Didn't you find that passage
from Isaiah chapter 11 that we just read very appealing? Look in the last verse of chapter
65, we read the same thing. Chapter 65, verse 25. The wolf. And the lamb. Shall feed together. And the lion shall eat straw
like the bullock. You'll have no reason to fear
him. And thus shall be as the serpents meet. They shall not
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. I've entitled this message His
Holy Mountain. This comes up several times in
this 65th chapter of Isaiah and that passage we read in Isaiah,
chapter 11, where the Lord speaks of his holy mountain, I wish
that I could impress upon us. The brevity of our time here
on Earth. None of us have that much longer. It's a solemn thing to think
about, you know, we all know we're going to die, but we don't much Think about it, do we? You know,
if the doctor, if you went to a doctor this week and he said,
you're going to die soon, you'd be shocked, wouldn't you? You'd
be distressed. It's hard to tell him what would
be going through your mind, but you are. You are. God already
tells us that. How brief this life is. James
said, what is your life? It's even a vapor that appeareth
for a little while and then vanish it away. You know, a time is coming, and
this is an awesome thing to think about. Is there anybody here
that could use a million dollars? I'm sure there are people who
would find a million dollars very desirable right now. Get
you out of debt, take care of your retirement, you wouldn't
have anything to worry about. But do you know the time is coming
where if you saw one million dollars laying in the street,
it wouldn't be worth your time to bend over and pick it up. That's an awesome thing to think
about, isn't it? That's how important it will
be one of these days, and that means not important at all. And
all of the things that we grieve over now, And there are a lot
of things we grieve over. You know, the time is coming
where we wouldn't even give it another thought. Wouldn't even be worth
thinking about. Now, how would you like to spend
eternity in his holy mountain, this mountain we speak of where
there's no conflict, there's nothing but peace, there's nothing
but joy. This is a sobering thing to think
about, that I'm going to spend eternity somewhere, either in
heaven In his holy mountain or in hell suffering. Agony that
there's no way I can describe, you know, hell is such a it's
a difficult thing to think about. I think it's very interesting
in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Do you know how many times
he uses the word hell? Not even once he thought the
word was too terrible to use. I know who spoke of it the most
was the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a horrible place
called hell. There is a place of incredible
bliss called heaven, a place that there's no way we can describe
either place. But I know this, they last for
eternity and how brief everything is in light of eternity, how
brief this life is. I hope we'll be impressed with
that as we consider this passage of scripture, because both of
these places are spoken of in this passage of scripture, hell.
And heaven, and that's where we will be spending eternity
in one of those two places. Now, the Lord had been speaking
very roughly in these first verses of Isaiah, chapter 65. And he
now gives a word of comfort, you know, it's it's interesting,
I will. I will be upset with somebody. That I see whether or not Seeking
the Lord, as I think they ought to, they seem to be taken up
with the world. And I might I might throw something
at them. In a sermon, say something that
I hope will hit home with them, goes right over their head. And
there's somebody else that scares them to death. Oh. Oh, you know,
it just scares you. You've got to be careful which
way you shoot when you're preaching. But the Lord is giving a word
of comfort now at this time in verse eight. He says, Thus saith
the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one
saith, Destroy it not, for blessings in it, so will I do for my servant's
sake, that I may not destroy them all. Now, the imagery here
is a is a dead looking vine. Doesn't seem like it's bearing
any fruit, but there's one spot there where there's some fruit
there. And somebody says, well, they were getting ready to cut
away all the old vines because they weren't bearing fruit, but
there's one that They found this cluster of grapes and said, don't
destroy it. There's a blessing in it. Wine can be made from
that. More fruit will come from that
in the Lord's time. And the point he's making is,
is when he looks at his people, they may look like a barren vine,
no fruit, but his fruit is in them. His spirit is in them,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he says, don't destroy them.
Don't destroy them, but preserve them. There's a blessing in them. And that can be said of every
believer. You have Christ in you. Now, to me, that's the most
incredible thing. I don't even know how to I don't
know what to say that Christ in me. Yes, Christ in you, the
hope of glory, and that's the reason the Lord doesn't destroy
me. He sees his work. He sees his son. He sees what
he did. He says, don't destroy him. There's a blessing in him.
And every believer, there's a blessing in you because of his grace.
And he says in verse nine, and I will bring forth the seed out
of Jacob and out of Judah. Now, you know, that's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He came out of the line of out
of this line of Judah and he came from Jacob. I will bring
forth the seed out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor of
my mountains, these mountains that we read of in the book of
Isaiah, where the lion and the lamb lay down together and we
have no conflict, but this peace and this joy. He's an inheritor
of my mountains and mine elect. shall inherit, and my servants
shall dwell there." Now, Christ is the seed of Jacob, but he's
the heir of all things. He's the heir of God's holy mountains.
Everything that God has is coming to his blessed son. He's the
heir. But you know who else is the
heir? The elect. That's who he calls them, the
elect. Not elect. They're going to inherit everything.
And here's something that just gives me so much joy thinking
about it right now. I wish I could always feel this way. My inheritance is almost here.
I don't have much longer here. Now, I don't know whether that's
going to be 25 or 30 years or two or three years, but I have
an inheritance waiting for me. I'm a joint heir with Christ.
And I'm not just talking about gold and silver and stuff like
that. I don't even care about that. I'm talking about likeness
to Christ. Everything that Christ has coming
to him, I have coming to me. Now, if you're going through
a tough time right now, if you're going through difficulty, it's
going to be over pretty soon. And think of the inheritance
that you have awaiting you, an inheritance that is so glorious
it can't even be described. Everything that Christ has as
the heir of God coming to Him, every believer is going to share
in that glory. I can get through anything for
a temporary time because my time's not yet. You know, truly, we
are strangers and pilgrims here, aren't we? This world is not
my home. I'm looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God himself, a place wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And I'm looking forward to that. And this is one of those, I'll
be honest with you, every time things aren't going my way, I
start thinking I want to die. You know, I wish I'd die and
just get out of here. You know, you know the way we think when
we think that way. But I like it when I'm feeling good and
feel that way, because I can't wait to be in the very presence
of Christ, be just like him, all that he has coming to him.
Every believer has coming to them. Let's go on reading. Verse
10, And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks in the valley of Achor,
a place for the herds to lie down for my people that have
sought me. It's a place of rest and joy. And these are two places
in Israel where there's just peace and rest and joy. Now,
he switches in verse 11 to talking about the enemies of the gospel. He says, But you are they that
forsake the Lord. that forget my holy mountain,
that don't even care about my holy mountain. When you read
about it, it's not that big a deal to you. You prepare a table for
that troop, but a troop of false gods is what that's talking about.
And the drink offering them to the number, the many different
false gods. You're not concerned about worshiping
the true God, but you're all the time doing all these things
for your false gods, he says. Verse 12, therefore, will I number
you to the sword. Here's what you're going to get
out of that. And you shall all bow down to the slaughter. Because
when I called, you did not answer. When I spake, you did not hear,
but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I
delighted not." Now here's the description of every unbeliever.
He said, when I called, you didn't answer. When I spake, when you
heard the Word of the Gospel, you didn't hear. It didn't mean
anything to you. It just went over your head and you didn't
care that much for it. And you didn't choose what I
delight in. Now what does God delight in?
You know the answer to that, don't you? Christ Jesus, that's
who he delights in. That's where all his delight
is. And you heard that and it just didn't mean anything to
you. You just went on your merry way. He said you didn't choose
that which I delighted in. And that's why you're going to
suffer the way you're going to suffer. He says in verse 13, therefore,
it's enough to say that the Lord God, behold, my servants shall
eat. Now, who are his servants? They're
the people that when he calls, they say, here am I, Lord. When
He speaks from His Word, they hear. They hear what He's saying.
That's a gift of His grace. And you know what else they do?
They choose that which He delights in. And I can say this right
now while I'm speaking to you. I'm choosing what God delights
in. I'm given a choice. You want
to go the way of works or the way of Christ? You want to go
the way of grace or the way of law? I choose the way of Christ. I choose the way of grace. That's
the way I want to go. You know, the Lord will meet you on the
ground you come. If you want to go on your works, He'll meet
you there. If you want to go Christ alone,
pleading nothing to Him, He'll meet you there, too. And every
believer chooses the way wherein God delights, because they have
some knowledge of who God really is, and they know He could never
accept them as they are. And they look at the way He would
delight in His Son, and they say, that's my only hope. That's
where I'm going. Every believer takes that direction. Now, here's
what he says to these people. Therefore, they say to the Lord
God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Oh, they'll eat of the gospel.
They'll eat and drink Christ by faith and they'll find such
satisfaction in Him. They're going to be fooled by
looking to Him. Behold, my servants shall drink.
They'll drink of Christ, but you'll be thirsty. Behold, my
servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed. They're going
to rejoice. In Christ, I rejoice in Christ
now. I get such joy, and the Lord
knows whether I'm telling the truth. It's one thing to say
that you rejoice, and it's another thing to really rejoice. And
the Lord knows whether or not I'm telling the truth right now.
But I get such joy in knowing that Christ is my righteousness
before God. You get joy from that? Peace? Knowing His shed blood has paid
for all my sins? Oh, I rejoice now. But you know,
one of these days, I'm going to rejoice a whole lot more than
I'm rejoicing now. I don't understand it, but one of these days, I'm
going to enter into joy and bliss that are just indescribable.
He says, My servants will rejoice, but you shall be ashamed of your
hope. Verse 14, Behold, My servants
shall sing for joy of heart. But you shall cry for sorrow
of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit. Now, that's the difference
between heaven and hell. That's just one of the differences.
Heaven is going to be a place of indescribable joy. Hell will be a place of indescribable
torment and agony. And he said you'll howl for vexation
of spirit. Verse 15, and you shall leave
your name for a curse unto my chosen. For the Lord God shall
slay thee and call his servants by another name. That he who
blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God
of truth. And he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the
God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and because
they're hid from thine eyes. Now, this is a wonderful thing
to think about. The former troubles are forgotten, they're hid from
my eyes, they're hid from God's eyes. I've had in the last Oh, two or three months. I've
had my throat stretched five on five different occasions.
And it's a hideous thing to go through. I mean, they put these
big tubes that are so uncomfortable, they ram them down your throat.
Can you imagine how uncomfortable that would be? Let me tell you
something, though. You, they give me some kind of
drug. And I don't remember it. And it might as well not happen
if I don't remember it. They give me a drug that actually
makes me, I can, they wheel me in there and they stick that
thing in my arm and I don't remember what happened until half an hour,
45 minutes later. It might as well not happen if
I don't remember it. That's a wonderful thing. I'm thankful for that
drug. I mean, because I don't know what's going on. You know, I
mean, it just, you know, I get out of there and it's good stuff.
Anesthesiologists got good stuff about it, Paul. I mean, you can
be sure of that. But here's the point, if you
don't remember it, it never happened. I don't dread going in there
because I don't remember it. Now, in glory, I will not remember
any of my sins. I don't understand how this is.
I won't remember any of the things that would be unpleasant to me.
It's gone. The former things are gone. They're
taken away. God doesn't remember my sins. And the only way that God can
forget my sin is if there's nothing there for Him to remember. That's
how completely Christ has removed my sins away. Having His righteousness
is my righteousness. I don't have any sin. Having
His shed blood is my sin payment. It's all been washed away. God
doesn't remember it. The former things are gone. There's
going to be nothing unpleasant in glory. Nothing at all. Nothing
bad to remember. And this makes me look forward
to it. Verse 17, for behold, God says,
I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall
not be remembered nor come to mind. Everything that you see
right now is going to be burned up. It's not going to last. It's
temporary. And God is going to create a
new heaven and a new earth and the former things will not be
remembered, they'll not be brought to mind, they're not even going
to be viewed as important in any way. Verse 18, let's read
verse 17 and 18 together. For behold, I create a new heaven
and a new earth and the former, it shall not be remembered. You
know, this is an amazing thing to think about. All the relationships
we have here, like I can't imagine this, but Lynn, my wife, you
know in heaven, she won't be any more important to me than
anybody else. That's amazing to think about. I don't understand
that. I can't even enter into it, but
everybody will be important. All the former things, they won't
even be remembered. It never happened. Behold, I created
a new heavens and a new earth, and the former should not be
remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create, for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing
and her people a joy." Now, we're called upon to be glad and rejoice
right now in what he creates. And this is a wonderful thing
to think about. Salvation is described in the scripture as
a creation of God. A creation of God. Now, when
God creates, how much help does he have? How much assistance
does he have? If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. He is something that he was not
before. He's a new creature. Behold, old things have passed
away and behold, all things have become new in this new creation.
Now, how is that? Because as far as when I think
about myself right now, old things haven't passed away. I still
have some of the same old problems, same old thoughts, same old patterns.
I'd be lying to say I didn't. So how is this thing of old things
passing away and behold, all things become new? Well, what
this is talking about is my standing before God. I've got a new standing.
I don't stand before the law the way I once did as guilty.
I stand before God's law. Perfect. Holy. Old things have passed away.
That old standing before the law is gone. It's taken away.
Behold, all things have become new. And I always stand perfect
before God. Because I'm a new creation, it's
a creation, a creative act of God. God speaks it, it happens,
it comes into existence. My salvation is an act of the
will of God. Just as much as He spake the
universe into existence, He spake my salvation into existence.
And this is where our rejoicing and our confidence comes from.
It's His work. It's a creative work of God.
And that's the way He describes it. Be ye glad and rejoice forever,
verse 18, in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I, verse 19, God speaking
of his people, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Believer,
This is something that I find so amazing. God rejoices in you. God joys over you with singing. He sees in you that which is
beautiful to Him, and He rejoices over you. Now, you don't rejoice
over yourself. You see so much in yourself that's ugly and deformed,
and you feel so sinful in and of yourself when you think of
who you are. But when God views the believer, He sees that which
He sees as beautiful and holy and without blemish. You're desirable
to the God of glory. Now, how can that be? There's
only one way that can be understood. Union with Jesus Christ. That's
the only way that can be understood. The union between Christ and
the believer is so real that when he sees them, he sees him. And that's real. He sees in me
that which draws out his affection, that which he delights in. How
is that? Because when he sees me, he sees
his blessed son near, so near to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dear I
cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I am as dear to God as He. So when God looks at every believer,
I don't care who you are or what you think about yourself, when
God sees you, He sees that which is beautiful in His sight, and
He rejoices with joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
verse 9, and enjoy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying, no trouble,
no tears, no pain, All that stuff is taken away. Verse 20. There shall be no more than an
infant of days. No premature deaths. Nor an old man that had
not filled his days. For the child shall die a hundred
years old, but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be
accursed. And here are the blessings of this place, and they shall
build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards
and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another
inhabit. They shall not plant, and another
eat. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and
mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands, they shall
not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble. Everything
that they do is going to be blessed because the scripture tells us
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. And here's why
this is true. For they are the seed of the
blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. They're
blessed. Now, if God has blessed you, can you be cursed? If God has
blessed you, are you blessed? If God be for us, the scripture
says, Who can be against us? Now, this is the heritage of
every believer. They are blessed. Verse 24, and it shall come to
pass. Here's how blessed they are. That before they call, I will answer. Tomorrow, you're going to cry out, Lord,
save me. But do you know He's already answered you today before
that prayer ever came out? Before they call, I'll already
answer. And while they're yet speaking,
I will hear. The wolf and the lamb. Shall
feed together, no conflict. No heartache, no trouble. Nothing
to fear, nothing to be afraid of. The lion shall eat straw
like the bullock. And dust. shall be the serpent's
meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord. Now, this is the heritage
of every believer, this holy mountain. Now, I want to turn
to Second Corinthians, Chapter four. This is where I want to
end. This mountain is the inheritance of every believer, and here's
a here's a New Testament passage that just goes right along with
this passage we just read. I want to read this entire chapter
of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, this ministry of the New Testament, this ministry
of grace, this ministry that excelleth, seeing that we have
this ministry as we've received mercy, We thank God. We don't give up. We don't lose
heart. And the reason is because we've
received mercy. Don't you find mercy an encouraging, optimistic
thing? To know that salvation is by
the mercy of God. Because of that, we don't lose
heart. I mean, if it wasn't all of mercy, we would. But thank
God, because of his mercy, we never lose heart. But we have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness
nor handling the word of God deceitfully, using the scriptures
to maintain our positions rather than just believing what God
says. But by manifestation of the truth,
here's what we do by manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God simply by telling
the truth. But if our gospel be hid, if
somebody doesn't see the glory of what we're saying, it's hid
to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure. This light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. In jars of clay. Earthen vessels. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. Now, while we're here in this
flesh, we're troubled on every side. Yet not distressed. We're perplexed. But not in despair. We're persecuted. But not forsaken. Cast down. But not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus. At all times is our only hope.
that the life, the perfect life of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh
in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of
faith, according as it's written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that
he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus,
and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
redound to the glory of God, for which cause we thank not.
But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. Now look at this word. For our. Light. Affliction. Now, Paul talked about being
beaten. The cat of nine tails with rods being a night and day
in the deep. Having so many troubles. Hunger,
thirst, nakedness. Betrayal. Health problems he
couldn't see, I mean, you could go on and on with all the problems
Paul the Apostle had. And yet, he says, our light affliction. which is put for a moment. It'll
be over just like that. Worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. It's glory we're awaiting where
the lion lays down with the lamb. We read these wonderful pictures
of heaven. While we look, he says in verse
18. Not at things which are saved.
We're not looking at circumstances. They'll always deceive you. You
really can't believe what you see. While we look, not at things
which are seen, but things which are not seen. Well, how can you
look at something that's not seen? Easy. You trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how you look at something
that's not. Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ?
Yet I know right now my Redeemer lives. And I know that right
now he's seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and
reigning and controlling everything, and that he is my salvation before
God. I'm looking at things that are
not seen. I'm not looking at circumstances. Circumstances
can seem pretty rough, but I'm not looking at those. Well, I
get discouraged when I do, but I'm not looking at those. I'm
looking at things which are not seen, for the things which are
seen are temporal. They're temporary. They're not
going to last. But the things which are not
seen. Are eternal. I am thankful for the life the
Lord has given me. I am. I'm thankful for my family.
I've counted a great privilege to be the pastor of this church.
I've counted a great privilege to have you as my friends. I
feel so blessed just to have fellowship with you, to know
you. I'm not blowing smoke when I say this. I'm very, very thankful
and content with the life the Lord has given me. That being said, oh, that the Lord would hasten
the day of His return, and I see Him face to face. And I'm made
just like Him. David put it this way in Psalm
17, 15. He said, ask for me. I will behold thy face in righteousness. Nothing to be ashamed of. I'll
behold thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. And that's what every believer
has awaiting them. And so. Whatever you're going through.
And I'm not saying this cows, I don't know what anybody's going
through. Whatever you're going through, I can assure you, this
is not going to last very long. And you can get through anything
if it's temporary. And after that eternity awaits. eternity
in His holy mountain. And how we look forward to that.
Let's pray together.