500 years ago, a Polish astronomer
by the name of Nicholas Copernicus made a shocking discovery. A
discovery that would change forever the thinking of men concerning
the universe. Copernicus demonstrated just
before he died that the sun, not the earth, but the sun is
the center of our universe and of our solar system. Up to that
time, everybody thought the earth was the center of everything.
Now you can imagine what an upheaval this must have been in the thinking
of men. What an upheaval it was to all
thoughts concerning astronomy and scientific investigation
about the universe. If everything you think about
the universe has for its foundation that the earth is the center, then every calculation you make
from that point is wrong. Every calculation is wrong. If
you think that the earth is the center of everything, So everything
was turned upside down with Copernicus' discovery. In fact, the change
was such a radical change in thinking that his discoveries
considered the starting point of modern astronomy, the discovery
that began the scientific revolution. Now, as in our universe, in this
book, in the word of God, in all things concerning God and
grace and salvation, in all spiritual things, in the salvation of our
souls, in all the revelation of the knowledge of God, the
Son is the center, the Son of righteousness. The Son is the
center. If ever a preacher an evangelist,
a missionary, theology professor, a church, comes to see this,
it will be a total upheaval in his thinking, a total change
in his attitude about everything. The glory of God in Christ is
the center of all things. the glory of God in the saving
of sinners by Jesus Christ crucified. That is the message which the
Holy Spirit identifies as the revelation of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God's glory,
the bright shining, the splendor of God's very being is the revelation
of how God saves sinners in all things, at all times, in all
circumstances, by the blood and righteousness and grace of God
Almighty in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Oh, God calls men to
see that. And everything changes. Man is
not central. Man is not central. And the whole
fabric of religion in our day, everybody thinks man is central. And so everything is done, geared,
designed, and intended in some way or another to move men, and
to promote men, and to exalt men. The glory of God, not man,
is central. The Lord God declares in Isaiah
that he is making to himself an everlasting name, making to
himself a glorious name in all the affairs of providence. This
is what God's doing. He's making himself a glorious
name by which all men ultimately shall know him and him alone
to be God. The glory of God, I repeat, is
the redemption of our souls by Christ. The shining, the brilliance,
the display of God's splendorous being is in our salvation. The preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ crucified, that's the revelation of God's glory. Now, when you see this, when
you see that Christ is all, when you understand that the glory
of God is central, That radically changes everything in a church,
in a denomination, in a preacher, in an individual. It changes
your message. And if a man's message is changed,
really, it changes your methods. We don't do things like any other
church around. That's by design. That's not
accidental. That's intentional. We don't
do the things other churches do we don't engage in the things
they engage in and we're not going to start We're not going
to start because we believe another god We worship another god. We have another message to declare
It alters all your methods and it alters your music in this
place. We uh, we sing with determination
hymns of praise to god that have for their central message, not
our feelings, not our experiences, not our emotions, but rather
God's glory in the saving of sinners. It changes your mission. Our mission is not to save the
world. That's not our object. Our object
is the salvation of God's elect. So we don't compromise anything. There's no need to compromise
anything. God will save his elect. We don't need to compromise to
get God to do what God promised he would do by the preaching
of his word. It changes everything. With that as the background,
I want you to turn to Habakkuk chapter 2. Habakkuk chapter 2. And I've got a rather lengthy
title for my message tonight. The earth shall be filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. The earth shall be filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That's the declaration
of Habakkuk 2 verse 14. Let's start in verse 12. Back in chapter 2, verse 12. Woe to him that buildeth a town
with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity. Our text begins
with the pronouncement of certain wrath and condemnation upon those
who build a town with blood and establish a city with iniquity. Oh boy, God's going to get the
Adolf Hitler's and the Saddam Hussein's and the Muammar Gaddafi's
of this world. Well, yes he is, but that's not
what this text is talking about. Read the context. Everything
here is talking about something spiritual. Everything here is
talking about a spiritual conflict, a spiritual oppressor over a
spiritual people. God's Israel. Our text begins
with this condemnation. It is a condemnation of Babylon,
the oppressor of Israel. It is a condemnation of that
wicked city that sits upon seven hills described in the book of
Revelation, which is not a literal city at all. but rather is a
city representing the totality of the religion of this world.
Babylon, all free will works religion. I realize that most
of the earlier, that is earlier than our day, earlier commentators
who were conservative, especially those who were influenced by
the Puritans and those men that we would admire as good commentators,
Talk about Babylon representing Rome, and it does. Don't think
I'm bashful about denouncing Rome. Roman theology is horrid
anti-Christ theology. It is nothing but idolatry that
goes for Roman theology in every age. The Roman Catholic Church
is a church that's history is established with blood and with
iniquity. All you have to do is just read
a little bit of history to understand that. But the condemnation reaches
beyond Rome. It includes all freewill works
religion, religion established upon the blood of God's prophets
and upon the blood of God's saints who are oppressed, abused, persecuted,
and even martyred because of their faith. and established
upon the blood of the souls who are damned by its doctrine. I'm so glad my grandson started
going to church. That would make me glad. That
would make me glad. Oh boy, quit drinking and got
religion. I got more hope for the drunk. I'm as honest as I can be. I'm
as honest as I can be. The most damning thing in this
world is religion without the knowledge of God. Religion without
the knowledge of God. The most damning thing in this
world is religion without Christ. This city is called in scripture,
the great city Babylon, which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt. You think I'm tough on false
religion. Read it for yourself. God says spiritually the name
of this city is Sodom and Egypt. The two most vile, most reprehensible,
ungodly pictures of things in this world, Sodom and Egypt. That's the name God uses to identify
Babylon, the great whore, the religion of this age, all free
will works religion, built with blood, established upon iniquity. She's drunk with the blood of
God's prophets, the blood of God's saints, the blood of men's
souls, damned by her poison and her poison The poison by which
Babylon damns multitudes is free will works religion. The idea,
the notion that somehow, somewhere, somewhere along the line, your
will, not God's will, determines your salvation. That your work,
not the work of Christ, gives you good standing with God. Now
it doesn't matter where you put your will into the picture. It
doesn't matter where you put your works into the picture.
Whether you're talking about regeneration or justification
or sanctification or preservation or everlasting glory, wherever
you put yourself in, you push Christ out. There can be no mixture
of grace and works. Any addition to the person and
work of Christ is not just a little misunderstanding in doctrine.
It is another religion, and it is false religion. It is damning
to your soul. Horrible as the religion of Antichrist
is, be assured of this, however. It shall never prevail. We tend to get all bent out of
shape because we see things with our tiny little spectacles that
can only spot a little bit at a time. We look at things with
our natural understanding and somehow, even if you know the
scriptures so well, you can quote the scriptures frontwards and
backwards. When you look at things in time, you tend to look at
things just through your carnal reason and your natural understanding. You understand things just as
the newspaper reports them, not as God describes them. And we
get all bent out of shape and get upset as if somehow Maybe
God's purpose is in jeopardy. Maybe Satan's gonna win this
thing after all. Maybe Babylon's gonna prevail
and Zion fall into hell. Never! Listen to this, verse
13. Behold, is it not of the Lord
of hosts? Is it not of the Lord of hosts? Rex, I don't care how you read
that, what language you read it in, it still reads, is it
not of the Lord of hosts? What? What you just read about
in verse 12. This horrible city built on blood,
established with the blood of men, established by murder, the
murder of men's souls. Is it not of the Lord, of the
Lord of hosts, the Lord who is in charge of and controls everything
and everybody? Behold, is it not of the Lord
of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire and the
people shall weary themselves for very vanity? That's almost a direct quote
from Jeremiah chapter 51 and verse 58, where Jeremiah describes
the people of Babylon as the city is falling apart, laboring
to hold the city together. Here, Habakkuk speaks of that
very physical thing and puts it in a spiritual context. Satan
seeks more than in any other way. He seeks more than in any
other way. by the delusions of will-worship,
by the delusions of false religion, to overthrow God's purpose, the
salvation of His elect. The fiend of hell seeks in all
things to rob God of His glory. But blessed be the name of God,
Satan does not, never has, and never shall prevail. He often appears to prevail,
never has, doesn't now, and will not tomorrow. Satan, are you
listening to me? Satan never has his way. Satan never has his way. God always has his way. You can't have both. Well, Satan's
having his way over here. God says, I will do all my pleasure. Which is it? Well, Satan prevailed
over there. God says, I will do all my pleasure. I ask you again, which is it?
Satan never has his way. No matter how things look to
you, no matter how they feel in your day by day experience,
Satan never prevails. God always reigns, unruffled,
undisturbed, absolute sovereign over all the universe. And when
God gets done, the promise of our text is the earth shall be
filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea. Now, I've been studying this
for months, anxious for God to give me a message from it, and
I'm confident that he has. God help you to hear it. How
are we to understand these words? Are we to believe that even in
the midst of such base, darkness, and corruption as we see in the
world around us, God Almighty is actually performing His will
and accomplishing the salvation of His elect for the glory of
His name. Are we to believe that even in
the midst of all the idolatry and satanic will-worship religion
of this age, God Almighty is filling the earth with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Are we really
to believe that? Are we really to believe God's
revelation contrary to everything we see and hear and feel in the
world around us? We do with regard to other things,
don't we? You try to explain the formations
of those various things that you see in caves
hanging down from the roof of a cave to somebody who has some
scientific knowledge, some scientific knowledge of the marvelous, mysterious
formation of the earth over a period of millions and millions of years
and what it took to form those things. And you try to tell them,
I believe God created that. I believe God created the heavens
and the earth. Oh, you live with your head stuck
in the sand. Yeah. Why? You fly against all
scientific knowledge. Let's make a scientific theory
since it changes every day. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And it
doesn't matter to me whether I can explain that to folks or
not. That's insignificant. It doesn't even matter to me
whether I can satisfy my own curiosity and explain those things. Doesn't matter a bit. I believe
what God says running in the face of all outward evidence. I like what Donnie Bell said
years ago. Somebody asked him, said, you don't believe that
the whale swallowed Jonah, do you? He said, if the Bible said
Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe it. What? How can you do that? We believe this to be God's Word.
And God's Word is full of things that contradict logic, as far
as men understand it, and science, as far as men know it, and contradict
your day-by-day experience. Full of things. shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the triune God. Now that statement is found only
one other time in all the book of God. Turn back to Isaiah chapter
11. Isaiah chapter 11. Here the prophet
Isaiah is talking to us about exactly the same thing that Habakkuk's
describing. Only Isaiah gives us a far greater
detail and far greater understanding in what's going on Isaiah chapter
11 verse 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain
Now we're gonna read this chapter in a minute God says all the
evil that men do all the corruption that pops out of hell all the
religion that men invent and all the wickedness men perform
they shall not hurt nor destroy and all my holy mountain for
the earth shall be full the earth shall be full everything in the
earth Everything in the earth the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord half full as full as the sea is with water
as Full as the waters cover the sea Now let's look at this 11th
chapter of Isaiah's prophecy together. I I remind you he's
telling us exactly the same thing that Habakkuk describes in Habakkuk
chapters 1 and 2. He's talking about Babylon being
the rod of the Lord by which the Lord would chastise his people. But the Babylonians enjoy the
chastisement. The Babylonians delight to take
the rod against God's people, not knowing they are but God's
rod in God's hand by which God purges his people. They would
purge and destroy all the city of Israel and of Zion. In chapter
10, the prophet of God predicted the complete reign of the Assyrians.
These Assyrians whom God raised up to be a rod in his hand to
chasten and afflict and purge his church. But Isaiah also promised
in that 10th chapter that God would deliver his remnant. He
would save his elect. He promised to gather his elect
to himself and take away the yoke of the oppressor. That temporal
deliverance of the church from the Assyrians was intended by
God to be a picture and a prophecy of the deliverance of our souls
by Christ Jesus the Lord. And then in chapter 11, Isaiah
moves from the temporal to the spiritual. The entire chapter
speaks of Christ It is altogether a prophecy about the coming of
the Messiah, the Prince. It describes both the character
of Christ as the Messiah, our Savior and King, and the blessedness
of his influence, his grace upon men. All right, Isaiah is then
talking to us about God's salvation, God's deliverance of his people.
He's not talking about things are going to happen in some earthly
kingdom. You need to get over the notion.
You need to get over the notion. It's so hard to put out of your
mind the stuff you hear all the time about prophecy. Get out
of the notion get just get out of your head the idea that somehow
God's going to come in the second coming of Christ and the Lord
Jesus is going to sit on the throne over there in Palestine
in Jerusalem and he's going to he's going to make the Jews rulers
of all the world and they're going to be a thousand-year millennial
age in which you know, things just gonna be hunky-dory and
then after that they're gonna be another second coming of Christ
and No, no, no, no. The scriptures never imply such
a thing. The kingdom that's spoken of
here and spoken of in the prophecies is the church of the Lord God,
which will culminate finally in God making all things new
and giving us a new heavens and a new earth. But this kingdom
is the church into which you're born, not by flesh, but by the
spirit. That is that which our Lord Jesus
described in Nicodemus in John, chapter three, when he said,
You can't see the kingdom of heaven unless you're born again.
You can't enter into this kingdom except you'd be born again. The
only way into God's kingdom is not by being born a child of
Abraham physically, but by being born again a child of Abraham
spiritually, one of Abraham's spiritual seed. So the kingdom
he's speaking of here is a spiritual kingdom. And the first thing
he does is tell us about our Lord's coming in his glorious
mercy and grace in his first advent. Let's look at just four
or five things in these first nine verses of Isaiah 11. First,
he describes the coming of Christ, the ascent of God's Messiah in
this world as a man. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse. and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. The prophet has already told
us that the Lord Jesus is God, the son who sent by God into
this world, who comes into this world by means of the incarnation
through the womb of a virgin. Here, Isaiah is describing our
Lord's earthly parentage and his ascent from among men. The
Messiah is here described as that one who comes necessarily
from David's roots, from the house of David, as Paul speaks
in Romans chapter one. But here the Lord tells us of
our Lord's humiliation. He tells us that the Lord Jesus
is to come as a stem. A stem who is the direct descendant
of David, but here he's spoken of as one who comes from Jesse. Who knew who Jesse was? Everybody
knows David's name. Who knows anything about Jesse?
David's father. Jesse was insignificant. Jesse
was a nobody. Jesse was somebody you wouldn't
expect anything from. God chose David out of the house
of David. Or out of the house of Jesse.
And our Lord Jesus has said here to come just that way. Come from
an insignificant house. one of the sons of Jesse. David, you'll remember, was ridiculed
as the son of Jesse. Who are you, you son of Jesse? Who are you to pretend to rule
over us, to pretend to be mightier than we are? Christ Jesus is
here called a rod and a branch, representing weakness, something
small, a tender stem, a twig, a sprig that might easily be
broken and destroyed. He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. Our Lord Jesus
came into this world in real humility. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. He didn't come here as a man
that you could look at and say, now, boy, that's him. That's
him. Look at, you see these idolatrous
pictures. Sadly, you see them in Baptist
churches, too. Wouldn't happen just a short while back, but
now Baptists are as idolatrous as anybody else. Pictures of
supposed to be the Virgin Mary with her baby, and both of them
got halos over their heads. Isn't that sweet-looking? Well,
if he'd had a halo over his head, you'd go, that was him. That's
an unusual baby. Never saw one with a halo over
its head before. But he didn't come that way. He came in humiliation. So that anybody seeing him would
never imagine this is he. Not by natural reason. Not by carnal understanding.
He comes among the lowliest of men as the lowest of men. The
Lord Jesus came here as one who is born of the carpenter. He had Joseph the carpenter for
his father, his adopted father. Joseph and Mary were the heirs
of the house of David. Heirs of the house of David.
But there was nothing to inherit. They were poor as Job's turkey.
There was nothing to inherit. They didn't have a thing. And
our Lord Jesus is born in the house of the carpenter of the
Virgin Mary. Joseph and Mary in their utter
poverty. The Lord Jesus sends his son
into the world in their house. He sends him in these circumstances
to teach us some important things. The wealth and the honor of this
world are contemptible to God and they ought to be to me. Contemptible. They are beneficial
only as instruments to be used for God's glory. That's all. That's all. Whatever
God puts in your hands, that's only use for it. His kingdom
is not of this world. It's not of this world. Wealth
and honor got nothing to do with God's kingdom. Oh, you see that? I've referred already many times
to the Pope and the Church of Rome. Oh, see the pomp and the
pageantry and the riches. How could all that be evil? How
can you say God's not blessing that? I wouldn't think of it.
God did. God did. The Lord Jesus didn't
come into this world like he didn't send his disciples out
wearing robes and crowns and gorgeous array. Oh, no, no, no. God's kingdom got nothing to
do with those things. Earthly power and riches have nothing
to do with success in God's cause nothing to do with it people
Establish various things in this world by which they're going
to do God's work They establish a college or they'll establish
a denomination or they'll establish a missionary board and when they
get it established Mark, they got to keep it running They got
to keep it running And after a while, it doesn't matter how
well intended it may have been in the beginning. After a while,
folks who get in there don't have those same intentions. But
we've got this thing going. We can't let it shut down. What
are you going to do? Well, people won't tolerate what
we established to do. We can fudge a little bit. It
won't make any difference. And first thing you know, you've
trimmed off everything concerning the gospel and God's glory that's
of any significance. I've seen it happen with church
after church after church. I've seen it happen with preacher
after preacher after preacher in my brief lifetime. I'm not
talking about what things I read in history. I'm talking about
things I have seen with these eyes and experienced to the pain
of my own heart. But what do you do? What do you
do? We understand. that God's cause
doesn't depend on anything, nothing. Everything depends on God's cause.
You got that? But brother Don, what are you
going to do if this happens or that happens? I'm going to do
exactly what I've been doing. I will preach the gospel. But you got to have
subscribers, as they used to call them. You've got to have
supporters. I recall reading years ago when
I was 18, 19 years old, John Gill had published, I was about
to publish a tract, back in those days they called small books
tracts, on believer's baptism. And one of his wealthier supporters
said to him, you will certainly lose subscriptions if you do
this. And Gill's response was, I'm
not concerned about man's honoring me. I'm concerned about me honoring
God. That's all that matters. That's
all that matters. All right, here's the second thing. Look
at verses 2 and 3 in Isaiah 11. Isaiah describes the anointing
of the Lord Jesus as our prophet, priest, and king. In the 10th
chapter, we're told that God's elect Those sorely oppressed
and abused and persecuted by our enemies shall be delivered
in verse 27 of chapter 10 because of the anointing. The anointing
is talking about our Lord's anointing. Look here in chapter 11 verse
2. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Messiah,
the Christ. Rest upon him as the spirit of
wisdom. and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears. In the Old Testament, no prophet,
no priest, no king in Israel could perform his work as prophet,
priest, or king apart from a distinct act of anointing. And our Lord
Jesus Christ is that one upon whom God sent the anointing. He poured out his Spirit without
measure upon him. The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. Christ Jesus is the one who has
the anointing. And the anointing, we're told
in the Psalms, you remember how the Psalms speaks of the anointing
on Aaron's head, flowing down his beard, over all of his robes? So Christ Jesus has the anointing
upon him and that same spirit with which he was anointed, he
breathes upon his disciples and we are anointed. So that we too
have the unction of the Holy One. When our Lord began his
public ministry, he proclaimed himself as the Messiah saying,
the spirit of the Lord is upon me and quoted from Isaiah 61. It was and is by the special
anointing and unction of God's spirit that Christ executed his
judgment in his kingdom. The father judges no man, he
said, but has committed all judgment to the son. and hath given him
authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of
man." Well, did the man, Christ Jesus, need this anointing? Yes. As man, as the Messiah,
as God's prophet, as our king, as our priest, he must have this
anointing. And so our Lord Jesus, we're
told, grew in wisdom and in stature before God and men. So that all things he in his
life was like us, all things sin alone accepted. He, by the Spirit of God, was
driven into the wilderness. He, by the Spirit of God, was
helped and sustained in his life and his manhood in this world,
just as you and I are. He was given the spirit of wisdom
and understanding of counseling, might of knowledge and the fear
of the Lord. And we receive that same spirit
from him so that he orders our steps and directs our paths in
this world and gives us understanding in all things. Look at Isaiah
11 and verse three. and shall make him of quick understanding
in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after
the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears. How much more you and I must
seek to be ruled of God's Spirit. Paul tells us to walk in the
Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is neither more nor less than
believing the Son of God. It is living by faith in Jesus
Christ. And then it says, Be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit. Filled with the Spirit. always
under the control of God's Spirit. Oh God, make me thus to be filled. Oh God, make me thus to be filled. Utterly intoxicated with the
Spirit. That doesn't mean somebody slapping
you on the face and you falling out and acting like some kind
of a fool and rolling along on the floor. That doesn't mean
throwing hymn books and jumping church pews and shouting hallelujah.
That's all just a fleshly show. Just a fleshly show. I recall when I was in Bible
college, I had a fellow sitting behind me who We'd like to make
such a show. We kind of had a Pentecostal
background. And they'd call out a hymn. I may have told you this
the other day. They'd call out a hymn, let's say and sing number
118. And before they even announced
the title of the song, amen, hallelujah, bless God, praise
the Lord. And his name happened to be Don.
I turned around and looked at him one day. I said, Don, would you shut up
so I can hear? And somebody said to me, oh,
Brother Don, what if the spirit of God move in him? How do you
know that wasn't a God spirit? I said, he shut up. You don't think I'm so powerful
I could stop God from doing something to you. Oh no, that's just flesh. It's just showing the flesh.
Oh yeah, you don't dare mock that. I wouldn't think of it
if I thought God were anywhere near it. No, no. What is to be
filled with the spirit? To be filled with the spirit
is to be controlled by God's spirit. so that your thoughts
and your deeds and your words are directed by the spirit of
God. That's something more than waving
your hands and shouting hallelujah. That's called being filled with
the spirit. All right, look at verse four. Here, the prophet
describes our Lord's government of the universe That one to whom
God has given the reins and government over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as the father has given him.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, the poor in
spirit. And reprove with equity for the
meek of the earth. Blessed are the meek, for he
shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle, the strength of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle,
the strength of his reins. Our Lord judges nothing according
to appearance. His judgment is always righteous
and wise, equitable and prudent. In the administration of the
affairs of providence and grace, Even in wrath, the Lord Jesus
always does right. He reproves us for sin, but he
never ceases to be our advocate. He reproves us in righteousness,
but always gracious to the meek and to the poor, and he shall
smite the earth. With the rod of his mouth, the
word of God, with the breath of his lips, by the spirit of
God, he will slay them in mercy to save them. or he will slay
them in wrath to punish them. But in all things, he's righteous
and he's faithful. And here's the fourth thing.
Verses six through nine, the prophet describes the effects
and the results of the amazing operations of God's grace upon
the hearts and lives of chosen redeemed centers. The wolf also
shall dwell with the lamb And the leopard shall lie down with
the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fat man together. And a little child shall lead
them. And the cow and the bear shall feed. And their young ones
shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw
like the ox. And the sucking child shall play
on the hole of an asp. And the weaned child shall put
his hand on the cockatrice dead. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters covers the sea. What do you have here? What do
you have here? You have a picture, a scene of
peace beyond imagination. peace beyond imagination. Peace and tranquility pictured
by animals that are naturally averse to one another, naturally
one the predator of the other, naturally fearful of one another. And here they They're not just in the same
zoo. They're in the same, not even in the same cage. They're
laid out by the same open pond in the luscious field, side by
side, completely at peace. No trembling. Lion raises his
head, roars, and the lamb's still laying on his shoulder. What's it talking about? Christ
is our peace. And you who were enemies, not
just to God, but to one another by nature. He now has made one
new man and he broken down the middle wall of partition that
separates us so that in Christ, in Christ, in the church of God,
this is the dwelling place of peace. Those who outside Christ
might murder one another. Live together in Christ in love
and harmony and peace. peace. Watch the picture. The wolf no longer threatens
the lamb, and the lamb no longer fears the wolf. Behold, he prayeth. The church of God said concerning
Saul of Tarsus, this lion who had sought to destroy them, behold,
he prayeth. God's made him one of us. Behold, he prayeth. What a radical
change grace makes in the hearts and lives of men. They lie down
together in the church of God and a little child leads them. Little child. Who would expect the most insignificant,
the most unlikely, the weakest, in all the household to lead
the whole family. And here I am, a little child
to lead them, feeding on the green pastures of the gospel.
And the sucking child, the newborn babe in God's kingdom, is not and never shall be harmed
by the serpent. Satan goes about Stalking up
and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. He's a roaring
lion who would destroy you if he could. Cody, if you're God's, he'll
never harm you. He'll never harm you. Never harm
you. What blessed peace. I've got to hurry and quit. I'll
come to this another time. Verse 9 speaks about the great
triumph of Christ over this world by the gospel. For the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. That's exactly what Habakkuk
said, only one word difference. Habakkuk said the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea. The gospel shall be dispersed
among all nations so that everywhere human beings live, the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is spread abroad. Never, until just recent years,
has there been any means by which we could reasonably say, this
shall be accomplished. And now, it's being accomplished. This message right here, this
message right here, before the sun sets tomorrow night, will
have been heard in all the four corners of the world. Imagine that. Just imagine that. Imagine that. And God thereby
calls out his elect and builds his kingdom. By the preaching
of the gospel, ultimately Babylon shall fall. The two witnesses
after three and a half days resurrected in the streets and everybody's
astonished. God sends life again to his church and the word goes
into all the world and Babylon falls. The gospel of Christ shall
be triumphant. May God give us grace then to
publish the glory. Publish everywhere the glory.
The glory of God. That's the center. That's the
center. The glory of God in the saving
of sinners by Jesus Christ, our Savior. God Almighty sent his
son into the world to save sinners, his people, from their sins by
the sacrifice of himself. And he sent us to publish this
good news. It's done. It's done. It's done for every sinner who
believes on the son of God. Believe him and publish with
us the word of his grace. Amen.