Well, as I said earlier, we're
going to be looking at Isaiah chapter 8, God willing, this
morning. Now, in modern society, loneliness
is a curse for many. I think we've all heard of it
in the media. people talking about how much
there is so much busyness going on so much uh... hustle and bustle
going on in the world around and yet some people many many
people are very very lonely and it's regarded as a real curse
people longing for contact with others for companionship uh... they want purpose in life and
and and you hear stories of of people that have been lonely
but have found purpose through companionship but you know when
it comes to the true biblical gospel of God, we are called
of God to remain true to him, even if all forsake us. How many
of us left? You know, they've all left. You
remember in John 6, the disciples were leaving As Jesus, they'd
been fed, the 5,000 had been fed, they'd gone the next day
to get another free meal from him with his miraculous work
of feeding them, and they came to him and they got his doctrine,
and his doctrine was doctrine of sovereign grace. of particular
redemption. His doctrine was doctrine of
the truth of God. And they went away and they said,
it is a hard saying. Who can bear it? Who can bear
this hard saying? It's too difficult for us. We
don't like this. We would like rather to have
religion the way we would like it. And many of them left. But
God calls us to be true to him. even if all else forsake us.
In Isaiah chapter 7 we saw Ahaz, who was probably the most wicked
king of the southern kingdom of Judah, the tribes of Judah
and Benjamin. He was probably the most wicked
king of all of them. Many of the kings of Judah did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but Ahaz was a terrible
king. He did terrible things. We read
the historical account of it in 2 Kings chapter 16, and we'll
refer to that in a moment, but there in that chapter we see
the historical background to what Isaiah is speaking about
under inspiration from God in chapters 7 and 8 of his prophecy. Ahaz was fearing Syria, that
same kingdom that's in the news today. How much in the news is
that kingdom of Syria today? There it is, in biblical times,
2,700 years, 800 years ago is what we're talking about. And
there's that kingdom in scripture, Syria. And Samaria, which isn't
there anymore. Samaria was the northern 10 tribes
of Israel that had become corrupted with falsehood, had become corrupted
with the error of the false religion all around them. They'd become
a mongrel race, they'd intermingled with all the peoples all around
them. And Ahaz, fearing them, because they were coming, seeking
to take over, to overrun Judah, Ahaz sought an alliance with
Assyria. And the king at the time was
Tiglath-Pileser. Now, Friday morning, I went into
London. I went to a concert in London
at lunchtime. But while I was in there, I went
to the British Museum. I just thought, well, it's on
my way, so I'll go into the British Museum. And I thought, I'll find
the artifacts of Assyria, right? And the very first thing I saw
on the wall was all about this king, Tiglath-Pileser, Tiglath-Pileser
III. And you go in there, honestly,
it is worth going. If you can get there easily,
go and have a look. Go and have a look at the art
and the culture and the sculptures and the pictures in stone. It's absolutely phenomenal. And
there it is in the British Museum. It's there for us all to see.
Ahaz sought an alliance with Tiglath-Pileser to try and protect
him from the threat of Syria and Samaria. And while he was
there, he was impressed with Assyria's religion. But do you
know something? Where was he king of? He was
king of Judah. What's special about Judah? Genesis
49, Jacob speaking to his sons. He says to Judah, One of the
twelve sons, he says, out of you shall come Messiah, effectively. The scepter of royal power shall
not depart from you until Shiloh comes. That's until Christ comes. Messiah was going to come from
Judah. Therefore, even though Ahaz was
wicked, He was king of Judah, so God sent him a message. God sent him a prophet with a
message. God sent him Isaiah with a message. A Christ-centered message, because
Christ would come from Judah. God's message to his elect people. In Old Testament and New Testament,
God's message to his elect people of eternal salvation accomplished. That's what God's prophets, God's
preachers, declare. They declare salvation accomplished. Salvation accomplished for the
people of his choice. In verse 1 of chapter 8 we see
a message from the Lord. Moreover the Lord said unto me,
take thee a great roll, paper, something to write on, and write
in it with a man's pen concerning Maher Shalal Hashbaz. And that
word means He that hastens to the spoil. He that hastens to
the spoil. Military victory. He's talking
about military victory. Concerning a military victory.
Write a message from God in a scroll about he that hastens to the
spoil. What spoil? Verse four. For before
the child shall have knowledge to cry, my father and my mother,
the riches of Damascus and The spoil of Samaria shall be taken
away before the king of Assyria. Before the king of Assyria. He
says there's going to be a military victory. That spoil of Samaria,
hastened to the spoil, that spoil of that which threatens you now,
it's going to be taken away but by something that you're not
so sure about. The king of Assyria is the means
God will use to take that away. And he says, get yourself faithful
witnesses, verse 2, to record that this is really genuinely
from God. And so he gets Uriah the priest.
Uriah the priest proved to be an unfaithful If you read 2 Kings
16, you will see there that he deals falsely. And Zechariah
is not the Zechariah who wrote the book of Zechariah at the
end of the Old Testament. No, this is a different one,
the son of Jeberiel Kiah. Take some witnesses to you and
write this down. And then he says, write, you
and your wife, the prophetess is Isaiah's wife, are going to
have a son. And the Lord said to me, call
his name, Maha Shalal Hashbaz. Call his name, he that hastens
to the spoil. As a confirmation of this fact
that this threat of Samaria and of Syria, what's the capital
of Syria today? Damascus, look there's it's,
look, verse four, Damascus, it's there, it's the still, it's the
place, it's the city in Syria that is the capital today. You
see how relevant these words are? He says, before the child
is about two years old, you know, what's the first words that babies
speak as they start to learn to speak, it's kind of towards
their second birthday generally, isn't it? There or thereabouts,
give or take a few months. And what are the first words
that children usually, what are the first words that they speak?
Mummy! Daddy! Before he knows knowledge
to cry, Daddy! Mummy! Before that happens, this
will come to pass. That threat will be taken away
by the king of Assyria. So, if God says it, What can
stop it? If God says this, what could
possibly stop it? Answer, absolutely nothing. Learn that. Take it to heart. Really, in these days of such
huge political turmoil, we've just had the claimed chemical attack in Syria
and the response of the Western powers to it, and all sorts of
things like that, And it seems to be such a place of absolute
turmoil at the moment and uncertainty, and there's so much cause for
fear in this world all around. But do you know something? God
said then about Syria and Samaria, he said, don't be frightened
of them, something else is going to happen. And God is in control
of it all. Has anything ever failed to materialize
that God has said? You look, you study your scriptures,
you see what has not come to pass. Do you know, it was calculated
by somebody, I can't remember the details, but it was a long
time ago that I think I told you this for the first time,
that somebody had calculated the improbability of all of the
prophecies of Scripture coming true as they have come true.
All of the prophecies that we know have come true, that we
know, you know, the ones that the smart aleck so-called theologians
say, well, the Scripture can't have been written in the order
that we have it because they can't have got it so right. It
must have been written after the event because they can't
possibly have got it so right. So that's what modern criticism
says about it. It can't possibly be true. But
it is true. The chances of it happening by
good guessing, you know, the chances of it happening by good
guessing are zero, practically, and yet it came true. What does
that say about the God who controls all things? So then, look at
verse six. Well, verse five, the Lord spake
also unto me, saying, forasmuch as this people. See, why are
you going to bring the king of Assyria? Verse six. for as much
as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloh that go softly and
rejoice in Rezin and Remalia's son. Rezin and Remalia's son
is Samaria and Damascus, Syria. You know, they're looking to
them and hoping they can make peace with them. But he says,
these people refuse the waters of Shiloh that go softly. What's
that all about? What are these waters of Shiloh?
This surely is key. We read about them in Nehemiah
chapter 3 in verse 15. Don't turn there, but I'll tell
you. Nehemiah was the one who, after the Babylonian captivity,
and Cyrus by now, the Medes and Persians were ruling that area,
and Cyrus was the one that was raised up by God to tell to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem. And so he sends Nehemiah, I might
have the wrong king there, but never mind, but he sends Nehemiah
back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls to fortify Jerusalem. And in the process, in chapter
3 and verse 15, they build again the walls of this pool of Shiloah,
this pool of Shiloah. It's there, in the heart of Jerusalem. And it's got a gentle, steady
river flowing through it. A gentle, steady river. Supply of water. And you know,
it's symbolical. It pictures the house of David. It pictures the Gospel, in its
Old Testament types and patterns, right there in the middle of
Jerusalem. It pictures a people saved from
sin by God's grace in His Son. It's the pool where Jesus told
the blind man in John chapter 9 to go and wash, you know, after
he'd made clay and spat on it and put it on his eyes. And I
believe he formed eyes where there were no eyes there at all,
just sockets in his head. And he made eyes and he said,
go and wash in the pool of Siloam. It's the same pool, Shiloh. The
people we read, the people of Judah, The people sought no comfort
here, rather they sought comfort in who they might make alliances
with in this world. They sought comfort in Samaria
for a while, and Syria for a while, but then rather in Assyria. And Ahaz, this wicked king, went
to Assyria, and he went to Tiglath-Pileser, and you read about it in 2 Kings,
just turn over there to 2 Kings, and chapter 16 and verse 10. And we read that King Ahaz went
to Damascus. You could walk the streets of
Damascus today. This is 2730 years ago, something like that. King Ahaz went to Damascus to
meet Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria. And listen to this,
this is important. He saw an altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Urijah
the priest, that's the same one that was a witness to Isaiah's
message in verse 2 of chapter 8 of Isaiah. He sent to Urijah
the priest the fashion, the design of the altar. and the pattern
of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. This is how to make
it, this is what it looks like. And Eurydia the priest built
an altar according to all that the king, that King Ahaz had
sent from Damascus. So Eurydia the priest made it
against King Ahaz, made it against King Ahaz came from Damascus,
made it before he came back to Damascus. And when the king was
come from Damascus, back to Jerusalem, the king saw the altar that Eurydice
the priest had made according to the pattern of the altar in
the temple of Tiglath-Pileser in Assyria, and He saw the altar
and the king approached the altar and offered thereon. And King
Ahaz in Jerusalem, in the temple in Jerusalem, on an altar of
a pagan god made after the fashion of a pagan god in Assyria, he
there in Jerusalem in the temple, he himself, not a priest, the
king, not a priest, he offered his meat offering and poured
his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings
upon the altar. And he brought also the brazen
altar the real one, which was before the Lord, from the forefront
of the house, from between the altar of the house of the Lord,
and put it on the north side of the altar. He gave it second
place. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah
the priest saying, upon the great altar, burn the morning burnt
offering on the new one that I've brought from Assyria. Do
you see the similarity there as to what's going on with false
religion in the day in which we live? He formed an allegiance,
rather than remaining faithful to the living God, he formed
an allegiance with the king Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, and he liked his
religion, and he saw the altar that was there, he thought, oh,
hey, this is a man-made, this is a nice way, this is an attractive
way to eternity, I like the look of this altar, and wouldn't that
go well in the temple in Jerusalem? I tell you what, like while I
was walking down to the British Museum, I passed, or was it afterwards,
I can't remember, but I passed Bloomsbury Baptist Church in
London, and right out on the front of it. Do you know the
main message that they have for the community roundabout? We
salute our Muslim and Jewish brethren. That was it. That was
it. We're all pals together. Let's remove anything that might
divide us of a doctrinal nature. We're all pals together. We're
all going to get on together. We're all going to form one nice
united community together. No. This is typical of what is
happening. in religion today, in that which
once called itself the truth, which still calls itself the
truth, but once did proclaim the truth, they've allied themselves
with man-made ideas of religion. And it's false. A man-made way
to eternity. They like the look of the altars
and the sacrifices that go on in this other, non-truthful religion. All because one wicked king led
them in this false way, the people went that way as well. The people
in Jerusalem, they adopted that altar, they adopted the false
things that he did. Many leaders of God's nominal
people, I call them no more than that, those that were once faithful
churches. Many leaders of God's nominal
people, once faithful churches, have led them into unfaithful
alliances with the world's religion away from the true gospel peace
of Shiloah, the waters of Shiloah, which speaks of how God saves
his people. They do it because it appeals
to their flesh. Because you see, the waters of
Shiloha don't appeal to their flesh. What do I mean by that?
Let's apply it. The waters of Shiloha, what we
seek to preach and make known is that God saves his, he has
an elect, and he saves his elect from their sins, and he satisfies
his justice that his elect might be fitted for heaven to spend
eternity with him in that in that glorious realm of the presence
and the fellowship of the living God, unending. And he does it
on the basis of sovereign grace. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Not of merit, of what I have
done, or what I can be. He does it on the basis of particular
redemption. He doesn't offer it to a world. He does it for the people whom
he loved before the foundation of the world. And they don't
like this particularly, because if you really do believe sovereign
grace and particular redemption, then you have to acknowledge
that the scripture is equally clear about the doctrine of what
is called reprobation, which is that it's up to God. If he
makes, Romans 9, the potter and the clay, it's in the hands of
the potter to make of the lump of clay a vessel for honour and
a vessel for dishonour. and God makes vessels of dishonor. He says of Pharaoh even, the
king of Egypt in the days of Moses, he says of Pharaoh, he
says, for this cause have I raised you up, for this cause have I
hardened your heart. For this cause have I done these
things that I might show my glory in you. God is God, and God is
absolutely sovereign. But religion, and even that which
was faithful to that truth, even twenty years ago, has walked
out on it. and has made up his own way,
and has gone off, as it were, to Tiglath-Pileser in Assyria,
and fancied his altar, and brought it back into the temple in Jerusalem,
and got his people to worship it. And that's what these are
doing all around us. Why are we here on our own and
not in a nice church building? There are plenty of church buildings
around. The reason is because there is no true gospel there. And I know for all of you out
there on the internet watching this at the moment, or those
that will watch the recording later, there are so many of you
used to be able to go to a church where you would hear the truth
proclaimed, and now you find you cannot because they have
done exactly that. They have gone off to Assyria,
and they have light the altar that they saw there, and they
have brought it back and put it in the temple in Jerusalem.
I'm speaking figuratively, of course. You see, Satan has seduced
them with his lying signs and wonders, exactly as Christ told
his disciples he would do. These people are more concerned
with numbers. They're more concerned about
the odds of success. They seek to grow their religious
operations by whatever means they think will succeed. They
will adopt the sales tactics of the world. The sales tactics
of the world might be very good in promoting your business and
doing all the right thing to make your business successful,
but they have no place in the Church of the Living God. They
try to build bridges of compromise. They try to make alliances. And
they refuse the waters of Shiloh, which is that distinctive, particular
gospel message that the scriptures declare from front to back. And
verses 7 and 8 of Isaiah chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, Now therefore behold, the Lord
bringeth up upon them the waters of the river. Oh, you go and
make that allegiance with Assyria, that river of Assyria, that figurative
river of Assyria will come and it will completely overflow you,
and it will swamp you, and it will drown you. He shall pass
through Judah, he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even
to the neck, stretching out his wings, shall fill the breadth
of thy land, O Emmanuel, because this land of Judah with the temple
in Jerusalem and the gospel, whose land is it? It's the land
of God with us. Immanuel, God with us. It's where
he would come. They will do it even there because
God has said it. God will use the might of Assyria
to flood them with their heathen waters in place of Shiloah. The waters that they refused,
the waters that they didn't like, the waters that they didn't want,
those gospel waters, those gospel truth waters, To walk in the
way of God's gospel is to walk a narrow way, a lonely way, a
lonely way in terms of the flesh, but a necessary way for the true
people of God. You see, God will not allow his
true people to form false worldly alliances. He says in verse 9,
associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
You go making These alliances with religious falsehood, with
the falsehood, with false Gospels. You go make alliances and you'll
be broken in pieces. Give ear all ye of far countries,
gird yourselves and you shall be broken in pieces. They won't
do any good for you. It's just like Psalm 2. Why do
the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord
and against his anointed? The Lord shall have them in derision.
He shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall be broken
in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught.
Speak the word, it shall not stand. For God is with us. God is with his true elect people. You don't need any other alliance
than the alliance of the people of God to the living God. That's
it. God's destruction of his alliances. God will break them in pieces.
In Isaiah 7 and verse 7, He talked about the attempt to make an
alliance with Syria and with Samaria. He said, It shall not
stand, neither shall it come to pass. And he says it again
in here, It shall not stand. It won't stand. Verse 10, It
shall not stand, for God is with us. God is with his true people,
his elect. Other religious alliances shall
not stand. Don't put your trust in them,
rather put your trust in Him, whatever the seeming cost, because
there is a cost. In verses 11 to 18, here we have
a clear, strong message from God, a strong message of a call
to gospel faith. He says, for the Lord spake thus
to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not
walk in the way of this people. You see, it's with a strong hand.
It's a clear message. Here is clear, strong teaching
from the Lord that I should not walk in the way of this people.
Don't join the religious crowd on the broad way to destruction.
It's God's message to his true people. In Revelation 18 and
verse 4, speaking about Babylon, which is the picture of false
religion, that which is glamorous, the woman adorned with gorgeous
apparel, which represents religious falsehood. The falsehood of Christendom,
if you like. He says, come out of her, my
people. That's the message. People say,
you know, people say, oh, it's such a dangerous thing to leave
a church. Oh, who do you think you are? Well, yes, you've got
to think about it very carefully. But I tell you, when you hear
the voice of God telling you that this is false, this is not
the true gospel, he says to his people, come out of her, my people. They're false. It's Babylon.
That you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive
not of her plagues. You see, the fear of man, Proverbs
tells us, the fear of man brings a snare. Oh, how prone the flesh
is to fear man, rather than fearing the living God. The fear of man
brings a snare, but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be
safe. Don't make alliances for fear
of men, who can only kill the body. Fear God. He said, don't
fear, Jesus said, don't fear them who can only kill the body,
fear him, who when he is killed can cast both body and soul into
hell. This is who to fear. Fear God,
reverence him, bow to his word, heed his call, honor him. As he said through Samuel, 1
Samuel 2 verse 30, them that honor me, I will honor. Oh, now
here's a motto. Young people, listen to this.
This is a motto. Them that honor me, I will honour,
says God, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
What does that mean? Those that say, what does the
word of God say to me? Here I am at a fork in the road. Should I go there or should I
go there? Should I do this or should I do that? Them that honour
me I will honor, says God. Those that seek to do my will,
those that hear my voice and seek to do what I say, I will
honor them. I will bless them. I will promote
them. I will pour out my spirit upon
them. I will do them good. And them
that despise me, those that treat it as if it doesn't matter, shall
be lightly esteemed. In verse 14, religion in all its worldly alliances
shall stumble but for those who trust there's a sanctuary look
he shall be the Lord of hosts he shall be for a sanctuary the
Lord of hosts our Lord Jesus Christ God manifest in the flesh
come for his people to take his people to glory he shall be for
a sanctuary but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
to both the houses of Israel you see he's one or the other
As Stephen said in his prayer, the saver of life unto life or
of death unto death. That message of gospel grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ is one or the other. He's either, as
Isaiah 32 says, a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind
and a covet from the tempest. And you hide in him and you know
that if God before us, who can be against us? You kick against
him. You kick against his truth. And
you find that he's a stumbling block. You'll trip over him.
You'll fall down to hell tripping over him. So he says in verse
16, bind up the testimony. This is the message to Isaiah
and to all preachers. Bind up the testimony. Bind up
the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.
What does that mean? You have to look at 2 Timothy,
I think. 2 Timothy. Bind up the testimony. What testimony are
we talking about? 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7,
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of the Lord. What's that? It's the gospel.
Because in Romans 1, Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. I'm not ashamed of it. It's the
truth of God unto salvation. It's the power of God unto salvation
to all who believe, to Jews and Greeks. The testimony is the
gospel of Christ. It's the gospel of divine justice
satisfied in the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remain
faithful. to that message of truth. Wait
upon the Lord. Wait upon Him. Wait upon Him. Verse 17, I will wait upon the
Lord. I will wait for Him to speak.
I will wait for Him to lead. I will wait to hear His voice
speaking to me. I will seek Him while He may
be found. He hides His face from the house
of Jacob, but I will look for Him. I will look for Him. You
know? God, although he is seen by the
eye of faith in everything all around us, to the eye of flesh
he doesn't make himself obvious. to the eye of fallen flesh, you
need to wait for him, you need to look for him, you need to
pray for him to reveal himself to you. And then you will see,
he will surely accomplish all his purposes. What else does
verse 18 mean if it doesn't mean this? Behold, I and the children
whom the Lord has given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion.
He will surely save his elect. This verse is quoted, this is
how we know this, this verse is quoted Hebrews chapter 2 verses
11 to 13 for both he that sanctified and they that are sanctified
are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed he God God
in Christ is not ashamed to call those he saved his brethren his
brethren his brethren saying Why brethren? Because he came
in the flesh, like our flesh. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children. which God hath given me. This
is a picture of Christ saving his people from their sins. You
see, he will surely save his people from their sins by the
one true gospel. Not that which is mingled with
the false altars of the gods of Assyria, not at all. Because
that's what we see all around us in so-called Christian religion.
A mixing, a mixing of the truth of God, the strict truth of the
gospel of grace of God, with all of the philosophies of the
religion of this world. You see, there is only one solid
foundation, only one. When they say unto you, verse
19, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that peep and that mutter. Should not a people seek unto
their God for the living to the dead? He's talking about those
that go after false religion, that go after spiritism, that
go after the occult, that go after all of these things that
are false. No, shouldn't the people seek to their God? Don't
seek for truth among fleshly philosophers, religious wizards,
those who appeal to higher criticism in their handling of scripture.
There's one in a place that we used to know very well, where
the truth was upheld, and The pastor of that place now, I came
across it some time ago, but nevertheless it stands as an
example. claiming that the first half
of John chapter 8 about the woman taken in adultery is not really
in the scripture. It's not really part of the scripture.
Why does he say that? Why does he promote that? Why
does he teach his people that? Because he listens to higher
criticism. He doesn't listen to this word
and this word alone. Should not a people seek to their
God, to his word, to the law and to the testimony? If they
speak not according to this Word, there is no light in them, there
is no truth in them. You don't speak, you don't appeal
to higher criticism, you don't appeal to that, you appeal to
the Word of God, to His Word, to the One who is the Word. Who
is the Word of God? The Lord Jesus Christ in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And we're going to sing in a moment how firm a foundation
Ye Saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent
word. What more can he say than to
you he has said? You don't need to appeal to higher
criticism, religious wizards, fleshly philosophers. What more
can he say than to you he has said, you who unto Jesus for
refuge have fled? We appeal to His Word. We test
everything by His Word, like the noble Bereans, who searched
the Scriptures that Paul and Silas preached to them. They
searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
They heard it, and they searched the Scriptures. What's the test?
What's the acid test? What says the Scripture? In the
Reformation, the motto of the Reformation was, Sola Scriptura,
that's Latin. Only the Scriptures, the Scriptures
alone. This is our statement of faith.
Every creed of man, however well intended, is polluted with fallen
human reason. That's why we don't have a written
creed. This book is our creed, God helping
us. So, things that men reveal, like
the Westminster Confession, the 1689 Baptist Confession, they're
all tainted with human thinking, which is false and is not true.
And this is the reason why we use the King James Version. It's
not because we have this mad desire to trip over the Hadsts
and Haths and Verily and all this old language of 1611, and
then it was revised a bit later, but nevertheless kept as it is. This is what we use. The reason
we use that is because it is so true to the original. It was
translated by a group of men who were of a calibre that was
unique, will never be repeated. They were so much set aside by
God for the purpose of producing this book. Not even the New King
James Version comes close in terms of accuracy, for every
word matters. I know there are places that
things could have been translated, slightly differently or better,
and we don't, you know, we look for that where it seems appropriate.
But the words themselves are so important, and we need to
rightly handle and divide this word of truth. To the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. Light, thy word, Psalm
119 verse 105, thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my
path and without it we are like all natural men. Verse 22, in
darkness they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble
and darkness, dimness of anguish and they shall be driven to darkness.
Do you want to live in darkness? Even if the crowd, even if the
rest of the world is content to be in darkness? No, no, no. In these dark days where visible
Functioning, viable churches seem to be lying dead in the
streets, as Revelation 11 puts it. We're prone to feel very
lonely and very isolated. And I know some of you out there
are even more isolated than we are here. Very isolated. But God calls His people by His
Word to remain faithful to the truth of saving grace, exactly
as He has declared it in His Word. Even if it means we must
separate from all that appears to be, you know, oh, they're
sort of all right, they're on the right track, at least they're
not like them over there, so we'll try and form an alliance
with them. No, no, let us by God's strength, determined to
plough a lonely furrow of gospel scriptural truth, satisfied to
the full with the waters of Shiloh, not like those people, and shunning
all temptations of alliance with that which really is false. Amen. Well, let us sing that closing
hymn, which we love so much. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. 329.