this is uh this chapter chapter
60 of isaiah is a pleasant and comforting passage of scripture
in the midst of all the woe that we've seen pronounced in the
book of isaiah you remember all through many of the books of
isaiah woe unto this city and woe unto this people and that
people and there was much warning from the Lord and condemnation
By the Lord pronounced all through Isaiah, but all through the book
we've seen the remnant Spoken of and God's mercy upon them
and how he calls to sinners To come to him and reason concerning
their sin and how it can be made white as snow but this chapter
in the first nine verses is We saw these promises to the church. It talks about how that God shines
his light upon and into and through his people, his church, and how
that he brings all peoples of the earth into his church. We
spoke about that, remember the dove at the window, and causes
the church to prosper spiritually. There's terms of opulence concerning
how the church will be well-situated and well-provided for and we
know that's true the light of course is Christ he is how we
see the glory of God and he's where we see the glory of God
and as the gospel goes forth in the church and from the church
to the world Christ is set forth and others see him and come to
him that's how He's arranged things. Talks about how the Gentiles
will come to the light in all nations in one sense or to one
degree or another. We have it in verse 10, a continuation
of that beautiful language. The first part of the verse,
again, talks about how that all manner, the sons of strangers
shall build up their walls and their kings shall minister unto
thee People that are strangers to the church now are not only
going to come but they're going to be they're going to build
they're going to be part of the work And we've seen that to be true You see in the language how that
the church the body of christ is served by each member The
walls will be built up kings shall minister unto thee their
kings and those words build and minister are key in the verse
you know that the word edify in the new testament means to
build up that's what this is talking about and we're instructed
to do that and in first thesalonians 5 11 it says wherefore comfort
yourselves together and edify one another build up one another
even as also you do. That's how I often, whenever
there's exhortation from the scripture, I usually have to
add that last word, even as you do. You're doing that, and I'm
thankful for that. And look at the previous two
verses and see how that has everything to do with Christ. Turn there
with me to 1 Thessalonians 5, and I want us to see not just
that building up the church is part of the work. We edify one
another, we build up one another, but let's see what that has to
do with 1 Thessalonians 5. Either my fingers are not as
nimble as they used to be, or my pages are getting, well, I'm
gonna blame it on the pages. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. But look
at what comes before that. Verse nine, for God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us. That whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves."
Do you see that? It's Christ that is our edification,
but he uses each other to bless one another in that and to build
up. His church that way so the word
minister from our text In isaiah there means to serve and listen
here we go again the church that's we're talking about the church
aren't we? First peter 4 7 but the end of all things is at hand
Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer and above all things
have fervent love among yourselves For love shall cover the multitude
of sins Use hospitality one to another without grudging as every
man hath received the gift. Even so, minister the same to
one another. And it talks about kings in the
scripture. I'm sure there are actual men
of great authority in the world that come to the church, but
that's talking about our nature. By nature, we tend to say, you
know, well, what did we say in the garden? Satan said, you should
be as gods. And we kind of like the sound
of that. But he's talking about kings, but you're gonna serve. You're not gonna rule, you're
gonna serve. Everybody in the church, nobody rules in the church
but the king. We all serve one another. as
ministers, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And
so we see that there. And then at the end of verse
10, we have the interesting truth here that God hath been wrathful. He said, I've poured out my wrath
on you and merciful to his people. You see that there in verse 10,
in my wrath, I smote thee, but in my favor, have I had mercy. They here's the thing now God
must punish sin, and he's merciful And these are both his nature
his his nature is holy and so all sin must be punished But
also his nature is mercy and so he's going to show mercy to
somebody it doesn't have to be a You know, we can't look at
it as God, well, God's got to have mercy on me, you know. Well,
he's not gonna have mercy on everybody, but he's gonna show
mercy to somebody. He said he would. He said, I'll
have mercy on whom I will. And that's his nature to do that.
So he's gonna show mercy to somebody, but the dilemma is that the very
ones to whom he shows mercy are the ones that deserve his wrath
the most. And so he cannot simply forbear
his wrath arbitrarily and so it is necessary that both be
satisfied he's gonna have to deal with us in wrath and he's
gonna show mercy to us if we're his church as is what the context
is speaking of it's necessary that both be satisfied his wrath
and his mercy one attribute cannot be diminished by the other but
how can God pour out his wrath on us as he said and be merciful
to us in Christ That's exactly what he did. When
he poured out his wrath on his son, he was pouring out his wrath
upon our substitute, us in him. Just as we all died in Adam,
we all died in that sense in Christ, but we live by his death. And that's the difference. And
so he, his wrath is satisfied concerning us. His wrath toward
me is satisfied, fully spent, and his mercy is satisfied too. So verse 11, therefore thy gates
shall be open continually. They shall not be shut day nor
night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles
and that their kings may be brought. Now there are a couple of beautiful
lessons in this verse. First, that the gates, that word
in scripture often means door. It's the same word, the door,
the opening, the entrance, the access to the city. But here's the simple truth here.
The doors of God's church are never closed. Day and night,
it says here, I'm not up here at night, but the spiritual picture,
you know what I'm saying? Are you suffering a terrible
trial of some kind? The door's open. Are you suffering,
are you hurting, are you miserable? Come and find rest and peace
in Christ Jesus, because you see, the way he has arranged
it in this world that we find rest in him is through the preaching
of his gospel. Of course, he gives peace in
our hearts, but that's the means by which he does so, is by the
preaching of the gospel. The door is open. You're not
gonna find those things anywhere else. Aren't you glad the door
is open, day and night? Are you feeling particularly
blessed of God? The door is open to come in and
praise his name for all of his tender mercies, goodness towards
you. Are your sins weighing heavy
on your heart? That happens at times, doesn't
it? The door's open. Are you hungry? It's open. Thirsting after his
righteousness. Do you say what the psalmist
in Psalm 42, one, as the heart, as the little deer panteth after
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God, the
door is open. Christ himself is the door. He's
the door to his church, and he is access, but when we come by
him as access, what are we accessing? Him. We're coming into him, into
his home, into Zion, his church, his body. He is the head, and
we're his body. and he's access to God, he's access to every blessing that
God has for sinners. And the other key
thing in this verse, in verse 11, is that word brought, bring and
brought, that they may bring unto thee the forces of the church
and that their kings may be brought. How many of you here tonight,
if you know the Lord Jesus tonight, if you believe on him and he's
your peace and rest and salvation. At one time, it wasn't like that. How many of you, Have come to
that place because you were brought. The Lord does it this way, doesn't
he? Do you know why it's like that?
It's because it's God's way, but here's the thing. Here's
how that works out. Because those who know and love
the Lord Jesus Christ, they want those that they love to know
him. Believe on him and so they bring you Whether you're their
children or their friend or whatever And they want that more than
anything That's what they want more than anything. And so I
like that word brought You remember in Mark 2 1 it talks about it
says that he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noised
and But he was in the house, the word got around that the
Lord, where he was gonna be, and straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word
unto them. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, bringing. That's the word from our text,
which was born of four, and when they could not come nigh unto
him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when
they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick
of the palsy lay. And when Jesus saw their faith,
he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Those ones that brought him there,
that's what they wanted to hear. That's why they brought him,
wasn't it? That's exactly why they brought him. When the Lord
Jesus Christ, can you imagine what went through their hearts
when the Lord said to that one that they love, your sins are
forgiven. Verse 12 in our text, for the nation and kingdom that
will not serve you shall perish. Yeah, those nations shall be
utterly wasted. This is not in my notes tonight,
but the Lord takes very personally what the way his people are treated. We know that, don't we? If you
reject and despise and offend one of his little ones, you've
done it to him. And vice versa, if you are a blessing to one
of his little ones, you've done it Unto him and so he says those
that won't serve you I'll literally waste them They'll
perish Remember when he sent us out the Great Commission go
and preach and those Preach what whatsoever I've taught you you
preach My word my gospel and whoever hears you I'll save them
Whoever hears you I'll save them And whoever will not hear you
He said, I'll put them in hell. That's what this is. Whoever
shall not serve you. Because in not serving his people,
it's because it's for his sake, isn't it? They're hated for his
sake. That's what he said. You'll be
hated of all men for my name's sake. And that's why they've
got to perish. They've got to. There is no hope
outside the Lord Jesus Christ. There's just not. god has a world
because he has a church and he has a church because he's going
to honor and glorify his son anybody outside of that it's
not going to be good verse thirteen the glory of lebanon shall come
unto thee the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to
beautify the place of my sanctuary god's going to use all That is
at his disposal. What do you think that is? That's
everything. Everybody and everything to make
sure that his church is a glorious place. He's gonna beautify the
place of his sanctuary. I don't like to call this, a
lot of churches call their auditorium a sanctuary. This is not a sanctuary. Christ is our sanctuary. Sanctuary
is a place of refuge, a place of safety, where you run and
hide and rest and have peace. That's not this building, that's
the Savior. This is what I just call it an auditorium, but I
tell you this, I come here to find sanctuary. Don't you? In him, through the preaching
of his gospel. In the place of my sanctuary.
He said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I
am. And he is our sanctuary. And I will make the place of
my feet glorious. Well, two things here also that
I was able to, that the Lord showed me. He will make his church
glorious. That's pretty clear here, isn't
it? It's gonna be beautiful and glorious. Not to this world. They don't care, they don't see
anything. They didn't see any beauty in him. We didn't until
he shined his glory on us, shined his light in our heart. And so
there's certainly nothing, there's nothing for the world here, is
there? There's no entertainment. There's no intellectual, you
know, anything to impress people in that way. I'm not going, you
know, I couldn't if I wanted to satisfy some people's taste
for intricate deep doctrinal philosophies
and things like that i've got no interest in it i don't have
the capacity for it if i did just a simple if i believe if
we didn't love the lord there wouldn't be any use us coming
here you feel that way too we don't have a big choir we don't
have you know Entertainment we don't have programs It's just
the gospel So there's no beauty to this
world just like there was no beauty about him that we should
desire him by nature But to his people there's no
place more beautiful Because of him again and most importantly
it's beautiful to him It's precious to him Listen, again, we quoted
this, I think, not long ago in one of our lessons, Ephesians
5, 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church. That's what our text said, wasn't
it? It's glorious to us too, but he presents us to himself.
glorious In his beauty in his holiness not having spot or wrinkle
Or any such thing washed in his precious blood, but that it should
be holy and without blemish It's called by him. I'm sure
you notice the place of my feet. That's interesting in it the
feet in the scripture usually and here I'm sure Mentioned as
being what takes you where you go your feet, you know Your word
is a light into my feet in other words as I go through this world
wherever I go the Lord shines his light so that I might See
things as they are see the truth as it is in him and how it applies
to everything in my life Well, so that's what he's talking
about. That's where he goes. It's the
place of his feet. The Lord plants his feet. Same
place we do, right here. What a beautiful thing. People
commonly ask, where do you go to church? Where do you go to
church? Where do you go to church? You
know, they hear you say something or When I was working in this
world, it was very common. I'd say something, you know,
not to be religious, but just it's hard. You know, it's not,
you're not going to hide the fact that you love the Lord and
you nor should you. Where do you go to church? I've
got a better question. Where does the Lord go? That's
where I want to go. Where does the Lord Jesus Christ
go? If this is the place of his feet,
then I want my feet here too. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, there I am. I think about that scripture
a lot. If this is where he is glorified,
if this is where he is honored, if this is where he is set forth,
if this is where his people meet in his name, then this is the
place of his feet. Let's look at verses 14 through
16 together. The sons also of them that afflicted
thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised
thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and
they shall call thee the city of the Lord. Even some that aren't
calling us that now, They were those that afflicted us or despised
us, but now that's the city of the Lord. That's God's church.
That's God's worship. The Zion, remember how Zion always
pictures his church, the city of the great king. Great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God and the
mountain of his holiness. mount zion the zion of the holy
one of israel wherefore thou has been forsaken and hated so
that no man went through thee i will make thee an eternal excellency
a joy of many generations that verse i was just quoting says
the joy of the whole earth is mount zion the joy of the whole
earth You know what that means? It doesn't mean this whole earth
is rejoicing that God has a church, and most people never will. But
what he's saying is this, the only joy in this whole earth,
you think about this now, you know this is right if you're
his, the only joy in this whole earth is in God's church. What else are you going to rejoice
in? And those that once despised
the place of his worship because they despised the one that's
worshiped there. Remember always, he always said,
for my namesake, you'll be despised, you'll suffer for my namesake.
They'll hate you. They hated me before they hated
you. And that's why. But some of them will one day find
refuge there in the very place of their contempt. So I'd say Saul of Tarsus is
a great example of that, wouldn't you? His favorite thing was to
torture and kill people that were part of the Church of Christ.
But then one day, he met the Lord Jesus Christ. And our text
came true for him. And it's come true for us if
we know him. Look at the wonderful names of
the Lord at the end of verse 16, I, the Lord, am thy savior
and thy redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. And think of this
now, we've seen all this before in the scripture, he's praised
in the greatness and glory of his name, all of his names that
make up his name, his attributes, but particularly as we're speaking
of his church, think of it this way, who is he to this church?
He's the Lord, he's the sovereign. We always, by his grace, we preach
and worship the sovereign God here. He does as he pleases in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him, what are you doing?
And that's true in creation, in providence, and in salvation.
He's utterly sovereign. He hath done as he hath pleased.
He hath spoken and he'll bring it to pass exactly as he has
spoken. He said, I send my word like
the rain and it won't return to me void. It'll accomplish
what I sent it to accomplish. We worship the sovereign God
and his sovereign son. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
the father quickeneth whom he will, so he's given authority
to his son, to the son of man, to give life to whomsoever he
will. And he does. He does. And thank God, he said, whosoever
will, let him come. He said, whosoever cometh unto
me, I'll him no wise cast out. But it's by his will, isn't it?
That leper came the right way. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I will. He's sovereign and I'm saved. That's beautiful, isn't it? And it's by the power of his
sovereign spirit. Didn't the Lord Jesus say to
Nicodemus, the spirit of the wind blows where it pleases,
where it listeth. And you can hear the sound thereof, but you
can't tell from which it comes or whether it'll go. So it is
with everyone that's born of the spirit of god. He goes wherever
he wants to And he gives birth new life to sinners And then
he says i'm your savior. I'm your savior Thou shalt call
his name jesus or he shall save He shall save Thy redeemer thy
redeemer that's When we think about his body and blood, we
can never forget we're taught to observe the table and remember
that it's by his broken body and his precious shed blood that
we're brought and bought and redeemed by God. The mighty one of Jacob. I've heard entire messages preached
Him as the God of Jacob because you can look at who Jacob was
and learn a lot about who God is If he's the God of Jacob,
there's hope for me Oh Jacob who was a worm the mighty
one of worms Jacob was a supplanter his name means supplanter or
cheat and Jacob pictures our nature of trying to obtain God's
blessing by dishonest and despicable means. You remember how he tricked
Esau out of the birthright? That's us. We want God's blessing. The birthright, you know, that
was a blessing bestowed by God upon the firstborn of the family
in the Jewish family. And Jacob wasn't the firstborn.
But even when he was born, he had hold of Esau's heel, didn't
he? You remember that in the scripture?
It's as though even as a baby, he was saying, I'm going first,
I wanna be first. And he did, and he did everything
that he could to cheat his way into the favor of God. That's
us by nature. We don't wanna come by Christ.
We wanna come any other way. We'll do anything. to go to heaven
when we die, except by the Lord Jesus. The one way of salvation. That's us, a planter, a cheat. He obtained the birthright by
deception and trickery and evil means, just as we seek to be
blessed of God, not God's way, in Christ Jesus, but by our own
evil deeds. And yet God, before Jacob was
ever born, think of the beauty of this. Jacob spent all of his
life trying to get God's blessing by dishonest and despicable means,
and God had already blessed him before he was born. Eternally. Before he was ever born or ever
hatched his evil plot to win the birthright, God had already
given it to him. God said, the elder shall serve
the younger. Jacob didn't need to do anything
for that to happen. God had already ordained it. For Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. You see the significance of his
name, the mighty one of Jacob. That's also how you and I obtain
God's blessing if we have it, by sovereign eternal mercy bestowed
in love upon us before we were ever born. The mighty God of
Jacob is my God, the God of worms. But you know, he changed Jacob's
name from supplanter and cheat, deceiver, to Israel, a prince
with God. Me too. A new name, a cause,
a new nature. You can't call the old me a prince
with God. It don't fit. It's not true. It'd be a lie. But there's a new me by the grace
of almighty God. Our name now is the Lord our
righteous. You can't call the old man that.
That wouldn't make a lick of sense. the Lord our righteousness. Jeremiah
33, 16. The rest of this chapter is so
full of beautiful descriptions of us, God's church. This all
applies to his people and what God has done for us. Let's just
read through it and make a few comments. Verse 17 now. For brass,
I will bring gold. And for iron, I will bring silver.
And for wood, brass, and for stones, iron. I will also make
thy officers peace and thine executors righteousness. Look
at that, for brass, I will bring gold. This is what we talked
about this morning. What we bring is not gonna get it done. We bring brass. but that won't do, so he brings
gold. He makes it gold. In all of these cases, what we
brought isn't good enough. He's got to make it something
else. He turned it into something better, something acceptable.
That's what the Lord Jesus Christ does for us. We bring our brass
and God can't accept that, but Christ brought gold. All of these different elements
likely specifically signify certain things. Brass signifies justice
and just in the scriptures, righteousness or justice. Well, we bring ours,
but that's not gonna cut it. That's what we call it, but that's
not, God can't accept that. Christ
brings what's necessary. You remember what he said in
Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church. On this rock, I'll
build it. On the rock of ages and the gates
of hell, shall not prevail against it. For my brass, he brings gold. And then verse 18, violence shall
no more be heard in thy land. Wasting nor destruction within
thy borders, but thou shall call thy walls salvation and thy gates
praise The walls we call the walls salvation
because that's what that's his protection of us Remember he
described it this way in John chapter 10 No man can pluck you
out of my hand The walls are his hand, it's his protection,
it's his power, it's his love for us. And so the wall, we call that
salvation. He's hedged us about, that's
how I'm kept. That's why I don't fall, that's
why I don't wander, that's why I'm not lost. Because he's hedged
me about with his love and his power. So I call the walls of
his church salvation. No enemy can get in and I can't
get out if I wanted to. He won't let me go. He's not
gonna let me go. His goodness and mercy shall
pursue me all the days of my life. If I could get away, I
would, I can't. Again, if I make my bed in hell,
there you are. The gates are praise. Isn't that
what we praise him for? That there's a door. There's
a way in. He is the way. And we praise him. There's access
by his precious blood. There are walls. Enemies are
kept out, but there's a beautiful door for which we praise his
holy name. And whenever somebody's brought
through and brought in, we praise him, don't we? Listen to Ephesians 2 14 for
he is our peace Who had their there because he's hedged us
about we're at peace Who have made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us? There's no division
because of foolish earthly prejudices and things having abolished in
his flesh a the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man,
and so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto
God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off. He didn't
just do these things, he came and told you about it, and brought
you nigh, for through him We both have access. That's what the gate is in our
work. Access. How? By one Spirit unto the Father. Through Him. By the Spirit, by
the power of the Spirit, through the regenerating power, life-giving
power of the Holy Spirit, but by Him. Because He gave Himself. Because He reconciled us to God
by His precious blood. Now, therefore, you're no more
strangers and foreigners, but you're fellow citizens. You've
come in the gate. You're one of the people of the
city of God and of the household of God. Verse 19, back in our
text, the sun shall be no more for thy light by day, neither
for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down,
verse 20, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord
shall be thine everlasting light. In the days of thy mourning,
M-O-U-R, that's sorrow, sadness, shall be ended. Now, I believe the lesson here
is when you've come into the gates, accessed by that precious
blood, you've come into the city of God, the household of God,
his church. He's your light here now. And
the thing about that is we read similar language of how it is
in glory. When we go to be with him in
glory, and we're in his actual presence, we hear this language
there in Revelation 21, 22, and I saw no temple therein, for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the
light thereof. That's true then, isn't it? This
will gloriously be true in a sense that we can't experience here,
but it's true now too, isn't it? That's what our text is saying.
If you're in his city, if you're in his church, if you're one
of his, if you've gained access by his precious blood, as we
read there, then he's all of your light now. Just because
you can't see it like you will, doesn't mean it's not true. I wish I could see better, don't
you? It's not for lack of light. Everything the sun is to the
earth, Christ is to his sheep. The ability
to see? I see. Whereas I was blind, this one
thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see. I see. You know, it's comfort and safety,
too, isn't it, light is? Why? Because we can see. I'm
not too... When I was little, especially,
you know, it's not so bad now, but in the dark, I was scared
of the dark. My parents let me watch scary
movies, you know, and it didn't... I didn't like the dark very much.
I still don't much. It's comfort, isn't it, to be
able to see? peace warmth oh we need that too don't we
come and warm yourself by the fire of his love it's life without
that sun how long would it take for this whole planet to die
we're all goners aren't we we're all goners everything that we
survive on survives It's over, isn't it? The light
goes out. Beauty. The light. So beautiful. And joy, too. You know that?
It's joy. When does joy come? In the morning.
When the sun comes up. When the sun rises, his glory
is compared to the brightness of the sun in more than one place
in scripture. And Christ is all of this and
more to his church. And listen to these two beautiful
words taught clearly in our text now. I love that verse in Revelation. But here in Isaiah 60, right
now. He is all of that to us and more
right now. Right now. That's why Paul said, I love
this verse, Jude verse 24. now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise
god our savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever oh that we might praise him now
Rejoice in him and glory in him now Verse 21 in our text that
people also shall be all Righteous It's not the old covenant is
it this do and live Keep the words of my commandments, and
I'll bless you You're all righteous They're all gonna be righteous
That people, that people, the church, your people, shall be
all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever.
And that's why, because you're not coming into his land without
that holiness. The branch of my planting, the
work of my hands, that I may be glorified. That's the gospel,
isn't it? Boy, this is something here.
It's not that his church are better than others. We're not. We're perfect. Think about it. If you say, boy,
you know, we're righteous, we're better than other people. That's
a lie. We're not. But if you say we're perfect
in Christ, that's the truth. You can't say I'm better, but
you can say I'm perfect. by the grace of God in Christ
Jesus. We're all righteous. All of his
people are. We're not better. We're the children
of wrath by nature, even as others, but God is rich in mercy toward
us in Christ Jesus. And so we are righteous in him. And because they are in him and
righteous, they are heirs. They shall inherit the land forever. Listen to that word inherit.
in our text listen to romans 8 16 the spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of god and
if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ
if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified
together our text said god said i'm gonna be glorified in all
this and we're gonna be glorified together with him. Because of
what he has done, the work of my hands that I may be glorified. But if we're children, then we're
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and we'd be glorified
with him. It's the work of his hands. The branch of my planting, he
said. You remember the parables in
the New Testament where the householder planted some seed? And it says,
you know, they said, where are these tares? The wheat is beautiful,
but look at all these weeds. Where'd they come from? Satan,
he said, Satan came in the night and planted some tares. And they said, well, we'll go,
you know, we'll go pull them. We'll pull the weeds so that
the wheat can, nope, leave them where they are until the harvest. That's the Lord's business, isn't
it? That's the Lord's business. Satan may, and he does, plant
tares among the wheat, but what the Lord plants, he prospers. He prospers, he waters, he shines
his life-giving light, and he hedges about all of these things
that we've seen. In this same context, he hedges
his garden about. Psalm 1-3, and he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. He said, if I'm the vat and you're
the branches, whosoever is in me beareth much fruit. Because his life flows through
us. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Well, Chris, boy, I don't know
about that. I've done a lot of things that just, I just fell
flat on my face. Yeah, but what about spiritually?
Was it good for you or bad for you? I can answer that. It was
good for you. It was prospering. It didn't
look like it to you. Looked like a failure. Your leaf never withered
one time. Oh my, the work of my hands that
I may be glorified, not of works lest any man should boast. Can
you just hear that ringing in that? When you plant a garden
and it flourishes, boy, I've had some good gardens and I've
had some not so good gardens in my life, but you know who
gets the glory? I do. Nobody goes and praises
the tomatoes. They say, man, you're a pretty
good gardener. Christy's smiling. She knows
what I'm talking about. She getting a little glory. Oh, boy. Isn't that the truth,
though? That's the truth, even though God's the one that did
it. But God has planted a garden.
And boy, you talk about beautiful. You talk about beautiful through
his comeliness. he said I'm gonna make my church
beautiful and glorious and he has and he is the one that gets
the praise look at the next chapter in Isaiah Isaiah 61 and verse
3 I believe it is we'll look at this next week
Lord willing or actually two weeks from now next week will
be the first Sunday but We'll get verse three to a point unto
them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes There's
that gold for brass again We come with ash but he makes
it beautiful, you know, I've been thinking there's that scripture
in in in Ecclesiastes I've been thinking about a lot lately because
Just things that are happening and and It's comforting to my
heart to think about this verse of scripture. He makes everything
beautiful In his time The ugliest things that have
happened in my life I Look back on him and I say wow look what
he did Look what he did he makes it beautiful, doesn't he? Beauty
for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of
righteousness he did that the work of my hands he said the
planting of the lord that he might be glorified and he's gonna
be he's gonna be and may we be among that number that just sings
his praises and glorifies him for the work of his hands I thank
God for you, Paul said, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation, and you're beautiful
to me because he saved you. I thank God for you. Verse 22,
a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.
The Lord will hasten it in his time. Beauty for ashes in his time.
Still thinking of the illustration of the garden. You plant your
garden and in the beginning, it's not much. You're not going
to get any glory for a while, are you? It's just dirt. It's
dirt. It looks so fragile, doesn't
it? And pitiful. It's hard to imagine. You just
had tomato plants this tall last year, but you look at that, it's
hard to even imagine it. look at that little thing, or
maybe you planted seed and it's withered up little thing and
you put that in the ground and you're thinking, that's never
gonna, but it will, it has and it will. A little one. Should be a thousand. You plant a cucumber seed, you
know, and it's all dried up and ugly, but it'll be another story
before long. It goes everywhere, doesn't it? And grabs onto things,
and you start seeing those little cucumbers. Next thing you know,
you can't give them away fast enough. We've talked before so many times
about the parable of the sower and the parable of the vineyard. When the Lord plants, There's
always a harvest. He's the householder. He's the
one that planted the vineyard in the scripture, in those parables.
And we plant, and we reap, and we eat, and we enjoy the good
things from our garden. We make recipes from those tomatoes,
and from those squash, and from all those things, and we enjoy
them. Nothing tastes better than stuff right out of your own garden. What is that to God? What is
the spiritual equivalent of harvesting what you sowed and enjoying it? What does God get out of all
this? It's not hard to answer, is it? Glory. He gets all the
glory. It's us now in a sense, because
we're his garden. And we, you know, we are the, we are his planting,
we are his trees, we are his Beautiful garden, but but It's glow it's because he glories
in us his glory shines forth and how that he took something
ugly and shriveled up and dead And made it beautiful The last part let's say I've
got here the last part of verse 21 is The branch of my planting,
the work of my hands that I may be glorified, that explains verse
22. That's why the little one becomes
a thousand, because he did it. He did the work, and he reaps
the harvest, and he gets the glory, and that happens in us. A little one. He called us his
little ones, didn't he? My little ones. a despised, unworthy,
vile sinner, but by his grace, power, and love, and redeeming
blood, a strong nation, a small one, there in verse 22 it says,
will be a strong nation. For his everlasting glory, a
nation that will praise him forever, singing worthy is the lamb. And it's all happening in his
timing. Happening in his time he brings
all that to pass in time Though the reality of it is eternal
We're his eternal church he is the He gives us light everlasting
we read there in our tick. It's all eternal. He's eternal
and we are He said I will hasten it I My time he said there in
revelation 22 20 Surely I come quickly And we say even so come
Lord Jesus