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Well, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. My sermon text this morning
is Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. You’ll find that beginning on page 673 in your Pew
Bibles as we continue our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah. We come to this passage
this morning. Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. Dear friends, this is the Word of God.
Let us hear it with reverence and awe. The Word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning
Judah and Jerusalem, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the
house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up
above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. And many peoples shall come and say,
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may
teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide
disputes for many peoples. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. The grass withers and
the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the
proclamation of his word. O dearest Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that you have spoken to us
in the scriptures, for the Bible is your God-breathed infallible word. It is a lamp unto our feet, a light
into our path. We would ask heavenly Father that by your spirit you would give us wisdom and insight
as we consider this portion of your inerrant scriptures. We pray, heavenly Father, that you
would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word. We pray that your
word would find a lodging place in our souls and bear much spiritual fruit in our lives. We would
ask, Lord, once again, that you would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that which
is faithful to your word, glorifying to your name and edifying to your people. We pray these things,
O Lord, in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated.
The title of my sermon this morning is Zion’s exaltation in the latter days, and if you’re
following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice there’s quite a few words that you can
follow along with if it helps you to follow along with the sermon. Well, dear ones, let me ask you
a question. What time is it? Now, I’m not asking you, and if you looked at your watch, I tricked
you. What time is it? Well, I’m not asking you to check your watches or your phones, though I may
catch some of you doing that a bit later if this sermon happens to run a little long, but don’t
worry, hopefully that won’t happen. What I mean by this question is what time is it, quote unquote,
in the sense of where do we find ourselves living in terms of the flow of God’s plan of salvation,
the flow of redemptive history? Dear ones, the biblical answer to that question is that in this
present age, we find ourselves living in a period of redemptive history between our Lord’s first
advent, which took place almost 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, and his future glorious second
advent, which will take place when Jesus comes back in glory at the end of this present age.
In our passage for this Lord’s Day morning, the prophet Isaiah writes about this present
period of redemptive history in which we find ourselves living today in this new covenant era,
in this age between the ages, this period of time between our Lord’s first coming and his future
glorious second coming. As I hope to demonstrate in my sermon, this prophecy of Isaiah that we
are considering this morning is a prediction about the messianic new covenant age, this present age
of redemptive history that was ushered in at the first advent of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living God. In our passage for this morning, we have a prediction that reveals
God’s gracious plan to gather the nations together into his kingdom through the missionary
labors of Christ’s church, and which also gives us as God’s people great hope and great confidence
in the present as we look forward to our Lord’s future return at the end of this age. The Reverend
James G. Kirk introduces our passage with the following words. He writes, Isaiah’s vision is
of the time when the mountain of the Lord shall be established. The nation shall flow to it as people
seek to learn God’s ways. The law of the Lord will judge all nations fairly. It will be a time when
weapons are reforged into instruments for cultivating the land. Sounds like a wonderful time, doesn’t it?
But friends, that description offered by Reverend Kirk sounds quite different from the world in which
we live today, doesn’t it? The world in which we live today is a world where news of violence, crime,
war, terrorism, and other social upheavals continue to dominate the news cycle, as they’ve
always dominated the news cycle. After all, as we’re told in Ecclesiastes, there’s nothing new under
the sun. How then are we to understand and interpret this passage, and how could it possibly be
referring to this present new covenant messianic age? Well, these are some of the matters that we
will be wrestling with as we consider this passage from God’s word on this Lord’s Day morning.
Now, again, by way of reminder, let’s remember the setting and the context in which Isaiah gives
this prophecy. Isaiah received his call to be a prophet probably sometime around 740 BC,
and he was probably martyred by the wicked and brutal Manasseh, king of Judah, sometime around
680 BC. And so Isaiah’s prophetic ministry spanned many decades and numerous kings. He ministered
in Judah, the southern kingdom, during a period of time when God’s people were often unfaithful
and compromising, and in need of being challenged and called to renewed repentance for their sin.
His prophetic oracles often alternate between threats of judgment on the one hand,
and promises of grace and mercy on the other hand. And what we have in our passage for this
Lord’s Day morning is obviously a passage where there’s a note of hope. There’s a note of grace.
Chapter one was dominated with the theme of judgment.
Chapter two brings us into focus a promise of hope and mercy. And so as we turn our attention
to our passage for this morning, we first of all focus on the opening verses, verses
one through three. And let’s first of all consider the meaning and significance of
the latter days. The meaning and significance of the latter days.
Let me just read these verses again. The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem, it shall come to pass in the latter days, some versions say in the last days, that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it, and many people shall
come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the
law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Have you ever had a conversation with a fellow
Christian who’s asked the question, I wonder if we are in the last days or in the latter days?
That’s an interesting question, and it’s a question that I believe the Bible gives us some
very clear direction on. And it’s a matter that is brought up by Isaiah in this passage.
Let’s consider what he means by the last or the latter days. We start with verse one.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Chapter two begins much in
the same way as chapter one did, and it talks about the word, the word that Isaiah saw. Now
that’s an interesting way of expressing it, isn’t it? Usually words are something that we hear,
right? But Isaiah says the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
This language of Isaiah seeing a word, the reference to word,
refers to divine revelation. Again, the Holy Spirit through Isaiah is making it clear to
us as the reader that this is divine revelation. This is a direct message from God. Isaiah’s not
giving his own thoughts, his own opinions, his own ideas. Isaiah is conveying to us as a prophet of
the Lord, a spokesman for the Lord who has access to direct revelation from the Lord. He’s giving to
us direct revelation from the Lord. And this language of him seeing the word, this may indicate
that Isaiah received this perhaps by means of a vision. And yet, again, this language in verses
two through four is not just found here in Isaiah chapter two. Keep your finger in Isaiah two and
let’s go ahead a little bit in the Old Testament to the book of Micah.
Look with me if you would at Micah chapter four. Let me read the first five verses of Micah chapter
four and see as I read this, listen if this sounds familiar to you. Micah four verses one through
five. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills and
people shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may
walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the many peoples and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away,
and they shall bear their, beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither there shall they learn war
anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall
make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each
in the name of its God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
Does that sound familiar? Well, it ought to sound familiar because it’s almost verbatim,
almost word for word, the same as our passage for today in Isaiah chapter 2. And some scholars have
suggested that what Isaiah is conveying here is taken from Micah, or perhaps from a common
prophetic tradition that was used by both Isaiah and Micah. But whether this statement, whether
this passage that we’re reading of in Isaiah chapter 2 is original with Isaiah or not,
the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to use these words for his own purposes. Indeed, my friends,
no damage to divine inspiration is given if Isaiah happened to have borrowed this from Micah or
elsewhere. It is the word of the Lord one way or another. And it says this again in verse 2 of our
passage for today, it shall come to pass when in the latter days. Now this terminology of the
latter or the last days in general refers to a time in the future that is beyond the prophet’s
own horizon. It is a time in the distant future from Isaiah’s perspective at least. But in what
sense is he using this terminology of the latter days? What latter days is he referring to?
There’s been different understandings of this. For example, our dispensational friends view this as
describing conditions during a future millennial kingdom. When it is believed that Christ will
return and set up at his throne in an earthly rebuilt temple in the earthly Jerusalem.
Others seem to view this as a description of the eternal state. Because of the idyllic conditions
that are described in these verses, they say well this must be referring to the eternal state.
Still others view this as a description of the present new covenant messianic age. This present
age in which we live. And that is the view that I believe is the most correct view in view of
our passage and its context. I agree with Dr. E.J. Young’s comments on this passage
in his commentary on Isaiah. Dr. Young writes, the period which is intended by the phrase the last days
is the age of the Christian church which began its course with the first advent of Christ. It is true
that from the Old Testament alone so much is not apparent. But in the Old Testament the phrase does
signify the age or time of the messiah. The period of deliverance and salvation. Isaiah takes the
figures which were the property of the Old Testament economy and makes them the vehicles
of expression for the truths of salvation and blessing which were the characteristics of the
age of grace. In other words, Isaiah uses old covenant language to describe new covenant realities
that were coming down the road in the latter days. In other words, the age of the messiah.
And you may say well pastor, how would his original readers get that from what he is saying here?
Well again, this is where we need to compare scripture with scripture. Isaiah’s original
audience would not have fully understood the messianic implications of this passage,
but when we compare scripture with scripture we see that the last days are these present
days. This present messianic age. And the New Testament bears testimony to this. And just to
give you a few examples of that. Let’s go to Hebrews chapter one. I read this earlier in the
service, but Hebrews chapter one verses one and two, it says this. And remember, the author of
Hebrews wrote this in the first century to first century Christians. And he says this,
long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. He describes
an age referred to as long ago, past ages of redemptive history. But then notice verse two,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son. These last days.
When our fellow believers ask the question, are we in the last days or the latter days?
The correct biblical answer to that question is we’ve been in the last days or the latter days
ever since Jesus came to this earth two thousand years ago. Ever since the advent and the life,
the death, the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Ever since the pouring out of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That is what initiated the last days or the latter days,
according to Hebrews chapter one. These last days, again, he wrote this in the first century.
So these are the last or the latter days, the days of the Messiah, the age between the ages,
the age between the first coming of Christ and his future second coming. This is also confirmed,
and this is there’s many other passages or numerous other passages that we could go to,
but this is also confirmed just to give you one more passage in first John chapter two verse 18,
where the apostle John writes, children, it is not it will be, but it is the last hour.
And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore,
we know that it is the last hour. John refers not just to the last or latter days, but the last hour,
and he says we know that it is right now. It is the last hour. So we are in the last days,
the last hour of redemptive history. We are in this age between the ages, this period of time
between the first and second coming of Christ. And these are the times that Isaiah speaks to
in our passage for today. So what is the significance of these last days? Well,
let’s go through the text. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of
the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up
above the hills. Now, is this a prediction that the temple mount on which the temple had been built,
that somehow there will be a geological miracle and God will somehow cause this mountain to
be higher than Mount Everest, for example, when it says the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established as the highest of the mountains? No, he’s speaking here of spiritual exaltation.
See, in the ancient world, the gods of the heathen, the gods of the gentiles, were often
worshipped on mountains. The mountain of the house of the Lord obviously refers to the temple mount
in Jerusalem, the place where Solomon’s temple was, the place where God chose to put his name,
where he dwelt in a special way amongst his people. Remember, the temple of the Lord represented
God’s reign among his people. That’s what the Ark of the Covenant represented, the Lord’s throne,
and the temple also symbolized that God came to dwell among his people. So the temple represented
God’s saving covenantal presence and dwelling amongst his people, as well as his sovereign
reign over his people. But that temple of stone was never meant to be permanent. It pointed forward
to something more significant, or I should say someone more significant, namely, Jesus Christ,
the Word made flesh. As the Apostle John tells us in John chapter 1, the Word, the eternal divine
Word, the Logos, the Lord Jesus Christ, became flesh. He became incarnate and dwelt among us.
He pitched his tent. He made his dwelling in our midst. Jesus Christ is described in Scripture as
the living temple, and he ultimately fulfills this temple imagery here. So Isaiah here is using old
covenant language and terminology and concepts to describe new covenant realities that have come
with the coming of Christ and his church under the new covenant. And so it says, it shall come to pass
that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains.
In other words, it will be spiritually, not in terms of height, but spiritually exalted. That means
the gospel shall be exalted among the nations, and many shall flow into the kingdom of God through
the proclamation of the gospel. As it says again in verse 2, this mountain shall be lifted up above
the hills, and what will the result be? All the nations shall flow to it. Isaiah the prophet has
a universal perspective. The Holy Spirit inspired him to see beyond his own time when
God’s covenant mercies were for the most part limited to the people of Israel. He looks forward
to a time when the boundaries of God’s kingdom will go beyond the land of Israel, and the gospel
will touch the nations of humanity, even the Gentiles. And so it says, all the nations shall
flow to it, and many peoples shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob. Which translating that into new covenant terminology,
let us go to Jesus, and let us go to where Jesus dwells, his church. There he will teach us that
we may walk in his ways. For out of Zion, and Zion is a symbol, a picture of the temple,
and the temple mount, and ultimately again Zion is fulfilled in Christ. For out of Zion shall go
forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem from his people, from Christ and his
church. The word will go forth and touch the nations. Again this is Old Testament language
being used to picture new covenant realities. For the ingathering of the Gentiles into Christ’s
church and kingdom was only made possible by the advent of Christ, and by the missionary and
evangelistic labors of Christ’s true visible church. And by the way, brothers and sisters,
we are in part a fulfillment of this. For we come from different nations, different backgrounds,
and we come and we gather around the word, we gather as the church to hear his word,
and to learn how we may walk in his paths and according to his covenant instruction.
Again here we see a picture of Gentiles whose hearts have been regenerated and converted.
And what do they say? They say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. What is the
motivation? What is the desire being expressed in this language here? It is a teachable spirit,
a desire to learn the ways of the Lord and to follow the ways of the Lord. And so,
dear listener, we see here in this passage that the evidence of the new birth and conversion
is that which includes a teachable spirit, a spirit eager to learn and follow the ways of
the Lord. Dear listener, does this describe your current spiritual state? Do you in your heart
resonate with these statements here in verse three? Come let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk
in his paths. Let us learn from him that we may obey him and follow him.
One of the things that the spirit does when he converts us is he gives us a teachable heart,
a heart that longs to know and understand the gospel. I remember before my conversion
as a high schooler, I remember that I had an intellectual interest in the Bible before I
came to faith and I used to occasionally read my Bible. But when God in sovereign mercy
brought me to faith in Christ, something changed. All of a sudden, this book became much more
interesting. I wanted to learn. I wanted to know more about this God who had sent his son to die
for my sins. I wanted to learn more about this God who had had mercy upon me, a wretched sinner.
I wanted to learn his gospel more, to understand its ins and its outs.
I’m not saying that we as believers are always zealous and teachable as we ought to be,
but if you’ve been born again by the Holy Spirit, there is at some level and to some degree in your
heart a desire to know the way of the Lord, to learn from him that you may walk with him out of
gratitude for his amazing gift of salvation given to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is your heart,
dear listener, truly eager, truly teachable? Do you hunger to know God’s word? Do you hunger to walk
in his ways? If not, pray that the Lord would change your heart, would grant you the grace of
his spirit, and come to Jesus. Call upon him for salvation, for he died for sinners just like me
and like you, and he rose from the dead so that whoever believes in him, whoever trusts in him,
may not perish but have life everlasting. And so we see the meaning and significance of the
latter days. We are in the latter days, and these are the days when the gospel goes out to the
nations, and the nations are being brought in through the proclamation of the gospel.
We notice next a description here in verse four of the peace of the messianic age. This is the
second point in your sermon outline. Consider next the peace of the messianic age. It says in verse
four, he shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Here the latter days age ushered in by
the messiah is idealized as a time of universal peace among the nations. It’s pictured as a time
of international peace, a time when weapons of war and violence described here as swords and spears
are to be refashioned into peaceful domestic instruments, plowshares and pruning hooks.
In other words, friends, the messianic age is depicted as a time when implements of destruction
are transformed into implements of production. It is precisely here that many Christians have
trouble believing that this passage is a description of this present age. After all,
there are still many wars and rumors of wars throughout the world today, are there not?
Some folks, such as post-millennialists, believe that this verse refers to a future golden age of
the church, a time before the return of Christ when the nations of the world will be converted
on the whole and Christianized through the church’s missionary labors and through a great
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And there’s an attractiveness to that view, isn’t there?
I mean, what sane Christian wouldn’t want, wouldn’t want the vast majority of the world to be
converted to Christ? Who would not want that? Who would not want the nations on the whole
to hear the gospel and be convicted of their sins and come to the Lord in faith and repentance?
Who would not want that? This is one possible way to understand this passage, but I think Dr.
Young offers a wiser, more biblically sound, realistic perspective when he writes,
even at the present day, insofar as men believe the gospel and seek to practice it in their lives,
this prophecy finds fulfillment. At the same time, it must be remembered that sin is still present,
and it will not be until the complete removal of sin at the second advent of the Lord that this
prophecy will be realized in its completeness. So again, we have much reason to be positive and
hopeful. We believe in the power of the gospel to bring transformation into the lives of sinners and
to bring them into a right relationship with God. The gospel is indeed the power of God unto
salvation for everyone who believes. And yet even we who by grace have believed the gospel,
we still struggle with sin. And even as we seek to know the Lord and grow in the Lord,
we still have that battle between the flesh and the spirit going on within us. So again,
it would seem that Isaiah here is using this idealistic, almost picturesque language of
international peace to point to a deeper spiritual reality. He is pointing to the reality that in the
new covenant age, in the age of the Messiah, people from all the nations, not just Jews
who believe in Jesus, but even Gentiles will come to believe in Jesus and become part of the one
covenant people of God. Now, some have accused this teaching as being replacement theology.
Oh, well, you reformed folks are saying that Israel has been replaced by the church.
And friends, that’s not a correct characterization. It’s not replacement theology.
It’s expansion theology. It’s fulfillment theology. Now the church, God’s covenant people,
is not limited to a theocratic nation known as Israel or, you know, Israel was again divided into
the northern and southern kingdom and so forth. So even under the old covenant, it wasn’t just
technically one nation, but still the gospel is not just limited to the Jews and to Gentiles who
happen to convert to the God of Israel and become Jews themselves. Now the gospel is for all the
nations. The word goes out to all the nations. Now all people who believe in Jesus as Messiah
become part of the one true covenant people of God, the Israel of God. And so friends, this
happens because Jesus has come. And this is what this passage is pointing to. The union of Jew
and Gentile who believe in the Messiah are brought together in one body into the one people of God.
By his incarnation and saving work, Jesus Christ our Lord has already, at least in principle,
secured this spiritual peace. And that’s what this passage, using the language of international
peace, is pointing to. And we see this fulfilled, for example, as the apostle Paul comments in
Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 19. Let me invite you to turn there briefly to Ephesians
chapter 2 verses 14 through 19. Paul writes, and he’s writing in this epistle to mostly Gentile
Christians, and he talks about how the Lord has brought together both Jew and Gentile into one
body. He says, for he, that’s Christ, he himself is our peace, our meaning us Jewish Christians and
Gentile Christians. He himself is our peace who has made us both one. There’s not two peoples of God,
the earthly people of God, the Jews, and the spiritual people, the church. No, there’s one
people of God. There’s the one Israel of God, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which consists of
both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one
and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. That dividing wall that the
old covenant set up between Jew and Gentile through the ceremonial and the ritual laws,
that dividing wall has been broken down. How? Verse 15, by abolishing the law of commandments
expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making
peace. This is the peace of the new covenant era that Isaiah is pointing to and might reconcile
us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and
preached peace to you who were far off, that would be the Gentiles, and to those who were near,
that would be the Jews. For through him, through Christ, we both have access in one spirit to the
Father. So then you, you Gentiles, are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens
with the saints and members of the household of God. And so friends, as it says in verse four of
our passage, he shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. In principle, this is
fulfilled in this present age in the church as people from every tribe, tongue, language,
and nation are brought into the church through the preaching of the gospel. Friends, our Lord Jesus,
the Prince of Peace, said in Matthew five, nine, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called sons of God. By the grace of God, let us be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, as we are exhorted to do in Ephesians four, verse three. But as we close our
time in our passage for today in verse five, we notice in conclusion the moral imperative of these
latter-day promises, the moral imperative of these latter-day promises. We’ve considered the
meaning and significance of the latter days. We’ve considered the peace that Christ has brought into
these latter days, bringing Jew and Gentile together into one body. But finally, consider the
moral imperative of these latter days, these latter-day promises. As Isaiah writes in verse
five, O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh, the light of the Lord, Yahweh,
Israel’s faithful covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. I think the point that Isaiah is making here
in this language is that since the Gentile nations will in the latter days seek Yahweh and his word,
should not the professed covenant people of God among Isaiah’s contemporaries, described here as
the house of Jacob, should they not walk in the sense of live in faith and obedience to God’s ways?
Since even the Gentiles will come to walk in the ways of the Lord, should not you, my contemporaries,
walk in the light of the Lord, you know, in faith and obedience to the Lord? And friends, should not
we who are God’s professed covenant people today in this new covenant messianic era,
should we not seek to walk the talk and live out the implications of the truth that we learn
from God’s holy word? What is the goal of learning the ways of the Lord? Well, dear ones, according
to our passage, the goal of learning the word of God is so that we may walk in his paths, as we are
told in verse three. Let us go to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways. Why?
That we may walk in his paths. The goal of learning sound doctrine is not merely stuffing our heads
full of Bible knowledge and theological truth, as important as that is. We in the OPC value the
importance of Bible knowledge, doctrinal knowledge, and so forth. But the goal of doctrinal instruction
is not just increasing our knowledge level. The Bible says knowledge puffs up. Knowledge is a good
thing, but knowledge not applied can lead to pride. The goal of doctrinal instruction is discipleship.
The end goal of instruction in the ways of the Lord is obedient living unto the Lord. Learning
Bible truth without living out what you learn will make you a self-righteous Pharisee. Beloved,
let us make learning sound doctrine a top priority in our lives and in the church, but let us also
make sure that we are learning so that we might live out the implications of what we learn in faith
and obedience, so that we may be doers of the word and not hearers only who deceive ourselves.
May God, in his grace, grant that it may be so. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you, Lord God, for your amazing grace and mercy to us in Christ. We thank you that we have
the privilege to live in the Messianic New Covenant era of this present age. We thank you that you have
sent your Son Jesus to be Savior and Messiah and that he has already come and has died for our
sins and risen again, that we might receive the gift of eternal life through faith in him alone.
Lord, as we await his second coming, we pray that we might be found faithful. We pray that you would
grant us the grace not only to believe the gospel, but also to show our gratitude for your amazing
gift of salvation by seeking to walk in the light of the Lord. We ask all these things, Heavenly
Father, in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. Let’s close our time together today
by rising and we’ll sing as our closing hymn, number 403, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, 403.