Alright brethren, now let's go
back to Isaiah 65. Isaiah chapter 65. Now the Lord
showed us the cause of reprobation. And next He's going to declare
the great contrast. This is the great contrast between
the reprobate and the true child of God. text together, verse 13. Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, now he's still speaking to the reprobate,
but he says a word to the child of God here in the course of
doing it. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold my servants shall drink,
but ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice,
but ye shall be ashamed. Behold, my servants shall sing
for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and
shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name
for curse unto my chosen, for the Lord God will slay thee,
and call his servants by another name. that he who blesseth himself
in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that
sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because
the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from
mine eyes." Now this is our subject, the great contrast, and what
we're going to see here is The great contrast between the reprobate
and the child of God is the grace of God. We saw before that the
reprobate is the cause of his own condemnation. But here we
see that the difference between God's servants and the reprobate
is God's grace. He saves his servants by grace. Now first notice that God's grace
makes the believer a servant of God. He said there, Behold,
my servants shall. Behold, my servants shall. Behold,
my servants shall. Now, everybody is a servant. Turn over Romans 6, just a moment.
Everybody is a servant, but we're not all servants of God. We're
serving God's purpose, but we're not all saved servants of God. But all are servants. Everybody's
a servant. Nobody's free. Everybody's a
servant. Look here at Romans 6 and verse
16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, whoever you obey, his servants
you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience
unto righteousness. We're in one of these two places.
We're either obeying sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. Now look at the juxtaposition
right here. Look at the sin or obedience. It's either sin or
obedience. The obedience that he speaks
of here is faith in Christ. When the Holy Spirit comes, Christ
said He'll convince His people of sin because they believe not
on Me. The obedience he's talking about
here is faith. Faith is the opposite of sin. Believe in Christ. And then look
here at the juxtaposition between death and righteousness. He's showing opposites here. Wouldn't you expect to see death
and life? Remember I told you before, there
is no life except righteousness. Righteousness and life are synonymous. If Christ be in you, the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. If you have righteousness, you
have life. And every believer has righteousness in Christ.
So we don't have any death, we have everlasting life. Because
we have Christ, our righteousness. Alright, look here now. Christ
is that life. He is that righteousness. Verse
14, but God be thanked You were the servants of sin. But you've
obeyed, you believed from the heart that form of doctrine,
the gospel of Christ crucified, which was delivered to you. And
being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Servants of Christ, our righteousness. You see, true servants are made
by God. They're made by God. God is the
one who... Think about how many people in
this world will go through this life and never have heard the
truth of the gospel. But God's going to send His people
the gospel. They're going to hear it. He's
going to make sure they hear it. And not only with these ears,
but He's going to give them ears to hear it. And eyes to behold. And faith to believe. They're
going to behold Christ through faith. And they're going to believe
on Him. Rest in Him. God bethinked. You were the servants
of sin, he said, but now you're my servants, God said. So everybody's
a servant. Everybody here is a servant.
But now look here next thing I want you to see. He shows us
some blessings he's going to give, but he shows here that
the reprobate is only going to receive natural things. The believer
is going to receive blessing, but the reprobate is just going
to receive Natural things look here verse 13 behold my servant
shall eat But you shall be hungry My servant shall eat God promises
every chosen blood vault regenerated child shall eat He shall eat
and he shall drink Now what is eating and drinking necessary
for? It's necessary for life for life, and that's what he's
saying here. We're gonna have life and We're going to have
life. John 6, go there with me. Remember Christ said, I've come
that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.
John 6, 27. Now heed this word, labor not for the
meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endures unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him God the Father has sealed. Now those unregenerate men heard
Him say that. They heard Him say, labor. So
look at the question they asked next. Then said they unto Him,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? You said,
labor. What shall we do then that we
might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God. This is it, that you believe
on Him whom He hath sent. that you believe on Christ. That's
the work of God. Look down at verse 35. Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. That's
what God said in our text. My servants shall never hunger
and they'll never thirst. What's He mean by that? Verse
47. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's what
he means right there. He'll never hunger and he'll
never thirst because he has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Verse 50. This is that bread
that comes down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not
die. That's what he's talking about.
Eat and not be hungry. Eat and not die. Eat and have
everlasting life. Christ is our life, brethren.
He's our life. Christ is righteousness. And
I show you, life and righteousness are one. Before Adam sinned in
the garden, he hadn't broken God's law. Sin hadn't entered
in and he was righteous. So what was he? He was alive. God could commune with him. He
had communion with God because he was alive. But when he sinned,
death entered. And death passed on us because
we were conceived in sin. But when Christ enters, the life
enters, the righteousness. Our righteousness enters Christ
and we have righteousness, we have life. And that's when you'll
trust Christ for your only righteousness. He won't be looking at you. And
here's the strange thing about that is, men will hear that and
they'll say, well, that's going to make a sinner look within.
No. This is the only thing that will make a sinner look without.
It's the only thing that will make him look outside of himself
to Christ only. It's when Christ comes in. It
gives him life. Something else here too. Because
God's provided Christ for His people, We'll never hunger or
thirst in this life either, brethren. David said, I've been young and
now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken. I've never seen His seed begging
bread. God will never forsake His people. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. And God's going
to provide for His people. Get that in your heart, believer.
When you see it looks tough and sometimes we sit there and we
say, Lord, I don't know how in the world you're going to pull
me out of this one. Well, He will. He's going to
bring His child through it. We're not going to hunger and
thirst. Not going to hunger and thirst. But if you do not believe
Christ, if you do not cast your care on Christ, this is God's
promise to you. It's a great contrast to the
reprobate. Listen to this. My servant shall
eat, but you shall be hungry. My servant shall drink, but you
shall be thirsty. And it's just the opposite of
what the believer has. No righteousness, only sin. No life, only death. No peace with God, only condemnation. And the life that you live in
this world is going to be full of thorns and briars. In this world, you're going to
have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation. and then
after this life. So sinner, why do you insist
on condemnation rather than peace with God? Paul said, knowing
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Why do you insist on condemnation
rather on peace with God? Why do you insist on death rather
than life? Do you see how blind and ignorant
a sinner has to be to reject Christ, to reject rest in Christ? the works of self-righteousness
and a life of labor and toil and sorrow. God promises this too. Christ
shall be our rejoicing and our song. Look here at verse 13. He says, second part there, He
says, Behold, My servants shall rejoice. And then in verse 14,
He says there, He says there, And my servants shall sing for
joy of heart. My servants shall rejoice. My
servants shall sing for joy of heart." We rejoice and we sing
because Christ has come and showed us we are sinners. He has come
and showed us just like brother Ravi read there. He showed us
what we are. He showed us thou art the man.
And He has brought us to that place He brought David to cry
out, Lord, purge me. I need to be washed. I need to
be found in you and you alone. I need to have your righteousness,
not my own righteousness." And then Christ shows His child.
That's exactly what He is to us. He's made us righteous. He's
made us righteous. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord. We've been crucified with Him.
Our body of sin is destroyed with Him that we might live with
Him and we're risen with Him. Your life is seated at the right
hand of God right now, He said. Our righteousness is seated at
the right hand of God right now. And when He makes you behold
that right there, you're going to sing. You are going to sing. You are going to rejoice because
your heart is glad. What do I have to be down about? Nothing. When you have Christ,
even when times are bad, they are good. Look at Isaiah 61, 7. Listen
to this word. Isaiah 61, 7. He says, therefore
your shame, in place of your shame, you shall have double.
And for confusion, in place of your confusion, they shall rejoice
in their portion. Therefore, in their land, they
shall possess the double. Everlasting joy shall be unto
them. Everlasting joy shall be unto
them. For I, the Lord, love judgment.
I hate robbery for burnt offering. I'll direct their work in truth.
I'll make an everlasting covenant with them. See what he's saying?
This is our song, brethren. You'll have everlasting joy. He said there in Isaiah 52, 9,
break forth into singing. The Lord's redeemed His people.
Break forth into singing. He said in Isaiah 54, break forth
into singing. Your husband, your Redeemer,
got nothing but joy to sing about. We got comfort even in the worst
times, even in the night seasons. He says, I'll be your song and
I'll be your rejoicing. But to you who refuse Christ,
look at what it says, God who cannot lie promises, so long
as you fight against God, so long as you reject His Son, you'll
have this great contrast. Isaiah 65, 13, My servant shall
rejoice, but you shall be ashamed. Do you know what that shame is?
That shame is sin. That shame is sin. You're going
to be brought to the end to be ashamed. All your sins are going
to be made known. And you're going to be made ashamed.
But we're going to be brought to rejoice. Because in that day,
God's going to say, I don't remember your sin. You're nothing but
righteous. You've only done that which pleased
me. And we're going to rejoice. But
the sinner that comes to God without Christ, he's going to
be ashamed. Be ashamed. Behold, My servant shall sing
for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl
for vexation of spirit. Can you just imagine spending
an eternity beholding the Lord Jesus Christ? And that's what
hell is going to be. It's going to be beholding your
separation. and Him from whom you separated
from. It's going to be beholden what
you could have had. Beholden His people and the bliss
and joy that they have. He said, there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves
thrust out. No joy, no singing, weeping. That's sad, brethren. Very sad. Thirdly, God declares the great
contrast in our names. He declares a great contrast
in our names. Verse 15, And you shall leave
your name for a curse unto My chosen. For the Lord God shall
slay thee and call His servants by another name. You see, He
said, I'm going to slay Israel. And what He's showing us right
now, He's holding Israel up. as an example, of a cursed people. Almost everybody in that nation
was cursed by God. And He's holding them up now,
showing us, I slayed them, He said, through slumming, 70 A.D.,
just obliterated it. And He said, I slew them. And
He's holding that up now to you and me, their name as a curse,
showing us, He said, I'm going to leave this for my people to
see. So my people are warned about
this and taught from this. You see, the self-righteous Pharisees
thought that their name was going to go on for generation after
generation and people would be talking about them and rejoicing
in them and using them as an example of how to be holy and
pious and righteous. That's what this world thinks.
Life is going to go on and on and on and their name is going
to go on and they name everything after themselves and they think
it's going to be that way from here on. First thing that children
do when they die is take that name down. Put their own name
up. And the Lord says here, He's
going to wipe Israel's name off and leave us cursed for His people,
His chosen people. Why did they think this? What
were they trusting in? They trusted in blood. Remember
how many times they told Christ, we're the children of Abraham. I hope nobody here is trusting
that. My mother and daddy are believers. That won't do you
any good. They thought, Abraham's our father.
Christ said, I didn't do you any good. It's not just the natural
sons of Abraham that are saved. It's the spiritual sons of Abraham,
the elect. They trusted in the will of the
flesh. They trusted all those works they were doing. They weren't
praying those long prayers for nothing. They weren't casting
that money in to be seen of men for nothing. And they expected
God to take notice too. They weren't keeping a fast for
nothing. They were expecting God to see
everything they did and give them credit for what they did.
And they trusted in the will of man. They trusted that back
there when they were 8 days old and they were circumcised, that
would bring them into a covenant with God and He would save them
everlastingly. And they trusted that because
they circumcised their children at 8 days old, that meant they
were going to be saved too. Look at what Scripture says in
John 1. John chapter 1. By blood, by will of the flesh,
and by the will of man. That's what they trust. That's
what men trust in, brethren. Look at John 1 and verse 12. He said, But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, which were born. not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but they
were born of God." Look at Romans 2.28, Romans 2.28. I started
to quote this to you earlier, but look here, Romans 2.28. I thought they were Jews. They
thought they were Jews too. All those natural things. Here's
what a true Israelite is. Here's what the true circumcision
is right here. True elect child of God right
here. It's this right here, look. Verse 28. He's not a Jew which
is one outwardly, in form, just in works. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. He's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is out of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. Everything you and I
can do, we're going to praise ourselves for that. This is God's
work. Salvation is God's work. The
renewing of the heart is God's work. It's God's work. So God
promised this, verse 15, back in our text, Isaiah 65, 15, He
said, You shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen, for
the Lord God shall slay thee. He'll slay thee. And that's what
He's showing us now. He's leaving their name, holding
it up and showing you, this is a warning to us, brethren. He's
teaching me and you who believe. And now Paul said in Romans 11,
he said, if some of those Jewish branches were broken off, and
you being Gentiles were a wild olive tree and you were grafted
in, which it's like The picture of a wild branch being grafted
into the olive tree, that's the picture there. He said, now don't
go boasting against those branches that were broken off. Don't think
now, well, we're something by our will and our works. Because
it's only by the olive tree, Christ bearing us. He's the root
and the fatness. He's bearing us, we're not bearing
Him. He is bearing us. We are saved by grace. So we
have no reason to boast either. So he says here verse 15, he
is going to call his servants by another name. Call his servants
by another name. It was a derogatory name at first. We were told in Acts 11 that
we were called Christians. Christians. Christians. And that was a derogatory name.
But we will take it, won't we? It's Christ's name. It's Christ's
name. He said we'd be called sons of
God. Behold what manner of love God has bestowed on you that
you should be called the sons of God. The sons of God. You know what it took to give
us that name? It took God giving His Son. It took His Son laying down His
life, being separated from God that justice might be satisfied.
Look back at Isaiah 62.4. Here's a name, Isaiah 62.4. Hephzibah, it means delight of
the Lord, the Lord's delight. Beulah, it means married to the
Lord. Isaiah 62.4. Thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken, neither shalt thou land any more be termed
desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
and thy land, Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee, and
thy land shall be married." See there, Hephzibah means the Lord
delighteth in thee, Beulah means thy land shall be married. Christians,
the sons of God, Hephzibah, Beulah. Let me show you my favorite.
Turn to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. This is
my favorite name. Now here in Jeremiah 23 verse
5, let's begin there. Here we're talking about Christ.
Now watch this. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch and a king, sorry, a righteous
branch and a king shall reign and prosper. That's Christ. And
He shall execute judgment and justice in earth. That's what
He did when He walked this earth and redeemed His people. That's
what He did at Calvary. In His days, Judah shall dwell
safely. Now, He's talking about Christ
right here. This is the name whereby He shall be called. This
is the name whereby Christ will be called. The Lord, our righteousness. That's who He is. The Lord, our
righteousness. Now, turn to Jeremiah 33.15.
Jeremiah 33.15. You see here almost the exact
same passage of Scripture, but there's one change I want you
to see. Jeremiah 33, verse 15. In those days and at that time
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this
is the name wherewith she shall be called. The Lord our righteousness. Christ's name is the Lord our
righteousness. And our name is the Lord our
righteousness. He said I'm going to call Him
by another name. We have His name. Now what do we do to earn
this name? What do we do to earn this name?
Let me ask you sons and daughters something. What do you do to
earn your name? What mighty work did you do to
have your name? Nothing. You are absolutely passive
in it. You were born of your parents,
provided for by your parents, raised by your parents, kept
by your parents, nourished by your parents, and you wear your
daddy's name because he gave it to you. He gave it to you.
That's how much we have to do with having this name. Born of
God, chosen of God, redeemed by God, born of God, kept by
God, saved by God, resurrected by God, All of God's grace, every
bit of it. Alright, here's the last thing.
Seeing that this is all a work of grace, every bit of it, beginning
to end, God promises that every true believer shall glory only
in God. Don't you love the fact that
God promises these things? He doesn't say there's any condition
on our part. He doesn't say He's going to
leave it in our hand. He said, this is how it's going to be.
This shall be. And this I love specifically. He says, My people shall glory
in Me. Watch this, verse 16. And he who blesseth himself in
the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he that
sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because
the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from
my eyes." Now let me say something to the believer. Our former troubles
are forgotten. Our former troubles are forgotten.
They're hid from God's eyes. I'm talking about our sin, our
curse, our condemnation, our lack of a righteousness, our
need for sanctification. All our former troubles are forgotten. God remembers our sin no more
because He sent His Son, His only begotten Son, the Son He
loves and the Son He loves walked righteously before God. And He
went to the cross and He bore the sin of His people and God
charged Him with everything His people are and He went to that
cross and laid down His life and satisfied justice so that
the loss has nothing to us. It has nothing to say to us.
And then He sanctified us. It's all of Him. And so now He
says to us through faith, all your former troubles, and we
had some, didn't we? We had some. He said, I don't
remember them. They're hid from my eyes. You
and I can't forget our troubles. We keep remembering them, and
we just keep remembering them, and we can't forget them. Well,
it don't matter what you remember. It does not matter what you remember.
It matters what God remembers. Look here, Isaiah 43, 25. Isaiah 43, 25. I am He, even I am He that blotteth
out thy transgression for mine own sake. I'm glad He put that
with it. For His own sake, He won't never
He won't ever change it. I blot out thy transgressions
for my own sake and will not remember thy sins. Does that mean God is just going
to pretend they are not there? Is He just overlooking them?
Hebrews 1.3 says Christ purged our sins. God doesn't remember
them because they are not there to remember. Christ purged our
sins. He purged them. He satisfied
God. God says, I don't remember you
sinning anymore. Look at Psalm 103.12. Or I can just read it
to you. But Psalm 103.12. Listen to this. There are many
more scriptures like this. I'm just giving you a few. Psalm
103.12. As far as the east is from the
west, How far is that? They never meet. You go north, you're going to
go back south eventually. You go south, you're going to
go north eventually. But you go east and west and you'll just
keep going east. You never start going west at
any point. You're always going east. Look
here. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Well, if he took them from us,
where did he put them? He put them on his son. And his
son bore them away. Remember that scapegoat? That
was the picture. That scapegoat took those transgressions
away into a land not inhabited. That land not inhabited is a
picture of death. Christ took our sins to death
because that's what the law demanded. The wages of sin is death. He
paid it. Now God says, I don't remember
their sins anymore. That's what we say when we say
God will not demand a second payment from us when Christ has
paid it because the debt's paid. He says, I don't remember your
sin anymore. I can't charge you again. I did this for my own
sake, for my holiness and my righteousness sake. I can't charge
you with sin again. Christ has put them away. I wish
we could remember that. That's the only way we can make
it and hold our head up and keep going in times when we see our
sin so much that we're just beat down by it. That's the only thing
that keeps us looking to Him. It's Him, knowing He put them
away. God doesn't remember them anymore. He purged them, took
them from us. Took them from us. So then, He
says here now, those that are going to glory, who are they
going to glory in? They are going to glory in Me,
He said. Look at 1 Corinthians 1.30 and we'll close. Who else
do we have to glory in, brethren? Everything is of God. You see,
let me state this again. I want to make sure you get this.
Those that don't understand the difference between our gospel
and the gospel of this world's religion, whether it be Christianity,
whether it call itself Christianity or any other religion, you can
take those that call themselves Christians and lump them with
every other religion in the world. I'm talking about false religion. Here's what they all have in
common. At some point in the salvation,
you have to do something. And you can glory in yourself.
You can pat yourself on the back for that one thing you had to
do. And most of them have many things you have to do. But the
difference with true religion, true Christianity, true salvation
is God's people only glory in God. We only glory in Christ
because we got nobody else to glory in. Look here, this is
salvation right here. This is salvation. Of God are
you in Christ Jesus. There's God the Father. Chose
us and put us in Christ. Who of God, here's the Holy Spirit,
He's making Christ something unto us. And then here's Christ. He's made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. There's God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That means salvation a disease
of God. Of God are you in Christ. Of
God the Holy Spirit, Christ is made unto you. And Christ is
made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
That's all of salvation right there. So what are we going to
do then? If we didn't have a part in that,
we didn't play any, we didn't do a single work in that, then
what? That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. That's what God said His people
are going to do in our text. He that blesseth himself on earth
is going to glory in God. He's going to glory in God. Now,
for you that do not believe, I pray, I really pray, I pray
God will give you grace So stay under the sound of the gospel.
Give you grace to keep you coming back, coming back, coming back.
Give you grace to hear it, believe it, and trust Christ. I pray
He'll give you grace to do so. I pray He will. And for you that
believe Him, see what great things we have to rejoice in. We were
going right with that flow. We were going right with it.
Remember those little ducks at the carnival, at the fair? And
little kids walk up, pick that duck out, you know? We were going
right along with the flow with all the rest of the little ducks.
And God took us out. Took us out. He wouldn't let
us perish. Saved us. It's all by grace.
All by grace. Oh, praise Him, brethren. Glory
in Him and Him alone. Alright, let's stand together. Father, thank You for this Word. You know how to bless it and
we depend on you to do it all and we just acknowledge that.
We acknowledge we need you to bless it however it needs to
be blessed and we trust you and look to you to do it. Father,
we pray that you'll be with your people as they leave here. We pray that you'll be with our
young people, keep them And Lord, make us hear it. Make
us acknowledge how serious this is and make us rejoice by your
grace. Lord, forgive us our sins. Oh,
how we need forgiveness. Purge us, Lord. Purge us within. Purge us and clear our minds
and our conscience. Make us truly behold that you
remember our sins no more. Make us rejoice in you. Lord,
we ask all these things in the name of our Lord and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Amen.