Good evening. All right, take
your bowels and turn to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11, and we'll be in
verses 10 through 16. Isaiah 11, 10 through 16. Now,
we saw On Sunday, in our study in Philippians,
that our citizenship is in heaven, Paul said to the Philippians
in 3.20 there, Our conversation, or our citizenship, is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul we saw was expressing
his desire for the Bride of Christ, the Church, that she would be
found standing fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the Gospel. And we do this united under Christ. Christ is our banner. He's the
flag that is flown and he therefore is our ensign. He's the one to
whom we are gathered. Now tonight what I want us to
see is that the flag or the allegiance that we had, that pole that is
raised up in the midst of battle to whom All the soldiers are
able to look to and know where they are to gather to, where
they are to meet together. That banner to which we are gathered
is Jesus Christ. It's Jesus Christ. So our text
tonight speaks of an ensign. An ensign is a banner or a flag. It's what we rally to. It's what
we see and rejoice to see and defend and are glad to see our
banner so that as citizens, as citizens of heaven, as sons and
daughters of Jesus Christ, He's our banner. He is the one whom
we love. And so under him, we are assembled. Our title is Christ our Ensign. Christ our Ensign. And we're
going to see that Christ himself is the one that enlists the soldiers. He gathers his people together
to himself. We'll see that Christ then, therefore,
brings training, brings discipline, if you will, to his ranks, to
the people that he's assembled. And don't think of that in terms
of a legalistic law, but rather in terms of he's the one that
teaches us. He's the one that forms us into
that body of his with one purpose. And then we'll see that Christ
is the banner under whom we march. Okay, so let's look at our first
point there, Christ enlists his soldiers. So first I want us
to see that Christ gathers the people to himself. Christ is the ensign of the people
spoken of in our text. So Isaiah 11 verse 10, Isaiah
11 verse 10, in that day there shall be a root of Jesse,
which shall stand for an ensign of the people. So to it shall
the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." Now there's
no doubt that this ensign is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul reveals
that it's Christ. Turn over, keep a marker here
in Isaiah, but turn over to Romans, Romans 15. Romans 15 verse 12,
and then put a marker there in Romans, because we're going to
come back to Romans as well a couple of times in this point. The fact
that Christ is the ensign, Paul reveals to us, it means that
Christ is ruling and reigning over his people. As the ensign,
he is ruling and reigning over his people, and that's how he
words it in Romans 15 verse 12. We read, and again, Isaiah sayeth,
there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign
over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. All right,
now hold your place there, and let's just look back in Isaiah
11. Isaiah 11, let's go on in verses 11 and 12 now. and it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people." Now if you remember
what we've been seeing, how the Lord continued to hold his hand
against the people, and he was bringing judgment upon them.
Now he's going to set his hand upon them, but this time to gather
them to himself. And it says that he'll set his
hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which
shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Phaethros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,
and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. So the Lord is teaching us, what
he's showing us here in this passage is that Jesus Christ
is the Lord and the Savior of all his people, Jew and Gentile. He is their husband. There's
one bride and Christ Jesus is the husband. He is the Lord and
the Savior of the people, both Jew and Gentile. Alright, now
go back to Romans 15, verse 8. Romans 15 verse 8. Paul writes,
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision. So he's talking about the Jews
there. A minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm
the promises made unto the fathers. And that jumped out at me due
to some correspondence that I'm having this week. And what he's
saying there is that every promise that God made to Abraham and
to his seed." Every promise that is to a seed that is the Jew
according to the flesh, all those promises are confirmed in Jesus
Christ. All those promises that God made
to Israel and to Abraham's seed are confirmed in Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying there.
Read it again, verse 8. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision, that's the Jew, for the truth
of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. So that the promises that were
made to Abraham's seed, that is his seed according to the
flesh, these were literally given to the people. They received
them literally. They received the land and Joshua
21 verse 43 tells us that all the land that God the Father
promised them, they received it. They received all that land.
And then there was a descendants given, a Abraham had a son, Isaac,
and there were descendants of Abraham. And then the other promise
was that those descendants would receive his redemption blessing. They would be his people. The
Lord would set his name upon them of all the peoples in the
earth. These now are all confirmed to
the people of God in Christ. And that word confirmed there
in Romans 15.8, it means to make good. to fulfill them. In Christ, all the promises of
God are made good. They are fulfilled by Christ
to the Lord's people. Paul says this again. It's a different word, but it's
translated confirmed. Hold your place in Romans 15. Go to Galatians. You'll want
to put another marker there in Galatians 3, because we'll be
going back and forth a little bit between Romans and Galatians. Galatians 3, verse 17 and 18. Galatians 3, 17. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that
it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise." So, we don't want to say, I wouldn't say or
feel comfortable saying that the promises that God made to
Israel are cancelled. And they're not canceled because
the scriptures worded that these are confirmed in Christ. God confirms these promises to
the people in Christ. Now that word, they're confirmed
in Galatians 3.17, means to sanction, to ratify, to establish beforehand. So we understand that, right?
Because all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen. God has confirmed all the promises
that he has for us in Christ. So, in Christ, we understand
that our inheritance now, we receive that spiritual inheritance. We have a new heavens and a new
earth. which we are to inherit in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Even Abraham, in Hebrews 11,
9, 10, you can go there, I'll read it, but it says in Hebrews
11, 9, by faith, Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in
a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise. Even though he was there,
on that very land of promise, He didn't set his heart on it.
He didn't set down anything more than a tent. And that was it.
He wasn't looking to the literal. He didn't care about the physical
aspect of it. He was looking unto his God. And it says, For he looked for
a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So there, even Abraham, who received
the promise itself, look to that spiritual fulfillment of God
in Christ. So now Christ, like those descendants
of Abraham whom God literally brought forth, through which
he would bring forth the seed of woman, the Christ, the promised
Christ, now we see that Christ has a seed. He brings forth descendants. He brings forth and creates children,
men and women, of his seed, of his righteous seed, and these
are his by faith, and they are called the children of promise,
the children of promise, so that now in Christ we see that whether
Jew or Gentile, they receive all the promises of God in Christ,
in Christ, all right? So, are you there still? Yeah,
Galatians, Galatians 3, 7. Galatians 3, 7 and 9. Know ye
therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children
of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, that is the Gentile, through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. All right? So that's what we
really should see and understand. There's no difference. We don't
put a division between the Jew and the Gentile. There should
be no enmity. And I do realize that there are
some that see it as a very literal, those promises as being very
literal, and therefore they have a different view or vision for
the Jew. It seems to me and looking at
it that it's very fleshly. It's very fleshly. When you're
looking at those literal promises and you're insisting that they're
not fulfilled, and that God has to fulfill them literally. The
reality is, the scriptures show that he did fulfill them literally,
but these were just a type and a picture foreshadowing of how
the church, all the church, Jew and Gentile, receives the fulfillment
of those promises spiritually, everlastingly, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that it's much like when Paul
is dealing with the law of Moses and he says you're just looking
at the oldness of the letter and we don't want to look at
the oldness of the letter of the promises and just see literal
dead, carnal things that have no relevance to the church as
just a dead letter promise, but rather we see it's all fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's how we're to see
it. And Paul assures us that even
to the Gentiles, he says these blessed words in Galatians 3.29,
he says, if ye be Christ's, Then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise." And again, turn over in Galatians
4.28, Galatians 4.28. Now, he says, Now we brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. And Paul's writing
this letter to Gentiles. the Gentiles. When you're looking
at Israel, we don't want to despise anyone because they're Jews.
We don't talk like, oh, they crucified Christ, we crucified
Christ. We're all guilty of that. We
all committed sin and did wickedly, and none of us is better than
anyone, so we should never speak like that. Paul labored to help
the Jews understand that we are one with them, and then today,
There's still some teachings that create a division between
the Jew and the Gentile and say, well, this isn't for you Gentiles.
There's something special yet to come for the Jew. And it just
puts back up that wall of division that Paul labored so much among
the church to bring down, to say, we're all one, so that he
tells us, if we be of faith, and if we be of Christ, then
are you Abraham's seed, and you are children of promise. Children
of promise. So, Paul asks this question now. Hold your place in Galatians
3, because we'll be back there. Turn over to Romans 3 now. Romans
3. You can let go of chapter 15,
but stay in Romans. Romans 3, 29. And Paul asks this question,
is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify
the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. All right? So now listen to,
go back to Galatians 3 now, Galatians 3. You can let go of Romans now,
but Galatians 3 verse 13 and 14. This is concerning what Christ
has wrought for all his chosen people. Galatians 3.13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. So Christ has wrought
salvation for all his people. He is the Lord and the Savior.
He is the husband of all the Lord's people. And that's why
we exalt Christ and we lift Him up. We are to exalt Him and lift
Him up. He is the banner to whom all
the people of God are joined together. They rally around Christ. They come under Christ, under
the rule and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in
John 12, 32, and I. If I be lifted up, will draw
all men unto me." He's going to do it. Now he spoke of his
crucifixion because it was in his death. When he died on the
cross there and shed his blood, he drew, that's how he brought
in all the people, Jew and Gentile, were all saved because he put
away the enmity between us and holy God. And so Christ said
also in John 3, In John chapter 3 verses 14 through 16, he said,
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. And that's what Moses did when
the people were mumbling and murmuring and complaining against
God. He sent fiery serpents, venomous serpents, who came out
and bit them. And when they were bitten, they
would die. So the Lord had Moses make a brazen serpent, put it
on a pole, and raise it up as they walked. And so that when
the people were bitten, it says, or when they looked, that's when
they were bitten, and when they looked to the serpent, they were
healed. And that's how the Lord does
it. He causes us We feel the poison, we feel the bite, we
know the sting, that we are sinners. We fell in Adam. We sinned and
are dead in trespasses and sins. And there is no law whereby we
can make ourselves righteous. For had there been a law, God
would not have sent his son. But because there is no law,
nothing we can do, no act, No law we can keep, no act, no
sacrifice we can make that makes us righteous. The Lord provided
His Son Jesus Christ to do that. And so we lift Him up, we rejoice
in Him, we glorify Him because we couldn't do it. But God sent
His own darling Son into the world, holy, perfect, righteous
in all His ways. And there on the cross, he was
made a sacrifice for his people, bearing their sin, so that the
just died in the place of the unjust. And in doing that, he
shed his blood, so that by his death, we're justified before
God. He satisfied the wrath and the
justice of holy God, and by his blood, we are reconciled now
to God. God is pleased because his blood
covers us. He purged us of our sin, in our
guilt. There's no more shame and no
more pollution that prevents us from standing before God because
now we are made righteous in Christ and therefore God Almighty
imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous because
that's what Jesus Christ has made us. We are righteous in
Him. we're lifting him up. He is the
ensign. We're declaring him as the banner
under which we march and believe and stand confident before the
Lord God because he has made us righteous. So we don't preach
anything else but Christ. He is our ensign. He is That
pole that we lift up for all the people to see and he draws
all his people to himself through this gospel so that all the outcasts
of Israel and all the dispersed of Judah, he's the one who's
calling those sinners in. He's drawing his people to himself
from the four corners of the earth to bring them to the salvation
he's provided for them. And he is everything to the believer.
So that Christ went on to say, whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. And he went on to say,
for God so loved the world. not just the Jews, but the Gentiles
too, scattered throughout the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever they are, that are bitten and
sinners and can't make a righteousness for themselves, whosoever looks
to Him, is made to see that He is the salvation God has provided,
they should not perish, but have everlasting life in Him. That's why we love Him, and that's
why we rejoice in Him, and that's why we declare Him. Alright,
now, the second point, Christ brings training and discipline
to the ranks. Alright, so Christ having assembled
and enlisted all those whom He will, we now see that Christ,
by His Spirit, He gives life to His people, He regenerates
them, He makes them born again, born anew, with a spiritual birth. We don't know Christ and worship
Him according to the flesh, but we have a spiritual birth. Now,
I never personally served in any of the armed service branches,
none of the branches, but what I can see is that they draw people
from all across the nation, and they mix them all up. So whether
you're from the East Coast or West Coast, the North or the
South, or somewhere in the Midwest, whether you're from a large city,
a mid-sized city, a little town, a suburb, whether you grew up
in a rural area or on a farm, they put all these people together,
whether you're wealthy or middle class or poor, all these different
people from all these different backgrounds and different education
levels, and so what do they do? They've got to break them down
so that there's no hatred, there's no enmity, there's no fighting
between them, there's no one better than another one, because
they've got to be one unit. One unit that's disciplined so
that when they get the objective, they all march together as one
army toward that objective doing what they're supposed to be doing.
And so, It's the same way that the Lord works that in His people. We are one body, and we are unified
in the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to do His will. Not each one
doing our own will and doing what we think we should be doing,
but we want to know, what does our Lord say? He's our Lord.
He's our Master. He is Christ. He is God. What does He want us to do? So,
He teaches us that in Christ, there's no place for hatred and
that kind of enmity. That hatred of face, hatred of
race, hatred of place, that's no place in the body of Christ. We don't have that. Let's see
that in our text in Isaiah 11, 13. That's what verse 13 is saying
in our text. Isaiah 11, 13. The envy also
of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall
be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. So that there is a picture of
the unity that the Lord creates among his people. Turn over to
Colossians 3. Colossians 3. Now, in this passage, what Paul
is saying in Colossians 3, verse 11, Colossians 3, verse 11, he's
shown that we are all one in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
says, Colossians 3, verse 11, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. So the Lord draws his people
And these are the people whom Christ has redeemed to God by
his own blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. He's drawn all these people out
from all these different places and raised different ways and
everything like that. And because we're His, and He's
the one that's gathered us together, He gives us His Spirit so that
the Spirit teaches us. The Spirit reveals Christ to
us. The Spirit makes known to us
it's not of His flesh, it's of His work. We are Christ's now.
We're not our own. We are His people. We are His
bride. And so He begins to take away
those works of the flesh and show us, don't work among each
other and don't deal with each other the way that the flesh
deals with other people in this world. Don't deal that way which
comes naturally to our flesh. And so He goes on to say in Colossians
3 verse 12, 12 through 15, he says, put on therefore,
and he's showing us it's of the spirit, not the flesh, and he
says, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you,
so also do ye. And above all these things put
on charity, love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let
the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye
are called, in one body, and be ye thankful. I don't have
time to go there, but even in 1 John, that's what he's showing
us. In 1 John, especially in chapter 3, he's showing that
the sin that we do not commit is the sin of forsaking our brethren. We don't forsake Christ. We don't
leave Christ and His people because we have one commandment. To love
God. To love the Lord God. To believe
on His Son, Jesus Christ. even to love his brethren. That's
one commandment. That's all that is. We don't
have the ten commandments. Because if you love Christ, then
you will love his people. You're not going to sin against
them. You're not going to be committing sins against them.
And if you do something that hurts your brethren and they
let you know and you understand it, the Lord is going to help
you to stop doing that which hurts your brethren and to seek
forgiveness. Because we don't want to live
that way. We don't want to bring strife and harm to our brethren. All right, go over to Ephesians
4. And there are so many options to go to, because Paul speaks
about this constantly, but I just want to give you a few options.
But Ephesians 4.20. Ephesians 4.20. And here he says, but ye have
not so learned Christ. You've not learned Christ this
way, if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him
as the truth is in Jesus. So what the Lord's saying is,
he's not leaving us to this flesh to figure it out. He's not leaving
us to our flesh to reform the flesh, because the flesh isn't
redeemed until Christ comes and raises it anew and gives us a
new body. This flesh is dead and it's corrupt. It's full of sin. So He doesn't
leave us with flesh, but He creates in us a new man. We are a new
creature. And He says there in verse 22,
that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, the deceitful
lusts that are still present in this flesh, we know it, we
feel it, we know that sin is present right there with us,
even though we confess Christ, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness, so that now by
the spirit of Christ we dwell together, we dwell with him,
he abides in us, we abide in him. So the Christ and the Father
abides with us, he said, and we abide in him, and we have
his spirit whereby we know him. And he says, verse 25, wherefore
by the spirit put away lying, speak every man truth with his
neighbor, for we are members one of another. Drop down to
verse 31 and 32. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." And so he teaches us that by the Spirit. And so that envying
and that vexing that we do in the flesh We don't work that
way. We don't practice that. We don't
do that to one another. We put that away. And when we
see that in us, we beg the Lord to forgive us and to help us.
That doesn't mean that You're going to have the same affections
towards certain of your brethren. Some people you get along with
really well, and you like to hang out with them, and you like
to be with them. But we do love one another, and we'll be there
for one another as is needed, and we want to help one another
and to encourage them in Christ. He creates that love. It's not
just a sentimental, feely, touchy kind of love. It's a love that
he makes us willing to lay down our lives for our brethren. for
the sake of the gospel. He works that. He shows us what
that means. And I'll just read what Peter
said real fast. In 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3, he
said, Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and
hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings. Why do we lay
those aside? Because those are the works of
the flesh. They have no part in us. That's not what we're
supposed to be practicing or doing with one another. But rather,
as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that
gospel word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. And what the apostles are showing
us is that if we are Christ, we shall be gathered under the
banner which is Christ, And His Spirit's going to teach us. He's
going to reveal Christ to us so that we know Him. And as we
know Him and grow in the knowledge of what He's done for us in that
sense, that judgment that we saw in Philippians 1, that love
is formed in us. Love for Christ and love for
God. our brethren, and there's rejoicing in that. All right,
let's move on to our final point, which is Christ is the banner
under whom we march. Christ is the banner. All right,
so Christ having made us his own, having called us by this
gospel, having given us his spirit so that we're made alive to know
the things of God and to understand and to to see Christ and know
that He alone is the Savior, not me. I'm not going to be able
to save myself and that He did this. So, knowing Him, we understand
his will. He's sending forth his gospel
to call out and draw his people. So, therefore, we desire his
will to be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. That's our
prayer, that the Lord's will be done. Now, do you remember
what Paul said to the Philippians when he said, Inasmuch as both
in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel,
ye all are partakers of my grace. So that Paul is showing that
the church there, the Philippians and the other churches, were
fellow laborers with Paul in the gospel, just as Paul and
the churches are fellow laborers with the will of God being done
here on earth, because that's what pleases the Lord. He doesn't
need us, but it's what pleases him to do, to send this gospel
forth and save his people. And he said to them, Philippians
127, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. What we see and what we understand,
brethren, is that we have a commission from the Lord. He's given us
a ministry to fulfill here on the earth. If you turn over to
2 Corinthians 5, we see this, because I'll quote from it, but
in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16, and we've looked at this, but
it's good to be reminded of it. He said, Wherefore, henceforth,
know we no man after the flesh. And that's good to remember,
whether Jew or Gentile. That's why there's no wall that
we're putting up, because we don't know men after the flesh. We shouldn't be looking at, oh,
you're a Jew? Well, there's special things coming for you then one
day. Not for me as a Gentile. We don't know people after the
flesh. It's not according to the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. And remember we saw how what
Paul is saying there is he's not just saying he's not hearing
the flesh on the earth anymore. He's saying something more. He's
saying we don't know him and serve him and worship him according
to the works of this flesh. We don't know Christ after the
flesh anymore. We know Him according to the Spirit who has revealed
Christ to us by divine power in making us alive, delivering
us out of the prison of darkness and the condemnation of the law
and the dominion of sin. That's over. We don't serve God
according to this flesh. Therefore, and the reason why
I know that's what he's saying, because he said, Therefore, if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed
away, behold, all things are become new. So everything is
new, all the oldness of the promises, those are passed away, that literal
aspect of those promises being done in Israel, everything now
is new and confirmed, fulfilled in Jesus Christ to all his people,
Jew or Gentile. And he says, all things are of
God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit or to make known to the
people that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself
not imputing their trespasses unto us, and hath committed unto
us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God to beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. Because Christ has put away the
enmity. And that's what he says in verse
21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. All that enmity
has been put away. Why? Why do you carry around
your sins? Why do you continue in this rebellion
and this hatred of God? Christ has put that away. He
has shown you that your sinner and that Christ is the salvation
God has provided. So, through this ministry which
is given to the Church, we carry this message under the banner
of Christ. We keep preaching Christ. That's
our banner under which we march. He's our colors. He's the one
by whom we are known that we are His, His people, because
we love Him. That's why we speak of Him, and
that's why we declare Him, and only speak of Him, and only speak
of His glories and His work, what He's done in us, because
we love Him. So nothing's going to prevent
that from going forth. All right, look back in Isaiah
11. Isaiah 11, and we'll read the rest of these verses. And
it says, and the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Aju.
Sorry, verse 14. Isaiah 11, 14. But they shall
fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west,
they shall spoil them of the east together, they shall lay
their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall
obey them. So, as we carry this message
forth, it's going forth, and the Lord is conquering his people.
He's conquering their hearts, bringing in his people into the
ranks of his people. And nothing, nothing prevents
it from going forth. It shall be successful, because
Christ is a successful Savior. He did not fail at all. And the
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and
with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river,
and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over
dry shod." So you see there that picture of Moses when he held
forth the rod over the waters, and the Lord through a mighty
wind came and pushed back the waters and opened up that pathway
through the danger, through the thing that was preventing them
from going. And so we see nothing is going to prevent the Lord
from obtaining his people. That gospel is going to go forth,
the wind of the Spirit is going to go forth, like a mighty Russian
wind and it's going to obtain and draw his people to himself. And it says, verse 16, there
shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be
left from Assyria like as it was to Israel in the day that
he came up out of the land of Egypt. which shows us again and
again and again, over and over, that the Lord has always been
showing us throughout history, we ourselves are sinners, can't
save ourselves, but the Lord always provides and delivers
his people. He always defeats the enemy.
Nothing stops his gospel. Nothing can prevent him from
saving his people. He will always save them and draw them to himself."
And that's exactly what Paul was encouraging the Philippians
with when he said, "...and nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation
and that of God. For unto you And to me, us, the
ministry that we have here in this church, it's given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to suffer
for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me and
now here to be in me. So that the church, just as the
world came against him and tried to prevent that gospel from going
forth, it couldn't be stopped. It'll happen to us too, but Paul
says it's not going to be stopped. Turn over, this will be our last
place, turn over to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. as soldiers of Christ. Hear these
words, 2 Corinthians 10, 3-5. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. And, you know, as
you As the Lord enables you through prayer and a desire to see the
Lord's people saved and he gives you opportunity to speak the
gospel to people that you know and either just randomly or people
that you see regularly. whatever it may be, you're going
to suffer blows, you're going to feel it, because they're going
to say all manner of evil. Sometimes it's just evil against
you, but sometimes you hear things that you never even imagined
anybody could think, or even agree to certain things, and
it attacks, and it really can take you back sometimes when
you hear some of the foolishness and the folly that people actually
believe about God or about salvation or about them when they die and
things like that. There's definitely weird things
out there, but don't be discouraged and don't be moved away. Bring
those before the Lord in prayer, and if something troubles you,
lay it before the Lord. hurt you or anything like that,
pray to the Lord and confess it to Him and ask Him for help
and see it always in the light of Christ and what He's called
us to do. Don't try to deal with it in
the flesh because the flesh won't deal with it right. But Christ
knows His people and He, through His gospel, knows how to heal
every wound and how to strengthen us. He's our banner. We not only
preach Him, But that means also, even when we're wounded and hurting,
we go to Him. We rally to Him in all things
and He's our health, our strength, He's our might, He's the spirit
by which we walk and move and know God and worship Him and
love Him and love one another. So never turn from Him and don't
be discouraged. Keep looking to Him. I pray the
Lord will bless that word to our hearts and help us to glory
in Christ, our Ensign, Him alone. All right, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank You, Father, for for providing the banner, for
giving us the issue, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, that there
are not other things to be doing, and Lord, that there's not all
these things that we need to know, just know Christ. And Lord,
we're so thankful that through the Gospel, you reveal your Son,
you reveal the salvation you provided for your people in Christ. shown us that in this flesh we
are sinners and we can't save ourselves. We were dead spiritually,
Lord. We didn't even know you. But
when we were enemies, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to put
away our sins, to purge us of our sins, and to obtain eternal
redemption for his people, Lord. And we're thankful for your grace
and mercy, which has called us out of darkness and brought us
under the sound and under the banner of Christ our ensign.
And Lord, we pray that you would make us of one mind, unified
in this one body, and Lord, glad and happy and looking to do your
will even among this part of the world. Lord, we pray this
in the name of our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.