Now we're turning in our Bible
to Isaiah this evening. Isaiah, the last chapter, be
chapter 66 of Isaiah. Let's read verses 1 and 2 of
Isaiah 66. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne. The earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will
build for me, unto me? Where is the place, where is
the place of my rest? For all those things hath my
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But, now here's this big little
word in scripture. that we often run into. But God
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us. But God. But, but to this man
will I look. Now that's the title of the message
this evening. To this man will I look. To this sinner. Even to him that
is poor Even to him, this sinner that is of the contrite, broken
spirit, broken hearted, says in Isaiah 61 that he came to
heal the broken hearted and those that tremble at my word. The Lord says, this man will
I look unto. Now, the Lord, our God, plainly
declares unto us that he has a special eye out for somebody. He has a special look, a special
consideration for somebody. He's looking for somebody. The
Lord being the good shepherd of the sheep is on the trail
of his sheep. This look here that we read about
to this man while I look, it is a look of love. Love, it's
a look of mercy. It is a look of salvation when
he looks our way in grace. Now, we as a group of believers
here have been assembling in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
going on this year, this fall, we'll make six years, is that
right? Okay, I thought it was going on six years. We've been
assembling together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we have had, I don't know how many services we've had, but
we've had a few. We've had this unique and special
privilege of which I hope none of us take lightly, That is to
hear the word of God declared from the pulpit. And we have
had the privilege of hearing the gospel of God's sovereign
grace. And I pray that none of us take
it lightly. It is a privilege that God has
granted unto us. Believers do have a desire to
hear the word of God. Believers do tremble at the word
of God because they believe God, they reverence his word, they
receive his word, they bow in submission unto his word. Notice
verse five in our text. Hear the word of the Lord, ye
that tremble at his word. Believers don't just Dismiss
his word. Believers receive God's truth,
love God's truth, not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God that effectually works in our heart. Believers not only hear the word
of God, they bow in submission to the word of God, but they're
also doers of the word. To be a hearer only and not obedient
unto the word is being deceived. I don't want to be deceived.
I want to hear the word of God and obey the word of God and
believe the word of God. Thus, did you notice how this
chapter starts? Isaiah 66 verse one, thus saith
the Lord, thus saith the Lord, Jehovah. Now, you know, this
statement's made. I looked this up. It's made over
400 times in scripture, thus saith the Lord. And I think oftentimes,
at least I'm guilty of this, oftentimes we just read over
it. We just read over it and don't really grasp the depth
of God's about to speak. Boy, don't you want to hear what
God's about to speak? This book we hold in our hand
is not like any other book. It's infallible, inspired, God-breathed
word of truth. All scripture is given of God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is good for us.
It's God-breathed, God-given. All scripture is given of God. Now, let me tell you a story
to illustrate this point. I had a preacher friend years
ago, went into a bookstore and he wanted to buy a Bible for
a friend of his. And the lady behind the counter
there, she said, oh, that's a very nice Bible. So let me show you
this book, this Bible that she, she reached the book and she
laid it out on the counter. She said, now see, she said the
words of the Lord are in red. And it's a special edition, her
words of the Lord are in red. And my preacher friend said to
the dear young lady, he said, my dear friend, All of the Word
of God. Just not the red letters, but
all the Bible is the Word of God. Not just the red letter.
We have the red letter edition. That is His Word, but the black
ones are too. All scripture is given of God. Whether it's red letter edition,
or whether it's just black and white. You can't hardly find
a black and white edition anymore. All scriptures, the point I'm
trying to make, whether it's red or black ink, all the Bible
is God's word, God's truth. And it's to be handled as such,
it's to be read as such, it's to be heard as such, it's to
be reverenced. All scriptures God breathed.
In 2 Peter 1, these words are found, for prophecy, 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 Spirit. Now that
word moved is a very strong word. It has a sense of being driven. It has a sense of being captivated. It has the sense of being totally
engulfed by God the Holy Spirit. These men just didn't write words
to fill up pages. It's a mystery, this God giving
his word, God giving his truth, but my friend, believers receive
all the word of God as the word of God, all scripture as the
word of God. We don't pick and choose, you
know. I think that's what gets a lot of folks in so much trouble.
Well, you know, this part, I even had a man tell me, my dear friend,
he's not a believer, cares nothing for the gospel of God's grace,
And he's a good neighbor and a dear friend, and I just love
him. And he was telling me the other day, you know, well, some
of that Bible's written by a man. I looked at him and I said, what
are you talking about? He said, well, some of that's
written by man. I said, no, it's not. I said, all of it's God-given,
and we receive it as such. I tell you, when you start putting
a question mark on, thus saith the Lord, there's no hope for
you. I mean, you just mark it down.
There's no hope for you. Our hope is founded upon what's
the foundation of faith. My feeling, my emotion. What
was it Luther said? Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. The foundation of faith is thus
saith the Lord. Not my feeling, not my emotion.
We can't pick and choose. Well, I like, you know, Romans
nine, let's just stay away from that. In Ephesians chapter one,
let's never go there. Let's just stay in John chapter
three. Well, my goodness, what's in John chapter three? Sovereign
mercy. You can't get away from God's
truth, God's gospel. It's everywhere you go. We're
told in the word of God to preach, thus saith the Lord. A dear friend
of mine, he's with the Lord now, but he was a faithful gospel
preacher. He summed it up this way, Pastor Scott Richardson,
he said, preaching is just simply, you know what it is? He summed
it up in a very simple way. It's just repeating what God
has already said. That's what preaching is. We
are told in Scripture to preach the Word of God. Preach the Word,
be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, ignore
it with all longsuffering and doctrine. We're told to preach,
thus saith the Lord. We're not to apologize. We're
not to explain. We're to declare God's truth,
His Word. We're to read the Word of God
publicly. Did you know that? That's right. That's why when
we get together, our first way we begin the service is by, thus
saith the Lord. We are to read the Word of God
publicly. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5,
27, Paul instructed that church to make sure you read this epistle. And so we read the Word of God
publicly. We preach it publicly. We are
told to meditate upon the Word, to give ourselves wholly unto
it. We are told those who read it, hear it, believe it, obey
it, the words of this prophecy will be blessed of God. That's
what it says, Revelation 1, verse 3. Those who read the word of
this book will be blessed of God. Well, I want to be blessed
of God. Make much of the word. You can't
make too much of thus saith the Lord. I want us to make much
of the word of God, the written word of God, because it tells
us about who? Who does it tell us about? It
tells us about the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the very core and center and message and theme of every page
in this book. It's all about Christ. Christ
is all and in all. And He is all in the Word of
Truth, the Word of God. It's in the Word of God we learn
that we have a good hope in Christ through the grace of God alone. Now Isaiah 66. Thus saith the
Lord. Now, next time you see that statement,
just perk up a little bit more. It's like that word behold. Behold,
behold. I like to look at that word as
a stop sign. Behold, stop, look, and listen. Stop, look, and listen. Thus saith the Lord. Now, what's
he gonna say? He makes two glorious statements
here in verse one. Heaven is my throne. Earth is
my footstool. Heaven is my throne. Our God, the God of Scripture
now, is no peanut God. The Lord our God sits and reigns
upon His heavenly throne. that's called in Psalm 90, from
everlasting to everlasting thou art God. He sits upon his heavenly
throne with undisputed power, with infinite and eternal wisdom,
with total sovereignty. His dominion is universal. His government is Complete in
total his power is unlimited and his sovereignty extends from
one end of heaven Unto the other his dominion is from sea to sea
now we've seen this in our study in the Psalms in Psalm 135 I
want you to turn back to Isaiah 46 Remember from Psalm 135 Whatsoever
the Lord pleased that's what he does in heaven and in the
earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He rules and reigns over
all creatures, over all events, advents, over all things, of
him and through him and to him are all things. Isaiah 46, verse
9, remember the former things of old, for I am God, there is
none else. I am God, there's none like me. Well, what's he like? What's
he like? declaring the end from the beginning.
How can that be done? God decreed, known unto God are
all of his works from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning. From ancient times, the things
that are not yet done. saying my counsel will stand. I'll do all my pleasure. He worked
all things after the counsel of his own will, calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man that would execute my counsel from
a far country. God said, I've spoken it. I'll
bring it to pass. I purposed it. Maybe it'll happen. It might happen if he will, if
you will. No, he said, I purposed it. It'll happen. I'll do it. I'll
do it. His throne is universal. His
throne is sovereign. And then he says, Earth is my
footstool. Earth is his creation work. The
Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior, is a sovereign creator of all
things. Look at verse two. For all those
things have my hand made. All those things have been said. The Lord, He's the sovereign
creator of all things. He fashioned the earth for His
footstool. We're living upon His footstool.
His hands have made all things by the word of His power. There's
nothing that was made that was not made by Him. By Him all things
consist. All things are made by Him and
for Him and what does it say? For His glory. And by him all
things consist, and that word simply means held together. What holds this universe together?
They talk about the physics of this universe, and I'm not a
physicist, but they talk about the power of gravity. My neighbor
would tell me about this. I was trying to hang, put some
of those rock, you know, putting some rock on the house, the cement,
you know, and sticking that rock on the wall. And some of them
would stick and some of them would just fall off. Well, I
said, I've got a problem. My neighbor came along and said,
it's that gravity. I said, yeah, it's gravity, all
right. But I said, He talked about the power of gravity. I
said, well, I want to talk about the God who controls gravity. God is control of the gravity. The gravity has no power in itself. It's the God of gravity that
controls. By Him, all things consist. By
the word of His power, He sustains all things. He justly rules all
things for His eternal purpose and His eternal glory. All things. Someone said, I don't know who
said, I got this out of one of my notes from years back, the
Lord our God, a lot of people say, well, God's in the universe.
No, He's not. The universe is in Him. God inhabits
eternity. The universe is in Him. His circumference
is nowhere. His center is everywhere. He's
everywhere. Now the question the Lord asks
here, where is the house that will be built that can contain
Almighty God? Where is the house that can be
built for Almighty God to contain him, to enable God, the eternal
God, to rest. This scripture I was thinking
about when I read that over in 1 Kings 8, when Solomon had finished
the temple, and at the prayer to the dedication of the temple,
he made this statement. He knew something of the eternality
and infinite person of God. He said, the heavens of heavens
cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built. God is everywhere present. Many people of the past, And
many people of the present want to try to contain God, put him
in a box, put him in a place, put him in a church, put him
in a denomination. They build a certain building
and they say, well, God dwells here. He'll break that mold. He'll break that mold. Remember
Stephen's message recorded in Acts 7. He quoted this scripture
and makes application to his religious day, to those religious
Jews, that God is everywhere present. that God is spirit and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Indeed,
God gave instruction to Moses to construct the tabernacle of
witness in the wilderness. He did give instruction to Solomon
concerning the temple of God and the construction of that
temple in a very minute detail. The tabernacle and the temple
were built with very minute details. These things were visible symbols
that God did dwell among his people. But what happened to
the tabernacle? God folded it up and brought
in the everlasting tabernacle, the Lord Jesus Christ. What happened
to Solomon's temple? The temple that Solomon built,
God sent an invading army and destroyed it. Well, years later,
they constructed again, and God sent another army and destroyed
it again, making us to know that God is not confined to places,
buildings, denominations, and churches. He dwells everywhere. Here's the point. God doesn't
need us. We need Him. God does not need
our fine temples, our big church buildings, our ornate cathedrals,
our many high steeples. We don't need glass, stained
glass windows. They say, well, you know, these
things are conducive to worship. It's an atmosphere, produces
an atmosphere of worship. Well, if we need stained glass
windows and high steeples to motivate us to worship, well,
we're in big trouble. We're in big trouble. To say
that God dwells here because we have the biggest building,
the widest building, the highest steeple, the prettiest windows,
is to be ignorant of who God really is. The most high God
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. He's everywhere present. Turn
over here to the book of Psalms. Look at Psalm 139. You ever notice
this scripture here? Psalm 139 verse 7, Where shall
I go from thy spirit? O whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I send up to heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. And that word there is grave.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, but there shall thy hand lead me, thy right hand
shall hold me. If I say, surely darkness shall
cover me even, night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness
hideth not from thee, but the night shunneth his day, and the
darkness and the light are both alike unto thee. You see, God
is everywhere. You can't flee from his presence. Now listen to this, God meets
with his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where God is,
where the gospel is preached. Where the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is preached. God is among his people where
the gospel is preached. I'm not good on that. Where two
or three are gathered in my name, I'm in your midst, whether we
meet in a barn or a palace. We should meet in nice places,
but having a nice place doesn't mean that God dwells there. Having
the gospel of God being preached That is where God dwells. God also dwells in the hearts
of his people by the abiding presence of God the Holy Spirit.
God the Holy Spirit comes and resides in us. And our Lord said,
when he has come, he'll take the things of mine and reveal
them unto you. The paramount purpose of God
the Holy Spirit is what? To magnify Christ. And that's
what he does in us when the gospel is preached, when the word is
declared. Believers who make up the body of Christ, his church
is called the temple. That's where he dwells with his
people. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Listen to this scripture in 2
Corinthians. Don't turn, let me just read it to you. where
Paul said, what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
He said, for you're the temple of the living God. As God has
said, you are the temple of the living God. As God has said,
I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God
and they shall be my people, saith the Lord. In Revelation
chapter 11, verse one, John was told to measure the temple. measure
it, protect it, the altar and those who worship the Lord. That's
where God dwells, where the gospel is preached in the hearts of
God's people. They make up the temple of the
living God. Now, having said that, let's
look at this text for just a minute, found in verse 2. But to this
man, to this man, but to this poor sinner, but
to this Man, this sinner, will I look, even to him that is poor,
contrite, and those that tremble at my word. God said this. I will pay particular attention
to, I will show favor, I will regard with pleasure, I will
look attentively, attentively, I will dwell with this man, I
will dwell in the heart of this sinner. This is that special
look of sovereign love, sovereign mercy. You know what it's called
in scripture? Time of love. You remember that
story of that infant cast out? Ezekiel 16, turn there. Ezekiel 16 is a beautiful gospel
picture. The infant was born out in the
field and cast out, left, abandoned. It says in Ezekiel 16, 5, to do any of these things unto
thee, to wash thee, to swaddle thee, to have compassion on thee,
but that was cast out into the open field to the loathing of
thy person in the day that thou was born." And that's a picture
of us, cast out in Adam, dead in sin. And when I passed by,
it wasn't by chance, by purpose, when I passed by, I saw thee
polluted in thine own blood. And I said unto thee, notice,
I saw thee when I passed by. I said unto thee, when thou wast
in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, in thy pollution, thy filth, and thy guilt, live. Verse seven, I've caused thee
to multiply as the bud of the field. Thou hast increased and
waxen great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, thy
hair is grown, whereat thou wast naked and bare. Verse eight,
and when I passed by thee and looked, there's that look, I
looked upon thee. Behold, thy time was a time of
love. I spread my skirt over you, covered
your nakedness. I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord.
There it is again. And you became mine, and I washed
thee, I anointed thee, I clothed thee, I girded thee, I covered
thee, I decked thee, I dressed thee, I put a jewel on your forehead,
and you became beautiful through my comeliness. Now that's a picture
of God's sovereign mercy. It's a time of love. He passed
by us and looked on us with a look of love, a look of love. Now,
in this text here, there's a threefold description of those to whom
the Lord looks. They're called poor. They're
called contrite. A contrite spirit is a broken,
lame spirit, and those that tremble at my word. Now, let's look at
these three things and ask ourselves this question. Let's get personal.
Does this describe me? Does this describe, is this my
condition? Do I fit the character of this
promise? God says you're going to look
to this sinner that's poor, contrite, and those that tremble at my
word. The Lord is going to look upon
favor upon those that are described here. Now, first of all, let's
consider this. He said, to this man will I look. to the one that's poor, poor,
poor. Now, you know this is not talking
about physical, material wealth. Our Lord said, this is talking
about spiritual poverty. Our Lord said in Matthew 5, blessed
are the poor in spirit, blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is. Blessed are the
poor in spirit. This is talking about poverty
of spirit. This is talking about being a
bankrupt sinner on the dunghill of total depravity, having nothing
in us to recommend us unto God. I mean totally bankrupt. I mean having nothing, nothing. No righteousness. No righteousness. You remember over here in Isaiah,
what it turned back to Isaiah 64, having no righteousness.
Poor. Poor, but we are all as an unclean
thing, verse six, and all of our righteousnesses, plural,
are as filthy rag. We do all fade as a leaf. Our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There is none,
get a hold of that word, none that calls upon thy name. There's
none that stirs up himself to take hold of thee. Thou hast
hid thy face from us and consumed us because of our iniquities.
Look what it says in the next verse, but now, Lord, thou art
our father. We are the clay, poor. Thou art
the potter. We are all the work of thy hand. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. We have nothing in us to recommend
us to God, do we? We have no righteousness. We're
sinners, we're guilty, we're vile, we're wretched. We have
no life. We're dead in trespasses and
in sin. We have no merit, do we, to cause
God to look on us? We don't earn the look His favor. We're totally dependent upon
His mercy. We're totally dependent upon
the grace of God. The scripture calls us wretched,
miserable, blind, and naked. As long as we think we're enriched
and increased with goods and have need of nothing, We will
never look to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation.
I like that scripture, that prayer of Hannah, over in 1 Samuel 2,
and where she says, the Lord raises up the beggar from the
dunghill. He raises up the poor out of
the dust to make them sit among the princes. Now listen to me,
listen carefully. Only as we see ourselves as nothing,
nobody, poor, wretched, miserable, blind. Only as we see ourselves
as nothing before God will we turn unto the Lord as mercy beggars
and cry out, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Only as we
see ourselves as nothing will we look to the Lord Jesus Christ
as everything. Do you see your poverty? If you
don't, you'll never savingly look unto Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. You see, Christ is all and in
all. He's everything. Now, do you
remember how many times in the book of Psalms, turn back to
Psalm 40. This should be very familiar to you. How many times
in the book of Psalms do we read this phrase where David says,
I'm poor and needy? You know, I think I counted it
up one time. Now, don't hold me to this, but I counted it
up one time. If my memory serves me right,
I think it's 27 times this phrase is found in the book of Psalms.
I'm poor and I'm needy. Here's one of them. Psalm 40
verse 17. I am poor and needy yet. The Lord thinketh upon me, thou
art my help, my deliverer, O Lord, make no tarrying, my God." As
we see ourselves as nothing, nobody, vile, wretched, guilty,
only in that state, that condition that we'll cry out unto the Lord.
in saving mercy. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Here's the second thing. The
Lord will look on this man, this sinner, that is of a contrite
spirit. You see that word, contrite?
A broken spirit. You remember in Psalm 34. He's nigh them of a broken heart.
Save us such as be of a contrite spirit thou will not despise. A broken, convicted spirit. Now this word contrite here,
as it's rendered in the text, in other places the word is rendered
this way. I want you to see this. 2 Samuel.
Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 9. This
is a story about a cripple named Mephibosheth, who came before
King David, And a servant of Saul was asked about the household
of Jonathan, and the servant Ziba answers King David and said,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. That word lame right there, L-A-M-E,
is the same exact word in the original as contrite. Contrite. Lame. Lame on his feet. This young man, the Phibosheth,
how was he ruined? You read the story, when he's
a young man, he wiggled loose from his nurse and he fell. He's
ruined to a fall, and that's our condition. Crippled, this
man was crippled. Look at verse four, this 2 Samuel
9, verse four. And the king said unto him, where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he's in the house
of Maker, the son of Amiel, down in Lodabar. The king David sent
and fetched him out of the house of Maker. Now why did he fetch
him? This is fetching mercy. My fellowship
was crippled. He couldn't take a step. David
didn't say, take the first step, Mephibosheth, and I'll meet you
halfway. He was crippled. He was contrite. Had no ability. That's why David had to fetch
him. The power of the king fetched him out of the house of Maker.
And when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, was come, the son
of Saul was come to David, he fell on his face and did reverence.
And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, said, Behold,
I serve. And you know what Mephibosheth was expecting right here? not
mercy, judgment. He was of the house of the enemy,
King Saul. And David said unto him, fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan, thy father's
sake. I'll restore unto thee all the land of Saul, thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread continually at my table. And he bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon
me, such a dead dog as I am? A dead dog, what good's a dead
dog, baby? You know, Mephibosheth, before
David on his face, I can't contribute one thing to your kingdom. I'm
a dead dog. I'm a crippled dead dog. And
yet David said, you're going to sit at my table as one of
the king's son. Read on. As one of the king's
son. You're going to sit at my table
and you're going to eat bread at my table continually. Broken
spirit, contrite spirit, lame spirit. Now again, Let's get
personal. Do we fit the character of the
promise? Are we lame before God? Are we
the crippled sinner before God, unable to take a step, unable
to satisfy God's holy law? Are we like Mephibosheth the
dead dog before God's holy justice, holy law, unable to believe,
unable to repent, unable to come to Him? Cannot take a step. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him, I'll raise
him up at the last day. Are we convinced and convicted
in our own heart that if the Lord sent me to eternal condemnation,
that is what I exactly deserve? Contract. Broken hearted. Unable to do anything. Unable to contribute. Unable
to believe. Unable to repent. Turn back to
the book of Psalms. Find Psalm 51. You remember what
David acknowledged, verse 3 of Psalm 51, I'll acknowledge my
transgression, my sin as ever before me. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when you speak, and clear when you
judge. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me. Now look at verse 17, Psalm 51. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. I quoted this verse, I think,
a minute ago. Turn over to Psalm 34, verse
18. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. He saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit. Are we of that contrite spirit? Are we of that poor, poverty
spirit before God? Turn to one of the scriptures
here in Isaiah, Isaiah 57. Look at verse 15. Thus saith the Lord. There it
is again. For thus saith the High and Lofty
One. Isaiah 57, 15. Isaiah. The high and lofty one that inhabits
eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy place
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. To revive
the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite
one. For it is nigh them of a broken
heart. Now, the last thing, the third thing is this. Back to
the text. But to this simple, God said,
I will look. To him that is poverty spirit. To that man that is lame, deformed,
crippled, disabled, unable, no ability. And then thirdly, those
that tremble, tremble, tremble at my word. Do we fit the character
of the promise? Do we fit the character of the
promise? What's your attitude toward the Word of God? Do you receive the Word as God's
final authority on everything, on all matters of salvation? Do you have an eager desire to
hear the Word of the Lord? an earnest and eager desire to
listen to God's gospel being preached. Believers do tremble
and reverence and receive the Word of God because they believe
it as such, they hear it as such, they read it as such. They bow
in submission to God's Word, believing God as He's revealed
in the Word of God. You know, faith comes by hearing
the Word of God. Believers have a desire to be
fed with the Word of God, desire the sincere milk of the Word
that you might grow thereby. We tremble and we reverence God's
Word because we believe it. We receive it not as a word of
men, but as it is the word of God, the word of truth that works
effectually in us. That's 1 Thessalonians 2.13.
Because of the power of the word. Because of the power of the word.
The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword. And because of the blessedness
of the word. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey. To thy precepts, through thy
precept I get understanding, therefore I hate every fault
way." In closing, we can be assured that if we fit the character
of this promise, it is only because God, by His sovereign grace,
has taught us the truth about ourselves It is the grace of
God that has made us to differ. Sinners left to themselves will
never know the truth about themselves. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, if foolish is unto him. We'll
never know anything of poverty of spirit, contrition of heart,
nor reverence at God's Word unless God Almighty arrests us and He
looks our way in saving mercy. If this does describe you, you
know that all the glory is due to who? All the glory is due
to God alone. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace. The point is this, the Lord Jesus
Christ, here's the bottom line. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. He came to save sinners. Now,
are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Well, you know,
I used to be. Folks say, well, I used to be,
but now I'm religious. Well, you're worse off. You're
worse off. We say with the Apostle Paul,
oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. Those who are whole don't need
a physician. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. For whom did the Lord Jesus Christ
die? Did he die for you? How do you
know if he died for you? Well, the scripture said that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. Now, that a description
of you? Or do you think more a little
bit, well, you know, I'm not like that other guy. You know
what the Pharisee prayed? God, I thank you, I'm not like
that old beggar over there. To this man will I look. If the
Lord looks with favor in sovereign mercy upon us, we will certainly
look to him for all grace now and glory forever. And we will
continue to look unto him, looking, looking, looking. Peter talks
about coming unto the Lord, coming unto him, looking unto him. Believing Him. Repentance and
faith is not some isolated act. It's a life of faith. A life
of repentance. It's a life of looking unto the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith.
If He looks in love to us, in turn, we look to Him. He said,
look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm
God. I'm God. Beside me there is no other.
There is no other.