Back to the 13th chapter of the
book of Hebrews. I have entitled the message for
tonight. Has God spoken to me? Has God spoken to me now? Originally, I wanted to bring
a message from that seventh verse and look at what the Bible has
to say about the office of the pastor, and we're probably going
to get back into that next week. But I couldn't get away from
this one phrase. Let's read it again. Hebrews
chapter 13, verse seven. Remember them which have the
rule over you. Who have spoken unto you. The word of God. Whose faith follow considering
the end of their conversation. If the Lord has called me to
preach the gospel, and I'm preaching to you, God speaks through my
preaching. And you actually hear the Word
of God personally. It is God speaking to you. That's how God speaks. speaking
the word of God. Now, if I am called of God to
preach the gospel, I'm not speaking about my own opinions or ideas
or thoughts or some kind of denominational distinctions. I am preaching
the word of God, God's word. The Bible is the word of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for direction, for correction, for
reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect
and truly furnished unto all good works. The Bible is the
Word of God. Turn with me to 2 Peter 1. I love this verse of Scripture.
It gives us some idea of The Bible. Or 16, Peter is telling us about
an event that took place called the Mount of Transfiguration,
you remember it when he and James and John went up onto the map
with the Lord and the Lord was transfigured before him and his
face shined as the sun and his raiment became white as light. Can you imagine being there,
seeing this physically? Seeing the deity of the Lord
first through his humanity, what an experience that must have
been. And this is what he's talking about. Verse 16, for we have
not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
that excellent glory from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. What
an experience that must have been. But look at this next statement. We have also a what? More sure word of prophecy. The Bible. is more sure than
that experience. You have something better than
that experience. It's hard to get hold of it,
but it's so. A more sure word. Where do you do well that you
take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place into
the day dawn and the day star arrives in your heart, knowing
this first that no prophecy of the scriptures or any private
interpretation For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost." Now, that's the Bible, the Word of God. Now, it could be said that when
I read the Word of God, that I'm speaking the Word of God
to you, but that's not the sense in which the writer to the Hebrews
means. The Bible is the Word of God,
quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and as a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, quick and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword. And the Gospel message is the
Word of God, quick and powerful. and sharper than any two-edged
sword. Now, we hear the Word of God
from a man. There was a man sent of God. His name was John. We hear this
Word. Now, the Word of God, remember
this. The Word of God is the Word, it's the message, from
the Word, the written Word, that reveals the living Word, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the Word of God. Anything
less is not the Word of God. It's the Word. It's the Gospel
message from the written Word that reveals the living Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when we hear the Word of
God, we hear a man sent of God. How can they preach except they
be sent? And he comes with a personal message to us where God speaks
to us, and we receive it as the word of God. Turn to First Thessalonians,
Chapter two. First Thessalonians, Chapter
two, verse 13. For this cause also, thank we
God without ceasing, because when you received the word of
God, which you heard of us. You heard the Word of God preached
by us. You received it not as the Word
of men, not as Paul's opinion or Apollos' opinion, but as it
is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also
in you that believe. Now, you remember the words of
the Lord. Now, if God has called me to preach, and I'm preaching
the gospel, This can be said of me, can be said of anybody
who preaches the gospel, when our Lord said, he that heareth
you, heareth me. And he that despises you, despises
me. And what I've said up to this
point is very important, but I've no idea of preaching the
word of God. What is it you hear when you hear the Word of God?
That's what I want us to understand. I've talked about how I'm supposed
to preach the Word of God, and if God has called me to preach
the Word of God, that's in fact what I do preach. But what is
it someone hears when they actually hear the Word of God? He said,
Remember them that have the rule over you, who have spoken unto
you the Word of God. Has God's Word been spoken to
me? Have I heard the Word of God? God. Now, would you turn with
me to first Peter, chapter one? Verse twenty three. Being born again. First, Peter
one, twenty three, being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the word of God. which liveth and abideth
forever. And then he gives a quotation
from Isaiah chapter 40 as to what that word is. And we're
going to go there in a moment, but let's go on reading forward.
Here's what you hear. All flesh is as grass, and all
the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and
the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endures
forever. It's all that will abide. It's
all that will remain. And this is the word. What I've
just said, this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you. This is what you will hear. Now, with that in mind, turn
back to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. When you hear
the word of God, this is what you hear. Now look in verses six through
eight, we see that Peter was quoting from this passage of
scripture in Isaiah 40, verse six, the voice said, cry. And
he said, what shall I cry? What am I supposed to speak?
Well, here it is. All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness thereof is of the flower of the field. The grass
withers. The flower fades because the
Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withers. The flower
fades. But the word of our God shall
stand forever. Now let's go up to the first
of this chapter, and we're going to work our way back down to
that. Comfort ye. Comfort ye. My people, sayeth your God. The first question I have to
ask is. Who does my people refer to? Is this everybody? Every son
of Adam. Well, you know, it's not that
it's talking about his people, his elect, those who believe
those who have bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, his
disciples. those who follow him. Matthew
121 says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. To make this generic and to say
it's for everybody is to make it meaningless. Meaningless. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Look in verse 2. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. And that is, my marginal reading
says, to the heart. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Now, gospel preaching is addressed
to the heart. Now, what's that mean? What's
it mean to say that the gospel preaching is addressed to the
heart? Is that some kind of ooey-gooey thing, that ethereal that we
can't get hold of? No, the heart means the whole
man. It's addressed to the understanding. It's addressed to the affections,
it's addressed to the will, the heart. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. Now, religion never addresses
the heart. You have Pentecostalism and Charismatic
and all that kind of stuff. It addresses the emotions. It
tries to play on the emotions. Free will religion addresses
the will. Reformed religion addresses the
intellect. But the gospel is addressed to
the heart. Speak to the heart of my people. May you comfort them. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Speak to their heart. And here's
the comfort of the gospel. I love this. Look what he says.
Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her. And this is
a strong word. It means accost her. Accost her. Stop her. She won't believe unless
she is accosted. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now you cry unto
her and tell her that her warfare is accomplished, that it's already
over, that the battle has already been won. Oh, would to God that you and
I can get a hold of this. The warfare is accomplished.
And Christ has already won. And I've already won. Amen. The battle is over. When he said,
it is finished, my salvation was accomplished by what he did
for me. Warfare is over. Now, I have
a warfare going on in my heart. every single day, and you do
too. The flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit lusting
against the flesh. These are contrary one to the
other so that you cannot do the things that you would. I've got
that battle going on every day. But you know what? The warfare
is accomplished. I've already won. I'm more than
sure for heaven as if I'm already there. I'm already there in the
person of my substitute. I'm already in heaven, glorified
in Christ Jesus. Now, how secure is that? How
secure? That's how secure every believer
is. Your warfare is accomplished. Does that comfort you? Now, if
you told me that there's something left undone that I need to do,
I wouldn't have any comfort. But to hear that the warfare
is accomplished. Oh, I like this. Tell her, speak
to her heart, tell her that her warfare is accomplished, and
look what he says next. Tell her that her iniquity is
pardoned. Now, this is one of the most
glorious concepts. The gospel that we preach, that
we believe, that we rejoice in, the gospel does not end with
the forgiveness of sins. If you do this, and if you stop
doing that, and if you turn your life around and you get things
straightened up, you'll be forgiven. That's the message of salvation
by works. The gospel doesn't end with the
full, free, frank forgiveness of sins. It begins there. You
tell her that her iniquity is all pardoned. Tell her she's forgiven. Oh, and you know, the only time
you can enter into the glory of that is if the Lord, by His
Spirit, tells you it's so. But here's gospel preaching. Everybody that Christ died for,
their sin is forgiven. Her iniquity is pardoned. And look what he says next. He
says, For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all
her sins. Now on the cross, not only were
my sins pardoned, but complete satisfaction was made. Not only
was I not given what I deserve, I was given all that he deserves.
Not only was I forgiven, I was justified. Not only was I saved
from hell, I was made like the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only was
I delivered from having nothing, I was given all things. She's
received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Is that the gospel or what? That
is the gospel. Verse 3, the voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness. This is a prophecy regarding
John the Baptist. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now that
word prepare is generally translated look. I think that gives us some
help in understanding what he's saying. He's saying look at the
way of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way. He is the way to God. I am the way, I'm not a way,
I'm the way, I'm the only way. You look at the way, the way
to God. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. And I think
this is interesting too, how it's pointed out, the voice was
crying from the wilderness. You know, in the days of John
the Baptist, if you wanted to hear from God, you wouldn't go
to the temple to hear from him, would you? You wouldn't go to
the Sanhedrin. You wouldn't go to organized
religion. You'd hear from God from a man crying out in the
wilderness. And you know, it's no different
today. If you ever hear from God, it's not going to be through
organized religion. It's just not going to be. So
is this organized religion what we're doing right now? No. No. I mean, you know, I'm preaching
the truth. We meet in a building and everything,
but no, this is not organized religion with some kind of big
denominational backing and all that kind of stuff. This is not
at all. If you're going to hear from
God, You can hear from him in the wilderness. He says, the
voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way
of the Lord and make straight in the desert, the desolate place,
a highway for our God. He comes to us, we come to him
on this highway, this way to God. Now look in verse 4. Every
valley shall be exalted. Every low place. You know what
that's referring to? That's talking about sinners.
You find me somebody who's a real sinner. A real bonafide sinner. God's going to save that person.
Every time. There's never been anybody who
saw himself to be a real sinner that the Lord didn't save. The
only reason you see that is because he showed it to you. You wouldn't
even know that unless he made it known to you. Every valley
is going to be exalted. He's going to save every sinner
and every Mountain and hill, high places are going to be made
low. You see, he resists the crowd. He gives grace to the humble. That's the way our Lord works. Every valley is going to be exalted
and every mountain and hill is going to be made low. And the
crooked, he says, shall be made straight. The fraudulent and
deceitful shall be made right. What this is talking about is
justification. I am in myself, in and of myself,
crooked. That's me. Crooked. Sinful. Sinful. He makes me straight. He makes me righteous. Aren't
you thankful for justification? Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. The crooked
will be made straight and the rough places plain. smooth. And the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed. Now, what is the glory of the
Lord is how he can take somebody like me and bring me into heaven. And he gets all the glory in
doing it. That's the glory of the Lord. Now, he can take a
sinful man and make him just like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the glory of the Lord. And he gets all the glory in
this. And the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it. Verse 6. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? What do you want me to say? Well,
here it is. All flesh all flesh, white flesh,
black flesh, rich flesh, poor flesh, smart flesh, dumb flesh,
pretty flesh, ugly flesh, the totality of all that is the flesh.
What is it? grass. What do we do with our
grass? We put it in a hurry and haven't
put it in a dump. All flesh is grass. This is speaking
of the total depravity and inability of man. All flesh is his grass
and the goodliness thereof, the piety, the religion, the goodliness
thereof. Is this the flower of the field,
the grass withers, the flower fades because the Spirit of the
Lord blows upon it. Surely the people of the grass.
Look over in Isaiah 64. You're there in Isaiah. Isaiah
64. Verse 6, But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all
do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth
up himself to take hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from
us, thou hast consumed us because of our iniquities." Now, if I
hear God speak to me, I'm going to learn what this means. All flesh is Christ. I'm going to find that within
and of myself. I am nothing but sin, and my
goodliness is no good. If God speaks to me, if I hear
from the living God, I'm going to find this out, that it's true.
Now, if God has spoken to you, you know this is the truth. All
flesh is as grass. Verse 8, the grass withers, The
flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. You know, all that's going to
stand before God in judgment is the word of God. All that's
going to stand before God and be accepted is the word of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
and those in him. Now, when God comes looking for
me. I know you've heard me say this before. I'm going to say
it again. When God comes looking for me, there's only one way
I want him to find me. Now, my vain flesh would like
for him to come. I'd love to die preaching. You
know, I mean, wouldn't that be neat? You know, preaching the
gospel and then you just drop over dead and go straight to
heaven. I'd like to die praying or reading the Bible or something
like that. I realize that. And that's all flesh is all that
is. Here's what I really want. When God comes looking for me,
I simply want to be found in Christ. Philippians chapter 3. Now when God speaks to you, you
know that the only thing that will abide The only way you can
be as accepted, be accepted, is as you are in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Word of God. In Philippians chapter three,
Paul says, beginning in verse eight, Yea, doubtless. And I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him." What's
that mean? Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, my faith. Now, if you've heard from God,
if God's spoken to you, the greatest desire of your heart is simply
to be found in Christ. How about you? Has God spoke
to you? Do you see that in and of yourself,
you're grass? Nothing to you. In and of yourself,
sinful. And the only place you want to
be found is in the Lord Jesus Christ, having His very righteousness. I only want to be found in Christ's
righteousness. No other way. Let's go on reading. The grass
withers, the flower fades, but the word, Isaiah 48,
but the word of our God shall stand forever, O Zion, that bringeth
good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain,
O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings. Lift up thy voice with
strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say
unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Now, here's the message. All flesh is grass. Only the
Word of God endures. Behold. Behold your God. Now, what's that a reference
to? Jesus Christ hanging on a cross. Behold, your God, Jesus Christ,
hanging on a cross, accomplishing salvation. Behold, your God. I love what John said. Behold,
the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. Would you turn with me to Genesis
22? Genesis 22. And it came to pass, verse 1,
after these things, that God did tempt Abraham and said unto
him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take
now thy son, thy only son. Israel was not acknowledged.
the one whom you love, and get thee into the land of Moriah,
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
which I will tell thee of." And Abraham rose up early in
the morning. He's obedient He's obedient to
what God says. Now, you just put yourself in
his place. God says, take your son, the one you love, and put
him to death on a mountain that I'll tell you of. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning and he saddled his ass and took
two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and clave
the wood for the burnt offering. I try to think of me putting
myself in that place. I would have tried to forget
the knife. I'd forget the wood. I'd try to forget something.
But he did everything. And went up into the place of
which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes. and saw the place afar off. And I can't even begin to imagine
all the things that he was thinking. And Abraham said to his young
men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. And do you hear what he
said? This is the first time the word worship is ever used
in Scripture. And he knew he was going to go
kill that boy, and his mind had already taken place. But God
promised that the Messiah was going to come to that boy. He
made that promise. And Abraham believed God. And Hebrews 11 tells us that
he believed that God would raise that boy from the dead. Verse 6. And Abraham Took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son. And he took
the fire in his hand and a knife. And they went, both of them,
together. And I know you know that there was another time that
someone carried the wood that was to be used for their own
execution up a hill. What a glorious type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God,
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went,
both of them, together. What a statement. Where's the
lamb? God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. Here's the Lamb of God. Here's
the Lamb of God. Now, understand this, first of
all. God's the one who provides the lamb. God will provide a
lamb for a burnt offering. The lamb is for God. For God
to do something for me or you, He first had to do something
for Himself. He couldn't accept me the way I am. Something had
to be done about my sin. God is holy. Something had to
be done about my sin. For God to do something for me,
He first had to do something for Himself. You see, the Lamb
was for God. The Lamb was to satisfy the justice
of God. The Lamb was to pay for sin.
That's what the God will provide the Lamb for Himself. And God
Himself is the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. which takes away the sin of the
world. Now, when you hear the gospel, when I hear the gospel,
we hear, Behold your God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of his people. Behold your God. Now, I want to ask you a question.
Is this a message of good tidings to you? Is it a message of comfort? Is
it a message you rejoice in? The Word of God. All that's going
to stand in judgment is the Word of God. Now, when you hear God
speak to you. Now, God speaks to us in many
ways. I realize that. He convicts us
of our sins. He confronts us with our sin. He causes us to look to Christ. He does all these things. I know
there are many ways he speaks. But primarily this, when he speaks,
you hear the word of God. You hear the gospel. You hear
that all flesh is grass. Only the word of the Lord will
endure. Only Christ will endure. And
behold your God. Now that is the gospel message. And as we observe the Lord's
table together, what we're doing is we are celebrating what Isaiah
40 says. Turn back there. Isaiah 40. Verse 1. Comfort ye. Comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably. to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. And as we partake of the
Lord's table, we're celebrating this Because my Lord was crucified
and slain in my place, my warfare is already over, and my iniquity
is pardoned, and I have received at the Lord's hand double for
all my sins.