We'll be in Isaiah chapter 11
this morning. I'm sorry, we'll begin in Isaiah
chapter 10. At the end of the chapter, in
verse 33, Isaiah 10.33, Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror,
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty
shall be humbled, and he shall cut down the thickets of the
forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his
roots Now the Lord created all things to glorify his name Husbandry is one such thing We
have anybody here that likes to garden? I like to garden. I think it's enjoyable to work
the ground and to plant a seed and to water it and to watch
it grow and to be able to eventually harvest the fruit from it. I
enjoy that a great deal. When our Lord created the heavens
and the earth, He created a garden at first. We read in several places in
scripture, Paul told the Corinthians, he said, I have planted, Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the vine and my father is the
husbandman. Often the metaphor of trees and
of a fruitful field are used to describe the Lord's people,
the church of God. We see this metaphor of a garden
and of trees, of the Lord planting and uprooting throughout the
book of Isaiah. You'll turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 1. Let's go through the book here a moment. I want to
show you a few things. This is woven throughout Isaiah's
prophecy. the elect of God, that he affectionately
called the daughter of Zion. Whenever the elect of God, the
true believers in Israel, had become overrun with false prophets,
with those that followed the false prophets, with strangers
who had come in from outside of Israel, when they had been
allowed in. Though Judah appeared to prosper
materialistically, if you looked at it, to the natural eye, it
looked like the United States of America. But this is what
the Lord said about it in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 8. He said, And
the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as
a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Have you
ever seen what cucumbers will do if you let them go? They will
overgrow everything. And that's what he compares this
daughter of Zion, his people, to a lodge, to a cabin that's
just been overrun with these vines and these cucumbers. And
he said, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant of people that he chose by grace. He said, unless he
should have chosen a very small remnant, we should have been
a Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Well, by
God's grace, his garden, that which he's planted, is a well-watered
garden and ever green because of his care and his grace and
his showers of mercy upon that garden. But on the other hand,
false religion, and the way that seems right unto man, it only
appears green. Idolaters in this time worshipped
under groves. In other words, in the land it
was just desert and there would be a grove of trees. And these
ones who worshipped, always bear in mind that when you learn about
idolaters, They weren't saying, oh come, we're going to worship
at Idol. They were saying, we're worshiping God. We're worshiping
God. And look, you don't have to go
to the tabernacle. You don't have to go into the
city to do this. Look at this pleasant, nice,
shaded grove where you can come out and meet. Well, it automatically
appealed to the flesh. It's a nice place to come in
out of the sun. And it's set down and it's shaded
and you can sit here and you can worship God here in this
place. Look what the Lord says about it. Isaiah 127. He said,
Zion, my people, my remnant, shall be redeemed. They're going
to be bought, purchased with judgment. And her converts are
going to be converted with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors
and of the sinners shall be together. And they that forsake the Lord
shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of
the oaks which ye have desired." Those groves. He puts here the
oaks in the place of the idols and the gods that they serve.
He says those groves, those oaks that you've desired, you shall
be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall
be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no
water. And the strong shall be as toad,
they'll be like a tinder that you use, kindling. And the maker
of it shall be like a spark, and they shall both burn together,
and none shall quench them, none shall put them out. That's how
dry is going to be found to be. There's no grace there. There's
no moisture of God's grace in those places. It's a dry place.
Well, God hates a proud look. And throughout Isaiah's prophecy,
He spoke of those who refused to submit themselves to God's
way of salvation, to His law, to the word that He set forth
that said, you must come to God in a substitute lamb, that God
has provided. That's what the law shows us. We didn't know anything about
a lamb until God gave His law. And in giving that law it was
as if He was giving a lamb and saying, here's how you come to
God. You have to come in a lamb that has to die. But the people
said, They did one of two things. One, they either refused to come
to God with a lamb, at least the lamb he sent, they'd come
with a spotted lamb, or not the first born lamb, not the best
lamb, not the spotted, or they wouldn't come with a lamb at
all. Or they would come and they would think that by bringing
that lamb, by actually just going through the motions of bringing
that lamb, they were righteous. And in both cases, their heart
was full of pride, they were haughty, they were lifted up.
And they ran and they conducted themselves in the world just
like they did in the house of the Lord. And the Lord compared
them to in this place named Lebanon. They had mighty cedars. We have
in the front of our house, we have some cedars. I think of
the cedars of Lebanon when I see these cedars. They're big, big
evergreen cedars. And they had mighty cedar trees
in Lebanon. And the oaks in Bashan were mighty. And the Lord uses those to compare
them to the haughty and the pride-filled rebels who claim to be righteous,
who claim to really truly believe God, but really their mind was
set on serving the world. And here's what He said, Isaiah
chapter 2 verse 11, The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. He says a lot about a particular
day, in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts
shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty and upon everyone
that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low, and upon all
the cedars of Lebanon." See that? That are high and lifted up,
and upon all the oaks of Bashan. So we have here the Lord's comparing
His church, His people, His remnant in Israel. He's comparing it
to a cabin that's been overrun with cucumbers. He compares their
idolatry to going out into these groves that were green and thinking
that because they were in a pleasant place and went through the routine
of worship and claimed to be worshiping God, that they were
full of the moisture of God's grace. And he compares these
that were coming to the temple, to the tabernacle and sacrificing
and were full of pride because of their sacrifice and how they
were worshiping God, that they were like the cedars of Lebanon,
like mighty oaks, but they were going to be hewn down, he said.
And the green places where the groves are going to be dried
up and burned. Then look now, in Isaiah chapter
5, he gives us a song. And this song really describes
what the Lord would do. Verse 1. Now, now will I sing
to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard
in a very fruitful hill. Now he's speaking about Israel,
about Judah that he planted. He said he had a vineyard in
a very fruitful hill. He fenced it. Put a fence around
this vineyard to keep the wild beast out from coming in. And
he gathered out the stones thereof. You know when you prepare the
ground for gardening, you got to till up the ground and then
you got to get all the stones out of it. Get those out of the
way because that will hinder the growth. He removed all the
stones. He took away the hindrances.
And he planted it with the choicest vine. The very best vine. And he built a tower in the midst
of it. This is a tower that was, they
would build towers in a wine press so they could see if a
fire broke out somewhere or if someone, a stranger tried to
enter into the wine press and they could sound the alarm. And
also he made a wine press therein. So when the harvest came in,
the grapes came in, they could press those grapes and get the
fruit, the juice of it, anticipating a harvest here. And He looked
that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. Whenever God planted His garden
in creation, you don't have to go further than that to understand
what He's talking about that happened in Israel. Same thing
then. In the garden, He planted this
garden and He provided everything, everything needful. Everything
that was needed by Adam was provided for Adam. And Adam was given
life and he woke up and it was all there. Everything was done. He didn't have to worry about
any sin. He didn't have to worry about
wild beasts. He didn't have to worry about being mangled by
tigers or anything. No sin existed. So everything
was just in harmony. Everything. He turned on God. He turned against
God, disobeyed God, and brought forth wild grapes. Rebellion, sin, disobedience
is all he brought forth. So when God made this nation
Israel, He brought them out of Egypt and He planted with the
choices found. This was Abraham's descendants. These were the ones that came
from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He brought them out. And he planted
this vineyard. And he looked that it should
bring forth grapes. But it brought forth the same.
Why? Why did it bring forth wild grapes?
Because the children, just because they were descendants of Abraham,
didn't make them sons of God. They were descendants of Adam. And therefore, they were sinners
by nature. And they did what sinners by nature do. They took
all of the things that God had given them, all the privileges
He had given them when He planted this garden, and they abused
them, and they used them. And they turned on God. They
went to the groves and worshipped under the groves. They brought
spotted sacrifices to the temple. They walked in pride and arrogance
and haughtiness, considering themselves righteous and accepted
of God, the children of God, the chosen of God. Nothing can
happen to us. Read on here, verse 3. And now,
O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you,
betwixt me and my vineyard." Men said, well, don't judge now.
God said, you judge. Use some discernment here now.
You judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more
to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that
it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes.
And now go to. I will tell you what I will do
to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof.
I'm going to take the fence down now. And it shall be eaten up. All the wild beasts that have
been just desiring to get into that vineyard and eat of the
grapes and that vine and all those green leaves in that vineyard,
they're going to have free access to it now. And I'll break down
the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I, the Lord
said this now, this is the Lord speaking, and I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor digged,
but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command
the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard
of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah
his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, but
behold, he saw oppression using the things of God that ought
to be used to worship God to oppress men, to yoke men, to
bind men, to coerce men into doing what they wanted men to
do. He looked for righteousness, for judgment, for truth, but
all he heard was a cry. A cry. Well, so when the Lord
withheld the rain, they found that they had nothing good in
themselves. And they couldn't produce any fruit at all. Look now at verse 24 of chapter
5. Verse 24 of chapter 5. And he
said, And therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the
flame consumeth the chaff, so their root This was all they
had in themselves. They were like stubble and chaff.
And so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom
shall go up as dust. Because they've cast away the
law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy
One of Israel. This is what the offense was,
is that all of God's law, all of God's word spoke of the Holy
One of Israel. And this was the offense. They
despised Him. They despised God our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He said their blossom that
appeared to be a beautiful bloom, He said it was just like dust,
just a puff of smoke. I planted tomatoes one year.
I had the most beautiful vines. They grew up. I mean, these tomatoes
were absolutely beautiful. The vines, the plants were. And
they began to produce tomatoes. And I mean, big green tomatoes,
you know, were coming on those vines. And I was looking so forward
to having a big crop of tomatoes. And I would go out there, and
they started turning red, you know, and I thought, oh, it's
good time for the harvest. I went out there to pull some
of those tomatoes, and I'd reach and grab those tomatoes and pull
them, and they would just dissolve in your hand, just squish in
your hand, because they had rot, and they just rotted from the
bottom all the way up to where you couldn't see it when you
looked at them from the top. It looked like a good, fresh, ripe tomato.
And you reached down there to grab it, and that thing would
just squish in your hand. It would just rot. Well, he said,
that's how their fruit look. It looks like it's good fruit. But he said, it's just rotten.
The root's rotten, the vine's rotten, the fruit's rotten, and
I'll burn it up like chaff. Well, then in chapter 6, the
Lord sends Isaiah to declare something, though, that's going
to take place in this garden. He's going to burn off the garden.
You know what? When you get to a point at the
end of the harvest, when it's You see that it's over. There's
not going to be anything else to grow in this garden. You know
what you do? You go out there and you pull up all the plants
by the roots. And you go out there then and
you light a match to it. And you just burn the whole thing
off. And just burn it. And then you go out there and
you till it under. And just till it under. And you're preparing
that soil. You're getting it ready for the
next year, for when it's time to plant next year. Well, here's
what he said. He said, I'm going to chop it
down. I'm going to burn it off. I'm going to totally do away
with it. But He holds out something, gives us a word here. Look now,
Isaiah 6 verse 9. And so He told Isaiah, He said,
Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not. Isaiah 6 verse 9, you hear but
you don't understand. You see but you perceive not.
And He told Isaiah, make the heart of this people fat. Make
their ears heavy and shut their eyes. Lest they see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart
and convert and be healed. And then said I, Lord, how long?
And he answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great
forsaking in the midst of the land. He's burning it off. He's
burning this field off. Cutting down all the, uprooting
all the plants. But, look what he says, but yet
in it shall be a tent. and it shall return and shall
be eaten as a teal tree and as an oak whose substance is in
them when they cast their leaves." You know how it looks just dead
when the leaves all fall off? It just looks like it's dead.
But he says there's still substance in that tree. There's still something
in that tree. And he said, so the holy seed,
The holy seed, there's a holy root. There's a substance in
this. There's a holy seed in this tree. And that's going to be the substance
thereof. That's going to be the life of
this tree, this holy seed. Well, so how's the Lord our husbandman
burn off his vineyard? How's he clear this forest of
haughty, proud, lofty trees? Well, he said that he was going
to take down the hedge. And he said he was going to allow
the wild beast to come in. Well, And we saw in Isaiah 10,
turn there with me, Isaiah 10 verse 5. When I garden, I take
a hoe and I go out and work that hoe in my garden around the plants
and all. And if I want to pull up plants,
I can take it and I can put it to the root of those plants and
I can chop them right in two and pull up the root of that
plant. That's an instrument in my hand.
That's what I use to do that. God turns the heart of kings,
of whole nations, whichever direction He will. So when He got ready
to prune this garden, to burn off this garden and cut down
all of these wild vines, He used a nation and He used a man. We
saw this. I want to show it to you here.
Isaiah 10 5, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff
in their hand is mine indignation. We've seen how he let the king
of Assyria come into Israel and Judah and just destroy it. And he would let some other kings
do the same. But now look here in verse 15, Isaiah 10, 15. And
the king of Assyria began to get proud and he himself boasted
as if he was going to do something. And the Lord said, that'd be
like that hoe that you use in your hand to work in your garden.
That'd be like that hoe. acting like it did the work,
acting like it did something in the garden. That's the same
pride and the same haughtiness that the people who were claiming
to worship Him, that's what they were doing. They were instruments
in the hands of God. That's what His people are. We
can't boast that we've done anything. We're but tools in His hand.
We're instruments in His hand. So that if we believe on Him
and trust Him and follow Him, it's by His grace and His mercy
and His power and what He's done in us. It's not by anything where
we can turn and boast as if we did the work. That would be like
the instrument turning and boasting. Well, He said, this king's going
to do that. But He said, I'm going to, after I've used Him
to destroy and clear off my garden, Then I won't destroy him too.
See, none of God's enemies are going to be without being uprooted. All of them are going to be uprooted,
whether they're in Israel or outside of Israel. So then it's
not a man's natural descent, though they were from Adam. That
didn't matter. And it didn't matter though they
were outside of Israel. They all came from Adam. They
all came from Adam, and he's going to uproot every one of
them. But now look what he says about this king of Assyria. Verse
15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift
up itself as if it were not wood. Therefore shall the Lord the
Lord of hosts send among his fat ones leanness and under his
glory he should kindle a burning like the burning of a fire and
the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for
a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars
in one day and shall consume the glory of his forest and of
his fruitful field both soul and body and they shall be as
when a standard bearer fainted they don't have any strength
and And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few that
a child can number them." A child can point them out. That's how
few is going to be left. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped
to the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that
smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
in truth. And they'll return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the
mighty God. And now, We come down here to
our text concerning all the haughty, lofty cedars of Lebanon, as well
as the mighty oaks of Bashan, in Judah, in Israel, throughout
the land, the Lord says in verse 33. Behold, the Lord, the Lord
of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror, and the high ones
of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled,
and he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and
Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one." Remember when the Lord
Jesus Christ said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath
not planted, it'll be rooted up. It'll be rooted up. Well,
here's the picture of this land. It's all cleared off. The chaff
that had grown up from the bad seeds had been burned, and the
haughty, proud cedars of Lebanon had been cut down and chopped
back, and the roots are all... It's just down to where it just
looks like there's no life there. Like an oak that's cast its leaves.
It's all gone. Nothing there. Well, the Lord
told the people through Ezekiel. He said, I will raise up for
them a plant of renown. And they shall be no more consumed
with hunger in the land. This plant is going to be so
renowned. You eat of this plant, you won't
be hungry anymore. Neither bear the shame of the
heathen anymore. That must be some plant. A plant
of renown. No more hunger, no more shame.
That must be a beautiful, magnificent plant. There's a stump next door to
our house. It's been chopped down in the
neighbor's yard when I had Melinda drive by there this morning because
I wanted to look at it again. It's this old stump and the old
stump is just, it's been so long since it's been cut down that
it's just about completely deteriorated and rotted back into the earth.
But you can see there's a stump there. But out of the center
of that stump, there's a tree growing out of
the center of that stump. Job said, there's hope if a tree
be cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch
thereof will not cease. The Lord, remember, said there's
going to be a holy seed. It's going to be the life within
that stone. Once I've cut it down. Well,
in verse 1 of chapter 11, he says, and there shall come forth
a rod, a sapling, a little branch, a little twig, out of the stem
or stump of Jesse, of the house of Jesse, and a branch shall
grow out of his roots. Now, the word rod here means
there's a king, it's a king. That's what the word rod means.
It's put here in place of king. Sometimes the word scepter is
used in the place of a king. And then sometimes In this case,
rod is used in the place of a scepter. The word rod here teaches us
a lot more than it would teach us if the word scepter was here,
or king was here, or ruler was here. The Lord cleared this vineyard
because of the haughtiness and the pride and the arrogancy of
sinful, religious, rebellious sinners. who, though they claimed
to trust Him, never trusted Him. And now He says, the life, the
one that's going to come forth, it's going to be a plant of renown,
that's going to feed My people, it's going to take away all their
shame and all their reproach, so that they shall never ever
hunger again. It's not coming forth like a
mighty oak. It's not coming forth like a
cedar of Lebanon. The king that I'm sending forth
is not coming forth in the pomp and the grandeur and the circumstance
that that kings of the earth like to be seen in. This one's
coming up as just a rod, just a tender plant. The king of kings
and lord of lords is described here as a rod. You know what
a king used to show his power and his authority? A scepter. It would be overlaid in gold,
and they would put adornments on it, spikes on it, and all
these things, you know. Esther, we read there where they
held out the gold. The king held out the gold and
sent it to her, and she came over and touched the scepter,
you know. Well, before a scepter was used,
this is interesting to note. Before a scepter was used, you
know the Lord used a rod. a staff, which was nothing in
comparison to what a king's scepter looked like. He used a rod, a
staff, to declare who his prophet and who his priest was. You remember
Moses? Moses said, Lord, if I go to
them, what's going to be the proof that I've come? And he
said, I'm with you. I'm with you. And the way he
showed that he was with Moses and made his power known that
Moses was indeed his prophet was, he said, you go there and
you take this rod and lay it down. And it was just a wooden,
just a staff. He laid it down and it became
a serpent. It became a snake. So he went
into Pharaoh and he, all the plagues that came about, he did
it with a rod. And remember, Pharaoh got all
his magicians and his sorcerers in, and Aaron was the one that
was using this rod. And Aaron, he dropped his down
and it became a serpent. And all the sorcerers and magicians,
they dropped theirs down and theirs became serpents too. But
Aaron's ate theirs, swallowed up theirs. And then, whenever
they were leaving Egypt, you know how they went across the
Red Sea? That rod was held up and the
water parted and they went across on dry ground because of this
rod. And then they were fighting the
Amalekites and Moses held up this rod. And as long as he held
up this rod, they were victorious against the Amalekites. When
his hands got tired and he began to lower that rod, they held
it up again and they won the victory again. In all of that
we see Christ Jesus the Lord. The power and wisdom of God is
Christ the Lord. And He's represented in that
rod. Well, then Korah and some of his folks in Israel, they
get out of Egypt. And Korah and some of his folks,
they left Egypt, but they didn't really leave Egypt. They came
out bodily, but they never really left each other. And they got
out there a little while, and Moses and Aaron were kind of
leading the group, you know. And Makorah and his followers
got upset. They got upset because Moses
took too much on himself. So God said, OK. He said, you
get all the princes of Israel. And they laid up 12 rods. And
He said, put their names on each rod. And He said, put Aaron's
name on the rod for the tribe of Levi. And He said, whichever
rod that I cause to bloom and to produce almonds, to produce
fruit, that's the man I've chosen to be my high priest. And they
put up their rods before the Ark of the Testimony and Aaron's
rod budded. And all the people came in and
they discovered who God's high priest was. It's Aaron. All this
was done through a rod. He showed who his prophet was
that he used to come and declare to Pharaoh, let my people go.
And he made known this is his prophet. And then he made known
who his high priest was with a rod. And he said, Aaron is
my high priest. Nobody else can do what this
man is going to do. He goes into the holiest of holies,
and he offers the blood sacrifice, and he makes atonement for the
people. And if he walks out of there, that means I've accepted
him. And he pictured Christ. And all this was shown through
a rod. What we see here, brethren, in
this is the Lord is teaching us here, when He uses this name,
Rod, He's hewing down the high ones
of stature. He's taking down those that exalted
themselves to the office of prophet and priest and king. And He's
raising up one unlike any prophet, any priest, any king that they
had ever seen. He didn't need all the earthly
adornments and all the earthly things that men need to try to
make themselves appear powerful. This one came forth arod. just a rod, just a twig, the
same thing that they used to make these rods with and the
scepters with to overlay them with gold. But he said this,
He holds all these offices at once. Listen to Zechariah 6.12,
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold, the man whose name is the branch, he shall grow up
out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he
shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. This man is going to build the
temple? He's going to build my church. And he's going to sit
upon a throne and be the king over my people. And he's going
to be the priest. And the council of peace is going
to be in this one. But he's going to come forth
as a rod. Well, we see here then The same
reason he said to come out of the stem of Jesse, out of his
roots. If the prophecy would have come
and it would have said this king is going to come of the house
of David, Everybody would have envisioned King David prosperous
and reigning and ruling now He is mentioned that way in other
places when it's when it's designed to tell us that he is David He
is the king he is but here we're talking about his humility. We're
talking about him coming as a man and As to contrast between how
God would grow his garden and how he would bring forth fruit
is altogether different from the way man sees it and the way
man wants to do it. Man wanted to be haughty and
proud and be these big mighty cedars and God said there's nothing
but chaff is all it is. But now the one who's truly gonna
be the plant of renown, He's going to come up just a tender
plant, a root out of a dry ground. But when he comes forth, that
ground's going to be dry. It's going to be burned off.
It's going to be cut down. And he uses here the stem of
Jesse, the stump of Jesse, because Jesse was a man. That's David's
father. Jesse was a man who had nothing.
never did have anything and died without having anything. He was
obscure. He was just somebody that just
was not, he wasn't a man you'd look at and say, boy, I want
to be like Jesse. But he says, this one's coming out of Jesse
to show us he's a, he's a rod. He's coming out of Jesse. He
going to be a ruler. He's going to be a tender plan.
He's going to grow up from that stock that I've cut down. Well,
One reason that the carnal, natural man won't bow to Christ our King
is because, the reason he was rejected when he walked this
earth, is because this man, he didn't come looking like an earthly
king. He didn't come looking like a
mighty oak, like a mighty cedar. They said, and they knew that
if he's king, Caesar wasn't king. They knew if he's king, they
really didn't have a king. They knew if he's king, Then
if He really is God, who He said He is, and He's the King, and
He's the Messiah, then this is the one we ought to bow to. But
because He didn't look like what they thought the Messiah ought
to look like. Because His way of worship don't
look like what men think it ought to look like. Because His ordinances
aren't as impressive to the natural man. It's proud and lofty as
a big oak and a big cedar. They wouldn't bow to this one.
But God's proving here something. He's proving that He doesn't
think like men think, that He doesn't need men, that He don't
need this world, that He don't need all the things that men
need to convey power to one another. He didn't need those things.
He didn't need any of those things. He came from a family that was
so destitute that it appeared as if there was really no life
in that family anymore. Joseph and Mary, they didn't
have anything. When the king taxed the land,
they had to leave. They didn't have anything. But
then he says after he's lopped off the bough, and he's hewed
down the haughty in Israel, this one comes forth as a tender plant.
But this branch shall grow and bring forth fruit. Look in verse
1 there. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow, shall grow
out of his roots. If you look back at Isaiah 4
and verse 2, Isaiah mentioned this there, and he's really sort
of picking up the same thought that he said there. But he talked
about how, if you read chapter 3, we won't get into that, but
he talked about how he was going to take away the wealth, he was
going to take away their rulers, he was going to take away their
leaders, he was going to take away the staff of bread. He took
everything away. He did a whole lot more in this
land than just a stock market crashing. He did a whole lot
more in this land than just let a bunch of hucksters stand up
in office and take over. He took away everything. He took
away everything. And then he said, you know what
it says here in verse 1, In that day seven women shall take hold
of one man, saying, We'll eat our own bread, wear our own apparel.
Let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. They were ashamed and reproached.
People saw what they were, that God was against them, and they
were just looking for somebody to take away my shame, my reproach. But look what he says here in
verse two. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful
and glorious. And the fruit of the earth, he's
still talking about him. This is Christ, the branch. The
fruit of the earth should be excellent and comely for them
that are escaped of Israel. The day the Lord chopped down
and burned this field, took away everything that was stately and
impressive. In that day, God shined in counsel. with glory
upon His people. They beheld the glory of God
when they beheld Christ the Lord. You know what it's going to take
for you to behold Him? You who are mighty and strong
and tall and haughty and high and lifted up, it's going to
take God hewing you down. It's going to take God putting
the axe to the roots and bringing you down to nothing. that this
life may come forth, that this vine, this branch may become
beautiful and glorious before your eyes. That's what it's gonna
take. Only the husbandman can do this. Only the one who could
do all this can do that in your heart. He did this with a nation. You know, we go out, I said to
y'all, if we all live closer, I'd like to plant a garden, and
I'd like to have a Bible class there, because there's so many
illustrations from a garden. And you picture, picture that
now, you know, we're out there around a little garden and we
got a garden planted and we're using that garden to illustrate
how God saves his people. Well, God made a world. He made a world. And then he
said, let me narrow it down. He made a nation. He chose to
make a nation to show that what he's doing for his people, it's
an elect people. He represented it by that nation
Israel. And they got all haughty and
proud and he said, let me show you what I do with that. I just
chop that down. I just pull up those plants and
uproot those plants. When the suckers begin to grow
out on the tomato between the branch and the vine and they're
sucking the nutrients out, I just go out there and prune them off
because they're not good for anything. He's talking about
people. And he said, and I do this. I don't use a hoe or an
axe like you use. I use a nation. I use a king.
And I bring it up against this one and I take away the chaff. I take away everything that's
harming my people and taking away the nutrients from them.
I take it away so that they can behold the vine. They can behold
Christ, the glorious and beautiful and comely branch in that day.
He does it when He comes to us and gives us life in Christ.
He does it through every trial when He takes away whatever it
is that's sapping the nutrients from us. He's done it through
periods where he did it in whole countries to show us on a grand
scale that he's doing it. He works with his fingers intricately
within the fragile little places of the plant and gets in there
and takes away just what needs to be taken away, right when
it needs to be taken away. He sends the showers when it
needs to be rained on. And he brings out the sun when
it needs to be dried up, when it's too moist. He keeps it just
like it needs to be. And then when the chaff is growing
up beside it, and he said, just leave it alone. Just leave that
alone. Don't you try to puck it up.
Don't you try to uproot the plant. You can't discern the wheat from
the chaff. Don't you try to do it. God said,
I'm the husband, he said. You just let the chaff grow alongside
the wheat. It's got a purpose. It's got
a purpose. I told you Thursday night, when
those harsh winds come, It protects that, it buffers that tender
plant. You know, my grandfather was
a good gardener, and he had, I've got a picture, we found
it yesterday, and he's got a, I'm standing out there with him,
and I'm holding my hand up like this, and he had some posts made
for this, and about two times, maybe three times as tall as
I am, he had posts that tall, and his tomato plants, Ran he
wove them up through there, and they went up that tall He'd had
still on a step ladder to pick tomatoes off of these plants.
You know, but he would take pine straw That grew off a pine tree. It was just chaff so it wasn't
good for anything But he would take that and put it around the
base of those tomato plants all around the base of them on purpose
You know why because when that hot August sun's coming down
in the middle of in the South Arkansas When everybody else's
tomato plants have dried up from the bottom and up the vines gotten
all brown and dried up, his would be just as green because he took
that chaff and put that chaff all around the base of those
roots of those plants and shaded those roots and kept them protected
from the heat of that sun. God said, you leave the chaff
alone. You leave the chaff alone. When I'm done with it, I'll remove
the chaff. It's serving a purpose. It's
right where it's supposed to be doing right what it's supposed
to do. providing for his tender plants. But then that day, this
Lord, the fruit will be beautiful and excellent and comely because
it's full of righteousness. He's the fruit of the earth because
He brought forth a perfect righteousness for His people. He reconciled
His people unto God. He sanctified His people. He
made them holy to be accepted of God. He justified His people,
took away all their sin, purged them of all sin so that nothing
can be brought up against them again. He brought in pardon for
them. It's through Him that His children
are adopted to Him and made sons and daughters brought into Him. Eternal life. Everything is in
this tender plant. That's why He's a plant of renown.
That's why He grew up a tender plant, but He flourished. He
flourished and he's the fruit of the earth because he was a
man. He came as a man, but he grew up and he's lovely and comely
to those where God's done some cultivating, where he's worked
his husbandry and made him pleasant. Made him pleasant. This fine
will be excellent and comely for them. Scripture says Jacob
will take root, Israel will put out buds and flowers, and the
face of the world will be full of fruit. Let me show you something
else he did. Look at Romans 11. Now this applies
to you and me. Romans 11. Paul is saying here to the Romans,
Gentiles, like me and you, he's saying now when God When God
broke those branches off, they wouldn't believe God. They wouldn't
trust God. He broke the branches off. He didn't just break the
branches off, though, so He could replace those branches with you.
He broke those branches off because of unbelief. And he says here,
for if the first fruit be holy, the first fruit's Christ, the
lump is also, if the root be holy, so are the branches. He's
the root. He's the substance in this tree. And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted among
them, and with them partakest of the root, see there, the root
and the fatness of the olive tree, that's where the substance
comes from, the fatness is from the root. He said, that will
say then, he said, boast not against the branches, but if
thou boast, remember this, you don't bear the root, you don't
bear the vine, but the root thee, the vine's bearing you, you getting
your nutrients from the vine. That will say then, well, the
branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. He said,
well, they were broken off, but it was cause of unbelief. And
he says, and thou standest, you're grafted in by faith. Don't be
high-minded. Don't you start looking at being
boastful like they were and saying, well, I'm an elective God, so
no harm will come to me. Whatever I do, I'm good. He said,
no, you trust God. You believe Him. You realize
you're getting your nutrients and your life from the vine. You're not burying the vine.
The vine's burying you. And he says, if God spared not
the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Well, let me say this to you. The Lord said this, those that
be planted in the house of the Lord by him, he said, they shall
flourish in the courts of God. He says, the vineyard which thy
right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong
for thyself, that branch flourish. And he said, the Lord said, I
appoint unto them that morn in Zion, I give them beauty for
ashes, oil of joy for morning, the garment of praise in the
place of the Spirit of heaviness, that they might be called the
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Now, I got one more
scripture to turn with me to, John 15. And here's my application to
you, brethren. John 15. The wealth and honor of this
world is contemptible to this one, this tender plant, this
rod, this stem of Jesse. He didn't need the the wealth
and honor of this world is contemptible to him. That's what we're being
taught in Isaiah 11. Is it contemptible to you? Is
the honor and the wealth of this world contemptible to you? His
kingdom is not of this world. That's what was being taught
in Isaiah 11. That power and that appearance of strength that was
in the haughty and proud branches and those proud trees. He said,
I cut that down. My kingdom is not of this earth.
And the earthly power and riches, they have nothing to do with
the success of this king, of this righteous branch. Nothing
whatsoever to do with the success of him. You know when Scripture
says, if it be grace, it's no more work. And if it be work,
it's no more grace. And the Lord said, you can't
serve the world and mammon. Well, trying to serve this world
is the same as trying to come to God in works. You can't do both. It's not that
you can kind of straddle the fence and do a little of both.
God said you can't do both. Grace can't exist if works are
involved. And works aren't works if grace
is. If it's by grace. And neither can you serve God
and the world. It just can't be done. But this
is what He says to us in John 15, verse 1. I am the true vine. This is that rod, that stem of
Jesse. This is Christ Jesus speaking.
I am the true vine. And my Father is the husband
man. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away. That's what he did. That's what
he did. And every branch that beareth
fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye
are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Now listen
to this instruction. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine." Have you ever seen
a branch of an apple tree laying on the ground, bringing forth
fresh apples? He said, it can't happen. No
more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit
for without me he can do nothing now I Said I had one more one
more one more. I promise this is the last revelation
22 You might say now why did clay why did you come and tell
us all that about this violin? Is it really all that important? Look at verse 15. Revelation
22, 15. For without are dogs, and sorcerers,
and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie. Now look at verse 16. I, Jesus,
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches. What things? I am the root, the
vine, the rod, the branch, the life, the way, the truth. I am the root and the offspring
of David, the son of Jesse, the stem of Jesse, the king, King
David, and the bride and morning star, and the spirit and the
bride say come. And let him that heareth say,
Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophet of this book, Add to
him." You know what it is to add to this book? It's to add
to what Christ has finished. That's what he says. That doesn't
mean just if you go in here and you write something down in this
book. It means if you add to and say there's something else
for a man to do other than what Christ the righteous branch has
done. If any man shall add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words
of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
out of the book of life and out of the holy city and the things
which are written in this book. He which testifies these things
says, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, Lord Jesus. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. I
pray, I do pray that He would make it known to you that there
is no fruit, there is no life, there is no sustenance, there
is nothing but chaff and briars and thorns. and haughty, proud
cedars of Lebanon and Bashan that shall all be cut down, chopped
off, burn up in the fire, and the only fruit and the only life
is in the branch. And I hope you saw from this
that the way of the world, the haughtiness and the pride of
the world and its religion, it's not the way of God. He didn't
come that way. And He don't save that way. He
saves in Christ alone. In Christ alone. All right.