I'll go back to Isaiah chapter
2 with me. I said something to you a few
weeks back about possibly going through Isaiah. I'm still not
certain of that, but here we are in chapter 2. If you, like
me, have started reading it, you've been blessed by it, I
know. If we do go through it, I probably won't go through every
verse, but just certain portions of each chapter, perhaps. Isaiah
1 begins this way, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amos. Chapter
2 begins the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw. Vision,
the word. What Isaiah saw with his own
eyes, he saw coming to pass from the word of God. The word of
God declares the end from the beginning. He was a prophet.
And prophets told things that had not yet happened. And the
scripture says, and Moses' book says, this is how you know a
true prophet. If it comes to pass, then that's
the prophet of God. And it all did. Isaiah is prophesying
Many things. But he and Micah and some others
told of the certain destruction of Jerusalem. And it was about
a hundred and some years before it happened in 586 BC, I believe
it was. Isaiah prophesied of the destruction
of Jerusalem 150 years or so before that. And it happened.
It happened. But what he saw, he saw from
the Word of God. He saw with the eye of faith.
It's the same with us. We don't walk by sight. We walk
by faith. all around us is what the Lord
has said would happen. You see, everything taking place
exactly like the Lord said it would. The world, you know, moves
and lives by sight. We don't look at things that
are seen. They're delusional. They're temporary. They're not real. They're not
real. Things that are unseen, Scripture
said, are eternal. God. In Him we live and move
and have our being. Well, God, you can't see God.
Well, you sure see His hand and everything. And His Word. We
know this is God's Word. There is no doubt in your mind,
is there? I don't mean to shadow the doubt.
Is there? So Isaiah, he said, this is his
vision, and this is what he saw from the Word of God. And this
is what we clearly see. Listen to this. Isaiah said in
chapter 8, verse 20, If they speak not according to my word,
there's no light in them. If you don't have light, you
can't see. You're in darkness. He said to the law and to the
testimony, that's the old and new test, the law and the gospel,
if they don't speak according to my word, Isaiah said, no light
in them. Men are blind in darkness. Jeremiah 23 says this, Jeremiah
prophesied of the destruction of Israel also. And then he was
right in the middle of it when it happened. And they took him
captive and put him in a dungeon. Remember? For telling them God
was going to destroy the city. And they didn't like it. Well,
it happened. And he was a real comfort to
the people when it did. But Jeremiah said, they speak
a vision of their own hearts. Speaking of false prophets. Not
from the Word of the Lord. He said, he that hath the dream,
let him tell his dream. What's the chapter of the week?
He that hath my word, let him tell my word. So Isaiah said,
this is not my vision, but this is what the Lord gave me. And
this is not my word, but it's the Lord's word. And it's the
same with me and us. What we see, we see clearly from
God's word. What we're telling is from God's
word. The vision, what all we see, God has clearly revealed
to us from His word. It's all clearly coming to pass.
We're in these last days that Isaiah is speaking of. Look at
verse 1. Concerning Judah and Jerusalem, it shall come to pass
in the last days. That's now. So all of this is
coming to pass now, what he's talking about. Now what did Isaiah
see? The word that Isaiah saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem. What did Isaiah see? Well, in
chapter 1, we've already been through it. He saw mankind. He saw a world that was corrupt
and rebellious and sick. A sick society from the sole
of their feet, the way they walk, to the top of their head, the
way they think. There's no soundness in them. Don't you clearly see
that already? Ah, perverted. Chapter 59. Isaiah, the old writers call
it the fifth gospel. Isaiah, the fifth gospel. It's a Bible in itself. And in
chapter 59, he says, judgment's backwards. You've read it. None
calleth for truth. None calleth for justice. Justice
is backwards. He says they call good, in chapter
3, they call good evil and evil good and sweet, bitter and bittersweet.
They've got it all backwards. That's what Isaiah saw. He saw
a corrupt world. He lived in it and wanted to
come, and it's going to get worse. That's what he's saying. He saw
corrupt religion. Why was society so bad then? Why is it so bad now? Why did
God destroy Israel back then, and why is He going to destroy
the world soon? False religion. Idolatry. That's right. That's the reason.
Society, there's no man standing in the pulpit declaring a holy
and just and righteous God. Just a few. Isaiah, Micah, the
rest, the land was full of false prophets. It's worse now. It's
a whole lot worse now. A few men were declaring God
on His throne, sovereign, God holy, righteous, just, will by
no means clear the guilty. He'll punish sin. He's angry
with the wicked. And there's one way. Repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And people didn't believe them
back then. Just a few, just a remnant. And just a few today. Corrupt religion. He saw a nation,
a people forsaken of God. Chapter 2, verse 6, look at it,
verse 6. He said, Therefore hast thou
forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob. Meaning religion. God forsook it. Ichabod was written
over the door. It means glory hath departed. You knew that, didn't you? Ichabod.
The glory hath departed. What's the glory of God? His
sovereign electing grace. Exodus 33. You know these things. You know what is glory. Moses
said, Lord, show me your glory. He said, I'll be merciful to
whom I will. I'll be gracious to whom I will. It's His sovereign
mercy, His sovereign grace. That's His glory. Ichabod is
over the door. He saw a rich and prosperous
people, chapter 2. Rich. No end to their silver
and gold and their horses and their chariots. And there's never
been a more affluent society in the history of the world.
Not Rome, not the Medes and Persians. Nowhere, no time as it is now. He saw proud people, lofty looks,
haughtiness of men. Chapter 3. He saw people that
were not ashamed of their sin, but rather making an open show
of it. Declaring their sin, he said,
like Sodom. And God said of Sodom, they are
exceedingly sinful. Only a couple of times God said,
The people were exceedingly sinful. And it was Sodom and Gomorrah.
These are the last days. Isaiah saw the people and kingdom
of God intermixed with all the woe. You've read it, haven't
you? Woe unto you Babylon. Woe unto you Egypt. Woe unto
you Syria and so on and so forth. Woe, woe, woe. He saw the church
of God. We're going to look at in chapter
2 in just a minute. The Church of God, the Kingdom
of God, triumphant by the mercy of God. A remnant, according
to the election of grace, of people like Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, and Daniel, just a few men who would not bow their
knee like everybody else would. Why? Because God chose them. That's why. Isaiah Saul chapter
6. Are you with me? I haven't summed
up the whole book. He saw the Lord high and lifted
up. He was trained to fill the temple. Because of His glory, the whole
earth shook. And the angels cried one thing. What did they cry? Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God above. And he said, woe is me. I'm unclean. I've got a bunch of people. Everybody
around me is unclean. What are we going to do? That's
what he saw. Isaiah saw in chapter 7 the God-man
come in. God said, I'll show you a sign.
A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Call his name Immanuel. In chapter 25, the people said,
here he is. We've waited on him. Our God
has come. Immanuel. Isaiah 7, verse 14. He saw the God-man in chapter
9, verse 6. A child is born. A son is given.
A wonderful counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting
Father. The Prince of Peace. Of His government. No end. He
saw Christ. He saw Christ high and lifted
up. His train filled the temple. He saw Christ crucified. Chapter 53. That's why He came. He had to. To put away those
sins of all those people He was talking about. And we see these
things. We see all these things. We see
it in our day. Corrupt world, corrupt religion. But thank God we see His church
triumphant. Right here you are. We see a
remnant. It's not a big crowd. Nowhere
is there a big throng of people that believe the truth. No, it's
never been the case. A remnant according to what?
The election of grace. How many people believe that?
The elective. How many people today that you
know of believe the things that I've been talking about thus
far? The Scriptures I've been dealing with thus far. Do you? Do you really? You're one of
the elect. You love the truth. Not only
believe it, you love it, don't you? And you know this is God's
glory. We see these things. We see above
all, Christ high and lifted up. Christ and Him crucified. And
so we speak. We cannot help but speak the
things we've seen and we've heard. And that's what Isaiah did. And
they didn't like him, and they didn't like Jeremiah, and they
didn't like Micah, and they didn't like Amos, they didn't like Ezekiel,
they didn't like any of them. And they killed them all. And
they still don't like him. I thank God we do. I believe
we've got a remnant in here. All right, chapter 2. That was
my introduction. It said the word that Isaiah
saw. That's what he saw from the word
of God and all around him. That's what we see. Verse 1,
this is the word concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Judah was a remnant. Judah was one tribe out of twelve
of people that were supposed to be God's people. Are you with
me? They're supposed to be sons of
Jacob. They're supposed to be God's people. There was one tribe
that was true to the Lord. What? All the kings of Israel. Not
Judah, but Israel. Every single king of Israel after
Solomon split. Israel and then Judah. God said,
I've reserved one tribe to Myself. All the kings of Israel were
idolatrous kings. Worshipped idols. Every one of
them. While Judah had some good men like Asa, Josiah. When's the last time you read
that story of Josiah? Man, wish we had a president
like him. Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat. Judah was a remnant. A remnant. Romans 9. Do you love Romans
9? What's that talk about? What's
that whole chapter all about? God's sovereign election of a
people. Starting with Abraham. Then Isaac. And then Jacob. And then, no, it's not because
they're Abraham's son. It's because God chose them.
He's not a Jew which is one outwardly, but inwardly. Chosen of God.
Circumcised by God. Not with hand, but by the Spirit
of God. And Romans 9 says, what do you
say to these things? Huh? God's people say, Amen and
Amen. A remnant, according to the election
of grace. At this present time, I believe
this room is full of that remnant. Judah was a remnant. What about
Judah? That's where the Lord came from.
That's His line. Oh, there's sinners. Judah was
a sinner. When was the last time you read
the story about Judah? He got with Tamar. Remember?
Man, he's a sinner. And then on down the line is
Rahab. Oh, my. And Bathsheba. But that all proves that he was
numbered with the transgressors. This is the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. And a scepter shall not depart
from his hand until Shiloh come. Peace forever. The surety. You want to hear that message?
Judah the surety? Send the lad with me. I'll bring
him home. You love that, don't you, men?
I do too. We all do. How many people have even heard
that, sister? How many people? You have time
and time again. Where's somebody else? God's people are not going to
be hungry. And they're going to feast on these fat things.
Judah. Jerusalem. Concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. You know what Jerusalem is talking
about, don't you? The whole world, isn't it significant
in these last days, the whole world is thinking about Jerusalem.
Israel. They're thinking about the wrong
one. We've been thinking about it
and talking about it. We talk about it every time we get together.
What Jerusalem? Heavenly Jerusalem. Listen to
this. I, John, saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And He carried me away in the
Spirit. See, this is what the Spirit of God shows us, gives
us eyes to see. And He showed us a high mountain. And showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. One of these days, one of you
women is going to shout, hallelujah, and we're going to have a revival. Having the glory of God. That's
the church. And a high mountain. Her light
was like the stone most precious. Stone most precious. Her light. New Jerusalem. The church. That's
who he's talking about here. Verse 2. It shall come to pass
in the last day that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it." The Lord's
house. What is the Lord's house? God
does not dwell in buildings made with hands, does He? But He does
dwell in a house. It's His church. It's His people. They are His temple, right? You're
the temple of God. This is the temple. Not this,
but this is the temple of God. Isn't he? He dwells in that. It's the Lord's house. Bethel.
God's house. That's the first mention of God's
house. Bethel. You know that story?
It's where Jacob laid down his head on a stone pillar and God
showed him a ladder from earth to heaven. What's that? Something reaching from earth
to heaven. The way from earth to get to God. What's that? You
know what? It's Christ. Christ said this. In John 1, Christ said, You're
going to see the angels of God descending and ascending on the
Son of Man. And Jacob saw Christ in that
letter. And God revealed to Jacob there
His covenant. God didn't ask Jacob anything.
God didn't, please won't you accept me. No, God told him everything
He was going to do. But this is what I'm going to
do for you, Jacob. And made this covenant concerning
him. And he just said, I'm going to do it. And Jacob awoke and said, this
is the house of God. Bethel. He was here, and I didn't
know it. And I was in the midst of it
for so long, and I did not know it. And there's probably somebody
in here that's in the middle of God's house, and they don't
know it. And I'm hoping He'll wake them up, show them the way,
and give them this faith. That's where the first mention
of God's house is. Bethel. This is Bethel. This
is Bethel right now. Bethel's down in Spring Lake,
and Bethel's in Rocky Mountain, and Bethel's in Madisonville,
and Bethel's in Kingsport, and Fairmont, and Houston. Bethel,
the house of God. The church, our blessed Redeemer,
saved with His own precious blood. It's God's house. David said,
that's the one thing I desire. I want to be a member of His
household and dwell there forever. in the Lord's house. I had so
many scriptures I was going to read to you about God's house. I've got to go on. Verse 2 says,
this house, the mountain of the Lord's house. Now, the title
I know was very interesting to you. Maybe you came tonight because
the title was interesting. Well, I didn't make it up. I
try not to Make clever titles. I think we could get more people
in if I came up with some really clever titles. But I ain't going
to do that. I'm not going to do that at all.
This is scripture. A house on a mountain. That's
what this is talking about. Not a clever title, it's truth.
A house on a mountain. What mountain? It says on the
top of the mountain, above all other mountains. What mountain?
Look at verse 3, or verse 2. I'm sorry, verse 3, many shall
come, 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 of his way. We will walk in his path, for
out of Zion shall go forth the law. Now, the church is called
Mount Zion, OK? But that's not the mountain that
this is talking about. This is the building, the house
on top of the mountain, all right? It's above every other mountain. It's above Sinai. It's above
Mount Hermon. It's above Mount Pisgah. Would
you like to hear a message on that? The Mount of Olives. It's high above all other mountains. It's the mountain where the Lord's
house is built. It's the mountain on which He
stands. What mountain do you think I'm talking about right
now? Mount Calvary. Christ, the Rock of Ages. That's
who we are built on. That's where the church is built.
It's not a literal place, it's a person. The Lord Jesus Christ,
who's high above all else. High above all else. Christ,
the rock of ages, the sure foundation. The Lord's house is built on
Christ and Him crucified. And He's high and lifted up in
it. And He's lifted up us above all else. Like the Ark of Noah.
Remember when God destroyed the world? and put His people in
that ark, and it says the water rose high above all the mountains,
and there was one thing seen. There was nothing on earth that
you could see. Nothing! Not the highest mountain,
not Kilimanjaro, not Everest that everybody wants to climb.
It was underwater. And there was one thing that
had risen above it, high and lifted up. It was the ark. And
that's Christ. and Him crucify. And He's lifted
us up. And He raised us up. Above it
all. Higher than the mountains. On
Mount Calvary, verse 2, it says the church is on top of the mountains
and built on this mountain. Verse 2 says established. See that? The Lord's house shall
be established on the top of the mountain. established, fixed,
grounded, and settled. Listen to this. First Peter,
and I sent you this memory verse one time not too long ago. First
Peter begins this way. Don't you love First Peter? You
want to hear that preacher? We just preached from him. But Peter begins this way. We're
elect right out of the bat. Elect, according to the foreknowledge
of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, His obedience and
His blood. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be the Lord God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according
to His abundant mercy, hath forgotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And it goes on
and on. We are kept by the power of God. That's how 1 Peter began.
Listen how it ends. Listen how 1 Peter ends. 1 Peter chapter 5 says, The God
of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Jesus Christ, after you've suffered a while, he's going to make you
perfect, he's going to establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. It begins and ends with
Christ, built on Christ the solid rock. And like old Zerubbabel,
you like to hear a message on that? It's going to lay the top
stone with shouts of grace, grace unto it. Alright, back to our text.
In verse 2, it says, All nations shall flow unto it, the house
of God. Built on Christ crucified. All
nations shall flow unto it. The house of God. They're going
to flow to where the blood flows. To where the water flows. Aren't they? Out of that smitten
rock. Where the cool waters flow and
bathe the weary one's feet. We sing that song all the time.
They're going to flow unto it. He's going to bring them to this
church. It's where the blood flow, where the water comes out
of that smitten rock. Jew and Gentile, all nations. All nations. And it talks about
a remnant and yet many. Doesn't it say many? Many shall
say. Many shall say. Shall go to the
house of the Lord and say, come ye, let's go up to the mountain. Many. And this started, I believe,
in the book of Acts, in the Pentecost. I said there was never, you know,
the church in great numbers. Well, at Pentecost in Jerusalem
there were, but you know they didn't have a central meeting
place. There were too many. You couldn't get five, ten, sixteen. 10,000 people in one building. They met in various places. I
told you there were 82 preachers of the gospel. So they're preaching
everywhere around Jerusalem. But that's a picture of a church. The Jew and Gentile. Jew and
Gentile. We don't have any Jews in here,
I don't think. I don't think. Everybody's a
spiritual Jew. But we've got a lot of Gentiles.
A lot of Gentile, from every clime or every kindred tongue
and nation on earth. Mostly English, got a lot of
English, got a lot of Irish, Scottish, German, Italian, African,
New York. That's a foreign country. California,
Ohio, Everywhere. They're from everywhere.
How'd they get here? It's Flo and I did it. He brought
them. He said, I'll say to the North,
give up. If you're going to give up. Scott used to say, stack
your guns, boys. Give up the South. Bring my people
from North, South, East and West. Many shall go. And say, verse
3, I love it. Come ye. Come, come with me. Let's go to the mountain of the
Lord, the house of God of Jacob. He'll teach us of His way. What
did the woman at the well say? Come see a man. Is not this the
Christ? That's what we tell people. Come
to our church. You'll hear good music. No. No. Come see a man. The God man. Is not this the Christ? What
did Moses say to his father-in-law? Come thou with us, we'll do you
good. Why? Because the Lord has promised
good things to Israel. He says, they'll say come and
he'll teach us. He'll teach us. You know, here's
what our Lord said. Oh, I love this book. Don't you? Our Lord said in John 6, 45,
He said, dear, it's written in the Prophets, Isaiah, they shall
be all taught of God. What are they taught? What the
Holy Spirit teaches. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them. Not Jewish history. History. Right? Not about Armageddon. Calvary. And they shall all be taught
of God, and every man that hath heard and learned of the Father
does what? Cometh unto me, Christ. Sisters, tell me, that's how
I know we're God's people. He's brought us here. We've come
here to hear about Jesus Christ. Yes, sir. And they'll come. And Isaiah prophesied of this
long ago. That's what they're going to
say. Come, He'll teach us. We'll walk in His paths. What
are the paths of the Lord? David wrote, all the paths of
the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant. He said He'll teach sinners the
way. Psalm 25. What's the way? Christ. You never
get away from that. Why would you want to? He walked
in his path. For out of Zion, listen, verse
3, out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. What law? Not Sinai. We are not under the law. Church is not under the law.
But we are under the law to Christ. The law that Zion preaches, The
law that goes forth from the pulpit of God's church is the
royal law, the law of Christ, the law of grace, the law of
the spirit of life. Not sin and death. Paul wrote
about that. It's not the law of Romans 8.
The law of sin and death is Sinai. The law of Christ is life. It's the law of love. His command. Listen. Here's the law from Sinai. And listen to the law that goes
forth from Zion. Okay? The law that came from
Mount Sinai says guilty. The law that comes from Zion
says justified. The law that comes from Sinai
says the soul that saith shall surely die. The law that comes
from Zion says he that believeth shall live. Hathlot. The law from Sinai says, do. The law from Zion says, done. The law from Sinai says, you're
naked. The law from Zion says, clothed,
covered. The law from Sinai says, undone,
unclean. The law from Zion says, complete. The law from Sinai says, rejected. The law from Zion says, what?
Accepted! The law from Sinai says wrath's
coming down. The law from Zion says love came
down. You want to take a sip. This
is the law that comes from Zion, from His holy hill. This is it. We don't preach the,
we do preach the law, but it's not made for a righteous man.
The law is lawful and if it's used lawfully, if you preach
it, to make men guilty. And once they're guilty and they
repent and believe Christ, they're not under the law. They don't
go back to the law. We're under the royal law of
Christ. Aren't you glad? Free from the law, O happy condition. The Lord Jesus hath bled and
there is remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fall, but Christ hath redeemed us. It's a good message, isn't it? Yeah. Verse 4. And this lawgiver, the one who
gave the law, the one who fulfilled the law, he's the judge. He shall
judge among the nations. Christ is the judge. They say
Jesus wouldn't judge anybody. Hold on now. He's judging everybody. He said the Father judges no
man. He's committed all judgment to
the Son. It says in Acts that God has appointed a day in which
He will judge all men in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained,
Jesus Christ. He is the judge. He sits at the
right hand of the majesty on high judging the world. It says in verse 4, He shall
rebuke many people. What does it say in Matthew 7?
that many will stand before His throne someday and say, Lord,
Lord, we've prophesied, we've preached in Your name, we've
done all these things. He said, I never knew you. This is Jesus
that men say wouldn't hurt a flea. He's going to rebuke them. Rebuke them. But some of them,
verse 4, all of God's people that receive this rebuke, They
shall beat their swords into plowshares, like old Scott said,
stack your guns, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. What does this mean? It's just written a couple, two
or three times. Well, swords and spears and all
that are weapons of war. And we at one time were enemies,
enmity against God, to carnalize enmity against God. We were enemies
with God, we were enemies with one another. It was enmity between
Jew and Gentile. Religious and irreligious and
so on and so forth. But he had broken down that enmity. He's reconciled us to God, made
peace with God by the blood of his cross, and he's made peace
with us with one another, okay? We're not at war anymore with
one another. We're not at war with God. He's
not at war with us. We're not at war with each other.
The Prince of Peace has ordained peace in his church. What is
this plow shares and pruning hooks? What do you do with a
plow? You break up fallow ground. What
do you do with a pruning hook? Well, when something grows up
and the fruit comes up, you prune the tree. Meaning, we're all
husbandmen. We all work in the fields of
the Lord. We're laborers together, sowing precious seed. Paul said,
I plant, I water, Paulus waters, the Lord gives in. We're laborers
together with Christ, preaching this Word that prunes us. Now, we're not
at war anymore. We don't need swords. We've got
one. Like the disciple, I never understood
what that meant. Maybe now I do. He said, here's
a sword. That's enough. But we're not at war anymore.
Not with God. Not with one another. And we're
laborers together in His house. Now let's end this. It says in
verse 5, O house of Jacob, O Israel, come ye. And let us walk in the
light of the Lord. Don't you love that? Oh, house
of Israel, come. Let us walk in the light of the
Lord. God is light. Christ is light. Great light has shone upon us.
Those that sat in darkness have seen a great light in them. Christ
is light. Walk in the light of the Gospel,
in the light of His Word, in the light of Christ. We come
to the house of God. And we walk by faith, and we're
marching to Zion. She just played that to me. Come we that love the Lord, and
let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord,
and thus surround the throne. Okay, stay with me.