It's good to be here with you.
You'll have to excuse my coughing. My asthma has just jumped up
on me Friday, so I'm really fighting this asthma situation. So if
I start coughing, it's not contagious. So you don't have to worry about
catching it. You're not going to catch it. Turn to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. I'm going to try to preach to
you this morning with a cough drop in my mouth. I've never
done that before. So we'll see how that goes. I may have to
take it out and lay it aside here. I titled this message, To This
Man Will I Look. To this man will I look. That means have regard to, favor,
To this man will I favor, to this man will I have respect.
Let me read the two verses here. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that you build unto me? Where is the house that you can
build to me? And where is the place of my
rest? Where is it? For all those things
hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith
the Lord. But to this man will I look,
show favor, regard, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth, trembleth at my word, stands in awe at
my word. Now, the Lord makes it very clear
in these verses that he does not dwell in temples made with
hands. No matter how impressive the
temple is, no matter how impressive the building is, God said, I
don't dwell in those things. That's not where I dwell. He
makes it very clear. He's not impressed with our buildings. He's not impressed with wood,
hay, and stubble. That's not what he's impressed
with. He's not impressed with buildings, even if you make them
of pure gold. God is, he says, I'm not impressed
with those, not impressed with them. I want you to think about
this. God can only find pleasure And
that which has the nature of God in it. Wood, hay and stubble
does not have the nature of God in it. But those born of God
are partakers of the divine nature. And therefore God can have pleasure
in this man. In this man. Now there was a
time when the tabernacle and the temple that Solomon built
represented, they represented God's presence. They were symbols
of God's presence. Now you know that tent that followed
them around in the wilderness that they took around with them,
that tabernacle, could not contain God. Even the temple that Solomon
built could not contain God Almighty. It could not contain God. Those things were just symbols.
They were kindergarten You know, when I was in school, and that's
been a few years ago, back, they didn't even have kindergarten
when I was in school. I'm not that old, but I am old enough
to where they didn't have kindergarten, they had first grade. But I remember
this, I remember taking a book and see, spot, run. You didn't
have many words, you had a lot of pictures. You had big pictures,
a lot of pictures, few words. As I got older, the pictures
went more away, and I began to read more. Well, these were just
symbols, the tabernacle in the wilderness, the temple that Solomon,
but they were just symbols. They were symbols of God's word
or God's presence. That's all they were. Solomon
said this. Will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven
and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. Heavens, the heaven
of heavens cannot contain God. How much less this house that
I have built. It's just a symbol. That's all
it is. It's just a symbol. I want you to notice also here
that God is the one speaking. He's the one speaking. And when
God speaks, when we take His Word and we preach, when He speaks
through His Word, my soul, listen. Listen. The Lord speaks. Listen. And He's given us a revelation
of His greatness. and of the character of those
in whom he dwells. They've given us a revelation
here. My what condescension that God
Almighty would humble himself to behold the things of this
earth. That God Almighty would even
speak to worms like us. Thou were Jacob and yet God loved
Jacob. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Look over in Psalm 113. Psalm
113. Psalm 113 and verse 6. Well, let me read verse 5. Who
is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high? Who humbleth
himself to behold the things that are in heaven and that are
in earth? Who is like him? He humbles himself
to behold and give attention to the things that are on this
earth. Man. What is man that thou art
mindful of him? And when he speaks, He makes
it very clear that He is not worshipped with men's hands. That's what He says over there
in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 17. He's not worshipped
with men's hands as though He needed anything. God needs nothing. You and I need everything. We
are the ones who stand in need constantly. But God needs nothing. He needs nothing. You know, the
disciples one time, they pointed out to the Lord, The beauty of
that temple. They said, look at this temple,
how impressive it is. The Lord said, there's going
to come a time when there's not going to be one stone left upon
another. This temple is going to be brought
down. It's nothing. It's not the buildings or nothing
to God or nothing. How can a mortal man? How can
a man of clay build a house fit for God to dwell in? How could you do that? If he
tries, if a man tries to build a house thinking that God's going
to dwell in that house, you know what he displays? He's displaying
his low thoughts of God and his high thoughts of himself. That
I could build such a house that God would be impressed with.
That I could build such a house that God would be pleased to
live in, dwell in. That's not going to happen. That's
not going to happen. It's only idolatry. It is only
idolatry to build temples, and keep holy days, and feast, and
think that God's going to be impressed. That God's going to
be impressed. Our Lord said this in John chapter
4. The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the father seeketh such to
worship him. God is spirit. The scripture
says he's not a spirit. He is spirit. He is pure spirit. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The apostle
Paul said, we are the circumcision who worship God in spirit and
have no confidence in this flesh. no confidence in this flesh whatsoever.
How can an infinite God dwell in such man-made objects? He
can't and He's not. He's not going to do that. Now
notice here, God reveals His immenseness. He says, Heaven,
now listen, He says, Heaven is my throne. Heaven All that, that
comprehends. He said, that's my throne. Heaven
is my throne. Heaven's not his house. It's
his throne. He sits upon it with great ease
and he rules the earth and sky. He sits upon the heavens. He
sits, scripture says, upon the circuits of the earth and he
rules over all. He rules over all. Who can measure
the heaven of heavens? Scientists try. They try to make
more powerful telescopes and they try to measure. They can't
measure. They can't find the end of it. Every time they think
they've measured something, they find something bigger. God said,
that's my throne. That's my throne. It's his throne
of sovereignty. He rules over all. It's his throne
of righteousness. It's his throne of grace. It's
his throne of judgment. He said heaven is my throne. I sit upon it. Consider the immenseness
of God that we worship. The one we worship, consider
his greatness. We do not worship a small God.
We do not worship A God who could be measured. He's infinite in
every way. God Almighty is infinite in every
way. Wisdom, knowledge, holiness. Whatever attribute you can think
of that's revealed in the scriptures, not that you can think of, but
one that's revealed in the scriptures, it's infinite. You can't measure
it. You cannot put a measure on it.
And listen, and the earth that we think so much of, this earth
that we put so much time in and effort in, it's my footstool. Oh, he said, that's my footstool.
You know, I have a rocking chair at the house with a footstool.
It's only about yay big. He said, earth is my footstool.
How dare men. to take God's footstool and try
to build Him a house. That's why I said, how dare men
take my footstool and then think they can build me a house out
of it? We think too humanly of God. Our thoughts of God are
just too human. Just too human. It's my footstool. And if you were going to build
me a house, where would you build it? Where would you build the
house? You see the greatness of God
here? The immenseness of God? Now, verse 2 tells us where He
dwells and the man to whom He looks. He said, to this man will
I look. But to this man, He says, will
I look. Even to him that is poor and
of a contrite, that means humble. And it's humble because it's
broken. broken, a contrite spirit. And he trembles at my word, stands
in awe at my word. Our Lord said this in John 14,
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, if he
love me, he will keep my words. He will follow my words. He will
keep my words. I tell you what, the word of
God is what we live by. Man shall not live by bread alone, but
what? By every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. My word. If he loves me, he'll keep my
words and my father will love him. And we will come. We will come unto him and make
our abode with him. Not a building. Not a house made
of wood, brick, stone. No, with Him. God dwells in you. God dwells in His people. That's
where you are the house of God. The house of God came together
this morning. God dwells in you. You who believe. Can you imagine? Have you ever sat down and tried
to meditate upon that? Have you ever really sat down
and got alone by yourself and thought about God dwells in me?
He said you're the temple of God. He said the spirit of God
dwells in you. You're the temple of God. To
imagine that, that God dwells in me. It's hard to comprehend,
isn't it? If we didn't have his word on
it, we'd never believe it. He dwells in me. Christ said
we will come. and make our abode. Stay. Stay with Him. God is Spirit and He dwells in
temples made up of spiritual men and women. I said God takes pleasure only
in that which has the nature of God in it. Now listen, that
which is born of the Spirit is what? Spirit. He didn't just
say it's just spiritual. He said it's spirit. And that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. And God dwells in that
man or that woman. God dwells in him. He dwells
in the hearts of men and women created by the Holy Spirit. That's
the hearts he dwells in. And he describes the character
here of those whom he dwells in, that broken heart and that
contrite spirit. And we know this We know this
we know this by the Word of God and we know this by experience.
This is a work of grace It is absolutely a work of grace from
beginning to end He says poor Poor It takes God It takes God
Almighty to make a man poor in spirit I can make myself poor in purse
by my stupidity. I mean, or whatever, I can do
that. But it takes God to make me poor
in spirit. It takes God to break me. I've not met too many people
that have been broken. I mean broken, humbled by the
grace of God, broken by the Spirit of God over sin. I've not met
too many of them. You just don't meet too many
of them. And he says here, this man is poor. He's poor in spirit. He has no merit before God. And
listen, he knows it. It's not just Bible language.
We haven't just learned Bible language and we didn't learn
how to talk. No, he knows he's poor in spirit and he knows that
he has no merit whatsoever before God. He has no righteousness
before God. He knows that. He knows it by
the Word of God, and he knows it by the Spirit of God. He's
been awakened. He's been given life, and he
realizes, I don't have anything. I have nothing to bring before
God. I am nothing, no nothing, going nowhere. Now that's offensive. That is absolutely offensive
to men and women who've not been born of God. Tell them they're
poor in spirit and to describe to them, preach to them, as the
Bible reveals who and what we are, that's offensive. But not to the sinner. Not to
the one who's been broken. You know, when the Lord called
that woman a dog, it did not offend her, did it? She said,
truth, Lord. That's right, I'm your dog. I'm
a dog alright, but I'm your dog. You can't offend a sinner. You
just cannot offend a sinner. You show me someone easily offended,
and I'll show you someone who thinks way too much of themselves.
Is way too high of themselves. A person who is truly Poor has
nothing, is nothing, and is totally dependent on someone else. Totally dependent on someone
else. That man that sat at the pool
of Bethesda, and the Lord came up to him, and he asked him about
being healed, and he said, I have no man when the water is stirred. I have no man to take me down
and put me in the water. I don't have a friend. I have
no one. Now, brother, that's poor. When you have no one that can
help you, that's poor. That's poor. And that's our case. I have no one to help me. Lord,
if you don't help me, I have no one else that can do it. No
one else that can do it. And when God makes a sinner to
truly see himself as he is, as he is, then and then only is
he poor in spirit. Until then, we'll make excuses. We'll not see it. We'll have
every excuse on the sun. But we'll not see our poverty
of spirit until the Lord brings us. Brings us in the dust. Lays us in the dust. And makes
us to see you don't have anything. I don't care how much you may
own financially, materially. I don't care how intellectual
you may be. Without me, you're nothing. Without me, you're absolutely
nothing. You know, the only positive,
the only positive about a sinner is Christ. He's my only positive. Everything else about me is absolutely
negative. That's the truth. That is the truth. He's the only
positive about it. You take him away and it's all
negative. It's all negative. This man sees himself to be the
lowest thing on God's earth. Paul said, this is a Pharisee. This is a man who used to be
a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He said, Oh, wretched man that
I am. I'm the least of this. I'm the
least of the saints. If everyone could be brought
to this place, least of the saints, you won't have no trouble in
the church. You won't have no trouble. And if everyone in the
house is least, you won't have any trouble. That's why Paul,
he said, I'm the least of all the apostles, least of the saints,
old wretched man that I am. Well, that's a far cry from what
he used to say. Big difference, big difference. This kind of sight of oneself
will keep down pride. It'll keep down arrogance. It'll
keep down gossip. It'll keep down backbiting. It'll
keep down if God gives us that poverty of spirit. He said, this man, this man,
I'll look to because this man is of God. This man is a work
of God. He's a work of God. God does
not look to men of wealth. He does not look to men of influence.
He does not look to men of rank. We are impressed with those things.
We are impressed with men of wealth. We are impressed with
buildings and stuff like that. I mean, we are impressed with
them, but God's not. He's not impressed with that
at all. To this man will I look. Not the man who has been successful,
but the man who is nothing. Like that publican, Lord be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's the man I look to. I said, I look even to this man.
He's poor in spirit. I know this. I know that people
have learned the language of scripture and they claim to be
poor, but in conduct and in conversation, you can tell it. You can tell
it's not poor. It's proud and boasting. That
Pharisee, he would claim to be poor in spirit. He claimed to
be in need of God. He would claim to be in need
of God, but no, I think I'm not like other men. It takes God to make a man poor
in spirit and humble. But there are a few. There are a few that have truly
tasted that the Lord is good. They've tasted that the Lord
is good, and it's been a humbling experience. It has been a humbling
experience to taste that the Lord is good. Like that woman
with the issue of blood, she tasted it. That woman who ate the crumbs
from the master's table, she tasted it. That publican, he
tasted it. Some of you have tasted it. You've
tasted it. The Lord is good. Here's another
mark. Here's another mark of those
whom the Lord looks to and dwells in. And of a contrite spirit. Humble. Humble spirit. Meek and quiet spirit. That word
contrite means penitent, repentant. Spirit. You know, it's one thing
to claim to be poor in spirit and have a contrite spirit. It's
another thing to actually possess it. It's another thing to truly
possess it, a spirit of repentance. Now, this poor, contrite spirit
feels as if he would be the last person on earth that God would
save. You mean God would save me? Would God have mercy on me? Would God save me? He sees and
feels his wretchedness before God. Yet this is the only one. This is the only one that the
Lord says he looks to. This is the only one he says
he looks to. This one who's poor in spirit and in contrite. God said, this is the one I look
to. You know, one of the very evidences, one of the very evidences
of God's presence in a man, in a man or woman,
one of the very evidences of it is this poverty of spirit. That's one of the very evidences
of it, of God's presence. This humble spirit, this poverty
of spirit. That's good evidence God's there.
That's a good evidence that God dwells in you. Good evidence. And when a truly poor person
is in the presence of someone great, they feel even more of
their poverty. Have you ever been in the presence
of someone who's been just filthy rich and have a power You just
feel more of your poverty, don't you? You feel more of that poverty
by their presence. God makes his gracious presence
known in the hearts of his people by his spirit. The scripture
says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, by the Holy Spirit. His spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we are the sons of God. And it is a humbling
revelation. It is a humbling revelation.
He enables us to taste and see that the Lord is gracious. And this makes us see our poverty
and contrition of spirit even more by His presence. By His
presence. It's humbling. When He makes
His presence known, He makes it known that you're mine. You're
mine and I'm yours, like we read back in the study. I tell you
what it causes is poverty of spirit, humbleness, meekness. It'll cause that. It'll cause
a broken heart. How could I sin against one so
good to me? Hmm. How could I do against such
a one who's been so good to me. The scripture says, it is the
goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance. It's not hell, fire, and brimstone. It's God's goodness to me. When he enables a sinner to look
upon him whom he's pierced, when he's able to look upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and see what God has done for him in Christ, That's
humbling. When he sees what it took to
save him. When I look at Calvary, I see
what it has taken to save me from my sins. That's a humbling
experience. What does Calvary say about me?
That the Son of God would have to die. That He would have to
suffer. That He would have to endure
such a hell. What does that say about me?
wretched man that I am." That's what it says about me. That's what it says. And he says
here, and he trembles, he trembles, he trembleth at my word. Make much of the word of God.
He trembleth at my word. He doesn't put a question mark
on my word. We do not read the Word of God
to debate over it. We read the Word of God to be
guided and directed and bow to it. He stands in awe at my Word. He believes my Word. He believes
my Word. That's why He trembles. He believes
my Word of judgment. Noah. It says that Noah moved with
fear. God told him to build an ark. He's going to bring judgment.
He's going to flood the earth. He's going to flood this world.
He's going to destroy all flesh. And it says that Noah moved with
fear and built an ark. He believed God's word of judgment.
And he believes my word of grace. He believes the gospel. He believes
the gospel of grace. He believes how God saves sinners.
He believes the gospel of substitution, Christ dying in my place, Christ
taking my place. Only reason I'm going to stand
before God accepted is because Christ put away my sins. His
blood is the only thing that can wash away sin. You can cry
about them all you want. Not one tear will put them away.
We do weep over them, but it doesn't put them away. Only the
blood puts away sin. He believes my word, my word
of judgment, my word of grace. He believes the gospel. He submits
to it. And he trembles at my word. He trembles at it. He does not take my word lightly. But he trembles at my word. I don't like myself, I don't
know, I just sit down and say, well, I just need to read something
or time to read something. But I pray that the Lord guide
me in my reading. Because this is
not just another book. This is not just another book
to read. There are millions upon millions
of books out there to read. But this one, this one is the
word of God Almighty to His children, to His church. And to this man
will I look." This man. This man will I look? This is
where I dwell? This is the place, listen, this
is the place of my rest. Where are you going to build me a place
to rest or to dwell? You're not going to build it.
He is. You and I are not building a place for God to rest. He's
building it. You are the temple of God. He dwells in His people. You are the house of God. Not
made up of bricks and stone and mortal, but made up by the Spirit
of God. Made up by His Spirit. This man, this is the man I look
to. This is the man I favor. That
man who is poor in spirit and contrite. Broken heart and contrite
spirit. That's the one I look to. That's
where God dwells. That's where God dwells. All
right, Dwight.