Okay, brethren, we'll be in Isaiah
chapter 19. We'll be looking at verses 18
through 25. 18 through 25. And we're continuing with the
burden of Egypt. And we saw last week how the
Lord works good for His people even in the midst of him bringing
destruction upon the wicked. And that goes along with that
verse that we looked at and see this continuing theme throughout
Isaiah in Isaiah 3 verses 10 and 11 where the Lord says to
Isaiah, say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him.
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings, that is, that
fruitful good work of Christ in them, they shall eat and partake
and be fed upon Christ. But woe unto the wicked, it shall
be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. And that's because the wages
of sin is death, and they have no mediator, no one to care for
them and to put away their sin. So in Isaiah 19.1, just by way
of recounting what we saw last week, the Lord is said to be
riding upon a swift cloud, for he brings the sinner into darkness. He's the one that brings the
sinner into darkness. And when the Lord does that,
in verse 1 it says, the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his
presence and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
So that we saw that there's a day for every sinner, especially
for those that are loved of the Lord, where they come into a
day of trouble, but it's for their good, it's for their stripping
away of their vain confidences. Because we saw that when they
begin to turn to those idols, to seek that comfort that they
once found, the Lord actually removes peace from them, so that
they can't find comfort in those familiar spirits that they once
turn to. They don't find any comfort in
those things, and even when they turn to the law, or they turn
to man-made dead religion, they find no comfort in that, but
find themselves under the hand of a cruel lord and a fierce
king. And so, it's as what Job said
in his experience when he was shut up and brought into silence
before the Lord, and he said that, the Lord hath fenced up
my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths,
and he hath stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from
my head. And then we went through and
we saw how in the Lord stripping away from Egypt, it was a picture
of how the Lord strips the sinner of all their vain confidences,
right? We saw how he dried up the Nile
River so that all the benefits of the Nile River were taken
away from them. We saw how the Lord destroyed
the wisdom of Egypt and he brought their wise men into confusion
so that they didn't understand what was happening to them and
they didn't know how to deliver themselves from the trouble that
they had. And then we saw how that the
sinner saved, it proves to be a stripping of the flesh so that
throughout all of it, it's the removal of their vain confidences. And the Lord reveals himself
to the sinner through this, through this stripping work so that graciously
what he's doing is he's revealing to the sinner the plague of their
own heart. They're going to know and understand that by their
wisdom, by their doing, by their works, they cannot come and they
cannot know the Lord God. They can't know the truth or
how to approach Him or how to worship Him aright. So our study
tonight now continues to look into this grace of our God for
his chosen sinners that are redeemed by his grace. So that not only
does God strip and save the sinner as we saw last week, but he even
teaches the sinner the language of the gospel. He teaches them
the language of Canaan, so that they cease to boast of themselves,
and they cease boasting of their works, and they hear the gospel
of grace, and they hear and know that salvation is of the Lord,
and that Christ has accomplished all things, and so he settles
them there in the gospel, causing them to hear it and to grow in
what they're hearing concerning Christ. And they begin to bear
witness of Christ to others then as well. Our title is, The Sinner
Brought to Faith in Christ. So we saw the sinner stripped
of any confidences, and now we see the sinner brought to faith
in Christ tonight. So let's look at the first verse
in our text, verse 18, Isaiah 1918. In that day shall five
cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear
to the Lord of hosts one shall be called the city of destruction. Now the word five here in the
scriptures, it's used by the Jews to define the word some
or to define a few. So when they use five in the
scriptures, they're often speaking about a few or some things. And what they're saying here
is that many, that there's gonna be a few, some of the cities
in Egypt out of the many, will be turned and many in those cities
will believe on the Lord. Those cities will be given over
to the Lord in the Gospel day. Look over at 1 Corinthians 14.
1 Corinthians 14 and go to verse 19. Paul in this portion of that
letter had been speaking about the gifts in the church and specifically
here in chapter 14 about speaking in tongues. he says in verse
19, yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding
that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand
words in an unknown tongue. And Paul is saying I'd rather
speak a few and meaningful words, gospel words, clear words that
you all understand and are able to glorify God hearing the gospel
of Christ than many words that mean nothing and are just vain,
idle words that don't help anybody. But he used that word five. I'd
rather use five or a few words that are meaningful, the gospel,
to speak to you than speak to you in an unknown tongue. And so what Isaiah is declaring
here is that the gospel of grace is going to come to some of these
Gentile cities throughout the Gentile world and they're going
to hear the gospel and they're going to be turned to the Lord. and these sinners are going to
know what God has done for them. As we see when Paul was writing
to the Thessalonians in the second letter in chapter two, verses
13 and 14, he said, we are bound to give thanks all the way to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Well, if they're going
to believe the truth, they're going to have to hear the truth.
And that's what he says, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is
sovereign and has all power to cause his word to go out. He can raise up a man, he can
teach that man the gospel and send him out. to preach to others
so that the others will hear that word and believe it as well.
And he'll give them that faith, he'll bring them all there and
cause them to hear his word. Alright, so we're going to confess
basically that that language of Canaan there, that it's speaking
of there, What it's saying is that when we hear this gospel,
when we hear that language, even though it's in various... externally
it's in different tongues, you know, as we're speaking to others
in English here and in other countries they speak a different
language, but when we're glorifying and exalting Christ, it's all
the language of Canaan. It all glorifies Christ. And
so that's the language of Canaan. It debases man, it brings man
down, puts his face in the dirt, and it exalts Christ before the
sinner. So that the sinner confesses,
it's not my works. I see, I'm hearing and learning
that God isn't looking to me in my works because my hands
are filthy and they're polluted because I'm a sinner and I'm
unable to please God and come to him in my own works. And so
we let go, we release, and we cease to trust in our own works. And we look to Christ, who we've
heard through this Gospel, that He came to put away sin, and
did that very thing through the shedding of His own blood on
the cross when He bore the sin of His people before His Father,
and the Father poured out His wrath, immersed him in fiery
judgment, and Christ there, shedding his blood, purged us of our sins. As the substitute, in our place,
where we should have been, he was there. And because he did
that, and he gave up the ghost, having offered himself up to
the Father, and having finished all things in God, accepting
his sacrifice, he was buried in the tomb, but God raised him
from the dead, so that now the Spirit goes forth and gives us
life, causing us to hear the gospel, hear it by faith and
believing that gospel, so that all that work is done of God.
And that's the language of Canaan. We're not here boasting of and
talking about our works, but the work of what Christ has done
by himself. All right, then it speaks of
this city of destruction, and what one commentator noticed
is that it's very similar. The word there, it could be interpreted
the city of the sun, or Heliopolis, where the gospel went, right?
That's the seat of their worship of the sun god there in Egypt.
And when the gospel came, they destroyed that. They left off
worshiping the sun god, and they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so, we too who were appointed
to death and destruction, when the gospel comes to us, we who
are appointed, and the Lord causes us to hear it, and to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh is destroyed but we are
delivered from eternal death and brought into salvation and
life and glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right now, let's
look at verse 19. Isaiah 19, 19 says, in that day, There shall be an altar to the
Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the
border thereof to the Lord. So the Lord here, he's teaching
his people how to worship him. Paul had said in Corinthians,
how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not
the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world
that come to gnaw, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world
unto our glory." So that we hear this gospel, we hear the wisdom
of of God and what he's done for us through this gospel, and
so that we learn and understand that we're to come to God through
Christ, that Christ is our very righteousness. He's the acceptance
that we have with God, and so he teaches us how to worship
God. And since we're at peace with
God, God makes known to us all things that we need to know,
so that we know him who is our salvation. We cease to just learn
about things and about certain doctrines, and it ceases to be
what we know, but it becomes who we know, and it becomes all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when the Jews would worship
God, they would take an animal, a sacrifice, and they'd bring
it to the priest who would slay the animal and put it on the
altar. And then the altar would do its work. The altar would
do the labor. And the altar would sanctify
that gift that's on the altar to be accepted with God. It would be sanctified with fire. And so what we see there, the
sinner was accepted with God, so what we see there is that
Christ is our very altar upon whom we are sanctified, upon
whom the works that we do are sanctified in Him because the
works that we do now were ordained of Him. And by His Spirit, we
walk and do those very works, being sanctified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our altar, who sanctifies
us and sanctifies our works because they're all of Him, according
to His will and His purpose. By Christ we worship our God
and we are accepted with our God and that's our hope and that's
our joy and that's our comfort. And so in Hebrews we're reminded
that it's a good thing that the heart be established with grace,
he says. Let the heart be established
with grace, being taught, instructed of the Lord, and shown that it's
not our works. And he goes on saying, not with
meats, not in our fleshly works. And that's what the Jews trusted
him, their fleshly works. their bringing of the sacrifice,
their being faithful and dutiful to all those things. They had
confidence in their own fleshly doing of things. We don't have
confidence in the things that we're doing. We've been taught,
as Paul wrote to the Philippians, having no confidence in the flesh. And so, that's where we go, and
it says, those fleshly works did not profit them that have
been occupied therein. All that religion that they did,
all those things that they did, what we find and what we see
in all the religion of the Jews is that religion doesn't save
anyone. Man-made religion doesn't cleanse
or purge the sin of anyone. only Christ saves and only Christ
purges the sinner of their sin. And the Jews, they were given
much truth, right? The oracles of God were revealed
unto them, but what they did in the law, they were doing in
types and in shadows. And those that look to their
doing, They didn't know the truth, and they were offended when Christ
came. But all the Lord's people, those
who were His people under that covenant, they weren't looking
to their service and their works. They were looking to what that
service and those works pointed to, which is Christ. who would
come of the Lord and sanctify and justify them and deliver
them from their sins. They were looking to Him. And
so, we don't continue to look to that Old Covenant, we don't
continue to look to those works. and the things which they did
to improve themselves and to work themselves nearer to the
Lord. We don't have any confidence in those things, and the Lord
hasn't taught us that either. He isn't teaching us those religious,
externally religious things, but He's showing us Christ and
that He's our acceptance. As the Hebrew writer went on
to say in Hebrews 13.10, we have an altar. We have an altar. That's
Christ, our altar. Whereof they have no right to
eat, which serve the tabernacle. And so Christ is our altar, and
it's Christ, it's His flesh and His blood that we eat and drink. That's what we partake of in
looking to the Lord and serving the Lord and rejoicing Him. It's
feasting upon that's feasting upon Christ himself, by whom
we have joy and acceptance and peace with God. That's why we
continue to lift up and exalt him. And because of Christ, his
church is called a pillar here in the text. That's because she's
led of God, and being led of God and taught of God, she teaches
sinners that are brought to her of the Lord. When Paul was writing
to Timothy, he spoke of the church being a pillar, and he said,
but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know, he sent him this
letter, because if I'm delayed, I want you to know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So that
God, what the Lord is doing as he's establishing a light here,
as he's establishing his gospel church here, and he's causing
the word to go forth into your hearts, and you're hearing these
words, he then brings other sinners who will also be taught and fed
this gospel, who will also be brought out of their vain confidences
in their false religion, and they'll be settled in Christ. They'll hear of Christ, they'll
look to Christ, they'll see Him, and they'll rejoice in Him and
what He accomplished for His people, so that we're all being
settled, we're all here in Christ, and being fixed and established
in Him, being settled in Him, then we grow. And that's why
unity and being of one mind is such an important thing because
when there's unity and there's peace there, that's when the
gospel goes forth clearly. Because the focus isn't on us,
it's on Christ and His gospel sounding forth clearly and feeding
the hearts of the people. The people's hearts and minds
aren't on what's going on with the people, but it's fixed on
Christ. And we're just rejoicing in Him and growing him. And there in verse 19 it says,
and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. A pillar at the
border thereof to the Lord. And what that's saying is as
soon as you stepped in that land, as soon as you came through that
door, you know what those people believed. You know who their
pillar and their strength is. You know who their altar is.
You know who sanctifies their works and who's working in them
and living in them and in whom they are rejoicing because they're
preaching Christ. So first, the true church exalts
her Savior, Jesus Christ. That is, she's declaring the
gospel of Christ to anyone that walks in through those doors. And first, we know from the pulpit,
right? We want to hear the gospel going
forth from this pulpit so that it's a clear sounding message. We're not mixing man's works,
we're not glorifying man with Christ, we're preaching Christ
and exalting him. And then they know it because
as they're fellowshipping with the brethren, They hear the things
that you speak of and how you speak of Christ and what gives
you joy and hope and gladness. And then not only in our words,
but they see it in our actions and our deeds. They can look
and see and know, do they really love the Lord Jesus Christ or
don't they? Is it all talk or do they really
indeed love Christ whom they preach? And then second is people
are led through Christ the gate so that all who enter here must
enter through the gospel, right? No one's gonna be celebrated
and exalted because they give a large sum of money, for example,
so we can have pews or a building or something like that. It's
everybody who comes, everybody who's a child of God isn't coming
based on their works and their goodness and their righteousness,
All of us come through the gate, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear and we believe that gospel. And that gospel must go forth
because we know and understand. We don't know these things naturally. We don't come into, we're not
brought into the kingdom of God through natural means. None of
us is born to believing parents, and then that's a guarantee that
we're going to be believers. Just as our parents may not be
believers, and yet we are believers. It's not a natural work. It's
a supernatural work. It's the power of God unto salvation. It's by His Spirit coming into
the heart, coming upon the sinner, creating them anew, making a
new creature, taking out that heart of stone and putting in
a heart of flesh, meaning not that carnal, wicked flesh, but
that soft, pliable heart that hears the Lord, that wants to
hear what the Lord says, that wants to obey the Lord and do
what He says. And so that's regeneration. We're
talking about the Spirit giving life. It must be by the Spirit. And the Spirit doesn't take lies
and falsehood and things that aren't true that are puffing
up the sinner and give you life. The Spirit takes that which is
true, the Gospel, that exalts and lifts up the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He takes that and puts that in the heart. And He gives you
the hear and ear of faith so that you hear what's being said
and believe it. So it's all through his regenerative
work. As Zechariah said, this is the
word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by
power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. And then third,
concerning the word of Christ, his people obey his command.
We hear the command of Christ. What's the command of Christ?
He said in John 13, 34 and 35, a new commandment I give unto
you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another. And so again, that love involves
unity and so we're seeking unity because then the focus is on
Christ and it's on his gospel because if we're content to walk
in the flesh if we walk in the flesh then what happens is we
strive with one another and we start seeking out our wants and
wanting to see what we think is right and what we think is
best and We are more worried and concerned about our pride,
our rights, what we think should be heard and people should honor
us. And that becomes our focus. But
when the focus is Christ, then we're not so worried about what
we think. And sure, we might be offended. And sure, we might suffer hurt
at some point, being offended by a brother. were willing to
bear and suffer the wrong, as Paul said. He said, it's better
for you to suffer wrong from your brethren than to make a
big stink about it, than to take it to the authorities, as some
of the Christians in Corinth were doing. And so I was thinking
about it, and the best thing that you can do when you feel
your flesh has been pricked, and you feel that burning in
your heart, and that burning in your skin, and you feel offended
by another, or you just feel something heating up, the best
thing you can do is ask yourself, what can I do now to ensure that
I'm not a distraction to the Gospel? What can I do right now
it so that I don't become a distraction and cause trouble so that others
won't hear the gospel, that their attention will be taken on me
or the situation or some other thing other than Christ. Because
if we focus on Christ, That'll cause us to bite our tongue,
to not say something in the heat of the moment, and further the
harm and the abuse, and wait till you've calmed down. And
if you have something to talk about or say to a brother or
sister, then you could do it at a better time when it won't
be such a distraction, basically. All right, and then in verse
20. End it, Isaiah 19, 20. And it, that is Christ whom we
preach, shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of
hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry unto the Lord
because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Savior and
a Great One, and he shall deliver them." So that pillar at the
border of Egypt, it would be for a sign and for a witness
unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. And that's Christ
Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. So the believer, confessing that
Christ is all, and exalting Christ in faith, we know that that's
by whom we can approach unto the Father, and we know that
we're accepted of Him because of that work of Christ. So that
when that pillar is lifted up, it shall be for a sign and for
a witness unto the Lord of hosts. And God the Father will never
deny His Son. And coming to the Father, He
receives us because we come in the blood of Christ. And that
means we are accepted of Him. We are received of Him because
of Christ. That's how precious and valuable
and wonderful the blood of Christ is. How much He affected our
salvation so that we may approach unto the throne of God without
fall before Him. And so, when we cry unto the
Lord, we'll be saved by Him. Peter said to the Gentiles, to
Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. Alright, and
that's exactly what we read in that verse, verse 20. They shall
cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors. So whether
it's your own sin from within, or it's enemies attacking you
from without, He shall send them a Savior and a Great One, and
He shall deliver them. Paul was speaking to Titus, another
preacher, and he's telling him in Titus 2, verses 11 through
13, he said, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world. And so, we've learned the Gospel
of God. He's given us His Spirit so that
we hear and understand what Christ has done for us. And we're made
to look to Him. We understand that what Christ
has accomplished is our salvation because this world will be destroyed. When Christ returns, this world
will be destroyed and all the children of disobedience, who
are those children of wrath, they'll be destroyed with it.
But God has given us a hope, fixed a hope for us in Christ
so that we know and we believe and we've heard Him and so we're
looking for Him. We're looking to Him, trusting
that in Him will be found of the Lord. And that's what he
says in verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And what he's saying there, it's
not just waiting for his second coming again, for his return,
but we continue, even now, looking for Christ so that when we're
troubled, when we come into trouble, when we're burdened by the oppressor,
again, whether it's sin from within or it's enemies without,
we do groan. In our spirit, the spirit helpeth
our infirmities with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he
makes intercession for us so that the Lord looks upon that
one, that sign and that witness, the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks
upon us, seeing the blood of Christ upon us, and he sends
us the Savior. He sends us comfort. and that
hope and that peace and that joy again so that we don't want
to do the things that the flesh lusts for and also that attack
from the enemy. We know, Lord, though I can't
defend myself against them, you can defend me and you can work
this all out for your praise and for your glory. All right,
for they shall, as it says in verse 20, they shall cry unto
the Lord because of the oppressors, and God shall send them a savior
and a great one, and he shall deliver them. All right, now
in verse 21, Isaiah 19, 21, it says, the Lord shall be known
to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and
shall do sacrifice and oblation. Yea, they shall vow a vow unto
the Lord and perform it. And he's, again, he's making
it very clear that the Lord is going to be known outside of
Israel. The Gentiles are going to know
the truth of the gospel, but they're not gonna know the truth
through that old administration, through that old covenant and
through those works. The glory is that, and we see
this in Christ's day, When Christ came and that gospel went out,
the apostles didn't go and then bring them under that yoke of
bondage and bring them into the sacrificing and all those ordinances
that they had to follow and keep and do. They were brought in
through Christ and through Christ alone so that we are brought
in right into the glorious covenant of grace by faith. We see it
clearly by faith, not through those types and those dark shadows. It's without the veil of the
law. When we look to Christ, it's not through that veil that
remains over Moses' face to this day when the law is read. But
Christ said to the Samaritan woman at the well, ye worship
ye know not what, We know what we worship for salvation is of
the Jews, right? He revealed himself to the Jews
through the oracles, through the prophets, through the law,
through the scriptures, right? They had that. And then Christ
said, but the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit, in truth, so that
now the Jew and the Gentile, all coming to the Lord, are brought
through faith. And that's our vow. That vow
spoken of there in verse 21, it's the vow of faith. We vow
ourselves to the Lord. Our vow is faith, basically,
and we are married to Christ. So, and just as in a marriage,
you make vows, right? You make vows to your spouse. Even so, we're married to Christ,
and our vow is faith. We believe Him. We trust Him. Everything is in His hands. We're
entrusted to Him. We're not looking to our own
works. We're not looking to ourselves to provide for ourselves. We're
looking to Christ, our husband, to provide all things for us,
and we believe Him. We trust Him. We're resting right
there in Him so that in our confession, we've been baptized publicly,
confessing that He is indeed our salvation. And so we follow
Him in all things, meaning that we're following Him by faith.
We're trusting Him. That's why we don't have to fight
against our enemies. That's why we don't have to enforce
our rights and have our way and everything, because we trust
Christ. We know Lord. Though I maybe
don't see it now, though I don't understand all things now, I
trust you. I know that your wisdom and you're
wise and you have all things in control and you're working
your good for your purpose and your plans. Lord, help me just
to keep trusting you and believe you in this." And that's what
Paul was saying in Romans 7, 4. And he said, Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. So our vow to Christ is that
vow of faith. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's our vow.
We believe Christ. We trust him by faith. All right,
verse 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt
and he shall smite and heal it and they shall return even to
the Lord and he shall be entreated of them and shall heal them.
So we saw that in using the oppressors to strip Egypt, right? He caused
a civil war to erupt in Egypt and he dried up their commerce
and their means of providing for themselves with their food
and fish. And he mingled a perverse spirit among their wise counselors
so that they came into confusion and they didn't know their trouble
or how to get out of it. and he gave them over to a cruel
ruler and a fierce king. And the Lord smote Egypt, some
in righteous judgment, some in gracious mercy upon them. But in smiting, what he did is
he turned his elect to seek him, to come into darkness, to know
that they're sinners, to know that they can't save themselves,
that they might hear the gospel. And he caused them to hear the
gospel. And he gave them faith to believe the gospel and to
lay hold of Christ. Paul said, knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." That's
why he brings us into those stripping times, that we stop having confidence
and being cocky and vain and arrogant in our sin, that we
learn don't do those things. They're not good. The Lord is
not pleased with those works. It's foolish for me to be doing
those lustful works. And he strips us of those things
and those confidences of those things that we would continue
to seek him. to be settled in Him and to grow
in that grace and that faith that He's given to us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, for us, we're not bearing
wrath and judgment. When the Lord chastens us and
He strips this flesh, it's not wrath and judgment. Though sometimes
it feels like it. Sometimes it burns so much that
we think we've been cut off from the Lord. And yet, He keeps us
coming to Christ. And what we find is after that
chastening, He establishes us and settles us in Christ and
brings again that joy of his salvation so that we see, Lord,
this is what I need. This is my contentment. This
is my joy and my peace that we not be destroyed with the wicked
of this world that he's coming to destroy. He breaks us of that. It's always to strip us of vain
confidences. Christ is the one who bore the
wrath and the judgment, so you and I won't bear that wrath and
judgment. It's just to strip us of vain confidences. All right,
verse 23 says, In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt
to Assyria, and the Assyrians shall come into Egypt, and the
Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the
Assyrians." Now, before Christ came, Egypt was enemies with
Assyria, and Syria hated Egypt. There was no peace there. Just
as with the Jew, they're at enmity with everybody in the world. They had no friends and had no
fellowship with any Gentiles. But Christ, he reconciles very
enemies. He reconciles those that are
enmities at heart and did that between his chosen seed, his
people who are enmity against God, naturally have natural-born
enemies against God. He reconciled us to God. He created
and established peace between us and holy God and he also establishes
and reconciles the enmity between brethren, right? Between the
Jew and the Gentile and between those who might otherwise not
love each other and not get along with each other. Looking over
at Ephesians 2, turn over there to Ephesians 2, verse 16. Paul writes, and that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which
were far off, and to them that were nigh, Gentile and Jew. For
through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God,
and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. So that highway that is thrown
up, that signifies and shows the peace that we now have with
our brethren, with one another in Christ. Paul said, for brethren,
ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Now looking back
in our text, Isaiah 19 verses 24 and 25. He says, in that day shall Israel
be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying,
blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands,
and Israel, mine inheritance. So in that gospel day, the Lord
shall bless us. He calls us here, my people,
the work of my hands, mine inheritance. And our Lord Jesus Christ, he
said, blessed are your eyes, for they see, and blessed are
your ears, for they hear." That's a blessing that you hear the
gospel and that you see Christ and believe Him. That you've
paid that vow of faith. That's what we're called. You
pay that vow of faith. You keep believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ and don't turn from that. And like Paul, The church
is called to the Lord and commissioned by the Lord to preach this gospel
of peace, to declare Jesus Christ and Him crucified so that the
people who are brought here to the Lord would hear and know
this is the gospel, this is the way of salvation. It's through
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to preach Him and exalt
Him, not exalt man and talk about man. and His works. And so this
Gospel is our witness according to that vow of faith which He's
given to us by His Spirit whereby we throw up the highway, right? That is, we're preaching the
simplicity of Jesus Christ. That's why it's called the highway.
So that we're not entangling the sinner in all these works
and all these outwardly vain shows of religion, right? So
it's a highway because for preaching and declaring the simplicity.
that is Jesus Christ, that that's our salvation, that's our hope,
that's our acceptance, right there, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is our ministry. This
is what, I'm just gonna read it, what the Lord said to Paul. It's in Acts 26, verse 16 through
18, if you wanna follow along, but if you like to just listen,
I'll read it. Just put us, the church here,
and what the commission that was given to Paul, Acts 26, 16. He says, but rise and stand upon
thy feet, stand in the gospel, for I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the
which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people
and from the gentiles unto whom now i send thee to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
satan unto god that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me So brethren, that's why the Lord has stripped us
and why he's given us faith and brought us together at this gospel,
the simplicity of Christ. Our fellowship with God is established
in Christ. So he's brought us together to
preach him, to throw up that highway, to preach the Lord Jesus
Christ and his gospel. and we're to come together in
that one purpose, rejoicing in Him. And I pray the Lord will
help us to hear that very word, to rejoice in Christ, to be settled
in Him and grow in Him and continue to send this gospel word forth
so that His people would hear it and be drawn to the Lord and
delivered from their darkness and their sins and be saved by
that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let's
pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy in saving us. Lord, we know now by your
gospel that we are worthy, not our works, and you don't look
to the sinner for anything, Lord, but you look to your Son, Jesus
Christ. We thank you for sending him as our Savior. Lord, and that You look to Him
for all things. And that when You look upon us,
You see the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, which washes away
our sins. And Lord, that we have found
forgiveness, and hope, and joy, and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, we pray that You establish us in this Gospel. Use us, Lord,
as You used the Apostle Paul to preach the Gospel faithfully,
and that Those sinners out and about around us, Lord, would
hear this word and be brought in to the truth of God and to
His kingdom through the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. May we continue to preach the simplicity of Christ that
sinners would stop looking to their own works and their hands
and what they're doing or not doing and look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, you give us faith and so
we trust it. and pray that you would continue
to make us faithful to that vow, that vow of faith, to believe
you, to trust you, to rest in you. We pray, Lord, that you
would comfort your people here, even those that aren't with us
tonight, that you would feed your people, that you would settle
them in Christ and grow us and bring us together and give us
all a hunger and a thirst for your righteousness and a desire
to hear your word continually. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.