I wish a thousand people could
hear this message. I feel that it is the message. I feel that it is that important. However, this is all the Lord
saw fit to bring to hear it. But perhaps you can give the
tape or relate it to someone else. The Harbinger. Now, in this religious world, particularly in this so-called
Christian nation that we live in, so-called, There are many
professing prophets who are crying out to the people, so very many,
so very many. And they profess to be God's
messengers, God's ministers, God's preachers. And I ask this question, in this
day of so many professed to be prophets. How can you tell the
real ones from the false ones? How can you tell? John said,
truly, John said, try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. So he says
You need to try them, examine them to see whether they are
of God. How can you tell then? How can
you tell? Is there a distinction? Yes,
most definitely, most definitely. But the distinction may not be
perceived with the eye. It won't be perceived with the
eye. Many men look good, but it most
certainly, if the Holy Spirit will give us ears, it will most
certainly, the distinction will be made with the ear, with the
hearing, with the hearing, with the ear. You see, the difference
is in the message. The difference between the false
prophet and the true prophet of God is the message. or the
lack of one? Well, our Lord said many times,
turn over to John chapter 8. Our Lord many times said this. He said, He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. Many times our Lord said that.
Many, many times. I started looking it up. He said
that over and over again. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Let him hear. Well, look at John
chapter 8, verse 25. Some religious people came to
Christ, and they said unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus said
unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. He'd been telling them over and
over again. Why did they not hear? Well,
look over at verse forty-three. Verse forty-three. Our Lord said,
Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot
hear my word. Look at verse forty-seven. He
that is of God heareth God's word. You, therefore, hear them
not, because you are not of God. Look over chapter 10, John chapter
10, verse 24. They came to him again. The Jews
came around about him. A crowd crowded around him and
said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? Verse
24. How long are you going to hold us in suspense? Are you
the Christ or aren't you? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you. And you believe not. The works
that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But
you believe not, because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto
you, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. Now look over chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 48. John 12,
verse 48. Our Lord continues here, and
He said, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words has
one that judges him, the word that I have spoken unto him. The same shall judge him in the
last day. Everything I've said, everything
I've spoken, Christ said, is going to judge you in the end.
And every word in this book is going to judge every man and
woman. They're going to say, well, we
didn't know that. Right here. We didn't understand. It's right
here. The same shall judge you in that
last day. I've not spoken of myself. The
Father which sent me, he gave me commandment, what I should
say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting, his word. And whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, that's what I speak. And
the same holds true for God's prophets. Whatever this book
says, he's saying it. Those who won't hear it, They
don't have ears to hear. The same will condemn them. Well, who is the true prophet of God
and what is he saying? Who is the true prophet of God
and what is he saying? Look at Luke chapter 3, the third
chapter of Luke. I want you to look at the greatest
prophet of all. Our Lord himself said this. He
said, there's none greater born of woman, no man greater born
of woman, than John the Baptist. He's the greatest. He's the greatest.
Look at what the greatest prophet of all, according to Christ,
look at what he says. This is the forerunner of Christ,
the one of whom the prophecy in Isaiah, which we'll get to
in a moment, the one of whom that prophecy speaks. Here in
Luke chapter 3, verse 3, it says, John came. Verse 2, Annas and Caiaphas being
a high priest, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias
in the wilderness. And John came, verse 3, into
all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. And in another place it says
he came preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And Christ's first message, Terry, was repent for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. The true prophet says, repent,
that is, bow down before the holy God. Bow or perish. You must be changed. You must
be born from above. You must be supernaturally changed. You must bow. He talks about
sin. Sin. John spoke loudly of sin. And I ask this, where is the
man today who is speaking of sin? Where is the prophet today
who is speaking of sin? Now, people are speaking of sins,
they're speaking of certain little things, abortion and pornography
and so forth, but sin, that is this principle within us, that
is this fallen state that every man is in before this holy God.
Condemned, dead in trespasses, and sin, sins. Where is the man who has anything
to say about sin, about the state, the deadness of man by nature? They're few and far between,
aren't they? Hard to find. Why? Because most
are living in it. I have evidence of that here recently
in all this scandal that's going on. But this was John's message
and a mandate given to John, and it's the same one for all
of God's true prophets and preachers everywhere. Repent. Bow down
before God. It's not accept Jesus as your
personal Savior. It's bow to him first. Bow to
him. And look at verse four. As it
is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
saying, the voice The voice that came to John in that passage
I read a moment ago said, Who are you? Well, I'm the illustrious
right reverend, most holy father, John. No, he didn't say that,
did he? He didn't say that. He said,
Oh, I'm the greatest man. I've been chosen from my mother's
womb. I'm the greatest man born of woman. Ask Christ. He'll tell
you. The Holy Spirit is upon me. Nobody else, just me. He didn't say that, did he? He
said, I'm a voice. I'm just a voice. Just a voice. That's who Christ said in John
7. He said, He that speaketh of
himself seeketh his own glory. It's clear, isn't it, when you
listen to these people today. It's clear whose glory they're
after. But Christ said, But he that seeketh his glory that sent
him a true sent prophet, Terry. He that seeketh his glory that
sent him, God's glory, pointing to Christ, pointing to God in
all things, in salvation, in all things. The same is true. That's God's prophets, he said. The same is true. Well, as I
quoted a moment ago, we need to try the spirits. And the telling
point, the telling point is this. Who is getting the glory? Examine
every word that comes out of the mouth of every man or woman
that professes to be a prophet, a preacher, and ask this question,
who's getting the glory by what he or she is saying? Who's getting
the glory? Look at John chapter 3. Look
over at John chapter 3. Listen to John the Baptist again
in John chapter 3, verse 27. John answered and said under
these people a man can receive nothing. Man can take unto himself
nothing except it be given him from above. He's discounting
anything of himself that he learned this of himself. He's discounting.
He said, I didn't learn this of myself. This was a revelation
of God. I didn't learn this. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. You yourselves bear me witness
that I said I'm not the Christ, but I am sent before him. He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
that is, the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him
rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And this
is joy therefore fulfilled." It's kind of like at a wedding.
Can you imagine the best man coming in all decked out in a
white tux and tails, and everybody crowding around the best man?
He wouldn't be much of a best man, would he? Oh, no. He gets in the background, you
see. He wants everybody to look at the groom. Look at him. Look
at his beauty. Here's the one that's being married.
This is the groom. He rejoices in the groom, and
the groom has the bride. And this holds true for the true
prophet. The church doesn't belong to the preacher or the pastor.
The church belongs to Christ. And all the preacher and the
prophet is doing is pointing to the groom. He wants the church
to see the beauty of the groom, you see. Well, he said, look
at this, go on here. He said, he must increase, but
I must decrease. Where do you hear that? Where
do you hear that coming forth from the pulpits today? He must
increase. I must decrease. Don't put my
name on that album. Don't put my name on that study
Bible. No, no, no, no. Don't put my name on the church
house. Oh, no, that's not what they're saying. They're seeking
their own glory. John said in verse 31, He that
cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly.
I ain't nothing but a vessel of clay, you see. I ain't nothing. Don't look to me. He speaks of the earth, base
things. That he cometh from heaven is
above all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that's what he testifies. And no man receives his testimony. But he that hath received his
testimony hath said to his seal that God is true." Well, he's
a voice. He's a voice. Now look over at
Isaiah chapter 40. This is our text. Isaiah chapter
40. Who is the true prophet of God?
He's nothing but a voice. Just a voice. He's nothing. Nothing
special. Nothing special. And most of
the time, in the scriptures, they weren't even much to look
at. Nothing special. Just a voice.
And here in Isaiah chapter 40, this is the prophecy that was
made of John the Baptist. In verse 3 it says, "...the voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness." The wilderness. Somebody crying
in the wilderness. What is a wilderness? Well, when
you think of a wilderness, you think of a solitary place, don't
you? There's not much life in it. You think of an uncultivated
place, a desert land. You think of a dangerous place,
don't you? Think of a place that's full
of snakes, full of pits to fall into. Craggy, rough, up and down,
craggy place, uninhabited. Well, that's this world, isn't
it? Isn't that the world we live
in? And men by nature, though, although this is wilderness,
Men by nature think this is paradise, don't they? They're seeking to
gather all they can of it. They're seeking to better themselves
in this life as much as they can. They think this is paradise. But those who have their eyes
opened by the Holy Spirit, those who have the eyesalve of the
Word put upon their eyes, they open up their eyes and they see
this is a barren place. This is a wilderness we're living
in. A solitary place. Uncultivated. Not much life here. Dead people. People walk around
in grave clothes. This is a desert. Not much gospel
being preached here. Full of pitfalls and corruption. This is a religious wilderness,
first of all. No gospel. No Word of God. Scripture
speaks of a famine of the hearing and the preaching of the Word
of God. We're in it, aren't we? Ain't nobody preaching the Word.
Very few people. This is a place full of hypocrisy
and fraud. You know, what do you think of
when you think of the—anybody that goes out into the desert,
that crosses the desert, the only people you're liable to
run into out in the desert are desert marauders, you know, thieves,
robbers, hiding behind a bush. That's this world, isn't it,
full of these religious hucksters that lie in wait for you, religious
marauders, you know. Fraud, uncleanness, making merchandise
of men's souls. We live in a worldly wilderness,
too. That's so plain. Sensuality and lewdness and wickedness
abounds. The so-called civilized nations
are the most wicked ones of all. The wilderness is a barren land
everywhere. Wasteland. A wasteland. Useless. A useless place. Well,
look at this in verse 4, verse 3. So this is the voice of him
that cries into wilderness, saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Prepare the way of the Lord. You know, back in the olden days,
this harbinger, this fellow that went out before the king, he was to travel before the king
into another country and prepare the way before him, remove rocks
and everything that might be a stumbling block, level roads. He'd take whole crews out there
and make the highway passable for the king. He'd go out there
and prepare the way. He was sent before the king who
was coming into another country or to enter a village even next
door. And not only he, but everything
and everybody was employed in the service or the work of preparation
for that coming king. Everybody, everything was to
be, whenever the king, everything centered around the king in the
kingdom. Everything. What the king said
went. What the king did, everybody
prepared for. And when he was to go in another
country, everybody got together and everything was used for the
preparation of that king's journey. And even so, in the course of
this world, In the course of this world, through time and
eternity, everything, everything has been preparing for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone and everything. What
does the scripture say? All things work together according
to that divine purpose of God. All things. Providence prepares
the way. All things work together. The
Law and the Prophets, they prepare the way. Christ said, Moses wrote
of me. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. He said
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law
and the Prophets and the Psalms and so forth concerning me. Everything
must be fulfilled. The way must be prepared. And
still, the harbinger's job today is to prepare the way, saying
He's come. He has come and He's coming again.
He's coming again, the King. Preparation, everything prepared
to weigh. And that weigh, look at it here,
it says, prepare ye the weigh of the Lord, make straight in
the desert a high weigh for our God. That's significant. It doesn't
say just a weigh. Don't make a weigh for our God.
Make a high weigh for our God. You instruct men to go the low
way, the king gets the high way. He gets the high way. Exalt the
king's way, debase man's way. You see? That make sense to you? Well, look at this in verse 4.
Every valley shall be exalted. Every valley shall be exalted. What's that talking about? Well,
look over at Isaiah chapter 61. That means the low places will
be built up. Low places. Now, this is spiritually
speaking. Low places shall be built up.
Isaiah chapter 61. Our Lord himself, when he first
entered upon his ministry, his earthly ministry, he came quoting
this verse of Scripture. Look at it. Isaiah 61. He began
his journey. The king began his way by quoting
this right here, by filling up the valleys. Listen. The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek, that is, good things
unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn." to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might
be called trees growing up of righteousness, planting of the
Lord, filling up, that he might be glorified." And look at verse
4, "...and they shall build the old wastelands." They shall raise
up the former desolation. In other words, the Scripture
says he came to seek and to save that which was lost in the pit. He came to save sinners. He came
to get harlots and beggars and publicans and thieves out of
the pit and exalt them, you see. Gentile dogs are exalted to the
throne of princes. Valleys, those that are laying
in a valley, are exalted, filled up with the Spirit. Beggars are raised from the dunghill. The meek inherit the earth. The poor are given the kingdom,
you see. Valleys are filled. Valleys are
filled. And the true messenger of God
has come to proclaim the good news. The good news, like that
good Samaritan, to reach down and get that poor person out
of that pit, out of that valley, and exalt them. Exalt them to
see Christ. their salvation. And also, all
these holes and these deficiencies, these valleys or these holes
and these deficiencies in present-day gospel have to be filled up. There's a lot of holes in it
in man's theology today. There's no sovereignty in it.
There's no depravity in it. There's no atonement in it. It's
got to be filled up, you see. It's got to be made complete.
It's got to be filled up. There's no holiness of God. Like
that man that wrote the article the week after ours, when we
were trying to proclaim the holiness of God. The man made a veiled
reference to that in his article. He said, everybody knows the
moral superiority of God. That's their definition of holiness,
moral superiority. These holes have to be filled
up. Men have to be told who God really is. They've got a vast
hole, and it's right here in their head, a hole in their theology,
to see the holiness of God, the righteousness of Christ that
God requires. And look at verse 4. Look at
verse 4 again. These valleys shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be... You see the shalls? Notice
the shalls in these verses. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low. Look over at Isaiah 23. Isaiah
chapter 23. Every mountain and hill will
be brought low. That is pride. There's a mountain
of pride within all of us, isn't there? Especially in religion
today. Look at Isaiah 23, everybody. Isaiah 23, 9. The Lord of hosts hath purposed
it. This is the purpose of God. This
is what this whole thing is all about. Isaiah 23, 9. The Lord of hosts has purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth. Pride will be abased. Those that
exalt themselves shall be humbled, the scripture says. Self-righteousness
must be killed. It must be killed. Religious
heritage must be disowned. Religious experiences must be
forgotten. Paul said over in 2 Corinthians
that we need to cast down every thought, every imagination, everything
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God must be
cast down, brought low. And look back at the text. Look
at verse 4 again. And the crooked shall be made
The crooked shall be made straight. All the crooked and perverse
ideas of God must be straightened out. Men have crooked imaginations,
don't they, and thoughts concerning God. And all these things must
be disowned and totally changed, totally straightened out, crooked.
And the crooked and perverse people, laden with iniquity,
must be born again, must be made new creatures, a people in the
straight gate. Well, look at verse 4 again. And the rough place is plain.
The rough place is plain. There's a way that seems right
to a man, but the end thereof is death and destruction. There's
a way that seems right to the natural men or natural men and
women, but it's a rough way. Men and women are trying to get
to God the rough way. Yea, the impossible way. Trying
to get to God in a way that they'll not get there. And the true prophet
of God is to level these things. Level them. All up and down doctrine. All yays and nays doctrine. Every
doctrine that turns to the right hand or the left hand, he said.
Christ said of those Pharisees, he said they bind heavy burdens
upon the people. That they can't keep. And that
they themselves don't intend to keep. And the true profit
of God is to come along with the sword of the Spirit and cut
those burdens off, and use that same sword to point them down
the road, to level out those ways. Man, you don't need to
do this or do that. Just go to Christ. There's the
way. But what about this, doctor? What about that, doctor? Get
that out of the way and get to Christ. You don't need that.
Don't turn to the right hand. Don't turn to the left hand.
Get to Christ. That's the way. Level these places, these rough
places. Seeing we have such," he said,
he said, make the rough places plain. And the scripture says,
seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
And the reason these hucksters don't use great plainness of
speech is because they have something to hide from the people. They're
not wanting to point them singularly or simply to Christ. It will
take some money out of their pockets maybe. I asked a man
this one time, I said, a preacher, I said, Would you be willing? If there was a church house right
next door to yours, would you be willing for more people to
be going there and more people to be actually saved and attending
that church than yours? Would you be willing if they
were actually being saved? Would you? That's a good question. Well, he that seeketh the glory
of God would. But he, the sick of his own glory,
wouldn't. He'd try to do every little trick he could to bring
people into his blood. But the true messenger is pointing
down the real way. He's pointing to Christ. Well,
look at verse 5. And make the crooked straight,
and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. The glory of God shall be revealed. It says in Luke chapter 3, verse
6, that all flesh shall see salvation of God. The glory of God is salvation
of God. God has given unto us the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God and is seen in the face
of Jesus Christ. So what is the message of the
true prophet of God? Look at the text here in Isaiah
40. What is the message of the true
prophet of God? Look at verse 6. You cry. And he said, what
am I going to say? Say, all flesh is grass. Grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and
the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon
him. And surely the people is grass.
Where are the prophets of saying that today? Telling people grass.
No, they're patting people on the back. Patting people on the
back, bragging on people. Not bragging upon God, they're
bragging upon people. Look at verse 8. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth. All of man's supposed beauty
is grass, and it's fading. It's faded away. It faded away
a long time in Adam, a long time ago. But the Word of our God,
that is Jesus Christ, shall stand forever. And verse 9, O Zion,
O thou that bringest good tidings to the church, get you up in
the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings. Lift
up your voice, O true prophet of God, true gospel preacher,
the one God is truly sent. Get up in the high mountain.
You lift up your voice. Raise your voice. Don't be afraid.
And you say this. You say unto the cities, Behold
your God. That He's on the throne. He does
according to His will, not man's will. He reigns. He rules over
all. And all things are in His hands. You know, the whole chapter here,
if you look through it, look at verse 14. You look through
the whole chapter here. It speaks of God and His work. There's not any mention of man's
doings at all. It's not asking man to do anything.
It's not asking anybody to do anything, not even believe. It's just talking about extolling
God. This is the message of the true prophet of God. Extol Him
unto a base man. Look at verse 14. He says, With
whom took he counsel, and who instructed God, and taught him
in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed
to him the way of understanding? The nations are a drop of a bucket. All nations before him are nothing. He sits on the circle of the
earth, the inhabitants of grasshoppers." Well, prophets today aren't preaching
this because there are no prophets, first of all, and because it
offends men's dignity. People won't hear it. They won't
greet a crowd. It will offend their pocketbook and their salary,
so consequently they won't say it. But the true prophet of God,
look back at verse 10, says, Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and his arm shall rule before him. Who is
that? That's Christ. The true prophet of God points
people to Christ and Christ alone, saying that God has made Jesus
Christ Lord over all, and salvation is in his hand. His arm shall
rule. The arm of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who rules all things. keys of hell and death are at
his side. And behold, his reward, that is the reward of the righteous,
is with him." They don't have rewards in heaven. We don't have
to promise anybody anything to arouse their interest. The Holy
Spirit shows the beauty of Christ. That will arouse their interest.
His reward is with him. He is our exceeding great reward. And his work, look at it, his
work is before him. It was before Christ he had it
to do, and now it's behind him. It's finished. It's finished. Salvation's accomplished. Christ
did it all. There's nothing for men to do
but to believe on Christ. To believe, bow, and trust in
him. Where's the man that's saying that today? Oh, they're begging
her. They're begging people to do
this and do that for God. And we need to be begging God
to do something for us. Verse 11. God's strong hand,
his arm, the reward of the righteous, God's Christ, he shall feed his
flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom. Christ is a good shepherd.
He knows his sheep. He calls them by name, and they
hear his voice and follow him. He leads, he guides, he protects,
he feeds, he gathers his sheep. The psalmist said, The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want. He carries them in his bosom
and shall gently lead those that are with young. He shall save
them. He shall save them, because salvation
is of the Lord. And what is the message of God's
true prophet? It's all flesh is grass, worthless,
useless grass. And God is on the throne, and
Christ is our only hope of salvation. If anybody is to be saved, God's
going to have to do it, and He'll only do it through the blood
and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Stand with me. Our Father, we thank you that you have indeed revealed the
true gospel to us, the truth as it is in Christ, the truth
of our nature, the truth of who our God is, and appointed us
to Christ. We beg your forgiveness for taking
it for granted. We ask that you would increase
our interest and prepare our hearts always to worship. We give you all the honor and
the glory for all things. We ask you to come quickly, to
remove us from this wilderness, for be thy will. If not, then
to prepare our way, prepare our hearts to further live here walk
through this barren land. Keep our eyes upon Christ, and we'll be safe. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
You're dismissed.