The Ear and the Eye Turned to Christ

Isaiah 45, 21, and 22. I'm speaking tonight on this
subject, the ear and the eye turned to Christ. The ear and
the eye turned to Christ. Tell me, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? There's no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there's none else. A man came by my study a few
days ago, a man whom I had met several years ago at a church
where he attended. And I asked him, I said, are
you still attending services at this place where I met you
and where I know that the gospel is faithfully preached? And he
said, no. He said, I'm not. He said, you
see, I got a better job in another city. And he said, we've moved
over there, and it's too far to drive to church. He said,
actually, we have no place to hear the gospel. You have no
place to fellowship with the people of God and hear our Christ
preached. He said, what would you do if
you were me? Well, you know, everybody who asks you, what
would you do if you were me, they really don't mean that. But I'm coming to the place where
I'm getting almost old enough to say what I think and what
I really believe. Almost old enough. I was visiting
the hospital one day, visited a gentleman, father of one of
our ladies in the church. He was 77 or 78. I walked in the room and he said,
oh, I know you, you're Brother Mahan. I said, yes, sir. Boy,
he said, you sure look better on TV than you do in person.
Well, I said, I'll be glad when I get 78 and I'm going to say
some things like that, you know, just exactly what I think. Well,
I said to the man, you want to know what I'd do? And I'll tell
you what you'd better do. You better quit that better job
and move back where the gospel is preached. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his soul? I'll be honest
with you. I'm not going to live, no matter
what the attraction, where I cannot worship the living God. I'm going to be under the sound
of the gospel. And I'm going to have my wife
and children under the sound of the gospel. And as long as
I'm head of the house, they're going to be under the sound of
the gospel. It's that important. Do we realize the importance
of what Scripture says? I don't believe we do. Our Lord
says here in verse 16, they're going to be ashamed. They're
going to be put to shame, eternal shame. They're going to be confounded. And they're going to be put to
confusion that worship false gods. The makers of idols. Now that doesn't mean you have
to make an idol out of stone for it to be an idol. You don't
have to make one out of wood to have an idol. That's when
we think of the word idol, the first thing we think of is down
there in a heathen temple somewhere, a form made out of wood or stone
or marble or gold or silver, but it doesn't necessarily mean
that. If you're not worshiping, if
you're not believing in and resting in the living God, you've got
yourself an idol. I don't care if his name's Jesus
or what his name is. I don't care what name you call
him. Paul talked in Corinthians about them preaching another
Jesus and another gospel by another spirit. And if we're not worshiping
the living That's what our Lord said, eternal life is to know
the living God. And Jesus Christ whom he has
sent, not just a Jesus Christ, but the one whom he sent. David
said, as the heart panteth for the water brook, so panteth my
soul, my soul for the living God. I thirst for the living
God in a dry and thirsty land. My soul is more important than
my body. My relationship with the living
God is a whole lot more important than my relationship with my
family, and my so-called friends, and the social circles of my
community, and the fame and honor and popularity I may gain by
what I do. My soul is more important. Now
to most people it is not. But our Lord declares emphatically,
He says in verse 16, they're going to be put to shame They're
going to be confounded, they're going to be confused. That are
the makers of idols, false gods who do not worship the living
God. I'm dealing honestly and sincerely
with you. You need to put yourself under
the sound of the gospel. You can't grow flowers under
the doorstep. And you cannot grow believers
except under the sunshine of God's grace and the rain of God's
Word. and the teaching of the Holy
Spirit. It cannot be done. But I didn't know those things,
Lord. You could have heard them. But you were more interested
in the thorns and the briars of this world. That's what you
were interested in. But Lord, I didn't hear the gospel.
You could have heard it. The seed was planted there and
the cares of riches and the deceitfulness of riches and the luxuries of
this world grew up and choked the seed out. There wasn't time
for God or time for the Word. There wasn't a place for God
or place for the Word. Give first place to God's Word. The Lord's Day ought to be the
most important day of the week. The fellowship of God's people
ought to be the most important gathering. I don't care if there's
a corpse at the funeral home or a body down at the hospital.
The people of God belong in the assembly of God's saints, worshiping
the Lord on God's Day. And I'm here to tell you, those
who know Christ will be. And those who love Him will be.
And those who've made themselves an idol, and those who've made
themselves a false god, and those who've erected for themselves
a god out of their own imagination, are going to be put to shame! And to confusion. They're going
to be confounded. But, verse 17, this is what I'm
interested in. And bless your heart, I'm going
to give my very heart to it and hope to be able, by the Holy
Spirit, to lead some more folks who are just as interested as
I am in finding it. He says Israel is going to be
saved, not in their works in the Lord, not in their own righteousness
in the Lord, not in their ceremonies or rituals, but they're going
to be saved in the Lord. We're not talking about the Jews
here, we're talking about true Israel. We're talking about people
of God. They're going to be saved. They're
going to be saved with an everlasting salvation, with an eternal salvation,
with a permanent sonship. God's going to save somebody.
And bless your heart, if God's going to save somebody, I want
to be one of them. Don't you? I do not want to stand
on the left hand and hear him say, bind them hand and foot
and cast them into outer darkness. I do not want to stand with those
in Matthew 7 boasting of their good works and hear him say,
I never knew you. I want to hear him say, enter
ye blessed into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of this world. Israel is going, somebody is
going to be saved. And they're going to be saved with an everlasting
salvation. And he says they'll never be
ashamed. They'll never be put to shame. Never. And they'll never be confounded,
world without end. Never. Is that worthwhile? Is that worth moving somewhere
to listen to it? Is that worth giving up something
to find? Our Lord said, He that loveth father, mother, brother,
sister, husband, wife, yea, his own life more than me, can never
be my disciple. That's what Joshua said when
he talked to Israel. Choose you this day whom you'll
serve, whether the God of your fathers or these false idols
of Egypt. You've got a choice. You're going
to bow down to these handmade gods? Man-made gods, are you
going to bow down to the living God? Are you going to seek to
know Him, whom to know is life? Is life. Verse 18, Thus saith the Lord.
This is the word of Him who created the heavens. That's the one we
want to know. The God of creation. The God
of mercy. The God of grace. The God of
election. God of sovereignty, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, not a God, some God,
any God, THE God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be God. What Isaiah is saying here, he
said this message is from Him. That's who's speaking. The One
who created this world, the One who created the heavens, the
One that formed the earth, the One that established it. And
He didn't do it in vain. He didn't create the heavens
in vain. They're going to be inhabited. Not by volunteers, but by sons. They're going to be inhabited.
He said, I didn't form it in vain. I formed it to be inhabited.
I made the heavens to be inhabited. I made the new earth to be inhabited.
I'm the Lord. That's who's speaking. I'm the
Lord. And there isn't any other God. There's one God. The living God. Not the God of
the Baptists, or the God of the Methodists, or the God of the
Catholics, or the God of the Protestants, or the God of the
Jews. He's a God that created heaven. That's who He is. And
that formed this earth. And laid the foundations thereof.
And He said, I didn't do it in vain. I formed this heaven and
I formed this earth to be inhabited. I'm the Lord. We've listened
to men too long. I'm tired of hearing them. I'm
tired of their chatter. I'm tired of their foolish talk.
I'm tired of their sectarianism. I want to hear from God, don't
you?" He says, verse 19, I haven't
spoken it in secret. His message is not hid in secret
documents like the heathen. You beware of any secret organization,
something wrong with it. Anything that was not fit to
be proclaimed from the housetop and not fit to be published from
the pulpit is not fit to be believed. He said, I've not spoken in secret,
that's witchcraft. I've not spoken in caves in the
dark places of this earth like the heathen deities. I've declared
it in a free and open manner. He said to his disciples, go
into all the world and preach this good news, this gospel of
redemption to every creature. Proclaim it from the housetop.
Preach it in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. I didn't say unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek me in vain. God's not holding one hand behind
his back. Our Lord stands with open hands
and says, Come! But to come to Him, you've got
to leave something. You've got to leave your God if you come
to the living God. He says, Come! But to come to
Him, you've got to turn your back on all who oppose Him and
all who reject Him. You've got to come to Him. That's
the reason our Lord sits there and counts the cost. You're going
to build a house, you better have something to build it with. I speak, he said, in righteousness. I, the Lord, I'm talking about
a righteousness. I'm talking about not your righteousness,
which is filthy rags. I'm talking about a perfect righteousness. I'm talking about a holy righteousness. I speak in righteousness, and
I declare things that are right. What I'm saying, he says, is
true. It's not something concocted
in the ecclesiastical circles of the students and masters of
theology. He said this is written in glory.
It's written in glory, but tune your ear to God. that tune your
ear to God. He said, verse 20, you assemble
yourselves and you draw near together, you listen to me, you
tune your ear to God. You that are escaped to the nations,
now you don't want to listen to these fellows that have set
up wood of their graven images and made them idol gods and pray
to a God who cannot save. You don't want to listen to them. You don't want to listen to anybody
who talks about poor little Jesus. You don't want to listen to any
man who preaches and prays to a God who cannot save, who cannot
perform his will, who cannot do what he purposes, who cannot
do what he sets out to do. You don't want to pray to a God
or hear a God preach whose will is subject to the will of the
creature. He says it's not of him that willeth, it's not of
him that runneth, it is of God that shows mercy. He said these sons of God are
born not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, they're
born of God. And these fellows that preach and pray, they have
no knowledge, they have no spiritual understanding. They have set
them up of their own imaginations, a graven image, and they pray
to a God who cannot see. They preach a God who cannot
see. Now there's some things the God
of the Bible can't do. The God of the Bible can't do
anything contrary to his nature. God can't lie. The Bible says
that. Because God is truth. God can't
lie. Almighty God cannot make a mistake. Almighty God cannot do wrong.
Almighty God cannot forgive sin without an atonement. Almighty
God cannot take a man to heaven without a sacrifice. Almighty
God cannot send a man to hell for whom Christ died. There's
some things God cannot do because they're contrary to his nature.
God cannot fail. That's what he says, he cannot
fail. But I'll tell you what he can do. He can say, He can
do all things that he sets out to do. Where's your God, David? David replied, Our God's in the
heavens. What's he like, David? He hath
done whatsoever he pleased, whatsoever the Lord pleased. That did he
in heaven, earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He's almighty. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, What doest thou? Is that your God? If it's not,
you got you an idol. It doesn't matter who made him
up and who devised him and who dressed him up and who presented
him to you. It doesn't matter who brought
him down the line according to the tradition. If he's not the
God of the Bible, the God of creation, the God of sovereignty,
if he's not almighty, then he's an idol, whatever you call him. I'm the Lord. He said there's
none else. I create light. I create darkness. I create good,
I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
I kill, I make alive. Our God says in verse 17, Israel
shall be saved. Israel shall be saved. But he
says down here in verse 20, these people preach and pray to a God
that cannot save. Cannot save. Tell me, verse 21, bring them
near, let them take their counsel again. Tell me, who hath declared
this good news? Who hath declared this gospel
of redemption? Who hath declared this everlasting
salvation? Who hath declared this free and
full and effectual grace? Who hath declared it? Have not
I the Lord? Huh? That's where it all started. This salvation by grace, this
salvation by the blood of Christ, this salvation, this redemption
that we find in Christ Jesus, who started it? Who purposed
it? Who planned it? Who told it? He says, Have not I the Lord?
Where was your salvation born? Was it born in the mind of God
or was it born in the mind of some man? Turn to Romans chapter 1. He
says here, who hath declared it from ancient times, who hath
told it from that ancient time, have not I the Lord? There's
no God beside me. Look at Romans chapter 1. Paul
said, I am a serpent, I am a bond slave. And we'd better learn
the meaning of that word. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, you come to me
and you take my yoke on you. You take my yoke. Now you're
going to be yoked to somebody. You're going to be yoked to this
world, or yoked to an idol, or yoked to a false god, or yoked
to your family, or yoked to your job, or yoked to your possessions,
or yoked to something. But you're going to be yoked
to somebody. He said, you come and take my
yoke. learn of me. You come and receive the yoke
of Christ. It's easy. My burden is light. They who have taken it find it
best. They who have taken it. But you
can't find out what it is until you take it. You can't experiment. It's got to be unconditional
surrender to Christ. It's got to be a total pursuit
of God. No man ever learned Christ until
he submitted to Christ. And no man ever learned the easiness
and the lightness of the yoke of Christ who has not fully taken
it. That's the only way to learn
it. Paul, a servant. This is not reserved for apostles.
This is for believers. A man who is not the servant
of Christ I go to churches sometimes, used to years ago, and the preacher
would get up and call on the young people to dedicate their
lives to full-time service. Now I know what they mean, they're
trying to get folks to be missionaries and preachers, but I make this
statement boldly from my heart, any person that's not in full-time
service doesn't know the Lord. Are you a part-time believer? The service of the Lord is not
just standing up here preaching. The service of the Lord is not
just catching a boat and going to China. This full-time service
is full-time faith, and full-time dedication, and full-time consecration,
and full-time seeking the Lord. Everybody whom God saves is dedicated,
devoted, consecrated fully to Christ. They follow the Lord
like Caleb fully. a servant of Jesus Christ, and
I'm called to be an apostle, he said, and I'm separated to
the gospel of God, verse 2, which he promised, which he promised
before, this same gospel, the gospel of grace, the gospel of
blood, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of substitution, the
gospel of Christ, which he promised by his prophets. Moses wrote
of me, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.
By my prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son. That's what
this gospel is all about. It's not concerning your experience. It's not concerning your good
works. It's not concerning your church membership. It's not concerning
your feeling. It's not concerning your gifts
and tithes and consecration. This gospel of redemption This
gospel whereby Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation is concerning his Son. That's who it's all about. It's
Christ. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. That's what God says in verse
21. You better tune your ear to God. You better listen to
God. You better turn your ear in his
direction. He said the one that's doing
the talking is the one who created this world, who formed the heavens.
And I didn't do it in vain. I formed them to be inhabited.
You better listen to me. He said you better quit listening
to them who preach a God who cannot see. And this good news I have declared,
he said, from ancient times. It's the message of grace. And
let me tell you something he said. There's no God beside me. Now watch this verse 21. I am
a just God and a Savior. You know, some preachers are
satisfied to preach a gospel or a way of salvation that will
take a man to heaven at any expense or any way. But let me tell you something.
any gospel, any way of redemption, any way to heaven, now you listen
to me, that does not enable God, the living God, the God with
whom we have to do, anything you hear preached that does not
enable him to be a just God while he's your Savior is not of God. Any way of salvation that does
not justify God in his righteous claim in his righteous law, in
his righteous demands, and does not meet every requirement of
his holy justice, is not of God. Wait till you make that claim.
Oh, that turned to Romans chapter 3. I'll try to. Now, this is
what I'm saying. I'm saying God Almighty cannot
do anything contrary to his nature, just like you can't do anything
contrary to yours. The leper cannot change his spot. He's a leper by birth, by nature. The Ethiopian cannot change the
color of his skin. He's a black man by nature. Neither
can you, God says, do good that are born in sin, that are accustomed
to doing evil. There's no good thing in the
flesh There is no spiritually good thing that any human being
can produce alone, not one good thing. God said all men are liars
by birth, by nature. The flesh cannot produce an absolutely
holy act. It cannot produce an absolutely
spiritual deed. It cannot do it. It's evil, just
like the skin of the Ethiopian is black because his inward nature
is black. And the leper has spots because
his nature is to have spots. And we do evil because we have
a nature of evil. From the sole of our feet to
the top of our heads, there is no soundness in us. We're born
in sin and we're shaping in iniquity and we're brought forth speaking
lies. I'm talking about perfect good. I'm talking about holy
good. I'm talking about spiritual good.
Our righteousness, as Isaiah said, in God's sight are filthy
rags. We can do no good, but God can
do no evil. God Almighty is Perfectly holy,
I am the Lord, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. That's the
reason no man can look on God and live, because God is absolute
holiness and righteousness. And God Almighty, being holy
and being righteous and being completely just, cannot It would
be contrary to His nature of righteousness and justice and
holiness. He cannot take any human being
into His presence or deliver them to glory without
that human being having a perfect righteousness. Two cannot walk
together except they be agreed. Why was Jesus Christ separated
from the Father as He hung on that cross? because he became
sin. And the Heavenly Father cannot
look upon sin, he cannot live with sin, he cannot receive sin,
he cannot forgive sin without that sin being paid for and being
punished by his justice and his righteousness. In Romans chapter
3, He says, verse 19, we know what the law thinks, soever the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be shut, and all the world become guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, The righteousness of
God. Hold it. Listen. There is a righteousness. And brethren, let me tell you
something. This righteousness is not pretty good. It's perfect. It's not almost as good as God.
It's as good as God. Because it's His righteousness.
What is righteousness? It's holiness. What is righteousness? It's obedience. What is righteousness? It's purity. What is righteousness? It's spiritual truth. In whose
eyes? In God's eyes. God is the test
of righteousness, not you, not you, not me. And God hath declared
a righteousness for us without the law. We'll never have one
by the law or through the law or by keeping the law because
our obedience is so shabby and shoddy. But there is one, God
has declared it. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God, it's accepted by God, it's perfect in God's eyes, it's
provided by God. God's righteousness that he might
be just, that he might be just and holy. and the justifier of
them that believe in Christ. He said, I am a just God and
a Savior. I am just and justifier. And God cannot be justifier without
being just. He cannot be a Savior without
being just. He cannot show love without demonstrating
His truth. He cannot show mercy without
His righteousness being satisfied. Turn to Psalms 85 and listen
to this. Psalms 85, verse 10, I believe
it is. Do you know the meaning of this?
Psalms 85, 10. Psalm 85, 10, listen. Mercy and truth. Mercy and truth. Mercy to the guilty and yet truth. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. God's attribute of holiness and
God's attribute of love have met together. God's attribute
of righteousness and perfection and God's attribute of peace
have kissed each other. Where? At Calvary. That's where it took place. Jesus
Christ, my Lord, came down here in human flesh. You see, God's
a holy God. God's a just God. God is love. God is mercy. But you cannot
have God's mercy demonstrated at the expense of His truth,
His righteousness, any more than a judge down here in federal
court can just one day go down there and say, well, I feel compassionate
today, so I'm going to let all the criminals go free. Well,
you might be compassionate, Mr. Judge, but you're not righteous.
You may be merciful, Mr. Judge, but you're not just. Every
transgression shall receive a just recompensive reward. God said,
I will in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Well, God, how are you going
to be just? How are you going to deal with
me in justice? One way, deal with my substitute
in my place instead. Deal with Christ. God says, God
Almighty says, you must have a perfect righteousness. Well,
Lord, I don't have it. Deal with my substitute. He has
it. As a man, he fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law. That's
what he said. I didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill
it. And he says here, I've declared this from ancient times. I am
a just God, but I am a Savior. And there's only one place and
in one person where God can be absolutely just and justifier,
absolutely just and a savior, absolutely righteous and merciful,
absolutely truthful and holy, and that is for somebody to come
down here and do for me what I cannot do for myself. Someone
with effectual power. Someone who's not only a man,
but who is God. And that's Christ. And he adds this, look at verse
21, and there's none beside me, and there's none beside me. This
is the only way. He says that about four or five
times. Verse 14, look at it, the last line, there's none else.
He says it again in verse 18, the last line, there's none else.
He says it down here in verse 21, and there's none else. He
says it down here in verse 22, and there's none else. Now you go right on preaching,
go right on preaching, that we're all going to the same place,
we're just traveling different roads, if you wish. But our God says there's none
else. Other foundations can no man lay. Other gospel can no
man preach. And Paul picked up this theme
and he said, if any man preach any other gospel than that which
we have preached, He says, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven. Let him be accursed. That's proclaiming. You think there's not some weight
on him who would preach the gospel? Let him be accursed. Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. Paul said we preach not ourselves,
but we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Do we? Do we preach Christ Jesus the
Lord? Christ the Messiah? Jesus God
in the flesh? The Lord Sovereign King reigning
and ruling over heaven and earth with all authority? Do we preach
Christ Jesus the Lord? Or do we preach theology? Or
do we preach doctrine? Or do we preach the Lord? Do
we preach morality? Or do we preach Christ Jesus
the Lord? I don't hear many folks preaching
Christ Jesus the Lord. God forbid, Paul said, that I
should glow with faith in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ.
What is the cross? That block of wood? No, sir.
It's the whole person and work of Christ, consummated, fulfilled
on that cross. I determined, he said, to know
nothing among you, save Christ Jesus and him crucified. In Christ God can be just and
justify. In Christ God can be righteous
and merciful. In Christ God can be truth and
love. But nowhere else, there is none else. Therefore he says
in verse 22, listen, you tune your ear to him, do you hear
his message? Have you heard his message? You say it's too dogmatic. Our God's a dogmatic God. It's
too precise. Our God's a precise God. Moses
built that tabernacle. How, Charlie? Just like I told
you. You better not deviate. You built
it just like I told you. I'm a precise God. Why should I turn to any other?
Huh? The Lord gave his disciples the
privilege as I give to you on behalf of my Lord. Will you go
away? And they replied, well, to whom
shall we go? Nobody else got anything to say. Thou hast the
words of life. That's what I'm interested in,
life. I'm not interested in law. I'm not interested in just in
morality. I'm not interested in the traditions
of my father. I'm not interested in upholding
the name Baptist. I'm interested in life. And I
don't know but one who has the words of life, and that's him
who can give it. I don't know but one who has
the message of forgiveness and that's him who can forgive. I don't know but one! that has
the message, that has the good news, and the words of resurrection. And that's him who can raise
me. Huh? Do you know anybody else? You
go on, you go on and go through your motions, you go on playing
church, you go on winning converts and souls and apostolites, and
God says you make them two-fold more the child of hell than you
are. You better tune your ear to God. You'd better tune your
ear in his direction and hear what he's got to say. He's got
some things to say here. And he said, I've declared them
from ancient times. Now I hadn't hid them in caves
somewhere, and they're not written on secret parchments hidden somewhere
in a den. They're declared freely and fully
and publicly to every creature. What is it? Verse 22, look unto
me. Huh? Look unto me. Can you understand
those three words, look unto me? He doesn't say, work for
me. He says, look, I might not be
able to work enough, see, so maybe I'll be like that old thief,
maybe I won't have long enough to work. Huh? So I can't do it
but work. By works of righteousness shall
no flesh be justified. That's been plainly declared.
He doesn't say, work for me. He doesn't say, serve me. He
said, the Son of Man didn't come down here to be ministered unto,
but to minister. I want to know what you can do
for him anyway. Do you know anything you can add to God who is perfect? Do you know anything you can
bring to God who has all things? Do you know anything you can
do for God who is almighty? No, he didn't say work for me
or serve me, he said look to me. Why can't we do what he says? He doesn't even say I have to
understand. All he says I have to do is look. Some preachers, it takes them
a volume to tell a sinner how to be saved, took the Holy Spirit,
one word and two letters are just alike, L-O-O-K. Just like Israel, bitten by those
fiery serpents and dying in the wilderness, and Moses cried,
God, provide a way! And God said, Moses, make a brazen
serpent, just like those fiery serpents that have bitten the
Israelites, and lift it up on a pole, and whosoever looketh
will live. And behold, it came to pass that
every one that looked lived. That's all he did. He looked.
He looked by faith. He looked out of a need. He looked
out of hunger. He looked out of inability. He
looked out of a dying state. He looked for mercy. And our
Lord said, as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness,
even so, Must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
on him will never perish. Why can't we do what he says?
Not to your work, look to me. Oh, have I done enough? Not to
the law, look to me. Am I good enough for glory? No,
sir, never will be in yourself. But in Christ I'm holy and without
blame and unreprovable." That's what it said. Not to your priest,
not to your preacher, not to your faith, not to your feelings,
not to your experience. Look unto me. Look unto him as
the Son of God, deity, the brightness of his glory. Express the image
of his person. Look to Christ. He's the Son
of God. He can do what He sets out to do. He can do what He
came to do. Look to Him as your righteous
representative. Look to Him as your substitute.
Look to Him as your atonement. Look to Him as your mediator. And when everything's dark, look
to Him for light. And when dead, look to him for
life, and when weak, look to him for strength, and when guilty,
look to him for grace, and when sick, look to him for healing,
and when hungry, look to him for food, and when depressed,
look to him for comfort, and when sorrowful, look to him for
joy. He's everything. Look unto me. You hear me, sir? You tune your ear to me, you
hear my message? I do what I say. Turn your eyes
on Jesus. Not the little helpless, frustrated,
defeated, disappointed superstar of this generation who didn't
know where he came from or what he came to do or where he was
going. But you look to me, I'm God! Look to me and be saved. Why? Because I'm God! That's
why I'm God. all the ends of the earth. That's
you, that's me. That includes all who need mercy
and all who need forgiveness. You turn away because you want
to, not because he turns you away. That's right. If you turn away from Christ,
if you refuse this message of grace and this message of free
love and this message of effectual deliverance, your blood will
be on your own hands. He didn't turn you away. You
found something you liked a little better. You found something you
wanted a little more. You found something that appealed
to your natural flesh, not to your soul. He says, you look
to me. All the ends of the earth, I
don't care, it includes all who sin the greatest, he's able to
say to the uttermost, them that come to God by him, for I am
God. You need a God to save you. Now,
if you're content with the salvation you've got down at the front
of the church, well, God will measure it someday. He'll weigh
it in the balance. But I need a God to save me.
I need the work of God to save me. If ever I'm to be redeemed,
God will have to do it. If ever I'm to be regenerated,
God will have to do it. If ever I'm to be made a new
creature in Christ, God Almighty will have to do it. I need a
God to save me. No preacher can do it. No priest
can do it. I can't do it. No system of theology
can do it. No decision I make walking an
hour can do it. God will have to do it. If I'm
ever made a new creature in Christ, God will have to do it. You need
a God to save you. Be God. The God of salvation,
the God of creation, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Look to me and be you saved. Why? Why should I look
to you? Because I'm God. And there's
none else. And there's none else. One day
our Lord Jesus Christ spoke sharply of the Pharisees and the disciples
came to him and said, well, if those religious, pious, moral,
good men who spend all their time searching the scriptures
and arguing and debating and quarreling over the genealogies
in question. If they are not saved, who can
be saved? And our Lord looked at those
disciples and replied, with men it's impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. God can save you. He's the only
one who can. That's the reason I preach, my
dear friends, salvations of the Lord. You wonder why I preach
salvation by grace? Because only God can save a man.
Even a poor, blind, illiterate, ignorant person back down in
the days of Christ knew that. He said, only God can forgive
sin. Only God. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth. There's no special salvation
for anybody, Jew or Gentile. only this salvation, for I am
God, and there's none else. And then he goes on and he says,
now listen, now listen, he winds this thing up and he says in
verse 23, I have sworn by myself and the
word gone out of my mouth. And it's not, it's gone out of
my mouth in righteousness and truth. Now listen to it, it's
not going to return. that unto me every knee is going
to bow, and every tongue is going to swear that I'm God. Sovereign
Lord, preeminent one. When are you going to do it? When are you going to do it?
Everybody's going to, either here or at the judgment. That's
right. There isn't two gods, there's
one God. I'm God, he said. And I've declared this in righteousness.
Now you can run around here, and that's what's wrong with
this misbehaving and carrying on in church and giving away
green stamps and trying to get people to come to raise your
numbers and all these things. We're not worshiping God in this
generation. And the preachers are preaching, they're not preaching
an almighty, sovereign, eternal God. The Lord's in His holy temple,
let all the earth keep silent, be still, I'm God, he said. No, we're carrying on a pack
of foolishness, acting like a bunch of heathens, worshiping a god
of our imagination and calling him Jesus. All these quartets and foot-stomping
melodies and racing across the church and throwing songbooks
and all these different things. It's an abomination before a
holy God. Every knee's gonna bow, he said.
Every knee is going to bend, and every tongue is going to
confess that I'm God, I'm Lord. I've sworn it, he said. I've
declared it. I've declared it, and I'm not taking it back. It
shall not return. And I'm telling you, we better
come to that place. I don't know what it's going
to take. But the Lord Jesus Christ is going to have to be crowned
Lord of all. and crowned by an act of faith and an act of heart
and an act of submission and an act of contrition, a broken
heart and a contrite spirit. The gateway to the Kingdom of
God is not some little silly decision under an emotional strain. The gateway to the Kingdom of
God is to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He said, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord
of salvation, Lord of your soul, Lord of your life, Lord of your
family, thou shalt be saved. That's what's said. And he says
here, I've declared it, I've sworn it, I've declared it in
righteousness, I'll never take it back, every knee shall bow. He said in verse 24, Surely shall
one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. Our Father in heaven, we thank
you for your presence and for your power and for your word. We pray now that you'd use the
message for your glory. Lord, we can't speak to men's
hearts, we can only speak to their ears. Only by the power
of your Spirit can the hard heart be broken, can the rebellious
spirit be conquered. Can the wild ass's coat be subdued
and tamed by the hand of God? Only by the power of thy Spirit
will men bend their knees and bow their necks and out of their
hearts cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, my Lord and
my God. have control over my life that
may submit unto thee. Only by the Holy Spirit can the
blind eye be opened and the darkened heart enlightened.
and the stiff, proud knee be bent. Do a work of grace. Oh Lord, only you can save us. Only you can make us new creatures.
Only you. For Christ's sake, we pray that
you do it. In his name, amen. Brother Ronald,
you lead us in a song at this time, if you will. Number 242, please. 242. Stand,
please.

The Ear and the Eye Turned to Christ

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The Ear and the Eye Turned to Christ

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