Jeremiah chapter 23. And the title of the message tonight
is, The Message and the Heart, The Message and the Heart of
God's Preachers, God's Prophets. Now this book, this chapter here,
begins with a warning. A woe, in verse 1, God says,
woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep
of my pasture. Sayeth the Lord. Therefore, thus
saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed
my people, you have scattered my flock and driven them away
and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings, saith The Lord. The Lord, here speaking
by the prophet Jeremiah, sends out a stern warning against a
certain group of people. Pastors. Pastors. But these aren't God's pastors. These are rather false pastors. Those who have assumed the office
of the pastor, pretending to feed and care for the flock of
God. These are false preachers. In
verse 21, these false preachers, these false prophets, God says
of them, look at verse 21, He says, I have not sent these
prophets, yet they ran. Yet they ran. I have not spoken
unto them, yet they prophesied. These pastors, these prophets,
God did not send them and yet they ran anyway. When I read
this, I think of that man when David's son was killed, Absalom
was killed. And that man came to Joab and
he said this, I want to go tell David. And he said, no, you weren't
there. You didn't see what was happening.
And remember, he sent that man who was a witness, who was actually
there, and he ran. But the other man says, I want
to run too. And he says, I don't care if you run, run. You just
don't have a message. And remember, he got there faster
than the man that had the message. What a picture of false religion.
False religion. False prophets desire to run.
They desire to go. But God didn't send them because
they didn't have a message. They don't have the message.
They're not witnesses. And God doesn't send them. And
listen, they won't prosper. They won't prosper. So God here
swears to bring swift and eternal judgment upon these who do not
edify, do not comfort, and do not declare the Word of God.
Look at verse 15. God declares swift judgment on
these that He didn't sin. He says, "...Therefore thus saith
the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will
feed them with wormwood, and make them to drink the water
of Gaul." For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone
forth out into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto
you. They make you vain. Why? Now, here's the difference. Here's
why they are vain. Here's why they will be destroyed.
They speak a vision of their own heart and not Out of the
mouth of the Lord. Now these here always, there
have always been and there always will be false prophets. There
has always been and there will always be false preachers. Peter tells us this in 2 Peter
2 and verse 1, he says, "...but there were false prophets also
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among
you." Now, a false teacher is not usually one that's overtly
false. No false teacher in this generation
denies Jesus Christ exists or Jesus Christ died on the cross. They camouflage themselves. They
are chameleons. They come in. They creep in. And they say, yes, yes, we believe
the Word of God, just like you. But what does Peter say? They
privately shall bring in damnable heresies. Why do you think we
need to be warned of false preachers? Because they're sneaky. They
don't come in overtly. They come in covertly. among
us, denying the Lord that bought them, and bring to themselves
swift destruction." So then, how can we determine the true
and the false? The Scriptures liken us to sheep
for a good reason. We're ignorant. God's people,
we confess. We confess that oftentimes we
are duped by our flesh. And we fall many times, so how
shall we know, how can we tell? How can we know these who pretend
to feed the flock, and yet, rather than protect and keep the flock,
they scatter and destroy the flock? How can we tell? Listen, I'm going to tell you
this, you can't tell outwardly. You're not going to be able to
discern these people by looking at them or the appearance of
things. Matter of fact, usually the appearance
of things is very deceptive. Very deceptive. You're not going
to be able to tell them by outward appearances, by their religious
robes. You won't be able to tell by
their clever speech or by their religious rituals or by their numbers. Now, is
this not how the world picks preachers? Now, people, just be honest,
if they come to a small congregation like ours and they say, well,
you know, there must be something wrong because you don't have
a lot of people. How are they determining that? They're determining
by outward appearances of things. That's not how you determine
it. Why? Because the Scripture says Satan himself is capable
of transforming himself into an angel of light. Paul said
then, it's no great thing that his ministers do the same thing.
So you're not going to be able to tell by outward things. So
then how can you tell? Simply by these two things. And
these are going to be my two points by which we can, in this
text, we're going to determine what the message is. This is
the important thing, the message. You can know them by the message
they preach. We just read that, that they
preach, false prophets preach according to what? Their visions
of their own heart. and not out of the mouth of the
Lord. It's easily discerned by the
message. The message of God's true preachers
is always according to this. Thus saith the Lord. I spend an awful lot of time trying not to give you my opinion. And I do that on purpose. Because
my opinion just don't matter. What matters is the Word of God. What does God say? And if what
God says is contrary to my opinion, or your opinion, or the thoughts
of our mind, or our heart, then we should cast away our thoughts,
we should cast away our opinion, and hold fast to what God says. Thus saith the Lord. The Word
of God. True preachers preach the Word
of God. The Lord tells in this book of
His omniscience. He said, am I a God that is near
and not of far off? He said, don't you know that?
That I'm a God that's near. In other words, God said, I'm
not going to be deceived by this. I know what false preachers are.
I know who they are. Look at this in verse 28. He
describes these false preachers. He said this, "...a prophet that
hath a dream, let him tell his dream." He said, I know this.
You say, I dreamed a dream. That's what false preachers...
I've dreamed a dream! In other words, he ate something
that night, and he went to bed, and all of a sudden he had an
epiphany. He had a light bulb went over
the top of his head, and then he goes out without checking
the Word of God, and just declares what's on his mind. I don't want to stand up here
telling you what's on my mind. I'm sure you wouldn't want to
tell me what's on your mind. I want to tell you what God says.
He said, these people, they say, I got a dream and God says, look,
let them tell it. Let them tell it. And look at
this in verse 28. And he that hath my word, let
him speak it faithfully. See the difference? He said,
what is the wheat, my word, my word, what is the chaff to the
wheat? Their dream is the chaff, my word is the wheat. Is not
my word like fire, saith the Lord? Is it not like the hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against
the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one
from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongue to say he saith." Listen,
false prophets don't go around saying they don't believe God. False prophets don't go around.
They don't actually take this book and burn it. What do they
do? They steal from it. They borrow
from a text. And then they incorporate and
mix in their thoughts, their wisdom, their works, their will
to this book. But in actuality, what they're
doing is casting this book behind them. They're saying, well, that's
what God says and that's good, but let me tell you what I'm
saying. No, that's not my preacher. God said, that's not my man.
Listen, the Lord is against them. They're against them that do
this. And listen, no matter how many
people join them, no matter if the whole world goes after them, this should not affect us whatsoever. This should have no bearing.
Matter of fact, this has no bearing on the Church of God. It has
no effect on us. If the world goes after them,
no matter how rich they become, and listen to this, no matter
how many miracles they perform, you can't tell a true preacher
of the Gospels simply by miracles. Why? Our Lord said this, that
there's going to come a time, He says, there shall rise false
Christs and false prophets and show great signs and wonders
in so much if it were possible. I'm thankful it's not possible
to deceive the very elect. There are going to be some wonderful
miracles done by these false teachers. Pay them no mind. They will lead you astray. In
Isaiah chapter 8, God says this, to the law and the testimony,
if any man speak not according to this word, it's because he
has no light in him. This book is the source of all
faith and practice for believers. This book alone. I read a lot
of books, but this book alone is the source of all faith and
practice for believers. Not any other book. This one.
And so then, if I preach not according to this book, then
there's no light in me. You shouldn't listen to me if
I don't preach according to this word. And so it is with every
man who does not preach according to this word. And what is this
word? What is the sum and theme of
this book? It is simply one thing. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the whole sum of the
book. Jesus told those Pharisees, He
said in John chapter 5, He said, search the Scriptures. In them
you think you have eternal life, but what? They are they that
testify of beginning at Moses and all the
prophets he expounded unto them all the scriptures the things
what concerning himself the whole of this book is about Jesus Christ
and his work of salvation that's what this book is about and so
now then as I determined tonight as your Preacher, as your pastor,
as a man sent of God, I determine only to preach the gospel, and
I will preach it from this text." God doesn't leave us without
what true preachers are to preach, are to declare. Matter of fact,
He tells us in the very next verse. Look at this. Here's the
gospel that they are to preach. He said, look, those people scatter,
but listen, God says, and I will gather the remnant of my flock
out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will
bring them again to their folds. And they shall be fruitful and
increase. Here's what the message of God
is to his sheep. He said this, I will gather you.
This is a promise of God. This is the purpose of God on
display. God says this, I will gather
my sheep. I will gather my sheep wherever they have been driven
and I will bring them again to their folds. God declares by
this His purpose of saving a chosen remnant, an elect people, These
people here are called the sheep of His flock. Now Israel, in this time, was
a picture. In the Old Testament, the nation
of Israel was said to be His flock. But we know this, that
not all Israel were saved. This is a picture, this is a
type of the elect of God. This was God's eternal will and
counsel to save His people, to gather them from wherever they
are, from the four corners of the earth, wherever they are
found. He said this, I will gather them. I'm not relying on men
to gather them, I will gather them myself. And who will He gather? He will
not gather everyone, He will gather His remnant. His flock,
those He has chosen. Therefore, we preach the election
of God. Why? Because it is the Word of
God. Why do we preach the election
of God? Do we do it to make men mad? No. I do it because it is
the Word of God. It is God's declaration, regardless
of what men think, regardless of how men feel about it. The
election of God is His Word. In Romans chapter 9, we know
that this is the pinnacle of Paul's argument concerning the
election of God. He said this concerning Jacob
and Esau, which again are a type, a picture. He said this for the
children not yet being born, neither having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now we, who are spiritual Israel,
We are pictured by Jacob in this. Now was there any difference
in Jacob and Esau by birth? They were of the same father,
of the same mother, dwelling in the same womb together, not
having done any good or evil, and yet God had said before their
birth, before their conception, I have loved Jacob and hated
Esau. This is telling us, God is telling
us then, that all salvation is by grace, by free grace, without
works, without works. Paul and second Thessalonians
give thanks. He gives thanks to God for this.
He said, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because what? God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. I won't forget that phone call
I had a long time ago. A man called me and he was arguing
about the election. Didn't like it. And he said,
if you can find one scripture Where it says election, where
election is unto salvation, I'll believe it. And I gave him this
one. It says it right there, didn't it? From the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Election is to salvation. Guess
what? He didn't believe it. He didn't believe it. Now false preachers despise this
gospel of sovereign election. You want to know why? It destroys
their dreams. Man has a dream. You know what
that dream is? Free will, glory, acceptance with God based on
his merits. That's a dream. That's a dream. That's a vain and empty dream
that man has. And the reason he hates election
is because it destroys all his merit. It destroys all His will
and power. It makes Him what He actually
is, ruined and helpless to save Himself. And they hate this. But all who are saved by grace,
we know the truth and glory of election. For had He not chosen
us, we would have never chosen Him. Had He not loved us, we
would have never loved Him. Therefore, see in our text the
truth that salvation is according to the will of God. Look at that.
Read it with me. What does God say? I will gather who? Everyone. Does God gather everyone as the
world teaches? No. He said, I will gather the
remnant, the remnant of the flock. Not just everyone and not just
anyone, but only the remnant. And this is the same language
that Paul mentions and that Isaiah used in Romans chapter 9. Listen
to this. He said, Isaiah saith concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And what's going to save them?
He will finish the work. That's what's going to save them.
He's going to finish the work, and He's going to make it short.
You realize all the salvation of all God's people took space
in that 33 years of life that the Lord Jesus lived upon this
earth? That's a short work, isn't it? Compared to how long the
world has been, that's a short work. He made a short work of
it. And because of short work the
Lord will make upon the earth and Isaiah said this, except
the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, a remnant, we'd all
been like Sodom and like Gomorrah. We'd all been dead. Therefore, what do we preach?
What does God's men preach? They preach the sovereign election
of God. Why? Because it's what God said. what God said. Second thing we
preach is this, the ruin of his sheep. Now if God's got to gather
his sheep, isn't that just so they're lost? They're scattered,
isn't that what he said? I will gather them, but where
are they? Whither I've driven them, and
I will bring them again to their foes. In other words, they're
not where they are going to be. They're scattered. And who scattered
them? God said, I did it. I scattered them. When did He
scatter His flock? When Adam sinned against God,
it was then all the flock of God was scattered. It was then
that all of His flock, like every other person under Adam's race,
was completely and utterly ruined and lost. You know that Scripture well.
"...Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
the result is death." And this death was not isolated
to Adam, it spread to us all. By the offense of one, many were
made what? Sinners. Annie, why are your children
sinners? They are. Why are my children sinners?
Because their father is a sinner. And his father And this goes
all the way back to our father. Guilty. Ruined. A ruined race
of men. Scripture says we all like sheep.
What? Went astray. And every one of us turned where? To our own way. Isn't that our nature to have
our way? It is our nature to have our
way. I'll have my way and the rest of the world be damned.
I'll have it. That's our nature. That's because we were ruined.
And like our father Adam, as he hid his nakedness, when he
heard that when he felt the guilt of his sin, he began to hide
his nakedness. He saw he was naked and he covered
himself with the what? The fig leaves he himself had
sown together. And this is exactly what men
do by nature, is they sow a righteousness on themselves. Why do you think Everyone knows
fornication is wrong. It's just so. Everyone knows
that homosexuality is an abomination to God. They know that. And yet
what do they do? They try to get a big group of
people together and comfort themselves saying, we're all okay. We're
all okay. That's all they want. They want
you to say they're okay. Why? Because that's what we want,
isn't it? When we're doing something wrong and evil, we want others
to justify us. And so what we're doing by this
is sowing fig leaves together to cover our nakedness. But listen,
friends, it doesn't cover anything. We're still naked before God. Paul said this about his own
brethren. He said, I bear them record, they got us ill. They're
sincere. I tell you, religious people are very sincere, aren't
they? Your friends in religion, are they not sincere? Do they
not cry and weep? Do they not get emotional when
you talk to them about things of God? They get emotional. What distinguishes them from
the truth is they're trying to cover their own righteousness.
By their sincerity. Listen, I'm not saved by my sincerity.
Are you? I'm not covered before God because
of my sincerity. Put an article in the bulletin.
Brother Henry Mahan wrote a long time ago. He said this. Faith
is not your Savior. Isn't that right? A lot of people are having faith
in their faith. Well, I just have faith. Well,
that won't save you. You need a Savior. Faith must
have an object. And it can't be itself. It must
be Christ. Christ is the Savior. Faith won't
save you. Christ will. Scriptures tell us that our righteousness
are as filthy rags and we are unclean. Yet the prophets of
Baal, what do they do? They steal the Word of God and
twist the Word of God so as to incorporate their works with
Christ's work. This is what false religion is.
It's not denying Christ died. It's not denying salvation is
in Christ. They don't deny that. Ask them.
They'll tell you, well, I believe salvation's in Christ. What else? Well, you've got to make a decision. You've got to add something. You've got to be baptized. Christ
did His part. You've got to do yours. Friends,
that's a lie, and the truth is not in them. They don't believe
Christ is salvation. These false preachers suppose
that by their coming, by their free will, that they somehow
merit His favor. They think that because they
feel they're seeking God, that they're moving God to them. Listen,
if you're seeking God, it's because He already moved on you. You
know that? God's not going to come to you
because you're seeking Him. Your seeking Him is not merit
for His coming to you. But listen, if you're already
seeking God, know this, because He already found you. he's already
done something for you even before you saw him and so anyone who believes in free will works
religion our Lord should shut their mouths if they believe
the word of God at all they should shut their mouths easily Jesus
said no man can come to me I just simply destroy all false free
will works religion that destroys it no man has the ability to
come to me except God give it to him except God draw him I know this, I never would have
come to him had he not drawn me. And the fact that I come
to him just is a revelation of what he promised to do and he
said I will gather them. And if I'm gathered, it's because
he gathered me. I was lost, I was ruined. And
he gathered me, he made me willing in the day of his power. If he
ever saves you, he'll make you willing. Any believer in this
room, you're not willing? That's silly, isn't it? Of course
we're willing. We must have Him. We long for Him because in His
power, He did exactly what He said He'd do. He said, I'll gather
them. I'll gather them. He gives us both power and will
to come to Him. I like what John says, as many
as received Him. You received Him? Well, you have
a right to something. Now, that's just something in
it. You have a right to be called the sons of God. You received
Him. Now, receiving Him is truly an
active thing. I'm willingly receiving Him.
I willingly drink of His blood and eat of His flesh by faith.
And I have a right to be called this. Now, how is it that you've
received Him? Was it by blood? You girls have godly parents. Now, did you receive Him because
of your godly parents? Because you were born to God?
No. God said no. Not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh. Your parents wanted you to receive
Him. But it's not because of their
will you received Him, nor of your own will, but of God. Why? Because God gave this promise
a long time ago. I will gather the remnant of
my flock. And you were the remnant of His
flock. And that's the reason you were
gathered. That's the reason you were gathered. And thirdly, we
preach this. This is the center of our message.
This is who we are gathered. This is how God could gather
us. Now, how could God gather sinners? To Himself. Without tainting His own holy
nature. Well, God tells us how He does
this. Look at verse 5. Here's how He's
going to gather us. Behold. Stop. Listen. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch,
and a king shall reign and prosper. And this is how the king, the
righteous branch, is going to deliver his people. He shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth, and what's going
to be the result? In his days, Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. We preach the Word of God concerning
Jesus Christ. Now you realize that there is
only one person in all of history that could fulfill that text. that no one else in the history
of the world could fulfill that description of that person and
his work except the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one. He
is the only one. So when the Father chose us in
sovereign election, He did not leave then any part of our salvation
to be dependent upon us. He did not leave any part undone. He gave all the work to His Son
to perform, to Jesus Christ. Paul blessing God concerning
all our spiritual blessings in Christ, according as He had chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. What was His choice
to do that? That, that we should be holy.
That's His purpose. That you and I should be holy
and without blame. Isn't that something that you
can't be blamed before God? You who are in Christ, you can't
be blamed. No one can blame you for one sin. Not one. You're holy and blameless. That
was God's purpose in eternity. and in love predestinate us unto
the adoption of children. How should this be accomplished?
By Jesus Christ to Himself. What is the motive? According
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in union with the
Beloved. In the Beloved. So then all spiritual
blessings and salvation is found where? In Christ. In Christ. Look back at this scripture here
and see the central theme of our message is always the person
and work of Jesus Christ. This is how salvation is accomplished.
No place else. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, and I will raise up unto David a righteous branch. A righteous branch. What is this? How is this picturing Christ?
Well, at this time, Christ had not yet come. He's not yet come. And He said He's going to come.
But when He comes, you're not going to be able to mistake who
He is. Because He's going to come from
a very specific line in Israel. It is the line of Abraham, the
line of Isaac, the line of Jacob, the line of David. He shall come
from the seed of David. That's what the Jews couldn't
figure out. Christ said, Well, where's Christ going to
come from? They say, well, he's going to
come from David. And then he said, well, how can he who's
coming from David be David's Lord? They couldn't understand
that. But yet it is true. The Son of God, who is the root
of David, is now prophesied to be the offspring or the branch
of David. The branch of David. What is
this teaching us? That he's going to be a man.
That's what he's saying. This one who's going to come,
he's going to be a man. And remember at the birth of
Christ, remember David's line was so ruined and low, wasn't
it? Mary and Joseph being of the
line of kings. He was a carpenter And she was
a virgin, a lowly one at that, with nothing. They got no money.
They were impoverished. That's why He said, He shall
be a root out of dry ground. So Jesus came through the virgin's
womb by the conception of the Holy Spirit Now, why did He come
that way? Why should He have to come this
way? Because we needed a man to represent us. Remember, how
we fail was in a man. Therefore, God declares how He
should save His people is through another man. Another man should
come into the world, and he should be born of the virgin's womb. Why? So as to escape the condemnation
of our flesh. You see, if we're all born of
Adam, that's why we're all born sinners. But Christ was not born
of the seed of Adam. He was born of the seed of the
woman. Therefore, the prophet here says he should be a certain
type of branch. What? A righteous branch. That's
important because this is the one that should come to obtain
righteousness for all his people. the righteousness of God. He
should obtain it because he himself is righteous. In Isaiah 42 it
says, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. You see, Christ came into the
world to perform this will of God, this task, which is to provide
righteousness for all his people. That's what he came to do. And
he alone as the righteous branch could do that. None of us could.
But he did. He did. In Romans 3, Paul says
this, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. I'm pointing you to one who has
all the righteousness that we need. And listen, this righteousness
was not for Himself. He already was righteous. It
was for us, for His people. And not only this, He said He
shall be a King, look at this, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. God ordained
Christ that He should be the King over all His people, not
like Herod, not like Caesar, not like Pharaoh, All of those
were kings, but their dominion and power was limited, wasn't
it? This king is not like them in
that his dominion is without measure. He came a king. Do you realize there was a king
born in a stable? As they was, he walked upon the
face of this earth. A king walked here. It was God's
king. God's anointed king. You remember
how they treated him. When he declared his kingship,
what did they do? They mocked him and put a crown
of thorns on his head. Put a reed in his hand and said,
Behold, hail, king of the Jews! But I tell you this, even in
that weakened state, he was no failure. Why? Because he was
prospering, wasn't he? He was prospering by His obedience,
by His death. He was prospering. Why? Because
He came to execute judgment and justice in the earth. What does
this mean? What does this mean? It means
He came to satisfy the justice of God. He came to set things
right. God could not show us mercy without
justice being satisfied. Justice had to be satisfied for
all of us, for all of His people. And therefore Christ came into
the world and hung upon the cross so that God's justice should
be forever satisfied. And there as He hung upon that
tree, the sinless Son of God bore our sin in His own body. and God without mercy God without mercy killed his
own son so that you and I should be made
the righteousness of God in him Friends, this was the greatest
sacrifice ever. And I like to think of this.
Jesus exhausted the justice of God. You got that? The wrath of God was exhausted. I remember when I was a kid that
I tried boxing once. I wasn't very good at it. This
guy, he was really good at boxing. He took me and put me in a ring
and he just said, hit me. Hit me as hard as you can, as
fast as you can, as long as you can. And I lasted probably about
two minutes. And I was exhausted. He hit me
one time and I fell down. That was the last time I boxed. But think about that. He exhausted.
The justice of God has no more desire to execute wrath on any
of his people. And Jesus, being victorious,
a king that prospered, he cried with a loud voice and said it
to all. This is a declaration of a king. Listen. It is finished. It's done. Salvation is accomplished
for all my people. This king, he actually brought
forth judgment unto truth. Isn't that what Isaiah said in
Isaiah 42? He said this, He shall bring forth judgment unto Gentiles.
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. And listen, He shall
not fail nor be discouraged in doing it. He's going to do that
in humility. He's not going to fail nor be
discouraged. Therefore behold King Jesus riding
upon that fold of an ass." Remember, He came to Jerusalem for that
purpose. And He was not set, He was set to do that. Now what
the Lord said in the prophecy, He said, Behold thy King cometh
riding on the colt, the fold of an ass. A king came through and a king
died. But that wasn't the end of the
story, was it? Because when justice was exhausted and he had finished
the work, God raised him from the dead. God raised him from
the dead. And now he is seated upon the
throne of God, ruling all things after the counsel of his own
will. I read this this week. You know, God doesn't permit
anything. I probably said that before, He permits things. No,
He purposed everything. He doesn't permit anything. He purposes everything. Everything. If He didn't purpose it, it ain't
coming to pass. This He purposed. Even our salvation. Your salvation was on purpose. This is so against false religion.
Our salvation was never a chance. There was no way you were going
to miss it. There was no way he was going to miss you. There
was no way he wasn't going to get you. He said, I'll gather
you wherever I scattered you. I'll find you. And at the appointed
time, what did he do? He saved us. That salvation that
he accomplished, we also experienced. Now, right, look at the next
verse, quickly. "...in his days," the days of
his reign, the days of his kingship, the days of his victory, "...Judah
shall be," what? "...saved." That sound... It sounds like there's any possibility
that they won't be. No! God says in His days, in
His reign, they shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. This is because Christ, by His
one offering, has perfected forever them that are sanctified. And
He has sit down on the right hand of God, expecting to make
His enemies His footstool. His purpose is to gather us,
and He will gather us. And Jesus tells us plainly that
none of us shall be lost. Isn't that what He said? He said,
All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And all that the Father giveth
Me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. He said, the shepherd of the
sheep said this, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and
they follow Me, and He gives unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish. Does that sound safe to you?
That's safety, isn't it? We don't realize how safe we
are if we're in Christ. Listen, if you're outside of Christ,
you're not safe. not safe. Come to Christ and find refuge,
find safety, find salvation in Him. How does God then call His people. How does He gather them? He promises
to gather them. He says He'll save them. How
does He do it? This is the means by sending preachers. Look at
this in verse 4. And He says this, I will set
up shepherds over them which shall feed them and they shall
fear no more nor be dismayed neither shall they be lacking,
saith the Lord. The means that God has chosen
is by sending men. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall then shall they believe
on him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. No other means. This is the means. God has chosen to save His people,
is to send out shepherds. He said, I will give, in chapter
3 of this book, He said, I will give them pastors after My own
heart. And what is then is the heart
of the pastor. The heart of the pastor is not just to declare
this message and leave it. His heart is to gather the people,
to call them. And knowing this, that my calling
is not effectual, only the calling of the Spirit is effectual, yet
it is my heart that you come. It is my heart that you all come,
that you all be found in Christ. Not having your own righteousness
of the law, but having His. And listen, this is the proof
of all who come to Him. Look at verse 6. All who come
to Him. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called. By all the flock of God, all
those that God calls, all those that are saved and dwell in safety,
this is the name by which we call the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, Jehovah Tisknu, Jehovah, we call
him God. We call Him Jehovah. Why? Because
that's who He is. We know who He is. He's God,
manifest in the flesh. And listen, we call Him this,
Our Righteousness. The Lord, Our Righteousness.
What's your hope? What's your righteousness? Well,
the Lord is my righteousness. That's not what false religion
says. False religion is a combination of His righteousness and yours.
That's not what we preach. We know Him as this, the Lord,
our righteousness. That's personal, isn't it? That's
personal. That's knowing Him personally.
Do you know Him personally as your righteousness? God's people
do. And we don't trust any other
righteousness. That's all. And you know what? I need to be fed with this, don't
you? I need to hear this again and again and again because I
still have the old man and this world that contends against me. I still have enemies who would
desire to overwhelm my soul and draw me from this. Therefore,
God says, I'll set up pastors to feed you! And this is how
we feed. We feed on this same gospel message. The Lord, our Righteous. And you know what you're lacking?
I want to tell you what you're lacking. Nothing. You ain't missing anything. You feel that way sometimes?
I know you do. You look at yourself and you
see nothing but sin. Well, that's a good thing, because
God's not relying on you for righteousness. He's relying on
His Son for righteousness. That's who I'm trusting. And that's who all God's people
trust. And God bless this to your hearts.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.