So, A good day to everyone who is attending this ministry here from Grace Baptist Church. Again, a great, great responsibility on the part of those of us who bring these messages, Brother Gene and myself. Today I pray that you're prayed up. This is such an important message. I pray by God's Spirit that He will arrest your hearts and minds to listen very closely that you might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today's message, no one, no one in the gap And before we get started let me say our title could just as well have said no one in the breach. The words gap and breach that I use in this particular message come from the same Hebrew word used in the Old Testament. Gap and breach are interchangeable. Actually that Hebrew word is in your King James Version is translated a bit more as breach. But again, no one in the gap, no one in the breach. I'm going to be doing a great deal of reading from the scriptures and I'm going to be using the New King James Version of the Bible now that being true this is just a suggestion but I know that sometimes when you have differing versions can become a bit confusing and throw you off a little bit so my request of you is listen please listen this morning as I read from the Holy Scriptures. We will begin today in the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 13. And the word of the Lord came to me, this is Ezekiel speaking, saying, here he's repeating what God says to him, son of man, prophesy against the prophets. of Israel who prophesy, and say to those prophesying, in other words, Ezekiel is to speak to these so-called prophets, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of the Lord. These false prophets are saying we speak from God, but here God says through a true prophet, you so-called prophets, hear the word of the Lord. Thus, says the Lord God, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, Your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. Now, here Ezekiel speaks to those prophets through the Lord God. You have not gone up into the gaps, or should I say that the other way? God speaks to these prophets through Ezekiel. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall. Folks, that's what this whole message is about. going into the gaps to build a wall. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel. I'm talking about the people here and I would suggest to you the true people of God, the Israel of God, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord. These false prophets have not gone in to the gaps to build a wall, in other words, a wall to stand in battle on the day of the Lord. We're going to open that up, I pray, today. They have envisioned, these false prophets, futility and false divination, saying, thus says the Lord. But the Lord has not sent them. Folks, how many people Do we have in prophets today across this world, in preachers today, because there's no true prophet today, how many do we have in these pulpits that the Lord has not sent? I would say to you, most of them. Yet they hope that the word may be confirmed. Have you not seen, he says to these false prophets, have you not seen a futile vision? And have you not spoken false divination? You say, the Lord says, but I have not spoken. Can't be any more clear than that, folks. You say, the Lord says. Now, of course, with the spirits of the prophets, folks, they were led by the spirit of Christ. So the Lord here, the Spirit of Christ, says, I have not spoken to you. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, in their own minds they see things and they turn out to be lies. Therefore, I am indeed against you. says the Lord God. Oh, it's a fearful thing to be in the hands of God. My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people. These folks are not found in the elect of God, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel. Now, if you would allow me, may I say that their names are not written in the book of life. Nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Now he speaks of the land there, he's talking about the people. when he speaks of the land of Israel. He's not talking about the earth per se. They're not going to be among the true people of God, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you, then, when these things are revealed, then you shall know that I am the Lord God. And I think that points to the day of the Lord, the last day here on earth, when people find out who belongs to God and who does not belong to the one true God. Now from what we've seen, these false prophets have utterly failed to provide a wall of defense. There are breaches, there are gaps exposing the people to danger. Made clear in that text we just read. There is no defense against attack. And though the attack may be physical in nature, its danger is purely from a spiritual source. Back to the book of Ezekiel again and reading from chapter 22 verses 23 through 31. And the word of the Lord came to me, says Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, say to her. He's talking about the people of Israel, actually, here. It says land. You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey. My goodness, Peter nailed that one, didn't he? When he warned against Satan going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he could devour. They have devoured the people. So what is that saying? When you have false prophets, when you have false teachers, they, I would suggest to you, are indwelt by an unholy spirit, led by demons, led by Satan himself, and that is actually devouring the people, not helping anybody. They have taken treasure and precious things, and they have made many widows in her midst, her priests, have violated my law and profaned my holy things. They have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known between the clean and unclean. And they have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. They haven't distinguished between the holy and unholy. They mix these things all together, folks. That's why we have so many ungodly things in so-called churches today. They don't distinguish. They put these things together and make people think that their sin is going to be acceptable to God. Her princes, Isn't this interesting here in the scripture? The prophets, the priests, the princes. Who are the princes? Those are the people in authority and government here, folks. In her midst are like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Goodness, what do you see among politicians so often? To get. dishonest gain. Money. Make that money from positions of authority. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, Thus says the Lord God, when the Lord had not spoken. Again, our pulpits are full of people who say the Lord spoke to them. God did not speak to them. It will be seen in their lives and in their ministries, so-called ministries. The people of the land. Now isn't this interesting again? We have the prophets, we have the priests, We have the princes, now we have the people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy. The general population who are paying attention to these folks are doing these things. Mistreated the poor and needy and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So, God says this, so I sought for a man among them who would make a wall. Are you listening to me folks? I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap, stand in the breach before me. This one stands in the breach, in the gap, in the break, in the wall, with God right there in front. Stand before me on behalf of the land, on behalf of the people. This man he looks for, to stand before him in the gap on behalf of the people, that I should not destroy it. Did you hear that now? Why is that man he's looking for to stand in that gap, to stand there between God and the people so that God won't destroy them? But I found no one. I found no one. Therefore, there's no one in the gap, no one to stop my wrath, therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath, and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God." Things have not gotten better, have they? Things didn't get better from what we read there first in Ezekiel 13. Indeed, they've continued to deteriorate Among men on earth, God finds no one to stand in the breach, to defend, to protect the people. And from what and from whom do they need protection? Remember I said earlier that the danger was of a spiritual source? And we just saw it right there in that scripture, didn't we? That source is God himself. It's God himself who pours out his indignation and consuming fire of his wrath on the heads of those unprotected because of the breach in the wall. That is the problem these folks have. God is never without his witness. Thanks be to God for his written word. In addition to Ezekiel, Jehovah Jesus, by His Spirit, spoke to Isaiah, another true prophet of God, concerning this dilemma that we speak of now, using another key word. Listen to me now. We have another key word coming up, speaking of someone to stand in the gap, in the breach. Isaiah, Chapter 59, Isaiah 59, reading verses 9 through 21. The prophet speaks here. Isaiah speaks on behalf of the people. Therefore, justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. Justice and righteousness, folks. That's what we're thinking about here. We look for light, but there's darkness. For brightness, we walk in darkness, in blackness. We grope for the wall. We're looking for the wall. We're looking for the wall like the blind. And we grope as if no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at twilight, as dead in desolate places. We all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but none. For salvation, it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, Lord God, Isaiah is speaking on behalf of the people. Our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and our iniquities, we know them. Conviction. in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, says Isaiah on behalf of the people, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off. For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he departing from evil makes himself a prey. Things are so bad around these folks that those who seek righteousness are being attacked. They fall a prey to that crowd we saw there in Ezekiel. Then the Lord saw and it displeased him because of no justice but he saw no man and wondered seeing he saw no man and he wondered seeing no intercessor that's our other word folks that's the other word we're looking for an intercessor now this profound. You need to listen to this. I never understood this before like I understand it now. You can look the word up for yourself. You can look it up in your dictionary, the word I'm going to bring up here. It comes out of Strong's Concordance. You know what this word in the Old Testament intercessor comes from? It comes from a word meaning impinge. Now listen to me. The idea here is unique. To impinge is to have an impact or effect, especially a negative one. A negative one. Now why is that? The intercessor must have a negative impact on God's wrath. Are you with me? He must stand against God's wrath and stop it. Jehovah Jesus stands in the gap and he stands in the gap as the wall to do so, to be that effect, that impact that will stop the wrath of God. That's what we're talking about when we talk about intercession. Therefore. His own arm brought salvation for him. This is God talking about God is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, his own arm brought salvation for him and his own righteousness. It sustained him. He put on the righteousness as a breast plate. Christ is our righteousness. And a helmet of salvation on his head. Christ is our salvation. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. Why? Because he's gonna be the judge, folks, at the last day. According to deeds, accordingly he will repay. fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully repay. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. Oh my goodness, he's going to come in great glory at that last day, folks. And they'll all fear him. When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him, against that enemy. The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgressing in Jacob, says the Lord. Is someone coming to purchase his people, in addition to him interceding for them, stopping the wrath of God? As for me, says the Lord, Jehovah Jesus, this is my covenant with them. My spirit, the one upon you. Speaks to Isaiah now. My spirit, the one upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth. The spirit of Christ putting these words that we're reading right now in the mouth of Isaiah. Those words shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord, from this time and forevermore. Folks, that's an assurance. Christ will be revealed through this word of God as the intercessor and our salvation. That's what these scriptures are talking about. For those of us who are Christians, Jesus Christ is that intercessor. Now listen to this, listen from what we've just read. He's the one who takes the initiative himself to see that the breach is closed. so that the wrath of God does not reach his people. But as the wall that fills that breach, that gap, he absorbs the wrath of God. That wrath came towards that wall, folks. And it didn't get through that wall, but was absorbed by the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath of God stopped. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah also has this to say, folks. I pray that you are listening. Listen to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. These are the words that God put in Isaiah's mouth, as he said in our last reading. Who has believed our report? This is that report that God said would continue on and on and on. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he, the arm of the Lord is what he's talking about here, shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, physically speaking, and when we see him, no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. Look at him hanging up there. God's killing him because he's rejecting him. It was exactly the opposite. Yes, God was killing him, but he was doing it for his people. But he wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. All we, and folks that means Christians, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him. the iniquity of us all, the elect of God, those chosen by God to be delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears is silent So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation? Who will declare his generation? Isaiah and those who came after him and those who stand called by God today to preach this message. We declare his generation. For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people, says God, he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. You know where he was buried and what tomb. Because he had done no violence nor deceit. in his mouth. He never lied. He never misled. He was straight up, forward, always speaking the truth, always thinking the truth. No sin in him. Yet it pleased the Lord, it pleased God, to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, his very being an offering for sin in his humanity, he shall see a seed. He shall prolong days and the pleasure of the Lord. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It was God's pleasure to offer him as a sacrifice. It was God's pleasure. to have him stand in the gap, to stand in the breach. It was God's pleasure for him to absorb his wrath for the elect who would have otherwise been cast into hell as the rest. He shall see the labor of his soul being satisfied By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now folks, we're coming to a very important word. This is all a buildup, a godly buildup to that word again that we look for. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors. The transgressors among the elect. And he bore the sin of many and made, here it is, intercession for the transgressors. He's the one that stood in that gap, that stood in that breach, to impinge the wrath of God as the intercessor. I close with this verse. This is in the Bible. It's spoken of concerning people, but who in the world does this scripture fit specifically? Exactly. Isaiah 58, and I'm reading the last part of verse 12. And you, and here, as we see this spiritually, he speaks to Christ. And you shall be called the repairer of the breach. Did you hear that? That's in our Bible. You shall be called the repairer of the gap, the restorer of streets to dwell in. We will dwell in streets where God is in the heavenly Jerusalem. The repairer of the breach, folks, Jesus stands in the gap to absorb the wrath of God for you as the elect of God. Amen. A sinner by my birth Born fit to die My mouth a curse, my heart a lie. But in God's sovereign plan, he set his love free. bestowed His grace so free. But tell me who am I to find grace in Thy sight? My only right Lord, who am I? And tell me why, oh why Should one so great and high Take on a worm as I, for who am I? A rebel to God's cause, so lost was I. Daring to break his laws, his wrath defied. But in God's own good time, in spite of all I'd done, He drew me to His Son. But tell me, who am I to find grace in Thy sight? With hell my only right, Lord, who am I? And tell me why, oh why, should one so great Think on a worm as I, for who am I? Oh tell me why, oh who am I?