Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Isaiah, chapter two. Isaiah, chapter two. I want to
read just the first five verses of this chapter. The prophecy
of Isaiah. And it says in verse one, the
word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. This is the word of God revealed
to the prophet. concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Verse two, it shall come to pass
in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, shall be exalted above
the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Many people shall
go and say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall
judge among the nations, he shall rebuke many people, and they
shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house
of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
That's the title of the message, let us walk in the light of the
Lord. The gospel message is a light
that shines on the true people of God, shines in the true people
of God, and shines through the true people of God. The scripture
says, and describes it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and
verse 6, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. showing us that there is no light
from God in the salvation of sinners except that which comes
by revelation of the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who
is Jesus Christ? He is God manifest in the flesh. His name speaks of who He is. His name shall be called Jesus.
That is, God saves. God our salvation. Some transliterate
that in the name Jehovah. And that's who he is. He shall
save his people from their sins. Christ is the light of truth.
Christ is the light of glory. Christ is the light of salvation.
Christ is the light of every aspect of a believer's life. Our obedience, our service, our
worship. He's the light of it. If I stood
up here today and did not preach the gospel and preach Christ,
we'd come in in darkness and we'd walk out in darkness. That's
the truth of the matter. He is God with us. And then it's the light of his
finished work. It's the light of the accomplishment
of the God-man who saves his people from their sins by his
obedience unto death, redeeming us from our sins. putting away
the sins of his people as they were charged accounted to him,
paying our debt in full, drinking damnation dry, every aspect of
salvation that is a requirement from God as to the attaining
of it or the maintaining of it is found in Christ who is the
light. Now there are other lights. John
chapter 1 speaks of the light of men. There's the light of
natural conscience, for example. Scripture says that the light
of natural conscience which God gives to every man or Christ
gives to every man, Christ who is God, is enough for God to
hold all people accountable for not seeking the Lord. But what
does man by nature do? Man in spiritual death do? What
does he do? Well, he worships the creation.
There's the light of creation. The scripture in Psalm 19 speaks
of how the heavens declare the glory of God. Something of God's
nature and character and majesty and greatness, wisdom, all of
that is in nature. But what does man do? Well, he
turns nature into God itself. He worships the sun. He worships
the trees. He worships the animals. Ultimately,
man worships himself. That's what he really worships.
He worships himself. He worships his heritage. He
worships his works. He worships his own will. Whenever
a man or a woman thinks that they themselves by some effort
on their part or some decision on their part make the difference
between saved and lost, that's what they're doing actually.
They're worshiping themselves. They're elevating their works,
their will above God's. And that's the problem. That's
why man will not come to Christ. There's the light of the Word
of God. This Bible is a light. This is the Word of God. Now,
many don't see it. Many are not even interested.
Many won't read it. They won't study it. They won't
use responsible rules of scriptural interpretation. They bring their
preconceived notions. I know. I've done that. And somebody
accused me about what I preach now, that you're just bringing
your preconceived notions. I didn't grow up believing this.
I want you to understand it. My preconceived notion was the
same as every spiritually dead sinner's preconceived notion.
That it somehow made a possibility of salvation for me if I would
do something for God. And that's how I read the Bible.
And it was all skewed. It was all messed up. And ultimately,
I worshiped myself. But when Isaiah the prophet spoke
the word of God, he was setting forth the light of the gospel.
The theme of Isaiah is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some people
call the book of Isaiah the gospel of Isaiah, just like Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. But the theme of this book, the
theme of the whole Bible, is the gospel, the good news of
how God saves sinners By His grace, through the Lord Jesus
Christ, based upon His blood and righteousness alone, that
enables God to be both a just God and a Savior. How life is
given from God, spiritual life now. Spiritual life is given
from God out of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the prophet Isaiah. had
spiritual life from Jesus Christ even before Christ came and actually
died on the cross. Now how is that possible? It's
because God has purposed that from the very beginning and applied
it to his saint, his people, his elect in the Old Testament
based upon the sure and certain fact that Christ would come and
accomplish righteousness for his people. That's how he did
it. And so with that in mind, he
says, let us walk in the light of the Lord. He's talking about
the light of the gospel. He's not just talking about any
truth. He's talking about a specific
truth. How do you know that? Well, let's shed some light.
Look back at verse one. He says, the word that Isaiah,
the son of Amoz saw concerning what? Judah and Jerusalem. Now, what do we know about physical
Judah? Judah was the Southern kingdom.
After the kingdom was divided after Solomon, you had Israel
to the north, consisted of 10 tribes. Judah was in the south,
consisted of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. It
was called Judah because that was the predominant tribe and
that was in the purpose of God for something that I'm gonna
show you in just a moment. But Judah and then Jerusalem was
the capital city of Judah. That's where the temple was.
What do we know about physical Judah and physical Jerusalem
in Isaiah's time? Well, what did he say back up
in verse 21 of chapter 1? Look at it. How is the faithful
city becoming harlot? It was full of judgment. Righteousness
lodged in it, but now murderers. It had fallen. And that's a picture. That's a type. of the fall of
man and Adam. We are sinners, we're a sinful
people. Over in chapter 1, he described
it in verse 4, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Now when you read passages like
that, don't relegate that to some segment of society over
which you think you're better. That's the problem with people
reading the Bible. I often quote Romans 3 and verse
10. It says, there's none righteous,
no not one. Well, who's that talking about?
That's talking about every one of us by nature as we're born
naturally into this world, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins,
fallen and Adam. But that's got to, you know,
religionists will read it and they say, oh, it's got to be
talking about somebody. That's got to be talking about the homosexuals
or the drug pushers. And it is talking about them.
But I'm telling you, it's talking about me too, by nature. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We do not measure up. The best
of us, we don't measure up. The worst of us, we don't measure
up. And that's how we're to read the scriptures. We're sinners.
Listen, if salvation is going to come to this individual, it
has to be mercy and grace. Cannot earn it, cannot deserve
it. I can preach a thousand sermons and they all be true. And I still
will not measure up to the perfect righteousness that's found only
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can, if
I won the lottery and gave it all the way to the poor, which
would be a good thing to do. Wouldn't do it, but it would be a good thing
to do. Would you? Some of it. But if I did it, I still would
not measure up to the perfect righteousness and goodness and
holiness that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is
that not right? I could give my body to be burned. I could do all kinds of acts
of love and charity and self-sacrifice. but it still will, listen, if
any of that can save you or make you righteous, you do not need
Christ. You don't need grace. Among this population of Judah
and Jerusalem, there were a lot of immoral people, just like
there are in our day. Scoundrels, crooks, murderers,
All kinds, whoremongers, prostitutes, all kinds of debauchery. But
among this population that made up Judah and Jerusalem in Isaiah's
day, there were also some of the highest, most sincere, moral
religionists that can be found among men. Isaiah was one of
them. That's right. Now, on what common
ground would you put them all? Or does the Bible put them all?
Here it is. They all, if they're going to
be saved, if sins are going, if they're going to be purged,
cleansed from sin, if they're going to stand before God righteous,
it will be totally 100% by God's sovereign grace in Christ
Jesus. That's it. You look at old Nicodemus
in John chapter three, a high moral, sincere, dedicated religionist. Compare him to the Samaritan
adulterous woman at the well in John chapter four. They had
something in common. That would be an insult to people
like Nicodemus. I've got something in common
with that. Their need of God's grace in
the blood and the righteousness of Christ. If Nicodemus was no
closer to salvation in himself by his religion and his works,
he was no closer to righteousness than that adulterous woman at
the well who'd had five husbands. That's right. Now wait a minute
now, I'm a Jew. I'm a seed of Abraham. We're
circumcised. We keep the law. You don't, but
you claim to do. I'm a Southern Baptist. I'm a
Methodist. I was born in the South. This
is the Bible Belt. I'm telling you, this is the
buckle on the Bible Belt. There's a church everywhere you
go in this city. I got a fella from Michigan around
last night, he said, man, you all got some churches around
here. I said, yeah, there's probably one starting up right now. Somebody's
uncle got mad and his family goes out and they start a church. But you see, that's it. Religion
will not save you. It will not help you. But here's
the thing. Here's a kingdom, Judah, Jerusalem. fallen into sin, unbelief, idolatry,
darkness, like all of us by nature. But in the very names Judah and
Jerusalem, there's a message. Now let's walk in the light of
the Lord. We're going to shed some light
on this. In the very name Judah, there's light, there's hope.
Because what does Judah mean? What does it mean spiritually?
It's a direct reference to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is none other than the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Why do
you think God preserved Judah? You know, when the kingdom split,
their ten tribes went north, and then Judah was preserved.
In Isaiah's day, not long after the beginning of his prophecy,
the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire, and they
were scattered throughout the nations. But God preserved Judah. Why? Because they were better
than the northern tribe? Absolutely not. Aw, sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity.
Does that sound better than anybody? Why did God preserve Judah? I'll
tell you why. Because before the foundation
of the world, He had made a covenant with God. God the Father made
a covenant with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He chose
a people. a remnant of grace and gave them
to his son and in the process of time in God's purpose it was
revealed that this Messiah according to the flesh he had to be God
and man in one person remember In time, that person would come
through this tribe of Judah according to the flesh, the seed of David,
the kingly tribe, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Remember
what he said through Jacob back in Genesis 49 when he blessed
his physical son Judah? He said, Judah, Judah, the scepter,
the king's scepter of righteousness would not depart from Judah until
Shiloh come, peace, the king of peace. Judah speaks of Christ. There's hope, folks. And then
there's Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means city
of peace. There was no peace in physical
Jerusalem here. Ah, sinful nation. And later
on. In Jeremiah's day, at the end
of his prophecy, this city of Jerusalem was totally obliterated,
destroyed. The temple of Solomon was destroyed
and they were taken into captivity. There was no peace there. Somebody
said, oh, but in the future there'll be peace over there. Well, you
just hold your breath waiting on it. You say, well, it may not happen
in our lifetime. The peace of Jerusalem here,
symbolizes, typifies the true people of God, the city of God,
Jerusalem, which is from above, Paul called it in Galatians chapter
four. Judah and Jerusalem speaks of Christ and his church, his
kingdom. And the hope of it was not to
be found in that physical nation or that physical city. The hope
of it, the prosperity of it, the light of it was only going
to be fulfilled when Christ would come and do His great work of
redeeming His people from sin, of establishing righteousness
for His people. And it's fulfilled in Jerusalem
when God calls His people into the kingdom, the church. How
do you know that? Well, we could go to a lot of
scripture that I don't have time to go into this morning, but
I know this. Christ identified with his people. He identified with his people
as his people were fallen, sinful, and he identified with us not
in becoming a sinner. Christ never became a sinner. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
5.21, he was made sin. That does not mean that he was
made a sinner or made to be sinful. And it does not mean that he
was made sin in what some call some mysterious way that we can't
do. It simply means that the sin of his people was imputed,
charged, accounted to him. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us, but without sin. He ate with publicans and sinners.
He consorted with such people, but he didn't contract the disease,
did he? He was made sin by the imputation of our sins to him,
and what does that mean? That means that when he went
to the cross, he went there as our surety, having our debt charged
to him, our sin debt, the debt we owe to God's law and justice
charged to him, and he literally, in his suffering unto death,
which we cannot describe, And that's true. What Christ went
through in his soul suffering is indescribable to me. It's
an amazing thing, isn't it? I wouldn't dare try to theologize
that. We can read a little bit about
it in Isaiah 53, can't we? And other passages. But he suffered
unto death, and when he did, what did he do? He literally
drank our damnation dry and satisfied the justice of God. And so when
we read Judah and Jerusalem, let's understand the light of
God for us. Yes, we're a sinful nation. We're
laden with iniquity. If you don't think you're laden
with iniquity, I would love to invent a machine that could record
our thoughts so that we could play them for every week, play
them for everybody on the screen. We're a people laden with iniquity.
But blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. And how can God do that and still
be God, still be just? He imputed them to Christ. And
what did David say that means? That means blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Aren't you glad? That's a blessing to God's people. Look at verse 2, he says, it
shall come to pass in the last days. Now, whenever the last
days are mentioned, I believe you don't have to go very far
in the scripture to prove that what he's talking about is the
gospel age, the new covenant age, the age we're living in
right now. That's the last days, the last days. John said in 1
John 2, we're living in the last days. Everybody says we're living
in the last days. We've been living in the last
days since the first coming of Christ. When he died, was buried
and rose again and ascended unto the Father. And that age began,
the new covenant age. That's what Isaiah is talking
about. This is a prophecy of the future. Here's what Isaiah,
the prophet, is doing. He's calling on the people to
recognize the inadequacy, the depravity, the fallenness, the
sinfulness that they are bound to by nature. And he's showing
them that there is no cure to be found among men. It doesn't
matter what you do, religion won't help you, he says. Your
prayers, they won't wash away your sins. Your tears, you say,
somebody says, well, I'm going to turn over a new leaf. Well,
that's okay, and maybe you need to turn over a new leaf. But
what I'm saying, that will not wash away your sins. You say, well, I've been a drunk
all my life. I need to stop drinking. Amen.
You do. If you can't handle it, don't
touch it. But that's not going to wash away your sins. You understand
that? You say, well, I've never gone
to church. I need to start going to church. You need to start
going where the gospel is preached. But even that won't wash away
your sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ will wash away my
sins. That's what I try to get people
when I preach on TV all the time. Listen, examine yourself. What are you looking to? And
that's what Isaiah's doing here. And he's telling the people who
are laden with iniquity, sinners, who deserve nothing but death
and hell. That's what we are by nature. That's why I say,
God, don't give me what I deserve. Don't give me what I've earned.
Give me Christ. Give me your mercy. I'm a mercy, old elder
up at 13th Street, he used to say all the time, he said, I'm
just a mercy beggar. That's what we are. We're mercy
beggars. God be merciful to me, the sin.
He's showing these people, look, even though this is the situation,
there is hope to be found. And where is it? Verse two, and
it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains.
Now what's he talking about there? Is he talking about literal geographical
changes in the topography of Palestine? No. Not at all. Is he talking about physical
things? No, he's talking about the coming
of Christ to establish that high mountain, that high fortress,
Zion, which is his church. What did Christ do when he came
to this earth and died? He said, upon this rock I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Nothing will prevail against it. And it's established, he
says. You might have the word prepared in your concordance,
but I think established is the correct translation. How is the
church established? Well, a group of guys get together
and they form a charter and they get in line with Uncle Sam and
the taxes. No, the church was established
by Christ on the cross. Isn't that right? When he made
peace between God and his people by the blood of his cross, he's
the builder. And he fitly frames, Paul wrote
in Ephesians 2, he fitly frames each brick together. We're the
stones, but he's the rock. I was listening to a message
last week, preached years ago by a man who claimed to believe
the gospel. And the title of the message
was The Believer's Righteousness. That's what drew my interest
to it. And here's what the man said, he said, the Christian
life is like walking a tightrope. He said, you've got on a tightrope,
you know how they walk a tightrope, and then they have a bar that
they hold, a balance bar. And he said, the Christian life
is like walking a tightrope. He said, on one end of the balance
bar is the imputed righteousness of Christ, and on the other end
of the bar is the works of a believer, and it balances out. And I thought,
is that the way the Bible describes the Christian life? Now, are
we as believers to be diligent, to do good works? Of course we
are. That's not the question. But
does that balance out the righteousness of the Lord God Almighty? Absolutely
not. Let me tell you something. The
Christian life is not walking a tightrope. The Christian life
is standing on a rock. And that rock is Christ. living in, out of Him, unto the
glory of God. This is a mountain, the Lord's
house. What is the Lord's house? It's
His household, it's His family, it's His elect, fallen at Him,
but redeemed by the blood and regenerated by the Spirit. He
goes on in verse 2, He shall be exalted and shall be exalted
above the hills. The hills, I believe, refers
to everything that's going on in this earth. And what he's
saying is those who are in Christ are above the hills. Now that
doesn't mean that we're walking in air. Or that when you see
me walk down the street, I'm 10 feet above everybody. Or when
you see me, I've got a halo on. It doesn't mean that at all.
I went to a shop the other day over at the mall, and I was getting
some vitamins, and a girl looked at me, and she said, you've got
the Holy Spirit coming out all over you. And I thought, good
night. What, you know, do I have a fever or something? I thought,
well, you know what it is. It's just that I'm so kind. You
know, I've just got such a beaming personality. And I realized that. I don't try to talk about it
too much. But, you know, that's not the way you gauge the Holy
Spirit's work. That's not what he's talking
about here. It simply means this. I'll tell you what it means.
It means, number one, you know the highest position that any fallen
human being can ever have is a sinner saved by the grace of
God. I'm no higher than you. I know I elevated here, but that's
just so you can see me and hear me. You're not below me. I'm not above you. But we live
in Christ. We're not citizens of the world.
We're in the world, but we're not of the world. Christ said
in the world you'll have trouble, but be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. We're far above all principalities
and powers. They may be able to harm the
body, but they can't touch our soul. They can't touch our position
in Christ. We're saved and secure because
we're washed in the blood of Christ and clothed in His righteousness.
We stand in Him. You see that? And no matter what
goes on in these hills here, no matter what goes on, it's
not going to affect our standing in Christ. Now that's right.
It will not affect it. Jesus Christ, listen, if you
look at me, I'm not the same today as I probably will be tomorrow.
Or the next day. But Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And then it
says in verse two, all nations shall flow unto it. That's God's elect out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and name. God has a people all over this
world. That's normally when the scripture
speaks of the word world. And incidentally, The word world
in the New Testament Greek has so many meanings that the only
way you can determine the meaning is by context. And so normally when you see
the word world connected to salvation, it's not talking about every
individual without exception. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever, what, believeth, should
not perish but have everlasting life. That's not talking about
every individual, it's talking about those who believe. But here's what it mainly talks
about in the word world, is that God, Christ did not come to save
just Jewish people or American people or French people. He came to save a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. God's got a people,
a remnant he calls it. all over this world. There's
no, listen, there's no ethnic barrier, there's no national
barrier in this. In Christ, Galatians chapter
three tells us there's neither Jew nor Gentile. That distinction
has nothing to do with the salvation of a sinner. And it makes no
difference in the kingdom of God. So this is a message not
just to Isaiah's people ethnically, nationally, this is a message
to the whole world. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Look at verse 3, he says, Many people shall go
and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of God, the God of Jacob, and he will teach us
of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord, from jerusalem
now i have a lot i want to say about these next verses so i'm
going to conclude this and and pick up next week but here's
let me let me show you many people shall go and say come ye and
let us go up to the mountain of the lord to the house you
know what that is that's gospel preaching come to the house of
the lord that doesn't mean come within these four walls it means
come to god call upon the name of the lord beg for mercy Come
to Christ. I can tell you, you're a sinner.
Now when I say that, I'm not just pointing this finger. I've
got those three pointing back. I'm a sinner. The only way that
you're going to be saved is to come to Christ. There's no other
way. Coming to Buddha won't help you.
Buddha's message was a false message. Coming to Mohammed won't
help you. They say, if you can't bring Mohammed to the mountain,
bring the mountain, it wouldn't be any good. Big deal. What does that mean? That's salvation
by words. False Christianity will not help
you. Satan's biggest deception today
is false Christianity. But it won't help you. You need
to come to Christ. You need to seek righteousness
in Christ because He's the only one where righteousness is to
be found. Anywhere else it's just It's just an effort in what
they call an exercise in futility. So many people come, let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.
The God of Jacob, that is a significant, significant truth. What did God
say about Jacob? What does Jacob mean to me? Well,
I'll tell you about Jacob. God said in the book of Romans
chapter nine, he said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated. And he said that. Now false preachers
will try to tweak that in a lot of different ways because they
just don't like to think about God hating anybody. But let me
tell you something about God's hatred. It's not sinful for God
to hate anyone. It is not unjust for God to hate
anyone. It is necessary for God to hate
because God is just. His hatred is his justice against
sin. All he's simply saying here is
this. God loved Jacob and he gave Jacob
what Jacob did not deserve and earn. Jacob deserved God's hatred
just like Esau. But Esau, God left him to himself
and gave him what he deserved. And once you, now if this comes
into your head, you say, well that doesn't seem fair. Read
Romans 9, that's the next question that Paul anticipated. That just
doesn't seem right. Whatever God does is right. If
God ever gave any of us what we earn or deserve, it would
be his hatred. God's love is never deserved.
What do I know about Jacob? He was a sinful man. He was a cheat, a scoundrel. He was a sinner. Who we preach when we preach
the God of salvation? We're preaching the God of Jacob.
That's the God who saves sinners by grace. That's the God who
justifies the ungodly. Jacob had no righteousness to
plead before God. Neither do I. You know what that
makes me spiritually? A son of Jacob. And what did
God say in Malachi 3, 6? I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not concerned. That's right. You sons of Jacob. I'll tell you what, there is
no limitation or measure to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. It's a, it's a where sin abounded. literally overflows us like a
flood. We're drowning in a sea of sin
throughout and without. Much more, he says, the grace
of God abounds. And where does that grace come
from? It comes from God. It's grace that reigns in righteousness
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's no other
hope for us Jacobs. That's what we are. But salvation
by the grace of God.