Go ahead and open your Bibles
with me to Isaiah chapter 66. I typically read the text I intend
to preach from, but I felt like it was good to read those other
two passages of Scripture, and I'll read the text as we go through
it this morning. I titled the message, Can You
Build a House for God? Verse 1 of Isaiah 66, Thus saith
the Lord, The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house that you build unto me? And where is the place
of my rest? Now, this is the father speaking,
and he says, where's the house that you've built for me? Where's
the house that you built that can contain God Almighty? Where's
the house that you built that the eternal God could rest in?
Where's the house that you built You architects, you builders,
can you build a house that's worthy of God's glory? God's
glory? You know, we call this building
the house of the Lord, and in a way it is, isn't it? It's the
house where the Lord is worshiped. This is the building. I'm thankful
God's provided us a building. God's people can gather together
and hear the word preached, hear Christ preached, and worship
through the preaching of Christ. But now this building can't contain
God. You know, the heavens can't contain God. Certainly this building
can't contain him, can it? And even if we build a bigger
building, you gonna build a building big enough to contain God? Of
course not. The whole earth can't contain
God. All the earth is is God's footstool. The earth can't contain
God. Well then, no matter how big
of a building you build, it can't contain God either. Now if there's
gonna be a house built, God has to be the one to build it. David
said in Psalm 127 verse one, except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain to build it. So God has to be the one to build
the house. He has to provide the house.
He has to provide the house for him and for us. He has to provide
the house. But the house that the Lord builds,
the house that the Lord provides, it's not a physical building.
The house is God's son. the Lord Jesus Christ. The building
that God's talking about here, it's not a building or a place,
it's a person. Verse two says, for all those
things hath mine hand made. See, God has to build the house.
My hand made it. And all those things have been,
saith the Lord, but to this man will I look, even to him that
is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. The
father there is talking about his son. This is the man he looks
to, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's a great mystery, a
glorious mystery. The heavens cannot contain God. The heavens and the earth cannot
contain God. But the father created a body. He made a body. He made an embryo
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And a baby boy was born. And
in that man, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the whole Godhead
was contained in that body. The heavens can't contain, but
the whole Godhead was in that body. Now building can't do that. The heavens can't do that, but
the eternal God did that, created that in the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let me show you that in Colossians
chapter two. Colossians chapter two. Verse nine says, for in him dwell
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of the
Godhead dwells in that body and you're complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power. It's all in him. Now, the Jews, you know, Isaiah
was writing this, and for years after, you know, the Jews, they
worshiped in the tabernacle, didn't they? Later on, they worshiped
in the temple. And that building was mighty
important to them. It was. It served for the time, it served
as a picture. And in that building, in the
tent of the tabernacle, the building of the temple, God said, that's
where I'm gonna meet with man. This is where I'll be worshiped.
But neither that tent, nor that building, neither one of them
was the true building of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, He's the true tabernacle, the true building. Let me show
you that, a couple of scriptures, 1 John 2. In John 2, verse 19. Well, let's begin in verse 18.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou
unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered,
Here's a sign that you'll know I'm the Son of God, that I'm
the Savior. He said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three
days I'll raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? but he spake of the temple of
his body. He wasn't talking about a building,
it's him, it's his body. When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had
said. He's the body, his body is the tabernacle. Look at Hebrews
chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight. Verse one. Now the things which
we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who
has sat on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in
the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched and not man. That true tabernacle, man
didn't pitch him, God made him. God the Father made him and raised
him up. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
true building. He's the true building of God. I'm thankful for this building,
aren't you? But if the day comes, and it
is my fervent prayer that this day never comes, but if the day
comes, the gospel is not being preached in this building, don't
you be married to this building, you get out of it. Get out of
it. Let God burn it down. Get out
of it and go find somebody that's preaching Christ. Don't you be
married to this building. Let it go. Let it go. Because
Christ is the house of God. And the Father said, I look to
Him for everything that pleases me. I look to Him. Everything that pleases the Father,
everything, is found in Christ. That we need to make it our business
to be trying to get in Him. If I'm found in Christ, the Father
be pleased with me. And Bob, that's the only way.
The only way God could be pleased with me is if I'm found in Christ.
Isn't that right? More than anything, that's why
I want to be found. I give you three reasons from
our text why a believer wants to be found in Christ. Number
one is this. Back in our text, Isaiah 66.
Christ is the place of rest. At the end of verse one, the
father asks, where is the place of my rest? The only place of
spiritual rest is found in Christ. You know, when the father looks
for a place of rest, he has to look to the place where the work
is finished, doesn't he? The only time you can rest is if
the work is finished. God's, well, I shouldn't say
that because you and I rest sometimes because we're tired, even if
the work is not done, right? Let me say it this way. God only
rests when the work is finished. On the seventh day, God rested. You know why? Because creation
was finished. God rested because there was
nothing else to do. God finds his rest in Christ. Christ is the one that finished
the work. You know that tabernacle, that was the first building,
that was a tent, the tabernacle that God told Moses to build.
God gave him the instructions, gave him, told him how to build
it. But you know, in that tabernacle, there was all kinds of glorious
furniture, gold and wood covered with gold, the incorruptible
wood covered with gold and glorious, glorious building. But you know
one thing that was not in that tent? A chair. There wasn't a
single chair, not a chair, not a stool, nothing. There was no
place to sit. And here's why. Because the Old
Testament priests, they never finished their work. So there
was no need for a chair for them. They always had to constantly
keep working. There was always more work for
those priests to do. You know why? Their work never
put away a single sin. Their work didn't do it. All
their work was a picture. It was all a picture of Christ.
But their work never finished the work of redemption. But the
great work of redemption, in that work, the father looks to
his son to finish it. Christ finished God sent his
son to finish the work of redemption for his people, because he's
the only one that could do it. No priest of Aaron could do it.
No, it had to be the son of God. The father looks at his son,
and he sees a place of rest, because the son finished the
work that the father sent him to do. John 4, verse 34, Jesus
saith unto them, my meat, This is what drives me. This is the
thing that's most important to me. My meat is to do the will
of him that sent me and to finish the work. That's why he came. In John 17, verse four, right
before he went to the cross, the son made this prayer to the
father. He said, father, I've glorified
thee on the earth. I finished the work that you
gave me to do. I finished it. Romans 9 verse
28, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. He
finished the work. There can't be a question about
that. The scripture is full of that. Christ finished the work.
And here's how I know beyond a shadow of a doubt he finished
the work. Because you know what he's doing right now? He's seated. He's seated because the work
is finished. He's seated upon the throne of glory. He's doing
something that none of those Old Testament priests ever did.
Christ, our high priest, is seated, resting on the throne of glory,
and all he's waiting for is the time that the father will make
all his enemies his footstool. He's seated because he's resting. There's no more work left to
do. Christ is that place of spiritual rest. The only place the father
would ever look for rest is in his son. And I'm so glad, I am
so glad to hear that. I'm glad the Father does not
look to me to have to finish the work. We would have no good
news to tell to any sinner if Christ did 99.9% of it and now
you gotta finish it by doing just one thing. If that were
true, there'd be no salvation, there'd be no rest, there'd be
no peace for any sinner. but if Christ finished the work
and the Father never looks to me to have to contribute to it,
now I can find a place of rest. See, I couldn't even begin the
work of redemption, much less finish it, but if the Father
sees me in Christ, then he sees the work of redemption finished,
both for me and in me, if I'm found in Christ. Now, the Father
looks to Christ for a place of rest. That's what the father
does. Don't you reckon it would be
a good idea if we did the same thing? Look to Christ to find
our rest. Look to him to be our rest. And
that's what believers do. We look to Christ as our rest.
The writer to the Hebrews said, chapter four, verse three, for
we which have believed, we do enter into rest. We enter into
rest. As he said, I've sworn on my
wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, into my rest. The writer says we who have believed
enter into his rest, into Christ's rest. Why is Christ resting right
now? Why is he resting on the throne
of glory right now? Because the work's finished.
We enter into his rest. We rest because we trust Christ. We trust him to do all of the
work for us. And here's how we can tell when
we've entered into Christ's rest. I quit trying to please God by
my own works. I quit trying to please God by
how moral I am. I quit trying to please God because
I've done this, that, or the other. I haven't done something,
you know. I quit trying to come to God in what I've done, and
I just rest. Rest in Christ, knowing God accepts
me in Him. If I'm trusting Christ, my soul
is at complete rest. I don't have to do one blessed
thing to make his salvation effectual for me. We look to Christ. The believer looks to Christ
for our spiritual rest, the same way the Father does. All right,
number two. Christ is where the sacrifice
for sin is made. Now, the main function of that
tabernacle of Moses, that first building that the Jews raised
up according to God's instructions, this is the place of God's worship.
That first tabernacle, that was the place where sacrifices for
sin were made. That was the main function of
the whole thing, the sacrifice for sin. Now, when you came into
the gate of the tabernacle, the first thing you saw in that courtyard
was the brazen altar. That brazen altar dominated that
courtyard. It was a square, 7 1/2 feet by
7 1/2 feet, 4 1/2 feet deep. This is a big structure. And it was made of incorruptible
wood covered with brass. The incorruptible wood, that's
a picture of the humanity of Christ. When the Son of God was
born of Mary, he was a real name. Flesh and bones. He had a human
body and a human nature just like we do. He was a real name.
But he was in that incorruptible wood covered with brass. The
brass is a picture of the deity. Christ those two things put together
in that Altar that yeah the altar that's a picture of the God name
both man and God and That brass is strong That brass could stand
up to the heat of the fire Seven half by seven half by four and
a half feet deep you can build a mighty big fire in there I
mean, there's a lot of heat in there and that fire was kept
burning almost constantly that constantly offering sacrifice
after sacrifice upon that brazen altar, that brass is a picture
of the power of Christ, the power of Christ to save. It's a picture
of the power of Christ to suffer until the sin of his people is
gone. See, in order for sin to be put away, the sacrifice has
to suffer until the fire of God's wrath is gone. And the only time
the fire of God's wrath is gonna be gone when sin's gone. That
sacrifice must suffer until sin is put away. So God's wrath is
no more. There's no more reason for God's
wrath. Only Jesus Christ, the God-man, has the strength to
do that. He had the body to be sacrificed
and he's got the strength to suffer until sin is put away. Now if you'd enter into the courtyard
of the tabernacle, You had to go past that brazen altar. There's
no getting to the tabernacle, the tabernacle itself, unless
you go past the brazen altar. If you're gonna go into the presence
of God, the Holy of Holies, you've got to go through the altar.
If you're gonna go into the presence of God, there's gotta be a sacrifice
offered on that brazen altar. There's got to be blood. There's
got to be blood brought in to sprinkle on the mercy seat. You've
got to go through the sacrifice. You've got to go through this
altar first. Well, here's the picture that
God's teaching us there. My friend, we've got to have
sacrifice for sin. And that sacrifice has to actually
atone for our sin. It has to actually put our sin
away. Or we can never come into God's
presence. It can't be a sacrifice we're just pretending like works
now. The sacrifice has to put away our sin. That blood must
be pure, sinless blood to put away our sin or we can never
come into God's presence. And the only sacrifice that'll
get that job done is the sacrifice God provided. His son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the son was made flesh. So he had a body that
could suffer and die as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. Now,
there were countless, countless, countless animal sacrifices offered
on that brazen altar. I mean, just practically all
day long, every day, for how many years? I don't know. Many,
many, many years. Many animals were sacrificed
there. But all those animal sacrifices they ever served, the only purpose
they ever served was to be a picture of the sacrifice of Christ. The
writer to the Hebrews points this out. Those sacrifices never
put away one seed. Not one. As a matter of fact,
those sacrifices were so ineffective in putting away sin, those sacrifices
didn't put sin away. Those sacrifices reminded people
of their sin. We offer a sacrifice. Well, in
a little bit, we got to offer another one. Well, I got to offer
another one. You know what that tells me? The last one didn't
put his sin away. I keep offering these sacrifices day after day,
month after month, year after year, because none of the past
ones put sin away. Those animal sacrifices just
remind me, I need a sacrifice. I need the lamb who's going to
come and put away my sin. And in the fullness of time,
the father sent his son for this purpose to do what animal sacrifices
could never do. He came to put away sin by making
himself sin for his people and sacrificing himself for that
sin. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified." One offering. The one offering of Christ is
all it took to put away all the sin of all of his people. Now
the father had to provide that sacrifice, didn't he? The father
had to. The father could not leave the
sacrifice for sin up to his people. He couldn't leave it up to us.
Now y'all come up with a sacrifice that'll please me. If he had
done that, we never would have found the sacrifice. We'd have
sacrificed our children. We'd have sacrificed a virgin.
We'd have given up chocolate for however long Lent lives,
you know, lasts and think that, that sacrifice never gonna work.
And he tells us that in verse three in our text. He that killeth
an ox, is as if he slew a man. He that sacrificeth a lamb is
as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
is as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense is as
if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I will
also choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon
them, because when I called, none did answer. When I spake,
they did not hear. They refused to hear. But they
did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted
not. Now man inherently knows there's
got to be a sacrifice. Something's got to be sacrificed
to pay for sin. But man's religion and man's
wisdom can never come up with a sacrifice. They can never do
it. Left to ourselves, we're so blind
and dead spiritually, We'll never trust the sacrifice of Christ
alone. Now, we're gonna offer a sacrifice. We're gonna be real
religious. But God says that in all of our
religion that we choose, he said that it's an abomination. You're
choosing to do what I hate. If we just offer a sacrifice,
just going through the motions of religion, because we think,
oh, if I go through these motions, you know, and I bring an ox,
and you know, I would imagine an ox is a pretty expensive animal.
I bring this at my expense, and I offer that ox, and I think,
oh, if I do this, if I give up this expensive animal, and this
animal can do so much work at my farm, and if I give up this
ox, I sacrifice this ox, and everybody's gonna say I'm right
good. But I'm not looking to Christ. That ox pictures, God
says your sacrifice is no better than if you murdered a man. If
I'm just going through the motions of really, oh, I love my religion,
I'm so dedicated to my religion, but my religion is without Christ,
and I offer a lamb, just going through the sacrifice, just going
through the motions of religion, that lamb, not looking to Christ,
God says it is as acceptable to me as if you cut off a dog's
head and offered a dog's head to God. Man's religion without
Christ, it's offering the unclean blood of a swine to God. It's
trying to bring to God what God says he is. It's like offering
to an idol. Our religion without Christ is
an offering to an idol. It is because our offering is
not to God. It's something that we've made
up. We're trying to come to God outside of Christ and that's
idolatry. Man's sacrifices, man's ideas
of how to put sin away and how to come to God and be accepted
will never get the job done. So the father did it for his
people. He made a body for his son to
be sacrificed. And let me tell you, Christ got
the job done. Now you can trust him because
he got the job done. The father says there in verse two, he said,
I'm going to look to him. This is the one I'm going to
look to. He's poor. and of a contrite spirit. That
word contrite means stricken and smitten, a stricken and smitten
spirit. This is why Christ came, to be
stricken, to be smitten. Isaiah wrote of him, Isaiah 53.
Here's writing of him again. He came to be stricken and smitten
by the rod of God's justice, so that he could put sin away.
The rod of God's justice, when it strikes Christ, satisfied
justice. So the sin of God's elect is
gone. And God's satisfied with him
because Christ came to be stricken and smitten. The father also
said he's going to look to this one who trembleth at my word. The son, he trembled in fear
at just the thought of being made seen. There in the garden,
the thought of him being made sin. He knew this is what I have
to do to please my father. I must be made sin. The thought
of it, his body rebelled against it so much, blood ran out of
his pores. I don't know how that can happen,
but it did happen because he trembled in fear at the thought
of what he must suffer, how he must suffer alone because the
father's gonna forsake him. He's been one with the father,
from eternity, and now the father's gonna forsake you. And he trembled
at it. But he was so determined to please
his father, he said, father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will.
And he willingly suffered as the sacrifice for the sin of
his people, because it's the only way he could glorify his
father. It's the only way he could satisfy
his father, It's the only way he could glorify all the attributes
of his father. We see all the attributes of
God most clearly at Calvary. At Calvary, we see God's power. Oh, the power of God to speak
and say, let there be light. Let the dry land appear, let
the animals appear. There's power. But at Calvary,
you see power. This is the power of God to put
away sin. At the cross, we see God's justice,
don't we? The father made his son sin for his people. The father
is going to be just, even if it means slaughtering his only
begotten son. At the cross, we see God's love. Oh, how God must love his people. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. How God must love his people. Look what
he did to his son. in order to redeem and bring
them to himself. Oh, he loves his people. At the
cross, we see God's mercy and God's grace more clearly than
you see it anywhere else. The only way the father could
be merciful to you and me is if he gave his son what we deserve,
the punishment that we deserve. The only way the son could glorify
his father is if he was sacrificed that way on the cursed tree and
he did it so that his father would be glorified so that his
father would be satisfied. The father looks to his son as
the sacrifice that pleases him. I'm thankful for that, aren't
you? I don't ever want the father to look to me for anything that
could please him. There's nothing in me that could
please him. The father looks to his son to please him because
the son got the job done. Then don't you think, if looking
to the Son pleases the Father, the sacrifice for sin, don't
you think it'd be good for us to do the same thing? I don't
know about you, but I'm gonna look to Christ. I'm gonna trust
Christ that His sacrifice alone is gonna justify me before God.
He's the only hope I have. I'm looking to Him. How about
you? Okay, here's the last thing. Christ is where holiness is found. You know, if you look at that
tabernacle, I keep talking about the tabernacle, that's the first
building God told the Jews to build, and this is where he's
gonna be worshiped. If you look, come into the camp
of Israel, and you look at that tabernacle from the outside,
you know what you'd see? A white fence, all the way around
it. All the way around it, a white
fence. The dominant color that you'd see is white. It's a picture
of the holiness of Christ. If you knew what you were looking
at, This is what you know. The chief attribute of God is
His holiness. All the way around. There is
no imperfection found anywhere in God. No imperfection found
anywhere in the Lord Jesus Christ. That white fence tells me this,
God's holy. Everything He does is holy and
right. That means God can never overlook
our sins. You know, almost all of man's
made up religion has God overlooking sin, pretending like it's okay. But God cannot look at us in
our sin. Habakkuk said in Habakkuk 1 verse
13, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not
look on iniquity. God can't even look at us in
our sin. You know why the father turned
his back on his son, on Calvary's tree? He can't look on sin. The son was made sin and the
father would not look on him in mercy, in grace. He looked
on him in justice, but not mercy, not grace. God's holiness means
God absolutely must punish sin. Now the only way any of us are
ever gonna stand in God's presence, we must be as holy is God himself. That outer wall of the tabernacle
was made of white linen. It went all the way around the
courtyard of the tabernacle. And here's the picture. There's
no way to get around God's holiness to get into the presence of God. We've got to be holy. We must
be holy. There's not a person here who
thinks someday I'm gonna die. and I don't care if I go to hell
or not. Not one person. The only way we can come into
God's presence is if we're as holy as God himself. Now, can
you tell me how that's gonna happen? Can you tell me how? Without holiness, no man will
see the Lord. If God looks to you and me to
provide that holiness, we'll never come into his presence.
So the father did for his people what we can never do for ourselves.
He sent his son to be the holiness of his people. The sinless life
of Christ, his sinless purity is the holiness of his people.
Christ is made known as wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
holiness, and redemption. Oh, I'm thankful that the father
looks to his son for holiness. is if I'm found in Christ, I'm
gonna be accepted. I can't do that in myself, but
if the Father looks at me in Christ, I'll be accepted. Now again, if the Father, in
his wisdom, in his perfection, looks to Christ for holiness,
don't you reckon it'd be a good idea if we did too? Don't you
think it'd be a good idea if we quit trying to establish holiness
to our own self and trust Christ? I'm not gonna look to my words.
No, no, no, no. My old man's gonna keep trying
to get me to, but I'm not gonna. I'm gonna keep looking to Christ.
This is what our brother Kendon told me Wednesday evening. He'd
been struggling with this matter of confessing Christ in baptism
for some time. I understand, Kendon, I did too.
You talk to a lot of people around here, they'll tell you the same
thing. And Kendon said, the problem is that old man. And he said,
this is what I've learned. It's constantly looking away
from that old man. Constantly looking away from
that old man and looking to Christ. It's constantly looking away
from what that old man wants me to trust in, which is my works,
and constantly looking to Christ. That's the life of a believer.
If you're a believer, as long as you're in this world, that's
what you're going to be doing. looking away from what the flesh
wants you to trust in, and looking to Christ for everything. I got
a lot of favorite Don Fortner statements. This is one of them.
He said somebody asked him, do you ever not believe? He said,
I try to every day. But the Lord won't let me. The
Lord won't let me. Why won't the Lord let me? You've
been born again. You've been born again with a new nature
that can't trust yourself. that must trust Christ. Now,
if that's your hope, you ought to be baptized the same way our
brother's gonna be here in a few minutes. That's why Kenneth is
being baptized this morning, confessing all my hope, all my
trust, all my salvation is in Christ, in Christ alone. All
right. Shawn, come lead us into hymn
if you would. Kenneth, you get ready, we'll have a baptismal
service.