Open your Bibles with me to the
book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 2. I started preaching on these
first five verses last week and I wanted to go into this prophecy. This is a prophecy of God through
the prophet Isaiah of the Gospel Age, the New Covenant Age. the new covenant in Jesus Christ. And that, all through the Old
Testament, is the hope of salvation for sinners. You see, under the
Old Covenant, when Isaiah prophesied about 700, 750 years before the
actual coming of Christ into the world, they were under the
Old Covenant law. The reason that law was given,
we're told, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament was mainly,
and if we could give a lot of other reasons I can't go into,
one of the main reasons that, or you might say it this way,
the main reason that that law was given was to providentially
the power of God to keep Israel as a nation together until the
time of the Messiah, until Christ would come into the world. And
then, in the book of Hebrews chapter 9, that's called the
Reformation. Did you know that? The only time
you see the word Reformation used in the Bible is Hebrews
9, and it's talking about Christ coming into the world to do his
great work. That was the time of change.
That's when the Old Covenant was abolished by way of fulfillment.
and the new covenant began. Well, Isaiah's prophesying of
that new covenant in Christ, it's fulfilled in Christ. That's
why Isaiah sometimes is called the fifth gospel, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, and Isaiah. It's a book of Christ. But you
know something, the whole Bible is a book of Christ. But that
old covenant that they were under was given to the nation to show
them the impossibility of salvation. by their works. It was a convicting
law. It said stuff like this, Paul
recorded in Galatians 3.10, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things written in the book of the law to do them. Can
you imagine that? What is it that God requires
for a right relationship with God? What is it that God requires
for a sinner to be forgiven of sin? You see, I've said this
before. The moment you make this statement,
God saves sinners. God forgives sin. You are being
confronted or confronting people with a major, major problem.
And that's this. How can God do that? Because
he's God, he's holy, he's just, he must do right. He must punish
sin. He cannot overlook it. He cannot
ignore it. He cannot deny it. And listen
to me, he can't even feel sorry for it in the sense of saying,
well, we're just going to forget it. He must be just when he justifies. I'll never forget the first time
that that message ever got a hold of me. a just God. Yes, God is a loving God. Yes,
God is a merciful God. Yes, God is a compassionate God,
you might say. He's a gracious God, but not
at the expense of His justice. Not at the expense of doing what
God must do what is right. And that old covenant law was
given to the nation Israel to show them just that point. Yes,
God forgives sin, but not without justice. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. The consequence, the penalty
of sin must be exacted in some way. Now, how can God do that?
How can he be merciful to me, a sinner? That question was posed
in the book of Job throughout, wasn't it? How can a man, a sinful,
wretched, depraved man, and that's all of us by nature, how can
a man be just with God? How can he that is born of woman,
that is born dead in trespasses and sins, be clean, cleansed
of sin? That's the issue of the gospel.
What is at the forefront of the gospel, you see? It's the justice
of God. Somebody said, well wait a minute,
at the forefront of the gospel is the love of God. Absolutely
not. Now listen to what I'm saying
to you. And don't misunderstand me. The gospel is the preaching
of the love of God. And the mercy of God. And the
grace of God. But the gospel, the good news
for a sinner, stems around and is based upon the righteousness
of God, the justice of God. The gospel Paul wrote in Romans
1, 16, 17 is the revelation of the righteousness of God. How
in the world can you see the righteousness of God and have
it applied to the salvation of a sinner? Because, listen, the
righteousness of God as far as His righteous nature My friend,
that's not good news to a sinner, just God's righteous nature.
Because what that says to a sinner, just the righteous nature of
God, period, is you must die. You deserve death and hell. You
deserve damnation. That's what it says. I didn't
think the Bible spoke like that until the Lord opened my eyes
to see it. So how in the world can this happen? That old covenant,
you see, was given to show them the impossibility of a sinner
being just with God by his works, his efforts, his decisions, whatever
you think it is. But in that old covenant law,
there was a law given. And I'll also say, you know,
when you study the old covenant, it's all right to segment it
into different, you can talk about the moral law, you can
talk about the ceremonial law, you can talk about the civil
law. But listen to me, for 1500 years,
it was one covenant. You can't say, well, this part
is abolished, but that part is not. Can't do that. You don't
have any biblical basis for doing that. Somebody says, well, are
we under the Ten Commandments as a rule of life? Not in the
form they were given to Israel. Now, you say, well, does that
mean we can just go out and murder? No, it's just as wrong to kill
under the new covenant as it was under the old covenant. In
fact, I got news for you. It was wrong to kill before the
old covenant was given. That's the moral law of God that
never changes. Wrong to kill, wrong to steal,
wrong to commit adultery, wrong to covet. All of those things,
that's sin, and we're to fight sin everywhere, in any way, in
ourselves. But you see, that covenant was
given to show them their sin, but there was the ceremonial
law. the priesthood, the sacrifices, the altar, the tabernacle, and
all of those were pictures and types, object lessons of how
a holy and just and righteous God can save sinners by his grace
and still be God, still be righteous, still be just. And what did all
those things picture? The person and finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lambs that were slain, Behold
the Lamb of God, which bears away the sins of the world, his
people all over this world. The priesthood, the high priest
who went into the holiest of all, we have a great high priest
who's passed through into the heavens, not an earthly one,
who's a sinful, weak man, who when he went into the holiest
of all, he went in not just for the sins of the people, for his
own. Christ didn't do that. Christ went before a holy God
and shed his blood totally for the sins of his sheep, God's
elect, imputed, charged, accounted to him. He was made a curse. He was made sin. The just died
for the unjust. Every bit of that. The altar.
Where is our altar? It's not down here. Our altar is Christ. That's right. Who is our right and title to
God? Who is our righteousness? Who
is the righteousness of God? Jesus Christ crucified for Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe. Now
that's what the message of Isaiah is. And that's what he's talking
about. Now he's bringing judgment upon
the nation. God's bringing judgment upon
the nation for their sins. And you can understand that people,
if they didn't know the proper understanding of that covenant,
they didn't know the Lord. if they didn't know what salvation
is all about and the righteousness of God when they hear things
from prophets and you say and then later on through the prophet
Jeremiah when you hear things God's going to destroy this this
nation God's going to bring you into captivity they would look
at this well it's all over there I mean this this thing I mean
we're doomed forever there's no hope there's no hope but Isaiah
the prophet says hold on there is hope Just like Jeremiah later
on, they call him the weeping prophet, but he did have a message
of joy. It was a message of doom and destruction, but there was
also a message of joy too. But it wasn't in the earthly
nation. The hope of salvation was not
in that earthly land of Palestine. The hope of salvation was not
in that earthly temple. as grand and as elaborate that
the temple of Solomon was, the salvation, the hope of salvation,
the hope of future, understanding of eternal life and glory was
not in that physical temple. It was not in Jerusalem. It was
in the one whom those things typified, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the promised Messiah, who would come in time, God in human flesh,
and would stand as the surety and substitute of his people
under the law, being made a curse and dying for their sins, establishing
righteousness, making an end of sin, finishing the transgression,
bringing forth. That's what Isaiah is talking
about. Look at verse one, the word that Isaiah, the son of
Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now, Judah and Jerusalem
were in a terrible state. But even in the names Judah,
in Jerusalem, there's hope. Because Judah speaks of Messiah,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come.
The King of Judah, the Son of David, that's Christ. Jerusalem
speaks ultimately. Yes, there was a physical Jerusalem,
we don't deny that. But there's a heavenly Jerusalem,
and that's where our hope is. And listen, heavenly Jerusalem
does not replace physical Jerusalem, no sir. It was never intended. Physical Jerusalem was never
intended to be the hope of salvation. It was always a type, a picture
of God's church, God's holy city, his household, his family saved
by the grace of God in Christ. And then verse two, it shall
come to pass in the last days, that's the new covenant age.
that the mountains of the Lord's house shall be established in
the tops of the mountains as Zion lifted up, exalted. Christ
built his church upon this rock. I built my church, he said. The
gates of hell will not prevail against it. It shall be exalted
above the hills, above all this world. You see, when God saves
us, he gives us a new perspective on matters, doesn't he? We have
a new way of thinking. I mean, it's totally new. We
see things differently than we ever saw them before. I mean,
whenever I was under a false man-centered gospel, I thought
that the whole issue depended upon or was conditioned on men
of their own free will changing. Oh, if we could just get people
to do this, if we could get people to do that. If over there in
Jerusalem, if they just do this and do that. It's not dependent
upon us. It's not man-centered at all.
It's all a work of a sovereign God who's in control. And he's
exalted us to see that. That doesn't mean he's made us
pious or self-righteous to the point that we look down on people
as if we're walking on a cloud or anything. It just simply says
we see things from a God-centered point of view. We look, listen. We look at things differently.
We have the mind of Christ. I've been reading Brother Gary
Shepherds. Each day, when Betty was in the
hospital, he would write a, it's kind of like a daily reading,
isn't it? And I tell you, every time I'd read it, it was just,
I hope he'll let us print them. Write it up in a little pamphlet,
you'll enjoy it. But I thought about the last
one that I read before Betty went home. I said, you know,
that's what it is to have the mind of Christ. It's looking
at his lovely wife, the wife that he's been with for decades,
the mother of his children, the grandmother of his grandchildren.
And she gets this awful disease and she's sick. And, you know,
we think, well, that's doom. And Gary, even though he sorrowing
over his wife going through that, he wrote in such a way that a
sinner saved by the grace of God looks at this from the mind
of Christ, a God-centered point of view. And it's a beautiful
thing to see. It's nothing we should take for
granted, is it? We're exalted above the hills.
You say, oh my soul, look what they're doing at the White House
or in Congress. And I hate it too now, let me tell you. I'm
with you on that. But look, our hope is not in
the White House. Our hope is not in Congress.
Our hope is not in America. Our hope is in Christ. I was writing an article on that.
Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever. We change
every day. Today I'm up, tomorrow I'm down.
Today I feel like, you know, that I'm just so blessed of God
and then tomorrow I've got the Job syndrome. Why me, Lord? But
he never changes. And you know, here's the thing.
No matter where I'm up or down, I'm still righteous in him. That
never changes. That's what righteousness imputed
is all about. Did you know that? That's why
that's so beautiful. It's because no matter what I
go through, physically, mentally, emotionally, as a child of God,
I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice and it never changes. Never diminishes. I mean, that's
a, that's a mind boggling thing. That's what that means. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now he says here
in verse two, all nations shall flow to it. That's the salvation
of the Gentiles. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Look at verse three, many people
shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord. That's evangelism. That's preaching the gospel to
all the world, getting the gospel out. And here's what you say,
listen to this in verse three, to the house of the God of Jacob. Now over in verse five, he makes
this statement, O house of Jacob, come ye let us walk in the light
of the Lord. What I'm talking about, O God
of Jacob, O God of Jacob. That's significant. You know,
a lot of times you go through the scripture and you'll see
phrases that we just kind of pass over. They have a lot of
significance prophetically and in the comfort of God's people.
Because who is this God of Jacob? Who is the God of Jacob? Well,
turn to Romans chapter 9. In Romans chapter 9, Paul dealt
with this. And here's the first thing. The
God of Jacob is the God of electing grace. The God who chose a people
out of the mass of fallen humanity whom he intended and intends
and will save by his grace. Now, you know how people come
to that. They say, well, that's not fair.
That's not just... I don't have time to go verse
by verse through the book of Romans chapter 9 this morning.
I've done that a lot. But you read the whole thing.
But look at Romans chapter 9. And look at verse 10, for example. He's talking about Rebekah. Isaac
and Rebekah. He says, not only this, but when
Rebekah also had conceived by one even by her father Isaac.
And look at verse 11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, Now, right there,
that one phrase, if you've heard the doctrine of election preached
this way, some people say, well, God looked down through the telescope
of time and he foresaw who would do this, who would do that, and
then he made his choice based on that. Well, first of all,
that's not the God of the Bible. You need to understand that.
That's a reactionary God. That's a God who's dependent
upon man. But this verse here dispels that, and there's a lot
of verses that do. But he says, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. My friend, the
God of Jacob is the God who loves his people in Christ. God who intends to save his people. Now somebody says, well, Esau
have I hated. That doesn't seem fair. Oh, no. Do you know that's the only fair
thing? And understand this. You see, God loving Jacob is
not fair. That's not fair. In other words,
what I'm saying is this. God gave Esau what Esau deserved
and earned. But God didn't give Jacob what
he deserved and earned. He gave him mercy and grace.
Now here's the point. Before you go any further, think
this way. What if God gave Bill Parker what he deserved, what
he earned? Bill Parker have I hated. That's
what he would be. And understand this, now don't
think of God's hatred as your hatred or my hatred. It's emotional,
it's self-righteous, it's covetous, sinful. God's hatred is His justice
against sin. That's what it is. God must be
just. Jacob have I loved? He says in
verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. What shall we say then? Now, how are you going to respond
to that? How am I going to respond to
that? Well, that's not fair. God's not right. God ought to
love everyone. Listen to me. Listen to it now. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God being unrighteous, unjust, unfair? Listen to what
he says. Here's two words. God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I had a man tell me, he said,
I don't like that. Well, what you don't like is the God who
said it. That's what you don't like. I mean, listen to it. For he saith to Mo, who said
that to Mo? God did. I, who's the I? God, will have mercy on whom
I, God, will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Now, I didn't say that. So if
your anger is directed at me, I'm just reading what God said.
And he says in verse 16, now listen to this. So then it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. It's not by works. It has nothing
to do with what you've earned or deserved or what I've earned
or deserved or will. Salvation is not based on man's
works or man's decision. It's based on God's will and
God's work. He goes on. You know, people
say, well, how can anybody resist his will? Well, nobody can. That's
not the issue. How are we to respond to that?
This is the God of Jacob. Who was Jacob? Jacob was a sinful
man. Jacob, just like us, he fell
in Adam. Jacob, like us, was born dead
in trespasses and sins. Jacob, like us, was a sinner
who deserved nothing but hell and damnation. And yet God, in
mercy and grace, determined to save Jacob. You know, this passage here goes
back to the very passage we've been looking at in Isaiah 1 and
2. Look over at verse 27 of Romans 9. There's something real significant
here, too. Isaias, he says. That's Isaiah. Romans 9, 27.
Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved."
Here's the number of the children of Israel. A whole nation. But he says a remnant shall be
saved. Now who is this remnant? Remember
Isaiah? Over in Isaiah 1, he talked about how we're a sinful
nation. He said, except the Lord of hosts
hath left us a seed We'd be just as Sodom and Gomorrah,
but a remnant shall be. You know the idea of the remnant
is an important idea, important truth in the Old Testament. God
has a people. They do not outnumber the non-elect. They do not. A remnant, he says.
And he says this, look at verse 28. For he will finish the work
and cut it short in righteousness. God's gonna complete this. It's
not gonna take a lot of time. He's going to finish the work.
You know the word work there? Look at it. If you have a concordance,
it's literally the word account. God's going to finish the account.
Well, what account is he talking about? Well, before the foundation
of the world, God chose a people and gave them to Christ and imputed
their sins to Christ. Christ is our surety. That's
how Paul can talk about in 2 Timothy 1, he talked about how this salvation
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Christ
is our surety. And God in Christ is going to
finish the account. He's going to settle the account.
He's going to do away with our sins and bring in everlasting
righteousness. And he says, he says he's going
to cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. He's speaking of the death of
Christ. In verse 29, now look at this. And as Isaiah said before,
except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd been at
Sodom and been at Lycaon to Gomorrah. Now, that's the fact. God's God
of people. He's the God of Jacob. His people
have done nothing to deserve or earn his favor. His people
have done everything to earn just exactly what Esau got, damnation
and death, hatred. So whenever you're talking about
God's love, you're not talking about something that God blanketly
gives indiscriminately to everyone. You're talking about God's purpose
to save his people. Well, what are you going to say
to that? Here's what people say, well, if that's true, then it
doesn't matter what I do. I'm not going to seek the Lord. I'm
not going to, I'm not going to listen to the gospel. If I'm
elect, if I'm, if God loves me, that's all right. Now listen,
look at, look at verse 30 of Romans nine. What shall we say
then? How am I going to respond to
this? Well, here's what he says, that the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained a righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. Now, you know, he's not
talking about every Gentile without exception there. He's talking
about the Gentiles who found the righteousness of faith. What
is the righteousness of faith? It's the righteousness which
Christ worked out on the cross as the surety and substitute
of his people which is imputed to them and which they, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, receive when they receive Christ. The Gentile believers, the nations
that will flow unto the mountain, back in Isaiah 2, They're sons
of Jacob, spiritually. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. That's the second thing. The
God of Jacob is the God of saving grace. It's not of him that runneth,
it's not of him that willeth, it's of God that showeth mercy.
Well, what does that mean? Does that mean that if I want
salvation God's way, that he may not give it to me? Oh, no,
absolutely not. If any of us ever come to a point
that we desire salvation God's way, you know what that is? That's God's saving grace in
the work of the Holy Spirit. He's made me willing in the day
of his power. That's right. He's given me eyes
to see and ears to hear. He's shown me my sin and my depravity,
and he's shown me the glory of Christ and his blood and his
righteousness alone. You see, God doesn't save a sinner
against his will, God changes his will. Before he changes the will, the
will's against him, but he changes it. And how does he do it? Through
some flowery words of the preacher? No, he does it by the power of
the Holy Spirit under the preaching of the gospel in conviction of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Look at verse 31. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Why? Wherefore? Because they didn't seek it by
faith. They didn't seek it in Christ. But as it were by the
works of the law. But they stumbled at the stumbling
stone. As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone,
a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be...
I can guarantee you one thing, any sinner who comes to God God's
way through Christ based on his blood and righteousness shall
be saved. That's what it is to call upon the name of the Lord. Then Paul said in Romans 10,
my heart's desire and prayer for Israel that they might be
saved. They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
They being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Verse four there, for Christ
is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing of the law for
righteousness. to everyone that believes. Go back to Isaiah 2
now. Here's the point. You and I are commanded by God
to seek the Lord. There's no doubt about it. Seek
the Lord, but seek Him according as He reveals Himself in His
Word through Christ. He's the God of saving grace.
He's the God of electing grace. Look at Isaiah 2. Look at verse
4. or verse three again. Many people shall go and say,
Come ye up, let us go into the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob, the God who justifies the ungodly,
the God who saves sinners, and he will teach us his ways. What
is his ways? In the original, that's a singular,
not a plural, his way. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, the life. No man cometh under the father
but by me. And we will walk in his paths, the paths of his grace,
the paths of his truth, the paths of his love. For out of Zion
shall go forth the law, that's his word, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem. That's the church preaching the
gospel. Verse four, he shall judge among
the nations. The gospel is a judgment. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned and shall rebuke many people. The gospel
is a rebuke to the natural man. It tells me that what I think
naturally is wrong and shows me that God's way is the only
way. God's way in Christ. That's a rebuke. It tells me
that I should never think that highly of myself. I'm a sinner.
I don't deserve anything. I don't even deserve the next
breath that I take. That's a rebuke to me. I used
to think I was God's gift to the world. You did too in some
ways. You've got to be rebuked. Listen, man fallen in Adam is
the scourge of the world. Did you know that? Even the animals
know their master, Isaiah said, but man doesn't even know his
creator. Man thinks he's everything. Man
is nothing. The best is altogether what? Vanity. That's what the Bible
says. We need to be reduced. Christ
is everything. His righteousness is everything.
You see that? That's a rebuke to the natural
man. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. A lot of people talk about a
future time of peace on earth. There's never going to be peace
on this earth. This world is sin. That's talking about peace
between God and sinners through Christ, through the blood of
his cross, and peace within the kingdom of God. Those who are
enemies, those who are fighting on this way of salvation. That
doesn't mean we're always going to get along. That doesn't mean
that we're not going to have problems. We are, but we're one
together in Christ. One in the faith. And he says,
nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall
they learn war anymore. We preach the gospel of peace.
Man by nature declares war on God. O house of Jacob, come ye
and let us walk in the light of the Lord. This is the light
of the Lord. This is his way of grace. This is the hope that
he has provided for his people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.