Thank you. Alright, back to Isaiah 29. If you desire, if someone desires
to know who God is, what God is like, how He does things,
what He says about man, what God says about man, what God
says about salvation, who Christ is, You can read the book of
Isaiah in the Old Testament. That's the only book you have.
It will be enough to tell you who God is, who Christ is, what
man is, what salvation is. Or in the New Testament, the
book of Romans, those two books. We noted before that our Lord
quoted Isaiah more than any other. The apostles quoted Isaiah more
than any other prophet. And that's as it should be, because
Isaiah is so relevant to our day. It's still so relevant. What Isaiah says is so relevant, so necessary,
so pertinent to our day, to our generation. Now, all the way
through Isaiah, he pronounces woe on his generation. He says it 21 times. If you'll
just browse through, start at the very first verse of several
chapters, you'll see woe. First words out of his mouth,
start of a chapter, woe. 21 times. Woe unto them, woe, woe, woe.
And this needs to be heard in this generation. Not God loves
you. No, woe, woe. And in spite of
the multitude of preachers, and the woods are full of them. In
spite of all the preachers who are standing up right now, telling
men and women how much God loves them, and that there's peace
and wants, has a wonderful plan. Peace, peace. when there is no
peace. He that believeth not, the wrath
of God abideth on him, the scripture said. He that believeth not is
condemned already, the scripture said. Peace, peace? No. Woe is unto them. There is no gospel without first
hearing, woe is unto me. And it needs to be heard in our
generation, and we are blessed to hear it. And though a few of us, and I
include myself in these preachers who preach the truth, I do. I include myself. Though I preach the gospel, I
have nothing to glory in. But there are a few of us who
preach the truth. And we're accused of spoiling
the religious party. We're accused of negative preaching. They wouldn't have sat and listened
to Isaiah for five minutes. Isaiah, is that all you say,
is whoa? Jeremiah? Elijah? What about that Micaiah? He doesn't ever say anything
good. Well, I still say that this is
so relevant today. Woe is unto us. Woe is unto my
generation. And it's because of what Isaiah
said about his generation. Look at it, verse 9. Isaiah said,
just stop and think, stop and look at this. Wonder. Cry out
and cry. They're drunken. Everybody's
drunk. That's what he's saying. Everybody's drunk. Well, it's
not with wine. They stagger, they're staggering
around, they're all in a stupor. But it's not with strong drink.
What is it? It's religion. You know, all this, you see it,
turn your TV on, you see it, all the so-called anointing,
don't you? They're just literally staggering
around. Everybody acts like they're drunk.
This is so relevant, isn't it? You cannot turn your TV on today
and look at a religious service that everybody doesn't act like
they're drunk. You know how drunks act, don't
you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Waddling on the floor and carrying
on and whooping and hollering and dancing. You tell me if this isn't relevant
today. Well, look at it now. Look at
the cause of this. It says, The Lord, verse 10,
had poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep. They have a spirit, all right,
but it's not God's Holy Spirit. You know what the Holy Spirit
does to people? Stand still and see the salvation of God.
Don't whoop and holler and shout and dance. Stand still. Don't
jump up and shout. Sit down. Shut up. You can't hear the word if you
don't shut up. It sits them clothed in their
right minds to study this book. One man standing up like Nehemiah
did, like Ezra did, in a pulpit of wood, giving the understanding
of the Scripture. That's the Spirit of God. But
now another spirit says, God poured out on them a spirit of
deep sleep and closed your eyes. The prophets and rulers and seers,
those who are supposed to know, they're blind. They're blind
leaders. They're blind. And without you
turning to it, let me tell you about it over in 2 Thessalonians
2. In 2 Thessalonians 2, it says
that God sends strong delusions. God sends strong delusions on
them which receive not the love of the truth. In other words,
God, this is the truth. All right. This is God's word,
this is how God speaks, this is how God deals, this is the
power of God, this is the word of God, this is how God speaks
to human beings. Know the way, not signs, visions,
one, through the word. This is the truth. I mean, it's
got to be all of it, too. It can't be part of it. It's
got to be all of it. The whole truth. Nothing but
the truth. You know the truth. The truth
will set you free. Christ did. Christ said, sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. This is the truth. Because they
receive not the love of the truth. In other words, men say, oh,
yes, God's Word, and that's good. We like that book. We like all
this. There's more. No, there's nothing
more. But we want to feel it. David
said, Make my feeling. The good feelings
I have be because of the Word. What emotions I have, let it
be founded on the Word. You understand? The excitement
I get, let it come from the Word. The truth. Because they receive
not the love of the truth, they say, well, we believe the Word,
but there's more. There's tongues, there's visions,
there's signs, there's, you know, there's all of this new baptism. He says, all right, my word's
not good enough. You kind of set my word over
to the side. He said, I'm going to send you strong delusions.
And he sends spirit. He sends strong delusions. That
they believe not, live alive. Well, this is real. Hey, we saw
a certain person healed the other day. He probably did. But so-and-so, they were dead
broke, now they're rich. Maybe they are. Doesn't mean
God's in it. Salvation has to do with sin,
God's holiness, and the need of Christ. And it comes through the preaching
of this book. About signs and visions and wonders. Our eyes
are drunk, they're stagnant. We've got a spirit. God has closed
the eyes of the seer. Verse 11, read on. Verse 11 says,
"...the vision of all," that is, the vision of all, all of
this, the vision of all of this, "...is become as unto you as
the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that
is learned." Here it stands up with D.D., Doctor of Divinity,
or M.D., Master of Divinity, or so-and-so, fellow of religious
learning. The books are delivered to him.
Preach on Noah. Tell us about Noah. So the man
will stand up and start preaching about Noah and never mention
Christ's name. And that's what the whole story
is about. That's why it happened. Preach on Abraham, preach on
the law, preach on this and that and the other. But it's sealed
to him. He doesn't have a clue. I tell you what, all he needs
is a clue to understand the whole book. Just take one clue. Here it is. Christ is all and in all. The vision of all. It becomes
the words of a book to seal. You're a learned fella. Well
then, verse 12, they deliver the book to him that's not learned.
Here's this country preacher. He said, I ain't got no education.
I don't use notes. I just stand up and preach. You
sure do, man. That's reading in between words. Like an epileptic idiot. You
sure are unlearned and ignorant, you fool. Paul told Timothy, you study
to show yourself approved. Now read this, he said, I don't
know much about that, but I tell you what, you better do this.
Ignorant fool. Sit down before your tongue trips
you up. In verse 13 he says, the Lord
said, wherefore the Lord said, forasmuch as this people draw
near me with their mouth, and with their lips they do honor
me. That's religious lip service. Our Lord quoted this, didn't
he? Well, he said, well did Isaiah
the prophet say, this people draw near with their lips. He's
talking to a bunch of religious people, a whole religious crowd
of people. Everybody's religious. We believe God. We believe God.
We believe God. We accept Jesus. service. Peter said it, to have
a form of godliness. Everybody does in the United
States of America. You don't want to be thought
an absolute heathen, do you? Sure, I love Jesus, man. Ain't
no heathen. You believe God? Well, sure I
do, man. I don't ever worship Him. I don't have a clue what
this is about. A form of godliness, you say.
A form of religion. But Peter said they deny the
power thereof. The sovereignty of God. The holiness
of God. The absolute rights of God. Have a form of godliness. Yeah,
we believe God. You just say God. You don't believe
He's God. Draw near where you live, but your heart is far from
believing that God is God. That's the reason they say things
like, you better let God be God. You see, they draw near where
they live. Oh, God save us. Now, you better, you better,
you, God won't save you unless you, heart's far from believing
in the salvation of the Lord. See that? You see what this is
talking about? This is our day. Why am I preaching
from Isaiah? It's the best chapter you could
possibly choose to preach to this generation. They're drunk. Staggering. Got a spirit all
right. It's not God's spirit. They're
reading the book, but they don't have a clue what it's saying.
They draw near in the form of Godliness. Yeah, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus. They remove their heart from
them. Jesus saves. They don't believe that. They
believe man's will saves. And then look at verse 13. Their
fear toward me. That's laughable, isn't it? God says this and he's saying
this in mockery. Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Men who fear men don't even know
God. All right, now, verse 14. Therefore, behold, he said, I'm
going to do a work, a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous
work and a wonder. Here's the first thing he's going
to do. Out of the wisdom of the wise, man is going to perish. understanding of their prudent
men shall be hid." Does that sound familiar? Huh? Who said that? Christ said that,
didn't he? I thank thee, O Father, heaven
and earth. He's smiling. He rejoiced in
spirit and said, this marvelous work that you've hid these things
from the wise and the prudent. They're going to be ever learning,
never coming to a knowledge of the truth. He hid these things from the
wise and the prudent, revealed it unto babes, meek and lowly,
revealed it unto the deaf. We're going to see in a minute
who this is for. It's for the deaf, the blind,
the ignorant. And then he speaks of these religious
workers. Verse 15, Woe unto them that
seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, trying to hide
their wicked works. Think that God doesn't know their
heart and their motives, their evil, wicked motive. I get this
religious junk mail. I shared some of it with you,
you know. Every day I get it. It's got a letter from It's a
man and his wife in Roanoke, gospel singers, Christian music.
And they wanted to share their ministry with us and wanted to
know when we wanted them to have them come sing for us. I don't
know these people. Let's say Christian. Oh, we'll
come down. Yeah, we need you bad. I'm going to write them a letter
back. I'm going to write them a letter back and say, Do you have children? If you do, will you just, anybody
that says they're a parent, let them come in your house and,
here, have my children. We're leaving. Sing to them,
teach them. Would you do that? You don't
know a thing about them just because they call themselves
a parent? I don't know you from Adam. Tell me, do you believe, if you
sing, do you sing, and I'm going to go right down through all
the points, you know, do you sing of an absolute sovereign
God who elects whom he will, chooses whom he will? Of an absolutely depraved, worthless,
helpless, dead, doomed, damned creature called man who can't
do a thing for himself, that salvation is absolutely 100%
of the Lord completely, that even repentance and faith is? Do you sing of the blood actually
putting away sin for all time and eternity, actually doing
that to Christ? Everything he did is totally
salvation, 100 percent, nothing added to it or taken away from
it. Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is absolutely sovereign
and effectual and draws every single one that Christ died for,
every single one that God chose, and that they will persevere
for the rest of their life? Do you sing that? I'm going to write them a letter
less than that. I get tired of this crap. I say, if you don't, don't sit
and take me off your list. You're heathens. This is the way Isaiah preached
to his day. It sure was. They're drunks. Bunch of drunks. I'd rather hear
George Strait come here and sing than another gospel. Whole lot's
rather that. Their evil motive. Why would
that person send me that message? Why would they send money? They
said down at the bottom, oh, our services are free. Yeah,
right. How you making a living, man?
Oh, free will offering. We are going to take them an
offer of free will offering. Now we're getting to the heart of
it. seek to hide their works from God. Do you see what he's
saying there? They're trying to hide, as if God doesn't see through
their motive. Verse 16, look at verse 16. He's
turning the things upside down. This is what man has done in
his religion. His things are absolutely upside
down. This thing is religion is, isn't it? It's upside
down. God's begging man to do something. It's upside down. It's the highest
form of blasphemy. There's never been this blasphemous
before. They've got God standing outside, man on the throne with
his free will, deciding if God can be God. Backwards can you
get? How upside down can you get?
They got a cart pulling a horse. This is what Isaiah is saying.
Look at verse 16. This is like a potter's clay
saying, the work of, just like this glass saying to me, you
can't drink me. I'm just not letting you drink
me. How foolish can you get? The
thing that was made, saying to him that made it, you can't do
this with your own. You made me, yes, but now you
can't. I've got my right to. Yeah. You see how idiotic it is. This thing has never been more
backwards than that. Isaiah 59, later on, he And later on, Isaiah 59, he says,
judgment is way backwards. Way backwards. Man doesn't have
a lick of sense. This is the reason I say, did
you hear the message on the radio this morning? Elijah stood up
on that mountain and said, how are you going to help between
two opinions? You say God's God? Well, if He is, then He's God. He's God. That means he's God! Not wanting to be. If he's God,
he's God. If he's not God, he's not God. If he's God, he doesn't
want to be God. How long are you going to hog
between two opinions? Calling on a God, jumping and
screaming and shouting, calling on a God who's asleep or at the
bathroom or what? Man, oh man, why would you even
be to God like that? But now here he said, look at
verse 17, a little while he says Lebanon is going to be leveled.
Yeah, a little while. I'm going to be done with this
mess. That's what he's saying, Stan. Just a little while. You know, right before Noah,
he said it repented God that he'd made man. You know, he's speaking as a
man, the way we can understand. I'm sorry I made this mess. I'm
going to level it. First time he said, I'm going
to drown them. And he did, didn't he, John?
He did. And now, several thousand years later, he said, just a
little while, I'm going to level this mess. I'm going to burn
it up. But now, here is some marvelous
and wonderful work. Our Lord is wonderful in mercy,
marvelous in grace. And that day, now, that day,
those last days, right before I level this place, right before
I burn this mess up, right before I'm through with it, and the
Lord will make short work of the earth. But now, I've got
a remnant according to the election of Christ. I've got a chosen
people, and I'm going to do a marvelous and wondrous work for them. And
they're no different. When I found them, they're no
different than the rest of these religious idiots. They were right in that mess.
But here's what I'm going to do, and it's a marvelous thing.
I'm going to take some of them, verse 18, and that day the deaf
will hear the words of the book. The book. The book. The book. The deaf. They're all deaf. Man's deaf. Man's deaf. Have you ever, while
you're turning to John chapter 8, turn to John chapter 8 with
me, OK? Have you ever been talking to
someone and you know they're looking right at you and you know they're not hearing
a word I'm saying? Have you ever done that to someone?
I'm guilty. I'm sorry. I'm guilty. I got a one track mind. Have
you? I know you have. Talking to somebody.
You're just talking. Tell them a story. And they didn't
hear a word you said. Boy, do I ever see that in preaching. Every time I stand up to preach,
I see that. Somebody. That's the way we all
were before God opened these ears to hear the gospel. I'm
not going to call any names, but I know some come in and even
nod their head and all that. I knew they didn't understand
what I'm saying. I heard the gospel for years.
I can see it right now. I can see it right in their faces
right now. I heard the gospel for years,
sat there for years. As a boy and as a teenager, a
young adult, sit and listen. I just was one that was taught
that it's absolutely rude to fall asleep, and I wouldn't dare
do it. I never have, never will. I'll
get some toothpicks. But anyway, sit there and listen,
and I wasn't hearing a thing. Not even, but I didn't hear a
thing. But then there's a day. When
it's like waking out of a, did you hear what I said? What'd you say? Now listen, now
listen. I'm going to tell you again. Really? You ever heard that happen? That's what happened. John chapter
eight. And our Lord says this, verse 43, Why do you not understand
my speech? Verse 43. Why don't you understand
my speech? Because you can not hear my word. Didn't he say that? He was talking
right to a Pharisee. He was listening to him. Why don't you understand me?
You can't. Verse 47, though, says, He that
is of God heareth God's word. Look here, look here, person.
Listen to what it says. God hath chosen a people in Christ
for the foundation of the world. You understand? Listen here, person, listen here.
I am God, there's none else. There's nothing beside me. Is
there another God? No, I know of no other. I kill. I make alive. I wound. I heal.
I create peace. I create evil. I'm the Lord.
I do all these things. Do you hear that? A few minutes later, well, you
better let God do it. Didn't hear a thing. Did not hear a
thing. But then in God's day, in God's
power, he said, now watch this. Watch this. And take that same person, and
this was all of us, that same person, sit him down and say,
now listen, I'm God. You're in bad shape, man. Right there's your only hope,
Christ. Give me Christ. Better be baptized and confess
Him, he says so. Fill the pool. Why tell you? Why will you die?
I don't want to. Tell me again. We're meeting
again tonight. He's heard. He's heard. She's heard. The death here. What do you think
it was like when those death people, Christ healed, actually
healed some death people? What was it like? They heard
everything. They heard everything. Damn,
they took everything personally. Hey, you! What? Really? I never heard before,
Henry. Sit! A tough man talking to his
dog. Sit! Hey, sit! Look out! Huh? You never heard anything before.
And when God's people start hearing this book, you're talking to
me, aren't you? He's talking to me. Yeah. Yeah, he is. Here's a fellow
here. Who makes the difference? Look at verse 18, back in the
text. The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity. The eyes
of the blind. Have you ever looked at a person? I see it in my four daughters.
She's gotten me so bad, this time I'll wave my hand in front
of her. Are you there? Boy, I see that all the time in preaching. Look at the book. I don't see anything. make your eyes cross. Well, the
blind will see in the day God chooses, in God's good time,
He's going to open those eyes. He's going to open those eyes. You know, we go through these
Old Testament types at different times, and people come and sit,
and I know, I don't, this all sounds, I don't understand, I
don't see this. You all seem like you're enjoying
this. I know they think that. You really
enjoy this? Here's a man, oh wow, look at
that. Would you look at that? Isn't
that a wonderful look? There's Christ in that, that
look, look, and they're looking so. And that's the way you were,
Henry, wasn't it? Before God opened your eyes.
Well, would you look at that? I've read that a thousand times,
maybe. And now I see. I see. I see the truth out of obscurity. I like that verse. We go over
little obscure passages. Obscure means hidden. Hidden
from view. That's obscure. My handkerchief
is obscure. I've got it hidden right here,
hidden in me. That's a good illustration. All the wisdom of God is hidden
in Christ. And Christ is hidden in this
book. You know, I used the illustration recently of a picture, a face
in a face. You remember that? Face and a
face is two faces you need to see. And this illustration came
to mind. Have you ever seen these pictures
that are many, many, many, many pictures or objects, but there's a picture in that
picture? What are those called? I don't
know what they're called. But you know what I'm talking about?
There's bunches of pictures of things. And, but hidden in that,
all those things is a big picture of somebody or something. You
ever seen that? There's one at my dentist's office.
Mary, no, not that. Yeah, no. I forget which dentist. I've changed them many times.
But right over the chair, you lay down. And right over the
chair, there's one of those pictures. It's a bunch of dolphins. A hundred,
two hundred dolphins all over this poster, you know. And they
say, look closely enough, you can see something in there, a
big picture. I've never seen it. It drives
me crazy. Really, I wish they'd take it
down. Come on, turn and see it! Please! You know? And the old story,
I can't see the forest for the trees. That's where that came
from. Look at all the trees. Now look,
it's a forest. Look at all these words and books
and chapters and works and things. It's Christ. It's all Christ. I did see a picture one time.
This was really interesting. It was a picture of, what was
it? Oh, this is what it was. It was
a beautiful woman. It was a picture of a beautiful
woman. It was one of those pictures. The whole thing looked like a
beautiful woman, and if you keep looking close enough, what you'd
see was a skull. Now, isn't that appropriate?
You look through it, and you see the real picture. for that beauty. Well, they see
out of obscurity. The blind see out of, I don't
see a thing. Well, you get, look, now look,
watch. It takes you over in an obscure
passage and say, look. Look unto me and be the same. Obscure and out of darkness,
dark passages. Verse 19, I've got to quit. It's
been 36 minutes. I'm already six minutes over. Thirty-six minutes. The meek
shall increase their joy in the Lord." What's going to happen
in this day of salvation when they see Christ, when they see
themselves? What is their rejoicing going to be? What are these deaf going to
hear? Words of the book. The blind
going to see? Words of the book. What are they
going to see in the book? What are they going to rejoice
in in the book? Tongues? Signs? Wonders? What? You see that? The Lord himself
will be their joy and their rejoicing. Christ himself. And the poor
among men, that's the poor in spirit, shall rejoice in what?
Not that the devils are subject unto them, but in the Holy One
of Israel. The Lord, their righteousness.
The gospel of their righteousness. You see that? Huh? You see? Do
you see? You do. You've got one eye. You've got one eye. If your eye
be single, that's what our Lord meant when he said, if your eye
be single, if you look at everything in one eye, the whole body's
full of light. And here's the thing. If your
eye be looking for Christ, the whole body of divinity will be
full of light. Well, there he is. There he is. You know what to look for. See,
brother, Sam, if those dentists would just tell me what that
picture is. That's what I'm going to do next time I go there five
years from now. I'm going to tell them. What
am I looking for? If they just tell me, I can see
it. Well, I'm telling you, this book
is Christ. You look for Christ. Salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look to anything or anything
else. You look to Christ. Christ alone. And it goes on
to say, that terrible one is brought to naught. The accuser
of the brethren. Brought to naught. The scorner.
They that watch for iniquity. He goes on to talk about these
religious people that hate the gospel and hate them that love
the gospel. They make you an offender for a word. Trying to
ensnare you and trap you. That's what he's talking about.
And he says, Jacob, verse 22, you're not going to be ashamed.
I'm going to teach him. I'm going to teach him. Jacob
doesn't need to be ashamed. He knows more than they do. In
verse 23, when he sees his children, Jacob sees God's people, the
work of mine hands in the midst of him, others just like him. When Bartimaeus, you know, he
could talk to a lot of people about, hey, I was blind. I see now. It's wonderful. He
did. Jesus' name is wonderful. That
sounds good, Bartimaeus. What's the weather supposed to
be like tomorrow? But he ran into another fellow
whom the Lord was blind. You see? on down the road. He
ran into another fellow, there's a Lord, and he said, hey, the
Lord Jesus Christ gave me eyes, I was about to say, me too. Did
he do that for you? Yeah. Ain't he wonderful? Let's
talk about him. Let's talk about him, the healer
of blind people. The great, glorious, powerful
Lord. Did he do that for you? Yeah, he did. Ain't he wonderful?
You can tell it to blind people, Victor Hill. See? That's what they're saying there.
They'll see the people, the work of my hands, those that I've
done the same thing for. And they're all, every one of
them across the board, without exception, verse 23, are going
to sanctify my name. Who are they talking about? They never say I. They never
start talking about I, me, mine. Be thou he, him. See that? His name and the holy
one of Jacob. There it is. They have fear of
the God of Israel. They that erred in spirit. They
had a bad spirit. Dead. Dead and trespassed in
sin. And it murmured. murmur and complainers,
they're going to come to understand. What? Doctrine. Doctrine. Teaching is what the word doctrine
means. I'm going to teach them. They'll all be taught. What?
Of God. What of them? The doctrine of
Christ. The doctrine of Christ. I proceeded to do a marvelous
and wonderful thing. Everybody's staggered and drunk.
It all looks and sounds good. I'm going to level it, but I'm
going to do the work before it's over. I'm going to go ears to
the deaf and eyes to the blind, and they're going to rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to understand the
doctrine. They're going to sit. They're going to listen. and
they're going to hear the truth that will set them free. A marvelous
work. The Lord, the work of my hands,
he said. The work of my hands. All right, let's sing in closing,
Naught have I got, but what I receive. God's grace is bestowed Bye.