All right, Isaiah chapter 46. The title of the message this
evening is From the Womb to the Tomb. Now you recall in these
previous chapters, Isaiah has prophesied that God is going
to send destruction to Israel for their idolatry. He's told
them to repent and they won't, that they'll be carried away.
But God gave him a word of comfort. He said, you'll be carried away
captive, but there's a deliverer coming, Cyrus. My servant will
come and deliver you. Now, how does that apply to us?
How does this story apply to us? Well, by nature, you know,
we're all idolaters. That's the nature of man, to
worship anything other than Christ or to trust in anything other
than Christ. That's idolatry. And you know,
you don't have to have an idol, a statue to be an idolater. An idol is anything that we have
in our mind that we'll trust in rather than trust in Christ. I'll tell you why this is. God's
put it in man to know there's judgment coming. Man inherently
knows I've got to answer to somebody for what I've done. I've got
to answer to somebody for what I am. So it's only natural for
man to want to look for something to trust in. And we don't know
God by nature, do we? So we devise an idol. Maybe our
idol is thinking our good works outweigh our bad. Well, that's
trusting in an idol that weighs sin and that can weigh sin against
holiness. That's trusting in an idol that
is not holy and doesn't require holiness. That's an idol, that's
not God. Maybe somebody trusts in this Jesus, that they make
a decision to let him into their heart. Well, that's trusting
in an idol, a figment of your imagination, because that Jesus
doesn't exist. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sovereign savior. If he's going to save you, he
will. He'll just come in in your heart and take up residence.
He'll sit on the throne because his grace is sovereign grace.
He's waiting on you to make a decision and you'd never be saved. That's
an idol. The Lord Jesus Christ is the sovereign savior. Others, they trust in all the
other idols men have made up, you know, who give them eternal
life if they follow a certain set of rules set down by the
idol. You know, that's just exactly
what free will religion is. Trusting in some form of law
keeping or trusting in a decision that we make is trusting in an
idol. Now, I'll tell you what that
idol is. Like I said, you don't have to have a statue. I mean,
I don't think anybody here is foolish enough to bow down to
a statue. I've seen people that do. I don't
think any of y'all would do that. I'll tell you what this idol
is. It's self. Now you think, oh, I wouldn't
bow down and worship myself. Well, I wouldn't be too sure. But we trust in ourself, don't
we? Some problem comes up and I think, oh, I know how to handle
that. I can take care of that. That's trusting self, isn't it? We love
self so much we've made self an idol. It's self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is an idol.
It's worshiping something that doesn't exist because we can't
do anything righteous. We're not righteous. That's our
idolatry. And God's promised destruction
for that. But in his mercy to his people,
God's also promised deliverance, hasn't he? And the Lord Jesus
Christ, his son, our Cyrus, that men are fallen. Men are spiritually
dead, so they will not. They refuse to trust in God's
salvation. They seek out their own way.
Now what I desire to do tonight is to give you a warning of the
folly of trusting in these idols. And every time we talk about
idols, you just think self. That's the idol that us as a
group, that's the idol we've got a problem with, self. Now
I want to give you some encouragement to trust in and rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the savior of sinners. Here's
my first point. Got four. All an idol does is
put a burden on you that you can't bear. Look at verse one.
Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. Their idols were upon the beasts
and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy loaded.
They're a burden to the weary They added that word beast. They were a burden to those beasts,
the oxen they were trying to pull them. But the message here
is those idols, they're a burden to the weary. Now, Bel and Nebo
are the two main idols of the Babylonians. They held these
idols in high esteem. Some of the writers think Belshazzar
was named after this idol, Bel. Nebuchadnezzar was named after
Nebo. Maybe that's so. But these idols, were of no help
to the people. Cyrus came to deliver, to destroy
them. Now I'm sure they knew Cyrus
and his army were coming. They began to pray to Bel and
Nebo. They were bowing down to these
statues, but pretty soon they realized Cyrus is at the door.
You know, these hunks of wood covered with gold and silver
aren't helping us. They're not gonna be able to
deliver us. So they began to flee. But now when they started
to flee, they left the house, they thought, Can't leave that
idol there. And the idol can't go on his
own, can he? He can't move, so they had to carry that idol with
them. And they sure weren't going to leave him behind. They put
a lot of gold and a lot of silver and a lot of precious stones
on that thing. He's not valuable to be able to deliver them, but
he's valuable to their pocketbook, so they're not leaving him behind.
And they went and put him on a cart. But those idols were
heavy. They just kept, you know, made
those idols so rich, put so much silver and gold on them. Those
idols were so heavy, the oxen strained to pull them. It was
hard for them. It slowed them down and Cyrus
caught them. Because that idol slowed them
down. Not only did the idol not deliver
them, the idol got them caught and destroyed. And that's exactly
what trusting in an idol does to us. That idol puts a heavy
burden on our backs, such a heavy burden that will be crushed and
ultimately destroyed. Catholicism is such an obvious
form of idolatry, both here in the States and in Mexico, it
shocks me every single time. I've seen people bow down to
a ceramic statue. I just, it shocks me every time. But that's how dead our nature
is. And the requirements of that Catholic church put such a burden
on the backs of those people, it's just such slavery. They
put that burden on them, try to keep them in line, and that
burden just sinks people to hell. All man-made religion is exactly
the same. Free will religion does the exact
same thing. They don't give you a statue
to bow down to, but it's idolatry just the same. Like I said a
minute ago, they use the idol of self. It's you who've got to make the
decision to accept Jesus or go to hell. They put the burden
on you, didn't they? You got to keep this thing straight
or you'll go to hell. You lose your salvation. The
burden is on you. They use that burden of the law
to try to keep people in line. You know, how are you going to
keep people given? How are you going to keep people coming to the service?
How are you going to keep people being kind to each other if you
don't have threatening them? You know, with the law, you put
a burden on people. They use the burden of the law to try
to sanctify people. They just constantly put this
burden. You've got to live a holy life. And they use the law, you
know, to do it. Well, what about that? You know,
what about the law? They're using the law to put
a burden on people. Well, I think we'd all agree
on this. Those old Jews, they knew a whole lot more about the
law than we do. I mean, they lived it. They lived under that
law. Every detail of their lives was
directed by that law. They knew details about that
law. You know, I just pass over. We couldn't recall that at all,
but they knew it in great detail. Look at Acts chapter 15. The
apostle Peter grew up under the law. He knew a whole lot more
about the law than we do. I think everybody would agree
with that. What did Peter have to say about the law? Look here
in Acts 15, verse six. They had a Bible conference.
They got together to discuss this matter of the law. And the
apostles and elders came together for us to consider this matter.
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and
said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while
ago God made a choice among us, that the Gentiles, by my mouth,
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth
the hearts, bared them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, Why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Peter said, we can't
bear it. Why would you want to put that
on them? They can't bear it either. He said, but we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. Peter said, it's not the law
of saving anybody. It's grace. Now, why would we
want to put that burden on somebody nobody can bear? Peter said that's
what the law is. Peter said we can't be saved
by our law keeping. If we start preaching that, if
we start preaching you've got to be circumcised, you've got
to tithe, or you've got to do this, that, or the other, you're
putting a burden that's going to crush men's souls. And that's
what the law does. The law is a continual, never-ending
burden on people who want to be under the law. All the law
gives us is a constant, never-ending requirement for doing. Christ
says rest. The law never says rest. The
law says do, and do, and do, and do some more. The law won't
accept just an attempt. Your best effort is not good
enough for the law. The law isn't just giving you
busy work. The law requires perfection. The law doesn't care how good
you did yesterday. The law doesn't care how good
you did a second ago. The law requires perfection right
now. Right now and always. Perfect obedience. And when we
don't obey the law, which is always, the law doesn't know
anything about forgiveness. The law knows nothing about mercy.
All the law knows is more doing. And if you don't do it, it'll
damn you. That's all the law knows. What a burden, what a burden,
a constant worry of your soul, worry of the destruction that's
coming. It's a, it's a burden we cannot
bear. That's what the law does. The
law gives us a requirement we can't keep. And all the law does,
it leaves us with the burden of sin. It leaves us with the
guilt of sin. It leaves us with the burden
of ultimately the punishment for sin because that's all any
idol can do. Put a burden on you that you
can't bear. Second, an idol puts a burden on you. And it can't
save your soul. It can't save itself, much less
you. Look at verse two. They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden,
but themselves are gone into captivity. You know, an idol
can't save you when the enemies come. That idol, it doesn't have
feet. It can't run, it doesn't have
legs. Look at Psalm 115. It can't do anything that you don't
do for it. So it can't save you. It cannot
deliver you. Psalm 115 verse two. Wherefore, wherefore should the
heathen say, where is now their God? Now they ask you, where's
your God? Because they know right where
their God is. That idol's exactly where they left it. They always
know where it is. So they say, well, see your God,
where is he? Well, believer knows where our
God is too. Look at David's answer, verse three. Our God's in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. You know, you can carve them, put a mouth on them, but
they can't tell you anything. They got no words of life. Eyes
have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. They have hands, but they can't
carry the burden for you. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make
them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusted them.
They're all dead. Now scripture says one day, every
knee is going to bow to King Christ. Don't scripture say that?
Well, you know, that includes these idols too. Isaiah says
they stoop and they bow down together. If you look back at
first Samuel chapter five, here's a, perfect example of
this. All these idols, they're going
to have to bow down and they're going to have to admit that God's
God and they're not. 1 Samuel 5 verse 1, they're going
to have to admit God is God and they're not because they cannot
deliver. They'll bow down. 1 Samuel 5
verse 1, and the Philistines took the ark of God and they
brought it from Ebenezer into Ashtod. When the Philistines
took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, their
idol, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashtod arose
early on tomorrow, behold, Dagon was fallen. He was fallen upon
his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. They came
in, there's Dagon, prostrate before the ark. He just bowed
down to the ark. When they took Dagon, set him
up in his place again. And they rose up early on tomorrow
morning, Behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before
the ark of the Lord and the head of Dagon. And both the palms
of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. His head was cut
off. His power was cut off. He bowed
down before the God of Israel. God is God. Every idol is going
to come to that point. Now, why would you trust in it?
An idol can't bear the burden of your sin. It can't take the
burden of your sin and bear it away for you. So the burden of
your sin is left to you, and it'll crush you. It's a burden
you can't bear. It'll damn you. If you're trusting in that idol
to save you, it will. Because an idol can't bear the
burden of sin, but it puts an unbearable burden on you. Now
that's enough about idols. I hope that's clear enough. I've
warned you clear enough. Trust in an idol, and specifically
self. Don't do it, don't do it. There's
no hope there, there's no salvation there. But now let me tell you
where you ought to put your trust. Let me tell you, you know, the
idol of self, we're not trustworthy, are we? Let me tell you who's
trustworthy. The Lord Jesus Christ, the savior
of sinners. If you're a sinner, put your
trust in him. Remember an idol, he makes you
carry him, doesn't he? That idol makes you carry his
burden. Here's my third point. Christ doesn't do that. He carries
his people. They don't have to carry him.
He carries them. Verse three in our text, Isaiah
46. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant
of the house of Israel, which are born by me from the belly,
which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age, I am
he. And even to whore hares will
I carry you. I've made and I will bear, even
I will carry and deliver you. Now here from the womb to the
tomb, Christ carries the burden of his people. I know Isaiah
just talks about from the womb to old age, but what comes after
old age? The tomb. From the womb to the
tomb, Christ carries the burden of his people. Now that idol
is a burden for us to carry. You who believe, Christ is not
a burden for you to carry. It's the other way around, isn't
it? We're the burden and he carries us. He carries his people all
the way to glory. And that's who he's speaking
to here. He's speaking to spiritual Israel, the house of Jacob and
the remnant of the house of Israel. Those are pictures of spiritual
Israel, true Israel. True Israel are sinners just
like Jacob. that God chose to save. God chose
to save him. He revealed himself to him and
he carried him all the days of his life. And our text speaks
of God carrying them from the womb to old age, from the womb
to the tomb. But you know, in reality, that
carrying began a whole lot earlier than the womb. Christ has always
carried his people from eternity. The elect of God have been born,
carried by Christ. In eternity, when the Father
and Son struck hands and they entered into the covenant of
grace, Christ the Son became surety for His people. He told
His Father, these people that you've given me, I'll save them
from their sin. I'll bring them to glory. At
that time, Christ the surety bore His people on His shoulders. bore them as the Savior of His
people. Then in time, God created the
heavens and the earth, put man on earth, and Adam fell in great
rebellion, Adam fell. Why weren't all the people, why
wasn't the whole nation, the whole race, why weren't they
all just plunged into hell immediately the moment Adam fell? Why not? Because Christ was carrying His
people. That's why He was standing as surety for them. And then
in time, God formed us in the womb. David said in Psalm 51
verse 5, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. And he's not saying his mother
did something sinful to conceive him. What he's saying is at the
moment of my conception, I was a sinner because I'm born from
sinful seed. Now that's God's elect, that's
all of us. In the womb, we're just like
David, we're shaped in iniquity, we're conceived in sin. Why does
God even allow us to be conceived and be born then? Because even
in the womb, Christ is already carrying his people, he's already
bearing them on his shoulders. Look at Jeremiah chapter one. I remember when Janet was pregnant,
this verse, verse five, became very, very precious to me. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb,
I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. You reckon that baby's safe?
Absolutely he is. God's carrying him from the womb.
That's what God does for all of his people. He's carrying
them from the womb. And then we're born. Oh, and
we live a life of shame and sin and rebellion, don't we? Before
we converted, this is our life. We weren't looking for God. We
weren't interested in God. You ever wonder how you survived
all that? I mean, how in the world did
you survive that? God's elect survived that because
God who gave them life was carrying them. He was carrying them safe
and protecting their life until He brought them to Christ. You parents, don't we pray for
our children? Oh, we pray for them. We pray for their souls.
We pray as they go off to school, they go off out in the world,
they're out of our sight. I remember when our girls first
started going to school, it was very unnatural for them to be
out of our sight. And you pray for them, don't
you? You worry about them. How are they going to be kept safe?
How are they going to be protected? Who's holding their hand? Who's
watching out for them? I tell you, I'd a whole lot rather
Christ the Savior be holding them and carrying them in His
arms than me and mine. I commit them to Christ. That's
the comfort to every child of God. I don't care where you are,
you're safe in his arms. Well, then one day we're living
our life of rebellion, going on our merry way to hell. God
stopped us in our tracks, moved in grace. He formed us in the
womb again. He formed us in the womb with
a new birth. He caused us to hear the gospel and gave us faith
to believe it. How'd that happen? How did it
happen that you came to hear the gospel? God carried us. Now there's a southern term.
When Jan and I first were married, we lived for a while in South
Carolina. I became acquainted with this
term. I'll carry you. This fellow worked for Jan's
dad. He was a salesman, Roy. Remember that crazy old Roy?
And we were at the job one day. He said, why don't you carry
me over to this other job? Well, I'll drive you, but I'm
not carrying you. And he started laughing. He said, that's what
I mean. When you carry somebody, take him. I want you to carry
me over there. Yet Monday evening, Marvin Stonker came to our house.
He spent the night. And then I told him, I said,
you spend the night here. And he's preaching the funeral
Tuesday. I said, I'll drive you there until you can rest. You
don't have to worry about driving all the way. And then I'll bring
you back. Well, I carried Marvin to the funeral. I carried him
home. How did you hear the gospel?
God carried you. He brought you. He carried you
to the place where God's servant was preaching. He gave you faith
to believe. You know, He's always been carrying
you. Everywhere you went, He carried
you. And in His time, you're His child. He carried you till
you came and you heard the gospel. And when you heard Christ preach,
I mean the first time you heard Christ preach, when you really
heard, When you heard when Christ revealed Himself to you, when
you weren't just hearing the preacher, but God spoke to you
and He revealed His Son to you, you just surrendered, didn't
you? What happened? All the burdens lifted. That
awful burden of the law, it lifted because Christ kept it for you. You don't obey the law, He obeyed
it for you. The burden of your sin and your
iniquity, Oh, it's crushing you. Christ lifted it off and carried
it away. The burden of your guilt that
you knew was damning you, the guilt, oh, the fear of facing
God and my guilt, what a burden. He lifted it off and Christ made
you righteous in Him. And He made you free. No longer
in the burden of bondage, He made you free. Free to serve
Him. Look at Matthew chapter 11. The
burden was lifted. Christ removed that heavy yoke
of the law and he gave you his light, easy yoke of faith and
grace. Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. Our savior says, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. The law gives you work, Christ
gives you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I'm meek and lowly in heart and you'll find rest
for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now that's how you came to Christ.
That's how he lifted the burden off. Now many of you, you've lived
a long time in the faith. You stood for the gospel. Cecily,
you stood for the gospel. How long in this town? Stood
for the gospel. You supported it. You've been
faithful to it. You put your back to it. I mean,
whatever needed to be done, you just went and did it. You faithfully
stood for the gospel, contended for the faith. And now the years
roll on, you get a little older. The younger we get older, our
energy, not what it used to be. Now all that energy you used
to have to do whatever needed to be done, now you've got to
pace yourself. Age is starting to creep in.
Now you younger, let me give you a piece of advice. Why don't
you listen to me? This is good advice. These older believers,
you watch them and you pay attention. You pay attention to their example
of faith. You pay attention to how they
supported the gospel. You pay attention. to how they've
led. But soon, it's going to be your
turn. You ought to be starting to take
up the mantle now, but soon it's going to be your turn. And when
you're with them, this is the way you think. You think, this
is my time. I know it all. I'm just going
to do it all. You'd be wise to take every opportunity
to close your mouth and listen. You just might learn something.
These fellows have been around a long time. They might learn
something through experience. Maybe the Lord taught them something
they could teach us. Could be. You see, the body ages. The body gets weaker. But the
new man doesn't get weaker. He's as strong as he ever was.
So don't despise the old, but cherish him. Cherish him. You
know, they might not be able to run around as fast as you
do, but be wise to pay attention. But you know, none of us like
the effects of getting older, do we? We don't like it when
the body's weaker. We don't like it when the mind
is not sharp as it used to be. We kind of like it when we're
young, we got the strength, and we're the one doing for others.
As we get older, we can't hardly do for ourselves anymore, much
less others. And we get to the point where
we're going to depend on others to do things for us. Even the simplest
thing. That's hard on your pride. And we start to worry, don't
we? I can't do what I used to do. I don't have the strength
that I used to have. I can't go out and do and earn and things
like I used to be able to do, you know, and we worry. What's
going to happen to me? What's going to happen? Want
me to tell you? You're safe here. is going to
carry you just as surely now when your body's weak, your mind
is not as sharp as it used to be, and you worry you'll stumble
and fall just, you know, crossing the room. Your Savior is going
to carry you just as surely right now as He did in eternity before
the world was created. He's going to carry you just
as surely right now as the moment Adam fell. When Adam fell, did
you get plunged into hell? No, God's carrying you. Are you
gonna now? No. Your Savior's carrying you. When you were in the womb and
you were helpless and just the slightest thing could have snuffed
out your life. It didn't, did it? Your Savior
was carrying you. Right now, He's carrying you
just as surely as He did then. Remember when you were a babe
in Christ and, boy, you didn't know nothing, did you? Who is
carrying you? Who kept you from falling into
error? Your Savior. You're just as dependent on Him
now as you were then. He's carrying you. Remember when
you were a young man in Christ and you were the one at the forefront
of the battle? Who was carrying you? Your Savior. He's carrying
you now just as surely as He did then. You see, Christ has
always been the one carrying you. Always. I know you've seen
this poem with a little picture with it, you know, the footprints
in the sand. The life of a believer is not that way. The life of
a believer never has two sets of footprints. And oh, you know,
everything's going good. You know, there's two sets of
footprints. And then when time gets hard, you know, there's just
one because the Lord's carrying you. No, sir. He's always carried
you. Always. Every step of the way,
he's carried you. Every step of the way, all of
your weight has been entirely upon Christ. He's not going to
drop you now. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to set you down now and leave you on your own. He's
going to carry you all the way to glory. We get weaker. He doesn't. We get forgetful. He doesn't. You trust him. He's going to carry you. I'll
tell you another meaning of the word carry. You know, if you
do all the work, or I saw this on the job, you know, sometimes,
you know, one fellow's lazy and the other fellow does all the
work, you know, he said, I'm carrying you. You're not doing anything.
When our children were growing up, me and Janet carried them.
You know what that meant? Everything they needed, we provided
for. We carried them. Everything, all the work that
needed to be done to keep a roof over their head and food on the
table and clothes on their back, we carried them. We did that
for them. You children of God who's carrying
you. All your saviors carrying you. What do you need? He's provided
it. His name. His name means he's
going to provide for you. Jehovah Jireh. He'll provide.
What work needs to be done? He'll carry you. He's already
done it all. Now you rest in it. He'll carry
you. Look at Isaiah chapter 40. Christ
carries his people. He carries them on his heart.
Carries them on his heart like the high priests of old carry
the names of the tribes of Israel on his breastplate. Look at Isaiah
40 verse 10. Behold, the Lord God will come
a strong hand and his arms shall rule for you. The old his reward
is with him, his work is before him. He shall feed his flock
like a shepherd. He shall gather the land with
his arm and carry them in his bosom. He'll gently lead those
that are with young. He carries his people in his
bosom, in his heart. He carries them in that everlasting
arm of power. You're safe in that arm. Look
at Isaiah chapter 63. Through every danger, toil and
snare, through every trouble, through every heartache, through
every affliction, Christ carries his people. Isaiah 63, verse
9. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them and
he bared them and carried them all the days of old. In all their
affliction, he was afflicted. Not only does He carry us, He
carries all of our affliction. He carries all of our sorrow.
He carries all of our trial, all of our grief. He carries
us. See, you have to carry the idol,
don't you? Christ carries His people. What's
left for you to do? Rest, trust in you. Fourthly,
an idol puts a burden on you you can't bear. He can't deliver
you, but Christ delivers His people. He delivers them by taking
their burden away. Christ graciously and lovingly
carries His people. But something still has to be
done about this issue of sin, doesn't it? We looked at a few
weeks ago at just God and a Savior. Something's got to be done with
this awful burden of sin. What's going to be done with
that load of sin? How will Christ deliver His people
from all that mountain of sin? He's going to deliver his people
by taking that burden away, by lifting it off of his people,
taking that sin in his own body on the tree and carrying it away
forever, putting it under his blood and wiping it out forever. Look in Isaiah 53, Christ bore
all the sin of his people. Christ bore the justice that
sin demanded. Look in Isaiah 53 verse four, Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But why did the Father smite
and afflict the Son? Because He was bearing our sin.
Bearing the sin of His people, He bore the justice that it demanded.
Christ bore the sin sickness of His people. Look at verse
five. But He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised
for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes were healed. He gave us his health
and took our sickness. Christ bore the iniquity of his
people away. He bore it away like the scapegoat
of old. Look here at verse six. All we
like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. See, it's the father that did
this. laid on him all the iniquity of all of his people. And Christ
bore it away, that iniquity's gone. Christ bore the punishment
for the sin of his people. Look at verse seven. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He was stricken because he bore
the punishment of the sin of his people. Christ bore the death
that the sin of his people demanded. Verse nine, that he made his
grave with the wicked and the rich in his death, because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
See how the Savior, he bore all the sin of his people. carried
it away forever. And when our Savior cried, it
is finished. The burden of God's elect, the
burden of their sin, the burden of their guilt, the burden of
their iniquity was gone forever. They were made eternally righteous. You see from his cradle to his
grave, the Lord Jesus as a man, carried the burden of his people.
He bore the burden to obey the law. Brother, he carried it. I mean, he carried that burden.
He obeyed God's law in every jot, in every tittle. He did
it so well, he magnified the law and made it honorable. He
did it so well. He obeyed God's law so well that
his obedience made all of God's elect righteous. His obedience
is our obedience. He bore our sicknesses. I heard
Brother Clay Curtis say this. Clay's a thinker. He said, when
the Lord reached out and touched that leper, he said, I will be
thou cleansed. Clay said, there's a whole lot
more going on there, what we know. The law forbid anybody
touch that leper, but the Savior did. What's going on now? I don't
know everything, but I know this. When he touched him, he identified
with him. He bore his sickness and he healed
that poor man. He bore as a man, all of our
sicknesses and sorrows and griefs. And he even went to the tomb. He had a tomb. He laid in it
for three days. And when he laid there, he removed
the burden. He removed the burden of fear
of death and fear of the grave. Because yeah, he went to the
tomb, but he arose victorious over it. And these bodies are
going to age. They're going to get old. They're
going to start falling apart. They're going to start getting
gray headed. And that body's going to die. He says here about
verse four, even to your old age, I am he, and even to the
whore hairs will I carry you. You know, we typically think
that means getting white-headed. You know, you get old, you get
white-headed. Cody Griever says, maybe those whore hairs, those
long hairs start growing on your ears when you get old. You know,
and you start wanting to comb, and then you realize, oh, it's
on my ear. That stuff happens when you get old. The body just
starts falling apart and doing strange things. It's going to
die. And we're going to put it in
the ground Tuesday afternoon. we laid the body of Maurice Montgomery
in the ground. By now there's dirt over it,
six feet of dirt. He's coming out. He's coming
out of that tomb because our Savior's already been there and
rose victorious. And our Savior sent it back to
glory. And when he did, He carried His
people. He carried us there. Scripture
says we're already seated. Past tense, we're already seated
in the heavenlies in Him. How can that be? He carried you. He carried you there. And one
day we'll be with Him. We're seated now in our representative. One day we'll have that in reality.
Be in glory. in a perfect, sinless body, seeing
the Savior face to face. Eric, how am I going to get from
here to there? How am I going to do that? He's going to carry you. He's
going to come and he's going to gather his people and he's
going to carry you there to be with him forever. From the womb
to the tomb. carries His people. From election
to glorification, Christ has carried His people. I pray God
give us the faith and the grace to rest in Him, be carried by
Him. What a blessing. Let's bow in
prayer. Our Father, we're thankful for
Your Word. We're thankful for Your promise to Your people.
We're thankful that you tell us in your word to hearken, listen. Thankful for the wonderful message
of mercy, grace, and compassion on wretched, vile, weak sinners
like we are, that you carry your people. The work's done. All that's left for your people
is to rest in our blessed Savior. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word as it's been preached to your glory and to the comfort,
to comfort the hearts of your people, to encourage and strengthen
the hearts of your people. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word to call those who are at this moment in idolatry, the
idolatry of trusting in self, to look to Christ, look to him
and never again look to ourselves. What a savior, Father, we're
thankful. Pray that you honor and magnify
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for his sake, for his glory,
that good