I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Man That God Looks To. And notice I didn't say the men
that God looks to, but the man that God looks to. We'll get to there in a moment
in Isaiah 66, it's what Stephen quotes. But I would like for
you to pray for me even now that the Lord would speak through
me. And I would like for you to pray
for yourselves that the Lord would speak to you. We desperately need a word from
the Lord. Now, a couple of weeks ago, we
considered the temple that Solomon built, which is a type of Christ. Christ even referred to it as
himself when he said, behold, destroy this temple in three
days and three days I'll raise it up. The temple is also a type
of the church. It's not a building. The men
and women of God are the temple of God. And he spoke of Solomon
building this temple. But notice in verse 47, but Solomon
built him in house, how be it? The most high dwelleth not in
temples made with hands, as saith the prophet. And that's when
he quotes Isaiah chapter 66. Now the most impressive architectural
structures I've ever been in are cathedrals. I was in that
one in Florence, Italy. And it's the largest dome in
the world, the big dome and the paintings on top of it. And they
made these things without modern day construction equipment. They're so big, they're so massive.
The architecture is so amazing. And it's just impressive. They're engineering marvels and
they're breathtaking. And they were designed to give
you and me a sense of the divine presence. You come into these places and
you think, oh, that very thought is antichrist,
satanic, blasphemous, and derogatory to the living God. To come into
a building and say, oh, the sense of the divine presence. That
is so derogatory to the living God. Verse 48. How be it? I know Solomon built
him this house. How be it? The most high. And any thought we can muster
regarding the Most Higher is lower than he is. He is transcendent. He's omnipresent. Look what Stephen
says, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
as saith the prophet. Heaven is my throne and earth
is my footstool. What house will you build me,
saith the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? God is omnipresent. That means there's nowhere where
he is not. He's not bound by space. He's not bound by time. You and
I are creatures bound to space and time, but not the creator.
He's omnipresent. We can't be two places at once
and we can't see tomorrow or what will take place in the next
60 seconds. Ghost not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knows not what a day may bring forth. You and I don't
know what's going to take place tomorrow, but he does because
he's ordained it, because he's decreed it. And He is not bound
by space. He's not bound by time. There's
not with Him a yesterday and a tomorrow. Everything is in
the eternal present. That's who God is. God doesn't have these limitations
that you and I have, and somehow Christ doesn't. I don't understand
this. Christ isn't a body. He's a human being. He's God
manifesting the flesh. But listen to His words in John
3.13. He said, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the son of man who is in heaven. Well, I'm speaking to you on
earth. I am in heaven. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Acts chapter 17? These are Paul's words on Mars
Hill. Acts chapter 17. Beginning in verse 16, now while Paul waited for them
at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly
given to idolatry. Some of the translations say
he was irritated when he looked upon this city wholly given to
idolatry. Therefore, verse 17, disputed
he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons,
and in the market daily with them that met with him. He was
stirred up over what he saw. Then certain philosophers of
the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him and said, what
will this babbler say? Others, some, he seemeth to be
a setter forth of strange God, stuff we've never heard of, because
he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took
him and brought him into area of Joppa, just saying that we
know what this new doctrine where of our speakers is for that bring
a certain strange things to our ears. We've never heard anything
like this. We would know therefore what these things mean. Then
Luke makes this editorial comment for all the Athenians and strangers
were there, spent their time and nothing else, but either
to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill, and said ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you are too superstitious. Now that word is religious. I perceive that you are too religious. And I think superstition is a
good word for man's religion, isn't it? Superstition. Verse 23, for as I pass by, and
beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription
to the unknown God. Now, what were they doing? They
were covering their bases. Just in case I left some God
out that exists, I don't want to offend Him, so I'm going to
make an altar to the unknown God. That way I'm covering all
my bases. I'm not going to offend anybody.
Now, look what Paul says, whom therefore you ignorantly worship,
Him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Now, he tells him
three things regarding God. Number one, he's the creator. Now, this is so important. You
know, the idea that things just happened, all of a sudden there
was mass and creation and then somehow life came out of that. That's such foolishness. Everybody
knows that God made the world and nobody made him. He's the
eternal God. Everything's got to have a cause.
All things were made by him. and for him. And he is before
all things and by him all things consist. He's the creator. You know, if he's not the creator,
if there's no such thing as creation, life is meaningless. There's
no such thing as right and wrong. Who's to say what's right? Who's
to say what's wrong if there's no creator? But God created the
heavens and the earth. Not only that, verse 24, seeing
that he is Lord of heaven and earth. He's the creator and he's
the Lord. You know what that means? That
means he's the one who's in control. He's the Lord. He's the Lord
of the heavens and he's Lord right down here on earth too.
You're in his hands right now. He's your Lord, whether you know
it or not. I love saying that. He's the Lord. He's the Lord
of Heaven. He's the Lord of Creation. He
created the universe. He's the Lord of Providence.
He controls everything. He's most especially the Lord
of Salvation. That means as to whether or not
you're saved, it's up to Him. It's up to Him. It's not up to
you. You don't have any control in this thing. It's up to Him.
Now, there's different ways to look at that. Somebody says,
well, what difference does it make then? I can't do anything.
But if you do that, you're a fool. Cry unto Him to save you. He's
the Lord. And I love what it says next.
It says, he dwelleth not in temples made with hands. You see, he's
omnipresent. You can't confine him to a building.
You can't get this really worshipful looking place and say, oh, I
feel the divine presence. That's blasphemous. He cannot
be confined to a building. Verse 25, Neither is worshipped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. You see, God is independent.
He's utterly independent. He has no needs. I look, he doesn't
need you. You believe that? He doesn't
need you. You need him. But he doesn't
need you in that sense. He has no needs. He doesn't have
to have something to make him complete or to make him happy.
He's utterly independent. He's not worshiped with men's
hands as though he needed anything. Seeing he giveth all life and
breath in all things. That very breath you just now
breathed came because of his will. and the last breath you
breathe, it'll be because of his will. He's in absolute control. Look at verse 26. And he is made
of one blood, all nations of men. Now this destroys the idea
of race. He's made of one blood, all men. All men are the same. All men
are from Adam. He's made of one blood, all men. for this purpose. He's made of
one blood, all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the
earth and has determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation." You know God's determined everything
that's going to take place in your life. He's already determined
the time of death. He's determined everything that's
going to take place. Now, let me remind you, that doesn't give
you a reason to say, well, why do anything? That's like, God's
determined for your garden to be successful. You say, well,
then I don't have to plant seed. I don't have to water. I don't
have to hoe. I don't have to do anything. We wouldn't do anything
that foolish in regular life, yet people in religion think
such weird thoughts. Well, what's the point in believing
if everything's determined? What's the point? Well, everything
is determined. I love it that way. Everything
is determined. You know, that's why right now
at any rate, I'm not worried. God's in control. And here's
why he has done this, verse 27, that they should seek the Lord.
If happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be
not far from every one of us. Your purpose in life is to seek
the Lord. For in him, We live and move
and have our being as certain also of your poets have said,
for we are his offspring. For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is
likened to gold or silver or stone, graven by art, man's device. In the times of this ignorance,
God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Now this is God's commandment
to me and to you, repent. You say, what's that mean? means
change your mind and believe God and believe the gospel. Change your thoughts, change
your mind. That's God's command. Because
verse 31, he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Speaking
of Christ, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men and that
he hath raised him from the dead. Now turn back to Acts chapter
seven. verse 48, The most high dwelleth not in
temples made with hands, as saith the prophet. That's the same
thing Paul was saying in Acts 17. And then he quotes this passage
of scripture from Isaiah 66, one and two. Heaven is my throne,
and earth is my footstool. What house will you build me,
saith the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these
things? Now would you turn to Isaiah
66? Let's look at this quotation. Isaiah chapter, last chapter
by Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 66 verse one,
thus saith the Lord. I'm so thankful for that, aren't
you? Thus saith the Lord. God speaks. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful for the Bible.
You know, if you believe that God created the universe, it's
not hard to believe that he inspired men to write a book and keep
it preserved. God's able to do that. And we
need a thus saith the Lord because if we don't have a thus saith
the Lord, all we have is a thus saith Todd. We're in trouble
if that's the case. I don't wanna have anything to
do with that. I wanna thus saith the Lord. This is his word. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that you build unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? What kind of house would hold
me? Where's the place that I'm to
sit down and rest? Where's my bedroom where I can
get some sleep? Now he's speaking facetiously
and sarcastically to us in our thoughts of thinking we can build
him a house. What kind of house would you
build me? Verse two, For all those things hath mine
hand made. And all those things have been,
saith the Lord. Now, the Lord is the creator. He's the creator in the first
creation, when he brought forth the heavens and the earth into
existence. And let me repeat, Anything other than that is illogical,
irrational, and unreasonable. The very thought of atheism is
the biggest leap into the dark that could possibly be. God created
the heavens and the earth. You can't build a house that
would hold him. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. All things were made by him.
and for him, and how much input did me and you have in this thing
of creation? Where were you? Where was I when he spake the
universe into existence? He says, all those things hath mine hand
made, and all those things have been. Now he's talking about
everything that happens in time. He's in control of it. You know
the reason they've been? He's decreed it. He's purposed
it. That's who he is. Now look what
he says in verse two. But to this man will I look. Notice he doesn't say to these
men will I look. To this man will I look. Now that gets my attention. Who is it that God's going to
look to? Who is it that God is going to
show interest in? To this man will I look. Now, if I look at this verse
and read it, to this man will I look, saith the Lord, even
to him that's poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. If I look at that verse and say,
well, I need to be poor, I need to be contrite, and I need to
tremble at his word. I need to be more of that so
God will look to me. Do you know when I make a thought,
when I even think that in my heart, a thought like that is
denying what the gospel is in the first place. This is speaking of Christ. You
see, the only way I want to see him is not how poor I am, or
the only way I want him to see me is not how poor I am or how
contrite I am or any of those things. I want him to see me
in Christ. That's the only way I want him to see me. I don't
want him to see me in any other way but in Christ. not how poor
I am, not how contrite I am, not how much I tremble at His
Word. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, so that
all God sees when He sees me is Jesus Christ. I don't want
Him to see anything else. That's what it means to be in
Him. Now, who is poor like Christ? You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though He was rich, Yet for your sakes, he
became poor. You remember that when the Lord
was talking about John the Baptist, they said of them born of women,
none are greater than John the Baptist. How be it? He that's
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he who's least
in the kingdom of heaven. He who became poor, no one knows
anything like his poverty. And that word contrite means
smitten. Who was ever smitten like the
Lord Jesus Christ? Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
see him dying on the tree. No one was ever smitten like
him. And whoever feared the word of the Lord and trembled at the
word of the Lord like the Lord Jesus Christ, he had that reverential
all of his father's word. He's the one who truly trembled
at the word of his father. Now, the only way that the Lord
could look to me or you and have regard for me or you is as we're
in him. And the only way he can have
respect toward us. I want you to think of this concept,
God respecting you. What an awesome thought, God
respecting you. Turn with me to the first story
after the fall. Hold your finger in Isaiah 66
and turn to Genesis chapter four. This is the first story after
the fall of our first parents, and this is, there is no more
significant story in all the word of God than this. And look
what it said, verse one. And Adam knew Eve, his wife,
and she conceived and bear Cain, and said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. I think she believed that she'd got the promised seed.
And she again bears brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of
time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord. Now I have no doubt that he was
taught better than that. He was taught the only way you
can approach God is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and
of the fat thereof. He brought a blood sacrifice
and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Now that's how God's going to
have respect to me or you, through Abel and his offering, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But unto Cain and to his offering,
he had not respect. He had no regard. He had no respect. Now I want you to think about
this. In Christ Jesus, through his offering, every believer,
this is how real it is, it makes every believer have the respect
of God. What could be more glorious than
that? That's how real the blood of Christ is. It makes God respect
that person. Yes, it's through the offering,
but God has respect to that person. Now let's consider how poor Christ
became. how he was smitten and how he
trembled at the word of God. And in him, we're going to see
that me and you do the same thing. We're poor, we're smitten, and
we tremble. Now, I've already quoted this
verse once, but let me quote it again. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Now, how
rich is God? Infinitely rich, right? I can't
even describe it. Infinitely rich. That's how rich
Jesus Christ was. Though he was rich, rich in the
praises of angels, rich in righteousness, rich in the beauty of holiness,
rich in the power of creation where he could create anything
he wanted. Oh, the riches of Christ. Though he was rich, yet
for your sakes, he became poor. He who was rich in righteousness
on Calvary's tree became void of righteousness when my sin
became his sin. He who was rich in the beauties
of holiness was made sin. I talked about this on Sunday
school. I know I don't even know what I'm talking about when I
talk like this, nor does anybody else. We believe we don't understand.
We just believe he was made sin. And he became utterly poverty
stricken. He lost everything. He was rich
in communion with his father. Now he's cut off from his father.
Forsaken by his father. Left all alone. Oh, the poverty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When they laid him in the grave.
Oh, the poverty. The word contrite is smitten.
He was smitten on the cross. He endured the full equivalent
of an eternal hell. Why? The same reason he became
poor. He was made sin and he was smitten. His father smote him. Awake,
O sword! Smite the shepherd! You know, every time I try to
preach the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, I always feel so
frustrated because I know I can't say things as they ought to be
said. But I trust God, the Holy Spirit
will take it and bless it to our hearts. He became poor. He was smitten as the sinner
substitute. He was smitten. He was getting
what he deserved because my sin became his sin. He was smitten. There's no story like the story
of the cross that began before the foundation of the world.
Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Christ became surety knowing He was going to come for the
cross. That was His purpose in coming, to glorify His Father,
to save His people. He became flesh. He kept the
law in the flesh. He died under the wrath of God
in the flesh. He was buried for three days,
was raised from the dead. And I love the cry from the cross. It is finished. He did what he came to do. He saved his people from their
sins. And this trembling that he had,
contrition, trembling, was a reverential awe. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. He said, the words that I speak
to you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. He said in John chapter 17, I
have given them the words that thou gavest me. and they have received them.
He said the scriptures cannot be broken. Thus it was written and thus
it must be. I think of the honor he put on
the scriptures when the devil tempted him three times. And
how easily he could have just destroyed the devil or tortured
him or something. That's what I would have done.
But he said thus it is written. What honor he puts on the scripture. I love in Romans nine, where
it says the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose,
have I raised the up that I might show my power in me and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Well, scripture
wasn't written when that statement was made. The scripture saith
the Pharaoh. To say the scripture saith and
to say that God saith is the precise same thing. And how he trembled in a reverential
awe of the word of his father. He worshiped his father. His
father worships him. And everybody in him is like
this, and these are the ones God looks to. Those in him, they
all have this description. Every one of them, they're poor,
they're contrite, and they tremble at his word. What is the first
beatitude? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, this is the person God looks
to. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, if you're poor, that means
you can't find one reason in yourself why God would forgive
you. You can't look at anything about yourself and say, yep,
forgive me because I'm this way or I'm that way. If you're poor,
you don't have one thing to recommend yourself to God by way of merit.
You really believe you're a sinner. That's what it means to be poor.
You really believe you're a sinner. I know you believe so-and-so's
a sinner. I do too. But that's not what we're talking
about right now. We're talking about you believe I am the sinner. If I do it, I don't care if it's
prayer. I don't care if it's preaching
this message. I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's witnessing.
If I do it, it's sin. And I cannot Under any circumstance,
I cannot decide I'm not going to sin. If I do it, it is sin. I cannot not sin. And it's my
fault. I can't blame my circumstances. I can't blame somebody else. All my sin is all my fault. And that renders me unable to
look down in judgment upon anybody else at all. Now, if you really
believe you're a sinner, You can't. You can't look in judgment
on anybody. And you really understand that
you have no claims on God. If he passes you by, just and
holy is his name. You really believe it. You're
poor. You're poor. You don't have anything by way
of merit to recommend yourself to God. What's a blessed place
to be? You see, it's only when you're
poor and have nothing that you can trust Jesus Christ as all. Now, if you have nothing, it's
easy for him to be all. If you have something, it's impossible
for him to be all. What a blessed place to be, poor. That second word, contrite, it's
only found three times in the Old Testament. And the other
two times, it is translated lame. maimed, crushed. And both times it's used with
reference to Mephibosheth. Would you turn with me to 2 Samuel
9. Hold your finger there in Isaiah 66 and turn to 2 Samuel
9. little background to this chapter. David is now the most powerful
man in the world. The scripture actually says,
I love the way the Bible says this, the fear of David fell
on every nation. Nobody wanted to mess with David.
I mean, it was sure destruction. If you tried to fight against
Israel, God was fighting for them. The fear of David fell
on every nation. So David is speaking from the
most powerful position in the world. And he says, verse one,
is there yet any left of the house of Saul that I may show
him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now, Jonathan and David were
dear friends. And many years before this, a
covenant was made. Jonathan said, I know that the
Lord God is going to make you the ruler of all. My dad's house
is going to be defeated and going down. Remember, Saul was against
David. And Jonathan said, I know you're
going to win everything. God's going to put you in a position
of utter authority. Now when you're there, I'm asking
you to remember my house in mercy. You see, he was gonna kill everybody.
He says, don't do that to my kids. Remember them in mercy. So David says from that position
of power, he remembers that covenant. And he says, is there any of
the house of Saul that I can show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? God the Father says, is there
any of the house of Adam that I can show him the kindness of
God for Christ's sake? Verse two, and there was of the
house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they
had called him unto David, the king said unto him, art thou
Ziba? He said, thy servant is he. And the king said, is there
not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show him the kindness
of God into him. And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, and here's the word, he's lame on
his feet. Same word, he's lame on his feet. Now, this man can't fight for
you and he can't work for you. All he can be is carried. That's it. He can't do anything
for you. Let me remind Salvation is not what you do for God, it's
what He does for you. He can't do anything for you.
He's lame on both of his feet. And most of you know this story. He was lame through the fall.
When he's five years old, his nurse dropped him while she was
running, trying to escape the destruction of Saul's house.
She dropped him while she was running and he became lame through
a fall. That's me and you. Verse four, and the king said
unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he
is in the house of Makar, the son of Emilio of Lodabar. Then
king David sent and fetched him. One thing he said, Mephibosheth,
come. He couldn't do it, could he?
He's laying on his feet. He fetched him. He fetched him. He brought him in. Then King
David sent and fetched him out of the house of Macher, the son
of Amelior of Lodabar. And when Mephibosheth, the son
of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David, he fell
on his face and did reverence. Now, he didn't know what the
king was going to do to him. But if you come into God's presence,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to fall on your
face. And you're going to do reverence.
He's God. Whatever he does is right. And David said, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I'll surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore to thee all the land of Saul thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. Why did he do this? For Christ's
sake. But this man was lame on both
of his feet. Now, do you know anything about
being lame? Mephibosheth did. As a matter of fact, look at
the end of the story in 2 Samuel 9. This is the last thing pointed
out, and this is not the way I would have written this story.
I would have had him miraculously healed. He can walk now. But
look out his hands. So Mephibosheth, verse 13, dwelt
in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at the king's table
and was lame on both his feet. That's the same word that's translated
contrite. And back to Isaiah 66, this is
the man I look to, even to him that's poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembles at my word." Now listen to me real carefully.
We really believe that the Bible is the word of God. And I don't
have any. Somebody said so many people.
So how can you how can you believe that it's preserved? And so because
God wrote it and because God's able to do that, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. That's. You know, we don't go
to the Bible, the Lord deliver us from this, we don't go to
the Bible and try to prove what we believe. You know, anybody
can do that. You can prove anything you want.
You can go to the Bible and pull a verse out of context. We don't go to the Bible to prove
what we believe. We go to the Bible to find out
what to believe. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And when the Lord said in John
5.39, you search the scriptures in them, you think you have eternal
life? And they are they which testify of me. You believe that? Every scripture testifies of
Jesus Christ, the Lord. They are they which testify of
me. Peter said, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the word of God. which liveth and abideth
forever. There's no new birth apart from
the word, the seed of God, the scriptures. I love what Paul
said to Timothy. Timothy, preach the word. Does the word declare that God
created the heavens and the earth? Preach it. Does the word declare
that God elected a people before time began? Preach it. Does the
Word declare that Christ accomplished salvation for God's people? Preach
it. Don't apologize. Don't try to
take the edge off. Preach the Word. We tremble at His Word. And you know what? I'm being
as honest as I know how. When I preach the gospel, I do
so with, like Paul said, I came to you in weakness, fear, and
trembling. I fear lest I misrepresent the word of God. I don't want
to do that. I don't want to do that. I want to be faithful to
the word. Now, this is the man, this is
the woman that God looks to first, those in Christ. That describes
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who became poor.
He's the one who was smitten. He's the one who truly trembled
at the word of his father. But this is the man God looks
to, this is the woman God looks to, that one who really is poor. They really believe themselves
to be sinners and they're lame and they tremble at his word. May the Lord make you and I,
people who are poor, people who are lame, people who tremble
People who don't want God to look at them in any way but in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would look upon your son and see us in him. Lord, I ask
in Christ's name that you would cause each one of us to be poor
to be contrite and lame, and to tremble at thy word. Lord,
save us from our sins. Save us from ourselves. Save us. Lord, we're calling
on your name. You said, whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord should be saved. Lord, save us by an
act of your will. Save us by your justice. Save
us by your grace. Save us by your power. Save us
by your mercy. We're calling upon your name.
Lord, save us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Matt,
can you