In Isaiah chapter 7, 8, and 9, we have three prophetic chapters. In these three chapters, we have
a description of the incarnation and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in these chapters, the Lord
God declares the virgin birth of our Redeemer, his purpose
in sending his son into the world in human flesh, and that which
is the sure result of our Lord's incarnation. In chapter 7, verse
14, we have an inspired declaration of the incarnation and virgin
birth. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. He said, ask a sign. I said,
no, we won't. He said, well, I'll give it anyway.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. and shall call
his name Immanuel, God with us. Look at the first three verses
of chapter eight. Here is a picture of Immanuel. Moreover, the Lord
said unto me, take thee a great roll and write it in it with
a man's pen concerning Meher Shalahashbaz. And I took unto
me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah
the son of Jebuchiah. And I went in unto the prophetess,
and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, call
his name, Meher Shalahashbaz. Now this son who was born to
Isaiah and the prophetess, Now notice she is called a prophetess,
not because she prophesied, but because she was married to the
prophet. I went in unto the prophetess,
he said, and the child she bore certainly became a prophecy,
a prophecy of our Redeemer. Mayor Shalahashbaz typified our
Savior, the promised Emmanuel, the promised God-man, our Deliverer. means hastening to the prey or
speedy to the spoil. That's precisely what our savior
Emmanuel does. He is the lion of the tribe of
Judah who came forth into this world in human flesh, hastening
to the prey and speedy to the spoil. Of him, the psalmist saying,
thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. Robert
Hawker observed on this prophecy. The prophet's son never heard
himself called by this name, Meir Shalahashvaz, but it served
to remind every faithful Israelite that heard it of the Lord's hastening
to his purpose of redemption. And though the captivity of Babylon
lay between, Yet the glorious redemption from sin, death, hell,
and the grave by the Lord Jesus is seen beyond it. And thus faithful
men were taken to bear witness of this thing and record it.
Now, here is the sure result of our Savior's incarnation.
Look at verse eight. The Lord Jesus is speaking. If
you care to compare Hebrews chapter two, you will find this passage
to be spoken of our savior when he presents all his own before
the presence of God almighty in resurrection glory with exceeding
joy. Behold, I and the children whom
the Lord has given me. You see that Isaiah 8, 18, behold,
I and the children whom the Lord has given me. are for signs and
for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth
in Mount Zion. Brother Jim read in the back,
she shall bring forth the son and thou shall call his name
Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. This one who
is a child born in a son given, bearing all government on his
shoulders, as the prophet declared in Isaiah 9. This one now presents
all his ransomed, faultless before the presence of his glory, and
not one is lost, because his name is Emmanuel, God with us,
Meher Shalahashbaz. Hastening, hastening to the prey,
speedy to the spoil. He is the lion of the tribe of
Judah who always prevails. Now in verse 13 of chapter eight,
we read this. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself
and let him be your fear and let him be your dream. Hold your
hands here and turn to the book of first Peter. What on earth does this mean?
Let him be your fear. Let him be your dream. Does it
sanctify God for us to be afraid of him? That's not what he's
saying. The Lord of hosts is Christ, our Emmanuel, God with
us, the Lord of the armies of heaven above and all the armies
of men below, the armies of angels and the armies of men. He is
the true Jehovah. And he is sanctified by us when
we declare him to be and worship him as The Lord over all, God
blessed forever, ascribing to him all holiness and ascribing
our holiness to him, looking to him and him alone for that
holiness. Let him be your fear and let
him be your dread simply means this. Sanctify the Lord of hosts,
the God of glory. He who is God alone by trusting
him and him alone as God, your savior. Let's see if that's what
the scripture says. First Peter chapter three, verse
15. But sanctify the Lord. Sanctify
the Lord in your hearts. And be ready always to give answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, a conscience
purged from dead works, a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Jesus
Christ. All right, back here in Isaiah eight. What was God's
purpose in all this? Why did God send his son? into this world in human flesh
to live in righteousness and die as our substitute in obedience
to him as Jehovah's righteous servant. Of course, many answers
could be given to that. But here in Isaiah 8 verses 14,
15, and 16, the Lord God gives us two specific reasons for the
incarnation. And he shall be for a sanctuary. That's the first one. 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. So he says to his prophet,
bind up the testimony seal the law among my disciples. The Lord Jesus came into this
world that he might be to all men, to you and to me, and he
will be to you and to me, either a sanctuary or a snare. Either a saver of life under
life or a saver of death under death. Either the blessing of
salvation or the curse of everlasting damnation. He came here to be
a sanctuary to everlasting life or a snare to everlasting destruction
to all men. I asked this question, is Jesus
Christ, the son of God to you a sanctuary or is he a snare? To some, our savior is a sanctuary. He shall be for a sanctuary. He is a sanctuary to all who
trust him. Now that's exactly what Isaiah
tells us in the text we've read and what a blessed sanctuary
he is. We use this word sanctuary in
a variety of ways. It is used in a variety of ways
in the scriptures. Let me give you just three. First,
the Lord Jesus is a sanctuary for safety. Now, you don't need
to turn there, but if you want to read it at your leisure, and
I encourage you to do so, read Joshua chapter 20, the first
nine verses. A sanctuary is a place of refuge,
a hiding place, a covering. It is that place to which one
flees, fleeing from law or fleeing from an enemy or fleeing from
danger. In Joshua chapter 20, the Lord
God, by law, required the children of Israel to set aside six cities
of refuge, three on each side of the Jordan, so that any man
who accidentally killed another man could flee to one of those
cities within one day's walk. He could easily make it to one
of those cities from anywhere in the land. And there he would
hide from the avenger of blood who by law was sent to kill him
if he caught him outside the city of refuge. Now you might
wonder why on earth did God establish a law in Israel so that if a
man killed someone accidentally, he would send his near kinsman
after him under obligation of law to kill him. I can only think
of one reason. It was his intention to teach
us something very important. He's teaching us about a sanctuary.
He's teaching us about Christ, our sanctuary, our refuge. When the avenger of blood pursued
the manslayer into the city of refuge, once that man went into
the gate of the city, he was under the protection of God's
law. and the manslayer could not touch
him. The law would not allow it. He
was there by the appointment of God. He was there in complete
safety and under the protection of the very law that had otherwise
ordered his death. That's a pretty good picture
of Christ our sanctuary. Sinners flee to the Lord Jesus
and find secure refuge and sanctuary in Him the moment we believe
on the Son of God. Jesus Christ gives us safety
in life, safety in death, safety in judgment, and safety to eternity. That means the wrath of God cannot
touch one sinner. who takes refuge in the Savior.
I bid you, oh, I urge you, if you have not yet fled for refuge,
to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us in the gospel.
Flee now to the Savior and take refuge in Him. And I'll tell
you when you will, when you find God's law hot on your trail,
pursuing you to hell. And once you take refuge in Christ,
once you trust the Son of God, you're not only beyond the reach
of danger, beyond the reach of curse, beyond the reach of condemnation,
but abiding in Christ the sanctuary, you're under the protection of
the very law that had condemned you. Under the protection of the very
law that once condemned us. We were born by nature, children
of wrath, even as others. We lived in this world and the
scripture says, the wrath of God abiding upon those who believe
not, who trust not the Lord Jesus Christ. Men and women justly
condemned, but fleeing to Christ in whom God's justice has been
satisfied, by whom God's law has been honored, by whom sin
has put away, That one who by the sacrifice of himself has
satisfied all the demands of God, now the law itself requires
that the sinner who's in Christ must be freed. Why? Because there's
no reason to hold him. No reason to curse. No reason
to condemn. payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. One of the hymn writers wrote,
he bore that we might never bear his father's righteous ire. Now
hear me, hear and hear it well. Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. Oh, brother Don, I wish I could
have some assurance that I'm one of God's elect, that Christ
died for me, that the Spirit has indeed given me life and
faith in Him. How can you have such assurance?
Well, if you live a real good life and you Believe on Christ
and you read your Bible and you believe on Christ and you pray
and you believe on Christ No, no Mixing what you do with believing
on Christ Will never give anybody assurance who's honest Because
you haven't read enough lived holy enough or prayed sufficiently
enough How this earth can a sinner Like you and me, have assurance
of acceptance with God Almighty. Believe on the Son of God. Do you believe Him? Then by faith
you read your name written in the book of life. Believing Him,
you see your name inscribed on the heart of Him who cried, it
is finished. Believing Him. You are called
by the spirit of God for faith in Christ is the gift and operation
of God almighty. And now believing on Christ,
God's justice and law puts a canopy over my soul. And I'm in the sanctuary, Christ
Jesus. Not only is he a sanctuary. from
the law of God, our Lord Jesus is a sanctuary, a refuge, a hiding
place from all fear. Fear with regard to sin, but
oh, we have other fears too. When your soul is torn with fear,
And you find yourself pacing the floor and biting your nails
and tossing on your bed because of things you can't control,
things you can do nothing at all about. What on earth do you
do? Flee away to the sanctuary and
find safety and peace. He who loved you and gave himself
for you. He who created the world for
you and rules it for you. will do you good and nothing
but good. Rest your soul in him. Our Lord
Jesus. Oh, what a sanctuary he is from
care. Cast your care on him for he
careth for you. Can you imagine that? He careth
for you. He careth for you. Constantly you're under his care. I read today again a short biography
of Joseph Scriven. He wrote that hymn we sing and
like to sing, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Joseph Scriven
was a man whose life was life of sorrow in so many ways. He was born in Ireland, educated
at Trinity College, a very promising future. And he was engaged to
be married. The morning of his wedding, his fiancee was found drowned
face down in a pool of water. And Scriven was just overwhelmed.
After some time, he immigrated to Canada and he tutored in did
various things, working around in Canada, but principally was
a teacher. And he fell in love again. This time, just a few days before
the wedding, his fiancee became very ill and died. And Scriven was devastated. He
was just devastated. He never considered marriage
again. He devoted himself to helping
people, and he spent most of his life doing carpentry work,
helping older folks and just scratching out a living, what
he could, but most of the time helping other folks, cutting
firewood, carrying things to folks who needed his help. But
he never got over the heartache of losing both those women whom
he loved so dearly. And he was sick, and he'd written
a hymn. He had actually written it for
his mother during the time of trouble. He had no intention
of anybody ever reading it except her. And it was laying on his
nightstand or the table beside his bed. I guess they called
them nightstands then. And a lady who was attending him with some
other folks, she said, Joseph, did you write that? What a friend
we have in Jesus. He said, the Lord and I did. The next day, folks had gone
to the other room to sit quietly. Apparently, Skivvy had gone out
the stairs in the back of his room and they went in to check
on him early in the morning and couldn't find him. They found
him face down in a pool of water just a short distance from the
place where he was staying. Nobody knows whether he committed
suicide or whether he fell and drowned in his sickness. Nobody
knows. But this was his refuge, in care,
in care. Cast your care on the friend
of sinners, who is God, your savior, who cares for you. There's only one sanctuary for
our souls, and that's Christ Jesus, the Lord. Not only is
he a sanctuary of refuge, he's our sanctuary for worship. We
come to God in and by Christ Jesus. I won't say much about
this because not much needs to be said here, but we don't have
any regard for religious symbols and religious holy places. We
never refer to, or we shouldn't, this auditorium. Sometimes folks
talk about church building where we've got the fellowship hall
and we've got Sunday school classes and we've got the pastor's office
and the sanctuary. This is not a sanctuary. This
is not a holy place. It is devoted to the worship
of the holy God. But this place is no different
than any other place. There's nothing holy about it.
Nothing at all. If we get tired of using this
building and build another one, or need to, and you want to sell
this and turn it into a hog farm, that'd be all right. There's
nothing holy about this building. Nothing. We have no regard for
that which folks call the holy land, our relics. You know, all kinds of relics,
shroud. Imagine they've got that. Just
anything that can attach some religious significance to and
make it a holy thing, which they actually worship as an idol.
Or pictures or religious images. All of those things are absolute
idolatry. But we do have a holy place.
A holy sanctuary. Not a holy sanctuary part of
the time, a holy sanctuary in whom we live, to whom we continually
come, and by whom we continually come to God. A few weeks ago,
I preached to you in Hebrews chapter 9, where the apostle
Paul describes that holy of holies in the sanctuary of the Old Testament. And he tells us about those things
that are in there. The whole thing is a picture of Christ,
our sanctuary, the golden censer portraying his intercession,
the mercy seat, speaking of his atonement, the propitiation of
our sin. The pot that had manna is Christ,
the bread of life. The rod that budded, Aaron's
rod that budded, speaks of his power and life that's in him.
And the tables of the covenant declare to us Christ, our righteousness.
Christ is the sanctuary by whom we draw near to God and by whom
we accepted of God. Turn if you will to Psalm 91.
Let me show you one more sense in which Christ is our sanctuary. He's a sanctuary for safety and
sanctuary for worship. And our Lord Jesus is a sanctuary
for life. Look at the 90th Psalm verse
one. Lord, thou has been our dwelling place in all generations. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the
almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is
my refuge and my fortress, my God in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler. and from the Norse and pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings
shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the
terror by day, nor of the arrow that flyeth by night. Verse nine,
because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the
most high thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. Verse 13. Thou shalt tread upon
the lion and adder. The young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. Oh, how I rejoice that Christ
dwells in us the hope of glory, but here's something even better.
If anything can be better, we, dwell in Him. He has taken up permanent residence
in us and we have permanent residence in Him. He has come to possess
us and He causes us to be possessed of Him. We live in His presence,
always under His watchful eye. always in his fellowship, always
in the place of mercy, always one with him. And soon we shall
enter heaven's glory. We think sometimes, oh, it'd
be so good to be relieved of all that troubles us here. We
will then be with Christ. Yes, but listen to me now. Lindsay, when we're with him,
in the glory of heaven, and we've dropped this body of flesh, even
in that day when we're raised to new life in Him, we won't
be one hair's breadth nearer Him than we are now. We live and move and have our
being in Him all the time. Christ is our sanctuary. Thank
God he's made himself. Flee away every day to Jesus
Christ, the Lord, to whom coming, to whom coming, to whom coming,
we continually come and find refuge for our souls. But that's
not all the text declares. To some, the son of God is a
sanctuary. Blessed are they who find sanctuary
in him. But to many, he's a snare. Look at verse 14, Isaiah chapter
8. He shall be for a sanctuary,
but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to
both houses of Israel, for a sign and for a snare to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and snared and be taken. Now we know that
this refers to the Lord Jesus because both the apostle Paul
and the apostle Peter writing by divine inspiration, tell us
that it refers to him. To the proud, the self-righteous
religionist, to those who will not trust Christ. He is a stone
of stumbling, a rock of offense, a gin and a snare, a trap, a
trap. Who are they? The Lord identifies
them very clearly. Look at verse six, chapter eight.
They are those who refuse the waters of Shiloh, who refuse
the waters of the scent. Watch. They refuse the waters
of him that go with softly. They refuse the fountain of life
and cleansing. They refuse Christ Jesus, the
Lord and rejoice in Risen and in Rimelia's sons. That is rejoice
in the powers of the earth. There are those who refuse the
peaceable, soft, easy rule and yoke of the Lord Jesus. and choose
rather to trust another. They are those people Amos describes
in Amos chapter 6 like this. They are they which rejoice in
a thing of naught and say we have not taken or have we not
taken to us horns by our own strength. That's what the prophet's
talking about. To whom is Christ a snare? Every
sinner who refuses to believe on the Son of God trusts in himself
and takes horns of strength to himself from within himself. You see, unbelief is not just
a negative position. Unbelief is not just an indifferent
position. Unbelief is the willful rejection
of Christ and trusting in yourself. And the trust of any imaginary
God is but trusting in yourself. Paul identifies it clearly as
will-worship, just will-worship. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Let
me show you one example given in the New Testament among the
Jews. Why has Israel not sought that,
found that which he seeketh after? Paul says in verse 32, Romans
9. Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. They were taken by this snare,
by this gin. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. And whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, ignorant of Jesus Christ, who is the Lord, our
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
The issue being They really do believe that somehow they must
and they can do something to make themselves righteous. They're
ignorant of Christ and His righteousness, the righteousness of God in Him.
How do you know that's what it means? Look at verse 4. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Everybody
who hears my voice Everybody who hears my voice knows full
well that you must be righteous. Everybody who hears my voice
knows full well that God will punish sin. Somehow or other,
your sins have got to be put away and you must be righteous
to stand accepted before God Almighty. And yet every man by
nature chooses to try to do something to make himself righteous. And
you will not give up your righteousness until God is pleased to call
you by his grace and give you faith in his son. Oh, may he
do so. But this too is by divine appointment. If you want to look at it, turn
to first Peter chapter two, first Peter chapter two. Verse six, where for also it
is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded, not be ashamed, not be confused.
He's, he's steady. He's built on the rock. Unto
you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them,
which be disobedient. Unbelief is disobedience, willful,
deliberate belief in self rather than in Christ. The stone which
the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to
them would stumble at the word being disobedient where unto
also they were appointed. But you. How come you believe? How come
Christ is a sanctuary to you and not a snare? You are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people
that you should show forth the praises of him that has called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now briefly
turn back to Isaiah chapter eight. In the light of these things,
as he anticipated the coming of Christ to redeem and save
his people, God's prophet was given a very solemn charge in
verse 16. It is a charge to every man who
stands as I do now in the face of men to deal with eternity
bound men and women and speak to them in God's name as God's
ambassador. The Lord God says, because many
stumble and fall and are broken and snared and taken, bind up
the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. Testimony
is God's own word. The word he has given to his
prophet, particularly in this passage of scripture, these three
chapters concerning his son, the person in work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the testimony of God is the gospel of Christ. And the prophet says, he says,
bind it up, bind it up. It is your responsibility to
bind up the testimony, to bind up the gospel in the faithful
preaching of the word. As you would take something that's
precious, a treasure, something worth indescribable value, and
you bind it up so that not one particle be lost. That's exactly
what God's servants are called, commissioned, and required to
do in the preaching of the gospel. To bind it all up together so
that nothing is lost and to do so continually. And he must,
by the preaching of the gospel, seal the law. Not the Ten Commandments,
not the ceremonial law, not the dietary laws, not the political
laws and civil laws of Israel. No, no. The whole revelation
of God. Seal the law among my disciples. Seal it to them and seal it among
them. Turn to Ephesians 4 for a moment.
Let me show you. Paul admonished Timothy to preach
the word in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke with
all long-suffering and doctrine. Whether folks like it or whether
they don't, whether they approve of it or don't approve of it,
don't let that change anything. God gave pastors to his churches
for this purpose. Ephesians 4, verse 11. He gave
some apostles and some prophets, some evangelists. The apostles,
of course, being the 12 apostles of the New Testament. There are
none today. The prophets being the prophets of the old Testament
and John the Baptist and those prophets between the testaments
and evangelist. If I'm not mistaken, evangelist
are men, not like, uh, Jimmy Swaggart and Billy Graham who
go all over the world, make a fortune doing something in the name of
God. No. Evangelists are men who go about
devoting their lives to the establishing of God's worship, establishing
gospel churches. Brother Walter Groover, Brother
Cody Groover, those are evangelists. Brother Cliff Heller, those are
evangelists. They establish gospel churches. A gospel preacher,
a pastor, Paul told Timothy, do the work of an evangelist.
And he gave some pastors and teachers the word really ought
to be translated this way or written this way, pastors slash
teachers. The pastors are the teachers. Others teach with them and teach
under their direction. But the pastor is the angel of
the church. And they're given for this purpose,
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in
the unity of the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son
of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie
in wait to deceive. When I stand here to preach to
you, I claim the right to be heard. I don't preach without
preparation. I don't give out leftover rehashed
sermons. Someone asked me, I'm often asked
this, when you preach like this, do you just repeat your sermons
over and over again? Some of you travel with me. No,
I don't. No. I don't simply repeat things.
And I certainly don't just repeat what I've heard somebody else
say or read somebody else wrote, read what somebody else wrote.
When I come to the pulpit, whether I'm preaching to two or three
or to a large congregation, what I preach in 45 minutes or an
hour is the result of hours of labor, study, prayer, labor spent
for your souls. That gives me the right to be
heard. That gives me the right to be heard. But it doesn't give
me the right to be blindly believed and blindly followed. No man
has that right. No man. To the law and to the
testimony, God says in verse 20, if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them. It is your
responsibility. to try the spirits including
this one including this one and all others to try that which
a man preaches try it by the word of God if that which is
declared by these lips is verified in this book you open the book
and you say well there it is there it is then you have every
reason to believe and you better believe and obey the gospel that's
preached to you. If I stand here and preach something
else to you, you will be wise never to hear me preach again.
Never to hear it again. The pastor must bind up the word
and seal the testimony I try my dead level breast to preach
with such simplicity and clarity that you cannot mistake my meaning.
You cannot go out and say, well, boy, I wonder what Brother Don
meant by that. I want you to understand every word and I want
you to understand it with absolute clarity. The gospel must be so
preached with simplicity because multitudes seek with their cunning
craftiness. to turn you away from the simplicity
that's in Christ Jesus the Lord, turn you to something else for
refuge, for safety, for sanctuary. And wherever else you turn, it will be a snare and not a
sanctuary. Now, what is Christ to you? Is the crucified son of God seated
on the throne of glory, a sanctuary for your soul? Your only place
of refuge and safety. Your only place of worship and
access and acceptance with God. Your only source of solace and
comfort is Jesus Christ, the Lord, your life. are the things that you hear,
that which the cause of your disobedience and your determination
to find something in yourself that you will present to God
and that demand of God, except it's because of your goodness,
is he then a snare to your soul? Oh, God give you grace to cast
off as dogs all your righteousness and flee for life to the sanctuary
and lay hold of the hope set before you, who is an anchor
for your soul. Amen.