The message tonight is signs
and wonders, but I'm not going to be talking to you about the
satanic delusions of Pentecostalism. Rather, I want to talk to you
about the signs and wonders of God's great grace displayed so
magnificently in the salvation of our souls in, by, and with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read together Isaiah chapter
8 beginning at verse 13. Isaiah chapter 8 verse 13. Here the prophet speaks to you
and me. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your fear and let
him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary,
but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense to
both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. And then
the Lord God speaks to his prophet Isaiah and speaking to his prophet
to all sent and called of God to preach the gospel. Bind up
the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And in verse 17,
we hear Isaiah's word. He says, I will wait upon the
Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob. and I will
look for him. And then the prophet gives us
the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning his people
and his report to God, the triune Jehovah as Jehovah's righteous
servant. Behold, I and the children whom
the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel
from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion. In this
portion of Isaiah's prophecy, everything is about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything here is about His
person, His work, His redemption, and His glory in that redemption. Hear the prophet's words again
to us. Sanctify the Lord of hosts. Hallow Jehovah. Honor the God
of glory. Set him apart in your heart as
altogether unlike anything or anyone else. Sanctify the Lord
of hosts himself and let him be your fear. The one you reverence,
the one you worship, the one you trust, and let him be your
dread. The words are almost the same,
both in the Hebrew and in English. Let him be your dread, not dread
in the sense of shaking and terror, but your dread in the sense of
utter awe. Let him be your fear. Worship
him and stand in utter awe before him. Now look at Isaiah's words,
his prophetic word concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
we sanctify, God our Savior, by faith in him, by trusting
him as our Savior, that one who is our all, the all of our hearts. He shall be for a sanctuary,
verse 14. Jesus Christ, our crucified Redeemer,
Emmanuel, God incarnate, who lived and died in our stead,
he shall be for a sanctuary. That's what Christ is to our
souls, a refuge, a covert, a shelter, a hiding place to shelter us
and protect us both from the storm of God's just wrath and
from the storms of life in this world. but for the reprobate,
for the unbelieving, for those who being ignorant of God's righteousness,
going about to establish their own righteousness, refuse to
bow to Jesus Christ the Lord, refuse to trust the righteousness
of a crucified substitute. The Lord Jesus is described as
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, a gin and a snare. We read the parable that our
Lord gave of the sower. He said, I speak to them in parables
so that hearing they might not hear, and seeing they might not
see, and they might not believe. So that the Word of God, the
very Word of God by which our souls are instructed, the very
Gospel of God which gives us comfort, understanding, and peace
to the unbelieving and to the reprobate is a jinn and a snare. The wise are taken in their own
craftiness. The gospel of the grace of God
is a rock of offense to proud men. The cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ is an offense to proud, unbelieving men and women. Offends
them. It just offends them. Offends
their sense of self-worth. Offends their sense of personal
righteousness. Offends their sense of superiority
above others. Everything about Christ crucified,
as it is clearly presented in the scriptures, when it is preached
as presented in the scripture, always offends unbelieving men. Salvation by a crucified Redeemer
is a stumbling block to men and women who need no Redeemer. Salvation
by grace without works is a gin, a snare to the reprobate who
have no need of grace. Verse 15, and many among them
shall stumble, many in Jerusalem. Many among the professed people
of God, many who call themselves the saints of God, many who would
go to war over the Bible, the book, the blood, and the blessed
hope, many of them shall fall, stumble and fall, and be broken,
and be snared, and be taken. Our Lord Jesus, twice in the
Gospels, in Matthew and in Luke, made this exact same statement.
Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. Fall down on Christ and you'll
be broken. Fall on him, broken from your
pride, broken from your self-righteousness, broken from your arrogant superiority. But on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind him to powder. And look at Isaiah 8 16. and
read God's word to his prophet. God's word to every man called
and sent of God to preach the gospel. He says, bind up the
testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Let every man who
is gifted, called and sent of God to preach the gospel, bind
the word of God to his heart. and bind his heart to God's word,
not only to the study of scripture, but bind himself to the revelation
of scripture. Let him bind the scriptures together
as the singular testimony of God concerning his son. The whole
book of God is bound together by blood atonement. The whole
book of God is bound together in one singular message. And
that message is called the word of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord. I spent a good bit of time the
last few days looking at the different words used in the scriptures
that are translated word. The word Logos is commonly used,
referring to Christ, the expressed word of God. The revelation of
God in the beginning was the word, and the word was God. That's Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Another word translated
word is rhema. It refers specifically to the
written word. And yet, as you read the scriptures
and read it in the original language, you see the words are almost
interchanged at times for a reason. There is no knowing the living
word without the written word. And there's no knowing the written
word without the living word. And the word written on these
pages is the living word of God because it is united to the person
and work of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Then he says to his
prophets, to his preachers, bind up the gospel, bind it up as
a treasure, a treasure trusted to your hands that you dare not
lose. Secure it, guard it, defend it,
proclaim it, and seal the law, seal the law. The word of God
is the law of God, the commandment of God, the gospel of God. Seal the law among my disciples,
he says. His disciples. You talk to religious
people who are engaged in religious activity, and what they do with
folks is they spend a lot of time discipling them. That sounds good, doesn't it?
They need to be discipled. The believers, they need to be
discipled. Let me tell you a little secret. If you believe God, you're
His disciple. You don't become a believer and
then become a disciple. A disciple is one who follows
the Lord Jesus Christ, follows his way, his doctrine, his teaching,
his word. You don't make disciples sometime
after they've been converted. The problem with this religious
age is that church houses are filled by trickery, filled by
deceit, filled by evangelistic confusion with folks who don't
know God from a billy goat. And then we've got to start making
them act like Christians. So folks look at it and say,
boy, they're good Christians. So we have discipleship classes.
No, you take the word of God and bind it among my disciples. Bind it as you proclaim the word
so that my disciples are fixed in the word. so that my disciples
know me revealed in the word. That's the responsibility of
every man who speaks for God as the messenger of God. Our
responsibility is to establish you in present truth, the present
everlasting truth of the gospel. And then Isaiah speaks for himself,
verse 17. And I will wait upon the Lord,
that hideth his face from the house of Jacob. And I will look
for him. Now let me paraphrase that for
you. Isaiah says, I will wait in confident hope and expectation
for the coming of Emmanuel, who shall be a sanctuary to his elect,
a sanctuary to all who trust him. Emmanuel, who shall be a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to others. And then
in that day, the prophet later tells us, it shall be said in
that day, lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, he will
save us, this is the Lord, we've waited for him, we will be glad
and rejoice in his salvation. Now, let's camp a little while
at verse 18. Behold, our Savior says, behold,
I and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs
and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth
in Mount Zion. Here God the Holy Ghost inspired
his prophet Isaiah to declare the very words of our Lord Jesus
Christ, declaring both his special relation to his elect and his
work of grace in and with his redeemed. same words are found
both in the book of Zechariah and in the book of Hebrews. Let's
turn over to Zechariah chapter 3 and then Hebrews chapter 2.
I want you to look at them in the context in which they are
found. Zechariah chapter 3, we have this picture of Joshua the
high priest. A picture of our Lord Jesus Christ
standing by Joshua cleansing him. But then after he talks
about removing the sins of the land in one day, We see another,
a change in things, a change in what's going on. Verse eight,
hear now, oh Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows,
your companions, those represented by you that sit before thee,
for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. Now as you well know the very
name Joshua in the Old Testament is precisely the same as Jesus
in the New. It means Deliverer, Jehovah who
saves. Here Joshua is seen as one man
sitting before the triune Jehovah, but he's not sitting there just
for himself. He is the high priest. He's a
representative man sitting with and representing many. Behold
a greater than Joshua is here. Joshua is here held before us.
I have no question. As a picture and type of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. Let me show you
Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2. We'll begin reading at verse
9. Now the Apostle Paul is talking
to us about the priestly work of our Lord Jesus Christ. His
priestly work involves his obedience in righteousness, his atoning
sacrifice as our sacrificing high priest, and his intercession. his righteous obedience in life
His atoning sacrifice in death and his intercession in heaven
is all for the same people All of them and none, but them Hebrews
chapter 2 verse 9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower
than the angels He was made a little lower than the angels for this
purpose. That is, He who created the angels to be servants of
men was made Himself a little lower than the angels and became
a man like us for this purpose. For the suffering of death, He
became one of us that He might die. Now we see Him crowned with
glory and honor. We see he came here that he,
by the grace of God, should taste death forever. And quite literally,
the Translation ought to stop right there and have three little
periods with two little dots beside it. And I'm going to explain
to you what that means. The word simply refers to every,
not every man as if he tasted death for every man in the world.
No such doctrine is anywhere hinted at in scripture, but rather
for every man referred to in this passage. And it tells us
who they are. He tasted death for everyone
he represented for it became him. He became him it was right
for him. It was needful for him as our
mediator For whom are all things and by whom are all things in
bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation
Perfect through sufferings to make Christ our substitute complete
full finished perfect through suffering verse 11 For both he
that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, both the sanctifier
and the sanctified are all of one, of one body. The sanctifier
and the sanctified are one. For which cause? Because he's
our sanctifier and because he has sanctified us, because we
are one with him. For which cause? He is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. Again, I will put my trust in
him. The Lord God Almighty, the triune
Jehovah says, I will put my trust in him who's just spoken. And
again, behold, the Lord Jesus speaks. Behold, I and the children
which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily, he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Adam, anybody have a Bible that reads
like that? Of course not. Not even the worst translation
suggests that. Not even the worst paraphrase
suggests that because He didn't take on Him the seed of Adam.
He took on Him the seed of Abraham, His covenant people, His elect.
Wherefore, since he became one of us, since he became one with
his covenant people, in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. Now reading these three passages
of scripture, Zechariah, Isaiah, and Hebrews chapter two, it is
obvious that God, the Holy Spirit, intends for us to see and stand
in wonder at our union with Christ and his union with us. Truly,
we are his fellows, his companions, one with him. He who is our representative
is one with us. And all who are represented by
him are one with him. We are one with our Savior. Would to God we could see something
of the wondrous mystery and delight of this. The Apostle Paul seems
to stretch language almost to the breaking point to describe
this union. He tells us that Christ dwells
in us and we in Him. We died to sin in Him. We who are His were crucified
in Him, with Him. We live in Him. We're baptized
into Christ, into His death. Christ is the head, we're the
body. Bone of his bone, flesh of his
flesh. He's the foundation stone, we're
the building built upon him. He's the husband, we're the wife.
For Christ to live is for me to live. For me to live is for
Christ to live. Oh, my soul, I can't begin to
express that as I wish I could. For Christ to live is for me
to live. For me to live is for Christ
to live. Christ liveth in me. I live in him and he lives in
me. If that doesn't shake you to
your depths of your soul, I don't know what will. Christ lives
in me and I live in him so perfectly, so completely that the scriptures
describe us as the fullness of him that filleth all in all. You can't take even one of Abraham's
seed. You can't take even one of God's
chosen. You can't take even one trusted
to the hands of Christ from him and him ever be perfect, complete
as our God, man, mediator and savior. We are the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. What is this talking about? We
are representatively one with Christ, our surety from eternity. The first president of Georgetown
College was a fellow named Thomas Dudley. His father was pastor
at Bryan Station Church in Lexington in the late 1700s, Ambrose Dudley. Thomas Dudley made this observation. He said, and how long Has Christ
been my surety, my representative, my savior? For that long, I've
had life in Him. We are one with Christ eternally,
from everlasting. He stood forth before the world
was, and God trusted to him. The triune Jehovah trusted to
the God-man mediator, all his people, all his will, all his
purpose, and all his glory. And we had acceptance with God
in him then. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. Wow, what a statement. As he is, so are we in this world. Now this union was secret. until
the Lord Jesus came and made us partakers of the divine nature
and comes to take up residence in us in the new birth, giving
us faith in him. But as he is, that's what we
are before God. Everything Jesus Christ, the
mediator, the God-man, the surety, the representative is. Everything
he is, we are in him. Just as fully as he is what he
is. For that reason, the Lord God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, smile on his people when we frown
on ourselves. He smiles on His people in spite
of everything we know about ourselves. For He beholds us, receives us,
accepts us, not in ourselves, but in His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He became all that we are. And oh, blessed be His name,
He makes us all that He is. You and I, you and me. Every sinner who trusts Christ,
all of us, every one of God's elect are described as his fellows. sitting before Him and sitting
with Him before the triune God upon the throne of glory. We
sit before Christ, our prophet, to teach us and to be taught
of Him. We sit before Christ, our King,
as submissive subjects to be directed by Him, to have our
lives ordered by Him. We sit before Christ, our priest,
as his people, to be accepted by him and with him. We sit before
Christ, our master, as his servants, to be obedient to him. We sit
before Christ, our God and Savior, as our fear and our dread, the
one we worship, the one before whom we bow in awe, and we sit
with Christ our companion, as one with him, as priests and
kings unto God forever. Yes, you and I, priests and kings
unto God forever. You see, unlike folks who have
been deluded with the notion of dispensational premillennial
doctrine, the stuff you find in your Schofield reference Bible.
We're not anticipating some thousand year millennial kingdom in which
God's going to send his son back to this earth to sit on a little
peanut throne over in Palestine and rule over the Jews again
and set up Jewish worship again. We worship him who is king. has been seated on the throne
of David since his resurrection and exaltation taking a seat
at the right hand of the majesty on high and when he arose and
was accepted of God because of all he had accomplished we having
been crucified with him and buried with him arose with him and took
our seat with him on the father's throne as priests and kings under
God. Let's see if that's not what
the book says. I'm not speculating. Look at Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. If I say something from this
pulpit and you've got some question about it, just come and ask me.
If I don't show you right away, I'll show you where it says it
in the scriptures or don't you believe it. We are right now
kings and priests, as Jesus Christ himself is king and priest on
the throne of God. Ephesians chapter two, verse
four. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Well,
Brother Don, that's talking about the new birth. and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Yes, in the new birth, we're
raised up, experientially raised up and made to sit together as
priest accepted of God at his throne. But this took place when
Jesus Christ himself was raised from the dead. Isaiah tells us
that God's elect are Christ's children. Back here in Isaiah
8, verse 18. His children. Well, that would
mean Christ is our Father. There are still around some folks
who are what they call Jesus-only people. They believe that Christ
is God and that the word Father and Son and Holy Spirit are just
different names for God and deny the Trinity. neither Isaiah nor
Zechariah nor Paul confused the persons of the Godhead and we
mustn't. Jesus Christ is not God the Father. He is not God the Father. But
in the very next chapter here in Isaiah 9 verse 6 He is called
the Everlasting Father. And here in Isaiah 8, 18 we are
called His children. How can that be? Zechariah refers
to us, and Hebrews refers to us, and Isaiah refers to us as
his children. We are God's adopted children. Adopted in eternal love in election
before the world was. Given to Jesus Christ as his
children in God's everlasting purpose of grace. And we're children
given to him by God the Holy Ghost as he gives us faith in
Christ, drawing us to run after him. And we're children born
of Christ. What is it to be born again?
It is to have Christ in you. We're born of Christ, being made
partakers of his very nature in the new birth. And as his
children, we are the peculiar objects of his constant delight
and constant care. Read these words this way. I'm gonna get back to it in a
minute, but read these words this way. Behold the children which
thou has given me. Behold the children God has given
me. Our Lord Jesus looks upon his
children with constant delight. If any of you were watching this
morning, I wasn't expecting our children to come in. They didn't
let us know they were coming. That's always a delight. But
when they came in, if you're watching me, I'll guarantee you
saw a smile on my face. They're my children. They're
my children. Sometimes children, often children,
are a pain to their parents. Not God's children. A pain to ourselves, but not
to Him. Ashamed to ourselves, but not
to Him. Dishonoring to ourselves, but
not to Him. Behold, I and the children God's
given me. Just look him over, just look
him over. He says to God, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. And he says to all the angels
of God and all the demons of hell and Satan himself, behold,
I and my children. Find something wrong with them.
Find something wrong with them. They're children that will not
lie. Because as he is, so are we in this world. And as children,
being the objects of his constant delight, children are the objects
of a father's constant care. And it never ends, as long as
that father is in his right mind, walking on this earth. They're
the care of the father always, always. The father will do what
he has to to protect them. The father will do what he must
to guard them. The father will do what he must
to provide for them. Whatever it is, whatever it is,
a father takes care of his children. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of us as his children. It's no marvel that our Lord
Jesus Christ, our great Joshua, is set before us as a man wondered
at, and that I can easily see. He is truly a man wondered at
by me. God became all that I am, came
into this world, lived in obedience for me, died as my substitute,
rose again for me, that I might be made one with him in the blessed
experience of his grace forever. what glories, what wonders, what
mysteries there are wrapped up in our Savior, whose name is
Emmanuel. Oh, the great mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. God crucified, God buried, God
justified in the spirit, God raised up in our flesh as our
representative and we one with him. This one who is our great
Joshua was clothed with our filthy garments when he was made sin
for us. The filth of our sin which was
made his was taken away by him when he laid down his life for
us. Iniquity ceased to pass on him. When he breathed out the Spirit,
said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And he breathed
out his life. Sin passed from him. Never charged to him again. Never
remembered against him. And wonder of wonders, oh, wonder
of wonders. When it passed from him, it passed
from me forever. Oh, be ravished my heart with
the love of this Redeemer. And in the resurrection, our
Lord Jesus was clothed with the change of raiment. The fair miter
of holiness to the Lord was placed upon his head as a priest upon
his throne. And the garments of praise were
put on him. When our Lord was transfigured
on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were there.
He said, don't touch me now. He's transfigured before them.
When he was raised from the dead, he walked on this earth and now
he's ascended to glory and holy comets. Holiness to the Lord
he is. So that everything he has done,
everything he does, everything he is, everything he says is
accepted of God because he is holiness to the Lord. and everything
about his people is accepted of God because in him we are
holiness to the Lord. We are now the sons of God, the
righteousness of God, kings and priests under God in him and
with him. Both Isaiah and Zechariah tell
us that we being his fellows are for signs and wonders, men
wondered at. the angels of God, oh, how astonished
they must be that the Lord God of heaven should love such as
we are and choose such as we are, that he created the heavenly
angels to be ministering spirits to those sent, those who are
called of God, appointed of God to be heirs of salvation. The
world is constantly astonished and wonders at God's sights.
The world knows us not because it knew him not. Our faith is
looked upon by folks who have none as foolishness. Our devotion
is considered by folks who have none to be fanaticism. Our doctrine
is thought by those who have none to be bigotry above all. we stand in utter awe, wonder,
and amazement, astonished by the mercy, love, and grace of
God that is ours in Christ, that he should love me with everlasting
love, that the Son of God should give himself for me, a sweet-smelling
savor to God, that God the Holy Ghost should call me with a holy
calling, regenerate me, illuminate me, convince me of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment by the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would make me
God's. I stand in complete astonishment.
I can't adequately state the astonishment I have for his goodness. I pray that God will cause the
astonishment only to increase. I have been for 50 years now, the spectator of wonderful things
done for me. The spectator, just a spectator. I've often heard folks say that
Christianity is not a spectator sport. True Christianity is.
You just watch God work. You just watch God work. spectator
at God's goodness and it completely swallows me and shall swallow
me up in admiration of my Savior to all eternity. Oh, how utterly
astonished I am that a sinner so manifestly, distinctively,
and unceasingly blessed of God as I am could be so unthankful. unbelieving, so unloving, so
unworthy, so little devoted to the glory of Him who loved me
and gave Himself for me. But that's not all. Turn back to Ephesians 2 again,
Ephesians 2, wonder we shall be to all the
host of heaven, earth and hell, when our Savior presents us before
the triune God, holy, without blame, faultless, before the
presence of His glory with everlasting joy. Look here in Ephesians 2
verse 7, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Pause, oh my soul, and calculate
the incalculable. Consider the exceeding riches
of His grace. All grace, all degrees of grace,
full grace is ours in Christ Jesus. how highly God himself
prizes it. So that he does everything involved
in this thing called salvation. Which means he does everything
involved in this thing called history. He does everything involved
in all creation for the praise of the glory of his grace. and we shall forever stand before
God to wandering worlds to the praise of the glory of His grace,
because the Lord Jesus is our Savior, one with us, and we're
one with Him. Behold, I and the children which
God has given me. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed to call Don Fortner
my brother. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed
to call Bobby Estes my brother. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed
to call David Burge my brother. I'm not ashamed. Lord God, look
on me and look on my children. The children, the Lord God has
given me. They're mine. You gave them to
me. Now here they are. I bring them
to you. Faultless. To the praise of the
glory of your grace. Amen.