"Because he has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And as you know, in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus preached this in the synagogue, it was at this point he closed the book, or literally, he rolled up the scroll. And then he said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." I am the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Isaiah, however, did not see a distinction between what we just read and what follows, for there is an and, a connective word-- "And the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn and console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified."

Isaiah, though he didn't realize it, had to comings in view. The first coming was fulfilled by Jesus Christ as he said in the synagogue, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The second part is yet to be fulfilled where there is a day of vengeance of our God.

There will be a day of vengeance. We call it the Tribulation. It's 7 years of hell on earth where God pours out his wrath once and for all upon the world for not accepting the solution to their sin, and we call it the Tribulation Period.

So in verse 2, that little word, and, that little connective word, has lasted 2,000 years. That's a big and. This is what Peter meant when in first Peter chapter 1, let me read it to you. He said, "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow."

He wrote all of these things but he himself, Isaiah and the prophets, searched, finding now, what is the time factor in this? And he had no idea that the length of time for that and would be 2,000 years. The prophets saw everything scrunched together as one event. That and has lasted almost 2,000 years.

We have tried to clear this up before by looking at mountains. Or you could look at it another way. If you're up in the heights, and you look west, you see the volcanoes in the west, right? Beyond that you see what mountain? Mt. Taylor, 80 miles away.

I was with a friend from California who's not used to seeing anything past about five miles-- visibility. And I said, you see that mountain over there? That's Mount Taylor, do you know how far it is? He goes, oh, maybe 15 miles max. I said, it's 80 miles away. He said, no way. He couldn't believe it. And you don't notice because it's so clear here, the mountain peaks are so clear, you don't notice the valleys in between them.

The prophets did not see the valleys, they saw the mountain peaks of prophecy. They saw the first advent of Christ. They saw the Second Advent of Christ. They saw the Kingdom Age. They saw the new heaven and new earth as mountains that are scrunched together, not seeing the valleys in between them.

Ever taken the tram up? Most of you have. And you look down, and you see valleys in between what looks to be flat from this side. It looks like you have a mono-plained mountain.

But you get close to it, and you see how those mountains divide. Those little peaks have valleys in between them, that's how the prophets saw them. And here is a classic example of that where it's all scrunched together, the day of vengeance following what Jesus fulfilled. So when Jesus comes again, he will, number one, bring God's vengeance as we read in Revelation chapter 19-- and we'll get a prophecy of that tonight-- and to comfort the remnant, the believing Jewish remnant, the 144,000 of Israel, those who will be preserved during and through the Tribulation Period. He will come to comfort those who mourn.

And then verse 4, "They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations." Israel will get a facelift during the Millennium. And she will need a facelift because the earth is pretty much going to be wiped out, isn't it? Hailstones, the judgments of God that fall, earthquakes and meteor showers in the Tribulation Period that distort the surface of the earth.

It's going to be in shambles. God will restore that which is ruined. I get to go to Israel by God's grace about once a year. And I follow the archaeological digs, and I've watched them since the mid to late '70s up till 1990 practically. And I watch how they uncover the old cities, and some of the archaeologists will rebuild the ruins.

And if you were to go to Jerusalem today, you could see a portion of the very wall that David and his men saw as they looked at Jerusalem when it was inhabited by the Jebusites. Before it was even Jerusalem, it was Jebus. You can see a portion of that wall that he looked at still intact.

You can see the well, the water shaft where he said to one of his people in the army, whoever goes up through the water shaft and overtakes the city, I'll make him general in my army. You can see that watershaft, perfect intact. You can see the walls that Nehemiah put there later on after Nebuchadnezzar had torn them down. And every time I go back and they uncover more and rebuild it more, I can't wait to go back the next year to see what they're going to do to it as they rebuild these ruins and uncover the earth from them.

And so I'm quite excited to see Israel in the Kingdom Age when God is going to show all these archaeologists where they went wrong and really how it went originally, as he rebuilds the things that have been broken down, not only by time but by the Tribulation Period. In verse 6 it says. "You shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you servants of our God."

It says in Revelation chapter 1 that God made us "Kings and priests--" or literally. "A kingdom of priests and to our God, and we shall reign with him forever and ever."

You're going to have a job in the Kingdom Age along with believing Israel. You're going to have a job. You're going to be a representative of the Lord. You are a kingdom of priests. And the job of a priest is twofold, to represent the people to God and to represent God to the people.

It so neat to know that my ministry will not end here, but God has work for me to do in the age to come. You know, people have this crazy idea and concept of heaven, you just kind of sit on a cloud and play an instrument. I don't know why a harp of all instruments. But you know, why not a lead guitar or a bass or a piano or something, but a harp.

Now we're going to be busy in the Kingdom Age, there's going to be rebuilding going on, repopulating going on, as the word of God spreads throughout all of the earth. In verse 10, he says, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God for He has clothed me with garments of salvation." I believe this a believing Jewish remnant speaking and the multitude of Gentiles that have gone through the Tribulation Period.

"He has covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels, for as the earth brings forth its bud, and the garden causes the things that are sown to spring forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

So there will be material benefits, physical improvements, all spiritually centered in the Kingdom Age. "For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation is a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see her righteousness and all kings, your glory, they shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will name. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God."

There is no peace in Jerusalem today because Messiah is not there. It says in the Book of Psalms that we are to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may they prosper who love thee." Although we are called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, I admit to you that every time I do that, what I am praying is that Jesus will come. Because there will be no peace, and there is no peace in Israel now.

There never has been peace in Israel. And there never really will be lasting peace until the Messiah reigns. The Prince of Peace has to reign. I've spoken to some people, and I'm not trying to plug Israel but this is the time of year that we go, and I haven't been able to go this year. And I'm a little homesick, frankly.

But I have people that come, and they say, you know, we're going to go to Israel with you someday, but we're going to wait till it's a little more peaceful over there. And I always laugh because it's never going to be peaceful over there. If you went in the '60s, war broke out on some of the tours. If you go in the '70s, another war broke out in '73.

And we might go next year and a war will break out in Israel. We might die. You're going to die anyway unless the Lord comes back. What a great place to die. I mean, think of all the places on earth you could die, wouldn't you rather die in Israel than in a hospital somewhere. So you ought to come with us.

In chapter 62, this is as if the Messiah is longing to reign over Israel, longing to be her prince. Jesus, now seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us. Although he is seated, it's as if Jesus would rather be standing and active, reigning in Jerusalem.

The heart of Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone all who are sent unto thee. How often I would have gathered you as a mother hen would gather her chicks, but you would not." Oh, how God wants to gather them and Jesus would have reigned over Jerusalem. One day His dream will come true.

In verse 4, "You shall no longer be termed forsaken nor shall your land be any more termed desolate. You shall be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah." If you look in the margin of your Bible, it's probably explained what they mean.

"My delight is in her and married. For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." And there's my favorite metaphor again, where God describes his relationship with people, not as distant God away from his people but as a bridegroom loves his bride.

It's used again in the Book of Ephesus, "You have left your first love." God wants the intimacy of relationship. God wants us to have the freedom to draw as close to him as you want to, as you will.

The only thing that separates us from God is either our sin or our unwillingness to come close to him. We're always invited to draw near. Don't settle for a distant relationship with your God.

When I grew up, I'd always hear people talk about the good Lord. And it's almost become a dead giveaway to me now that people who always say, well, you know, the good Lord-- have a distant relationship with him. Instead of my Lord. Oh, Jesus, first name basis. The bride and the bridegroom rejoicing over each other's company.

"I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace by day or night." Now listen to this. "You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give him no rest until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

Now we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come." Jesus taught us to pray that way. Now here it says, "Give him no rest till he establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Keep praying that. Your kingdom come, when we pray that, in one sense we are sighing for heaven. We want heaven to come.

"In my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you." OK, thy kingdom come. John, in the Book of Revelation, after seeing the tribulation that would occur in the earth, and after seeing a glimpse of heaven, he said, "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus." And in chapter 14, there's that resounding triumph. "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." And everybody just partys down in heaven at that point.

Hallelujahs go up. And the angels and all of us who will be there will sing. So "You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent."

Of course, it was always the Jewish anticipation that one day a kingdom, literal kingdom, would be set up, not figurative, a literal kingdom, where the Messiah, a King would reign visibly. Jerusalem at the center and all of the nations would come to Jerusalem to worship. That has never happened.

But it will happen. Jesus will come the second time to bring vengeance upon the earth, and after that a 1,000 year reign, and after that a new heavens and a new earth. But during the Kingdom Age, the 1,000 year reign upon the earth.

Jesus will reign geocentrically from Jerusalem. And if you haven't been able to go on a tour to Israel because of finances, don't worry, you will go in the Kingdom Age. It says in Zechariah that all of us will go up once a year as a holy convocation to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall.

That's a beautiful time to hang out over there. They have Indian summer too. And beautiful weather, so we'll be going to Jerusalem once a year. So you keep praying, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

However, though we speak about the kingdom as something future, it also has a present application. For every one of us who have made Jesus the King, the Kingdom has come in our lives, within us, or in our midst. Because a kingdom signifies control, doesn't it?

If you have a kingdom, you have a King. A King is an absolute monarch, sovereign, despot if you will. He has the say of what goes on. He is in control of the kingdom.

When we pray, thy kingdom come, when we long for his kingdom, it first means conversion, that we have become a subject of the King. And secondly, it means commitment. For Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." Seek now to establish the Kingdom of God in other people's lives. So it means, first of all that you are converted, and you become a subject of the Lord Jesus.

Secondly, it means that you are committed to building up his kingdom, and that means becoming a disciple. When you follow Jesus and you are a disciple, you are committed to trashing your own plans of establishing your own kingdom, and you embrace the plans of spreading the Kingdom of God into all the earth. That's what a disciples is.

And the third aspect is the coming of Jesus Christ. So you have conversion, commitment, and the coming of Jesus Christ, yet future. We who are subjects of the King now, and servants of the King, will reign with him. Revelation chapter 1, we'll reign with him. We'll be co-heirs with Christ in the Millennium.

And in verse 11, "Indeed, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world, say to the daughter of Zion, surely your salvation is coming, behold, his reward is with him--" announcement of that future day-- "and his work before him, and they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called sought out, a city not forsaken." Now that's a beautiful promise of Jesus coming again, establishing his kingdom, ruling over the earth during the Kingdom Age.

The next chapter is a sharp contrast. It's if we pull the shades down and turn off all the lights. It's very dark. Some people have tried to figure in this being the second coming of Jesus in triumph. But this is the second coming of Jesus in vengeance.

There's nothing really palatable or enjoyable about the next few verses. For it says, "Who is this who comes from Edom?" Edom means red. It's also a geographical place east of the Dead Sea.

"With dyed garments from Bozrah." Again, it speaks of that area east of the Dead Sea. It's a place where the 144,000 Jewish remnant will be kept during the Tribulation, safe from the Antichrist.

"This one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Here's the question now. "Why is your apparel red, and your garments like one who treads in the wine press?"

The early church fathers interpreted this passage of Scripture as Jesus returning. And the wine press that it mentions, being symbolic of the cross of Christ, and Jesus coming back with blood-stained garments, the garments of his blood stained in the cross, when he shed his blood on the cross. But that's not it at all.

The blood that's on the garments is their blood. The blood of the enemies of God whom Jesus has tread in the wine press of the wrath of God. Why is your apparel red? Your garment is like one who treads the wine press.

Here's the answer. "I have trodden the wine press alone. And from the people's, no one was with me, for I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments.

And I have stained all of my robes for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked but there was no one to help. I wondered, there was no one to uphold. Therefore, my own arm brought salvation for me, and my own fury, it sustained me. I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down their strength to the earth."

When Jesus came the first time, He shed his own blood. When he comes the second time, it won't be his blood, it will be their blood. His garments will be dipped in their blood, and the judgment will be upon the earth for those who have flatly said, we refuse your reign over us.

Now, this should clear up an issue. God has been accused by many people. He's come into some bad press, lately.

People have accused God saying, the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath, vengeance, judgment, bloodshed. And oh, what a contrast he is to the God of the New Testament, a God of love and forgiveness, on and on and on. That's crazy. They're both one and the same.

In fact, if you look over at Revelation chapter 19, you see that this is almost word for word, and it's in the New Testament, and it's speaking of Jesus Christ. I'll read it to you. Revelation 19 verse 11. "Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges, and he makes war."

Well, we don't picture Jesus like that often, do we? We have a Sunday-school concept of Jesus. Gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon this little child. Well, he's going to come as a warrior to make war.

"His eyes were a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

The armies in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it He should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron.

He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." You have the same, almost identical passage. We have Jesus riding on the white horse in Revelation 19, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. The blood of his enemies on his robe.

Also, God is as much a God of mercy in the Old Testament as the New Testament. God promised restoration to Israel although she blew it. God promises forgiveness. God promised forgiveness of their sins.

It's the same God through and through, in the Old and the New Testament. In verse 7, a contrast again, switches back to the lighter side. "I will mention the loving-kindness of the Lord--" see in the midst of all that blackness the love of God shining through?

"And the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses, for he said, surely they are my people, children who will not lie. So he has become their Savior. In all their affliction, he was afflicted."

I believe verses 7 through 9 speak of the believing remnant of the nation of Israel and the Gentiles in the Tribulation Period who will be kept and they are mentioning the loving-kindness of God for God protects them through the Tribulation. There is a group that is kept through God's wrath, not from God's wrath. The church will be kept from the day of God's wrath. Believing Israel, the remnant of the 144,000 and a great multitude of Gentiles, who will be saved under their ministry, will be in and go through the Tribulation. God will keep them.

Many of the multitude of Gentiles who believe will die, however. They are called in Revelation, "The souls that are under the altar." And they cry out to God in, I think, Revelation 7, with a loud voice. John said, "I beheld the souls that were under the altar saying, how long, O Lord, how long will it be until you take vengeance upon the earth, and avenge our blood upon our enemies?" And God said, just a little while longer when the full measure has been taken in and had been slaughtered for the name of Jesus Christ.

You say, that sounds kind of horrible, doesn't it? Yes it does. Actually, it's an act of mercy. I'll tell you why. God has extended his grace right now to the world. We're in an age of grace.

It's so easy to get saved. All you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus is the one God sent, believe by committing your life to Him, turn from your sins and say, Jesus, I admit I'm a sinner. Forgive me, wash me clean, I'm going to follow you now. And in an act of sincere faith, meaning that, you're saved. That's an age of grace.

The curtains are closing upon that age of grace. And during the Tribulation Period, you will have to take a mark. I say you, you who remain who have not accepted the Lord. You will have to take a mark. There will be a monetary system set up by a mastermind who will sway the world and bring in peace in the midst of turmoil.

He will cause all men and women and children, both great and small, to have a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, his own mark, the mark of the perfect man, the Antichrist. You can't buy or sell unless you have that mark. But if you take that mark, you could never be admitted into heaven for you are aligning yourself with Satan, and the Antichrist, the false prophet-- the satanic trinity.

The only way you could go to heaven in the Tribulation Period is dying for your faith, then. Or if you happen to be part of the Jewish remnant, you'd be kept by God, by Jesus, as we see in Revelation 12.

When I was first a young Christian, I had a friend, he was a strong follower in the Lord. He started backsliding. He started disbelieving the scripture. I don't know really where he stood in his first commitment to follow the Lord.

But he said, you know, all this talk about the Tribulation, I'll tell you what, I'm just going to go out and sin. And when the rapture comes, I know I've got seven years. And if the rapture comes, I'll know it's real. And then I'll make my commitment to follow the Lord because if all this stuff is really the truth, and it happens then, OK, fine, that's a good enough sign for me, I'll follow the Lord.

And I said, well, you know, I think I read where you are going to have to die at that time, be a martyr. Well, yeah, but I mean, then I'll know. Once I know it, I know it's the truth, I'd gladly die. And my mind started thinking, and I said, if you can't live for Him now when it's so easy, how are you going to be able to die for Him then when it's going to be so hard. And I could see his facial expression change, and it's like, ding, that makes sense.

Hey, you've got it easy now, don't think you'll be able to die for him then if you can't live for him now. He's made it easy, easy to go to heaven. It's not cheap grace, it cost him a lot. It cost him his Only Begotten Son, but easy for you. Commit your life to Jesus, and you don't have to go through that terrible mess that we read about here.

Chapter 64, again, I believe this is the believing remnant of Israel, the great multitude of Gentile believers, and they cry out to God, "Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence." Like Rev. 7, they're crying out for God to come down and take vengeance upon the earth.

"That the mountains might shake in your presence. As fire burns brushwood, so fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence." And of course, partially, their prayer will be answered in the Tribulation Period because God's going to cause earthquakes and the earth to go through cataclysmic changes so that people will be dying at the rate where a third of the earth is completely wiped out at one time.

And people are understanding that it's the wrath of God, and they ask the mountains to fall on them and crush them to save them from the wrath of God. They would rather die in natural catastrophe than have to face God at that point because they recognize they've sinned against Almighty God. And it's a day of vengeance, and it's too late.

"For since the beginning of the world--" verse 4-- "men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eyes seen any God beside you who acts for the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers you in your ways." The world has been, and still is, completely oblivious to the Kingdom Age and to the fact of God's wrath, God's judgment.

How many people believe, in America, in a literal heaven and a literal hell? Not very many. More people believe in heaven than believe in hell.

In fact, a Gallup poll was taken in Europe. And they said, most Europeans believe in heaven, very few of them believe in hell, how convenient. They've kind of by popular vote ruled hell out altogether.

Well, you can rule it out all you want, it doesn't take it away. I can decide I don't like the law of gravity, I'm deciding not to believe in it. I don't think it's fair, because a friend of mine jumped out of a window last week, and he's dead now because of the law of gravity. We'll it's still gravity, it still is there. Lack of popular vote doesn't remove the fact.

Eye has not seen it, ear hasn't heard of the Kingdom Age where God has prepared for those that love him, as well as the wrath of God in the future. Now we experience a bit of the future now. For Paul quotes this, as we said in 2 Corinthians, and says, but he has revealed them to us by his Spirit.

We have a taste, and just a little bit of a taste, a nibble, of what it's going to be like in the Kingdom Age. We have, sometimes, sweet fellowship together. There are times when our worship-- and it varies from person-to-person, time-to-time, meeting-the-meeting is so close, we could feel like we're touching God.

There are times when there's a deep settled peace and joy that floods our lives. We're getting nibbles of what it's going to be like in the Kingdom Age when peace and joy pervade the entire earth, and there's righteousness over all of the land. Verse 6, tells of the sinful, sad condition of man, a famous text, no doubt to most of you.

"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness' are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us and consumed us because of our iniquity."

All of our righteousness is filthy rags. Hey, if you're pleading your case before God based on your merits, you're in trouble. If you think that you're going to be able to stand before God and say, now, God, I've kept a little record of all of the good things that I've done and believed in on earth. And I expect, based on what I have done, to enter your presence.

He will no doubt read this text to you. All of your righteousness is as filthy rags. Because it's righteousness that you have procured by yourself, you see. I helped little old ladies across the street, I did that by myself. I gave money to good organizations, I did it by myself.

I went down, and I helped out at the shelter. I did it all by myself. It is those things that I did by myself, I have procured my own righteousness. We'll the righteousness that you procure by yourself is self-righteousness.

And God is holy and sinless and separate, and we, his creation, are born in sin. And we can have no fellowship with God until the sin issue has been dealt with. That's why Jesus came. But if we bypass Jesus, bypass being born again, and try to get there on our own merits, God's going to say, all of those nice things you did, they're all rags. They're very good, but they're not good enough.

Now, God wants to clothe us in garments of righteousness, the Scripture says. Why would we settle for filthy rags when he wants to clothe us in garments of righteousness? Here, I'll clothe you. I'll save you. I'll clean you up, I'll give you a new life.

No, no, I kind of like these old rags. I've been wearing them a long time. They kind of fit nice now. They kind of hang loosely on me I've worn them so long. Please let me keep them.

Well, you can keep them, but you'll never enter into God's presence with your filthy rags. Oh, I was religious. Well, so what. Jesus said, many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this in your name and cast out demons in your name, and perform many wonderful works. Jesus will say, I never knew you. Depart for me you workers of iniquity.

The only righteousness by which we can stand before God is God's righteousness. We have to be as good as God. Jesus said, "Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Well, that kind of blows the whole deal.

We throw up our arms in defeat and say, no way, man. I can't be as good as God, I'm not perfect, everyone knows that. Certainly my wife knows that, I know that. People who know me well know that. How can I get to heaven?

By God imputing, the Scripture says in Romans. Imputing, a transaction whereby God covers you with his own righteousness. How do I get that? Romans says by faith. Ephesians says, not by our own works or works of righteousness that we've done.

Paul the Apostle in Philippians chapter 3 gives his pedigree background as a Jewish Pharisee. He says, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Concerning righteousness that came by the law, I was blameless.

I had a spotless background. I was schooled in a religious home. I was the strictest sect of Judaism, a Pharisee. If anybody deserved to make it by his own merit, it was me.

But he says, "What things were gain to me, I count as loss--" literally, dung-- all of the beautiful things of my ritual, my religious education, I tossed them on the dung pile that I might know Christ. "And be found in Him not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but righteousness which is of faith through Christ."

He exchanged all of that background for a real right standing before God based on faith. He recognized that all that he could do isn't good enough. The great exchange, "That I might be found in him not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of faith in Christ." Beautiful.

Now, my page keeps flipping over here. There. Yeah, there we are, verse 6. Yeah, I kind of lost my place there.

"But now, O Lord--" verse 8-- "you are our Father." See, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, but then there is a covenant relationship that God speaks about. Where there is an exchange for his righteousness. It's beautiful. I just want to say something before I go on.

I don't want to completely knock people's religious background. Some of you grew up in a ritualistic kind of a home, a religious home where you observed certain days and rituals. I grew up in that kind of a home. And it wasn't altogether that bad because I always had the awareness that there was a God, and that he loved me. I didn't know him personally, but I believed in Him, and it gave me a great foundation, it really did.

I didn't know Jesus through those things, hence, when I came to know Jesus, I let those things fall aside that I might just be found in him not having my own righteousness. But those things gave me a good foundation, and the point is this, because I don't want to alienate people who are involved in that kind of background. Those things can be good, but there's a principle you must be aware of.

A good thing can become a bad thing if it keeps you from the best thing. If you are depending upon those things to get into heaven, then that good thing has become a bad thing. And it's kept you from the best thing, a pure relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, "you must be born again." He didn't give you advice on it. He didn't say, you know, it's probably a good thing if you would become born again. I suggest that you become born again. He said, a man must become born again if he wants to see the Kingdom of God.

Now, it kind of blew my mind. A woman that came to this church for some time was talking to one of the counselors on the phone. She said, I'm not born again. I don't think you have to be born again. I've come to this church and I never heard that you have to be born again.

And so he said, how long have you been coming? Oh, a couple years. He said, I think you're thinking of another church, perhaps, but not this one. And she was all irate that we were telling her that she had to be a born again Christian to go to heaven.

You know, I found that that has become a catch phrase to some people. They don't like those terms, born again Christian. It's as if we have come up with that phrase ourselves and created a new religious movement. And you have the Methodists, and you have the Baptists, and you have this group, and then you have the born agains, as if they were some different group.

And I've had people come say, well, no, I am not a born again Christian. I'm just a this. And I'm thinking, well, do you understand what you're saying?

If you are a Christian, you are born again. You might not know that. And if you are born again, I don't care what flavor you are. You can be a born again Methodist, a born again Baptist, a born again Catholic, a born again whatever.

But you must be born again. Jesus said that. It wasn't a suggestion, you have to do that. You have to have his new life and exchange whatever you might be hiding behind. And you know what? I used my religious background to keep myself from the truth.

I didn't want to confess that I was a sinner, and I didn't want to give up my own lifestyle, doing my own thing. I wanted to kind of have my cake and eat it too. Oh, I'll go to church. I'll take part in baptism and confirmation and all the rituals and communion.

But I'll just go out and do my own thing and live my life my own way. And after all, I'm a Christian because I do those things. That's filthy rags. It's a good thing, but if it keeps me from the best thing, it can become a bad thing. If you have come from that kind of background, use those things as a launching pad to drive you into a close relationship with Jesus, never a substitute for it.

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay. You are our Potter, and we are the work of your hands." Oh, what a great day it is when you have turned your life over to Jesus Christ completely like we just read, where you're the clay. And you say, OK, God, I'm your clay now. You're the potter, you just kind of make me whatever you feel like.

That's surrender. That's submission. Not, God, I've decided what I'm going to be, and what I'm going to do, and where I'm going to go. And I hope you approve because whether you like it or not, that's the way it is. May your plans become my plans, in Jesus' name amen.

Oh, but what a wonderful time when you can just surrender to the Lord. And this is a metaphor that is used quite frequently in the scriptures. Jeremiah 18, God said, Jeremiah, go down to the house of the potter, watch him work a work on the wheels. I got something to show you there.

So Jeremiah went down to the house of the potter, and he watched as the Potter took a lump of clay and he molded something beautiful, a work of art on the potter's wheel. But Jeremiah said, that clay became marred, stiffened in the hand of the potter. And he had to kind of break it, put water on it and remake it again. And those that were marred in the hands of the potter, he had to throw aside, toss aside. He's using that as a picture of the Nation of Israel.

As a Christian, you are to be bendable, supple in the hands of your Master Potter. And you know, I actually love this analogy because clay is worthless all by itself. It's dirt. Nobody pays much attention to a bunch of clay. Hey, look at my clay. OK, that's kind of nice, and if you're into it, great.

My son is into clay. I personally am not into lumps of clay. However, take something that worthless and give it to a master artist, a famous craftsman, and that thing is going to be worth big bucks. It's turned all of a sudden into something of great value and usefulness.

This dear lady, a friend of ours in the church showed us a pot that she bought when they lived in Colorado. Traveled to New Mexico and bought this little pot from one of the Indian merchants up in Santa Fe. She said, I paid $20 for this so many years ago. My husband almost wanted to shoot me for spending $20 on this thing. She said, it's worth $13,000 today because of the famous artist.

Can you imagine a piece of clay worth $13,000. It's dirt. I fail to see the value, but it's the artist, the craftsman behind it. It's like a diamond to me. It's just a rock. You know, but it's the way it's cut, who cuts it, and so forth.

So that valueless piece of clay becomes something useful and something valuable if a master craftsman takes it. And our lives can become useful and valuable if they're worked by God. However, we can become marred in the hands of the potter. We can become stiff. You know, if you won't make me like that, I won't cooperate with you, I won't obey.

Then you become useless. You're saved, but you're useless. Rather than just saying, hey, my life is yours. You do whatever you want with it. I am the clay, you are the potter. And Paul in Romans says, what right does the clay have to say, hey, why did you make me this way, Potter? You're the clay.

You know, respect the Potter. He could just go-- [SPLAT SOUND] Fortunately, God is merciful, and when you stiffen up, he'll break you mercifully. Like he did Jonah who rebelled against him. Jonah stiffened and became marred in the hands of the potter. No, I won't go to Nineveh. Oh, really.

[SQUISHING NOISES]

Now did he do that to punish him? No, it's because he knew, unless I rework this clay, it becomes useless. But I love this clay enough that I'm going to devote my attention to it. And God added water and reworked Jonah until Jonah cried, uncle, in the belly of the whale, and he became a useful once again to God. And so can we in the hands of our Potter.

Chapter 65, mercy. "I was sought by those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, here I am. Here I am to a nation that was not called by my name--" speaking of the Gentiles. Jesus said, "Other sheep have I that are not of this fold, them also must I bring with me."

"I have stretched out my hands all day to a rebellious people." Now the subject change. God is here speaking about Israel in contrast to the Gentiles of verse one, who were not seeking God even though they were God's covenant people.

"Who walk in the way that is not good, according to their own thoughts, a people who provoke me to anger continually to my face, who sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on altars of brick, who sit among the graves and spend the night in the tombs, who eat swine's flesh." That was unkosher to eat ham. Of course, if you are Jewish, you don't eat the flesh of pigs.

"And the broth of abominable things in their vessels, who say, keep to yourselves. Do not come near me, for I am holier than you. These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day."

The Jews were God's covenant people. When Jesus came, he came to the Jews. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him.

Because the Jewish nation by and large rejected Jesus Christ, God, Paul says in Romans, put them aside for a while and turned his attention toward anyone, Gentiles, the rest of the world, so that anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. A people that is not his own, that is, not a covenant people, Israel. God turned his attention so that we could come to know the Lord, and so God has turned to us.

Acts chapter 13, Paul is in the synagogue in Antioch. Remember Paul, whenever he went to a town, he went to the synagogue first. He said, I preached the gospel to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. Until he came to Antioch, and he preached the gospel in Antioch and they refused it.

And he said, listen, I have come to the synagogue to extend to you eternal life. If you deem yourself unworthy of it, then he shook the dust off of his feet and he said, then I'm turning to the Gentiles. And Paul started his ministry toward Gentiles in that second missionary journey.

And so chapter 65 speaks about how Israel was unbendable. The Gentiles would receive the Word of God. Verse 17, "For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come into mind."

You know, we think, oh, my brother didn't accept the Lord. He won't be in heaven. I'll never be able to enjoy heaven without him. Interesting in the light that you won't even remember the things of the former earth. It's just like it never existed.

There will be a brand new heavens and a new earth. The Tribulation Period will so mar and distort the earth, it will take 1,000 years to rebuild it in the Kingdom Age. But there has been rebellion upon the earth and in heaven. Satan has had access to the throne of God as we see in the Book of Job and in Revelation chapter 12.

Heaven rebelled against God. A third of the angels went with Lucifer in the great rebellion, it took place in heaven. The earth is the domain of Satan. Both of those domains are marred, and they need recreation. And God will create, not only just a new earth but a new heaven and a new world.

After the 1,000 years is finished, there will be another outbreak of rebellion as we read in the end of the Book of Revelation. And God will create a new heaven and a new earth. Peter talks about this in his epistle.

Let me read it to you in Second Peter chapter 3, "The Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." imagine that, everything you've worked hard to buy and own, will be burned up. That new house, that car you just polished, It's all going to be burned. All of the material things that you hold onto as dear are all going to be burned.

"Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" Well, certainly not a materialistic person. It's going to burn anyway. You can't take it with you. Like someone said, you've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.

You can't take it with you when you go. There's an older man who died very, very wealthy. No one knew quite how much he left. And somebody said, how much did he leave? And the lawyer just shook his head and said, everything, he didn't take a thing with him.

"Looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire. And the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to his promise look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." That's what we have to look forward to, a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness. Oh, it's going to be great.

"But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create, for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and my joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her nor the voice of crying." By the way, it will be a creation fresh from start.

In Genesis chapter 1 there are two words that are used for create. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." In chapter 2 and verse 2, it speaks about God taking something that is already existing, and reassembling or reforming it.

The first verse, in the beginning, God, bara, made from nothing. In the other section, God, asah, made from existing material the heavens and the earth. God will create, bara, from nothing, the word in Hebrew is, make a new heavens and a new word.

The other ones will melt with fervent heat. Now, remember when God judged the world the first time? How did he do it? With water, he flooded the earth. And then He promised he would never, ever destroy man again by water, that was the covenant.

He didn't say, I wouldn't judge man again. I wouldn't destroy the earth by water. The second time he judges the earth it will be by fire. And all of the elements in the materialistic world that we know will be melted away.

And verse 20 speaks of the Kingdom Age now. "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days--" isn't that wonderful? "Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For the child shall die 100 years old." Wow. Well, I heard about your baby. How old was it? Oh, 100 years old. Oh, so young. The whole time perspective changes.

"But the sinner being 100 years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit--" on and on.

This is beautiful, verse 24, "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox and the dust shall be the serpent's food."

The last chapter of Isaiah, [SIGHING]. "Thus says the Lord--" this is great. "Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool, where is the house that you will build me?" I love that verse. God inhabits everything. And he is greater than it.

He measures all of the universe with the span of his hand. Earth is his footstool. And you're going to build a house for God? When I was a kid, we used to talk about church as the house of God. Don't run in the house of God. Decorum, this is the-- this isn't the house of God.

Solomon, when he built the temple said, heavens of heavens cannot contain Thee, much less this house which I have built." There is no church building or temple that can contain God. God is bigger than it. God is greater than that. This isn't the house of God.

Let's face it, this is for us. We didn't put chairs in here for God. We don't have air conditioning here for God. This is so we can be in a place where we can focus upon God who is greater than this building, who transcends his creation. And it's for us so that we can conveniently come and focus our thoughts upon God.

But you don't have to come here to meet God. And I used to think that for me to get close to God I had to go to church. Let's go to God's house, let's go visit with God awhile. When you walk out of your car tonight and drive, and you call upon the name of the Lord, he's there, just as present as he is here. No such thing as location.

The first time I went to Israel, I expected an overwhelming sense of God's presence because God said his name would always be a cause to be heard in Jerusalem. And you know what? I didn't feel anything. Some people do, I think it's because they anticipate it so much.

I anticipated it, but I just thought, well, you know, the dirt looks like dirt over in the United States. The rocks look the same. The trees don't have a glow or holy halos around them. They are just normal stuff.

And I went back to my little apartment in Santa Ana. One night I was praying and the presence of God was so powerful there, I felt like he was sitting right next to me. It was one of the greatest times of worship I ever experienced as I was just relating to the Lord in the spirit. And it was just after I had come back from Israel.

And God really showed me that location doesn't matter at all. My heart, God will meet me in the altar of my heart. Wherever there's a pure and contrite heart wanting to draw near to him.

And that's why I like verse 2. "For all those things my hand has made, all those things exist says the Lord, but on this one I will look, on him who is poor and of contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word." God made the universe. We can't build anything that he can contain.

God, here, I've built this house for you. You know, God doesn't really get off on that. Where did you get the wood anyway? He grew the trees. It was God's anyway to begin with. You didn't give God anything that he didn't already have.

Verse 7, "Before she travailed, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a male child." She being Israel. "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?

For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth and not cause delivery? Says the Lord. Shall I cause delivery but shut up the womb? Says God." And of course, this is speaking about the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

A nation was born in a day. Contrary to what all of the experts said was possible, in one day through a meeting of the United Nations, decreed in 1947, the Balfour Declaration that was put into operation, in 1948 Israel became a nation.

Now, God says, I've begun the process like a woman having a child. Don't you think I'm going to finish it? If I have brought her that far to delivery, am I going to say, don't have the baby. You have no choice. Baby is coming. And Jesus spoke of his coming and of the signs as a woman travailing in birth to deliver a child.

And so, Israel has become a nation. And you can rest assured that everything God said is going to take place, will take place. If he started the process, he'll end it. The Antichrist will come. He will make a league with the nation of Israel.

There will be the great Tribulation Period. There will be judgment on the earth. God will rescue us from the present evil age. Everything will be fulfilled.

And let's just finish it off. Verse 18, "For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them and those among them who escape I will send to the nations, to Tarshish, to Pul, to Lud--" you might want to look back in the Old Testament. I think it's Numbers 10, the table of nations. "Who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coast lands afar off who have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles."

Verse 22, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. It shall come to pass that from one new moon to another--" month-by-month-- "and from one Sabbath to another--" week-by-week-- "all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

They shall go forth and look upon the corpses of men who have transgressed against me for their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." And that's kind of a downer note to end on, but it's a warning to people.

He speaks about the new heavens and the new earth. He says all the flesh will come to worship before him. But then we'll go out and look upon all of the corpses of those who have not listened to the voice of God.

And it speaks about their punishment. Their worm does not die. Their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

Jesus used this same analogy, this same picture word phrase in Matthew chapter 9 speaking of hell. He spoke of it as a literal place, as he spoke of heaven as a literal place.

In fact, did you know that Jesus spoke more of hell than any one person in the entire scripture? He spoke of hell a lot. I think he spoke of hell because he knew what it was like. And he sought to warn men to stay away from it. And he also said, "Where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched."

There was a guy that lived on a corner and every day he went to work there was a Shell gas station. And he'd go for work early in the morning and the Shell station was lit up. And you know the bright yellow shell, and it said, Shell, open 24 hours. He was a Christian man. And that morning, one morning he was reading the gospels early, and he was noticing all the references that Jesus had, referring to hell, a place of torment.

And as he was driving to work that morning, he noticed that the S on the Shell sign was burned out. This is a true story. You know, sometimes the letters will burn out.

And it said, hell, open 24 hours. And he thought, it sound like what I just read. It's a real place. It's never closed. The worm does not die, the fire is not quenched.

Now, we mentioned that Gallup poll where people in Europe believed in heaven but few believed in hell. Some of you have heard this before, but some of you haven't. There was a Dr. Rawlings, he was a cardiologist, and he was an unbeliever. He didn't believe in heaven, hell, God, nothing. He was like a Sadducee.

He was strictly clinical. He was strictly a medical man, until he started documenting the near-death experiences of many people. You know, some people will write these books. I was in the emergency room, I died and for 10 minutes my soul left my body and I went to heaven, and on and on and on.

Now a lot of people read those things and they think, well, that sounds kind of safe. I mean, here's an unbeliever even, who died in the emergency room, he saw God and a light, and he was peaceful. Therefore, if these people saw peace, joy, light, the whole deal, they don't have to fear hell.

But Rawlings said, half the people aren't telling you the truth. I examine people who have heart attacks in the emergency room, who have these experiences, and at least half of them see the opposite, hell. And in his report, and he wrote a book called Beyond Death's Door.

He said, "I am thoroughly convinced there is life after death." This is based on his findings. "And that there are at least as many people going to hell as going to heaven. About 50% of the revived persons told of having gone to a place of great darkness, filled with grotesque moaning and writhing bodies, crying out to be rescued from this place with an overwhelming feeling and eerie nightmarish terror."

He said, Dr. Rawlings said, "Patients also describe things that had gone on in the emergency room during the time they were dead, able to give precise information as to what had been said and done while they were gone." One patient was so shaken by his experience that he quit his job to join the ministry. Such incredible experiences are more frequent than is generally believed according to Dr. Rawlings who maintains that they are often not reported because people are too embarrassed to admit them.

I mean, you wouldn't go to your friend and say, guess what, I went to hell and came back. Dr. Rawlings added that their doctors are embarrassed to make inquiries into such spiritual matters. Instead, we hear mostly of heavenly life after death experiences. But he says, quote, "Nobody can afford to ignore the report of these patients. I am convinced there is a hell, and that we must conduct our lives in such a way as to avoid being sent there at all costs."

It's a medical doctor who didn't believe in any of it until he examined patients. Well, I'm glad I've escaped the wrath that is to come. And I don't even have to die for my faith, at least as of yet. All I have to do is believe in Jesus, and he'll impute righteousness to me. And then he prepares a mansion for me.

What a great deal. What a no-fault system, a new heaven and a new earth. And one day you and I, though we may be separated for a time. You might move away. Some of you might die, I might die. One day we will be re-united in heaven.

And you won't be having to pray for me because I lost sleep, or because I'm going through a trial. Forget everything, and we'll be together around the throne of God in total peace.

But I often think of all the Bible studies I've taught. And how many things I might be wrong in in my speculation. And probably a lot of you will come up to me and lovingly correct me, and say, Skip, I know you held an opinion on that, but now that we're here, you can see you were wrong in that. So I'll be accountable for every word that I've spoken. That's all right, I'll be in God's presence, it doesn't matter.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the promise of a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Some of us are puzzled by the mention of eternal punishment. We know, however, that you created hell not for man to inhabit it but for those rebellious angels.

And though you don't want us to go there, if we choose to go by our own choice, you'd honor that choice, and you'd never keep us out unless we wanted to stay out. You honor the choices that we make. And I pray, Father, that everyone might make a choice to follow you, in Jesus' name, amen.