Well I want you to come back
to Isaiah chapter 1 this morning. I want to focus on verses 25
to 27. Zion's converts redeemed is the
title that I've given this message. We live in a world where deception
is all around us everywhere. I don't think there's been an
age. People since the fall have always been deceivers. But I
don't think deception has been on the scale that it is today. until today. It's everywhere,
all around us, don't we? Every day we learn of yet another
attempt to lie and defraud and to cheat people out of their
money. It's a world full of deception and dishonesty and corruption. But you know, one deception lies
at the root of it all. There's one deception that lies
at the root of every other deception. And that's the lie that there
is no God. the lie that Satan has perpetuated,
that there is no God. It's paraded as intellectual
superiority. Oh, you know, no, I don't, no,
I'm not religious. No, no, I'm intellectually superior.
No, I have no, I have no bother with any of this superstition.
I don't need a God to prop me up. No, no, no, no. I'm intellectually
superior. There is no God. Do you know,
the scripture says that In claiming to be wise, they became fools. That's Romans 1. In claiming
to be wise and say there is no God, they became fools. And as
the Psalms say twice, the same Psalms repeated, Psalm 14 and
then 53, it's the same Psalm essentially, the fool has said
in his heart, there is no God, no God for me. Scripture calls
you a fool. God, who writes his word by his
spirit, can say that to fallen man. If you say there is no God,
you are a fool. It's a false presumption. You
see, every other godless interpretation of the world that we live in
comes from this deception that there is no God. Don't be like
that fool that the Psalms speak of. Listen to what basic common
sense tells you. Doesn't it? Basic common sense
tells you that there is a God. How else did things become as
they are now? They certainly didn't become
as they are now as a result of the process that's described
by today's so-called scientists. No. Listen to what the Psalms
say again. Psalm 139 verse 14. I will praise thee. I will praise
thee. Why? For I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Do you know that? You know, we
see programs on the television about the natural world around
us, about our medical condition, about the incredible bodies that
we have, what it is to be alive, and the unbelievable complexity
and intricacy and interdependency. Don't you just have to echo what
this psalmist said? I am fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
well. Or do you suppress what your
soul knows right well? Do you suppress it and say, no,
there is no God? Will you be like the fool and
go with the crowd? Will you rage against God? Why
do the heathen rage? Psalm 2. And imagine a vain thing
against the Lord and his anointed. They imagine a futile thing.
They imagine a pointless thing, a thing that's bound to end in
failure. They rage against God. They say there is no God. You
had better think about what you're doing. Because do you know in
that Psalm, Psalm 2, God laughs at your puny rejection of his
truth. The Lord, it says, shall have
them in derision. The Lord will laugh at your puny
rejection of his truth. Do you know where you stand in
relation to God? If you're in your own intellectual
superiority saying that there is no God, you're in a dangerous
place. You had better sue for peace.
You had better seek peace with God. You had better seek to be
reconciled with God, for a day of judgment is coming. It says
again in Psalm 2 verse 12, kiss the son, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, come to him, lest he be angry and ye perish from
the way. Whosoever believeth in him, God
so loved the world, a world of sinners, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and you perish from the way. Maybe you had better think about
how you relate to God. Maybe you better had. Oh, all
right, oh well, I'll have a casual part-time... Yes, I'll acknowledge
that there is a God, but I don't want him to interfere with too
much, so I'll have a sort of relationship where I pick and
choose what I want to do. No, no. The Scriptures are clear. There are only two ways of relating
to God. There are only two ways of relating
to God. Number one is the way that is
based on what you might be able to do for God. That's one way. And the other way is based on
what God has done for his people in the person of his Son. And
the purpose of the Bible, the purpose of this book is not to
teach us how to live, though it does. The purpose of the Bible
is to make that distinction clear. It is what we have here in Isaiah
chapter 1. First then, the lost cause of
sinful flesh. Look at verse 21. How is the faithful city become
an harlot? It was full of judgment. Righteousness
lodged in it. But now? Murderers. The faithful
city was Jerusalem. It was, when it was at its height
of having the tabernacle, the temple of God, the presence of
God, the sacrifices of God, the priesthood, Everything that pointed
to how God saves his people from their sins, how God makes righteous
those who by nature are sinful, was in that faithful city. The
temple worship, the priesthood, everything that went on with
it, all those sacrifices, was all the truth of God portrayed,
as to how should a man be just with God. And that was it! Because
in those pictures of those temple sacrifices and those forms of
worship, That was the faithful city. If you lived on this earth
in Old Testament times and you wanted to know the truth, like
many, many did, many proselytes did, they went to Jerusalem. The Ethiopian eunuch, in the
days of the apostles even, had gone from Africa to Jerusalem.
Why? Because the truth of God is there in Jerusalem. That was
it. It was the faithful city. Ah, but look, that faithful city
has become a harlot. A harlot? A prostitute. an immoral
woman who sells her body for money, who is unfaithful. You see, the faithful city has
become unfaithful, unfaithful, a harlot. When we read in Revelation
17, and the angel shows John the truth of this world's religion,
and he looks and he sees a woman in the vision, adorned in rich
apparel, And this is the world's religion of Christendom. And
he looks, but there's a funny name on this woman who should
be the church. It's Babylon. A harlot. The great whore. That's the name
upon it. It's unfaithful. Why? Because
it has departed from the true God and the true gospel of his
salvation, and has attached itself to all sorts of idolatry. Idolatry? False gods. False gods that cannot
save. Idols as in wooden statues set
up for men to worship, or those that are in the dark forests
of the mines of men and women. Those idols that are there, that
tell them there is no God. that tell them that their God,
well, my Jesus is not like that, well, your Jesus might not be,
but your Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. Your Jesus is not
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign ruler of the universe who saves
his people from their sins, no. And this faithful city is a picture,
is an outworking of that which happened in the beginning, in
the garden, where Adam was sinless. and walked with God, a new God,
and communed with God in a state of sinless perfection until the
fall when Satan came and deceived the woman and for the love of
her Adam likewise ate the forbidden fruit and they fell, they fell
into sin, the sin of disobedience and rebellion against God. And
this is a picture, the faithful city has become a harlot. Adam
who was faithful to God has become unfaithful to God and gone after
the lie of Satan and has handed over the kingdom that God gave
to him, the kingdom of this world, he's handed it over to Satan.
And look what it says, thy silver Verse 22, thy silver, your pure
metal, your pure shining metal, is become dross. If you've ever
watched a jeweler refining metal, and you'll see the crucible,
the little clay pot that you can heat as much as you like,
and it's very, very stable, but in that pot is the silver bubbling,
and as it bubbles, the heat purifies it, and the dirt, the dross,
the impurity floats to the top, and they skim it off, and gradually
they purified until it gets purer and purer. But in this picture,
your silver has become the dirt that was removed from it. Your
wine is mixed with water. It's diluted. It's corrupted. It's not pure anymore. Verse
23, sin is rampant. Your princes are rebellious. Those who should be ruling you
in righteousness are companions of thieves. deceivers. Everyone loveth gifts. They're
corrupt. They take bribes. They follow
after rewards. They judge not the fatherless.
They don't judge fairly and rightly and equitably. They deal corruptly
and in an evil manner. Neither doth the cause of the
widow come to them. They don't judge things fairly
and truly. That's a picture of us. That's
it. It was literal Jerusalem in these
days of Isaiah, 800 years before Christ. That which should have
been the upholder of the true gospel in all that it did, in
actual fact had become corrupted, and had become a harlot, and
unfaithful, and you couldn't find the true gospel being preached. It was so hard to find it. It
was a day of very, very small things in terms of the truth
of God. There was sin all around. There was corruption. in judgment. And the worship of the true God
was not there as it should be. It was in everything God said
to them earlier in the chapter. Don't bring your sacrifices.
I've had enough of your sacrifices. They're just an outward show.
That which they're meant to portray is not in your hearts. You're
just utterly corrupted. You're going through the motions
of a set of rules and regulations without any heart religion. You're
full of sin. And when sin meets up with the
Holy God... Do you remember the illustration
I gave last week of stepping off a platform into the path
of a speeding train? And we all know instinctively
how utterly impossible it is to survive such a thing. Nobody
has ever survived stepping in front of a 100 mile an hour train.
Nobody has. It's impossible. No sinner can
possibly survive the judgment of God. For God is holy and dwells
in unapproachable light. He says in verse 24, therefore
says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, look the Lord, this is Elohim,
Christ by whom he speaks, the Lord of hosts who is Jehovah,
the Lord, capital letters, the mighty one of Israel. Ah, he
says, I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of
mine enemies. Ease me, take comfort. Why does
he take comfort? Because the punishment that falls
on those who are sinners in the sight of a holy God satisfies
the just demands of God. It satisfies the demands of divine
justice. He exacts the penalty that is
due. He says, I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked. Does that mean he doesn't want
to do it? No, it means it doesn't satisfy his justice. For an eternity
of hell is not long enough to satisfy his justice. But it pleased
the Lord to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when he bruised
him, it did satisfy his justice. It was sufficient to make satisfaction. You see, try as I might in myself,
if I think I'm going to be right with God based on what I am able
to do for God, try as I might to live righteously in this flesh,
I can't atone for my past sins. And my best efforts quickly fail. We're not inherently good people. If you think that the people
you come across day by day and you yourself are inherently good
people, you're not seeing it from God's perspective. From
God's perspective, we are not pure and holy. We have not the
holiness, the righteousness, which God must have if he is
to accept us. No, that is only found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. As the hymn writer put it, Not
the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands, whatever I
do. Could my zeal, oh, I'll be zealous. Oh, the Jews had a zeal
for the Lord, but not according to knowledge. They pursued a
righteousness which was of their own earning, and not the righteousness
which alone God accepts, for that righteousness is the righteousness
of faith. Could my tears forever flow?
Oh, I'll be so repentant and remorseful. No, all for sin could
not atone. So what is the answer? Thou must
save. God, you must save, and you alone. If you try to relate to God as
did Cain, remember? The son of Adam and Eve. Do you
remember how he tried to relate to God? He tried to relate to
God by bringing his own efforts, the fruit of the field. He was
a farmer. He thought he would bring the fruit of the field
and that would be good enough. And God was not pleased with
it. And God sent him away. But his brother Abel came, and
his brother Abel brought a lamb. And the lamb spoke of the Lamb
of God, slain from the foundation of the world, the Lamb who must
take away the sins of His people in this world. You see, God says
of His Son, where we fail all the time, God says of Christ,
His Son, Isaiah 42, you'll notice, I keep referring to Isaiah, Isaiah
42 verse 4, it's speaking of Christ, says, he shall not fail
nor be discouraged. He shall accomplish everything
that God purposed for him to accomplish. Have you ever known
what it is to labor and be heavy laden with a burden of sin? Have
you? Praise God for that. If you have,
look at the article in the bulletin by Joe Terrell about that knowing
something of what it is to be a sinner. Have you ever known
what it is to labor and be heavy laden with the burden of sin?
Well, Jesus tells you. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells you.
You're blessed if that's the case. You're blessed compared
with others who never feel that. And he says to such, come to
Christ, come to me, and I will give you rest for your soul.
For my burden, you might have a heavy burden, but my burden,
is light. Why? Because he's taken the burden
of sin away. You see, the only right way to
relate at peace with God is on the basis of what God has done
for his people in the person of his Son. And this is what
verses 25 to 27 declare. Look at them with me. I will
turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take
away all thy tin, and I will restore thy judges as at the
first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning. Afterward thou
shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall
be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness."
It's already been declared in verse 18, as we looked at it
last week, where God says, come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sin be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Us, us, come let us reason together. Who, who, who is he talking about?
Come let us reason together. Verse 25, I will turn my hand
upon thee, thee. Who? Who's he talking about?
Us. Thee. Who's he talking about?
Verse 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. Zion. Who? Who is he talking about? Look
at verse nine of chapter one. Look at verse nine. Except the
Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant in this
city which was the faithful city but is now corrupted with idolatry
and falsehood, but God has always left himself a remnant, except
the Lord had left unto us a very small remnant of faithful believers,
we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now look at Romans
chapter 11. You don't need to turn to it,
I'll read it to you. Romans 11 and verse 5. Even so then, at
this present time also, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. A remnant according to the election
of grace. The people God calls out of their
natural spiritual darkness into his marvelous light are those
that he calls his elect, whom he chose in sovereign grace in
Christ before the foundation of the world Because he, a sovereign
God, can do with what he has made as he will. Is there unrighteousness
and unfairness with God? Read Romans 9. God forbid, of
course not. God has an elect. How many? An innumerable multitude. An
innumerable multitude. But yet, yet be encouraged by
this. The few of us here and the few
that are out there on the internet, Although it's an innumerable
multitude, yet our Lord Jesus Christ said, fear not, little
flock. Fear not. You're on the narrow
way. There's not a great crowd there.
You're on the narrow way. that leads to eternal life. It's
the broad way that leads to destruction, and it's all the doing of God. All of it. All of it, the doing
of God. Not what you do. It's not what
we do. As Galatians 2.21 says, for by
the works of the law shall, even if you do your very best, by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. God goes
to work, as it were, on his sinful people. I will turn my hand upon
thee, I will purge away thy dross and take away thy tin, I will
restore thy judges, Zion shall be redeemed, etc. God goes to
work on the sinful people that are his, chosen out of the whole
of humanity, to make them his spotless bride." Ephesians 5,
27. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he
might redeem unto himself a church that is spotless, that is clean,
that is pure, that is fit to be his bride. He will purely
purge the dross away. Purge means to burn up, burn
it up. He will burn up the impurity
in the nature of his sinful people whom he has redeemed. He will
impute his righteousness to them. He will make them, as God says
in 2 Corinthians 5.21, He who knew no sin was made sin, the
sin of his people, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He will impute the righteousness
of God because of what Christ has done. He will impart a righteous
nature. He will take away the tin. See
there? Take away the tin. Take away
all... Tin? Tin looks like silver, doesn't
it? Looks like a shiny metal. Tries
to look like a shiny metal, but it's tin. It's only tin. I will
purge away thy tin. Tin? Self-righteousness. I will
purge it away. I will purge away your self-righteousness. And he will bring a righteous
order upon this people that he calls out under the sound of
the gospel of his grace. I will restore thy judges as
at the first and thy counsellors as at the beginning. They had
the word of God. They had the prophets of God
to bring the truth to them, to speak to them, to preach that
which God told them. He promises a righteous order
to his people. Judges and counsellors? Well,
what's that to us? New Testament believers? Is it
not the apostles and their doctrine? The new believers in Acts, they
continued in breaking of bread and prayers and in the apostles'
doctrine. The doctrine of the true gospel
of grace. And the city of righteousness,
the faithful city, is what you will be called. He will restore
a righteous city. That corrupted, idolatrous city,
that city which had been true, which had become unfaithful,
He will restore it to be the city of righteousness, the faithful
city. Not the harlot of verse 21. And
what is this city called? What is this city of God called?
It's called Zion. Zion, sometimes spelt with a
Z in the Old Testament and sometimes spelt with an S in the New Testament. The spiritual dwelling of the
living God. Zion. the city of the living
God. Glorious things of thee are spoken. Zion, city of our God. That's
what we sang right at the start. The spiritual dwelling of the
living God. That's what it is. It's not a
physical temple. It's a spiritual dwelling made
up of living stones built on the one foundation stone. But
what about her natural sin and corruption? What about the natural
sin that we all know, if we're believers now, the more we grow
closer in the knowledge of God, the more we are aware, not how
much holier we are becoming, But the more we're aware of the
inherent sinfulness and corruption that is in everything we do.
But he says, Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts
with righteousness. Redeemed with judgment. In other
words, redeemed because judgment and justice fell. upon Christ
as the substitute, as the surety of his people. That's how redeemed
with judgment, redeemed by virtue of him taking the sin of his
people and that judgment falling on him to pay it in full. And
converted with righteousness, her converts with righteousness,
converted with righteousness. Converted with righteousness,
made the righteousness of God in him. You who say you believe God,
who say you believe his gospel, who say you seek to follow his
son, you say you know your sins are forgiven, you know all things
of providence are in the hands of God, you trust him providentially,
you claim your treasure is in heaven and not on this earth,
do you know that you must be converted in this life? Do you
know that? It's an old-fashioned term. Are
you converted? You must be converted in this, you must be a changed
person. Matthew 18 verse 3, verily I
say unto you, this is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, verily
I say unto you, except unless you be converted, converted,
and become as little children, that means not proud in your
intellectual superiority, unless you be converted, you shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Acts chapter 3 verse 19, one
of the great sermons just after Pentecost. Repent ye therefore
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. The true
people of God are converted people. They're converted people, changed
people. People who do not habitually
live in the way of the world. People whose heart desires are
set on the things of God, on his truth, on his righteousness.
whose lives are governed more by the new man that's born again
within of the Spirit of God. The old man is still there, the
old man with his deeds and his corruption and constantly until
we leave this flesh that old man needs to be subdued and put
down and put in his place. And more and more we need to
put on that new man that is born of the Spirit of God. But without
that new man and without the evidence of that new man and
without being changed and to be conformed to the likeness
of the Son of God in attitude and thinking and desires, there
is no conversion and there is no eternal life. Changed from
that old Jerusalem relationship to God into a citizen of Zion. The old Jerusalem or the new
Zion, the city of the living God? Jerusalem or Zion? Zion, verse 26, the city of righteousness,
the faithful city. But Jerusalem, the literal physical
Jerusalem, and I'm not talking about that city in the Middle
East now, although that is the site of it, that pictures that
old harlot city at enmity with God in its sin and its corruption. Turn to Galatians, and again,
it doesn't matter if you can't get there, I'll read it out to
you. Galatians chapter four, and verse 25, because here Paul
is writing about the relationship to God. You know I said early
on, I said there's only two ways of relating to God, either on
the basis of what you do or on the basis of what God has done
for you and in you. And in Galatians 4 he says it's
like that with Abraham and The, you know, Abraham, they thought
they couldn't have a son. God had said, you'll have a son
by Sarah. And there was no son and they were getting so old.
And Sarah said, well, here's my maid, Hagar, have a son with
her. And so he did and Ishmael was born. And God said, no, not
according to that, no. The seed of truth will not come
via that line, no, not at all. And he says, these things are
an allegory, this is in verse 24, these things are a picture
story. For these are the two covenants,
the two ways of supposedly being right with God. The one from
Mount Sinai which says do this and live, but we can't because
we're sinners, always, by nature, by deed, by thought, in everything
we do, no. That one is Mount Sinai which
gendereth, which leads to bondage. Because you can never satisfy
it. You can never satisfy it so that you are free from its
constraints. That is Hagar, the maid by whom
Abraham had Ishmael. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to, or, as it puts it, is on the
same rank with, that's the margin, is on the same rank with Jerusalem,
the city which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
If you seek to be right with God on the basis of the things
you do, you will be in bondage with all your children. But Jerusalem,
which is above, that's Zion. That's God's heaven. Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. What
do you want? The bondage of Sinai? or the
Jerusalem which is above, which is free. Again, I'll turn you
to Revelation 3, but you don't need to go there, I'll read it
out to you. Revelation 3 and verse 12. This
is one of the letters. to one of the churches in Revelation. Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more
out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name
of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh
down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my
new name. citizens of New Jerusalem, is
what God says. His people who are faithful to
Him, who follow Him, who seek to do His will, are citizens
of New Jerusalem. Revelation 14. In Revelation
14 and the first verse, we've just got to the end of Revelation
13, where we see the terrible kingdom of Antichrist in this
world. the dreadful things that are done by it, and we see it
all around us in the days in which we live. And yet, look,
verse 1 of chapter 14, you know, people, believers cannot trade
in this world. I mean, it's getting so close
to that now, that evil kingdom of Antichrist. And then in verse
1, And lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hundred
and forty and four thousand, having his father's name written
in their foreheads. These are the people of God,
the true believers of God in the world at any one time. This
is a picture in the kingdom of Antichrist, while all that's
going on, here is Christ with his people. The Lamb on Mount
Sion, and his 144,000 with him in the world. And verse 3, and
they sung as it were, the people, his people, sung as it were a
new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the
elders. And listen, no man could learn that song but the 144,000
which were redeemed from the earth. Are you amongst that number
that are redeemed from the earth, that know that song of redemption,
that song of salvation? Do you believe God? Do you believe
the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you trusted your eternal
soul to the safekeeping of Christ? Where have you come to? Where
is it that you've come to? Turn to Hebrews chapter, I know
I'm making you dash around a bit, but I'd far rather the scripture
speak than just my voice. Hebrews 12, verse 18. Hebrews
12, verse 18. For ye are not come unto the
mount, that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated,
that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could
not endure that which was commanded. And if so, this is what was commanded,
if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned,
or thrust through with a dart, So terrible was the sight that
Moses, even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Where was that
mount? That was Mount Sinai. Read about
it in Exodus, at the giving of the law. If you want to relate
to God on the basis of what you do, that's the terms. They're
very harsh terms. They're terrifying terms. They're
terms that you can never hope to meet. They're terms that you
can never hope to come close to satisfying. If you try to
be just with God, how should a man be just with God? If you
try on the basis of law works, you will be condemned. You will
be stoned or thrust through with a dart because you're bound to
fail. It's an exceedingly fearful place. It's a fearful thing on
that basis to fall into the hands of the living God. For God is
a consuming fire. Our God is a consuming fire.
He is angry with the wicked every day. But no, in Christ you're
not come there. Verse 22, you are come, believer. If you're in the Lord Jesus Christ,
trusting Him, you are come to Mount Zion, and unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, sinless beings in the presence of God, to the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, the redeemed of
God, those sinners redeemed from their sins by the blood of the
Lamb, the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
Written where? In the Lamb's Book of Life. Because
when the books are opened, everybody's judged according to the works
in the books. But there's one other book that is opened, and
it's the Lamb's Book of Life. And those don't ever come into
judgment, for he has borne that judgment for them in their place.
That's where you come. You come to the judge of all,
to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect. All those that have gone before
us, those Believers that we've known in this life, who have
died and left this life and gone to be... Do you know what they
are? They're the spirits of just men made perfect. And where else
you come to? You come to fire and thunderings? No, you come to Jesus. You come
to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. This is God revealed. in the person and work of his
Son. This is God, in all of his terrifying majesty, revealed
in the sweet, glorious, loving accessibility of the Son of God. That's where you come. You come
to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to blood that
speaks better things than that of Abel. You know, when Cain
killed Abel, he shed Abel's blood, and Abel's blood soaked into
the ground. and Abel's blood cried out. What
did it cry out for? Justice. Evil has been committed. It cried out for justice. It
cried out for justice to be satisfied. When Christ's blood was shed
on the cross of Calvary, that blood cries out too. Do you know
what that cries out? It is satisfied. Justice is satisfied. That's what that blood, that's
why it's better things than the blood of Abel, because that Blood
cries out that justice is satisfied for the people of his choice.
You see, that's where we come to. That's the glory that is
revealed. This is the heaven of intimate
communion between God and his redeemed, his converted people. In the Lamb's Book of Life, to
God, manifested in Jesus, to the blood of sprinkling, purifying,
cleansing, satisfying, better than Abel's blood, which screams
for justice, because it says justice is satisfied. See, verse
25, see that ye refuse him not, see that ye refuse him not that
speaketh. You know, this is speaking to
each one of us now. Any listening? See that ye refuse him not that
speaketh. Do you not see what great salvation
this is? I could turn you again to Hebrews
2 verse 3. Great salvation. Glorious salvation. Do you see what great salvation
this is? Will you refuse Him who speaks? Will you neglect this great salvation? Or will you kiss the sun while
it is yet today the day of salvation?