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[0:00] Isaiah chapter 2. I'm going to start at the beginning of the chapter and I'm going to finish at the end. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

[0:16] 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 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.

[0:46] For out of Zion shall go 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.

[1:05] Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

[1:17] For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

[1:31] Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

[1:41] Their land is filled with idols. They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and each one is brought low.

[1:57] Do not forgive them. Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty. The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

[2:18] For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and it shall be brought low, against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, and against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the lofty mountains and against all the uplifted hills, against every high tower, and against every fortified wall, against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.

[2:47] And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away, and people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

[3:15] In that day, mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

[3:39] Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he? You can find the second reading on page 686.

[3:56] And it's chapter 3 of Isaiah, going from verse 1, chapter 3, to chapter 4, verse 6. For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread and all support of water, the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician, and the expert in charms.

[4:34] And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them, and the people will oppress one another, everyone his fellow and everyone his neighbor.

[4:46] The youth will be insolent to the elder and the despised to the honorable. For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, You have a cloak, you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruin shall be under your rule.

[5:03] In that day he will speak out, saying, I will not be a healer. In my house there is neither bread nor cloak. You shall not make me leader of the people.

[5:15] For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. For the look on their faces bears witness against them.

[5:30] They proclaim their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to them, for they have brought evil on themselves. Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

[5:46] Woe to the wicked. It shall be ill with them, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. My people, infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them.

[6:00] O my people, your guides beslead you, and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. The Lord has taken his place to contend. He stands to judge peoples.

[6:13] The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people. It is you who have devoured the vineyard. The spoil of the poor is in your houses.

[6:23] What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor, declares the Lord God of hosts? The Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

[6:51] In that day, the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets, and their scarves, the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets, the signet rings, and nose rings, the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags, the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

[7:18] Instead of perfume, there will be rottenness, and instead of a belt, a rope, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth, and branding instead of beauty.

[7:32] Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle, and her gate shall lament and mourn empty, she shall sit on the ground. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothes.

[7:52] Only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful, and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride, and honor of the survivors of Israel.

[8:08] And he who is left in Zion, and remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy. Everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst, by a spirit of judgment, and by a spirit of burning.

[8:27] Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, and smoke, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.

[8:40] For over all the glory there will be a canopy, there will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from this storm and rain.

[8:51] Amen. Thanks, Clive. Well, as we look at God's word together, let's pray. Father, we pray that as we look at your word, we wouldn't just listen to what it says, but we would also put it into practice in our lives.

[9:08] Amen. Well, just over a month ago, the British people voted to leave the European Union. And throughout the Leave campaign and the Remain campaign, there was one question which really mattered.

[9:23] And it wasn't actually the question of whether you want to be part of the EU or not. It was really a question about who to trust. Because both sides were making claims.

[9:34] Claims about the economy, claims about parliamentary sovereignty, claims about our relationship with Europe. Both sides were accused of exaggerating and distorting and fabricating lies in order to win the public's trust.

[9:47] And of course, after the referendum, the question of who to trust couldn't be more important. There's been a crisis of leadership ever since. Who should we trust to lead the country now?

[9:59] The polling organisation Ipsos Mori did a survey of how trusted various professions were earlier in the year. And the least trusted profession was, you guessed it, politicians.

[10:11] Now, fortunately for me, the most trusted were still doctors. But the question of who to trust, and particularly who to trust in a crisis, couldn't be more important.

[10:23] Now, last week, we started a series in Isaiah, in the Old Testament. And this week, we're going to be looking at the next section of chapters 2 to 4. And the question Isaiah asks his readers, and the question he asks us, is will you trust in man, or will you trust in God?

[10:42] Your future is at stake, far more important than the future of the European Union. Whether you fundamentally trust in man, or in God, will determine your eternal future.

[10:54] Now, if you weren't here last week, it's important to say that Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet. And he was speaking to God's people in the southern kingdom of Judah, before they were invaded, and taken off into exile by the Babylonians.

[11:08] And in the book of Isaiah, chapter 1 to 39, are all set before the Babylonian exile, which doesn't happen until 586 BC. At the time that Isaiah was speaking, there was another threat from the north, the Assyrians.

[11:24] They eventually invaded the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 8. And so with the Assyrians' threat, Isaiah asked the southern kingdom of Judah, will you trust in man, or in God, to save you?

[11:43] And perhaps you're sitting here thinking, well, this was over 2,700 years ago. Interesting, perhaps, for a history lesson. But what's it got to do with me in 2016 AD?

[11:55] Well, God's word through Isaiah to his people then is also a word to us today. Because Isaiah doesn't just look to the immediate future of the people of his time.

[12:06] He looks to the even longer-term future, further forward even than 2016. And the title of this series of talks is called A Tale of Two Futures.

[12:17] And it's based around two cities. If you have the book of Isaiah open, perhaps turn to chapter 1 and verse 21, which we saw last week.

[12:30] Isaiah chapter 1, verse 21, he says, how the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

[12:43] The faithful city is Jerusalem, the place where God dwelt with his people in the Old Testament. But it had become a faithless city. God's people had turned their backs on him.

[12:54] But God promises to restore his people. And in the second half of chapter 1, verse 26, he says, have a look down with me, verse 26, afterwards, you should be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

[13:07] So two cities, the faithless city and the faithful city, the city of murderers and the city of righteousness. And the whole book of Isaiah is all about how the faithless city will become the faithful city, how God will turn it into the faithful city.

[13:25] But it's not about the physical city of Jerusalem anymore. The New Testament picks up on the image of the city of Jerusalem. When John writes in Revelation chapter 21, I saw a new heavens and a new earth, the first earth and the first, the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea.

[13:45] And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem. In other words, God's not just going to make a new city. He's going to make a new world, a new heavens and a new earth.

[13:58] And so the New Jerusalem is a picture of God's people who have been turned from the faithless city to the faithful city. And Isaiah says to us, whether you fundamentally trust in God or in man, it will determine your eternal future.

[14:14] So turn back to Isaiah chapter 2 to 4. And you'll see it's quite a long section. We've read it in two sections. But it's actually a unit. So in the middle of Isaiah, chapter 2 verse 6, all the way to chapter 4 verse 1, that is the faithless city and the judgment that God has in store for those who exalt themselves.

[14:39] And then either side of this, in chapter 2 verse 1 to 5, and chapter 4 verse 2 to 6, are the promises of the faithful city, the new world that God would make through Jesus.

[14:52] So the first thing I want us to see is that God is making a new world through Christ. If you've got one of the service sheets, it's on the back for you. And that's from chapter 2 verse 1 to 5, and chapter 4 verse 2 to 6.

[15:07] So have a look again at chapter 2 verse 2. 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.

[15:22] So in the future still to come, God's kingdom will be supreme, higher than all the kingdoms of the earth. Now I doubt anyone in this room has been up Mount Everest.

[15:34] A few people have. But 8,848 metres. It's the highest mountain on earth. But in verse 2, God says that there's a mountain even higher. It's the mountain of the Lord.

[15:45] He says all nations will flow to it, almost as if water is kind of flowing uphill to this mountain. And people will say to each other, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob in verse 3, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

[16:04] All people will acknowledge that there is one God of all nations. And in the New Testament, Jesus alludes to this in John chapter 12 verse 32.

[16:15] He says, when I, when I'm lifted up, I'll draw all people to me. God's kingdom is supreme and all people will be drawn to it.

[16:26] But have a look at Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4. What sort of a kingdom is it like? He says that God will judge between the nations and will decide disputes for many peoples.

[16:38] They'll beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. See, Isaiah says that there will be universal disarmament.

[16:50] Everyone will put their weapons down. There'll be universal peace and no more war. I don't know if you can remember back to the beginning of this month, the 1st of July, but there were commemorations for the Battle of Assam, which began on 1st of July, 1916.

[17:07] And it's one of the bloodiest battles ever fought by the British Army in which over a million people were either wounded or killed. World War I was said, wasn't it, to be the war to end all wars.

[17:19] But sadly, as we know, it was only the beginning. And so many people have dreamt, haven't they, of world peace. Martin Luther King and his famous I Have a Dream speech to Barack Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

[17:35] And yet even in the past few weeks, in the past month, there are numerous examples, aren't there, of ongoing gun crime and the threat of international terrorism. Now some people might see Isaiah's prophecy here about the future as partly fulfilled in the church, as Christ draws people from every nation together.

[17:55] But world peace will never happen until God makes a new creation, a new world and a new humanity, until the faithless city is made the faithful city. Turn on to chapter 4, verse 2 of Isaiah, and the second part of the new world that God will make.

[18:14] In chapter 4, verse 2, he talks about the branch of the Lord. Because the question is, well, how will God do this? How can he make a world with no more war?

[18:26] And Isaiah uses the image of the branch of the Lord to talk about Christ, who will purify his people. And although he has unimpressive beginnings, the branch will grow and become beautiful and glorious, as we'll see later in Isaiah chapter 11.

[18:41] In verse 3 of chapter 4, he says that the remnant in Jerusalem will be called holy, purified and made perfect. When, verse 4, their bloodstains will be washed away, which is only possible by Christ's death on the cross.

[18:59] We saw this a bit last week in chapter 1, verse 18, which we've already alluded to, where Isaiah says that your skins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. They're red like blood and like crimson, they'll become like wool.

[19:16] Now, some of you may know that about a year ago, Claudia and I moved into a new house, a new flat, and at the same time, we bought a completely new cream carpet for our living room, which, with hindsight, was perhaps a bit of a mistake, because it wasn't long before there was a huge coffee stain in the very middle of the carpet from an entire mug of coffee, which, I'm happy to say, wasn't actually from either of us.

[19:39] But, of course, we tried to clean it. We even got a professional carpet cleaner to come in with a big machine. But it's really, really difficult to make a stain go away completely. And if you look closely, you can still see it.

[19:54] And people think today, don't they, that if we just cleaned up our act, if we perhaps put more money into education or democratic governments or better ways of solving disputes, that world peace, well, it would be achievable.

[20:05] But the stains of our rebellion against God and the God who made us run deep, we can't just wash them away. The only way that God can deal with them is in chapter 4, verse 4, where he says, a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.

[20:23] The judgment of God, which fell on Jesus at the cross. It's him, not us, who purify his people. And in chapter 4, verse 5, Isaiah goes on to say that God will make his people secure forever.

[20:40] The Lord will create over the whole assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Using the language of the book of Exodus, where God was with his people, a cloud by day and fire by night.

[20:56] And verse 6, he'll give them a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain. Isn't this what we long for? In a world of uncertainty, God gives us certainty, a certain future.

[21:11] In a world where people let us down, God gives us his promises that he'll be with us. In a world where war tears apart, God says that he'll give us peace forever. In a world where the stains of sin don't easily fade, God promises to purify us in Christ.

[21:27] In a world of storms, God is our refuge. So it was always God's plan to make a new world through Christ. But in order to do that, he must judge rebellion, both in Isaiah's day and in our day.

[21:42] And on the day of judgment, it will be obvious who we should have trusted. And so the second thing I want us to see from this passage is that God will be exalted and human pride humbled.

[21:54] That's from verses, chapter 2, verse 6, all the way through to chapter 4, verse 1. God will be exalted and human pride humbled. See, Isaiah explains why the faithless city of Jerusalem is a faithless city.

[22:11] And the heart of it is in chapter 2, verse 8. Have a look down with me what he says about Jerusalem. Chapter 2, verse 8, their land is filled with idols. They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

[22:26] Rather than trusting in God and the new world that he would make, they trusted in themselves and what their hands could make. Have a look at verse 6 of chapter 2.

[22:37] They're full of pagan religion, fortune tellers like the Philistines. Verse 7, their land is filled with silver and gold. There's no end to their treasures. Their land is filled with horses and there's no end to their chariots.

[22:50] So it's not material wealth per se that's the problem. It's the way that they trusted in it rather than in God. Now you all know that the city of London has no end of money, it seems.

[23:04] No end of bank accounts, no end of stocks and shares. But what happened in the minutes and hours around the referendum result? Complete panic. The pound was suddenly not worth as much anymore.

[23:17] The security of wealth was threatened. And it's because people were looking to wealth for their ultimate security rather than God that they felt so afraid. And in a way that's infinitely worse, when God judges the world on the final day, when Christ returns, the absurdity of trusting in idols will be obvious to everyone.

[23:39] Have a look at chapter 2, verse 9. Isaiah says that man is humbled and each one is brought low. People will want to hide in the rocks and in the dust, verse 10, before the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty, because there's only one person who will be exalted.

[23:59] And have a look at verse 11, which is repeated in verse 17. The haughty looks of man shall be brought low and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled. And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

[24:15] I don't know how many of you remember the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm a bit of a fan. And in the Lord of the Rings, Lord Saruman tries to join with evil Lord Sauron in the joining of the two towers.

[24:27] And Gandalf the wizard says to him, he knows how foolish it is. And he says to Saruman, there is only one Lord of the Rings. Only one who can bend it to his will.

[24:39] And he does not share power. Now the God of the Bible couldn't be further from the evil Lord Sauron in his character. But there is only one Lord God.

[24:51] Only one who will be exalted on that final day. And he does not share power. Some people think that if God does come to judge the world, well, somehow they'll make a deal with him.

[25:03] That they'll stand alongside him and be exalted with him. But verse 11 is repeated in verse 17. The pride of men shall be brought low and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

[25:19] I take it all of us are proud. All of us want to exalt ourselves, whether it's in our careers or our families, with friends or colleagues at work, or even here at church. But on that day, we'll all be brought low.

[25:33] And God's opposed to every exalted thing. Have a look at verse 12 to 16 of chapter 2. I don't know if you noticed how many times it repeats the word against. Against all that's proud and lofty.

[25:46] Against all that's lifted up. He repeats the word against ten times to emphasize that God will not give his glory to anything else. And in verse 18, Isaiah tells us that the idols shall utterly pass away because verse 20 they'll be seen to be worthless.

[26:05] In that day, mankind will cast away their idols of silver and gold. In fact, apart from the blood of Christ, everything will be seen to be worthless on that day.

[26:19] So I wonder what you value. Perhaps you've got an iPhone. Well, on the day of Christ, you'll throw it away because it won't be able to save you. Have you got a car?

[26:30] You'll throw that away too. A house? That can't save you on the day of Christ either. Money in the bank? Academic qualifications? You'll throw them all away. Your appearance, your reputation, your career, anything you're trusting in will be seen to be useless on the day of Christ.

[26:45] It's not that they're wronging themselves, but they can't save you. Back in June, my sister-in-law was going on holiday to Cuba, and she got to Heathrow Airport without her passport, which she'd left back in Birmingham.

[27:00] Unfortunately, she managed to get a courier down to the airport, but nothing else would do. She could have tried to give the airport her money, or her sun cream, or her books, her clothes, anything, but it wouldn't have been enough.

[27:15] She needed one thing, and one thing only, her passport. Nothing else to save her from being refused her flight. anything else that she trusted in would be useless.

[27:28] And in the same way, only Jesus' death on the cross can save us on the day of God's judgment. Otherwise, we'll be like people in verse 21 of chapter 2, like insects burrowing into rocks or caves to escape the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty.

[27:48] Now, if chapter 2 is about the final judgment, the final day of the Lord, when God makes a new world. Chapter 3 focuses on the specific way that Isaiah was applying it to his readers.

[27:59] Now, there's quite a lot in it, and we're not going to look at it all, but let's briefly look at it to get a sense of Isaiah's day. Have a look at chapter 3, verse 1. The Lord of hosts is taking away all support and supply, all support of bread and all support of water.

[28:19] And this is fulfilled in the Babylonians who come and exile God's people in 586 BC. And the reason, again, is in chapter 3, verse 8. Have a look at chapter 3, verse 8.

[28:30] What is it that they've done that's so bad? Their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. See, the Lord alone should have been exalted, but the people of Judah wanted to exalt themselves.

[28:49] So God says he's not just going to take away support and supply, bread and water, but verse 2, soldiers, prophets and elders. Verse 3, captains. Verse 4, they're going to be ruled by boys and infants.

[29:00] The very fabric of society is going to be torn apart. In verse 14 of chapter 3, God says he'll enter into judgment with the elders and the princes because they've devoured the vineyard.

[29:11] Imagery for God's people. And in verse 16, he starts talking about the daughters of Zion. He says that they're haughty. The same word he used in chapter 2, verse 11 and chapter 2, verse 17.

[29:24] The haughtiness of man which would be humbled. In other words, they too are proud and they wear things deliberately to attract attention. Have a look in verse 18.

[29:35] I don't know if you saw everything that they wear, but anklets, headbands, crescents, pendants, bracelets, scarves, headdresses, amulets, sashes, perfume, amulets, signet rings, nose rings, robes, mantles, cloaks, handbags, mirrors, garments, turbans, and veils.

[29:51] Now, of course, there's nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves, but they're all representative of their rebellion against God of wrongly exalting themselves. And so instead, God says he will take away those things and give them over to the Babylonian exile, giving them garments of mourning.

[30:09] In verse 24, rottenness, baldness, and sackcloth. And the reason Isaiah warns the southern kingdom of Judah about this is because he wants them to turn back to God.

[30:23] But eventually, the Babylonians invade in 586 BC as God's judgment on Jerusalem, the faithless city. So God promised to judge them, and he did.

[30:36] I don't know if any of you have been to the British Museum, but you can see in the British Museum how terrible and fierce the Babylonian Empire was. And so if the people of Isaiah's day thought that, you know, God wasn't serious, they couldn't have been more wrong.

[30:53] Now perhaps you're sitting here and you're thinking, well, God's not serious. Surely he's not going to make a new world, and he's not going to judge the current one. Well, if you're thinking that, you couldn't be more wrong.

[31:05] God judged his people in the exile as he said he would, and he will one day judge our world as he said he will. God will be exalted and man will be humbled, and the only safe place is to trust in Christ.

[31:21] And so that's the third thing I wanted to see from this passage, is to stop trusting in man, instead trust in Christ. And that's from chapter 2, verse 22, and chapter 2, verse 5.

[31:35] I don't know if you noticed, there were two things that Isaiah says to his readers to do. And chapter 2, verse 22, he says, stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

[31:48] And secondly, back in chapter 2, verse 5, he says, a house of Jacob come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Stop trusting in man and walk in the light of the Lord.

[32:00] Now, when he says that man has breath in his nostrils, it's to say that he's entirely dependent on God, needy and weak. I'm sure many of you will remember Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to go to the International Space Station.

[32:17] And of course, he recently returned, didn't he, on the 18th of June after being in space for six months. And he was completely dependent upon the space station, not just for food and water, but for exactly the right body temperature, the right atmospheric pressure, the right exercise, the right mental stimulation, and all kinds of other things that had to be exactly right.

[32:38] The parameters conducive to life on earth have to be absolutely perfect. I guess, as life on our planet goes, man is one of the most dependent beings.

[32:49] And Isaiah says to him, of what account is he? Not that he's of no account at all, but rather he can't save. He needs saving himself. He's no account as an ultimate object of trust.

[33:03] And there are all kinds of man-made things that we put our trust in. Our careers, our houses, our family, our health, our children, our pensions, but they're also fragile and ultimately can't save us in the face of death.

[33:20] And so Isaiah says, not just that we shouldn't trust in them, he says that they're not worthy of our trust. If we put all of our hope in man-made idols, they will let us down. Now in the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf the wizard and Elrond the elf, they're arguing about, you know, where should they put their trust?

[33:39] Where should they place their hope? And Gandalf says to Elrond, it's in men, it's in men that we should place our hope. Men, Elrond says, men are weak.

[33:51] It was because of men that the ring survives. I was there the day the strength of men failed. Gandalf says to Elrond, there is one who could unite them.

[34:03] There is one who could reclaim the throne of Gondor. And of course, Elrond is right. Men are weak. But there is one man who will unite all people.

[34:16] One man to whom all the nations of the earth will flow. One man who reclaimed the throne of David, God's Messiah, the branch of the Lord. And that man is Christ.

[34:28] In John 8, 12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And Isaiah urges us, doesn't he, in chapter 2, verse 5, to walk in the light of the Lord, in the light of the new creation that God will make, a world of perfect peace and justice.

[34:48] And the way that will happen is through Christ. He is the light of the Lord. And I guess for many of us, the problem is that we want to kind of hedge our bets, don't we?

[35:00] We want a foot in this world and a foot in the world to come. We want to trust in Christ, but maybe we also want to trust in our mortgage repayments or our pension or career. We want to exalt God, but we want to exalt ourselves as well.

[35:13] We believe that God is making a new world, but just in case he's not, we've still got our health insurance. And Isaiah warns us to stop trusting in man because he sees these things as they will be when Jesus comes to judge.

[35:29] I wonder what difference it would make to you today if you didn't believe that God was making a new world through Christ. What difference would it make? And if it would make no difference at all, it probably means that you're trusting in the man-made idols of this world that can't save.

[35:46] It means you're exalting yourself rather than looking forward to the day when God alone will be exalted. Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England from until his death in 1658, for all his faults, knew that man must not exalt himself.

[36:05] He refused to take the crown of England and around his tomb are inscribed the words, Christ, not man, is king. Only by taking ourselves off the throne of our lives and stopping and trusting in man to save us can we really trust in Christ to get us through life and get us through death to the new world that he's making.

[36:27] Let's pray together. Father, thank you for making the new world through Christ that you have promised. And we pray that we would live in the light of it, not trusting in ourselves or in this world to save us, but trusting in Christ and all that he is.

[36:44] And we pray that through the church we would see many people being drawn to Jesus. And we do pray for peace throughout our world. But we long for the day when you alone will be exalted and as a result there will be no more war.

[37:00]  Amen.