I remind you again that the nation
of Israel existed throughout the age of the Old Testament
scriptures only for one purpose, to be a type and picture of the
church of God and God's blessings and grace upon his church in
Christ Jesus the Lord. The history of that nation, as
it's recorded in the pages of the word of God, is a history
that's symbolic and representative of the things that God's church,
his elect, that is all the host of God's chosen, the church universal,
the body of Christ. They were symbolic of the things
God's church experiences in this world. Their physical struggles
were pictures of our spiritual struggles. We who are gods, the
church of Jesus Christ is God's Israel, God's chosen nation,
the true Israel of God. In fact, the church is called
in the book of Galatians, the Israel of God. Everything spoken
to, experienced by, and done for that nation has direct application
to you and me as the church and people of God. As Israel was
a great nation sprung from Abraham, the seed of Abraham, so the church
is a great nation sprung from Christ, the seed of Abraham.
Paul tells us in Galatians 3 29, if ye be Christ, then are ye
Abraham's seed. We who believe are children of
Abraham, as Israel was the beneficiary of a covenant made by God with
one man. So the church of God's elect
is the beneficiary of a covenant made by the triune God with one
man, Jesus Christ the Lord, before ever time began. As Israel was
in bondage to Egypt for 400 years, so we were held in bondage to
sin to Satan and to the law of God until the day God sent his
grace to redeem and deliver us. As Israel was delivered from
Egyptian bondage by the blood of the Lamb and by the power
of God, so we were delivered from our bondage of nature by
the blood of Christ and by the power of God in his omnipotent
grace, the power of God the Holy Ghost. as Israel had many struggles
with many enemies all her days in this world. So we have many
struggles with countless enemies as long as we live in this body
of flesh. Our foes are the world, the flesh,
and the devil. Enemies without and enemies within. enemies to oppose our minds,
our hearts, our souls, as we seek to walk with God and serve
his interest in this world. As Israel was at last brought
across the Jordan and delivered into the land of Canaan by Joshua,
so God's church, every one of his elect, shall be brought by
our Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered into heavenly glory
in the last day by his mighty grace. Isaiah 26 is a song of
praise to God about these things. A song of praise to God for all
that he had done for Israel and Judah, his chosen. but the song
looks beyond that physical nation. her physical troubles, and her
physical deliverances. Isaiah's song is a song, he says,
will be sung in that day. The very opening words, chapter
26, verse one. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. That is, in this gospel day,
he has been speaking of ever since chapter 11. In this gospel
day, this song is to be sung by God's Israel. That is, by
God's church, by God's people. All the historic things spoken
of here have reference to the church of God in this gospel
day. In the first part of the song,
verses one through four, there is a declaration of security
and peace. God's church is secure in God's
hands. God's people are secure in his
hands. Their peace is a matter of certainty,
for it is the peace given by His grace, not peace in the world,
not peace from the world, not peace from the experiences we
have in this world, but rather the peace of God that passeth
understanding, that perfect peace that is ours in, by, and with
Christ Jesus. In verses five through 11, the
second part of this song is an encouragement to faith and confidence
in God our Savior. As we make our way through this
world, as we gather here in this place to worship God, God give
us grace and wisdom to help encourage one another's faith. to help
encourage one another's confidence in God. As I preach to you, I
call you to believe on the Lord Jesus, and I call you to continue
believing. I try to encourage faith and
confidence in God our Savior. The songs we sing are songs to
encourage faith and confidence in Him. And then the last part
of this psalm, or this song, is a celebration of God's wonderful
works. Brother Merle read back in the
office the first 30 verses of Psalm 107, a psalm in which David
calls on us to magnify, to praise and honor our God for his wonderful
works to the children of man. This last part of the psalm in
Isaiah 26 is a celebration of God's work. Let's read verses
12 through 21 together. This will be my text. Lord, thou
wilt ordain peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our
works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside
thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make
mention of thy name. They are dead. They shall not
live. They are deceased. They shall
not rise. Therefore hast thou visited and
destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. Thou hast increased
the nation, O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation.
Thou art glorified. Thou hast removed it far unto
all the ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited
thee. They poured out a prayer when
thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with child that
draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth
out in her pains, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We
have been with child. We've been in pain. We brought
forth, as it were, or we have, as it were, brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance
in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
We haven't been able to accomplish a thing. We haven't done anything. Nothing has fallen by our hand.
Nothing accomplished by our hand. We just brought forth wind. Verse 19, thy dead men shall live together
with my dead body shall they arise. Awake, and seeing ye that
dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as
it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed.
For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slave. In these verses, we
have a review, a promise, and an invitation. Let's look at
them together. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace
for us. For thou also hast wrought all
our works in us. Whatever trouble we may experience
in this world, God's elect can comfort themselves with this
fact. God will ordain peace for us in the end. Every creature,
every event. everything that comes to pass
in time, our heavenly father brings to pass and he has graciously
and wisely ordained it and brings it to pass for peace to his own
in the end. Even so, we recognize that things
often seem against us. And we cry like Jacob, all these
things are against me. God forgive us our unbelief.
All that God does is for us. And whatever comes to pass is
what God does. For thou hast wrought all our
works in us. We are all debtors to God's grace.
You and I who believe, debtors to grace. We are not what we
desire to be, We are not what we should be. We are not what
we soon shall be. But bless God, we are not what
we once were. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. And all that we are, we are by
the grace of God. Faith is God's gift. Life is
God's gift. Redemption is God's gift. Repentance is God's gift. Conversion is God's gift. All that we are, we are by grace
alone. And if we are enabled of God
to do something of some benefit to someone, if we are enabled of God to do
something for His glory along the way. If we're enabled of
God to act like that woman who came to the Lord Jesus and anointed
Him for His burial, and He said, she's wrought a good work on
me. If God would allow me to do such a thing, if God would
allow you to do something good, it's God working in us. It is
God working in us. For it is God which worketh in
us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Any grace
we have in us, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Any grace we have in us, whatever
it is, it is not something we work in ourselves. It is not
something we grow into, but rather it is the fruit and gift of God's
grace. We believe by the operation of
God the Holy Ghost. That's true initially, and that's
true day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment. We believe
God as God the Holy Ghost works faith in us. All our works are
wrought of God. Now the remaining verses of this
song are an exposition or an explanation of verse 12. He shows
us these three things. A review of our past in verses
13 through 18. A promise of grace in verse 19.
and an invitation of mercy in the last two verses. Here's a
review of our past. Whenever we think about the history
of God's church or the history of our individual lives, we should
always bear some things in mind. God teach me ever to be mindful,
always to remember where I was when you called me by your grace.
O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us,
but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. This is
a confession of sin. The prophet of God leads the
children of God to confess their base, horrid, a whoring from
God and following after idols. Read the book of Judges with
care. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes and
God let him see what they would do. And they would be brought
in subjection to barbaric, heathen, idolatrous peoples. And then
in their trouble, they cried of God and he would raise up
a judge, a savior, a deliverer who would deliver them and they
would, follow God for a little while, and then here they go
again. And another barbaric, heathen,
idolater come to rule over them, and they would worship the gods
of the heathen. And Isaiah here speaks and says,
Lord, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. We've
been idolaters, base, corrupt, and vile. That's our way, that's
our inclination, that's what we are. If you leave me to me,
my God, that's what I'll do with my next breath. You too, you too. And then there is a promise made. A promise made by God's grace,
the prophet speaks for the church, and he says, by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. That means we will worship no
God but you. Spirit of God, let me remember
where you found me, son of God. My savior graciously bring me
in my heart to my mind constantly where I was when you called me.
Oh, my father calls me ever to remember, to look to the rock
whence I've been hewn and to the hole of the pit from whence
I've been dug. Remembering what we were and
where we were, and what we are by nature, let us resolve by
God's grace to serve and praise Him forever. By Thee only will
we make mention of Thy name. I try to remember Every time I had the privilege
of baptizing a newborn baby in Christ, what that baptism represents,
it represents what I confessed to God and to the world and to
his church more than 50 years ago. I'm crucified with Christ. I'm buried with Christ. I'm risen
with Christ. I belong to Christ. It is my
business to walk with Him in the newness of life. We will
take the bread and wine in just a little bit and again perform
this ordinance, celebrate redemption by our Savior as our Savior told
us to in remembrance of Him. and sweet memory of Him. Oh,
thank You, my Savior, that You have given us this ordinance
and these two simple elements, bread and wine, by which we are
compelled as we take the bread and drink the wine to remember
You, to remember our redemption. the price of our redemption and
the result of our redemption by his precious blood. Let's
remember too what God's done for us by his grace. They are dead, those who had
dominion over us. They shall not live. They are
deceased. They shall not rise. Therefore
hast thou visited and destroyed them. and made all their memory
to perish. What does that mean? Obviously
referring to the Egyptians and Pharaoh and their armies of Pharaoh
drowned in the Red Sea. And the Egyptians never again
had power over Israel. They never again. had power over
Israel because God destroyed their enemies. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, like David, went out against the giant who would oppose
and destroy God's people. And by his might and by his power,
overthrew Satan and said, now is the prince of this world cast
out. I, if I be lifted up, will draw
all men unto me. He's described as an angel in
Revelation 20 who comes down with a mighty chain and binds
the old dragon, that serpent, and cast him into the pit and
seals the pit with a lid and says he will never again have
power over you. We walked all our days after
the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just like
all others, taken captive by Satan at his will. And now he
has no power over you. He has no power over you, if
you're gods, none. No power to accuse, no power
to condemn, no power to destroy, no power to hurt. All he can
do is roar because God, our savior, has destroyed our enemies. He comes in the power of his
grace in the new birth and sets us free. For our Savior has cast
our sins behind his back, nailing them to his cross, never to be
remembered against us again forever. Always remember, children of
God, salvation is of the Lord. Look at verse 15. Thou hast increased
the nation, O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation.
Thou art glorified. Thou hast removed it far unto
all the ends of the earth. What strange language. What strange language. Remember
the day when Isaiah is writing. He's anticipating the time of
Babylonian captivity. Israel was at one of her lowest
ebbs. And yet he says, Thou hast increased
the nation. How? Thou hast scattered it. to the ends of the earth. How
far Isaiah takes that or his words apply to the scattering
of Israel as a physical nation among the nations, I'll leave
it to others to guess. But I want you to understand
that our God continually increases His holy nation, His church. And as the children of Israel
were increased in Egypt, so God increases His church in this
world. And as they are scattered to
the four corners of the earth, by whatever means God is pleased
to scatter them, He does but increase His nation. The Lord
God adds to His church daily such as should be saved. I'll
remind you again of something I found very, very delightful. Brother Bill Clark told me about
before he died, shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed and
doors opened so they could go in and establish a printing ministry
in Russia. Brother Clark led the way and
established a printing house in Belarus. He and Brother Mahan
went over. And this was early days, just
after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And I don't know how word
got around, but I remember Henry and Bill both telling me, they
said, you said on the train, and said it was obvious these people,
didn't know a thing about living in a free world. Everybody would
look at you and look away because everybody's accustomed to being
spied on. If you go in your room and somebody had been in your
room, it was obvious they'd been in there searching for something.
But they got on the train to leave and go to the airport. And as they did, the window was
down. Somebody walked by and slipped
a piece of paper in Brother Bill Clark's hand, just reached up
and handed it to him. He reached out and took it and opened it up and
said, There are believers here too. There are believers here
too. God in his providence only increases
his church. You may or may not see it. I
may or may not see it. We may think things are at a
horribly low ebb, and indeed they are in certain ways, but
God is still, is increasing and establishing his holy nation. object of God in all this work
is the glory of His name. Thou art glorified. Our Father which art in Heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. The number one thing our Savior
taught us to pray for, God glorify Your name. I willingly, gladly am honored
to subject everything to the honor and glory of your name. And now let me tell you something.
Let me tell you something. I don't care what the politicians
do in Washington or in Frankfurt or in Moscow. I don't care what
religious fools do. I don't care what infidels do. God's name is glorified in the
saving of his people. Three times over we're told in
the first book, first chapter of Ephesians, that God chose
us and redeemed us and orders his providence and saves us to
the praise of his glory. That's what we desire. Let us
be content knowing that he says, I have both glorified it and
will yet glorify it again. It is the glory of God to save
his people. And it's the glory of his people
to glory in him. And remember that though we're
often unfaithful to him, The Lord our God is always faithful
to His own. Look at verse 15. As He scattered Israel among
the nations, graciously forcing His chosen to seek Him, so He
sends trouble, adversity, and affliction, graciously bowing
our hearts to our Redeemer, graciously forcing us to seek him when we
otherwise would not. Thou hast increased the nation,
O Lord. Thou hast increased the nation.
Thou art glorified. Thou hast removed it far unto
the ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited
thee. They poured out a prayer when
thy chastening was upon them. I've told you hundreds of times,
nothing, Lindsey Campbell, nothing honors God like faith in Christ. And he graciously fixes it so
that we're going to turn to him and lean on him for his glory. He brings chastening, He brings
affliction, He brings sorrow, He brings pain, He shows our
weakness, and He bows us to His throne, graciously forcing us
to look to Him. When trouble, especially spiritual
trouble comes, there's nothing we can do to change things. That's
what verses 17 and 18 are about. Like a woman with child, She
draws near time for her delivery, and she's in pain, and she cries
in her pains. Lord, that's just where we are.
We've been in pain, and we cried. But all we bring forth is wind. Not life, not good, not good
for ourselves, not good for others. When lost, we couldn't save ourselves,
he did. When fallen, we can't recover
ourselves. When languishing, we can't revive
ourselves. When tempted, we can't escape
the tempter. When assaulted, we cannot overcome
our enemies. Would to God. He would seal this
in our minds and hearts, yours and mine. Are you listening?
You and I, believers, the strongest among us, the most faithful among
us, are helpless in every circumstance until God helps us. Would you write that down and
try to remember it? I'm helpless in every circumstance until God
helps me. Helpless. Helpless. Turn me, O God, in my salvation,
and I shall be turned, but not unless you turn me. and we will run after thee, but
not unless you draw us. Wilt thou not revive thy work? Indeed he will. You see the history
of God's church. The history of our lives is a
history of grace, pure, free, sovereign grace. Our Lord Jesus,
our mighty Zerubbabel, is described in Zechariah chapter four as
that one who lays the foundation of his house, of his church,
of his kingdom, of his nation. And it is he who will bring the
headstone and put it in its place with shoutings, grace, grace
unto it. Not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord. That's the history of God's church. That's the history of our lives. And then in verse 19, we're given
a promise. As we review the past and see
nothing but grace, and as we look to the future, our only
hope is grace. So here's a promise of grace.
Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body. shall they
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead. Now, the Lord willing, I'll come
back to this another day. But let me call your attention
again to just three things that are clearly set forth before
us here. The first, obviously, is talking about our resurrection
with Christ in the new birth. Our being raised from the dead
by the power of His grace. This is called the first resurrection. When our Lord Jesus was crucified,
we were crucified with Him, and we died with Him, and we arose
with Him, and we're seated with Him in heavenly places. And then
He comes to us in the power of His grace and raises us from
the dead. The first resurrection. Read
about it in the first six verses of Revelation 20. Our Lord Jesus
speaks of this new birth as nothing less than a resurrection from
the dead. And in Ezekiel 37, He gives us
a picture, a picture of a valley of dry bones. And the Spirit
of God comes. and those bones are made to live. And the Lord God says, this is
what I will do for you, O house of Israel. He will raise up every
one of his own. It also speaks of the reviving
of God's church as needed. At his own appointed time, the
Lord God sends refreshing to our souls. He sends revival to
his church. At his time, as needed. The psalmist said, though I walk
in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. There's a lot of silly Pentecostal nonsense talk
about revival among people who ought to know better. And I don't
pay any attention to those things men call revivals that cause
people to wave their hands and water in the floor and speak
in tongues and all that stupid stuff folks talk about as being
accompanying a revival. I'll pay any attention to it.
That's not what this book teaches. But God comes as needed, that is, as best for
you and best for me and gives a little reviving now and then.
It's best we don't experience it every day. It's best we don't
live on the mountaintop. You'll find his church usually
in the valley, and Christ walking with him among the myrtle trees,
not on mountaintops, and there's a reason for that. Nothing grows
up there where the air's thin. Nothing does. We grow in the
valley, but occasionally he sends the sweet wind of revival to
his own, and our souls are revived. He sometimes sends the sweet
wind of revival to a local church or to many or to the church as
a whole. But this as is needed for our
benefit and his glory. And certainly this is a promise
of the resurrection in the last day. Soon Christ shall appear and
this mortal shall put on immortality. This body, sown in the grave
in corruption, eaten of worms and gone back to dust unless
mortician gets hold of it. In the grave, this body shall
come together by the power of God and shall be raised in incorruption
and immortality. What a prospect. Raised in the
likeness of the Son of God. I've read everything I can think
of and everything I can find to read on the subject to the
resurrection that I thought was worth reading and what the resurrection
body will be like that I thought might be worth reading. And I'll
be honest with you, Rex, I know less about it now than I did
when I was 17 years old. I thought I understood a little
bit about it. I have no idea. I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which
God's prepared for them that love Him. But He's revealed them
to us by His Spirit. That is, He's revealed to us
the fact of these things to come. He hasn't revealed to us how
it's going to happen or when. He said, this is what's awaiting
you. There's going to come a resurrection
day. Body, soul, and spirit shall
be raised. The earth shall cast out her
dust. And that will be the glorious
second advent of our Savior. Now, look at verse 20 and 21. Here's an invitation of mercy
from our God. Come, my people. Enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as
it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. For behold, the Lord cometh out
of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood, and shall no more cover her slaves. Come into your chambers. Come
into the rock of ages, his person, his blood, his righteousness.
Come into his covenant, his promises, his word. Shut your door behind
you and hide yourself for a little time, for just a little moment. What a way for God to speak of
trouble, just a little moment. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment. worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. Hide yourself for a little moment
until the indignation be overpassed. We heard some pretty loud thunder
this afternoon. If my grandson hears this message, he's gonna
be embarrassed by his grandpa. But you forgive Papa, I got to
tell it. When he was a little boy, he'd
hear loud thunder. I mean, like most little boys.
And he'd say, is that thunder, Nana? God made the thunder. I'm not scared of thunder. Hold
me, Nana. Hold me, Nana. Do I hear the thunder? You made
it. Hold me, my God. Hold me in the chambers of your
mercy. for a little while until the
indignation is overpassed. And when God gets done, he will
come out of his place and punish his enemies and ours. Soon, our God will make us and
all of hell, the demons of hell and the angels of heaven, the
righteous and the wicked, to see everything in its true light. He will expose his justice in
the everlasting damnation of every unbelieving sinner, a rebel
against God. And the wicked, while cursing
God, will say amen to his judgment, because it's right, and we will
too. And he will expose to the angels
of heaven, and to the demons of hell, and to all the wicked
among the damned, and to us. perfectly the righteousness of
his saints and his righteousness in the salvation of his elect. Oh, what a prospect, what a promise,
what a God. Amen.