Alright, now if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30. The title of this message is
The Message of God. The Message of God. Now, I want
to give you a little background of this chapter here. The nation
of Israel had heard of the Assyrian army marching toward Jerusalem. They had heard that this nation
was coming. And instead of taking counsel
with God, instead of asking of the Lord what they should do,
they sent ambassadors down to Egypt for fear. Now consider this, they were
afraid. I put myself in their situation. I can imagine that
they tried to get the wisest counselors together and figure
out what to do. And this was the wisest action, according
to the flesh, is Egypt, they looked strong. They had plenty
of horses and chariots and they surely could come and help. So
they sent ambassadors down there with treasures, full of treasures. to buy the Egyptian help. But God tells them in this chapter
that that ambassadage, that trusting in Egypt was not for their glory
but rather for their shame. That Egypt was not able to help. There was no help in Egypt. And he tells them that their
plan shall fail and Pharaoh's help will be a shame, a disappointment. He says that in verse 7. He says,
For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. To no purpose. The Assyrian army,
we know this, it did march on Jerusalem. It did surround them
in the year of Hezekiah's reign. And you remember, Hezekiah laid
out those letters that they had brought to him before the Lord.
In 2 Kings, you read that later, 2 Kings 19. And he laid those
letters out. And you know what the Lord did?
In one night He destroyed, He killed 165,000 men. In one evening,
one night. No help to Egypt. No glory to Egypt. Egypt did
nothing. And notice this, Israel did nothing. It was the Lord's victory. He
tells them that in this seventh verse. He said their strength
is to sit still. You want to know how to win this?
Trust me. Trust me. And that is exactly
what happened physically. Now, we know this. What does that profit us but
a history lesson? That's just a history lesson.
I don't want to give you a history lesson. You don't need me for
that. This is a message of spiritual
importance, spiritual implication, because we know this, that all
scripture testifies of Christ. He said that to those Pharisees.
Search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life. You think by your obedience to the law you have eternal life.
But, here it is, they are they that testify of me. This text,
as well as every other text, is going to point you to Jesus
Christ. And I've got four points this
morning concerning the message of God. First of all, a message
of shame and rebellion. A message of shame and rebellion. Secondly, a message of repentance
and faith. Thirdly, a message of confidence. And fourthly, a message of promise. A message of promise. First of all, a message of shame.
God says to them in verse 1, Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, that cover with
the covering, but not my spirit. that they may add sin to sin,
that walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked of my mouth,
to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust
in the shadow of Egypt." Egypt here, my friends, is a picture,
it's a tide. It's a picture of bondage. You
remember that's where the children of Israel were freed from. They
were freed from the bondage of Egypt. Egypt is a picture of
bondage. It is a picture of sin. And here
it is a picture of works religion. As they were trusting in the
strength of the Egyptians, even so man by nature trusts in the
strength of his flesh. He trusts in the strength and
arm of His works. And so what does God say then
about trusting in this arm of flesh? And trusting in Egypt? He tells you that in verse 7.
He says, The Egyptians shall not help. Their help is vain. What is the help to your soul
concerning works religion? It's empty. It's vain. It will
not profit you. It will not help you. The only
hope then for a man is simply this. Sit still. Do nothing. That goes against
every ounce and fiber of a natural man's character. To do nothing. You see, salvation
is is completely and absolutely the work of God through Jesus
Christ. And so what is it to sit still
and do nothing? It is simply to trust in Christ,
not leaning on the arm of your works, but trusting only in Christ. As I say that, what is going
to be the response to such a message? Well, same response that it was
to Judah toward Egypt. Look at this. In verse 8, God
tells him what's going to happen. He said, you write it down. This
is what's going to happen. Now go, write it before them on a
table and note it in a book that it may be for a time to come
forever and ever And here's the conclusion, that this is a rebellious
people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of
God. This is true of every man. By nature we are rebels. By nature
we are rebels. The heart of man is rebellious.
The heart of man is rebellious and does not desire to hear the
truth. We are born liars and lovers
of lies. Paul said the carnal mind is
enmity against God. How do you know that, Paul? That's
an old bold statement, isn't it? Four. Here's the reason. For it is not subject to the
law of God. Man will not be subject to the
law of God. Listen, neither indeed can be. Two things. and ability. He neither has will or ability
to obey the law of God. And I want you to see the ruin
of this nature is that there's nothing he can do about it. There
is nothing in this world nor in the power of man or the powers
of hell that can change the carnal mind. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. Nothing you can do. You can't
change it by adversity and you can't change it by prosperity.
Nothing. You can change the natural mind. If you read Isaiah chapter 1
and verse 5, God says, Why will I afflict you more and more?
It's not going to do anything. He said, Why shall you be stricken
more and more? You will revolt more and more. It won't help you. And so this is the fruit of the
carnal mind is that we will not hear God's word. Look at this,
verse 10. This is the result of the carnal
mind. Which say to the seers, see not,
and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. Speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceit. This is what we want by nature.
Tell me the truth. Men do not want to hear about
sin. They just don't. Man, I have
some friends that are lost, and man, when I bring up sin, I'm
just a wet blanket, man, don't put that on me. They don't want
to hear none of that. Sin, righteousness, and judgment,
they don't want to hear things like that. They don't want to
hear of God's sovereign election. They don't want to hear of Christ's
perfect redemption. They don't want to hear regeneration
of the Holy Spirit. They say instead, talk to me
of smooth things. I want to hear good things. Lie
to me. That's what they want. They want
you to lie to them. Don't speak of a sovereign God.
I don't want to hear of a sovereign God. Don't tell us of salvations
of the Lord. Don't tell us that the choice
of salvation belongs only to God. Don't say that. Instead, I want you to tell me
how good I am. Tell me what I can do to be good.
I want to be a better person. Tell me what to do. And I'll
do it. Tell us that God's trying to
save us but He needs me. He needs my help. He needs the
volition of my will. Tell me I gotta have a part in
this. Tell me that God is pleased with my obedience. Tell me He
is pleased with my sacrifices. Tell me He is pleased that I
have chosen Him. In other words, lie to me. And
one of those things are lies. You're not good. God's not trying
to save anybody. God wants to save a man. He saves
him. And you don't have a part in
it. Your obedience is meaningless.
Your sacrifices are useless. If you ever believe in God, it's
because he chose you. That's the truth. And those aren't
smooth things. The rebellious, this rebellious
age will hear of the truth of the living God and they will
hear of a successful Savior. They will say to us who preach
the sovereignty of God, look at verse 10, look what they tell
us, get out of my way. That's what those people did
when the prophets were telling them, don't go to Egypt. What
did they say? Get out of my way. When I tell
you to abandon your works and your free will religion, it's
an abomination unto God. What do you say to me? Get out
of my way. Get out of my way. Don't preach that to us. Don't tell me my religion is
a shame. Have you got the sense of this
that people just want to, they all want to get along when it
comes to religion. They all want to have their opinion and nobody
challenge it and nobody say anything about it. They just want you
to nod and accept it and when I don't they get out of my way.
I don't want to talk to you. That's what those false God makers
did. God said they made a confederate.
They all got in a circle and they all started an echo chamber
is what we call it now. They just wanted to hear each
other and agree with each other. The only thing man could agree
on is to preach against the Lord
and His anointed. Therefore, God gives the message
to the rebellious sinner, a message to the rebellious. Look at verse
12. They said, get out of the way,
turn out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from
before us. I don't want to hear about Him.
Talk about me. I think there's a country song
about that. Let's talk about me. Let's talk
about my, I, me. That's all religion wants to
do. Talk about you. Wherefore thus saith the Holy
One of Israel, because you despise this word and trust in fraud. That word oppression means fraud.
You've trusted in fraud and perverseness and stay there on. Therefore
this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling
out of a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
He shall break it as the breaking of a potter's vessel. How easy
is that? Take a little thin clay pot and you just get a stick.
That's how easy God's going to break it to pieces. And look
what it's going to do. He's not going to spare so that
there shall not be found a bursting of the shred to take fire from
the hearth or to take water from the pit. It's useless. What good's
a pot if it can't hold a candle? What good is a pot if it can't
hold water? Useless! This is God's message to the
rebellious then. Plainly displayed, you are like
a wall ready to fall. You are like a pot ready to be
broken. The Word of God is plain to understand. Man by nature
is not good, he's evil. Man's heart is set to rebel against
God, God's gospel says do nothing. Isn't this a wonderful message
to you who do nothing, who have nothing to give? Isn't this a
wonderful message? God said do nothing good because
I don't have anything. God says I'll do it for you.
That's what Christ did. Did it all. That's our message.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Don't put your trust
in your works. That's our message. Don't put your trust in Egypt.
Don't put your trust in your will or your abilities or your
goodness. It's a shadow. That's what God
said about Egypt. He said, just a shadow. Look
at a shadow on the wall. It has the form. But are you
going to put any weight on it? You can't put any weight on it.
What God says, don't put. It's a shame. It's discouragement. And so all who rest In Jesus
Christ alone, we have a firm foundation. But listen, all who
rest in there will not listen to God. What he said, you don't
listen to my word. You don't believe on Christ alone.
Listen, yours is a broken wall. What good is a broken wall? It can't defend. Those people
in those days depended upon walls to protect them. And if you had
a breach in the wall, it was no value. And so you who will not rest
in Christ, your wall of rebellion is broken. It will not hold the
weight of your soul, nor will it resist the wrath of God. You
remember what God said in Isaiah 28? He said the bed is shorter.
He's talking to people who had a refuge of lies. He said to
them, The bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on,
and the covering narrower than a man can wrap himself in it.
He's talking about your righteousness. Your righteousness is not enough.
Your works are not enough. Your offerings are not enough.
It's not sufficient. And one day God, to those who
rest in those things, God's going to break your wall like a pot.
Like a little thin clay pot. How terrible, how terrible is
the day for those who thought to be accepted. Imagine closing your eyes with
a smile on your face, expecting to breathe heaven's air and wake
up in hell. Can you think of a greater disappointment? To think that your morals and
your religion were so superior to bring you to heaven and bring
you to hell. So that the most pious nun and
the whore wind up in the same place. The most pious pope and
the greatest satanist, the free will works preacher and the pedophile
All who trust in the arm of flesh in any measure. I don't think they understand
what they do, but it's so. When you trust in anything but
Christ, you are robbing God of His glory. That's serious. God, that is a serious offense. To rob Him of His glory. To say
that Christ's offering was not enough. That's what you're saying,
isn't it? Well, Jesus died for my sins,
but I have to, what? Those in the day of judgment,
God says, they'll say to the Lord, have we not preached in
your name? Have we not done many wonderful
works? and cast out devils? You know, the Lord doesn't deny
that they did those things. But I'll tell you what He says,
He says, Depart from Me, you that work iniquity. What did
He do? He called all their stuff iniquity. All that they thought
was good, He said, is iniquity. Depart from Me, you that work
iniquity, I never knew you. See, then all the works and all
our religious deeds All our status in the church and even our understanding
of the word of God is no foundation for our souls. It is a breach. It is a broken wall. It is a
shame to trust in them. I heard a man on a podcast, I
was very encouraged, very encouraged. Somebody had asked him, some
interviewer had asked him about the Catholic faith and he said,
you believe all the Catholics go to hell? He said, well, if
they believe the Catholic doctrine, yes. Yes. And he was talking about trusting
Christ alone. You should have read the response
of everybody. That man was the most hated man
on the internet at that point. Sure, people were always asking,
they said, well, you know, you got to, you got to, works, works,
works, you got to add your works, got to do works. I thought of
that, I just like to ask him, which work do you want to add?
There's Christ's righteousness, okay, now what work do you want
to add to it? Please, confide in me, give me
one work that you will add to his. But the truth is, everything
we do is make for sin. I dare not add one thing to Christ. Not one thing. And so the message
is to us, our message is this, you that have no righteousness,
flee to Christ. Stop walking to Egypt. And here's the message, repent
and believe. Repentance and faith. Repentance
and faith. Look at verse 15. Thus saith
the Lord God, the holy one of Israel. Listen, in returning
and rest, you shall be saved. In returning, repenting and trusting. you shall be saved. Isn't this
our message? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Isn't that the message? The message
of God is clear. Forsake all and trust Christ. Our Lord said in Luke 14, He
says, So likewise whosoever be of you that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. You know what, those people going
to Egypt, what if they said, you know what, I'm trusting the
Lord. I believe what you said, preacher. And they just keep
walking to Egypt. Really, you trusting? I don't
think so. Faith, repentance, and faith
go together. To be saved, one must forsake
all that opposes Christ. During this time when Jesus said
that you realize that every family member in that if you believed
on Christ, every family member is against you. So what do you
say? You had to forsake them. You have to forsake your family,
your friends, anything that opposes Christ and even your own life. We must forsake our foundation
of works and self-righteousness, all our thoughts of God and ways
of salvation. Let the wicked forsake his thoughts,
forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return unto the Lord. And, what? He will abundantly
pardon. You know when Paul, in Philippians
chapter 3, Look how Paul viewed his righteousness. Philippians
chapter three. Look at verse seven. For what
things were gained to me? He's talking about his genealogy
being of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew, the Hebrews, circumcised
the eighth day. He had a whole list of things
in the religious realm was something to boast about. And what does
he say about that? He forsook those things. He said
what things were gained to me I count as loss for Christ. Yea,
doubtless I count all things for loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may
win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law but the righteousness which is through the faith of
Christ the righteousness of God, which is by faith. So then we who recognize our
inability, then what do we say? We understand this, this statement
or by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in this
sight. You understand that? I understand that because I know
who I am. I have no righteousness. And so then we flee to Christ
because he alone is the righteousness of God. We forsake all the pleasures
of this world, the things of this world, and we flee to Christ
who has died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Friends, I want you to know,
believing in Christ, there are no half measures. There are no half measures. Jesus Christ must be all your
salvation or he'll be none of it. Christ will be all your salvation
or He will be none of it." That's what Paul told the Galatian
Church wasn't it? If any man be circumcised Christ
will profit him nothing. He is saying if you put that
one thing, you added the one thing then Christ is none of
your salvation. And all who rest on His perfect
righteousness and all who are washed in His blood alone shall
be Saved. That's what He says. Return and
rest. Repent and believe. In quietness
and confidence shall be your strength. What's my strength? What is the hope of my salvation?
When I die, what is my hope? What is the strength? What is
my confidence? It is in Christ alone. It's in
His finished work. Nothing in myself notice the
response though Look what he said in verse 15. What happened
and You would not As I have preached the gospel
to you and told you the truth yet many will still run I Many will still seek the refuge
of their own will and their own works and their own abilities,
without a doubt. This message will be hated and
the messenger put in contempt. They will not. Isaiah said, Who
hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? But you know what? I am not discouraged.
And neither should you. You shouldn't be discouraged. I'm rather encouraged. Because
God speaks by the scripture here and gives us great comfort as
he does to all who preach the gospel of God's free grace in
Christ. All men by nature will not repent. That's so, isn't it? What do
you expect when you preach to somebody? I know what you want to happen,
but really, what should you expect? The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
neither can he know them. I am spiritually discerned. They'll flee from this gospel,
they'll mock and despise this message, but here's my comfort,
here it is. No matter where they go, no matter how hard they run, If they belong to God, he will
get them. Look what he says. Look, look,
look at this. You said you wouldn't. But you said no. But we will
flee upon the horse. Therefore, shall you flee? OK,
you want to go? Go. You want to run? Run. Look what he says. And we ride
upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue
you be swift. You know what God says? If God
is pursuing you, you're swift, but I'm swifter. You're fast,
but I'm faster. And notice what he said he's
going to do. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, and
at the rebuke of five shall you flee, till you be left as a beacon
on top of a mountain, as an ensign on a hill, until the moment you
are totally helpless and exposed. I remember in the military they
would always tell us, you know, don't run up a hill. Because
you expose yourself. They kind of tell us to use cover
and go from one cover to the other. God said, I'm going to
pursue you till you get to the top of a hill so you're exposed
to everybody. Isn't that how he did you? Didn't
he pursue you until he exposed you? That's what God does. He pursues His people no matter
where they go. They cannot hide from God. All
the gods elect will flee just like the lost, but God is swifter. He will pursue them until He
exposes their helpless condition. Why? Because Christ knows His
sheep. I know my sheep. I know who they are. I know where
they are. You read that in Jeremiah, we don't have time to read, Jeremiah
chapter 31 and verse 10, God said, I scattered them and I'll
gather. So wherever you've been scattered,
who scattered? God scattered you. God knows
where you are. Isn't this comforting to know?
All those saints that have not yet come in. I'm concerned, I
have concern for them. But I'm comforted to know that
God knows where they are. They're His sheep. We all, like sheep,
have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. But, listen,
the Lord has already laid the iniquity of us all on Christ,
even before the sheep comes in. God has already accounted for
them. The Father has chosen the elect and Christ has redeemed
them. Therefore, notice this, In verse 18, it says, and therefore
will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. What's the Lord doing? He's waiting
until the appointed time of being gracious. I have the illustration
of that prodigal son. Prodigal son came to his daddy
and said, Daddy, give me all I got coming to me. I want my
inheritance even before you die. Father says, here. You know,
he went out and spent all that he had. He spent all that he
had. He was lying in the pig pen eating
the husks. The swine were eating the better
part. He was eating the husks. Scripture says he came to himself.
See, that's God being swift. He brings us to ourself. And
he said, my father's house has plenty. This is what I'll do. Makes a plan. I'll go to him
and say, father, I have sinned against thee and against heaven.
Accept me not as a son, but as a servant. And he rehearsed it
all the way home. Going over his mind, how he's
gonna try to manipulate the father. You have thoughts of manipulating
God? But who saw who first? The father was waiting for the
son. Isn't that something? The father
knew what the son didn't know. He knew he'd be gracious. Son
didn't know that. Son was going to beg just to
be a slave. Father said no. Father had a better purpose.
The scripture says, and he ran. fell on his face and kissed him. All that time the father was
waiting to be gracious. He pursued him up until the time
he was a beacon on a hill with nothing left and he returns to
the father in repentance and before he could even confess
the father fell on him. And he said, Father, I have sinned
against thee and against heaven. Son, shut up. Kill the fatted
calf. God said, kill my son. So I can
have this one. Grace. God is waiting to be gracious. Waiting to be gracious. At the
appointed time of love, God will be gracious. It was always the Father's purpose
to be gracious. How precious and gracious is
our God who shall save his people by the power of his Holy Spirit
and call them at the appointed time, saying that salvation is
of the Lord completely. Therefore, says this, waiting
to be gracious and therefore will he be exalted that he may
have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment blessed
are all that wait for him therefore he is to be exalted
that he may have mercy upon you believers see the high cost of
God for your salvation God did not just pass over your sins,
but rather has already paid the price for them. You see how he
could be gracious? A God of judgment, and yet a
God of mercy. A God of judgment, yet a God
of mercy. The gospel we preach is a sure
message of confidence that all the Father hath chosen and given
to Christ, Christ is redeemed. And all that Christ has redeemed,
the Spirit of God will call them. This is a message of confidence.
And lastly, a message of promise. All who wait on Christ, all who
trust in Christ, God has promised to give us blessings. Now consider,
your blessings were stored up for you. I like the way that
that's pictured in Joseph, isn't it? All of the grain was already
stored up before Jacob ever got there. All of your blessings
were already stored up before you ever got here. They're stored
up for you. All spiritual blessings and heavenly
places in Christ are ours by virtue of our union with Him.
And so God here gives us some promises. Look at this in verse
19. Those who wait on the Lord, those
who believe on Christ, for the people shall dwell in Zion at
Jerusalem. Here's a promise, eternal life. Zion and Jerusalem is a picture
of God's church. And what's the end of the church?
Right now, I'll tell you, it looks messy. Looks, it appears
messy. It's not. It's very ordered. But what is the end of the church? It is to receive the glory that
Christ has merited on our behalf. We will receive that inheritance.
We will be in Zion so that none of the church is missing. This
is the glory of the gospel. I see no glory in a gospel where
someone will be missing. Everyone that Christ has redeemed
of all that the Father had given me, they shall come to me. Is that not clear? I love how
plain scripture is. I don't need great theological
books to understand that. You don't need a lot of people
trying to give you their opinion about what that means. That's
simple. All that the father giveth me, whoever they are. I don't
know. I don't know how many. I know this about them, they'll
come to Christ. And when they come to him, there
is no way he's going to reject them ever. Why? The Father gave them to him.
This is his purpose. I came not to do mine own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that sent me,
that of all he had given me, I should lose nothing. Jesus
said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. Any of this confusing? It's just simple. Who are my sheep? They hear my
voice. They hear my word. They believe
on me. They trust me, they follow me.
Listen, I give them something. I give them eternal life. And
listen, those sheep, they shall never perish. Oh, but man, what
about somebody coming along and taking you away? Neither show
any man plucked him out of my hand. My father, which gave them me
is greater than all no man shall ever plucked him out of my father's
hand. I and my father are one. This is a promise eternal life
and nobody's going to take it from you. This is good, not even
me. If there's anybody that is in
danger of removing me, it's me. Not even me. I didn't put me
in Christ and I ain't taking me out of it. This is my hope. This is my joy, my peace. Child of God, this is a promise
of God that you shall all come design and notice the end. He
said they're not going to weep anymore. He said he will be very
gracious under the at the voice of that cry. When you hear it,
he will answer. This is a promise of answered
prayer. You have a promise of answered prayer. When you cry,
he will hear it. You know, you ever try to wait
till you're in a certain frame of mind to pray? Oh, I gotta
get right. I gotta get holy. I gotta get... You wait. No. God promised to hear you. Always. Now why? Why would he hear you, Glenn?
By what reason would God hear you? Christ. You'll hear me because
of Christ and notice this. Here's a promise. He will give
us. He will give us trouble. Look
at this in verse 20. It's a promise. He said, though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. He promises bread adversity in
the waters of affliction. Go to Isaiah chapter 43, look
over there. Here's the promise that though
we have multiple afflictions, we will be hated of this world.
Our gospel will be hated, we'll be in multiple afflictions, but
notice what he says here. He says in verse 1, Thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Notice he says when, not if,
just when. When thou passest through the
waters, here's a promise, I will be with thee. Are you in the
waters? Where's he? I'm with you. I'm with you. I won't leave you. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. That's why I'm your Savior. I'm the Holy One of Israel. I'm
your Redeemer. That's your confidence. Here's
my promise. I won't leave you. And notice this, the third promise
he's going to give us his word. Look at this. Yet. Shall not
thy teachers be removed into the corner anymore? But thine
eyes shall see thy teachers and thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee, saying this is the way. Walk ye in it when you turn
to the right hand and when you turn to the left. God's promised
this. Now listen, we do often turn
to the right and to the left. But there's always that still
small voice, isn't it? Behind you. No, walk this way. This is the way. Isn't this so? How many times have you turned
off? I know this, there's many times I've turned off and expected
there's no way back. And yet God said this, I'm not
going to remove your teachers. I'm going to give you preachers.
I'm going to give you those who preach the gospel to you. And
this is the voice my voice when they preach. It's going to be
behind you. Saying this is the way. What's
the way? What's the way? You know the way. I am the way, Christ said, the
truth and the life. And God says, I won't remove
this word from you. We have the promise of his word,
and fourthly, he gives us the promise that we shall abase ourselves
and glorify him. Verse 22, you shall defile also
the covering of that grave images of silver, And the ornaments
of thy molten images of gold, thou shalt cast them away as
a menstruous cloth. Isn't this what you do with your
righteousness? You're going to abase yourself.
You're going to do away with all your false gods. And what
are you going to do? Thou shalt say to them, get thee
hence. And thou shalt give, then shall he give the rain of thy
seed, and thou shalt sow the ground wherewith, and the bread
shall increase in the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle
feed, and large pastures thine oxen likewise, and thy young
asses that ear the ground shall eat clean for vendor, which hath
been winnowed with a shovel and a fan. there shall be upon every mountain
and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the
day of the great slaughter when the towers fell. Moreover, the
light of the moon shall be as a light of the sun, and the light
of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven suns in
the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach and his people
and healeth the stroke of their wounds. What is God promising
here? Spiritual growth. He's promising
that the corn is gonna grow. It's gonna be fat and plenteous. His children are gonna eat clean
food. Isn't that what the gospel is? Christ, a bread of life. And said, this is all gonna take
place when the great slaughter. Where was the great slaughter?
That was at Calvary. That was at Calvary. And moreover,
the light of the moon is gonna be like the light of the sun.
What is he talking about here? All of the Old Testament prophecies
are going to be as the light of the sun. That which was seemingly
dark is now made clear. And the light of the New Testament
says seven suns. Very clear. Christ is all our
hope and salvation that he hath binded up the breach. Remember
that wall that was broken? Who bound that up? Christ did. Christ is our salvation. Christ
is our salvation. So then we see this message of
God. It was a message of shame. We followed after Egypt. We followed
after our own works and self-righteousness. It was a message of repentance.
Turn and be still. Turn and trust in Christ, their
salvation. And though we would not, we have
a message of confidence that all the Father chosen, Christ
redeemed, gather, they shall believe, and all who believe
have the promises of God, eternal life, promise of answered prayer,
promise of his continual presence and guidance, a promise of his
word and his preachers, a promise that you shall grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message of
God, the message of God. Pray God will bless it to your
hearts and stand be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, be merciful. Apply your word to the hearts
of your people as you please. Be gracious. Be merciful.