us and so I direct your attention
tonight again to the Word of God and would you join me in
the book of Isaiah tonight, Isaiah chapter 9. I have to ask this
question, have you ever been sick? Most of us have, haven't we? Have you ever thought about that
COVID stuff, that that was God's COVID? If he's sovereign, have you ever thought about that
heart disease as God's heart's disease? If he's sovereign, that cancer. Oh, I despise that
stuff. It's taken some really dear friends
of mine, but it was God's cancer. He has appointed us a day when
we'll meet him. Whether we bow before him before
then, before he causes us to bow before him before then and
recognize him as Lord, or after we meet him and he demands that
we do that, we still will meet him on his terms. And yet, the
Bible shares with us so much about the remedy, so much about
the one who has taken care of the problem before there was
a problem, Did you know that there was a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world? Before there was a creation,
God took care of the business that needed to be taken care
of and I thank him for it. We find that the Lord Jesus had
none of our diseases. He did not have sickness like
we have. You know what? He didn't even have a pimple.
He didn't have a blemish. He was the perfect son of God. Now he did not go to the tree,
he did not go to the cross for his sins, he went to the cross
for our sins. That's him. Now there are many
places in the scripture that describe to us the great problem
that he had to deal with. He had to deal with our sin.
And there are many ways that the Bible describes the problem
that we have. But before there was a problem,
there is a description of the remedy of that problem. And we
go over there to the book of Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15,
and we read that there is the solution. The Messiah is coming.
Well, that was dictated by the covenant of grace that was written
in God's eternity past between the father, the son, and the
Holy spirit. And so we have a problem coming. God knew all about it.
He was not caught short. And he has many descriptions
to just give us an understanding, a little understanding about
that problem, but he always has the solution, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what we find here
in the book of Isaiah chapter 9. I would like to read the first
seven verses of the scripture. of this passage of scripture
and just share a few things that the Lord has been gracious to
give me. I like to go and I'm reading, I see a word and I like
to find out what's the meaning of that word. And there's two
words found in this reading that are only mentioned in this passage
of scripture and this passage of scripture only. Now the word
government is found in other places, but not the Hebrew word
that was this word, these words were translated from. So let's
read here in the book of Isaiah chapter nine, nevertheless the
dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation when at the
first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulon and the land
of Naphtali, and after did more graviously afflict her by the
way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations. The
people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath
the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation,
and not increased the joy. They joy before thee according
to the joy and harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the
spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff
of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warriors
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall
be with burning and with fuel of fire. Now we come to verse
six, for unto us is born For unto us a child is born, for
unto us a son is given, and notice with me, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful.
We don't have any decision about who this is about. This is about
our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And just as we read over in the
book of Galatians chapter 5 about the fruit of the Spirit, we're
not reading various names It would have been better if this
was hyphenated through here. This is the name of our Savior. This is the description of Him.
His name shall be called. It doesn't say His names shall
be called, but His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no
end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order
it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform
it. Now there's two words in there that's the same word but
mentioned twice that caught my eye and one of them is found
here in verse six. It says, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder. And then in verse seven, of the
increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.
You know, it was interesting to look that Hebrew word up and
find that not only does it mean government like we think of it,
but the original meaning of this word is a word that means to
turn the head. Now that's what legislators want
to do to us. That's what politicians want
to do to us. They want to turn our head to
agree with them. They want us to come to their
conclusion. Isn't that the truth? They want
us to see it as they see it. And we look at it and say, well,
that's stupid. But this is the meaning of this
glorious word, the government shall be upon his shoulder. And
what he is saying is, it is my business and my business alone
to turn the head of my people. Now God describes a great problem
that is among his people. There are many ways he describes
the fall and many ways he describes the result of the fall. We could
go to this book, that book, many books and find the way that God
shares with us that there is a serious problem. Brother Henry
said there is a subject called ruined by the fall all through
the Bible. It's called by various names.
So we would like to go to one of these descriptive words that
shares with us that God alone is able to do what is necessary
to be done and if it is not done we will not turn our head. We will never come down to his
thoughts. We will never come to agreement
with him. We will go out of this life angry
with God, at enmity with God, and never have peace in our heart.
But if he does what he says he does in this verse of scripture,
and he will do it to every one of his lost sheep, he will turn
their head. He turns our head for us. to be in complete agreement with
Him. I have a young man I've been
talking to for about four years now, and he's asked me several
times recently, well, what happened when the Lord saved you? Well,
I've come to this conclusion, and I've told him several times,
I quit arguing with God. I quit arguing with God. I quit
making excuses. I quit trying to find verses
that would refute verses. I just accept the word of God
and I may not understand it and most of it I don't, but I will
not say I don't believe it because God had it written in his book
for a purpose and somebody's going to come along sometime
and share the meaning of that and I say, well, hallelujah.
That's what it meant all along. Well, let's look at some thoughts
here. In the book of Exodus, chapter
32 and verse 9, the Lord Jesus, God Almighty, shares with us
a description about Israel. Now, I could understand it. from
a human standpoint, I can understand if he's talking about the Hittites,
but can you imagine that he is talking about those people that
he had born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 12 tribes of Israel,
raised up, taken down to Egypt, they become slaves in Egypt and
he frees them. By his free and sovereign grace,
he frees them at the very appointed time. He told Abraham they'll
be in prison down there for 400 years, and it tells us the day
they left, on the self-same day, 400 years later, they were free
to leave. And now they're wandering around,
and here in the book of Exodus, let me get over there, Exodus
chapter 32, verse 9, we read this about those people. Exodus
chapter 32 and verse 9, and he is sharing with us a real issue
that we have by nature. We have this issue. No wonder
we run into a verse of scripture, into a description of a person
who has the ability of turning the head. It is necessary. If we do not have our head turned
towards him, we will never see him on good graces. So it tells
us here in the book of Exodus, the book of Exodus, we have,
as the Bible shares with us, the Bible speaks of one that
can turn the head, and the reason for that, we have the answer,
he does turn our head, but what's the problem? In the book of Exodus
chapter 32 and verse 9, and the Lord said unto Moses, I have
seen this people and behold, What is their problem? Have you
ever had a problem like this? You woke up one morning and you
can't turn your head. You've been in an automobile
accident and it got some whiplash and your head is just stuck forward.
And the only way that you can go to one side or the other is
turn the whole body. Well, you know what? We're stuck
in the pit. We don't have the ability of
turning spiritually. We're stuck, stuck, stuck. And we have this very serious
problem. As it mentions there, it is a
stiff neck people. You know what? Their bones have
grown together. You know what? They've had rods
put in the back of their head here and they just cannot turn
their head. They will fall after, fly after,
go after every idol in this world. But when it comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, they are a stiff-necked people. Do you know yourself
as that? Do you remember that? Oh my goodness,
I remember that. Stiff-necked. You know, when
Brother Henry brought me the gospel, I told my wife, I hate
that man. Why? Because I was stiff-necked. I could not see what he was talking
about. Let's just look at a couple other verses of scripture along
this line. In the book of Exodus chapter
33, let's read here, beginning with verse 1. It tells us here,
And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence. thou
and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of
Egypt unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it." The promise
has been given to Abraham. The promise has been given to
Isaac. The promise has been given to Jacob. The promise has been
given to the 12 tribes of Israel. And you know when they get up
to go into that land, they say, we can't do it. Why? They're a stiff-necked people. They just cannot see the benefits
of grace. I will send an angel before thee,
and I'll drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the
Parasite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite unto a land flowing
with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in
the way." You know, Moses reminded God, for our benefit, that you
have a covenant. That was for our benefit. God
knew that he wasn't going to destroy all these folks, but
he sure had Moses on the edge, didn't he? Oh, God, you can't
do that. You have a covenant. You have
a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so then when the
people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did
put on his ornaments. Let's turn, if you would, to
the book of Exodus chapter 34 and verse 9, and we find the
same problem is brought up. This is with Israel. This is
not with the Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, and so forth. This
is with Israel. If Israel has the problem, what
do you think is going on among those folks? You know, one of
the sweetest accounts that we have in scripture is a famine
came on Israel and pushed a family out into Moab. Now, I've read commentators,
they said, that was wrong, that was wrong. God was ordaining
this. Don't argue with God. That means
we still have a stiff neck. God does all things well. He
does all things blessed. He sent that family over to Moab
for one sweet, sweet lady who was of the tribe of Moab. Her
name was Ruth and she was a worshipper of false deities and idols. She
was up to here in it. And her mother-in-law told both
of them, go back to your gods. And you know what Ruth said?
I've been blessed by the grace of God. Your God is my God. You know why? She had her head
turned. She lost her stiff neck. That
other daughter-in-law was so glad to go back, she never had
her head turned to Christ. All right, here in the book of
Exodus chapter 34 and verse 9, the scriptures share this, Exodus
chapter 34 and verse 9, and he said, If now I have found grace
in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord pray thee, go among us,
for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our
sin, and take us for thine inheritance. Oh, what a blessing it is when
God, in His purpose of grace, pardons the sin of a stiff-necked
people. And you know, at the time, we
don't even know it. We're not cognizant of it. He
hasn't turned our head to see it yet, but we find out after
He saves us by His grace that he took care of all the problem
at the cross, and even though I grew up in a family of religious
people, I was a stiff-necked person. Even though I'd heard
all kinds of Bible, I never heard the gospel until someone from
Kentucky came out and shared with me the truth of the gospel. And you know, I still was a stiff-necked
person. I hated the deliverer of that
message. until God spoke peace to my heart
in regenerative grace, and then I could say, I love that man. Why? Because I could love God
for the first time in my life. I hated him before. You know,
we all think we love God. God is love, therefore we love
him. We don't know the first thing about love until he has
given us the new birth. Through the scriptures, we find
this brought out time and time again. You're a stiff-necked
people, a stiff-necked people, a stiff-necked people, because
we are. By nature, we're terrible. We
can't turn our head. God says, look at me. Well, number
one, we won't. Number two, we can't. We wouldn't look if we could,
and we can't because we're stiff-necked. We need some help. We need some
help. You know, over in the book of
Acts, Stephen called all those folks stiff-necked and uncircumcised
of heart. This is a spiritual problem that
we're born with. You know, children are born with
this problem. Come forth from our mother's
womb, speaking lies. What's that mean? I'm stiff-necked
towards God. I can't turn towards Him. I grew
up as a teenager with the same problem. I become a young adult
with the same problem. And here in my old age, If it
wasn't for the grace of God, I would still have a stiff neck
towards God. We don't get over it in time.
We must have God work on us in a very special way, and that
is He turns us. He loosens up everything in our
head, our mind, and turns us unto Himself. In the book of
Acts, chapter 9, would you join me over there in the book of
Acts, chapter 9? In the book of Acts chapter 9, we read about
this issue. We want to find out, there are
some people, verse 35 of Acts chapter 9. Acts 9, 35, it says, and all
that dwelt in Lydia and Saron saw him. Now, did you notice
those next words? And turned to the Lord. Grace, grace, grace. They turned to the Lord. Let's
look at another verse here, Acts 11, verse 21. Acts 11, verse
21. And the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a great number believed, and turned unto the
Lord. Now what happened? God took away
their stiff neck. God did a miracle for them, took
away their stiff neck. You know, I read about a lady
there in the book of Luke chapter eight, she spent all that she
had upon physicians and was none the better. You know, we did
the same thing. If you were like me, I did a
whole lot of things hoping that I could get over the problem
that I had. And you know what, religion couldn't do a thing
for me. They did want my money. They wanted my ties, but they
couldn't do anything for me. They put salve on me. They said, you know, we got all
kinds of miracle workers. We're going to get you fixed
up. And nothing could take place because it's a spiritual problem.
It's not a physical problem. And God alone can take care of
spiritual problems. And so we have here in this reading
and in the book of Acts chapter 20 or 11 verse 21, the hand of
the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto
the Lord. Well, we find this throughout
the scriptures that there were people that turned to the Lord.
We got a problem. They're stiff necked. We got
a people over here. Turn it. Now what happens between
the two? I want to find out. What happens
between the two? I got people turning to the Lord
and over here it's impossible for them to turn to the Lord.
They're a stiff-necked people. God said that. You know, I can
understand the preacher saying that, but God said that. They are a stiff-necked people. They will not turn towards me.
They will not come to me. They are a stiff-necked people.
You know, People, 10 spies came back with a bad report. Why?
Because they were a stiff-necked people. They could not understand
that God had given them that land. Two came back, and you
know what's written about them? They had a different spirit. They had been turned. And I was
just thinking about this as I was going through that the last time.
Joshua and Caleb, there's not a word written. that they ever
complained about one step they took with all that host of people
that's going to die off over the next 38 years. They just
went along knowing God's going to take care of it, we're going
to enter that land just as he promised, and 38 years later
they got to enter into that land without complaint. Well, let's
look here into the scriptures. Would you turn with me to the
book of Jericho? How are we able to turn? The
Bible is so clear about this. How can we turn? I have been
turned. I was stiff necked. I have been turned by the grace
of God. How did that happen? Join me
if you would, over the book of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah
chapter 31. In the book of Jeremiah chapter
31, we find here that it is God's responsibility that we're turned. It is up to God. God does this
great work. He is the great physician. He
knows every muscle in our body. He knows our bone structure.
And I'm talking about spiritual things. He knows how to deal
with spiritual stiff neckness. And here in the book of Jeremiah,
chapter 31, verse 18, We read these glorious words that God
left us on how he takes care of our stiff neckness. We're
born that way, we grow up that way, and if left to ourselves,
we'll die that way. But here we have God intervening
on our behalf, coming into our life. I heard a discussion about
intervening. That's really not the right word.
He purposed it. He just didn't step down and take care of it.
He purposed this to happen. So in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse
18, the word of God says this, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself. Thus, thou hast chastened me. I was chastened as a bullock
unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me and I shall be turned
for thou art the Lord my God. What did he say? If you turn
me, I'll be turned. But if you don't turn me, I will
never be turned. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Surely after that, I was turned. Got to see something. got to
see the Lord God Almighty in all his glory. You know what
Isaiah got to see in the year that King Uzziah died? I saw
the Lord high and lifted up. Do you think he's the only one
that ever gets to see that? God has blessed every time he
saves somebody, we get to have our necks unstiffened and we
get to turn and see the Lord God Almighty. We get to see Him
high and lifted up. We get to see Him as the one
who is in absolute control. We get to see Him as Lord Jesus
Christ. We get to see Him as Messiah.
We have this revelation given to us by God Almighty in Christ
Jesus, and it's the package we get in the new birth. He does
not hold it back from anybody. It is the whole thing, every
spiritual blessing, is granted to us in Christ Jesus the Lord. And so he says, turn me, and
then it says, surely after I was turned, I repented. You know,
we cannot repent. I was called on all my life,
repent and believe. You can't do it. And the repentance
that I was called unto do was repent of sin, and that's not
what that word means. That word means to have a change
of mind, and that word means to have a change of mind about
God, and that can only happen after we're born again, after
we've been, our neck's unstiffened, we've been granted grace. And
so it says here, I repented, and after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh, oh my goodness, how could I have been
so stupid? I smote myself on my thigh. I
was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach
of my youth. Ephraim, my dear son, is he a
pleasant child? For since I spake against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him, and I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
Turn me, and I shall be turned." The book of Lamentations. Join
me in the book of Lamentations if you were at the very next
book. You know, in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is really
pouring out some serious issues about Israel and in the host
of it he shares some wonderful blessings for us. Here in the
book of Lamentations chapter 5, Lamentations chapter 5 beginning
there with verse 19, read with me these verses of scripture
as we find out, oh you stiff neck people, You're born that
way, you came out of your womb that way, the mother's womb that
way, you inherited this from Adam, and you inherited it from
your father, you inherited it from your grandfather, you inherited
this problem. But there is God Almighty who
has in mind to take care of the stiff neckness, and that is by
the new birth. We're able for the first time
in our life, to look and see Him who loved us and gave Himself
for us. Here in the book of Lamentations
chapter 5 verse 19, O thou, O Lord, remainest forever, thy throne
from generation to generation. You know, an un-stiff-necked
person can say that. A stiff-necked person will never
admit that. Wherefore dost thou forget us
forever, and forsake us for a long time? Turn thou us unto thee,
O Lord, and we shall be turned, renew our days as of old. 1 Kings chapter 18. Turn with
me to the book of 1 Kings chapter 18, and we read these words that
God left us about this wonderful subject. He says, you are a stiff
neck people, but I have the remedy for all my lost sheep. I will take care of their stiff
neckness and they will look to me and call me Lord. 1 Kings chapter 18, 1 Kings chapter
18, and there in verse 36, We read these words, 1 Kings
chapter 18 verse 36, the scripture share this and says, and it came
to pass at that time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that
Elijah the prophet, you know, we know this great account of
Elijah with his, oh, I used to hear it as the contest. There
was no contest to it. Elijah was already promised gold
medal and the others weren't even in the contest. You know,
idols are not in the contest. False gods are not even in the
contest. I heard on the TV program this
afternoon, I heard that the other day up there in Pennsylvania,
which way is Pennsylvania from here? That way? That, you know,
the devil was there, but so was God at the attempted assassination. The devil was there, but so was
God. He stopped it. You know what?
The devil's not even in competition. No, there's no competition. He's
the Lord's devil. All right. It says it came to
pass at that time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that
Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham,
Isaac and Israel. What is he doing? He said, Oh,
covenant God that made so many good promises under the church.
I claim them now. Let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I
have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear
me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and
that thou hast turned their heart back again. And the fire fell. And the confession of the people
was the Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. Oh, what a statement
is made here as he invokes God to demonstrate his great power
and might that the people might know that thou has turned their
heart back. This whole scheme follows throughout
the scriptures that God would bless his people with this great
turning, that he would turn us, though we are unturnable by ourselves. Religion can't turn us. We can't
turn us. Our parents can't turn us. All
that we have. Education can't turn us. Church
membership can't turn us. Baptism can't turn us. Communion
service can't turn us. All the people of the world can't
turn us. Religious orders can't turn us.
But God Almighty in Christ Jesus can turn us because he can loose
us from our stiff neckness. And he will turn us to Christ.
And that's what he does for every one of his people. He turns us
to Christ. He becomes the object of our
worship. He becomes the object of our
love. He becomes the object of all objects. He's the one. Psalm
80, verse 3, would you turn there with me, Psalm 80, verse 3? As
we think about this great subject that we have a stiff neck, but
God has the ability of taking care of it. He is the great spiritual
physician. In the book of Psalm, Psalm 80,
We read these words in Psalm 80, there in verse 3, Psalm 80
verse 3, it says here, Same book, same Psalm verse 7 it says turn us
again Oh God of hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall
be saved and in that same chapter Verse 19 it tells us this turn
us again Oh Lord God of hosts cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved What a blessing God has for all his people many
of the children of Israel turned to the Lord their God. You know, in the preaching of
the Old Testament, just turn over to 2 Corinthians, if you
would. 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter three, verse 16. If we follow this out, we find
out it brings to mind that event of Moses coming off of Mount
Sinai. And they requested, they put
a veil over him because he was so bright and shiny and they
just didn't, they didn't want it. They wanted that covered
up. And here the apostle Paul, as
he's a penman for the Lord, you know, all the Paul supplied for
this was the ink and God supplied it. He's a secretary. I try to refrain from saying,
Paul wrote this, the Holy Spirit gave us this through the writings
of Paul. But anyway, it says here in verse
16, nevertheless, when it or they shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away. You know, that is a wonderful
thing when God saves us, that he takes that old legalistic,
moralistic, churchistic Whatever it is that
we're under, he takes that away when we get to see Christ. There's no longer that stuff.
He is the object of our worship. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. He's the one that turns our head. He is the true, true government
for us. Without that, we'd go through
this life without any help, without any hope, and without God in
this world. He must come, and he has promised
to come upon every one of his lost sheep, and he said, I will
turn them, and they shall be turned. You know, that's why
God's people can never go back. Saul of Tarsus, the moment he
was saved, he started preaching Christ and he never went back.
In fact, he said, all that stuff I used to worship is nothing
but dung. There's no value to it. Let me
tell you about Christ. The Valley of Dry Bones, shall
they live? Thou knowest, Lord. Well, preach at them. He preached. rattling going on, rattling going
on. Before you know it, God had brought
an exceeding great army out of zero, nothing, dry bones. He turned them into an army. That's what he does with the
saints. He turns us into Christ. We become his servants. The government
shall be upon his shoulders. In closing, would you turn with
me to the Psalm 110. Psalm 110, oh, what a blessing
this is. Psalm 110, as we see the Lord's
purpose in all things, that hardness of heart, that stiff neckness
is just a demonstration that we're falling in Adam, just like
we have a pimple, it's the same thing. You know, a person may
say, well, you know, I've never been sick a day in my life. You
know what's gonna happen anyway? They're gonna die. Because of
sin, they're going to die. They may not have ever exposed
it in their flesh. They may have had perfect flesh.
They may have died with perfect black hair. They may have died
with no glasses. They may have died with a bunch
of teeth. They may not have a sore or ache
or a pain in them and lived to be 110 years old. But you know,
the final written about them is going to be, and he died. Why? Sin. Now most of us demonstrate that
from time to time by all the things that go on with us. Our
aches and pains were just fallen creatures. We got a disease,
a fallen creature, fallen in Adam, redeemed by Jesus Christ
the Lord and he caused my head to turn. and see Him in all His
glory, we can say, Lord, and meet it. Here in the book of
Psalms, Psalm 110. Psalm 110, there in verse 3,
we read these words, Psalm 110, verse 3, it says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of
the youth. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, and when his power comes, we gladly turn. Because he makes us turn. Lord,
stiff-neckedness has one remedy. Jesus Christ in him crucified. And he alone is able to turn
us. Turn me and I shall be turned. But as it is, I'm stuck in a
horrible pit. My feet are in darkness of clay,
down below the level I can't see out. But he said he came
and lifted me out of a horrible pit. He set me up on a solid
rock. He established my goings and
put a new song in my heart, and that's what he does when he takes
a stiff-necked old reprobate, if you please, and gives them
Christ. They sing about him, the Lord
Jesus. Brother.