But why was our Lord born in
a manger? Why was he a little baby on this
earth? Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest. You see, it all revolves around
the cross. The high priest had to have an
offering for the people. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
order for him to offer his precious blood in our stead on Calvary,
he had to be born into this world, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. His sacrifice on Calvary was
not an offer to sinners, it was an offering unto God. on behalf
of sinners, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, to
bring us to God, though our sins had separated between us and
our God. And then secondly, we're told
here that he shall be an ensign, which literally means, if you
look up that word ensign in the original Hebrew, it means something
lifted up. That's our savior. He said, if
I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto myself. And the word
signifies a banner, which our Lord is unto all his people.
There's nothing wrong with pledging allegiance to an earthly flag,
the banner of our nation, but there is no Christian flag. The
Lord is our banner. His banner over us is his love
for us. Again, Calvary, the cross, Christ
crucified. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sin offering
for our sins. So in our Savior's kingdom, it's
not of this world. And it's he himself that we rally
around and to whom we pledge our allegiance, a person. Now
thirdly, even the Gentiles unto whom he was not sent, it says
they'll seek unto him and he will receive them by grace. And
they're gonna be saved. The Gentiles were grafted in.
We remember in Romans chapter 11, it speaks of it. Of how that they were grafted
in because of the unbelief of the Jews that the grace of God
might be glorified Listen to John 1 11 he came unto his own
and his own received him not 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 of God born
of God, of every nation, tribe, and tongue. Acts 15, seven, and
when there had been much disputing, Simon Peter rose up and said
unto them, men and brethren, you know how that a good while
ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth,
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. God makes choices,
not men. Man's choices are always sinful,
they're always wrong. But God made choice to have mercy
on some Gentiles. I'm glad he did. And he said,
God made choice by my mouth, they're gonna hear the gospel
and believe. God chose that they're gonna believe. What are you gonna
do with that? That's God's choice. God chose that they would hear
the gospel and God chose that they would believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
beareth them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as
he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they." Anybody that's gonna be saved is gonna be by
God making a choice. that they're gonna hear and they're
gonna believe. That's how God saves sinners.
And it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from. Fourthly,
he says his rest shall be glorious. What are the Gentiles seeking
him for? Rest for their endless laboring for a righteousness
that can't save. For meaning, for life, for answers
apart from Christ, they're laboring under all of that. And his is
a glorious rest because it's rest unto the soul. Only those
who know Christ know what that even is. How does your soul rest? You can't know that until you
know the Lord Jesus Christ. It's eternal rest, it's perfect
rest. Come unto me all you that labor,
he said, and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest and take
my yoke upon you. and learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. It
all hinges around what? Knowing him. Learn of me, learn
of me. He is our rest. Now we understand
our text. Now we can see why the prophet
is able to say, in that day, shalt thou say, O Lord, I'm gonna
praise you. What else are you gonna say to
that? That he's gonna send his son to be an ensign, to be lifted
up in our place on Calvary as our sin offering. We know what
love is now. How are you gonna define love
until that happens? Well, because the Lord prophesied
of it. That's the only way you could
have even known what love is back then, before Christ gave
himself on Calvary. The Lord told us what was gonna
happen, and then he did it, and now he's telling us what he did.
He's telling everybody that'll listen, everybody whom he's chosen,
and as we saw there, he made a choice that you're gonna hear
the gospel and believe it. the Gentiles would. 11.10 tells us who he is and
what he will do. And now here is what we're gonna
do. We're gonna say, Lord, I'll praise
you. I'm gonna quit praising myself.
I'm gonna quit bragging on myself. I'm gonna quit giving bragimonies
and saying, look what I did for the Lord and look how changed
I am now. I'm gonna praise you now because you made a choice.
And it was to have mercy on me. and quit exalting the flesh like
Nebuchadnezzar. I'm gonna quit walking around
bragging about what I've done. And may we say with Nebuchadnezzar,
even tonight, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the
King of heaven, all whose works are truth and His way's judgment
and those that walk in pride. He's able to obey us. The Lord
was able to bring us down and to cause us to look to Him. God
was angry with us, that's what it says, and we know that's true.
By nature, we're the children of what? Wrath, even as others. But his anger is taken away,
as our text says. Thou wast angry, but thine anger
is turned away, and now he comforts us, us his sheep. He causes us to lie down in green
pastures, and drink from the still waters. Like Israel in
chapter nine of Isaiah, God was angry. He expresses his anger
against him now. And for the same reasons, they
were idolaters. So are we by nature. You say,
well, I've never worshiped an idol before, Chris. Are you sure
about that? And you worshiped yourself, I
guarantee you that. Everybody in here is old enough
to have worshipped themselves at one time or another. You may
still be doing that. But when God saves us, he causes
us to take up our cross. People die on crosses. That's
what they're for. Take up our cross and follow
him. Look to him. Did you ever trust in your own
works to please God? That's what we all did by nature.
We were all idolaters and ungrateful and vile. And all the things
that God describes us as being, you remember in Isaiah chapter
one, a sinful nation of people laden with iniquity. You talked
about how even the ass and the oxen know their master's crib,
but Israel doesn't know. They've gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You'll revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is faint. But now, he says, his anger is
turned away. When we experience that, we'll
praise him for that. That's what the prophet's doing
here. Now, he comforts us. How does
he do that? Well, first, he reveals what
we are. He causes us to need his comfort. You're dumber than a bunch of
animals and you're sinful and evil to the core. He doesn't
just talk about you doing bad things. You're sinful. You're
a sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers. You are evildoers. Not just that
you do evil, it's what you are. And how does he comfort us though?
In that same chapter, come now and let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Concerning your sin and how it
can be made as white as snow, for God's anger to be turned
away from us, our sins have to be dealt with and put away. He, unto us a child is born and
unto us a son is given. He shall be called. The Prince
of Peace, for he shall make peace by the blood of his cross, Isaiah
chapter nine. So you see, leading up to this
chapter, how God causes the distress in our soul and then comforts
us with words of the Savior and his precious blood and how our
sins can be put away. In Isaiah 53, of course, we see
how he does that, how the God will lay on him all of our iniquity. and the iniquity of all of his
people. And he shall be smitten, stricken of God and afflicted.
He shall be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.
And with his traps, we shall be healed. And so that's why
we praise him. This root of David, this joy
of the Gentiles comes where we are. And then look at the second
verse. Behold, God is my salvation. This is still us talking now.
God is my salvation. I will trust, I won't be afraid. He was angry with me, but his
anger's turned away and I'm not afraid of him anymore. I have
fear, I have reverence for him. But I'm not afraid of him for
the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He's on my side. He's my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. It's always important to point
out, and it seems like such a simple distinction, but it's important
that it doesn't say here that he, makes salvation available,
but he has become my salvation. He makes choice that we're gonna
hear the gospel and believe on it. And we say, he's my salvation
now. I'm gonna praise him. I'm gonna
trust him. I will trust. I don't trust in
a religious system. I don't trust religious people,
do you? They've proven to be untrustworthy. Listen to what
they say and check it according to the word of God. Look at all
of the horrible things that they get into, the corruption that's
just on the very surface of it. That's just the stuff we know
about. That's just the stuff that makes the news. Imagine
the corruption of organized religion that we don't even know about.
And listen to the lies that they tell on God every time they open
their mouth. I don't trust him. And no one
should bless God by his grace. I trust him. I trust him. He came down here to save me
and I see who he is by his grace. I see what he did. And like Paul,
we can say in our hearts, I'm persuaded that he is able. He saved me when I was without
strength. You see that? And now he's my
strength. and my joy and my song, my delight,
my song. You sing from a heart of joy
and thanksgiving and praise. And he is our song. Verse three, therefore with joy
shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. The wells of salvation. It's
hard not to think of that woman at the well. The Lord asked her
to give him something to drink. out of that well and In John
chapter 4 we have the story of that and this this one that this
chapter Isaiah that we're looking at and all of Isaiah And all
of the book of Isaiah is prophesied of he was sitting on that well
and that woman came to draw water And he said give me to drink
And she said in John 4, 9, then saith the woman of Samaria unto
him, how is it that thou being a Jew ask a strength of me, which
am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. The Lord has dealings with sinners. He has dealings with everybody
that he loves, that he said is affectionate, everybody that
he represents. He has dealings with whoever
he wants to have dealings with. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith
unto thee, give me to drink, then you would have asked him.
That's one of my favorite phrases in the scripture right there.
Think about that. This woman comes to the well
where the Lord is sitting and he says, give me to drink. And
she begins to talk to him and to object and just say, what
are you talking to me for? No Jews talk to Samaritans. And he says this, if you knew
the gift of God and who it is that speaks with you, if she
had any idea who was sitting on that well, She would have
asked him to draw and give to her from the wells of salvation.
That's what our text is talking about. That's not the well, any
well on this earth. That's the well that springs
up in heaven itself. That's that river that flows
from the throne of God. That's the well of water springing
up within every believer. That's Christ, the water of life. who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink, thou would have asked him and he would have
given it to you. Isn't that glorious? Just ask
him. Just ask and you shall receive. But look, when you're asking
the Savior, what are you asking him for? If you ask the Savior
for a drink from this well, What are you asking for, heaven? I
want to go to heaven when I die. That's not the question. That's
not what to ask for. This well of salvation is Christ
himself. What are you asking for when
you ask? When people come down the aisle, what are they looking
for? A better life? Blessings along the way? Promotion on a
job or something? What are you looking for? Is
it Christ himself? If you come asking for the water
himself, he said, I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you.
But that's not what people are interested in until he gives
them a new heart. And then that's all they're interested
in. You see the difference? It's night and day. It's night
and day now. What are you asking him for?
What a beautiful picture this is. You're drawing water from
a well, wow, because you need it to live. Got to have water. But that water can't give you
the life that you really need. The Lord said you're gonna thirst
again if you drink this water. Only Christ can give you the
life that you really need. He's the water of life. The water
drawn from the wells of salvation. Christ himself. In verse four, in that day, shall you say, praise
the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the
people, make mention that his name is exalted to you. First
of all, you're saying, Lord, I praise you. I thank you. I glorify you. I trust you. And now you're saying, Tell everybody
about Him. Tell everybody. Call upon His
name. Declare His doings among the
people and call upon Him. Those that come, what do they
say? Come. The Spirit and the bride say
come. Declare His name everywhere. Make mention that His name is
exalted. Don't forget to tell people that
He's on the throne. Religion has forgotten about
that. If they ever knew it, I reckon they probably didn't. Or you
wouldn't forget that, would you? You wouldn't forget that he's
on the throne now if you knew it. But they're not telling people
that. Make mention that by the way,
he saves whom he will. Make mention that he don't ever
try to do anything. He does as he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth. And
none can question him. None can stop him. Don't forget
to mention that. Don't forget to mention that
when you come to him, you're coming to somebody that can save
you. He's not just gonna wish the best for you and hope you
do the right thing. He'll save you if that's what he wants to
do. That's why that leper said, Lord, if you want to, you can
save me. Because it's the truth. Come
to him like that. And you know what his response
always is to that? If it's from the heart now, Lord,
if you will, you can save me, I will, be thou clean. Oh, that's how sinners are saved.
When you get some of that water, you're gonna start talking. That's
what the woman at the well did, you remember? Apparently the
Lord saved her. We're not told that, but it sure
does seem like it. She ran into town and was telling
everybody, come see a man that told me all things ever I did.
Is not this the Christ? That's what's happening in our
text. I believe the Lord gave her a drink from the wells of
salvation. And what'd she say? Oh, let's
declare his doings among the people. Let's tell everybody
about Him and what He did for sinners. That's exactly what
we do. Praise Him, call upon His name. Isn't that what we say? Praise
the Lord, call upon His name. Call upon, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord, He'll save you. And when His wrath is turned
away from us and we see Christ as God's wrath removed, His law
and His justice and His wrath satisfied in Christ Jesus, our
substitute, then we say to everybody that'll listen to us, trust Him,
come to Him, call upon Him. Spirit and the bride say come
and let him that hear it say come and let him that's thirsty
Come and take the water of life freely the water from the wells
of salvation. Take it Come to him and drink And when you've tasted that the
Lord is gracious tell everybody that you can The Lord is gracious And make
mention that he's exalted now. Don't speak of sweet little Jesus
that's done his best. We're ambassadors of the King.
And we're to speak like it. Verse five, sing unto the Lord
for he hath done excellent things. Sing unto him, praise him, glorify
him, exalt him in song, express joy. He for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross. Can we restrain the joy in our
heart that He did do that for us? Seeing unto the Lord, because you know, if you don't
use the talents the Lord has given you, that's a shame. No,
that's not why. That's not why. It's not about
you at all. whether you have any talent or
not, he's to be sung unto. I'll tell you what's beautiful
to him. Beautiful singing to us is singing
that's on key. You know, that makes sense, right?
If you sing off key, it's gonna be a little jarring. It's gonna be a little unpleasant,
but you know what? It doesn't mean we can't love
to hear it. Somebody's rejoicing and crying. Sing it with all
you got. But you know what's beautiful
to him? It ain't that you're on key, that your timing is right,
that you have a voice that's rich and melodic. That's not
what's beautiful to him. What's beautiful to him is what
you're singing. Sing unto the Lord for he hath
done excellent things. To sing praise unto his name. To sing from a heart that's been
redeemed by his precious blood and knows it. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. Beautiful to God is a song that
glorifies his son. What we're gonna sing forever
is worthy is the lamb that was slain. That's music to God's
ears. Can you imagine that? It almost
seems profane to say something is music to God's ears because
how would I know that? What have I got to say about
that? Except that's what the Bible says. Sweet music to God
himself. Worthy is the lamb, thou art
worthy. Why? For thou was slain. and has redeemed us to God by
that precious blood, singing to Him because of what He's done.
It's always about Him. Everybody knows about Christ
now. They know superficially what
He did. They know that He died on the cross, but not everybody
can sing about it like the redeemed can. The redeemed know what He actually accomplished
when He died on the cross, and it's personal. to them. It's
not just a doctrine. He died for me. He died in my
place. He died to save me. He redeemed
me with his blood. He suffered, was tortured, and
the prince of life was slain for a wretch like me. Verse six, cry out and shout.
Thou member of the church. I wouldn't say that if it wasn't
just clear in scripture. That's what it is. You inhabitant
of Zion, the city of God. That's the church all through
the word of God. That's his people. Cry out and shout thou inhabitant
of Zion, for great is the holy one of Israel in the midst of
thee. Our song is bold and strong.
and the subject of it is Him Himself. Always, if you're an
inhabitant of spiritual Zion, the city of God, and the Holy
One of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ is your King and your
Savior, we should do a lot of singing, shouldn't we? From our
hearts to sing of His glory, there's much to sing about when
He is the subject of our song. David said, I'll sing of the
mercies of the Lord forever. Whatever else we sing about him,
his mercy's got to be in there somewhere, doesn't it? Because
it never gets old, the singing of the mercy of the Lord. And not just his mercies, listen.
Psalm 89, one, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever
with my mouth, while I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. the faithfulness of God, I was
unfaithful. I was that one sheep that didn't
have enough sense to come into the fold where everything I needed,
the shepherd provided everything I needed and I was too stupid
to know it. But he was faithful. He remained
faithful to me. He said, you're my sheep. And
when he found me, he said, look, I found my sheep. which was lost
and called everybody to rejoice together because he had found
me. He said in Psalm 59, 16, I'll
sing of your power. Isn't that a good thing to sing
about? The Lord don't try to save. He doesn't want to do anything. He never wanted to do anything.
He just doesn't. You just, that's the power of
the Lord. What did Paul say about the Jews? They have a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. I'm gonna sing of his
power. I'm not just gonna agree with
it. How about you? I'm not just gonna agree with it. The Lord's
sovereign. Oh good, I agree. Let's sing about it. Let's sing
about it in front of this whole wretched world. Let's sing the
praises of the lamb that sits upon the throne and will do what
he will. in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth. I'll sing aloud of thy mercy
in the morning, for thou has been my defense and refuge in
the day of my trouble. Not only is God merciful to defend
me, but he's mighty to do it. I'm gonna sing of his power,
isn't that wonderful? Psalm 145, seven, they shall
abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall
sing of thy righteousness. He doeth all things well. You
know why I sing of his righteousness? Because he's my righteousness. I will sing of how what the law
could not do, God sent his son to do it for me. I will sing
of how Christ did always those things that pleased his father.
I'll sing of him who is the Lord. My righteousness. I've drunk
from the wells of salvation. How about you? And now we sing,
sing of all his glorious attributes. We sing of him. Not about us
and how, you know, rough the journey is and all that. You
know, one day at a time. Okay, take it however many days
at a time you want to, but get to Christ. You see what I'm saying? Not sentimental religious stuff
about, oh, you know, I've been through all that. Christ is the
subject of our song, who he is and what he did. How can you worship if you're
gonna sing about you? God help us to sing of the mercies
of the Lord forever. Sing of his righteousness, sing
of his power. Make mention that he's exalted
in this world that exalts itself. May you give us grace to do so,
let's pray.