Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to Isaiah chapter 45. While you're turning there, I
believe we're supposed to have a breakfast, a men's breakfast,
inviting the ladies for Valentine's Day on Saturday morning, and
we're meeting somewhere around 8 o'clock. Is that right? Okay. Alright. Let's go to Isaiah
chapter 45. Go down to verse 20. This is where we will start.
The title of my message tonight is, I am a worm. And you'll see what the scripture
has to say about that as we go. Isaiah 45 verse 20. Assemble
yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped
out of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye, and bring them near,
yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me? A just God and a Savior, there
is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall swear. Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. If you go back to the end of
verse 21, Notice there a phrase that we
hear quite often, that our God is a just God and a savior. He is just and the justifier. And tonight as we study together,
I want us to see those two things as I illustrate them from scripture,
I am warm. Turn with me to Job chapter 15. Job chapter 15. I'd like to read a few scriptures
as we move along here. Job chapter 15. Go down to verse 14 of Job 15. Job 15.14 says, What is man that
he should be clean, and he that is born of a woman that he should
be righteous? Behold, he that is God putteth
no trust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. Now that's what Eliphaz had to
say. Now look in chapter 25, Job 25, Bildad has something
to say too. These so-called counselors of
Job, though they told the truth, yet they told the truth in the
wrong light. Our God is sovereign. He was
the first cause of all that was happening to Job, and it was
not because of Job being right or wrong or anything. It was
because God chose. to do these things to Job or
allow Satan to do some of these things to Job. But these men,
they had words of wisdom for him. And here in chapter 25,
verse 4. How then can man be justified
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Behold, even the moon, and it
shineth not, that's reflective light. The moon doesn't shine
of itself. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that is a worm,
and the son of man which is a worm. Man is a worm. Now you don't see it in the English
version here, but the two words worm here are two different words.
They mean the same thing, maggot. But one is the maggot that is
consuming that awful dead body. The other is the maggot worm
itself. And that's the second one there,
the son of man, which is a worm. Of course, we know what a maggot
does. It cleans up all the putrefying
things in the forest and around. And the Bible says that I'm a worm. Now that's not
flattering, is it? That's not what I want to think
of myself. When I tell my stories about
myself, I always put it in a good light. Try to
make myself look a little better. Don't you? I mean, am I the only
one that does that kind of thing? Maybe I am. But the Bible says, how much less man that is a worm
and the son of man which is a worm. That's what the Bible says about
us. That's what the Bible says about me. No wonder Paul wrote
in Romans, now we know what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. I'm a worm. A putrefying maggot of a man. When God looks at me, that's
what he sees. In my flesh and in me. As a matter
of fact, Moses wrote in Exodus, God speaking, he will by no means
clear the guilty. The psalmist David wrote, thou
hatest the worker of iniquities. And didn't we just read in Isaiah
45 verse 21 and 22? Didn't we read that He is a just
God and a Savior? He is a just God. in his justice,
in the fact that he is righteous, as I stand before him, if he
dropped the plumb line, most of you know what a plumb line
is, some of you old carpenters especially, if he dropped the
plumb line, the level, I would not square up to it. No man would. But God doesn't change. I am the Lord. I change not.
There's no God else beside Him. Our God doesn't change. He is
always just. He's always holy. He's always
pure. He's of pure eyes than to behold
evil and to look on iniquity. Isaiah 59 tells us that your
iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have
hid His face from you that He'll not hear you. Our God doesn't change. I am
that worm. I am guilty as charged by God
who is just. I cannot change. I can't do nothing about it. I stand guilty before a holy
God. As a matter of fact, at the end,
we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give
answer to the works that we have, whether they be good or bad.
And if all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and if there
is none good, no, not one, what good am I going to have at the
judgment seat of Christ?" Thank you, Lord. He said, I am
a worm. Jesus Christ. says, I am a worm
and not a man. We'll see that here as we go
on. Only the works of Jesus Christ
will mean anything. Since I can't do any good, where
does it leave me? He has purged all my sins. I am a worm. I am guilty. I'm a guilty and vile man. You look at Job again in chapter
40 and verse 4. Job is having an encounter with
the Lord. The Lord is having an encounter
with Job. And he's straightening out Job's thoughts from all these
wise sayings of his fellows who has tried to convince him of
all his unrighteousness and awfulness. Well, he was. And Job never confessed
that he wasn't. And God comes and He speaks to
Job and here's what Job says. Verse 4, chapter 40. Behold,
I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I lay
mine hand upon my mouth. I can't say a
thing. God is right. God is just. I can't say a thing. Chapter
42 and verse 6. of Job. Job again answers the Lord and
says, Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Not only am I a vile man, and
I stop my mouth, but I abhor myself. I don't like the fact
that I'm a worm. I don't like the fact that I'm
a sinner. I don't like the fact that I'm
vile and awful before a holy God. But I can't do anything about
it. As a matter of fact, not only
am I a guilty, vile sinner, I am that worm. I am a condemned worm. Sinners abide under the infinite
wrath of God. Death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. In John chapter 3 and verse 18,
it says, He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Verse 36
of the same chapter, he says, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth. present tense is abiding continually
abiding on him no wonder the writer of Hebrews
said it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God I'm guilty I am condemned and
what's more I deserve the punishment. I deserve the punishment. The
soul that sinneth it shall die, I deserve to die. Everything
that Jesus Christ went through on the cross and through the
cross and through the denial and rejections and all those
things, I deserve those things. Because I'm a wicked and vile
sinner before God. Jesus was speaking to the multitude
one time and he said something about where their worm dieth
not and the fire is not quenched. Their worm dieth not. If something is not done for
this worm, Then for eternity there will be the gnawing and
the putrefying of a soul that lives forever apart from God
in darkness. That worm doesn't die after death.
It continues on and just as vile and wicked as it ever was. You read Revelation 21 and 22
and you'll find out that those that are found in hell are those
that are the liars and a list of those and they go into hell
and they continue being liars and abominable. I deserve eternal punishment. God's justice God's holiness,
God's purity must be satisfied. I can't do it. Let me tell you something, I
tried. You've been in religion, you
know what I'm talking about. You tried. You tried to do the
right things to make yourself acceptable to God. But there's
not one thing you can do to make yourself acceptable to God. So
it's futile. Useless. Either we must bear the penalty
of our sin, which by the way can never be
paid by us eternally. That's why it's eternal punishment. Sin can't be paid for by us.
Someone must bear it for us, and that's what Jesus Christ
did for us. God's justice must be satisfied
or I am doomed. And let me just say this as I
close that thought. God is just in doing whatever
He pleases with me. If after all that I have heard,
received, and learned, God wants to put me in hell, I deserve
it. He can do with me whatever He pleases. And He does. He does whatever
He pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. Now I want you to turn to Psalm
22. Psalm 22. Psalm 22. I quoted it for us
here a while ago. Some of you, I saw you move your
lips, you were saying the same thing, which is good. Psalm 22,
verse 6. This is actually our Lord speaking.
Psalm 22 is called a messianic psalm. It's about the Messiah. Some of his sayings, some of
the things that happened to him, his humility, his shame, his
exaltation, all found in this psalm. And in Psalm 22 verse
6, here's what he says, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach
of men, and despised of the people. I don't want to get ahead of
myself, but I want to show you something from scripture. From
this word worm. This word worm is translated
80 some times either crimson, red, or scarlet. Do you find
that interesting? The same word for worm in Joel
25 And Psalm 22 verse 6 is translated
in other places, Scarlet, Red, or Crimson. Now we're going to find out why
as we go along. Teach us a little science lesson
here in a little bit. But I want you to see this redness.
I am a worm. Isaiah said his visage was so
marred more than any other man. They brutally mistreated the
Lord. They plucked out His beard. They
beat a crown of thorns over His head. They slapped and buffeted
Him. They hit Him with rods. And then
after they carried Him out or walked Him out to the place of
the skull, they drove nails through His hands and through His feet,
and they pierced His side with a spear. He says, I'm a worm,
I'm red like blood, my visage so marred you couldn't even tell
He was a man. Our Lord went through that willingly for you and me. Oh, what our
Savior has done for us when He died upon that cross. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
became a worm for us. We who were the worms, He became
a worm for us. He took our place. He was made
sin for us. He bore the guilt of this maggot. He bore the wrath due to this
maggot. He took it all upon Himself.
He identified Himself with us on the cross, with these worms. He was made like unto His brethren. Emmanuel, God with us. And He's the only one who could
fulfill Psalm 1. Look at that with me. Psalm 1. My desire is to walk as David
says, to walk here. But I don't. But I know somebody
who did. Look at it. Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his
season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not
so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
The Lord identified with those who were ungodly. The Lord identified
Himself with those who were perishing. Thou shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He did a completed work. All
done. Nothing else can be done. Nothing
else should ever be done. He did it all. He says it's finished. Completed. All done. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who could satisfy the Father. I can't. But He did. He's the only one who could satisfy
the Father. He's my only hope. He's the worm
that died on the cross for me. And my only hope is in Him. Turn to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 Isaiah 41 verse 14 Start with verse 13 For I the Lord
thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will
help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob."
Oh, I'm so glad for that, aren't you? Don't be afraid, worm. I became worm for you. I took
all the penalty, all the wrath. Do your sin. Don't be afraid,
little worm. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee." Aren't you
glad that God in eternity past chose to help His people? "'I will help thee,' saith the
Lord, and thy Redeemer I paid for all those vile, ugly sins,
those things out of the heart that proceed out of your lives.
I paid for every bit of that. I'm your Redeemer with my blood. And this by the Holy One of Israel. He did all the will of God. He
did all the work of God. He was raised for our justification. He is the only... The only way
to stand before the Lord is to be perfect. How many here are perfect? In
Christ I am. In flesh I am not. And the only
way to stand before Him is to be perfect. He's the only perfect
one who lived on this earth. James read it there in Hebrews
chapter 10. He has perfected them. He is
my perfection. I am complete. Same word, perfection. I am complete in Him, Paul said
in Colossians. For the guilty soul, there has
to be A perfect blood sacrifice. Isn't that interesting? When
you read through all the Old Testament, you read through all
these sacrifices, and James read about them here in Hebrews chapter
10. They were shadows, patterns,
things they did continually, never did take away a sin. But
who was to bring the sacrifices, the sin offerings? Leviticus
chapter 4, 5, and 6 tells us the guilty. The guilty bring
the sacrifice. When I stand before God at the
judgment seat of Christ, there's a sacrifice there for me. He
brought the sacrifice to the holiest. He shed His blood and
carried His blood to the holiest. And when I stand there and I
am condemned because of who I am, I can look to Him and He'll plead
my cause. For that one, I died. For that one, I shed my blood. Christ is my sin offering, my
atonement, my propitiation, my mercy seed, my only hope. Well, He came into the world
to save sinners, didn't He? Well, I'm one of those. He came
not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, didn't
He? Well, I'm one of those. I am a worm. Now I'm going to give you a little science lesson
and I hope it's not boring. I hope you see what I saw when
I began to study this. That worm that's translated red
crimson scarlet is an actual worm from which the Middle Easterners
extracted a blood red dye. They used, and this word is used
in the curtains of the tabernacle and the temple, in the veil of
the tabernacle and the temple, in the ephod that the high priest
wore, there was red, scarlet, same word. It's the scarlet thread
that was used by the spies to find out exactly where Rahab
was. That same scarlet thread, that
word scarlet, is the same word worm. It's interesting that they put
a scarlet robe, the soldiers did, they put a scarlet robe
on Jesus as they were mocking him and abusing him and then
later on stripped him of it. This worm, actual worm, in the
Middle East attaches itself to a holly bush and it lives for only one reason
to reproduce he came for only one reason to
bring many sons to glory to conform his people to his
image the worm attaches itself usually to a holly shrub he was
attached to the cross his visage so modern more than any other
man you couldn't even tell that he was a man because he was so so torn up in his face and in
his body and he was willing to die this
worm When it attaches itself, gets ready to reproduce, it attaches
itself to a holly limb, this blood red worm, attaches itself
to the holly limb and secretes a shell around itself that is
a hard, rock-like shell that's blood red also. And then after it's done that,
then it lays its eggs. That solid rock, our protection,
our surety, our Lord Jesus Christ. And it only lays one set of eggs. There's only one set, only from
eternity, those chosen in Jesus Christ. When the eggs hatch, she secretes
a permanent red dye on her little worms. We're covered by the blood of
Jesus Christ. What a picture. What a picture. Not only that, The worm becomes the baby's food. He is our food. Jesus said, except you eat my
flesh, drink my blood, you have no part with me in the kingdom
of God. The bread that I shall give them is my flesh. Now he
was not talking about taking a bite of his actual flesh. He was talking in spiritual matters
about feeding on Jesus Christ and all how we ought to. There's
so many things out there to feed on. We can get our minds in all
kinds of different directions on all kinds of things. But when our minds are stayed
on him, What's the Bible say? We'll have perfect peace. After the little ones have eaten
her body, and while they're eating her body, that rock hard shell
turns white and becomes soft. And the little ones were able
to break through, break free, for only one purpose again. To reproduce. This is where the
Middle Easterners got their red dye in those days. This is the
red that he was talking about. And that white, snow white shell
became soft and they were able to break free. Now I want to
close with one verse. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah
chapter 1. And verse 18. God speaking says, come now and
let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. That word scarlet, that word
crimson is the same word worm in Isaiah 41, in Job 25, in Psalm
22. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as worms,
they'll be white as snow. Though they be red like worms, they shall be as wool. He died for these worms. He died
for this worm. And He made me white as snow.
When I stand before God one day, the Lord will see Jesus Christ
in me. He'll see me in Christ. And what He'll see is white as
snow. Now isn't that good? Isn't that
good news? And He says, just come down,
reason together. That's the command. Come down,
let us reason together. It's a command. Come to the Lord. It's a command. Because He has forgiveness, new life, eternal life. He has Christ. for His people. Our Father, we thank You this
evening for Your Word. Thank You for the blessings of
Your Word teaching us. Lord, we confess that we're but
worms. But we also confess that our
Lord Jesus Christ became a worm for us and then made us white
as snow that he is a just God and a Savior. He is the just
and the justifier who calls us to come. Open eyes, open hearts. We think
of loved ones We pray, Father, that you would
get them under the sound of the gospel, create a need within
them that they would want to come
to our Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing together
number 125. Number 125.