Now let's turn back in our Bibles
to Isaiah 57. I've entitled this message, Peace
Far and Near. And I took the title from verse
19 at the end of this prophecy of Isaiah. Verse 19 of Isaiah
57, where the Lord says, I create the fruit of the lips, peace,
peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith
the Lord, and I will heal him." Now the issue of this prophecy,
this message of Isaiah to his generation, and the message to
our generation too, is a question that we must ask and answer if
we are going to have fellowship with a holy God. And that's this,
how can there be peace between God and such sinful people as
we are who have literally by nature declared war against God? How can that come about? The
Bible says here in verse 15 that God is the one who inhabits eternity. His name is holy. He dwells in
the high and holy place, and yet it says he will dwell with
those of a contrite and humble spirit. Well, who are those of
a contrite and humble spirit? Those whose hearts are broken
over sin. That's what he's talking about.
So we know this, they're sinners. Well, how can there be peace
between God and such sinful people? Now, in this passage, Isaiah
brings a strong indictment against Judah and Jerusalem, showing
how they had fallen in some of the worst attitudes and behavior
that a human being can go to, so as to deserve the wrath and
judgment of God. But God has purposed to save
a remnant of His people because of His purpose to save His elect
people eternally, far and near, by His grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it starts off by showing
the indictment, the evidence against these people. Why do
they deserve the wrath of God? Now, as we read through this,
and I'm just going to read through it and comment on these verses,
and you see these awful descriptions of people, you might think in
your own mind, you say, well, how in the world could such people?
This is Judah in Jerusalem now. This is Israel. This is the people
of the covenant, the old covenant. They had the Law of Moses. You
might say, how in the world could people like this be saved? And what I want us to do as we
go through that, instead of asking the question that way, is I'd
like for us to ask the question this way. How in the world could
God save such a sinner as I am? Now, people like to talk about
differences and how they differ from people who they see worse
than themselves, but I'll tell you what. As you go through this
passage and you see the descriptions of the idolatry and the unbelief
of Israel, what he's describing here is not only the people of
that generation, but the people of this generation, too. Even
though it may come in different forms, it may be more sophisticated,
it may be more hidden, but it's there. But I want to tell you
something, this is what we all are by nature, children of wrath
even as others, dead in trespasses and sin, until God saves us from
our sins and brings us to recognize and to know our frame and drive
us to Christ. And so when you read this, and
when I read this, let's understand that but by the grace of God,
that's where we are. Isn't that right? Who makes us
to differ? God does. God makes us to differ. Now the first thing that he brings
as far as an indictment against these people is the issue of
the death of the righteous. He says in verse 1, the righteous
perisheth. Now let's understand who the
righteous are. If any sinner is righteous before
God, it's because he has been made so by the grace of God in
Christ. There are no righteous people
to be found among men based upon anything in us or of us or done
by us. There's none righteous, Paul
wrote in Romans 3 and verse 10. No, not one. He didn't say there's
none religious. He didn't even say there's none
trying to be righteous. He just said there's none righteous
in God's standard, in God's holy law and justice. Among men born
of Adam, fallen sinners, there's none righteous, no, not one.
So whenever God refers to anyone as being righteous, that means
justified. That's what He's talking about.
That means they're not guilty before God. It means their sins
are not charged to them. And it means they are made righteous
in the sight of God. Now, how can that be? Well, it's
by God's grace. It's not by their works. It's
not by their promises to do better. It's not even by their faith.
In the Old Testament, it was based upon a work to be done
in the future. And God gave it to them. God
gave them grace. God saw them as righteous by
promise. And he laid to their charge and
their credit the work that Christ himself would come and do in
the future. That's how Abraham was made righteous before God.
That's how Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's
how Abel found acceptance before God based on the blood of the
Lamb. That's how Enoch pleased God and was translated so that
he wouldn't see death. That's how David the king could
pray, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.
That's how Solomon could pray unto God in the building of the
house of God that he had found favor in the eyes of God. They
were all sinners saved by the grace of God. You remember David's
last words. He said, this is all my salvation. God has made a covenant with
me that's ordered in all things and sure. And that's my whole
salvation. He's talking about the sure mercies
of David. That's Christ and Him crucified.
That's how Isaiah could speak of the One to come, upon whom
all of our salvation, all of our justification before God
is conditioned. He's going to come. He's going
to put away our sins. He's going to make an end of
sin. He's going to finish the transgression. He's going to
bring in everlasting righteousness. He's going to do it all. But
God bless them, you see. So the righteous perisheth. That's
a believer. That's a child of God. That's
his witness here on earth. That's his true people. But now
look at the indictment against the unbeliever. Look at the indictment
against the unsaved. He says, the righteous perisheth,
and no man layeth it to heart. No man cares. That's exactly
what he's saying. No man grieves. He says, and
merciful men are taken away. Who are these merciful men? Christ
said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 and verse 7, blessed
are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. I'll tell you exactly
who the merciful are. They are those who have obtained
mercy from God. They've been to the mercy seat,
Christ and Him crucified. And He says they're merciful
because they're in Christ. They preach the gospel. They're
concerned for the welfare of others. And he says, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Now, he
says, no man lays it to heart. They don't grieve over it. In
fact, instead of grieving over it, they're actually happy about
it. They actually rejoice over it. They're pleased that they're
rid of such persons, such bothersome people. which will be the case
when God's people are slain. I want you to look over at the
book of Revelation, chapter 11. Now, their joy, their happiness
over the death of God's people, God's witnesses, aligns them
with the beast that comes out of the sea. Aligns them with
the great whore, false religion. And this is what it's talking
about in Revelation 11, it talks about the two witnesses which
are the church, representatives of the church, symbols of the
church, God's witness here on this earth. Verse 1, it says
in Revelation 11, There was given me a reed like unto a rod, and
the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God,
that's the church, and the altar. and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure
it not." That's the world. And he says, "'For it is given
unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot
forty and two months. And I will give power unto my
two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred,
and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.'" Now there's the
two witnesses. He says, "'These are the two
olive trees, and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the
earth. And they preach the gospel. Look
down at verse 7. It says, "...when these two witnesses,
when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that
ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,
and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually
is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."
And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall
see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer
or allow their dead bodies to be put in grace. And they that
dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them their death, and make
merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two
prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth." Now, how
did these two prophets torment them that dwell on the earth?
How did the righteous back here in Isaiah 57, when they perished,
no man lays it to heart, how did they torment unbelievers?
They preached the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is
a torment to the unbeliever. It's a continual reminder of
his false refuge. It's a continual reminder of
his lack of hope. The Scripture says in John 3,
and the Lord talking to Nicodemus, that this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. They hate the
light, because it's a continual reminder of the wickedness and
evil of their best efforts to save themselves. The Lord spoke
of that hatred of the world against Him and His church. He told His
disciples, marvel not if the world hates you. They hated Me
before they hated you. Hebrews chapter 11. Turn there
with me just a moment. I want you to see this. You know,
Hebrews chapter 11, they call it the Hall of Faith. And it's
talking about the faith of many of the Old Testament saints.
And there at the end of that chapter, it talks about the persecution. of the saints. The world hating
God's witnesses here on earth, the righteous. It says in Hebrews
11, look down at verse 37. This is how the world treated
God's saints in the past. They were stoned. They threw
stones at them to kill them. You remember about Stephen, how
he was stoned to death. They were sawn asunder. That
is torn in two. They were tempted. That is tested.
Were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins. That means everything was taken
away from them. They were left destitute. Being
destitute, afflicted, tormented. Now look at verse 38. You see
that little parenthesis there? Notice what that says. Of whom
the world was not worthy. You see, the world looked at
those witnesses, the righteous that Isaiah describes in Isaiah
57. Later on in Revelation, the two witnesses, the world looks
at them and says they're not even worthy to live. They're
not worthy for our company. They're not worthy to be around
us. God says the world's not worthy of them. And he goes on,
they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and
caves of the earth, and these all having obtained a good report,
through faith, that is faith in Christ, received not the promise,
that is the promise of the actual coming of Christ in time, God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect. I believe that's talking about
our glorification together, all the saints when Christ comes
again. Now go back to Isaiah 57. You see, this no man laying
it to heart is an indictment upon the world of unbelievers. In the death of the righteous,
the world shows their content for Christ and His church. And
what Isaiah is saying is even his generation, when those whom
God raised up to be witnesses for Him, those whom God saved
by His grace and preached to them and spoke to them and lived
among them, when those righteous persons, when those sinners saved
by grace, perished, no man grieved. They didn't care. They were glad
they were gone. Their death. was a delight. But here's what
he says, now in their death, verse 1, it says in the last
part of that verse, listen to this, he says, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. And then
verse 2, he shall enter into peace, the righteous shall enter
into peace, that is eternal peace, and they shall rest in their
beds, each one walking in his uprightness. In other words,
The righteous, when they leave this world, their death is a
deliverance from the evil of this world. Their death ultimately
is the deliverance from the wrath to come because Christ took the
wrath of God upon himself for his people. The righteous man's
death is a rest for him. That is, it is a rest. It's not
perishing, you see. That's the way the world looks
at it. But it's a rest until the resurrection, when Christ
comes again. As soon as a believer dies, he
walks in his uprightness with the Lord. You see, he then is
free from even the presence and the power and the influence of
sin. The contamination of sin is totally
gone. All that remains to be done is
the union of his soul to his perfect, sinless, resurrected
body. And that's all. You see, right
now we're free from the power of sin to condemn us, the power
of sin to kill us, spiritually, eternally. But we're still not
free from the power of sin to influence us and condemn us.
But then when the righteous die, when they go to be with the Lord,
they walk in there in His uprightness. It's a freedom, it's a liberation
for God's people, even though the world doesn't take it to
heart. But then secondly here, from
verse 3 all the way down to verse 13, here's what he's going to
do. Now he's going to describe the idolatry of the people. Now
you might look at it this way. In the first two verses, the
indictment against the world, the unbeliever, is because of
their treatment of God's people, Christ's church. And you see,
you can't separate In this thing of either love or hate, you can't
separate Christ from His people. If you hate His people, you hate
Him, He said. If you love His people, you love
Him. If you love Christ, you love His people. If you hate
Christ, you hate His people. They go together. But now here,
beginning in verse 3, He speaks of their idolatry, how their
attitude was towards the true and living God. They were idolaters.
And God, you know, think about this, God gave Israel His law
on Sinai. Gave Israel His prophets to tell
them the truth. Gave them the priesthood for
their worship and their service and their representing them before
God. Gave them His temple. But what
did they do? They followed sorcerers. They
followed magicians, they followed wizards, and they followed false
prophets into idolatry and iniquity. And worse than that, while doing
all that, they kept the name of Jehovah and pretended to be
worshiping Him. Now, doesn't that describe our
present religious generation? They've gone off into all kinds
of different doctrines, all kinds of different ideas, all kinds
of different methods, and they still call themselves Christians.
but they don't worship the true and living God. They actually
deny Him. And that's what was going on
here. Verse 12 shows the final indictment on it all. And here
it is. Read verse 12. He says, I will
declare thy righteousness and thy worth. Now, this is what
God is going to say about their supposed righteousness and their
worth. He says, for they shall not profit
there. Now, there's the bottom line. So let's look at it. Look
at verse 3. He says, But draw near hither,
draw near here, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer,
and the whore. That's strong words, isn't it?
I guarantee you Isaiah is not trying to win friends and influence
people here. He must have missed out on reading
Dale Carnegie, I don't know. But I know this, he's telling
men the truth here. And what he's saying is, what
you're doing in your religion, What you're doing in your lifestyle
is no better than witchcraft, adultery, which I believe he's
talking about spiritual adultery. It's the religion of the great
whore. False religion. It's false. Now that's what all
of us are by nature. Is that too hard? You see, if
I'm saved today, that's what I was delivered from right there.
And he goes on, look at verse 4, he says, "...against whom
do you sport yourselves?" Now what he's saying is if you make
light of things that you shouldn't make light of. "...against whom
make you a wide mouth and draw out the tongue?" You ever seen
little kids stick out their tongue? You know? That's exactly what
he's saying here. That's how they're acting. They're
acting like children. Remember Christ spoke of His
generation acting like children in the marketplace. You can't
please them. You can't satisfy them. They're
just brigadier. You ever heard that term? They're
brigadier. They're brats. And he says, you can't please
them. He said, here comes John the Baptist in total abstinence. He didn't eat or drink the things
that they said you weren't supposed to eat and drink. And they said,
well, you know, he's nuts. He's crazy. But the Son of Man,
the Messiah, He came eating and drinking. And they said, well,
He's a drunkard. He's a wine beverer. You can't
please him. And that's the picture here.
He says, are you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood? You're making mockery of God.
You make light of the things of God that honor Him. You make
light of the gospel. You make fun of the prophets.
You make fun of the truth. You're like children. You're
children of transgression. But what does the Bible say about
us before God saves us? That we're by nature children
of wrath, even as others, born dead in trespasses and sins.
Seed of falsehood, born in Adam. We fell in Adam. Fell into sin
and death. We identify with Adam in our
unbelief, or our unconcern, or even in our contempt for the
gospel until God saves us by His grace. Look at verse 5. He
says, "...inflaming yourselves with idols under every green
tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs
of the rocks." Now, a lot of commentators may disagree on
this, but I'll tell you what it is. They have a zeal of their
religion. Inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree. And any time in the Old Testament
they talk about worshiping in the groves, or in the trees,
or on the hills, that's idolatry. You see, the place of worship
under the Old Covenant was at the tabernacle, in the temple.
And when they would set up their idols in the trees, you know,
and he says, you have such a zeal in this. Well, how zealous were
they? Well, under one king of Judah
named Manasseh, you can read about this, I think it's in 2
Kings 23. But under one king named Manasseh, who was supposedly
the most wicked king that Judah ever had, even more wicked than they have, they
sacrificed their children to the god Molech. Now that god
Molech, it was an idol that was made out of metal, I suppose
gold or brass or something like that. And they had arms. They had arms out here and they
had a fire pit down there and they would heat him up so hot
and take their little babies and lay those babies on the arms
of that idol and burn them up. You can read about it. That's
how bad it got. Now why did they do that? Was it because they didn't love
their children? No, it wasn't because they didn't love their
children. It was because of fear. Fear of that god, of that idol. And they'd lay their children
on that. And that shows how zeal... You think those people weren't
sensitive? See, their problem wasn't sincerity. Their problem
was not zeal. They felt like they were offering
their children to atone and appease that God. You see? You say, well, I can't imagine
doing something like that. My friend, the only reason that
we don't go to the depths of depravity is the restraining
hand of a sovereign God. And that's it. I'll tell you
what, self-righteousness works religion is virtually the same. You say, how can that be? Well,
let me tell you something. There are people today offering
their children upon the altars of Antichrist, literally slaying
their souls, teaching them a false gospel of salvation by works,
getting them to walk out and baptized into waters with no
idea of who God is and how he saves sinners. And that's no
different. In fact, I believe that's worse.
I honestly do. Because there you're talking
about eternal damnation. They have a zeal, you see. They
inflame themselves. But look at verse 6. He says,
"...among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. They
are thy lot, even to them. Hast thou poured a drink offering?
Thou hast offered a meat offering? Should I receive comfort in these?"
In other words, No matter how devoted and zealous men are in
false religion, God will not receive it to them. These smooth
stones are the stones that they would gather out of the rivers
that were smooth because of the erosion, and they would build
their idols with them. And they'd offer drink offerings.
They'd offer meat offerings. God says, am I going to receive
comfort in those religious shrines? Absolutely not. They misrepresent
God. Look at verse 7. He says, upon
a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed. Even there
went thou unto up to offer sacrifice. This is where you rest. This
is where you have intimate communion with your idol. And he says in
verse eight, behind the doors also in the post hast thou set
up thy remembrance. For thou hast discovered thyself
to another than men are gone up. You've exposed yourself to
an idol. You've gone up to that idol.
He says, thou hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant
with them. You've made an agreement with
this idol. Thou loved their bed where thou sawest it. That's,
again, that intimate communion with that idol. Verse 9, And
thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase
thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst
debase thyself even unto hell. All who walk in the broad way
that leads to destruction, unbelief and idolatry." They have great
honor in the world among kings. They'll dress themselves up.
They'll put their perfume on. They want to impress each other.
They want to impress their idol. But it's of no avail. That's
what he's saying. These exalted, monumental places
of worship, they'll build great, huge, ornate edifices to impress
their God and impress each other. They climb into bed with any,
any religion. You know, we're all going to
the same God, we just believe different ways. That's the spirit
of the ecumenical movement, you see. Fellowship with anybody.
They want the approval of powerful, influential people. You see,
it's based on who men are, how well they're respected, rather
than truth. And they'll send out messengers
everywhere. Everywhere. To find new ways
to worship, new people to go with, new ideas, you see, new
philosophies, new theologies. Look at verse 10. He says, Thou
art wearied in the greatness of thy way. Their way is a way
of destruction. It's a way of self-righteous
works religion. And I'll tell you what, it's
a great way of weariness. I think about our Lord when He
stood and said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden. And I'll give you rest. You know,
people rest for a little while in false religion. They become
content and satisfied. But it doesn't last. It can't
last. You see, it's legalism. It's
false religion. It's their way. You see, they're
weary of the greatness of thy way, not God's way. God's way
is a way of rest in Christ. It's a way of faith in Christ.
It's a way of grace. But you see, in religion, they've
got to keep you working, they've got to keep you busy, they've
got to keep you doing, and if they don't keep you doing, what
are you? You're dying. That's the theme of false religion.
If you're not doing, you're dying. Or you're dead. And He said,
"...Yet saidst thou not," look at verse 10, "...there is no
hope. Thou hast found the life of thine hand." What is the life
of their hands? That's the works of their hands.
You work, you get. Do something for God and He'll
do something for you. Work for God and you'll earn
His favor or His blessings. And he says, you've not looked
up and realized there's no hope there. You found the life of
your hand, therefore thou was not grieved. You didn't grieve
over there. You didn't say like Isaiah when
he saw the Lord high and lifted up, oh, woe is me for I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. You
didn't say like Daniel in the vision of the dream that God
gave him, when I saw the holiness and the beauty of the Lord, my
comeliness, my beauty melted into corruption. You didn't say
like the Apostle Peter when he realized his own sinfulness,
he said, get away from me, Lord, I'm too sinful. You didn't say
like Paul the Apostle, when the law came, I died, sin revived. You didn't grieve. You found
peace and comfort, the life of your own hands, which is no lie."
Well, look at verse 11. He says, "'And of whom hast thou
been afraid or feared that thou hast lied and hast not remembered
me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held my peace, even
of old, and thou fearest me not?' What he's saying there is this.
Their motivation in their religious efforts in this idolatry, is
a legal fear. They became afraid of nothing. That's what a person is who serves
an idol. He has a fear, but it's a fear
of nothing. The problem is he doesn't know
it. And this fear will drive him, and it will motivate him,
and it will constrain him. It's a fear that is a legal fear
that has no bearing in God alone. God saves His people by grace. God leads and guides His people
by love. False religion leads by fear. And that's what God is saying
here. I've held my peace. In other words, what God is saying
is I haven't brought that wrath down on you and just snuffed
you out. And for that, you fear me not? What should they have
done? fallen on their face and sought
the Lord and begged Him for mercy. So he says in verse 12, I will
declare thy righteousness and thy works, but they shall not
profit thee. For by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in the sight of God. There will be no sinner
declared righteous by his works. It will not profit you. It never
has profited anybody and never will. God hasn't changed. He
saves sinners by His grace in Christ. And look at the first
part of verse 13 there. He says, When thou cryest, let
thy companies deliver thee. But the wind shall carry them
all away. Vanity shall take them. In other
words, when you do realize your situation, when you do realize
the hopelessness of your situation, cry unto your idols. Let them
take you away. Let them protect you. Let them
save you. But they won't, because they're
going to be taken away too. No hope. So where is there hope? Look again, verse 13, but, now
here's one, you know, we talk about the buts of Scripture,
you know, but God, who's rich in mercy. Well, look here, but
he that putteth his trust in me, in the Lord God, shall possess
the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. Now, here's the
salvation of God's elect remnant. Throughout all the ages of time,
From Abel down to this very day, there has been and shall forever
be a remnant, according to the election of grace, of people
whom God chose and redeemed by the blood of Christ and brings
to trust Him. And when others trust themselves,
these will trust in, those that put his, that he that putteth
his trust in me, in the God of salvation. in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. That's the God of promise. That's
the God of grace. That's the God who justifies
the ungodly. That's the God who saves the
undeserving and the unworthy. That's the God who's saved by
His Son. And there's two important words
here that it speaks of, those who trust the Lord God. It's
possession and inheritance. He says, they shall possess the
land. They're going to have it. They
didn't earn it. They didn't deserve it, but they're
going to possess it. It's theirs. Why? Because somebody's
going to earn it and somebody's going to deserve it. His name
is Jehovah who saves. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He earned it. He deserves it. We possess it in Him. We're the
possessors, the owners of all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Our righteousness is Him. That's
right. We possess righteousness because
of Him. We didn't earn it. We didn't
create it. We didn't work it out. We didn't appropriate it.
It was given to us free. It was a free gift from God,
Romans chapter 5 says. Our righteousness is Him. He
took our sins. Now, what did we give Him? We
gave Him our sins. And He put those sins away at
the cross of Calvary. Eternal life is a gift that we
possess in Christ who is our life. Our sanctification is ours. We possess sanctification. That
is, our being set apart by God because of Him. He is our sanctification. Our redemption. The work of the
Holy Spirit is ours because He earned it. And we possess the
Holy Spirit. He indwells every one of His
people. His Word is implanted in our hearts so that it will
never leave us, and it's ours. We possess it because of Him. You see that? Everything. He
that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with Him freely
give us all things? You don't have all things unless
you have Christ. And if you have Christ, you have
all things. You're a possessor of it. How
do you know that I possess those? How do we know that any of us?
We trust Him. We rest in Him. We look to Him
as the author and finisher of our faith. We don't look to ourselves. And then inheritance. Inheritance
is something you don't earn. Somebody else earned it and bequeathed
it to you, and when they died, you get it. And that's upon the
death of Christ. We're the recipients of an inheritance
that's incorruptible, Peter said. You think about that. Now here's
the message then. Now this is the message of God's
service. Look at it. Look at verse 14. And they shall
say, cast ye up, cast ye up. That means build up. Make a road. Prepare the way. Take up the
stumbling block out of the way of my people. How do we do that? How does God's messenger do that?
Build up. Build. Make a road. Make a way.
Clear the way. Remove the rocks from the road
that my people are going to travel. How? How do you do that? I'll
tell you exactly how. It's very simple. Preach Christ.
That's what John the Baptist did. He came and prepared the
way. What did he do? Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. Don't preach this other junk
now. Just preach Christ and Him crucified and everything in Scripture
in light of Him. You see, that's what happens
when preachers get off on other things that they shouldn't get
off onto. They bring stumbling blocks in
the way. But don't do that. Keep it simple. Keep it single.
It's Christ and Him crucified. That's the only way to God. Clear
it out. Keep it simple. Build it up.
Make a way. Tell sinners how God saves them
by His grace in Christ. Now, unbelievers see Christ as
a stumbling block, but those who know their sins see Him as
the way, the truth, and the life, the only hope. And he says, my
people, in verse 14. Take the stumbling block out
of the way of my people, the people of God's choice, the people
of God's redeeming grace, the people of God's calling, His
church, which He purchased with His own blood. In verse 15, he
says, For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy
place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones. You see, this is a message from
the living God, the true God, not a dead idol. Our God is able
to save. He inhabits eternity. He's the
high and lofty one. He's the holy one. His salvation
honors His holiness because Christ satisfied His justice in our
place. And here's grace and peace for
sinners. He says, I'm going to dwell with some people. Who are
they? Those who are of a contrite heart, contrite spirit, all whom
He convicted. brokenhearted over sin, poor
in spirit, poor in spirit. O sinner, will you meet me on
Canaan's happy shore? Say, sinner, say, sinner, will
you meet me on Canaan's happy shore? That's it, isn't it? Come
to him as that old publican. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Well, I'll finish this chapter
next time. But this is peace with God, isn't
it, for sinners. broken under the burden of sin,
knowing that Christ is our only hope and our only salvation. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus.