Now let's turn back to Isaiah
chapter 25, a scripture that I read. I've wrestled with what
to title this message because there's so much of the simple
gospel, the fundamentals of the faith, there's so much joy and
peace in this passage of scripture in Isaiah chapter 25, and it's
really It's kind of like an oasis in
the desert because here in these chapters, beginning back at chapter
24, the Lord is speaking of judgment that will come upon the world
in the end. And it's not a pleasant subject
when we see, you know, the Lord is coming again to judge the
world. But the comfort that we have,
He's coming again to gather His people, to gather us together
and to take us out of this world and to glorify us together with
Him. That's when that change, that
great change, will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And
this corruptible will put on incorruption and we'll live forever
in a new body, a spiritual body. And that's the joy and peace
that we who know Christ and who trust Him and rest in Him and
follow Him, that's the joy and the peace and the comfort that
we have. Against that light, that glory, that joy is often
in the scriptures shown against the background of the awful,
awful, terrible judgment of this world. All who are without Christ. And that's what we have here
in this chapter 25. We have that diamond of salvation of Christ
and him crucified and the joy that his people have against
that black background. I think I'm going to entitle
this Isaiah's Psalm of Joy. It reads like a psalm, and that's
one thing. If you've read it, it's like
reading one of David's psalms, but it's Isaiah's Psalm of Joy. And it's really a psalm of confession.
There's a confession here. There's a confession of joy.
And we see this confession in the first few verses, and then
there's the provision of joy, and then there's the ultimate
fulfillment of joy. That's how we divide this chapter
up. The song shows the kind of heart
that praises God even in the midst of judgment, at the best
of times, at the worst of times. So it is a song of joy. If it
is a song of joy, it's therefore the song of the redeemed. It's
the song that only one who has been born again by the Spirit
can sing and sing honestly and from the heart. It's the song
of the changed heart. It's the song of the purified
heart. And the purified heart is the heart that looks to Christ
and rests in Him. So let's just go through this
chapter verse by verse. The confession of joy is where
we'll start. This is his confession. And this
is a good way to begin any confession. Oh Lord, verse 1, thou art my
God. Not just a God, but thou art
my God. You see, this is more than just
God is and God exists. There's a lot of people who claim
there is a God, but they don't know the God, the one true and
living God. There's a lot of people who claim
that God is, but they don't worship God. He's not their God. That
is in their heart. He is in his sovereign purpose
and his sovereign will, because he controls all things. And it
doesn't matter whether or not man bows to him or not, he's
still God. The fact that sinners do not
bow to the sovereign claims of a sovereign God, it does not
lessen his power and his sovereignty and his right one degree. But
this is the confession of a son of God. This is the confession
of a child of God. Now, how do we become children
of God? Well, we become children of God first before the foundation
of the world, before this world began in divine sovereign election. The Bible teaches that before
this world was ever created, God chose a people in Christ.
That's a scriptural doctrine. Many people don't like that,
but it doesn't matter whether you like it or not. That's the
God you have to deal with. That's what this book says. Paul
thanked God for that election. He didn't fight it. The church
at Thessalonica, he wrote to them, we're bound to give thanks
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Many people claim to be
followers of God, to be children of God, but they fight that doctrine. They fight the truth of God's
electing grace. Well, let me tell you something,
friend. If it weren't for God's sovereign electing grace, there
would be no salvation. There'd be no redemption. There
be no salvation for any sinner. You say, well, men have to choose
God. Well, those whom God chose will choose God. The Scripture
says that. It's not our right, it's not
our warrant to sit around and wonder who's this and who's elect
and who's not. All we have to do is seek the
Lord. That's what the Scripture commands you to do. It's what
it commands me to do. God is on His throne. And he's
sovereign. This is the confession. Oh, Lord,
thou art my God. I remember in the scriptures
where Thomas, Doubting Thomas, they call him, where he was absent
from the first appearance of our Lord after the resurrection.
And when they told him about it, he said, well, I won't believe
unless I see the nail prints and the wound in his side. And
then when the Lord appeared to him, Thomas fell to his feet
and he said, my Lord and my God. That's what he's talking about.
He's not just a God. And he says in verse 1, O Lord,
thou art my God, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name.
Now, his name is his glory. His name is his nature, it's
his attributes, that which sets him apart and identifies him
and distinguishes him as the only living and true God. Who
is our God? He's the God of all grace. He's
the God who saves sinners by grace. He's not a God who saves
any sinner based on their works. That's not the true and living
God. That's not his name. That's not his glory. His glory
is to give freely a salvation provided by his mercy and his
grace. And that's what distinguishes
him from all other gods. It says here, thou hast done
wonderful things. In other words, he's praising
God for his great works, especially that great work of salvation
by Christ. There's no other way. There's
no other salvation. Christ said it, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And then he says salvation is
of the Lord, basically. The true confession of faith
speaks of and rests in God's work in Christ, not our own works.
It's not I praise thee for what you've enabled me to do. It's
I praise thee for what thou hast done, what you have accomplished.
And then he says, Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth,
His eternal decrees. God never spoke a word that He
did not honestly and truthfully and faithfully work out. What
God has decreed and settled in His eternal mind must have its
accomplishment in time. And what he's saying here is
this, this God, my God, you can trust Him. You can trust Him. Now, you can't trust any other
God because all other gods are idols. You can't trust in man. You can't trust in yourself.
But you can trust God. His counsels are faithfulness
and truth. He mentions here in verse 2, a city. He talks about
a city. For thou hast made of a city
an heap, of a defense city a ruin, a palace of strangers. To be
no city, it shall never be built. You know what cities back then,
they, you know, cities represented. man's own refuges built by his
own hands. They were places of safety, places
of refuge. And what he's saying here is
that God will tear all of them down. In other words, what he's
saying, he's using the city here as an emblem of man's own works
in which he trusts. And he's saying that God's going
to destroy everything that man trusts in of his own works. Verse
3 says, Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city
of the terrible nations shall fear thee." You see, the strong
people here are who? Well, the strong people are the
people of God made strong in the Lord. By nature, we have
no strength. We have no power. Paul wrote
in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, he said, be strong in the
Lord and in the power of his might. He said one time, he said,
for when I am weak, then I am strong. Now, what did he mean
by that? Poetry? No, what he means by that is
when I recognize my own weakness and impotence, that's when I
trust the Lord the most. That's when I'm the strongest,
because that's when I rest in Christ the most, and He is my
strength. He's my refuge. So every city,
he says in verse 3, the cities of terrible nations, that's the
cities of unbelievers, the unregenerate, they're going to see God destroying
all these cities, and they're going to fear. They're going
to see all their hopes, all their dreams, all their works, all
their aspirations, all their refuges brought down and destroyed. Verse 4, he speaks of rejoicing
and praising God for His goodness to the weak. Who does God save? Not those who can save themselves. They need no salvation. He is
strength to the poor, he says in verse 4. He's a strength to
the needy in his distress. What are we? We're a needy people. Somebody asked the question,
what do you need for salvation? And the answer the old preacher
gave him was everything it takes to save a sinner. That's what
we need. There's not one thing we have to contribute. You can't
say God did his part and we do ours. We don't have that. We
don't have any part, you see, in that sense. We cannot contribute
in any degree to our own salvation. That's how needy and poor we
are. That's why the scripture says, blessed are the poor in
spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. They shall
be saved. They shall be filled. For thou hast been a strength
to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge
from the storm. from the storm of this world,
from the storm of ourselves, from the storm of the law that
condemns us for our sins. He says, a shadow from the heat
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the
wall. And then he says in verse 5,
thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a
dry place. In other words, all that uproar
that men will cause in opposition to God will be brought down.
Even the heat with the shadow of a cloud, the branch of the
terrible one, shall be brought low." You see, this shows that
the strong people that he's speaking of here are no more than sinners
saved by the grace of God. Blessed, blessed are the poor
in spirit. What must God do and give us
for salvation? Everything. Salvations of the
Lord. And all of this for his mercy
and his grace. Even strangers here he mentions.
Those aliens, that's what they are. God's got a people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. He's going to bring
them into a saving knowledge of Christ. But I want you to
notice especially verses 6 through 8, because this is the provision
of joy. Now, I want you to notice this. The provision of all things in
salvation. He says, and in this mountain,
what mountain is he speaking of? Well, the context of other
passages in Isaiah. And as we read in other places,
would be Mount Zion. It's the mountain. It's like
Christ when he was on the cross, prophesied to be on the cross
in the Psalms, that he died for the sins of his people and he
was buried and he arose again the third day. He is risen. And
the picture that we're given of him in the Old Testament is
as a mighty conqueror after he comes out of the grave, he's
victorious, he's a mighty conqueror ascending the mountain and staking
his claim. And that mountain is called Mount
Zion, sometimes Mount Sion, S-I-O-N. And what it is, it's the church,
it's his people. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins." He saved them,
he redeemed them, they're his, he'll have them. He said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. So, and in this mountain,
in Mount Zion, in the residing place of the glory of God shall
the Lord of hosts, and I've said this so many times before, but
what does that mean now? When you see the term Lord of
Hosts, that's the invincible God who cannot be defeated. That's
what that means. He's the Lord of Hosts. That
means a great army. So this army can't, this is the
invincible God. There is no, you know, I read
years ago about a preacher who made this statement about hell.
And he said, hell is an eternal monument to God's failure to
save sinners. Now, my friend, that is not the
God of the Bible. Hell is not an eternal monument
to God's failure. Now, hell is an eternal monument
to man's failure. Hell is an eternal monument to
the failure of any sinner who dies in unbelief, but not God's
failure. I'll tell you what hell is. Hell
is an eternal monument to God's justice, His justice against
sin. But see, we trust in the Lord
of hosts. He's invincible. He shall not
fail. He cannot fail. Christ on the
cross did not fail. He was victorious. He is victorious. And right now, He rules and reigns
and disposes over all things to save His people from their
sins. In His high priestly prayer, He made that statement. He said,
Glorify thou me with the glory which I had before the world
was, that I may give eternal life unto as many as thou hast
given me. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me." Well, this Lord of Hosts, it
says He's going to make unto all people a feast of fat things. Now, normally today we don't
think of a feast of fat things as being good for us, but take
my word for it, in the Bible it is. It's very good for us. In this place, you can eat all
the fat you want. Fat, in the Bible, is an emblem
of nourishment, not of getting fat, and not of unhealthy eating. This feast of fat things has
to do with everything that it takes to save a sinner and to
keep that sinner saved. And it's the gospel feast, and
he's going to make it unto all people. Now, that's not all without
exception. If that means all without exception,
then all without exception are going to be saved because here
they're described as feasting on fat things. They're going
to be filled. It's all without distinction
is what he's speaking of. All people, not just the Jews,
but any and every sinner who comes to Christ for salvation
is going to feast on these fat things. Well, what are these
fat things? Well, he talks about wine. Wine
is usually an emblem of the spirit and of joy. He says a feast,
a fat thing's full of marrow. The marrow has to do with the
nourishment of the blood. And this is a spiritual emblem
of eternal spiritual well-being, of wines on the lees well refined. All of this is showing the provision
of joy. The gospel is the preaching of
a full and complete salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. In other words, everything that
I need for eternal life, is provided freely by his grace in Christ. That's the feast of fat things
there. He speaks of redemption. By nature, I'm a sinner in bondage
to sin, to Satan, and under the law. Well, Christ provides all
the redemption price that it takes to redeem me, to bring
me out of bondage. I can't pay one penny of it.
By nature, we owe a debt to God's law and justice in Adam. Well,
Christ paid the debt in full. He didn't say, now I'll pay my
part, now you pay your part. No, He provides the full feast
that we can feast upon. What do I need to be saved? I
need wisdom. By nature, I don't have any wisdom.
Man, by nature, has no idea what it takes to save a sinner. He
thinks he knows. He'll talk about works, and he'll
talk about, well, you've got to do the best you can do in
this life, and in the end, God will weigh your good works with
your bad works, and that's how it works out. If your good works
outweigh your bad works, then you'll be saved. Oh, no. Oh,
no, that's not salvation by grace. That's salvation by works. Many
say, well, God did it all, but it means nothing unless you cooperate. Well, you can't even cooperate.
That's your problem. That's my problem. By nature,
we're sinners, and we will not come to Him that we might have
lied. God provides it all, God gives it all, God applies it
all. It's salvation of the Lord. So we need wisdom. Well, where
am I going to find wisdom? Christ is all the wisdom that
God requires. We need righteousness. You cannot
be justified before a holy God without a perfect righteousness,
which you don't have and I don't have, and cannot provide. Well,
where am I going to find it? Well, Christ is all the righteousness
that I need and I must have before God. He provides it all. We need redemption. We need all
things. We need life. We don't have life
within ourselves. Christ is our life, you see.
So this is the gospel feast. It's not a potluck dinner. But
it's the provision of all things, and the table is spread, and
it's already there. Now come and eat. Don't bring
your own food. You say, well, I make a better pot of beans
than so-and-so. Well, don't bring your beans
to this feast, because nobody wants them. All they're going
to be doing is just casting them out. You see, the meal is provided. You see that in Matthew chapter
22. Read that sometime about the marriage supper of the king.
He said, go out and beg them to come. Go out into the highways
and the byways and the hedges. Beg them to come in. Here's what
you tell them. The feast is already prepared. Salvation's already
worked out. Now you believe it. Yes, we must
believe. But it's not our believing that
saves us. It's Christ that saves us. It's not our faith that is
the condition we must meet in order to be saved. We must believe
that Christ fulfilled those conditions. It's already spread. So look
at verse 7. He says, He will destroy in this
mountain or literally swallow up the face of the covering cast
over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations."
What he's talking about here is the destruction or the removal
of darkness and the giving of light. By nature, there's a veil
over our heart, over our eyes. Now, we cannot see the truth
because of our own self-righteousness, and our own ignorance. Look over
at 2 Corinthians chapter 3 with me. Apostle Paul spoke of this,
and he went back to the Old Testament, Moses coming down from the mount
with the Ten Commandments, and there was a physical glory about
Moses. He had been with God, and that
glory was shining forth to the point that he had to put a veil
over his face. because they could not steadfastly
look upon him. And then he used that to show
that by nature there's a veil over our hearts, a darkness over
our eyes. We don't have spiritual eyes
and spiritual ears. The reason is we're born spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. And this is what he's talking
about here. Look at verse 13. He speaks of Moses which put a veil over
his face that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end or the fulfillment of that which
is abolished." What does he mean by that? Well, he's talking about
the Old Covenant. And he's saying the Old Covenant has been abolished.
A lot of people don't understand this. That Old Covenant consisted
of the law of God given on Mount Sinai to the children of Israel
through Moses, in that you had the Ten Commandments, And then
you had the Law of Ceremony. Many people just think it was
the Ten Commandments alone, but it was more than that. The Ten
Commandments was the moral law. And then you had the Law of Ceremony.
That was the tabernacle, which eventually became the temple.
And you know all the pieces of furniture, how it was supposed
to be made, the dimensions of it, had to do with the priesthood. The high priest and the other
priest. What the high priest was to wear had to do with the
altar and the sacrifice. You see, all that made up the
Old Covenant. There were civil laws that made
up the Old Covenant. Ceremonial laws, national laws,
all of these dietary laws, what they should eat, what they shouldn't
eat, all of this was given in the Old Covenant. Now, what was
the end of that law? Now, here he says, back here
in verse 13, they could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. In two ways, they didn't see
the end of it. Number one, they couldn't see
the main purpose of it. Well, what was the main purpose
of that old covenant law, the Ten Commandments, the law of
ceremony? Well, Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 3 and verse
24, and you can read it in other scriptures, that the fulfillment,
the purpose of that law was to be a schoolmaster, or literally
a tutor, Some of you students, you may have to hire a tutor
to get you through high math or something like that. Well,
that law was a tutor or a schoolmaster for the nation Israel to do what? To lead them unto Christ. That's what the main purpose,
that was the end of the law. In other words, that law that
was given to Israel through Moses was never, now listen to me,
it was never given to them as if to say to them, now, if you
can keep the Ten Commandments, you shall be saved. First of
all, we can't keep the Ten Commandments. None of them could. They could.
We can't. That law was given first and foremost to expose
the disease, our sinfulness, our impotence, our need. so that
we need a righteousness we can't produce. That's what the Ten
Commandments was given to Israel for, to show them they need a
righteousness they cannot produce. Well, where are we going to get
one? Is there any hope? If we need one we can't produce,
and God still requires it, and God is God, he cannot come off
of his law one iota, he is righteous and holy, where are we going
to get one? Well, God had already promised,
even before Mount Sinai, to send a Savior. a Redeemer, a Messiah. He'd already told them this Messiah
would be God in human flesh. He'd be God and man in one person.
And the ceremonial law given by Moses in every way was a type,
a picture, an emblem, a foreshadowing of Christ who would be sent by
God to fulfill the law for his people. And so the whole law,
the end of it, the fulfillment of it, the purpose of it, was
to cause them to see their sinfulness, admit and confess their sins,
and say, my only hope is in Christ who is to come, the blood of
the Lamb. Christ, He's our high priest.
Christ, He's our altar. He's our mercy seed. He's our
atonement. He's our sacrifice. He's our
sin bearer. He's our surety. Everything was
taught right there in that old covenant. Now, here's what he's
saying. Now, go back to verse 13 of 2
Corinthians 3. He's saying, they could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished. They didn't see
the purpose of it. They looked at it and they read
it and said, well, now, we've got to have a righteousness of
our own. We've got to work it out here. We've got to keep the
Ten Commandments. We've got to follow Moses. They missed it. They missed the purpose of it.
Why'd they do that? There's a veil over their heart.
Well, my friend, if you know Christ today, if you're trusting
in Him today, you know that before God the Holy Spirit opened your
heart and your eyes and your mind, you had a veil over your
heart, too, didn't you? I had one over my heart that
we didn't see. We had Bibles. You know, people
today have Bibles, but they don't see grace. They don't see salvation
by grace. They turn it into a self-righteous
system of works, just like Israel did back then. They couldn't
see the end of that which is abolished. But it's abolished. Look at verse 14. But their minds
were blinded. For until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament.
What is he saying? Well, when they read the Old
Testament, they don't see Christ and him crucified. When they
read the Old Testament, they don't see salvation by grace. When they read the Old Testament,
they don't see their utter sinfulness and depravity and inability to
produce righteousness. But what do they do? They seek
righteousness by the works of the law. Read it in Romans chapter
9 sometimes. He says, here's what that Old
Testament teaches. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. They don't see
it. But how is that veil done away?
Now, remember what he said back here in Isaiah 25. He said he
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations.
There's a veil. God's going to destroy that.
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
There's a veil over the heart. God's going to remove the veil.
Now, here's the question. How do you know the veil's removed?
Well, look back at 2 Corinthians 3. Look at verse 14. The last
line. Which veil is done away in Christ? When you see the glory of Christ,
when you see the glory of Christ and Him crucified and what He
accomplished on Calvary, that's when that veil is done away with.
That's when God's removed the veil. Go on, verse 15. He says, But even unto this day,
when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, The veil shall be taken away.
When does God take that veil away? When a sinner turns to
the Lord. When he turns to God in Christ. And he says in verse 17, Now
the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. Not bondage. Salvation by works,
that's bondage. Righteousness by your works,
that's bondage. But when you see it all fulfilled
in Christ, go back to Isaiah 25 now, when you see the gospel
feast already spread and prepared, what is that? That's liberty.
That's freedom. Now I'm free. That's right. Well, doesn't God require me
to be obedient? Yes, but not in order to be saved. He requires it because I'm already
saved. He set me free. That's why Paul
said in Galatians 5, 1, stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free and don't be entangled again with
the yoke of bondage, going back under the law. Look back at Isaiah
25. This is what he's talking about. He calls his people out
of darkness into his marvelous light, out of bondage into liberty. The Holy Spirit will drive a
sinner to Christ for all of salvation. That's why he's not the spirit
of bondage, but he's the spirit of liberty. There's liberty in
Christ. It's not liberty to sin, it's
liberty to serve for the first time. All you could do before
Christ is bring forth fruit unto death. But now, as a sinner saved
by grace, you bring forth fruit unto God. And that's by the power
of God. And then I want you to look at
verse 8 of Isaiah 25. Now, you know it is commonly
said among some scholars, or so-called biblical scholars,
that the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the dead
is strictly a New Testament doctrine and was never taught in the Old
Testament. Well, that's a lie. First of all, I can tell you
about Job chapter 19, where Job said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and I will stand with him in the last day. But look
here in verse 8. Now, here's one of the verses
that proves that the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection
of the dead in him is an Old Testament doctrine. I'll tell
you why. It's a gospel doctrine. And he says, verse 8, he will
swallow up death in victory. Now, the only way you can swallow
up death in victory is through resurrection. You can't swallow
up death in victory in any other way. It's common among the Jews
to say, well, that means that you'll have children and you'll
live on through your children. That's not what this is teaching.
That is not what this is teaching. This is talking about victory
over death by resurrection. Look at it. He said he will swallow
up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from off all faces. That sounds very similar to the
description of God's people in resurrection glory, doesn't it?
There will be no tears. You can't say, well, that means
you'll live on through your children, because there will still be tears
and sorrow there. But here he said he's going to
wipe away all tears from off all faces. There will be no sorrow. There'll be no pain. There'll
be no death. It says, "...and the rebuke of
his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the
Lord hath spoken it." This is the destruction of death. When
I first began to hear Brother Mayhem preach the gospel, one
of the first books he gave me had this title. It was written
by an old Puritan named John Owen. It was called, The Death
of Death in the Death of Christ. And that title says it all. In
the death of Christ, we see the death of death. We face death,
don't we? We face death every day. We face
death in ourselves as we watch ourselves getting older and these
bodies getting more decrepit, more painful, the sorrows and
pains of death. We face death in the death of
our loved ones. There are many that were here
when I first came up here in 2003 that aren't here today. And each year, it seems like
we see more and more being called home, don't we? But you see,
in all those deaths, there has been no victory of death. It
doesn't matter what. You see, Christ, he destroyed
death. What do I mean? Well, death was
introduced by Adam's rebellion. For in Adam, all die. But in
his death, Christ has abolished death. Let me show you two scriptures. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. This is what we were talking about this morning. We serve
a risen Savior. Now, if He's still in the grave,
if He's just a dead martyr, then we are of all people most miserable.
But of course, that's not the case. Look at 1 Corinthians 15,
look at verse 51. Paul writes, Behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. Now, what he's saying there is
that some believers are still going to be alive before they
experience physical death when the Lord comes back the second
time. Now, that doesn't mean that they're not going to die.
Because what does he say there? Now, look at it. We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be what? Now, that change is the
equivalent of death. Now, let me show you what I mean
by that. Would you want to exist forever in the body that you
have now? Well, I hope you'd say no. I
hope you're not that vain. Say, well, yeah, what's wrong?
No, no. And if you do look pretty good
now, believe me, it's not going to stay that way. Now, get over
yourself. All right? I want a new body. How about you? I want one that
doesn't get old and doesn't sorrow and don't pain and don't have
these aches and these things that we have to suffer as the
infirmities of the flesh. This body's got to die. Isn't
that right? Look at it. Verse 52. He says,
"...in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," that's how fast it's
going to be, "...at the last trump, For the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible." That's
why I want to be raised incorruptible. I don't want to stay corruptible.
And it's impossible to stay corruptible in the kingdom of glory. And
he says, and we shall be changed. I want that change. Don't you?
And he says, for this corruptible, look at verse 53, this corruptible,
now what is this body? It's corruptible. What does that
mean? It's dying. It's got to die. It's got to
go away. It's got to be, I don't know,
you might say disintegrate or whatever, but it's got to go
back to the dust. And he says, this corruptible must put on
what? Now, here's what we want. Incorruption. That's what I want. How about
you? I want incorruption. That's perfect, sinless existence. We don't even know what that's
going to be like. John wrote that, he said, Beloved, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. We can't even imagine it,
but he said, we know we'll be like Christ. We'll have a perfect
body, an incorruptible body, and this mortal, what is the
mortal? That's how you see me right now
in this body, mortal. Mortal means it's going to die.
And he said, must put on immortality. So even though many believers
will be alive when the Lord comes back, They won't sleep, as in
the grave, that's what he means, but they'll be changed, and that's
the equivalent of death. It's appointed unto man once
to what? Die. And this old corruptible has
got to put on incorruption. We've got to put on immortality. That's a new body. And he says
in verse 54, so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the same that is written. Death is swallowed
up in victory. Now, where is he quoting from
there? Isaiah 25.8. What's he speaking of? He's speaking
of the resurrection of the body in Christ. He's talking about
the second coming of Christ. The second coming, not of a dead
martyr. but the second coming of a risen,
living Savior. And he goes on, verse 55, O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. That's the poison, you see, because
that's the reason there's death. It's sin. And the strength of
sin is the law. What does that mean? That doesn't
mean the law is sinful now. It means this. It means where
God's holy, pure law finds sin, it must pronounce death. That's the only thing it can
do. Sin demands death. That's why we need to be made
righteous before God. Righteousness demands life. But
if the law of God sees sin, it must pronounce death. Now, here's
the glory of it. You see, Christ swallowed up
death in victory. He brought forth everlasting
righteousness, which is imputed or legally accounted to every
one of His people, so that when the law of God looks at me, it
sees no sin. In Him is no sin. No sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? You can look at me and you can
see sin. You can see the results of it. But when God's law looks
at me, it sees no sin, because nothing can be laid to my charge.
You know why? Because Christ took my sin. it was charged to
him. That's how he did it. So he says,
verse 57, But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then one more verse. Look
at Hebrews chapter 2. I love this passage here because
it's so instructive. You know, we have a natural fear
of death. And there's many things that
contribute to that. One of the things is we don't know the manner
of our death. We don't know the time of our
death. Sometimes a doctor will come in and say, you've got so
many months, so many years to live, and he's going by statistics,
but you and I know that only God knows for sure the day and
the time. We don't know what we'll have
to go through, whether it be suffering, whether it be, you
know, if I had my choice, if we all had a choice, what would
we do? We'd lay down to sleep at night? and go, and just never
wake up again. That's the best way. But we don't
know that. It might be in a car wreck. It
might be in a plane crash. Whatever. We don't know. And
so there's the fear. That's a natural fear. We don't
want to leave our loved ones, children, grandchildren, all
of those things. Especially you young people.
You've got a life to live ahead of you. You've got all kinds
of goals and aspirations. I hope they're good. I hope they're
godly. But this is what you want to do. So you don't want to think
about death. But that's a natural fear. And
a lot of things that contribute to that. But you know, there
is a sense in which the fear of death, a fear of death, is
totally removed from a believer. And I'll show you what I mean.
Look at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 2. Now look at this. This is
helpful. He says, For as much then as
the children, Children of God are partakers of flesh and blood.
We are participants, every one of us, of flesh and blood. He,
that is Christ, also himself likewise, took part of the same. He was made flesh and blood.
The only difference was, and you can read this in Hebrews
4 and a multitude of other scriptures, he was without sin. His flesh
and blood was not sinful flesh and blood like yours and mine.
But he did take part of flesh and blood. He had to die. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. That's
why he had to become man in that sense. That's why the Word had
to be made flesh and dwell among us. So he says it, that likewise
he took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Now he says
here the devil has the power of death. But now that's not
saying that the devil has the power to kill you. or to keep
you alive. The devil doesn't have that kind
of power. The devil is a creature. Do you realize that? He's not
omnipotent. You know, I hear people talking
about, well, the devil's everywhere. No, he's not. God is the only
one who is omnipresent, not the devil. You see, he's limited. Thank God he is limited, you
see. He's on God's leash. It's what
the Scripture teaches, the chain and revelation. So the devil
doesn't have the power to kill you or to keep you alive. He
doesn't have that power. So what's it talking about? The
power of death, that is, the devil. What he's talking about
is Satan, who is the accuser of the brethren, and his accusations
If we're not in Christ now, if we don't have Christ as our hope,
as our refuge, as our righteousness, His accusations are true, and
by those accusations, the law condemns us. It's like if a person
says, you're lost, you say, well, sin is charged to you. Look on
now. He says in verse 15, "...and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage." What's he talking about? He's talking about
condemnation. That's the fear of death that's
removed, the fear of condemnation. Now, how's that fear of condemnation?
Well, it's when the devil, when he shoots his arrows of accusation
at you, you plead the blood of Christ. You plead the righteousness
of Christ. Revelation 12, how many times
have we read that? With the great accuser of the
brethren, and his accusations were turned back. by the blood
of the Lamb. He charges, but his charges don't
hit me. He's charging a righteous. It's
like being hauled into court and being charged with a crime
and you're innocent. They cannot condemn you now because you're
innocent. You say, but I'm a sinner. Yes,
but I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
I have a mediator, I have a substitute, I have a sin bearer, I have one
who stood in my place on Calvary and bore my sins away. He took
my guilt and gave me a pardon. He took my sin and gave me righteousness. That's right. He became condemned
under the law so that I could never be condemned again. For
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
Romans 8.1. So that when Satan brings his
charges and tries to bring you into the bondage of condemnation
and fear of death, he cannot do it if you're looking to Christ
and resting in him as your only hope of salvation. Now, look
back at Isaiah 25. Death is swallowed up in victory
by our Lord. The destruction of death. Isaiah
preached the resurrection of the dead in Christ. And he says
now, the rebuke of his people will he take away from all the
earth. Right now, we need the rebuke of his people. If God
didn't rebuke and correct us, we'd drift further and further
away from him, wouldn't we? But there'll come a day when
we're no longer troubled by sin, no longer in a place to rebel,
no longer in need of chastisement, for we'll be like Christ. And
then lastly, the fulfillment of joy. Let me just read this
to you. It says, And it shall be in that day, lo, this is our
God. It won't be just this is my God, but the people of God
will say in unison and in worship, this is our God. We're one in
the Spirit. We're one in the Lord. He says,
We have waited for Him, and He will save us. When you say you
wait for God, that means you trust Him. We trust God. He spoke it. It didn't come about
immediately according to our time scale, but He did it, and
we trust Him, and He will save us. That means He'll ultimately
deliver us. He saved us by His Son at Calvary,
but He'll ultimately deliver us from all things that would
harm us. This is the Lord. We've waited
for Him. We'll be glad and rejoice in His salvation. It's called
His salvation, not because He needed to be saved, but because
He's the author of it. He's the finisher of it. He's
the giver of it. He's the sustainer of it. And
he says, for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest.
That's the hand of his acceptance, the hand of his protection, the
hand of his power in Zion through Christ. Now, Moab is an emblem
here of everything that opposes God. He says, Moab shall be trodden
down. Anything that opposes God. will
be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for
the dunghill, and he'll spread forth his hands in the midst
of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim." In
other words, trying to be saved by your works in that day will
be about the same as trying to swim out of a mountain of dung.
Now, that's a picture, isn't it? But that's about what it's
like. Paul called his own works the
dungheap of religion. Hannah prayed, the Lord lifteth
the beggar off the dung heap. Lord, don't let me wallow in
the dung heap of self-righteous religion, but let me rest in
Christ. And he shall bring down their pride, and together with
the spoils of their hands, and the fortress of the high fort
of thy wall shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground,
even to the dust." That's the plight of every sinner who continually
rejects God and His Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, let's
sing hymn number 296, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. 296.