Isaiah chapter 2. And this morning, I just want
to look at these verses of Scripture, verses 1 through 5. I'm going
to read them for you, and then we're going to take them as they
come. We're going to go through this verse by verse, and may
God be pleased to open Christ to us in this. Isaiah chapter 2, the Word 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 into
it. And many people shall go and
say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us 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. And 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. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house
of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Now here, the Lord, in this chapter,
declares to us the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
establishment of His church in the world. His church. Now, it
says here, and it shall come to pass in the last days, this
Message, this was written some 700 years before the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet the Word is sure. It shall come
to pass. This was not a question. This
was not debatable. This was not a subject of speculation. But this was a declaration of
God. And that's what the Word of God
is. It is God's declaration. And what does God tell us in
His Word? He says, 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. The mountain. The
mountain of the Lord. The mountain of the Lord's house
is this rock. This rock upon which the church
of God is built upon which the souls of the elect are built
is Jesus Christ. He is the mountain. He is the
rock carved out of the mountain without hands. Now in this day, mountains were
necessary for defense. the city of Zion was actually
situated in where a mountain surrounded it. It was almost,
it was said to be an impenetrable place. Matter of fact in AD 70
when the Romans came in it was it was so difficult that they
had to actually wait them starve them out because they couldn't
get in. They couldn't get past. And so this mountain, in this
day, mountains were a refuge. And this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the mountain, He is the
refuge of God's church. And you think of a mountain,
you think of its massiveness, you think of its immovability. The mountains are established
from old. And so Christ, He is the refuge
that is established of God, the rock. Go to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 16. God talks of this rock. God speaks
of the rock of His church. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. The eternal Son of God is God's
foundation upon which all the church is built. It is built
upon Jesus Christ. He was chosen of the Father to
be the high priest and the mediator for His church. Behold, mine
elect, whom I have chosen, God says. See, this promise, this promise,
as I said, was given so many hundreds of years before Christ
was manifest in the flesh, and yet it came to pass even as God
said it would. He said, My mountain, the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains. Christ came into the world as
a man. And he did so to honor and magnify
the law of God which we have all failed to do. God's law is
holy and just. Is there anything, can you find
any fault with God's law? Is there any fault with God's
law? There is no fault with God's law. The fault lies with us in
that we have rebelled against that law. We have failed to honor
and magnify God. We have rebelled against our
Maker. And so, God in mercy... Consider that when Adam sinned,
you realize that none of us had any claim on God. None of us
have any claim on God. God could have left us as He
did the fallen angels. He could have, in justice, in
righteousness, not been gracious. But God, even before that, even
before the fall, purposed to be gracious. Matter of fact,
this is His name, isn't it? I will be gracious. I will be
merciful unto whom I will be merciful. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. The good news is that He will
have compassion. The merciful. The good news is
God's merciful. He's gracious. And this is why
we have this Word. Matter of fact, if God would
have not been gracious, it said, and He did eat, and we should
close the book. If God would not be gracious
to sinners, then this book would have not been written. But God
wrote this to show us His grace, His mercy. And therefore He sent
Christ to honor and magnify the law. He sent Christ to suffer
and bleed for the sins of those His people. And this same Jesus,
when He was crucified, after He was crucified, what happened?
God raised Him up. God exalted Him. Raised Him from the dead and
exalted His name above all names. Isn't that what our text is telling
us? The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established, where? In the tops of the mountains.
A mountain on top of a mountain. This is talking about Christ's
exaltation. He came and established the salvation
of His church by His work. And now God has exalted the mountain
above all other mountains. His name. Jesus Christ is risen from the
dead. And I tell you this, He was witnessed
to be alive of above 500 men. I said this before, this was
more than the men that signed the Declaration of Independence,
that witnessed that signing. And yet we have this infallible
evidence that Christ is risen from the dead. And you remember
in Acts chapter 1, as He spoke with them, as He talked with
them, these men witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ ascending up
into heaven. Ascending up into heaven. And what is he doing in heaven?
What is the Lord Jesus Christ doing in heaven? I'll tell you
what he's doing. He is moving all things after
the counsel of his own will. I tell you what, that is frustrating
to the flesh. But to us who are saved, it is
a joy to know that all things work together after the counsel
of His own will. He does all things after His
own will. And what is the will? What is
the will of God? What is the will of Christ? What
is He moving all things for? For the salvation of His people. That's what He's doing. He's
saving His people from their sins. And he sits right now at
the right hand of God doing his will. Hebrews 1 verse 3 said,
When he by himself purged our sins, hath ascended to the right
hand of the majesty on high. Sinners behold, God says in Psalm
89 verse 19, I have set help on one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. Who is this one? It is the Lord
Jesus Christ. For there is none other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. Do you realize that
there's only one Savior in all the world? There's only one name.
One name. One person by which sinners are
saved. Jesus Christ. That's it. And God has exalted Him above
every other name. And see this truth. Look at this
back in your text. In verse 1 at the end it says,
And all nations shall flow into it. All nations shall flow into
this mountain. All nations, tribes, tongues,
and people. At the time that this was written,
there was only one nation that the Law of God was given to,
the Jews. There was only one nation that
had the Word of God, that had the established worship of God
at that time. Consider the billions of people
outside of that. That this was only a small group.
It was only a small nation. And even fewer of those people
outside of this nation were ever brought in. There were very few Gentiles
brought in during this time before Christ. Few were brought in and
believed on Christ who was to come. But now that Christ has
come, He has opened the way for all types of men. All types of
men. All nations of men. All kinds
of men. Israel was set up to be a type
of the church, but now that the type is no longer necessary,
that shadow of the old covenant and those things have been brought
to light. Why were there sacrifices? Because
they pictured Christ who was to come. Israel as a nation pictured
the elect, the church of God. Now Paul says this, not all Israel
are of Israel. In other words, not everybody
who was a Jew was saved. But they as a people were a type. But now then that Christ the
light has come and all the types and shadows flee away to make
room for the real. Now the shadow is been replaced
by the light of Christ. Therefore now we say to all people,
come, come, come to Christ. We cry to sinners, come ye. Isn't that what the text says?
And many people shall go and say, come ye. Let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. We say to sinners, no matter
who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've
done, come ye to the mountain. Come
ye to the refuge. Come ye to Christ. Come ye. Come. Come and welcome. Come. God's free bounty. Glorify. True belief and true
repentance. Every grace that brings you now.
Come. Are you such a sinner that can by no means redeem yourself
to God? Are you such a sinner? Then come
to the refuge. Come to the refuge. Come to the
mountain. Are you such a one by no means
can a merit or approach unto God? Then come ye. Come ye to
the mountain. Well, how can God just, be just? How can God be holy and still
have mercy? Have you considered that? Because
that's an important question, isn't it? If God is holy, how
can He clear the guilty? If you were to go before a judge,
and you were truly guilty of the crime, and the judge were
to say, innocent, well then the judge should be held in contempt,
the judge should be put in prison, because he is not a just judge. God is a just judge, and He will
judge all men based on His own holy standard. When I was a kid,
when I was a little kid, we'd go to the park, go to the amusement
park, and the roller coaster had a standard. There was a height. And if you didn't reach that
height, you couldn't ride. And I remember never being, just
being just under that standard. And the guy would say, no, I
don't care how long you waited in line. I don't care how much
you paid to get into the park. It doesn't matter. There's a
standard. I tell you God's standard is infinite holiness. God's standard
is Himself. And if you don't meet the standard,
you will not enter into heaven. I don't care how sincere. When
people die, there's always this feeling of, you know, you don't
want to sully them or say anything bad about them. And a lot of
people say, well, oh, so and so must have earned his wings.
He's in heaven now. When I hear that, I just want
to close my ears because they don't have any clue about what
it takes to enter into glory. you and I must be as holy as
God and God will not wink God's justice will not blink there
won't be any error in this judgment so when you die listen and you
and I will die there's just no doubt about that we're gonna
die unless Christ comes back but most likely we will die when
we die we will stand before God and the only ones who will enter
His glory will be the righteous, the holy. Therefore, how can
God be just and justify us who have been guilty? How can we
be righteous who by nature are full of guilt and sin? The only
way is to be in Christ. He is the righteousness of God
and those who come to Him have His righteousness freely given
to them. Freely. This is it, to come into
the refuge. How shall you be protected from
the judgment of God except the refuge itself endure the judgment? Why is it that you come in out
of the rain? When it's raining, you want to
come in. Why? So that you don't get wet. So that the rain hits
the refuge instead of you. That's what it is. It hits a
building and not you. That's what it is to come to Christ.
When we come to Christ, the refuge, the judgment of God fell on Him. So that it does not fall on us. That's what it is to be in Christ. To believe on Him. It is to be
in the refuge. And this is the message of the
church. Come. Come. Come now to Christ. And he says this. Let us go to the mountain of
the Lord, which is Christ, to the house of the God of Jacob. Notice. He says to the house
of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways. I like this. He says the house of the God
of Jacob and not Israel. I think this is very important.
Jacob meant supplanter. It meant trickster. Isn't that what his name was?
He held to the heel of his brother and they called him trickster.
And that's what he was. He was a liar. Jacob was not
a good young man. He was a liar and a trickster. He was given another name later.
Israel means prince. Prince. But that's not what this
says. It's to the house of the God of the sinner. The house
of the God of Jacob. Behold that Jesus Christ came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Isn't
that what He came to call? He came to call sinners. Come
now and hear the word of God, O Jacob, sinner, sinner. Sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. For Christ is the only way to
God. Many say that Well, you know,
you got your way to God, and I've got mine. That's what you believe. But
I got my own way to God, and we're all gonna get there. We're
all going to heaven. We're all gonna get there somehow.
No, you won't. There's only one way to God.
There's no other way to God. There's one way. And this is
true. Jesus himself said this. Now
Jesus is either true or he is a liar. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the
life. No man comes to God but by me. I've heard this said by even
the Mohammedans, Islamic people, they say, well, Jesus Christ,
He was a prophet. I'll tell you what, you cannot
take that statement and say that if you don't believe Him. He said, by no man comes to the
Father but by Me. You won't get to the Father by
Mohammed, you won't get to the Father by your own works. The
only way you come to the Father is by Jesus Christ, that's it.
He is the only way to God. And all other men are liars. That's just all you can say.
If Christ is the truth, then all men are liars. And I tell you, there's no life
outside of Him. There's no life. This is the
only gospel that God Jesus Christ and him crucified
and this is the only message of the gospel that he teaches
grace You know, there are only two religions in all the world
works and grace Salvation by what man does or salvation by
the free merits of God's grace. That's it. There are no other
religions I don't care what you put on the door And God's Word is plain, that
we are saved by grace. And Paul says if it's of grace,
it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Salvation is not a cooperative
effort. Praise God. Praise God. It's not a cooperation. I'm so thankful that salvation
is all in the hands of Christ. That salvation is all of the
grace of God. If it were anything left to me,
I surely will perish. If anything left to you, you
will surely perish. If God left one thing undone
for you to do, there would be no hope at all for us. And I
find this more real more real now than I've ever experienced
in my life as a believer in Christ. I know that more now. And the
more I grow, the more I realize this is all His work and none
of mine. Since when, even of the commands
that He has given us, have we fully complied? love one another. Have you even fully complied
with what He's commanded us to do? No, we haven't. I'm so thankful
my salvation does not depend on anything I do, but all that
Christ does. This is what He teaches us. This
is what He's teaching me. Salvation is not a cooperative
effort, but was purposed of the Father, obtained by the Son,
given and kept by God the Holy Spirit. And we who are taught
of God will walk in His paths. That's what it says in our text.
He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths. In His paths. For out of Zion
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. We shall walk in his paths. What
are his paths? When Jesus said, My sheep hear
my voice. And they do what? They follow me. They follow me. How is it that we follow Christ?
By faith. Faith. This is the law out of
Zion. This is the Word of God out of
Jerusalem. It is the law of faith and love. That is how we follow Christ. We follow Him in faith and love. What does the Scripture tell
us? The just shall live how? By faith. By faith. Sounds simple, doesn't it? What do you mean? Faith? That's
it? You sure there's not more? Since when have you ever been
fully trusting in Christ? Is your faith so high and mature
that you need no more faith? I've got enough faith. I'm just
so full of faith right now, I need something else to do. I got to
have some more work to do. Faith is not enough. No, faith
is plenty. I tell you, it's more than we
can handle. And I tell you, it faith even is not of ourselves. It faith is a gift of God. And
if we have faith now, consider it a grace of God. Paul, Peter
says that it is precious. I think Jude said it is like
precious faith. Precious. What's more valuable than faith? There's nothing more valuable
to a believer. And I'll tell you, it's not even
our faith that's precious. It's rather the object of our
faith that's precious. Oh, don't have faith in your
faith. Don't do that. When you stand on your own faith,
it crumbles. melts in your hands, and you
say, what? I don't even have faith. My faith
is so weak, so empty. It's not your faith. It's the
object of your faith that's strong. It's the object of your faith
that is Christ. And we walk by this, we follow Him. Scripture tells us in Genesis
about this man Enoch. He walked with God. What a testimony he had. He walked
with God. What does that mean? How did
he walk with God? Some people say, well, you know,
in order to walk with God, you got to be obeying His commandments. You got to obey the Ten Commandments. In order to walk with God, in
order to get closer to God, I remember reading this in Texas one time
and it made me sick every time I read it. Ten commandments. God's ten commandments. God's
road to happiness. You've got to be kidding me.
All those commandments do is condemn me. That's all they can
do. They can't help me. They can't
provide any joy for me. So how is it that Enoch walked
with God then? Did he have the Ten Commandments?
They weren't even written. How did he walk with God? The
apostle tells us in Hebrews chapter 11. He walked by faith. In other words, everything that
man did, everything that man done, he always looked to God. He always trusted Christ should
come. That's what he was looking for.
Everywhere he went, he was looking for Christ to come. He trusted
God. That's how we walk with God. By faith in Jesus Christ. That's how we walk in His paths. And may His testimony be our
testimony. Therefore, the Word of God. The
Word of God then, believer, is our rule and guide for faith
and practice. We do not trust in creeds. This
church, I have not recommended any creed of man for a specific
reason. because eventually a man will
take the creed above the word of god that's what's happened
in most in reform theology is they've taken the creed and subjected
the word of god to the creed we don't do that what flows out of zion what flows
out of the mountain of god is this word we preach this word. God's word. Not creeds or traditions
of men, but solely thus saith the Lord. Now go to verse 4. And he shall
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many. The gospel of Jesus Christ, before
it saves, what does it do? it rebukes. It rebukes. Man by nature is at enmity against
God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God, Paul said, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be. That has to do with both will
and ability. Man cannot and man will not be
subject to God. Because man is depraved by nature, his sword is set against God. But when the Spirit comes to
reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, you remember the
Lord tells us that. He says the Holy Spirit, when
He shall come, He shall reprove the world of sin. Rebuke the
world of sin. Because they believe not on Me. They believe not on the Son of
God. This is the first and greatest
rebuke. If God is ever going to save
anyone, He must first feel His need. You know, of all the sins
of men, unbelief, God counts the greatest. Now, all sin is worthy of hell,
but I'll tell you, a man only goes to hell who will not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, unbelief of the Son
of God is counted the greatest sin. I believe it is the blasphemy
of the Holy Spirit, his unbelief of Christ, because the Spirit
of God, what is his purpose? It is to witness of Christ. And when men will not believe
the testimony of the Spirit of God, it is blasphemy. It is the
unforgivable, the unpardonable sin is not believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every one of you are sinners.
I know that. God's Word testifies of that.
And you believe, you especially know it because you've already
been rebuked of it. You know it, and you know it more every
day. But I will ask you, oh sinner,
why will you die? Why will you die? You will die because of unbelief. I tell you this, just as much
as the Word of God teaches the sovereignty of God, it also teaches
the responsibility of man to believe. And I will not negate
either one of them, because I can't, just because I can't reconcile
them doesn't mean I won't preach them, because God said so. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's what it says. But why will you die? This is
to a man who himself has been rebuked of unbelief and is believing
on Christ. It is plainly simple. Why will
you die? Christ has already suffered and
died the penalty of death for sin. Why will you die? Come to
Christ. Come to Christ and be reconciled
to God. Behold, the righteousness of
God is only in Christ. who has gone to the Father. And
what more proof do you need of the righteousness of Christ and
His resurrection? You know why people die? Because
of sin. What keeps them in the ground
is sin. What could not keep Christ in
the ground was that He had no sin. Therefore, God raised him from
the dead. He said, the prince of this world
is judged. So who? So will God judge all
men by the same righteous standard of Jesus Christ. By this gospel
does God rebuke men and cause us to surrender. Isn't that what
it says in our text? He says, when a man is rebuked,
he shall rebuke many people. And what are they going to do?
They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. In other words, that rebellious
nature that had swords and spears against God, what does the Spirit
of God do? They change. Their hearts are
no longer rebellious toward God. They believe. They trust. They surrender. That's what it
is to believe. It is to surrender. And notice what their swords
and spears become, pruning hooks and plowshares. In other words,
they become farmers. Instead of warriors, they become
farmers. They become fruitful, that's what he's saying. They
become fruitful in every good work. The Spirit of God causes them
to grow in the graces of God, in the fruits of the Spirit. Nation shall not rise, shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. You see, our warfare with God
has ceased. Ceased. Because Christ had made
peace for us by the blood of His cross. He had made peace. And we shall not war with God. But that does not mean we do
not have a warfare within. When God creates a new nature
in us, He also did not eradicate the old. And so therefore, there is a
warfare. There's no longer a warfare with
God, but rather there's a warfare in self. There's a warfare that
is within us of conflict. And I say with David, teach my
hands to war. Teach my hands to war. With who? Me. To war against myself. My flesh. May God teach us. And He does
so through many trials and many troubles and many afflictions.
You know, believer, you should expect affliction. I know, I
tell you that, and I myself am surprised every time. When I'm
overwhelmed with affliction, I'm surprised. Oh, Lord, why
am I thus? I ask it every time. It's not
anything new. It's often my prayer. Why am I thus? If I'm an object
of grace, if I'm an object of mercy, then how come I'm troubled? Why am I afflicted? We often envy even the wicked,
don't we? They're not troubled like we
are. They walk about and they're satisfied with the cares and
with the things of this world. They're content. And we find
no contentment in them. We find struggle, strife, and
difficulty everywhere we turn. We turn this way, trouble. This
way, sorrow. This way, affliction. This way,
difficulty. We are surrounded on every side. Lord, teach my hands to war. You know what I fight? I fight
against the flesh so that I might trust God in all things. Because I'm at peace with Him.
Though I might be at war with everything else, I'm at peace
with Him. Peace. Because He hath made peace. I'm not at peace because I made
it. I'm at peace because He made it. He made it. House of Jacob come ye let us
walk in the light of the Lord Has God not shined the light
of the gospel into our hearts crying Abba Father Then walk
in that light Don't get out of that light stay in it Always
looking to Christ. Always trusting in Christ. Walk by faith in Christ. If you've come into the mountain,
you're safe. Now walk in that light. Walk
in the light of that. And know this, we have fellowship
with God. I don't always feel I have fellowship
with God. Most of the time I feel alone. I know you do. We have these
melancholy times. But faith is, I'm never alone. Cheryl tells me that often. He's
here with you. He's here with you. I'll tell
you, I don't feel like he's here with me. Praise God, my feelings
have nothing to do with this. He is always with us. And we have fellowship with God
and fellowship with one another. Because these things I'm telling
you, I'm not telling you anything that you don't know. These things
you know. You know. And we walk together in this
light. What a glorious light. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ and Him risen again. He's all my salvation. And listen,
Jerusalem, you are complete in Him. What do you have need of? What
does God require of you that He's not already given? Walk in that light. May God even give us grace to
do so.