It's a long way from Arkansas.
Thank you so much for for inviting me to come here and thank you
to the men that's preached the gospel up. I'm way up there and
I'm like Joe. We're way up there, and when
you get to be around brethren and fellowship with brethren
and hear the gospel preached, it just makes it that much sweeter.
So I thank you so much. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
56. My message tonight is to those
God's already gathered by His grace, and it's to those that
are His redeemed who He shall gather. Now I know some of you
who are already gathered, but I don't have any idea who those
are that He shall gather. But I do know this, I know God
will do the gathering. And I know that it is to Christ
that He shall gather them. And I know that it's to His house,
to His people, to those He's already gathered, that they shall
be gathered. And I know this, not one will
be lost. not one will be lost. Let's read
verse 8. It says, the Lord God which gathereth
the outcasts of Israel. That's who we are by nature.
We're the outcasts of God's spiritual Israel. He says, yet will I gather
others, and that word's in parentheses, you can read it this way, yet
will I gather to Him, to Christ, beside those that are gathered
unto him. Or a better translation might
be this, the Lord God which gathers the outcasts of Israel saith,
yet will I gather to Christ and to them which are already gathered,
his that are to be gathered unto him. I'm going to gather to Christ
and to those I've already gathered, all of those that are to be gathered
to him. That's what God says he's going
to do. This is a word to the gathered. Now, everybody he's,
the ones he's speaking to in verses one through eight are
those he's already gathered. And to understand this and to
see that he's speaking to believers in our day, we have to understand
that he's using Old Testament language to speak about New Testament
blessings. Let's look here first of all
in verse 2. I just want to show you this before we get into the
message. He describes the believer as he that keepeth the Sabbath
from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
You know all that Sabbaths were a shadow picturing the Lord Jesus
Christ. Whenever God rested in creation,
He rested on the seventh day because the work was finished.
It was all done. And when Christ went to the right
hand of the Father, he sat down because the work was done. He
finished purging the sins of his people. He obtained eternal
redemption for it. And so when he gave the Sabbath
and all the Sabbaths, he gave those Sabbaths to picture the
Lord Jesus Christ. But now believers in our day
are not to, we're not observing a Sabbath day. Paul told us in
Colossians that the Lord Jesus had nailed the ordinances to
his cross. He fulfilled them. He nailed
them to his cross. And he says, therefore, let no
man judge you. He said, in meat or in drink
or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath
days, which are a shadow of things to come. We're not resting in
a shadow. If I sat down in the shadow that
that chair makes, it's not going to hold me up. But he says here,
But the body is of Christ. The substance is Christ. He's
the one we come to. On the Sabbath day, there were
three things they did that showed what a believer does in Christ.
Number one, they rested from all their works. They rested
from all their works. And when God calls his child
to Christ and we believe on him by his grace, we rest from trying
to obtain a righteousness and a holiness acceptable to God.
He gives it to us. We have it from Him. And number
two on the Sabbath day, they were to trust God to provide
bread for them the whole Sabbath day. They were to trust Him to
provide the whole Sabbath day. And the believer in Christ, this
whole Sabbath day of rest, we're trusting Christ the bread from
heaven. And what did He promise us? He
that comes to me will never hunger and he'll never thirst. And the
third thing they did was they were to go around to all in their
house and declare to them, take the yoke off of them so that
they didn't have to work and declare them to them God's rest. This is the rest. That's what
we're in the world for. That's what believers are left
here for, is to go around this world declaring God's rest, to
go around declaring Christ the Lord. So these are believers
he's speaking about. In verse 3, he says, he calls
them he that's joined himself to the Lord. When the Lord Jesus
Christ gets hold of you, he brings you and draws you and makes you
to be joined to the Lord. And the scripture says this,
we're members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. This is a great mystery, but
he speaks concerning Christ and the church. All God's elect,
all those sanctified by election, by the sanctifying grace of God,
are joined to Christ. We're one with him. This is a
believer he's talking about. In verse four, he calls on those
that take hold of his covenant. When he's come and he's taken
hold of you, you take hold of his covenant. And he's like a
marriage covenant. with a great difference in it.
And when he comes and he enters into everlasting covenant with
us, he tells us, honey, you don't have to work. I'm gonna do it
all. I've already done it all. I shall do it all. And I'll bring
you to myself. You don't do anything. That's
his covenant. And then in verse six, he describes
the believer as those that join themselves to the Lord to serve
him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants. Christ
makes us his willing bond server. He brings us to the doorposts
and opens up our ear, makes us to where we can hear the gospel
and hear the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus. And
he constrains us by his love for us to willingly want to serve
him and serve his people in this earth. That's what he does. So
this is to believers. We got there. This is to believers.
He's right. But gather those he's already gathered. Now we're
going to look at three things. We're going to look at a word
about obedience. This is to the gathered. A word
about obedience. We'll look at a word about discouragement. And then thirdly, a word of assurance.
First of all, here's a word concerning obedience to the Lord Jesus.
Verse one. Thus saith the Lord, keep you
judgment. It means equity and do justice.
For my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man that doeth this and the son of man that
layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Every believer has
a new will to obey God. We got it from God. He gave it
to us. He created us anew. He gave us a new heart. He gave
us a heart to obey him. And chiefly, the way you and
I keep equity and do justice is by resting, believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's number one. That's number
one. Our law keeping our works is
not equitable. It doesn't measure up to the
righteousness of God. So we're trusting in Christ.
He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification. And
then the chief way that we keep equity and do justice with our
fellow man is we declare this truth to him. It's not equity
and it's not justice to try to tone down the Word of God and
twist the Word of God to try to appeal to sinners. I've never
understood why men try to bring a man to Christ by telling them,
by not telling them who he is. I mean, how are you gonna get
somebody to believe on somebody by not telling them who he is?
You gotta tell them who he is, tell them what he's done. That's
just, that's equitable, that's right. And then because of this,
because we're here to declare this gospel, believers don't
want to do anything. We don't want to do anything
that's going to cause men to look at us. We don't want to
do anything that's going to cause them to blaspheme Christ, blaspheme
our gospel, so that they won't hear this gospel. That's the
chief reason for all the practical exhortations in the New Testament.
That's the number one reason. So that Christ is seen, he's
front and center in the gospel, and you and I are in the way.
And having sinners looking at us and saying, you can't possibly
be a child of God. That's the number one purpose
for every one of them. So the gospel will go forth in
clarity. Young believers and maybe old
believers do this too, but sometimes you hear people say something
like, you know, I've been redeemed by Christ and called by him and
sanctified by him. So it doesn't matter how I live
in this world. Well, if you live under your father's roof and
your father pays it all, he clothes you, he feeds you, he provides
everything for you. Does he do that and then turn
around to you and say, now son, it's okay, you go out and you
just live like hell, so you'll just dishonor me who's done all
this for you. No. It makes you wanna honor
him. And our Redeemer says this, keep
judgment and do justice. Keep judgment and do justice.
Number one, continue resting in Christ. Number two, continue
declaring my gospel to sinners in truth. And number three, do
right around folks. Just do right around folks. It's
just clear, it's an easy word to understand. And we do so assured
of this. Look, my salvation is near to
come and my righteousness to be revealed. When I read that,
I immediately thought about Christ returning. But there's a lot
more to it than that. You know, this is the hope we
have as believers. Christ is near. He's salvation
and he's righteousness and he's near. He's near. He's near His
people. He dwells in His people. He's
near His people. And His righteousness is to be
revealed. He gives us aid. He gives us
strength. He gives us comfort. We persevere
by the power of God. And He's always near. And He
continues to reveal to you and me the right way. That He's the
right way and the right way in this world. He always does that.
He keeps doing that. And soon he's near to come a
second time. He's going to return. This is
our encouragement. And then when we're declaring
this gospel, he's near and he's soon to reveal his righteousness
to his people. He's the only one that can. What
did he say? He said, all power in heaven
and earth is given unto me. Therefore, go forth and declare
this gospel to everybody. You see, the fact that he has
all power in heaven and earth, and he can reveal this gospel
in the hearts of his people, that's the reason we want to
go forth and preach his name. And he says, and lo, I'm with
you always. He's near with us all the time, and he's near to
reveal his righteousness, that he's the righteousness of God.
And then any time wrong is done you, or something like that,
try to do what's right, what he says is right. because he's
near to head you about, he's near to lead his child and turn
his child into turn our enemies, and he's near to show us this
is the way, walk in it. He's always near. Now, secondly,
that's a word about obedience. Here's secondly a word about
discouragement. Verse three, neither let the son of the stranger
that hath joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, the Lord
hath utterly separated me from his people. Neither let the eunuch
say, behold, I am a dry tree, the son of the stranger. Now,
literally, the son of the stranger is speaking of a Gentile, but
this is speaking to all of us as believers. He just got through
speaking to us as believers about obedience. But now, look, here's
one that God's gathered and he's a believer. What would make this
person say the Lord has utterly separated me from his people?
I'll tell you what would make a Gentile say that, if he went
over and started looking at the law. If he went to the law and
he started looking at the law, that's what he would say, because
that's what the law says. That's what the law says. And
he would be looking at himself. He would be looking at his race.
And then look here, also he says, neither let the eunuch say, behold,
I'm a dry tree. To put it in a way that'll give
you some spiritual understanding about this, A unit is somebody
who's damaged in parts that are unseen, and therefore he can't
bring forth any fruit. He can't bring forth any sons
or daughters, because he's damaged in parts you can't see. That's
you and me by nature. We're damaged in parts that you
can't see by our own nature, and therefore we can't bring
forth fruit. We can't bring forth fruit personally, and we can't
bring forth fruit unto God. Let me ask you this, why would
that person be discouraged, that eunuch, if he went to the law? If he went to the law and looked
at the law, the eunuch was forbidden to even come into the house of
God. The eunuch was forbidden from being a priest under God.
The eunuch could bring forth no fruitful works under God.
He's damaged. He's considered a curse by the
law. Brethren, here's the point. Even
though God tells you and I as believers to do judgment and
justice, to continue in faith, trust in Christ, preaching this
gospel, doing that which is right, he's telling you and me, don't
ever look to the law of God away from Christ. And he's saying,
don't ever look to your race or anything else to make you
to differ. And he's saying, don't look to your personal fruitfulness.
Don't look to how little you've had a part in bringing God's
sons and daughters to Christ. Don't look at those things. Is
that not how we get discouraged? We start looking at the law.
We start looking at ourselves. We start looking at fruit, trying
to find fruit in ourselves. You get discouraged sometime
and you think, is anybody hearing this gospel? But is that my business? My business is just to preach
it. We still have an old man of sin in us and every sin's
gonna be mixed with everything we do so that we can't look to
anything in us. We can't go back and look to
the law and look to ourselves and look to our doing. And anytime
we're looking to self or looking to the law, that's the old man
of sin that's making us do that, that's looking that way. But
remember this, you've put off the old man with his deeds and
have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him. And in Christ, there's neither
Greek nor Jew. Your race, your place, none of
that matters. There's neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision. It's not our doing, it's Christ's
doing. And he says, there's neither
bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. This is what
he's telling us. Don't look to you. Don't look
to you. Who put a difference between
the Jew and the Gentile? Before God put a difference between
them, there was no difference between them. God alone did it. Why in the world did he put up
this to bring in this law that put a difference between a Jew
and a Gentile? Why did God do that? To show
he's the one who puts a difference between his people in the world.
He's the one that does it. Only he can do it. Christ came
forward. And he's the fulfiller of that
law, and he came forth to fulfill it, to show he's the one who
puts a difference between his people and the rest of this world.
Christ came forth, we needed to fulfill the law in precept,
just like Brother Donnie said. We needed to fulfill that law
with a perfect righteousness in precept. And we sinners sinned
in Adam, and we needed to fulfill that law in penalty. We needed
to be justified from our sin. Both of those are true. And on
the cross, if you look to the cross, Christ is fulfilling the
precept and the penalty on the cross at the same time. The precept of the law is fulfilled
in this, love God and love your brethren as yourself. And the
penalty is fulfilled in this, the soul that sinneth must die.
And Christ on that cross, by giving himself in love to God,
his father, to declare him just and the justifier, and in giving
himself in love for his people, to justify his people from all
our sins. There's the first table of the
law and the second table of the law. In love, he's fulfilling
that. And he's doing it by taking the
sin of his people and paying our sins to justifies from the
precept of the law. all at one place, all at one
time on a cross. That death that he died to satisfy
the penalty was a living death. It was a living death. It's that
second death, that death that never dies. It's that death that
the man who meets God outside of Christ will suffer for all
eternity. It's the death Christ suffered
when he was on that cross alive. That's the living death he was
suffering. He bore the hell that his people deserved on that tree.
Separation from God, separation from those that he loved, from
God and his people. And while he's separated from
them, while he's bearing our sins in his body on the tree,
in order for him to satisfy that law and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, he's got to be perfectly holy within. and without spot and faithful
to God at the same time. So while he's bearing our sins
in his own body on the tree, he's offering himself through
the eternal spirit without spot to God. Precept and penalty being
fulfilled at the same exact time. And he finished it. Look what
Ephesians 2 says now. Look at Ephesians 2. You got
a Gentile word that he separated Looking at the law, thinking,
oh, I'm separated from God now. I'm separated from my brethren
now. Ephesians 2.13 says this, now in Christ Jesus, you who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who has made
both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments containing ordinances. That was the enmity
and he's abolished it for to making himself of to one new
man. So making peace. That's what
he did for us before the law and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
And he came and preached peace to you, which were far off and
to them that were not for through him. by his keeping the law,
by his representing us to God and by him coming in the preaching
of the gospel to us. Through the spirit, we both have
access by one spirit or to the Father. Now, therefore, you're
not strangers and foreigners, you're fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. Pay attention to that. You're
not strangers and foreigners, fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. So he says, when you get discouraged,
Where are we to look? Where are we to look? Look here,
here's the last word, a word of assurance. Go back at our
text, Ephesians 56, 4. Where are we to look? We look
to ourselves, we're going to get discouraged. Here's where
we're to look, verse 4. Thus saith the Lord unto the
eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please
me and take hold of my covenant. To you eunuchs who believe on
God. And yet you're discouraged because
of your lack of fruit bearing. You say it. I'm a dry tree. I
don't think I'm a servant of God. I don't think I could come
into his house. I don't think I've got a place
in his house. I don't see any converts, all
these things. Look into the law. It says, let's
say it to him. Even unto them will I give in
my house and within my walls a place. and a name better than
of sons and of daughters. I'll give them an everlasting
name that shall not be cut off." Who said he would give it? God
did. He said, I will give. I will
give. What is a gift? We got a season
coming up where we're going to be giving some gifts. What's
a gift? You go and purchase a gift. Anybody here going to go and
buy a gift and set it up on a shelf and say, well, I didn't buy this
really for anybody in particular. I'm just hoping somebody come
and get it. You're not going to do that. You're going to buy
a gift for somebody in particular, and that's what God did. And
then you're going to pay the price that's owed for that gift.
You're going to purchase it, and then you're going to bring
it to the person and give it to the person. And God even has
to give us the grace to receive the gift. Once he's done all
that, he said, I'll give. And what's he going to give?
He says, I'll give in my house within my walls a place. Here we are trying to look at
the law and thinking, oh, I can't come into God's house. The law
has barred me from God. Christ put that. He fulfilled
it. And he says here. All us sin-cursed eunuchs that
couldn't serve God in his house, he says, now that Christ fulfilled
the law for us, child of God, you are the house. That's what
he's saying. I'm going to give you a place
in my house within my walls. Within my walls. We saw that
in Ephesians 2. He said, you're of the household
of God now. You're a living stone built up
in the wall of God's house. We're we're we're not coming
into a physical temple. We're we're God's house. We're
God's house. And look here. Are you discouraged
about your fruit bearing, about not bearing sons and daughters
under God? Perhaps I'll give a name better
than a sons and daughters. I'll give you something better,
God said, than sons and daughters. All the unit, he couldn't be
a priest to God. But, you know, Christ finished
the work and now we're kings and priests unto God. He said,
I'll give you a name. That's better than being than
having sons or daughters. That's better than your fruit
bearing that you could have ever borne without God. That's what
he said. And that's better than any converts that can be made
unless God makes them. This is to be given a name to
be made a king and a priest unto God by Christ. And now we have
fruit because The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ. And he says
here, and I'm going to give you an everlasting name. This is
a name that won't be cut off, he said. The Lord our righteousness. Brother Todd read it this morning.
This is the name wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our
righteousness. This is the name wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. And it's an everlasting name
that won't be cut off. Were you discouraged about being
separated by the law from God and from his people? Look at
verse seven. He's speaking here now of the son of the stranger. And that's a Gentile literally,
but it's anybody that's looking at that law and thinking you're
separated from that law. Look, even to them will I bring
to Mount Sinai? No, that's where he finds you.
All discouraged at the foot of Mount Sinai saying, I can't come
near God, I'm cast out. And he brings you to his holy
mountain. He brings you to his holy mountain. And I'll make
them joyful in my house of prayer." He brings you to his holy mountain,
his church, his house, his Mount Zion, the whole family of God
in heaven and earth. He brings you to his house, to
his holy mountain. And he makes you joyful by teaching
you, child, this work finished. Child, this law has been upheld,
it's been magnified, it's been honored. I've made you the perfect,
I've made you the righteousness of God. You ever go over and
look at Romans 9? There you got Gentiles who didn't even try
to attain the righteousness of God. And you got Israelites who
did everything they could to try to attain the righteousness
of God. And you know who attained the righteousness of God? The
Gentile who didn't even have the law, who wasn't even trying.
because God sent them the gospel and made it effectual in their
heart and through faith they believed on it. And he's the
righteousness of God. He said here, I'm going to bring
you there and notice this. He said, My house is a house
of prayer. You remember, this is the first
that our Lord quoted whenever he came into the temple and there
were the money changers and they were they were changing people's
money and they were selling sacrifices and all those things. And the
Lord ran him out of there. He said, he said, it's written the
Lord's house would be a house of prayer. Should be a house
of prayer. What he's saying to us here,
brethren, is don't run back to the law because God's house is
not a house of buying redemption and selling redemption. It's
a house of prayer. Look back up there. Isaiah 55
one. Ho, everyone at thirst, come to the waters, and he that
hath no money, come ye buy, eat, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. It's not a, this is not a place
where we're trying to buy and sell and bargain and wager for
something. This is a place where you come
in and you pray. What do you pray? What's that
mean? In Hebrews 13, 5, 15, he said, by him, by Christ. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks unto his name. David prayed, and he said, Lord,
open now my lips. And he said, In my mouth shall
show forth thy praise. And he said, You desire not sacrifice
else I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken
and a contrite heart. Oh, God, thou will not despise.
And he says, you come with this sacrifice into my house, and
when he brings you there and he opens your mouth, he says
this. Look at the verse there. Isaiah
56. He says. Verse seven. He says, it's a
house of prayer, and he says, and when he gives you a heart
to come and offer these sacrifices, he says, their burnt offerings
and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar. Literal
burnt offerings and sacrifices? No, the praises of your lips,
thanksgiving to God, accepted in Christ Jesus our altar. He
said, For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.
This is so. God accepts the thanksgiving
in Christ Jesus, our altar of his people, whether you're a
Jew or a Gentile, whether you have the law or didn't have it.
Christ fulfilled it. He accepts it whether you circumcised
or uncircumcised. It's a new creature that matters.
It's being made new by him, by what he did on the cross and
what he does in our heart. It's by being made new by him.
And God's house is a house of thanksgiving and praise and honor
and glory to God for what he's done, not for what we've done.
We were looking the other day at that picture of the husband
and the bride. And you think about it. You know,
he says the bride submits to the husband as Christ as Christ
bride submits to Christ because he's the head of the house. He's
the savior of the body. And we get submission to him.
And you think about a church that that tells the husband that
he can always save you if you let him, or that tells sinners
he's done all he can do, now it's up to you. That's a bride
that usurps authority over the husband. That's a bride who's
reviving the house around the children, preaching what the
children want, what the children want to hear, instead of reviving
the house around the husband. This house is not a house where
we come in bragging about what we've done. It's a house where
we come in bragging about what he's done. That's the house.
That's what he means by it's a house of prayer. And it's this
way for all people. For all the people he's talking
about, that's who it's for. Look here now, in case we forget,
in case we become like that eunuch who says, oh, I'm a dry tree.
I'm not making any converts. We're going to resort to our
measures and our tactics. He says this yet. And this is
a house of prayer for all people. But then he says yet look at
verse eight. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel
says yet. I'm the one doing the gathering.
To Christ. To his which are already gathered.
And I'll gather those that are to be gathered unto him. He's
saying I'm gonna make you fruitful. I'm gonna bring the people. I'm
gonna bring my people. Well now let me ask this. He
says here he's gathering some more that aren't gathered, and
he's gathering them to those he's already gathered. If you're
sitting here and you don't believe on Christ, and you don't have a hope, and
you're looking at the Lord saying, I'm separated from God, and you're
looking at anything you've ever done and said, I'm unfruitful,
I'm a dry tree. That's what qualifies somebody
to come to this house. That's what qualifies somebody
to be in this, in this house. Is to be destitute with nothing.
Are you one that he's gathering? One that is to be gathered? That's
a qualification. And brethren, for you and I who
he's gathered, he's telling us here, don't look to yourself.
Don't look to be obedient to God, be obedient to Christ in
this world. But don't look to yourself, or
you'll get discouraged. Look to him who said, I've given
you a place in my house. I've done everything necessary
to put you in my house. People look for assurance in
the wrong place. I want to give you this illustration just real
quick, and I'm done. A few weeks ago, I don't know
if you saw this in the news, but there was some fellas cleaning
the World Trade Center, cleaning the windows on the new World
Trade Center. And I've been there and seen
that new World Trade Center, and it is tall. I mean, it is
tall. And these fellas were about eight
floors from the top cleaning the World Trade Center. And that
little platform they're standing on out there cleaning those windows,
one end of it slipped. The brake on it broke. And that
thing fell down on the end like this. And those two fellas slid
down to the end and were just dangling on this platform. The
Empire State Building is 1,200 feet tall. And it looks like
a dwarf compared to this building we're talking about. And they're
almost at the top of it. Firefighters came and the first
thing they did was took a cable and they secured that platform
from the top so that it couldn't fall. It could not fall. They
secured it. And they told those fellas, okay,
it's secure now. We got the cable attached to
it. They had assurance it wasn't going to fall. You think that
those fellas on that platform, you think they had assurance? And then those firefighters drilled
a hole in the window right there where they were, and they came
in there, and the first thing they did is gave them harnesses,
and those fellows strapped those harnesses on, and they strapped
it inside, and the firefighters said, okay, now, you got some
assurance you're not gonna fall, you're attached to the window.
As long as they dangling out there on that little three-foot
platform, you think they got assurance yet? But here's the
point, whether they had assurance or they didn't have assurance.
Their assurance that they weren't going to fall was that cable
and that harness attached in there. It wasn't them. It had
nothing to do with their feeling. It had nothing to do with what
they thought. It was those firefighters and what they had done. And brethren,
our assurance is not This feeling that I got that I'm all assured,
our real assurance, the assurance of understanding is Christ our
wisdom. And the assurance of hope is
him in whom every promise of God is yes and amen. And the
promise of faith is the object of our faith. That's our assurance. And as we say, don't look to
you, look to him, him alone. All right, amen.