Expect a mother goes out and
a nurse follows her. Not time yet. All right, turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 22. The Old Testament types, well,
you just know how much I love them, and I believe you do, too.
And this one is no exception. It was just a thrill to my heart
and soul as I looked at it and studied it. And as I said so
many times, and I'll say it over and over again, that when I see
Christ in these old pictures, back in some old type, some obscure
little passage over here, My faith is strengthened when I
see him so clearly. I'm enabled to truly believe
with that much more assurance that he is the Christ, that he
lives, he reigns, he rules, and it's all through what is said
about him. Jesus is the Christ according
to Scripture. Now, here in Isaiah 22, I want
you to look at the beginning of verse 15. I have to give you
the background of this story, and you need to pay close attention
to it to get the context of this message, the story. In verse
15, there is spoken of a man named Shebna. Thus saith the
Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer. Go talk
to the treasurer, and another place he talked called the secretary.
Secretary of the treasury and secretary of the house. This
Shibna, who is over the house. This fellow named Shibna was
secretary over King Hezekiah's house. He was in charge of the
king's stores, his wealth, his affairs. As we know them today
he was secretary of state he was secretary of the state the.
Third most powerful man a very powerful man in charge of the
house in charge of the king's house. Apparently this sheet
and a fella. Apparently he did something very
wicked. Some say that he conspired with
an enemy to overthrow King Hezekiah. I don't know if you remember
that study we did one time from 2 Kings 18. The fellow named
Sennacherib came to the wicked king came to the children of
Israel demanding that they come serve him and Hezekiah ripped
his clothes and said God forbid and so forth. Anyway some say
that this Shebna here who was secretary of state for Hezekiah,
conspired to overthrow Hezekiah with this wicked king. Now look at verse 16 with me.
Now Isaiah is sent to warn this fellow, to tell him to pronounce
his doom. And he says in verse 16, What
hast thou here? Or what have we here? whom hast thou here, that thou
hast hewed thee out of sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out
of sepulchre on high, and that graveth a habitation for himself
in a rock? Behold, the Lord will carry thee
away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. He
will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a
large country." There thou shalt die, and there the chariots of
thy glory shall be the shame of thy Lord's house. And I will
drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull
thee down." God says to this sheep through the prophet that
he will drive this man from his station and from his place of
authority he will pull him down." This Shebna fellow is a very
clear picture of Adam. He's a clear picture of Adam,
whom the Lord God set up as head over the earth. Adam was left
in charge. He was, as it were, a king over
this earth. Adam was the keeper of God's
garden. He was the head over all of the
animals. He was in charge of this earthen
house, just like Sheba. Well, all right, you follow me?
You with me? You got to stay with me. Adam did wickedly. Adam conspired to overthrow God. That's exactly what Adam did
when he rebelled against God's authority and sinned against
God. What he was doing was Wanting
to establish himself as the king, as his own king, his own ruler.
And God came looking for Adam and spoke to Adam in much the
same way that he spoke to this Shebna fellow. Look at verse
16 again. Chapter 22, look at verse 16 again. And God came
looking for Adam and much like he said here to Shebna, what
hast thou here? Do you remember when God said,
Adam? Where are you? What do we have here?" is what
God was saying to Adam. Just, Adam, where are you now? Look at you. Look at what you've
done. Who do you think you are, Adam?
You're just a creature. You're not the creator. You're
a submissive servant. You're not the king. Just what
do we have here? Look at you now. What have you
done? Look at verse 16, you've hewed out a sepulcher. Adam,
you've dug your grave. You've dug your own grave. And
though you conspired to be the king, look at verse 17, and though
you conspired to be the king, you're going to be a slave now.
The Lord God will carry you away with a captivity and cover you. You're now going to be a slave,
a slave to sin, a captive to your own lusts, a captive to
fear, a captive to hate, a captive of this earth. You'll be earthen-bound
until the day that God covers you with earth. You're going
to die now, Adam. You see the correlation there?
It's a perfect picture. Because Adam dust you are, and
the dust you shall return, until the day you die." Verse 18. And
he'll surely, God will surely violently turn and toss you like
a ball. That's man, isn't it? Through
this world. Man roams the earth and wilderness,
tossed to and fro into a large country, it says, and then he
dies. And then he dies. And he says, I'll turn your glory...
Adam was once a glorious creature, wasn't he? A marvelous man. But he said, your glory has now
turned to shame. Adam was standing in that garden
in glory and honor and the likeness of God, and then he went and
walked, and then he went driven from the presence of God like
a whipped puppy. Shame. Verse 19, he says, And
I'll drive you, drive you from your station. Adam was driven
from the garden, driven from God, no longer head of state,
but a worm and no man. He wasn't a man. He couldn't
be considered a man anymore. God had to bring a true man to
earth to show what a real man was, the second man. And God
said to Adam, He said, Get out, Adam. Get out of the garden,
all of your posterity with you. Get out. You can't dwell with
me anymore." And Adam left. But, but God. But before God drove him out,
he made Adam a promise, didn't he? Where is it? Genesis 3, 15. He made a promise to Adam. He
said, I'm sending somebody, Adam. I'm sending somebody. There's
coming a day, a day when another man will walk this earth. But not just a man. He's more
than a mere man. He'll be God in human flesh,
Adam. He's called the woman's seed
because he can't have the seed of man in him. He can't be a
sinner like you, Adam. He's got to be perfect like God. And his only likeness to you,
Adam, the only likeness he'll have to you is flesh and bones. He won't even have your sinful
blood. He'll have precious blood. And he'll be my son. He'll be
my servant. He'll be mine elect in whom my
soul delighteth. And he, Adam, he won't fail like
you did. Oh, no. He'll not fail. He'll prosper in the thing that
I send him to do. And by His knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many at Him." You've damned many at
Him. You've condemned many. Condemn yourself, but not Him. He'll justify many. He'll save
many. And He's going to be in charge
at them, just like you were temporarily, but He eternally. He'll be in
charge at them. He's going to be in charge. He's
going to be Lord. He's going to reign. He's going
to rule. among the armies of heaven and in the inhabitants
of earth. And he'll save his people from
this sin you've got them into, Adam. So get out. Somebody else is going to take
your place. Now here's the story here. Look at verse 20. So that
was what God told this Shedna fellow. You're leaving this place
and somebody else is coming. Verse 20. And it shall come to
pass in that day, just like the day that Adam fell, in that day
God said, I'll call my servant. You see it? I'll call my servant. His name is Eliakim. Zerubbabel. Eliakim. You know what the name Eliakim
means? whom God hath raised, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah."
You know what Hilkiah means? God's portion. I'll raise my
servant, and that day it'll come to pass, and that day I'll call
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. That reminded me of
over in Acts chapter 2, where Peter's was preaching on the
day of Pentecost, and he said, You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. You're disapproved. This man's approved. A man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, You have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain, but God hath raised him, whom God hath raised, Eliakim,
none other than God's portion, the Son of God, come to earth. Loose the pains of death, because
it was not possible that it should be holden of him. Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, has risen to the place of power, in the place
of 1 Adam, in the place of it. Verse 20, and God says, I'll
clothe him with thy robe, that robe of royalty. Christ is clothed
with the robe of splendor and majesty and glory and honor. He's clothed with the robe of
righteousness, his own righteousness. Yea, that eternal righteousness,
not just the righteousness of a man. but the eternal righteousness
of God himself, that blue royal robe, the righteous garments.
And he's strengthened with thy girdle. See that? He's girded
with the truth. Yea, he is the truth. Not only
is he girded with it, but he is the truth. And the government—look
at this—the government has been committed under his hand. Does
that remind you of something? Look over at Isaiah chapter 9.
Look over there. The government is in this man's
hand now. It's out of your hands, Adam.
It's in the hands of the second Adam. The government, verse 6,
Isaiah 9. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father." Remember that. The Prince of Peace and
of the increase of his government and peace, his reign and his
rule, there'll be no end. No end. Upon the throne of David,
upon his kingdom, the order to establish it with justice, with
judgment and justice from henceforth even forever, because the zeal
of the Lord of Hosts will perform there. Go back to the text. I'll commit thy government into
his hand, he'll be a father. See that? The everlasting father. To the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
that is the church, and to the house of Judah. And the key of
the house of David. I like this. The key of the house
of David will I lay upon his shoulder. He's got the keys of
the kingdom. He's got the key of life. Yea,
he is the king. Christ is the king. It's all
riding upon his shoulders. This king of mine, this governor
of mine, and look at it. The key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder, and so shall he open. He shall
open, and no man shall shut. Didn't Christ say, I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish? Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Nothing and no one shall shut
out God's people from the kingdom if Christ has opened the way
for them." Nothing and nobody. He said, I go to prepare a place.
I go to open the door. I go to open the way. Yea, I
am the way into the house, into the throne of God. Do you remember
David talking about there in Psalm 8? He said, Open up the
gates. Open up ye gates and the everlasting
doors. Open them up. Somebody's coming
in. Somebody wants in. Who is it? Who is this? Oh, it's the King
of Glory. It's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
He's coming in. He's got the key. And look at
it. There's a whole bunch of folks following Him. He's letting
them all in. Open up the gates. His everlasting
gates and His everlasting doors. And the King of Glory will come
in. And who He shuts out. Look at
this. And if he shuts, and he shall
shut, and none shall open. When once, do you remember Christ
said, when once the master of the house is risen and has shut
the door and sat down, that no man can
enter? And he said that many people
will seek to enter in that day, but shall not be able. Why? Because
today is the day of salvation. Today the door is open. I was
thinking about that in a study down there. When we got the place
full, we told the last man in, Kevin, said, Kevin, shut the
door behind you. There's no more room. And we
just weren't going to let anybody else in. Thank God the door is
still open, isn't it? It's still open. But once the
master of the house has risen up, once Christ gets up off of
his throne for the next time, like old Scott said, when God
breaks his silence, Everybody wants God to speak. No, the next
time God speaks from heaven, it'll be in anger and wrath,
won't it? We don't want Him to speak yet. He's spoken. He spoke
in the last days under the fathers by the prophets, and in these
last days here, He's spoken unto us by His Son. He's written a
book, and then Christ went back down and went back to heaven
and sat down. No more to be said. This is all
that's going to be said to our generation. What is written?
It is written. You want to hear from God? hear
the Word of God. But once God speaks audibly again
from heaven, that's all she wrote. He's going to say, burn it up. Isn't it? Shut the door. Turn off the valves of mercy. Shut the door of heaven. Nobody
else coming in. And that's all she wrote. And
no man will be able to open, I don't care how loudly he prays,
I don't care. If he shuts, no man will open.
And here's the good part. It gets good now. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place. I'll fasten him as a nail in
a sure place. I thought about this. Christ
is the iron pin a possession. Tell you what I mean. Jesus Christ
is the great Lord and landowner of the universe. He owns it all.
He owns it all. He created it all. By Him are
all things created and for Him and through Him and so forth.
Despite the claims of mortal men, despite the miserable claims
of mere men, Christ is the great landowner, isn't He? We don't
own our property. We're squatters. We're squatters. We're renting this property,
and the day that He comes to take it back, He's going to get
it back. We're just renting this earth. The earth is the Lord's,
it says in Psalm 24, and the fullness thereof. Everything
in it, not only the earth, but everything and everyone on it
and in it, is the Lord's. Why? Well, not only because He
made it, But because Christ was nailed to the cross. Didn't it
say in Romans 14, 9, to this end, Christ was both died and
rose again, that he might be Lord over the dead and the living? Huh? Christ was crucified, not
only that he might save his people, but that he might be Lord over
the dead and the living. And he owns this place. He is
the iron pin of possession. I'll tell you what I mean by
that. If you've ever gone to buy a piece of property, as I
recently did, what is it that determines the boundary of that
property that you own? What is it that tells you where
the line stops and where Your neighbor's property stops and
where you stop, huh? What is it? It's an iron pin. Right? It's an iron pin. The stake marks the spot. The
iron stake. In spite of the claims of your
neighbor. We had this happen to us. In
spite of the claims of the neighbors. Yeah, I own that little stretch.
Well, I'm just not sure about that. We'll find out. One of
our friends is a surveyor. And he told me stories about
going to survey a piece of property and people getting after him
with a shotgun. Why? Scared of what he might find.
You don't own this after all. Don't tell me that. I can't help
it, bud. There's an iron pin here. It's a sin. It's been surveyed.
In spite of the claims of the neighbors, regardless of their
opinion, where do you think your property lies? Well, I think
it starts right here. Well, I think it starts over here. What do
you think? I think, I think. It doesn't much matter, does
it? Iron pen tells you. The iron pen. No matter how much
time has covered it up, no matter how much grass and weeds and
honeysuckle and whatever, they're going to cut it away. They're
going to find that iron pen, aren't they? Eventually. To tell
them where that spot is found. Christ is God's iron pen of possession,
isn't it? He's a nail in a sure place. Well, I only said, no, you don't
look there. He's Lord. Yeah, but no. He's Lord. No matter what men say about
him, about themselves, no matter their thoughts and their opinions,
Christ is Lord. And he's set like a nail. He's seated like a set nail at
the right hand of God. He's Lord, he's owner, he's ruler,
he's king, for of him and through him and to him are all things. And to him be the glory, both
now and forever. Okay, what you say? He owns it. He owns it. In spite of man's
attempts through history to cover him up, right? In spite of the
attempt, the traditions, in spite of the ecclesiastical algae that
has grown over the gospel, in spite of the poison ivy of man's
opinion, in spite of that, Christ remains Lord and Ruler and Sovereign
Owner of this place. He's a nail, an iron pin, that
tells us He owns this place. And one of these days, the great
Surveyor is coming to wipe, to cut away the dross, right? To
cut away the wheat, the chaff! And set up a stake right in the
middle of this thing, a nail in a sure place. Verse 23, And
I'll fasten him as a nail in a sure place, in a sure place. You know what I'm saying? A sure
place. God said I will fasten him. Men say, I got to make him Lord. No. This Jesus whom you crucified,
God made him Lord. He beat you to it a long time
ago. God made him Lord. You don't
make him Lord. He's your Lord whether you like it or not. Men
say you got to make him Lord. No, he is Lord. You just got
to acknowledge it is what you got to do. You got to bow to
him. God said, I'll fascinate. I'll do it. As a nail in a shearer
plate. Men have tried to remove him.
They tried it at birth, didn't they? They tried to kill him.
They weren't going to do it. His time hadn't come. They tried
to kill him numerous times. Devils tried to remove him. Satan thought he finished him.
When Satan got him nailed to the cross, he said, I got him
now. No, you didn't, Satan. All you did was nail. nail God's
lamb to the cross. All you did was, you set him
up forever as the Lord. All you did was what God determined
before to be done. Satan, nail him up. Nail him up there. If I be lifted
up, Christ said, now I'll draw all men to myself. He had to
be lifted up. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Right? He had to be
lifted up. Satan thought, I'll get him now.
I'll kill him now. I'll get him nailed up. I'll get him nailed
to a cross. That'll do him. It did him all
right. It set him up. A nail in a sure
place. In a sure place. And then he
came down from that cross and went back to the right hand of
the Father, fastened, secured, fixed forever as Lord of both
the dead and the living. in a fixed eternal position as
a nail, like I said, that has been set. Set. Seated. He's seated, and
nobody's moving him now, except when God the Father says, OK,
it's time. It's time. He's seated, never
to be removed. Verse 24. Way to get a load of this. and they
shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's house." This
nail. You remember our study recently,
that Old Testament high priest who wore those glorious garments,
those glorious earthly priestly garments, the blue robe of his
royalty, the multicolored ephod. Were you in on that? Get the
tape. The multicolored ephod. What
is that? You might remember? Multicolored
ephod? Come on, folks. That's his manhood. That's all
of his characteristics, his person, all the glorious aspects of his
humanity, his wisdom, his goodness, his gentleness, his meekness,
all these things. That multicolored ephod, the
white linen coat. What's that? What's a white linen
coat? It's his righteousness, right? His holiness. The golden
mitre on his head? The crown? What's that? That's
his divinity. His holiness. The crown of glory? That's on his head. The golden
breastplate with the people's names on it? That's his heart.
The golden girdle of truth? That's himself. That's himself. That's his soul. And Christ is
the great high priest, glorious in his apparel. The crown of
righteousness, the girdle of truth, the robe of deity, the
perfect humanity, and all the glory—look at this—all the glory
of his Father's house is hanging on him. They hung all those beautiful
garments upon that great high priest to represent his people,
his house, into the temple, the temple of God, the house of God,
and on Christ hangs all the glory of his Father's house. Our glory,
our entrance into glory, our righteousness, everything, wisdom,
sanctification, redemption. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Where is it? Where's it found?
It's hanging in Christ. It's on Christ. It's hanging
on Him. It's all in Him. All the glory,
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. Hanging on Him. Dwelleth in Him. He's the glorious
head of His Father's house, the Church. The dwelling place, the
temple of God, everything and everyone hangs is riding on him,
right? The whole universal church depends
on him, hangs on him. Verse 24, the offspring, all
of God's children are resting in him, right? His people from
time and eternity, the offspring and the issue, the issues to
God the Lord belong the issues of life and death. All the issues—the
issues of life, death, judgment, and eternity depend upon Christ
and Him crucified. It all hangs on Him. We're crucified
with Him nevertheless we live with Him. We live with Him. And all the
vessels—now, the issue—and all the vessels of small quantity
from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons."
Now a flagon is like a great big pot, a great big crockpot
or something with hammers on it. And he said, all the vessels
of the house, all of the vessels which have been fit for the master's
use are hanging on this one nail. You've been in old country kitchens
where they've got things hanging on the wall. Cups hanging down
the wall. Pots and cups and chairs and everything that hang on the
wall, you see they can mop the floor and so forth, sweep it out. But
here God sees all the bristles from the small... ...resting his soul on Christ. He's just as safe, he's just
as secure, He's just as settled and fixed before God as the strongest
and oldest and most faithful, long-standing member of Christ.
Just as safe. Right? Just as safe. Why? Because of his grip on the nail?
Because of his perseverance, he decided to stay there on the
nail? No. Because of the nail. Right? It's all hanging on the
nail. It all depends on the strength
of the nail, right? It all depends on the strength
of the nail. Now, if I drive a small finishing nail, or even a 16-penny nail, they
mostly frame houses with 16-penny nails, your walls are held together
with this. Your houses aren't too secure,
folks. They aren't too secure, as people who've been through
hurricanes and so forth. But if I drive that, I don't care
what I drive it with, if I drive that into the wall here, right there. Now, I might hang a coffee cup
on it, right? But given the time, given the
circumstances or whatever, it's going to come down, right? Eventually. couple come back whatever I am. If I drive. A fifty penny nail. With a sledgehammer. And said
it's here. I can hang on. Christ and a mere mortal man
he had no sixteen any. There's a lot of difference in
the Jesus they're preaching today and the sovereign Lord of the
scriptures. You can hang your soul on him.
He's there to stay. He's fixed. God set him with
a sledgehammer of his law, didn't he? With the spike-driven mallet
of his scriptures, of his word, his sure word. that's fixed forever. And he drove him into the right
hand of the throne of the majesty on high. And he's fixed. He's
secure. And my security, my fixation,
my safety is in him. And I can hang on him. I tell
you what, if I drove that into the world, I could hang on that,
and I believe Hannah could hang with me. I'm a, well, I'm not
a very big fella, but I believe I could hang on that, and I believe
she could hang right there with me. And I tell you what, your
children, everybody, hang them on Christ. Bring them to Christ,
and we can hang on him. He's fastened as a nail, yea,
an iron pin. He's the possession. He's the
nail in a sure place. Fastened by God himself, he's
set for all time and eternity, and nothing's going to move him.
Nothing. And you can cast all your care upon him, for he careth
for you, the scripture says. He can hang the weight of the
sins of the world on him, and he'll bear them on him. Now,
that verse 25 may confuse you a little bit. Let me just shed
some light on that, if you read it earlier. It says, In that
day saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened
in a sure place be removed and be cut down." Well, look over
at verse 20. Now, remember he talked about Shebna. Shebna was
as a nail in a sure place. He was a pretty set and fixed
ruler at that time. Everybody thought he was pretty
much set up in that day. But God says, there's coming
a day, Shebna, when I'm going to take you out of the way. And
Adam looked like a pretty sure thing, didn't he? But there came
a day in the will, the mind, the purpose of God, when Adam
was removed. Why? Well, I see the wisdom of God
in him. The second Adam, much greater than Adam, came to be
set up in his place. In that day, saith the Lord,
this sheebna shall be cut down, removed and cut down, and fall. Adam failed in it. He failed.
And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off. But I see
Christ here, too. I see Christ, whose was cut down
at the prime of his life, crucified for us, and the burden of our
sins were cut off in Christ. Cut off. Why? Because the Lord
has spoken it. Because God has revealed his
Word. God sent Christ, who is the Word.
How did all this take place? The Lord God, in his perfect
will and purpose, sent Christ. to hang him on a cross, to hang
him, all the glory of the Father's house, to fasten him as a nail
in a sure place for a glorious throne to his Father's house.
And you can hang all the small vessels to the great ones on
this one nail. It's fixed. So hang the weight
of your soul on Christ. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this. Our Lord, we thank you for the
blessed, beautiful pictures of Christ that are in your Word.
How we wish that we could see more, more clearly. How we wish
that we could enter into them like we should, like we one day
will. How we wish that we could bring
them out as they should be presented. But Lord, take feeble attempts
at it, whatever Whatever we receive from it, take it in and fix it,
fasten it, and nail it in our hearts and in our lives. May we rest in Christ. May we cast ourselves upon him. May we hang our souls upon him,
our sins upon him. Christ and him crucified. And
may we be with him throughout eternity. our nail in a sure
place. Thank you, Lord, for this blessed
passage of Scripture. Thank you for the privilege of
sitting in on it this evening. In Christ's blessed name, that
name which is above all other, we pray. Amen.