Isaiah chapter 1. This is a powerful scripture.
I want to read it very carefully
and prayerfully. I want you to follow along as
I read it. I'm speaking tonight on the subject,
things that are really important, things that are important. In verse 10 of Isaiah 1, hear
the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Is the Lord speaking to Sodom
and Gomorrah? Not at all. Not at all. He's speaking here to Israel.
He's speaking to the religious people and the religious rulers
of Israel who are behaving like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's who he's talking to. He
said, you're acting like Sodom and Gomorrah. And I think the same charge and
salutation could be extended to religious rulers and people
of this day and even in this country. You rulers of Sodom,
give ear you people of Gomorrah. This is Israel he's talking to.
People who profess to know God. Now it's evident as I read the
next few verses that most of the things that religious people
do and religious leaders are interested in and concerned about
actually are an abomination to God. And God shows His weariness with
these things. Like people today who are interested
in buildings and cathedrals and houses of worship and steeples
and crosses and all kind of religious religious edifices and shrines
and monumental buildings. And David said this back in the
book of Chronicles, listen, he said, Now then, O Lord God of
Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy
servant. Will God indeed dwell with men
on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that
I've built." A house cannot contain God. God's not impressed or interested
or concerned about our buildings that we've erected on which we've
placed His name. And then he says in verse 11,
he's not happy with sacrifices. He said, to what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Religious ceremonies
and sacrifices. I'm full of your burnt offerings
of rams and your fat of fed beasts. And I delight not in the blood
of bullocks and lambs and he-goats. But he ordained these things
as types and pictures of Christ. It was the way they were using
them. These bullocks and lambs and
he-goats serve their purpose to point to the Redeemer, but
not as an end in which to find righteousness. He never did delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices. He never had any pleasure in
these things. Verse 12, he talks about their
Sabbath days. He says, When you come to appear
before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my
courts? Bring no more vain oblations.
Your incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, all of these giant meetings and assemblies,
I cannot away with. It's iniquity. Even the solemn
meeting with your processionals, you see them even today. with their robes and uniforms
and marching and all of these great assemblies and solemn meetings. Verse 14, He said, Your new moons
and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. There's trouble
under me, I'm weary to bear them. When you spread forth your hands,
I'll hide my eyes from you. When you make many prayers, I'll
not hear you. Your hands are full of blood.
All of these things, religious deeds, do not impress Him. Not
by deeds of works of righteousness, which we've done. Not by the
deeds of the law. The people at the judgment, the
religious folks said, Lord, we preached in Your name. We did
many wonderful works. We cast out devils. I never knew
you. Depart from me, workers of iniquity. Let's see what he says as he
goes on here in verse 16. Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the widow. Come now. Let's reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
we're talking about the blood here. We're talking about the
sacrifice of Christ. We're talking about the grace
of redemption. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing
and obedient, you'll eat the fat of the land, the good of
the land. But if you rebel, refuse, you'll be devoured with a sword
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. I believe I can give you tonight
in this message the Lord's not interested in or concerned about
or pleased with all of the buildings and sacrifices and Sabbath days
and many prayers and assemblies and all these. What is He? concerned
with. What is God interested in? I believe I can give you five
things that are of the extreme, utmost importance to the living
God and should be to us. And should be to us. Now, I've
got to put them in order. They do not necessarily fall
in this order. But I can't just preach all five
of them at once. I've got to give them an order. But they're not necessarily in
this order. We can't reckon things in order
where God's concerned. They're all one to Him. When
I talk about that which is precious to Him, He says several things. Precious blood. Precious promises. Precious faith. Precious in the
sight of the Lord are the death of His saints, to you that believe
He is precious. Now what order are you going
to put those in? He, His blood, His promises, His people, and
the glorification of His people. These five things I'm going to
give you tonight in which God is interested, concerned, and
important to Him, and should be to us. A little less emphasis
on this other So I put them in order. Not necessarily in the
order in which they come. Not at all. For to Him they are
one. But here, here they are. Number
one is His Word. His Word. This is a thing that Brother
Clark and I tried to stress in Russia. Was the importance of
the Word of God. I tell you, even the Lord Jesus
Christ is called by that name, the Word of God. The Word of God. And I tried
to emphasize to those people, and so did Bill Clark, the importance
of reading the Word. The importance of the preachers
preaching the Word. The greatest sin of the pulpit,
in our day is withholding the Word of God from the people. Just in this service alone here
at 13th Street, we've read from Isaiah chapter 46, we read from
Isaiah 53, we read from Isaiah 1. We've read the Word and we
do it every service because I've realized the importance Preaching
the Word. Paul told Timothy, preach the
Word. Preach the Word. Teach the Word.
You people, bring your Bibles. Open the Word and read the Word.
Read it at home. The very foundation of Abraham's
faith was this. He believed God would do what
he said. The foundation of faith is believing
God will do what He says. Let's look at another scripture
in Isaiah, chapter 66. Chapter 66. Listen to this. In Isaiah 66, verse 1. Thus saith the Lord. Isaiah 66,
verse 1. The heaven is my throne, the
earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you build?
unto me. Where is the place of my rest?
For all those things have my own hand made, and all those
things have been, for you came along, God said. But to this
man will I look, even to him that is poor, humble, of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my word. bows before My Word, reverences
My Word, loves My Word, reads My Word, preaches My Word. Let
me read you a passage from Psalm 138. Psalm 138 verse 2. Listen. God, I want you to listen to
this, what the Lord says, by the mouth of David, I will worship
toward thy holy temple, toward the mercy seat. I will praise
thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth, for thou hast
magnified thy word above thy name. I tell you, God's going to hold
us accountable. I've said this again and again
from this pulpit for what we heard and what we could have
heard. for what we read and what we
could have read. Let me turn quickly to the scripture
over here talking about our Lord Jesus. God said through Moses,
He said, I'll raise up a prophet from among their brethren like
unto thee. That's speaking of Christ. You know, it says God spoke to
our fathers by the prophets and that's in these last days spoken
by His Son. And I'm going to put my words
in His mouth. And he'll speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall not hearken unto my words which he shall speak
in my name, I'll require it of him." And this is what our Lord
said. I want you to turn to this in
John 12. This is what our Lord said in
reference to that very subject in John 12, 47. Turn over there for a moment.
John 12, 47. And if any man hear my words
and believe not, I judge him not. Not now. I don't judge him
now. He will someday. All judgment
is committed to the Son. But I came not to judge the world
at this time, but to save the world. That's why he was here.
not to judge, but to say, he'll be the judge someday. But he
that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that'll
judge him, the word that I've spoken. The same will judge him
in the last day. In other words, if we don't face
what's written now, we'll face it someday. If we don't deal
with what is preached, we'll have to deal with what's preached
later. By the Word, God created the world. By the Word, those
things are held in store. By the Word, God is revealed.
By the Word, we're born again. He's begotten us through the
Word. By the Word, Christ is revealed. By the Word, we are convinced
of sin. By the Word, faith is given.
Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word. By the Word of God, we are comforted.
The Word of God is our hope. Turn to Psalm 119. Here is a
whole psalm of, I forget how many verses, 176 verses that deals primarily with
the Word of God. Psalm 119. Listen to verse 49
and 50. Psalm 119. The psalmist says,
Remember the Word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me
to hope. This is my comfort and my affliction,
for thy Word hath quickened me. Look at verse 114. He says, Thou art my hiding place
and my shield, I hope in Thy word. Look at verse 130. The entrance of Thy words giveth
light, it giveth understanding to the simple. My friends, The popular religion. I watch
them today on television. They don't have a Bible. They got a chalkboard or something,
and they're just talking. Oh, my generation needs to hear
the Word. Paul, when he said goodbye to
the elders of Ephesus, he said, you'll see my face no more, but
I want to tell you this. I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the word of God, all the counsel of God, and I
have kept back nothing profitable unto you. And my hands are free
from the blood of all men to whom I have preached." Do you
know what he said? Because he preached the way. Well, the second
thing, and I implore you, I beg you, I beseech you by the mercies
of God Make much of the Word. Spend some time in the Word every
day. Bring your Bible to church. Open
it and follow it as we read it and preach it. Or secondly, His
grace. His sovereign grace. God's grace. Turn to Exodus 33. I've used
this so many times, all of you can recite it. Barnard said,
Three o'clock in the morning, coming down the stairway on your
head, you could recite this. But Exodus 33, Moses alone with God in the tent of
meetings, and he had three things to say. Three things to ask of God. And
in verse 13 is one of them. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may
know thee. Show me your way. And he did. Psalm 103 said he made known
his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. And secondly,
in verse 15, he said, Lord, if your presence go not with me,
carry me not up hence. Let me go, if you don't go with
me. And then down in verse 17, one
other request, and the Lord said unto Moses, I'll do this thing
also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight,
and I know thee by name. And Moses said, Lord, I beseech
thee, show me your glory. Show me your glory. Your greater
glory. Mighty wonderful things. He'd
seen a river dry up. He'd seen another river turn
to blood. He'd seen the death of the firstborn
and the deliverance for the blood. He'd seen a lot of things. But
he wanted to see His glory. And God said, verse 19, you talk
about something precious to God. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. And I will proclaim the very
name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. And I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. God's greater glory is His redemptive
glory, His mercy to sinners. That's God's glory. He's interested
in mercy and grace. Sovereign mercy. Now, I told
you a while ago when the angels fell, the Scripture says God
reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness against
that day. There's no Redeemer for the angels.
There's no mercy for angels that fell. They're reserved in judgment. But He took on Himself the seed
of Abraham. He became a man. Angels and men
sinned the same sin. They rebelled against the rule of God. And then when
the flood came, there was no grace to the dwellers in the
land. They all perished, except one man and his family. And Genesis
6 says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. One man and his family. He found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. He didn't deserve it. He didn't
earn it. He found grace. He obtained grace. Abraham's family, they were idolaters. Abraham's father was an idolater.
His brother was an idolater. In Joshua 24, it says he dwelt
beyond the flood in the land of idolatry. But God called Abraham. He came
down to this pagan, heathen land and said, Abraham, get out of
your father's house, away from your people, your idolatrous
people. I'm going to make of you a great
nation. And then, turn to Exodus 11. And the people of Israel were
down in Egypt, and there were quite a number
of Egyptians. But God didn't save any of them. He didn't show
mercy to any of them. He left them in their pagan idolatry. In Exodus 11, when He came through
at midnight, and walked through Egypt in wrath and destroyed
the firstborn." Exodus 11 verse 7 said, "...but against any of
the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast, that you may know that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel." That's grace. Not on angels,
on men. Not on the inhabitants of the
land, but on Noah. Not on Nahor and his father,
but on Abraham. Not on Egypt, on Israel. And if you'll turn to Deuteronomy,
the Lord tells you why. Why Israel? In Deuteronomy 7,
Deuteronomy 7 verse 6, Deuteronomy 7 verse 6, For thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself. Now, as I read
this about Israel, you apply it to yourself. You're spiritual
Israel. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
He's a Jew which is one inwardly. A man is not a child of God because
he is Abraham's natural seed. He is a child of God because
he is in Christ. You have special people unto
himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
And the Lord didn't set his love upon you nor choose you because
you were more in number than the other people. You were the
fewest of all. But because the Lord loved you. And because he would keep the
oath, he swore to Abraham, your fathers. The Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand, redeemed you out of the hand of bondman
and from the hand of Pharaoh. He said he would, and he did
it. That's grace. And I tell you,
my story and your story is the same story. I am what I am by
the grace of God. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 2,
and you, and you, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin? In times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
citizenship, behavior in times past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, we were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Here's the difference. But God, but God, who is rich in mercy,
or His great love, wherewith He loved us. That's what He said
to Israel. He said, I didn't choose you or call you because
you were more in number, but I loved you. Or His great love,
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us together with Christ. Grace first inscribed my name
in God's eternal book. And grace gave me to the Lamb
who all my sorrows took. And grace made my heart to pray. Grace made my eyes overflow. Grace has kept me to this day,
and grace won't let me go. That's the size of it. God's grace. Precious to God. And I'll tell you, to somebody
who knows he's a sinner, grace is mighty precious to us. I love
to preach, exalt, magnify, and trust God's grace. I'm not at
home with anything else. But pure grace. It's by grace
that it might be sure. And we have a good hope through
grace. Alright, the third thing. And
I guess this ought to be first. But like I say, how do you put
any of it first? Because it's all first. The third
precious thing to God is His Son. His son. Turn to Proverbs 8. Proverbs
chapter 8. This is the Lord Jesus speaking. Proverbs 8. See, the Father loves
the Son. He's called the Son of His love.
The Son of His love. He said twice, after only two
times He ever spoke from heaven to men since Our Lord came to
earth. He said, this is my beloved son. This is my beloved son. Look
at Proverbs 8 verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way before His works of old. I was set up from
everlasting from the beginning wherever the earth was. When
there were no depths, I was brought forth. when there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass
His commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him,
His delight. The Father hath made Him that
prophet The Father hath made him an eternal royal priest,
our priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Father
hath exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Father hath crowned his work
with success. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. The purpose of God shall prosper
in his hand. The Lord God hath accepted his
people. The Lord of hosts, open up the
gates. The Lord of hosts, hosts, many,
shall come in. And the Lord hath rewarded him
highly. Turn to Ephesians 1. Let me read
something here. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1, starting with verse
20. Ephesians 1.20, Which he wrote in Christ, when He raised
Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the
heavenly places. How can you make too much of
Christ? Far above principalities and
power and might and dominion, far above every name that is
named, not only in this world, but in the one that is to come.
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be
the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him that filleth all in all." That's my Lord and
your Lord, my God and your God. And then the fourth thing. Turn
to Isaiah 42. His glory. Now let's think about something
here for a few moments. I've given you three things.
His Word, precious. His grace, precious. His Son, precious. His glory. His glory. In Isaiah 42 verse 8, I am the Lord, that's my name,
and my glory. Will I not give to another my
glory? Neither my praise to graven images. See the heavens declare the glory
of God. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The heavens are there for His
glory. All things were made for His glory. By Him and for Him. The angels sang, glory to God
in the highest. The Son of God says, glorify
thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee. The Holy Spirit, Christ shall
say, shall glorify me. The redeemed in heaven sang,
salvation and glory and power to the Lord our God. And over in Ephesians 1, it says,
He chose us and saved us to the praise of His glory. His Son
died for us and redeemed us and enlightened us and enriched us
to the praise of His glory. His Holy Spirit called us and
quickened us and sealed us to the praise of His glory. And
what we need to learn is this. To the extent that we can believe
what we believe for His glory. To the extent that we can preach
what we preach for His glory. Now that ought to stop a man
from preaching error. Because you can't preach error
for His glory. From compromise, you can't compromise
for His glory. from holding back something because
it offends, you can't do that for His glory. To the extent
that we can believe what we believe for His glory and preach what
we preach for His glory and do what we do in our giving, Mike,
in our singing, in our working at the church, in our serving
one another, in our efforts, Do it for His glory to the extent
we can do what we do not for vain glory, personal glory, self-attention,
His glory. To the extent that we can pray
what we pray for His glory, to that extent, God will receive
it. And God will own it. And God
will use it. And God will honor it. And God
will bless you. I'm telling the truth. I'm telling
me that. And I'm telling you that. To that extent. It's not
just doing, like he said, I'm tired of your buildings. I'm
tired of your Sabbaths. I'm tired of your many prayers.
I'm tired of all your sacrifices and your vain oblations. Why?
They're not to my glory. They're self-propagated and motivated
and everything else to the extent we can believe what we believe,
preach what we preach, do what we do, and pray what we pray
for His glory. He'll own it and honor it and
bless it and use it. Now, let me show you something
over here in 1 Kings 18. Here's a man. Here's a man that
prays. hear what he prayed. I read this.
I tell you, we can learn reading the prayers of the saints in
the Old Testament. Do you know the story? Elijah
was on the mountain and all of these false prophets of Baal
had contested with him. Finally, after the day was almost
over, it came his time. And this is his This is his prayer. Sixty-three words. Such a monumental,
momentous occasion. But I want you to see how he
prays. Sixty-three words. Hear me, O
Lord, hear me. Number one, that these people
may know that you're the Lord God. That you are pleased to turn
their hearts back again. Look back at verse 36. I'm sorry,
I started in the middle. Verse 36. It came to pass at
the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah
the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, the Lord God of old, let it be known this day that
thou art God. Let it be known, number one,
that thou art God. Let it be known that I'm your
servant. And I've done all these things at your word, because
you commanded it. Because you spoke it. Hear me
that the people may know that you're God. That the people may
know that you have turned their hearts back again. And that's
all he prayed. But he prayed it for the glory
of God and the fire fell. What he's saying I want you to
show your God. I want you to vindicate the word
of your servant. Vindicate the word. Put your
approval on the message. Show your hand. Show these people
your God. That you're going to show mercy.
And God blessed. God heard him. God blessed him. Fire fell. Alright, here's the fifth thing.
Precious to the Lord. As I said at the beginning, you
can't preach these things as they ought to be preached because
they're one. Of equal value, of equal importance, of equal
interest, of equal weight. But you have to put one in front
of the other. But here's the fifth one. His people. They're
precious to Him. I read this morning, John 17,
where our Lord said, Thou hast loved them like ye love me. His
people. I want to close in reading a
scripture from Revelation. The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
chapter 7. John was on the Isle of Patmos,
and he said in verse 9 that he saw some things. What did John
see? Look at verse 9. After this I
beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number." We're
prone to think the Lord just has a... Well, He does have a
handful, but what a hand! He has a handful, but what a
hand! He holds the nations in His hand.
But a great multitude which no man could number in heaven. Listen.
of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. That's what
I saw. I saw them stand before the throne,
accepted, stand before the Lamb. And I saw them clothed with white
robes, pure and clean, righteousness. And I saw them with palms. What
are palms? Palm branches. Victory. And that
word stands for victory. What did you hear, John? I heard
him cry with a loud voice. All of them with one voice? That's
right, unity. One voice. Sounded like one man. Cried with a voice. Not voices,
voice. One message. Salvation to our
God. There may be people here on earth
that think salvation is something man does for himself, but not
up there. Salvation to our God. which sitteth
on the throne unto the Lamb." What did you hear? I heard all
the angels standing around the throne, and the elders, and the
four beasts, and they fell before the throne on their faces and
worshiped God. And they said a sevenfold amen. Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. That's
what I saw, and that's what I heard. And what did you learn, John?
Well, listen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto
me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence
came they? And I said to him, Sir, you know.
And he said, These are they which came out of great tribulation. That's talking about the tribulations
of God's people. That's not talking about a seven
year time in history. That's talking about all the
people of God of every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue, a great
multitude in heaven that on this world and in this world had tribulations. He said in the world you'll have
tribulations. They came out of great tribulations.
Sorrow, trouble, heartache, weariness, pain, tears. What else did you
learn about them? They came out of trouble and
they washed their robes and made them white. Where? in the blood
of the Lamb. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanseth us from all sin. And therefore, they are before
the throne of God, because Christ has washed them and made them
clean. And they serve Him night and day in His temple. And He
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them, and they'll
hunger no more, and thirst no more, Neither shall the sun heat
light on them, nor any heat any more. For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne will feed them, and lead them unto
the living fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." That's what I saw, and that's what I heard,
and that's what I learned. His people are precious. Now
those are the great things. His word, His grace, His son,
His glory, and you. You mean we're right there with
all of that? Yes sir, He loves you like He loves His son and
His word. And He'll keep His word. Oh,
to be taken up with those things. More and more, more and more,
every day. All right.