn
them into gardening tools, plowshares and pruning hooks so that we
see that the Lord's going to bear fruit in his people. It's a picture of the Lord bearing
fruit in his people so that we now We glorify God for what Christ
has done. We glorify Him for what He's
done. So we don't talk about what we've
done for the Lord. We talk about what Christ has
done for us, rejoicing in Him, being glad in what He has done. Romans 7, verse 4 says, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. That's when we were enemies under
the law and we were enemies of God and one another. are now
become dead to the law, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God." How are we going to do that? With the
plowshares and the pruning hooks, which he's given to us spiritually,
whereby the graces and the gifts of the Spirit bear fruit in us. That faith, hope, love, joy,
peace. patience, kindness, and gentleness
and temperance, these fruits which his spirit works in us
were bearing fruit by his work in us. For when we were in the
flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death, but now we are delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we
should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. So we've been delivered out of
that kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of
his dear son, that kingdom which Christ has established upon better
promises, upon His blood upon His sacrifice, upon the work
that He's done for us. It's established. The works are
finished. It's a sure hope. It's the mountain
of God's salvation. It's above and exalted above
all other mountains and all other hills. This is a sure salvation
and it's in Christ. And I just want to close with
reading in Colossians 1, if you turn to Colossians 1 and go to
verse 9, what I like about Colossae is it relates to just how the churches
are today because no apostle went to Colossae and preached
the gospel there. That was Epaphras that went there. So he was taught by the apostles
and he went and preached the gospel there and the Lord saved
many people in Colossae. And so it's sweet in that sense
like us where we haven't had an apostle come but the Lord
has taught us and fed us through the preaching of the gospel.
So there's a certain relation there but Paul says in verse
9, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with
the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. So, brethren, Rejoice, because
Christ has established this spiritual house. He's established it and
drawn us to it and settled us in it and established peace for
us with God our Father. I pray that he'll bless that
word to your hearts. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy. We thank you, Lord, that you've
established the house. that your mountain is exalted
above all others. And Lord, we know that we shall
not be ashamed in that day when we stand before you, robed in
the righteousness of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord
and our great God. Father, we thank you for the
salvation you provided for us. We pray, Lord, that you will
continue to teach us, grow us in the grace and knowledge of
our Savior, teach us your word more and more, Show us the truth
of these things, Lord, of how you save your people by your
Son, Jesus Christ. Settle us there. Give us peace
with you and help us, Lord, as we minister in this world. Help
us to be faithful and brave and bold to tell others of the grace
of our God that we would not be ashamed of what you've done
for us, that we would tell it Tell it in the mountains, and
tell it in the valleys, Lord, and tell it everywhere where
you give us an open door. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.