Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah,
chapter 15. The title of the message is Salvation
and the Lamb Sent. Now, that title is taken from
chapter 16. But the message begins in chapter 15, and that's what
we have to look at before we get there. The Lamb Sent is not
going to mean anything in chapter 16. It won't mean anything to
us until we see the message from God in chapter 15. Now, verse
1 of chapter 15, Isaiah says he's received from the Lord the
burden of Moab. The message, the burden is the
message that God has concerning Moab. It's a message of both
judgment and mercy. And that's what the gospel is.
It's a message of both judgment and mercy. And Isaiah has been
given this burden of judgment and mercy. And he's so concerned
about the judgment of Moab, that's what makes it such a burden.
But if Isaiah doesn't proclaim that whole message, both judgment
and mercy, he's not bore the whole burden of the message.
He's not given them all of the message of God. The same thing
is true with preaching the gospel. We must preach both judgment
and mercy, or we haven't done what Paul called declaring the
whole counsel of God. So part of Isaiah's message is
judgment from God. And that message is found all
in chapter 15 of Isaiah. Now, historically, this is a
prophecy. One day, Nebuchadnezzar, I don't
know how many years away this is, but at some point, Nebuchadnezzar
is going to come. He's going to conquer Moab. He's
going to destroy the whole place. Historically, this is a prophecy
that he's coming. But the message of the passage
is this. Judgment from God is coming for sin. and we cannot
bear the punishment of it. Look in verse 1, chapter 15,
the burden of Moab. Because in the night our of Moab
is laid waste and brought to silence. Because in the night
her of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence. Now Moab,
his name, means of his father. Moab, his father, was Lot and
he was born from an incestuous relationship. And Moab and his
descendants are pictures of sinners. That's what all of us are. We
are of our father, Adam, born just like him, born from a sinful
seed. David said we're shaped in iniquity,
conceived in sin, because just like our father, Adam. But you
know, Moab was a close relative of Israel. Moab came from Lot. Lot was his, or came from Lot,
and Lot was Abraham's nephew. Moab's a close relative to Israel. And that's exactly what sin is
to the believer. Now, believers born again. We've
been made new creatures in Christ, but we've got a close relative
who is so sinful. We're the relative. Our flesh
is our relative, a close relative. So this message is to all of
us. We're Moab. And man cannot devise a way to
escape this punishment that God sent him. None of our defenses
will do us any good. These cities, Ar and Kur, they
were the strong cities of Moab. They defended the whole country.
The name Ar means a defense city and Kur means a wall. And these
defended, walled cities are going to be destroyed and the gates
wide open to come in and conquer Moab. They have no defense left.
And men try to build up a defense they can use. in judgment. Everybody
has this sense in them. Judgment day is coming. So men
try to build up a defense they can use in that day. They want
to bring their good works as a defense. They want to bring
their morality as a defense. They want to bring their church
attendance and all their religious activity as a defense that they
can use in this day of judgment. And what God's telling us here
is that defense. This is the message. That defense
won't be good enough. It'll just leave us silent before
the Lord, before the judge with nothing to plead. And the destruction
comes at night when everybody's asleep and they feel safe in
the darkness. And that's the darkness of sin.
The darkness of sin makes us feel safe, even though we're
not, gives us a false sense of security because we can't see
in the darkness. We're blind. So we feel safe
because we can't see what sin's doing. We're blind in the darkness
and we can't see that this judgment is coming. And we think we've
got these defenses, but God says he's going to sweep all those
defenses away. And verse 2 tells us all these
defenses are going to be swept away because they're idolatry.
Look at verse 2. He has gone up to Bajah and to
Divan, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo and
over Medaboth. On all their heads shall be baldness
and every beard cut off. Now these high places, that's
where the, always in this area of the country, or world, where
they always worshiped idols, in the high places. And the cities
mentioned in this verse are all the religious capitals of Moab,
the places where idols were worshipped. The city Nebo, the name means
a prophet. When the day of God's judgment
comes knocking at the door, these idolaters are going to howl.
They're going to howl in horror, they're going to howl That this
false prophet, they finally realize, has been preaching an idol to
them. This false prophet has been preaching a figment of man's
imagination. Just a dead idol. That's what
they put their trust in. And in a moment, their trust
is swept away. And they're left ashamed. That's what the baldness
and having the beard cut off is a picture of. Remember those
fellows that David sent out. I can't remember who it was.
Somebody captured them and they cut off their beards. And it
was a shame to them. That's what this is talking about.
They're going to be left in shame. How many times do we read it
in Scripture? No one who trusts in Christ should
be ashamed. No one who trusts in Christ should
be confounded. But everyone who trusts in something
other than Christ is going to be left ashamed. That's what
this prophecy is saying. They're going to be ashamed and
so logically, then they're going to mourn. Verse 3. In their streets,
they shall gird themselves with sackcloth. on the tops of their
houses and in their streets, everyone shall howl, weeping
abundantly. Now they're going to be all dressed
in sackcloth, which you know very well is a picture of mourning. Someone would wear sackcloth
when they're mourning. And that's certainly true and fits here.
But it means more than that. The Moabites were rich, proud
people. If you look over in chapter 16,
verse 6, We have heard of the pride of
Moab. He's very proud, even of his
haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, but his lies shall
not be so. We've heard of the pride of Moab.
He's so proud and haughty. They were proud of their riches.
They were proud of their fine clothes. And when Nebuchadnezzar's
army comes through, they're going to spoil Moab. They're going
to take all their fine clothes. They're going to leave them nothing
to wear but sackcloth. They wouldn't wear sackcloth
because they're mourning, They don't have choice. All their
other clothes, their fine, rich clothes have been taken away.
Do you see the picture? Isn't that exactly what our father
Adam did to us? He left us naked with nothing
to wear. And our fig leaves, our works
of righteousness are so pitiful. They don't cover our nakedness.
They leave us ashamed before God the judge with no righteousness.
And when this Babylonian army comes through, we have the prophecy
and the Moabites, they're going to mourn and weep abundantly. But it'll be too late. They don't
mourn when this prophecy is given. They're not going to mourn until
judgment comes and it'll be too late. And the same thing is going
to happen to so many sons of Adam. When God's judgment for
sin comes through, they're going to mourn. But not before. And I pray every day that the
Lord would cause us to weep and mourn over our sin now. Because what did our Lord say?
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
When I'm talking about mourning, I mean truly mourning over our
sin. Not just our circumstance, not
just the judgments coming, not just I don't want to be punished
and I wish I wasn't going to be punished, but mourning over
my sin. What my sin has made me. What my sin is against God. It's so shameful. Oh, God, make
us mourn over that now. Our hearts would be comforted
in this lamb that we're going to see about in just a few minutes.
But they're going to mourn, it'll be too late. In verse four, Hespons
are crying. Eliella. I practice these names
at home, but I forget by the time I get here. And their voice
shall be heard even unto Jahaz. Therefore, the armed soldiers
of Moab shall cry out. His life shall be grievous unto
him." Now, hesbon means stronghold, and jahaz means trodden down.
In the day of God's judgment, all man's strongholds, what they
think is their stronghold, they're going to be trodden down. They've
got these soldiers for their protection, but they've all gone
AWOL. They just ran away and hid. And
they finally will realize their life is grievous to them. Everything
they thought brought them joy, they find out is really grievous. And that's the way sin deceives
us. Sin makes us think all these things are so joyful, brings
us so much joy and pleasure. And really, they bring us nothing
but grief. Grief and death. Life. Just even moments without Christ
is grief. And that's what they finally
discover. Verse 5, look what Isaiah says here in verse 5.
He says, My heart shall cry out for Moab. His fugitives shall
flee into Zoar. And Hefer of three years old,
for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping, shall they go it
up. For in the way of Heronium, they
shall raise up a cry of destruction. Now we know, there are some things
that we know for sure from scripture. We know God's elect should be
saved. There's no doubt about it. God's
elect shall be saved. Not one that Christ died for
will perish. And everyone else will. Now we
know that. And you know, I find, just like
this is what Isaiah is saying here, I find no joy in those
who refuse to believe Christ. Those who right now refuse to
believe Christ. I know they'll perish. I find
no joy in that. I weep for them. Isaiah says,
my heart cries out for Moab. This destruction of Moab makes
me sad. One day they're going to mourn
like the lowing of a full grown ox. It took me some reading to
figure out what this, about this, the heifer of three years old.
That refers to the full grown ox. And when he is morning when
he's sad. I guess an ox can be sad. His
lowing is deep and loud and you can hear it all over. And it's
very sad sounding from what I read. That's why Isaiah says, I hear
that and it just breaks my heart. It makes me so sad. And I know
they're seeking a refuge, but it's a bad refuge. And that makes
me sad. I wish they'd run to Christ.
Oh, I wish they'd run to Christ. I preach Christ to them. I point
them to the Lord. But they won't run to him. They're
seeking refuge in Zoar. Now, Zoar is the very same place
Lot sought refuge when the Lord came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
He told him, you get out of this plane. And he said, oh, I can't
make it that far. Let me go to this little city.
That little city he was talking about was Zoar. The same place
Lot hid when Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. And Zoar means
insignificance. And that's the very place Moab
was conceived. I'll tell you what this is showing
us. Any place, any hope that we have other than the Lord Jesus
Christ is an insignificant refuge for an insignificant people.
The only thing that can be produced there is more Moabs. Nothing
good can be produced there because Christ is not there. Look at
verse 6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate. They're going
to be dried up. For the hay is withered away,
the grass faileth. There's no green thing. Now,
Nimrim means pure. Well, there's no pure water there. It's all dried up because they've
rejected Christ, the water of life. He's not there. The hay
is withered away and the grass fails because they've rejected
Christ and the green pastures of His Word. Now, look over in
Amos chapter 8. It's right after Daniel, Hosea,
Joel, and Amos. When we suffer a famine of the
Word of God, when there's no water of life, there's no green
pastures of the Word of God, when we suffer, when God sends
His judgment to a place and gives us a famine of His Word, when
there's no place to hear the Word of God, I'm telling you,
that's a deep famine. harsh judgment from God. And
that's what's coming to these people who run to hide in Zohar. Look at Amos 8, verse 7. The Lord has sworn by the excellency
of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall
not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth
therein? And it shall rise up holy as a flood, and it shall
be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause
the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the
clear day. And you will notice something
very similar said over in chapter 16 of Isaiah. I will cause the
sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear
day. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs
into lamentation. And I will bring up sackcloth
upon all loins, and baldness upon every head. And I will make
it as the morning of an only sun, and the end thereof as a
bitter day. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and they shall not find
it. Because God sent a famine of
the Word. And when that happens, everything's
going to dry up. There's no water. There's no
green pastures. The only thing that can be produced
is death. In this day, there's a famine
of the Word of God. A famine. They're not a famine
of religion. But there is a famine of the
Word of God. There's a famine of men who are
bold enough to stand up and preach God's Word. There's a famine
of people who've given faith to believe it. But right here, on Hurricane
Road in Ashland, Kentucky, God's given us a storehouse. Brethren, take care of it. Treasure
it. Pray that the Lord will preserve
it. He may not always. Of everything we care of, and
there's so many things we care about, but I'm telling you, almost
none of them will last. But that will. God's Word shall
last. Look at verse 7 back in our text,
Isaiah chapter 15. Everything else is not going
to last. Therefore the abundance they
have gotten and that which they've laid up shall they carry away
to the brook of the willows. All the abundance of the worldly
things men have accumulated is just going to be burned up or
carried away to somebody else. What did our Lord say? Seek ye
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek Christ
and His Word. I'm telling you, nothing else
matters. Nothing else matters. Verse 8, for their cry, this
cry when it's too late, their mourning, because of the punishment
that's come, for their cry has gone round about the borders
of Moab. The howling thereof unto Eglam, and the howling thereof
unto Birilam. Their cries can be heard all
around the world from border to border. These cities, from
what I read, are on opposite borders. From border to border
the cry will be heard all around the world. And verse 9, for the
waters of Demond shall be full of blood, for I will bring more
upon Demond, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the
remnant of the land." Now apparently some are going to come in, and
the waters are going to be full of blood, people are going to
be killed, and the waters are just like on the beaches of Normandy
on D-Day. The ocean ran red for a while.
These waters, these streams are going to be full of blood, and
they're going to run red. But a few people, a few people are
going to escape those soldiers in Nebuchadnezzar. God said,
I'm going to send lions in there to destroy whoever escapes. It's
complete destruction. And I know the picture here.
There is no escaping God's judgment. Nobody's going to escape and
then find somebody else to destroy him. Every rebel, every rebel
will be destroyed by the lion, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lion
of the tribe of Judah. Now, that's the end of everyone
outside of Christ. Our works and everything we've
accumulated, all of our righteousness and good works we think we've
accumulated outweigh our bad works. None of it will be good
enough when God comes to judge the world in righteousness and
He's going to punish sin for everyone who's outside of Christ. And it will only be right. They've
rejected Christ, the only Savior. It's only right then that they
be punished. Now, that's a dark message. That is a dark message. But it must be delivered. And
it must be listened to. It must be believed. Because
this is part of the message from God. Judgment for sin. But now
here's the second part of the message. The second part of God's
message is salvation and mercy that's found in Christ. Look
at chapter 16. Send ye the land to the ruler
of the land, from Selah to the wilderness, unto the mound of
the daughter of Zion. Now the land. Everybody in this
room knows this lamb is a picture of Christ. He is the lamb of
God. Sent to take away the sin of
the world. But now these lambs, these lambs are pictures of Christ.
They're being sent from Moab to Israel. Not being sent from
Israel down to Moab to where those sinners are. They're being
sent from Moab to Israel. But how is that a picture of
Christ? Christ came to Israel. from Moab. Yes, he did. He descended from Boaz and who? Ruth the Moabitess. That was
the great-grandparents of King David. The son of David came
from Moab to Israel, the Lamb of God. And he came as the only
hope a sinner will ever have in salvation from sin and safety
from God's judgment. It's in Christ the Lamb. Christ
is the only refuge. He's the only sacrifice. Christ
is the only Lamb whose blood puts sin away. The blood of Christ
our Lamb is the only Lamb, the only blood that appeases God's
anger against sin. So put your trust in Him. Put
your trust in Him and you'll find salvation for your soul.
Hide in Him and your soul will be safe. But look who this Lamb
is sent to. The Lamb is not sent to us sinners
to see what we're going to do with Him. God says, send the
Lamb to the King. Send the Lamb to the ruler of
the land. The ruler of all the earth. The
Lord Jesus was sent to this earth for men. He was sent to this
earth to save His elect. But Christ was sacrificed not
to men. He was sacrificed to God. The
offering was made to God. The blood was shed before God
to appease God's anger against the sin of His elect against
these daughters of Zion. Now, if you look back at 2 Samuel
8, this sending of the lambs to the king of Israel for Moab,
this has been done before. In 2 Samuel 8, verse 2, this is when David began to wipe
out all of his enemies and defeat all of his enemies and all the
lambs around about Israel. In verse 2, 2 Samuel 8, he smoked
Moab and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground.
Even with two lines measured he to put to death and with one
full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's
servants and brought gifts. Now those gifts are lambs. And
if you look over in 2 Kings chapter 3, I'll show you that. Those
gifts that they sent are lambs. They sent lambs to David, and
then this became just a tribute that the king of Moab paid every
year to the king of Israel, sending these lambs. And it began with
King David. In 2 Kings 3, verse 4, And Mesha,
king of Moab, was a sheep master, and rendered unto the king of
Israel, and a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand
rams, with the wool. And that was tribute that they
paid every year. And as long as Moab sent the
lambs to Israel, there was peace. And finally, Moab rebelled and
the peace ended. There was only peace when Moab
sent the lambs to the King of Israel, to the Lord of all the
earth. Now you see what the picture here is. Put your trust in the
King. Put your trust in the lamb that
the king sacrificed, and you'll have peace. Now, you have to
send the lamb, though. See, Moab quit sending the lamb,
and apparently, from reading this, if Moab would have started
sending those lambs to King Hezekiah, Nebuchadnezzar never would have
come. But they didn't send the lambs. You have to send the lamb. I know your ancestors did. They
sent the lambs to King David and Solomon and all the kings
following, but eventually they quit. They sent lambs to David
and they had peace. But those lambs have to be sent
every year. You have to send a lamb. Where's your lamb? There
has to be a lamb for you. Every generation has to send
those lambs to the king or there won't be peace. Now, the picture
here is faith. It's the picture of faith looking
to Christ, looking to that Lamb, the Lamb of God that God sacrificed
to Himself. Many of you here, you children,
you've got ancestors who believe God. You're sitting here tonight
with parents and grandparents who believe Christ. But you can't
be saved by their faith. You've got to believe Christ
yourself. You've got to send the Lamb. You've got to look
to Christ. You have to beg for mercy. See
that? You have to send the lamb. There's
got to be a sacrifice for your sin. The sacrifice for my sin,
the sacrifice for your parents, they're not going to do you any
good. You've got to have a sacrifice. You have to surrender to King
Christ. See, that's the problem with
Moab. They didn't want to surrender. They did not want to surrender
to that king of Israel and send him tribute. Send him those lambs. And when they quit, Peace quit. You've got to surrender to Christ. Surrender. Stack up your arms
and surrender to Him. Now, Isaiah told us the wrath
of God is coming. But God provided salvation. The
sacrifice of Christ our Lamb is our only hope. But what a
good hope! I mean, if you only have one
hope, don't you want that hope to be a sure hope? A sure foundation? This Lamb came from Selah, to
the wilderness. That word Sela means rock. The
Lamb is also our rock. His sacrifice is a sure sacrifice
for sin. His sacrifice gives us a sure
place to hide and be safe in Him. Now, Christ is the only
hope we have. And without Christ, we have no
hope. We're just as helpless as a baby
bird that's been cast out of the nest too early. Look at verse
2. that as a wandering bird cast
out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords
of Arnon." Now the fords of Arnon are rushing streams. They're
not still waters. They're rushing streams. You
know, full-grown sheep don't like rushing streams. They want
those still waters. Well, a baby bird that's been
cast out of the nest too early surely can't handle those rushing
streams. All they're going to do is flop
around in there and just get swept away. What this is telling
us is we need a Savior. We need someone to deliver us
from the power of sin, from the condemnation of sin, because
we don't have the strength or ability to set ourselves free.
Not only does someone have to set us free from the power of
sin, someone's got to pay the price for our sin. God's angry
at the wicked. His justice demands that sin
be paid for. Somebody's got to pay that debt.
And that's exactly what Christ did for his people. Look at verse
3. Take counsel. Execute judgment. Make thy shadow
as the night in the midst of the noonday. Hide the outcast. Beray not him that wandereth. Now the rulers of the earth one
day took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.
Take counsel together. And they did. And they did exactly,
God allowed them to do just exactly what their wicked hearts wanted
to do. And you know all they accomplished? They didn't accomplish
their purpose. They accomplished the eternal
purpose of God. Men did what they wanted to do,
but it was God's purpose that was carried out. Christ was crucified
because it was God's eternal purpose that Christ be crucified
as a sacrifice for sin. His blood was shed, but his blood
was shed because it's God's eternal purpose that the blood of God's
Son be shed as payment for the sin of God's elect. He did hang
there on that cross until he died. Wayne died. He gave up
the ghost and died. He didn't die because those Pharisees
and Roman soldiers got their way. He died because that was
God's eternal purpose. That He died to satisfy the law's
demand. Death for sin. He died to satisfy
the law. Christ died. He suffered and
He died for our sins according to God's eternal counsel. And
what happened as He suffered? As Christ suffered for the sin
of His people, God turned the sun off. It became like midnight
at noonday. God turned the sun off because
of Christ's suffering for sin. And because Christ died, outcasts
have a place to hide. That's what we are. Outcasts. So come hide in Christ. As long
as you're in Christ, the wrath of God can never find you. The word berea here means to
uncover. If you're hiding in Christ, Your
hiding place will never be uncovered. The Father, who sees everything,
does not see through the blood of Christ to see our sin. The
blood of Christ has done what? Covered our sin. It will never
be uncovered. What a place to hide. It will
never be uncovered. Now look at verse 4. Let mine
outcast dwell with thee, Moab, Be thou a covert to them from
the face of the spoiler, for the extortioner is at an end. The spoiler ceases. The oppressors
are consumed out of the land." Now suddenly, Moab is referred
to as a place to hide. Earlier, Moab was a picture of
a sinner. But now, Moab is referred to
as a place to hide. What's going on? Moab is a picture of Christ who
was made to be sin for His people. And because He was made to be
sin for His people, He became a sure hiding place for His people.
Now, this is pictured in another place in the Old Testament. There
was a time a heathen sinner, I mean a heathen sinner, in a
heathen city hid some of God's people. You remember Rahab the
harlot? She hid those spies at Joshua,
Sinai, and Jericho. And that's exactly what the Lord
is telling those Moabites to do, because now Moab is a picture
of Christ. What was the sign hung on the
place where Rahab hid those spies? The scarlet line, which was a
picture of the blood of Christ. And because Christ was made sin
for His people, and because He shed His blood to pay for their
sin, He's a sure hiding place. A safe hiding place. He's the
covert from the storm of God's wrath. Look over in Isaiah chapter
32. When we began our study in Isaiah, there
were several chapters. I thought, boy, I can't wait
to get there. Chapter 32 is one of them. Look
at verse 1. shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in judgment, and a man shall be as a hiding
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of
water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land." That man is the man Christ Jesus. He is the covert. He is a place to hide from the
storm and from the tempest. So in Christ, we are safe from
the spoiler. In Christ, we're safe from sin
that spoils everything. Sin ruins everything. I mean,
you ever wonder why this world just looks awful half the time,
most of the time, all the time? Sin. Sin ruins everything. The word spoiler here actually
means ruin. In Christ, we're safe from the
ruin of Adam. In Adam, we're ruined. In Christ,
we're made complete. And in Christ, we're saved from
the extortioner. The extortioner is the law. The
law says, do this or else. Do this or else. I demand it. Well, the extortioner can't touch
us in Christ. Because Christ already gave the
law everything it demands. Christ rendered to the law perfect
obedience. And He gave that obedience to
His people. He was perfectly obedient. His people don't have
to give obedience. He gave it for us. And Christ died for His
people as a substitute. So His people go free. The law
does not demand their death if Christ died for them. Everyone
who oppresses God's elect, they're all consumed out of the land.
How? By the sacrifice of Christ. By the sacrifice of the Lamb.
Now, verse 5. and in mercy shall the throne
be established. And he shall sit upon it in truth
in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and hasting
righteousness." Now our Savior, this Lamb, is King. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Sovereign Lamb. The Sovereign Savior. And His
throne room is not a scary place. Now if I was King, over all the
kings on earth. I'd like to think that I'd stay
just the kind, sweet guy that I'm known to be, but I wouldn't
be. I'd turn into a tyrant. Our Savior
is the King of Kings, and His throne room is a sweet place
to be. I saw this one time in history.
People were so scared of the king. Back in the days of the
king of England, the king of France, when they just were absolute
sovereign monarchs. People were scared to death.
They wanted to go to the throne room, be near the king, but they
were scared to death to do it. And they would practice bowing.
There's a certain way you got to bow, and how low you got to
get, and how many times you got to do it. They practiced bowing
before they came into the king's throne room. Because he'd throw
you in jail if you did it wrong. Maybe he didn't like the way
you did it. He'd cut your head off. You'd always be scared to
take the wrong step if you were in the throne room of a king
who is a man. But that's not the throne room
of Christ. His throne is established in mercy. Mercy. His throne establishes mercy
for sinners. What can make a sinner more comfortable
than mercy. A throne of mercy. Sovereign
mercy that cannot fail to save even a sinner like me. That gives
me such confidence and joy. The throne of Christ gives mercy
and salvation and justice. And justice by making God's elect
righteous. And not Sunday. Righteousness
is not Something a believer will enjoy someday. It's now. This
word hasting here means quickly. Right now. Christ makes His people
righteous. And Christ our King sits to judge
the earth. When He comes, He will judge
the earth in righteousness. Strict, absolute justice and
truth. Now, does that frighten you?
Christ died for you, doesn't it? It shouldn't. Now if Christ
died for you, if Christ died for you, your sin has paid in
full. What are you afraid of? I know
you don't have anything in yourself to pay for the first sin, but
that's alright. You've got nothing to fear if
Christ paid the debt for you. If Christ is your righteousness,
what do you have to fear in judgment? No sin will be found in you if
Christ is your righteousness. Even though you've never done
a single righteous act, the judge of all the earth says you're
righteous because Christ is your righteousness. So you've got
nothing to fear if you're hiding in Christ. The sacrifice of Christ our Lamb,
our substitute, not only does that remove the fear of judgment
in God's people, look in Psalm 96, the sacrifice of Christ makes
a believer look forward to the coming of Christ, looks forward
to that coming day of judgment. Psalm 96, verse 11. Let the heavens rejoice. Let
the earth be glad. Let the sea roar in the fullness
thereof. Let the field be joyful in all that is therein. Then
shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. Why
all this rejoicing? For he cometh, for he cometh
to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with
righteousness, and the people with his truth." God's people
look forward to that day with no fear because Christ paid my
sin debt. The blood of the Lamb paid my
debt. And in Him, I'm righteous. Now
there is a burden of judgment we cannot bear. But God's Lamb
is the remedy. Christ the Lamb did bear that
burden for His people. Salvation in Him is sure and
it's certain. How certain is it? All of this
prophecy is written in the past tense, even though none of it
has taken place yet. Historically in time, none of
this has taken place yet. Isaiah wrote in the past tense.
That's how sure the prophecy was concerning Moab. And that's
how sure and certain The message is, the spiritual application
in Christ. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. That's sure salvation in the
land sent from God. Alright, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Gospel. How we thank You for Your dear
Son. the subject and author, Lamb's sacrifice of the gospel
that you sent to sinners, how thankful we are. How thankful
we are for His blood shed to put away the sin of His people,
covered so that we have a secure, safe hiding place. How thankful
we are that He is our righteousness. In Him we have no sin, no fear
of judgment, No fear of condemnation. All because of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lamb. Father, I pray that You'd cause
each of us this evening to look to that Lamb. To come to Him
for mercy. To come to Him to be washed in
His blood. To hide in Him, that He'd be
the covert that we'd hide in from the tempest of Your wrath
against our sin. He can bear it, we can. Father,
give faith, we pray. Give faith to those that know
thee not. Increase the faith of those that
know you. That we look to Christ. That
Christ be our all and in all. That we be delivered from looking
to anything or anyone else but Christ the Lamb. It is in His
precious name we give thanks and ask this great blessing.