of Isaiah 65 verses 1 through
7. Isaiah 65 verses 1 through 7. Without question, this passage
of Scripture is a prophecy given by Isaiah under divine inspiration,
under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. It is a prophecy
which directly asserted the fact that God would, in time, cast
away the Jews as a nation in peace. That he would cast away
the nation of Israel, leave them in their darkness, in penitence,
unbelief, and hardness of heart, and seal them up in judgment
for the day of judgment. It is a prophecy of how that
God, casting away the Jews, would call out his elect from among
the Gentiles. That is, he would send the gospel
among all the nations of the world. Throughout the various
lands of this world, God has a people, a people whom he has
chosen, whom he has purposed to save, and he will gather his
elect out of the nations whither he has scattered them in his
wrath as a result of our fall and our sin and our transgressions. Now, we're not meant to figure
this out for ourselves. It's not something that's a matter
of speculation. I read it to you earlier In Romans
chapter 10, the apostle Paul, writing again by divine inspiration,
tells us exactly what Isaiah meant in this passage of scripture.
Let me refresh your memories. In Romans 10 and verse 20, Isaiah
is very bold in saying, I was found to them that sought me
not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he said, all the
day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
game-saying people." Now if you go on to the 11th chapter of
Romans and read the apostles' comments, you will find him explaining
that it always was God's purpose to save a people out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue in this world. God never claimed,
it never was His purpose to bestow His grace upon the physical seed
of Abraham alone. That never was God's purpose.
I stress that because there is a terrible system of theology
that teaches that God's purpose was to be merciful to the Jews,
to have Christ establish a kingdom in Israel, and because the Jews
wouldn't let him do what he wanted to do, that he had a secondary
plan, and plan B was he'd accept us, he'd take second choice.
But that's totally, totally contrary to Scripture. It never was God's
purpose. Never was God's purpose. only
to have his blessings bestowed upon the physical seat of Abraham,
or to have his elect called from among the Jews. The Israel of
God is the church and kingdom of God's elect, made up of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue in the world. The Israel of God
is that spiritual kingdom which is made up of believing sinners,
Jews and Gentiles, male and female, bond and free, black and white,
learned and unlearned, out of every people in the world. Now,
when I say that, I'm stressing it for this reason. God's purpose
was not frustrated when the Jews rejected Christ, nailed him to
the tree, and condemned him to die and laughed and mocked and
played games while the Son of God died as a as it were, in
their eyes upon that tree. Oh no, God's purpose was not
frustrating. The Lord Jesus did not die as a helpless victim. He did not die as one who was
somehow under their control and his purpose had now failed, but
rather the purpose of God was accomplished. The purpose of
God was being fulfilled even as they took him and nailed him
to the tree. The purpose of God was being
accomplished even when they despised him and rejected him. The purpose
of God stands fast. If the Jews believe not, that
does not make the faith of God a non-event. That does not make
God's faithfulness a useless thing. Oh no! God has a people
and he's going to save them even by the Jews' rebellion and by
his judgment upon them. Now, look in Romans chapter 11.
Let me show you this. Romans the 11th chapter. Verse
25. Paul's been talking now about
casting away of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles. And
he says in verse 25, For I would not, brethren, that you should
be ignorant of this mystery. This is one of the mysteries
of the gospel. Lest you should be wise in your own conceits,
that blindness in part has happened to Israel, not the whole nation. God has an elect them that even
among the Jews. He called them one by one. But
blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles be come in. That's talking about the full
gathering together of God's elect among the Gentiles. God's purpose
to have a kingdom made up of Jews and Gentiles. He's gathered
out the Jews. Now He's gathering out the Gentiles.
And this blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles be brought in. And so all Israel shall be saved. That is, all the church and kingdom
of God, all God's elect shall be saved. As it is written, there
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. Now when Paul thought about this,
as he was writing on this subject, as he thought about it and thought,
have it God in His grace and mercy, began to deal with his
elect in Adam, and he showed forth his mercy and goodness
in calling Abel, passing by Cain. He showed his mercy and goodness
upon Noah and his generation. And he called Abraham, and then
he sent the children of Israel into the land of bondage, and
he called them out of Egypt. And God now has sent blindness
and darkness. and bondage upon the nation of
Israel again, so that they, retaining their old ways of self-righteous
worship, worshiping themselves and their own minds, establishing
righteousness by their own hands, God left them. And he sent the
gospel to you. He sent the gospel to you by
their hardness, by their unbelief, by their rejection of his Son.
And when Paul thought of this, this is how he responded. Verse
32, God hath concluded them, all of them, in unbelief, that
he might have mercy upon all, that he might have mercy upon
the Gentiles as well as the Jews, that he might have mercy on you,
that he might have mercy on me. And this is how Paul responds.
Oh, the devil. Who would ever have thought all
the depth, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor,
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to
him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now let that serve
as the introduction to Isaiah chapter 65, verses 1 through
7. And I want to show you this evening,
by God's grace and power I trust, the message contained in these
seven verses. The title of my message, as I
announced this morning, is Grace, Reprobation, and Judgment. Three
weighty, weighty matters. Grace, Reprobation, Those will
be the three things that will serve as the divisions of my
message this evening. First, I want to show you the
call of grace, verse one. The Lord God speaks and says,
I am found, I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found
of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. As we've seen, this
is talking about the gathering together of the Gentiles, about
the calling of the Gentiles. But I, as I read the commentaries
and studied this passage, I kept thinking, why on earth do all
these fellows apply this sort of generically to the Gentiles?
What it's talking about, Bobbie, is God calling you. It's talking
about God calling me. It's talking about God calling
you who believe who were lost among the Gentiles. So as we
look at this passage, understand that he's talking about the gospel
coming to you. He's talking about the call of
God's grace coming to you as a result of him shutting Israel
up in darkness and blindness. Now he says, I'm sought of them
that ask not for me. I'm found of them that sought
me not. Let's look at it line by line, word by word. The Lord
God says, I am sought of them that ask not for me. Now, in
those words, we recognize that he is talking about the calling
of people who had previously never sought him, never had concern
for him. This was our state and condition
by nature. We asked not for him. We weren't
looking for him. Before he saved us by his grace,
we had absolutely no interest in him. We were without God,
without Christ, without hope, lost and ruined in this world.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2, let me show you. Ephesians
2. Now I recognize that we, like
all other men by nature, had religious notions and religious
ideas, we had religious inclinations, but we weren't seeking after
Christ. Man by nature doesn't seek God. I get so weary hearing
men talk, sometimes even those who ought to know better, they
Going to the mission field where folks are just hungry to hear
the Word. Folks are just anxious to hear about the Savior. Oh
no, they're not. Oh no, they're not. Man by nature
doesn't seek God. Man by nature is religious. Man
by nature has a God consciousness. But man by nature is not seeking
after truth and righteousness through a substitute. And the
Lord Jesus says as He comes to you, I am sought now of them
which ask not for me. Here he speaks of us in Ephesians
2 and in verse 11 he says, wherefore remember, after declaring how
that God has saved us by his grace, wherefore remember, don't
ever forget, don't ever forget, that you being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh. That's what Rex Bartley is, Gentile.
You know what Gentiles are? The Jew looked at the Gentiles
just exactly the same way as white Southerners would look
at black men, and as though somehow they are vile, despicable folks,
and we can't have anything to do with them. Look down their
nose at them. That's because we're Gentiles.
We're Gentiles. We are ourselves vile, unclean,
wretched, pagan, abominable creatures with no claim on God, the unclean
of the earth. When you read about the various
forms of religious idolatry, papadism, superstition, mysticism,
all of the nonsense and filth that has come into the world,
it came from the Gentiles. It came from the Gentiles. That's who we are. At that time,
we were Gentiles in our flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision. Now notice Paul's language. He
doesn't say you're the uncircumcision and circumcision. He said you're
called reprobate by folks who thought they were saved. You're
called the uncircumcision by those who are called because
of their outward appearance to circumcision. Read on. In circumcision of flesh made
by hands, verse 12, that at that time, at that time before God
saved you, you were without Christ. Oh my God, I can't think of anything
more horrible for you who are yet without Christ than the fact
that you're without Christ. If you have Christ, it doesn't
matter what else you don't have, you've got enough. But if you're
without Christ, it doesn't matter what else you do have, you've
got nothing. without Christ, which means that
you're aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, without God, lost in
this world. But now, but now, are ye in Christ
Jesus, who sometimes But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." God's brought
us in. Brought us into his family, brought
us into his kingdom, brought us nigh unto himself by the blood
of his dear son. Now that's precisely, precisely
what the prophet is talking about back here in Isaiah 65. He's
telling us that we by nature did not seek the Lord. We, by
nature, did not ask after Him. We were strangers, we were cast
off, we were without Christ, but God came to us, and after
He'd manifest Himself to us, then we sought Him. We began
to ask after Him. Now that's precisely the meaning
that the Apostle Paul gives to Isaiah's words. Look at the next
sentence. Isaiah says, in verse 1, I am
sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. In Romans chapter 10 and verse
20, this is how Paul translates that. I was made manifest to
them that ask not after me. Now, read this as it stands in
Isaiah 65. It says, I'm sought of them that
ask not for me. Seems to be a contradiction.
But it's no contradiction at all. By nature, buddy, we didn't
seek. We wouldn't seek him. We never
would seek him. Not a possibility. But after he'd manifest himself
to us, then we saw him. And that's exactly how Paul translates
the next verse. He says, I would make manifest
unto them that ask not after me. Now Christ is made manifest
and revealed to chosen sinners by the Holy Spirit through the
preaching of the gospel. We read it earlier. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When God intends
to save a sinner, when God intends to call out one of these Gentiles,
one of these lost ones, when God intends to bring one of His
elect to faith in Christ, He always calls that sinner whom
He's chosen to hear the word of His grace by one means or
another. I know folks object and say,
well, why don't we not have a preacher around? We ought to get one around.
He's perfectly capable of doing that. Well, what if they're in
this circumstance or that? God can change circumstances.
He always has. It was no problem for God to
move Philip from Samaria into the desert way to preach the
gospel to that human. It was no problem for God to
cause the Apostle Paul, who wanted to go in one direction, rather
to go to Philippi to preach the gospel to the Philippians there.
That's no problem to God. And God is ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The Holy Spirit does
not reveal Christ to sinners any other way. He just doesn't. I know fellows say, well, we
believe God's sovereign. He can do whatever He wants to.
I know that. I think I pretty well can contend with that. I'm
fully aware of that. But God has purposed to save
sinners through the hearing of the gospel. And He makes Christ
manifest through the preaching of the gospel. Look in 2 Timothy
chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, we frequently
quote verse 9, but read verse 9 together with verse 10. God
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It was
taken care of back in eternity, but is now made manifest That
is, it's now revealed to you and me by the appearing of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought
life and immortality to life. How? Through the gospel. Through the gospel. The believing
sinner is unable to see by the grace of God and the power of
God. He is unable to see the accomplishment
of redemption, righteousness, justification, He's pardoned
and eternal life through the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, seeing all grace, righteousness,
salvation, and eternal life in Christ, we seek Him and seek
these things in Him. And thus it is written in the
next line, I am sought of them that ask not for me. That's what
I'm doing here tonight. I hope you are. Let us in prayer back in the
office, buddy out here, both of them make mention of this
fact we've come to seek here. And we never, never, never cease
pursuing him. Jesus Christ is the lifelong
pursuit of the believing heart. The Apostle Paul, when he was
in prison, when he was about to suffer death for the cause
of Christ, He said, all that I may know Him. I may know Him. He said, I count
all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. He said, forgetting those things which are behind,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. That is, I am seeking Him. And we come here in the house
of God seeking Him. Seeking to worship Him. Seeking
to know Him. seeking to have a manifestation,
a revelation of Him in our hearts. Now look at the next line. The
Lord God says, I'm found of them that sought me not. Before Christ was revealed in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we weren't seeking Him. We were
seeking this world. After all these things do the
Gentiles seek, our Savior said. We were seeking after the lust
of our flesh, the desires of our flesh, of our minds. We sought
after the things that appealed to us in this world. Whether
they be sensual things or material things, we sought after what
appealed to us in this world. But now he's come seeking us,
and we seek him. And seeking him, we fight in
his Word. We open the book and seek Him. And I acknowledge sometimes, because of our blindness and
coldness, we open the book and don't find anything. But as we
seek Him in His Word, He shows Himself to us in His Word. We
come to the house of God and we seek Him in His ordinances,
in the ordinances of worship. in the hearing of the gospel,
in the singing of hymns, in the company of His people. We seek
Him together as we come to the throne of God and call on Him
in prayer. We seek Him in the ordinance
of the Lord's table. We seek Him as we watch and observe
others being baptized in His name. We seek to see Him and
to know Him. We seek Him in all things. And
then the Lord says, I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation. that was not called by my name.
Back in chapter 63 in verse 19. We are thine, thou never barest
rule over them. They were not called by thy name. But the apostle Peter writes
in first Peter 2 10. And he says you who were not
called his people are now called his people. You who were not
his people are now the sons and daughters of the living God.
The Lord God is still talking here about us. We who were not
his people, who had no promises, no covenants, no hopes of grace,
no hope of salvation, but a people who are now the people of God. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. And in the preaching of the gospel,
the Lord God speaks by His service. And He says, behold me. I don't know much about the Hebrew
language, but it's my understanding that whenever there is a repetition
of a command like this, the reason is to give emphasis. The reason
it is doubled is to show God's willingness, and God's intensity,
if you will, concerning this matter. Because the Lord God,
our Savior, is willing for you to behold Him. He intends for
us to behold Him. He says, Behold me! Behold me! All the day long have I held
forth my hands unto a game, saying, people, saying, Behold me! Behold
me! As the gospel is preached, God
speaks by His As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's name, be you reconciled to God. As the gospel is preached,
in the power of God's Spirit, God himself speaks and says,
look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth, for
I am God and beside me there is none else. The Savior holds
forth himself in the word of his grace and says, Behold me,
the incarnate Son of God. Behold my accomplishments, the
righteousness I brought him, the atonement that I have made.
Behold my saving glory and fullness. Behold me. Look unto me and be
ye saved. Now, clearly, this text of Scripture
shows us that it is God who takes the initiative in salvation.
You see, this is repeated over and over, illustrated over and
over, repeated time and time again in the scriptures, and
it's repeated as it is, because men by nature are disinclined
to believe it. Men by nature always want to
retain the idea that somehow, somehow, Their acceptance with
God, somehow our standing with God depends upon something that
we do rather than what he knows. But God makes us understand that
he takes the initiative. You see, we're lost. We're lost. So far off from God that we cannot
and will not of our own accord come back to him. went dead in
trespasses and in sins, and if one is dead in sin, he cannot
take the initiative, he must have someone work on him, and
that's the work of God himself. He's come to us when we were
dead, buddy, and gave us life. He came and quickened us when
we were dead in trespasses and in sins. Now, deliberately, I
have spent the bulk of my time on that first verse. That's the
good part of the message. God says, I am sought of him,
that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I stand, behold me, behold me,
unto a nation that was not called by my name. But I want you to
look at verses two through five and see the cause of reprobation.
Now, reprobation is a word that is used in the scriptures to
reprobate. God giving me over to a reprobate
mind. Reprobation is the doctrine of
men being sealed up to judgment. That's what it means. Reprobation
is the doctrine of men being sealed up for hell. Reprobation
is the doctrine of God setting aside men and leaving them in
their sin, having no mercy upon them. That's the doctrine. You
remember how the Lord speaks in the parable, how the men will
knock and say, open to us, open to us, but the door is shut.
That's That's reprobation. Now, I fully recognize that God
has predestined all things that come to pass. I'm fully aware
of that. There are in this world vessels
of mercy and vessels of wrath, sheep and goats, elect sinners
and reprobate sinners. I know full well that vessels
of mercy shall obtain mercy, vessels of wrath never shall. I know full well that all the
Lord's sheep shall be saved, the ghost never shall. I know
that all the elect will enter into glory, the reprobate never
shall. But you be sure you understand
this too. None of the elect will ever be
saved apart from redemption, grace, and faith. That needs
to be understood. Somebody says, well you fellas
believe the man's elect, you'll be saved no matter what. Oh no
we don't. The word of God doesn't teach
that. No man will enter into heaven apart from redemption
and righteousness and grace and faith. It won't happen. You must
have your sin paid for, you must have the righteousness of Christ
imputed to you, and you must believe on him by the work of
God's free grace. You will not go to heaven otherwise,
election notwithstanding. And at the same time, no one
will ever be damned. without first filling up the
measure of wrath by their own willful transgressions. Folks
say, well, you folks believe man's predestinated to heaven,
he'll be saved, he's predestinated to hell, he'll be damned no matter
what. No, we don't. Oh, no, the Word
of God doesn't teach that. We recognize that if a man perishes
under the wrath of God, he will perish under the wrath of God
because he fully deserves to perish under God's wrath. You
who are here without Christ, who are yet unbelievers, listen
carefully, Miss Poacher. You listen carefully to me now. If you go to hell, it'll be altogether your fault. Totally your fault. If you go
to heaven, it'll be God's fault. If you go to heaven, it'll be
because of something God does. If you go to hell, it'll be because
of what you do. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Now, you can try to shrug that off if you want to, but I'm telling
you, if you perish under the wrath of God, everybody here
will say amen in the day of judgment as you're cast into hell. Everybody. The Lord God says, I stretched
forth my hand all the day long, until rebellious people, which
walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts. God still deals with men and
women in judicial just as he turned from Israel
and sent blindness and hardness of heart to that nation, so he
does today with individuals, with churches, and with nations
who will not receive the love of the truth. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. There's absolutely no other way
under heaven, no other way in this world to explain what's
going on in this world around us than this. You look at the perversity, the
perversity of religion in our day. Men who would never have
thought of speaking such things. are teaching things that are
totally, totally, totally in violation of Scripture, and promoting
a constant turning of men towards religion, so much so that throughout
what is called Protestant Christianity, there is a turning, a wholesale
turning again to papacy. Of course, have you noticed as
you listen or read, I don't know what he's doing, I don't recommend
it, but as you listen or read the things that are going on
on television and radio, listening to preachers, have you noticed
how everybody is beginning to speak well of the idolatry of
hope? They don't call it that, of course, speaking well of the
doctrine of the Pope, speaking well of papacy and the religion
of papacy, as though somehow there's some communion between
the two. And the fact is, there is. The fact is, there is. Because they all are teaching
salvation by man's works. All of them. And what's happened
is God sent a delusion. God has sent a delusion. And
brother, when God sends delusion, men are deluded. They're deluded. Look here in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, verse 11. The apostle has just said, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause, God shall send them a strong delusion.
This is the same man who wrote in Romans chapter one, because
they turned the truth of God into a lie, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind, that they might be damned. For this cause,
God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe
a lie. that they all might be damned
who believed not truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Back here in Isaiah chapter 65, God gives us five clear, identifiable
reasons for judgment. Five clear, identifiable causes
of reprobation. Read and be warned. Number one,
God gives men up to judgment because of willful, persistent,
obstinate rebellion against him. Verse two, I spread out my hands
all the day until rebellious people, which walketh in a way
that was not good, after their own after their own thoughts. We live in a day when every mother's
son is an authority on the Bible. Every mother's son. You try to find somebody who
doesn't know exactly what this book teaches you. Try to find somebody
who doesn't have an opinion about everything written in this book.
Everybody's got their opinion. One thing. I feel this way about
it. It doesn't matter how you feel.
It doesn't matter what you think. Our thoughts have nothing whatsoever
to do with the truth of God. Our thoughts are always, by nature,
Merle, contrary to God's thoughts. Always. We bring our thoughts
in subjection to the Word. But not this religious age. They
walk in obstinate rebellion after ways of their own thoughts in
a way that is not good. Now you listen to me. You listen
to me. if you insist on doing things your way, if you insist
on walking in the way of your own thoughts, whether it be a
way of religious perversity or a way of rebelling immoral perversity,
if you insist on having your way, God will let you have your way. God gives sinners up in
reprobation, because they refuse to worship at his altar alone,
because they refuse to trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation. He says in verse 3, They are
a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face,
that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars
of bricks, What's all that referring to? God demanded that incense
be burned nowhere except upon the golden altar that he had
established, which is Christ the Lord. Because God won't receive
you or anything done by you except through Christ, who was typified
in that altar. God Almighty will not accept
the works of our hands. He will not accept any form of
religious doings based upon what we have done, and when he speaks
of men burning incense to him in their gardens, he's talking
about idolatry, he's talking about worshiping themselves,
for they hope by their own doings to be acceptable to God. Turn
to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Now try to get a picture of what's
going on. Here are these people, they're going to worship God. I want to worship God. So then
go out into the groves. Boy, that's a good place to worship.
Go out into the groves. You know, it's so nice out here.
It's so peaceful. We have these evergreen trees
all around us and the shade. And there's a nice cool breeze
here. You can hear the stream running. In the background, you can just
hear the trickle of the brook across the rocks. Boy, it's so
nice. Let's build an altar to God. Now, fellas, Come up with
some money and build the finest, finest altar you can build. Let's
get some bricks here. And let's build us an altar.
And we're going to worship God. We're doing this in the name
of the Lord. We come out to worship God. All those fine bricks, they
cost a lot of money. They cost a lot of money. Folks
will be impressed with these bricks. Let's put a cross on
them. Let's put some gold on them.
Let's send a statue of Mary over here, a statue of Moses over
here, a statue of Joseph over here, and a statue of Jesus here. Let go! But God won't have it. A preacher that's sincere,
God still won't have it. A preacher, you know, they're
doing the best they can, God still won't have it. Look what
it says here in Exodus chapter 20. In verse 24 he says, an altar
of earth shalt thou make unto me. Well, why on earth would
he have it made out of earth? Wouldn't he rather have perfect
bricks? No, he'll have the work of his
hands. He won't have the work of your hands. Do you see that?
An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me and shalt sacrifice
on this altar thy burnt offering. and thy peace offerings, and
thy sheep, and thine oxen, in all places where I record my
name. You're going to worship where
I say worship, or you can't worship. You're going to worship through
Christ, a mediator, through a sacrifice, a burnt offering, and a burnt
offering, offered in my name, or in my place, or you can't
worship me. I will come unto thee, and I'll
bless thee, when you worship through Christ the Lord. When
you believe Jesus Christ alone, without any work of your own.
And if thou wilt make an altar of stone, you come to a permanent
place of worship, a permanent place of residence, and you say,
now we're gonna build an altar to the Lord. All right, you can
make an altar of stone, that'll be okay. Stone representing strength
and permanence. Good picture of our Redeemer.
He said, you can do that, but thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone. You can't build it from stones
you've carved out for yourself. Just pile them up. Just pile
them up. For if thou lift up thy tool
upon it, what does it say? You've polluted it. You've polluted
it. That means, Meryl, if you stick
your hand in this work, you've ruined the whole thing. Folks say, well, we believe we're
saved by grace, but we got to work to keep it. Oh no! We believe
in justification by grace, but the sanctification's up to us.
Oh no! You lift up your tool on this
altar, you pollute the altar. You'll either come to God by
faith in Jesus Christ alone, or you can't come to God. Then in verse three, or verse
four rather, God shuts the door of mercy upon men. and seals
them up in reprobation because of spiritism, mysticism, and
necromancy. Here in verse four, which remain
among the graves and lodge in the minefields. Now let me give you a brief explanation
of what that means. You are, you're familiar with
the New Age the mysticism and the spiritism, you know, the
palm readers and the psychics and sorcerers, and they don't
call them that anymore, sorcerers and witches and all of the stuff
that we think about in the dark ages, that's just the New Age
religion. There's nothing new about it.
There's nothing new about it. Way back here in Isaiah's day,
he talked about these people who went out in the graves and
slept among the dead. You know why? Because they thought
they could communicate with the demons. They there would hear
from the demons and the ghosts that departed then, and there
they would learn the future. There they would learn what God
was doing or what God was about to do. And so they sought for
an understanding in future things from utter darkness, from mysticism,
astrology, witchcraft, sorcerers, palm readers, fortune tellers. They sought to know the future,
and they sought to know spiritual things in the spirit world without
God. Sound familiar to anybody? Going
on all around us. Going on all around us. Nothing
new about it. Men rejected the counsel of God. Now, think about this. These
are people who had God's temple. They had God's altar. They had
God's priesthood. They had God's prophets. They
had God's mercy seat. They had God's earth of the covenant. They had God's holy place. And
they went out and slept among the dead. Because they wanted
a spiritual thing. We didn't go to organized religion. You know, we're not going down
to the church house. No, no, no. We're going to the
graveyard and worship. I guess that'd be good text for
Sunday morning service at cemetery, wouldn't it? Welcome to the graveyard,
worship God! Fourthly, God leads rebels to
their wickedness and rebellion because of deliberate, persistent
lawlessness. He describes them in the second
part of verse four as people who eat swine's flesh and broth
of abominable things in their vessels." Now, that was strictly
forbidden in the law, Leviticus chapter 11, verse 7. But St. Edward had no regard for God's
law. I told the kids in Sunday school
class this morning, and I say to you, I recognize fully that
we are not under the law in any sense whatsoever. But anyone
who snubs his nose at God, anyone who snubs his nose at God's authority
and God's law, anyone who snubs his nose at righteousness and
truth can expect eternal damnation as a result. These folks, God
clearly says don't eat swine slashing with unclean ceremonial
But instead of heeding God's word, they came to their altars,
and they brought pieces of swine's flesh, and they made a broth
with it in their temples of worship, and they drank the swine's broth,
and they ate the swine's flesh. And God said, all right, you
can have the swine. And then fifthly, God shuts man
up in reprobation because of relentless self-righteousness.
You see it in verse five? Which say, which say? Who says? These folks who are
rebels, who walk in their own thoughts. These folks who provoke
me daily to my face, sacrificing in gardens upon altars of bricks.
These people who remain among the graves enlarged in the monuments,
who eat swine's flesh in utter disregard for me. These people
say, stand by thyself. Come not near to me, for I am
holier than thou. They are a smoke in my nose."
You ever been in a place where there was fire all around you?
You suddenly you're suffocating, then you can't breathe, then
you want anything to get rid of the horrible stench and just
have man breathe. This is what God says with regard
to all man's religion. You and your works are a smoke
in my nose, a fire that burns all day. Now if you care for your soul,
Beware of rebelling against, despising, and snuffing your
nose at God Almighty. He will not try to fool you.
He will recompense your iniquity to you. He will pay your wages. The wages of sin is death. And God will pay it in exact
proportion that you deserve. That's the last thing revealed
in this paragraph. Look here in Isaiah 65 and verses
6 and 7. Here's the measure of judgment. Behold, it is written before
me, I will not keep silence. Do you think I'm not going to
deal with your sin? Just hang on. Do you think I'm going to
pass this thing over? Just hang on. Nobody knows. Nobody knows. God knows. God knows. And he marked it down. He marked
it down. Everything. Everything. I will not keep silence, but
I will recompense, even recompense into their bosom your iniquities,
the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which
have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me. Therefore will I measure their
former work into them." Now that's exactly what will happen on the
Day of Judgment. God will measure to all their works. And when they
have filled up the measure of wrath, a preacher, what shall I do?
Turn to God now by faith in Jesus Christ and seek his mercy and
grace in his dear son. Don't copy God. But we're bound to give thanks
always to you, brethren beloved of God, because God had from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth.