Let's turn now to Isaiah chapter
49. Good to see everybody. Good to
have our visitors with us and our friends. Don't forget next
Sunday we'll observe the Lord's table and we will have lunch
after service. Now Isaiah 49 is a prophecy of
Christ, Jehovah's servant. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one speaking here through the prophet Isaiah and he's describing
himself as the Lord God Jehovah's servant. The message he declares
is this, Jesus Christ is Jehovah's servant whose responsibility
it is to save all the elect of God and he shall not fail. This is his message. Now, we're
going to look at three things here. The first thing we're going
to see is the call of the Gentiles. Verse 1 says, Listen, O Isles,
unto me, and hearken, ye people, from far. And secondly, we're
going to see the commission that's given to Christ as Jehovah's
servant. Look at verse 1. He says, The
Lord hath called me from the womb. From the bowels of my mother
hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like
a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand hath
he hid me, and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver hath he
hid me. And then thirdly, we're going
to see the assurance of Christ's success. He says there in verse
3, And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in
whom I will be glorified. Now did you get those three divisions? The call of the Gentiles, the
commission, and the assurance of Christ's success. All right,
first we see here Him calling the Gentiles. Verse 1, He says,
Listen, O Isles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far. The Isles are the Gentiles. That's
who this word Isles means. Christ says, Listen, O Isles,
unto me. Listen unto me." That's what
he said, listen unto me. He says, hearken ye people from
far. Now back in Isaiah 48, 16, we
saw there that Christ was speaking to the nation of Israel. He began
there when he said, come ye near unto me, in verse 16. He said, come ye near unto me,
hear ye this. See, in both cases he said, come
to me, hearken to me, listen to me. That's what he said to
his people amongst the physical nation of Israel, and that's
what he says to his people amongst the Gentiles. Hearken to me,
hearken to me. You see, people try to make a
lot of things to be the reason that makes sinners in this world
to differ. Men try to make different things
make us to differ one from another. Race, creed, color, whether you're
rich or whether you're poor, your education and your uneducated,
all these different things men try to make and use to make a
difference. Many people use things in religion,
what they've done in religion, to make a difference. The only
thing that puts a difference between God's people and anybody
else is God. The grace of God. God chooses whom he will to be
gracious to. He will be merciful to whom he
will be merciful. He will have compassion on whom
he will have compassion. So it's not of him that willeth,
It's not of man's will. It's not of him that runneth.
It's not man's works that make a difference. It's of God that
shows mercy. God makes the difference. He
makes the difference. He began speaking to Israel.
He had an elect people among the Israelites. Not all Israel
are Israel. Paul says that plainly in Romans
9. What if some did not believe? Does that make the faith of God
without effect? Does that make it so that God is a failure,
Christ is a failure because not all Israel believe? Not all of
the physical descendants of Abraham believe. No. Romans 9 tells us
plainly, they are not all Israel who are of Israel. But this is
the word. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. He has an elect people among
that nation Israel. He had an elect people. But then
he turned to the Gentiles. He began with Israel. He started
with Israel. When He came, Israel's house
was desolate. And He came to them. They appeared
not to be desolate. They had a lot of religion going
on. But when that veil in the temple ran in too, that priest
was in there by himself. There was no ark there. There
was no Shekinah glory there. It was gone. It was departed
from off of the temple. Christ is the glory of His house.
He came first to Israel, and then He turned to the Gentiles. In Acts 13.46, Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold, it says. And they said, it was necessary
that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you. They
were speaking to physical Jews, to the physical Israel. And they
said, but seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. But it first
began with Israel. He first came to Israel, and
then He turned to the Gentiles. Now, be sure you understand what
I said to you. There's nothing that makes a
difference between God's people except God. His grace is what
makes His children to differ. And when He's called His children
into Christ, because of what Christ has accomplished, there's
no division, there's no difference in His children anymore. Look
at Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. This is by what Christ has done.
Watch this, Ephesians 2, 13. The truth of the matter concerning
every sinner born into this world, we have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What do we have to have to enter
into God's presence? We've got to have the glory of
God. We've got to be made righteous. We've got to be as righteous
as God is, as holy as God is to come into His presence. He's
not going to have anybody in His presence that's not just
like Him. And the only way we can be made like Him is by the
work of our Redeemer. That's the only way. Now look
at what He did here. He made His elect from Jew and
Gentile one, Ephesians 2.13. It says, now in Christ Jesus,
you who sometimes were far off, that's who he was speaking, that's
who he said, you that are far off, he said to the Gentiles.
You that were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, by the blood of Christ, by his dying, for he is our peace. He's made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us. and has abolished
in His flesh the enmity, the hatred. See, Christ succeeded
in what He did. There was enmity between God's
people and enmity between men in this world. We were hateful
and hating one another. That's all a man is born into
this world. He uses his religion to try to
exalt himself above another until God gives him a new heart. He
uses his station in life, whatever it is, his job, the car he drives,
whatever dumb little thing it is, he tries to use that to put
himself above another. We need to understand something.
Outside of Christ, this is whatever man is, a W-O-R-M, a worm, a
maggot. That's what he is. That's what
the word is, a maggot. Man say, well, I don't believe I'm that
way. You don't know who you are. The man don't believe that. He
don't know what he is. They don't know what He is. But
look at the Word here. He is our peace. He's made both
one. He's broken down the middle wall
of partition between us, abolished in His flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances. He's made in Himself
of two one new man, so making peace. And that He might reconcile
both unto God in one body. by the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby, and he came and he preached peace to you which
were far off, and to them that were near. To his elect among
the Israelites he called them, to his Gentiles he's calling
them, for through him, through him, through him, we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." Now this is the only
thing that makes a difference. In Christ, there's neither Greek
nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither barbarian
or Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Now, he's calling here for those
who are far off to hear him. I dare say everybody in this
room is a Gentile. He's saying here to everybody
in this room, hearken to me. Hear the Lord Jesus Christ. Will
you hear him? Draw near to him. Draw near to
him. The Pharisees wouldn't do it.
They would search the Scriptures, they'd go to church, they'd jump
through all the hoops the scribes and Pharisees told them to jump
through. And he said, you search the Scriptures, thinking that
you're finding something to do in these Scriptures that's going
to give you life, going to give you something better than what
Christ can give you. And he said, and these are they
which testify of me, and you will not come to me that you
might have life. And he tells us, hearken to me,
hearken to me. All right, now here's the commission
that was given to Christ as Jehovah's servant. Look at Isaiah 49.1. Isaiah 49.1, he said, the Lord
has called me from the womb. The Lord God determined before
the world began to bring glory and honor to himself, to show
a people who he is. And He chose to do it by saving
that people from their sins. That's what He purposed in His
eternal counsel. And He chose that He would do
that in Christ, His Son. He chose that He would send Him
forth. He is the preeminent elect of
God. God chose Him. God chose that
all preeminence would be in Him, that He would have the preeminence.
And He called him from the womb of His eternal counsel. He called
him from that time forward. The whole work, the work was
finished before the world ever began. The works were finished
then, when He gave the work into Christ's hand. Look back at Proverbs
8, chapter 22. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ as wisdom. And if He's made unto us wisdom,
we'll understand this. Proverbs 8, 22. He says, The
Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works
of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Look down at verse
30. Then I was by him. He said, from
verse 23 down to verse 30, when he made everything, he said,
Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily
his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the
habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the
sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed
are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise,
and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
For whosoever findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongs his own soul. All they that hate me love death."
That's Christ. That's who He is from the beginning. before even the world was formed
and when the world was formed. All things were created by Him
and all things were created for Him. That's what Colossians 1
tells us. Now look at verse 1. Again, Isaiah
49.1, it says, And from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention
of my name. I want you to see two scriptures
on this. Look at Matthew chapter 1. You remember when the Lord
made a body for Him, formed a body in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
It had to be so because he could not be born of that corruptible
seed of Adam like we were. If he was born of corruptible
seed, he wouldn't be holy and nothing he would do would be
from a holy motive and nothing he would do would be righteous.
So he had to be born of the Holy Ghost and he was conceived in
the womb of the virgin. And from the womb, this is what
it was said of him, Matthew 1.21, she shall bring forth a son and
thou shalt call his name Jesus. This is what his name means.
For he shall save his people from their sins. As I said to you earlier in the
first hour, God don't speak in maybes. He just speaks in wills
and shall. He shall save His people from
their sins. We have to be saved. We can't
save ourselves. We have to be saved by somebody
outside of ourselves. We've got to be saved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look now at Isaiah 9, verse 6. He made mention of Him while
as yet He was in the womb. Isaiah 9, 6. You see, the picture we're getting
here now is before the world was ever made. Before the world
was ever made. Now Christ started here and he
said, now you listen to me. Listen to me. If you have a problem
with what I'm telling you, you got a problem with Christ. Christ
is the one who said, listen to me. All eyes on me, he said. Hearken unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now he's telling us from the very beginning, wherever the
world was, God chose him. And God gave this work into his
hands to perform. He gave it to him. You know Ephesians
chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places according as He chose, in Christ,
according as He chose us in Him before the world began. That
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. This
was all done in Him. And then when the world was made,
it was created by Him and for Him. He was in the habitable
part of the earth was ever God's delight. He's that one. And any when he came forth in
time in the womb of the virgin, before he ever comes out of the
womb, God's speaking of him. He's saying, this is my son now.
This whole book's talking about him. He's salvation. Salvation
is in no other. Now look at Isaiah 9 verse 6.
This is speaking of him. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government should be on his shoulder. That's who government to this
world and his church is on. It's on his shoulder. It's on
his shoulder. And his name should be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. That's who he is, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment
and justice henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Christ is the Father's prophet.
Christ is the messenger of the covenant. Christ is the apostle
of our profession. Before he was ever born, all
the prophets wrote of him. Here's Isaiah writing of him.
All the prophets wrote of him and they declared his work. They
declared his person. They declared his successful
redemption of his people. That's what the whole book is
about. Alright, then not only did God call Christ to be His
servant, God poured out His Spirit upon Him and anointed Him and
prepared Him for the work that Christ came to do. Look at verse
2, Isaiah 49, 2. He made my mouth like a sharp
sword. Do you remember John 12? I want
to have you turn there again. John 12, 49, we saw this just
a week or so ago. When Christ came forth, now bear
in mind, don't lose track of this, we just saw He is the mighty
God. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He is the everlasting Father. That's who He is. That's who
He is. But He came forth into this world, He took the form
of a servant. And as a servant, he came forth
in this world to do what the Father sent him to do, what God
the Father sent him to do. And he said this, I have not
spoken of myself. In other words, these words I'm
speaking, they didn't come just of myself, of me. He said, but
the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment. what I
should say and what I should speak. And he said, and therefore
whatsoever my father commands me to speak, that's what I speak.
He says here in our text, he's made my mouth like a sharp sword. That's preacher school 101 right
here. Whenever God calls somebody and
sends them to declare the word, He don't send us to tell a bunch
of stories and tickle people's ears and flatter people. I understand
that the world won't get this. I understand that only those
whom He quickens and gives life to in the heart are going to
believe and trust Him and delight in what's being said. But when
He gives the commandment, He said, you go forth and you teach
them whatsoever I have commanded you. He came forth and did what
the Father told Him to do. And He obtained us, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.
And He tells us, you just declare what I've given you to declare.
I told you, I think, about my neighbor, and she meant well.
She came over, called me one time, and told me she had a newspaper,
something she found in a newspaper, and about a book she'd found
or something, and she wanted me to come and get this book,
because she said, this will give you some new material. And she
said, you have some new stuff to preach on. And I told her,
I said, I preach, try to preach, every time I preach on the Lord
Jesus Christ, what He's done, who His person is, the glory
of God seen in Him. I haven't exhausted that subject
yet. I don't think I ever will. I'm just going to keep preaching
this same subject every time. Because this is what He's commanded
me to preach. This is what I'm supposed to
preach. What's that word going to do? Look over at Hebrews 4.
Hebrews 4. See, He is that Word. He said,
He's made my mouth like a polished shaft, like a sharp sword. Men will flatter. They'll flatter you with their
lips. Tell you what they think, you know, about the Word preached
or what have you. And you trust their being sincere. Men will come and sit and listen.
But here's where the rubber meets the road. This is what's going
to determine it. Christ is. Christ is going to be the discerner.
He's going to discern the heart. He's going to discern it. Look
at Hebrews 4.12. And He said, He's made my mouth like a sharp
sword. Verse 12 says, The Word of God
is quick, is powerful, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even through the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit. There's not a sword wanting to
do that. to divide the soul and the spirit, this sword gets right
to the heart of the matter and the joints and marrow and is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This word
pierces, it cuts into the hearts of men. It does. When you start
telling a man that he's dead, when you start telling a man
that without Christ he can't do anything, when you start telling
a man that he's not holy, when you start telling a man he didn't
make himself born again, you start telling a man he hadn't
made himself righteous, he hadn't made himself holy, When you tell
a man it's not what church you came out of, it's not what denomination
you're in, it's not what you did 20 years ago or what mom
and daddy did for you, it's not anything you've done and will
not be anything that you do. That cuts to the heart of a man.
If he's trusting in anything he's done, if his God is I, if
his God is me, if his God is mine, if his God is what I've
done, this cuts right to his heart. It gets right in there
to where he needs to be dealt with. Religion deals with your
hands and your feet and your eyes and your touch and your
smell and whatever you can see, because that's all dead vein religion
can see. It's just what they see with
these eyes right here. Touch not, taste not, handle not. It's
all religion deals with. God deals with the heart. God
comes into the heart and he deals with you right where you need
to be dealt with. He's the discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. And this word comes in like a sword and he splits,
he begins to cut all a man's refuge away and cut him down
and cut him down and just cut him down with this word. But
this gospel is a healer. You gotta be cut down before
you can be lifted up. You gotta be made low before
you can look up and see Christ. You gotta be brought down to
the dust before you can see Christ seated on the throne. And that's
what this gospel does. It declares that in my flesh
dwells no good thing. And it declares Christ Jesus
is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And it makes a sinner
to hear Him and look to Him. Now that is if Christ speaks
affectionately into the heart. Without Christ speaking into
the heart, a man can hear it and he just go on with his little
play and his little charade dressed in his little costume of religion
and make God go to hell with it. But if Christ ever speaks
in the heart, He's going to get you right where you are. Get
you right where you are. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth. that we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creatures. You see, the Word kills and the
Word kills life. That's what it does. And it always
does this. It don't ever return to in void.
If you look over at 2 Corinthians 2, 2 Corinthians 2, look at verse
16. Verse 15, Paul said, We are unto
God a sweet saver of Christ. We are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ. Now look at this, in them that
are saved and in them that perish. We are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ. He's talking about this preaching
he's doing. In them that are saved and in them that perish.
For to the one we're the saver of death unto death. To the other,
the saver of life unto life. And who's sufficient for these
things? You see, the gospel is water. It's water. You know, God only
made one water. The water he made in the beginning
is the only water God ever made. There's only one gospel. Only
one true gospel. Just like there's only one water.
In Noah's day, that water came forth as a flood of judgment
and death to an ungodly world. That same water, that very same
water that meant death and judgment to the world of the ungodly in
Noah's day. That same water just quenched
my thirst. Same water. This gospel is that way. It comes
to some as a savor of death. They see no life in it. It kills
everything that they thought was life to them. And it's death
unto death to them. They reject it, they're dead
when they reject it, and they just die further when they reject
it. But to those who are called by
His grace, this is a savor of life. unto life, just like that
same water quenched my thirst. All right, let's look at the
next thing he says. Verse 2, Isaiah 49.2. He may be talking here about
a sword, but I think he's talking here, making a comparison with
an arrow, because he talks about a quiver and a shaft. He says,
verse 2, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me. God hid
Christ in the secret purpose of His grace. He's the mystery
hidden from this world. Christ is. He's the mystery of
these scriptures. In those coats of skins that
God used where He slew an animal and He covered Adam and Eve in
the garden, those coats of skins typified the righteousness that
Christ Jesus the Lord is. When He spoke to the serpent
and said, I put enmity between thy seed and her seed, the woman's
seed. Christ is that woman's seed.
That ark in which Noah was shut up in, where God shut him up
in that ark. And when that judgment came,
it fell on that ark, but it didn't touch Noah and those in that
ark because the ark bore the wrath of God in their room instead. That ark's Christ. Christ is
the high priest who alone could go in on the day of atonement
and to the holiest of holies and make atonement for Israel,
for God's Israel. He didn't make atonement for
everybody. He made atonement for Israel. He went in there
and He made atonement. Christ hasn't entered into the
temple made with hands. He's entered into the presence
of God for us. He's the Lamb. He didn't enter
in with the blood of a lamb. He entered in with His own blood.
And He's the mercy seat. He's the propitiation for His
people. He's the one that covers that
broken law. He's the one to whom the cherubims
face on either side crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. He's the satisfaction God has
made for Himself. That's who He is. In all of this
book, it's talking about Him. And He's hid me, He said. He's
hid me in the shadow of His hand. This is the mystery that's hidden
from man. Christ the mystery. He says there in verse two, he
made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he hid me. I
used to do some bow hunting and used to shoot a bow quite a bit.
I shot a compound bow for a long time and then I shot a longbow
for a long time. It doesn't matter what kind of
bow you shoot, the most important thing about shooting a bow is
the arrow. You gotta have an arrow that
is straight. And you take those arrows, when you get your arrow,
you take your arrows and you roll your arrows. You roll them
on a flat surface to see if there's any, if it's off at all. If it's
off, you can tell it when you roll those arrows. And you want
to make sure all your fletchings are just right. And in every
quiver, anybody that shoots a bow, I guarantee you this, in every
quiver of every archer, they have a number one arrow. They
have a number one error. That's the one. They've tested
them all. That's the one. And that's their
first choice. That's their first choice. That's
who Christ is. He's that true error. He's that
straight one. He's that perfect one who flies
true, who flies straight to the mark where God has sent Him.
He's that one. He came into this earth and by
the sacrifice of Himself, He pierced the serpent through.
like a broadhead on the end of an arrow, like a two-edged sharp
sword. He separated the sins of His
people from His people. And He did this by laying down
His life in the place of His people. He was made sin for us. He was made sin for us. That us is somebody. That us
is somebody. And I'll tell you what happened.
And here was all the sin. Here was all the sin and it was
on the us. God took the sin off the us and
put it on His Son. And Christ paid for the sin.
And He died. And when He died, He put the
sin completely away for the us. So that every one of the us have
been justified in the court of law of God Almighty. And every
one of the us have got to be called out by the Gospel. They
got to be called out by His Holy Spirit. They got to be given
life and faith and repentance to turn from every other thing
they were trusting in to Him. And they hold of Him and enter
into this free justification that's been accomplished by God
Almighty. That's what God told Abraham. Abraham was going up that mountain,
and he had Isaac with him, and he's going up there to offer
up his only son, Isaac. And Isaac said, Daddy, here's
the wood, and here's the fire. We've got to have a lamb. We
can't come to God without a lamb. There's no, it's an impossibility
to come without God. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. We gotta have a lamb. And Abraham
said, my son, God will provide himself. God will provide himself a lamb. And that's who Christ is. Christ
is God providing himself. He's Emmanuel, God with us. God providing himself. God satisfying
God. God putting away the sin of his
people by himself. God justifying his people from
all our sin. That's who Christ Jesus is. It's
the only way, the only way that God Almighty could be just and
be the justifier. He's the justifier. He's the
justifier. God-given faith doesn't justify
you. God-given faith lays hold of
the one who justified you. You understand that? This faith
that men go around boasting of and say, well, my faith justified
me. That ain't the faith God gave. God-given faith lays hold
of Christ Jesus and said, there's who justified me. There's the
one who justified me. God justified me. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. It's God who did the justify. It's Christ who died. It's Christ
who's risen. It's Christ who's the advocate
with the Father. He has hidden me, he said. I'm the one he sent
forth to do this work. You know who's going to get the
glory for that? He is. He is. Fall down at his feet,
beg him for mercy, come to him, cling to him, never let go of
him. He's the one we gotta have. His errors come and they strike. The errors are sharp in the heart
of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under him. You
see, that's what we all are by nature. We're enemies in our
minds by wicked works. But when this error comes forth
and pierces into our heart and makes us to see who He is, we
fall down at His feet. Reconciled to Him, we see He's
reconciled us to God. And now we see what a friend
He is to us. All right, let's go on now and
let's look at this last thing. What's the assurance of this?
How can I be sure? Remember, Christ is talking now.
Christ is speaking. How can I be sure that Christ
is going to be successful in this? Verse 3. And he said unto
me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. God spoke from heaven three different
times, and He owned Christ to be His servant. Three times.
He did it at His baptism, He did it at His transfiguration,
and He did it again when He went to the cross. And fourthly, He
really did it again when He raised Him from the dead. He said, this
is my servant, and I'm well pleased with him. I'm satisfied in him.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Made satisfaction of God. If we want to be true servants
of God, the only way to be a true servant of God is to follow Him,
to lay hold of Him. We're not coming to God any other
way. And He's called Israel here because He's the head and He's
the representative of all the elect spiritual Israel of God. You see, His name is my name. And every name, every one of
you who have been called by His name, His name's your name. His
name's Israel. Israel means as a prince, thou
hast prevailed with God. That's who He is. That's who
Christ is. He's the prince of peace who has prevailed with
God for His people. He said, and it tells us something
about how one, His people are with Him. In John 17, He said,
the glory that you gave me, I've given them. You see, we've sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And he said, the glory you've
given me, I've given them. That they may be one, even as
we are one. He's talking to the Father. And
he said, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one. That one's Christ. Do you see
how completely one Christ is with his people? As the Father
and the Son are one, so His people in Christ are one. So that His
name is their name. His name is our name. Doesn't
that rejoice your heart? That just thrills me to know
that. Can't be separated from it. Inseparable union with Him. Alright, now let's look at this
next word right here. He says, this is the assurance.
He says, in whom I will be glorified. In Christ I will be glorified. John 17, verse 1 says, These
words spake Jesus, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and he
said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." He said, I have glorified Thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which You gave me to do. I finished
it. Whenever Moses wanted to see
God's glory, God put him in a cleft of a rock. That rock's Christ. He put him in the cleft of a
rock, and in that rock, this is what we see. We see the glory
of the triune God in the face of that one Christ Jesus. You
can't see God, He's a spirit. So God came in human flesh, so
He could communicate to His people who He is. And in Christ Jesus,
we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The fullness of the Godhead in Christ Jesus, that bodily form,
Christ Jesus. He is the one in whom we see
the mercy of God and the grace of God. Christ is the only way
God could be merciful and gracious to his people. In Christ we see
God, his long-suffering. The one reason God didn't destroy
this world when Adam sinned in the garden is he had put a people
in Christ. And because his people were in
Christ, he was long-suffering. The only reason this world is
held in place right now, the only reason, 2 Peter 3 tells,
the only reason this world is held in place right now is because
God has an elect remnant who have been redeemed, purchased
by the blood of God Almighty in Christ Jesus, and God is not
willing. any for whom Christ died shall
perish. But they're everyone going to
be called to repentance. And not until the last one is
called will that same word that destroyed the world in Noah's
day destroy this world right here, burn it up with a fervent
heat. God's going to save every one
of his people. Here's why. If one dies in unbelief
for whom Christ died, then God's justice is a miscarriage. Christ's
death has been in vain and God's not glorified. Now, let me give
you the positive side of that. That means our salvation, all
who are resting in Christ, our salvation is so certain and so
sure because if one is lost for whom Christ died, God, God loses
more than we lose. His glory. And that's not going
to happen. It's just not going to happen.
God's glory ensures, ushers, that all who trust Christ shall
be saved. Everyone. We see His forgiveness
there, we see His goodness and truth there, we see His righteousness
there. Let's look at Well, I'll just close with this.
I know this. I know that Christ, He glorified
Him by His obedience. He glorified Him by His death.
He glorified Him by saving His people. And He glorifies Him
when He calls His sheep out because every single one glories in the
Lord. We glory in Him. We give Him
the glory. The Scripture says we're saved
to the praise of the glory of God's grace wherein He has made
us accepted in the Beloved. Christ was chosen, this is what
I've said to you, this is what I've been trying to get across
to you. Christ was chosen of God to bring salvation. His name is Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sin. Christ came and he purchased
that salvation. Christ gives that salvation. He said he's given me power to
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. He gives
it. Christ preserves that salvation. We saw it the first hour. Thou
shalt preserve them, O Lord, from this generation forever.
Christ shall complete our salvation. There's not going to be one,
you read it, you read it, till we all come. to all his elect
come and make up that one perfect man in Christ Jesus. Oh, there's
not going to be a finger missing, not going to be a toe missing
in Christ's body. It's going to be perfect. All
his elect going to be called into it. And in that day, we're
going to truly see how truly Christ is all salvation. He is all salvation. Now, if
you want salvation, if you want salvation, you're going to have
to get Christ. You have to get in Him. That's
the only place you're going to be saved. If you want salvation,
get in Christ. Cast all your care upon Christ.
Rest in Christ. Trust in Christ. Believe in Christ. There is salvation. Neither is
there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. None. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
truth. I'm the life. And no man comes
to the Father but by me. This is the record that God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son has life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. And John said, And these things
I have written unto you. I can say that these things I
have preached unto you, that you that believe on the name
of the Son of God might know. that you have eternal life and
might believe on Him. Keep believing on Him, the Son
of God. And I got one more thing. Turn
to Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. Now, we're
going to serve Him. We're going to follow Him. How are we going to do that? This is how we do it. Verse 5, let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the
form of God, though He was equal with God, He made Himself of
no reputation. The day we start trying to brag
about our service to God, we've quit serving Him. He made Himself
of no reputation. He took upon Him the form of
a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. What does that mean as it applies
to me and you that believe to each other? Look back up at verse
3. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory. That means trying to strive to
have spotlight on you or spotlight on me. But in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem the other better than himself. Here's what it
means. Look not ever man on his own
thing. That means don't just go around loading
up your own plate. That means every man look on the things
of others. That means load up their plate for them. Help them. It don't mean be meddling in
people's business. That means just provide for one
another. Provide for one another. Look
down at verse 12. He said, Wherefore my beloved
as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. Let me give you a simple word
on that. I've heard so much junk preached on that. It means work
out your daily affairs in the church amongst one another. Just
read the context. Work out everything you've got
to work out amongst one another with fear and trembling. Why? Verse 13, for it's God working
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's God
working in your midst. It's God working in each brother
and sister individually, and God working in our midst collectively.
So whatever we do, before I start striving against somebody and
putting them down and discouraging them because of something they're
wanting to do in the service of God, I've got to remember
If God's working in them to do in will of His good pleasure,
I'm rejecting God. I'm rejecting His will and His
good pleasure. That's what He's saying. Work
out everything you do knowing this. God's working in your midst.
God's working in our midst. And He says, therefore, verse
14, do all things without murmuring and disputing, disputing that
you may be blameless and harmless. We're blameless and harmless
in Christ. It's not talking about in toward God. It's talking about
amongst one another. Without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights
in the world. They see. You see a light, don't
you? In a dark place, you see a light. You can't hide it. We
don't go around trying to make people see our light. They gonna
see it. They gonna see you. They gonna
see us. We do everything without murmuring and disputing that
we might shine forth as lights of God in this world. Holding
forth the word of life, there's our light. That's what we want
everybody to see. We don't want everybody to see
us, we want everybody to see Him, the word of life. that I
may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain. Nobody wants to labor in vain. Nobody wants to. The preacher
don't want to labor in vain. The mother and father don't want
to labor in vain. They want to see those that they teach bear
fruit. That's what you want. It's what
you want. It's discouraging if you don't
see it. It's what you want to see. So
that's how we serve him. That's how he served us. And
that's how we serve him. All right, amen.