I want to read right toward the
end of Isaiah chapter 14. First of all, verse number 29. And here's my subject. The Lord
hath founded Zion. The Lord hath founded Zion. And that's taken out of the last
verse of the chapter. But look at verse 29 first. Rejoice thou not, whole Palestine,
that is the land of the Philistines. You know the Philistines were
always constantly the enemies of God's people. Always those
who opposed Israel. And now Isaiah writes by divine
inspiration and says, don't rejoice, you Philistines. Don't be so
quick to be joyful. Because he says, the rod of him
that smote thee is broken. Now literally he's talking about
King Ahaz. Don't rejoice that the king of
Judah has now died. This doesn't mean that you'll
be free to just run roughshod over the nation of Judah. Because out of him, out of this
Ahaz, and you'll notice in verse 28, in the year that King Ahaz
died was this burden of Isaiah. In the year that Ahaz died, here's
the warning of Isaiah to the Philistines. Don't be in a mad
rush to rejoice. This doesn't mean good things
for you. For out of the serpent's root, shall come forth a cockatrice,
and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent." Here's who he's
talking about, Hezekiah. Hezekiah is going to come forth.
Ahaz was an ungodly king, there's no question about that. You'll
remember from your history, studying the history of Israel, the northern
kingdom never had a godly king. You know that when Israel was
consolidated, when they were a united kingdom, they had King
Saul, King David, King Solomon. And then the kingdom of Israel
divided in two with a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom.
The northern kingdom consisted of 10 tribes. And then the southern
kingdom consisted of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Now King
Ahaz and his son Hezekiah were of the southern kingdom. And
it's worth remembering and worth noting the Northern Kingdom never
had a godly king. They never had a king that led
Israel, led the Northern Kingdom in the worship of God. Of course,
their capital city was Samaria. Every king they had was ungodly. But with the southern kingdom,
they did have some godly kings, though not all of them, and certainly
Ahaz was an ungodly king. He built up idolatry in the nation
of Judah. He was a big proponent of worshiping
idols. And he took upon himself to even
dismantle many of the pieces of furniture in the temple. And
he thought nothing of even selling some of the gold and silver ornaments
of the temple off to heathen powers. but there would rise up out of
the loins of Ahaz, this man Hezekiah. And the evil that his dad had
done, Hezekiah is going to undo that evil. In fact, hold your
place right here and go back to 2 Kings chapter 18. Look at
2 Kings chapter 18. And verse one, 2 Kings 18 verse
one, and I'll just read the first eight verses to you. Now it came
to pass in the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of
Israel, which kingdom is that? The northern kingdom. And we
already know that they didn't have a godly king. So he can
immediately recognize the fact that Hoshea was an ungodly man,
and he was the son of an ungodly man, Elah, king of Israel, and
that was when Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began
to reign. Now look at verse two. 25 years old was Hezekiah when
he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name also was Abba, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all
that David his father did. Then he proceeded to undo, to
tear down what his father had built up, verse four. He removed
the high places which his father had set up. Hold your place there. Look back at chapter 16 in verse
three and four. This is about Ahaz, chapter 16,
verses three and four. But he walked in the way, that
is Ahaz, walked in the way of the kings of Israel. So we know
he's ungodly because he did just like they did. Yea, and made
his son to pass through the fire according to the abominations
of the heathen whom the Lord cast out from before the children
of Israel. He even offered up some of his
children to false gods, sacrificed them to false gods. Verse four,
and he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the
hills and under every green tree. Now go back to chapter 18. So
look what Hezekiah did. Verse four, he removed the high
places. That's what his dad had built.
Elevated places where false gods were worshiped. He break the
images. he cut down the groves, he break
in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, for unto
those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he
called it Nehushtan." a worthless piece of brass. Evidently they
had hidden that away, that serpent that Moses lifted up when the
Israelites were bitten by the fiery serpents, which pictured
our Lord Jesus and certainly our Savior made mention of that
to Nicodemus in John chapter three. In verse 14, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have eternal life. That serpent lifted up,
pictured our Lord Jesus, lifted up on the cross, lifted up by
the justice of God, lifted up to die, lifted up before God
and men to die for the sins of his people. And, of course, we
continued to lift him up in our preaching and in our worship. So he broke this serpent of brass. He said, it's Nahushtin. It's
just a worthless piece of brass. It doesn't mean anything. People
get all excited about religious relics. Oh, if we could just
find the ark, that'd prove that there was an ark. Do you need
to see it before you believe it? You're in bad shape if that's
what you need. If they found the ark, you know
what I'd say do? Burn it. Burn it. People will worship it. Men are
by nature idolaters. All men are idolaters and will
worship anything and everything except the God who made us. That's
how much we've fallen into depravity. Look at verse five. He trusted
in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him, after Hezekiah
was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that
were before him, for he claimed to the Lord. And he departed
not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord
commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him." Oh, to have a
ruler, to have a leader of whom it could be rightly said, the
Lord was with him. Oh, how blessed were the people
of Judah. They had a man that God raised
up and God taught him the gospel. The Lord was with him. You see,
Hezekiah, he's going to go ahead and defeat many of the enemies
of Israel. And God's going to use them.
When we go back to Isaiah, I'm gonna show you this there from
chapter 14. The enemies of Israel thought
that they could wipe them out, wipe out the people of Judah.
Now the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom, eventually
it will just fade away into nothing. A bunch of idolaters. But that's
not going to happen to Judah. It can't happen to Judah. Because
that's the one through whom Messiah will come. There's his lineage. And though all of the enemies
of God should go against Judah, God would from time to time raise
up men such as Hezekiah, who had the glory of God for his
goal, and the good of the people of God as his desire. And he boldly stood for the truth
of God, and he went after the enemies of God, because it cannot
be that Judah will be overthrown. Messiah must be born. And that
lineage, that lineage leading all the way to His birth, it
must be protected. It cannot be that the purpose
of God regarding His Son would be canceled out or frustrated. It cannot be that that lineage
of our Lord Jesus should be broken, should be interrupted. That cannot
be. And so God raised up men like
Hezekiah who will preserve the name of the Lord, preserve the
gospel of God's grace, preserve that lineage that goes to our
Savior. Verse seven says, the Lord was
with him and he prospered whithersoever he went forth. And he rebelled
against the king of Assyria and served him not." Now watch this,
he smoked the Philistines. See over here in Isaiah 14, the
whole Palestine, that's the Philistines, he smoked them. He destroyed
them even under Gaza and the borders thereof from the tower
of the watchman to the fence city. This is the man that God
raised up. So go back to Isaiah 14. This is the fruit. This is the
fruit of Ahaz. And he's altogether different,
altogether different from his father. Yes, Hezekiah he inherited,
He inherited an evil, sinful nature. There's no question about
that. But he did not inherit from his father, nor does anyone
inherit from their father or their mother, the grace of God. Hezekiah was sheltered by the
Lord and the Lord revealed the gospel of his grace to him. And
he's the one who's gonna go against the enemy. Now look at verse
30 back here in Isaiah 14. and the firstborn of the poor
shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety." The poor and the needy. And you know, that's exactly
what the psalmist said, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord
thanketh upon me. And the Lord has always had thoughts
of love toward His people, even from old eternity. We've never
been out of His mind. We've never been out of His sight.
We've never been out of His love. We did fall in Adam, but we didn't
fall out of the love of God. We didn't fall out of the purpose
of God's grace to save us and bring us to His Son. The firstborn
of the poor shall feed. He makes us to lie down in green
pastures and feed. I love that statement in the
Psalm. We read and all of us together this morning, Psalm
23. He maketh me lie down in green pastures. He has to make
us. I love effectual grace. He has
to make us lie down in the green pastures of His Word. He has
to enlighten us to see that this Shepherd is the Lord, and the
Lord who is my Shepherd is none other than Christ Jesus, the
Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd of the sheep. And He watches over the poor. We're spiritually poor, have
nothing to offer to God. and we're needy, but the poor
shall feed in green pastures, fed by the shepherd, and the
needy shall lie down in safety. Oh, children of God, there is
no one as safe as those who are the beloved of the Lord. We have been safe in Christ Jesus
from old eternity. one with Him, joined in Him,
and nothing can happen to the body as long as the head is the
sovereign over all things, and He will always be the sovereign
over all things. The needy shall lie down in safety. Lie down, my dear brother, Lie
down, my dear sister. Enjoy that great salvation that's
in Christ Jesus. Lie down at the feet of the Shepherd
and know that you're in His care and nothing can harm you. The Lord says, I will kill thy
root with famine, and I'll kill your remnant. That's the enemies. Then He says this, look at verse
31. Howl, O gate, cry out. O city, thy whole Palestina are
dissolved. This is what God is going to
do to the enemies of his people. He's going to dissolve them.
He's going to take care of them. May not be today, may not be
next year, but the days of the enemies of God are numbered. You see, the enemies of the Lord,
those who believe a false gospel, those who embrace free will and
works religion, they shall not always prosper. I know it seems
they prosper today. And we are, to this religious
world around us, we're like the little nation of Judah. and they
see us as just an insignificant little group. But don't ever
be afraid because the Lord our God is mighty and he will overpower all of
the enemies of his people till they are dissolved. He says here in verse 31, for
there shall come from the north a smoke and none shall be alone
in his appointed times. Of course, what he's talking
about here is Hezekiah leading the armies of Judah. Here they
come. And I say to all of the people
of God, the Lord our God, Christ, the mighty avenger of his people,
He will come one day. And when he comes back to this
earth, all of his enemies will surely fall. And his church, Zion, shall be
exalted in him forever and ever. Notice what it says in verse
32. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?"
Here, Isaiah pictures messengers from all of the various nations,
and they go to look upon Judah, this little bitty nation, which
doesn't appear to be powerful enough to overcome anybody. and certainly not mighty enough
to fight off all their enemies. And yet messengers, they will
come to Judah, also called Zion, to see how in the world are you
still standing. With all these mighty nations,
Babylon being one of them, And Babylon is always a picture of
the enemies of God. And the Lord uses Babylon as
His name for false religion. How is it that you have withstood
all of the onslaught, all of the persecution, all of the wars,
all of the invasions of all of the enemies of your little nation, And we ask, and indeed the enemies
ask, how is it that these people who profess to believe grace,
you're so small, you're so insignificant. You don't even measure on the
radar. You're so little in comparison
to the mega churches. How in the world does Zion continue
to exist? Here's the way. Look at the last
statement of chapter 14. Here's what they find out. That
the Lord hath founded Zion. The Lord has established Zion. not only laid the foundation
for Zion, but He is the foundation of Zion. That's why the truth
goes on. That's why Zion lasts. It isn't
due to the abilities of those who are in Zion. It isn't to
the strength and the ingenuity and the wisdom and the knowledge
and the greatness and the power of Zion. It's not due to that.
Because He's already said, we're poor and needy. How does the church of the Lord
continue to go and continue to grow? When the Lord Himself says
of all of His people, in and of ourselves, we're poor, we
have nothing. And we have need of everything.
But listen, Christ has been made of God unto us everything we
need. Wisdom, we have it. Righteousness, we have it. Sanctification, we have it. Redemption, we have it. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Oh yes, the Lord
has established Zion. We have a firm foundation. Don't you worry about the cause
of God. He'll take care of that. Don't
you worry about his church. Zion is never in jeopardy. And let the mega churches look
down on us. Let Babylon make fun. Well, you're
just a little group of people there. Nothing will ever come of y'all.
Well, nothing will ever come of us by nature, but I'll tell
you something, something does come of us by grace with people
of God. And the Lord is with us. Do you
think the Lord is with the mega churches where they, here's what
they propose, will worship and works worship. That's it. The Lord's not with him. That's
Babylon. And Babylon is going to someday
come to a screeching halt. That passage that I asked Bill
to read at the end of chapter 13, look at verse 19, back in
chapter 13, verse 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty
of the Chaldees, excellency, shall be as when God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what's going to happen
to false religion. Let's read about it. Go over
to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17. Revelation 17 verse 1. There came one of the seven angels,
which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me,
Come hither. I'll show you, I will manifest
to you, I will reveal unto you the judgment of the great whore
that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been drunk with the wine of her fornication. She has a
false gospel and people are drunk on it. And if you've ever tried to talk
to somebody who's drunk on a false gospel, you know you can't get
anywhere with it. Only God can convince them of
the truth. So verse three, he carried me
away in the spirit into the wilderness. That's where Babylon is. She's
in the wilderness. No water, no water of life. There's no gospel of grace. There's no spiritual food for
the sheep. It's a wilderness. Oh, it's all painted up and looks
beautiful as we shall read. But there's no life. There's
no life there. It's just wilderness. So he carried me away in the
Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon a
scarlet-colored beast, scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was beautiful.
She's arrayed with purple and scarlet color, decked with gold
and precious stones and pearls, and she has a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the
Great. the mother of harlots and abomination
of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered,
I was astonished with great admiration. Well, what's going to happen
to this great city of Babylon? But look at chapter 18 verse
1, after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having
great power. The earth was lightened with
his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and
a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies."
Verse 4, and I heard another voice from heaven saying, now
listen to this one. The voice says, come out of her,
my people, that she be not partakers of
her sins, and that she receive not of her plagues. For her sins
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."
You see, Babylon continues to exist. But before she is destroyed,
God will make certain that his people who have been deceived
by Babylon will be brought out of her by almighty, sovereign,
effectual, saving grace. In fact, we were once in Babylon. You say, well, not me. Oh, yes. Because every man by
nature thinks If I do for God, God will do for me. God will
reward me. We are programmed that way. We
are idolaters by nature. That's the way we are. But God's not going to let us
remain in error. His people will receive a revelation
of the grace of God, the goodness of God, and salvation by substitution
and satisfaction. God's gonna teach us the gospel.
He's gonna pull us out. And then Babylon is going to
fall. And when she falls, turn to chapter
19 and I'll give you this. Verse one, chapter 19, verse
one. And after these things, I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. Well, what is this praise about?
Why now? Why now break out in this praise? Verse 2, for true and righteous
are His judgments. For He hath judged the great
whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and
hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." And again,
they said, hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. One of these days, Babylon is
going to fall and great will be the fall of her. When's that
going to happen? when all of God's elect are pulled
out of her. See, she can't be destroyed while
some of God's elect are in her. But all of God's elect have got
to come to knowledge of the truth. You've got to come to knowledge
of how the God of the Bible is just and He justifies the ungodly
through the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus. He won't leave
us in Babylon. He'll pull us out. And then when
God damns Babylon forever, all of the saints of God will sing
praises to His name. I tell you, we'll praise Him,
number one, because He pulled us out of her. He didn't leave us there. He
didn't leave us where He found us. And secondly, we'll praise
Him because We want error to be forever done away with. We're not hard-hearted. We're
not cruel. I want people to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Let me tell you something. If
you absolutely refuse and if God leaves you like that, you
refuse to align yourself with the truth of God's Word, and
you persist in your rebellion. When God judges you and sends
you to hell, the saints of God, in glory now, when we're thinking
straight, when we're not affected by emotions or sentiment or anything
like that, When we're in glory and we see you, if you are one
of these stubborn ones who insists on worshiping your free will,
we will sing hallelujah when God puts you in hell forever.
That's a hard truth for some people to swallow, but it is
the truth. Because we love His glory above
all. And when he silences the enemies
of the gospel, we'll praise him for doing it. I tell you, there's something
that the saints of God cannot condone, and that is error when
it comes to the gospel. Because you see, people who will
not bow to the authority of King Jesus, who have no real interest
in this salvation by crucified, buried, risen Savior, people
who have no interest in salvation by God's free and sovereign grace,
they put themselves at odds with the glory of God. Oh, you're in trouble. Now, you've taken on a foe that
you can't handle. Oh, may God work in our hearts
to bow to the Lord of glory. To submit to His way of salvation. To say, Lord, you're right, I've
always been wrong. We're so proud it's kind of hard
for us to say I was wrong. But when it comes to religion,
we're wrong. And God's right. And everybody
who is in disagreement with how God saves sinners, he's going
to have the final word, I'm telling you. He's going to take care
of all of his enemies. He'll put them away. Because
you see, the Lord has founded and established Zion by grace. And he has founded Zion on a
sure and firm foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. We build on
him. We build all our hopes on him. Wise men do that. You see, the
scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation and to see
that God builds His church. He builds Zion on the rock, Christ
Jesus. And we build on Him. And if you build on anything
else, you put your confidence in anything else, I don't care
what it is. It may even be your profession
of faith. It might be your baptism, but
everything else is sinking sand. You've got no foundation. The
only foundation is Christ the Lord. That's the only foundation
there is. And God is building His church
on that firm foundation, that rock Christ Jesus. And being
built on Him, Zion will last forever. Build on anything else. Now,
as Scott Richardson used to say, you're gone, Jesse. Build on the Savior, you're safe
forever. Oh, God, give us grace to build
all of our hopes for righteousness, for life, for salvation. on Christ the solid rock, on
that One who was bruised and wounded and crucified to satisfy
God's justice, that One who put our sins away. I tell you, I
give up all hope of being saved any other way, don't you? I run
to Christ. You're my only hope, Lord. You're the foundation that the
Father has laid in old eternity. I build all my hopes on you.
All my hopes. And I'll tell you something,
those who build on Him never will be disappointed. Never will
be. Let's sing a closing song, number
303, Jesus, Savior, Pilate, Very good.