Isaiah 51
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Good Evening again! We’ll try this one more time. We’ve started in Isaiah 51 and we’re going
to continue there. We’ll back up and read to where we stopped. I think we only got through the
first four verses of this chapter.
So far, what we’ve learned here is really a confirmation of the Gospel that we’ve been sharing
and preaching. And that is that you can’t look at yourself to determine what God thinks about
you and you can’t look at yourself to determine who you are or what you are. There is a much
higher identity for every human being.
As you know, all of us who have survived Evangelical Christianity have gone through the stages
of feeling that we were the only ones who were going to make it because of the stipulation of
belief.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve begun to break through that mind set of an individual belief
in a personal Savior completing a personal redemption for individuals. There is nothing to
validate that through the Psalms or the prophets or the law. It is rather total conclusive or total
exclusive.
As we’ve studied under Paul’s teaching, you were either under the first Adam; everyone was
under the first Adam. It made no difference whether you were a Jew or a Gentile, there was an
overriding condition that was produced by one individual and that was the first Adam. Then of
course, we’re introduced by Paul, to the second Adam who gives us the incredible revelation of
the righteousness, the imputed righteousness that is given to you. It is not righteousness that is
believed for; it has nothing to do with you including your belief system. But rather it is
righteousness that is imputed to you. I realize that is a far cry away from Evangelical
Christianity, but one thing that we want to reaffirm and everything that we do now, this Gospel
that we preach now is open to such accusation. We want to reaffirm absolutely that the power of
this Gospel is that Jesus Christ is God. He is the Son of God. He came to this earth to die for the
sin of the world and to redeem the world. His death, burial and resurrection on the cross,
accomplished that incredible feat.
Really, the only difference between the Gospel that we share and the Gospel that Evangelical
Christianity shares is that we preach that Jesus accomplished what he came to do. Evangelical
Christianity preaches that someone has to do something to validate Jesus before he has
accomplished what He came to do.
Our belief system can be a wonderful benefit to us in this life. It can be a great source of peace
and a great source of knowing and understanding. It is not by any means a way of acquiring or
accessing the righteousness of God nor the redemption of God, which has already been given to
us. It simply brings us to an awareness. That’s what our belief is on all levels. It doesn’t make
any difference what you’re talking about, belief never produces a fact. A fact produces a belief.
And the fact is that everyone who has become a believer was redeemed long before they ever
believed. Therefore, we conclude also that everyone is redeemed who has never believed. It
places everyone in the human race on the very same level which is one of the things we are
desperate for; finding a common denominator to make this whole thing called humanity work
better than what it has.
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While I’m very grateful to Evangelical Christianity for introducing me to Christ, I do have to say
that it has come time for me, at least in my heart, to point out the fault of Evangelical
Christianity in dividing the world rather than helping it to become a better place to live.
Again, Isaiah, the prophets, The Old Testament, the old covenant, that we were given to bring a
revelation of this new covenant and what was to happen, is filled with types and shadows of
absolutes. This does not have anything to do with man’s will. Man’s will is not a part of this
covenant that we have with God. The only part that man’s will has to do with it is when God
became man, and man’s will was completed in the one man; Jesus Christ. But spread that out
and say that it is then accomplished by each and every individual will of each and every
individual person, you might as well say then that we have to take our part in the crucifixion of
Jesus, and do what he did somehow.
Evangelical Christianity gets over into those areas where people become intercessors. They
become many things which were strictly and only titles for Jesus Christ. We are not intercessors.
We are not redeemers. We are not saviors. Jesus didn’t die to make us like him. He died so we
could be like us. That is a wonderful freedom to have. You have not met anyone who is like
Jesus. Jesus has not called you to do what He did. You cannot redeem this world. You cannot
die for sin. You cannot remove sin. You cannot take the sin of the whole world upon yourself.
We discussed the little bracelets that many evangelicals wear saying ‘What Would Jesus Do’. I
think they need to find out what Jesus did rather than trying to figure out what would he do.
Because what He would do, He did. He would take the sin of the whole world and He would
take the place of the entire human race, redeem us all and impute to us the gift of righteousness
and holiness which is an absolute fact that is declared throughout the Bible.
This chapter that we’re going through in the Book of Isaiah also gives us a great insight into that.
Again we’re going to read through the first four verses. I promise not to take an hour and a half
to do that tonight but we will read through them and then go on from there.
Isaiah 51:1 Hearken to me ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord.
What do we have to do if you are a follower after righteousness or your intent is to seek the
Lord?
Isaiah 51: 1 Look unto the rock which ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whenced ye are
digged.
In fact, I think we had some discussion about this last night after the tape went off about
‘Where is the hole from where we were digged from’. The fact was brought up that when Jesus
went to the grave and then came out of that grave, all of us came out of that grave. I thought that
was good insight. We all came from this rock and the rock is Christ. We’ve all been hewn from
that and where is the pit we’ve all come from that we’ve all been digged; we’ve all been raised
from? We’ve all been raised from the deadness of sin. We’ve all come from that very same
position.
The other thing you’ve got to do if you’re going to be a follower after righteousness—Lets hold
that thought. The one thing I want you to notice is the great lack of Evangelical Christian
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instruction about following righteousness and seeking the Lord. So far, Isaiah has made it fairly
simple, hasn’t he? He hasn’t said that if you’re going to follow righteousness, don’t do this and
don’t do that and don’t’ do this but do this and if you’re going to seek the Lord you’ve got to do
this and gotta do that. He said there are only two things you can do. If you’re going to follow
after righteousness, you’ve got to look to the rock from which ye were hewn and if you’re going
to seek the Lord, you’ve got to look at the pit that we all came out of. We all came out of the
same grave. We’re all resurrected into the same likeness of the same Christ.
Isaiah 51: 2 He (Isaiah) said, “Look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bare you
for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.”
This is another indication that the promise and the calling of God is distributed to all of us
because of the call of God on one man. And here of course, he’s bringing in the subject of
Abraham which is well taught by Paul in The New Testament about him being the
‘father of faith.’
We were talking today about some of these things and it became clearer. You know! It’s
amazing. If you can get together and talk about some of these things that at one point it might
not sound that clear but if you just sit down and talk about it, it’s like “Wow! That’s amazing”.
You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to begin to see that some of these things are very powerful
insights. But here he’s talking about just the one person, just the one. He has blessed the one. If
you’re going to follow after righteousness, if you’re going to seek the Lord, you’ve got to know
that this all comes through just one. And that one as we know it of course then is translated to us
as Jesus.
One of the things that we brought up when we were talking today is the verse that we were
obsessed with in The Word of Faith movement and that is Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Those of you that were taught any degree of faith, are familiar with that verse. All right? All
right! You were taught that your faith is the substance of everything you hope for in your life
and it is the evidence of the things that you can’t yet see. But that is totally out of context. First
off, you have to read Chapter 10 of Hebrews. It is all a comparison between the old and the new
covenants, law and grace, being under the law; the old sacrifices and the sacrifice of Christ. The
whole 10th chapter is fantastic. He’s not talking about now in your life. He’s talking about now,
since what Jesus has done and through His faith, now faith has created the substance of things
hoped for and it is the evidence of things that were never seen. We’ve already got it all. The
evidence is here. We’re righteous. We’re holy. We’re made perfect in the eyes of God through
the obedience of Jesus Christ. This is not personal instruction of what faith will do in your life.
It is what faith accomplished between the old covenant and the new covenant and the reality that
is brought to us through the faith of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 51:3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places and he will
make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness
shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
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Again, we’re just recapping what we went through last night. He (Isaiah) is talking about
comforting Israel; comforting them from what? If you read the other prophesies of Isaiah, you’ll
find out that the thing He was comforting them for, the thing that he is restoring from the waste
places, is He is comforting them from his own anger and wrath that they face.
He says, “Well now I’m going to comfort you. I’m not going to punish you any more and I’m
not going to be in the business of judgment, anger or wrath. My goal now is to comfort you at
all times.”
I think that’s the wonderful thing about the fact that the Holy Spirit (who is here) is called The
Comforter. I think we have missed that completely as to what that means. If we take the context
of The Old Testament about being comforted by God, the Holy Spirit is here to comfort every
one of us. What does that mean? Is He going to make us feel good no matter what bad thing is
happening? Well, He has failed in my life to comfort me like that. I have gone through some
horrendous thing in the sense I have felt every bit of it. I remember times even around the folks
that agreed and believed that the Holy Spirit comforted us and would take all of our grief and all
of our sorrows away. Even if your child died, we were almost obligated to stand at the funeral
home and smile. You weren’t supposed to feel grief. You weren’t supposed to feel any pain
because the Holy Spirit was our comforter.
Well, if we read the term comforter in the same context which Isaiah was prophesying,
Christianity has missed the meaning of the word. And I don’t deny that the Holy Spirit can’t
help you through a difficult time. That’s not what we’re saying. But that’s not the emphasis of
this. One of the things which enables us to be able to make it through difficult times in life is
because the Holy Spirit is here to comfort our hearts. What’s He doing? He’s trying to help us
understand that God is not involved in our discomfort. It’s not the judgment of God.
In fact, that’s what the book of John declares to us that the Holy Spirit, The Great Comforter, is
here for, is to tell us about the judgment that has already come. That is one of the three
ministries of the Holy Spirit. How does He comfort us? He lets us know that judgment has
already come. What’s happening to you cannot be judgment. It has already come. It’s not
possible because God is here to comfort this world now. And when Jesus bore our sicknesses
and took away our diseases, it is not that we would never be sick or never have disease any more,
it is that we would never have to go through the mental anguishing process of wondering what
we did that caused God to do this to us or allow it to happen to us, either one. We are in a time
of comfort from God. Now it doesn’t mean that we live in a world that is absent of accidents and
incidents and tragedies. I do not know of any one whose life is absent from tragedy.
The sad thing about it is in the Word of Faith movement and the people who are really at the top
of that which teaches that if you’re really walking with God, your life is absent of tragedies.
Now thank God they’ve backed up on that a little bit. Now they’re not quite as adamant about
that now. But the only reason we backed up on it was because we had hid all the tragedies we
could hide in our life. We lied about it as much as we could lie about it until the volume of
information became so overpowering that the Hagins couldn’t hide it; the Roberts couldn’t hide
it, the Williams couldn’t hide it. Nobody in that movement could hide any more. We started out
very idealistic believing that God was there to protect you and nothing would ever happen to you
again.
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Well that’s a little askew of what the prophets were foretelling of a time that was coming. The
focus was not that there would never be anything bad happen to you. The focus was that nothing
bad would happen to you from God. That just wasn’t going to happen anymore. It was part of
the new deal. It was part of the new covenant. It was something that was going to change
drastically that you would never ever have to weep or cry again. Isaiah spoke of a time that we
would experience these things but we have put these off till the life after this one because of the
definition that Isaiah said that God would wipe away all tears and that there would be no more
mourning and there would be no more crying. How many of you are familiar with that?
Everybody’s familiar with it even if you didn’t go to church. Why? Where did you hear that
verse? You heard it all over the place. But one of the places you heard it at was at funerals.
All right? Well, that this is our comfort. Well we may be standing here crying now but there’s
not going to be any tears there, referring to heaven. Well that is a true statement. I hope it is
anyway. As far as life after the one we know it is concerned, but Isaiah says that the reason there
will be no more tears and there will be no more crying is because God will remove his anger off
the earth. That’s why we’re not going to have to cry any more. He’s talking about people
weeping and living in destruction and in pain and sorrow because of their sins, because of their
shortcomings that God is punishing people. But you see through the power of Christ, sin has
been taken off of the earth. To have sin, you have to have a law. And to have a law, you have to
have the old covenant. And to have the old covenant means that Jesus has not died for our sins
yet. But he has died and Jesus did take away sin. He has removed it. There is no such thing any
more.
‘Oh man! See there Mike! You have gone too far. You’re saying there’s not a difference
between right and wrong. There’s nothing to govern people’s actions.’ Let me tell you
something. People who commit the most heinous crimes on this earth are not people who
believe they are freed from sin. It is those who believe they are under sin and become hopeless
that they have failed so much, they might as well throw in the towel. Why should I even try if
I’m already condemned? And that’s what you’ll hear on death row. Hey listen! Everybody on
death row who has committed the most heinous crimes on the face of the earth are not there
saying, “Hey you know I heard that Mike Williams and I found out there’s no such thing as sin
so I just went ahead and killed Grandma.” I’m sorry. That’s not what you’re going to hear.
These folks all came out of church. Almost without exception, they had a strong religious
influence somewhere in their life and believed they had gone so far that going further meant no
difference anyway. If you’re going to hell anyway, you might as well feel like you deserve to go
rather than going for what everybody else said you’re going for. It can be everything from
divorce, to telling a lie to whatever. It all depends on which denomination or group that you
happen to be in.
But this incredible elimination of all tears, wiping away all tears, there will be no more sorrow.
There will be no more mourning. You have to read it in context. There will be no more sorrow
and no more mourning about the anger of God. He doesn’t say there will be no more tears and
there will be no more sorrow because we won’t be on the earth any more. It says there will be no
more tears and no more sorrow because God’s anger will not be on the earth any more.
And I tell you what. If you make it to a point in life to where that you know that you know that
you know, that your failures and your shortcomings, your abilities in faith or anything else, has
not been some type of failure that has opened the door for the devil and allowed the bad man in
and because you’ve done something wrong spiritually or according to God’s law, that’s what’s
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happening to you and that’s why you’ve got a tragedy happening in your life. Let me tell you
something. That will be a great comfort to your heart. It will be a tremendous comfort to your
heart. If you go into a business situation and it turns out to be a really bad situation, let me tell
you it’s going to be hard enough to face that business situation. But almost impossible and
paralyzing to face it to think that there’s a sin or something you’ve done wrong that has caused
this to happen. Well maybe you don’t believe God punished you but God allowed it to happen.
I remember years ago just becoming appalled about that word ‘allowed’. You know, I’d rather
beat my own kids than allow somebody else to do it. I would. I would at least know that I lost
my temper well….whatever you know. But just to stand back and just see somebody’s getting
ready to beat on my kid and say, “Oh well”. They stepped over that line. I’m just going to stand
here and allow that to happen to them. They’ll learn. They’ll learn.” No. That’s too far out.
Tell me in the description of a Father where they will stand back and allow that to happen. Now
the Father may administer discipline himself but he’s not going to stand back and allow
somebody else to do it. It’s just not going to happen. If it does, the Father’s going to be arrested
for neglect in allowing that to happen. You see, we virtually have painted God into the position
of child neglect and child abuse.
One of the facets of this wonderful Gospel is that we can be very confident that anything that
happens in our life, there should be great joy and thanksgiving in the life of every human being.
You know, someone very close to us in our family went through a tragedy. I remember that
particular person making the statement. They were raised in Catholicism and there was no
breaking through the doctrine and the person made the statement and it was just heartbreaking to
all of us. But they said, “You know, I just wonder what it is that I’ve done that would cause God
to do these things in my life.” You could tell that the situation itself was not nearly as
anguishing as feeling it was being done by God and that it was a punishment coming from God.
Now this same God, you’re supposed to turn around and trust Him. Trust me! Have you ever
seen that T-shirt that they wear around? It just says, “Trust me”. But that’s pretty much what
people are doing with the very same preachers that preach judgment, punishment and anger from
God and then teach you to trust God. Yeah, right! Sure! We’ll do that. Not! And it’s not
happening.
Isaiah 51:4 Hearken unto me, my people and give ear unto me, O my nation; for a law shall
proceed from me and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
Again, recapping this just for a moment, He doesn’t say, I’ll give you a bunch of laws. He said
I’m going to give you a law. Now you’re under one law. People say, “Well Mike Williams, you
say we’re totally free from the law.” I’d like to clarify that and tell you that we are under one
law. You are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” You have been given life in
Christ. It’s a law. You cannot escape this law. That’s the thing about the law of God. Nobody
is exempt from it. When God gave a law, nobody was exempt from that law. Now do we have a
law that is selective? We have a law that has come from God called the law of liberty that is in
Christ Jesus. The argument being, that you are selective about your laws. You know, I’d say all
the law has been done away with but the one thing that people who argue in behalf of the law of
the old covenant that we are still under it, they will say everybody is subject to that law.
Everybody is subject to God’s law. Even if you believe in Christ, you are still bound to God’s
law. You gotta obey the law of God. It is irrevocable. Nobody is exempt from the law. Well if
that is true, then why do we exempt everybody from the law of liberty that is in Christ Jesus?
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If it’s God’s law and it’s absolute and if their argument stands, you see they’re arguing on behalf
of the new law, if they just knew it. That same argument stands. Because when the law of the
first covenant was in effect, nobody could escape it. They were correct. And nobody can escape
this law. Thank God! A law has come from God that said you have been made righteous and
holy and freed by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You cannot escape this freedom. You
cannot escape the freedom that is in Christ Jesus.
I remember one of the verses that we used to cover occasionally out of Ephesians. It said that
Jesus lead captivity captive. And I never could understand that. And so I went in and studied
every word to see exactly what it meant and it virtually says that Jesus took people who were in a
prison and lead them out of that prison and put them in another one. He led captivity captive.
He took the captives who were captive and made captives out of them. I thought,’ boy you
know, this is a prison exchange.’ That’s what we’re talking about. We’ve been moved from one
prison to another prison. The first prison and then….Oh my goodness, it settled in. Yes, we
were in a prison of sin. No matter how much good we did, we could not escape the prison of sin.
But Jesus took the entire human race and led…how many people were held captive? The whole
world was held captive. So how many captives did He lead into captivity? He took the whole
human race. What captivity did He lead us in to? He led us into the captivity of his
righteousness. You are locked up.
This world has been sealed with the righteousness of Christ and locked in a prison and your
deeds and the deeds of others cannot get you out of Jesus’ prison of righteousness. You have
been captured. You have been arrested, declared innocent and locked up in a prison of
righteousness and you will never escape no matter what you do. The fact was that you couldn’t
escape out of the other prison even if you had of been able to have kept all of God’s laws.
Nothing you could do could get you out of the prison of sin. Would keeping the laws of God get
you out of the prison of sin? No! You weren’t in there because you disobeyed God’s laws. You
were in there because of the first Adam. You were a prisoner based on one man’s disobedience.
God locked up the whole world. We were all locked up in one prison of sin. And then Jesus
came along and what did He do? He opened the prison doors. Glory to God! What did He do?
He lead all of us…he just didn’t say, “Oh, open the door. You’re out of the prison of sin.” He
said, “Follow me”. And He led the entire human race into another prison and he has locked that
door and you have become prisoners of righteousness. You’re hopeless. You are hopelessly
righteous. Now that’s a kind of hopelessness that’s kinda good to have. I am hopelessly
righteous. I am hopelessly bound to eternity in the presence of God. I can’t escape the presence
of God.
You know David got a revelation of this. Remember? Paul kept saying that David had a
revelation of this; David had a revelation of this. Remember one of David’s statements? ‘Even
though I make my bed in hell I cannot escape your presence. If I go to the furthest place away
from you, there you are. No matter where I go, there you are.’ What is that? That is someone
who is a prisoner of God. You can’t get away from God. You can’t escape.
You say, “Well you know, my teenager is running from God right now.” No! They’re running
from you. (chuckle) Believe me. I’ve had it happen. They’re not running from God. You
know, that’s such an easy cop out from a parent. What’s wrong with your kid? ‘Oh well, they’re
just running from God right now.’ No, they’re not running from God. They’re running from
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their parents. They’re running from tradition. They are wanting to find their own place. They
are wanting to define who they are. They want to know who they are outside of the prison of
what their parents say. You went through it. Don’t act so surprise that it’s happening. Don’t go
through shock because every generation is going to do it. I think it would be way less traumatic
for each generation if we as parents were able to communicate to these teenagers that they cannot
escape the presence of God. They are holy. They are righteous. They can’t work their way into
hell. You think somebody can work their way into heaven? No. “Oh no, no, Mike. You can’t
work your way into heaven.” Who’s going to hell? Is it people who do bad works.? Oh wait a
minute. You can work your way into hell but you can’t work your way into heaven? Hum!
Interesting! That sounds just about as hopeless as you can possibly grab hold of anything.
Folks, we do have an identity crisis. I have a perception that every generation that comes up,
comes to that point of those teenage years and they have inbred in them, they have born in them,
a sense of identity as to who they are in Christ. That they are one with God and by the time they
get to be teenagers, the doctrines and parenthood has kinda made them doubt that and wonder.
And they go through a drastic identity crisis. I’m not telling you I know exactly what happens to
everybody; far from me to know that. I think that is one of the many things that happens to
many teenagers because they know they don’t fit within those rules and regulations. So that
creates an identity crisis. They’ve got to find out what the limits are. And that’s what they have
to begin to explore. It’s not rebelling against God. They’re rebelling against tradition. They’re
rebelling against hypocrisy and they’re rebelling against parenthood. They’re trying to find their
own way in life. And somehow, if we could just possibly embrace that and know that is a
process that kids go through. Isn’t it amazing because we all went through it and yet we’re just
utterly shocked that under our excellent parenthood, our kids are going through that. What a
shock! Oh my God! Who would have ever thought that out of this family would have come
such a rebel! God knows I didn’t raise you like this! Yes you did! Raised to rebel!
Oh that’s a good teaching series, isn’t it? Raised to rebel!
(back to V 4) He says there’s a law. This was a prophecy from Isaiah. He said that there’s a
law that you’re going to be under and he said there’s also a judgment that’s coming that will rest
and out of that judgment, there will be life that will come. Folks, that law, that judgment that
came, came at the cross. And that judgment that came was upon the entire human race in the
body of one man. This powerful Gospel is there now for a light; you can find your way.
I don’t know what your life is going to be like. I don’t know what your circumstances are going
to be. I don’t know if your husband is going to live or die. I don’t know whether you’re going to
have tragedy or whether your life is going to be relatively free of tragedy, but with the
understanding that all judgment went to the cross, you can navigate your way through life. It’s
like a light. Okay! Let me tell you something! The one thing I do know is that this life is a
mystery to you just like it is to me. You don’t know why things happen. Everybody tries to
spiritualize every circumstance that comes along. “Oh well, God’s trying to show us…oh well
it’s because you didn’t tithe…oh well it’s because you didn’t pray…oh it’s because.” Folks!
You don’t know! I don’t know! And no preacher knows either why things happen in this life.
There are some things we bring on ourselves. There are some things that happen to you that you
don’t deserve; good and bad. There are a lot of good things that happen in life you simply don’t
deserve. But you know you’re going to get a lot of stuff from the other side too. You’re going
to get the bad stuff you don’t deserve.
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What is the light that will guide you through this life? It is in knowing that your righteous deeds
before God, did not reward you with good and your unrighteous deeds before God did not
reward you with bad. That was all cancelled out 2,000 years and a new law was instituted called
freedom. You are free! Yes! We do bring a lot of things on our own head. Yes we do.
But we also get by with a lot of things. Everyone here has gotten by with as much as you’ve
been caught with. Some of you are better at this. Some of you have gotten by with more than
what you got caught with. Some of you aren’t too good and you get caught every time you turn
around. But just because one’s better at it and one’s not so good at it doesn’t mean that God’s
after one and He’s not after another.
This is the light that guides us through this life. I am under a law of freedom. I am free in this
life. I can do anything that I want in the eyes of God. Oh, you mean we’re free to murder?
“Yes!” There you go Mike! You just went over the edge. Folks we’re talking about
relationships with God. This is the relationship that we have with God. Can murder change your
relationship with God? No! If it can, if it can, we’re going to have to change. Remember we’re
going to have to go back to Jesus’ definition of murder. If you’ve even gotten angry, you have
committed murder. Can fornication change your relationship with God? If you go out and
commit adultery with ten men or women, whatever is your preference of choice, can that
interfere with your relationship with God? No it cannot. If it can, then we’re going to have to go
to Jesus definition of adultery that if you even have a thought of lust for someone, you’ve
committed adultery in your heart already.
I remember the very first time that I told someone they were free to commit suicide. That was
one of the first taboos I stepped across the line. I was teaching up in Minnesota. It was a fairly
large number of people. That was one of the questions that came up. ‘Well, if you commit
suicide though, aren’t you going to hell’? And that’s when I still believed some people did (go
to hell) but then we went to this issue of suicide and I began to explain why I did not believe that
someone that committed suicide would go to hell. Boy I tell you. I swallowed twice, three times
and began to address the issue because everybody was telling me that if I ever shared that, then
people would take that as a freedom or a license to go kill themselves. I was extremely shocked.
There were three people in particular in that crowd that day that broke and begin to weep openly.
We were finishing our last day of our week long teaching seminar and those three people made
their way up front and I was glad they did because I wanted to know what had struck home with
them.
One of them was a mother whose son had committed suicide. As this mother finished her story
about her son, she said, “Finally in my heart, it’s settled that he did not go to hell.” And I
thought to myself that of course she would want to accept this message. If somebody close to
me would have committed suicide, I would have grabbed hold of that. And the other two people
who came up were having problems with suicidal thoughts; battling suicide and constantly
having to struggle with not killing themselves. In both cases, the only thing I can tell you, the
account they gave me, was at the moment I told them that if they committed suicide they would
not go to hell, there was a peace that came into their heart and mind and the struggle with suicide
abruptly ended. They had been struggling with it for ten to fifteen years. It was pressing them
and pressing them that they were going to go to hell if they committed suicide but they wanted to
commit suicide and then suddenly when suicide became an alternative, suddenly it wasn’t an
obsession any more.
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Folks, I don’t know what it is about the human race, but everything that is forbidden will become
irresistible. This life has to become something more than us feeling/thinking that we have to be
controlled by laws. Now society has to have laws. But the law is not there to make sure you
don’t break a law but if you do, then society is going to operate in this fashion and this is what’s
going to happen if you break these laws. But those laws, as you can see, even our social laws
don’t keep us from doing those things. That’s not why people stop and say, “Well, I’m not going
to kill my wife because….” Let’s hope there are a few more reasons a little loftier than the fact
you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in jail because you killed her. My righteousness is
near.
What did Isaiah prophesy?
Isaiah 5l: 5 My righteousness is near. My salvation is gone forth. Mine arms shall judge the
people. The Isles shall wait upon me and on mine arm shall they trust.
Now wait a minute. This seems like a contradiction in terms. He said my righteousness is
getting real near here. My salvation is going forth and my arm shall judge the people. Judgment
is coming. Wait a minute. God! Aren’t you just really confused? You say that righteousness is
coming, salvation is coming, and judgment is coming. And when this judgment comes, the isles,
the islands will wait upon you and on mine arm shall they trust. Are these the same arms that
bring judgment and the arms that people trust in? Well I think he’s made it very clear. Where
do we have to look if we’re looking for this righteousness, for this redemption? You have to
look to the rock from whence ye were hewn and from the pit where we have been dug out of.
Thank God. Now, how could you trust the arms of the one who is judging you? You can’t! He
said, this judgment is going to result in a light. There is righteousness coming. There is
redemption coming and he said my arms are going to bring this, my arms are going to bring the
judgment and then the whole world is going to be able to rest or trust in these same arms. I tell
you what. I think those arms that we trust in are the very same arms that were spread on the
cross that day. And it was in those arms, that judgment came to this earth. And it’s those very
same arms of Jesus that we can put our full trust, knowing that we have a God, that no matter
where we are in life, he is not there to judge us or punish us. But He is there to give us a
revelation of who we are in him; the rock from whence we’ve been hewn and the Abraham that
we have as a very strong comfort and a reflection for our faith. We can look to the same one
where judgment took place with those arms spread that those very same arms are the ones that
we can trust in.
Now I could not trust a God who was judging me and punishing me and then turn around and
say, “Oh I’m trusting in these everlasting arms.” But when I realized that those arms of Jesus
outstretched, received the punishment of God on himself for the sin of the whole world, I could
trust the arms of someone who took my punishment. But I couldn’t trust the arms of someone
who was punishing me.
You see folks, the double mindedness of Evangelical Christianity, we teach of a punishing
judging God, threatening people with hell if they don’t believe and then try to get them to trust
the God that was going to cast them into hell and then try to come up with healthy believers.
Folks, I want to create believers all around the world also, but I’d like to see them be a bit more
healthy than Evangelical Christians have been, who live under guilt, fear and threat of judgment
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and punishment and become the judges of this world and divide a world rather than unite a world
as one.
You know, our Constitution, our preambles, carry more of The Gospel than any church does; one
nation under God, indivisible. Look at that powerful statement. What takes away division?
What takes away the ability to divide? We are all one under God. And then the other statement
that our forefathers wrote, that we are persuaded that all men are created equal in the eyes of
God. You know, there was some revelation in those folks. I just have to believe there was. We
have been striving to attain to the lofty understanding of these statements over a 200 year period
of history of this country. Because we have been striving to maintain those qualities of believing
that we are all one under God and that all men are created equal, we have constantly made steps
to better the society in which we live. Yet at the same time, we have religions preaching in this
society, dividing people from sinners to saints to every division you can think of, and it’s just not
happening folks. It’s not happening. If church is where it’s supposed to happen, there is one on
every corner in most cities in America. Then why is it that they’re not getting the job done?
Why? Is it so outlandish to consider there might be another way? This Gospel may be greater
than what Evangelical Christianity has ever allowed it to be because when God sent Jesus to
redeem the world, He actually accomplished what He came to do.
This very same judgment, those arms that came to judge the people, are the same arms we can
put our trust in. Folks, there’s only one reason, and that’s because the arms that took our
judgment are also the arms that we can put our trust in. And the arms we trust in are the same
arms that took our judgment.
Isaiah 51: 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look unto the earth beneath, for the heavens
shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell
therein shall die in like manner but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall
not be abolished.
Here again, this sounds like double talk. The heavens are going to be destroyed. The heavens
shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment and they that dwell
therein shall die in like manner. Now, you know that we have all the prophecies; heaven and
earth shall pass away and there will be a new heaven and a new earth in which dwelleth
righteousness. Folks, this prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled 2,000 years ago. The heaven that
once was, administered justice, punishment and reward and the earth was under the system of
justice, punishment and reward. That heaven and that earth have completely vanished away.
There is not an earth under the punishment of God any more. There is not a heaven that is angry
any more. That angry heaven passed away and every person on this earth died. ”Everybody on
this earth isn’t dead, Mike. Can’t you see? You’re here.” Oh that was the wondrous plan of this
Gospel. One man would become the entire human race on the cross and the heaven that was
then ruled by law (between heaven and earth), would vanish away when all of God’s judgment
and wrath which was stored in heaven (ruled by law), was emptied upon the whole human race
and the whole human race died in this judgment of God at the cross. The old earth and the old
heaven and everybody that dwelt on this earth died.
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When Jesus rose from the dead, there was a new heaven and a new earth.
“Well, what’s new about it? There’s still pain and suffering out there. You mean to tell me that
this is it?” Yes! This is it! There is no longer an angry God in a fearful heaven and there is no
longer a scorched earth from the punishment of God. It doesn’t exist any more. God said that
every human being would have to die because of his law. No human being would escape the
punishment, the anger and the wrath of God for sin. God said in the old covenant, “Every sin
must be visited by the wrath of God.” Every single sin must be visited by the wrath of God. And
then he came here in the form of a man. And He who gave the law that all men must die,
became all men and died under the punishment of his own law. He not only died under the
punishment of his own law, but took his own law away and established a new law. Why do you
need a new law? Well you have a new heaven and a new earth. You see, this is heaven to earth
relationship. I’m not talking about government and people and the way things are dealt with
here between the sheriff’s department and Tulsa. That’s not what the Bible is dealing with.
That’s not what the revelation of this Gospel is about. We’re not talking about whether or not
somebody’s going to die of cancer or not, we’re talking about whether or not you’re going to be
punished by God for your sin and whether or not God’s going to make you sick or not. It just
isn’t happening. It was all concluded 2,000 years ago through the power of the cross of Jesus
Christ.
The entire human race died the death required by God in the body of one man. And the heaven
vanished away and the earth was destroyed. And every human died in this massive, massive
destruction of sin. Every human was punished. Every human died. Paul goes through this and
describes it and says, “For if one died, all are dead. And if one is raised, all were raised.” I just
don’t see where the complication is. I just don’t see where the controversy is except for self
righteousness and the willingness and desire to divide people. What we preach is not divisive. It
is conclusive. But it is as Paul says, “It is a rock of offense and a stone of stumbling.” But it’s to
those who are seeking righteousness through their own belief and through their own actions and
deeds. They will stumble over it. We’re saying that people who haven’t done what they did are
as righteous as they are and that’s something to stumble over. People have stumbled over that
throughout the entire ages of the human race.
The last part of verse 6 again, But my salvation shall be forever and my righteousness shall not
be abolished. Now, all of God’s old laws were abolished. All of the heavens, the way they
were, were abolished. The earth, the way it was, was abolished. Every living person on the face
of the earth was killed in the eyes of God; they were killed in the body of one man. But he said,
all of this will be destroyed, but what did he say would never be destroyed or abolished? He
said, “My righteousness will never, ever be abolished.”
You know the only reason the human race could possibly be standing today is because you are
the righteousness of God. Do you know why you’re not dead under the punishment and wrath of
God? It’s because you’re the righteousness of God. You will never, ever see the punishment,
anger and wrath of God ever again since Jesus occurred that at the cross. No Individual has ever
seen the punishment or the wrath of God. No one! It hasn’t happened. You will never be
abolished in the eyes of God. Why? You will never be abolished because God’s righteousness
will never be abolished. And what does Paul teach? We are the righteousness of God. Now
that’s pretty cool. I’m the righteousness of God. Therefore, God will never abolish me. Why? I
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am the righteousness of God because He abolished everything that would make me unrighteous
in his sight. It just doesn’t exist any more. It doesn’t stand there.
Isaiah 51:7 Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my
law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
Now, we’ve gone from people seeking righteousness and people looking for it, to people that
know it. Wow! By what process do you come to know righteousness? Well, that’s found in
verse 1 through verse 6. That’s that incredible process of having a revelation of the
righteousness of God, which you are, and which we are and that includes everyone on the face of
this earth.
You see, this is not an issue of becoming righteous. It’s an issue of knowing righteousness. This
‘turn or burn’ doctrine of Evangelical Christianity….how do you say…it’s your free will? “Oh
Well, God will never violate man’s will but if you don’t bow your knee to Jesus, you’re going to
burn in hell forever.” Oh it’s a free gift, but you gotta receive it. And if you don’t receive it,
you’ll burn in hell forever.” Just the consequence of not doing it… “We’re not saying you gotta
do it or nothing like that. God would never violate your will. God will never violate man’s will
and force him to do something.” Crap!
If you’re going to burn somebody in hell if they don’t do it, you’re forcing them to do it. And
most people who come to believe Christ in the Christian church today have been forced to
believe it because of consequences. That’s why we don’t know what we believe. We don’t have
any idea what we truly believe in our hearts because we are having to trust in the same one who
was going to burn us in hell forever. Folks, that’s not healthy. I don’t care who it is. Yes, I can
show you the children of parents who obey everything that parent says, but it’s not because
you’re going to be grounded. It’s because if you don’t, I’m gonna kill ya. Try that. It works.
No, don’t try that. Children that live under the extremeness of violent and threatening parents do
obey their parents. Well, isn’t that the goal to obtain obedient children? Folks, I think the reason
why they’re obeying is much more important than the obedience itself because if it’s not in the
heart, it doesn’t make any difference anyway.
What is in the heart of Evangelical Christians? They believe their faith in God has kept that God
from sending them to hell forever. Now you tell me why the mental institutions are full of
schizophrenics?
Oh we sing about his love, sing about his goodness, sing about his mercy that He had on us,
when all you would have had to do is miss that day of conversion of belief, of acceptance, of
surrender and he would have fried your carcass in hell forever. Oh this magnificent loving God,
who gives everybody the opportunity to hear a preacher. And if they don’t believe, eh, what can
I do about it? I sent Jesus. I told them to go tell the whole world. It’s out of my hands. They
didn’t get there. They weren’t persuasive enough. Going to have to fry them and not for a year,
or fifty years and not for one hundred years but a never ending time.
And somehow we’re supposed to be in this belief system as mentally and emotionally stable
people; nonjudgmental and without guilt and fear. We’re supposed to be filled with love and joy
and peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, faith, patience and temperance. The smiles
become fake and the fakes smile. The joy is on the surface. It’s for public display. And then we
walk back out to our miserable existence trying to figure out a God who could possibly be the
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one who redeemed us as being the same one, that within a split second away, had we died the
moment before we did that, would have been in hell for eternity. Now, what tells you for sure
that God will not change his mind once you get to heaven? How do you know? Well, I know.
Well how do you know? Well I just know that I know because Jesus died for my sins. But Jesus
died for the sin of the whole world.
Isaiah 51:7 Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my
law.
Which law do you think He’s talking about? It’s the single law; the law of the spirit of life.
(those that know this law)
Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
I think that’s very interesting. Now, all of you that do know this righteousness and all of you
have this single law into your heart, you know it. It’s in everybody but you know. Isn’t it
amazing? If you know this righteousness and you know this new law which Paul explains the
law that still exists. It’s the law of ‘The spirit of life has set me free from the law of
sin and death.’ There are no complications about that. He said, “Fear not the reproach of men.”
Did somebody know what was going to happen as a result of this Gospel? Don’t be afraid of the
reproach for knowing that you and the reproacher are the righteousness of God in Christ. Don’t
be afraid. Man I tell you. Those of you that are sitting here and those that are listening by tape, I
want to give you that encouragement. You have come to know that you are righteous. You have
come to know that this entire world is righteous. You have come to know the single law of
liberty which is in Christ Jesus has replaced all law. It is freedom. That term liberty means to be
exempt from all moral, mortal, sacrificial and ceremonial law. That’s the law that exists. It’s the
one that has freed us from all other laws. What incredible news! Now if you know this, Isaiah
the prophet says there’s something that you also need to take into consideration. Don’t be afraid
of the reproach that this carries with it. Now I don’t have to stop and go into detail with anyone
sitting in this room nor anyone listening by tape, and explain to you the reproach that comes with
knowing this righteousness and knowing this law. Do I? No need for an explanation because
experience has told you about the reproach of this righteousness and the reproach of men
because of this law that lives and you are aware of now in your heart. He said, “Do not be afraid
of their revilings.”
Isaiah 51: 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them like
wool, but my righteousness shall be for ever and my salvation from generation to generation.
What’s he saying? I’m gonna get them. Don’t you worry about those people that don’t accept
this Gospel! I’m gonna get them. Did he say he was gonna get them? No. (chuckle) He said
the moth will. What is the moth? What is the moth? What is it that’s going to be eating at them
like a moth eats a garment? Something is going to be eating at them. It’s called guilt. It’s called
judgment. It eats your insides out. While you stand proclaiming your belief in God as an
exclusiveness that your belief has made you right with God, the self righteousness of that, the
guilt and the judgment of that, that stays in the heart that only the Gospel of the redemption of
the whole world can take out of the heart, will eat like a moth eats a garment.
You should not get angry at the people or fear the people who reject the Gospel of the
redemption of the world that Isaiah has very clearly portrayed for us just in this part of the
chapter that we’ve gone through so far. We can go through chapters and chapters and chapters
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and books of the absolute validity of this. You see, you shouldn’t be afraid of them and you
shouldn’t have anything toward them except knowing there is something eating at them on the
inside. Can you tell there’s something eating at them? Isn’t it obvious that something is eating
at them? All you have to do is let them know this righteousness and you know this law and
you’ll see.
Now what does Isaiah encourage you to do? Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be concerned about
it. In fact folks, you need to know that what’s coming out of them is not even directed at you.
It’s the anger and frustration they feel toward themselves on a daily basis. It’s the anger and
frustration that their families have to deal with around them on a daily basis. It has nothing to do
with you. It is that you have spoken the truth that has ripped the rug out from under them that
exposes the self righteousness that lives in the hearts of those who believe that their belief has
made them righteous and acceptable unto God and that the rest of this world is going to burn in
hell. I tell you it leaves something gnawing at you on the inside.
You had it for all of those years that you thought your belief, your righteousness or your works
was going to make it. You know how something was eating on the inside of you. You don’t
have to be afraid. You don’t even have to take it personal. Believe me I’ve had to learn you
can’t take it personally. This is an inward turmoil these people are going through and even
though it’s coming at you it has nothing to do with you. How could people who call themselves
loving Christians, hate as much as they do. I mean if you got on the website and saw any of the
stuff on there, you’d know there are people that hate me in Jesus’ name. They hate me. I mean
they wouldn’t be on there if they didn’t believe something. But the threats, the judgments, the
anger that is there, something is eating at them on the inside. Just don’t let it move you. I don’t
even have to say that. I know it’s not going to move you anyway because this Gospel keeps you
from being moved. It secures you in a place that nothing can remove you away from it. You
don’t need me. You don’t need Mike Williams. I know that. I’m not coming here because you
need me. We’re just encouraging each other in the fellowship of this incredible Gospel. I’m not
‘the man’ and you’re ‘the group’. You know, this isn’t the clergy and the congregation here.
We’re all one in Christ. There’s not a hierarchy in this incredible thing called the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
This Gospel is absolutely awesome. There’s no need in trying to go further. I promise you that
other tapes will follow up in this. I may have to come back to Tulsa to finish this. But how
many of you love this Gospel? Can you imagine that something written thousands of years ago
was so pertinent to what you’re going through? As a result of the cross, this is still going on.
Isn’t it amazing that the thing that divides people is the very thing that united it? Because we
don’t have a revelation of what causes us all to be one in the eyes of God, we include Jesus in it
and it’s got us divided into 5,000 denominations in the world and that’s just Christian
denominations with five new denominations, not just new churches because there’s hundreds of
thousands of new churches every week, but there’s 5,000 totally new denominations being born
every week. And that’s because this group believes you gotta do this. Well you don’t have to do
that. Well we believe you gotta do this. Well we think this is the important part. And we’re all
missing the most important part and that is the redemption of the world that has come to us
through the power of the work of Jesus Christ. Folks, I am so thankful that my heart is no longer
dreading when the heavens and the earth are going to be destroyed and the judgment of God will
come to this earth.
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I will never ever be able to explain to anyone what that has done to and for my heart and to and
for everyone that I know that I have been able to share it with and who knew it before I ever
shared it and to know what that has done in the hearts of those individuals. They have an ability
to reach out which they didn’t have before; the judgment’s gone and the guilt is gone.
And now we just do the best that we can knowing that there’s a loving God who loves us all; to
live this life out and to be as productive as we can.
I don’t know what life’s going to be like. I can’t promise you that if you believe this Gospel,
you are going to be wealthy. I can’t even promise you that you’re going to live a long time. I
can’t promise you it’s going to be healthy. But the one thing I can promise you is that you can
live a life completely absent from any thought that this life is a reward system from God, that
you are either being rewarded cause you were good and punished because you were bad. That
system was done away with 2,000 years ago.
You’re free; free under the law of liberty that we have in Christ Jesus. So if you’re going to look
for righteousness, what are you going to have to do? Look to the rock from whence you were
hewn (that you were cut out of). And if you’re going to seek the Lord, what do you have to do?
Look at the pit, the grave that we were all brought out of; the very same one who took us into his
body, the entire human race, destroyed heaven and earth in his body and every human being in
the body of God himself and rose from the dead and conquered it all and freely gave us the gift
of life.
What kind of life? Is it a good one? Is it a happy one? No! It’s a life totally united with God;
never to fear again that God is angry or that you can do something really good and get him on
your side. Folks, that is such a source of mental illness that it is just unthinkable.
It’s a good Gospel. Amen?
Mike Williams Ministries