I'll turn there in Isaiah 17. We'll read this together. And
I'll make a few comments as we go. Now the Lord has sent Isaiah
to prophesy of the ruin of Syria. And Damascus is the chief city
in Syria, so it's mentioned here because this is what would happen
to the whole kingdom of Syria. Isaiah 17.1, the burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away
from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities
of Aurora are forsaken. They shall be for flocks which
shall lie down, and none shall make a fray. The Lord never had
sent His word to Syria. Syria was a Gentile, heathen
nation full of idolatry. And he says, it's taken away
from being a city and it shall be a ruinous heap. And these
cities of Aurora, they're cities near Syria. And he said, all
of these cities are forsaken. Verse 3, the fortress shall also
cease from Ephraim. Let me read that again. The fortress
shall also cease from Ephraim. and the kingdom from Damascus,
and the remnant of Syria. They shall be as the glory of
the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts." Ephraim mentioned
here is the nation of Israel. The Lord had sent His Word to
Ephraim. He had sent His Word into Israel. But these are the sons of Jacob,
the sons of Abraham. But Ephraim has departed, separated
themselves from their kinsmen in Judah, and they've made alliance
with Syria to war against their kinsmen in Judah. But the Lord
of Hosts says that their fortress will cease. It's going to cease.
Verse 4, And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of
Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall
wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman
gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm, it shall
be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim." Now
Jacob is still talking of Ephraim, still talking of Israel. They
had been more in number than the sand of the sea. And this
was the glory of Jacob. This combined with the fact that
they put all this hope in the nation Syria. The Lord God says,
their glory shall be made thin. And they had prospered. This
was a time of plenty. They are described as fat, wealthy,
prosperous. Glorious to behold because of
their union with Syria. But now the Lord says, the fatness
of his flesh shall wax lean. This valley of Rephaim, let me
see here, Rephaim. It's called the Valley of Giants.
It's called that because corn grew taller and fatter and fuller
than anywhere else. Probably even better than New
Jersey corn, and New Jersey got good corn. But this was big,
tall stalks of corn, fat, full, good corn. But you know, when
the harvestman sees a big field of corn, that don't stop him
from going and reaping the corn. That makes him go at it with
much more zeal. And he said, though they be tall and fat and
prosperous, The harvestman's gonna come and gonna reap them,
gonna just reap it and make it lay bare. We have some friends,
Melinda and I do, over in New Castle, Indiana, Terrence and
Miranda Whitehead, and they have a house out in the middle of
a big cornfield. And when you're over there, when
the corn's up, it's just, the corn comes right up to the edge
of their lawn there, to their yard, and you can just, you can't
see past it. It's just tall, big corn. But
then, when they reap that corn, that house just is out there,
and you can see for miles out there, just flat ground, where
that corn, because it's just cut down to the ground. You see,
that's what it's going to be like. That's what it's going
to be like. Now, skip down to verse 9. In that day shall his
strong cities be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch,
which they left because of the children of Israel, and there
shall be desolation." Now, this is a sad comparison is what this
is. It's a comparison to something
the Lord did a long time before this. You see, in the day that
the children of Israel entered into Canaan, the inhabitants
of Canaan fled because they were fearful of Israel. They fled.
One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God, He it
is that fighteth for you as He hath promised you." That's what
the Lord told them when they went into Canaan. But He says
now, when the enemy approaches, like your enemies fled from you,
Israel's going to flee from the enemy now. Because the Lord says,
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand aflight,
except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
The Lord left them alone. Why? Why all this desolation
at the hand of the Lord God? Look at verse 10. Because thou
hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been
mindful of the rock of thy strength. And all these evils came to them
because they despised the God of their salvation. They turned
their back on the rock of their strength. Verse 10 says, Therefore
shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange
slips. In the day shalt thou make thy
plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish.
But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate
sorrow. Now, I want to try to show you
four things from this this morning. The first thing I want you to
see here is all men are sinners without exception. All men are
sinners without exception. Whether you're Jew or Gentile,
whether you're bond or you're free, no matter what race you
are, no matter who you are, where you came from, we're all sinners. And we all need grace. Now, we
need to understand something here about who this is that we're
talking about when we talk about Ephraim, Israel, and Jacob. Now,
I'm just going to be real plain because I want you all to get
this. Some of you know this, but I want everybody here to
get this. You're familiar with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord saved Jacob and he changed
Jacob's name to Israel. And Jacob had 12 sons. And the nation of Israel originally
consisted of 12 tribes. And each of those 12 tribes was
named after the son that was the father of that tribe. The
son of Jacob that was the father of that tribe. For instance,
Ephraim. was the name of one of Jacob's sons, and he was the
father of that tribe, Ephraim. Gad was a son. They were called
the Gadites. Reuben was a son. They were called
the Reubenites. But ten tribes, along with half
of the tribe of Benjamin, they revolted in the days of Jeroboam
the king. Jeroboam thought, well, They
don't have to go all the way up there to Jerusalem to worship.
If they worship down here, I'll be able to reign. I'll be able
to keep my dominion, and I can keep them down here, keep them
from going up there and mingling with Judah and that other half-tribe
of Benjamin. I'll prosper more. So he built
some altars there. And he set up some priests there. They weren't Levites. He set
up priests of his own choosing. And they began to sacrifice and
offer there. Ephraim, when we hear Ephraim here, we hear Jacob,
we hear Israel, it's talking in this text right here, it's
talking about those ten tribes and that half tribe of Benjamin
that's out there. Now, these were people, brethren,
who had every, every advantage, every advantage that a people
could have, every advantage. If there was ever a nation, ever
a people who could know God simply by having the Word of God, simply
by having a church to go to, simply by seeing some signs and
some wonders, simply by having a preacher. If there was anybody
who could know God, trust God, and worship God by merely having
those things, this was a people that should have been able to
do it. They should have been able to do it. Their fathers
had been delivered from Egypt by God alone. God made it clear
that He alone did it. He divided the Red Sea and sent
them across on dry ground. And He did it. He did that. He
fed them in the wilderness the whole time they journeyed through
the wilderness. He delivered them into Canaan. God did this. He gave them his law. He gave
them his prophets. They had every advantage that
men can have. Now Paul, over in Romans chapter
3, he said, what advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit
is there of circumcision? What profit is there of being
in their situation? Being raised with the law and
all these things that God gave? Much every way. Chiefly because
under them were committed the oracles of God. Look there with
me at Romans 3. Hold your place there. Romans
3. I want you to see this. They
had the law. They had the prophets. They had
Moses. They had the Word of the Lord.
When the Lord delivered Israel into Canaan, He sent forth Moses. And this is what the Lord said
to them before they ever went into Canaan. This is what He
said. Now you hold your place there in Romans 3. I'm reading
to you from Leviticus 18. Here's what the Lord told them.
He said, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,
I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land
of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, ye shall not do those. Don't go
back to being like you were when you were in Egypt. And after
the doings of the land of Canaan, where I'm sending you to, whether
I bring you, you shall not do what they do. Neither shall you
walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments. Keep
mine ordinances to walk therein. I'm the Lord your God. Ye shall
therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man
do them, he shall live. Now that's simple enough. You
have somebody this sovereign, this mighty, and he said to you,
just do what I say and you'll live. Just do what I say and
you'll live. And in verse 28 of that chapter
he says, "...that the land spew not you out also when ye defile
it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you." He said,
these nations that are going to be cast out, they're going
to be cast out because they hate God. They're not my people. I'm casting them out. But I've
come to you and I've given you my word. I've shown you everything
that I've done. And I've said to you, if you
do everything I've told you to do, you'll live. Now, why didn't
they do that? They had every advantage. He didn't do this for any other
nation but that nation. And after all that he did, we
find them here in this chapter, in our text, in there committing
sinfulness and idolatry with the Syrians who didn't even ever
have the Word of God. They never even had the Word
of God. And there's Ephraim, Israel, just right at home in
there with them, living with them. After all the Lord had
done for them. They looked to Him for strength.
They went in and worshipped their idols. They worshipped their
gods. They set up groves. They set up images. They did
all these things, even after everything the Lord had done
for them. Now, what's God teaching us? Look at Romans chapter 3,
verse 9. Paul says, they had all those things, It was to much
advantage for him. Verse 9, what then? Paul's a
Jew. He's of Israel. He says, what
then? Are we better? Are we better? Are we better
than those that didn't have any of these things? No. Are you looking at this? No.
In no wise. For we have before proved, both
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. He looked down at
verse 18. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. That's all the reason it was
given. God gave them all this advantage. He gave them this
law. He delivered them into this land. And He did it for one purpose,
brethren. Do you hear what God said? He
did it for one purpose. He did it to show His children
that you and I cannot obey Him. We cannot keep the law. We cannot
do righteousness ourselves. We can't do it. If we could,
there wouldn't be any reason for Christ to have come into
this earth. None. None. You have the Word of God. Read it. You have a church where
you can hear the gospel preached. Hear it. You have godly parents
who can teach you. Heed their instruction. Heed
it. But know this, brethren. In everything,
cast yourself on the mercy of God. Ask God to give you an understanding
of who Christ is. Ask God to grant you repentance
and faith. Because what we see here, brethren,
is outward advantage is good. But without the sovereign inner
workings of God's grace, it would be of no avail. It didn't help
them one bit. Now, here's the second thing.
Back in our text. Here's the second thing. Sinners. We saw first off, sinners. All are sinners. Jew or Gentile. Everyone is guilty before God.
We're all on the same ground. Every one of us. We're all on
the same ground. You want equal rights? You got
them right here. We're all equal. We're on the
same ground. Now, what makes the difference? God saves by grace alone. That's all. Look here now, Isaiah
17, 6. Yet. If we could enter into the grace,
if we could enter into the riches, if we could enter into everything that is included in
this little word, yet. Yet. You see from verse 6 to
verse 8, there's a parenthesis in the middle of all this judgment. And if it wasn't for this parenthesis
right here, brethren, there wouldn't be any holiness for a sinner. There wouldn't be any righteousness
for a sinner. There wouldn't be any redeemer
for a sinner. There wouldn't be any redemption
for a sinner. There wouldn't be any salvation
for a sinner. This word, yet, all my hope is
hung on this word, yet. Yet. Verse 6. Yet. gleaning grapes shall be
left in it as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries
in the top of the uttermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful
branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel." We all went up
to pick apples last year, up there with Pete and Lynn. And
we get up there and everybody gets those low-hanging apples,
you know. You get all those you can reach. And you can see as
the season goes by, the apples get higher and higher, you know,
because everybody's getting the low ones. And the apple pickers
will come in, and they'll get on their ladders or whatever,
and they'll pick the apples. There's always those that are just up
there at the top. We just leave those. They'll just rot and fall to
the ground. We just leave those. That's what he said here. Just
like that, there's going to be some left. There's going to be
some left. Just a few left. Just a few left. In Israel, in Israel, there'd
be a few of these desperately wicked, depraved sinners whom
God would spare. It'd be a very small remnant. Just a little handful of them. And of that remnant that was
spared, they were rebelling against God, they were living in idolatry,
they were living in sin, just as heartily as the rest of them
were. Every one of them. Every one
of them. The only reason that remnant
was spared is because, see that last phrase there? Saith the
Lord God of Israel. That's the only reason they were
saved. Because the Lord God, the God of everlasting covenant
said, yet, I'm going to leave a few. I'm going to spare just
a few of them. Just a few of them. Look back
over there at Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9. You're familiar with
this, but Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9. This is what the Lord's people
say. Is this what you say? This is what the Lord's people
say. It's what they confess except the Lord of hosts had left under
us a very small Remnant we should have been a Sodom and we should
have been like under Gomorrah just a remnant Look over at Romans
chapter 9 Romans chapter 9. Hold your place there in Isaiah
17 Romans chapter 9 Now you got all that group of folks. God
brought them out of Egypt. He brought them into Canaan.
He gave them this law, gave them all these things. And they rebelled
and rebelled and rebelled against Him. Now, does that mean that
God had to go to another plan? He had to go to plan B because
that didn't work out or something? Now look here what He's showing
us. This is what God's teaching us using an entire nation. One
nation out of all the nations in the world. God takes one nation
and He doesn't save but a remnant out of that one nation. He shows
us even though He took that one nation out and gave them all
this outward advantage, they ended up being like all the other
nations. And He saved just a remnant in that nation. And here's why
He did that. Look at verse 6. Not as though
the Word of... Romans 9, 6. Not as though the
Word of God hath taken none effect. Not as though the Word of God's
not effectual. Not as though God doesn't have
the power to save whom He will, when He will, where He will in
His Son. Not that at all. For they are
not all Israel which are of Israel. What does that mean? They're
not all Israel who are of Israel. Verse 7, neither because they
are the seed of Abraham are they all children. Just because they're
all sons of Abraham, that doesn't mean they're all children. You
know what the fact of the matter is? If you traced all of Syria's
lineage and you traced all of those children of Israel's lineage
all the way back, you know who they all came from? Noah. Shem's
kids was the ones that was in there in Syria. And Abraham came
from Noah's lineage. They all came from the same father.
God divided them as he would and set all this up to illustrate
for you and me how he saved sinners. Isn't that amazing? Now here's
what he says. It doesn't mean they're all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now what does that mean? Remember when he went to Abraham
and he said, Abraham, in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed. He said, there's going to be
a son born, I promise you there's going to be a son born. And in
that son, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed.
Because I've got a people It scattered all throughout this
world. A remnant. Just some figs in the top of
the top branches that nobody's fooled with. The striker hadn't
worried about getting those down. I got some safe and secure. I'm
going to save them. And they're going to be called
in Isaac. Look over at Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians
chapter 3. What was the Lord saying to Abraham
when He said all that? What was the Lord teaching Abraham? Paul, all this time later, comes
declaring this same message. Paul is preaching to the Galatians,
writing to the Galatians, the same thing I'm preaching to you
right now. The same thing that God told Abraham way back there.
That tells us God's purpose and His redemption does not change,
does it? It's been the same from the beginning.
And here's what it is. Who's that? Isaac, Galatians
3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. But He didn't say seeds, plural,
meaning in all your children. He said one, to thy seed. Now here's what the Lord was
saying to Abraham. That son of promise is Christ. And in Him, there's where the
seed's going to be called. In Him. Look down there at verse
17. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, That's what he
made this covenant with Abraham in Christ. God did. The law,
which came 430 years after that, it can't disannul that covenant
that it should make the promise of none effect. Uh-oh. That means salvation is not in
something me and you do. That means salvation is by God's
divine electing grace. That means salvation is free. That means salvation is given
freely, not based on any good or evil in you or I, according
to whomsoever God will give it to. Now that puts me and you
at the mercy of God. That puts me and you prostrate
before His face saying, Lord, I'm a sinner. I need help. I
need mercy. Have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. I need mercy. Do you need mercy? Do you? This mercy is sovereign
and it's irresistible. It's grace. It's irresistible.
Look back at our text now, Isaiah 17, 7. He says, at that day, at that
day shall a man look to his Maker. You see, you're not going to look to your
Maker until God makes you look. Well, the God I trust wouldn't
offend my will. If he don't, you're going to
go to hell. If you don't, you're going to go to hell. He's going
to give you your way. He'll give you exactly what you
want. And you'll be in hell with the rest of the folks that want
their will too. And all y'all will be fighting
over who's going to have the best will. And that'll be hell. Because
you won't have God to help you then. That'll be hell. But here's
what he says. At that day, that's the day of
divine visitation. What's it going to take? What's
God saying it's going to take to make men look to Christ? He's
saying, I'm going to come in there and I'm going to destroy
you. I'm going to take away their
fortress. I'm going to take away their defense. I'm going to take
away everything they're putting their hope in. I'm going to take
away everything they're putting their trust in. He's talking
about using a nation to do this against another nation to show
you that he's powerful enough to do it with you and with me. You think you're strong enough
to fight a nation? You're not strong enough to fight a nation.
You're sure not strong enough to fight God, who rules even
a nation, to give you this illustration. Isn't that right? The remnant
would have never looked to God. They would have never taken away,
they would have never turned and looked to Him if God hadn't
have done this, that remnant in there. If He hadn't have taken
away your fortress, If He hasn't taken away your vain defenses,
if He hasn't made you to behold yourself, you won't look to Him.
You'll go on trusting this foolish, little silly, little impotent
God that the world claims is God. It can't save anybody. His
love doesn't mean anything. He loves everybody. He loves
those that die in hell. I don't want that kind of love.
If love can't save me, I don't want it. My Father loved me and
He provided for me all my days. That's love. A love that just
turns it back on their children and turns them out to prostitutes
and harlots and just sends them away into the world to perish.
That's not love. God's love is distinguishing.
It's particular and it saves, brethren. It's a holy love. A
holy love. He says, at that day shall a
man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the
Holy One of Israel. The Maker of the Lord's children
is Christ. He's the Holy One of Israel. Listen to Isaiah 54, 5. Thy Maker
is thine husband. That's good news. You know why?
Because he hates putting away. He hates putting away. Thy maker
is thy husband. He hates divorce. He hates it. Thy maker is thy husband. The
Lord of hosts is His name. That's good news. That means
He rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. Can't a one of them question Him? Can't a one of
them defeat Him? Can't a one of them turn Him? He turns them
all. They're all His. And thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel. That's good news. That means
He paid the price. He paid the purchase price. He
bought His people. He paid the very last farthing
that had to be paid. He bought His people. And they
are His possession. He owns them. And He pours out
the Holy Spirit to give us the earnest. And that earnest is
not like That earnest is a foretaste of what we're going to have in
fullness and glory. We got just a little taste of
it right now. But it's an earnest that guarantees
us, I'm coming back for what's mine. I'm coming back and getting
what's mine. I bought it. It's mine. I'm going
to have it. He bought every last one of His people. He paid their
sin debt. He purged them of their sin.
He made them holy and accepted before God Almighty. And He's
going to have them. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made that was made. He's your Maker. He's your Husband. He's your Redeemer. He's the
Holy One of Israel. And He's going to have His people.
He's going to save His people. I used to love, when I was younger,
I was a deviant little twerp, I was mean. I used to love though,
we had fire ants. We had fire ants in the South
Arkansas when I was about Will's age, maybe a little older than
that. Those fire ants would sting you
and they would sting you and I'd get out and if you hit one
of those fire ant nests, they'd just go to just, I mean they'd
just work alive in that fire ants nest. I mean just cover
the whole mound to come out in it. And I used to love to go
get scalded hot water and put it in one of them little squirt
bottles and just stomp on one of them ant nests and just squirt
them. Because I was just getting revenge on them. They'd just
sting you. We're like those little fire ants. We got about as much
power over God as those fire ants had over me. About that
much power. You do with them whatever you
want to. It won't just pick up the whole nest and throw it away.
It can do it. flood them, bring drought on
them, scatter their nest, scatter their riches, turn the king's
heart, turn their nations, bring up the nations, bring down the
nations, bring them up, bring them down, do whatever you want
to do with them. That's God. That's what He can do. And you
and me are nobody. We're just nobody. We're nobody. And if you think you're somebody,
you're the biggest nobody. Now look here, as long as we
linger, we have respect unto ourselves. We fail to trust Christ alone.
We are sanctifying ourselves. We are viewing ourselves as mighty. We are exalting ourselves. We
are thinking ourselves holy. But the Lord said in the day
of His power, His eyes, your eyes, my eyes, in the day of
His power, shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. In
the day of His power. And he says, verse 8, and he
shall not look to the altars, the works of his hands, neither
shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the
groves or the images. This is repentance, brethren.
This is how repentance comes about. Look away from you. Look away from your altars. where
you made your sacrifices. Those things you've erected and
the offerings you've put there. Look away from the work of your
hands. Have no more respect for that which your fingers have
made. Look away from your groves, your pleasant places, and your
imaginations of how you think God is, and hear who God says
He is. How about that? This is faith. Look to Christ. Oh, I just want to know what
the will of God is. Look to Christ. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto Me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and
there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall
one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
The Lord, in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified
and shall glory. in the Lord. They're going to
glory in the Lord. They're going to be justified
in the Lord. They're going to be righteous in the Lord. They're
going to be made holy in the Lord. They're going to come to
the end of all these advantages God has given. And in that day,
God's going to turn us from looking at those advantages, those oracles
that He gave us when we thought was life, and He's going to turn
us and say, now here's the end for which I gave all those things,
my son. And in that day, You're going
to hit, your knees going to bow. Guaranteed. And it's either going
to be in this life or it's going to be when you meet Him in judgment.
You're going to know what I'm saying to you is true. Everybody
sitting here today, you're going to know without one shadow of
a doubt that everything I am saying to you is absolutely true. You're going to know it. You're
going to know it. Some of you know it now by God's
grace, but everybody here is going to know it. Everybody. Now, here's the last thing. God's
grace saves absolutely. It saves absolutely. I've got
to get through this, but I want to show you this. Now you're
going to turn with me here, okay? But I want you to see this, because
this right here is going to show you, I think will be the, hope
will be the final nail here to show you that God's going to
save His people. Now watch this. Back up there in Isaiah 17-1. The burden of Damascus. Behold,
Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous
heap." Do you remember where the Saul
of Tarsus was on his way to whenever the Lord arrested him and saved
him and called him? He was on the road to Damascus.
Damascus was still around then. This prophecy had partially been
fulfilled and some kings had come in and had done some damage
to it, but it had been rebuilt. And that's where Paul was on
his way to, was Damascus. The kingdom though had been affected,
but he's on his way to Damascus. Now look, the cities of Aurora
are forsaken. Those are cities all around Syria,
all around the region of Syria. They're going to be forsaken.
They shall be for flocks. which shall lie down, and none
shall make them afraid." Those sheep are going to come in there
and they are going to lay down. And little timid sheep are going
to lay down there and there is not going to be anybody to make
them afraid. Look at verse 3. The fortress also shall cease
from Ephraim. It is going to depart from Israel.
This prophecy points to the days when the gospel left Israel and
came unto the Gentiles. Listen, the Lord God says here
through Isaiah that he would overthrow natural Israel. It's
coming to an end. And he would have churches in
these Gentile lands because his Israel is made up of both Jew
and Gentile. Read it again, verse 2. They
shall be for flocks which shall lie down, and none shall make
them afraid. The fortress, the kingdom, shall cease from Ephron. Are you sure that's what he's
saying? All right, go with me here. Back to Isaiah 5.16. Isaiah
5.16. The Lord of hosts, let's look
at verse 15. The mean man shall be brought
down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the
lofty shall be humbled. But the Lord of hosts shall be
exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified
in righteousness. Then shall the lambs feed after
their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones, the ones that
this is taken away from, strangers are going to eat it. Strangers
gone to be taken away from those who think they're children and
ones that didn't even appear as children They're gonna eat
it God said they're gonna come in and they're gonna sit down
They're gonna lay down his lamps and feed and eat look over at
Isaiah 7 21. I You remember here he told them,
he said, Syria is coming to an end and Ephraim in 65 years won't
even exist, God said. And he said, all this is going
to happen because there's coming one named Emmanuel. And he's
going to save his people. And he says, when I've brought
this destruction, this judgment through Emmanuel, this is what
he said, verse 21. It shall come to pass in that
day that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep. And
it shall come to pass for the abundance of milk that they shall
give, he shall eat butter. For butter and honey shall every
one eat that is left in the land." Those that are left are going
to eat butter and honey. And it shall come to pass in that
day that every place shall be where there was a thousand vines
and a thousand silverlings, they're going to be briars and thorns.
Where that looked like a flourishing vine and where a flourishing
garden was in Ephraim, that's going to be done away. And what's
left, that remnant, Remnant I'm gonna say they're gonna eat butter
and honey they're gonna come into that place and lay down
and they're gonna be like lambs and they're gonna feed after
their manner and I'm oh it's gonna be Zephaniah said it's
gonna be the seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds
and folds for flocks Now turn over to Acts 11 The reason I'm showing you this
is I hope that if you can see, maybe God will use this, if you
can see, way back in Isaiah, God was talking about this right
here, way back there, that He's going to have an elect remnant
people. They're not just Israel. He's
got some in Israel, just like He saved a few out of Ephraim.
But He's got a remnant like that scattered in every nation, every
tribe, country, tongue, and heaven, and He's going to call them out.
Now look, He brings it to pass. Watch this. Acts 11, 19. Now,
they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose
about Stephen, traveled as far as Phenicia, and Cyprus, and
Antioch, preaching the word to none but the Jews only. Now,
where's Phenicia? You remember that Syro-Phoenician
woman whom the Lord saved? It's near Syria is where it is.
The cities of Aurora are forsaken. And they shall be for flocks
which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Where's
Cyprus? It's on the shores of Syria.
The cities of Aurora are forsaken. They shall be for flocks which
shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Where's Antioch? It's smack dab in the middle
of Syria. And that's where the Christians,
the believers were first called Christians in Antioch. Look at verse 20. And some of
them, those Jews that heard, were men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
which when they were come to Antioch, they spake unto the
Grecians. They didn't preach just to the
Jews. They preached to the Greeks also. Preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them. He said He would be. He said,
I'm going to have a remnant. And a great number believed and
turned unto the Lord. The Lord said, that's going to
be a place for cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. The Lord
gave those cities to His flocks to lie down in, to rest in Christ. And none shall make them afraid.
Shepherds, like the Apostle Paul. Butter and honey, the Gospel
of Christ. Folds and flocks, the churches
wherein His sheep gather and lie down and find pasture. And
he said way back there, I'm going to do this. And everything he
was doing back there with those nations was to show what he does
through his gospel in his church with his gospel messengers to
bring his sheep in, one by one, into his fold where he feeds
them butter and honey. He said it's going to be so plentiful
you'll just eat butter and honey and you won't have any reason
to be afraid. Any reason to be afraid. Here's what the Lord said. Thus
saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. I'm reading out of
Isaiah 45, 11. Thus saith the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel and His Maker, Ask of me things to come concerning
my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. I've
made the earth and created man upon it. Even my hands have stretched
out the heavens. All their hosts have I commanded.
I have raised him up in righteousness. I'll direct his ways. He shall
build my city. He shall let go my captives,
not for price nor reward, said the Lord of Hosts." That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. Now listen
to verse 16. They shall be ashamed and confounded,
all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. Well, I don't believe you ought
to worship God. I don't have any images. I don't wear any crosses.
Do you believe Christ? Then you're disobedient to God
and you're an idolater if you don't. What did he tell Saul?
What's better? To sacrifice or to obey God?
He said disobedience is like witchcraft. It's like idolatry.
If you don't believe Christ, it's idolatry. And he said they'll
all be confused. But Israel? Shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded. World without end. Generation
everlasting. So what do we learn from this?
I try to make these applications profound. I try to make them
just where you just leave going, man, how did he come to that? Here's the first thing. Turn
from your flesh. Here's the second thing, trust
Christ only. And here's the third thing, remember,
remember that we don't have any other weapon, any other weapon
but the gospel of Christ. And it's mighty to pull down
every stronghold just like it pulled down every stronghold
in Syria. And that remnant that was right
there in their midst, just like the rest of them, were called
out and called into glory by Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, there's
where I began. I'm going to end there by reading
that scripture I read to you again. It's what Paul said in
2 Corinthians 10. Though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. I'm not fighting anybody. Not
fighting anybody. I got a message of peace. It's
a message of peace. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, that's
where that image comes from, and that imagination, casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself
against the knowledge of God. What thing? Every high thing
that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Why? If we want to see sinners
be holy, why would we preach anything else but that which
God says will bring every thought into obedience to Christ? And if we got the thoughts obedient
to Christ, the hands will be obedient to Christ.